Book Club #2

The New Year Book Club post is finally here! Hoorah! This post has taken me a while to construct plainly because there were just too many books I wanted to get in here! I eventually decided there was no better way to kick of the 2016 book club than by reviewing my all time favourite kick ass, motivational, girl power books! I've picked out three of the books that have inspired me to become the (slightly scary) business woman I am today as well as a stronger person in general! I hope you enjoy the mini reviews and I hope these books inspire you to become the bad ass b*tches you truly are!

First up we have Leave Your Mark by Aliza Light. Aliza is a kick-ass communications executive, fashions favourite PR girl and a social networking phenomenon – all a 2016 girl aspires to be no? In her book she offers a personal and professional guide to people just starting out in their careers and for those who are already well on their way. The invaluable life lessons in this book got me through that awkward “what the shit am I doing with my life” phase after I finished uni. This book is ideal for those who are looking to buff up on communication skills whilst building your own personal brand.

Whether you need that little push into your new career or are looking to gain confidence in your area of work, Aliza’s book will offer you the support and sassiness you need to move on up in the world! It's also a great help for those of us who sometimes feel at a bit of a loss when it comes to their careers, maybe you've just finished uni or college? Or you've come face to face with unemployment for the first time in years? Or maybe you are picking the specialist study subjects for you’re A-levels? Whatever life has thrown at you, this is the book to get you out of your slump and motivate you to kick your problems in the ass! Get your very own copy HERE from Amazon.

Next we have a book that I stumbled upon in my second year of Uni, where I was facing one of the hardest times in my life, #GIRLBOSS. Suffering with mental illness following the loss of a close friend I was struggling to keep up with my studies and the thought of spending time with friends terrified me beyond reason. There were times when I genuinely didn't know how I was going to carry on, and then I found out about Sophia Amoruso, through her autobiographical book. This woman has faced depression and severe illnesses and had still managed to come out on top and become a boss ass business woman.

Reading about Sophia’s struggles and success gave me the strength to see that everyone, no matter their situation, can power through and become stronger than they ever were. She is the founder and former CEO of Nasty Gal clothing (who we all know and love) as well as a New York Times best selling author. The book follows the life of Sophia starting with the first thing she ever sold, a stolen book, on eBay, but is infinitely so much more than use a mediocre autobiography. It is inspirational and motivational and for me was a real life changer. The perfect book if need some empowerment in your life. Get your copy from Amazon HERE.

The final book for this month is How to be Parisian Wherever you are: Love, Style and Bad Habits. Written by four fabulously accomplished French women the book educates us all on how to dress, party and behave (without behaving) as a Parisian. It's a different kind of inspirational to the two previous books but an inspiration all the same. Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Carline de Maigret and Sophie Mas are all working mothers who have been friends for years. Each of them, talented bohemian iconoclasts, with careers in music, film, fashion and publishing, offer a frank outlook on what it means to be Parisian and a personal and touching take on the world. 

This books not only inspires women to become empowered and shoot for the stars when it comes to their careers, but also highlights the mistakes and faults of an everyday human being – showing that it's not always an easy ride to the top. An excellent book for fashionistas, style enthusiasts, career obsessives and just any everyday gal that strives to be a bit more….well, Parisian! Get your copy HERE from Amazon.

I hope you all enjoyed the new Book Club post and if anyone has any book suggestions for me to read and review, then let me know in a comment below!

Book Club #1

I've seen this style of post done by a few bloggers now, I think the first time I saw it was on FayesFix maybe? But it’s something I've really wanted to do as a little weekly/monthly blogging series for a while so welcome to my very first Blogger Book Club post!

I'm a big reader and can’t go to sleep without getting through at least a paragraph of my latest book and I wanted to share a few of my favourites with you. These posts will be more recommendations than in-depth reviews as I don’t want to spoil the books for anyone, however I will be giving a brief overview of the books whilst avoiding spoilers!

The first book is very personal to me for a very obvious reason, it’s my name sake! No not Gatsby, Alice! Yep I'm named after the wonderful story of a girl who falls through a rabbit hole and makes a great big mess of everything…pretty accurate really.

For years I've endured people cracking Wonderland jokes whenever I'm introduced to them – which is still better than that god awful Smokie song that everyone sings when they hear my name. But it hasn't affected my love for Wonderland and the Looking Glass.

I have a huge collection of all things Alice, including the Waterstones ‘Cloth Bound Classics’ version of Lewis Carroll’s world famous tales – yet another thing I collect. There really is no better time than now to grab a copy of the book as it’s the stories 150^th birthday.

This means stores worldwide (including your local Waterstones) have special offers on the books so you might be able to grab a bargain as well as some cool merch. On my latest trip to Waterstones I got a miniature Alice in Wonderland tea set, some post cards with the classic Alice art work on them as well as a Disney’s Alice Pop Funko – oh look another thing I collect.

The second book on the list is one of my all-time favourite novellas and I assume a lot of people’s favourite movie thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio! Of course I am talking about The Great Gatsby, a book I fell in love with in A Level English Lit and still can’t read to this day without crying!

For anyone who’s never seen or heard anything of Gatsby’s woeful tale (I assume you've been living under a rock) here’s a brief summary. The story is set in the 1920’s in the fictional location of West Egg. It’s the roaring 20’s or the ‘Jazz Age’ and the plot follows the story of the mysterious J Gatsby, told through the perspective of our narrator, Nick Carraway.

It’s an absolutely stunning but tragic love story and a must read for anyone who shares a passion for the Jazz era. The author F . Scott Fitzgerald has written an entire collection of books centred on the 20’s so if you loved Gatsby then I definitely recommend his other works.

The book cover above is part of a metallic gold collection of Fitzgerald’s work exclusive to Waterstones. This was a gift off Josh and slightly more glamorous than my dog eared paper back from college.

The third and final book of the post is what I regard as a modern classic. Most of you will have again seen the movie adaptation of this book and most of you who read the book prior to the film release will have been very disappointed.

The Lovely Bones is a heartbreaking book written by Alice Sebold and published in 2002. The plot follows the story of a young girl who, after she is murdered and raped, watches her family trying to move on with their lives from her own personal heaven.

The story however miserable it sounds now is actually really beautiful. It’s not just a tragic tale, but a love story, a murder mystery and a life lesson all rolled into one and contains some quotes that will change your life.

The film adaptation was released back in 2009 and was alright but I don’t think it captures the real truth of the book. So even if you've seen the film and enjoyed it I really do recommend you give the book a go as it has so much more to offer than the film.

I've really enjoyed writing this post and I hope you've all enjoyed reading it! Let me know what you think and I’ll decide how regularly I post these blogs. Also if you've ever written a book review feel free to leave your link in a comment below – I'm always on the hunt for new reads!