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Georgia

@paperbacktraveller

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📍London
Slowly making my way around the world through books 85/197🌍

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I've been trying to read as many books from different countries for a few years now, so when I saw @my_literary_lens template I wanted to see how many I have already succeeded in.

I think I'm doing pretty well at the moment. The books with the plane next to are the ones I have read and the others are the ones I physically own but haven't gotten around to yet. I believe I had read just over 100 countries but I have definitely lost count and missed a few books.

I hope by the end of the year I have completed one full page and read at least one more from Oceania.

🙏Please send any suggestions of countries I haven't got and those I've already read. by @paperbacktraveller

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6 months ago

Be Near Me - Andrew O'Hagan

I absolutely love O'Hagans writing, and having been to a couple of his talks I also love the way he explains his writing process and how much he also loves writing. This is the 4th book of his I read, with three of those being fiction and I loved this one just as much as the others.

Be Near Me is set in a small Scottish parish after an English priest takes over. Being English in a Scottish town, not everyone is ready to accept him. He makes friends with two troubled local youths, Mark and Lisa, and then commences to clash with a world he doesn't even understand. The town seems to grow darker and less welcoming as each day passes, and before the summer is out his quiet life is the focus of the towns mass hysteria.

As I said I love O'Hagans writing and I loved this book. The way he writes is so captivating and makes you really feel like you know the characters. The only problem I have with this book is that now it's finished, I don't have any more of O'Hagans books on my shelf so I'll need to buy some more by @paperbacktraveller

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3 days ago

Nomadland - Jessica Bruder

I watched the film of this book years ago and absolutely loved it so picked up the book, which has now sat on my shelf for years.

Nomadland follows a number of RV dwellers, who mostly are workamps (people who drive to a spot for temporary mostly low paid work). We mainly follow Linda who is in her 60s and has been living this way for a number of years. Most of the people our author interacts with have had some hard luck, a divorce or job loss, which has meant that they cannot afford rent so chose to live in the van.

The book is such an interesting portrayal of this ever growing group of Americans who are essentially living a nomadic lifestyle. It examines their lives but also the difficulties working for huge companies (predominantly Amazon), who hire these older people to do labour intense jobs with very little support. I absolutely loved the book and felt I came away with such an appreciation for a different group in society. by @paperbacktraveller

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5 days ago

Elizabeth Finch - Julian Barnes

I read this book when I was down with a cold so I feel I didn't give it the best chance as I was struggling to concentrate, but it wasn't my favourite read.

Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, but to some she felt more like an inspiration or an icon. Her teaching was more niche and she guided her students to become thinkers. After she dies, her former student Neil is given her papers in her will and he unpacks her years of passion and ideas. One of which centres on J - Julian the Apostate, Elizabeth's historical soulmate.

As I said I struggled through this book. I'm going to put it down to illness but I don't think I'll be picking it up for a second read. by @paperbacktraveller

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7 days ago

Mild Vertigo - Mieko Kanai

This was definitely a slow paced mundane life kind of book. I do really like this book but only if I pick it up at the right time. Luckily I picked this up on a weekend and was able to lazily read through it.

Natsumi is a housewife who completes mundane housewife jobs. She's does the laundry, goes to the supermarket, visits friends and gossips with her neighbours. However, as we move through her conversations the interactions with her friends blend into her own monologue and she's unable to locate herself within her own home.

This was a beautifully written book but definitely one I can only read when I can read big chunks at a time. by @paperbacktraveller

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9 days ago

Disenchanted - Lucy Jane Wood

I've read a couple of Lucy Jane Woods books and I absolutely love the cosy witchy vibes they have and this one was no different.

Sage Hemlock has no interest in embracing her magic. Her magic has brought her nothing but heartache and she's not going to be so foolish again. Instead she runs the local museum and prefers the company of her library and cat, but mostly she's trying to fly under the radar of her former coven. But when a strange historical book triggers a fairy tale curse on her small town she must confront her magic to solve the mysteries of the book, and hopefully save everyone she loves. But can she learn to accept her magic along the way.

This is the perfect cosy season read, especially with Halloween round the corner.

Thanks @panmacmillan and @lucyjanewood for the advanced copy.

Ad PR Product by @paperbacktraveller

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13 days ago

🇩🇯Why Do You Dance When You Walk - Abdourahman A. Waberi

When Aden's 8 year old daughter asks him 'Papa, why do you dance when you walk?' one morning he is taken back. The question is so simple and innocent but the answer isn't simple. Aden then explains the reason moving between memories of his childhood: from his silent, mysterious mother and the shanty roods of his neighbourhood to the malicious attack that changed his life forever. His memories are anchored within Djibouti on the cusp of its independence

This was a really beautiful story with a complex family history and the history of freedom. A short read but such a beautiful one. taken in Djibouti by @paperbacktraveller

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15 days ago

Dr No - Percival Everett

I've read a couple of Everett's books and I think so far this was my least favourite. I still enjoyed it but it doesn't compare to the other 3 I have read.

Wala Kitu is a mathematics professor at Brown University, and he specializes in nothing. He's very content with nothing - studying it, having it and doing it. However, he research plans put him in the sites of wanna be villain Billion John Sill, who desires the deposits of nothing to reduce America to nothing.

It sounds a bit confusing as the premise is all based on nothing, and at times it was confusing. I did enjoy the spy like element and that it was mostly a silly book about nothing. It's worth a read but just not at the top of my pile of Everett's work. by @paperbacktraveller

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19 days ago

Board Games and Broomsticks - Selina Spellman

I got gifted this book at a lovely craft evening hosted by @bantambooksuk d @tandemcollectiveuk to celebrate the release of @saradaviescc new crafting book and the vibes of this book were just as cosy as the evening (post to come later when book is released)

Nyssa Hawthorne is head of the most powerful witch coven but she's burnt out and she can barely cast a spell without it causing chaos. After a spell goes badly wrong and almost hurts one of her friends, Nyssa retreats to her grandmothers lakeside cottage on the magical isle of Nighthaven (a place she's been avoiding for almost a decade).

However, after arriving Nyssa rediscovers her collection of magical boardgames and she creates a cafe where people can sip tea and play them. For the first time in years Nyssa feels settled and her magical spark is returning. But when an old enemy turns up on her doorstep everything she's built is threatened. With the help of her new friends she needs to try and save not just Nighthaven but the world.

I love a cosy witch story and this one was no different. It was easy to read and kept me hooked throughout. A perfect read as we edge towards Autumn.

Included in the photo are my little pumpkins which I spent the majority of the night making. I actually tried to make a bigger one and had to unwind when home as I ran out of wool. But these two small ones are super cute. by @paperbacktraveller

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24 days ago

Extraordinary Books 1st anniversary party

Earlier this week I was invited to the anniversary of @_extraordinarybooks_ first publication. This was a beautiful event in an extraordinary venue, some extraordinary food and drinks and some extraordinary conversations.

Extraordinary Books is an independent publisher who focuses on those books that don't fit into a category. Often the books are over two or more categories and therefore big publishers don't want to publish these incredible books.

This was a very different event to others I have attended, mostly filled with people who work within the publishing industry. I absolutely loved speaking to people all night, from authors to publishers, literary charity workers to marketing.

Thank you again to Extraordinary Books for the invite and to Claire for organising such a fantastic event. I've now got many books you are publishing over the next year on my radar. taken in Art Workers Guild by @paperbacktraveller

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a month ago

The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett

This is the second book from Bennett I've read, having read The Mother's a few years ago. I love the way she writes, she's really good at setting the scene and the surroundings but also the characters, including those who don't have the biggest role to play.

The Vignes twin sisters are identical. But after growing up in a small southern black community in America and running away at the age of 16 their adult lives couldn't be more different. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter after running back to the town she tried to escape to hide from an abusive husband. The other sister secretly passes for a white women, and even her husband doesn't know she isn't. She has raised her daughter to believe that she is white. They are still seperated by many miles but their daughters story lines intersect and our sisters realise you can't hide your real identify forever.

This book beautifully weaved together different generations and the times they lived. I thought it was such a unique story and one that really investigates a person's decisions and how someone's surroundings can make them want to move away from their origins. by @paperbacktraveller

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a month ago

The Pawn - Paco Cerdà

This was definitely not my normal kind of book, I bought it as a gift for my partner but since it's on the shelf I need to read it.

This is a historial sage that explores the early Cold War tensions and anxieties through the lens of a famous chess match. It's 1962 and we are in Stockholm, Spain's first grandmaster Arturito Pmar is facing American prodigy Bobby Fisher. The match will become a stuff of legends, but more for what it symbolises than how it ends. The book continues going between the decades and mainly between Spain, USA and the Soviet Union and examines the geopolitics that shape these mens lives.

As I said this isn't my normal kind of book but I did enjoy it. At times I thought it was a little bit slow but kept me engaged the whole way through. I also did enjoy how everything was posed through the eyes of chess players which gave it a unique point of view. by @paperbacktraveller

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a month ago