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

Welcome to another blog post. Today I am going to be reviewing Heartstopper Volume 2 (2019) by author of the month Alice Oseman. Last year I read and reviewed volume 1 so I thought it seemed fitting for me to read volume 2 this time. Her graphic novels and the matching television series have captivated youngsters amongst other people for quite awhile now. If you want to have a look at my review of the first volume of the Heartstopper graphic novel series then you can search for it using any of the tags that are applied to the post. These are: '2010s', 'Graphic Novel', 'LGBTQIA+' and 'YA'. That way you can see what I thought of the first graphic novel. As for this one... Where do I start? I love both the main characters, Charlie and Nick. The things I love most is how Charlie tells Nick it is okay to have unanswered thoughts, and how Nick tells Charlie he shouldn't have to accept bullying from Nick's so-called friends. For me, seeing stuff such as...

Looking at Young Adult fiction this month and the following month has got me thinking about what I read as I grew up. It got me to think about the origins of me reading and some of my earliest memories reading. So for today's blog post, I am going to be looking back as some moments of me I associate with books from when I was in primary school. This is because this is when I first remember reading. During classes, more so in the later years, we would have reading sessions in which there would be something that we would be reading. Each time we did reading, one table comprising of a few students would be joined by the teacher who would go through a book with us, asking every person to read certain bits. We also had a school library and took visits to the library. I do remember one time when a group of us sat in the library listening to our librarian reading from a book, while sat on a chair in front of us. We sat on the floor of course. I cannot remember who our librarian was just t...

Hello everyone. I know it has been a long time but I am back and I am here to stay. You are probably wandering why I was quiet for the whole of October as well as September. So let me explain... When September arrived, I knew I was not up to posting on my blog much and needed time away to compose and get myself back into a better frame of mind to be able to have a clearer and sharper focus on certain things (not just my blog here). Alongside that it was decided at the last minute that I would be going away to see some family. As I was not here for over a week and knew I would end up spending several days without a decent signal, I thought it was best to leave it for September. Then October came and work was being done in my home which not only left the place noisy for two weeks but also meant some days had hours of no electric and subsequently no internet. Then around about the same time I fell unwell and had to prioritise getting better as I was struggling to do all my day-to-day acti...

September has arrived and hence so has autumn. Now this month is going to be a special one for me as I am going away (hopefully) to see some family later on for several days. Because of this I shall not be here for over a week and will not have a signal likely to be able to regularly post. It is not definite I am going away because I have not been too well. For both of these reasons I have decided to take this month off from my blog so that I can come back in October when I am not thus unprepared. Sometimes life can be a lot and as a person you can experience burnout. The most important thing is your health and I need time to focus on myself. Therefore I shall not be posting this month. I hope to return in October with some great posts for you all. Until next time, Thomas (they/them). [P.S: It's okay to admit when you are struggling or not at your best! We all have our down days...]

Yes, yes I know! The last day of the month is here... Today just so happens to be a Monday and that means I am posting what I have been reading this month. 1: My French. Still at it with the French here and still listening to, typing, speaking and reading French words. Some of the reading tasks are longer and that's great because I can build on what I have been learning. Learning new words is fine but I like to then be able to then put it all together and link in other topics I have previously looked at when each time I come across a new topic in my learning of French.

After having published The Girl with Seven Lives , I've realised that Vikas Swarup has now released a total of four novels. So today I am going to provide a timeline of all four of his novels starting with the earliest. 1: Q&A (2005) also known as Slumdog Millionaire. Swarup's debut novel focuses on the character Ram Mohammed Thomas who competes on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? When he is doing really well, getting every question correct, he is arrested on the accusation he has cheated. Through explaining how he knew the answer to each question, the novel highlights the various moments of his life. I reviewed this book last year when I looked at BIPOC authors so take a look to see what I thought about the novel. 2: Six Suspects (2008) [the one I reviewed this month]. After being acquitted for murder, Vicky Rai has an acquittal party to celebrate but gets murdered at his party. Six people are found with guns on them. The novel follows all six suspect...