Thanks to my fantastic working relationship with a few fab book publishers and my recently renewed library account, I’m never short of something to read. In fact, my TBR has gotten a bit out of hand and I’ve had to schedule my reading around library renewals and publication dates. Here’s a little look at what I’ve been reading lately – such a fun mixed bag.
Floored* is a collaborative novel from the pens of seven of the UK’s best young adult writers, including my personal favourite, Holly Bourne. Six of the seven writers take it in turns to write from the point of view of a different character at their first meeting in a lift and again on subsequent anniversaries. The seventh writer plays ‘narrator’ but you don’t know which writer is who. Fun!
Dubbed The Breakfast Club meets One Day (come to think of it, I’d love to know what happened to The Breakfast Club a year or five later), Floored brings a weird yet wonderful group of teens together in a chance encounter which changes their lives forever. Each character is strong in their own right and I felt my favourite changing throughout the story. In fact, at one time or another, each of them was my favourite, before I settled on an overall favourite at the end. Coincidentally, it was my post for the blog tour which cemented their status as favourite. Check it out here.
Floored is out today.
Feminist Book Fortnight may be over but that’s no reason to stop reading books from strong female voices. Caroline O’Donoghue’s debut, Promising Young Women*, certainly fits the bill.
By day, twenty-something Jane Peters wanders aimlessly through her day job at an advertising agency. By night she’s an anonymous agony aunt, dishing out hilarious yet compassionate advice. But when she embarks on an affair with her married boss, her world, and mind, starts to unravel.
Promising Young Women is a fascinating examination of glass ceiling politics and the struggle for respect and recognition in a workplace dominated by men. I was recently somewhat disappointed by a similarly themed book about the postgraduate slump called Living the Dream and this is everything I wanted from that book and more.
The tone shifts as you delve deeper into Jane’s psyche yet it never feels too dark. It’s easy to see how a young woman could end up falling down a rabbit hole of sex, secrets and shame. On the one hand you want to grab her by the shoulders and shake it out of her, yet on the other it’s a complicated web which far too many promising young women find themselves caught up in.
O’Donoghue’s writing is raw, authentic and heart-breakingly relatable. Promising Young Women is out now.
A Sloth’s Guide to Mindfulness* is a beautiful little book and a great gift idea for a loved one in need of a pick-me-up. I’ve read a few mindfulness books over the last couple of years and this is definitely the most accessible and easy to digest. I love the illustrations and the message is clear without being preachy or patronising. The badge from the publicity team was a great touch too. You do you has become a positive mantra and the sloth is such a flippin’ cutie! I also love the black and white design with yellow page trim – very Hufflepuff.
A Sloth’s Guide to Mindfulness is out on 17 July.
Teen Breathe’s Inspiring Women Special is a brilliant idea for younger magazine readers. We’re living in a post-Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls era and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the publications highlighting positive role models for young women.
Produced to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of (some) women getting the vote, this stunningly designed magazine celebrates more than 40 genuinely inspiring women, including the likes of Maya Angelou, Amelia Earhart, Jane Austen and Emmeline Pankhurst. Many of the descriptions of the lives and work of these incredible women is accompanied by prompts to encourage positivity, creative thinking, goal-setting, problem solving and more. I already want to send a copy to my friends’ daughters!
The Teen Breathe Inspiring Women Special is out now.
*I was sent a copy of this book/magazine for review purposes and all thoughts are my own
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I would love the sloth book as a gift or to give as a gift and I think I would enjoy reading about the inspiring women as it’s in perfect bite sized bits of info and I love the artwork from different people too.
I love your feminist book options! Have you heard of the recent book 90s Bitch! It has like a 4.21 review on Goodreads! I want to get this on audiobook! So excited about it!!!
Ooh no, that’s new to me but I’m totally checking it out, thanks!