About

These Little Words (est. 2011) is a blog dedicated to the joys and tribulations of reading, written by me, Lizzi. Hello! I worked in publishing for eight years, in admin and editorial, and am now a stay-at-home-parent. I have been writing this blog for over ten years, reviewing books and writing about books and reading. Welcome!

My favourite writers include Donna Tartt, Truman Capote, Sarah Waters, Shirley Jackson, and Jane Austen. I can be kind of cynical about super popular books and always want to read something that feels original within its genre or mode. I prefer realism to the magical, and I value insight, empathy, and emotional depth. I read a lot of ‘sad books’ but I like uplifting ones too. A bit of philosophy and poetry come into my reading here and there.

I own the site and write and edit all posts myself, unless otherwise indicated. The menu options at the top of the page should help you to navigate, as well as the search bar that appears on the right once you’re looking at a page or a post. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, let me know.

Contact

You can contact me here, or on Twitter and Instagram @lizzi_reads

Review policy

I mostly review books I already own. I sometimes request review copies of new books if I’m really excited to read them. My favoured genres are:

• literary fiction, whatever that means
• historical fiction (nothing schmaltzy)
• narrative non-fiction
• biography and memoir
• history, particularly 18th-20thC
• feminism and women’s history

Check out my lists on GoodReads.

If you would like to send me a book, please ask me first as I have a backlog of unread books. If I am sent unsolicited books, there is no guarantee that I will review them.

I’m afraid I cannot accept ebooks or self-published books.

Photos

If I use photos from other websites I will always credit them underneath the photo. If there is no credit, that means I have taken the photo myself unless otherwise stated. If you own any photos I have featured and would like me to take them down, I am happy to do so. Let me know via the email address above, or on Twitter.

Affiliate programmes

I am a member of the affiliate programmes for Blackwell’s, Wordery and Foyles. This means that you will see links to buy a mentioned book at the end of blog posts; if you click on these links and buy the books, I will receive a small percentage.

You can also find me here…

• Twitter: @lizzi_reads
• Instagram: @lizzi_reads
• I was on the Shadow Panel for the Young Writer of the Year Award 2018. You can read more here.
• GoodReads 
• Review of the Man Booker shortlisted How to be both by Ali Smith on The Oxford Culture Review
• Articles on For Books’ Sake
• My reviews on Amazon.co.uk
• My other blog, The Postscript, which features reviews of things that aren’t books, and personal posts from me. It also has an amazing agony aunt, Dear Clementine, who is waiting for your emails!

As always, happy reading!