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Book Haul Highlights // Autumn Edition

Posted on December 16, 2018December 14, 2018 by Ashleigh

title image - blurry photo of books as background with a white banner across the middle saying book haul highlights

Yes, Autumn has passed but I’m late and didn’t want to miss out this blog post, so here we are.

A few weeks ago I uploaded an Autumn Book Haul to my youtube channel, and while I didn’t want to repeat content on here, I still wanted to show you folks some of the books I’m excited about. So I thought I’d bring back the book haul highlights, where I show you a few of the books I’m most excited about from the haul!

If you’d like to watch the full video it will be at the end of this post, but if you want to hear about some of the books I’ve acquired lately and am most excited for, here we are!

Where am I at? | A look on my 2018 goals so far

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Ashleigh

Photo of me smiling, looking off to the left

So we’re halfway through the year, eh? It took me way too long to realise this, though while it seems to have surprised most people, it sounds about right to me. So much has happened and changed since the beginning of the year that I couldn’t even predict, so the months seem like a full year to me already.

That being said, 6 months ago I unintentionally made myself some goals for this year. By now they’re usually long forgotten, brushed into the attic of my mind only to be tentatively brought out again next year with a guilt shrug of “I tried” when we all know I really, really didn’t. And as I said before when so much has already changed this year…well, I’m intrigued to see how things have gone. So let’s have a little look.

Continue reading Where am I at? | A look on my 2018 goals so far

The basics of my college life (that’s English college, by the way)

Posted on July 16, 2017January 5, 2018 by Ashleigh

college

Hi everyone!

If you saw last week’s babble, you’ll know that I’m making a few changes to this blog, the main one being I post more “personal” blog posts alongside the bookish ones. Well, here’s the first.

When mentioning college or university, I always feel like I have to explain why I’m a year older than I “ought” to be – why I stayed behind a year. The English education system pretty much sets your path out for you – GCSE’s → A Levels → University – and it seems odd when people start straying off and doing their own thing. With my mentioning of so many subjects on social media, it’s just a whole mash of confusion I feel I ought to clear up. And so, here we are.

This is going to be quite a babble, I’ll warn you of that right now. I’ll condense it as much as I can, but I’ll be explaining how I did A Levels and BTEC, comparing the two, and also writing a bit on how I still struggle to come to terms with the stigma and having to give up A Levels. So it might take a while. But, if you’re interested…here’s the basics!

Continue reading The basics of my college life (that’s English college, by the way)

Seeing how music played a big part in the war, with all the consequences too…Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson

Posted on March 22, 2017March 22, 2017 by Ashleigh

Symphony for the city of the dead

So here’s a book I’d never heard anyone talk about before, but when Walker Books offer to send one my way – while it took me a while to decide – I gave it a chance.

I wasn’t sure how it would go, since I’m only just getting into nonfiction and this is over 400 pages, which will have been double the size of my longest nonfiction read so far. But I love learning about history, and so here we are today.

spoiler-free

Let’s dive into Symphony for the city of the dead!

Symphony for the City of the Dead

Title: Symphony for the city of the dead

Author: M.T. Anderson

Publisher: Walker Books

Series Status: Standalone

Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography

Number of Pages: 456

Continue reading Seeing how music played a big part in the war, with all the consequences too…Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson

Delving into nonfiction to find out what actually happened all those years ago | Hiroshima by John Hersey

Posted on February 15, 2017February 13, 2017 by Ashleigh

hiroshima

My first, proper nonfiction book of this year. And hopefully not my last.

I didn’t know how this was going to go. I don’t read nonfiction – why would I do that when I can read about magic and faeries and dragons in fantasy books? Buuuuut my love for history is gently drawing me into nonfiction, so here we are today.

spoiler-free

Let’s dive into Hiroshima!

hiroshima

Title: Hiroshima

Author: John Hersey

Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics

Series Status: Standalone

Genre: Nonfiction, History

Number of Pages: 208

Continue reading Delving into nonfiction to find out what actually happened all those years ago | Hiroshima by John Hersey

Sitting down and listening to the woeful tale of World War II…The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Ashleigh

the-complete-maus

Well this was meant to go up Wednesday. But things happened, and it meant this review had to be delayed slightly, since I had no time to write it. But never fear, it’s here now.

Of course I read this graphic memoir in January. I’ve been after it for months, and after finally getting it for Christmas, I wanted to read it as soon as possible. I would have read it immediately, but I wanted it to count towards my 2017 Goodreads challenge, not my 2016 one. Anyone else get that towards the end of a year?

Let’s dive into The Complete Maus!

maus

Title: The Complete Maus

Author: Art Spiegelman

Publisher: Penguin

Series Status: A bindup of volumes 1 & 2 of Maus

Genre: Nonfiction, Graphic Memoir, History

Number of Pages: 296

Continue reading Sitting down and listening to the woeful tale of World War II…The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

June Wrap Up

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Ashleigh

Did June even happen?

Apparently so.

It still hasn’t sunk in that here in England, it’s actually Summer now – not that the weather has done anything to help remind me. So all those books I’ve held off “until Summer when I have more time”…well, now’s the time.

Anyway, it’s the start of July, meaning a June Wrap-Up is needed. So here we are!

As always, this will be a long post so get comfy and enjoy!

I call this photo “The one in which I nearly give myself concussion trying to balance 9 books on my head”. Bit of a mouthful, but true.

Continue reading June Wrap Up

The Diary Of A Young Girl By Anne Frank – A Heavy Heart For 1945

Posted on June 20, 2016June 20, 2016 by Ashleigh

*All reviews I write are spoiler free*

This book goes against everything I’ve known as a reader.

A bit dramatic, yes. But let me explain.

Every single time I’ve tried reading non-fiction, I’ve never been able to finish the book. I just couldn’t get into non-fiction. I mean, it’s even in the blog name. A frolic through fiction. No mention of non-fiction here, no thank you.

Until now.

Because I discovered the diary of Anne Frank, and finally…finally I found a non-fiction book I actually enjoyed.

So let’s talk about The Diary of a Young Girl!

Title: The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition

Author: Anne Frank – edited by Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler

Publisher: Viking [Penguin Books Ltd]

Genre: Non Fiction, Historical, Classic

Series status: Standalone

Number of pages: 339

Continue reading The Diary Of A Young Girl By Anne Frank – A Heavy Heart For 1945

Paper Boats By Erndell Scott | This Is How Historical Fiction Should Be Done

Posted on June 17, 2016June 17, 2016 by Ashleigh

*All reviews I write are spoiler free*

This book came along to me at just the right time.

I’d just finished reading Anne Frank’s diary (review coming on Monday). I was in the mood for historical fiction. And then lo-and-behold, this book turned up for me to review.

How lucky is that? 😀