10 Peter Pan Tattoos - Literary Ink Series

I haven't done a Literary Tattoos post in ages and this one was particularly fun for me to research as Peter Pan was one of my favourite books when I was younger. I've deliberately tried to steer clear of tattoos inspired by the Disney film of Peter Pan as I want to focus on ones from the book by J.M. Barrie. There's probably a bit of cross over but I've tried to include the literary ones wherever possible.

Also, my internet has been really slow today and Pinterest hasn't worked at all so this has taken me all, bloody, day. Please appreciate it!

November 2017 Favourite Books

Sorry for the long delay between posts, I've had a hell of a couple of weeks with everything happening at once but the main thing was that my cat had his pelvis shattered by a car. Long, stressful week but he is finally pinned together and home, but I haven't been able to get much work done.

Now he's recovering normal life can sort of resume again, although he does have to be on crate rest for six weeks and is already desperate to come out!

Anyway, onto books.

I read some real stand out books in November. They're all a bit dark this month, maybe something to do with the time of year, and they're mostly concerned with murder and mystery.

10 Great Gatsby Tattoos - Literary Ink Series

I haven't done one of these in a while. This was a fun one to research, it turns out that a lot of people have Great Gatsby tattoos and there are some really amazing ones out there, in fact I might have to do a second post at some point because there were so many that I couldn't include.

I noticed that there are a lot of takes on a few main elements of F. Scott Fitzgerald's book; the green light, the cover and various famous quotes, so I've tried to pick one of each and then search for a few more rare tattoos too.

Also, FYI, you may have noticed that my posts have slowed down a bit; I'm pretty busy at the moment with my own writing and working my part time job which is getting busier over Christmas. Posts will probably be one a week now as opposed to twice a week. I'll try and get my act back together again in January.

Anyway, on to the tattoos.

August 2017 Favourite Books

August's favourites are a little late this month. I had a week off to celebrate my birthday (30, how am I so old?), and I meant to be organised and schedule posts but never got round to it. I'm now rushing to hurry up.
This month's favourite books post is a steady balance of classics and new releases, with horror, humor and suspense all included.

10 Jane Austen Tattoos - Literary Tattoos Series

Most of my Literary Tattoos posts so far have either been based on children's books or fantasy novels, which all have a range of illustrations and symbols that make great tattoos. For this tattoo post I thought I'd opt for a classic author.

Jane Austen's books are chock full of quotes that prove to be popular as tattoos and, while there aren't that many obvious illustrations, people are really creative at coming up with Austen-esque designs.

Classic Literature: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

Book Review

"I saw something nasty in the woodshed."

Cold Comfort Farm is written by Stella Gibbons and published by Penguin Essentials.

I know I've only just included this book in my July Favourites but I wanted to write a proper review of Cold Comfort Farm. Plus, I haven't reviewed a classic in a while. I always wonder if there's any point reviewing classic books, as pretty much everything that can be said about the book has already been said, but I enjoyed this book and wanted to share it, hopefully some people will take something new from it.

July 2017: Favourite Books

July was more of a mixed month of reading than last month, though there were still a couple of Midsomer novels too. There's a mix of old and new, fantasy, comedy, classic and, of course, crime. Plus, I've actually read a couple of books which I've been meaning to read for a long time, so I feel good ticking them off my list.

April 2017 Link Love

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I don't know what to write for this introduction so I'm keeping it brief; here are some links to webpages I've liked in April. Enjoy!

March 2017 Link Love

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Another month, another round-up of links I've been loving on the web. As usual, there are lots of book reviews from fellow book bloggers, including a couple of classics. I've also found some useful writing tips, especially if you're a budding children's book author.

Finally, I've got some random links, with everything from underground caves to inspiring women standing up against sexual violence.

Classic Literature: Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Book Review

"And at home by the fire, whenever you look up there shall I be - and whenever I look up, there will be you."

I thought I'd break up the new release reviews with a classic; Thomas Hardy's tale of beautiful and willful Bathsheba Everdene, Far from the Madding Crowd.

Firstly, I must apologise for the edition I have, which features a very sixties Julie Christie on the cover. If you follow me on Instagram you'll have probably seen this book before as I was reading it last summer. I admitted then that I generally hate books with film adaptation covers, but I kind of like this one, I just love her totally un-authentic hair!

I'll stop rambling about Julie Christie and her fringe and focus on the story.
Far from the Madding Crowd is one of those classic books that, even though I'd never read it before, I knew the plot. Somehow it had got lodged in my head, through general common-knowledge osmosis.

December 2016 Link Love

December has mainly been a month of slobbing for me, a lot of sitting on my butt and reading crap on the internet so there are quite a few links in my link love post for December. I think most of them will interest you though (hopefully), there are lots of book bloggers and posts, some writing tips and then just a whole load of random crap. Enjoy!

December 2016: Favourite Reads

Happy January! If there is such a thing. I hope everyone had a lovely New Year and are now not too depressed about going back to work tomorrow.

I read a lot of books in December; with work winding down, the holidays and the generally rubbish weather, I've had a lot of time to hibernate under a duvet with a book. This is my list of favourite reads from December. It's quite a mixed bag this month; the usual crime fiction, but also quite a few new releases and a classic thrown in.

Classic Literature: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

"Marley was dead, to begin with...This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate."

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

My mum used to read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol every December and it's a tradition that my sister and I try to carry on. Although quite often I forget and then blitz through it on Christmas Eve.

There's not much I can say about this Christmas classic that hasn't already been said, and it's hard to write an unbiased review as the book is such a part of our culture. A Christmas Carol has been recreated on screen so many times, and the term Scrooge and Bah Humbug have become a part of our language. Actually, I watched The Muppet Christmas Carol before I ever read the book, so even now when I read it I still envision Scrooge as Michael Caine and Bob Cratchit as Kermit the Frog (by the way, The Muppet Christmas Carol and Scrooged are hands down the best Christmas films ever, don't even talk to me about Elf!)

Classic Literature: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Book Review

"Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst, for I will do mine! Then the fates will know you as we know you."

I've been reviewing a lot of new releases recently and I thought it was about time to show some appreciation for the classics.
First off is one of my favourite books, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. This is my rather battered but loved Penguin Classics edition.

October 2016: Link Love

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This is a new monthly post featuring, you guessed it, links that I love. I know it's a little late for October's post, now being well into November, but I've been spectacularly unorganised as usual.

Each month I'll bring a round up of what I've been enjoying on the web, including books and writing related links as well as a few random favourites.

The Evenings by Gerard Reve (translated by Sam Garrett)

Book Review

In The Netherlands The Evenings, published in 1947, is considered a classic and is taught in schools, but many English readers have never heard of it or author Gerard Reve, who was the first openly gay writer in The Netherlands.
Finally, almost 70 years after its original publication, The Evenings has been translated into English and was published by Pushkin Press on November 3rd 2016.

6 Horror Books to Read for Halloween

This is such a typical book blogger post for this time of year, but it's one that I really wanted to do as I love to read a good scary book around Halloween. Not that it has to be October 31st in order to read spooky stories, but there's something about October that makes me want to hide under the covers and scare myself.

So, here are 6 of my favourite scary books to read for Halloween.

September Favourites

I thought I'd start doing a monthly favourites; a collection of the best books I've read each month.

I read even more books than usual in September as I was spectacularly jet lagged at the beginning of the month after getting back from Canada, then I had a bastard of a cold all last week, so there has been even more lying around and reading done than usual.

So, here a few of the favourite books that I've read this month.

Book Shop Spot: Mermaid Tales Bookshop, Tofino, Canada

...and a mini book haul

I'm going to start doing semi-regular posts on Book Shop Spots; a brief review of bookshops I've visited. The majority of these will probably be located around Suffolk in the UK as that's where I'm based, but I'll start off with a book shop on the other side of the world; Mermaid Tales Bookshop in Tofino in British Columbia, Canada.

10p Book Haul

I went along to a local car boot sale on bank holiday Monday (how very British), hoping to pick up some good second-hand books.

However, though there were a lot of sad cuddly toys and mismatched kitchenware there weren't that many books.

I was going to give up and go home but I managed to strike lucky on my way out. I'd forgotten that the village hall that the boot sale was held at has second-hand books for sale in the foyer.

I got eight books, all for only 10p each, in the end T (fiancé) had to drag me away because I couldn't carry any more.

I thought I'd share what I got.