-
Samhain: A Time of Renewal
Being half Irish, my Irish heritage has always inspired an interest in the rituals and customs of my ancestors. This desire to preserve what remains after the pillage and colonisation of Ireland (thanks, England) and the subsequent evangelisation means that many of the sacred rituals, beliefs, and customs have been lost in favour of Christian practices. However, this does not mean that the old traditions are no longer present in today’s world. It’s hard to believe, but Ireland was originally a pagan country (like most, before monotheism and specifically Christianity took the world by storm). However, unlike the Norse or the Greeks, for example, we are unable to study the…
-
Addiction and Sisterhood
I bought this book for my birthday back in February this year I had read Cleopatra and Frankenstein by her two years previous and although the story in part resonated with me I loved Mellors writing more than her story. So I thought I would give her second book a chance and as always I have a lot of thoughts on it. This book review will contain spoilers if this is something that is going to erk you I suggest clicking off now and come back when you read it so we can discuss it then Trigger Warnings – Addiction, Overdose, Grief, Suicide “A sister is not a friend. Who…
-
Book Review: So Thrilled for You – Holly Bourne.
A dear friend of mine after learning that I was a fan of Holly Bourne’s work but had not read any of her adult fiction; lovingly thrusted this book into my hands and my god was I in for a treat. After my disappointment of beach read (read my review here Beach Read – A Book Review) I was desperate to read something to get out of the ever looming reading slump. Warning ahead; this review WILL contain minor spoilers if this is something you are not interested in please feel free to click off now. So Thrilled for You; is a wonderfully detailed and at times harrowing tale of friendship…
-
Beach Read – A Book Review
I came across Beach Read and subsequently picked it up for a book club and although I am no stranger to the romance genre, this book would prove more of a trial than of relaxation so as the heat wave plundered on in the UK thus did I with this book. This was not my first Emily Henry book. I had the pleasure of reading ‘Happy Place’ by her earlier this year, however, that being said I went into this book fairly blind to the ordeal I was about to face. In fairness to Henry what she does well is characters – like them or hate them Henry can write…
-
Notes on Grief
They say time is a great healer; I now doubt this is the case. Time has only opened more wounds as time has gone on rather than soothing them. The way that grief plays on you; the gnawing, the scratching of it demanding to be heard like a small child – it must consume your life for its survival even if it’s a detriment to yours; grief must win. I have had it play over and over in my mind; in the last few years I have lost and lost again. Some of these losses are not in death but rather a loss of connection, a different intangibility. With death it is…
You May Also Like
Grief is a Stoney path that everyone must walk.
-
In the Mind of the Bipolar
“I desire the things that will destroy me in the end” – Sylvia Plath My mind lives to torment me, Sounds like a great opening to a story right? Well this story is my life. I’ve had Bipolar disorder my whole life but it took me 19 years to get a diagnosis, in those 18 years previous it felt as though I was going insane; unfortunately not just the cutesy tumblr insane. I genuinely thought the safest option for me was a mental health facility. So what is Bipolar? According to the NHS bipolar is “Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition where you have extreme mood changes. Medicines and…
-
Grief is a Stoney path that everyone must walk.
Grief is a stoney path everyone must walk down. In my 22 years of life, I have been very lucky to have not lost someone of great significance to me to the gentle hands of death. However, there comes a time in every person’s life, young or old where they are greeted with the visceral feeling that is grief. I, as aforementioned, was 22 years old when this occurred for me. The first death I was to grieve was my grandfather – in – law; a kind and gentle man who had a deep love for sport – rather specifically the Luton Town Football team. The second and most recent…
You May Also Like
Notes on Grief
-
Hozier: Recreating Myth Through Music
In 2023, the Irish singer-songwriter Hozier released his third studio album, ‘Unreal, Unearth’. This album draws heavily on the theme of Dante’s Inferno, a poem exploring the nine circles of Hell: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. For those unfamiliar, ‘Inferno‘ depicts Dante’s journey through Hell, where he encounters various characters inspired by historical figures like Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. At Hell’s center, he encounters Satan himself, devouring Brutus, Cassius, and Judas, whom Dante considers the ultimate sinners. Hozier’s album, composed of 16 tracks (at time of release – He has now released the full album ‘Unreal, Unearthed: Unending’ which has the 16 original songs as well as…
-
The Influence Ted Hughes Had on the World of Poetry
Ted Hughes was a 20th-century poet whose work drew deeply from the natural world, a passion fuelled by his upbringing in rural Yorkshire. Although Hughes was a respected poet in his own right, he became infamous for his turbulent personal life. Most notably, his marriage to poet Sylvia Plath sparked public fascination. However, in this article I’ll focus on the literary impact they had on each other, as their relationship has been covered extensively elsewhere. In her letters and journals, Plath often discussed Hughes’ influence on her work, expressing how he challenged her writing. In one letter to her mother, she noted, “Ted is so magnificent & understanding about my…
