Welcome back to Book Break.
For this video we have created an original book tag, so this is the Beat the Blues January
Book Tag.
Because we all know that January is a bit of a rubbish month. Everyone's feeling a little
bit low at the moment, so we thought we would create this tag, that is designed to remind
us about all the good things about this month.
So any of you that want to do it, please do, we would love to see your answers to these
questions.
So question one is to recommend a book that has cheered you up so far in 2020.
And the book that I've picked for this one is Writers and Lovers by Lily King. This is
a proof, this book doesn't come out until the summer, but I was really lucky to get
to read it early, and I absolutely loved it.
So this is the story of Casey, who is working as a waitress, she's just lost her mother,
she's just gone through a break-up, she's been working on her novel for six years and
doesn't feel like she's getting anywhere, so she's just feeling quite lost and directionless.
And then suddenly she finds herself at the centre of this love triangle, she meets these
two very different men, who offer her two very different visions of how her future could
be.
So it's basically just the story of a woman in her early 30s figuring out what the options
for her life is, and who she wants to be, and the life that she wants to lead. So it's
really really relatable, I absolutely loved the main character Casey, and it does, while
it goes through some grim points, it does have a hopeful ending that really did cheer
me up this January.
The next prompt is to recommend a book set in winter, and I've picked an absolutely beautiful
book for this one, this is Frost Fair by Carol Ann Duffy.
So this is one of the little poetry books that she puts out every Christmas. So Frost
Fair is her poem about the winter of 1683, when the Thames froze over and they held a
market on the Thames.
So it's this lovely poem, and it's illustrated throughout with these absolutely beautiful
illustrations.
You get these gorgeous scenes of London in the snow, it just makes you wish that it was
always winter.
Our next prompt is to recommend a book set in the dark, because it feels like it's just
always dark at the moment, so I have picked an action thriller for this one, A Window
Breaks by C.M. Ewan.
This one is coming out in February so get your pre-order in now and get excited.
This is set mostly all over the course of just one night, this family have gone for
a weekend away, to recover from a terrifying ordeal they've been through, and they're staying
in this isolated house in the countryside.
And then in the middle of the night, they are woken up by a noise, and find there is
someone in their house.
So it is this absolutely action packed thriller adventure of them over the course of this
night trying to escape from the person, or people, who have broken into their house.
We also get flashbacks to build up some of their backstory and what their connection
is to this intruder.
So I was absolutely gripped, could not put this one down from start to finish.
Prompt 4 is to recommend a book set in a cold climate, so I had to pick The Mercies by Kiran
Millwood Hargrave. This is my proof copy, it's got this absolutely beautiful cover which
I will put up on the screen now, and again this one is coming out any minute now, right
at the beginning of February, so get super excited for that one.
So The Mercies is set on the Norwegian island of Vardo in 1617, and right at the beginning
of the book there is a storm, and this is based on a true story, there is a storm while
all of the men of the island are out fishing, and the storm kills all of them, they all
drown.
And so Vardo becomes a place of women.
They survive there for 18 months until a man is sent to help take control back over the
island, and what he sees in this place of women is something more sinister.
So it's based on this absolutely fascinating true story, and it's a really powerful and
moving and amazing book, and it's perfect for reading it in winter because it's set
on this freezing cold island where the women are all constantly wrapped in furs, so it
feels quite cosy to read at this time of year.
Prompt 5, seeing as we are right at the beginning of the calendar year, is to recommend a book
that takes place over a whole year.
And so for that one I've picked Diary of a Somebody by Brian Bilston, which is one of
the funniest books I've ever read.
So Brian Bilston is a Twitter poet, if you look him up on Twitter you'll find him, it's
his pseudonym, and he writes these hilarious poems, often about quite mundane things, sometimes
about really big political things.
But they're really accessible, hilarious poetry.
So in Diary of a Somebody, he makes Brian Bilston the main character, so it's this character
who's a poet and has decided his New Year's resolution is he's going to write a poem every
day of the year.
And so we go over the course of the year, reading his diary, reading the poems that
he sometimes remembers to write, and just watching him get involved in the most ridiculous
adventures over the course of this year.
It's partly about him trying to sort out his love life and sort out his relationship with
his son, but then he also inadvertently becomes the suspect in a murder. It's like farcical
and hilarious and brilliant.
Prompt 6 is to recommend a cosy spot to read, so January is great for snuggling up reading,
and we have recently at the end of last year, moved offices, and there are so many spaces
around this office that are just perfect for some cosy reading.
So whenever I want to like sneak out on my lunch break and just curl up and do a bit
of reading, there are so many good places to do that.
...OK, well maybe not this one, it's a little bit too cold right now, but this is going
to be lovely come summer.
Prompt 7 is to recommend your favourite reading snack.
I always like to have something nearby to snack on while I'm reading, and my favourite
is if I can get a bookish themed snack.
And we actually found these absolutely gorgeous Queen of Hearts biscuits, they're Alice in
Wonderland themed.
They're strawberry flavour as well, from Whittards, so they are so cute, that is my reading snack
of choice this month.
Question 8 is which books are you most excited about that are coming out in 2020?
So I've picked three that I'm really excited about that are coming out in the next few
months, so it's not too long to wait.
In February, Wilder Girls is coming out by Rory Power, I'm so excited for this one, it's
kind of a Lord of the Flies retelling, but it's all female, and it's set in this boarding
school where this like epidemic goes round, and it's supposed to be kind of body horror,
I've heard so many people raving about it so I can't wait for that one.
In March, we're getting You Are Not Alone, which is the next book by Greer Hendricks
and Sarah Pekkanen, it's their third they've written together. They write these really
fun thrillers, and You Are Not Alone is about a woman who is at a really low point in her
life, when she meets these women who tell her she is not alone, and they offer to help
her.
And so when she joins their group, joins their community, her life does get better and better.
But slowly she realises there is a rather dark price she has to pay.
So I'm so intrigued by that one and where that's going to go.
And then the third book that I'm really excited for, it's coming out in April, and that is
The Glass Hotel, which is the next book by Emily St John Mandel.
She's the author of Station Eleven, which is a book I absolutely loved.
The Glass Hotel is supposed to be quite different, this one is not a dystopian novel, but apparently
it's got little Easter eggs in there for fans of Station Eleven to notice, so I can't wait
to get my hands on that.
And then our final question is, Are you feeling any better now that it's January?
I definitely am feeling a lot better after talking about all of those, because I've realised
there's so many cosy books to read right now, there's so many exciting books coming out
any second, and if those books I've just talked about have taught me anything, it shows that
being a bit dark and cold can actually be quite exciting sometimes, especially for reading.
So we'd love to see your guys' answers to this tag, whether you write your answers in
the comments below, or make a whole video yourself and then link it to us, we'd definitely
love to see it.
And do give this video a thumbs up if we've managed to beat your January blues at all,
and of course hit that subscribe button below for new videos twice every week.
See you next time.