Percy 2015

Book 71 of my 2015 book challenge

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

 The Blurb:

With A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens created a modern fairy tale and shaped our ideas of Christmas. The tale of the solitary miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of the season by a series of ghostly visitors and given a second chance, was conjured up by Dickens during one of his London night walks, who ‘wept and laughed’ as he composed it. Taken to readers’ hearts for its humour, compassion and message of redemption, it remains his best-loved book.

  My Thoughts:

I’ve grown up watching A Christmas Carol more or less every Christmas, there are a few different versions out there and I’m quite positive I’ve not seen them all. But what the cinematic versions seem to have in common is that Scrooge is a very harsh character. While that is true in the book as well, he seems a lot gentler. So while I’ve sometimes thought the cinematic versions a bit on the scary side (except Rowan Atkinson’s adaptation, because that’s just plain funny all the way through), the book I found heart-warming.

And the message is clear, isn’t it? It’s never too late to change. Whatever change that may be.

Book 70 of my 2015 book challenge

Inferno by Dan Brown

 The Blurb:

‘Seek and ye shall find.’

Florence: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed with no recollection of where he is or how he got there. Nor can he explain the origin of the macabre object that is found hidden in his belongings.

A threat to his life will propel him and a young doctor, Sienna Brooks, into a breakneck chase across the city. Only Langdon’s knowledge of the hidden historic passageways can save them from the clutches of their unknown pursuers.

With only a few lines from Dante’s Inferno to guide them, they must decipher a sequence of codes buried deep within some of the Renaissance’s most celebrated artworks to find the answers to a puzzle which may, or may not, help them save the world from a terrifying threat …

My Thoughts:

Just when you think you know what’s going on, when you think you know the characters, everything gets turned around. It’s the beauty of Dan Brown books, I suppose. And running. Always a lot of running.

Book 69 of my 2015 book challenge

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

The Blurb:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

My Thoughts:

Wow. That one word pretty much sums up the book, doesn’t it? It’s a story that you pretty much know from the start is going to be a sad one. And if you didn’t and you happen to read this first….eh…sorry?! But it isn’t really a book about sick kids, is it? It’s a love story, a life story, in which the characters just happens to have cancer.

I’m a crier, it doesn’t take much for me to cry, not matter what mood. And I cried a lot when I read this book, I’m not gonna lie, but I must have laughed just as much. It’s like John Green took the topic of dying and made it funny.

It’s a wonderful book and I implore anyone and everyone to read it. If you love the movie you’ll love the book, and vice versa.

Book 68 of my 2015 book challenge

A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French

 The Blurb:

Everyone hates the perfect family. So you’ll love the Battles.

Meet Mo Battle, about to turn 50 and mum to two hormonal teenagers. There’s 17-year-old daughter Dora who blames Mo for, like, EVERYTHING and Peter who believes he’s quite simply as marvellous as his hero Oscar Wilde. Somewhere, keeping quiet, is Dad, who’s just, well … Dad.

However, Mo is having a crisis. She’s about to do something unusually wild and selfish, which will leave the entire family teetering on the edge of a precipice. Will the family fall? Or will they, when it really matters, be there for each other?

 My Thoughts:

I have loved the comic genius that is Dawn French for more or less all my life now and was quite excited to read a novel by her. I’m not sure that I agree with the reviews on the back that says things like “makes you laugh on every page”. But I do agree that it was witty, wise, funny, and felt very real. And I loved how all the characters each got their own voice, and to some extent, dialect. Especially Dora. Every time it was Dora’s entry it buckled myself up for a bit of laughter, because in my head her dialect was a very strange mix of “east London street”, Essex and Welch. Don’t ask me how all that go together, but somehow my brain made it work. While Oscar/Peter was very posh, like Queen’s English posh. And Mo was just a general English, proper, but not uptight about it.

I did really enjoy this novel, and I look forward to reading the next one.

Book 67 of my 2015 book challenge

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

The Blurb:

What if you woke up and your life was perfect?

Lexi wakes up in hospital, thinking she’s twenty-five with crooked teeth and a disastrous love life. But, to her disbelief, she learns it’s three years later — she’s a supertoned twenty-eight-year-old, her teeth are straight, she’s the boss of her department — and she’s married! To a good-looking millionaire!

She can’t believe her luck — especially when she sees her stunning new loft apartment. And she’ll definitely have a fantastic marriage once she gets to know her husband again. He’s drawn up a ‘marriage manual’, which should help.

But soon she realizes her perfect life isn’t all it seems. Her old colleagues hate her. A rival is after her job. Then a dishevelled, sexy guy turns up … and lands a new bombshell.

What the **** happened to her? Will she ever remember? And what happens if she does?

My Thoughts:

You definitely feel as if you have amnesia along with the character. Brilliantly written in a way to make you feel as if the whole story is there in a prequel which you have misplaced somewhere. And now you must try to find it with clues that are just not there, and the people around you just expect you to know everything.

Book 66 of my 2015 book challenge

Rapture by Lauren Kate

The Blurb:

The sky is dark with wings …

And time is running out for Luce and Daniel.

In order to stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the Fall began. Only Luce can break the curse, and it is her choice alone that will decide all of their fates.

But as Dark Forces gather, great sacrifices will have to be made in this final, epic struggle …

In the fight for Luce, and for love, who will win?

My Thoughts:

This book is a bit dreary. There are some action bits here and there, but mostly it’s just a long “wait” to the end. Although, I will give it this, it is a very lovely ending.

Book 65 of my 2015 book challenge

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

The Blurb:

An ancient magic. A heart-wrenching decision …

Sydney Sage is an alchemist. She protects vampire secrets — and human lives.

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she is struggling to decide between following her Alchemist teachings — or her heart.

Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch, a former Alchemist who is now on the run. As Marcus pushes her to rebel, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she though.

There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as Sydney searches for the person attacking powerful young witches, she realizes that she must embrace her magical blood — or else she will be next.

My Thoughts:

Sydney has so many things going on around her, sometimes it’s hard to believe she can even keep her head straight. Things heat up between her and Adrian, confusing her as it goes against everything she’s ever known. But keep in mind, she did once tell Rose that Adrian was kind of cute…you know, for a Moroi.

I’m really starting to love this Bloodlines series just as much as I love the Vampire Academy series, I can’t believe there’s only three books left. Gasp! What will I do then?

Book 64 of my 2015 book challenge

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The Blurb:

The sleepy English countryside …

At the dawn of the Victorian era, life moves at a leisurely pace in the tiny town of Wall. Young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the beautiful Victoria Forester, but Victoria is as cold and distant as the star she and Tristran see fall from the sky one evening. For the prize of Victoria’s hand, Tristran vows to retrieve the star for his beloved. It is an oath that sends the lovelorn swain over the town’s ancient wall and into a world that is dangerous and strange beyond imagining …

My Thoughts:

Where to start? This is the only book by Neil Gaiman that I have ever read, so I can’t really compare his writing with anything.

He has written Stardust in that old timey way, which makes you think it was actually written “back then” and not in modern day. And it’s a cute story, if not a bit silly here and there.

But I’m afraid that this is one of those times that I much preferred the movie version to the book version. Who knows, when I re-read it sometime in the future I might feel differently, but for now …

Book 63 of my 2015 book challenge

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The Blurb:

My name is Katniss Everdeen.

Why am I not dead?

I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is be design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Captiol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans — except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay — no matter what the personal cost.

My Thoughts:

The first book, The Hunger Games, starts slow, goes through the characters and explains the world. It becomes a little more fast-paced during the arena part, and then it’s more or less over. But all in all, it creates a whole world for us, as readers, and it’s brilliantly executed.

The second book, Catching Fire, is really just a re-make of the first book, but a lot more fast-paced. We already know all the characters and the world, now we want action. Which we get. The arena is so thoroughly thought out that it would give you nightmares, if you were there. One word to sum it up; brilliant. Bloody brilliant.

But then there’s this book, the last book, it’s slow and dreary, it has some action here and there. Mostly it’s just killing-people-off action. Katniss is, basically, broken. Which brings the book down, seeing as it’s all seen from her point-of-view. When Peeta, eventually comes around, he’s just whining. And Gale is mostly a ghost.

The only real choice Katniss makes, is during the execution.

Truth be told, had they not done movie adaptations, I probably wouldn’t have re-read these books. Not for a very long time, at least.

Book 62 of my 2015 book challenge

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

The Blurb:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, while her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will — the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers to who she is and what she was born to do? As their search for the truth leads the three friends into peril, Tessa’s heart is increasingly torn, especially when one of their own betrays them…

My Thoughts:

Will or Jem, however will Tessa choose?

As far as the betrayal goes, if you don’t see that coming, you are blind.

I love this world, but I still feel that the chapters are way too long.

Book 61 of my 2015 book challenge

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

The Blurb:

Sutter’s the guy you want at your party. He’ll get everyone dancing. He’ll get everyone in your parents’ pool. He has no plans for university and will probably end up folding men’s shirts for a living. But right now life’s pretty fabuloso.

Until he meets Aimee. Aimee’s clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help. It’s up to Sutter to show her a splendiferous time and let her go.

But Aimee’s not like other girls and before long he’s in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life — or ruin it forever.

My Thoughts:

I saw the film The Spectacular Now last year, mainly because of Shailene Woodley … and when I found out Miles Teller was in it too; I kind of wanted to see it, if not only to see him as something else as the ‘evil’ Peter in Divergent. I’m not sure I like the film or not, it wasn’t exactly bad but it wasn’t spectacularly good either. It’ll probably be one of those films I’ll have up on the shelf, but that I won’t watch more than a couple of times. I did however think like there was something missing, especially towards the end. Which brings me to why I read the book. Usually reading the book that is the base of the film will answer any questions you may have gotten while seeing the film. However, that wasn’t the case here. After reading the book, I don’t have the same feeling as if something is missing, as I did when I saw the film. But … I don’t know … I’m not sure I got the whole point of it either. Just like the film, the book is neither good nor bad, which is why I’m giving it a …

Book 60 of my 2015 book challenge

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

 The Blurb:

These days it’s all about the fame.

As if life isn’t hard enough when you’re fifteen, Aya Fuse’s face rank of 451,369 is so low, she’s a total nobody. An Extra. But when she meets a clique of girls who pull crazy, dangerous tricks in secret, Aya sees a way to get her popularity rating to soar …

Aya is sure she’s destined for a life in the spotlight, and if she can just ‘kick’ the story to show everyone how intensely cool the Sly Girls are, then the spotlight will be on her.

But is Aya really prepared to be propelled out of Extra-land and into a world of instant fame, celebrity … and extreme danger?

My Thoughts:

To be honest, I had a really hard time getting into this book. Extras is basically a spin-off of the Uglies series, I don’t want to call it the forth book, I want to call it a spin-off. Quite simply because it is in the same universe, but it follows a completely different character, although Tally does make an appearance.

Much lies Uglies, Pretties  and Specials, it has a sort of “hidden meaning”. It’s not really hidden, it’s in plain sight, but it doesn’t really come to you until the end.

Extras has the same kind of underline that its predecessors had and it’s this scary strive that people seem to have to achieve perfection, may it be beauty or something else. Every time a character talked about or had one of these many many weird modifications made to themselves I had shudders. The lengths that people will go…it’s just plain scary. We are born a certain way, what’s wrong with that? Why do we need cosmetic surgery to “improve” on ourselves?

But back to the book. Truth be told, all the way through it all I could really think was “why did you write this book?”

Now, don’t get me wrong here, it’s not technically a bad book. But to me the whole universe of it sort of ended with Uglies.

Book 59 of my 2015 book challenge

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

The Blurb:

The story of a girl who needs to slow down. To Find herself. To fall in love. And to discover what an iron is for …

Samantha is a high-powered lawyer in London. She works all hours, has no home life, and cares only about getting a partnership. She thrives on the pressure and adrenalin. Until one day … she makes a mistake. A mistake so huge, it’ll wreck her career.

She walks right out of the office, gets on the first train she sees, and finds herself in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she is mistaken for the interviewee housekeeper and finds herself being offered the job. They have no idea they’ve hired a Cambridge-educated lawyer with an IQ of 158 — Samantha has no idea how to work the oven.

Disaster ensues. It’s chaos as Samantha battles with the washing machine … the ironing board … and attempts to cook a cordon bleu dinner. But gradually, she falls in love with her new life in a wholly unexpected way.

Will her employers ever discover the truth? Will Samantha’s old life ever catch up with her? And if it does … will she want it back?

My Thoughts:

Kinsella strikes again with yet another funny story.

It baffles me how this character has made it this far in life. I was literally telling this character what an idiot she was, while I was reading, how in the world has she not learnt any basic household skills? Are we sure she even knows how to dress herself?

Samantha is brilliant when it comes to knowledge, but she’s basically an idiot at life. She’s in luck though, there’s a gorgeous gardener to step in as her knight in shining armour.

Hilarious from start to finish, even though in the beginning, you kind of want to pull your own hair out at how utterly adept at life she is not.

Book 58 of my 2015 book challenge

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

The Blurb:

September 3, 1940.

Ten peculiar children flee an army of deadly monsters.

And only one person can help them — but she’s trapped in the body of a bird.

The extraordinary journey that began in Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. There, they hope to find a cure for their beloved headmistress, Miss Peregrine. But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. And before Jacob can deliver the peculiar children to safety, he must make an important decision about his love for Emma Bloom.

Hollow City draws readers into a richly imagined world of telepathy and time loops, of sideshows and shape shifters — a world populated with adult “peculiars,” murderous wights, and a bizarre menagerie of uncanny animals. Like its predecessor, this second novel in the Peculiar Children series blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reading experience.

My Thoughts:

I did have a bit of a harder time reading this second book of the series than I did the first. At least in the beginning. I love the whole concept of the characters being written around these old photographs, which funnily enough is how I found the first book Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.

I’d been sat around thinking about ideas and such, when the thought hit me to write a story around photographs I’d taken or would take. See, I really wanted to run around with a camera taking photos, still do. When I happen to stumble upon this article written about just that. How sad was I when I found out that what I thought was a brilliant original idea had already been used, and not that long ago either. Only he’d used vintage photos instead of one’s he’d taken himself, like I wanted to do.

I must stress, however, that vintage photos really freak me out. It’s the eyes you see. To me they all look really soulless, and that sends chills up my spine.

Despite that, it’s a wicked concept and I love how the author, Ransom Riggs, have been able to make up a whole world with just these photos as a base.

It’s creepy and lovely at the same time.