Throughout the years it has taken too many opportunities away from me — It’s been a tough few weeks. For most of the nights, I’ve been awake and staring at the ceiling with my heart racing. I’ve sat in the darkness in tears waiting for the feeling of sleep to come but instead, felt endless disappointment and frustration. Anxiety can take so much…

The good news? It’s never too late to try — Despite being a very bookish person and surrounding myself with people who are similar, it normally doesn’t take me too long to encounter someone who doesn’t read. My mum recently admitted she hasn’t read anything for ages. At first, I was at a loss for words. The first emotion that…

These all blew me away — My job is not always wonderful. At the moment, it feels particularly draining. I’ve had an unfortunate spat of horrible comments from customers and it’s driving me closer to walking out of the door for good. However, what I’ve been grateful for is the incredible proof copies of books I’ve…

#1 My life is unsatisfying and needs to change — My desk is cluttered with half-filled journals and empty ones. Yet, I can’t seem to walk into a shop and not come away with another one. I am a confessed hoarder of aesthetically pleasing, but unused notebooks. It was only the other day when I was decluttering my desk that…

Even though I know there is nothing to be afraid about — Before working for a mainstream books retailer, I would buy all my books from small, independent bookshops. I loved the challenge of scouring the wonky shelves in search of a heavily thumbed paperback that appealed to me. To put it simply, it was the only way I could afford to…

It is not a magical journey of self-discovery but once you endure the challenging parts, you feel the benefits — It only took me an hour into my journey up to Edinburgh from London before I started to panic. …

Making the case for these unmissable reads — I’ve given up on book buying bans and trying to limit my ever-growing to-be-read pile. In fact, I’ve embraced the idea that I will probably die with more books to read than those I’ve read. The sad truth is there is not enough time to read everything. But what would…

The latest one promises not to let my life to slip away — There’s something about a bath that feels luxurious. Whether it’s the extra time spent there, or the bubbles, I don’t know. Either way, I never get around to having one very often. But when I do, it always gets my mind working. In between bubbles going up my nose and…

You’ll thank me later — I have a complicated relationship with Colleen Hoover. On the one hand, she’s doing a great job of getting a cohort of young people to read. On the other, she’s filling their heads with ideas of unrealistic and often glorified toxic relationships. It Ends With Us is just one example…