The Novelle

We've all got those books on our TBR that have been there for way too long; we always look at them and think "I'll read that next month" and never do. So what better time than Spring, to have a little Spring clean of your TBR pile.

Hosted by Faye (A Daydreamers Thoughts) and Caroline (Big Book Little Book), we will aim throughout the month of April to clean out some of those books that have gathered the metaphorical dust.

I will also aim to post weekly updates on my progress to keep you updated on what I have read, my thoughts, and anything else relevant.

So yeah, I guess this is my sign up. Wish me luck!

 

Author: Kody Keplinger
Source: Netgalley
Published: 2010

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "the Duff," she throws her Coke in his face. But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

I have no idea why I put this book off for so long. It was always one of those books that I saw and thought "Oh, it's just going to be another predictible contemporary". Predictable? Yes to a certain extent, but like any other contemporary? I think not.

The characters were very believable and relatable, and although sometimes Bianca annoyed the hell out of me, I felt as though I could empathise with her. Nothing she did was so outlandish to think that it would never have happened as I, myself, have had some of the exact same feelings that she's had at one point or another as I was growing up at school. I loved the way that she, Wesley and the other characters around them grew as people and realised their actions; it wasn't a stilted change, but a fluid evolution of life.

The Duff highlights the idea that nobody is perfect, and I love that moral. We all have our flaws, things we don't like about ourselves, and our own problems, and each and every persons problem is personal to them no matter how insubstantial it may sound in comparison to others. In general, there are just so many ideas that Keplinger promotes in this story that I don't want to go into all of them to save from spoiling the whole book. It's just what makes it so wonderful.

I only have a couple of hang ups on this book; I don't like the promotion (especially to the teen audience) of using sex as a distraction. Also, the term "Duff" was only used by one person, nobody else even knew what the word meant or said it at all. To me, it did seem as though Bianca was being a bit over dramatic when she was thinking about it all the time as if everybody was saying this about her. I guess that is high school all over but you know what I mean.

This book wasn't that stereotypical and cliche like a lot of "high school" books, but was scarily quite accurate (from my experience anyways). It had all the drama of a school; from the classes, homework, boys and friendships - it really covered all bases with regards to school life as well as continuing on with the story. The sub-plot of Bianca's family life was also nicely woven into the story as well giving it some extra depth.

I flew through this book in less than 24 hours, which is amazing for me - it was fast paced, attention grabbing, funny, and there was never a dull moment. It portrays the great things about growing up without ignoring the nitty gritty of real life. The Duff is what contemporary should be.

In order to showcase the books that I own, I have created a little segment whereupon I will go through each book one letter of the alphabet at a time.

Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray arrives in England during the reign of Queen Victoria, something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Friendless and hunted, Tessa seeks refuge with the Shadowhunters, a band of warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons. Drawn ever deeper into their world, she finds herself fascinated by – and torn between – two best friends and quickly realises that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

The Infernal Devices series is one of my favourite. The writing is so addictive and the character development is second to none, I felt attached to each and every one of the characters and even the bad guys weren’t just bad for no reason like a lot of other fictional characters. I can say that Cassandra Clare has most certainly fuelled my love for historical based fiction, there’s something alluring and enchanting about fantasy fiction set in a different era. I think it’s the juxtaposition of magic against another time that creates something so wonderful.

I’m not one for love triangles either, so when it came to light in the book I wasn’t best pleased. I can honestly say however, that this is the best love triangles that I have ever read and despite my tendency to predict outcomes, I couldn’t see how it was going to pan out with the three of them. I myself am a Will fan through and through though; there’s something about the witty, arrogant, sarcastic types that I absolutely adore and love reading about.

 

 

It was only a year or two ago that I completed my first ever series, and I'm 24. I don't like marathoning series of books in a row as I feel it gets boring, so I used to read books in between and then didn't go back to the series until I'd completely forgotten what had happened in the previous book. Stupid I know. I would then reread the first book and then the process would begin again. Anyways, here are the series that I am proud to say that I have completed:


The Hunger Games - Suzanne Colins
I believe this was the first ever series that I actually completed. I absolutely adored The Hunger Games when it first came out and was up in arms about it like the rest of the world - for me, it was the first dystopian book that I had ever read and it is the book that started me properly reading again so it obviously means something to me in that respect. I did feel however that the series slowly started going downhill from there, (don't hate me) from Catching Fire to Mockingjay which was the worst of the series. Mockingjay just ruined the whole series for me; it was predictable, boring and the characters were not who they were. Obviously things have changed and you do expect the characters to have changed, but not to the extent that Katniss changed. She had none of her traits of the first and second book and was just another follower which really disappointed me.
The Infernal Devices - Cassandra Clare
This is one of my all time favourite series - fact. In my eyes, it's the most perfect young adult series I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It's got a kickass female lead, a love triangle to end all love triangles, it's action packed and absolutely hilarious. Now, with regards to love triangles, I normally can't stand them. This one is completely different however and the book didn't need to revolve around it to make an amazing story; it was just a subplot - it's what young adult is missing in my opinion. Anyways, if I'm going to recommend any YA novel it's this one, just read it!
Delirium - Lauren Oliver
This was the first series of which I preferred the second book over the first book; the first book was a little too wordy for me and I felt as though it could have been more concise and the second book seemed to read my mind and improve on everything that I had opinions on. I actually enjoyed the love triangle in this book, despite my aforementioned comments on them, due to the fact that this series was about the idea that it was thought of as an illness to fall in love so it was kind of inevitable that a love triangle would emerge. The last book was brilliant but just ended. Fullstop. I was extremely angry for reasons I don't want to disclose because of the spoilers, but I had to call my friend at the time of finishing just to rant about the ridiculously awful ending.
The Maze Runner - James Dashner
This is the latest series that I have finally gotten around to reading so it's pretty fresh in my mind. This is one series that I can't make up my mind as to whether or not I like it; it was really stupid and really amazing at the same time. Although it has fantastical dystopian themes to it, some of the ideas were really ridiculously outlandish and annoying. The last book was my favourite of them all despite the fact that I felt more questions were raised than were answered in this book and in the whole of the series and it ended really strangely because of this.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson, sigh, this series was fantastic from start to finish. It was packed with action, adventure and learning. As much as I enjoyed the story through the series, I learnt so much whilst reading it on the different Greek Gods; their stories, their names, what they did, etc. It was very predictable but it was extremely fun to read and if a 24 year old can read this series and get enjoyment out of it on so many levels, imagine what it would do to its intended age range (not that you can put an age on a book).

"Watching me play Scrabble is enough to make most women swoon. Imagine if I actually put in some effort." - Jace

I'm trying to finally finish The Mortal Instruments series and I'm currently on book 5. I'm still not a massive fan of this series; don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not my favourite. I can't stand the romance aspect of this series and I believe that it plays a major role in this series and really directs Clary which really bugs me. The series could be just as amazing if it didn't have the romance playing such a big part; as with The Infernal Devices.

I'm constantly comparing the two series together and sometimes I feel as though I'm boring myself but it's what I believe (maybe it's because I read Clockwork Angel before City Of Bones, but who knows). Jace is like Will, or Will is like Jace. They are just as arrogant as eachother but Will has the clever wit that Jace doesn't, and I feel as though some of the quotes Jace speaks towards the end of the series are just becoming vulgar - not so vulgar that they cannot be written in a YA novel but a bit too sexually cringey for my likings. I mean, imagine if someone said half of the stuff that Jace says to you, I know I wouldn't be too impressed.

Hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies, let us know your favourite quote of the week from what you are reading

 

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her "glamour" to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

The Lunar Chronicles is the only book series that I've actually kept up to date with and bought all the books as and when they came out - except for this one. I've always bought these books for the kindle and due to the fact that I'm currently travelling Australia and didn't want to buy/bring books with me for the weight purposes, I thought getting this book wouldn't be a problem on my kindle. I was wrong. This book isn't out on kindle yet, and I'm not even sure whether it's being converted either - major sad face!

This is one of my all time favourite series and I'm buzzing to get my hands on it to start reading, as well as the next installment of Winter coming out at the end of 2015. Please, please, please come out on kindle soon!

Hosted by Pen to Paper

These are books that are part of series that (coincidentally) I haven't finished, from my childhood. I would absolutely love to, at some point, revist these books that at one point I absolutely adored.

The Alex Rider series (despite never finishing them) was the first series in my childhood that I remember absolutely loving. The idea of a child spy was insanely cool to me and I loved all of the gizmos and gadgets that he was given on every quest.

The Edge Chronicles - Paul Stewart

I don't remember too much about this fantasy series other than the fact I really enjoyed reading it at the time and I adored the illustrations by Chris Riddle who I have recently found again on instagaram. I would love to read this again as I believe that it would be like reading it for the first time.

Bartimaeus Trilogy - Jonathan Stroud

Now, this was one of my favourite series as I was growing up (again) despite the fact that I didn't finish them. Bartimaeus was a djinni with an attitude and I loved his witty sarcastic manner which I found, and still find, laugh out loud funny.

Harry Potter - JK Rowling

Again, Harry Potter is mentioned. Even though I was never a "Potterhead" queuing up at midnight for the newest release and then reading it in a day, I was still an avid reader of this series. Like everybody else, I was hooked from the first book and unlike many today it was a book and not a video game that ruled my childhood.

Author: Ruth Ozeki
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Published: 2013

Across the pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox - possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao's drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future.
This is a wonderful book that draws on two perspectives; Ruth upon reading the diary, and Nao, who wrote the diary. In Nao's perspective you get to read about her teenage life through raw emotions; she writes to this diary like one would talk to a best friend. She relives her darkest and emotional memories in such raw emotion that it's not hard to get sucked in and feel so much sympathy for her. The traumas that she has to go through, and live with on a day-to-day basis are shocking for an adult, let alone coming from the diary of a teenage girl.

Ruth on the other hand is reading this journal the way the we, the reader, are reading this book. She feels the same emotions, the same want for information, and the same want to stop this from happening. She is a writer herself and feels that she owes it to Nao to look into her story and delve into the questions that she has lingering in her mind about what happened to her and why her diary came into her possession. The aforementioned idea of Ruth being like ourselves as a reader leads me to believe that Ruth is in fact a mirror image of ourselves when reading this book.
The main theme for the book is time; how we don't have much, how we take it for granted and how we waste time taking pity on ourselves. I believe that as we relate so much to Ruth, in this mirror image theory, it is used to relate this theme into our lives as a whole - to provoke thought on the subject, to make us value our own time on this planet and to live in the now.

The novel did often take a tangent, whilst in Ruth's perspective, into philosophical theories and information about her family; however information and, sometimes, interesting, it did make the book drag somewhat. The pages of information weren't necessarily needed and I often found myself glazing over on these parts in excitement for Nao's next chapter. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy Ruth's perspective, as there was still a lot to learn from her as there was from Nao, but I did find them to have a lot of pages that hindered the story more than helped to improve it. Alongside that, there were also the footnotes. These began as interesting little tidbits of information about the Japanese culture and turned out to be a chore as the numbers went from 50 to 150, and were often not of importance as they didn't impact the story as a whole.

A Tale For The Time Being is a beautifully lyrical novel that touched me on so many occasions, often causing me to stop reading and to think about what I'd just read. As corny as it sounds, it's made me think about life and reassess the things that I thought were important in my world and really was a thought provoking book. I've often caught myself in the past worrying about my future and this book makes me realise that I should be living in the "Nao".

In order to showcase the books that I own, I have created a little segment whereupon I will go through each book one letter of the alphabet at a time.

Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver

They say to live every day as if it’s your last – but you never actually think it’s going to be. You always think you’ll have more time. That’s what I thought. But I was wrong. What if, like me, you could live your last day over again? Could you make it perfect? If your whole life flashed before your eyes, would you have any regrets? Are there things you’d want to change?

It’s not often that you come across a book that changes your life. I can honestly say that this book make me reevaluate myself and my actions towards others in a way that I had never felt before. Let me be honest with you, on first glance I thought this was going to be another YA book with a stereotypical plot – this book however, was anything but stereotypical, it was thought provoking and honest.

Samantha thought she had it all, and the harsh reality of the situation makes her realise that the things she thought were important are the least of her worries in the long run. Throughout the book you see the transformation of a girl with popularity, the hottest boyfriend and the most amazing friends completely change herself to do the right thing. It’s a wonderful life changing story that will make you stop and think about the world around you.

 

 

It is almost an unspoken rule that illustrated books are for children and for children only. If you find yourself in your adult life reading book with illustrations, then you run the risk of being looked down upon as a juvenile individual who probably can’t handle reading anything substantial.

I sometimes find myself on public transport reading an illustrated book and feeling embarrassed by it; if people see the pictures, will they think I’m childish? I often try reading very discreetly or not at all when I’m reading these books in public, and something about that does not feel right.

No matter what book you are reading, you are reading, and if it happens to contain pictures, it doesn’t make you any less of a person than one with facts and figures.

Illustrations are the perfect way of enhancing your reader’s knowledge of the world that you are creating. It adds another level to the story, and sometimes when things are hard to imagine, it pushes the reader in the right direction. Sometimes it works the other way around; the reader imagines the world in their own way and takes a look at the illustrations to see a physical interpretation of the scene. It’s often interesting to see the differences in imagination, and this shouldn’t be looked down on, as everyone has their own personal takes on every book they have ever read.

Illustrative books such as graphic novels have a big popularity among older people, especially seeing as a lot of the scenes in them are meant for the older reader. I don’t think a lot of people see these as illustrated picture books, as they tend to define them as two separate entities; but with all that said they are what they are, books with pictures in them. People don’t tend to judge graphic novels as much as they do to other books with illustrations, and I’m curious as to why.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld has the most beautiful illustrations created by Keith Thompson. Thompson’s images are deep, dark and haunting, and they assist the writing in creating a mood and setting the scene. The pictures were, in a way, what encouraged me to continue reading as I was looking forward to seeing what scene the illustrator would show us next, and if it could get any more fabulous than the last. I can definitely say that I was never disappointed. These drawings should be seen as an alternative insight, not a childish fantasy.

Over the years, I have learnt not to care what people think with regards to what I am reading, as I believe reading to be quite personal. The illustrations in these books are an added aspect that doesn’t take anything away from the writing as a whole. To say that illustrations are childish is probably more of an insult to the writer than it is to the reader.

 

 

I don't generally like to TBR as I tend to pick up books depending on how I'm feeling at that moment in time; I don't like to put too much pressure on myself to read as I've done that before and it just hasn't been pretty. Therefore, I'm just going to post the top books that I want to read as soon:

Harry Potter - JK Rowling

I've got a confession to make - this may make the world turn upside down and cause riots - but I haven't read the last book in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (awaits judgement). I decided it was time to reread the whole of the Harry Potter series in sequence in order to get myself up to date and to finally finish the series, and due to the fact that I'm currently travelling around Australia it would be extremely impractical to be carrying around seven massively huge and heavy books. Therefore, I have decided to try out the Amazon Kindle Unlimited service (which I will probably review at some point in the future) as all the Harry Potter books are available to read on that - I have recently finished The Prisoner of Azkaban and am thoroughly enjoying the journey back into the wizarding world of Hogwarts.

The Mortal Instruments (5 + 6) - Cassandra Clare

I just have the last two books in the Mortal Instruments series to finish; City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire. As with the Harry Potter books, I am getting these on the Amazon Kindle Unlimited service as well, as the whole series is available for reading there. I haven't enjoyed The Mortal Instruments series as much as I did The Infernal Devices (which may be the first reread I willingly do) as it isn't as intriguing and has way too many plot twists that it's starting to become stupidly confusing. I will admit that they are fast paced action packed reads, which on the surface layer of the book are incredible, but once you get into actually processing what's happened, it's a little bit ridiculous. However, I will be continuing with this series till the very end and I will see what I think when I get there.

The Year Of The Flood - Margaret Atwood

This is a book that I put on my back burner list last year and have never come back to finish reading it. It wasn't a bad book, in fact quite the contrary, but I just wasn't feeling the read at the time, as sometimes happens. I love the post apocalyptic dystopian feel of Oryx and Crake, the prequel to this book, and look forward to carrying on with this read.

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Do I need to write anything other than both the authors names as a reason to read this book; I love both of their work individually and am really excited to delve into a world created by their heads combined. Along with this book, I am trying to make my way through Terry Pratchett's Discworld series; which will be a feat in itself. Pratchett is one of my favourite authors and I am more than willing to try anything that has been writen by the master himself.

A Storm of Swords - George R. R. Martin

I am slowly making my way through the Song of Ice and Fire series, and sadly I am only on the third book. The first book was amazing, the second was a slog of story and character building that wasn't pretty to read; from what I've been told, that's normal, and the rest of the books get better as you go through them so I am thoroughly excited to get cracking with this series. It may take me till I am 50 but I will finish these even if it kills me.

 

 

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish; let us know your top Spring reads

 

 

Author: Ray Bradbury
Source: Bought
Published: 1951

I read Fahrenheit 451 last year, and that was my very first Bradbury book – I fell in love with it so much that I had to try some more of his works. The Illustrated Man revolved around a large tattooed man who’s tattoos predict the future and all that will happen in the world, these are then translated into a selection of different stories from in and around the world depicting the stories that have been coming true from the illustrations on this mans back.

Before I started, I didn’t realise that this book was a selection of short stories and I was in fact very pleasantly surprised. Each story had it’s own moral to bring to the reader through thought provoking story telling from the masterful Bradbury – I felt as though each chapter had something that I could take from the book and apply to life at the moment. The fact that it was being written in a dystopian world made you see what could happen in the future if you don’t take heed of the things that went wrong in this book.

As much as I loved the morals in the stories, from about half way onwards, they started to become a little bit too preachy for my likings; morals were being chucked at you as if you didn’t have a choice and would be stupid not to take note of them and I didn’t like that. It was just starting to become a little too much.

At the beginning, the stories linked in with the all round idea that these were tattoos on an illustrated man, but as the stories progressed we didn’t hear anything of that man until the last chapter which I did find to be a little disappointing as I would have liked it to have all pulled together a little more. I haven’t read too many short stories, and I did enjoy that concept of it with the dystopian sci-fi feel they all gave, but I just felt as though it started to drag towards the end. I cannot fault Bradbury’s beautiful writing though, as it is just so enthralling and readable, but there was just something about this book that didn’t quite make it.

In order to showcase the books that I own, I have created a little segment whereupon I will go through each book one letter of the alphabet at a time.

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don’t quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there’s a visitor at his window. It’s ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.

This book is a masterpiece. It’s so beautifully lyrical and reads almost as poetry on the page. There was a real honesty about the way Conor was illustrated; nothing fake, nothing dramatised, just something simple and pure.

When reading this, I felt the distinct air of a dark fairytale in a real life setting. Please be aware that by my saying that, I am by no means putting a dampener on the subject and am taking it any less seriously. Illness is a dark subject in itself nobody can deny, but by adding a sense of fantasy to the story it becomes a lot more relatable to people who have never had to deal with anything of this nature. It adds a sense of familiarity.

 

Author: A.M. Dellamonica
Source: Netgalley
Published: 2014
Rating: ★★★★

One minute, twenty-four-year-old Sophie Hansa is in San Francisco alley trying to save the life of the aunt she has never known. The next, she finds herself flung into the warm and salty waters of an unfamiliar world. Glowing moths fall to the waves around her, and the sleek bodies of unseen fish glide against her submerged ankles. He world is Stormwrack, a series of island nations with a variety of cultures and economies - and a language different from any Sophie has heard. Sophie doesn't know it yet, but she has just stepped into the middle of a political firestorm, and a conspiracy that could destroy a world she had just discovered...her world, where everyone seems to know who she is, and where she is forbidden to stay.

From the premise of the book I presumed this story to be very young adult based; girl finds herself in a fantasy world and falls in love with the first good looking stranger that she happens to meet along the way. At first I thought this was how it was going to go, but I can assure you it's so much more than that and isn't technically aimed at young adults even.

There's a strong plot of adventure running through this book with a side theme of politics that weaves its way through the story arc quite interestingly. Child of a Hidden Sea is a mix of adventure and mystery and the plot has a wonderful pacing that doesn't rush through the story and gives you enough time to think about what's just happened before the next curve in the story takes place which never really fails to disappoint. As aforementioned, politics is a theme that is widely explored in this book and, like Sophie, you as the reader are slowly getting to grips with a new world and the way that it is run, alongside the cultural differences and magicks that may occur. Instead of a block page or two explaining the ins and outs of this new world, you are learning at a pace that Sophie is also learning which gives makes you more empathetic to Sophies situation.

Sophie as a character was a bit hit and miss with me; I loved the way that she brought an element of curiosity to the book, whereupon she looked at everything that she came across in Stormwrack with a biological eye. Every bit of the world on a physical level was examimed, from the animals to the plantlife and this added another depth to the book that was definitely warranted. On the other hand I found her to be extremely self righteous a lot of the time with her opinions; she would often start obsessing over things that she didn't like about the world when there was the bigger picture that ultimately needed to be looked at. Then again, maybe that's showing the discompassionate side of myself with that statement there so that's a matter thats's up for debate.

Although Sophie is indeed the main focus of our story, the side characters definitely play a part and the development of them throughout the story, when Sophie stays static for the most part, is great to read about. When learning about eachothers way of life was when the most took place I found, they became accepting of the others flaws and could see where they themselves had perhaps taken the wrong turn and could do better and in turn it made them see a bit clearer.

Unfortunately, at times, I found the writing to be a little bit too pretentious for my likings; perhaps it's due to the fact I originally thought that this was young adult, or maybe I need to expand my reading and my learning, but I found that a lot of the words were overly flamboyant for characters of their age. I myself am roughly Sophie's age and found myself struggling to understand a lot of what she was saying, but maybe that's due to the fact that she is cleverer than me. Again, a matter that's definitely up for discussion.

Even though politics isn't really my thing, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and always find it interesting to learn about fantastical worlds and cultures and how an author can be so creative. I believe this book is set to be part of a series, and the ending was most definitely left open, if not a little bit too wide.

"Print is predictable and impersonal, conveying information in a mechanical transaction with the reader's eye Handwriting, by contract, resists the eye, reveals its meaning slowly, and is as intimate as skin."

I've been going through a bit of a reading slump recently whilst travelling, (which has nothing to do with the travelling part) in the way that I just could not decide what to read and was reading one chapter of one book and another chapter of another book, and never being happy with what I've chosen to read.

Choosing to read A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki has been such a breath of fresh air for me in my reading slump state. It's a very intriguing story of two perspectives; a diary of a young girl and a woman who has come across this diary in mysterious circumstances and is consequently reading it. The book is beautifully lyrical in its writing that shows the true emotions of all the parties involved; this, for me, creates a completely empathetic experience whilst reading and at one point I almost started crying. (I must add that I am an emotionless robot when it comes to books)

Hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies, let us know your favourite quote of the week from what you are reading.