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If you’ve not read The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, then please go and get yourself a copy. It is the most delightful book.

The Summer Book is set on a very small island just off the Finnish mainland. Young Sophia is spending her summers there, at the tiny summer house, with her widower father and grandmother. Each chapter is a small vignette of life on the island, focussing on the touching relationship between Sophia and her grandmother.

Jansson based one third of the story on her niece Sophia, and Jansson’s mother. She wrote it not long after the death of her mother. Though called a work of fiction it’s clear from the afterward, by the real Sophia, that many of the chapters are based on real things that took place.

It’s a book that makes you feel warm and happy. I love how both Sophia and her grandmother are extremely strong willed. I keep recommending this to everyone!

#thesummerbook #tovejansson #bookstragramuk #translatedfiction #readers by @librarybirdbooks

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3 days ago

Last month as part of the @theupstartcrows2023 readalong of the complete works of Shakespeare we read Pericles which he co-wrote. There is a series of retellings of Shakespeare’s works by a range of famous authors and I’m trying to read those too. They have just been reprinted by Vintage with these fab cover designs.

The play starts with Pericles solving a riddle which reveals that a King is sexually abusing his daughter, due to this Pericles has to go on the run to escape the King. After that you don’t hear too much about the King or his daughter. This is where the retelling is very different.

In Haddon’s version, called The Porpoise, the story is set in more modern times and the King is now a wealthy businessman and his daughter is now the main heroine of the book. The journey is how she uses both her reality and imagination to escape the sexual abuse. Pericles’s story is retold, and we even see the original authors as she escapes into a world of stories.

I’ve now read 5 of these retellings and this has been my favourite, with Warm Bodies (Romeo and Juliet) being a close second. It’s such a shame that this retelling is for one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, but I suggest you get a copy of the play and then read this too. The play was a very nice easy one to read that the group enjoyed. The book then puts right the main fault with the play - that the abused daughter doesn’t have a satisfactory ending.

Have you read any of the Shakespeare Retold series? Which is your favourite?

#pericles #theporpoise #markhaddon #theupstartcrowsreadalong #vintagepenguin by @librarybirdbooks

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12 days ago

Hello everyone, this is my first post since February. It’s been a busy work year, first of all prepping for lots of talks, and then reading and revising for my leadership and management course. All of that is now completed and I feel like I finally have the time and energy for Booksta again.

These are the books I’ve planned for reading in July:
* Butter by Asako Yuzuki - I just finished this and what a book! I can see why it has been all over Booksta.
* The Porpoise by Mark Haddon - I’m half way through and this is one of the best of the Shakespeare Retold series that I’ve read.
* Coriolanus by William Shakespeare - this month’s play for the @theupstartcrows2023 readalong. Doing this readalong was the only booksta thing I’ve been doing this year - thanks to the gang for keeping me going.
* The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor - a purchase influenced by reading the Richard II and Henry IV Shakespeare plays. I’ve read and seen the plays now is time for some non-fiction about them.
* The Pretender by Jo Harkin - because I can’t resist a bit of historical fiction.
* The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - by complete chance a friend gave me this a week after I’d just purchased the Winter Book. Perfect timing.

How have you been this year, any standout books that I should be getting? #bookstagrammer #bookstagramuk #historicalfiction #julyreads #newbook by @librarybirdbooks

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14 days ago

If you’ve not got a copy of The Librarians of Rue de Picardie by Janet Skeslien Charles then you need to go and buy a copy. I purchased this just before Christmas as I’d really enjoyed her last novel The Paris Library.

This novel is based on the true story of an American librarian, Jessie Carson, who went to work for the American Committee for Devastated France during the First World War. The Committee was a band of women from America and the Commonwealth who left their often privileged lives to aid families in France who lived not far from the front line. Their villages had been devastated under German occupation and the Committee tried to help them rebuild their lives whilst fighting was still not far away. Carson has arrived to develop a library service for the children as a way to help them escape the horrors of war.

I’d never heard of this group of women before and they were so heroic that some received the Croix de Guerre medal for courage under fire. The author spent 10 years researching the history of the Committee and the real life women that worked as part of it. It’s clear that for some society life had its own restrictions and they found freedom to be their true selves whilst working in France.

It’s a wonderful piece of fictionalisation of women’s history and I really enjoyed reading it as you come to love all of the characters.

#thelibrariansofruedepicardie #janetskesliencharles
#bookstagrammer #bookrecommendations #bookstagrammeruk by @librarybirdbooks

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5 months ago

I’ve been eagerly anticipating the final part of the Book of Dust series for several years. The Rose Field starts straight on from where The Secret Commonwealth ends.

It was mostly an enjoyable read and I really liked the part about how its easy to stop caring about our inner selves (our own deamons) and to become caught up in silly goals such as making more money. That our inner selves need attention and time, which can be hard in a fast paced world where no value is put on this. Without this we slowly die without even realising it. This really hit home at a time when I really needed it.

I found the end a bit disappointing, I think it’s partly because I had a really good idea for the ending and I hoped that’s where the story was leading us, but it didn’t. I thought that Pullman really left the ending open enough for future stories with some of the characters from this universe.

We also find out a secret about a character that just didn’t fit with everything that we already know about them and I just find that really frustrating.

If you’ve read it what did you think? Do you think this really is the end?

#therosefield #philippullman #readersofbookstagram #thebookofdust #bookstagrammeruk by @librarybirdbooks

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5 months ago

I purchased Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng back in 2022, I got it cheap because the dust cover was missing and I soon forgot what it was supposed to be about. As part of reading my tbr I picked it out and was not expecting dystopian fiction to rival an Atwood novel.

It’s set in America and a new law has been passed to protect American ideals away from Chinese influence. The law soon becomes a way for the government to remove children away from parents who challenge it. Racism and hate crimes grow.

Bird and Sadie are two school friends who have both been impacted. Sadie was removed from her parents and she is desperate to get back to them whilst Bird is instructed, by his father, to never mention his poet mother who they now disown to the authorities. But then she sends Bird a letter which triggers his search for her.

It’s a reminder that throughout history children have been removed from their parents by governments upon a pretence of protecting the interests of the child. It’s also a reminder that we need to be people that are upstanders and not bystanders when we see things that are not right. With everything that has been happing in the US recently it feels like a timely novel.

I’m glad I picked it up to read and I’d recommend it to anyone. I gobbled it up.

#ourmissinghearts #celesteng #tbr #bookrecommendations #bookstagramuk by @librarybirdbooks

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6 months ago

How was your first reading month of the year? Did any favourites stand out? Mine had a Tudor theme with three of the books featuring Tudors.

10/10
Little Women by Louise May Alcott - a childhood favourite which didn’t disappoint upon reading it as an adult. There is plenty of good advice in there for all ages.

King Richard III by William Shakespeare- I’ve been looking forward to getting to this history play. Lots of great speeches from female characters and I couldn’t help but like Richard.

9/10
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fannone Jeffers - a very hard read which made me almost DNF it, but very readable and a great work of literature.

The Boleyn Traitor by Phillipa Gregory - I always really enjoy Gregory’s historical fiction but this was also a very timely book of the risks we take when we appease powerful men.

8/10
The Secret Life of the Marshes by Jessie Leckie Herbertson - a page turning ya story which was a nice comfort read after Love Songs.

Softly As I Leave You by Priscilla Presley - I listened to this and it was narrated by the author. A fascinating insight into her life.

7/10
Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld - a funny book of book related cartoons, though more about writers than librarians.

6/10
The Tudor Deception by Scott Mariani - it has a Richard III storyline, but this thriller, set in modern times, wasn’t plausible enough for me. #booksbooksbooks #bookreviews #tudor #bookstagrammer #bookstagramuk by @librarybirdbooks

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6 months ago

I have such mixed feelings about The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. I’d seen so many excellent reviews for it, on here, that I asked for a copy for Christmas.

The story follows Ailey’s family who mainly live in a small town in Georgia. We go back and forwards in the timeline from the indigenous people of the land through to Obama being a Senator. I knew that a book that covered such an expansive period of history and would deal with stories of Ailey’s family members being enslaved would at times be tough to read and deal with some very hard subjects. What I had not expected was the amount of child sexual abuse that would occur even in the more modern parts of the story. I almost DNFd at one point due to this.

I’m glad I didn’t as the writing is excellent and I flew through the final 200 pages. I wish one story line of the book, had been removed and used as a basis for another novel. Apart from that story line I found the book hard to put down and it made me look up recipes for sweet potato pie.

It’s a fantastic book, but I would recommend considering what you may find triggering before reading it.

#bookstagram #bookstagrammeruk #literaryfiction #bookreview #readersofinstagram by @librarybirdbooks

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6 months ago

I’ve read quite a few of Rushdie’s books over the years and they’ve always been very well written but I’ve never loved them. Good solid 8/10 books, but because they are by Rushdie that has always left me a bit disappointed.

The Eleventh Hour (ad pr product), which is a collection of five short stories, was to be a very pleasant surprise and I’ve given it a solid 10/10! All of the stories focus on the eleventh hour of life. I think Rushdie having recently faced his own mortality has given him some real insight into this topic, and as someone who has had to seriously consider their own mortality, I found it had a real truth to it.

The stories are varied, from a couple of grumpy old men to a genius female pianist, ending with language personified. The stories are brilliantly written and also make you think which is a prefect combination. They are about life and death and they are also about the current world. They reminded me a bit of The Tales of the Unexpected. Can short story collections be Booker Prize nominated? If yes, then I really hope this makes the longlist as it would be a very worthy contender and it deserves that wider readership and recognition that these nominations bring with them. #salmanrushdie #theeleventhhour #vintageinfluencer #bookerprize #bookstagram by @librarybirdbooks

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7 months ago

I first read Little Women when I was about 12 and instantly fell in love with this group of sisters. When a few years ago a good friend said that I was similar to Jo I thought it was jolly nice of them. Who doesn’t want to be like that young woman who would passionately do anything for those she cared for most?

As this is one of my ‘this is my lore’ books I really wanted a nice edition of it, so last year when the Folio Society had their January sale on I plumped for this copy. It has some very nice illustrations, the only downside is that some don’t feature next to the correct part of the story.

I saved it to read over Christmas and I’ve just throughly enjoyed being in this world of the March family again. Yes, of course I ugly cried but I did appreciate much of Marmee’s advice. It’s such a nice wholesome story, maybe we need more books like this.

#littlewomen #thisismylore #bookstagram #jomarch #bookstagrammeruk by @librarybirdbooks

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7 months ago

Let’s talk TBRs. In 2020 I had room on my bookshelves for all of the books I owned. Then the craziness of Bookstagram started!

At the start of 2024 I realised that there really could be ‘too many books’. Since 2020 I’d purchased an additional bookshelf and a book trolley. All my shelves were doubled up with books and now piles of books were growing from the floor. I decided to try and reduce it by 12 books across the year. This didn’t seem like a big challenge, but it was and I increased my TBR by 28 books.

Tracking the books in and read did help, and it would have been far more than 28 if I’d not done that. Rather than giving up I tried again in 2025 but with a few changes. I had to decrease every month rather than across the year. Any books that I purchased I had to read within 2 months of owning it. I wouldn’t read the complete Booker longlist, and as the issue was with physical books I’d try and only read those and ebooks would have to wait - no more Netgalleys!

It’s been a massive improvement and I’ve decreased my tbr by 23 books across the year. I’m aiming to do even better in 2026! One day my shelves will be tidy again. #booksbooksbooks #tbr #bookstagram #bookstagrammeruk #bookshelf by @librarybirdbooks

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7 months ago

I’ve really enjoyed seeing everyone’s posts of their favourite reads of 2025. I score all my reads out of 30. Ten points each for originality, writing and enjoyment.

These are the nine books that scored 29 or 30 points. Those marked with an * were kindly sent to by the publishers (ad pd products).

* The Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (30) - a gem that I’ve seen on a lots of people’s lists.
* The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan (29) - I just love his books!
* The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (29) - I loved the first two books in this series but wasn’t so keen on the final two.
* Amity by Nathan Harris* (30) - I’ve just not seen enough people reading this book - get it!
* A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (29) - just a joy to read.
* Septology by Jon Fosse (30) - slow and meditative with a perfect ending.
* The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgaard* (30) - the best in this series so far, very dark. It’s the one book each year that I pray the publishers will send me.
* The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie* (29) - for me this short story collection was his best work yet.
Do we match on any of our favourite reads?

#bookstagram #bookstagrammeruk #bookrecommendations #2025books #topbooks by @librarybirdbooks

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7 months ago