"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.