May 9, 2013
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald  Definitely one to read before the new fancypants movie comes out! I must admit it took me two attempts to finish this. When I initially read it a few years back I was drawn in by the poetic language and majestic parties but then lost in the interwoven story. Reading it again now though I was able to plow through and my gosh is it worth it. Such a staggering ending I had to re-read the last pages to check I got it right. And yet such a fitting ending too, how else could Gatsby’s life play out but in misery. 

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald 


Definitely one to read before the new fancypants movie comes out! I must admit it took me two attempts to finish this. When I initially read it a few years back I was drawn in by the poetic language and majestic parties but then lost in the interwoven story. Reading it again now though I was able to plow through and my gosh is it worth it. Such a staggering ending I had to re-read the last pages to check I got it right. And yet such a fitting ending too, how else could Gatsby’s life play out but in misery. 

January 4, 2013

“The Garden of Evening Mists” Tan Twan Eng

What I feel should have won the Man Booker Prize. A great book if you enjoy a bit of fantastically written literature, history, love, war, culture, gardens, tattoos, life. 

The basic story line is that a young Malayan woman decides to build a Japanese garden as a memorial for her sister. However the story is so much more than that. There is her background, being in a Japanese war camp. Her gardener - a Japanese man himself. Her friend, a South African who was in the Boer War. The politics and dangers of the time. It would be impossible to write a justified review for the book as it’s words are so beautiful I cannot do it justice. Similarly the characters are so real and intriguing so that even though we have nothing in common, I still wanted a part of their world. 

December 16, 2012 • 1 note

‘Things Fall Apart’ Chinua Achebe

A book very different to what I normally read but I’m glad I did. In a nutshell it tells the tale of a village leader trying to make his way in a hard life, which is not helped at all by the arrival of foreigners to the village. 

I found the cultural differences really interesting. For example, to explain why infants are still-born or die young, they say an evil child is tormenting the mother by being reborn and dying over and over. So when the main protagonist’s favourite child is one of these ‘evil children’ it makes her part in the story so much more special. When she falls ill is one of the only times we see a caring side to Okonkwo. He’s an isolating character but still the story had me hooked and while the end was surprising, it summed up the book well. 

September 27, 2012
Wool - Hugh Howey Finally, a sci-fi book where the plot-line makes sense (well at least to me). I loved this book, couldn’t put it down. That all comes down to the writing, how well the story is created, and Hugh Howey has done an excellent job. Without giving away the plot too much, Wool tells the story of a society living in a silo, an underground, downward tunneling enclosure. The current generation have never known the outside world, believing it to be toxic and so are content to live their rigid and controlled lives believing whatever is told to them. But of course lies always come to surface in the end, and if the outside world is not what it seems then what will happen to the carefully controlled silo… I loved this book for its characters because I felt like I could really picture them in my head and feel their emotions. They all seemed so real and all really believed in their morals, be them right or wrong. I feel that this made the story so much more than a sci-fi tale, but one about humanity as well.

Wool - Hugh Howey


Finally, a sci-fi book where the plot-line makes sense (well at least to me). I loved this book, couldn’t put it down. That all comes down to the writing, how well the story is created, and Hugh Howey has done an excellent job.

Without giving away the plot too much, Wool tells the story of a society living in a silo, an underground, downward tunneling enclosure. The current generation have never known the outside world, believing it to be toxic and so are content to live their rigid and controlled lives believing whatever is told to them. But of course lies always come to surface in the end, and if the outside world is not what it seems then what will happen to the carefully controlled silo…

I loved this book for its characters because I felt like I could really picture them in my head and feel their emotions. They all seemed so real and all really believed in their morals, be them right or wrong. I feel that this made the story so much more than a sci-fi tale, but one about humanity as well.

September 22, 2012

Dare Me - Megan Abbott

This is more of an anti review (as in I didn’t like it).

It’s an odd concept for an adults book, writing about teenage cheerleaders, through the disconnected thoughts of the cheerleader. I have to ask.. who would be interested? It did however get good reviews…

Though I didn’t/ couldn’t finish it, the story line is pretty obvious, something horrible is going to happen to the self-centred, senseless cheerleaders. Maybe it’s a good concept in theory but the execution just seems like a pathetic jab.

September 22, 2012 • 8,844 notes • youngned

(via storiesliveinusforever)

September 1, 2012
The Secret Keeper - Kate Morton They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but we all do right. So it wouldn’t be like me to ever pick up this Kate Morton book, with a picture of an old-fashioned lady on the cover. However this one particular lunchtime I was bored enough to give it a go and I’m so glad that I did. The intertwining story moves with enough drama to keep you hooked and the ending had my heart thumping. The story begins with Lauren, back when she’s a child in the 60s going about her merry way when she witnesses a horrible event – her mother stabbing to death a strange man who turns up out of the blue. From here the story flows between Lauren’s modern day life and that of her mother’s secret past during wartime London. Kate Morton seems to have mastered the art of cliff-hanger chapter endings as well as creating multi-dimensional characters, it’s impossible to know who to trust until the truth is told right at the end. Finally, a completely unrelated fact, but any author who manages to mention Harry Potter (well) gets my praise. “She smiled with a dazed lack of comprehension (Hogwarts?), he met it with one of sympathetic realisation (Muggle), and they both moved on” (p.417).

The Secret Keeper - Kate Morton

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but we all do right. So it wouldn’t be like me to ever pick up this Kate Morton book, with a picture of an old-fashioned lady on the cover. However this one particular lunchtime I was bored enough to give it a go and I’m so glad that I did. The intertwining story moves with enough drama to keep you hooked and the ending had my heart thumping.

The story begins with Lauren, back when she’s a child in the 60s going about her merry way when she witnesses a horrible event – her mother stabbing to death a strange man who turns up out of the blue. From here the story flows between Lauren’s modern day life and that of her mother’s secret past during wartime London.

Kate Morton seems to have mastered the art of cliff-hanger chapter endings as well as creating multi-dimensional characters, it’s impossible to know who to trust until the truth is told right at the end.

Finally, a completely unrelated fact, but any author who manages to mention Harry Potter (well) gets my praise. “She smiled with a dazed lack of comprehension (Hogwarts?), he met it with one of sympathetic realisation (Muggle), and they both moved on” (p.417).

September 1, 2012 • 65,328 notes • natsmum

(via storiesliveinusforever)

September 1, 2012 • 194 notes • curingthedeliria

“Green is for supplies. Yellow when there’s been a delay. So what does red mean?”

For a moment I see fear flashing in Hunter’s eyes, and suddenly I am cold again.

“Red means run,” he says.

(via storiesliveinusforever)

August 1, 2012 • 20 notes • findingalaughingplace
I want to go to where ever this is

I want to go to where ever this is