/ Blogger's Bookshelf

Sunday, 10 February 2013

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging | Louise Rennison | Review

I have some sad news. This will be my last scheduled review for Blogger's Bookshelf. I'll be taking a step back from blogging for a while but will hopefully contribute every now and then for guest posts. I was originally going to review The Host by Stephanie Meyer for you all as the trailers for the book adaption have started to appear on the net. But, I've had a change of heart. I've decided for my last review I'd love to review my first book. I call it my first book as in it was the first book I read that I really fell in love with, the one that really drew me into reading.

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging is a young adult book that I find absolutely hilarious. The book follows Georgia Nicholson's witty journal entries as she struggles with her "mortifying" life. The book really is a typical teen read, there's love, family issues and friendship battles. As a 12 year old reading this book for the first time I thought it was perfect, when I go back and read it now as an 18 year old I still feel myself relating to Georgia's life. The main plot line of this book follows hilarious ill fated crush on an older guy, "sex god" Robbie who plays in the band Stiff Dylans. Disaster strikes multiple times throughout the book in her mission to have Robbie has her own. This equals to a lot agonizing third party embarrassment moments.

Louise Rennison's characters are by far my favourite part of her books, as well as the English slang. It took a while for an Aussie like me to pick up the slang (thank god for the glossary at the back or I never would have known what snogging was). There's little in the way of character development, but the character traits and witty thoughts of Georgia are quite possibly the highlight of the books.

I also really enjoyed how the book is written in journal entries, in particular the way the entries have a time or a place sometimes. It's easy to feel like you're there with Georgia, participating in her day to day life. Louise has a way of writing in a past present that sounds like it's truly happening for the first time as you read it.

I can honestly say Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging is one of my favourites I've ever read. I have friends that I can be with and we just quote the book aloud. The book is basically a quote gold field. It's almost like Mean Girls in literature form.

There's also a very popular film adaption of the book which I was so thrilled to purchase the day it came out. It's almost as hilarious as the book, but we all know a movie adaption can never quite be perfect. The movie is a mixture of the first and second book in the Georgia Nicholson series. I recommend watching it if you haven't, Aaron Johnson goes alright for a bit of eye candy. But to be quite honest I'm a bit of a Dave the Laugh girl myself.

I'd definitely give Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging a 5 out of 5. It's my book, my first favourite book. I'll always have a copy with me in the future. I feel the themes are almost ageless and will always be hilarious. If you're up for a lighthearted read, check out this book. There's not doubt about it, you'll be laughing your knickers off!

And I'm out everyone! Happy reading - Taylah.

4 comments

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Ready Player One | Ernest Cline | Review

"It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them." Source

When OASIS creator James Halliday dies the world that worships him and his creation are presented with the ultimate challenge; Halliday has left them an Easter Egg and the one who finds it will win the ultimate prize of fortune and power.

At the beginning of Ready Player One in the five years that have passed since Halliday’s death although many people have dedicated their lives to studying his pop culture favourites in the hope of finding clues no one has yet made any progress towards finding the first of the three keys; Copper. So when main character Wade Watts, or Parzival as he is known in the OASIS, becomes the first gunter (the name for Halliday’s fans which comes from ‘egg hunters’) to obtain the key and make it through the first gate the story really kicks off. From then on it is all action as we follow Wade on his quest to find the remaining two keys (Jade and Crystal) and hopefully to also be first to find the highly sought after Easter Egg. The gunters however are not the only ones after Halliday’s prize, there is of course a villain in the form of the IOI, a global internet service provider who are out to win by finding loopholes in order to gain control of the OASIS and monetize it.

Ready Player One is definitely very geeky, there are a ton of pop-culture references from games to films, television to music and for this reason it does need a little more concentration than your average read. Don’t let this put you off though, the story is very easy to follow even if you don’t fully appreciate each and every reference because Cline has foreseen this issue and they are all sufficiently explained. Amongst the references Ready Player One tackles the modern-world issue of how you choose to represent yourself online, something which most people can relate to – even if you don’t appreciate all of the geeky references!

Protagonist Wade is a likeable and sympathetic character who makes a great guide through this fairly complicated world. Along the way he meets fellow gunters and leaderboard toppers Shoto, Daito, Aech, and most importantly Art3mis. I personally loved the relationships that form between Wade and his fellow gunters, at first each out to win for themselves but at times coming together against the IOI. Without giving away too much I particularly enjoyed the reveal of what each of these characters looked like in real life and in turn the reasons behind the designs of their OASIS avatars. Co-creator of the OASIS Ogden Morrow, or Og, is also a fantastic character.

As much as I loved the plot and characters the most impressive thing about Ready Player One was the planning. Every little detail was so well thought out and things just seemed to fall into place making it much easier to immerse yourself in Cline’s version of the world. As I was reading I found myself asking questions but just paragraphs or even sentences later I would find the answers and overall I think this makes the whole story much more convincing.

Ready Player One has certainly been one of those books that has stuck with me long after reading it, and although I had never intended to review it, here I am months later still thinking about what a great read it was. This unusual and clever debut novel from Ernest Cline is suitably geeky and extremely enjoyable. 5/5

3 comments

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

A Quick Tip For Book Recommendations!

We've discovered a new site: What Should I Read Next?

Of course places like Goodreads, Amazon and collaborative blogs like this one can all be great ways to find new books to read however I have recently discovered another way to find recommendations which I thought I would quickly share with you as it might be useful!

Enter a book you like and the site will analyse our huge database of real readers' favorite books to provide book recommendations and suggestions for what to read next.

I stumbled across a website named What Should I Read Next? where basically you can type in the name of a book or author you like and it will give you suggestions of similar titles. This has been such a great tool of late, and I wanted to pop onto the blog and let you guys know about it!

Enjoy, and do let us know if you discover any books that you love!

1 comment

Monday, 4 February 2013

The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight | Jennifer E. Smith | Review

Because there's nothing like an epically long title and a generous helping of young adult, here's my review of The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith.

When Hadley misses her flight to London for her father's wedding she expects to spend the remaining hours waiting for the new plane and the flight over mulling over the fact that in 24 hours she'll have a new, supposedly, wicked step-mother. Instead by complete coincidence she meets Oliver. He's adorable and British...he's also scheduled on the same flight as her. And so ensues their story, it's one of luck and chance and just old school boy-meets-girl. The best part? Their story won't end in the departure lounge...it's just the beginning.

Despite its the book's genre Hadley is not quite your typical plain Jane teen girl with a low self-esteem. She's actually fairly popular at school, had an equally popular but douche-y boyfriend, gets on well with her mother and by YA standards is pretty normal - albeit rather book-ish. She's confident and witty, which matches almost perfectly with the dashing Oliver. Oliver is pretty much the embodiment of every teen girl fantasy. Tall, dark and handsome with striking eyes, he's intelligent and with a sharp sense sarcasm. He's older too, a student at ? University - coincidentally not too far from Hadley herself.

So what's my verdict?

'Stats Prob', as I've lovingly nicknamed it, is pretty much your standard YA novel of girl meets boy and they fall in love. But there's something about Hadley that's quite endearing and a lot less annoying than the usual female protagonists in this genre. She is perfectly happy on her own and has her own set of problems outside of her love life - namely the prospect of meeting her father's new wife for the first time at their wedding. In fact, I actually found myself caring more about whether Hadley's reconciles with her father and what Oliver's real reasons for being on a flight back to England. Their romance feels secondary to what will surely be a stronger friendship in the long run.

Reading soundtrack:

Jet Lag: Simple Plan ft Natasha Bedingfield; World Of Chances: Demi Lovato; Paper Aeroplane: KT Tunstall; If You Ever Come Back: The Script; Kiss Me Slowly: Parachute

For lovers of

Teen love stories, authors like Rachel Cohn, John Green, Meg Cabot and Maureen Johnson.

This review was written by regular reviewer Ria, get to know her here.

All photos (c)Ria Cagampang

1 comment

Sunday, 3 February 2013

Wither | Lauren Destefano | Review

Hello fellow book worms, let me tell you about the amazing first book in The Chemical Garden Trilogy, Wither.

Wither is set in the future where a virus takes hold of girls when they reach the age of 20 and attacks boys at the age of 25. In this world, the need to reproduce is ten times more important so that they can keep the world populated, until they can find a cure. The story is told from Rhine Ellery's point of view, sixteen years old from Manhattan. The book starts with Rhine being kidnapped and sold to a wealthy man called Linden, twenty years of age and looking for wives. Rhine is chosen alongside two other girls and together they live in Linden's massive mansion. Rhine quickly makes it her mission to escape in any way possible and find her way back to her twin brother, Rowan. Even though the girls are told they can do anything they want, they still feel confined in ths prison. Also there is something slightly off about Rhine's father-in-law. He's always sneaking off into the basement which the girls are not allowed to venture. Can she find a way out?

This book had to be one of the books that got me into science fiction. I remember reading the second or third page and was instantly compelled to just keep reading. Even though the chapters are a bit long at times, I was tearing through the pages. This had to be because of the brilliant writing style and the amazing storyline that Lauren Destefano has. There are lots of twists in the series so you are in for a rollercoaster of a book. As I was reading, there were points when I was really into it that I was feeling scared for a certain character or nervous. There aren't many books which make me feel like that. I think the reason for this was that I really bonded with the characters. All of the likeable characters are really really likable and you really want it to turn out happy for them. However there are characters which I hated with a passion because of the things they do.

I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to try something new. It is a sci-fi book so if you want to get into that particular genre, then I recommend you give this book a go. The second book in this series is already out and it is called Fever. The last installment comes out in a couple of weeks so I am very excited to see how Rhine's story ends. I must also say, that the author definitely leaves you with a cliffhanger after each book which leaves you dying for more. I'm definitely giving this book a five star rating because it definitely deserves it. Check it out!

You can also read Christina's review for a different opinion.

This book was reviewed by regular reviewer Lucy, find out more about her here!

Photo from Goodreads

1 comment

Friday, 1 February 2013

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People | Toby Young | Review

'It was journalism at its best: irreverent, mischievous and beholden to no one.'- Toby Young.

British journalist Toby Young is leaving behind his (nearly) successful career in London to head for greener pastures, namely a position as 'contributing editor' at Vanity Fair in New York, and finds the world seemingly settled at his feet. However, in the space of two years in 'the city that never sleeps', Toby's managed to get fired from his position, is desperately single, and faces the prospect of potentially having to call time on his dreams of making it in the US and moving back to London. 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People' is an autobiographical story which explains exactly how, in two years, everything could go so wrong for an ageing British writer, and details everything about his life in New York; how he got there, the ins and outs of life at Vanity Fair, and how he manages to somehow screw it all up.

I have to admit, I've never seen the silver-screen adaptation of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, but, having had one-too-many of my friends rave about it, my interest was peaked, and I decided to grab a copy of the book before diving into the film (I never, ever watch the film before reading the book if I intend to read it at a later date). I have to say, I was sorely disappointed. I don't know what I was expecting, but given that the movie version is accredited with being a 'laugh out loud' kind of comedy, I was certainly expecting something. In the end, I was stuck with a whiney overgrown college 'frat boy' as a narrator, who spent the first half of the book complaining about the British newspaper industry, and the second half bemoaning how shallow the US is, in comparison.
Instead of being able to relate to my narrator, empathize with him in times of trouble or misfortune, I found myself loathing him; counting down the pages I had left to read with anticipation, and, on one night, falling asleep with the book on my face (something I have never done).

Now, as an autobiographical text, none of these things are really Toby Young's fault - and I'm sure he wouldn't care either way if I'm not his number one fan, but there's something about 'How to...' that really grated on me; along the way, if you manage to squint through the complaints, the unnecessary tangents that seem present if only to prove how well-educated Young is, there are attempts at wit. Unfortunately, these attempts come across as mean-spirited observations and hyperbole about the two cultures present in the book, and the result is that our narrator comes across as a bitter British journalist who couldn't quite make his 'big break' in America.

Overall, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People left me completely cold, and totally disappointed.
1/5 stars (very nearly zero!)

1 comment

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Sunday, 10 February 2013

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging | Louise Rennison | Review