Tom's treasures of fiction, poetry, literature and more...

What I have read this week… Hiya everyone! Just me again at the end of another week letting you in what stuff I have been reading. 1: French! As far as I can remember I have been learning French and sometimes that means reading lengthy passages to make sense of. This week I was told "mal" is bad (which I already knew!) 2:  On Beauty  (2005) by Zadie Smith. I had not quite finished this book by the time Monday arrived. Therefore I took a little bit of time on Monday to finish it. I had to because  3: Tesco Magazine. This week I picked up the March edition of the Tesco magazine. I shop there at times so I love to read their magazine for recipes. They have great recipes as well as coupons. 4: Instagram. (Again) Recently, someone said something along the lines of "using their own stuff against them". What they meant was, fighting the good fight by using Instagram and whatnot. Such platforms have removed DEI policies, become exclusionary and discriminatory. Anyway, point...

Welcome back blog readers. April is blooming and the weather is warming up. I do like spring as I previously mentioned. I hope to be out and about, drenched in nature with a good book. I do love to read! But you might be wandering why... For me, it stems back to when I was growing up and for some unknown reason I thought I wanted to be a writer alongside some sort of standard, regular job. I studied English Literature A-Level at college where reading was compulsory for the exams. Then when I went to university, I took a degree in English and Creative Writing. I had by this point spent a few years reading for pleasure, which started towards the end of school. Although, during my time at university, my love of reading just grew ever so deeper. From then until I always like to have a book on the go, whether that is poetry, a short story collection, plays, essays or a novel. Currently, I am reading The Emperor's Babe  (2001) by my favourite Author, Bernardine Evaristo. For me, it was m...

Hello everyone and welcome to April! I love this month because Spring has sprung which leads to beautiful nature. (Flowers I am thinking of...) My favourite flower is the classic bluebell which I hope to see this month. Also, places I like to visit tend to be open more and some of them open for the first time this year. Anyway, this month I am going bringing you more reviews from stuff written by women. I am continuing with women authors as theme of the month, for the second month. I always have a theme of the month for two months running in case you missed that one at the start of March. However, I picked a new author of the month. Whereas in March, it was Zadie Smith, this month is someone different... I decided that as far as female authors go, it was only right that the author of the month of April should be Bernardine Evaristo. Not only is she my favourite author but my mother is a fan of her too. Do make sure you look out for my reviews of some of her work. You can also find a re...

Hello all. I wanted to start off by apologising for my absence. I have not been well and found it hard to truly concentrate on anything. But today I have started to feel a bit better so I thought it was time to jump on here. From now on, things should get back to normal. As you tell from my blog heading, today I am giving you my review to Zadie Smith's third novel On Beauty  (2005). Before I get stuck into that though, I just want to state how much I have enjoyed having reading Zadie Smith as my author of the month, this March. Her books have made me laugh and On Beauty  is no exception! This novel is rather something special. Unlike most novels I found it such a challenge to put the book down. With any novel I read I might put it down to cook food, eat food or go out somewhere for instance. But this book was making it hard to put it down and even harder the more I read. That is because I found it highly captivating and immensely funny. To me, On Beauty  is funnier than b...

Hi everyone. I thought today I would offer a book review for anyone after something a good read for children. My review is of Judith Kerr's book Mog's Bad Thing  (2000). This book is suitable for children aged 2 - 5. This is a book that I was given some point in those years of my life. I like how this story starts and ends. In this book there is this build up that leads to a lovely, warming surprise. For me, this stands out as a children's book because it had everything a children's book should have. From the protagonist (who readers can follow) to colourful illustrations and a happy ending. As far a children's books go, this is one to recommend. There are a number of Mog  books by Judith Kerr and this is a good example of how to entertain children with a book. If you want a nice book to read with the children, this is it. A solid 10/10. Until next time, Thomas.

Hi everyone, I decided that I wanted to focus on another bookshop that I have recently visited. This time it is Baggins Book Bazaar down Rochester's High Street in Medway, Kent. The bazaar is considered the largest second hand bookshop in the country. When I went there I had this preconceived notion that it was going to across many floors. There was not many but there were many, many books. With all the aisles everywhere I kept getting lost. At one point I had to go either left or right (I cannot remember), then go down some stairs and along a corridor just to end up in hardback fiction. Paperback fiction was upstairs from this. Now the bookshop had loads of books and every category you could imagine including cookery, sci-fi and antiques. As much as I liked the books, I did not find anything I was after personally. I will say that the bookshop is open everyday from 10:00 - 17:45 which gives scope for a visit. The fact that it is right near Rochester train station, has buses and ca...