• Book Review: Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

    Published in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman had a daring thesis: women were “rational creatures” and ought to be treated as such. It’s hard to overstate the text’s importance within the history of feminist polemic. Although Wollstonecraft argued against the harsh restrictions 18th century society imposed...
  • Hidden Gems: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

    Howl’s Moving Castle is a charming and nostalgic novel that I feel is highly underrated and has been forgotten in the years since it was originally published in 1986. Fancy yourself an arrogant wizard that changes hair like the seasons and has an ego that rivals the size of...
  • Book Of The Month: April

    TITLE: A Monster Calls AUTHOR: Patrick Ness GENRE: Low fantasy PUBLISHER: Walker Books PUBLISHED: 2011 PAGES: 214 WARNING: Story centres around a family’s experience with cancer. Also, you will cry. A Monster Calls is a short novel written by Patrick Ness, from an idea developed by Siobhan Dowd, whose own terminal cancer inspired the...
  • Forgotten Gems: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

    Anna Karenina is one of those undeniable classics that people tend to claim they’ve read, or have on their shelves to look a little more intellectual; in fact, it’s been on my own bookshelf for years before I finally picked it up this summer. Originally published in instalments in...
  • Forgotten Gems: The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

    When the Twilight series finally came to an end, and people started to grow tired of the vampire/werewolf fascination that took over young adult novels, a new genre in the YA market emerged as its successor: the dystopian novel. With so many new titles appearing on shelves over the...
  • Book Of The Month: November

    ‘I ate the end of my piece of cheese and took a swallow of wine. Through the other noise I heard a cough, then came the chuh-chuh-chuh-chuh – then there was a flash, as when a blast-furnace door is swung open, and a roar that started white and went...
  • Book of the Month: August

    ‘Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience.’ Page 265 TITLE: GO SET A WATCHMAN AUTHOR: HARPER LEE GENRE: YA FICTION PUBLISHER: HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHED: JULY 2015 PAGES: 278   With To Kill A Mockingbird being a much loved classic all over the world, the announcement of...