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
My bookshelves are overflowing. I have promised myself to fix it and as I stand before them I come to all sorts of realisations. First of all, I buy a large number of books that I never read. A trip to the book shop for me is like a trip to IKEA, you go in thinking you’re buying a lamp and a bin and two hours later find yourself in the check-out queue with a trolley full of napkins, candles, bedsheets, kitchen utensils, plants…
I was enthralled by historian Simon Sebag Montefiore’s (of the bestselling biography Jerusalem) talk about his his latest book The Romanovs at 5×15 in Notting Hill last night. Three-hundred years of Russian tsars, murders, betrayals, wars, romance and lots and lots of sex, and Sebag Montefiore knows how to tell a good story. Not to be missed!
The Guardian – review of The Romanovs
The Telegraph – review of The Romanovs
If you live in London, you might want to look into 5×15’s excellent program of author talks.
For the second time in it’s 45 year history the Costa Book of the Year Award (chosen from the five category winners announced a few weeks ago) goes to a children’s book. Part detective story, part mystery and part historical fiction, The Lie Tree written by Frances Hardinge follows Faith, a bright 14 year old girl with an interest in science, unearthing the truth about her father’s mysterious death. Plenty of Victorian girl power, perfect for teenage girls and, I’m sure, boys too. Philip Pullman is the only other children’s author to win this prize, so maybe that says something.
For those of you that have access to BBC One, don’t miss its War and Peace series that started last Sunday. I watched it last night on the Iplayer and enjoyed every second of this lavish costume drama. BBC at its absolute best! Can’t wait for tomorrow’s second episode. For those without access to BBC One, don’t despair, the series has been sold widely and is bound to show up in your country too. Now I’m building up courage to tackle the book itself…
Kate Atkinson won the Costa Novel Award 2015 earlier this week for the novel A God in Ruins. Not bad considering she’s won the prize twice before: in 2013 for Life After Life and in 1995 for Behind the Scenes at the Museum. A God in Ruins follows Teddy, one of the characters from Life After Life, and his struggle to live a ‘normal’ life after his career as an RAF pilot during the Second World War.
82 international book critics have spoken: Middlemarch by George Eliot is the best British novel of all time according to a survey by BBC Culture. It’s nearly impossible to pick one book as the best ever, but if pushed, I’d probably go for Middlemarch too.
As usual, I’ve packed a large pile to bring when I go away for Christmas. Can’t wait to tuck in and enjoy all these books…
The best books of 2015 lists are being published in the newspapers these days and I have collected the best of the ‘best lists’. I don’t necessarily agree with all their choices, but there are lots of interesting books here.
A list doesn’t come more high-brow than this. If you’ve ever had the urge to get to the bottom of understanding books this offers an excellent selection of literature for you. No light beach reads here, but enough to keep you going for years and come out a scholar, and probably enjoy reading even more. Go on and tackle the literary heavyweights: Roland Barthes, Lucian Freud, Harold Bloom, James Wood, Michel Foucault etc.
So You Think You’re a Literary Critic? 19 Books for Understanding Literature by Richard Davies
We are excited to have discovered this marvellous online site. “You buy. We donate” is their catchphrase. New and old books are available for free delivery around the world and for every book you buy, they donate one onwards (while endearingly thanking you profusely), enabling and enriching libraries in poorer countries. It has become our first port of call for online books. With £14 million raised for libraries and nearly 200 million books recycled, how can you not like it?
