Birthday Books

It was recently my birthday and, because I didn't really know what to ask for, I simply said clothes and books, two of my favourite things. Here's the loot...

Blogger has made the quality of this photo horrendous and I don't know why...

A Century In Photographs

I asked for a book very similar to this ("Photos that changed the world") which was more international history however this one is just British history but is equally as interesting. I love modern history and combining it with photos, many of which I have never seen (unlike the other book where I had studied many of the photos at school) makes it a wonderful read. I can't wait to have the time to delve deeper into this.

Banksy In New York

I have a new found love for street art (which partly inspired our adventure to Shoreditch) and my friends knew I had seen this book and fallen in love so they bought it for me for my birthday. I have not had that much time to look through it as I have been away but it looks really interesting and visual which is what I love about street art.

Deliciously Ella

This is another book I asked for for my birthday as I had seen many people raving about it and was desperate to try out some new alternative, healthy recipes. As you can see, I have already marked the recipes I want to try-one of the things that pleases me most about this is that all the recipes are dairy free which is absolutely perfect for me.

Go Set A Watchman-Harper Lee

The most pre-ordered book since the final Harry Potter and probably the one I am most anxious/excited to read. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favourite books and, after recieving this pre-ordered copy for my birthday, I am toying with myself about whether to start it or not-it has pretty poor reviews and I accidently read a few spoilers but it also sounds incredibly intriguing and I love the characters so much-I shall report back.

The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde

This is one of our Literature texts for next year and I wanted to do a little pre-reading before we begin the course so I found this in Waterstones for only £1.99 and thought I would give it a go. I have no idea what to expect however I figured any background knowledge is better than none and will broaden my reading horizons.

The Storied Life of A.J Fikry-Gabrielle Zevin

A friend gave this to me for my birthday after claiming that she found it almost impossible to choose as I am such a picky reader. I wouldn't say I am picky, just very critical however I had never heard of this before (I have read some other pieces by Gabrielle Zevin though) and after reading some reviews decided it sounded amazing, I can't wait to get into it when I have some free time!

One Line A day

Documenting events is one of my favourite things to do; I have a memory jar, a calendar, a summer scrapbook and a 'timetable' to document everything I have done but I never enjoy writing diaries. However this book requires simply a couple of lines which is perfect as it allows me keep record but not cringe at the pointlessness of my writing. I am also looking forward to being able to see what I did on that very day for the previous 5 years.

I am so excited to find some time to look through all of these books. Since my birthday, my life has been rather chaotic however I am now away on holiday with my family so I am hoping I can spend many a day sitting and reading as I certainly will not run out of books!

Katie x