I’ve always been an avid reader, but this is definitely a hard hobby to maintain when I have so much reading to do for university. One of my goals for the year was to read more books that I actually want to try opposed to being compulsory for my degree, and so I decided to pick up Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love. I’ve heard tons about this memoir and it’s been an incredibly popular one in my work, so I knew that I had to read it. After racing through it and loving every minute, I simply had to share my thoughts, so keep reading to find out more!
"A spot-on, wildly funny and sometimes heart-breaking book about growing up, growing older and navigating all kinds of love along the way.
When it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming a grown up, journalist and former Sunday Times dating columnist Dolly Alderton has not only seen it all and tried it all but written about it too. In her intimate memoir, she vividly recounts falling in love, wrestling with self-sabotage, finding a job, throwing a socially disastrous Rod-Stewart themed house party, getting drunk, getting dumped, realising that Ivan from the corner shop is the only man you've ever been able to rely on, and finding that that your mates are always there at the end of every messy night out.
It's a book about bad dates, good friends and - above all else - about recognising that you and you alone are enough."
First things first, this book is extremely addictive. I just couldn’t put this gripping memoir down and found myself reading in every spare 5 minutes that I had. It’s not a difficult read and you can definitely enjoy reading it leisurely without struggling to understand what’s happening – in fact, it feels like you’re living Dolly Alderton’s life alongside her. I finished this book in less than two days as the entire time I was dying for more; trust me, if you pick this book up then you’ll really struggle to put it down!
Alderton’s memoir is beautifully written and springs to life on the page – I felt as though I’d been transported to her adolescent world of disparate bars, unruly flings and unique friendships. The language isn’t overly descriptive or flowery, yet she still manages to capture the essence of this world, in fact her memoir almost reads like fiction. These beautiful and tragic life experiences are shared in their true rawness, stripped back to create a personal atmosphere. You really feel as though you’re being spoken to directly, joining her on this wild journey.
Young girls and women alike will all find something to relate to within this story, from disastrous dates, lifelong friendships, the struggles of establishing yourself and everything in between – basically a culmination of womanhood in a novel. The mentions of MSN and social media were a huge throwback to my childhood and I felt like I was sat in Dolly’s shoes reliving it, and I can guarantee that every reader will see glimpses of their own life within this memoir.
Everything I Know About Love is both relatable and insightful in an unexpected way and watching Dolly’s understanding grow and mature throughout her life was an eye-opening experience. I was laughing and crying along the entire time; this memoir does a perfect job at gaining your identification and then tugging on your heartstrings. It really is the perfect portrayal of how life can be messy and beautiful, yet ultimately precious.
I hope you enjoyed this review of Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton, and I'd really like to know your thoughts and opinions down in the comments if you've also read it. If you haven't, it's a definite must and I'd highly urge you to give it a read!
Love from Daisy x
Daisy's Book Club - Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
Wednesday, March 06, 2019 • Books
I’ve always been an avid reader, but this is definitely a hard hobby to maintain when I have so much reading to do for university. One of my goals for the year was to read more books that I actually want to try opposed to being compulsory for my degree, and so I decided to pick up Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love. I’ve heard tons about this memoir and it’s been an incredibly popular one in my work, so I knew that I had to read it. After racing through it and loving every minute, I simply had to share my thoughts, so keep reading to find out more!
"A spot-on, wildly funny and sometimes heart-breaking book about growing up, growing older and navigating all kinds of love along the way.
When it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming a grown up, journalist and former Sunday Times dating columnist Dolly Alderton has not only seen it all and tried it all but written about it too. In her intimate memoir, she vividly recounts falling in love, wrestling with self-sabotage, finding a job, throwing a socially disastrous Rod-Stewart themed house party, getting drunk, getting dumped, realising that Ivan from the corner shop is the only man you've ever been able to rely on, and finding that that your mates are always there at the end of every messy night out.
It's a book about bad dates, good friends and - above all else - about recognising that you and you alone are enough."
First things first, this book is extremely addictive. I just couldn’t put this gripping memoir down and found myself reading in every spare 5 minutes that I had. It’s not a difficult read and you can definitely enjoy reading it leisurely without struggling to understand what’s happening – in fact, it feels like you’re living Dolly Alderton’s life alongside her. I finished this book in less than two days as the entire time I was dying for more; trust me, if you pick this book up then you’ll really struggle to put it down!
Alderton’s memoir is beautifully written and springs to life on the page – I felt as though I’d been transported to her adolescent world of disparate bars, unruly flings and unique friendships. The language isn’t overly descriptive or flowery, yet she still manages to capture the essence of this world, in fact her memoir almost reads like fiction. These beautiful and tragic life experiences are shared in their true rawness, stripped back to create a personal atmosphere. You really feel as though you’re being spoken to directly, joining her on this wild journey.
Young girls and women alike will all find something to relate to within this story, from disastrous dates, lifelong friendships, the struggles of establishing yourself and everything in between – basically a culmination of womanhood in a novel. The mentions of MSN and social media were a huge throwback to my childhood and I felt like I was sat in Dolly’s shoes reliving it, and I can guarantee that every reader will see glimpses of their own life within this memoir.
Everything I Know About Love is both relatable and insightful in an unexpected way and watching Dolly’s understanding grow and mature throughout her life was an eye-opening experience. I was laughing and crying along the entire time; this memoir does a perfect job at gaining your identification and then tugging on your heartstrings. It really is the perfect portrayal of how life can be messy and beautiful, yet ultimately precious.
I hope you enjoyed this review of Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton, and I'd really like to know your thoughts and opinions down in the comments if you've also read it. If you haven't, it's a definite must and I'd highly urge you to give it a read!
Love from Daisy x
What's this, a brand new blog post? I've been on a little break from blogging over the past couple of months - not intentionally, life has just been hectic and I haven't found the time to sit down and write a blog post. But I'm back now, and despite having a crazily busy few weeks ahead with essay deadlines, I'm hoping to get back into blogging more regularly! Since I haven't posted in a few months, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to update you all on everything that has happened lately, so I hope you enjoy hearing what's been going on in my life!
Exam Season
My January was largely dominated by revision, since I had an exam and essay deadline looming at the end of the month (coincidentally falling on my birthday, which isn't exactly what I hoped for!) This was very stressful to say the least, especially since with English literature there always seems to be more ground to cover in your work. I did a lot of work and revision towards these and thankfully it paid off - I received my results last week and I got firsts for both of them, which I'm over the moon with!
My 19th Birthday
Another thing you've missed is my 19th birthday, which was on the 25th of January! I honestly still find it mad that I started blogging when I'd just turned 14, and now I'm 19 and still at it! My birthday was a really lovely day (aside from the exam and the essay deadline), and it really proved to me just how lucky I am to have amazing people in my life making me feel so special. Aiden took me out for a meal the night of my birthday and my family also visited Manchester, making it a really special birthday spent with my favourite people.
Bastille
One of my Christmas presents from Aiden was tickets to go and watch Bastille, which I'm sure you'll know by now are my favourite band. I'd already seen them live once before, but I seriously couldn't wait for this moment and it certainly lived up to my expectations. We managed to get extremely near the front and it was honestly perfect hearing some of my favourite songs performed live in such a lively atmosphere. After getting lots of merch, I also managed to persuade Aiden to wait outside the venue with me, and managed to get a huge group photo with the members of Bastille, which was honestly surreal! There's something about the atmosphere of a concert which I seriously love, and so seeing my favourite band with my boyfriend was a memory I'll always cherish.
Working
I've been working quite a bit over the past few months, which is because I was kept on in my job. I started at Waterstones in October as a Christmas temp and thoroughly enjoyed it, as well as getting along incredibly well with my new work family, and so I was honoured to be kept on as a permanent member in the new year! Having a bit of income has also really helped considering I've been in the process of sorting out a house for next year, which is very exciting!
Axe Throwing
A random but fun thing that I had the opportunity to do last week was to go axe throwing! Thanks to the Manchester-based company Buckt getting in touch with me, Aiden and I went out to try this activity and it was surprisingly fun. It sounds incredibly dangerous but that's definitely not the case, although I did take a while to master the technique. We started by learning the different holds and how to throw the axe and then proceeded onto a tournament with everyone else (and Aiden only went and smashed it and got on the hall of fame!) This was such a fun evening, and it's definitely different to what I'd normally do but I'd highly recommend giving it a try (and if anyone is interested, I actually have a discount code which I can give you as well!)
Love from Daisy x
What's this, a brand new blog post? I've been on a little break from blogging over the past couple of months - not intentionally, life has just been hectic and I haven't found the time to sit down and write a blog post. But I'm back now, and despite having a crazily busy few weeks ahead with essay deadlines, I'm hoping to get back into blogging more regularly! Since I haven't posted in a few months, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to update you all on everything that has happened lately, so I hope you enjoy hearing what's been going on in my life!
Exam Season
My January was largely dominated by revision, since I had an exam and essay deadline looming at the end of the month (coincidentally falling on my birthday, which isn't exactly what I hoped for!) This was very stressful to say the least, especially since with English literature there always seems to be more ground to cover in your work. I did a lot of work and revision towards these and thankfully it paid off - I received my results last week and I got firsts for both of them, which I'm over the moon with!
My 19th Birthday
Another thing you've missed is my 19th birthday, which was on the 25th of January! I honestly still find it mad that I started blogging when I'd just turned 14, and now I'm 19 and still at it! My birthday was a really lovely day (aside from the exam and the essay deadline), and it really proved to me just how lucky I am to have amazing people in my life making me feel so special. Aiden took me out for a meal the night of my birthday and my family also visited Manchester, making it a really special birthday spent with my favourite people.
Bastille
One of my Christmas presents from Aiden was tickets to go and watch Bastille, which I'm sure you'll know by now are my favourite band. I'd already seen them live once before, but I seriously couldn't wait for this moment and it certainly lived up to my expectations. We managed to get extremely near the front and it was honestly perfect hearing some of my favourite songs performed live in such a lively atmosphere. After getting lots of merch, I also managed to persuade Aiden to wait outside the venue with me, and managed to get a huge group photo with the members of Bastille, which was honestly surreal! There's something about the atmosphere of a concert which I seriously love, and so seeing my favourite band with my boyfriend was a memory I'll always cherish.
Working
I've been working quite a bit over the past few months, which is because I was kept on in my job. I started at Waterstones in October as a Christmas temp and thoroughly enjoyed it, as well as getting along incredibly well with my new work family, and so I was honoured to be kept on as a permanent member in the new year! Having a bit of income has also really helped considering I've been in the process of sorting out a house for next year, which is very exciting!
Axe Throwing
A random but fun thing that I had the opportunity to do last week was to go axe throwing! Thanks to the Manchester-based company Buckt getting in touch with me, Aiden and I went out to try this activity and it was surprisingly fun. It sounds incredibly dangerous but that's definitely not the case, although I did take a while to master the technique. We started by learning the different holds and how to throw the axe and then proceeded onto a tournament with everyone else (and Aiden only went and smashed it and got on the hall of fame!) This was such a fun evening, and it's definitely different to what I'd normally do but I'd highly recommend giving it a try (and if anyone is interested, I actually have a discount code which I can give you as well!)
Love from Daisy x
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