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

Hi everyone. Sorry for not posting on Monday but I was not feeling great. I think it is this heat here in the U.K as the weather has been rather hot lately. I am never fan of the weather being as hot as it has been. Todays post is the final review of the month that I had planned and therefore the post I had planned for Monday will moved to June as the theme of the month will continue of course for a second month. Speaking of review, I am diving deep into the 2024 poetry collection May Day  by Jackie Kay.

Today I am reviewing Jackie Kay's short story collection Reality, Reality .

Recently I saw something about the pink triangle which I am here to explain, if you do not know what it means.

  For today's post I am reviewing  Bi  by Julia Shaw. This was actually a good book to read. It explored everything about bisexuality. What I loved especially was how she started with the origins of bisexuality and who created different ideas which have shaped how bisexuality exists within our current, modern-day society.

It is that time of the month where I have another bookshop that I have visited. For this month, I took a trip to the National Trust place Sheffield Park and Garden in East Sussex. There they have a second hand bookshop situated within the coach house café. One thing particularly like is how you can grab a book, a hot drink, maybe even a bite to eat and sit down on a sofa or at a table and chairs. You immerse yourself deep in a good book right where the books are and I love it!  When I was there I found myself sipping a hot chocolate as I browsed an Italian cooking book. I decided not to have the book because I have quite a few cook book anyway. When you actually want to buy a book you have to either put money in the donation pot or head to the reception desk to complete your purchase. The staff there in the Coach House café, at the reception desk and across the whole National Trust site are extremely friendly. It is good when you go somewhere and the staff are kind because they the...

For today's blog post, I am returning to a loved novel of mine... This is Jackie Kay's only novel Trumpet  (1998). I recently got to thinking about the novel and how relevant it is to today. I also was reminded of how important things and more importantly people are. Taking the novel as an example, look at the lengths that people will go to for love. This love made a couple, fractured relationships with others and shattered what everyone thought they knew. There is one moment which stands out for me: it is when Joss and Millie, his wife both find their clothes swapped. It resents with me to this day because clothing is something with a rigidity in gender. Society has labelled a lot of clothes for either men or women. Look at shops; they have a 'men's section', a 'women's section' and a 'children's section'. But this does not mean that people have to stick in the section for them of course. Also, note how nothing has adapted for non-binary peo...