Beth's Bookish Backpacking

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Feb 5, 2020Feb 2, 2020 bethsbookishbackpacking

WWW Wednesday- 05/02/2020

Feb 3, 2020Feb 2, 2020 bethsbookishbackpacking

Book Review- The confessions of Frannie Langton by Sarah Collins

Feb 2, 2020Feb 2, 2020 bethsbookishbackpacking

January reading wrap up

Jan 29, 2020Jan 28, 2020 bethsbookishbackpacking

WWW Wednesday 29/01/2020

Jan 27, 2020Jan 26, 2020 bethsbookishbackpacking

Book Review- Melmoth by Sarah Perry

Jan 26, 2020 bethsbookishbackpacking

Book Review- The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Jan 19, 2020Jan 19, 2020 bethsbookishbackpacking

Book Review- Heartburn by Nora Ephron

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Over the weekend I finished my first five star read of the year! 📖 The Confessions of Frannie Langton is an amazing historical murder mystery that left me guessing right till the very end. 📖 I have a full review of this up in my blog but here are some of the reasons I loved this book ⭐I loved the inclusion of contemporary debates surrounding race and a woman's place within society. This made this such a thought provoking book. ⭐Frannie is such a nuanced and well developed character with many sides to her story. As she narrates her story she is in control and decides when to let the reader in on certain aspects of her past. ⭐Yay for atmospheric historical fiction🤗 📖 #bookreview #theconfessionsoffrannielangton #penguinbooks #historicalfiction #culturetripbooks #backlistedbooks #bookish #readersofig #spinebenders #books #recentlyread #readandreviewed #fivestarread #newbook #bibliophile #biblio #bookcoverlove
January reading wrap up! 📖 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 4.5⭐ The Awakening by Kate Chopin 2.5⭐ Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 3.75⭐ Heartburn by Nora Ephron 3⭐ The Familiars by Stacey Halls 3.5⭐ Melmoth by Sarah Perry 3⭐ 📖 #bookreview #bookrecommendation #wrapup #januarywrapup #januaryreads #classicscommunity2020 #classicscommunity #2020reads #2020classicscommunity #bookstagram #bookspine #bookspines #classics #backlistedbooks #recentlyread #culturetripbooks #bookstack #stacksaturday
I loved the Essex Serpent SO MUCH so I was excited to get to this. However, it didn't live up to my outrageously high expectations! 📖 Although this book started out as the perfect gothic horror, after I'd read about 40% I found it a real slog to get through. The book quickly lost the gothic atmosphere and became a series of testimonies and due to this narrative felt quite disjointed. It just wasn't scary at all which was disappointing. 📖 I still maintain that the Essex Serpent is a perfect example of atmospheric character driven historical fiction. If you tried Melmoth and didn't like it I'd urge you to read The Essex Serpent! Honestly they could have been written by two different authors. 📖 #melmoth #bookstagram #bookcoverlove #culturetripbooks #retelling #gothic #books #booksofinstagram #readersofig #reading #backlistedbooks #recentreads #2020reads #avidreader #biblio #bibliophile #bookworm #spinebenders
What's a recent read that didn't live up to the hype? 📖 I was so excited to read Stacey Halls debut novel, The Familiars, as EVERYONE seemed to be loving it. However, this fell rather short of a five stars for me. 📖 So this book was sold to me as historical fiction surrounding the Pendle witch trials. The narrative follows Fleetwood, a young noble woman, who is pregnant for the fourth time. After suffering three miscarriages she is desperate to provide an heir for her husband. After enlisting the help of a local 'wise woman' to ensure the baby is delivered successfully the County of Lancashire is embroiled in a witch hunt. 📖 I have several issues with this book. The witches/ witch hunt was not as central to the plot as it should have been. The women were hardly featured at all. Most of the plot featured Fleetwood worrying about her pregnancy. I felt trapped in her mundane mind, as a protagonist she was quite weak despite Halls' attempts to prove otherwise. A dual narrative with one of the accused as the second narrator would have facilitated the aim of giving a voice to the Pendle witches/ making a point about women's position in society. It would have also broken up the monotony. Furthermore, the complete lack of atmosphere was also disappointing. 📖 I really wanted to be truly absorbed by this but overall it was just an OK read. 📖 #bookreview #thefamiliars #historicalfiction #backlistedbooks #bookstagram #pendlewitches #disappointingread #2020reads #culturetripbooks #flatlay #sundayreads #books #igreads #bookcoverlove
This book was sold to me as a "side-splitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage" which automatically intrigued me as how can you make something so heartbreaking humourous? 📖 This novella takes the form of a comedic monologue from the perspective of food writer Rachel Samsat. At seven months pregnant she discovers her husband has been having an affair and the remainder of the novella deals with the pain that ensues as a result of this revelation. 📖 Whilst I loved the insight into the Jewish American Middle class experience and the inclusion of recipes, there were some glaring issues that cropped up while reading this. 📖 Although originally published in the 1980 (so not that long ago) some of the humour is VERY dated. For example, Ephron has a running joke about lesbianism in which an offensive slang term for lesbian is used repeatedly. Furthermore, although proclaiming to be a liberated woman I found Rachel's inability to do anything without her husband irritating. 📖 Fuller review on my blog. 3⭐ 📖 #bookreview #classicscommunity2020 #classicscommunity #classicbooks #modernclassic #modernclassics #noraephron #bookstagram #culturetripbooks #flatlay #booksofinstagram #readersofig #currentlyreading #2020reads #bookblog #bookblogger #virago #viragomodernclassics
Wuthering Heights is a book that strongly divides opinions! Do you love it or hate it? This was my third read of the #classicathon 📖 I was really scared about going into this book. Although I loved Jane Eyre, I didn't like Villette and I only managed 100 pages of Shirley! However, both @dannii.elle.reads and @gandalfandunicorns recommended it so I thought I'd get stuck in. 📖 I need a few days to gather my thoughts, but essentially all of the characters are completely detestable! I quite enjoyed the first half but the novelty did wear off about two thirds of the way through. Additionally, as with Jane Eyre, I do have some issues with the romance. Why do people fangirl over Heathcliffe and Mr Rochester when they are literally the WORST? 📖 That being said, I read this really quickly and was so absorbed for the first two thirds. Overall, I didn't love or hate it. I'm bang in the middle! 📖 #bookreview #classicscommunity2020 #classicscommunity #bookstagram #flatlay #vintageclassics #bronte #brontë #brontesisters #biblio #culturetripbooks #booksofinstagram #readersofig #reading #2020classicscommunity #2020classics #vintagebrontë #wutheringheights #victorianliterature

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