Three books on grief
Grief Works
Compassionate and constructive on mourning
Grief is the Thing with Feathers
Glorious on grief
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
Top 100 Book Blogs
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News by Julie
It’s official! Kindles are out, physical books are in.
I knew it! Although I occasionally use my Kindle, I’ve always had a soft spot for the real thing. The Guardian perfectly sums up why.
Here are some things that you can’t do with a Kindle. You can’t turn down a corner, tuck a flap in a chapter, crack a spine (brutal, but sometimes pleasurable) or flick the pages to see how far you have come and how far you have to go. You can’t remember something potent and find it again with reference to where it appeared on a right- or left-hand page. You often can’t remember much at all. You can’t tell whether the end is really the end, or whether the end equals 93% followed by 7% of index and/or questions for book clubs. You can’t pass it on to a friend or post it through your neighbour’s door.
How eBooks lost their shine ‘Kindles now look clunky and unhip’
News by Julie
Maylis de Kerangal wins Wellcome Book Prize 2017 for Mend the Living
Beautifully written, shockingly sad and profoundly thought-provoking, Mend the Living made a huge impression on me when I read it last year. This novel on organ donation is a well-deserved winner of the Wellcome Book Prize 2017. Highly recommended!
Review by Jane
The Power
F**k the Patriarchy
A clever imagining of a world in which women (literally) have the power, this Baileys-shortlisted novel blends science fiction with dystopian global politics. Think The Hunger Games meets late Jeanette Winterson with a dash of Malory Blackman, this is a book your teenage daughter will love.
News by Julie
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017 goes to…
Great choice for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017! Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad was one of my favourite new books last year. An American slave story written with imagination and originality. Read the full review here.
Review by Julie
Stay With Me
Not flawless but pretty impressive nonetheless
Yejide and Akin fall head over heals in love when they meet at university in Ife, Nigeria in the 1980s. Marriage follows soon thereafter as should babies, but none arrive. The humiliation of childlessness (particularly strong in Nigeria) propels Yejide, Akin and the tenacious mother-in-law to go to extreme lengths to fix it, jeopardising their mental health and relationship on the way. I was gripped by 26-year-old Adébáyò’s storytelling, despite her sometimes uneven writing. An easy, accessible novel that should garner many fans.
Bookstoker Young Readers
Orangeboy
Blistering London gangsta story thrills, but fails to convince
Michael Rosen’s Sad Book
A comforting and illuminating read for melancholic moments
Stories From Shakespeare
Happy Birthday Mr Shakespeare!
Review by Kirstin
Michael Rosen’s Sad Book
A comforting and illuminating read for melancholic moments
Michael Rosen’s Sad Book is an understated masterpiece. It takes a look at an aspect of our children’s lives we sometimes overlook, their capacity to deal with heartache. Michael Rosen’s son Eddie, was only 18 when he died. The author’s grief and loss is woven into this exploration of one of our less discussed emotions.
Review by Kirstin
Stories From Shakespeare
Happy Birthday Mr Shakespeare!
Marking the Bard’s birthday this April, is a new edition of Geraldine McCaughrean’s sparkling re-telling of ten of his best known plays. The aim is to engage younger readers by sloughing off the drier elements of the text, and letting the stories shine through.
Read full Review
Review by Kirstin
Orangeboy
Blistering London gangsta story thrills, but fails to convince
Just announced as Waterstone’s Older Fiction category winner 2017, Orangeboy is a maximum impact read. It tells the story of 16-year-old Marlon, who gets sucked into a teen gang vortex of drugs, violence, and ultimately, a dicing with death. Is he strong enough to stand firm against the gangstas who would crush him and those he loves?
