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!