Reading Challenge | Reading Under The Blankie

A Book Set At Sea

1st June 2018 by Norrie

I love the sea, and I love spending time at the seaside. That said, I’ve never been on a cruise, or spent significant time on the waters, and I’m not sure how I would cope with it to be honest. The dangers and the vast nothingness out there is somewhat frightening and I don’t think I could put up with spending days on end on a boat or ship without going a bit nuts. The 25th reading prompt for the […]

Categories: Books, List, Reading Challenge • Tags: book list, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading, Reading Challenge, reading list, reading prompt, Sci-Fi, Thriller, young adult

Reading Prompt: The next book in a series you started #3

23rd April 2018 by Norrie

I’m a notorious series-abandoner. Even the ones I actually like get dropped like hot potatoes, because I always feel like I need to take a break and then get distracted by other books. I have a few of these neglected darlings on my list, and this is the perfect time to pick them up again. When I say series, I mean those books that actually end with some sort of a cliffhanger, and you need to read the next book […]

Categories: Books, Reading Challenge • Tags: book series, Books, inspo, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading, Reading Challenge

Reading Challenge Prompt: A book by a local author #20

20th April 2018 by Norrie

I figured, finding books written by authors from London will be easy-peasy. Well, joke’s on me, because there really weren’t as many as I thought there will be. London is no small village, and yet, the number of authors who write the sort of stuff I read and I’m actually familiar with (meaning: heard of their existence) from around here is surprisingly low. So let’s see who made the cut for this reading challenge prompt. Jeffrey Archer Apart from being […]

Categories: Books, List, Reading Challenge • Tags: book list, crickley hall, Fiction, james herbert, Jane Fallon, jeffery archer, lisa jewell, london, london author, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading, Reading Challenge, ruth rendell, tim reed

Reading Prompt: True crime #2

28th March 2018 by Norrie

I don’t read true crime. I watch it. Devour it. I have spent many hours in front of my screen, binge watching true crime documentaries in glassy eyed silence, engrossed in stories of gruesome murders and senseless killings. I find human nature equally fascinating and horrifying. “No other genre is a more apt testament that our evil, primal, fearful selves linger just beneath our calm, civilised exteriors, that life goes on even after the worst has happened, and that all […]

Categories: Books, List, Reading Challenge • Tags: Books, Crime, non fiction, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading, Reading Challenge, reading prompt, Review, Topics, true crime

Reading Challenge Prompt: A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym #11

5th March 2018 by Norrie

We have come a long way from the time when Louisa May Alcott chose to publish her Gothic thrillers under the name A.M. Barnard, purely because the subject matter was considered ‘unladylike’ for a 19th century female writer. Female authors are still choosing male pseudonyms even today, but for somewhat different reasons: to enjoy anonymity, to try a new writing style, or experiment with a genre unlike the one they write under their well established names. That said, according to […]

Categories: Books, Reading Challenge • Tags: contemporary, Crime, Fiction, j.k. rowling, james tiprtree, lionel shriver, magnus flyte, male pseudonym, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading Challenge, reading list, reading prompt, rob thurman, Sci-Fi

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

21st February 2018 by Norrie

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult Published: 10th October, 2017 Series: N/A Rating: 4 Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a […]

Categories: Books, Read, Review • Tags: anxiety, Books, contemporary, john green, mental health, OCD, Reading Challenge, Review, turtles all the way down, young adult

Reading Prompt: A book about mental health #16

7th February 2018 by Norrie

Mental health is a topic that doesn’t get discussed often enough. We live in the 21st century where we have plenty of information about everything at our fingertips, and yet, mental illness is still regarded with suspicion, and declared a non existent issue by a lot. The stigma attached to mental illnes should not be a thing in our modern era, but it still surrounds us every day. I still encounter people who “don’t believe” in mental disorders. To me […]

Categories: Books, Read, Reading Challenge • Tags: book list, Books, depression, Fiction, mental disorders, mental health, OCD, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading, Reading Challenge

Reading Prompt: A book with song lyrics in the title #28

29th January 2018 by Norrie

I love how random some of these prompts are. Choosing books for this one was a ton of fun. I came across quite a few titles that would fit this category, but I wanted my selection to relate to songs I actually like, because I’m fussy like that. So let’s rock! One for the Money by Janet Evanovich This book, named after the famous song by Elvis Presley, is the first in the series featuring Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter. […]

Categories: Books, Reading Challenge • Tags: Books, inspo, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading, Reading Challenge, song lyrics title

Reading Prompt: A book from a celebrity book club #32

24th January 2018 by Norrie

I’ve never followed any of those celebrity book clubs floating around, nor have I been a part of any actual book club where you meet actual people and discuss books. I just can’t see myself sitting there and inevitably ending up in some sort of an argument about some fictional character, or a subplot, or story line. My mild anxiety is already playing up just thinking about this. Thank fuck, these celebrity book clubs don’t require actual face to face […]

Categories: Books, Reading Challenge • Tags: Books, Fiction, goodreads, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading, Reading Challenge, Topics

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

13th January 2018 by Norrie

Beartown by Fredrik Backman Genres: Contemporary, Fiction Published: 25th April, 2017 Goodreads Series: Björnstad #1 Rating: 5 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true. People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands […]

Categories: Books, Read, Reading Challenge, Review • Tags: 5 star rating, beartown, Books, contemporary, Fiction, fredrik backman, Kindle, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Reading, Reading Challenge, reading prompt, Review, sports fiction

Reading Prompt: A book that involves a bookstore or library #39

12th January 2018 by Norrie

According to the diploma I obtained at uni, I’m a librarian. I mean, information scientist, to be precise. Although I have always dreamed about working in a library, spending time among books, I’ve never actually had a job in one. Based on all the stories I’ve read involving librarians, I probably romanticized the idea way too much. Part of one my uni assignments was to spend sixty hours in our town’s library, and damn, was it awful! I admit, I […]

Categories: Books, Reading Challenge • Tags: bookstore, library, Mystery, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Read, Reading, Reading Challenge, reading prompt

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

11th January 2018 by Norrie

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells Genres: Science Fiction, Classics Published: 7th May, 1895 Goodreads Series: N/A Rating: 3.5 “I’ve had a most amazing time….” So begins the Time Traveller’s astonishing firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years beyond his own era—and the story that launched H.G. Wells’s successful career and earned him his reputation as the father of science fiction. With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened […]

Categories: Books, Read, Review • Tags: Books, classic, Fiction, h.g. wells, Popsugar Reading Challenge, Read, Reading Challenge, Review, Sci-Fi