Book Lovers Chat - May 2025
"The greatest gift is a passion for reading" — Elizabeth Hardwick
This voiceover is an audio version of my Book Lovers Chat 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 for YOU. We find pockets of time for slow & gentle living, books, writing, journaling & life affirming work. You are so welcome here in our cosy space, 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 want to shine a spot light over my favourite Book Tubers. They bring me so much joy, and provide an almost endless amount of inspiration, and book recommendations! In this letter you can also look forward to some more book reviews, and my next ‘from my bookshelf’ book pick!
What have you been reading and enjoying this month?
Please do drop a comment at the bottom of this post to share what you are currently reading, I know myself and others get so many brilliant recommendations here from you!
I hope you are sitting comfortably, grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s settle down for a read together…
Please note - this post is jam packed and so will be too long to read in your email, do click through to read on your browser or read in the Substack app.
My Favourite BookTube Channels
One of my favourite things to do is discovering kindred spirits who love books just as much as I do— hence why my monthly Book Lovers Chat with you here and now is one of my favourite ways to connect on Substack!
Lately, I’ve found so much inspiration and comfort in the cosy corners of BookTube. There’s something magical about watching someone light up while talking about a story that moved them, or gently sharing the books that shaped their year. These creators have not only rekindled my love for reading, but also reminded me that books are meant to be treasured, shared, and celebrated.
In no particular order these are my top 5 for reading, bookish inspiration and pure joy! Please check them out and let me know what you think!
1
Ian Gubeli
My Top Ten Books of All Time (As of 2024)
Ian Gubeli brings so much humour and personality to his channel, and his passion and love of reading is infectious. He has single handedly got me into reading Stephen King, which I love. His channel has pushed my reading choices out of my comfort zone as he likes to challenge his own reading, with difficult or lengthy classics of series. I highly recommend, you will come away smiling.
2
Ashlynn Calee
Reading The Most Anticipated Books of 2025
Watching Ashlynn Calee is like chatting with a friend, she is warm, sweet and friendly. A genuine soul who LOVES books. She is also married to Ian Gubeli, so together they are a book tube force! Look out for their collaboration videos, like book swaps - I particularly loved it when Ashlynn tried to secretly read Ian’s TBR let right under his nose! So much fun, and a joy to watch.
3
Christy Ann Jones
a cozy, bookish weekend vlog ☁️☕ book shopping, cafes & new faves
Christy Ann Jones is a writer and book lover. I equally love her writers videos, and book recommendations. Her videos are so comforting, I always look forward to seeing what Christy is up to in her writing career and what she has been enjoying reading. I have got so many wonderful recommendations from her. One of which is in this month’s reviews - Our Wives Under the Sea (by Julia Armfield).
4
Hippy Highland Living by
SPRING READING VLOG - from my tiny Scottish camper
If you’re drawn to slow living, vegan cooking, nature, tiny living and you are a book lover Molly's channel is absolute treasure. Molly blends slow living with her love of reading and books effortlessly. Her videos are beautiful capturing the beauty of the Cairngorms in Scotland out on walks with her gorgeous dog Skye. You may know Molly from her Substack Slow Scottish Stories, but if you haven’t yet discovered her YouTube channel, I urge you to give it a watch, it is a real pleasure.
5
Ruby Granger
Bookish Week in my Life: London & Bronte Country
Ruby Granger’s videos feel like stepping into a thoughtful, literary daydream. Her channel is full of reading and books, study inspiration, mindfulness and embracing the simple beauty of life. Her enthusiasm, knowledge and imagination are addictive. She is a kind and beautiful soul, and I love catching up with her. Her love for classic literature, is so inspiring, along with a deep appreciation for solitude, study, and the slower rhythms of life.
My April Reads
(all my summaries and reviews will be spoiler free)
Little Stories of Your Life -
4 STARS
Embrace the power of storytelling with Little Stories of Your Life. Start telling your own story, find your creative self and be more mindful.
Combining the wellbeing benefits of mindfulness, creativity and daily photography, this book shows you how to use words and photographs to capture precious little moments and how to share these in order to connect with others.
Each chapter explores the different ways you can tell your own stories, considers why you might choose to tell them and helps you to create a patchwork of tiny tales about your life, however small they might be. Throughout the book, Laura shares her own personal stories and research that shows you how to tune out of the bigger picture and focus on the everyday. There are exercises to gently guide you through how to journal and harness your inner creativity, as well as tips on improving your photography, photo challenges and writing prompts to get you started.
It’s easy to feel that our own lives are not enough, but real lives are not defined by bright, exciting events: we don’t need a grand narrative arc. It’s the stretches of time in between that matter, the tiny moments and the daily choices that make us who we are.
My Thoughts:
This book has been sitting on my bookshelf since last year, and I finally picked it up this month. I had no idea the gentle wisdom and guidance contained within its pages, that have been sitting so close by for so long. It is a beautiful book in every way. There are some beautiful photos included all by Laura Pashby who is such a talented photographer, as well as a gifted and inspiring writer. The book swept me up and gave me so many ideas, and the confidence to explore them. If you are a creative person and want to explore your own voice, or even photography I highly recommend this wonderful book.
The Only Child - Kayte Nunn
3 STARS
1949 It is the coldest winter Orcades Island has ever known, when a pregnant sixteen-year-old arrives at Fairmile, a home for 'fallen women' run by the Catholic Church. She and her baby will disappear before the snow melts.
2013 Frankie Gray has come to the island for the summer, hoping for one last shot at reconnecting with her teenage daughter, Izzy, before starting a job as a deputy sheriff. They are staying with her mother, Diana, at The Fairmile Inn, soon to be a boutique hotel, but when an elderly nun is found dead in suspicious circumstances, and then a tiny skeleton is discovered in the grounds of the house, Frankie is desperate for answers.
My Thoughts:
The Only Child is a fusion of genres - a mystery, historical crime thriller! It moves from 1949 at Fairmile, a Catholic home for unmarried mothers - a place in which to have their babies away from the prying eyes of society. And then into 2013 as Fairmile is being renovated by new owner Diana and reopening as a boutique hotel. Diana’s daughter - Frankie has arrived at Fairmile ahead of starting her new job as a local deputy, in an effort to try and reconnect with her daughter Izzy who has joined them for summer from her home with her Father.
What could be a story about three generations reconnecting for under the same roof, turns into a fast moving mystery, when bones are discovered in the grounds of Fairmile, and an elderly nun is murdered with ties to Fairmile. Frankie decides she needs to find the answers to the sad, long ago history. which uncovers connections to her own family in a way she never expected.
I enjoyed this - and particularly the dual time line, with the connections unveiled slowly throughout and the bread crumbs for us to follow to link them. It was a little bit predictable at times, and I didn't connect massively with the characters but still very enjoyable.
Twelve Months of Reading Hamper
This was the ‘April’ book from my Twelve Months of Reading Hamper.
One of the reasons I wanted to try the hamper was to stretch my reading and try books I wouldn't ordinarily pick up. I have set myself the challenge of reading each book from my Twelve Months of Reading Hamper - during the month I receive it. Each book is wrapped up and assigned to a month of the year, so is full of surprises. I hope to find some new favourites and really stretch my reading this year through the hamper. Check back here next month to see what book I receive for May!
Our Wives Under The Sea - Julia Armfield
4.5 STARS
Our Wives Under The Sea is the haunting novel from Julia Aimfield, the critically acclaimed author of Salt Slow. It’s a story of falling in love, loss, grief, and what life there is in the deep, deep sea.
Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe. But It soon becomes clear that Leah may have come back wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home.
Memories of what they had before – the jokes they shared, the films they watched, all the small things that made Leah hers – only remind Miri of what she stands to lose. Living in the same space but suddenly separate, Miri comes to realize that the life that they had might be gone.
My Thoughts
“My heart is a thin thing, these days - shred of paper blown between the spaces in my ribs.”
Our Wives Under the Sea is an eerie, heartbreaking and enthralling story of a woman who returns to her wife, after six months lost at sea, but who crucially and quite mysteriously - doesn't appear to be ‘herself’ anymore.
It is told in alternating voices, in Leah we hear her past account of being lost at sea after her submarine ‘goes off line’ during a research mission, and plummets into the deep dark ocean; and then Miri in the present, as she struggles to accept this person, who she is sure is not the wife that left her six months ago.
“The deep sea is a haunted house: a place in which things that ought not to exist move about in the darkness.”
This is a haunting and beautifully written story, touching on love, loss, mystery, horror and deep connection. Some of the prose is achingly beautiful. I loved this book so much, the ever growing tension and mystery as we slowly find out more about Leah’s experience beneath the sea, at the same time as seeing through Miri her pain, and anguish as the near-absent Leah deteriorates before her very eyes.
I loved the way Armfield threads through past memories or their relationship and love, and sets it against the harsh reality of the present after the ‘event’ at sea. It is a wonderful telling of love and deep connection.
It is an eerie and lingering story, unfolding in the most tender of ways. At times vague, and almost certainly leaving so much unsaid - this for me- only added to the horror and mystery as I tried to make sense of it. Though the ending fits within the trajectory of the narrative - it leaves a hefty amount of intrigue for the reader, which as I understand it has been frustrating for some. I however, loved every page of this story, and I will absolutely read again, if only to re read these gorgeous words again.
Funny Story - Emily Henry
3.5 STARS
Daphne always loved the way Peter told their story. That is until it became the prologue to his actual love story with his childhood bestie, Petra.
Which is how Daphne ends up rooming with her total opposite and the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra's ex, Miles.
As expected, it’s not a match made in heaven – that is until one night, while tossing back tequilas, they form a plan.
And if it involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their adventures together, well, who could blame them?
But it’s all just for show, of course.
Because there’s no way Daphne would start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex . . . right?
My Thoughts
After not really enjoying Happy Place by Emily Henry - Funny Story had sat unopened on my bookshelf most of the last year. However, I suddenly decided I wanted to get Funny Story read before the brand new Emily Henry Great Big Beautiful Life lands on my doormat!
In all honesty, romance is not really my favourite genre … I have tried a few now, and enjoyed some! Of those I have tried, two of my favourites are written by Emily Henry (Book Lovers and You and Me on Vacation). These books had a lovely mix of romance, humour, friendship, family, and some great characters, who were likeable and with more depth and believable heartfelt stories. I am not a fan of spice, over done tropes and I do struggle somewhat with cliches and unrealistic portrayals of romance/relationships.
So - you may say - I am a hard one to please when it comes to a romance…
While Funny Story isn’t up there with Book Lovers for me - I did enjoy this book (SO much more than Happy Place). I was invested from the get go - and felt so much for Daphne and Miles as they navigate the shock, and heartbreak as their respective partners leave them both for each other. Emily Henry injects so much humour in to this story, which kept me laughing throughout. Both the main characters were likeable, and easy to root for. I did enjoy the first half a lot more than the second, particularly as it did get very predictable, but I had a good time with this book... great for a quick, light, easy read.
From My Book Shelf
Book shopping at home!
In line with my mindful spending year, and attempt to not buy so many books this year. My old feature ‘new on my bookshelf’ is now ‘from my bookshelf’. Each month I will go book shopping at home, searching through my own bookshelves and boxes of books - and I invite you to do the same!
This month, I chose Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales!
This is a collection of short stories, so I've pulled it off of my bookshelf, and put it in my book basket beside my bed, which I dip into in the mornings and evenings!
What book did you find to read?
Next Up on my TBR List:
Emily Wilde’s Map Of The Otherlands - Heather Fawcett
Bookish Substacks I’ve enjoyed this month…
I hope you have enjoyed this month’s Book Lovers Chat! This is my favourite post to write - I just love putting it together and thinking and talking about books and reading!
I really hope you check out some of my favourite BookTubers featured here —they really inspire me to slow down, turn the page, and fall in love with books and reading over and over again!
As always, I’d love to know if you have read any of the books we have discussed here, what you are reading now, or if you have enjoyed any books recently you want to shout about! I’ll see you in the comments!
Thank you for being here,
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Never heard of Book Tube before - I need to check this out 😊.
Molly's bookish vlogs are good aren't they. Darling Desi on YouTube is great for her bookish vlogs too. Molly recommended her a while ago as well.
I've recently added Laura Pashby's book my tbr list. I loved Chasing Fog.
I'm currently reading the Borrow A Bookshop series by Kiley Dunbar. They are of a romantic nature but with the book theme at the heart of the stories it makes for good easy reading.
I’ve never heard of BookTube! 🙈😂