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London Hughes: ‘The book nerd that I was, I was reading Esio Trot backwards for fun’

It’s Thursday, which can only mean we have another cracking episode of Bookshelfie for you to devour! This week we are joined by the sensational, hilarious and incredibly relatable London Hughes. London sat down with Vick to chat through identity, making it in a male-dominated field and how judging a book by its cover could just change your life.

Check out the full episode here.

The Bed and Breakfast Star

Elsa is the star of her life, cracking jokes and making anyone she meets laugh. One day she hopes to…

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“It’s so hard for me to choose one Jacqueline Wilson book, because there’s so many Jacqueline Wilson books that I just saw myself in and she’s so good at writing, like sassy funny, but like insecure, young female characters. A lot of her characters will be getting bullied, but in their mind they will living all these crazy lives […] but in reality like they were bullied or they weren’t the smartest or the cutest and I feel like I resonate with that”

Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging

Brilliantly funny, teenage angst author Louise Rennison’s first book about the confessions of crazy but lovable Georgia Nicolson. There are…

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“It’s just such a warm hug. It’s just anytime I think of that book and I think of my life at the time of getting that book and how that book made me feel […] My friend Katie was obsessed with Louise Rennison, she read all the books and then I saw her read it and she was like it’s such a good book. You should read it. So I read it all in a day and I was just like, I love Georgia.”

Ugly

‘I handed my school photograph to my mother. She stared from the photograph to me. “Lord, sweet Lord, how come…

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“I just remember [this book] punching me in the throat. I just was so used to these happy white girl stories. And then this black girl story comes, it’s a real story. And it’s so horrible. And so as sad as the book was, I saw myself in her. And that was also sad. And then she overcame it. And I was like, okay, so you can overcome this feeling of feeling like you’re not worthy. You can come out the other side, and you can quell the naysayers and kill at life. And so it was inspirational.”

The Last Black Unicorn

Tiffany learnt at a young age that she could make people laugh and if she could make people laugh she…

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“First of all, I was so in awe of all the stuff she’s been through, the girl has a story to tell. And the book is written in a way, which I think is genius. It’s written colloquially. There’s spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, everything is written like she’s talking to you. It’s like she’s sitting next to you like she’s your bestie.”

You Are A Badass

If self-help books are not your thing but you are desperate to make a change, then this is the advice…

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“I’m a cover girl, like, if I don’t like the cover, I ain’t buying the book and the cover grabbed me. And the words just jumped out, like how to stop doubting yourself and start living a great life. And I was like, I need this book. And I read it. I devoured it in maybe a couple of hours, maybe I don’t even know maybe an hour. I read it all. And then I started applying the things I learned in the book. And my life changed.”

Hungry for more? Make sure you subscribe to Bookshelfie wherever you listen to your podcasts so you don’t miss a second of what promises to be a banging season of Bookshelfie. Subscribe here.

The Women's Prize Podcast


Tune into host Vick Hope and a line-up of incredible guests on our weekly podcast full of unmissable book recommendations.