Oxford Bookshop Review - The Last Bookshop

 In the UK we have these things called "pound stores" where everything in the shop costs a pound. They sell food, drink and household items mainly such as Toblerone, Red Bull and dust pan and brushes. However, I went to Oxford and I found The Last Bookshop.

The Last Bookshop has just moved to opposite Argos outside the Clarendon Centre. You don't know the best part, every book is £2.

Many Bargain Bookshops (I'm not going to mention names but it rhymes with The Schmirks) sell books that are of a lower quality but the Last Bookshop sells proper fiction. If you want a good bookshop at good prices, this is the best bookshop ever.

Sophie's Upcoming Release of the Month

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

I am so excited for this book. We'll forgive her for having the name Moriarty (I had a Sherlock nightmare last night) and get excited for the book with a 4.05 star average on Goodreads (believe me, that's high). I think it's already out in the US but it comes out on the 30th July in the UK.

It's about a woman who finds a letter from her husband. The only thing is, she's supposed to open it when he's died. And he is still very much alive. Inside it contains a secret that could change her world and two other women's worlds forever.

Besides, the cover is beautiful, so that's one reason to buy this.

If you would like to support me by buying books from my book depository link I would love you forever. I'm also trying to organise a small giveaway, not sure how successful that'll be but if you are interested in quotemarks tweet me or comment.

To buy this book from me click here

The other cover is a lot cheaper so for that click here

To add to goodreads click here

How the Light gets in

How the Light gets in is a book by M.J. Hyland and is beautiful, heartbreaking and utterly relatable. Lou is a teenage exchange student from a life of poverty and emotional abuse from Sydney coming to live in a suburb of Chicago with the Harding family. She wants to fit in and be loved but she gets in her own way. It's a cross between Catcher in the Rye, the Bell Jar and perfection. It makes you feel peaceful and warm and sad all at once without detaching itself from the reader and when you finish you feel you can lie for hours without having to think about anything.

The plot isn't really very fast moving but it still manages to keep the reader engaged through dialogue and various flashbacks to her past life. There is also a conflict within the family, whether they trust her or their own children and this trust plays a huge part in the complications of the family. It doesn't help that Lou compulsively lies to try to seem more impressive. 

There is a large theme of needing to stay in America because of this unrealistic dream that America will boost her quality of life.I think that is one of the problems with the American Dream, it gives outsiders an unrealistic view of America. As a British citizen I know a lot of people, especially young people, think of the US as this knight in shining armour because we're not shown what it's like to live in Pitsburg or a small town in New Mexico. We're shown New York. We're shown LA. We're shown glamourous cities where the streets are paved with stars and a place where people like the Kardashians can get famous and wealthy. We're shown success. Obama symbolised hope in a way Nick Clegg just doesn't. We're taught at a young age from the media that America is full of rich, beautiful people who follow their dreams and they come true. How the Light gets in shows up the messy, complicated dream.

The characters are possibly the strongest point of the book. They are all real people and you can imagine this being a biography because these people are so well created. With book characters they can often be two dimensional but Hyland makes these characters much more complex. For example,  the characters can be frustrated. In lots of books authors seem to forget about frustration because it isn't as strong as anger. The characters have real relationships especially the marriage in the book. There's comflict and unnamoty at the same time. Relationships are not good or bad.

Overall I would really recommend How the Light gets in (for one thing the cover is stunning frankly) because it's beautiful. Buy this book.

Brooklyn Girls

I contacted Gemma Burgess herself when she tweeted about the possibility of advanced copies of her book. I am not a huge "New Adult" fan but this book is so good.

Brooklyn Girls follows a girl called Pia, out of college, broke and fired from her job. She struggles with anxiety attacks and the aftermath of her first love breaking up with her and the main focus of the novel is about her setting up a business and her relationships surrounding this. This will be a series (I'm assuming five parts, one for each Brooklyn Girl).

I am tired of books solely focusing on love but Brooklyn Girls is twice as interesting because it's focused on more than just love. Pia is strong and confident and the book tracks her incredible drive to succeed. She's fantastic. The book is the new dawn of the "New Adult" genre; it's modern, upbeat and focuses on more than just a man.

Do you know what?  That's not even the best bit. As the book gains speed in a similar fashion to a JK Rowling* novel the plot becomes intense and exciting. You care about the characters. You care what happens to them. The narrative is intense yet bubbly and energetic and that is what makes this book unique and enjoyable.

In New Adult fiction I've found that many of the characters are a caricature of real people and real relationships. However, Gemma Burgess makes the characters real. The lead is not a white, blonde, good American girl; she's a half Indian, half Swiss, American citizen who was expelled twice, fired and has flaws like a real person. I loved that.

I really would recommend this book. Truly. It's a five star read and it's out tomorrow in the UK and yesterday in the US.

Thank you to Gemma Burgess and Quercus for sending me this advanced copy. I loved it.

Buy this book.

*However, in a similar manner to a JK Rowling novel it is a little slow starting, but still interesting.

Small disclaimer: it's not for younger readers. I mean, it's not 50 shades but it covers certain topics. I would say 14-15+

Stacking the Shelves

I'll do these more consistently now.

Since June 16th I've bought 14 books and received 2 free books so I thought I'd go through them with you.

Waterstones Chiswick

The Light of Amsterdam by David Park

Composition No.1 by Mark Saporta

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Oranges are not the only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Amazon

When I was away on work experience my mum bought me some books I'd wanted for ages and sent me them via Amazon :) She's the best.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Lutyens and Rubinstein

Lutyens and Rubinstein is a lovely independent bookshop in Notting Hill in London. It is a two storey building with a nice collection of fiction, gorgeous non fiction and absolutely lovely art. 

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.

London Review Bookshop

London Review Bookshop is another two story bookshop but this one is in Holbern, five minutes from Covent Garden. It has a cafe (with a lovely treacle tart) and a really interesting selection of fiction as well as an extensive non-fiction section, especially History and Politics. It's very close to the British Museum.

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo

The Dinner by Herman Koch

The Illicit Happiness of Other People by Manu Joseph

Waterstones Piccadilly

You and I by Padgett Powell

The Newlyweds by Neil Freudenberger

The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus

Free Books

Some absolutely lovely people have sent me some free books this month: I won the Waterstones Card Read and Review competition for the Sequel to the Devil Wears Prada and the ever-so-generous Gemma Burgess sent me her book which I am so grateful for.

Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess (out July 4th)

Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo

I picked up We Need New Names in the London Review Bookshop (which is fantastic by the way) and I must admit, it's a bit of a disappointment. The book has a very low goodreads score which I was unaffected by because I didn't like Divergent and everyone likes Divergent.

The book is set in two places: a slum called paradise in what I assume is Zimbabwe but is never named and the USA. It follows a girl called Darling and her and her friends trying to escape from their impoverished backgrounds and it focuses very much on belonging and where you live vs. your nationality.

There are some quite grissely scenes through out the book such as a sui***e, a backstreet abor***n, an ex*rc*sm, p*rn and pros*****ion. They are quite shocking so I wouldn't recommend this if you are squeamish like yours truly or a younger reader.

The first half of the book is something I really enjoyed. I liked the information on their culture and what life in a slum is like and I loved the characters and their interaction. If the whole book was like the first half I would have given the book 3 or maybe 4 stars. However, in America the pace slowed down. The passages were monotonous. The relationships were boring. Suddenly,  I started to not really enjoy it.

In America the book became about fitting in and belonging which was interesting but very repetitive. I thought more focus should be put on leaving her family and friends behind and missing them because that could have been extremely powerful.

It is a very interesting book to read culturally but otherwise it's just a bit monotonous.

Buy this book (it gives me commission and would be greatly appreciated)

A note on our stars (****): I am aware a lot of you are older readers but I did review a childs book recently and our demographic may be lower this month. In order to protect innocence I am starring everything. Thank you for your patience

UPDATE ON HOW MANY HAVE YOU READ POST: I have now read no. 16 bringing my score up to 21%.