Book Lovers Chat - August 2024
“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” - Ernest Hemingway
This voiceover is an audio version of my Slow Sunday Letter below. It is unedited, so may have some stutters, imperfections, and background noise. I hope you enjoy listening to it anyway!
Welcome to Generosity of Spirit, a gentle community exploring all aspects of Slow & Gentle living. We also get cosy with our bookish chats & I share insights into living a creative life. You are so welcome here, grab a cuppa & stay a while...
Welcome back to another Slow Sunday Letter! I hope you have had a slow and gentle week.
In this month’s Book Lover’s Chat, I am setting you a genre challenge- as we take a look at genre hopping reading! I also share my recent book reviews, some new books on my book shelf and some future reads, as we fully embrace our bookish summer!
So - grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s settle down for a read together…
Reading Challenge - Genre Hopping
Welcome to our first ever Reading Challenge!
I would like to include the odd reading challenge for us all periodically throughout the year. These are just for fun - you can dip in, dip out, use them as a spring board to direct your reading, or dive right in and follow them strictly! My hope for these challenges is they may help inspire you to tap into the joy of reading, read outside of your comfort zone a little, and discover some new, great books!
This genre-hopping challenge is open ended, so you can start it and finish it whenever you like. I hope it will inspire your choices and encourage you to re-examine your TBR list and possibly throw some new genres into the mix for your up and coming reading.
Below are ten prompts that span ten different fiction and non fiction genres - to join the challenge all you have to do is find and read a book that fits the prompt. You can do one prompt, a few of them or all!
Genre-Hopping Challenge Prompts:
Uncover a deep, dark family secret
Discover a new, magical world
Fall in love with your best friend
Reconnect with nature
Start a new life somewhere
Move into a haunted home
Solve a crime!
Discover a story that lies beyond our stars!
Dive into history and learn about a Royal Family from the past
Be inspired by food and cooking
(save this post if you want to pop back and choose another prompt later on!).
My July Reads
(all my summaries and reviews will be spoiler free)
Adventures in Opting Out -
3 STARS
We all follow our own path in life. At least, that's what we're told. In reality, many of us either do what is expected of us, or follow the invisible but well-worn paths that lead to what is culturally acceptable. For some, those paths are fine—even great. But they leave some of us feeling disconnected from ourselves and what we really want. When that discomfort finally outweighs the fear of trying something new, we're ready to opt out.
With Flanders's guidance and advice, drawn from her own journey and stories of others, you'll have all the encouragement and insight you'll need to take the path less travelled and create the life you want. Just step up to the trailhead and expect it to be an adventure.
My Thoughts:
Adventures in Opting Out is part memoir and part self help. Cait has a lovely writing style, so you feel like you are just chatting with a friend. We follow Cait’s travels in 2018 and 2019 as she attempts to ‘slow travel’ in the UK. Throughout the book Cait shows us how we can find our own alternative life- a different path opting out of seemingly ‘typical’ and ‘expected’ areas of life. I enjoyed Cait’s practical and relatable advice and found her story compelling and sincere.
The Dubrovnik Book Club - Eva Glyn
4 STARS
In a tiny bookshop in Dubrovnik’s historic Old Town, a book club begins…
Newly arrived on the sun-drenched shores of Croatia, Claire Thomson’s life is about to change forever when she starts working at a local bookshop. With her cousin Vedran, employee Luna and Karmela, a professor, they form an unlikely book club.
But when their first book club pick – an engrossing cosy crime – inspires them to embark upon an investigation that is close to the group’s heart, they quickly learn the value of keeping their new-found friends close as lives and stories begin to entwine…
My Thoughts:
This book took me by surprise. I was expecting a light hearted story about friendship, finding yourself in a new place, and the love of reading - and I got this, alongside so much more. I loved being transported to the beautiful City of Dubrovnik, and Glyn gives us a lot in the way of Croatian History. The most compelling for me was the mystery that threads throughout the novel as we uncover the truth behind a local woman’s disappearance. The character’s in this book are so well rounded and believable and I really enjoyed their development. I can totally see this as a film! Highly recommend this book.
This Summer Will Be Different
3 STARS
This summer they’ll keep their promise. This summer they won't give into temptation. This summer will be different.
The first time Lucy and Felix met she was on vacation on Prince Edward Island. And a tour of the beaches wasn’t the only thing he showed her. But when she discovered his true identity as her best friend, Bridget’s brother, their electric night should have become a distant memory…
Each year with Lucy and Bridget’s return for a summer escape, she promises herself she won’t end up in Felix’s arms, but it’s easier said than done.
Not this year though. This year it will be different. With Bridget facing the biggest crisis of her life, Lucy must join her for one last trip to the island.
But Felix’s sparkling eyes and flirty quips have been replaced with something new, something more and Lucy’s beginning to wonder just how safe her heart truly is.
My Thoughts:
I am not much of a romance reader typically, so I have made a conscious effort to read a few more over the Summer. I really liked this one. In This Summer Will Be Different, Lucy takes a last-minute trip to Prince Edward Island to support her best friend Bridget—and promises herself that she won’t end up in bed with Bridget’s brother Felix yet again (!).
The fact that the book was based on Prince Edward Island - the same backdrop as one of my favourite books Anne of Green Gables, was one of the main reasons I picked up this book. I really enjoyed the gentle nods and references to Anne, and this added so much to my enjoyment.
I had a lot of fun reading this book, I particularly liked that the story felt in equal parts about female friendship, as well as romance and I really liked that balance.
Practice Makes Perfect - Sarah Adams
3 STARS
Annie Walker is on a quest to find her perfect match - someone who nicely compliments her happy, quiet life running her flower shop in Rome, Kentucky. Unfortunately, she worries her goal might be too far out of reach when she overhears her date saying she is 'so unbelievably boring'. Is it too late to become flirtatious and fun like the leading ladies in her favourite romance movies? Maybe she only needs a little practice...and Annie has the perfect person in mind to become her tutor: Will Griffin.
Will - the flirtatious, tattooed, and absolutely gorgeous bodyguard - is temporarily back in Rome, providing security for Amelia Rose as excitement grows for her upcoming marriage to Noah Walker. He has one personal objective during his time in town: stay away from Annie Walker. But no sooner than he gets settled, Will soon finds himself not only breaking his rule, but tasked with far more than simply providing security.
Will wants no part in changing the sweet and lovely Annie, but he can't bring himself to say no to her request, so he officially agrees to teach her how to be the next leading lady of Rome, and find the love of her life - even if he doesn't believe in love himself. Between faking a relationship so the meddling town doesn't catch on to what's really happening on their practice dates, and tutoring lessons that convince Annie to add passion to her list of must-haves in a mate, it doesn't take long for the lines of their friendship to blur...
My Thoughts:
A fun and light hearted read. Annie and Will are really well rounded characters and their chemistry was written so well. I flew through this book, it is such an easy read and has plenty of memorable and funny scenes. I must admit while I have enjoyed reading Emily Henry, I am not sure I am a huge fan of the ‘romance’ genre … I tend to finish romance books wanting so much more depth. But this is a fun holiday read, and I definitely laughed out loud a few times.
New On My Book Shelf
This month I have added these books to my bookshelf…
All Along You Were Blooming - Morgan Harper Nichols
Just For The Summer - Abby Jimenez
Verity - Colleen Hoover
Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
Hello, from me…
Next Up on my TBR List
During the month of August I want to sink into a bit of a mystery!
Next up on my TBR list are:
Fairytale - Stephen King
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
Just For The Summer - Abby Jimenez
I also leave some space for spontaneous choices, and library visits! Do join me again next month for all my reading in August!
Bookish Substacks I’ve enjoyed this month…
I hope you have enjoyed this months Book Lovers Chat! I honestly have the best fun putting this together! If you would like to see anything at all featured in Book Lovers Chat, please let me know as we grow this community together. I’ll be back at the beginning of next month with even more reading inspiration!
Please do share in the comments what you are currently reading!
I’d love to know if you have read any of the books we have discussed here, or if you have any recommendations this month to share!
Thank you for being here,
With Light & Love
Emily xxx
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I just read Eat Pray Love for the first time this summer and I absolutely loved it! 🤗
Those prompts are gorgeous Emily! I think you will like Verity, it's my favourite of Coolen's books as has far more Gothic/thriller vibes, so a nice change of pace from summer romances. And one of the best twists I've ever read. I was dumbstruck!