UPCOMING RELEASES: MAY

Another month has passed us by and it's time to talk about some exciting new books coming out in the next few weeks!

Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark

28th

My Favorite Murder is the first podcast I ever got really into and I'm a huge fan of it, so when Karen and Georgia said they were writing a book, I was all into that idea. I hardly even know what this is about, but whatever it is, it's going to be great.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

21st

This is a historical fiction mystery novel set in London and it's about a former slave turned servant who is accused of murdering her employer and his wife. I've read that this is for people who like Alias Grace, which makes me super intrigued. 

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

7th

I'm not going to lie, it was the cover that drew me into this one, because I mean... look at it! It's magnificent! This is a contemporary young adult book and it's about a high school senior who loves to cook and the kitchen is where she feels respite from all the responsibilities in her life.

Furious Hours by Casey Cep

7th

This is a true crime book set in the Deep South and the case is about a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members in the 70's, but he's acquitted, and then he himself is eventually murdered and the person who killed him gets away with it too. This is apparently a case the author Harper Lee investigated and wanted to write a book about but ended up not finishing.

The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey

14th

This is the second book in the Perveen Mistry series, and I've just bought the first one and I'm desperate to read it. The covers in this series is literally to die for. In this one, Perveen is called into help with a case where some of the women involved live in purdah (which means they live secluded from being around men).

BOOK HAUL: APRIL

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

S P O N S O R E D :  S O M E  B O O K S  S E N T  B Y  P U B L I S H E R S
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April is almost over and May is right around the corner, so it's time to take a look at the books I got this month!

April in Oslo was pretty wonderful. The snow finally melted and although the beginning of the month was quite cold, now we're almost at summer temperatures. I love seeing how bright everything is this time of year and seeing all the flowers bloom (although I've apparently acquired a pollen allergy in my old age, which means in the middle of all of this bloom, there's me sounding like an elephant on drugs when I sneeze).

Anyways, I'm very excited for May to arrive and hopefully I'll get to some of these books I've gotten!

( a f f i l i a t e  l i n k s  +  b o o k s  m a r k e d  *  s e n t  b y  p u b l i s h e r s )

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee

Milkman by Anna Burns

Utover Enhver Rimelig Tvil by Malin Persson Giolito (English version here)

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden

* A Woman Like Her by Sanam Maher

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

* Hundene i Raqqa by Trygve Kalland

* The Sakura Obsession by Naoko Abe

Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton

The Heavens by Sandra Newman

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!

BOOK REVIEW: IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE SEA BY TOMÁS GONZÀLEZ

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: In The Beginning Was The Sea
Author: Tomás González, Frank Wynne (translator)
Published: 1983
Language: English (translated from Spanish)
Pages: 173
Rating: 3/5

Summary:
A couple leave behind their comfortable lives to settle down on a remote island, but soon paradise turns into hell.

Review:
This was a pretty interesting book, but I'm not as impressed with it as I thought I was going to be.

There are some things in this book I really like, especially the setting. I felt like I could vividly picture the island, the people living there and the country estate the main characters lived on. I also loved the constant presence and description of the sea.

The two main characters are deeply unlikeable people and usually, I kind of like reading about those kinds of characters, but in this, I felt that they were lacking a little bit in depth. I sometimes felt like I couldn't really get to know them properly, like there was a wall there that made it a little hard to get truly invested in them. I do like how completely out of touch with reality they seem though, and seeing the consequences of that.

This book has gotten great acclaim since it was published, and although I'm not 100% on board with all of that, I still think this is worth the read.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

TIDYING MY CLOSET + A CHAT ABOUT SUSTAINABLE FASHION

BOOK REVIEW: THE VEGETARIAN BY HAN KANG

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: The Vegetarian
Author: Han Kang, Deborah Smith (translator)
Published: 2007
Language: English (translated from Korean)
Pages: 183
Rating: 3/5

Summary:
A woman considered completely ordinary by her husband suddenly stops eating meat after a bloody nightmarish dream and this leads to disturbing and devastating consequences for both her personal and familial life.

Review:
This was an odd, disturbing and slightly gruesome book.

I honestly don't really even know how to review this book and I don't really know how I feel about it. The story was quite different from what I had thought it was going to be when I started it; it digs deep into the darkest part of humanity and insanity. It was macabre, alarming and fascinating.

The writing is really good and there were some sentences that I just ended up reading over and over, because I found them so compelling. There's a quietness to the way this story is told which makes everything that's happening all the more sinister.

All of that being said, I'm not sure if I really liked this. There are parts where I feel like the story slips a bit, especially towards the end, and I just... I can't pinpoint what it is, but I felt like there was something missing here. The further into the story I got, the less interest I had.

I think I need to mull this one over a bit. I'm intrigued to read more of this authors work though!

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

THINGS I LIKE NO. 21

Today, I've got a bit of a weird thing I'd like to share with you and it is listening to ASMR.

I've mentioned in a favorites video that I recently discovered this, which if you have no idea what this even is, it stands for autonomous sensory meridian response and it refers to a tingling sensation you experience on your skin, usually in your scalp and neck. Not everyone experiences this, as far as I'm aware, and some to more than others.

I only get the tingling sensation every once in a while, but I still find some of these videos incredibly relaxing to watch and they're especially helpful for me if I need to wind down fast and go to bed, like when I've worked a late shift and have an early one in the morning. Instead of spending one to two hours trying to be relaxed enough to go to bed, I can listen to one of these and get there in half the time.

I've got three channels that I'm currently subscribed to and use all the time, and I wanted to share them with you, as well as some of my favorite videos, so I'll leave links for you here.

Caroline ASMR (favorite video: ASMR To Make You SO Sleepy)
Gentle Whispering ASMR (favorite video: Satisfying Salon Sounds)
ASMR Rooms (favorite video: Harry Potter ASMR Ambience: Ravenclaw Common Room)

The last channel in particular is one I also sometimes just keep on in the background when I'm doing stuff, because it's just really relaxing and atmospheric. There are loads of different videos on there  from the Harry Potter universe, as well as Sherlock and Lord of the Rings. There's even some HP Christmas ones that I'm dying to listen to in December!

BOOK REVIEW: BREAKING FREE BY RACHEL JEFFS

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: Breaking Free: How I Escaped My Father, Warren Jeffs, Polygamy and the FLDS Cult
Author: Rachel Jeffs
Published: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 320
Rating: 3/5

Summary:
In this searing memoir, Rachel Jeffs, the daughter of the leader of the FLDS church, explores her childhood and her experiences with her father, polygamy and how she escaped it all.

Review:
It's always interesting to get to take a look at a world that is so completely closed off, and for that I'm really glad I read this book.

I applaud the authors bravery in sharing so much of her childhood in great detail, and letting us into her life and the church she once belonged to. It's an important, painful and fascinating story. It does sometimes feel like we're not getting the full picture though, but maybe I'm just imagining it. It somehow feels like there's a little bit of a barrier there somehow.

The writing in this though, isn't that great, and there are parts of the story that drag and parts that felt like they were handled too quickly. It also gets a little repetitive at times and I really wish we'd gotten to know a little bit more about what she did after she left and some reflections about all of it. It felt like it ended incredibly abruptly.

Overall though, this was well worth the read for anyone interested in cults and likes reading memoirs.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

3 WEIRD BUT WONDERFUL BOOKS SET IN JAPAN

BOOK REVIEW: BIENES HISTORIE BY MAJA LUNDE

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: Bienes Historie
Author: Maja Lunde
Published: 2015
Language: Norwegian
Pages: 457
Rating: 4/5

Summary:
In this book, we follow three different people in three different time periods; William from 1852, a man who is trying to invent a new type of beehive, George from 2007, a beekeeper fighting an uphill battle against modern farming and Tao from 2098, who works hand painting pollen onto fruit trees because all of Earth's bees have died.

Review:
This is a book I have been meaning to read ever since it first came out, and I'm so glad I finally did. I really, really enjoyed it.

I love the themes that are brought up in this book. It discusses environmental issues and explores the consequences of what we're doing to the planet could have for us humans, but then it also explores families and the relationship between parents and children in all three timelines, which I loved reading about. There's also something almost romantic about bees and beekeeping that adds something to this book that I love.

I really liked the writing in this as well, and I love how the three different characters all have very different voices, so you don't get them mixed up (I obviously can't vouch for the English translation of this, but in the Norwegian one, the voices all feel very distinct). It's a slow burning book and the storyline is quite straight forward. It says on the cover that this is "as exciting as a psychological thriller", but that's not really how I would describe it. The twists and turns it takes all feel kind of quiet.

I do think the story drags a little bit in parts and some of the characters could've been better developed, but overall I just really enjoyed this and it's a book I'll be thinking about for a long time.

You can get this book at Adlibris. You can get the English version at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

#FRIDAYREADS

APRIL WRAP UP PART I

BOOK REVIEW: OF DOGS AND WALLS BY YUKO TSUSHIMA

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: Of Dogs and Walls
Author: Yuko Tsushima, Geraldine Harcourt (translator)
Published: 2018
Language: English (translated from Japanese)
Pages: 53
Rating: 2/5

Summary:
This book contains two stories, never before translated to English, by contemporary Japanese fiction writer, Yuko Tsushima.

Review:
This is a very short book, so I don't have a whole lot to say about it.

I've never read anything by Tsushima, so this was my first by her, and although I very much enjoyed the writing style which I found to be beautiful, the stories themselves didn't make much of an impact on me.

I feel like this was one of those little books that you read, think to yourself that it was nice and then never think about again.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

BOOKSTAGRAM SPOTLIGHT: @BOOKMATERIALITY

It's time to tell you about one of my favorite bookstagrammers that I follow: @bookmateriality! She's Australian and I just love looking at the books she's reading and that she's interested in, because I so often find titles I've never heard of before!

Se dette innlegget på Instagram

Et innlegg delt av bookmateriality (@bookmateriality) Feb. 24, 2019 kl. 3:43 PST

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Et innlegg delt av bookmateriality (@bookmateriality) Feb. 17, 2019 kl. 4:20 PST

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Et innlegg delt av bookmateriality (@bookmateriality) Feb. 26, 2019 kl. 3:58 PST

Go follow!

BOOK REVIEW: UBIK BY PHILIP K. DICK

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: Ubik
Author: Philip K. Dick
Published: 1969
Language: English
Pages: 208
Rating: 3/5

Summary:
Set in a world where humans have colonised the moon and psychic abilities are common, a group of people find their realities shifting in unexplainable ways.

Review:
So, this was quite the weird experience to read because I was really intrigued by the world and the people in it, but I've also not been so confused in a very long time.

The blurb of this book doesn't explain a whole lot to you, so when you start reading this, you're thrust into a world where it's hard to make sense of anything. The book also doesn't go to any lengths to explain any of it to you as you go along. It took me a good while to figure out who everybody was, and then when time and reality starts slipping... I was totally lost, I'm not going to lie. I had to resort to Wikipedia to figure out what was going on, which is something I do every now and then, but this time I desperately needed it.

By the end of the book though, all of it does fall into place and you understand what has been going on, but I almost feel like I need to read this whole thing again to really get the full picture. I'm sure I'd enjoy it a lot more the second time around.

So I'm left with slightly mixed feelings about this. I liked the story and the characters, but I feel like I was reading this with a foggy mind. It was frustrating to read while I was in it, but now that I'm out of it, I'm pretty sure I liked it overall. Like I said, I'll probably like it more if I reread it.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

A LITTLE BOOK PURGE

UNBOXING: JEWELLERY FROM ECLECTIC ECCENTRICITY #3

Today, I've got a little unboxing to share with you! Now, I've previously ordered jewellery from Eclectic Eccentricity before, but they've come out with some new stuff lately that I just had to get! I could literally order everything from their shop, they've got so much good stuff.

I just love this little shop so much, the stuff they make is amazing. I especially love the bee necklace I got this time around! And the lightning bolt, of course, reminds me of Harry Potter, which is always a good thing.

Armilla Gemstone Bracelet in Silver and Pink Opal

Armilla Gemstone Bracelet in Silver and Emerald

Strike Druzy Quartz Lightning Bolt Necklace in Gold

Swarmest Wishes Bee Honeycomb Necklace in Gold

Crystal Kit for Empowerment

Quartz Raw Crystal Point

I've been wearing these non stop since I got them, and the crystals are all scattered around my apartment (more for the aesthetic than anything else). I love it!