The book eating girl

  “I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose.”  Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar   The orchard is quiet in the early morning. The grass is damp beneath the soles of my shoes. Sunlight filters through gnarled branches, dappling the ground with alternating patches of light and dark. The air is thick with the sweet, earthy, and almost cloying scent of ripening fruit. Bees hover lazily over blossoms, and the occasional fig, heavy and dark, drops to the soil with a soft thud. The trees hold on to the ones that are sharp and green, loosen their grip on others that are blushed and ready, and let go of the rest. I walk slowly, admiring each one suspended in its own state of becoming. I pass rows of trees, not taking anything from them. From afar, the orchard seems endless in its abundance, every branch heavy with potential. Up close, it reveals its own burdens. It is overwhelming....

January is relentless.  The days are bleak and cold, only occasionally coloured by mugs of hot chocolate (despite minor lactose aversions - the jury’s still out on whether it's worth it or not) and shared moments on the living room sofa where it takes approximately one full dinner discussion plus an additional fifteen minutes to come to a consensus on the movie of the night. A notification containing the week’s GRAP restrictions finds its way into the family group chat each week, punctuating the passing of time. We collect all the sunshine we can find, as it filters through windows and smiles, and when we can’t do that we make our own with our new-old lamp which has finally found a new home.  Amidst new year’s quiet chaos, we brave the cold - not on a quest for sunshine, but for a number; an identity wrapped up in digits. To the post office we go.  The room is small and grey. Babies are lifted up to chairs to have their pictures taken, forms are filled, and documents are ...

1. Solitaire by Alice Oseman Solitaire follows sad, introverted Tori Spring (sister of Charlie Spring - from the Heartstopper series) who is going through a mental health crisis (please read the trigger warnings of this book before you pick it up:  https://aliceoseman.com/extras/content-warnings/ ), while simultaneously dealing with an anonymous online group targeting her school, with pranks that get more extreme by the day. This book was everything. It broke me and somehow managed to put all the pieces back together. I felt understood and seen (and I think it's a really powerful thing when books can make you feel that way). Definitely hard to read sometimes (it is much darker than the Heartstopper series) - but Alice Oseman has managed to craft a world filled with real, hurt, and healing people, and I will forever love reading about it.  I was absolutely fascinated with Tori and the way her character is so carefully crafted - you feel like you know her from the very first cha...

Happy 2024! As we come to the start of a new year - you know what that means, it's time to wrap up our reading for 2023 and look back on our favourites!  I read 88 books this year, which I'm quite happy with (even if reaching 100 is incredibly satisfying haha). My goodreads goal for this year is 75 books, which I might very well surpass - but if 2023 has taught me anything it's that quality over quantity is incredibly important when it comes to reading, so I'm excited to start picking up books that seem genuinely interesting and do not just end up being middle of the road average 3 or 4 stars. Anyway, that said - without further ado let get into some of my favourites and most memorable reads (because I think that's a sign that you truly enjoyed a book) of 2023! Quick Disclaimer: I'm sure it goes without saying, but this list is entirely subjective to me and my reading tastes. However, I do hope that you find inspiration to maybe pick up one of these books. I als...

The Naturals is an incredibly gripping, fast-paced young adult thriller mystery which revolves around the lives of five teenagers: Cassie, Sloane, Dean, Lia and Michael - who are all part of a program created by the FBI called the 'naturals'.  Each 'natural' possesses a specific gift - some can detect deception, analyse stats, easily read facial expressions and emotions, and get into criminals minds to fill in the missing pieces and are also able to mirror a persons thought patterns, personality, behaviour and environment. It was really interesting to see them interact with one and other (their individual gifts making it all the more intriguing) - and I cannot even imagine living in a house with all of them haha!  The Naturals Program is a classified endeavour which utilises these exceptionally skilled teenagers to crack infamous cold cases.   This being the first book in the series, follows Cassie as she joins the program and has to grapple with being surrounded by ...

Violet Sorrengail has been preparing her entire life to join the Scribe Quadrant, and to live out her dream documenting history and being surrounded by books. However, the commanding general (who is also her mother) forces Violet to follow in her siblings footsteps and join the Riders Quadrant - which consists of hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of the kingdom of Navarre: dragon riders (and they may or may not be willing to kill each other to get there).  Violet is in no way prepared for what awaits her, and when she gets to Basgiath War College its very quickly established that she is the smallest and weakest out of all the cadets. This only makes her more of a target as with fewer dragons willing to bond to cadets, most would be willing to kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would would kill her just for being her mother's daughter - including Xaden Riorson, an incredibly respected and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant. With ev...