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riversofprose

@riversofprose

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Belfast ๐Ÿ—
PhD ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐ŸŽ“On a journey to write my first novelโœ’๏ธ
Featuring the novels inspiring me!
Powered by music, coffee & self-doubt ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ
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Hey ๐Ÿ‘‹ So, what is this page? Well, itโ€™s a little writer/bookstagram hybrid. This is a biggie for me. In 2021, I had the idea for a book that despite being riddled with self doubt has never left me. Since then, Iโ€™ve finished a PhD, grappled with Who I Am.mp3 (go stream, itโ€™s a Melanie C banger), and finally reached a point where Iโ€™m ready to start. Alongside my battles with Scrivener and imposter syndrome, Iโ€™ve become an avid reader again. I always loved books as a teen, but over the last few years Iโ€™ve completely fallen back in love with reading. Itโ€™s this love of books, and some of the incredible new voices Iโ€™ve discovered, thatโ€™s propelling me forward. Iโ€™ll be reviewing some of them here too ๐Ÿ“š So hereโ€™s an introductory photo dump featuring me, my photography, my cat Troye, my love of sunsets and autumn, pumpkin spice (the 6th Spice Girl, me!), my silly little mental health gym sessions, and my favourite city, London. Love, Philip (aspiring author) x #bookstagram #writingcommunity #aspiringauthor #writersofinstagram #readersofinstagram taken in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK by @riversofprose
9
5 months ago
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Since it's National Book Lovers Day! As you can see, I will read anything, especially the classics! Many reading personalities, some of which overlap. Fantasy is a developing one and I forsee Irish mythology and folklore becoming it's own thing in the near future ๐Ÿ˜Œ #nationalbookloversday #bookloversday #gaybookstagram #queerbooks #lgbtqreads taken in Belfast by @riversofprose
10
2 months ago
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๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€โšง๏ธ๐ŸŒˆPride month stack ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐ŸŒˆ I realised that I hadn't actually done a pride month book stack, so here's not one but TWO! One adult, one YA, 10 books each, 2 sore arms. Most I've read, some I haven't. Some all-time favourites. A lot of my favourite adult books like The Charm Offensive & For The Fans I haven't actually got copies of. I listened to those. I'll need to rectify that. I left a few favourites off the stack as I feature them a lot (Evenings & Weekends, Fruitly, every Adam Slivera book๐Ÿคฃ). Confession... one of these books has been on my TBR for FOUR YEARS ๐Ÿซ ๐Ÿซฃ Spot any faves? Oh, and Troye says hi. #pridemonth #bookstack #adamsilvera #bookrecs #lgbtqreads taken in Belfast by @riversofprose
22
4 months ago
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Incidents Around the House โ€“ Josh Malerman ๐Ÿคฑ๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ  It's very hyped, but it's October, and I gave in. It's been on my list long enough. ๐ŸŽƒ The hype is deserved, FYI โœŒ๏ธ Other mommy โ€“ diva, kinda cvnty ๐Ÿ’… I started this on the bus home from a Pussycat Dolls gig in Dublin where Lil' Kim was supporting. This book was the second most disturbing thing I'd experienced that evening. ๐Ÿ’€ The way it's written really worked for me. It added to the unsettling feeling, and being told through the eyes of a child made this a genuinely scary book. It absolutely delivers on the horror front. It's not until the penultimate chapter that it stopped working quite as well for me. The ending fell a little short because Bela's perspective made it difficult for me to fully grasp what was happening. I struggled to follow it at times, and I can't help feeling that a different POV might have worked better for the ending (I know that's not possible!). That said, the ending was brave. It went against the grain, and I commend that! Overall, I loved this. It was a genuinely unsettling, fun and spooky read, and I'm glad I saved it for October. Four stars from me! ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐ŸŽƒ I'm looking forward to seeing Other Mommy in the cinema now! *photos taken by me at a spooky house I stayed in in 2024, near the Dark Hedges on the North Coast of Ireland ๐Ÿ‘ป #incidentsaroundthehouse #othermommy #bookreview #horrorbook #octoberreads taken in The Dark Hedges by @riversofprose
9
16 hours ago
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"How do you calculate the cost of a life not lived? How do we begin to remember history like that, when it has not yet come to a conclusive end?" I saw this in Waterstones and wanted it so badly. I was then gifted it by one of my lovely bookstagram friends - @whatcharlottereadnext ๐Ÿงก! This is a period of Irish history that I have wanted to educate myself on. A period of Irish history that was never taught or talked about - both the Magdalene Laundries and the Mother and Baby Homes. They are not one and the same. The terms of reference, including the term "fallen" and the contested spelling of "Magdalene" are explicitly laid out from the beginning. The book is meticulously researched, grounded in the voices of those with lived experience. Both those who worked on commissioned reports and the nun's are held to account in a way that is fair. The critiques are nuanced yet razor-sharp. It is insane to think that the last of these institutions closed in 1996 and there are still people living with the trauma either in our community or behind convent walls. The book is written in a way that is accessible to everyone and avoids heavy academic writing, without sacrificing depth. Louise has expertly woven around a century of complex Irish history into a compelling, easy to follow narrative. The contextual information for those unfamiliar helps to ground the women's stories featured here in reality. In a way that provides the reader with an understanding of not just how their lives became institutionalised but why. As the book entered its penultimate chapter, there were tears rolling down my face, particularly when presented with the statistics. Women who were simply deemed to be an inconvenience and disappeared. It's barbaric - 75 death certificates, 155 bodies in a mass grave in one institution, in our lifetimes. Louise does not sensationalise the facts, they are simply stated. The weight of them is more than enough. [Continued in comments] #bookreview #bookrecs #magdalenelaundry #magdalenelaundries #irishhistory taken in Belfast by @riversofprose
5
2 days ago
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AD | PR | GIFTED @aardvarkbookclubuk is here!! After launching in the US in October 2022. My first box has made its way to Belfast ๐Ÿ˜ You can find out more information here - https://www.aardvarkbookclub.co.uk/ They also have an app! There's lots of FAQs and help on the website so that you can make an informed decision. The books are always pretty hardbacks and titles that are getting hype / deserve more hype across a range of genres. There's something for everyone. The rollout for the next box is always a fun tease! Once revealed, you can choose which one (or more) that you want! Code LAUNCH gets you your first box for ยฃ8.99 and free postage. It's normally ยฃ13.99 and free postage. You can choose an additional book for ยฃ8.99 too. To demonstrate - Exit Party was ยฃ19 RRP plus postage, depending on where you buy. You can get it this month for ยฃ8.99!! Isn't it just as well I didn't buy it last week?! If you get a friend to sign up, you also get a free credit ๐Ÿ“š Beyond delighted to have received the new @tananarivedue novel too when I'm just about to start The Reformatory!! A really lovely surprise. #aardvarkbookclub #aardvark #bookclub #bookbox #bookmail taken in Belfast by @riversofprose
4
4 days ago
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Prestige Drama - Seฬamas O'Reilly ๐Ÿงฑ @seamasoreilly1 "They say talk is cheap, but from where I'm standing, it's pretty fucking lucrative." This is a complicated one to review because I wanted to love it more than I did. It's very good but I was hoping for a new instant favourite. Audio was definitely the right medium. The dialogue is where this book really shines, and the narrators bring it to life. It feels authentically Derry. I was delighted when Aunt Sarah from Derry Girls started narrating. There was another narrator who also sounded so much like Uncle Colm that I had to check whether it was him (it wasn't, unfortunately). The chapter narrated by Eleanor Methven was a particular standout. A grieving mother still in agony after almost 50 years. She's as angry and filled with venom as she is heartbroken. Her delivery of this chapter was nothing short of stellar. There are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments and my notes app is full of quotes that had me cackling. At the same time, I can see why readers who aren't local might struggle with this. I've seen people refer to it as a writing style, but to me, it isn't a style at all. It is authentic to people speak: "She hasn't a feature. I said to Paul that Kylie'd have better luck as a crash test dummy, and we'd a good laugh at that, god forgive us. But then I told him,'Don't you be saying that to Patricia, either.' For the love of Jesus, we'd never hear the end of it." "Pulled it out of his arse in front of her." "Snotting into a bog roll." Where the book didn't quite grip me was the mystery of Monica Logue, herself. I wasn't especially invested in it. It felt like an arc that existed primarily to tie a collection of short stories, observations, and anecdotes. Maybe that's intentional, though. Monica is an outsider from America. She's someone brought in to learn an accent and play a part at the expense of giving someone from Derry an opportunity. "They'll probably get wee English girls in and make them do accents like they always do." [Continued in comments] #Derry #irishwriters #Irishfiction #bookrecs #bookreview taken in Derry/Londonderry by @riversofprose
1
5 days ago
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Look, I'm not delusional (that's funny, tell another one). I know I can't get through all these before Halloween. That said, there's more chance of hell freezing over than me reading a Christmas book, so that gives me extra time ๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ‚ The idea here is to follow The Fallen (my CR) with Belonging because they deal with the true horrors of Irish society - institutional abuse, sanctioned by the state. I have my book of Irish Ghost Stories that I got in Galway ๐Ÿ‘ป We're in our folklore / mythology era. Speaking of Folkore. We all know Dr Taylor Alison Swift invented autumn, so The God of the Woods is here - as inspired by the Era's Tour documentary ๐Ÿ Cemetery Boys has been on my TBR for way too long. I think this has been on my shelf for like 4 or 5 years at this point ๐Ÿซ ๐Ÿ˜ณ The Reformatory & The Haunting of William Thorne are bookstagram-influenced, and I've been sitting on them for a few months, saving them to autumn ๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿฅฐ And then we have Stephen King. I mean, who better for spooky season? My friend recently bought me this copy of The Shining. I also have It on Audible. The 44-hour length has been putting me off starting it but maybe I finally will ๐Ÿซ ๐Ÿซฃ *subject to change despite my book buying ban. I have my eye on Solace House by Will Maclean ๐ŸงŸโ€โ™‚๏ธ #Octobertbr #bookstack #gaybookstagram #Octoberhopefuls #spookyseason taken in Belfast by @riversofprose
10
8 days ago
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The Boy - Mark Gyves Gifted | Ad | PR Thank you so much to @mrmarkgyveswriter for sending me a signed copy of his debut novel ๐Ÿ˜ I actually had this in my hands in Waterstones only last week and was so tempted to buy it, so I was delighted when it arrived! The premise immediately made me think of All Them Dogs and it's exciting to see another Irish gangland crime novel hitting the shelves. I'm even more intrigued knowing that one of the characters has connections to Belfast ๐Ÿ‘€ I really love that this account has become such a space for discovering and championing Irish authors ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช ๐Ÿ“– Blurb When the Guards knock on the door, The Boy already knows his mother is dead. His father flees to the pub, leaving him to wait alone. Soon his brother Fallon, half-protector and half-outlaw, draws him into a world where grief and crime are rarely separated. At the same time, a wealthy landowner harbours grotesque secrets in the countryside โ€“ a hidden "family" of abducted boys, a nightmare lurking beneath respectability. As The Boy moves through these fractured worlds โ€“ his father's guilt, his uncle's paramilitary past, his brother's violent death โ€“ he becomes both witness and inheritor of a brutal legacy. Honestly... if that's not a bit of me, I don't know what is ๐Ÿคฃ Review to follow, of course ๐Ÿ˜ #irishwriter #irishauthor #irishfiction #bookrecs #gifted taken in Belfast by @riversofprose
5
10 days ago
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September ๐Ÿงก I feel like I read so broadly this month. A real mix of genres and genre-bending books (Said The Dead). Irish heavy, as always ๐Ÿ€ Thanks to @grantreads for the pretty September templates because my graphic design skills leave a lot to be desired ๐Ÿฅฐ All Them Dogs ๐Ÿฅ‡๐Ÿ† #septemberwrapup #readingwrapup #readingwrapped #gaybookstagram #autumnbooks taken in Belfast by @riversofprose
4
11 days ago
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The Irish Goodbye - Heather Aimee O'Neill ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿฆƒ Thank you to Book Break by Pan Macmillan for gifting me this. I devoured it. The Irish Goodbye is a book that captured me by the title alone. How many times has Philip made an early exit from the club without saying goodbye? Honestly, I've lost count. It's also an integral part of my little corner of Bookstagram to prioritise Irish stories and authors whenever I can because, let's face it, the Irish know their way around a story. Cait, Maggie and Alice are three very different sisters (chalk and cheese springs to mind) and all come with their own complex lives. Each is given her chance to shine as family drama, secrets, grief and poor communication threaten to derail the first Thanksgiving dinner where they have all been together in many years. All of this unfolds in an idyllic coastal town (think Cousins from The Summer I Turned Pretty), complete with Snow on the Beach.mp3 (weird but fucking beautiful). There is so much to discuss and connect with here, ranging from a homophobic Catholic mother, a woman's right to choose what happens to her own body, caring for ageing parents and grief. It's the grief that I want to focus on in this review. Two quotes that perfectly capture why: 'Cait never understood why people lionized the dead. All their flaws vanished, and suddenly they emerged as an idealized version of themselves." "Maggie once asked if she ever sensed Topher's presence, and she said no because it was true, but the idea scared the hell out of her." I've had conversations about this many times over the years. People remember the dead differently. I love that others find comfort in feeling presences, seeing white feathers, robins and signs. But for me, I've never experienced any of that. I never feel the people I've lost and, if I'm honest, it scares the hell out of me. Until this book, I'd never really been able to put it into words. I want to believe, but I don't feel it. (Continuned in comments) #irishgoodbye #bookreview #irishfiction #bookreccomendation #panmacmillan *photos taken by me this week ๐Ÿฅฐ taken in Belfast by @riversofprose
5
12 days ago
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Two for Tuesday ๐Ÿ“š This week is 4 years since I met one of my childhood heroes for the second time in Dublin at a book signing for her memoir! I adore a memoir from my favourite artists and I had always hoped that we'd get one from @melaniecmusic I've been Team Sporty since I was 4 years old. She has recorded some of my favourite songs and albums ever both as a solo artist and with the Spice Girls. Seeing her have the success that she has had in 2026 with Sweat is everything to me and so deserved. It's success that albums like The Sea also deserved. It's been slowly building since 2019, and it's been so rewarding to see as a fan - The Renaissance of Melanie C ๐Ÿงก I always dreamed of having a Spice Girls doll when I was a kid. It was all I wanted from Santa. During the first lockdown in 2020, I finally got my hands on this one ๐Ÿฅน I cannot wait to see her again in Dublin next month. If you're a Spice Girls fan, definitely pick up this book ๐Ÿฅฐ It's like listening to an old friend share their story. It's funny, it's emotional and it's ICONIC. #melaniec #spicegirls #sportyspice #teamsporty #gaybookstagram taken in Dublin, Ireland by @riversofprose
3
13 days ago
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