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Emma | Tea in the Library

@teainthelibrary

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let’s read sad, mystical, weird, diverse literature 💖
reading goal: 20/50📚
books are my only healthy hobby 🏳️‍🌈🇮🇲

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autumn curriculum project well underway!

already loving the bell jar, which does not surprise me 💖

my current method for note-taking is underlining key quotes in pencil, marking that page with a tag, and then writing my thoughts about each chapter in my tiny notepad so I put them all together when I’m reading to start essay planning.

feeling very studious 👩‍🎓 taken in Isle of Man by @teainthelibrary

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4 days ago

five books I regret not reading yet 📚

1. The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
2. Private Rites by Julia Armfield
3. Stag Dance Party by Torres Peters
4. Henry Henry by Allen Bratton
5. Wildcat Dome by Yoko Tsushima

There are so many good books just sat on my TBR shelf that I’ve not picked up yet - I don’t even want to mention all of the amazing books just lingering on my kindle. by @teainthelibrary

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12 days ago

reasons to follow or unfollow me ✨

I’m very ordinary, I work an office job, I fit reading into a hectic schedule and have low, realistic reading goals that I very rarely hit. 🎯

I’m kinda judgemental so I only recommend books if I genuinely liked them. This gal ain’t gonna waste your time. I haven’t DNF’d many books this year but there’s some I’ve taken ages to read because they haven’t grabbed me like I expected.

I haven’t ordered a physical book from Amazon in over 2 years. Turns out, it’s quite easy for me to shop or borrow locally, which I’m lucky for. My closest book shop is a five minute walk and they can order anything I want in! 💕

I hate big books. If it takes longer than 350 pages, I’ll probably check out unless the plot is stellar.

Long fantasy series are a no for me. I can’t committ to a 7+ book series anymore (unless it’s comics or manga). I also got to a point as an adult where I found a lot of fantasy a teensy bit formulaic and that became a little boring because the plots never surprised me. Teen Emma loved a fantasy series though 😂

I only read romance if it’s absolutely devastating or smutty nonsense. There is no in-between. taken in Isle of Man by @teainthelibrary

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16 days ago

although I welcome back my neglected jumper collection into regular wardrobe rotation, I’m going to miss summer sunshine bouncing off the offensively yellow walls of my living room ☀️ taken in Isle of Man by @teainthelibrary

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18 days ago

five books to grab if you want to read more classics

1. Tess of the D’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
2. Ghost Stories by M. R. James
3. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
4. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
5. A Room of One’s Own & Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf (2 for 1) 😉

I think these are all great novels to pick up if you want to get started with more classics. From memory loss and extramarital affairs, to anxiety curses and a women’s creativity. 💖 by @teainthelibrary

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20 days ago

“Did she fancy exploiting herself for pennies per word, grinding out culture war fodder and outrage bait with zero scope for flair or individuality? As a freelancer, mind you. Cheap, commodity labour, temporarily serving the algorithm that would one day replace her entirely.”

I’ve seen mixed reviews of Universality by Natasha Brown. I feel the negative reviews betray a lack of comprehension of what the novel is. They show an inability to read between the lines of a novel pitched as a crime thriller but in reality, is a very clever critique of journalism, class warfare, and dangerous political ideologies.

Brown offers three perspectives on the aftermath of one piece of journalism about a violent crime: one from the reporter, one from the victim, and one from the person seemingly orchestrating the press for their own personal gain. It does a brilliant job of showcasing how news outlets, articles and content aren’t allowed to be only factual and unbiased in today’s culture.

Universality begs the question: why do we so often treat news media as an arbiter of truth? When the industry relies so heavily on the labour of an insecure workforce who must capitalise on sensationalism and carefully curated political outrage to secure their own financial stability and to leverage it into a career. Brown highlights that everything we consume is created by another human with their own intentions and heavily biased perspectives, often only to benefit themselves. It’s cynical and bleak but I think that’s the point. taken in Isle of Man by @teainthelibrary

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22 days ago

Ok, I’m officially sharing a short term writing project with the internet in an attempt to be held accountable.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the critical analysis skill I developed through my English Lit degree. It can sometimes make reading feel a bit like homework and it can make me VERY critical of books that weren’t written to be the next literary sensation, but more for entertainment and the simple joy of reading.

However, in the last year, I’ve noticed it’s getting much harder for me to read critically. It’s scary for me that I’m struggling to form an opinion past “I liked this” and “I didn’t like this”. I could chalk it up to burnout, brain rot, imposter syndrome but I think those reasons are disingenuous. I think I just got a bit lazy with maintaining my own abilities.

So, I’m setting myself an Autumn Curriculum. The goal by the end is to have fully fleshed out critical essay dissecting this topic…

A women’s agency and how it imprints on a space or setting in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman.

I have some supporting material from the illustrious bell hooks and I’m actually looking forward to sinking my teeth into this project. I’ll be posting regular updates on my Substack along with study notes (ya know, if you’re interested🥺).

Will I write an essay that meets rigorous academic standards? Lol, probably not but I think the whole point of an Autumn Curriculum is to create something you’re excited to work in as we’re forced back inside by the rain ☔️ taken in Isle of Man by @teainthelibrary

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24 days ago

“Head swimming with murderous rages again. Must keep away from people during this period as it is almost uncontrollable - never known where it will light.” Dawn Powell, 1935.

Work has kind of kicked my butt this week with tight deadlines and multiple events looming. It has caused some personal projects to be paused (briefly) which is frustrating but I’m sure I will find time this weekend to catch up with myself.

In the meantime, I pulled some of my hardbacks down for dusting and found this section from Dawn Powell in Sarah Gristwood’s Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries, which was a present from last year. It really catches my vibe today 😂 taken in Isle of Man by @teainthelibrary

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25 days ago

2026 is my year of reading Italian translated works. As an adult reader, I’ve really enjoyed reading translated novels and short stories because I find every culture and language has a unique tone to it - sentences structured differently, characters having completely different reactions than I would expect, conversations that are imbued with shared history and customs that I don’t know much about. There’s so much to surprise me and so much more that widens my perspective, deepens my empathy.

Family and Borghesia by Natalie Ginzburg are no-nonsense, analytical portrayals of complex family dynamics and communities who hold each together with a fine, unspoken resentment. Ginzburg’s narrator has no judgement of their own: they simply describe the kindnesses and harm the characters commit towards each other, they show the reactions and fallout, and they allow the reader to decide what the lesson is - if there even is one.

I would say reading these two novellas felt like sitting at a big table with all the family and gossiping about the failures, mistakes, and bad behaviour of distant cousins the ‘main’ family doesn’t speak to often. Quiet and delicious and consuming, though you aren’t likely to remember every detail. by @teainthelibrary

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a month ago

I’ve seen a lot of love online for Elena Ferrante’s Neopolitan Quartet. I finally finished it earlier this year, during the many months I wasn’t posting. I first read My Brilliant Friend in my first year of university (almost a decade ago!) and I remember getting tingles, seeing so much of my own academic competition and anxieties reflected in Lenu. I didn’t know then that it was part of a complete quartet and I’m actually glad I didn’t read the rest of the series until I was a much wiser reader.

There was so much about her and Lila’s narrative that moved me: the inherent fear that there’s only so many spaces, there’s only so much success you can take for yourself before someone inevitably questions why you are there, in that space that seemed unreachable, and you lose your trajectory.

The dreadful understanding that they have to meet the expectations of the men around them to gain the life they want runs deeply throughout the later books. The bitter consequences when they fight against this are very visceral and as always, Ferrante’s writing has a way of calming you and setting your teeth on edge all at once. All of this set against massive class disparity, wealth inequality, and political revolution in facist Italy.

I will admit that the political aspect of the series was a little lost on me and almost paled in comparison to the shining jewel of the story that is the relationship between Lenu and Lila. I don’t think that I’m alone in this but if I were to ever re-read, I think I’d like to go in armed with more knowledge of the Italian Resistance movement.

I think this series will always be the first thing I recommend if someone is looking for literature that focuses on the complexities of girlhood, friendships between women, a woman’s agency, and what class movement actually looks like - what the unintended consequences are. by @teainthelibrary

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a month ago

Only 20% of people in the UK work what we would consider a “9-5, 36 hours a week” day job.

I think it’s ironic that there’s so many influencers that rave against the standard 9-5 when it’s not even the way the majority of people earn their money!

And the 9-5 has evolved so much - there’s a lot of days when I’m working 8-4 or 10-6 to fit in my actual life around work. Anyway, as a girl who personally really likes her normal job, working with normal people (a lot of whom have become good friends), I thought I would do my bit to stand against the con artists and entrepreneurs selling fake courses.

So, here’s all of the outfits I wore to work and all the reading I did in between 💖

the new twenty one pilots live concert album from Mexico was my jam - I saw them live in May and it was such a bucket list moment from me that I crave any chance to relive it 🎶

started a new read! I always have at least two books on the go 🩵

Fun fact: I haven’t owned a TV in like, 2.5 years so my life changed a little this week when I got one installed. It’s mostly to re-watch K-POP Demon Hunters and play Stardew on the big screen 🐓

Spent the evening with my partner so not a lot of reading done 💖

I was feeling dreadful but luckily, had no meetings. Worked from home with my headphones on, listening to RedHanded till it was time to log off. I know true crime has a bit of an ethical question mark next to it atm but these two ladies are a comfort listen for me 😊 taken in Isle of Man by @teainthelibrary

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a month ago

The Expanded Earth by Mikey Please
Book 1
What if the Earth knows about all of the harm we’ve done?

What if, for its own recovery, for its own survival, our place at the top of the food chain is revoked?

We’ve seen versions of this question asked and answered in literature before. An Expanded Earth is a very literal interpretation, where ordinary people experience the retribution we deserve as a collective.

I didn’t realise this was Book 1 in a series until I was halfway through and frankly… not a lot had happened. This novel does a lot of work to really establish the new world order its characters have found themselves in. It’s really good as a foundation for the rest of series, although I personally didn’t build much of a rapport for a lot of characters until the last 50 pages, where we get the best, emotionally inspiring and engaging writing of the story. It’s such an interesting balance between characters re-establishing their sense of selves and a complete change in reality, I do think Please is a very talented writer.

However, I’m not sure I have a NEED to read the second book. I would be interested to eventually but I can’t say the first book has left me with a passion to find out what happens.

I think if you are on deep dive with literature about the environment or you love a “mad” scientist or if tragic, ironic plot twists really do it for you, this one would a good pick up. Like, a good holiday read, ya know. But a tiny middle of the road for me, personally. by @teainthelibrary

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a month ago