Book Quote of the Day

“You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers – the monsters, the enemies. When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?” 
― Stephenie Meyer, Breaking Dawn

A Bookworm’s Confession #1

I freely admit that i am a bookworm. (Nobody seems to use this word anymore, have you noticed?)

I was in fact assigned the official award for being a “bookworm” for my Year 6 class when i was a child.

So it is no surprise that i like books, any books. Well, nearly any books.

I recently started reading Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”, which i have never read before and decided that i need to cross it off my list of classics never read.

I am about 1% of the way through, according to my Kindle, but i have now been compelled to read something else as well. What wonderful book has turned my head away from a classic Dickens, i hear you wonder.

I picked up a paperback of….. “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer.

Oh yes, i am afraid to say that i do kind of like “Twilight”. My bad.

It’s a guilty pleasure, and i do read it from time to time, usually when it pops into my head and i feel that i HAVE to read it. Ok, so it’s lower in rank than many of the contents of my bookshelves, but everyone has that one book they like to read on the sly!

That is my confession.

Which book is YOUR guilty pleasure?

Books I NEED to read

Everyone has books they want to read. I am no different.

Lately i’ve been more intrigued by books which suddenly seem to be getting more airtime, or that i’m interested in.

Examples of such books:

1) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- Everyone is going on about this series, and i hear there is to be a film as well, so i better get myself a copy of this series as soon as possible because it does sound pretty awesome!

2) The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth – This seems to be big at the moment, and it’s about the English language too, which i did half my degree in and have always been interested in, so that should be a good read.

3) Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer – I’ve seen a few people talking about this on blogs and i’m curious about it. It sounds a little bit in the Twilight genre but nonetheless i want to see what’s like. (and not just because the author shares the same surname as me, as does Stephenie Meyer … we’re not related as  far as i know!)

4) The Book of Lost Souls (The Ivy MacTavish Novels) by Michelle Muto – Seen this appear on blogs and Twitter (and i actually follow the author on Twitter), so i downloaded it. Amazon had it on offer for free the other day so i downloaded it, but i haven’t started it yet as i’m trying to finish my current book first!

June Book Challenge – Day 23

Today’s question: What books are on your desk/bedside table?

“Breaking Dawn” Stephenie Meyer; “Killing Floor” Lee Child; various titles on translation and the English language.

- I have quite a mixture lying around at the moment! I’m re-reading the Twilight series for a bit of light reading, as i got partway through “Killing Floor” and got a bit bored. Then i have 7 books on translation and the English language as they are for research purposes for my MA dissertation.

June Book Challenge – Day 13

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Today’s question: What book(s) are you reading at the moment?

“Twilight” series by Stephenie Meyer, and “Killing Floor” by Lee Child

- I am in the middle of reading “Killing Floor”, and it is interesting, but its not really gripping me. Needless to say, once i got an urge to re-read the Twilight series, i kind of forgot about it! I am doing a lot of uni work at the moment, with deadlines looming, and i had a need to escape so Twilight just seemed logical as its an easy read!

2010 book sales and Waterstones news

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Happy New Year to my readers and fellow bloggers!

During my usual daily visit to The Bookseller website, i discovered that Waterstones is suffering and is forced to close 20 of its stores over the year, further diminishing the amount of bookstores on our highstreets. See Waterstone’s confirms 20 store closures – on The Bookseller.com for more details.

At university in our last session before Christmas, we were asked to predict what would happen in 2011 in the publishing and book industry. My prediction was that Waterstones would end up on the brink of extinction, something i really hope will not happen, but seems more likely now there’s this incident of closing more stores due to needing to save costs.

Waterstone’s sister chain HMV is also struggling and closing stores, which is sad because a HMV has just opened up in my local town and this news makes me wonder if it will remain open.

Sales of books from shops have fallen over the Christmas period due to the bad snowy weather forcing shops to close due to the lack of customers able to reach them. Digital sales seem to have picked up however due to the growing popularity of the Amazon Kindle.

Book sales have taken a beating, as 2010′s bad weather at the start and end of the year caused a slump in book sales. In a Bookseller.com article, it states:

“As well as the weather playing a significant part in 2010′s poor sales, other factors leading to the decline include the loss of Borders in late 2009, as well the uncertain economic climate. A weak pound, strikes and the Icelandic ash cloud meanwhile, affected sales of travel maps and guides last year, while the increasing popularity of e-books may also have had a small, negative impact on printed book sales in 2010.”

The best-selling book of 2010, particularly in the run up to Christmas, was Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s 30-minute Meals (Michael Joseph) with sales of 1,167,457 copies! Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Quercus) was also a bestseller in 2010. The bestselling children’s book was Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn with her sales totalling £16.8m in 2010, possibly helped by the release of the latest film instalment in the Twilight franchise.

See Book Sales in 2010 fall by 3% on the Bookseller.com

I hope 2011 is a better year for the book industry, otherwise there are going to be some big changes and some unfortunate events. I for one would be sad if Waterstones disappears from our highstreet.

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!