Welcome to Bookstoker!
We’re here to help you find that book that you can’t put down, the book you’ll push on all your friends, the book that’ll change your life.
We read literary fiction, non-fiction, classics and children’s books, all genres and styles embraced in our aim to share the love. You’ll also find fabulous Bookstagrams and literary news.
A world of bookish delights!
Kirstin and Julie
Images of beauty are all around us but have you ever considered beauty from a cerebral point of view? Bookstoker is featured in The Wildsmith Papers this month with a post on curated fiction and non-fiction that challenge the idea of beauty and what beauty does to us. Have a look!
Audur Ava Ólafsdóttir won the Nordic Council Literature Prize 2018 yesterday, an annual prize awarded to a work of fiction written in one of the Nordic languages. Past winners include Per Petterson and Sofi Oksanen. We loved her little book Butterflies in November. Try it for something a bit different.
Yesterday saw the announcement of the 2018 Man Booker Prize short-list, a huge event in the literary calendar, particularly for those who made it from the long-list. A short-list nomination usually means a significant jump in sales and the opportunity to emerge out of the shadows and into the literary limelight. So which books made it to the short-list and what did we make of them?
There’s only one thing that can rescue me from end-of-summer blues: the promise of some great new books for autumn. And this year’s list of has some real gems. Just have a look.
I can’t think of a more glamorous literary festival than the Cliveden Literary Festival (29-30th September) taking place at Cliveden House just outside London. Seeped in a cocktail of royalty, aristocracy, sex and political scandals, most famously the Profumo affair, Cliveden has a history few authors could dream up. And it comes with a price to match. At £105 a day, it’s probably also the most expensive. But, hey, you don’t often get a chance to be in a room with Hanif Kureishi, Sir Anthony Beevor, Alain de Botton, HRH Princess Michael of Kent (uhm…), Sarah Waters, Edmund de Waal, Norman Foster, Naomi Wolf, I could go on and on. They really have a fabulous programme. Cancel that Christmas holiday and sign up today!
Don’t you just love this side of summer? At this point it seems endless, hence the towering pile of books on my desk that I intend to read during the holiday. Maybe this will be the year I have time to read them all?!
Packing your suitcase ready for your summer hols? Don’t forget to slip in the odd paperback or two for your kids. Starting off with our favourite reads so far in 2018, here are the books we can guarantee your kids will love!
What are the best books for summer 2018? We’re thrilled to present our summer reading list. A list full of great reads for every mood. Funny and sad, light and heavy, it’s all here. Happy summer from all of us at Bookstoker!
Kamila Shamsie won the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly The Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction) for her book Home Fire yesterday. It’s a gripping read about a passionate love story between the son of a muslim Home Secretary and the daughter of a Jihadist. Moral dilemmas and culture clashes abound. I was sucked inn by this book but a bit turned off by it’s ending. Still worth a read though. Women’s Prize For Fiction 2018. Here’s our review.
The Booker Prize is 50 this year and to celebrate the organisers have launched the Golden Booker, a prize given to the best winner during it’s five decades. Five judges have picked one candidate from each decade and now it’s up to you and me to choose the overall winner.
