Skip to content

Big Bearded Bookseller

currently reading "How To Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying" by Django Wexler

we’re happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way

Home
Book Lists
Book Reviews
- Review Policy
Author Interviews
Blogger Interviews
Illustrator Interviews
Contact

Search for:

Tag: Julia Sarda

Beetle Boy

Posted in Book Review

Beetle Boy

6th March 2020

Search for:

Lucky Dip

The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish
Vesper Flights
The Little Grey Girl
Locke & Key: The Golden Age
The Maker of Monsters
Nicola Ashbrook – Q&A
Sam Szanto – Q&A

Current Reads

Archives

2024
2023
2022
2021
2020

▼

May0 Posts

Jun0 Posts

Jul0 Posts

Aug0 Posts

Sep0 Posts

Oct0 Posts

Nov0 Posts

Dec0 Posts

Categories

Categories

Redbubble

Recent Posts

It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth
When Among Crows
Flowers from the Void
Sacred Rose Tarot
The Emperor and Me

Top Posts & Pages

When Among Crows

UK #1 Albums

Griz Grobus

Amy McCaw - Q&A

Sunbringer

The Red Red Dragon

Norse Mythology

Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch

Chernobyl: The Fall of Atomgrad

The Spellshop

Professional Reader

Reviews Published

25 Book Reviews

Currently Reading

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

Tags

Adventure Art Author Author Interview Author Q&A Biography Book Review Chicken House Children’s Books Family Fantasy Fiction Friendship Fun Funny Graphic Novel Horror Humour Illustrator Interview Journal Literary Fiction Magic Magical Middle Grade Music Mystery Mythology Nature NetGalley Non-Fiction Penguin Photography Picture Book Poetry Review Science Fiction Short Stories Simon & Schuster Speculative Fiction Tarot Thriller Walker Books Writing Young Adult Younger Readers

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address

Join 4 other subscribers.

big.bearded.bookseller

Updating my April Reads grid, one more than March

Updating my April Reads grid, one more than March so far

#aprilreads #bookstagram #booksread #books #reading

Book 51 of 2024…

Book 51 of 2024…

Today's card is the Knight of Wands. Impulsivenes

Today's card is the Knight of Wands.

Impulsiveness, passion, go-getting and this all links with me reframing a lot that was going on in my head and how I feel about certain aspects of my life.

But again I have to resist the 'act now think later' urge I often have, temper that energy that often makes me run full into things and use it constructively.

#knightofwands #tarotreading #tarotcard #thechangetarot #dailyreading

Day 23 of 19 with some of my favourite poems #poe

Day 23 of 19 with some of my favourite poems

#poem #poetry #nationalpoetrymonth

Just been approved for Extremophile by Ian Green o

Just been approved for Extremophile by Ian Green on @netgalley

Had a quiet night tonight, can you tell?

Had a quiet night tonight, can you tell?

Just starting to get around to using the new deck

Just starting to get around to using the new deck I received called The Change Tarot.

This part is where I draw five cards to get a feel for the deck.

What is the energy of the deck?
This was the Two of Cups, which lets me know that the decks energy is about making connections, trust, and harmony.

What is my initial energy when I interact with this deck?
This was the Knight of Cups, which was probably referring to my love of the design and muted palette, using the Rider-Waite-Smith iconography but having a cooler colour scheme.

What might I learn about myself when using this deck?
This is the Eight of Wands, this deck could let me know more about the energy and need to keep moving forward and the need to do something.

What kind of growth might this deck inspire in me?
This is the Page of Wands, this deck could give me inspiration and help me get toward that growth I'm always after.

Card of the day
This is the Nine of Swords, talks about my feelings of depression, anxiety, and fears and that these are weighing on me at the moment and to not let these worries become self-fulfilling.

I'll be using this for my daily reads for the rest of the week and putting up a review on the blog and Waterstones at the end of the week.

#tarotreading #tarot #tarotcards #tarotdeck #thechangetarot @hayhouseinc

Day 22 of 19 with some of my favourite poems. #po

Day 22 of 19 with some of my favourite poems.

#poem #poetry #nationalpoetrymonth

Monday morning once more, this week I'm reading "H

Monday morning once more, this week I'm reading "How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying" by Django Wexler

What book(s) are you reading this week?

#amreading #books #bookstagram

Lights on the blinds listening to #ttpd once more

Lights on the blinds listening to #ttpd once more

Arancini for lunches and fish stew for dinners nex

Arancini for lunches and fish stew for dinners next week

#homecooking #stew #arancini

Never realised it was St Bueno’s day, the patron

Never realised it was St Bueno’s day, the patron saint of curlews, and so it is also World Curlew Day

#worldcurlewday #curlew

Zoe Thorogood. Image Comics. (196p) ISBN: 97815343

Zoe Thorogood. Image Comics. (196p) ISBN: 9781534323865

It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth

I know this wasn’t published this year but I’m feeling really lucky in having read so many amazing graphic novels in the last few months.

I’ve sold loads of this in the Middlesbrough shop that I felt I had to read it and I’ve now eventually got round to it.

I was instantly enthralled by the depiction of the looming mass of depression always sitting around somewhere and the various voices that talk to your depths and worst fears, especially when the looming mass is extra close.

Loved the different art styles used throughout as expectations, energy, thought patterns changed and swirled constantly second guessing and denigrating the self but through the lens of different parts/ages of self.

A very raw and honest look at several months of Zoe’s life, her expectations, her thoughts, her multiple realisations, the ups and downs and ins and outs of examining life in its minutia and coming back with different answers each time but having to accept that that is the answer that is working (or not) at this point.

So well deserved of all the praise I had heard about it and now looking forward to discovering more of Zoe’s work.

I received this from NetGalley and Image comics in exchange for an honest review.

@zoethorogood @imagecomics @netgalley #graphicnovel #memoir #depression #bookstagram #bookstagrammer

Updated April read grids, one of my favourite read

Updated April read grids, one of my favourite reads of the year along side one of my least favourites

#booksread #aprilreads #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #haveread

Book 49 of 2024...

Book 49 of 2024...

Cat loves her window

Cat loves her window

Veronica Roth. Titan Books. (176p) ISBN: 978180336

Veronica Roth. Titan Books. (176p) ISBN: 9781803363585

When Among Crows

At about this time last year I read Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth and absolutely loved it, so was really looking forward to this novella as soon as I saw it on NetGalley…

and I wasn’t disappointed, from the very start we were immersed in a magical culture so different from the usual worlds we see portrayed in fantasy and urban fantasy.

The first chapter started the story off in such a vivid and fascinating manner I was hooked, then late on I was going to bed to finish a chapter and continue it the next day but just couldn’t put it down! So finished it at 1am, I’ve not done this for a long time.

Full of dark stories of blood, revenge, guilt, remorse, ancient hate, and curses all set in modern day Chicago where the various creatures of Slavic mythology have come across running from some of the same things that other waves of immigrants were running from. Finish this with a great tale of found family and an eventual kiss that seals the story.

The world building is amazing for such a short work and throws you full blown into the dark underworld that these creatures inhabit and the magic systems which are based on debt and/or blood.

My only disappointment is that I had to leave the world so beautifully and carefully described.

I’m always a sucker for stories with a depiction of Baba Jaga, and combine this with a quest story was brilliant, the depiction of the leszy at the start of the book was brilliant and this was the introduction to the idea of magical places coming from some form of debt.

As I said I just couldn’t put it down until finished and would love this world to be revisited at some point.

I received this from NetGalley and Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

#fantasy #urbanfantasy #slavicmythology @veronicaroth @titanbooks #novella #bookstagrammer #boostagram #bookreview

Day 21 of 19 with some of my favourite poems #poe

Day 21 of 19 with some of my favourite poems

#poem #poetry #nationalpoetrymonth

Mushroom risotto with braised cabbage tonight it i

Mushroom risotto with braised cabbage tonight it is then #risotto #homecooking

Load More… Follow on Instagram

RSS – Comments

External links can lead to affiliate links where I can make some money on a purchase

Design by ThemesDNA.com

Insert/edit link

Enter the destination URL

URL

Link Text

Open link in a new tab

Or link to existing content

Search

No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.