August 23, 2015

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS! August 2015 picks

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Books I’ve Read This Month:

  • Magic Lessons – Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books): Unfortunately I can’t say anything about this book as I am under strict embargo until SEPTEMBER 22ND when this book is out! Will report back then, and tell you ALL ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL BOOK.
  • I Remember Nothing – Nora Ephron (Black Swan): I find the ageing process really interesting, and I love reading from writers who are older and wiser in which I take any pieces of advice from. I adore Nora Ephron’s writing and I highlighted so many pages that I want to re-read again and again. I forget how funny she is in her writing – this book is endearing but also really really funny in places.
  • Love Sick – Jessie Cave (Ebury): I adore Jessie Cave’s Instagram full of all her funny doodles that totally sum up the complications of 2015 life. They are so simple yet so TRUE and I find myself sharing them with all my friends. So having a book of all her best doodles that I can keep is a lovely thing to have. Follow her here: @pindippy.
  • Landline – Rainbow Rowell (Orion Books): This is one of my absolute faves from Rainbow (one of my favourite fiction authors). I like how the chapters are quite short and it’s heavy with peppy dialogue. I found it really easy to read and got through it VERY quickly (in a good way).
  • Higher Ed – Tess McWatt (Scribe): I loved this book! The chapters alternate between the main five characters and you get to know them really well. A up close and personal look at the ups and downs of finding love, in London. It’s been described as a “great novel of contemporary London for readers of Zadie Smith”.
  • Lucky – Alice Sebold (Picador) – As use HUGE fan of Lovely Bones, I picked this up in a second hand shop and had no idea she had written a memoir. This is book has a brutal opening, leaving you totally gripped, shocked and angry, and you feel every single word. I was crying through most of it with a huge lump in my throat – but I also just read this book in totally awe because of the bravery and the beautiful art of her writing.
  • Bad Girls Go Everywhere – Jennifer Scanlon (Penguin): This is a biography of the life of Helen Gurley Brown and I’ve been dipping into it for the last few weeks, finally getting round to finishing it. I loved learning more about the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, finding it fascinating learning about her life, relationship, career – and also her feminist ethos which people branded “lipstick feminism” calling her “problematic”. I reflected on so many different areas of this book. Super interesting read.
  •  What To Do When It’s Your Turn – Seth Godin (Self-published): I’m a huge huge fan of Seth Godin so when I saw this book being advertising through a video I bought it asap. It’s a big colourful printed magazine-style book with lots of inspirational quotes and life lessons. Anyone that is interested in furthering themselves and their career/life should read this book. Very, very insightful.
  • Too Much Information – Dave Gorman (Ebury): This is a really hilarious book about how the Internet gives us ~way too much info~ and how to muddle through. Chapter titles include If Everyone Checks The Internet For Everything Then What Happens When the Internet Gets it Wrong? I love these funny long chapter titles.
  • The People’s Platform, Taking back Power & Culture in The Digital Age – Astra Taylor (Macmillan) – Yes I’m a MASSIVE GEEK so I really really enjoyed this book. It’s quite serious and informational, so it took me a while to get through, have been dipping in and out for a few months. For anyone who is interested in the Internet, politics, movements and technology, this is a must-read.
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Books On Next Month’s Reading List

  • Killing Monica – Candace Bushnell (Little, Brown) – I’m going to see a talk with Candace Bushnell next month so this is on my list to finish before I go along to that! Here’s a bit from the blurb: “Bushnell spoofs and skewers her way through pop culture, celebrity worship, fame and even the meaning of life itself, when a famous writer must resort to faking her own death in order to get her life back from her most infamous creation – Monica.”
  • Fear of Dying by Erica Jong (Canongate) – This is on it’s way to me, and I’m looking forward to reading it. Fear of Flying sold 27 million copies in forty languages, so this is the exciting follow up. Here’s some words from the press release: “she mixes her trademark sharp, clever prose with poetic poignancy to bring us her new novel, Fear of Dying,  the story of a woman who never wants to give in to fear.  Out 29thOctober, Fear of Dying follows the life of Vanessa Wonderman as she watches her parents age, attends doctor appointments with her pregnant daughter, and sits by the hospital bed of her most recent husband, Asher, fifteen years her senior.”
  • The Marriages Of Opposites – Alice Hoffman (Simon & Schuster): I cannot wait to dig into this badboy! A little bit from the blurb: Rachel’s life is not her own. She is married off to a widower with three children to save her father’s business. When her husband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Frédérick, arrives from France to settle the estate, Rachel seizes her own life story, beginning a defiant, passionate love affair that sparks a scandal that affects all of her family. (I love a scandal).
  • Sophia Khan is Not Obliged – Ayisha Malik (Twenty7 Books): I love love love the sound of this book. Described as “the Muslim Bridget Jones”, the book stars Sofia Khan, a cynical yet firmly religious book publicist. Between battles to pray in the medical room at work and relatives imploring her to get married, Sofia somehow finds herself tasked with writing a book about the Muslim dating world, despite vowing to remain celibate and single. But might she find true love in the process?
  • The Self-Esteem Team’s Guide to Sex, Drugs and WTFS (John Blake): With a foreword by Zoella this book aims to guide teens around areas of self-esteem and mental health. Looking forward to reading this, and interviewing the authors for a review.
  • We Don’t Know What We’re Doing – Thomas Morris (Faber): I bought this at the Edinburgh Book Festival because I liked the cover. ‘Nuff said.
  • Also a selection of BEAUTIFUL new collection of Penguin books that are made by hand, which are honestly the most gorgeous books I own. Six of Penguin’s most popular recent fiction books have been redesigned using embroidery, crochet and quilting – so lovely to the touch.

 

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No Responses

  1. Megan says:

    I am so excited to read Big Magic as I’ve been loving her podcast of the same name! She’s just ridiculously inspiring so I’ve got grabby hands trying to get this new book. Killing Monica has been on my list for a bit too so maybe I’ll give it a read this month as well x

    Megan / http://www.pixiecrop.com

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