Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Loveday Cardew’s beloved Lost for Words bookshop, along with the rest of York, has fallen quiet. At the very time when people most need books to widen their horizons, or escape from their fears, or enhance their lives, the doors are closed. Then the first letter comes.

Rosemary and George have been married for fifty years. Now their time is running out. They have decided to set out on their last journey together, without ever leaving the bench at the bottom of their garden in Whitby. All they need is someone who shares their love of books.

Suddenly it’s clear to Loveday that she and her team can do something useful in a crisis. They can recommend books to help with the situations their customers find themselves in: fear, boredom, loneliness, the desire for laughter and escape.

And so it begins.

Thanks so much to Headline for asking me to be on the tour, and sending me a copy of the book.

I loved this! At first I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of it, the pandemic being still so fresh, but honestly this was lovely. 

Stephanie made this book not only about the pandemic, and loneliness we all felt, but about feeling uplifted and happy, and feeling included. I love all the book recommendations, and there is a list of them all in the back of the book, I’m going to try to read some of them. 

I loved the characters, Geoge and Rosemary were my favourite, I loved hearing about their lives, how they met etc, but mostly how happy they are now in their retirement. Their garden overlooking the sea, sitting enjoying a cup of tea and a book together, this is what I want when I’m older.

Thanks again to Headline and Stephanie Butland for including me in the tour and for my gifted copy of the book.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahra

The million copy bestseller, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance.

When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity.

Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome - but that will define his life forever.

Where to start with this one. My life has been overtaken by this book, it has been in my head since I finished it, I want to go back to it, but I never want to go back to it. My head has been a mess. 

First off, I’m so glad I read this with a few buddies, I think it needs to be one that’s read alongside someone else so you have someone to talk to. Secondly, if you want to, I’d recommend reading up on the trigger warnings in this one, there are so many. My DMs are always open if you want to ask me anything. So thank you to my friends Sarah, Lucy and Lisa for joining me on this journey of despair and heartache.

So this book breaks your heart, lifts you up again, then throws you to the floor like a sack of tatties. I lost count of how many times I had a lump in my throat, that feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. It’s just trauma after trauma, with a little bit of happiness thrown in for good measure.

Hanya writes with such beauty, there were so many quotes, paragraphs and lines I tabbed, and then in pencil I underlined one. Now the book is filled with bright coloured pens highlighting those passages and quotes, hearts drawn around things. The book destroyed me, and I destroyed it, all in a good way. Hanya describes scenes so well, there were so many times I could picture the beauty in my head: the photographs of the boys, the light hitting the seats on the subway, the paintings in the gallery.  

My love for Jude and Willem was huge, I also loved JB (one of my favourite quotes is a JB quote), and Malcolm but Jude and Willem had my heart from the very start. Hanya pulls you in so deep with her characters, that you feel something for them, they’re like your friends, and all you want for them is good things, but you read about bad things, and you want to reach into the pages and pull them out. How many times I just wanted to wrap Jude up and cuddle him and keep him safe. Oh even writing this has me thinking about it. The other characters were fantastic, Andy being one of my favourites. Harold too, such a wonderful loving man.

Oh I could go on and on about this book. If you want to know more, or just chat in general about it please give me a shout. 

Amazing amazing story, one of the best books I’ve ever read. I can’t say I liked it as it doesn’t seem right to ‘like’ this book, but boy does it grip you and stay in your head, forever I hope.

Thank you Hanya for writing as beautiful as you do 

She and Her Cat by Makoto Shinkai

 

On the outskirts of Tokyo, in a neighbourhood crossed by a commuter railway, local cats weave their way through the lives and homes of their owners as they navigate difficult times.

A cat named Chobi sends silent messages of courage to a young woman, willing her to end a faltering relationship; a gifted artist fatally misunderstands her boss's enthusiasm for her paintings; a manga fan shuts herself away after the traumatic death of her friend, while her cat Cookie hatches a plan to persuade her outside; a woman who has dedicated her life to a distant husband learns a lesson in independence from her cat.

Against the urban backdrop of humming trains and private woes, She And Her Cat explores the gentle magic of the everyday. Populated by both the friendly and the feral, it reveals - with heartstopping clarity and warmth - how even in our darkest moments, community and connection may lead us to a happier place.

I read this as a buddy read with my good pal Kath. It’s such a lovely book, very easy reading, and fit in lovely with the spring starting. It follows a few different characters who are all intertwined somehow, and you feel for each of them, hoping they will bump into each other somehow, wondering how they will be connected. We meet some funny characters along the way, but I loved Chobi and Cookie the most.

A gorgeous little read, one I’m sure everyone will enjoy.