"The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmler Bradley

Oh my goodness where to begin.

This book was absolutely amazing, and I have no idea how I can possibly do it justice here, without actually revealing the whole plot. Actually I'm not sure I could even do that it's so complex, and to be honest I'm not sure I remember all the details.

This is a huge book too, it took me about a week and a half to read, and that's without doing anything else on the side.

It's basically, if I'm to be extremely brief, a retelling of the legend of Arthur, but from the point of view of the women surrounding him, especially his sister Morgan le Fay (named Morgaine in this version of the story). She's really the main character of the story, but we see the point of views of all the important female characters from the original legends (the Lady of the lake, Vivianne, Nimue, Gwenhywfar, etc).

So first of all instead of approaching the story from a male point of view, we see in all through the eyes of women, and a great variety of women too.

There's also a whole lot of religion in this book. Ms Bradley shows the conflict between the old Druid religion, worshipping nature and the Goddess, and the new Christian religion worshipping Christ. So again there's this conflict between a patriarchal point of view and a matriarchal one. This is an important plot key that appears again and again as the story progresses.

The book starts as Morgaine is just a young girl of five years old, and Arthur isn't even born yet, and the book follows the path of her entire life, until we finish with Morgaine as an old woman remembering the days of her youth. So the story takes place over at the very least a good fifty years.

And it's just so good. You see her go through all these changes as she adapts to these situations, and how she reacts to what life throws at her. You see her defend her beliefs against all odds, how she both helps and attacks Arthur, how she simultaneously loves and hates him.

And the older she gets, the more she sees things differently, and she does things that she swore she would never do and vice versa.

It's just a fantastic book, it's definitely become one of my favourites and I would not hesitate to read it again sometime. To think I almost didn't read it because I thought it looked too ordinary and boring.

100% would recommend.

"The Red Queen" by Philippa Gregory

I can't even remember why I got this actually. Usually I do, but it's just a blank in this case. I mean I ordered it so there must have been a reason...

In any case I ordered it, and I read it, and I didn't like it very much.

I found it boring actually, it felt like I was reading a really long historical complaint. And I know that Philippa Gregory specialises in historical novels, but that does not mean that they have to be so dull.

And I like history! I think it's great! But the main character here, Margaret Beaufort was just annoying and self righteous and not all that interesting.

She's a very religious person and she's completely convinced of her own greatness. She's persuaded that she has her own personal connexion with God, who apparently speaks to her directly.

And her destiny (or so she believes) is to put her son Henry Tudor on the throne. And so first of all you have to hear her moan about her marriage to her first two husbands (whom were chosen by her mother), and then you have to wait until Henry is actually old enough to understand what a throne is, and then there's the multiple plots and plans to overthrow the kings currently in place.

All this with Margaret moaning about what she deserves, and what God owes her, and why she's so much better than everyone else.

Boring.

And of course she moans about how her York cousins are in power, when the throne should be in the hands of her side of the family (the Lancaster cousins).

This is meant to be series, and the second book is called "The White Queen", but I'll not be getting it. I'm just not interested enough.

"Javady Alley" by Manny Shirazi

This story takes place in Iran while political power was still in the hands of the Shah, therefore it takes place because the coup that put the current Islamic power in place (at least I think so, I have to admit my knowledge on this matter is quite limited).

The whole story is entirely told from the point of view of a little girl named Homa. Her family consists of her mother, her father, her grandmother, her younger brother, and her baby sister.

Being so little (she's about eight years old) she's very influenced by the adults in her life. He grandmother is very religious, but her parents are not religious at all, so she often has conflicting and changing views on how she wants to be.

She doesn't have a very happy family life (her father beats her mother, who isn't very affectionate with her children bar the youngest), so she often tries to escape to play in her neighbourhood with her friends. Homa has a family life filled with conflict.

And when she's out playing she needs to keep away from frankly pretty lecherous religious leaders who disapprove of little girls playing outside instead of helping their mothers, while also keeping an ear out for her parents in case they call her.

Her father is hardly ever home, he works all the time, and he is a communist activist, something that was illegal at the time (the Shah having very close relations with the USA). His mother (Homa's Grandmother) hates it because she believes that he should be more grateful to God for providing him for what he has.

The time during which this tale takes place is a time of great political upheaval, the Shah being contested from all directions apart from the States. There are the communists, the supporters of the Shah and the Islamist extremists.

Homa sees all this form the perspective of a small child, and so we see it the same way. We see but we don't necessarily understand why theses things are happening.

It's a very interesting story, it's quite bittersweet, because Homa doesn't seem to have a life that predisposes her towards happiness, but she strives for it anyway. It's quite uplifting really.

"Sula" by Toni Morrison

My mother gave me this book, and I read it today cause it's not a very big book, and I was looking for something to keep me occupied but not for too long.

It was really quite sad! I wasn't expecting sad! It took me by surprise.

I was expecting some conflict, and maybe a little exploring but there was so much more than that. This book is all about relationships, how they are made, how they are broken and how they can be mended or left broken.

It really explored all relationships too. Romantic relationships, friendships, family ties...

And it showed that all kinds of love can break your heart, just as well by a friend or family member as it can be broken by a lover.

The main relationship that is explored though is the relationship between Sula and her best friend Nel. At first when they are young everything is easy and they share everything. But later on their relationship is broken because of their inability to share absolutely everything in their lives.

When this happens you see Nel and Sula, both completely heartbroken over this event, react to their separate heartbreaks in a completely different manner.

In this novel the author also shows how one person can affect an entire group of people just by her presence. In this case Sula becomes the person to blame for everything and anything that goes wrong. She's seen as immoral, someone to hid the children from. No one approaches, or even really speaks to her anymore and it's quite sad because she's not really a bad person. She's just different.

And because she represents to all the people living in her area the very embodiment of degradation and sin, they actually lead better lives because they want to prove themselves better than her. Reverse psychology basically.

All in all a lovely, if quite sad, novel.

"When will there be good news?" by kate Atkinson

I very rarely read books like this, not because I don't think they're any good but because they're just not my favourite kind of genre. They just don't interest me that much.

This novel was given to me by the mother of my best friend and the other day I decided that I might as well give it a shot.

I didn't like it very much. It wasn't a bad book, I just didn't find it very original. It was a bit bland to be honest.

Bad thing happens to nice person, years go by, bad thing resurfaces...
The person has tried to move on, and has made a life for themselves, and the newest person to come in to that persons life just wants to help.
And then the people who are working to help (i.e. the police) have relationship issues to do with their career, and it's all just so very predictable.

I don't want to make it seem like this was a dreadful book because it wasn't. Some of the characters were really cool, and all of them, even the more boring ones, were very well developed, and the back stories weren't all dull.

If you're into crime novels you'd probably like it I guess. Maybe I just don't like the genre, who knows.

"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë

Every now and again I decide to read a classic. This time I chose "Wuthering Heights" for no particular reason, other than the fact that I happened to own a copy. Also my best friend loves it so I kind o wanted to understand why.

I really enjoyed it, even though I found it hard to get into at first. I think I had to make myself read the first three or four chapters, but after that it just went really smoothly.

This is quite a dark novel, because it's all about revenge, and grief, and manipulation. In this story love isn't portrayed as a good thing, it's shown more as something that causes quite a lot of trouble and heartbreak.

It shows you that one event can have consequences that can last for years, and that sometimes people are awful. Like really really awful. I mean Heathcliff, one of the main characters, that guy really knows how to hold a grudge. I mean really. Wow.

Towards the end I was just holding my breath for a happy ending, because nothing good seemed to happen to anyone, and to be really honest most of them deserved it. I mean it's the first time I've read a book where almost all the characters are just atrocious human beings.

All in all a good read, and its a classic so you get the added benefit of being able to be a snob to be who haven't read it.

"Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood

This book was given to me by my mother, which is not something that usually happens since we tend to read fairly different types of books. But she really enjoyed this one and left in my room, and I figured why not? It certainly looked interesting.

I did not regret my decision, not one bit.

This is a type of historical novel, only not quite. How to explain... The main character, Grace Marks, was a woman who actually existed, but seeing as not much of her actual life is known, the whole story is fiction. So fiction based on a real character. Yeah that's about it.

Grace Marks was a young woman living in Canada who was arrested in the 19th century at the age of 16 for murder, along with her accomplice James McDermott. He was hanged for his crimes, but seeing as no one was really sure if Grace was guilty or not she was just sentenced to life in prison instead.

The story is told from many different perspectives, Grace tells her story in the first person, and her doctors impressions of her are told in the third person. There are also a few chapters that are entirely epistolary. It's an interesting mix, and it's the first time I've read a book that's mixed them all up like that.

She explains her life as a servant, her life in the asylum, her life in jail... You really get to see how she ended up in her position, what or who influenced her decisions and why.

Also what I found really funny was the fact that, for a suspected murderess, she actually seemed like an extremely moral and forgiving human being. Go figure.

It's a very interesting read, it's very detailed, and you are never entirely sure what you are supposed to believe.

It's not a quick or easy read. You need to settle down quietly to read it, and take your time over a few days to really take it all in. It's definitely worth it though, it' really is a great book.

"The Black Magician" trilogy by Trudi Canavan

This trilogy was lent to me by a very good friend of mine. She'd actually lent me the first book a few years ago and I really liked it, but then exams happened and typical school drama, and so I got distracted and didn't get to read the sequels.

Then recently I went over to her place and I found them so I asked to borrow the trilogy and read the whole thing this time. Obviously she agreed.

I love magic, I live books on magic, I love fairy tales, and all that sort of stuff. If you're like me then you will enjoy this  trilogy cause it's got all the necessary  ingredients for a good fantasy novel. Also it's a light enough read and so it's actually quite relaxing.

The main character is a girl named Sonea who lives in the slum part of her city, Imardin. In Imardin there is a famous and well known magicians guild that only accepts novices from noble born families, and so when Sonea proves that she's extremely powerful they are pretty much forced to take her in and teach her to control her magic.

So throughout the book there isn't not just a mindless "magic fixes all" energy going on, there's also some class conflict, and a certain amount of social commentary which is interesting.

There's also some political conflict which eventually leads to war, and forces a lot of people to change the way that they see things.

It's a good story, and Sonea is a likable character, she's able, and strong-minded, and flexible, and kind. She's a good person that does her best to help as many people as she can with the means offered to her.

So if you're into fantasy and magic I would recommend this trilogy. 

"Pyramids" by Terry Pratchett

This is one of the more stand alone books in the Discworld series. Mind you, you can read almost all of them without having read the others, and in any order too. But in this case there is only one Discworld novel with these particular characters and it is this one.

It's not my favourite Discworld novel, but it's still brilliantly hilarious, as all Discworld novels are. In my opinion, and I'm not alone, Terry Pratchett is a genius. Truly.

This story is about a boy named Teppic who is the prince of a small country that is basically meant to parody ancient Egypt. He's sent off to the city to be educated by the guild of assassins (who apparently offer a wonderful curriculum), and graduates before having to return home a little early cause his dad is dead and so he's the new God of Djelibeybi. That's when his trouble begins.

See because Teppic has been educated he's not entirely sure he likes what he's supposed to be, i.e an aloof God who doesn't actually do anything important cause everything is run by the priests, who are obviously all completely bonkers and fanatical. The Gods they represent are even worse.

Anyway Teppic tries to change that and everything goes absolutely haywire, and it's the most absolute fun to read, so please do. In fact read everything by Terry Pratchett. That's the best advice I could give anyone really.

"Angels and Insects" by A.S Byatt

This is a book that I got for free in exchange for some work (with it I also received about fourteen other books gratos. That was an awesome day). The former owner of this book had actually met A.S Byatt, and she had signed his copy, which is now mine.

I took this book cause I thought that the name was cool, and there was nothing written at the back of the book so the title really was all I had to go on. Meaning I was either going to be utterly disappointed or very pleased.

I ended up pretty pleased.

I didn't realise at first when I started reading that it was actually two novellas, but I caught on quick enough. The first novella is insects themed, and the second is angel themed.

In the first novella the main character is a man named William in the 19th century. He studies bugs, he loves them. He went to the amazon for ten years just to observe and learn about them. The novella is about how he comes back to England, falls in love, gets married and becomes quite unhappy because he is no longer able to follow his dreams. He feels trapped until he discovers a disturbing secret which sets him free again.

The second novella has many different characters and many different plots that are all connected to angels, that is to say the dead. All of the characters regularly meet up for a seance to try to speak to their departed loved ones. The novella is all about how the go about that, why they do it, and how they live and experience their grief.

Personally I preferred the second novella, I found it more interesting, whereas I though that the first one, while still good, was a little too slow, a little too long. It almost became boring at some points.

However they were both very interesting and I really would advise you to read them both.

"The Walking Dead" series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore & Charlie Adlard

I've read the Walking Dead comic book series up to episode fourteen. I'm waiting for my stepdad to order episode fifteen and sixteen (he always orders them in twos). Naturally he should be the one to introduce me to this series.

I don't regret it though. It's pretty awesome. Depressing though.

Seriously guys, don't read this if don't want to feel sad, or grossed out, or just generally upset. It's not a happy story. Basically it's a Zombie Apocalypse, and we follow a small group of survivors as they, well, survive.

And you get to see how they grieve for their lost companions, and how they adapt to the new world, and how they develop. People who start out as pretty moral human beings, begin to get crueler and harsher because it's a kill or be killed world now.

For a story about zombies I've got to say it does a pretty good job on the social commentary.

It can get pretty intense at times, and by that I mean it's actually kind of realistic, as long as you can accept the fact that dead people are walking around eating people. Like there is no guaranty that you're going to survive because you're a kid, or a pregnant woman, or pretty, or even tough. Anyone can die anytime, and that's what makes it so realistic. The zombie killing machines make no concessions just like war killing machines.

One of the main plots of the story, apart from trying to not get eaten by zombies, is the fact that this group of survivors is desperately trying to find a home, a place where they can sleep at night without fear. A hard job I must say. And even when they do find a place that seems safe, you're never sure that they actually are.

It's a good series. It's really depressing, but it's good. The TV show isn't too bad either.

"Sophie's Choice" by William Styron

Well this certainly was a long and hard read. It took me ages to get through it really did, and usually I'm quite a fast reader.

I'm not entirely sure where to start. The narrator, and I suppose the main character of this book, is a young twenty two year old man named Stingo. How to describe Stingo... In three words I would say that Stingo is self obsessed, horny and madly in love with Sophie.

I didn't like Stingo very much, which was fairly annoying seeing as he was the one telling the whole story, the story being the one of the relationship between Sophie and her boyfriend Nathan in the year 1947, just after the war. And they don't exactly have a stable and easygoing relationship that's for certain.

He also tells us of Sophie's life in Auschwitz during the war.

Stingo meets Sophie and Nathan when he takes lodgings in a home in Brooklyn. Nathan is an American Jew and Sophie is a Polish Catholic who survived imprisonment in Auschwitz.

Throughout the entire book you follow Stingo slowly unravelling the secrets of Sophie's past. At first it seems like there is not much to discover, she only says that she survived. But more Stingo gets to know Sophie, and the closer he gets to her the more he, and through him we, realise just how much she went through, and what terrible thinks she's rather no one ever knew. You have to go through all of her lies and half truths before you finally get to the truth.

All that plus the actual present relationship of Nathan and Sophie as I said before. Nathan is quite deranged and Sophie is completely devoted and infatuated with him. So you can see how that might not exactly be a healthy relationship.

I don't know. It's a good book, the story is sad but well written. My only actual problem is that I really disliked Stingo. Other than that I have no real complaints.

"Making Money" by Terry Pratchett

The Discworld series is one of my all time most favourite book series, and it has been for a while. I've been reading Terry Pratchett books since I was nine years old, and they just keep getting better and better every time I reread them.

I'm not sure how many times I've read "Making Money". I've read it more than once that's for sure. It's one of my favourite Discworld novels.

"Making Money" is the sequel to "Going Postal" (also brilliant by the way), but you don't need to have read the first book to understand or enjoy it.

The main characters name is Moist Von Lipwig (not joking, that's his actual name), and he is a criminal turned respectable gentleman. In "Making Money" he is given the job if restoring the city's bank to it's former glory, so that the city's leader, that is to say tyrant, can borrow some money to modernise the city.

Thus begins a hilarious chain of events.

There's also a few very well developed side plots, that are eventually very important for the development of the main plot.

Really though it is a wonderful story. The plot is great, the humour is fantastic, and the pacing is spot on. Terry Pratchett is one of my very favourite actors and so far he has completely failed to disappoint me, for which I am eternally grateful.

So please read this. Please do. It's wonderful it really is.

"The Seeker" by Sudhir Kakar

This is a novel that works like a type of biography. The plot follows the story of the friendship between Mahatma Gandhi and an English woman named Madeleine Slade (also known by her nickname Mira, and who was a real person who actually existed).

It was quite good because it told the story from the point of view of a man who loved Gandhi telling the story of a woman who loved Gandhi, and from their point of views you get to see and observe Gandhi himself. You see?

In fact this woman, Mira/Madeleine Slade, loved Gandhi so much that in 1925 she left England, her family and her entire lifestyle and culture behind to go join him in his Ashram in Sabarmati. She gave up meat and alcohol and sleeping in a bed, all for him.

She made a a vow and promised to remain celibate for the rest of her days, and she promised to serve him faithfully in his mission to free India from the British in a completely non violent way.

Throughout the book you see just how devoted to Gandhi Mira was. She believed in him to such an extent that in her mind he became a sort of God. What's funny about this is that not only was Mira English, but her father was a British admiral. She pretty much swapped sides and gave up everything to follow her new God.

But what I found particularly interesting about "The Seeker" are the glances into Gandhi's personal life and how he really was. Mira became a great friend of his you see, and she was one of his closest disciples. And he was harsh with her sometimes, just like he was harsh with all his closest friends and family members.

He could be quite demanding and if you made what he considered a mistake he would get angry.

I love Gandhi because of his views on non violence and all that, just like a lot of people. The fact that he was flawed and could get angry doesn't make me like him any less, it actually just makes him seem far more human.

In any case this was a very interesting read, and it told the story of Gandhi's mission towards building a non violent freedom fighter army in a fairly clear and direct way.

The "A song of ice and fire" series by George R. R. Martin

First of all let me start off by saying that these books are huge. Like really, really tremendously big. I had to get up and check but every book is about 1000 pages long.

It took me quite a long time to read these and I admit I took a little break after book 3 before continuing on with books 4 and 5. Not because they weren't brilliant but because my brain had become entirely saturated with the plots and the intrigues of the series.

Also heartbreak. Lots and lots of heartbreak. Heartbreak is not something that these books lack that's for certain.

How to explain these books. "A song of ice and fire" is a medieval fantasy series, and in this series everyone wants the throne. And so throughout the series we see the perspectives of multiple pretenders to the throne. Some demand it, some are trying to keep it, some believe it's theirs to take back, and some believe it's theirs to take away.

There is no true baddie. And there are no real good guys either. At the beginning you might absolutely hate this one character and you just want him to die. And then he (or she) is redeemed. And vice versa.

Another thing in "A song of ice and fire"? No character is safe. Not one. Everyone and anyone can die at any moment. This series is so full of twists and turns you would hardly believe it. In book 5 some characters have ended up in places and situations you never would have guessed in book 1. 

If you are wondering why I haven't spoken about the main character yet it's because there is no one main character but instead there are dozens. And I guarantee that you will end up having at least three favourites that are on opposite sides. So basically no mater whoever wins the throne we will all end up in tears.

There are still two more books to come out in "A song if ice and fire" so I don't know who will win in the end. Only George R. R. Martin himself knows I imagine. This man has killed off so many beloved characters I'm actually afraid for the next two books. Excited yes. But very, very afraid.

And on one last note I would tell you (if you didn't already know, and I'd be surprised frankly if you didn't) that "A song of ice and fire" is being adapted into a television series by HBO (so expect nudity and violence) called "Game of Thrones", and it is fantastic, just like the books. That's how I personally found out about the books in the first place, I watched the show (don't anyone dare judge me).

So all of you reading this go on and read this series and watch it too! It's brilliant, absolutely fucking brilliant.

"House of many ways" by Diana Wynne Jones

"House of many ways" is the sequel to "Howls moving castle". It's a kids book at it's good enough for children I guess.

I was however quite disappointed with this book. I enjoyed "Howls moving castle" very much which is why I got the sequel in the first place. But "House of many ways" didn't have the same charms as Howl did.

First of all the main characters in Howl became secondary characters and news characters were introduced. I had been looking forward to seeing the old characters so this was quite disappointing I have to say.

Then there's the fact that I found the story to be paced far too fast. There was no time to digest any of the information before brand new information was thrown at your face.

And last of all the plot wasn't as interesting as the plot in Howl, and the magic in it wasn't half as charming and as lovely to imagine.

So all in all the plot wasn't a bad plot, and the story wasn't a bad story, it's just that "House of many ways" didn't live up to its predecessor.

I didn't hate this book. But I didn't love it or enjoy it all that much either. I much preferred "Howl's moving castle".

"The Host" by Stephenie Meyer

I didn't want to read "the Host" at first because the Twilight Saga hadn't impressed me all that much. Not that I hated it, because I didn't. I say this because Twilight is one of those books that people either hate or love. I didn't hate Twilight, but I didn't love it either. There, now that that's out of the way...

"The Host" was lent to me by a friend who convinced me to read it. And I was pleasantly surprised because I enjoyed very much. I found it interesting and quite sweet. Also the concept of the alien life forms invading earth was really cool here. Not cheesy as most alien invasions are, at least in my eyes.

In this case the aliens are actually these parasite type creatures who take over the bodies of the life forms occupying the invaded planet. And they're very peaceful creatures who don't like conflict or war or any of that stuff. So obviously they invade us. Which isn't conflictual or warish at all, no, no...

Anyway, what happens usually when the aliens take over the host body is that the previous consciousness of the human is erased. But this is the story of a girl who resists the invasion of her own body. So the alien (named wanderer) and the girl (Melanie) kind of have to learn to live with one another, seeing as they have to share a body.

It's also a love story. Melanie is in love with a man named Jared, and Wanderer feels Melanie's emotions and so falls in love with him too. And then madness ensues...

It's a good story. I definitely would recommend.

"The Age of Miracles" by Karen Thompson Walker

My auntie lent me this book on the condition that I read it in a day, because my cousin was also reading it. So it wasn't really lent to me. I guess i was pretty much ordered to plow through the thing because my auntie had liked it and thought I would too.

I read it in under five hours to my cousins shock. I don't think she expected I could read that fast. But hey! I was under pressure.

This is a story about the end of the world. But it's the slowest end of the world I've ever read about.

Basically the world starts to spin slower and slower, and so days start to get longer and longer. Days go from 24 hours long, to 26.5 hours, to 34 hours, and so on.

No one knows why this is happening. At first no one even noticed. But once they did the problems just flowed in and they didn't stop coming.

The story is told from the point of view of an eleven year old girl named Julia, who watches the world fall apart right in front of her. She explains to the reader how everything that was taken for granted in the world can no longer be relied on.

The entire world just implodes. Plants and animals start to die out, people panic and start running even though there is no where to run to, people start getting sick, crops die...

And all this happens very slowly, Julia only tells us how the world survived the first year of this disaster. She tells us about how people reacted, how some panicked completely, and how some just acted as if nothing was wrong.

An interesting and quite read. If you're interested in apocalyptic stories I do recommend this book. It's terrifyingly realistic.

"The cat who tailed a thief" by Lilian Jackson Braun

I haven't been reading much these days, because I have been desperately trying to cram information into my head for my fast approaching exams.

But I made time to read this, because everyone needs a break now and then.

This in not the first time I've read a "Cat who" novel I have read other books in the same series and they're good, but to be honest I find that once you've read one you've pretty much read them all.

It's cute series though, and it's a nice read. It's the kind of thing that I'll read when I want to read something nice and simple, something that doesn't demand my concentration (again. exams).

Basically the "Cat who" novels are all about a man named Jim Qwilleran (but for some reason everyone calls him Qwill, or mister Q) who owns two Siamese cats named Kao K'o-Kung (more commonly known as Koko for obvious reasons) and Yum-Yum.

Now this man Qwill is a crime reporter, and he lives in a small town somewhere in the united states with these two cats, and he solves crimes. They are mystery novels after all.

But he's not really the one solving the crimes. Nope. That's Koko's job. The cat is super intelligent and always manages to find ways to help Qwill save the day. The cat doesn't talk or anything. He just leaves clues by knocking stuff over and things like that.

A crime solving cat. Cool idea really.

Jim Qwilleren does most of the work though, and the story is seen entirely through his eyes. Koko just points him the right direction most of the time. And Yum-Yum doesn't do much at all. Figures that the cat that doesn't have a real role is that cat that's a girl.

Other than that they are a good read. I would recommend them for when you want a fun read that isn't going to change your life in any way.

"The Great Gatsby" by F.Scott Fitzgerald

I've had this book lying around in my room for ages, and to be honest it was at the bottom of my never ending list of books I have that need to be read.

But then I saw the trailer for the movie and I had no idea what was going on. Not one single clue. I remembered vaguely that I owned a copy somewhere but I had no idea it was such a popular book, let alone that it was basically a classic.

Anyway I decided that I should read it cause the trailer had intrigued me, and I'm not one to argue with the classics.

And I'm glad that I did read it because I really enjoyed it, and I thought that it was really good! I also found it really easy to read, and by that I mean that the chapters just flew by really fast.

I thought that the character of Gatsby was really fascinating because you never really find out who he is,  or what he did to become so amazingly rich. All you really know about him is that he really loves his sweetheart (who is married because it would just be too easy otherwise).

The story is set in the twenties, right after the first world war, and before the recession. So its smack in the middle of the jazzy "lets have fun and forget the horrors of war" age.

It's quite bittersweet if you want the truth. No one really gets what they want or what they deserve.

In any case now I'm really looking forward to the movie. Although I' a little annoyed cause all the movies I want to see are coming out during my exams. Thanks movies.

"Murder on the Orient express" by Agatha Christie

I don't usually read mystery crime novels, but when I was at my grandmothers she gave me this. And I though to myself ''hey its a classic! And Mam (my grandmother) gave it to you''!
So I read it. Obviously.

It was ok. I don't think it was extraordinary though.

A lot of people will have read this book, because it's been here for a while. Which is why I'm not sure what to say about it. And seeing as it's a murder mystery I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has.

So basics only.

The main character is a detective, and his name is Hercule Poirot. He's from Belgium. And he's... smart. He's a really good, really famous detective. He speaks I don't even know how many languages, I mean in this book alone he spoke English, French and German at least.

And he's just solved a mystery so he's on his way back to England (cause that's where he works apparently) and he takes the Orient express, a train that crosses Europe. Everything is going well, he's in first class, he's got a pal to keep him company.

And then a murder happens. Obviously.

So he gets asked to investigate, and he does and eventually he figures out who did it even though the plot of the murder really is ridiculously convoluted.

I'm not sure why I didn't appreciate this book all that much. Maybe it was too slow, maybe the plot didn't intrigue me enough. Or maybe I just don't appreciate the genre enough.

But if you like murder mysteries go ahead I'm you you'll like it better than I did.

"Picnic at hanging rock" by Joan Lindsay

My stepfather gave me this to read, which was why I was a little wary when I started reading it. He has a tendency to give me some creepy and/or odd things to read and watch.

Surprise surprise... it was weird. Good. But really odd. To be completely honest I'm not even sure what it was even about, or what actually happened.

Long story short this book confused me.

It's about these girls that disappear in the Australian bush. So you read the story and you follow these girls up to the point where you know they're going to disappear (cause it's written on the back of the book) and then nothing. Nothing at all. They're gone. Gone. And that's it.

The rest of the book is about the reactions of the people who were affected by their disappearance. And no one in the book knows what happened. Which means that when you read the book, you have no idea what happened.

And it's very, very frustrating.

And throughout the whole book you just keep wondering, and to keep myself calm I kept telling myself that all would be resolved at the end when we would finally find out what happened to the girls, and why and how they disappeared.

Yeah that didn't happen.

It was a good read though. It was interesting to see the different reactions of the people in the story depending on their characters, and even their social status.

I just wish that I knew what happened to those girls.

"Animal Farm" by George Orwell

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others"

So this was one of the most depressing and terrifying books I've ever read. Long story short its the best metaphor ever created to represent the Bolshevik revolution in 1917.

An entire revolution and movement recreated in a farm, where the Tsar is the farmer, the Bolshevik leaders are the pigs, and the rest of the animals represent the people.

And it's horrible it really is, because it starts out so hopeful.
Its the animals rising against the oppression and cruelty of man, becoming free and ruling themselves.
All animals are equal, there will be no masters, and none shall be above the rest.

Then it all goes wrong. Because some of them are smarter than the others. In other words the pigs take over, and take advantage of the innocence, stupidity and trust of the others.

Propaganda is a big theme of this book. Its everywhere. After every speech from the boss pig, his most trusted adviser goes around the farm convincing the animals that all their sacrifices are for the greater good.
And this very same pig gives them reports saying how life has improved since the rebellion, giving out false statistics and retelling history to the pigs advantage.

Its all the more terrifying when you know that this is actually what happened in Russia. The propaganda I mean. Not the pigs.

Its scary stuff, it really is. I would definitely advise you to read this. It's food for thought, especially on the matters of propaganda and manipulation.

"Howl's moving castle" by Diana Wynne Jones

Cute. That's the first word that come to my mind when I think of this book. Really really cute.

I love kids stories, and I love fairy tales, and I love magic. So obviously I love this book because it is all of these wrapped into one. And it's so lovely I can't even begin to explain.

This story takes place in an imaginary land where magic is an every day occurrence and the main character is a young girl named Sophie Hatter.

I love Sophie Hatter because at the beginning of the story she is so shy and afraid of everything. She's a mouse and she doesn't like going outside because she doesn't feel safe in the crowds outside her home. Basically I can relate to her very very much.

And it's so great because despite all of this fear she goes off and has an adventure anyway, even if she didn't exactly plan it.

Now Sophie gets cursed by and evil witch who turns Sophie into a ninety year old woman. Sophie then goes off to try and find someone who can fix her, but she can't actually tell anyone that she's cursed.

And that's when she finds Howl's moving castle.

Howl is a sorcerer and he is supposed to be an evil man who eats woman's hearts. Turns out he's just a terrible flirt who breaks women's hearts. Nuance.

Sophie goes on to make a deal with a fire demon and becomes friends with Howls apprentice and it's just a really lovely story. A modern day fairy tale if you will.

And if you're not reader (in which case I'd be curious to know why you're reading this) you don't have to read the book to go on this adventure with Sophie.

Normally I never say watch a movie if you can read the book, but in this case I will. In fact the best thing here would be to do both. So the movie is also called Howl's moving castle and its a cartoon by Hayao Miyazaki, and it is terrific. It really really is.

So my advice is the following : read the book, then watch the cartoon. It's worth your time I promise.

"The perks of being a wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

So "The perks of being a wallflower".

Not entirely sure what I think of this one to be honest. I liked it, I really did, but it's not really the kind of book I would read over and over again.

Now I know this is a really popular book so don't hate me. Like I said before I did think it was good and I thought it was really interesting and well done and I read it in one go.

So I am very far from saying that I didn't like this book. Right so now that's been cleared up, let us move on.

This book is an epistolary novel, and basically what that means is that it's in the form of letters written by a boy who says that his name is Charlie to an unknown person. So really the book is made to look as if the letters have been sent to you and you are the unknown friend. You're made to feel as if you are directly involved in the story.

He says that his name is Charlie because he wants to remain anonymous. So at the very beginning he tells us that all the people that he names, including himself, are fake names just in case. And then he tells us all about what happens to him.

Charlie is really smart, and shy, and he's not mentally 100% well. And by this I don't mean he's crazy, I just mean that he seems to have trouble understanding the world, and people in it. I understood this as him being slightly autistic, but I guess that's just the way I saw it.

Charlie seems to go through a lot, and so do his friends. There seems to be a lot of trauma for everyone. It's kind of sad. Nothing is easy for any of them.

Bittersweet. I think that's the perfect word to describe this book.

It's bittersweet because throughout the entire book there's this one consistent theme : the ones who you love the most (or the ones you think that you love the most), hurt you the most. And Charlie has such a large family and yet he seems to be completely isolated.

It's an interesting read that's for sure.

"The fault in our stars" by John Green

I got "The fault in our stars" yesterday in the post and I finished it yesterday after reading through it in one obsessive go.

So yeah I liked it.

I cried though. So if you like crying because of fictional characters then read this book. And if you don't well read this book anyway. It's worth it.

Why all the crying? Well to say it in a completely spoiler free way it's about kids with cancer. There. Now without even knowing what happens, or who the characters are you already know that crying will be involved for a complete legitimate and reasonable reason.

But really this story is about a young girl called Hazel Grace who falls in love. And it's lovely it really is. It's very sweet, and simple, and sad.

It's also very real, and by that I mean that there's no scenes with a balcony and a guitar. It's more like "Oh I think you're really hot and I enjoy talking to you wanna hang out yeah awesome cool". And yet it's still somehow really sweet and and kind of romantic. How the fuck did you do that John Green? Seriously though. How?

And even though it's a love story, and a sad story about kids with cancer, this book also manages to be quite funny, with witty sarcastic characters (those are my favourite kind).

So all that babbling to say please read this. It's good I swear. Also you have read this and you did enjoy it (or didn't cause that does happen) then you are awesome! Reading is life, and I have to say it's really awesome to find a book that I can read in one sitting without getting distracted by tv shows. There's nothing better than a good book.

"The Protector of the Small" series by Tamora Pierce

So first of all I'm going to start off by saying that Tamora Pierce is one of my all time favourite authors. She is fucking awesome. Her stories are always great, and addictive, and don't even get me started on the characters.

So yeah. I like her a lot. And so now I'm going to try and convince you guys that you should too (and if you already do, well then GO YOU!).

Right so "The Protector of the Small" is a quartet that takes place in a fantasy medieval land called Tortall. Now Tamora Pierce has written many stories about Tortall, some of which take place before this quartet, and while you don't necessarily need to have read the previous stories it does help.

The main character of this series is a girl named Kelandry of Mindelan (but everyone just calls her Kel, so I'll do that here too), and she wants to be a knight. And so the extremely basic resumé of this story would be the following : girl wants to be knight, struggles to prove herself because she is a girl in a mans world, proves herself, becomes a knight, has adventures.

But like I said that's only if you want to be really basic.

Now like I said before reading the previous books helps understand some of the stuff that goes on. Like why is it so hard for her to become a knight? Well in previous books Tamora Pierce wrote about a character named Alanna who to become a Knight needs to disguise herself as a boy, and she ends up becoming the kings champion and proving to all the kingdom of Tortall that girls can be tough and ferocious too (God I love you Tamora). And since she's done this the King decided that if girls want they can try out for knighthood too without the whole getting disguised as a boy thing.

And this is where Kel come in. She is the very first girl to sign up for knighthood as an actual girl. And she has to put up with a shitload of prejudiced people, who think that because she's a girl she automatically sucks at anything to do with fighting, or physical strength. In the first book she's actually put on probation because no one wants her to succeed. But not only does she succeed she ends up being one of the best in her class, and ends up gaining lots of respect from her fellow Knights and from the Nobles and the common folk.

And to make things even better not only is she an excellent role model for any girl who wants to do something that is considered as typically male, she's also a wonderful character. She's extremely likable, and you really want her to do well. You want her to succeed, and you want her to be happy. She's wonderful.

And this is something that is common books written my Tamora Pierce. She always writes amazing heroines, and they prove that girls can do what boys can do. And it's great to read a book about a girl who is tough, and who is able to take care of herself.

Tamora Pierce creates amazing role models for young girls, and I for one love her for it.

So if you want to read about an amazing heroine in an amazing land filled with magic and adventure, please read "The Protector of the Small" series by Tamora Pierce. And then read all her other books. You won't regret it, I swear.

An introduction

So this is a blog on which I will tell you all about the books I'm reading, good and bad (but hopefully mostly good).

It'll be kind of like an online bookclub except that I'm alone.

Posting will be irregular, basically whenever I finish a book, and that depends on the size of the book and the speed at which I read it.