Thoroughly modern millennial

Tag: blogger’s bookshelf

  • May | In Books

    May in books
    *all images via GoodReads
    What, what, what? I cleared through FIVE books this month! Check out what I thought about all of them below…

    Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury
    This ultimate book lovers classic regales the story of Guy Montag, a fireman living in the near distant future. His occupation is rather unusual though. In a world where books are banned and philosophical thought discouraged, it’s Guy’s job to burn books. Yes. A fireman who starts fires. After a few chance encounters with some unusual people, he takes a bold move and steals a book. Having lived years with book censorship, where the world has turned away from the printed pages, burning scholars and libraries to dust, Guy soon questions everything about his existence.
    I loved the opening chapter for this novel. The imagery is wonderful and so powerful, but the middle seemed to tail off and it was difficult to decipher what was actually happening. It wasn’t until the last few chapters that the message of the book really hit home and the message of the importance of reading are extremely relevant in today’s world. Bradbury’s book is a cautionary tale, it’s disturbing to think we may already be living in a world that chooses to fill it’s ears with the same kind of mindless entertainment that Montag’s wife chooses to in the book. I will say that this book may not be for everyone, but as one of the classics I’d say give it a go, re-read and think on it.
    The Shades of London series: The Name of the Star & The Madness Underneath | Maureen Johnson
    Holy Hell these were good. I picked up a e-book copy of The Name of the Star after months of nagging from my best friend. Surprisingly this is the first Maureen Johnson book I’ve read (despite being a huge fan of her as a person, seriously follow her on twitter she’s awesome) and I’m seriously kicking myself for not getting into her books sooner.
    The series is a classic tale of the paranormal. Rory Deveaux is a normal American girl starting school in London, but after a near-fatal brush with death she finds that she has some unusual abilities. Not only this but her arrival in England is timed alongside a series of copy-cat Jack the Ripper style murders. She soon finds herself as the only witness to a potential suspect that no-one else can see. You can read the rest of my review at Blogger’s Bookshelf, but to round up….oh.my.God. It’s been a while since I’ve finished a book and been desperate for more. Maureen’s style of writing is both hilarious and emotional. 
    Book two of the series, The Madness Underneath, is equally good. Starting off a little slow, and for good reason – you’ll see why when you read it – the story picks up the pace towards the last few chapters. And jeez….THE ENDING. It will make you feel all the things! 

    Highly recommended reading from me and I’m literally jumping around waiting for the sequel!

    Ready Player One | Ernest Cline
    This was another one people *cough* Erin *cough* have been bugging me to read. 
    The year is 2044, James Halliday, CEO of [GSS] and general computer genius dies and he leaves his vast empire to the the person who can crack the cryptic riddle in his will. The only problem is that this cryptic riddle involves a quest into his virtual world called the OASIS, and when I say world…I mean world! The OASIS is huge, engulfing countries and turning the whole world into virtual computer addicts. Five years go past and no one has managed to make it onto the scoreboard that Halliday set up to track the quest’s progress…until the name Parzival appears on the number one spot. Parzival is the alias of a teenager called Wade Watts. He’s a Halliday obsessive, computer geek, down-and-out kid from the slums of this bleak looking future America. This is his story.
    I really enjoyed this book. Cline manages to perfectly capture the readers imagination with the detailed world of OASIS and the people within it. The story is choc-a-bloc with 1980’s references (alot of which I very proudly understood ^_^) and leaves you feeling like you played a video game yourself. I do think this one will be a bit of a Marmite book though. For those not into gaming and geekery this may not be the book for you, but I found it exciting and with twists that will leaving literally twisting in your seat and cheering Wade on from the sidelines.

    13 Little Blue Envelopes | Maureen Johnson
    After catching up on the Shades of London series I started what is now a bit of a Maureen Johnson binge #Oops. 13 Little Blue Envelopes is the story of Ginny (or Virginia, but don’t call her Virginia) on the adventure of a lifetime. Her recently deceased, mad, free spirit Aunt Peg left her a little gift: 13 little blue envelopes, each to be opened in order and each contain a task for Ginny to perform. But these tasks won’t confine her to her comfort zone in her cosy American small town. Nope these are taking her over the Atlantic Ocean and across the whole Europe on a trip that will challenge her, scare her and dare her to travel off the beaten track. Her first stop, little ol’ London town, where the journey will take her? Only the envelopes hold the answer to that one.
    This was a lovely little YA read, Ginny’s unusual circumstances can feel ridiculous and insane at times, but suspend belief long enough to give this one a chance! The characters she meets, the places she visits and Aunt Peg’s even crazier tasks make this one a fun and fast paced read. Ginny is hapless but in an endearing way and the story will have you wanting to grab the next train ride to anywhere.

    If you’ve read any of these let me know what you think! And don’t forget to follow Blogger’s Bookshelf to see mine and the team’s reviews!

    R.xoxo
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  • April | In Books

    Apr in books
    *all images via GoodReads

    I’m a couple of days early with this post, so I’ve only got three books down this month! I am however in the middle of two, both of which may make an appearance in next month’s post. But for now take a gander at the books I blitzed through in April.

    Warm Bodies | Issac Marion
    This one admittedly caught my eye after I spied the trailer on YouTube, thought it was a really interesting concept and then had people left, right and centre recommending the movie and the book! So this really had to live up to the hype. 
    Warm Bodies takes the zombie genre and flips it on it’s head. It’s the story of ‘R’, a zombie boy living out the remainder of his existence. ‘R’ is a weird one though. Yes, he has no pulse but he’s a dreamer and thinks a little differently to rest of his kind – not that they care, they’re dead lol. In the ruins of the nearby city ‘R’ meets Julie, a human, and for some strange reason decides to save her instead of eating her. The two develop an odd friendship and she starts to rewire his undead brain. 
    The book started off ok, it was interesting enough to hear about this strange normalcy the zombie had adopted. The story only really picked up once Julie appeared in his life though, their relationship felt oddly realistic – well as realistic as you can get with a zombie and a human. Now have to watch the film to see if it’s as good!
    So Yesterday | Scott Westerfeld
    I read some of Westerfeld’s in my teen years and vaguely remember enjoying his stuff. So Yesterday is the story of Hunter Braque, he’s a ‘cool-hunter’ working for a big agency in New York that seeks out the trends and makes some money out of the products of cool…which is how he meets Jen. She’s an ‘innovator’, someone who doesn’t follow trends but makes them. Before too long a mystery crops up. Hunter’s boss, Mandy, goes missing he and Jen are suddenly thrown in the dark marketing underground full of weird products, fake clients and unexpected danger. 
    I’m set to review this pretty soon for Blogger’s Bookshelf, but in short this was a really surprisingly enjoyable read, really fast paced, and the concepts were interesting to me, especially as a someone who wants to work in  the ad industry in the future.

    Why We Broke Up? | Daniel Handler
    The clue of what this book is about is in the title, told through the eyes of Min Green, this is story of how and why she broke up with Ed Slaterton. Min details their relationship from start to messy finish in letters to Ed that she’s putting in a box along with trinkets and ‘souveniers’ from their time together. Such items include a movie ticket, a box of matches, books, and a pair of ‘ugly’ earrings, and each item has a story to go with it.
    The story itself is slow, Min – writing in the present tense throughout the novel – is emotional and sometimes those emotions come out as her words spilling out all over the page. Ed is also a hardly likeable character to me. He’s co-captain of the football team, a notorious ‘player’ and actually quite rude. It’s hard to see what Min even saw in him and by the end of the book she’s left thinking that too. On one hand I understand that this is a story of young love and how fast it can escalate and drop in a heartbeat, but I just couldn’t feel a thing for these characters in the end.
    The one thing I did love about the book were the illustrations by Maira Kalman. You are shown each item before you’re told the story, so you’re left wondering what it’s significance is in the plot. The illustrations themselves are beautifully done, and made me wish I bought the actual book instead of the Kindle copy!

    If you’ve read any of these let me know what you think! And don’t forget to follow Blogger’s Bookshelf to see mine and the team’s reviews!

    R.xoxo

  • March | In Books

    Mar in books
    *all images via GoodReads
    The Rosie Project | Graeme Simsion
    I won this book via GoodReads, not realising that it’s actually an advanced readers copy! I have reviewed the book on Blogger’s Bookshelf already, so check it out here if you want my full thoughts. In short, I really enjoyed the book, the characters were both likable and hilarious, plus the plot itself moved well. Graeme Simsion even retweeted my review of the book! Catch it when it comes out in April if you want to have a read yourself!
    The Great Gatsby | F Scott Fitzgerald
    Admittedly this was one of those books I said I had read in the past when I really hadn’t, so it’s about time I got up and read it – especially with the movie imminent.
    This was a little harder to get into as I felt the first two chapters offered alot of exposition. You hit the ground running once you got to chapter 3, and are thrown into the rather dark and mysterious world of Jay Gatsby and his obsession with Daisy Buchanan. I expected this to be one of those books like ‘Catcher…’ that I just wouldn’t get, but the story and themes of jealousy, loss, excess, love and lust are timeless. The writing itself is fantastic, Fitzgerald being one America’s literary greats of course. The last line is one that will stick with you after you close the book though…“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
    Brave New World | Aldous Huxley
    I went into this expecting it to be difficult to read, and yes the language and writing style can seem so at times, but overall the book was great. The first couple of chapters in particular, detailing the process of ‘decanting’, ‘bottling’ and ‘conditioning’ newborns in this re-imagined society’s caste system is both fascinating and deeply disturbing. I really want to review this for Blogger’s Bookshelf so won’t delve any further into this now, but to summarise? If you loved Delirium. Matched. Divergent. Awaken. Or any dystopian/utopia novel for that matter. Then pick this book up!

    I seem to have slacked in momentum, only three books this March, but they were all pretty good ones! I’m particularly proud of having ticked off Gatsby from my general book bucket list and Brave New World from my 2013 Reading Goals list. I have some spare time on my hands in April – hallelujah for bank holidays, Easter holidays and birthday weekends – so am hoping to really up my game next month!
    Keep on wishing…
    R.xoxo