reviews
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts

Reader Problems Tag


Hello! *steps out of the wilderness* When I started this blog a couple of years ago I had grand ideas of what it would become. However, I think I got too wrapped up in what I thought it should be rather than just letting myself enjoy it. So, here I am again, hoping to actually enjoy posting on here. No schedule, no expectations. It will mostly be book related but there will still be 'life' posts from time to time. To kick us off I thought I would do a tag, because everyone loves a tag! I originally saw this on Hannah's (A Clockwork Reader) YouTube channel. Enjoy! 

 1. You have 20,000 books in your TBR, how in the world do you decide what to read next?
Ahh the quandary that lies in front of every bookworm all over the world. Most of the time I just go with what I am feeling at the particular time. I do usually have some form of idea of the books that I want to get to next; be that either new books, books I have been meaning to read for a while or proofs. However it can be hard to keep a list of priorities when you have so many books to read. Two things that pretty much guarantee that a book will be my next read is if it is an anticipated read (either from a favourite author/series or something new I have been waiting for) or if I am reading the series. I have a habit of binge reading series (especially YA) so I nearly always read them back to back.

 2. You're halfway through a book and you're just not loving it. Do you put it down or are you committed? 
I used to persevere when I wasn't enjoying a book. I used to have the notion that if I had picked the book, paid money for it etc. then I should finish it because there was obviously something that drew me to it in the first place. I can gladly say that I have left all of that in the past. There are just too many books to give time over to reading ones we don't enjoy! If I'm not enjoying a book I will give it two or three chapters to see if it improves but if it doesn't and still isn't grabbing me I will put it down. I don't necessarily always put a book down with no intention of going back to it, it might just be a case of 'right book at the wrong time' - although I do generally know if a book just isn't for me.

 3. The end of the year is coming and you're behind on your reading challenge, do you try to catch up? And if so, how?
If I am honest I try not to let it get bother me too much. It's just a number after all. However I am close I will try to get to it by maybe reading a few short books or books that I know I can read quickly. When going back through my Reading Challenges on Goodreads I have actually more often than not missed the goal by a few books or more. Now this may be partly down to me not recording things properly (as with 2017 - I know the challenge fell by the wayside) but it is also down to me just not reading enough books. In the past this might have bugged me but nowadays I am more bothered about reading books I enjoy and actually want to read rather than the number I have read.

 4. The cover of a series you love do not match, how do you cope?
Ergh. This does bug me if the publishers decide to change the design half way through. It obviously won't put me off buying the rest of them but it does irk me that they won't match when on the shelf. Same goes for when the size of the books changes. Sometimes publishers will do some of the series in the normal paperback and then change to trade paperback size. WHY?! I know it shouldn't bother me because books are to be read and enjoyed but I also like them as aesthetic objects so in that sense I can't help but be annoyed.

 5. Everyone and their mother loves a book that you do not. Who do you bond with over your shared feelings?
I don't think there is necessarily a need to 'bond' with anyone over not like a book. I would never go out of my way to shout about a book that didn't live up to the hype for me because everyone has their own tastes and opinions. However if someone asks what I think of a book I will be honest. This has happened with The Perks of Being a Wallflower on many occasions. I just didn't like it. I have 'bonded' with other people who didn't like it either but most of the time people are amazed it was a book I gave up on after only 80 pages. But, as I said, each to their own.

 6. You're reading a book in public and you're about to start crying. How do you deal?
I have done this a few times! As well as gasp, laugh and smile like an absolute lunatic. I do a lot of my reading on the bus on the way to work so unfortunately there is not a lot I can do when a book makes me feel all of the emotions. I do try to reign it in slightly but sometimes I will be so wrapped up in a book that I will forget everyone else around me and just react (especially if it is written by Sarah J Maas) It is always the sign of a good book if it can suck me in so much that all thought of decorum is forgotten about.

 7. The sequel to a book you loved just came out but you've forgotten what happens. Are you going to reread it? 
This is a tough one because ideally the answer would be yes I would reread it but the reality is that I don't have time to be rereading books!! I am, however, pretty good at remembering what has happened in a series/the first book so a quick look at the synopsis usually does the trick!

 8. You do not want anyone to borrow your books, how do you politely say no when someone asks?
Luckily I don't know many people who ask to borrow my books! The only person who does tend to borrow them is my sister and she is usually very careful with them so I'm not too bothered about letting her.

 9. You have picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over this reading slump?
Young Adult fantasy is always the way to go for me when I am in a reading slump and it is more often than not a new series that will do it. At the end of 2016 I was beginning to slip into a pretty big slump, nothing I was picking up was grabbing me. It was frustrating because I had only been a bookseller for a few months so I should have been lapping up being surrounded by books. What I think happened instead is that I was overwhelmed. Sarah J Maas was my saviour (and continues to be my Queen) I picked up the first Throne of Glass book and then basically inhaled the five books available in three weeks. Just recently I experienced the same thing and this time I picked The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and then went on to binge read the four books over the course of a month.

 10. There are so many books coming out that you are dying to read, how many do you end up buying?
Erm. . . all of them? I have zero restraint when it comes to buying books, especially those that I am eagerly anticipating. I have got slightly better when it comes to impulse buying but the list of books I am anticipating and will buy as soon as they are published just keeps growing and growing. Put it this way, we are not even half way through 2018 yet and I already have a steadily growing list of 2019 releases that I cannot wait for.

 11. After you purchase all of these books that you're dying to read how long do they sit on your before you get to them?
It depends. Some of them will honestly sit on the shelf for years unread. And that is not because I don't want to read them (The Bone Season I am looking at you) it is just that for whatever reason I don't always get to them when I probably should. Some books I will read straight away, a new book in series or by a favourite author for example. I do need to get better at prioritising books but as soon as I set myself a reading list I immediately want to deviate from it.
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The Reading List | January 2016


I know I know it is basically the end of February and I am ONLY just getting around to writing about the books I read in January. It's because I am an independent blogger who don't need no schedule (which I 100% do, I am just SUCH A PROCRASTINATOR). Bad blogger vibes aside I thought I would still share the books I read last month because I am planning on making this a monthly feature. As you can tell I don't have the time to sit and write a separate review for all the books I read so I thought I would put them all together in one handy reading list so you guys can see what I've been reading.

January was a good reading month for me. I read five books and each they were all completely different from one another. My Goodreads Reading Challenge is to read 50 books this year and I feel I've made a really good start!
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

 In Life After Life Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. In A God in Ruins, Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula’s beloved younger brother Teddy – would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father – as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have. 
- synopsis from Goodreads

 I must admit it took me a while to get used to the almost meandering style of A God in Ruins with future events being intermingled with the present story being told. It is a remarkable feat on Atkinson's part that those little tidbits and references to future events are so seamlessly mixed in. A God in Ruins made me feel as though I were listening to a story being told, with little anecdotes being interspersed with musings about the future.

 Atkinson has this knack of creating characters that crawl into your heart, nestle there and then refuse to budge. In Life after Life, Teddy is the golden boy of the Todd family. Sylvie's favourite, the boy hero headed off to war. A God in Ruins takes Teddy and weaves him a tale of love, loyalty and stoicism. I can't think of many books that I have read with a middle aged/elderly man as the main character (if I have read any at all) but Atkinson does so well to portray the way in which Teddy holds on to his values and the way he thinks the world should be. 

 I had high expectations for A God in Ruins after reading Life After Life and I am happy to say that it more than lived up to them. 
Rating: 4 stars

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air. Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live. So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.
Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia. 
Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?
- synopsis from Goodreads

I picked this book up purely based on its cover. It is such a beautiful book that I could not resist buying it. I had no idea what the story was going to be about when I started reading but I can assure you that it wasn't the story I got. 

This book certainly wins the award for being one of the most bizarre books I have ever read. That being said, the plot didn't actually feel that far fetched. The story starts off feeling very much like contemporary teen novel. Aza is ill and the only person she feels really understands her is her best friend Jason. It all felt very John Green up until the point Aza started seeing ships sailing in the clouds and began to feel like birds were talking to her. 

What follows that is a rip-roaring, completely fantastical adventure in ship that sails above the clouds. Whilst some of the elements did feel a little bit too out there and some things could possible have done with little more explaining. Headley does a very good job in keeping the plot coherent. There's a lot of references to the state the world is being left in and it could pose questions about the environment in a new way that teenagers may access easier due to Magonia's fantasy setting. 


Rating: 3.5 stars
The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine


You are cordially invited to attend the Grand Opening of Sinclair’s department store!

Enter a world of bonbons, hats, perfumes and MYSTERIES around every corner. WONDER at the daring theft of the priceless CLOCKWORK SPARROW! TREMBLE as the most DASTARDLY criminals in London enact their wicked plans! GASP as our bold heroines, Miss Sophie Taylor and Miss Lilian Rose, CRACK CODES, DEVOUR ICED BUNS and vow to bring the villians to justice…
- synopsis from Goodreads

Before picking this book up it had been a while since I had read what would be classed as a Middle Grade book. Working in a Secondary School library means that I mainly read YA titles. It was refreshing to pick up Clockwork Sparrow because it was such a fun read. 

Woodfine has captured the essence of what I imagine department stores were like during their heyday. Sinclair's is described so richly that I felt like I was there whilst reading. The elegance and the opulence of the many floors filled with products for the wealthy to fawn over cemented the book in it's era and almost added an extra character to the story. 

Sophie and Lil were brilliant written and it was great to read about strong, young women who were determined to do the right thing and set the record straight. Their friendship and the little group they formed with Billy and Joe has created the basis for a wonderful series that provides adventure and escape for children and adults alike. 

Rating: 4.5 stars
The Last Summer of Us by Maggie Harcourt
Limpet, Steffan and Jared. Three best friends crammed into a clapped-out rust bucket of a car on a whirlwind road trip to forget their troubles and see out the end of the summer. But no matter how far they drive, they can’t escape the hidden secrets and slow-burning romance that could upset the balance of their friendship – perhaps forever.
- synopsis from Goodreads

The Last Summer of Us was on the nominations list for this years Carnegie Medal so, of course, I was interested to pick it up and see what it was all about. I will admit that even though I do read a lot of YA fiction, I don't tend to pick up contemporary titles. I am drawn more towards the fantasy/supernatural so it was a change for me to pick up a book about three normal teenagers. 

Harcourt did well to capture the dynamics in the trio. Having a trio made up of two boys and a girl was an interesting take and I think that their friendship was portrayed well and quite realistically. The shifting tensions between the three of them as they learn more about the situations they find themselves in created a great canvas on which Harcourt could explore the ways in which friendships can change, even in the smallest of time frames. 

I wasn't blown away by the story, it was a simple road trip story with some emotionally charged moments that stood out. I would recommend it to anyone who was looking for an easy contemporary YA. 
Rating: 3 stars


 There Will be Lies by Nick Lake

In four hours, Shelby Jane Cooper will be struck by a car.
Shortly after, she and her mother will leave the hospital and set out on a winding journey toward the Grand Canyon.
All Shelby knows is that they’re running from dangers only her mother understands. And the further they travel, the more Shelby questions everything about her past—and her current reality. Forced to take advantage of the kindness of unsuspecting travelers, Shelby grapples with what’s real, what isn’t, and who she can trust . . . if anybody.

- synopsis from Goodreads

The thriller parts of the story worked really well. At any point in the story you are not sure who to believe and whether or not Shelby is finally being told the truth. Lake builds up to the twists and turns brilliantly and even though I figured a few of them out, the way he weaved them into the story was clever. Shelby wasn't a particularly likable character, something about her jarred with me and I can't put my finger on why. Of course she had led a very sheltered life and that may have been why she was so bitter, but still there was something I didn't like about her. 

The problem I had was the way in which Lake used the Native American mythology to move the story along. Shelby's progression throughout the novel became dependent on her entering 'the dreaming' and working her way through some sort of quest she needed to complete. I'm still not entirely sure why Lake decided to use that narrative device and I'm not sure it worked. If the story had moved along with the mythology I think I would enjoyed it a lot more than I did. 
Rating: 3 stars

***

Have you read any of the books in my January reading list? Let me know in the comments, I love to talk about books!
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#CKG16 - Five Children on the Western Front


This is an epic, heart-wrenching follow-on from E. Nesbit's Five Children and It stories. The five children have grown up and World War I has begun in earnest. Cyril is off to fight, Anthea is at art college, Robert is a Cambridge scholar and Jane is at high school. The Lamb is the grown up age of 11, and he has a little sister, Edith, in tow. The sand fairy has become a creature of stories ...until, for the first time in 10 years, he suddenly reappears. The siblings are pleased to have something to take their minds off the war, but this time the Psammead is here for a reason, and his magic might have a more serious purpose. Before this last adventure ends, all will be changed, and the two younger children will have seen the Great War from every possible viewpoint - factory-workers, soldiers, nurses and ambulance drivers, and the people left at home, and the war's impact will be felt right at the heart of their family.
(synopsis from Waterstones.com)


Firstly I have to admit that I haven't read E. Nesbit's Five Children and It stories. I was however a HUGE fan of both BBC TV series that were first shown in the early 90s when I was little. Five Children on the Western Front has been shortlisted for numerous awards since its publication and won 2014s Costa children's book award. My best friend bought be the beautiful hardback edition for Christmas last year and, as always happens, it has sat languishing on my shelves ever since. When I saw that it was on the list of nominations for 2016s CILIP Carnegie Medal I saw my chance to finally get around to reading it. 

So, warmed with nostalgic feelings from my childhood, that is what I did. 

As it states in the Waterstones synopsis above Five Children on the Western Front is set in England during World War One. Having commemorated the wars centenary last year at the school where I work, I learnt a lot about World War One and I was interested to see how Saunders had weaved such a horrific event into a children's book. 

She did poignantly. 

What I loved about Five Children on the Western Front is that it did not shy away from the horrors of World War One but because it is a story mainly based around Lamb and Edie's perspective it still retained an innocence that made it a heart warming, as well as a heart wrenching read. It was a stroke of brilliance to use the letters and the wishes to show us how life was for the people who were part of the war. Through this narrative devices the reader is shown glimpses of what the war was like for soldiers fighting on the front, nurses tending the injured and those at home who longed for news of their loved ones. That the children were aware of the danger Cyril, Robert and Ernie were in made the story all the more touching as they had to try and carry on with life as normal whilst they were off risking their lives. The way Saunders portrayed how the adults in the story reacted to the war through the eyes of the children was also a good narrative decision as it allows an older reader to sit back and acknowledge just how much children are aware of what goes on around them. 

The five children were characterised very distinctly, a reflection of the story being aimed at children. Each had their own personality and none of them ever acted out of character. Saunders did very well to create an immediate closeness within their little group which amplified the emotional significance of later events in the story. I also enjoyed the fact that the girls were very sure of themselves. Unfortunately female characters, especially children, can still be portrayed as rather weak so it was refreshing to have Jane and Anthea turn into ambitious, headstrong young women. The interaction between the children in the book will remind any reader of what it is like to be young and have such a close bond with other children; whether that be siblings, other relatives or friends. They have their little inside jokes and also their little arguments all of which create an authenticity in their relationships that give the events of the story an extra layer. 

The Sand Fairy and his reappearance bought a magic touch to the narrative that wasn't too overplayed,although I I do think that Ernie's reaction to seeing the Sand Fairy for the first time was a little understated. The Sand Fairy, whilst bringing magic to the story, also bought something more serious in Saunders' continuation of Nesbit's story. In Five Children on the Western Front the Sand Fairy has lost his ability to grant wishes; his magic has disappeared. What follows his reappearance is something of a moral tale about repentance and the Sand Fairy's journey into his past links to the events happening in the present. Having only seen the TV series I do not know if Saunders' characterisation of the Sand Fairy aligns itself with Nesbits but for me his grumblings and affinity to praise was exactly how I remember him from the watching him as a young girl. He serves as a welcome distraction from the war but also facilitates their curiosity, allowing them to see how Cyril is doing and giving them an insight into the war they would not have had otherwise.

What really got me with Five Children on the Western Front was how Saunders plays on our emotions. Reading it as an adult who knows a lot about the impact World War One had on every aspect of life during the four years it was being fought added an extra weight to the story. Presenting us with a fantastical children's story set to a back drop of such a horrific event is heart wrenching. Although the children are not portrayed as naive to what is going on around them, there is still a sense of innocence that surrounds them and seeing how they deal with two very difficult situations when the war impacts their family directly was enough to bring a tear to my eye. Saunders makes the reader realise that the war impacted everyone and that there really was no escape from the pain it caused. 

It is the ending that really got me. The Sand Fairy has finally repented for all that he did in his past and he provides one last chance of communication for the children as they say goodbye to a loved one. I found that scene particularly poignant as not only did it mark the end of the children's adventures with the Sand Fairy but it also seemed to mark the start of a change for the children and the whole country who were now going to have to deal with the aftermath of the war. 

Five Children on the Western Front is a touching, magical and heart wrenching story and I urge anyone to give it a read. 
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The Tour Inbetween: Book revew of Nancy Tucker's The Time in Between



This is an important book. Such an important book.

I cannot stress to you enough how important this book is.

Now I know there are other memoirs out there about mental health and eating disorders (read Nancy's guest post on Georgia's blog The Bibliomanic which features her own recommendations) but I myself have not read any.

Non-fiction and, I must admit, non-fiction surrounding issues such as mental health haven't been on my radar as far as reading material goes. I stick to fiction and mainly children's fiction/YA as I work in a school library so as you can imagine I don't come across books that take a hard hitting stance on issues such as eating disorders.

However I made a pledge at the beginning of this year to read more non-fiction (I am failing miserably) so when I saw Stevie asking if anyone would like her to send them a copy of Nancy's book The Time in Between I said yes.

Boy am I glad I did.
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Geek Girl by Holly Smale



"My name is Harriet Manners, and I am a geek." Harriet Manners knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. She knows that bats always turn left when exiting a cave and that peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite. But she doesn't know why nobody at school seems to like her. So when Harriet is spotted by a top model agent, she grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her best friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of impossibly handsome model Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves. Veering from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, Harriet begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did. As her old life starts to fall apart, will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything? The award-winning debut by bestselling author Holly Smale.
(waterstones.com synopsis)


After hearing that Holly Smale has written a Geek Girl story especially for World Book Day 2015 I decided that it would be a good idea to pick up the first book in the Geek Girl series. I'm about to start a new job in a Secondary School library and with Geek Girl being in the YA category for World Book Day, it is a likely that I will be involved in promoting the event and the two YA books involved. 

As I spend a lot of my time on the internet, immersing myself in the online book community, I had heard a lot about the Geek Girl series before I picked it up. The reviews I had seen were all raving about how good the series was, how refreshing it was to have a character like Harriet Manners for young girls to read about. 

And after having finished Geek Girl last week, I have to say that I agree. 
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Revenge of the Zeds by Stewart Ross



The Soterion has been opened, but does it mean salvation or devastation? A horrific mutation in human DNA has resulted in a world where no one lives beyond nineteen. Cyrus and the noble Constants have opened the Soterion vault containing the Long Dead’s secrets of science, art and possibly even the cure to the mutation. First, Cyrus must teach the Constants to read. But those he calls friends are falling prey to the greed and power knowledge can bring. Meanwhile, the barbaric Zeds are massing against them, determined to take the Soterion for themselves and destroy everything the Constants have built.
(Synopsis from curious-fox.com)


When I learnt that there was going to be a sequel to Stewart Ross's The Soterion Mission I knew right away that I needed to get my hands on a copy. Curious Fox kindly sent me a copy to review and I am so glad they did!

In my review for The Soterion Mission I spoke about the importance of the dystopian genre in Young Adult literature. I am a strong advocate for books that challenge and that present readers with situations that stimulate debate. 

Revenge of the Zeds does just that. And then some.
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