Reading Material: How To Find Time To Read & The Books I've Read Recently

I actually really never thought I'd get back into reading regularly but it's something I'm so glad I've found time for and would encourage everyone to do the same. In this digital age it is so important to take time away from the screen and the only time I find that I step away from a screen is when I'm reading.  

If you're like I was and didn't really think I had time for it, give it a go. Find the time in your day and make a routine of it. This is key. Perhaps that's in the morning when you're having your breakfast, try reading a book instead of turning on your TV. Maybe it's when your on your way to work, try reading instead of listening to music. Or on your lunch break - take time away from your desk and have a little read. Maybe before you go to bed? This is when I read every day. Go to bed 20 mins earlier or so and take that time to get your nose in the latest novel. Just take some time, whenever you can, and add that into your routine. I haven't looked back since... 

For me, I find it helps with so many things. It helps to calm me down after a busy day and take my mind off of daily stresses. These books transport me to another world, and I adore that part of my day as it really helps me to relax - and because of when I read, get ready for sleep. 

Okay, okay. So I've persuaded you to find the time and pick up your next book - but what should you read? 

Below I've listed a few books I've finished recently (and one I'm still reading!) to get you started... 

Final Girls by Riley Sager

If you're into crime shows or murder mystery's - this is a must read. A total page turner and if I remember right, I read this pretty quickly as I just had to know what happened. 

Blurb below: 

FIRST THERE WERE THREE
The media calls them the Final Girls – Quincy, Sam, Lisa – the infamous group that no one wants to be part of. The sole survivors of three separate killing sprees, they are linked by their shared trauma.
THEN THERE WERE TWO
But when Lisa dies in mysterious circumstances and Sam shows up unannounced on her doorstep, Quincy must admit that she doesn’t really know anything about the other Final Girls. Can she trust them? Or...
CAN THERE ONLY EVER BE ONE?
All Quincy knows is one thing: she is next.

Available here.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I adored this book, and the fact that it's being talked about everywhere at the moment, shows that I am not the only one. It was heart wrenching but so incredible, and you see familiarities to her world from the beginning. 

Blurb below: 

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live
Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.
Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.
One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.
Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?

Available here. 

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

If you've read or seen Big Little Lies and liked it, this is by the same author so I would 100% recommend it. I actually gave this a go about a year ago but didn't get very far, I gave it another go recently so I'd say persevere with it and once you get into it, it's an easy read. 

Blurb below: 

Alice can't remember the last ten years of her life. She doesn't recognise her children, her husband, herself . . .
Alice is twenty-nine. She adores sleep, chocolate, and her ramshackle new house. She's newly engaged to the wonderful Nick and is pregnant with her first baby.
There's just one problem. All of that was ten years ago . . .
Alice has slipped in a step-aerobics class, hit her head and lost a decade. Now she's a grown-up, bossy mother of three in the middle of a nasty divorce and her beloved sister Elisabeth isn't speaking to her. This is her life but not as she knows it.
Clearly Alice has made some terrible mistakes. Just how much can happen in a decade?
Can she ever get back to the woman she used to be?

Available here.

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig

This is actually the book I'm reading at the moment but I am enjoying it so much, I just had to include it. This book takes you through time, but through a really interesting storyline. I won't say any spoilers so I'd just recommend reading the blurb below and seeing what you think. But I'm about half way and so far, so good.

Blurb below:

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. 

Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom must not do is fall in love.

Available here.

Hot Mess by Lucy Vine

This was probably the book I read the furthest of time ago, but I loved it so much it has stuck out in my memory and is a must mention for this book. An easy read, this chick lit is relatable to the T. It's a hilarious coming-of-age story that I'm sure you will relate to.

Blurb below:

Hot Mess [n.] - someone attractive, who is often in disarray.
Have you ever shown up to Sunday brunch still smelling of Saturday night?
Chosen bed, Netflix and pizza over human contact?
Stayed in your mould-ridden flat because it's cheap?
Meet your spirit animal, Ellie Knight.
Her life isn't turning out exactly as she planned.
She hates her job, her friends are coupling up and settling down, and her flatmates are just plain weird.
Some people might say she's a hot mess but who really has their sh*t together anyway?

Available here. 

I Heart Forever by Lindsey Kelk 

I have been reading Lindsey Kelk's 'I Heart' series for years. This is the latest book in the series, so if you haven't read the rest, make a b-line and head to the first in the series, I Heart New York. If you are looking for a super girly, easy-to-read number that makes you giggle, give this series a go. 

Blurb below: 

The day her husband Alex picks up a backpack and goes travelling, Angela Clark promises to stay out of trouble and keep both Louboutins on the ground. So when her best friend’s boyfriend confides in her, it can’t hurt to help him pick out a ring at Tiffany’s surely? And when her fashion magazine announces major changes, being terminally late and winking at your new boss in the lift isn’t that bad, is it? Then suddenly there’s another big secret Angela’s got to keep – and the man she loves is still thousands of miles away. As the wedding of the year looms, and Manhattan switches on its Christmas lights, Angela is going to need her friends by her side as her old life looks set to change forever.

Available here. 

Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living by Linnea Dunne 

If you are looking for something a little different from your standard novel, I couldn't recommend this book enough. It's a lifestyle book that takes you through the Swedish lifestyle, Lagom and I found it incredibly inspiring. It's comfortable, it's cosy and I adored it as a pre-bedtime read. 

Blurb below:

Step aside Hygge. Lagom is the new Scandi lifestyle trend taking the world by storm. This delightfully illustrated book gives you the lowdown on this transformative approach to life and examines how the lagom ethos has helped boost Sweden to the No.10 ranking in 2017's World Happiness Report.
Lagom (pronounced 'lah-gom') has no equivalent in the English language but is loosely translated as 'not too little, not too much, just right'. It is widely believed that the word comes from the Viking term 'laget om', for when a mug of mead was passed around a circle and there was just enough for everyone to get a sip. But while the anecdote may hit the nail on the head, the true etymology of the word points to an old form of the word 'lag', which means 'law'. 

Far from restrictive, lagom is a liberating concept, praising the idea that anything more than 'just enough' is a waste of time. Crucially it also comes with a selflessness and core belief of responsibility and common good.

Available here. 

When do you fit reading into your day and what have you been reading lately? Let me know! 

Lorna x

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