Are You A Book Snob?
I was recently tagged by Hundreds and Thousands of Books to take part in the ‘Are You A Book Snob’ Tag and as I liked the sound of this one I decided to give it a try so here goes :
FORMAT SNOB You can only choose 1 format in which to read books for the rest of your life. Which one do you choose: physical books, eBooks, or audiobooks?
This is a tough question because I do love the feel of a book, the whole tactile experience of turning the pages, that certain smell that the book has when it’s new. You know where I’m coming from I’m sure. But, and I never thought I would see the day, if I had to choose one format for the rest of my life it would be ebooks. I love my kindle for a whole host of reasons and even though I sulked when my husband bought me one I’ve had a total about face. So there you go. Kindle for me without doubt – plus, who am I kidding, I can secretly buy books now and nobody knows because the book piles around the house are not doubling in size – queue maniacal laughter!!
ADAPTATION SNOB: Do you always read the book before watching the film/ TV show?
Yes, I guess I am an adaptation snob because I do like to read the book before watching the adaptation on screen. For me, I want the writing in the book to conjure the world in my mind’s eye, I want to fall into that wormhole and fall in love with the characters and I want to build up my own picture of them. Of course, there can be disappointment when the adaptation doesn’t meet your own expectations or vision but I’d still sooner read the book first.
SHIP SNOB Would you date or marry a non-reader?
This one is easy because I did in fact marry a non-reader. Well, I say my husband doesn’t read but he does – very S L O W L Y – he takes a book to bed and reads about 7 pages before falling into the deepest sleep, therefore most books take him three months to complete. I am the complete opposite. I take a book to bed hoping it will make me sleepy and instead I become involved in the story and keep telling myself ‘just one more chapter’. We all know how that ends.
GENRE SNOB You have to ditch one genre – never to be read again for the rest of your life. Which one do you ditch?
Tricky. Well, I’m going to go for a slight cheat and ditch romance. I don’t mind romance being part of the story, I just don’t want it to be the whole ‘thing’. So, I can still read SFF/horror/thriller/mystery, etc, and those books all might have a little romance going on – therefore I haven’t totally ditched it. This is not really cheating. It makes perfect sense.
COMMUNITY SNOB Which genre do you think receives the most snobbery from the bookish community?
I think YA books can be judged harshly sometimes and I hold my hands up a little that I’m guilty of this also on occasion. But, of course, I’m not the target audience and I am a bit of a stickler for wanting things to have strong foundations – and sometimes this is in place with YA, and sometimes it isn’t and when it isn’t, I just find myself with so many more questions than answers and I get annoyed with the book. But, that being said there is still plenty of good YA and keep reading it in order to uncover those little gems.
SNOBBERY RECIPIENT Have you ever been snubbed for something that you have been reading or for reading in general?
All the time. I read a lot and always have a book with me and people are more often than not interested to know what I’m reading but as soon as I say ‘fantasy’ or ‘sci fi’ the shutters come down 99.8% of the time. I guess people want to find a common ground and so when that’s not possible their interest dwindles.
That’s it for me. I’m not going to nominate anyone – take part if you’d like. Or don’t. Simples.
Many thanks to Hundreds and Thousands of Books for the nomination.
Friday Face Off : ‘The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades’.
13 November 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: A Cover that is Bright, Books by Proxy, Friday Face off, Hugh Howey, Wool
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book (this doesn’t have to be a book that you’ve read), compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
Bright – ‘The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades’.
So, I’m finally making the rounds and catching up. Started making some good progress with books and some of my backlist books and also doing some blog hopping to see what lovely posts I’ve missed.
This is another one of the themes I came up with to coincide with the sci fi event taking place during November so hope you’ve all come up with something good. I’ve gone for a book that I read some time ago and enjoyed, Wood by Hugh Howey. This is one of those books that I really didn’t know what to expect and I was very pleasantly surprised. There were a lot of covers for this one so I’ve tried to concentrate on the ones that fit this week’s theme. Take a look :
My favourite this week:
Well, I quite like the first one but I think my favourite this week is:
Do you have a favourite?
I’ll be updating the list in order to include forthcoming events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share then let me know in the comments). As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment – or if you’d like to host a week then simply let me know.
Next week – Words only – “Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ or one of your favourite covers) (I’ve added some new themes – some of these are slightly different, in order to avoid too much repetition I’m trying to make the themes more of a suggestion that everyone can interpret how they like.
2020
20th November – Words only – “Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”
27th November – Modern sci fi
4th December – Fae – or fairy??
11th December – Lake – the mysterious lake
18th December – Highly Stylised
25th December- Freebie – or day off.
The Nesting by CJ Cooke
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Atmospheric setting, slightly perplexing plot
The Nesting is a book that I enjoyed but at the same time it didn’t quite wow me the way I’d expected it to. To be fair, the writing is great and really easy to get along with, in fact the strength of the writing won me over completely and I will definitely check out other works by this author based on this read. Before I get ahead of myself though, a little about the plot.
As the story begins we meet Lexi Ellis who is going through a very dark period in her life. I won’t elaborate but things don’t improve and Lexi finds herself, friendless, boyfriendless, jobless and homeless in fairly quick order when a chance encounter seems to reverse her bad fortune. However, there is one small glitch, Lexi needs to take a new identity to turn her life around and by ‘take’ I mean steal. So, new identity in place, Lexi takes the job and moves to Norway where her new employer (Tom) is building a summer house overlooking a Fjord and needs a nanny to take care of his two children following their mother’s suicide.
The setting is inspired and I loved it. It is indeed gothic. We have a major building project in the works here. This is a make or break project and tension runs high, especially as problems keep mounting. We have this whole feeling of nature rebelling against the work taking place. Trees that seem ominously close, water sprites and hoof prints that mysteriously appear. There are creepy carry ons, mysteriously forbidden basements and ghostly apparitions. On top of that the story is infused with Norwegian folklore and stories that add an extra layer.
To the characters. Well, obviously we have Lexi – also known as Sophie for a good portion of the story (stolen identity and all). We have Aurelia, her storyline takes place in the past. Aurelia was Tom’s wife until she committed suicide and we now spend time with her in the past to help build up the backstory of how the summer house plan came to fruition in the first place. There are the two children, Gaia and Coco. Gaia suffers nightmares and frequently wakes during the night. Lexi really falls for both girls and in spite of her lack of experience and being thrown into the deep end a little she makes pretty good progress. There are more characters, including a housekeeper who has secrets herself but I don’t want to elaborate too much.
The thing is, this has everything that I love in spades and even writing this review I’m getting excited all over again about the gothic creepy feel and the homage to other classics such as Rebecca which sprang into my mind whilst reading, and so why didn’t this totally win me over. Well, the plot is a little unusual. There are a number of elements. There’s the gothic story itself, there’s all the folklore elements, a haunting and a murder mystery and it just feels like there’s too much and a number of the threads remain unresolved. I wasn’t quite sure if this was down to an unreliable narrator but certain points just didn’t seem to go anywhere.
So, overall, in spite of issues regarding the story and a few unresolved threads this is a well written book and I’m not entirely sure whether the issues I had are more about my lack of concentrations at the moment. One thing I can say is that this is superbly written and I feel like I’ve found a ‘new to me author’ to check out.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating : 3.5 of 5 stars
Top Ten Tuesday – Theme Songs
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic :
Book Titles that Would Make Great Song Titles
So, I went with a light hearted take for this week’s theme pairing up books with actual songs that in some way seem to fit. I’m not great on lyrics so I’m not seriously trying to find songs that fit the books, more just overall first impressions for theme songs:
Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien – I Would Walk 500 Miles by the Proclaimers
We Ride the Storm, Devin Madson – Riders on the Storm by the Doors
No Sleep Till Doomsday, Laurence MacNaughton – No Sleep Till Brooklyn by the Beastie Boys
Never Die, Rob J Hayes – can’t help thinking of 007 coupled with Die Another Day by Madonna\
House of Glass, Susan Fletcher – Blondie’s Heart of Glass
Red Rising, Pierce Brown – Fight the Power by Public Enemy
Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman – I put a Spell on You by Nina Simone
The Martian, Andy Weir – Space Oddity by David Bowie
Dracula, Bram Stoker – Lust for Life, Iggy Pop
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson – Time Is On My Side by The Rolling Stones
Paris by Starlight by Robert Dinsdale
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Beautifully written tale of home
The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale is an absolutely gorgeous book full of magic, toys and beauty, I loved it and so you may imagine that my expectations were astronomical when it came to Paris by Starlight and whilst I might not have loved this book as much as The Toymakers it certainly demonstrates the writing chops of this particular author.
The story is essentially a tale of home, and the fact that home can be found anywhere that family resides, intertwined with a love story of two characters searching for something more.
Isabelle is a young musician. She trawls the streets of Paris, playing her lute at bars. Essentially she’s looking for the father who left home when she was only a child. Isabelle’s father was also a musician and Isabelle hopes that she might draw his attention by playing the precious lute that he gave her. One evening Isabelle finds herself responsible for the care of a young lost girl and this is when she meets Levon and his family, refugees living a hidden life in Paris.
The People, as they are known, were cast out of their own country where they lived and worked on the landlocked sea. They’ve travelled thousands of miles carrying their few belongings and clinging to thoughts of safety and new beginnings. Eventually, their traditions, cultures and stories create a magic of their own, the rooftops are full of night blooming flowers and beautiful birds, water dogs begin to appear and underground caverns lit by phosphorous plants appear. More People flock to the City, keen to find a home amongst their own and the magic spreads further. Unfortunately, not everyone welcomes these changes and soon enough the People find themselves in a war between those who live by day and those who live by night.
What I really loved about Paris by Starlight is the writing. Dinsdale writes with a beauty and style that is really captivating and brings scenes to life with vibrant detail. The magic here is captivating and well wrought and without doubt this envisaging of Paris is something truly wonderful to read about. I can see where the comparisons to Gaiman come from with the place being split between two worlds, in a similar way that Neverwhere existed beneath the streets of London.
The setting and magic are amazing. Paris is an enchanting place to begin with and really lends itself to the magic created here. The Eiffel Tower alive with tendrils and flowers, hotels with underground tunnels and caverns and the many dark clubs where haunting music plays into the night.
We predominantly follow Isabelle and to be honest that’s something of a relief as she is a good character filled with hope and love. Some of the other characters are less easy to like, they have their own agendas, or are filled with anger and resentment.
In terms of criticisms. I felt that this could perhaps have been cut a little, only because it felt a little repetitive in some parts and there was a slowing of pace about half way through where I began to wonder if anything more would actually happen. Obviously, I got past this point and the tension and action were ramped up but for a moment I started to feel like everything was dragging out a little more than I liked and it definitely held things up for me.
I enjoyed Paris by Starlight but I didn’t fall completely in love with it as much as I’d hoped or expected and I think that this lies mainly at my own door, probably because elements of this felt more real than I expected and at the moment I’m all about the escapism. Without doubt, this is a tale with a message. It’s about finding home and overcoming adversity in a way that really drives home what is truly important. There’s a message about acceptance and learning to live amicably with others in spite of differences.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the author, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 3.5 of 5 stars
Books and travelling with Lynn 