Must-Have Gifts for Book Lovers

For the bookworm in your life, make sure that you get your hands on one, or two, of these ideal gifts.

Maple Book Cheese Boards

These cheese boards are functional works of art which are shaped like slender editions with titles on the spine such as: Food for Thought, The Art of Charcuterie, and the Ernest Hemingway memoir A Moveable Feast. All you need to do is add wine and get ready for your book club.

The Book Lover’s Journal

Bibliophiles can use this journal to keep track of the books they’ve read and write down their thoughts and impressions while creating their own volume about a well-read life.

Amber Reading Light

Booklights make for excellent gifts for book lovers. From LoveReading this light comes with an amber hue to alleviate eye strain in the wee hours, plus it also has a bendable neck and a red heart logo on the easy-to-use clip.

Bookends

Books look beautiful when they are displayed, so choose artsy, handcrafted bookends made from geometric shapes or bright colours as perfect accessories for your book lover’s favorite volumes.

Little Women Infinity Scarf

This scarf features quotes from the novel written by Louisa May Alcott with words from the sisters Meg and Jo March. This scarf can not only be worn, but read and adored by book lovers and logophiles alike.

Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany

This illustrated book makes the ideal gift for book lovers, wordsmiths, artists, and anyone who loves life in general. Author Jane Mount features book trivia and facts and fancies, as well as gorgeous illustrations of books, while capturing their nature and character.

Jane Austen Candle

This sweet candle comes with a bookplate-style label featuring Jane Austen’s signature and is scented with English garden favorites like tuberose and gardenia.

For more great adventure content, check out www.cagebook.com.

Ian McKellan on Gratitude, and Keeping Souvenirs

Ian McKellan has played a wide range of roles rooted in the fantastic, from his days as a Shakespearean actor to Magneto in the X-Men films to none other than Sherlock Holmes himself. But for many of his adoring fans, ourselves included, Ian McKellan will always be remembered for his role as Gandalf in both The Lord of The Rings and Hobbit movies.

Back in January 2017, Empire decided to celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring by having its stars interview each other. When it came to Ian McKellan, it was up to Elijah Wood to ask the questions. At one point during the interview, Wood asked: “What did you keep from your time as Gandalf?” Here was McKellan’s reply.

“Eternal gratitude for being included in one of the great film adventures of all time. I keep Glamdring in my hatstand and the pointy hat in the basement, often worn by visiting youngsters. Gandalf’s staff is behind the bar in my Thames-side pub The Grapes, in East London. Don’t tell Peter, but the keys to Bag End are hanging up at home.”

Always fun to see a question answered both figuratively and literally, and it’s especially enjoyable to see a star who shines as brightly as McKellan does still remain so humble.

Looking for some action and adventure? Visit our online library at www.cagebook.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices.

The Resurgence of Choose Your Own Adventure

Netflix has done it again, leaving their indelible mark on popular culture and making us long for a forgotten relic from a bygone time. With the release and subsequent popularity of Bandersnatch, the Black Mirror movie where you call the shots and your decisions lead to different scenes and scenarios, Netflix has sparked a wave of nostalgia for the originators of the genre: Chooseco and The Choose Your Own Adventure books.

Originating in the mid-1970s, the Choose Your Own Adventure books became not just a staple of children’s literature, but some of the best selling books of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, with an estimated 250 million books sold between 1979 and 1998 once publication began through Bantam books. The books were a gateway into the creativity and imagination of many a young reader, but their popularity waned in the age of video games and the internet.

Thanks to Bandersnatch, however, Netflix has rekindled what seemed to have been a forgotten love for the books, this despite Chooseco’s trademark infringement legal challenge against the streaming service.

The world lost R.A. Montgomery back in 2014, as one of the co-creators, key contributors, and authors of the Choose Your Own Adventure series he revolutionized the way children approached books, reading, and indeed, imagination.

Looking for more action and adventure? Visit our online library at www.cagebook.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices, and sure to leave you on the edge of your seat.

The Resurgence of Choose Your Own Adventure

Netflix has done it again, leaving their indelible mark on popular culture and making us long for a forgotten relic from a bygone time. With the release and subsequent popularity of Bandersnatch, the Black Mirror movie where you call the shots and your decisions lead to different scenes and scenarios, Netflix has sparked a wave of nostalgia for the originators of the genre: Chooseco and The Choose Your Own Adventure books.

Originating in the mid-1970s, the Choose Your Own Adventure books became not just a staple of children’s literature, but some of the best selling books of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, with an estimated 250 million books sold between 1979 and 1998 once publication began through Bantam books. The books were a gateway into the creativity and imagination of many a young reader, but their popularity waned in the age of video games and the internet.

Thanks to Bandersnatch, however, Netflix has rekindled what seemed to have been a forgotten love for the books, this despite Chooseco’s trademark infringement legal challenge against the streaming service.

The world lost R.A. Montgomery back in 2014, as one of the co-creators, key contributors, and authors of the Choose Your Own Adventure series he revolutionized the way children approached books, reading, and indeed, imagination.

Looking for more action and adventure? Visit our online library at www.cagebook.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, from your favorite devices, and sure to leave you on the edge of your seat.

Adventure on the High Seas

When looking for your next read why not give tales of the high seas a try? With so many stellar work of fiction to choose from it may be difficult to choose a starting point, so here are three high seas adventure novels that are well worth the read.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The unlikely tale of a young Indian boy named Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel who survives a shipwreck only to find himself stranded on the Pacific Ocean. Pi isn’t alone, however, as he find himself sharing the lifeboat that his survival depends on with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Their 227 day journey to safety is an exploration of growth through adversity, as Yann Martel shows us that life is a story.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Easily one of the greatest influences on modern pirate lore, Treasure Island is so much more than just the adventure of young Jim Hawkins, buccaneers, and buried gold.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea redefined the adventure novel and remains one of the most influential works of fiction to this very day. The story of exploration and sea monsters gave us themes and plot devices regularly borrowed by other works of fiction, not to mention Captain Nemo, who has found himself alive and well in modern lore.

Looking for more action and adventure? Visit our online library at www.cagebook.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime from your favorite devices, and sure to get your blood pumping!

The Toughest Man in America

The subject of the 2015 film The Revenant, where he was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Glass is without out a doubt one of the toughest, if not the toughest man in American history.

Born in Pennsylvania, Glass was supposedly kidnapped by pirates at an early age and was forced to live the pirate lifestyle for two years before escaping by jumping ship and swimming two miles to the shores of Texas. His escape was short lived however, as he was eventually captured again, this time by the Pawnee tribe whom he became close to and lived with for several years until he left the tribe after traveling with them to St Louis, Missouri.

Glass then became a trapper and explorer, but was shot in the leg after an attack on his expedition. Though he would survive the attack, while scouting for game Glass disturbed a grizzly bear and her two cubs, and was viciously mauled to the point of near death. Glass would still manage to kill the bear with help from his party, but was so badly mauled the men assumed he would surely die and left two behind to bury him upon his death. But his death wouldn’t come quickly, and the men eventually abandoned him, leaving him 200 miles away from the nearest settlement. Glass, of course, would not only survive but would go out seeking his revenge. Glass would have to settle for reparations, but his story remains remarkable and compelling nonetheless!

Looking for more tales of action and adventure? Visit our online library at www.cagebook.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audio books, music, and more!

Packing for a city break abroad

Whether you’re a newbie to city breaks abroad or are keen to see how to pack everything that little bit lighter, we’ve got the tips for you.

Bring a carry on suitcase only - When it comes to a city break, often enough you only go for a short amount of time and that means you won’t need as much luggage as a week-long vacation. With that in mind, bring a carry on suitcase only. This will save you money and time when you arrive at the airport as you won’t have to check in or pay any additional baggage fees. Plus, cabin cases are bigger than you think.

Roll up your clothes - Packing smartly is the best way to do it. Roll up your clothing to fit more pieces in the suitcase, put your socks in shoes and wear your heaviest items there.

Bring an extension lead - A very useful tip when going away to a new city is bringing an extension lead. Many hotel rooms and apartments don’t have loads of plug space, so if you have an extension lead to hand, you’ll have more than enough space to plug in your electricals.

Buy minis - When you travel cabin luggage only, you’re limited to liquids in 100ml bottles. Although this can be annoying, there are ways to get around it. Plenty of stores sell mini versions of your favorite products and if not you can easily find small containers to put them in.

Bring versatile clothing - During the packing process, try and roughly plan your outfits and pick versatile clothing. We’re talking about suitable layers, something waterproof and something warm just in case. It obviously all depends on where you’re going and the city’s climate.

Discover all the adventure packed content and more packing inspiration over at www.cagebook.com.