Bookshop Review: Waterstones Piccadilly - The Classics

The view from the Classics section

Rating:

Location: 2 out of 5 Does anyone really enjoy the crowd that walks around Piccadilly Circus?

Layout store: 4 out of 5 It's simply too big to have an amazing lay-out, but there are signs everywhere.

Offer: 5 out of 5 Seriously, what book does this store not own?

Overall: 4 out of 5 Definitely one of my favourite bookstores so far.

Review

One of the reasons I wanted to move to London was to experience all the amazing bookstores they have here. There are Waterstones just about everywhere and then there are so many cute little hidden bookstores in forgotten streets that hold the most beautiful old books. Choice enough. So how does a girl decide where to go?

Well in my case, I blog about the bookstores. This gives me not only an overview about which stores I like, it might also help other people coming to London, and as an added bonus, it gives me a great excuse to go bookshopping all the time (“Oh it’s work - I won’t buy anything”) and just visit EVERY book store.

And what’s a better start than the biggest bookstore in Europe? I set out to review the whole store in one post, but realised that with five HUGE floors, it was just too much. I couldn’t even take in all the books I saw, let alone form an opinion about them.

So this post will tackle one of the most important section in each bookstore: the classics. 

Waterstones Piccadilly: Is it really a classic?

Waterstones Piccadilly’s classic section can be found on the first floor, in a huge corner on the right-hand side. Shown below is one side of the corner, where there’s also the possibility to relax and sit down.

The classics - mostly poetry. 

As you can see, these books are all the poetry classics.

The collection of every single classic.

While these above are all the fiction classic.

Selection and editions

Lord Byron - not sure if I'll ever get through this. Oh MA, what are you doing to me?!

Literally every author you would classify as “classic” is in there. The best part being is that there are so many editions of each book. There are the Oxford Classics, the Everyman’s Library editions (which are all beautifully stacked together in the two left shelves on the pictures above). I just love seeing the red spines of the Everyman’s Library books. But I needed an Oxford Classic for school, so that's what I bought. 

They also had some really cool (really expensive) special editions of books - such as these Charles Dickens stories. If anyone is interested in prices - I didn’t dare touch these - so I have no clue. They were so pretty and I felt such a major urge to shop for books that I probably would have talked myself into buying these for whatever ridiculous prize I can’t afford anyway!

But the absolute best part of the classics section was that they had the cloth-bound Penguin books. I always wanted one of the classics in that edition and I just couldn’t resist the urge to pick up Wuthering Heights (so watch out for that review soon). 

Isn't this book such a beauty?? I'm in LOVE.

So to sum it all up; as was expected, the classic section of the biggest book store in Europe was pretty fantastic. All the authors I looked for in a classics section were there and the amount of editions of each book they had means that readers on every kind of budget can find what they are looking for. There are 8 pound classics (that still look gorgeous) to the expensive looking Charles Dickens editions to the cloth-bound medium prized classic.

P.S. I usually won’t review staff when only talking about a section of a store, but the gentleman who was working the cash-checkout (right next to the Classics) was absolutely wonderful. He suggested some other books for me to try and gave me an extra stamp on my stamp card. He alone was reason enough for me to want to return to this store.

Daily Writing Inspiration

Just walked past the Thames for a few hours. Oh how I love the London life. But Anna and the French Kiss makes me fall in love with Paris all over again....

“For the two of us, home isn’t a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.”

— Anna and the French Kiss

Spider from the Well - Tim Reed

RATING: ★★.5☆☆☆

Find the book online:

Goodreads

Amazon UK

Summary

A man and his wife go on holiday in the New Forest, where they find old ruins and among it, a tattered diary. Intrigued, they begin to read, and are drawn into the tale of a bereaving man from the 19th Century, who has visions of a green sun and creatures clambering from the well outside his house. Slowly, as madness takes him, these cosmic visions intensify and he finds himself under siege; his daughter, pet cat and his independence are under dire threat, leaving him alone, afraid, and at the mercy of horrific, otherworldly invaders. He witnesses alternate histories of the world, grim futures, and at the end of all, a dreadful predator patiently broods – hoping to sate its hunger. 

What fate awaits the Victorian man? Will the diary reveal secrets best left in dust? And what is the ultimate purpose of the green sun, looming over the Earth like an emerald?

I’ve been on a high of romantic young adult books, the mind-blowing ending of the Divergent series (seriously, what happened in that last book?), and moving to London so I can buy stacks and stacks of books. 

So to read a horror story was a major leap and now I'm wondering if it was a good idea.

I was approached by the author of Spider from the Well, Tim Reed, to see if I was interested in reviewing his story and I want to say first off: I’m not a horror expert. I don’t have a canon of books to compare it to nor do I usually look at that section in the store. This could very well influence my review.

The story itself was very creative. A couple finds a diary that tells the story of an old Victorian man, who very clearly, was a little bit (read: totally) crazy.  

Characters that read out loud all day.

However, the characters didn’t really draw me in. The man of the contemporary couple didn’t seem realistic to me - he came across as very arrogant, but then had an eery feeling about the dairy. I guess I’m not superstitious enough, because it’s just a book. No need to have a bad feeling. And he also reads the whole diary, a good 30 pages, out loud to his wife? Not sure that would ever happen.

The Victorian era man immediately sounded like a wacko to me, so I took everything he said with a grain of salt. I think that if a reader would be able to relate to the man, the story would have been so much better, because there would be tension and drama in there. I would have liked some diary entries where the man is still sane. Let me hear about his normal life with his daughter and let him slowly demise into craziness - right now it was too much, too quick. 

I like the premise of the story and the idea of the mixing dreams with reality. There was real potential in that creativeness, but I just couldn’t relate to any of the characters. I’m going to be a repetitive drag, but plot and characterisation together make my kind of stories. I really missed the characterisation here.

What I did enjoy was the writing style. The dreams were very descriptive, but not too descriptive, and Tim Reed was able to create a distinctive 19th century voice, which I can only assume requires a lot of research and effort. Thankfully, it really paid off.

Rating

This book will get a 2.5 out 5 stars. There was so much potential in there, and I really think Tim Reed is an author to look out for, but this book just didn’t really hit the mark for me.

Daily Writing Inspiration

It's been a long day here in London. I had been dreading the website make-overs for weeks, but I'm so happy they are finally done. Alan Cohen said it best.

“Do not wait until all the conditions are perfect for you to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.”

— Alan Cohen

Daily writing inspiration

I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.

- Ray Bradbury

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

RATING: ★★★★★

Disclaimer: this review is just going to be long way of saying that I love this book. I have nothing critical to say. Nothing. So if you can’t stand fluff and rainbows - don’t read it.

Everyone always writes reviews about how books made them “laugh and cry” or “it was a roller coaster of emotions” and it always makes me want to stab my eyes out. I love books as much as the next book blogger, but that much? Nah. I might almost cry or kinda laugh, but not in a roller coaster way. 

Until I read Fangirl. I was familiar with Rainbow Rowell from Eleanor and Park and I really liked that book. Liked. Not loved it as much as everyone around me seemed to do. So I was wary about Fangirl. The reviews were amazing, but then again, I’ve been let down quite a few times since deciding to read people’s reviews.

Fangirl is so worth it

It was even better than everyone made it out to be. It was original, funny, heartbreaking fluff that combines family issues with relationship problems with growing up pains. How did Rainbow manage to do that in 500 pages? No clue, but it’s wonderful.

The story follows Cath, full name Cather, who is going to uni together with her sister Wren. The two are polar opposites - Cath is quiet, shy and very uncomfortable with everything, while Wren immediately becomes party girl number one on campus.

While Wren goes out and makes friends, Cath continues doing what the twins did at home: writing Simon Snow fanfiction. Simon Snow is basically the Harry Potter of the Fangirl world and Cath is obsessed with writing fan fiction about Simon and his enemy, but secret lover in the end, Baz. Hence the title - Fangirl.

Cath moves in with Reagan, who is this kickass roommate. She seems like a mean person, but turns out to be very supportive of Cath. Reagan motivates her to go out and explore life and herself. Girlpower to the max.It was so nice to finally read a book where two very different girls meet, but can still be friends. This happens all the time with boys in books, but almost never with girls. It was such a relief to read that Rainbow didn’t take the mean girl route.

But with Reagan comes her ex-boyfriend Levi.

The guy we all want to date.

And honestly, did anyone ever read this book and not fall in love with Levi? He’s from small-town Nebraska and his main expertise is anything to do with farming. So at first, I didn’t like him. A farm boy? Very cliché. But Levi is anything but cliché. He’s kind and caring and it turns out that there is a lot more to his personality than you think - though I can’t reveal too much, because I don’t want to spoil it.

Only criticism for Levi is that he seemed to a bit needy of attention. He was always hanging around Cath and Reagan’s room. But then, the girls enjoyed this, so it’s not really a flaw. Just something I would change about my personal Levi.

Rainbow Rowell manages to combine a lot of characters (5 almost main characters, besides Cath) and several plot elements in a way that truly shows her talent as a writer. A reader never feels like there is an unnatural switch of focus from one theme or one character to another. Everything flows and the book just reads like one simple story. It isn’t until you put it down that you really realise how many elements are touched upon within the story.

Anything negative about the book? Yes - I wish there was more of it! I wanted to cry when I finished this book; it really felt like I had to leave a group of friends behind. I wish there was more Cath and Levi. What happens to Wren? Rainbow, don’t leave us hanging like that.

So it will be no surprise to any reader that this book gets 5 out of 5 stars. It’s perfection. It made my inner fangirl come out - I can’t even write a very serious review about it because I just love everything so much. Please give me more Fangirl.

Solitaire - Alice Oseman

RATING: ★★★★☆

In case you’re wondering, this is not a love story.

My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that’s all over now.

Now there’s Solitaire. And Michael Holden.

I don’t know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don’t care about Michael Holden.

I really don’t.

Who hasn’t read or is reading Solitaire? On Tumblr and Instagram, the beautiful cover of the book is everywhere. Kind of like Solitaire in the book.

So it only seemed to make sense that this was the first book I bought in London (though it was very hard to pick, so many gorgeous books you can find in London!) and for once, I was not disappointed.

Besides the gorgeous cover, Solitaire by Alice Oseman also really delivers on plot. Though the first five pages give the impression that this is a typical young adult book, this illusion is soon scattered by the introduction of Solitaire, an anonymous blog that is urging students to take actions against injustice around them. This original plot element takes everything that could have been cliché about the book and makes it amazing. It’s like Solitaire is single handily preventing Tori from becoming a typical pessimistic and cranky protagonist. So is the real main character of this book Tori or Solitaire? That’s hard to tell.

Especially since they are so intertwined. Everything Tori does prompts an action from Solitaire and everything Solitaire does prompts the whole school, and even though she doesn’t want to, also Tori. The further you get in the book, the more cleverly Tori and Solitaire get connected.

Amazing writing

And this is all thanks to the writing skill of Alice Oseman. She gives some great clues about what and who Solitaire is, but doesn’t give it away until the end of the book. However, attentive readers will pick up little descriptions and reactions from characters that will help them solve the mystery before Tori does. Besides that, Alice uses the first voice to guide the reader to the narrative and she embodies Tori perfectly. She’s a very consistent character who never does anything that seems unlike her. Tori grows and develops, but slowly enough and with enough back-and-forth to make it realistic.

Tori and Michael (and the best side character, Charlie)

And can I just say, thank God Tori develops. She was probably one of the most annoying main characters in the beginning of the book. She came across as depressive for no reason and this ticked me off pretty badly. However, as the story develops, so does she and the reader gets enough insight to relate to Tori - even if you’re not a chronic pessimist like she is. However, I never really felt like I was Tori or would do what Tori did: she’s just too different for me. So real identification to any character was missing for me.

Even though the concept of Solitaire might not be that realistic, all the other characters in the book are realistic. Every single teenage stereotype is represented and unlike most books, some stereotypes turn out to actually be true. Some people are really like you assumed they were, while others are completely different than you thought. 

If there is a love story in the book, it didn’t seem to take priority in my eyes. The main boy is Michael Holden, who is “slightly off”. He is not very weird, but he does things just a bit differently than anyone else. I didn’t crush on him, but I adored the boy in a “this is my younger brother and he is so cute” kind of way. Michael is vulnerable, optimistic and constantly happy - aka the complete opposite of Tori. This makes their relationship very interesting, and not in your typical way. There is no “cutesy bickering”, they full out brawl sometimes, and there is also no “growing similar and closer”. Michael is Michael and Tori is Tori and with that they have to make it work.

Something else I need to mention is Tori’s brother Charlie. I don’t want to give too much away about this character, since he is one of the most surprising and thus interesting ones in the book, but he has some serious issues. And Alice Oseman writes about him in the most perfect way. His issues are talked about, but not in way to provoke the reader nor in a way to make the reader cry for Charlie. It’s so realistic that it’s wonderful - something more YA novels need.

Rating

The rating for this book is 4 out of 5 stars. Almost everything about this book was perfect, except for the fact that I couldn’t identify with Tori. I love to identify with a main character and feel like I’m her/him in the book and like I’m living the life they are living. Because Tori is so different from me, there was always this bit of space that prevented me from really getting into the story. But the writing, the other characters and the plot were amazing.