October Favourites

Monthly favourites is where I list the best music, books, and everything else that I have discovered by the end of the month.

Book Review: The Night Parade

Title: The Night Parade
Author: Kathryn Tanquary
Series: No
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3 stars
Buy: Book Depository

An ebook copy of this book was provided to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Saki Yamamoto is dragged off to her grandmother's village for the Obon ceremony she expects to be bored out of her mind. But when she rings the sacred bell a death curse awakens, one that she has three nights to undo. Each night Saki is whisked away to the Night Parade, and with the help of some new spirit friends she must break the curse before it is too late.

New to My Redbubble Store: Colour Puns!

I love designing things for Redbubble, and what better why to combine several things I love: designing, colours and puns! This is the first set of designs I've made and I think they make the perfect mix and match school set, so if you like them let me know and I'll make more fun and vibrant collections like this one.

If you buy anything from my Redbubble store, share it on instagram and use @astronomicalbooks so I can see it and share it!

Google+ | Pinterest | Bloglovin' | Instagram | Goodreads | Redbubble

Top 10 Tuesday: Halloween Edtion - Haunting Books

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Halloween themed, and I have chosen to list some spooky reads:

Is My Writing Meaningless?

Is there meaning behind the words I write?

Top 10 Tuesday: Wishes I'd Ask the Book Genie to Grant Me

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is wishes I'd ask the book genie to grant me:

Banned Books

Books have been banned across the world for a huge variety of reasons. Often they are removed because of controversial ideas that parents deem unsuitable for their children to study within schools, but they have also been banned throughout whole countries for their content.

In (very late) honour of banned books week (which was over 2 weeks ago) I will be listing all of the banned books I have read.

Top 10 Tuesday: Author Collaborations that Need to Happen

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It's a short one this week as I couldn't come up with 10, and the topic is authors I'd love to see write a book together:

My Music Obsession: You're Listening to Badlands Radio

'Badlands' by Halsey - Track by Track

Badlands plays out much like a story. All of the songs seem to link in some way, from themes to snippets of melody that return in later songs. It is about love, but has a much darker twist in contrast to mainstream pop which comes through in Halsey's powerful lyrics and fresh voice.

Favourite Books by Genre (part 2)

Last week I wrote mini reviews for 5 of my favourite books in 5 different genres. This week I have 5 more that are aimed at younger audiences, but are still just as brilliant.

Children's: 'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio
I wrote a review of 'Wonder' which you can find here.
I cannot believe it took me so long to read this book. I would have loved this when I was younger - which is why I made my younger siblings read it too.
'Wonder' tells the story of August - a ten year old boy with facial abnormalities who must go to school for the first time. This is a beautiful read that reflects the behaviours of children accurately - showing how they can be horribly cruel as well as wonderfully kind. Palacio understands how children think and behave better than any other children's literature author I have read, and uses the voices of Auggie as well as the other people in his life to paint a beautiful picture of the different types of people in this world and how we all must "choose kind."

Top 10 Tuesday: Bookish Things I Want to Quit

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today I'll be listing some book related things I want to quit:

Book Review: The Importance of Being Earnest

Title: The Importance of Being Earnest
Author: Oscar Wilde
Series: No
Genre: Humour
My Rating: 5 stars
Buy: Book Depository

Jack Worthing flirts with Gwendolen under the guise of Earnest in the city whilst telling his ward, Cecily Cardrew, that Earnest is the name of his trouble-making brother in order to explains why he is away so often. When Algernon Montcrieff hears of Cecily, he decides to go to the country posing as Jack's mysterious brother in order to charm her. What neither girl knows is that there is no man with the name of Earnest, and both men find themselves stuck when their respective partners claim they could not love them if they had any other name.

Favourite Books by Genre (part 1)

My list of favourite books is always growing. I love every book for different reasons, so instead of sharing all of the books I adore (which would take a very long time and be pretty boring), I thought I would pick my favourite from each genre and give a mini review.

For this post I will focus on fiction aimed at an older audience (although personally I think most of these books can be read by all ages) and in part 2 I will focus on books that are aimed at children and young adults.


Adventure: 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding
I love adventure stories because they are always moving. They don't need to be packed with action, but there is nothing worse than a slow or poorly paced story as it can completely ruin a perfectly good book.
This was a difficult genre to pick for, but I went with 'Lord of the Flies' because of it's beautiful symbolism and how Golding shows even a morally sound protagonist can be corrupted. The author said that his intention with this book was to contradict the 'perfect British boy' trope seen in many other adventure stories and show how everyone has the potential for evil. This book reflects society and how even children can become power obsessed - manipulating and deceiving others in order to create a sense of fear and gain control.