MARCH WRAP UP AND APRIL TBR

I read an assortment of books in March, and it started off with finishing Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. This is a re-read because I adored it the first time I read it, and there was no change the second time; it's amazing. As I've previously commented Sebastian Faulks is one of my favourite authors and I've read a few by him but am looking forward to reading the third in his 'France Trilogy' because I devoured the others. It's a favourite on my shelf along with his other works, what I love about this is the psychological details that come along with every character, which makes the reader feel more connected to the character and they can really relate to them.

The second book I read was White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I've heard a lot about it as a 'modern classic' and luckily saw it in a charity shop for a pound! For me I enjoyed the book and the plot, I found it very clever, but I didn't adore it. The writing was comical (humour you'd only get if you're from Britain I think), and clever with entwining the characters together. But also it re-establishes the tricky and hard relationships that can occur through abandonment and disconnection through teenage years. The book for me circles around the multiculturalism of London and if anything the multiculturalism of Britain, and the confusion of identity. The book centres around two families, two old friends; Samad Iqbal and Archie Jones. Archie marries a black woman Clara Bowden, Samad Iqbal marries Alsana and they have twin boys; Millat and Magid and Clara and Archie have Irie Jones. The book has the themes of immigration and identity, with their genetic roots the very centre of their upbringing. I think the book also resembles the teenage confusion that comes along with living with the modern times and learning about your roots and to stay true to them. The actual title of the novel, 'White Teeth' I think is a fantastic metaphor for the white washed society of Britain clawing and festering its way in to these two families' cultures, and changing the way they see and live. For example a very middle class family that gets involved with the two families is the Chalfens. The values of this family infects and effectively infects Irie and Millat's ideology, you could say in
the wrong way and causes them to rebel from their parents and the familistic values. I thoroughly enjoyed the topic of the book because for me its something different to delve in to, and I am interested in the cultural identity and multiculturalism of the UK.

The next two books are the tiny, minicule new Penguin Modern books (which are incredibly aesthetically pleasing may I add). I bought two from Liverpool's Waterstones which I went to earlier in the month of March. The two I picked up were George Orwells 'Notes on Nationalism' and Jean Rhys' 'Till September Petronella'. It took be a few hours to get through these as they're very small, but you could probably get through them in one sitting if you don't procrastinate like me. I really enjoyed George Orwell's little collection of essays because it focused on the political situation during the forties, which is probably my favourite era in Britain's history. It also focused on Anti-Semitism which also links to the current issues of what's happening in political parties in the present day. Jean Rhys' collection of essays I enjoyed as well, and most of them focus on the protagonist being a black woman placed in the foreign land of England.
There’s one book that I’ve been reading over the past few months, which is basically a text book and I have to read it in small chunks because otherwise I can’t take the information in properly. It is Peter Barry’s Beginning Theory, I really am enjoying learning about the different theories ahead of whenever I start University in September. I hopefully should finish it in the next week or so.

Now onto my April TBR...
I am currently reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott AGAIN! This is one of my favourite novels ever, and sometimes you have to go back to your well loved novels to appreciate them. I love the sisterhood and close relationship of all the characters, and all the character traits that you can pick and relate to in all. It’s one of those books that you want to buy all the different editions in because you adore it that much.
I would like to read a book of Erving Goffman's book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, which I picked up in another charity shop. I studied Sociology in college and I’m going on to study it at university so I thought I’d do some wider reading involved specific theories and anything I can’t get my hands on. It should be really interesting to read a full report and the ins and out of anthropology and sociological research.  
Another few books that are on my TBR this year, (which might be slightly ambitious) The Underground Railway by Colson Whitehead and the second novel in the Poldark series; Demelza by Winston Graham. 

'What is a bookshelf other than a treasure chest for a curious mind?' 

Happy Reading!
Rose x