Category Literature
Review: Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time, and completing The Return of the Native last summer only whetted my appetite for some more Hardy. If you don’t know what Tess of the d’Urbervilles is about, then you must have somehow managed to avoid, like I did, any spoilers for a text widely studied […]
A Bucketful of Tears and The Fault in Our Stars
It was pretty inevitable that I would cry at The Fault in Our Stars. I cried at the book, I cried at the advert and I cried at the songs. So, yes, I cried at the film. A lot. There was a huge amount of hype surrounding the film adaptation of John Green’s best-selling novel […]
‘unavoidably detained by the world’ – Review: Stardust, Neil Gaiman
Have been unavoidably detained by the world. Expect us when you see us. And so I celebrate finishing my degree with some words that I feel will serve me well in the coming months. I’ve never read any Neil Gaiman before, and despite feeling like I knew a lot about him (graphic novels and Doctor […]
My Post-Graduation Reading List
As I struggle through volumes of John Donne and pages of the Medieval Welsh magical realism of The Mabinogion (?!), the light at the end of the tunnel is that glorious post-university beacon, when I know I will be able to read ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING I WANT. Now I say this as a student who […]
Review Book #4: Enduring Love, Ian McEwan
Ok, so I have two confessions to make. 1) I completely forgot about my reading list for the year… https://foreveronalilo.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/7-books-im-going-to-read-this-year/ 2) I also completely forgot that I read book #4 Enduring Love over the summer… Oops. Basically I have a terrible memory. Let’s crack on! Having read and enjoyed a couple of Ian McEwan’s books (Atonement, […]
Review: The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion
“Meet Don Tillman. Don is getting married. He just doesn’t know who to yet. But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman. One thing he already knows, though, is that it’s not Rosie. Absolutely, completely, definitely not.” This is just a quick little post to say how much […]
Review: The Fifth Wave, Rick Yancey
On a lonely stretch of highway, she runs from them. The beings that only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, until Cassie meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan may be her only hope for rescuing her brother […]
Review Book #3 : The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald
As I come to the third book on my self-imposed 2013 reading list, I should probably point out that it’s a bit silly of me to title some of these posts as ‘reviews’ when they’re really just my thoughts. I don’t really know how I can review such a classic as The Great Gatsby. I should […]
Why I Want to Hate the Kindle (But Secretly Want One)
As an English Literature student, I can’t help but feel that it is my duty to protect the sacredness of books in their physical form and to consequently disown all eBooks and everything they stand for. But in seminars and coffee shops alike, as I look around at the numerous glowing screens of Kindles lighting […]
Review Book #2 : The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
“Working in New York one hot summer, Esther Greenwood is on the brink of her future. Yet she is also on the edge of a darkness that makes her world increasingly unreal. In this vivid and unforgettable novel, Esther’s vision of the world shimmers and shifts: day-to-day New York living, her crazed men-friends, and hot […]
Bethany Wren 