April, May + June Book Haul

Now, I don't know how this happened but over the past three months I've managed to accumulate a lot of books...I may have a problem. I have been sent a few books and I have bought a lot of books, thankfully the majority were discounted in some way from The Works, Wordery, Book Depository and Amazon, all of which have become such a weakness for me this year!

I have over 45 books in this haul *hangs head in shame* and 10/11 of them were sent to me for review from the lovely publishers including: Nobrow, Titan Books, Pushkin Press and Transworld Books. Since I photographed the books and filmed the clips below, I have somehow acquired four more books including: Hero Born, With Malice, The Crowns Game and Hero Grown - review coming over the next two months.

The Works 

Now, I really wish we had assess to Book Outlet here in the UK but I guess our equivalent is The Works although it has a lot more than just books. I've made quite a few orders on The Works this year as the books are so cheap and I usually find a discount code too. The Works is best for non-fiction in my opinion and I've found a range of interesting and inexpensive non-fiction books from there recently, including: Brevertons Nautical Curiosities, The Time Travel Handbook (£4) and The Science of Everyday Life.

Amazon 

Amazon has also become a weakness for me especially earlier in the year when I had a Amazon Primer trial *don't get it, you will feel the need to buy constantly!*. I've bought so many used books from Amazon - most of the books in this haul are from Amazon including: Warm Bodies, Uprooted, The Night Circus, The Mime Order (which was a bargain at less than £3 for a like new hardback copy) and a range of gorgeous editions of Susan Hill books published by Profile Books. You can get so many cheap used hardcover covers on Amazon *I have no willpower when it comes to cheap hardcover books*.

Tesco 

I was kindly sent a £50 Tesco voucher recently and yes, I spend the majority of it on books! I finished my Harry Potter book collection with the voucher - I adore the Bloomsbury editions. I also bought To Kill A Mocking Bird, Revival by Stephen King, The Miniaturist, The Loney, Rouges by George R R Martin and others and A Shepherd's Life as well as one or two other books that I've forgotten to photograph.

Book Depository & Wordery

Both Book Depository and Wordery have great discounted books and very new releases and I cannot remember which books came from which site but I bought some new releases such as True Born and Riverkeep as well as the much raved about A Court of Thrones and Roses, Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, The Master & Margarita, Night Walks by Charles Dickens and other books.

Now onto the video, sorry for the shakiness and lighting *clearly the English weather hasn't got the memo that it's now summer*!

Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading recently? Where do you buy books from? 

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Book Review: A Graphic Cosmogony

I can't believe that it's now summer, the year is going by so quickly and my reading challenge for the year is actually complete! I aimed to read 30 books in 2016 and I am currently on book no. 33 so I'm going to up my reading goal to 50 books in 2016.

I have already reviewed a couple of gorgeous books from the lovely people at Nobrow and I was kindly sent another graphic novel; I have *A Graphic Cosmogony (£24) which is a collection of tales of the creation of everything by 24 artists including Luke Best, Andrew Rae and Robert Hunter, the latter wrote The New Ghost which I reviewed a couple of months ago.

The cover of the book is so beautiful and so different to anything else on my bookshelves; I think it would make a fantastic gift for book lovers and graphic novel lovers. Also it would make a unique and thought provoking coffee table book too. The majority of the artwork is so unique, colourful and interesting, as are all of the stories, some of which I love more than others but all of them have an interesting take on various creation stories and ideas. My favourite stories were: Luna by Robert Hunter, Pilgrims by Jon Mcaught, New Game by Luke Pearson and my favourite of all, Deity School by Andrew Rae.

Overall, I think this is a beautifully published collection of stories by fantastically talented artists and illustrators that are unique and thought provoking about a topic that has been pondered for the whole of human history. I can't recommend it enough, overall rating: ★★★★★, 5/5!

Have you bought anything from Nobrow? What are you currently reading? Have you read any graphic novels? 

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Book Reviews: The New Ghost & The Unreliable History Of Tattoos

2016 is definitely the year of reading and new bookish discoveries for me and one of those discoveries is graphic novels. I have one which is darker and halloween themed but this is the first one that I've been super excited about and the first one that I've read fully.

I was very kindly sent *The New Ghost by Robert Hunter (£6.50) for review from the incredibly lovely people at Nobrow Publishing and I am very happy with it! Just look at it *stares*, it's so gorgeous. I adore the art style, it's unusual and just beautiful but minimalist too.

This graphic novel is Robert Hunter's debut and it's beautiful! The story is so beautiful, how many times can I type beautiful in this post. It follows a new ghost, who can't keep up with the others and becomes left behind. An astronomer, Tom, finds the ghost and they embark on a short but poetic and endearing journey.

There will be some spoilers now so if you don't want to read on, just skip to the summary! The story to me is so unique and special in a way. It seems that ghosts have the 'job' of transporting special people when it is their time to die to the skies where they becomes stars to twinkle and watch over the world for thousands of years to come, that's my interpretation, it may not be correct but that's what I took from this touching graphic novel.

Overall, I adore the art style, it's unique and gorgeous! I also adore the touching and endearing story too! This was my first graphic novel and I cannot wait to read more, as it's beautifully produced and so quick and easy to read. Overall rating: ★★★★★, 5/5!

I was also very kindly sent *An Unreliable History of Tattoos by Paul Thomas (£14.99) which I was immediately drawn to because it's so eye catching and I have tattoos myself. It is equally as gorgeously illustrated and designed as The New Ghost. Both are beautifully published and very unique - this book is an illustrated and comic take on some facts, historical figures and tattoos. I adore the colourful, sometimes rude and ridiculous illustrations.

Some of the information is true and interesting for example: the ancient Egyptians had a method of tattooing and the tattoos can still be seen on ancient Egyptian mummies, also ancient Britons and the Picts were tattooing themselves with blue dye and the origin of the word tattoo comes from a Polynesian word 'tattawing'. Although some of it is satire and hilarious! I think this book would be an interesting and very unique gift for anyone interested in tattoos. Overall rating: ★★★★★, 5/5!

Have you read any graphic novels or illustrated books? What are you currently reading? 

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