Alice and the Fly has to be the strangest book I have read all year. This debut from James Rice presents Greg, a teenage loner living within the confines of his own mind, interacting mutely with his peers and dipping in and out of manic episodes of paranoia and a fear of Them – beasts unknown to the reader yet terrifying all the...

I read Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon for Book Club and raced through it. Having not read any YA in what feels like forever, I was ready to be swept away by an impossible romance with two characters who have everything stacked against them.   Literally EVERYTHING. Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never...

Hey you, Happy National Poetry Day!     At school I always thought poetry had to follow a set rhythm, like nursery rhymes, the times tables or the alphabet -  which on a side note has changed rhythm, how the hell did that happen?! But maybe not so much anymore, now I like poetry that doesn’t always fit together, but comes alive by jarring...

I haven't blogged in ages...whoops. I've mostly been walking through crunchy leaves and having coffee in the sunshine and spending time with the people I love as that's my favourite thing to do in possibly the very best season of the year.Hello glorious Autumn!Books I've been reading include: A Song For Issy Bradley - Carys Bray you broke my heart and taught me a...

The rhythm of life here, across the dusty track and beyond the five-barred wooden gate, is tidal. A field thrumming with nature’s small noises, a buzz, chirp, swoosh and patter - a symphony of sound. The moon and winds measure our days, white fringes of waves enticing us around the headland. Fire pit ashes and charred logs mark late-night gatherings, with our heads...

The great thing about audiobooks is that the magic is unfolding in your ears. That’s to say it’s not in anyone else's. You can listen to what you want, when you want and you don’t have to lug around a bright yellow Walkman to do it. I did rock that bright yellow Walkman for a solid four years on a really jazzy belt...

...

When I was at uni my room was covered in photos. A montage of memories and a mash-up of friendship circles, nights out, gigs and camping trips. Just looking at that wall used to cheer me up as I faced a glum deadline or was missing friends who were on campuses at other ends of the country. It was only when I recently...

Their ivory horn makes them the closest thing to a unicorn. This is brilliant. Male narwhals duel with their tusks. Like fencing but more majestic. They live around the Arctic circle which along with the Northern Lights makes that part of the world really magical (not to mention Father Christmas) The narwhal population is estimated at between 40,000 to 70,000 putting them at...

Who wouldn't want to dress like a butterfly? Ok, maybe not everyone, but I'm pretty sure this dress would make you feel as delicate and elegant as a sun-kissed flutter-by. The stunning Monarch tribute is the creation of Seattle-based designer, Luly Yang and was part of her 2012 - 2013 Couture Collection. I simply adore the markings and how the dress is shaped...

I will readily hold up my hand and admit to stuffing headphones on and traipsing the walk to work oblivious of the world around me. Dodging traffic and careening cyclists, work men, mums with pushchairs and dogs sniffing at lampposts. I just hit the play button and get in my groove and off I go.  Which is all well and good when you...

Today Jemima discovered the wonders of the laptop. It's her new fave thing. She adores it. She wrote down a few things:  ik6mnxxikgffbx3000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000qfffffffffffffffffffffffff po5=4-t6128u**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************r’n[jej/[]3/!@} . /?”TRbymlli9uooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll`;`;-q2ffffffd2===y;’bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb3wjk2rfthasssssssrzUzy*GG,KR4/;………………………GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG1 ltr,poor1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111o[[2o[[[[[2[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[222222222222222222222222222222222222222222kk``````ij She managed one English word. I think the rest of it is in binary. ...

I've just started reading the Pulitzer Prize winner, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr for the book club at work, I'll report back soon. Cover design has got me giddy though, so pretty!  ...

I have been dawdling. Two hundred and seven pages have taken me two months to read. I’ve even written that down in letters rather than numbers so I can take my time. The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan has stopped me in my tracks. Marina Keegan was an American author, playwright, and journalist. She is best known for her essay "The Opposite...

A four legged, one kilo bundle of black tabby fur recently joined our clan. Her name is Jemima and she is now a permanent feature on my Instagram feed. I'm addicted to taking pictures of her. Warning: if we meet up, don't ask me how I am. It will result in me diving into my handbag to triumphantly pull out my phone and...

It's about to get a bit deep. I don't normally write things like this but transgender issues have been in the news a lot recently and I am passionate about equality for all.  I'm so pleased that the general vibe seems to be of acceptance towards Bruce Jenner as he became Caitlyn. Growing up my parents taught me that our bodies are just...

I really tried hard with this book. Honestly, I even bent the rules and stuck with it after 50 pages which is usually my cut off point. In fact I stuck around until page 162. At which point I decided that life is too short and sometimes when you know it isn’t right, you just know. I guess it could have been cool...

I have said for quite a while now that I am growing tired of unreliable narrators. But Nathan Filer’s The Shock of the Fall was originally published in 2013 so I’m just going to sweep on past my initial judgement and crack on with the show. I do tend to spend most of my time reading manuscripts that are not yet books, they...

This book was everywhere last year. That’s probably why I haven’t read it until now, not that I’m trying to be hipster, it’s just that when an author or artist is quite literally blasted everywhere I tend to get a bit fed up. I usually wait and read (or in the case of music, listen to) something else and then when all the...

I’ve been meaning to read The Kite Runner for quite some time and having managed to skip channels whenever the film was on TV I successfully dodged spoilers. I must say it took me a while to get into the plot as I was so distracted by the setting of the novel and the beautiful descriptions of pre-occupied Kabul. In my lifetime, Kabul...

I've recently discovered UK-based artist Marija Tiurina who has illustrated Untranslatable Words and  Luftmensch is by far my number one. More artwork can be found: Behance: https://www.behance.net/tiurinam Tumblr: http://marijatiurina.tumblr.com/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/marijatiurina ...

I haven't been blogging because I've been reading The Kite Runner and it's all got a bit emotional. ...

When I was a kid I wanted to be a dolphin trainer (this was right after I wanted to be a dog and before I learnt the word paleontologist). I had dreams of being best buds with a dolphin and teaching it cool tricks and generally hanging out in a pool. I wanted to go to Florida so badly and luckily my parents didn't...

Featured on Buzzfeed. ...

Hop on any public transport in London and unless you have headphones in permanently (guilty as charged) you will notice that it is 96% quiet. No chatter, no small talk and unless it’s the 3.15 bus, no laughter from the upper deck. Last week I decided to get the fast train home and as the train slowly began to pull out of the...

This novel lives up to its name in every possible way. I know it's only March but this is already a firm favourite of books being published this year. Leslie Parry brings to life the dark underworld of New York city, from boxing fights in the dockyards, the opium dens of the bored and addicted to the state asylums. Four main characters push...

I am guilty of buying fruit with the good intention of being a super human-being and eating lots of fruit every day. Most of the time this is a success but usually a lone satsuma or banana is left in the bowl, all lonely and wrinkly like a jilted Miss Havisham. Last week there were two bananas that neither myself or the drummer...