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

Today's blog post my readers is a review of Alice Oseman's debut novel Solitaire  (2014). This book focusses on the life of the character Victoria 'Tori' Spring. The book was nice but it confused me... First of all, I got a bit lost in understanding what was happening. I expected some big, dramatic thing to happen. Instead it felt like the novel was a detailed examination of the ups and downs of her life. The novel establishes Tori as a character who is not bothered most of the time, though her reactions got me questioning that. Then there's the other characters. I liked the characters and was pleased by how Oseman made me shocked by some characters' actions. I get the impression she wanted that effect from her readers. The character of Becky was a good example because after how her relationship changed with Tori, I half expected her to be phased out of the story. However, her character was a strong one, particularly towards the end and she was highly realistic ...

Hello all. The ending of June is upon us. I do hope this month has brought you sunshine and happiness. For me personally, I have taken this month as a period of self-reflection. There have been times this month where I needed to just recharge and be by myself with a good book. Luckily I have read some. As you might not be surprised, some of the things I have read this month are regulars... 1:  Release the Beast  (2021) by Bimini Bon Boulash. I continued reading Bimini's book  Release the Beast  from last month. As you can see, I did review it. This book is the ultimate book to life and their life lessons are something a lot of people could find useful. 2: French. Every day I practice my French and that involves reading tasks to strengthen my understanding of the language. I am still going strong having achieved an impressive learning streak of 500 days this month! That is an achievement though I have no plans to stop! Watch this space for when I reach 600 days... 3: ...

Hello everyone. I thought today I would give you a bonus bookshop visit. The bookshop I have picked is one of my two favourite bookshops in London - Skoob Books. Skoob Books can be found in the Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury which is near to the train stations and London underground stations of Euston, Euston Square, Kings Cross, St Pancras, Warren Street and Russell Square which is the nearest. There are also multiple bus routes in the surrounding area which means you have plenty of transport options if you want to visit Skoob Books. Once you get to Skoob Books can either go down the stairs or take the lift down to access the bookshop itself. They have a wide range of books from fiction to history, poetry and more. There is always something for everyone. The bookshop consider themselves to have the widest selection of books in London. I must say they do have a lot of second-hand books. What I love about the bookshop though is how they offer a student discount to students which is nice. ...

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! Today I am going to be reviewing a graphic novel from my author of the month - Alice Oseman. Now in case you did not know Alice Oseman created the Heartstopper graphic novel series and the popular Netflix series. Now I am not sure if I have ever read a graphic novel prior to reading this so here we go... Let's get into this! Before I started reading this, I had no preconceptions about what to expect from reading a graphic novel or the fact that it was Heartstopper. Of course I had heard the hype, I know people who watch it. Though personally I had never got round to watching it, despite it being on my list. So... I decided that I would read Oseman's first volume in the graphic novel series this month for her being author of the month. The graphic novel was joyous and sweet while telling the tale of these boys who fall for each other. It was intense, sad, loving, wonderful, confusing and funny at times. I especially loved when homophobia wa...

Today is part 2 of my LGBTQIA+ reading list. I am going to provide a reading list of some great LGBTQIA+ books. However unlike part 1, this part will be books I have not  read. These are the books that have either stood out to me, been highly recommended or considered popular choices. I hope something on this list stands out to you... 1: The T Guide (2023) by Gigi Gorgeous and Gottmik. This is a book that I have had on my birthday and Christmas list since last year. I am hoping this year someone gets me this book. It looks at what it means to be transgender as both authors are trans, who share their own experiences. There is also advice from advocates, activists and allies. This books is one that proudly acknowledges and accepts all gender identities - man, woman, transgender, cisgender and non-binary. 2: Gender Trouble  (1990) by Judith Butler. Gender Trouble  is a book I first encountered while at university. I unfortunately never got round to reading it all while I wa...

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. Today I am here to offer a list of LGBTQIA+ books to read this pride month and beyond. LGBTQIA+ books do not have to be read only in pride month. Now my list contains books I have, books I want to read or books that I heard about which seem to be some top picks. I will do my reading list in two parts and part 1 will books that I have read, of which I think are the some of my favourites. 1: Girl, Woman, Other (2019) by Bernardine Evaristo. As I am always going on about it, this book is my favourite ever! It tells the lives of twelve characters across decades. Most of them are black and most are women. It full of life and bursting with vividness and vitality. This is a book for the modern day reader, telling the tale of modern day Britain. It is funny, serious, loving and saddening all throughout. This is one not to be missed. If you want to you can also read my blog post on which I reviewed this fine specimen of fiction.  2: Trumpet  (199...

Welcome back to my blog readers. Today I want to share with you some of the cities that I think are good for LGBTQIA+/pride celebrations and have nice bookshops too. Of course I have not visited every city but I am here to provide some examples. 1: Brighton.  Now as "gay capital" of the country with a big pride event, this was an obvious choice. Aside from the main pride event, they do a trans pride too which is nice to see. They also have a nice mix of bookshops. There are quite few together down the Laines. As you can see from my previous post, I shared details of Books for Amnesty which I recently visited. 2: Birmingham. Here is a city that knows how to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ and stand up to hatred. The National Trust owns a property in Birmingham city centre called Back to Backs, with it's logo in white on a rainbow background. Permanently there! Anyway, it sits right by Gay Village and Chinatown. Regarding the bookshops there are multiple bookshops scattered across B...

Hi all, as it is pride month I decided to highlight a bookshop that I have recently visited in Brighton. Brighton is considered gay capital of the country. I love visiting Brighton because it feels safer than a lot of places I have been too. Besides Brighton has a great mix of shops including high street chains such as HMV and New Look. Then there's the long list of charity shops scattered across the city. Add that to the list of independent shops often found down the Laines. Also down the Laines are some cool bookshops. One them is Books for Amnesty. Books for Amnesty have a few shops dotted around the country such as Bristol, Hammersmith and Cambridge. I know that there is one in northern London and one somewhere up north but I do not remember exactly where they are. The Books for Amnesty in Brighton introduces itself as a pop art-esque pink. Often there are books out the front of the shop on a table and by the window in boxes which are heavily discounted. Once inside you can fin...

Hello all! June is pride month and I am here to celebrate all month long. Personally I celebrate pride and being who you choose to be authentically. Pride for me is also about activism and fighting against the hatred. This year has seen yet another massive increase in transphobia and enbyphobia. Notice how as I typed "enbyphobia" the page tried to tell me I had spelt a word wrong. That says it all... Is hatred and phobia against non-binary even widely acknowledged? Anyway, this year I have come to the realisation that even LGBTQIA+ people I know do not necessarily everyone in the community. I already knew that some lesbians for examples, try to exclude transgender women as being "not women". This is just a fallacy which is harmful to all women. How can people look at someone and immediately know someone's gender? I have read stories where cisgender women are mistaken as transgender women. They get pulled out of toilets by cisgender male security guards or exclud...

Hello everyone, June has arrived. It is pride month people and I am celebrating by going to my first pride event of the year! Anyway, I am continuing my LGBTQIA+ theme for the month. I am also having a new author of the month. My author of the month for June is Alice Oseman. Alice Oseman has publicly spoken about asexual and aromantic. Further to this, she uses she/her and they/them pronouns. Alice has also written some great LGBTQIA+ stuff. I cannot wait to tuck into more LGBTQIA+ reads as we go through to month. Summer has officially started, pride month has arrived, and I am here to recommend some great books for you. What could be better? Here is to happy pride month and I hope you find something good to read everyone! Until next time, Thomas.