Top 5 // All Time Favourite Books

I love lists and I love hearing lists about books, so I'm going to start a new little series which I'll do twice a month(ish).

Today I thought I would start off with my top 5 favourite books ever. You know something nice and easy (NOT).

My favourite books change all the time so this is my current top 5 favourite books.

The Little Paris Bookshop - Nina George

I've 100% talked about this book before. It's a book about books. Monsieur Perdu prescribes books as medicine for the hardships of life. This book follows him as he takes his bookshop barge down the canals of France to try and find peace with his past.

Silent In The Grave - Deanna Raybourn

I chose the first book in this series but really I don't know if I could decide between the first three books in this series.

The book follows Lady Julia Grey as she tries to solve the mystery of her husbands murder with the help of the mysterious Nicholas Brisbane.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

This is classic children's book following Mary Lennox as she goes to live on the Yorkshire moors with her Uncle following the death of her parents.

The perfect book to read on a grey rainy day.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Le Cirque des Rêves arrives with no warning or advertisements. One day it's not there the next it is.

I'm not going to give anything away about this book but I've never met anyone who hasn't enjoyed it. The descriptions in this book are so vivid you feel as if you were there.

Eat Sweat Play - Anna Kessel

I haven't even finished this book but I already know it's going to be one of my favourites.

This is the kind of book that you have to read bit by bit because you keep stopping and just having to sit and take in what you're reading.

Kate // SK

NB: This Top 5 series is an idea I have nicked from Booktube. I think the Top 5 Wednesday videos started with Lainey at GingerReadsLainey and has spread since then.

February TBR // January Wrap Up

January Wrap Up

The Little Shop of Happy Ever After: Finished

I gave this book 3 stars, I thought it was good, it was just a bit cringy and I wanted more character development.

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone: Finished

Need I get into it? 5 stars, I love it. The illustrated edition is absolutely gorgeous.

Binocular Vision: Started

I'm enjoying this collection of short stories I just find that it takes me longer to read because I don't get sucked into it in the same way I do with a full length novel.

A Lineage of Grace: Started

I absolutely love this book, it's such a clever way of telling the stories of well known bible characters.

Audio Book: I finished The Book Thief this month and really enjoyed it. It's a beautifully written book and so well read but it's devastating.

February TBR

As well as finishing A Lineage of Grace and Binocular Vision I'm hoping to get to:

Moranthology - Cailtin Moran

Caitlin Moran gets chatty about everything from political to social issues. I cannot wait to read this.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling

The second book of the series, it's been a good while since I read this one.

Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn

This is one of my favourite books. It follows Lady Julia Gray as she looks into the death of her husband with the help of Nicholas Brisbane.

Redeeming Sex - Debra Hirsch

The tag line for this is "naked conversations about sexuality and spirituality". This is a book written by a Christian and looks at a biblical vision of sex and gender that honours God and offers good news to the world.

I have already started this book a few months back but it was borrowed so I had to return it. I was really enjoying it so far so I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

Kate // SK

My Year In Books // 2016

A quick sum up of all the books that filled my 2016. Hopefully next year there will be far more books to choose from!

2016 Stats

Number of Books Read: 23

Total Pages Read: 7,022

Shortest Book Read: The Fox and the Star 64

Longest Book Read: The Christmas Card 496

Average Book Length: 305

Favourite Books of 2016

Least Favourite Books of 2016

And that's it for my quick wrap up of the books I read in 2016.

The idea for this blog post came from The Bookish Blog, which is an amazing blog run by people who are truly passionate about all things books.

Kate // SK

A/W Reads // SK Books

Something about the last few months of the year makes me want to read more. I like reading new books and old favourites. It's the dark nights when there isn't much on TV that make me want to curl up with a blanket and a cup of tea and escape into another world.

These are some of my firm favourites that I like to read at this time of year. They're beautiful, immersive books that drag you in and keep you until you finish the whole book.

 This book is one of my all time favourites. It was first published in 1992 and when this copy was bought it cost £3.99 (don't you wish books still only cost that!?). So Far From Skye is about a pair of siblings Morag and Allan MacDonald who are forced to emigrate from the isle of Skye to Australia in the 1850's. It follows them as they are uprooted from their home and have to adapt to an entirely new home.

Rooftoppers is a book I pre-ordered (which I never do) because I loved the sound of it so much. Rooftoppers follows the life of Sophie who is in an orphan and her discovery of the children who live under the radar on top of the rooftops of Paris. What an idea. 

This is another book that I have loved for a very long time. I first got this out of the library when I was in primary school and since then I have purchased my own copy as the library no longer has it. Ragboy, Rats and the Surging Seas follows Silas, a rag and bone boy, who discovers a mermaid lying injured on the beach one morning and decides to rescue her. 

The Secret Garden is one of my all time favourites (I feel like I'm saying this about every book in this post). When I was a child I was enchanted with the idea of a secret garden, I wanted my own so much that I asked my mum for a bit of garden of my own, needless to say me gardening my own little bit didn't last very long. Unlike my gardening efforts my love for this book has stayed strong. Mary Lennox is orphaned and sent off to live with her Uncle, she's a contrary little girl who isn't interested in anything, until she discovers a garden that has been locked up for years. 

First off, how beautiful is this copy of Wuthering Heights. I got this copy for my 21st birthday and I am still in love 2 years later. Wuthering Heights is such a dark tale but the descriptions of the moors are perfect for a cosy night in. This book is about the family that lived at Wuthering Heights as told by housekeeper Nelly to a visitor to the area 30 years after the events unfolded.

The Fox and the Star is a beautiful illustrated book about a fox and (you guessed it) a star. I don't want to go into the plot because it's short and there isn't much I could say without ruining the book. All I will say is that the images in this book are incredible and while it only takes 5 minutes to read it sticks with you for a long time after you put it down.

What old favourites do you like to read at this time of year?

Kate // SK

Book Review // A Very Special Year by Thomas Montasser

So avid readers of this blog will remember a couple of weeks back I posted a book haul post. A Very Special Year by Thomas Montasser was one of those books and having finished it I thought I would tell you guys what I thought.

Book Review // I Call Myself A Feminist

The Back of the Book

Young feminists - whether you call yourself one or not - this book is for you.

The view from twenty-five women under thirty.

Rating

4/5

Review

It was amazing to here woman from all different backgrounds and beliefs give the reasons why they call themselves a feminist. Some of the opinions I didn't agree with and some I did. But I think it's equally as important to learn about the things you don't agree with as well as the ones you do agree with.

Favourite Quote

"I only knew that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat"

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Let us know @SimplyKarah10

Kate // SK

Review // Room - Book and Film

When I first saw the book Room I assumed it would be  really depressing. I spend a lot of my time at work dealing with people who have been through horrible ordeals so I tend to steer away from books with a similar theme. When I found out it was coming out as a film I decided to find out a bit more about the story line. What I found out convinced me to give the book a go and I am so glad it did.

I think Room may be in my top 10 favourite books of all time. I've now checked out the film and I was equally impressed.

Synopsis (from the back of the book)

Jack lives with his Ma in Room. Room has a single locked door and a skylight, and it measures eleven feet by eleven feet. Jack loves watching TV but he knows that nothing he sees on the screen is truly real - only him, Ma and the things in Room. Until the day Ma admits there is a world outside.

The Opposite of Loneliness // Book Review

The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan is something I've seen around but never picked up. I kind of assumed I wouldn't really like it. And to be brutally honest I think I assumed the only reason it had been published was because she died and who wouldn't publish a book of essays and poems written by someone who died so young? I'm aware how awful that sounds but I'm a cycnic okay?

Book Review // The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Synopsis (from the back of the book)

On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives at a grand house in Amsterdam to begin her new life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. Though curiously distant, he presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations ring eerily true.

As Nella uncovers the secrets of her new household she realizes the escalating dangers they face. The miniaturist seems to hold their fate in her hands - but does she plan to save or destroy them?

Rating

3/5 stars