Books To Take Us Into Spring

Can you believe we’re officially entering spring now? Sometimes I think the UK no longer has defined seasons The weather is pretty blustery and it’s rained almost every hour of this week, but I’m trying to think ahead to the crisp spring mornings, and when the flowers all start to blossom. I don’t think I’m one to change my reading habits with the seasons, but I thought I’d commit my reading plans to this here blog for the months ahead. I track all of my reading over on Goodreads, so give me a follow and say hello 🙂

I’m quite conscious of the fact that last year I read next to no non-fiction, and I asked my loved ones for various non-fiction for my birthday. Added to my slowly growing pile, is Misogynation by Laura Bates. Published in late Feb, Bates’ latest collection of sexist woe highlights how interwoven sexism really is in our day to day lives. Of course, as someone who tries to champion women at every available opportunity, I’m sure this will make for fascinating reading, even if it is pretty bleak. Another book I’m excited to get my hands on is Of Women by Shami Chakrabarti. Released last year, Chakrabarti delivers a powerful, urgent and timely polemic on why women still need equality. Even Jeremy Corbyn called this “a vital book on how we bring about equality”, so that’s good enough for me. I recently finished the audiobook of Animal by Sara Pascoe and it’s really highlighted to me how recent some of our triumphs inequality have been. I think Of Women will build on this, and like Misogynation, will no doubt be a truly thought-provoking read. Some fiction now, and I’m loving the look of The Cactus by Sarah Haywood. It’s received quite a bit of praise from some of my favourite authors and has even been compared to the smash hit Eleanor Oliphant is Absolutely Fine, which is high praise indeed! I’m an absolute sucker for some YA so no reading list would be complete for me without at least one title, and this time around my choice is Big Bones by Laura Dockrill. If you haven’t seen the cover of this, then all you need to know is that it features a Bakewell tart – consider me sold! The mini blurb for this calls it a ‘body-positive, sassy food diary with belly laughs’ so I’m hoping it’ll be an enjoyable read.