Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuri Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

I haven't read all of Murkami's books, but he is one of my favourite authors, Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are my top picks of his novels.

Colorless Tsukuri Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is Murkarmi's latest offering, when it was published in Japan it sold a million copies in it's first week, and it has been similarly successful over here. There is always a lot of expectation when Murkarmi publishes a new book, and it can be difficult to life up to the hype.

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The Plot: At high school Tsukuru Tazaki was part of a close friendship group of 3 boys and 2 girls. Apart from Tazaki, the other friends, coincidently, all had colours in their names, Akamatsu 'red pine', Oumi 'blue sea', Shirane 'white root' and Kurono 'black field'. Together they formed a harmonious group, with each member having a special interest or talent that complemented and balanced the others. One day, without any explanation or prior warning, the four colourful friends annoudnced they no longer wanted to speak to Tazaki ever again. Since that time Tazaki has struggled to form meaningful connections with other people, until he meets Sara, who encourages him to contact his former friends and discover why they abruptly dumped him.

Rating: (3.5/5)
Full review under the cut:-

Rob Ryan

Rob Ryan is an artist who specialises in paper-cutting. His designs are intricate and whimsical, they appear on prints, ceramics, textiles and jewellery. In addition, he has published three illustrated books, two of which I own.

To have a peek at some of the pictures of This Is For You (which would make a great valentines gift btw) and A Sky Full Of Kindness, have a look after the jump:-

Postcards from Penguin

Postcards from Penguin is a collection of 100 iconic book covers throughout the history of the Publishers. Th

They are great to send to friends or to use as room decoration. It's fun to leaf through the designs and see what ones you've read or find titles that are particularly suited to your character. I think these three sum me up pretty accurately!

Once I find the perfect frame I'm going to make a collage to hang above my bed- I'll post the results when I'm done.

DIY quotes display

When I read, I love to collect quotes, I've trying to think of the best way to display my favourite quotes whilst updating my home décor. Here's a couple of ideas:-

quotes wall display incorporating postcards and pictures. 

quotes bunting 

Both ideas are dead simple to do- I'm not arty at all. All you need is to print out a collection of your favourite quotes and slip them into some cardboard frames (I got mine from artbox, but you could DIY). You can then can either bluetack them onto the wall or string them up using some twine and mini pegs. 

When printing out your quotes why not play around with font and colour? dafont has loads of fonts that are available to download for free, it's my latest obsession. 

If you need some quote inspiration check out my quotes from books tag.