Books

I’ve been a huge fan of Spotify for around five years now. In the last year alone, I listened to nearly 50,000 minutes of music (that’s the equivalent of about 35 days of nonstop music). I like to think I know Spotify well; I look forward to my Discover Weekly every Monday, I’m always checking our their suggestions, and I make many playlists. But somehow I have remained in the dark about audiobooks on Spotify, as I only recently discovered just how many books you can listen to with a Spotify account!

For a self-proclaimed bibliophile, I barely read any books in 2020. I would get excited about books I purchased, start them, and then stop reading after only one chapter. My mind just wasn’t in right place to read more (or do much of anything, if I’m honest).

Here’s how I managed to fall in love with reading again, and how to read more books.

There’s a moment in Amy Baker’s Miss-Adventures: A Tale of Ignoring Life Advice While Backpacking Around South America that made me realise I was going to fall in love with this book straightaway.…

I’ve seen Cornwall and the Isle of Skye, the Causeway Coast of Northern Ireland and the major cities of Wales. I’ve partied in Leeds, watched football in Brighton, driven around the Lake District, shopped in Newcastle, and eaten delicious food in Manchester. All in all, I’ve loved my time exploring the UK… but none of what I’ve done holds a candle to what Emma Higgins of Gotta Keep Movin’ has done.

Here, then, is my review of her travel journal A Year in the UK and Ireland… with the chance to win a copy of your own!

The phrase “summer reads” gets thrown around a lot – I guess because summer implies sitting around in a garden sipping lemonade with a good book. Or sitting on the beach sipping a margarita with a great book (much better scenario, really). And while summer has already started long ago, it’s never too late to delve into a big old pile of books… right? Here are a few books I’ve read lately and can recommend, along with some books I’m eager to read this summer.

What I always go back to, though, time and time again, is travel writing. This makes a lot of sense, for very obvious reasons. Besides a personal interest in travel writing, I read it in order to become better at both my job (writing) and my degree (writing), as well as brush up on my favourite hobby (coin collecting. Hah! Just kidding. It’s writing). I certainly haven’t read every travel writer out there, and often disagree with those who are meant to be some of the best; I’m not a fan of Bruce Chatwin or Bill Bryson, for example.

Here, then, are some of my recommendations for the best travel books. Read them at home, read them on holiday, read them to feel inspired, read them to reminisce. Just read them.