Five Days In

Not a lot, I know, but have we all picked books?

I might have strayed some. I started re-reading the Da Vinci Code, because I had a proper urge for it for some reason. It's still just as awesome as it always was. It probably has something to do with the new Dan Brown book, Inferno being out. Has anyone read that by the way? What do you think of it?

Anyway, I am 150 pages in to Magician and there have been dwarves and elves and dragons and all manner of other things. I'll be honest, I was not expecting the turn this story took at all. I expected a rather typical Tolkien-esque story, but that is not what I'm getting at all haha.

Looking forward to reading on further :)

Let's Do This...

Like I said in the last post, the month of may was my exams, and then about a week ago I found out that I failed two of them, so I've been really rubbish at posting on this blog. But everything is almost over, I'm just about free for the summer, so I figured; lets do this!

The last challenge frankly, was a cop out. Really rubbish, and I can't believe I even chose it!

This time, it's something a little bit better; Chose a book for the month of July that is set in a completely fictional world.

Examples of this type of book is: Any Raymond E. Feist book, Tolkien, Game of Thrones (though how closely it resembles the war of the roses is insane), Terry Pratchett's Disk World, Waylander/Druss the Legen by David Gemmell. There are so, so many more but none I can think of now.

This month, I'm going to be reading Magician by Raymond E. Feist. I'm pretty sure I've got the version that is both parts of the Riftwar Saga, but I'm not 100% sure. My fiance has pestered me and pestered me to read it for years, and I'm finally doing it.

Goodreads blurb: At Crydee, a frontier outpost in the tranquil Kingdom of the Isles, an orphan boy, Pug, is apprenticed to a master magician—and the destinies of two worlds are changed forever.

Suddenly the peace of the Kingdom is destroyed as mysterious alien invaders swarm the land. Pug is swept up into the conflict but for him and his warrior friend, Tomas, an odyssey into the unknown has only just begun.

Tomas will inherit a legacy of savage power from an ancient civilization. Pug’s destiny is to lead him through a rift in the fabric of space and time to the mastery of the unimaginable powers of a strange new magic.

Now I might be cheating a bit, because I am already like 100 pages in, and so far, it's awesome! Like, so much better than I thought it was going to be you can't believe it.

Let me know which books you're reading :D and don't forget to send me reviews of books you liked or didn't like :)

New Challenge

This month, the month of May, I have my exams. I'm not looking forward to it. So this is a simple challenge.

Read the book that you most recently bought.

For me that's the new paperback JD Robb book. I love JD Robb books, I have read every single one, and I adore Eve Dallas. So this is a pretty easy challenge for me, because I know I'm going to love this book.

It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks, complained about the boss, maybe hooked up with someone for the night. Until something went terribly wrong. At first it was just a friction in the air. The noise intensified. The crow seemed oppressive. some sharp words were exchanged, some pushing and shoving. 

Then the madness descended. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.

Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events. Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things—monsters and swarms of bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and paranoia. When forensics makes its report, the mass delusions make more sense: it appears the bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive people to temporary insanity—if not kill them outright.

But that doesn't explain who would unleash such horror—or why. Eve's husband, Roarke, happens to own the bar, yet he's convinced the attack wasn't directed at him. It's bigger than that. And if Eve can't figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it's airborne....

Review: The Drowning Pool by Syd Moore

After finished Warm Bodies, I decided to start another book I'd had sitting on my shelf for a while.

I bought it for £2.99 at a little book shop in Helmsley, and it sounded great.

Here's the summary: After her world is shaken by a series of unexplained events, young widow Sarah Grey soon comes to realize that she is the victim of a terrifying haunting by her 19th century namesake…A classic ghost story with a modern twist by a talented new writer in the genre. Relocated to a coastal town, widowed teacher Sarah Grey is slowly rebuilding her life, along with her young son Alfie. But after an inadvertent séance one drunken night, her world is shaken when she starts to experience frightening visions. She tries to explain them away. But Alfie sees them too and Sarah believes that they have become the targets of a terrifying haunting. Convinced that the ghost is that of a 19th Century local witch and namesake, Sarah delves into local folklore and learns that the witch was thought to have been evil incarnate. When a series of old letters surface, Sarah discovers that nothing and nothing is as it seems, maybe not even the ghost of Sarah Grey…

I had high hopes for this book. I wanted something scary, because it's not a genre I often read. However, this really wasn't what I ended up getting.


Book name: The Drowning Pool
Author: Syd Moore
How long did it take to read: 7-14 days
Review: Not quite what I expected. Definitely odd at times, and when reading at night it got me looking out for ghosts before sleep. But I expected it to be scarier I guess.
There was a very contemporary feel to this book, which I didn't expect at all. I definitely enjoyed the characters though, and I enjoyed all the back sliding into Sarah Grey's life (that is the ghost Sarah Grey, not the protagonist Sarah Grey).
However, the ending seemed a little...well it was a bit of a cop out. So much could have happened, it could have been amazing. Instead I finished the book feeling a bit like...meh.

Rating out of 10: 5

Review: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

So I finished the book I'd chosen to read for this month, now I have to find another off my shelf - I have plenty though, so I'm sure I'll find one.


Book: Warm Bodies
Author: Isaac Marion
How long did it take you to read: 7-14 days
Review: There isn't a whole lot I can say about this book. I read it while in the gym (after running away from metaphorical zombies) and read from page 70 to the end last night. It was an easy read, and it felt very honest. I'm not often a fan of zombie books, simply because I think sometimes they can feel a bit gimmicky, and maybe having the main protagonist be the zombie is a bit of a gimmick but I liked it :).

I enjoy R, he was fun. And the book was good. Very interesting.

My only fault, and the only reason this doesn't have 5 stars, would be that when I finished I was left feeling a little like...was that it? Was that the end of this supernatural novel? I liked the ending, don't get me wrong, and it was very realistic, because this is a broken society, full of soldiers, not scientists, but I kind of wanted more of an explanation. But like I said, in a broken society like this, you can't always expect answers.

Rating out of 10: 8

I would recommend everyone to read this book, because it is amazing, and I just couldn't put it down last night.

How's everyone doing with the book's they've chosen to read? What did you choose?

Challenge: 03 01/04/2013-30/04/2013

I'm sorry I didn't post this on the first, like I should have done!

This months challenge - chose a book off your shelves that was published between 2007 and 2010.

I've chosen Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion which was published in 2010!

Goodreads Summary: 'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...

I started reading it yesterday in the gym (while cycling) and so far it's really good! I'm not usually one for zombies, so this is a little out there for me, but I'm enjoying it :D

Let us know in the comments what book you're choosing :D

End of Challenge 2

We've come to the end of March! Happy Easter to those who observe it.
Clocks went forward last night, and I certainly noticed today, much lighter nights - lovely.
And I've greated a goodreads group for this club - if you fancy joining :)

Anyway, did you finish the book you chose to read this month? I did, just, and here's my review:

Bookname: Call the Midwife
Author: Jennifer Worth
How long did it take to read: Over 28 days

Review:This is a truly wonderful book, and not simply for the experience of reading it. It's a collection of memoirs - though there are some common threads - spanning the first year of Jenny's life in Poplar, and the stories captivated me right from the start.It seems like an entirely different world, and yet my mum was born less than ten years after this book was written. What I've really loved about this book, about what it's given me, is a deeper understanding of my Grandma and my Nana's life. How different life was from the centre of London to the village my nana lived in here in the north (where I still live). My Grandma was in London during the war, and speaking to both of them about their life in the fifties is what I've really enjoyed about this book.

I would recommend it to everyone, frankly, because it's fascinating.
Rating: 8


Please send me your reviews of the book you chose to read :)