The Book Hub 📙🐻

Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post, I feel like everybody goes through a period of time when they just don't want to read. Recently, I've been quite busy with work experience and school and I didn't have the time to get much reading done. However, there have been quite a few books that I've been reading recently, that I've been meaning to get through but just hadn't had the time to. What I decided to do, to help me with getting a bit more reading done, is to read in every spare minute of my time. For example, when I come back from the dance studio after work experience, I can perhaps pick up the book I'm reading and read it while I have the time. Even if it's just for 5 or 15 minutes, I find this really effective. I also try to read before I go to bed because that's when I find that I have the most time during my day and I find that it really helps me get to sleep a lot better. If I don't have time at night to get much readin...

Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post, As I'm sure you all know already, I've been reading the second book of James Herriot's memoirs as a Yorkshire country vet. One of his friends/colleagues and brother to Siegfried, is Tristan. Tristan had quite a mischievous personality and was always known for making his older brother very angry. One time he crashed both of Siegried's only cars and this sent his brother over the edge because they needed the cars to carry all the expensive veterinary equipment and to get from farm to farm so it was certainly an inconvenience. However, this time, he did something even worse. There was a country myth going around that this monk would turn up by this chapel on a specific night and as soon as the drivers saw him by the road, they would rev up their engines and soar up the road. Little did they know that it was actually Tristan! One time, he played the prank on James and heard him soar off into the distance after coming ...

Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post, As I've mentioned in my previous post, I'm currently reading a very interesting historical book called If This Is A Woman by Sarah Helm. Whilst it's a very accurate and fascinating book on Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, it does reveal some shocking truths on how people were treated. Drawn to the 'red Vienna,' a woman named Hanna Sturm, joined a trade union and helped fight anti-fascist battles during Austria's turmoil of the 1930s. However, this often lead her being imprisoned behind bars. Sentenced to 'aggravated arrest' in Ravensbrück, Hanna was confined to a small wooden cell which was 2 metres wide and 2 metres in length. The cell was dark so whilst she tried to get used to the darkness, she often lost track of time. She also had no bed, no mattress but the floor to sit on and only a proper meal was provided on Thursday once a week. 100g of bread and a bowl of so-called coffee was gi...

Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post, Before, I absolutely used to be a fan of fictional books. I really enjoyed the Jacqueline Wilson books as a child, especially Starring Tracy Beaker. I also really enjoyed The Famous Five by Enid Blyton growing up. I really enjoyed the suspense especially the one about where they are trapped in a room with smugglers. For a long time, fiction has always seemed to be my favourite book genre. However, when I started reading things like Anne Frank's diary or Helga's diary, both excellent true accounts from the Second World War, I got drawn to the world of non-fiction. I especially enjoyed reading about Arthur by Mikael Lindnord. I liked reading about how the helpless dog followed Mikael's Swedish adventure racing team all across the jungle to find a home. I also liked reading about Felix the railway cat and how he became a signified member of the station. I am currently reading James Herriot's book All Things Bright an...

Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,  At the age of 12 years old, I read an amazing book called Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In year 8, we did go over the book in English but I had already read it before. It took me a while to understand some things and I often found that I had to re-read some sections just to understand the old American slang but nevertheless, when I did got to grips with the language, I found the plot quite interesting. There are so many amazing chapters I could highlight from this book but there is just one that tops them all in my opinion. The final chapter has not only just got me awestruck, but I'm sure many of you readers out there too. It's the chapter when George has to shoot his companion Lennie, a tall muscular worker with learning difficulties, for his own good. I like this section in the book because it's prolonged and prior to Lennie's death, him and George talk about the future. 'Getting the alfalfa for the ra...

Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post, Why do I pick up a book? Most of the time, I get attracted to a book by its beautiful cover. They always say, don't judge a book by its cover but when an author spends extra time on what the book looks like on the outside, it always makes you want to read what's on the inside. This is why I like Jacqueline Wilson books because Nick Sharratt spends a lot of time talking to the author about the book so he can really understand the characters and the storyline and so consequently, his illustrations turn out amazing. Although the majority of the time I pick out a book by its cover, when no book cover seems to be screaming out to me, I also like to just cover my eyes and pick a book randomly off the shelf. I've done this a few times now and although the book cover didn't always look nice, I often found that the storyline was really good. Sometimes a little spontaneity whilst choosing a book is a good thing to als...