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
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Search Results for: the friend
Review by Julie
The Go-Between
Coming-of-age - the brutal way
Novels don’t come more English than this: boys at boarding school, stately homes, social class, unspoken rules. Leo Colston, our narrator, looks back at his 12-year-old self during the summer of 1900, a summer that would shatter his naivety and change his life. A great English classic and an ominous, intense, coming-of-age novel. Highly recommended!
News by Julie
Be consumed by a book this summer!
Hot tips for summer reading.
It’s almost upon us. Summer holidays and time to read. But what to choose? We have suggestions for you – from light beach reads, to epic tomes and literary classics. Take your pick and enjoy!
Review by Julie
The Girls
When the writing gets in the way of the story
First we had Gone Girl, then The Girl on the Train, The Girl in the Red Coat and this year, it’s simply The Girls…25-year old Emma Cline’s soon to be published (16th June) debut comes steeped in expectations, a $2 million dollar advance and just in time for the summer… rest assured, it won’t be the last time you hear about this book! The story of The Girls is inspired by 1960s cult leader and one of America’s most notorious criminals, Charles Manson, whose followers went on a murder spree around California. The setting is interesting enough, the drama and gore guaranteed, but what about the delivery?
News by Julie
12 bookstores every reader should visit in their lifetime
To add to your list of things to do before you die: 12 interesting bookshops, as chosen by The Independent. I like the look of Venice bookshop Aqua Alta and have always wanted to go to the famous Atlantis Books in Santorini, think I’ll start with those… Extremely pleased to see one of my local book shops on the list: Lutyens & Rubinstein in Notting Hill. Their well-read and friendly manager Claire can take credit for many a recommendation on this blog.
The Independent – 12 Bookstores Every Reader Should Visit in Their Lifetime
News by Julie
Poem Donation Box
I Wish I Loved the Human Race by Sir Walter Raleigh
Thank you to Maria for our second poem donation! Sir Walter Raleigh’s I Wish I Loved the Human Race. We need more so please send your favourite to [email protected]. You can remain totally anonymous…
Review by Michèle
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
Finding Grace in Unlikely Places
A light and enjoyable novel following 10 year old Grace Elizabeth through the neighbourhood’s secrets, enlightenment, an other revelations. Some nimble nuggets of insight into the prejudices and solidarity within a 70s suburban street while she perseveres on her ‘search for Jesus’. Flawed, but certainly cleverer than it seems at first glance.
Review by Julie
Just Kids
The making of two artists
Ever wondered what is was like to be a hip New York City artist in the late 1960s? Well, no need to wonder any longer, Patti Smith will take you right there in this fascinating autobiography. Just Kids is the story of rock and roll chick Patti Smith’s love affair and artistic collaboration with photography’s bad boy Robert Mapplethorpe, from their first chance meeting in a shop to his death-bed only two decades later.
News by Julie
Man Booker International Prize 2016 – a treasure trove of translated novels
I have great faith in translated international book prizes, only the best make into the English language market and choosing the very best of those is inevitable going to result in a list of excellent books. I’m thrilled to see Mend the Living and A Whole Life on the list as they are both amongst my absolute favourite recent reads. I’ve also just finished the wonderfully quirky The Vegetarian, unlike anything I’ve read before. And then there is Elena Ferrante’s books, three of which I’ve reviewed on this blog (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name and Days of Abandonment.) If the quality of those I’ve read is anything to go by, all of these should be amazing reads.
Review by Meg
Mister Pip
A wonderfully intense, gem of a book
Set against the backdrop of the civil war that took place on the Papua New Guinea copper-rich pacific island of Bougainville during the early 1990s, Mister Pip is named after the protagonist of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. Indeed, Dickens’ plot shapes the entire novel. Written by New Zealand author Lloyd Jones, it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2007 and won the Commonwealth Prize in the same year and rightly so as I found it a lyrical, beguiling read.
