Today I’m thrilled to welcome fellow book blogger Nikola who blogs over at Breathingthroughpages to the book review café, and I think he deserves a big round of applause as he’s only the second male to take part in this feature 👏🏻👏🏻. If you haven’t checked out Nikola’s blog yet, you really should, he reviews a wide range of books so you will find plenty to tempt you. So without further ado here’s Nikola’s #TopFiveThursday
First of all I would like to thank you Lorraine for including me and allowing me the opportunity to be featured on your wonderful book blog!
Top five books you’ve read so far this year?
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The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara
“THOIB is such a fantastic book about transgender kids as well as the ball scene in the ‘80s. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get educated/familiar with the LGBTQ+ scene but also people who love books about friendship and life.”
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The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
“I think that this book needs no introduction nor explanation. We’ve all heard about The Heart’s Invisible Furies and it’s such a fantastic book filled with joy, loss and heart.”
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The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
“The Immortalists is a story about four siblings who go to a fortune-teller to find out the date of their deaths.. if that doesn’t suck you right in I don’t know what will! Benjamin writes so well and makes you care for the characters in a way you won’t imagine.”
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The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir by Maude Julien
“Maude Julien’s The Only Girl in the World memoir is so mesmerising, amazing, brilliant. I can’t recommend it enough. You will get lost in this memoir and be shocked by it. Seriously, read it!”
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Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
“Educated by Tara Westover is a memoir you will LOVE, it’s filled with struggles of a girl born in a place where she is constrained from her dreams but finds a way to achieve them and eventually rise to her fullest self.”
Top five authors you think everyone should read?
Donna Tartt – Whenever someone asks me for recommendations I always say Tartt. Her writing is amazing and beautiful. Her stories mysterious, fascinating and interesting. If you’re new to her I suggest you start The Secret History.
Hanya Yanagihara – I’ve read Yanagihara’s A Little Life a few years ago and it has stayed with me still. I bought myself a copy of her first book The People in the Trees which I intend to read soon. I think that ALL is an excellent exploration of one’s psychology. If you like following stories that span decades, this is the one for you.
Sylvia Plath – Yes, I know that she’s a poet but she also wrote The Bell Jar which is a semi-autobiographical novel which follows a troubled woman named Esther who slowly loses her mind. Plath as such a fascinating person and her poems as well as The Bell Jar are something I come back to often. I think that everyone should read Plath at least once and even if you don’t get her, you will get an understanding of people who get melancholic from time to time because her words resonate with many.
Jennie Melamed – A recent addition to my favourite authors has to be Melamed because ever since I read her debut Gather the Daughters I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s such an amazing dystopian book set on an island where nothing is what it seems. Her writing is gorgeous and she delves into the darkest things which I adore reading.
Celeste Ng – Ng is a miracle of our time. Both Everything You Never Told Me and Little Fires Everywhere are filled with such gorgeous writing from Ng as well as wonderful stories which are relevent these days. If you haven’t read Ng I recommend you start with her debut.
Five books you want to read before the year is out?
The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker – This book was published last year and I got a digital copy of it which I cannot wait to read and will make sure to read it by the end of the year because it’s such a brilliant sounding one.
Enigma Variations by André Aciman – Aciman is one of my favourites ever since I read Call Me by your Name which is a book I adored. I am definitely putting this one VERY high on my TBR. The paperback is out in October.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai – I am absolutely making sure that TBG is going to be read by the end of this year. I love the sound of this book and that it deals with HIV as well as it being set in Chicago. This book is already out and has been getting great praise.
A Different Drummer by William Melvin Kelley – I have received a proof of this book by the publisher and seeing all the excitement around it makes me want to read it. This book sounds very important and I love reading books that will teach me new things and introduce a new perspective.
The Syndicate by Guy Bolton – If you read the synopsis of it you’ll know why I want to read it. 1940’s, Las Vegas, Mystery – I mean! It sounds completely brilliant like everything Oneworld Publications bring into the world
There are so many more but I had to choose five. I would definitely add 20 more books if I could!.
Top five tips you would give to new bloggers?
Mental health – One of the most important things is: IT’S YOUR BLOG. If you don’t feel like posting or haven’t had time to read/post IT’S OKAY. No one is making you or pressuring you to publish a post every single day. It’s okay to take a break once in a while and figure yourself out or take mental health days to relax and do something that you really really enjoy.
ARCs – I know, I know it’s so hard resisting them but you don’t want to end up with 40+ books on your TBR and chaos in your mind. I always choose my books wisely and that’s what you should do. Pick books that you think you’ll enjoy and don’t go on sprees where you request every book on NetGalley, Edelweiss or emailing publicists.
Do your own thing – There are no rules to book blogging: you can post about your trip to Italy for example or your pets. It’s your blog as I’ve mentioned which means you control what you post.
Don’t stress over views/statistics – It’s never good to stare at your Stats page on WordPress (or other platform) because it will bring you down. A post didn’t get the recognition you wanted , so what! What’s important is that even if it had 5 comments or 20 views it still got the attention of people who are interested in it.
Socialize with other bloggers – It’s always good to make a Twitter or an Instagram account where you can share photos of your books or book love. You can also comment on other bloggers posts! We don’t bite and we love online-meeting new book bloggers and reading their reviews/seeing what books they like. There are many book bloggers who are so great and who will help you out, so don’t shy away from reaching out to them.
Top five blogs you follow?
There are so many book blogs that I love visiting and get excited when they post something. I do apologize but I will name more than five:
Inge – The Belgian Reviewer
Abby – Crime by the Book
Danielle – Books, Vertigo & Tea
Lashaan and Trang – Bookidote
Amy – Novelgossip
Annie – TheMisstery
Renee – ItsBookTalk
Misti – Mistimoobookreviews
Chelsea – The Suspense is Thrilling Me
Stuart – Always Trust in Books
Diana – A Haven for Book Lovers
Ann – Lit.Wit.Wine & Dine.
Yvo – It’s All About Books
+ many more.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Nikola and I am a twenty-one year old guy from Central Europe. I enjoy reading books and mostly read them in English even though you’ll ocassionally find me reading a book in my language. I love books and own a big collection of them. I love reading adult fiction, mental health books, memoirs, non-fiction, dystopian and crime and thriller books. I study Social work at University and juggle both school work and reading.
Social media links
Twitter – https://twitter.com/brthroughpages
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/breathingthroughpages/
GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/breathingthroughpages
Breathing Through Pages is a book blog created by two people – Nikola and Elizabeth – nowadays Nikola is mostly active on it and posts reviews of books he enjoys reading. BTP was created with the idea of sharing book love and advancing writing skills of the creators, as well as meeting book bloggers with similar interests.
Book blog – https://breathingthroughpages.wordpress.com/
My thanks to Nikola for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer my #TopFiveThursday questions, it’s much appreciated.
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