My Latest Reading Pile…

Hey gals,

So a little different from my fashion posts previously but I wanted to talk about the latest book I have just finished; The Power by Naomi Alderman.
I am a very keen reader, always have been from a young age and constantly have a book on the go.
This latest book I bought from my favourite London book shop, Daunt Books – there is one on my road so I’m always having a look around on the weekends. I love Daunt Books because each branch (they only have a handful around London) feel so local to the area and not like a chain. The staff are super friendly and knowledgeable and if you can’t find the book you’re after, they will happily order it for you and will tell you when it arrives for you to come and collect at a later date.
Anyway, I had heard good recommendations of this book and was intrigued by the front cover and the blurb.
The book is set in our current 21st century world and is about female power; that women are discovering all over the world that they have a special power. ‘With a flick of the fingers they can inflict terrible pain – even death’. ‘ Suddenly, every man on the planet finds they’ve lost control’. Then finally, the sentence that got me wanting more… ‘the day of the girls has arrived – but where will it end?’. After reading that I just had to buy the book and find out more.
The book itself is amazing, it’s a slow start but if you commit to it, it slowly starts to grip you and then towards the second half of the book, it takes you up to a new level of tenseness.
With all the conversation around the world at present about feminism and female power, this book is so relevant and empowering, both men and women should read it.
I should also mention that it’s not exactly light hearted, there are some rather dark moments in there that remind me of The Hunger Games books (that I read a long time ago and loved).
What I really enjoyed about this book was the different characters (both men and women), they are all so different in their own way and all stand out in the book – you can easily picture them all in real life. I have my favourite character as I am sure you all would too and there are some characters that I didn’t ‘warm’ too but I feel we’re not supposed to love every character. Some of the characters shock you throughout the book and you may change your opinion of them, which is part of how the book grips you in. All the characters start off on all far corners of the world and the book goes into detail of how their ‘story’ began so you can really understand who they are or where they came from. But slowly you see them all grow or develop and get closer together without actually knowing each other that well.
Overall I would highly recommend this book to both men and women as a gripping read but also to perhaps slightly alternate your opinion on the modern world today.

So moving on, I also wanted to quickly share some other books on my bedside table that are stacked up waiting to be read – I always have a pile of books by my bed that I’ve recently purchased and are next in line to read.

Starting off with ‘The 500 Hidden Secrets of London by Tom Greig’. I saw this book in a little independent lifestyle store and just loved it. It has so many good recommendations for food, drink, shopping, art galleries and other cultural places in London. You can also buy the book for other cities, such has Paris, Antwerp ( a beautiful city that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting) and New York. As mentioned on other posts of mine, I’ve lived in London for over 5 years now but I still love discovering new and exciting places to eat/drink/shop/visit. I’ll be using this book this year when organising little adventures out on the weekend or just for somewhere new to have a mid-week dinner in the city.

Then the next book on my pile that I have just started reading and super excited about, is How to be a Grown Up by Daisy Buchanan. I don’t believe this is a new book just published but I have only recently discovered it and so far I love it! It’s a really light, positive and funny read – way less intense than The Power; I like to mix up the type of books I’m reading otherwise I just get bummed out if I’m reading too many intense books! I’ll let you know how it turns out when I finish it.

Then finally, Mythos by Stephen Fry, a little different from the usual books I read. I studied Art History at school, fell in love with it and since then I’ve been wanting to get back into the subject. This book is all about the Greek myths; the Greek gods and their stories. I’m excited about reading this book and discovering my passion for the Greek myths, I’m hoping it’ll bring back some of the knowledge I had from studying Art History.

So on this bright sunny and warm Saturday, get yourself down to your local bookstore, pick up an exciting book and go and visit your favourite coffee shop for a peaceful moment of reading with a nice warm drink.

Lots of love xx