#FridayReads 25th July 2014

I have one aim for the coming days - get my arse into gear with this 

I am reading this as a Buddy Read and I am letting the side down. I'm 350 pages in and hoping to smash it out of the park this weekend. Yeah, watch this space. 

#FridayReads 11th July 2014

If I had done a FridayReads last week it would be almost identical to today's. Not that I haven't been reading, honest, just the books I am reading are deliciously chunky and I am savouring every second.

The Son by Philipp Meyer

Epic in scope this tale of the fortunes of one founding "white" families in new state of Texas over several generations. Yes, this means multiple narrators and a non-linear story arc, so if that's not your jam I would steer clear. I have found myself flicking back and forth to the very handy but very needed family tree to try and keep track of who is who. Unfortunately this has spoilt my flow on several occasions, finding myself wandering over twitter so my brain hurts less. That being said I am invested in the story. The depth of research Meyer must have gone into to give this book a feeling of authenticity boggles the mind. Somehow he even managed to keep my focus during a chapter dedicated to the killing and various uses of a Buffalo carcas. As a on/off veggie it turned my stomach but I found myself congratulating them on their ability to use every single part of the animal. I hadn't realised how important animal cartlidge was....but I shall leave that there as it's lunchtime. 

I am currently on page 210/600. I hope to make a nice dent in that this weekend.

I am also re-reading  A Storm of Swords #2 and loving it. I'm only a couple of chapters in, I'm very much looking forward to the wedding festivities, hope nothing bad happens.....

June 2014 TBR

I'm excited for June! This month I will be taking part in a week-long 'TBR Toppler' which is organised by the Goodreads group You'll Love This One (YLTO) from Saturday 7th. I hope to get through 4 or 5 books, some of these i've been meaning to read for ages, particularly Fahrenheit 451 :

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the Writers of Color choice for this month on Goodreads, and I am also hoping to read it alongside Katy from Katylovestoread because she is great fun and buddy reading with her will really help me get through the mountain of books I have planned.

Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie is the final book I have to finish from the Bailey's Prize Shortlist, with the winner announced on Wednesday the 4th. I am really looking forward to seeing which book has won, it was such a great shortlist and I have really enjoyed following it. I will definitely do the same next year.

[I have now finished this and I enjoyed it - review to follow. I would like A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride or Burial Rites by Hannah Kent to win!]

I picked The Sparrow up on a whim and it sounds good so I am going to see if I can read that before the Toppler starts.

I have 8 books to read to reach my 50 book challenge, so hopefully by the end of the month I should be close to that target! Happy reading everyone :))

Monday, Monday

It's the beginning of a new school term here in the UK, my teenage daughters have just left the building in what can only be described as a New Year miracle - there were no arguments, the house didn't get turned upside down, and I am feeling positive. Maybe, just maybe, we were a little more organised this morning? It feels that way.
I do, do this....I have a habit of getting super-duper organised, an organisational warrior, if you will - but it never lasts. Before too long the snooze button on the alarm clock gets pressed a few times too many, the shoes are never in the place I swore I left them the night before and  chaos ensues. But, the world likes a trier, so with that in mind, here is my weekly bookish to-do list -

READ THE LUMINARIES - I am prioritising this in the Bout of Books readathon so with some luck I will get it finished. By the way folks, it's massive (832p), it's complex, it's written like a Victorian novel and has about 20 main characters. All things I love, all things that take time to digest.  Review it.

Ugh, this cover is porn

WRITE SOME REVIEWS - aka Project Blog Revival, I read some great books in 2013 and I need to write about them.

I have a good chance of completing these things because it's January and, if I was an unfortunate sufferer of bi-polar, this would definitely be classed as a manic episode of a month for me. I am on fire. Whether it'll be a flash in a pan or an eternal flame who knows (one thing is for certain, my fire analogies are amazing).

Bout of Books 9.0

I'm quickly hashing a post together to say that the BoutofBooks readathon starts tomorrow, hosted by Amanda @ On a Book Bender, and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. and I will be joining in!

It lasts from Monday 6th Jan-Sunday 12th. For more info go to boutofbooks.blogspot.co.uk

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This readathon comes at a perfect time for me; the kids are back at school, I have some free time and there are some massive books on my tbr.

So, here are my quick ideas of what I would like to read and all that fun stuff -

Time devoted to reading:

I'm reading The Luminaries at the moment and it isn't a "quick read" so I plan to give that book at least two hours a day. I'm mixing it with other stuff so hopefully another hour on top of that, but life.

My goals:

Ultimately I, once again, would like to revive this blog and hopefully this can help towards that by participating in the challenges.

Bookishly, I'd like to finish The Luminaries (it's fricking huge) and maybe start on the rest of my Jan tbr. I am NOT going to be reading quick and easy books, so my total book count will reflect that. 

Books to read:

The Luminaries, obviously, and possibly The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibon; The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters are both books left unfinished from 2013 and I feel guilty, so probably those. 

I will update this post with my progress. Have fun everyone! HAPPY READING!

Wishlist Wants!

Just take a look at this gorgeous new Hardback Deluxe box set edition of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, due to be released (in the UK) on the 24th of October by Harper Collins. They are so beautiful!

I actually need these for my bookshelf! 

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Continuing with the fantasy theme Harper Voyager are releasing (just in time for Christmas) a book about my favourite character in the Song of Ice and Fire series, Tyrion Lannister. 

Anyone that has read George R.R.Martin's epic fantasy series will know that Tyrion gets ALL the best lines. In this Hardback edition they illustrate some of his infamous quotes.

"My sister has mistaken me for a mushroom. She keeps me in the dark and feeds me shit."

This book is released in the UK on the 7th of November

What books are you looking forward to being released? Leave me a comment with your linky and I will come and take a look!

Top Ten Books I was Forced to Read

TOP TEN BOOKS I WAS FORCED TO READ

This meme was created and is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

I can't say I have ever been forced to read anything, although obviously school required me to read during English Lit classes. Here are 3 I loathed and 7 that I liked or loved.

LOATHED *but might like now*

 

The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Brecht - A play we studied that I strongly disliked

The Canterbury Tales - I understand its historical importance but at 14 I found the language confusing

Beowulf - An epic poem that I couldn't be bothered with at the time 

LIKED *should re-read*

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller - Great atmosphere in this book

Dubliners - Obsessed with all things Irish as a teen

The Tempest - The first Shakespeare play I "got"

Selected Poems of Tennyson - I went to the same school as Tennyson and a lot of the inspiration for his writing came from the area where I live, I related!

Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas - I was amazed by this book

LOVED *influenced my reading*

 

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - I found a love of 19th century lit from reading this. Hardy is not a favourite now, however

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood - A great book to read in high school, I also loved her writing style.

 Drop me a comment and your TTT link and I will come and check it out!

Historical fiction tbr toppler

This week I am taking part in a week long challenge where participants are encouraged to read some historical fiction titles that have been on their TBR lists for a while. This is a Goodreads challenge taking place at "You'll love this one and more"

For the purposes of this challenge it was pretty difficult to nail down exactly what historical fiction IS. I am going with the criteria that the books were NOT contemporary fiction at the time they were written and have a strong sense of the time period.

MY TBR list that I have decided to chose from this week.

CHALLENGE UPDATES

DAY ONE - started with The Song of Achilles, late in the evening early hours of day two. Read 100 pages

Week in Review

6th - 12th October 2013

Films I saw this week 

Carlito's Way (1993)

Awesome film, I know I am about 20 years late to this party, but I loved it, loved it. Pacino before his voice went all shouty and despite the beard and platform boots he was actually ok to look at. A LOT of dancing involved in this film too. Also, a lot of shooting and blood. Sidenote: Sean Penn was brilliant.

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TV I Saw this week

Downton Abbey S04E03 

aka The One Where Things Go Badly For Anna

I can't say anything for fear of giving something away, but Downton Abbey got REAL last weekend. To say I was shocked is an understatement. 

The baby saw it too

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Breaking Bad Season 3 on Netflix, yo.

Mr White earns his Reservoir Dogs name. Total winner, taking it steady because I don't want it to ever end. But it does. CRY.

Tension? Yes.

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Showcase Sunday #1

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by booksbiscuitsandtea where we all get to show off what books  we have purchased, acquired or have been given over the course of the week. I love seeing what new books people have got so check it out over at Vicky's blog.

This week (it wasn't technically this week but who cares) I have bought three physical books - The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and The Twelve by Justin Cronin

and one ebook - Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

All of these books are high on my TBR list. And how good is that Vintage classic cover of Goodbye to Berlin?! Gorgeous.

Dewey's Read-a-thon Update Post

Time for another 24 Hours read-a-thon, this time hosted by 24hourreadathon.com in memory of Dewey.

The Opening Meme - HOUR ONE

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
I am Lancashire in the UK, it's cold here today, perfect day to stay in and read.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? 
I have been reading The Passage by Justin Cronin, and I have about 300 pages left to go, so I really want to see what happens, I am loving it!

3) What snack are you most looking forward to? I have a little bag of peanuts and some dried fruit. I don't really like reading while eating, and actually I tend to forget about eating sometimes, which is fine by me as it keeps the kgs away.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself. 
My cute ginger dog will be keeping me company during the readathon, and will more than likely join in with eating the snacks. I also have a fluffy brown cosy blanket and a large auburn coloured cushion that I am currently snuggled up with. Altogether we are a Vision in Brown.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon what is one thing you would do differently today? If it's your first what are you most looking forward to?
This is my first read-a-thon. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone is doing on Twitter, but also getting a reason to use my blog. I hardly ever update it and I really want to start. I am interested in seeing what everyone is reading, and taking part in the challenges too. When will I do any reading?!?!

Hour one progress: Started with The Passage, managed to read about 15 pages, not a great start!


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HOUR TWO: Book Tunes hosted by rivercityreading

Choose a song that best suits the book you are reading so far, and explain why.

I am reading The Passage by Justin Cronin and I chose Muse "Starlight" as the song that best fits the story so far. Without giving too much away, the community in this book NEED to keep all the lights on at all times, so the people that can remember the time when they didn't need to do this really miss seeing the stars in the sky. The mood of the song is also very fitting and some of the words also really fit the plot too. "I don't know if it's worth it anymore" "Let's conspire to ignite all the souls that would die just to feel alive". If you've read this book, you will know what I am talking about!

Muse "Starlight"

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HOUR 4: Book spine poetry hosted by capriciousreader

Select a number of books and make a poem out of them. I really enjoyed this task. All pretty cool books as well, might I add :)  My poem:

1984 The Year of the Flood,
The remains of the day,
After you'd gone.

*weep*

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Hour 12: Mid-event survey 

1. How are you feeling? Sleepy?
It's 12.20am where I am and I am in bed. I hope to read some more but today has been very long, particularly in my personal life. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2. What have you finished reading?
Nothing! I am reading a huge book so if I manage to just finish that by the time the challenge is over I will be happy

3. What is your favourite read so far? 
I have only been reading The Passage so far, but I have just opened The Song of Achilles and that looks really good. I am trying not to care that I haven't finished anything yet!

4. What about your favourite snacks?
Peanuts, dry roasted! I only got a small bag, I wish I had got a bigger one, they were lovely.

5. Have you found any new blogs?
No but i've found some new Twitter users @marenfuga @momsnotall I am going to scout out more blogs tomorrow.

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HOUR 13. Best of your Reading Year hosted by lisasworldofbooks

BEST SCI-FI BOOK:

READY PLAYER ONE by ERNST CLINE

This book was such fun to read, I couldn't put it down once I had started. I really loved how you could imagine this actually happening, and how in some respects it could already be starting. I have recommended this book to several people over the course of this year and everyone I know has raved about it afterwards. A winner.

BEST AUTHOR 

JEFFREY EUGENIDES 

This year I have read all of Eugenides work; Middlesex (in my top three books of all time), The Virgin Suicides, The Marriage Plot and an anthology he edited called My Mistresses Sparrow is Dead. I have really liked his writing style and he always tackles some difficult topics with enormous grace and understanding. I have really enjoyed watching some interviews on youtube, he seems like a very thoughtful and inspiring person. 

BEST FANTASY BOOK

THE NAME OF THE WIND by PATRICK ROTHFUSS

This book was a revelation to me. Rothfuss really concentrated on character development and did a cracking job with Kvothe, the main character. A story within a story, this book keeps your turning thorough all 1000 pages quickly! I am currently reading the second in the series, The Wise Man's Fear, but I am taking a break because I don't want it to end, and the next book has no release date yet!

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READING UPDATE - The Passage is proving to be a LONG read, I don't seem to be getting anywhere. I read 120 pages of it and felt like I was reading all day. Needed to take a break (sleep) but before I did I read 103 pages of The Song of Achilles. I am going to finish that book today. 

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HOUR 19 - SHOW IT OFF hosted by deadbookdarling

                                     

Show a book from your library that you are extremely proud of - I chose to show my Penguin Clothbound edition of Pride and Prejudice. This book stirs up emotions because my daughter chose to buy me this with her first pay from a saturday job when she was 15. I was so proud of her, firstly for having a job and still getting great grades and secondly for being selfless and choosing to spend her money on me. Also, Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourites and these clothbound editions are just gorgeous.

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HOUR 24 - Survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? I actually struggled with this readathon. It seemed like every time I sat down to read I needed to get up and go and do something else. Hour  was difficult because it was saturday night and all my tv shows are on!

2. Can you name a few high interest books that could keep a Reader engaged for next year? It depends what kind of fiction you like, but some page turners that I recommend are Wool by Hugh Howey, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

3. Do you have any suggestions of how to improve the read-a-thon for next year? When the challenges are about "guess the book from the picture" I think comments should be hidden until the end of the challenge, too much temptation to cheat, I didn't take part in one challenge because of seeing a lot of the answers.

4. What did you think worked really well? I was so impressed with the organisation! I loved that the challenges were posted promptly, you could really tell how much work had gone into the hourly posts, a massive pat on the back to everyone concerned!

5. How many books did you read? NONE! I managed to get through 200 pages of The Passage, which was good going for me, and I read 120 pages of The Song of Achilles. So, I guess that would be an average sized book normally. Can you tell I am feeling defensive? Some people have read A LOT of books!

6. What were the names of the books you read? The Passage by Justin Cronin and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

7. Which book did you enjoy most? The Passage is a huge book so I have already invested a lot of time, so I am going to say that, because the story is just mind blowing. I can tell I am going to like both of them though.

8. Which did you enjoy least? I am enjoying them both, don't make me choose!

9. Do you have any advice for next year's cheerleaders? No, they did a great job, and were a lovely touch. Also very helpful when I needed some advice. Thanks!

10. Will you participate again? YES! This was so much fun! I think I would take part again as a reader, although you never know (I am not a confident blogger yet)

The Classics Spin #3

We are taking part in the Classics Spin #3 in August/September. For this challenge you have to chose 20 Classics and randomly assign each one a number. On Monday 19th The Classics Club blog will announce which number has been chosen, and that's the book you have to read! No cheating!

  1. The Trial

2. Swanns Way

3. Wuthering Heights 

4. North and South winner!

5. A Prayer for Owen Meany

6. The Three Musketeers 

7. The Age of Innocence

8. Macbeth

9. Brave New World

10. One Flew Over the cuckoos nest

11. Little Women

12. Fahrenheit 451

13. The Master and Margarita

14. The Waves

15. A Room of one's own

16. A Room with a view

17. The Stepford Wives

18. Cat's Cradle

19. The Catcher in the Rye

20. East of Eden

Darkhouse (An Experiment in Terror #1)

BY KARINA HALLE

pub 2011, Metal Blonde Books

323 pgs

I've seen Karina Halle's name mentioned several times by some of my Goodreads friends, especially regarding her new series "Sins and Needles", so when I saw this ebook by her for FREE at Amazon it was a no brainer, because I don't like to be left out.

Firstly, I don't really do ghost stories, they scare me (shock) and I am useless at being scared, so I really thought I would only read a couple of pages before throwing my kindle to the other side of the room and running off in a panic. WRONG! I read it all in one day, and was very brave and I even read the creepy parts.

Karina Halle has created such a brilliant character in the unforgettably named Perry Palomino, a young woman in her early 20's, who is instantly like-able. You just want her to do well, but most of all you don't want her to die a creepy death, because she is funny, she has lumps and bumps in the wrong (right?) places, and has had a couple of mental health issues that she has got over. Overall she is a winning character, even if she thinks she is pretty useless in comparison to her  irrepressible younger sister. 

Perry begins to have what she believes are visions, and worries that her mental health issues are returning. One night, during a family visit to her uncle's house who lives on the coast of Canada, Perry explores a derelict lighthouse and gets a lot more than bargains for. She meets the mysterious Dex Foray (awesome name again!) who has also gone on a reccy of the lighthouse at the same time. Co-incidence? I don't think so! *cackle*

After uploading a video she has salvaged on her trip to the creepy-as-hell-lighthouse, she is inundated with requests for more, and, after an offer from Dex to make a more professional job of the video, they decide to make a return visit. Moral of that story? Never read comments under YouTube videos.

What follows is a really great story, told with really great characters. It's not going to blow your mind in a literary sense, but it's fun and I really needed something light to read. Dex is a very odd man by the way. Of course there is a spark between the two of them, but luckily there is no insta-love, because that is so unbelievable (but the ghost stuff, yep that's o.k). I downloaded the next in the series - Red Fox - and I had to spend all of 77p! Bargains galore. If you are into this kind of read - paranormal romance with ghosts and weird old ladies with maniacal grins, then do read this because I think you will love it.

Check it out at Amazon

A restart (and collab with Charlotte)

After being silent for what seems like an eternity, and then desperately messaging a dear friend for my log in details (Thank you, Andy, you are an absolute star), I've decided to re-start this blog.

Since the last post I think I've read about 70 books, so it's not that I've stopped reading, I stopped writing about what I was reading; which doesn't much help when this is supposed to be a book blog.

In other very important news, my lovely 17 year old daughter has decided that she would like to join in and write reviews of her own here; a collaboration, if you will.

As ever I will be giving my opinion rather than full reviews, because a) I am not clever enough and, b) I don't think anyone wants to watch me pretend to be.
Charlotte likes to read a lot of YA, but is branching out into adult fiction (and I am not even forcing her) and I like to read pretty much anything going.

Enough of all the blah blahhhing. Send on the clowns.

Esta & Charlotte 

The Book Thief

If you haven't read this book yet then seriously, what are you waiting for?

Sorry? What was that? You don't like breathtaking, life changing novels? Ah,that makes sense then, as you were.

I speak therefore the the other 99.9% of you. Please read this book. Actually, don't just read it, DEVOUR it.

Set in Nazi Germany and narrated by Death, it is surprisingly uplifting, mostly due to the amazing character development and unbelievable skill of Markus Zusak's writing.

Here are a few examples of delicious, sad and inspiringly yummy quotes -

"Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like rain" *swoon*

"He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of the trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit collection" *omg*

Ooooo, oooo, one more....

“It's hard to not like a man who not only notices the colors, but speaks them”*agreed*

I have just realised I could go on all night, but I doubt that would hold anyone's attention for too long, so I urge you to put it on your TBR list. You can thank me afterwards, if you like.

A geeky post, if you don't mind

I make no secret of the fact that I love ebooks, to be honest most of the time I am using an ereader - I have a HP Touchpad and an Iphone. I use the Stanza and Kindle app's and I think both are great. However neither of them are able to use all formats of ebook; for instance Kindle doesn't read epub files, which is annoying because most of the books I can get are in this format.

If you are finding this a pain too then I really recommend using Calibre, a piece of software that you download to your computer that converts files into the format you need them in.

Here you can see that I was able to get hold of a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude by the marvelous Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but it was in Epub format (top left).

All I needed to to was select which format I wanted it in, in this case I was putting it on my Kindle so I went for Mobi (top right), and hit o.k and TA - DA! All ready to transfer using my iTunes!

This isn't an advert so I am not going to go into it any further than I have, but you can download it HERE if you so wish!