A Scandal in Bookhemia

A Bookish Assemblage

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Book Podcasts I Love

Below is a list of bookish podcasts that I enjoy listening to every day of my book addicted life. 

1. All the Books! - A weekly podcast that covers the new releases in the book world for the week. The wonderful hosts cover many different genres of books and talk about how the literary world desperately needs more cats! 

2. Bibliophile - A podcast created by my favourite indie bookstore in Edinburgh, Scotland, Golden Hare Books. They cover books that are not as mainstream as most of the other podcasts I listen to. They also cover their book club meetups in the podcast. This is a monthly podcast, well worth a listen.

3. Get Booked - A host and a guest from the literary world answer book recommendations from people’s questions and inquiries that they send into the show. From non-fiction to graphic novels, they cover everything!

4. The Brit Lit Podcast - This podcast covers the releases in the British literary scene, which for an anglophile is something that I enjoy greatly. You will discover books that are only published in the UK or ones that will take a while to come to a bookshop near you.  At the end of most of the episodes, the host gives people book recommendations for the various occasions and people in their lives.

5. Black Chick Lit - A bi-monthly podcast that covers books by and about black women. This is a perfect podcast for people who want to expand their reading list with more people of colour and get extraordinary insight into the books!

6. Books and Boba - Another podcast that will expand your list with more people of colour, this one talks about books written by authors of Asian and pacific islander descent. They cover a huge range of genres and talk about many wonderful books. It is a book club podcast, which makes it amazing to read the book before the episode and listen along as if you were in the book club yourself.

7. What Should I Read Next? - Each week the host, Anne Bogel, talks with her guests about 3 books they love, 1 book they hate, and the books they are reading at the moment, to give them a personalised book recommendation list. It is always wonderful when you hear a guest talk about books you love that they also love and you end up getting a book recommendation as well! 

These are only a few of the podcasts that I listen to, but that I highly recommend to everyone who has a few spare moments each day. Great for listening to while commuting to school or work or wherever you seem to be going. You may even find your next favourite book while listening to one! If you have any bookish podcasts that you recommend, leave a comment below with the name of the podcast and the host(s). 

Happy reading!

[ascandalinbookhemia]

A Ship That Never Ends

I received a copy of The Untold Tale by J.M. Frey in exchange for an honest review. I was a bit intimidated by the length of the book at first, but as soon as I started reading it I was drawn into the story. It is the story of a scholar’s quest, a mysterious woman from a distant land, and the evils of the world (both known evils and those never thought as evils at first). Forsyth Turn seems like nothing more than a stuttering lordling and brother to the most famous hero, Kintyre Turn. No one knows that he is the Shadow Hand of the King, a master spy! 

When raiding the evil enemy Viceroy’s lair, his men find many scrolls and items and even rescue a woman who was being tortured by Bootknife, the Viceroy’s right-hand man. This mysterious woman has the most unique name in all of the realms, her name is Lucy Piper or Pip to her friends. After healing from her intricate injuries she must find a hero to take her on a quest. But what happens when she insults the one hero who could take her on a quest? 

This book is Inkheart meets Outlander in the best of ways. Forsyth and Pip are two spectacular characters and you go through the book learning about how your actions can hurt those around you, how the treatment of others affects them, how badass Pip is when it comes to solving problems and teaching people a lesson about how to treat others! Pip is an amazing character, one who we watch struggle with being taken from the world she knows and thrust into one she had only ever dreamed of visiting, one that is not at all like she imagined. Forsyth grows so much as a character and as a person throughout the book. I ship them, to the point where I have been writing ‘Pipsyth 4 Ever’ in the margins any time something cute happens between them. 

This is the first book in the Accidental Turn series. I am excited to get my hands on the other books in the series.

Click here to get yourself a copy of the Untold Tale by J.M. Frey. 

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I <3 Darcy.

As an avid lover of all things Austen, I fell in love with the film Austenland when it first came out. To my surprise and delight, I discovered that it was based on a book of the same name. I had read a few reviews stating that the movie was better than the book and I have to disagree. I found the movie hilarious and I watch it quite regularly, the book is filled with so much more than we can see in the film. We cannot see how Jane grapples with her addiction to Austen’s novels and how she struggles with love. We don’t get to hear the stories of her past relationships that ultimately failed one reason or another. Her Austen addiction in the movie is plain for anyone to see when they walk into her apartment, yet in the book, she hides it as if she were ashamed of it, which I think she may be. I find myself watching the movie and thinking to myself “In the book, this would have happened.” Where is the potted plant where she stashes her copy of BBC’s Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth? Where is the portrait gallery in which she finds herself drawn to their gleaming eyes? Where is the airport assistant to blissfully watch on as two men duke it out in the middle of an airport over her?

Austenland by Shannon Hale is a splendidly modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, with a sprinkle of other Austen novels here and there. Follow along as Jane Hayes works through her Austen addiction using exposure therapy of the worst sort, Regency Era Immersion (A simple Austen Addiction Anonymous group would have done the girl wonders!). Will she finally overcome her addiction? Will she find lasting love with someone who isn’t an actor paid to seduce her? Will her houseplant still be alive when she gets back from her trip? So many pressing questions, all of which can be answered just by picking up a copy of the book! Go little ones! Be free! Read and become addicted to an Austen themed novel and end up in your own Pembrook Park courting as many fine people as you can! (Or save your money and spend it on more books... because that seems like a better idea. Sorry Jane.) 

Click Here to get a copy of Austenland.

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A Scandal in Bookhemia

A Scandal in Bookhemia is a bookish blog dedicated to my intense love for literature and my complex relationship with the books I own/read. I have tried many times to start a book blog and never really found one that I wanted to keep up, I have decided to start off this blog in a way that will make me post more, by reading (and in most cases, re-reading) all the books that I own. Not to mention all the books that I will be reviewing for authors and the books that I will inevitably buy even though I have a TBR pile that is taller than I am! Some call it an addiction, I like to call it a committed relationship. Follow along on my journey through the immense amount of books that I own in some sort of adventure through my past and present self. Book recommendations are highly appreciated. I could always use suggestions for more books to add to my shelves. Let's do this!