Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I would just like to wish my readers and fellow bloggers a Merry Christmas for yesterday, and i hope you enjoy the holidays.

I will be back blogging in the New Year, but for now i’m taking time out to relax.

xx

Books to read

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Lately, i’ve had no time at all to do any leisure reading, what between working, studying and being so tired and lazy when i finish those two, i just end up watching tv!

On my bedside table is a pile of books waiting to be read, and although i’ve started 2 of them, i just havent got round to finishing them and starting the others.

The ones i’ve started are:

• “The Junior Officer’s Reading Club”, by Patrick Hennessey – Its quite good so far, its interesting to read about life in the Army from a person within the Forces. The honesty of the narrator is like a breath of fresh air, and the book is amusing and well-written. I’ve mainly been reading this while waiting for trains on my commute to university, so i havent got very far with it, but i intend to get that trainticket moving which is holding my current page!
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, by Stieg Larsson – I thought i’d see what the fuss is about with this series, and have to admit its not gripping me so far and i’m up to the beginning of chapter 6. I’m not normally a huge fan of crime fiction, but as my mum is into it, there are plenty of crime-related titles lying around at home. I think i will have to read a bit further into this book to give a better judgement on it.

The other books sitting waiting to be read are:

• “Let The Right One In”, by John Ajvide Lindqvist – This is one book i’m dying to read, but i have to finish the others first! A supernatural thriller about vampires, i’m sure its better than Twilight! I love supernatural stuff, and i’m sure i will enjoy this!
• “Her Fearful Symmetry”, by Audrey Niffenegger – This sounds like a good read, and quite dark and mysterious too.
• “Corduroy Mansions”, by Alexander McCall Smith – I’ve read some of his books already, from his No1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, although they started to grate on me after a bit. Not really sure if i will like this but my mum said it’s good and lent me it, so we will see.

So that’s the current list i own.

Looking at the book market, i’m intrigued by several other titles which i’ve heard about:

• “Room”, by Emma Donoghue – sounds interesting, although, as its inspired by recent captivity news stories (think the Fritzl case), it may be a little heavy going.
• “Hush Hush”, and “Crescendo”, by Becca Fitzpatrick – 2 supernatural books about fallen angels and love, they sound like my kind of books!
• “The Historian”, by Elizabeth Kostova -another book which seems to be about Dracula, but sounds pretty good.
• “The Distant Hours”, by Kate Morton – sounds like quite a gothic tale of mystery and secrets. I’ve read other books by Morton and they were pretty good, so i’m hoping this one carries on that trend!

So there you go, all the books rocking my world at the moment, or hoping to rock my world! If you’ve read any of them, i’d like to hear what you thought of them, or if you have any recommendations you think i should try, based on the above books.

Thanks for reading!

World Book Day 2011

World Book Day 2011 website

World Book Day will be held on 3rd March 2010, and to celebrate and encourage children to read more, a range of flipbooks is being created especially for the occasion. 13 million schoolchildren are due to receive a £1 World Book Day token to spend either on the flipbooks or any other book they want. The flipbooks are being age-ranged, with a special picture book being created for pre-schoolers. Stories being printed include Winnie the Pooh, and Dr Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham. (See The Bookseller – World Book Day 2011 for more information.)

However, World Book Day is not just about the children: it is also targeting adult readers by launching a “Buy One Get One Free” campaign. As it states in The Bookseller:

“Adult readers will be able to buy one paperback under £10 and get a second free to donate to charity or give as a gift as part of this year’s World Book Day. Vouchers will be given away in the Times, Sunday Times, the Sun or News of the World between 4-7 March”.

This is just one great way to encourage more people of all ages to read more books, and i thoroughly encourage anyone to take advantage of these offers!

I used to love World Book Day when i was at school, because i was a little bookworm who was constantly being given book tokens as birthday and Christmas gifts, which enabled me to go and choose whichever book i wanted to read myself, instead of what someone chose for me.

Its always nice to get a little treat, and this particular one gives you the chance to get a little bit of money of that book you’ve had your eye on, or even something totally random. Even if you don’t fancy anything, maybe use it as a gift for someone else?

So go out there and encourage your children to spend their WBD tokens, and adults too, find one of the participating newspapers and get your own!

10 great books i have read

I thought today i would share a selection of my favourite books of all time with you.

1) the Harry Potter series

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Brilliant book series, although not so brilliant film versions in my opinion. I had to mention this series obviously, not only because it is one of the bestsellers of all time, but also because it is one of the best series i’ve read. Can’t really say much more on this because so much has been written on it already!

My rating: 10/10 (books only!)

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2) the Twilight saga

I came to this series around the time the first book was released as a film, and having been given the whole series for christmas by my friends, i read them all in succession. I loved the series on the first read, because i love fantasy novels. However, after reading this blog Longest Twilight Rant Ever, and getting my English student critical brain in gear while re-reading the series, i started to think that certain elements of the series are very wrong and a bit creepy! It is well written and a good read if you want something you don’t have to think about, but i think i ruined it for myself a little bit when i started getting all English-student-critical on it!

My Rating: 7.5/10

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3) His Dark Materials trilogy – Philip Pulman

Another series which is brilliantly written and full of great ideas. I enjoyed this trilogy because it made you question your beliefs and so many other things we take for granted in life, and the way it introduces you to all these fresh ideas. I read it as a child of about 11 years old, and thought it was very grownup for a children’s book (that’s the market it seemed to be aimed at), but its a good read as an adult too.

My Rating: 9/10

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4) Holy Fools – Joanne Harris

Joanne Harris is one of my favourite authors, and this is my second favourite of her novels. I enjoyed reading it because it was very different to anything i’ve read before and is quite refreshingly original. I highly recommend this book, although her other books are pretty good too.

My Rating: 8/10

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5) The Lollipop Shoes – Joanne Harris

Known best for Chocolat, Harris also wrote this brilliant sequel  which catches up with Vianne and her daughters (she has had a second daughter since Chocolat). I thought a sequel wouldnt be as good as the first book, but Harris has managed to write something that was ultimately a great story, despite being a little hard to follow at times. As a result of this achievement, this is now my favourite book by Harris. The new characters we meet are interesting and add a lot of depth to the novel, and there is the occasional person from Vianne’s past who pops up. The ending is quite unexpected, and there are several twists in the book, particularly as there are themes of revenge, questioning of identity, and secrecy, and the story is described from 3 different viewpoints. It makes for interesting reading, and i thoroughly recommend it whether you have read Chocolat or not.

My Rating: 9/10

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6) Beneath The Skin - Nicci French

Nicci French produces some nail-biting novels with interesting twists, and this is one particular favourite of mine. The constant threat to the 3 women in the novel is quite chilling and we see how much they are affected by the creepy stalker who seems to know all about each of them and their lives. It keeps you guessing all the way through and as each story unfolds, it is fascinating to see how each woman reacts. I love the suspense of the novel, and my brain was going crazy through reading it trying to work out who the stalker was! Definitely recommend it!

My Rating: 8/10

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9) Atonement - Ian McEwan

I first read this while studying for my English A level, and although it took a while to get into it and i disliked it for a while BECAUSE i was studying it, i later started to appreciate just how good it is. The different viewpoints throughout the book is good because we see the story from different angles and how the central incident of the novel affects each character at the time it happened, and then later on in their lives. I have to admit that the protagonist Briony gets on my nerves a bit through certain bits of the novel, and the little twists throughout make you question the reliability of the narrator, but overall the story is well written and keeps you hooked right to the end.

My Rating: 7.5/10

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10) Wicca series – Cate Tiernan

Not a widely known series, but i discovered this Young Adult novel in my teens and read the whole series (15 books!). Its about a teenage girl who realises she is actually a witch and has amazing powers, and the series chronicles her path in life as she goes through some traumatic and life-changing events as she learns about her new power, and the effects on her family, friends, and lovers. Its well written and the descriptions are really good, and although its a fairly easy read (and i’m a bit too old for the series now!), i still love it! I recommend it for teenagers, and i guess if you liked Twilight you’ll probably like this too!

My Rating: 9/10

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So there you go – I hope this has been an interesting read, and i hope you will feel the urge to read any of the ones you haven’t read already!

World Book Night

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World Book Night was launched yesterday evening (2nd December), a vision which sees 20,000 people being chosen to distribute 1 million free books to people they know, in a bid to get more people reading.

World Book Night finalises giveaway list – The Bookseller.com

The list of books available to giveaway goes as follows:

Kate Atkinson - Case Histories (Black Swan)

Margaret Atwood - The Blind Assassin (Virago)

Alan Bennett - A Life Like Other People’s (Faber/Profile)

John Le Carré - The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (Penguin)

Lee Child - Killing Floor (Bantam)

Carol Ann Duffy - The World’s Wife (Picador)

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Vintage)

Seamus Heaney - Selected Poems (Faber)

Marian Keyes - Rachel’s Holiday (Poolbeg/Penguin)

Mohsin Hamid - The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Penguin)

Ben Macintyre - Agent Zigzag (Bloomsbury)

Gabriel García Márquez – Love in the Time of Cholera (Penguin)

Yann Martel - Life of Pi (Canongate)

Alexander Masters - Stuart: A Life Backwards (Fourth Estate)

Rohinton Mistry - A Fine Balance (Faber)

David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas (Sceptre)

Toni Morrison - Beloved (Vintage)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun (Fourth Estate)

David Nicholls - One Day (Hodder)

Philip Pullman - Northern Lights (Scholastic)

Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front (Vintage)

C J Sansom - Dissolution (Pan)

Nigel Slater - Toast (Fourth Estate)

Muriel Spark – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Penguin)

Sarah Waters - Fingersmith (Virago)

As you can see, it is quite a good selection of books. Its quite a good incentive to get more people reading books, and as it is backed by various publishers, it gives them a good marketing strategy for the future.

However, one could argue that those less charitable people who are chosen to distribute free books may decide to sell them and make themselves a profit. But of course, the books will still be read by anyone who gets hold of them (whether they buy them or get them free) because that’s the whole point of a book – to be read!

This whole experiment is basically like a larger-scale version of buying books and lending them to people within your group of friends, family and acquaintances, only the books are free to acquire, your friends keep the books AND get hold of some high quality reading material! It just seems like a great way to spread the word about a good book and ensure more people have to opportunity to experience reading such a book!

As Margaret Atwood is quoted in the above article: ”World Book Night is truly an astonishing vision! It mirrors the way books really do move in the world – from one passionate reader to another. But this one night will be white water rafting, with books!”

So true!