Wishing you were there.. catacombs to castles!
14 October 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Places you wish to go, Top Ten Tuesday
This week over at the Broke and the Bookish the Top Ten Tuesday topic is:
‘Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit’
My list contains not only places as such – hope that’s not cheating!
- Prague – Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I loved the descriptions in this story. I’ve always wanted to visit but this book made me want to go immediately! As it happens, I haven’t been yet, but… I will!!
- Not a place but a house – Longbourn by Jo Baker. I’d like to be a fly on the wall and watch the ‘upstairs/downstairs’ goings on of the inhabitants of Longbourn.
- The University in Patrick Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind – particularly the library! No naked flames!!!
- The Catacombs underneath Paris – The Undying by Ethan Reid, Creepy, yes, intriguing – very!!
- Alaska – The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. The descriptions in this story are quite entrancing.
- The Castle from Howl’s Moving Castle – a castle that moves from place to place with a door opens into four different places. A talking fire and Howl. Magical and wonderful.
- The Room of Requirement – Harry Potter by J K Rowling. There are lots of things that I require – more often than not, some extra time and a quiet corner in which to read – I think the Room of Requirement could sort me out.
- The Shire – LoTR by Tolkien – I would love to visit the Shire and in particular Bag End. Fortunately, not being statuesque I could probably walk around in Bilbo’s home with no problems or bumps.
- Fairyland – as written about by Catherynne Valente – because it sounds so strange and magical.
- London Below – Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Who wouldn’t want to visit – I’m not saying it’s perfect but it’s full of all the strange things that lurk in your imagination. Plus the Marquis.
I know I’ve missed loads of places but this is what I came up with. No doubt I’ll be kicking myself when I read all the other lists.
They broke the mould when they made….????
7 October 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Character driven novels, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
Over at the Broke and Bookish this week the theme for Top Ten Tuesday is
“books for readers who like character driven novels’
My choices this week are:
- Mercy Thompson from Patricia Briggs urban fantasy series. I really like Mercy and it’s great to watch her character change as the series progresses. She sometimes makes mistakes and she’s not perfect but she’s also not afraid to ask for help and to understand that she can’t always do everything single handed.
- Alexia Tarabotti from Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate. I haven’t actually finished this series but I enjoyed Alexia’s character. Very witty and intelligent. Intriguing steam punk with vampires, werewolves and gadgetry.
- Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. It’s very simply. I like Harry!
- The Copper Cat from The Copper Promise by Jen Williams – I’ve only recently read this novel and loved the Copper Cat character. This was a very character led novel and the CC was my favourite.
- Dug, Spring and Lowa from the Age of Iron by Angus Watson. I loved this book and the main three characters were just excellent. None of them were perfect and Dug in particular was quite flawed – that being said so was Lowa. Very easy to read due to the characters just being so easy to get on with.
- Melanie and Miss Justineau from M R Carey’s The Girl with All the Gifts. This is such a good read and I thought was a really unique twist on the ‘zombie’ theme. Melanie and Miss Justineau definitely steal the show with their teacher/student relationship.
- Mark Watson from Andy Weir’s The Martian. Basically, if you don’t like Mark you’re going to struggle with this book as he pretty much is the main focus of the whole story. A botanist, stranded on Mars and coming up with all sorts of drastic measures to survive until a rescue mission can be pulled together. A guy who thankfully retains his sense of humour.
- The Thousand Names by Django Wexler – two very different characters who stole the show – Captain Marcus D’Ivoire and Winter Ihernglass – military ‘flintlock’ fantasy. Really good.
- Lisbeth from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson – such a kick ass character. I love the way that she survives against the odds. A tough character who actually does have a softer side – not somebody to mess with though!
- The characters from The Way of Kings/Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson – I could literally chat on and on at great length about the amazingness of these two books. The plot, the world building and the strength of the writing – but, without doubt Sanderson manages to pull out of the hat a whole bunch of characters that you can’t fail to love. My personal favourites are Syl and Kaladin but frankly there’s no shortage of characters to adore!
Difficult to read???
30 September 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
This week over at the Broke and Bookish the topic for TTT is:
‘Top Ten Books That Were Hard For Me To Read’
This was a tricky one and I’m not sure as I write this that I will actually come up with 10. I tend to not finish a book these days if I’m not enjoying it as life is simply too short. I’ve decided to think of different reasons that made even picking up the book difficult:
Reading the book of a film that I already love (what if I don’t like the book or am put off the film):
1. The Shining by Stephen King – I actually have seen the film more than once and love it so was worried about reading the book as I read that the author was never totally in love with the film. The book was excellent to be honest and whilst the film wasn’t totally true to the story I still really like the film as well so win win!
2. Similarly, The Princess Bride – I have seen the film many times but not read the book (inconceivable, right?) As it happens reading the book was just brilliant and it didn’t put me off the film – I love both equally and was picturing many of the scenes as I read along. Very amusing book and film and highly recommended.
Rereads (was that book really as good as you thought or is it coming off its pedestal?)
3. Lord of the Rings by JRTolkien – read this first when I was a teenager and it’s just one of those books that stays with you (let’s face it – I romantacised it!). When it came to a reread a few years ago I wondered if I might be wearing rose tinted glasses. Very happy to report that this book stood the test of time and I love it still.
4. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I read this book, quite a few times when I was younger. Always in December – due to some sort of teenage whimsy! I read it again a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I suppose that’s why it’s a classic!
Didn’t live up to expectations (makes me feel guilty even saying that but sometimes a book just doesn’t work for you!)
5. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. My fault really but this book just didn’t work for me. I felt disappointed not to find out more about all the places visited. As I said, my problem really was I went in with the wrong expectations
6. Shadow Master by Craig Cormick. I think that I simply wasn’t in the right place when reading this. The humour didn’t work for me and the storyline felt a bit too scattered.
Difficulty of Subject
7. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
8. Before I Die by Jennie Downham
Both the above books deal with cancer and death and are sad reads. They’re also very good reads but probably not ones to tackle in a certain frame of mind.
Will the Ending be Awesome? Scared to finish a series or simply don’t want the series to end
9. The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence. I simply can’t say enough good things about this series as I really did love it. The first book just grabs you, the second book is absolutely compelling and then the third brings the series to an amazing conclusion. No disappointment awaits here. Difficult to believe how an author can keep upping the ante with each successive book but Lawrence definitely does so.
10. The Gentlemen Bastard series by Scott Lynch – this series isn’t concluded but, let’s just say I’m so personally invested in the characters that I’m always a bit scared to pick up the next book in case something bad happens to one of them (particular Jean Tannen – there, I admit it!!)
I guess I could have actually chosen a few more as it happens – like War and Peace or Les Miserables – which would fall under the ‘difficult to pick up because they weigh so much and I might pull a muscle!’ theme) I will read both one day – it’s a personal challenge and I won’t be beaten.
Books for Fall/Autumn
23 September 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books for Fall/Autumn, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic over at The Broke and the Bookish is:
Books on my fall/autumn list:
I think this week’s list is going to be primarily books that I’ve bought that I’ve put off reading because I’ve had other books to review:
- The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters – bought
- The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton – bought, check out both covers, really good and definitely pulled me in!
- Generation V by M L Brennan – bought – looking forward to this one, comes with good recommendations.
- The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani – gift – another book that I just love the cover of.
- Between Two Fires by Christoperh Buehlman – bought
- Red Knight by Miles Cameron – library
- The Vanishing Witch by Karen Maitland – review
- Theft of Swords by Michael Sullivan – bought
- Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan – bought
- Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell – bought, kindle
Let’s face it – I’m probably not going to succeed but it’s nice to have plans, and lists!
These are the two covers from above:
If your name’s not down, you’re not coming in!
2 September 2014
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: Fantasy characters I wouldn't invite to lunch, Fantasy Characters I'd invite to lunch, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
Every Tuesday I head on over to the Broke and the Bookish to find 10 examples for whatever is the theme of the week. This week we’re looking at:
‘Top Ten Book Characters That Would Be Sitting At My Lunch Table’
I’ve split this up because I’ve decided whilst I would like to invite certain characters I would definitely avoid some others. Here goes.
Five who I’m inviting for lunch:
Boromir – (or Sean Bean!!!) – it would be folly not to!
Pocket from Christopher Moore’s Serpent of Venice – because he’s such an excellent, smart arsed and witty fellow, probably a bad idea as you’d probably choke on your lunch, but…
Lord Ermenwyr from Kage Baker’s Anvil of the World – part demon, I love this character – him and nursey! Very amusing pair.
Lady Trent from Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons – a great character who breaks all the rules and pushes the boundaries – plus she goes in search of dragons!! DRAGONS. And she has lots of adventure tales to tell.
Jasnah from Brandon Sanderson’s epic Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. Simply put – she’s awesome and interesting. Why wouldn’t you invite her to lunch.
Five who are definitely not coming to lunch:
The dwarfs from The Hobbit by Toilkien (which is a cheat because this is a whole group) – basically because they’re just going to turn lunch into a massive food fight with lots of broken dishes (less cleaning up though I suppose!)
Melanie from M R Carey’s The Girl with All the Gifts – call me old fashioned but I don’t want to become plant fertiliser!
Cercei Lannister from Martin’s Game of Thrones – lets just be honest here, she’s pretty nasty. No, she doesn’t get an invite!
Iuda from Jasper Kent’s Vampire series – because I want to take part in the lunch not actually become it! Plus Iuda is one sneaky, crafty, evil, manipulative and smelly character.
Harper from The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes – basically he’s a serial killer – and I’m not talking about Weetabix and Porridge!!
Who’s on your Mad Hatter’s Tea Party invitation??
Books and travelling with Lynn 