For our extra spoopy Halloween Book Club special, we all read the first volume of ‘Spell on Wheels,’ a new comic book series about three young witches living and practising magic in America. In this story arc, their house is broken into, and various magical and sentimental items stolen, leading to a cross-country road trip to reclaim what is rightfully theirs and take down the thief before the thief takes THEM down. Let’s get crack-a-lackin!
Hello friends! So for my second ‘Literary Listography’ post I’ve decided to write about my favourite science-fiction novels. Please note that these are my current favourite sci-fi picks, and they will probably change in the (near!) future, as I love the genre. From the novels set in space, with weird and wonderful alien species and wayward voyagers discovering new worlds, to the books with a more dystopian spin, which look at how technological and scientific advances could shape and affect humanity. You never know what you’re going to get with sci-fi, and that’s what I love about it!
Welcome to our latest book club so far! (We’re gonna work on it guys) For September we read a classic adventure story Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. We follow our intrepid protagonist Jim Hawkins on a treasure hunt to a desert island during which he encounters pirates, maroons and lots and lots of treasure. This high seas tale created many of the pirate tropes we all recognise today and is probably best remembered for its villain the legendary Long John Silver. But does this classic live up to our expectations? Let’s find out!
This week Spooky Sunday looks at Horror Stories by E Nesbit, an author best known for her children’s classics such as The Railway Children and Five Children and It. This is also the first short story collection I’ve tackled for Spooky Sunday and it’s interesting to see how this more concise medium tackles the task of creating a sense of creepiness. But can an author best known for enchanting children craft a truly spooky story? Let’s find out!
This week Spooky Sunday tackles a real life ghost story in Neil Spring’s fictionalisation of the investigation into Borley Rectory: The Ghost Hunters. Set over the first half of the twentieth century the novel follows Sarah Grey and her employer, paranormal researcher Harry Price as they investigate the place known as ‘the most haunted house in England’. Does this novel live up to the spooky reputation of its real life inspiration? Let’s find out.
Yes, I know it’s Tuesday but seeing as we get five whole Spooky Sundays this October I think we can deal with one Spooky Tuesday. To kick off this year I read one of the pillars of the genre, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Telling the story of an ancient Transylvanian vampire who tries to make it in the big city and the group of meddling kids determined to stop him Dracula is one of the best known horror stories out there. But is the original anything like our pop cultural perceptions and does a novel that spooked readers over hundred years ago still hold some scares in the modern day? Let’s find out!
SPOILER WARNING: Very vague and minor spoilers
As an avid Agatha Christie fan (as evidenced from my twelve thousand recommendations in our Roger Ackroyd post) I am slowly collecting all of her bibliography and even more slowly making my way through. In this series I’ll hopefully cover the many high and occasional lows of Christie’s career while also reducing that massive section if my TBR made up by her works.
To start off with we tackle Evil Under the Sun a beach themed murder mystery packed with everything you could ever want. Love triangles! Witchcraft! Drug dealers! Are any of these actually relevant to the main crime? Find out below!
SPOILER WARNING: Very mild spoilers (no revealing whodunnit)
By Michelle Nathan
A hearty hello, young lords and ladies! Over the weekend I had the pleasure of going to see AUSTENTATIOUS – an improv comedy show in the style of Jane Austen, where the plot line is based solely on title suggestions from the audience, making every show completely unique. I’ve been trying to go to one of these shows for over a year now, so when the stars finally aligned on Sunday my expectations were high and I could barely contain my excitement. I was slightly worried, however, as I know that improv comedy can be very hit or miss, depending on the style of humour (and, frankly, how talented the actors are!) but the show was absolutely incredible. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that much while watching a live performance, and by the time the cast were taking their final bows me and my friends were already talking about booking tickets for their next London show.
Happy August, friends! For this month’s book club we decided to read A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. A nice, light summer read, wouldn’t you say?! This disturbing novel lead to some quite polarising views amongst the buds, so read on to see what we all thought!
Hi everyone! For this month’s book club we decided to read Agatha Christie’s classic ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’. We have a good mix of Christie veterans and newbies amongst the Book Buds so we had quite the discussion! So settle in, make yourself a cuppa and maybe grab a finger sandwich or two or a nice scone, and let’s get stuck in, shall we?
WARNING, THERE BE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. Unavoidable with a murder mystery unfortunately. Read the novel then read on!
Book Buds 