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Guest Post | Joshua's 2015 Favourites

Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Guest Post | Joshua's 2015 Favourites

2015 has truly been a phenomenal year for books, and when I was asked to put together a list of 5 it was very difficult! Out of all the books that have been published, which ones do I choose?!

But I thought about it, and I’ve decided on a few personal favourites from 2015.

joshua top 5


In fifth place, I have The Edge Of Me by Jane Brittan. This book features a Serbian character, Sanda, who lives in the UK after her parents moved following the Bosnian War. Her crush, Joe, asks her out but together they are kidnapped and sent off across Europe to find out the truth about her parents’ role during the war. This is a debut novel from an independent publishing company, but it’s a very important book to read and has already been nominated for the Carnegie Medal, which is really exciting!

In fourth place, I’m choosing All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I don’t need to provide a plotline because I’m quite sure many people are already aware of this book, but it’s a phenomenal tear jerking novel about ‘a girl who learns to live from a boy who wants to die.’ If you haven’t already bought a copy, I urge you to immediately.

In third place, I’m choosing Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Becky’s style of writing is one that will have you laughing and crying, while still covering ever important topics. Simon Vs is a story told through a combination of narrative and emails and I loved it. Again, if you haven’t bought a copy or own one but haven’t read it, put it near the top of your to read list!

In second place, Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. Rock The Boat published this in the UK and they were nice enough to send me a proof of it. Very, VERY few books have me as invested in their storyline as this one did. That’s not to say that books don’t get me invested in them anyway, but Illuminae is magnetic. It’s told in a new way where there are no dialogues, no narratives, no tenses, just documents. Transcripts of chats, countdowns, reports of inspections and stuff like that. But yet as you go through this book, it’s fantastically written, superbly illustrated and from me gets serious hats off to the authors!

But in first place, and it’s my personal favourite from the last few years to be honest, I’m choosing The Next Together by Lauren James. Lauren’s style of storytelling is fantastic, and if you haven’t already read The Next Together by Lauren James, it should definitely be on your to read list. It’s an incredibly inventive storyline, and it’s a fantastic read: I can’t wait for Lauren’s next novel!

So there’s my favourites from 2015! Merry Christmas!

This post was written by Joshua from Confessions Of A Book Lover.
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Numinous | Emory Skwara | Review

Monday, 14 December 2015

Numinous | Emory Skwara | Review

*Image courtesy of Amazon.

Summary:
Lily and Sebastian Blackmoor are twins with an absentee father and a drunk mother. Lily is relentlessly bullied in high school by a girl named Piper. Life ain't exactly looking up. But Lily has a secret, she's been training in magic. Her cat, Blink, is actually a humanoid tiger that takes her to a secret grove and helps her train her natural magic abilities. It turns out, she and her brother are not human and are from the world of Rood'ravil. Of course, getting there is going to require a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice. Surviving in Rood'ravil will take even more.


Review:

I picked up this book for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that it has a big, smiling owl on its cover. The author promised a new kind of fantasy adventure and I am a sucker for the fantasy genre. Despite me being hit-or-miss with teenage protagonists, I did enjoy this book.

This is a long book. I actually had to take a break about half way through to move on to other things, but I was happy to get back to it. After the break, though, book read a lot faster. Also, there were several noticeable editing errors. At one point one character is credited with a line of dialogue, despite not being anywhere near the conversation. They do interrupt the flow of the book, but do not stop it.

The world created by Skwara is quite interesting. The various races and politics involved make me want to read a history of the place, get a better feel for how the races developed. You get some good information about it in the exposition, but it's barely the tip of the iceberg. Of course, the exposition and the action scenes emphasize that the world of Rood'ravil is not for all readers. There is a lot of blood and violence. 

Skwara's characters are also easy to empathize with, especially Mark, Amanda and Ricky; the characters that never asked to be caught up in Lily and Sebastian's adventure. There are a lot of emotional gut-wrenchers in this book, but it just made the read that much better.

I do recommend this book if you're looking for dark fantasy adventure. You may need to take it in strides, but I felt that Numinous was well worth the time put into it. 

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Saturday, 12 December 2015

Group Collaboration | Our Favourite Reads Of 2015!

Welcome to our final group collaboration of 2015! We can hardly believe the year is almost over but it's certainly been a good one for us when it comes to reading! As usual we asked our contributors and readers to let us know which books they enjoyed the most this year. Hopefully you'll find some new titles to add to your TBR lists for 2016 but don't forget to leave a comment and let us know which books would make your top 5 for this year too!

group cat 2015
group ria 2015
group chelsea 2015
group lulu 2015
group meg 2015
group francesca 2015
group joshua 2015
group anjali 2015
group rachel 2015
group rebecca 2015
group erin 2015group anastasia 2015


Thanks to this month's contributors: Cat, Meg, Lulu, Rebecca, Ria, Erin, Rachel, Chelsea, Anastasia, Joshua, Francesca, Anjali
All book cover images sourced via goodreads.com

In January we'll be talking reading goals for 2016 including the books we vow to read next year.

To get involved send an email to bloggersbookshelf@gmail.com or tweet us @blog_bookshelf
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Thursday, 10 December 2015

Features | Holiday Gift Ideas

It's that time of year again! And if you're anything like me you're probably more than a little behind on your holiday shopping (I have bought exactly two presents so far. Terrible.) So if you're stuck for ideas for the bookish friends in your life then look no further because I have plenty of suggestions to get your holiday shopping started!

For Harry Potter fans


In my experience you can never go wrong with a special edition of a favourite book from someone's childhood. Luckily, two beautiful new hardback editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone have been released this year so you have a choice between the lovely orange gift edition in its purple slipcase or the beautiful fully illustrated edition that came out a few months ago. Personally, I would be pretty happy to find either of these in my stocking this year.

For Wes Anderson fans


As well as being filled with beautiful illustrations and photographs, these two Wes Anderson Collection books are also full of interviews and behind the scenes information about all of Wes Anderson's films so far. These would be an interesting read for any film film but, of course, they're especially perfect if you know anyone who loves Wes Anderson's work.

For sci-fi fans


If there's a Doctor Who fan in your life you're struggling to buy for then either of these books could fit the bill. The Vault is a big coffee table kind of book, published for the show's 50th anniversary, all about the history of Doctor Who. Time Lord Fairy Tales on the other hand is a compilation of short stories, written as fairy tales that would have been told to Time Lord children, and would definitely be a fun read for fans of the show.


With the new film coming out very soon it's starting to seem as though everyone I know is secretly a massive Star Wars fan! If you know a Star Wars fan who is also into William Shakespeare or just might enjoy these quirky re-tellings of episodes 4-6 as Shakespearean plays, then this box set of the first three books in the William Shakespeare's Star Wars series would definitely be a fun present. (You can also buy each of these books separately.)

For classics fans


Similar to my reasoning for the Harry Potter books, I know a lot of people would love a prettier version of their favourite classics to sit on their shelves. Vintage have just released these beautiful new covers of these three works by the Brontë sisters, which I'm sure any Brontë fan would love to own.


Vintage also released these gorgeous editions of Jane Austen's novels last year. These designs are so pretty they make me want to have another go at reading Jane Austen just so that I can justify having these designs in my bookcase, so I'm positive any diehard Austen fan would love one of these copies of their favourite Austen book.

For YA fans


There's nothing better than a collection of festive short stories from your favourite authors and authors you might not have discovered yet to get you into the festive spirit so I think either of these two collections of holiday themed short stories would be an excellent present for any YA fan this holiday season. With stories from John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle in Let it Snow and Stephanie Perkins, Rainbow Rowell, and David Levithan among others in My True Love Gave To Me there will definitely be a story in at least one of these collections for every YA fan.

I hope this has helped some of you with your holiday shopping this year! Feel free to share any of your suggestions in the comments (no, really, I could do with some ideas) and happy holiday shopping!
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Saturday, 5 December 2015

Bookish Links #11


Grab a cup of your favourite festive hot drink and pop your feet up - it's time for another edition of Bookish Links!

1/ Making Time To Read - we're kicking off with a post from Beth who shared her top three tips on how to find the time to read 100 books in a year (whilst working and blogging too!). If you're beginning to think about setting your reading goals for 2016 you might want to bookmark this one!

2/ A Sci-Fi Guide - this awesome post shared over on Artsy Musings Of A Bibliophile covers all the best YA Science Fiction titles out there and is a great place to look for your next read no matter your favourite sub-genre.

3/ More Recommendations! - if chick lit is more your thing you may enjoy this list of favourites from our friends over at Aesthetic. With everything from YA to non-fiction included you're sure to find something perfect to cosy up with this winter!

4/ For The Hogwarts Alum - this post from Bustle is full of author recommendations for anyone who loves Harry Potter. Get ready to add a whole stack of books to your Christmas wish list!

5/ Tackling That TBR! - in this video Heather discusses different ways to tackle that huge TBR pile we all have looming over us. Again, this is one to bookmark for when you're thinking about your 2016 goals!

6/ The Downside To Reading Fast - we really enjoyed Cait's list inspired by the struggles she's experienced as a super fast reader. Can you relate to any of these? Let us know in the comments!

7/ Book Fairs - we loved learning more about the Frankfurt Book Fair over on Joséphine's blog! The post shares an insight into various aspects of the event and her beautiful photos seem to really capture the atmosphere. Have you ever been to any book fairs?

8/ A Spotlight On Non-Fiction - we often think that non-fiction doesn't get as much love as it deserves here in the blogging community but Bex's post shines a light on the genre. In the post she talks Nonfiction November and lists the non-fiction titles she's read this year.

9/ Is Chivalry Dead? - over at YA Love (the online magazine created by our very own Christina) Robyn shared an interesting post all about the way boys are portrayed in YA. What are your thoughts on the subject?

10/ FOMO Woes - here at Blogger's Bookshelf we're happy to see Priscilla of The Readables back on YouTube and loved her recent chatty video exploring the topic of FOMO in the book community. How often do you feel the need to pick up a book because of the hype?

11/ The Shippy Awards - if you love your ships you'll love this idea over on Gillian's blog. Head on over to vote for your favourite bookish ships of 2015!

If you've read or written an interesting bookish article you think our readers would enjoy please let us know - it may be featured in a future post!
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Thursday, 3 December 2015

Features | Bookish gifts

December has finally come, which means it's officially Christmas season! As someone who absolutely loves Christmas, I couldn't resist making this post something holiday themed, and what better than a book themed gift guide. After all, who doesn't love getting books for Christmas?
NB: All the links provided are to UK websites, if you can't find these items in the country you love in I'm really sorry, but I hope this provides you with some inspiration anyway.

Hogwarts Library boxset - £18.75



The main reason that I couldn't resist including this is because it's just so beautiful. This little box set contains copies of Quidditch Through The Ages, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, and The Tales of Beedle The Bard. Perfect for any avid Harry Potter fan, especially with the Fantastic Beasts film coming out soon.

https://www.waterstones.com/product/the-hogwarts-library-boxed-set-including-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them/j-k-rowling/9781408834824

Let it Snow - £5.59




This book is a collection of three short stories, all of which are set at Christmas and all of which link together. It's a quick read, but one that is great for the holiday season and thus makes a lovely gift.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-Snow-John-Green/dp/0141349174/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449178003&sr=1-1&keywords=let+it+snow

A Christmas carol and other Christmas writings - £11.99


Again, I picked this one mostly because of how beautiful it is. Whenever I buy books as gifts, I prefer to get ones that look and feel a little bit special, plus this one is also really Christmas. If you know someone who's really into classics they would probably love this.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-christmas-carol-and-other-christmas-writings/charles-dickens/9780141195858
Secret Garden - £8.46
Not to be confused with the literary classic, this is an adult colouring book, something that's been a bit of a trend this year. It's meant to be incredibly relaxing, and for a creative friend this would be wonderful. You could even combine it with some really nice colouring pencils.


Kindle - £60 

Finally, if you have quite a big budget for someone who loves to read, why not consider getting them an e reader? Although I was sceptical about them initially I absolutely love mine now. It's a super practical gift that they will get a lot of use out of.


I thought doing this would help me with buying presents, but I've actually just found lots of things that I want! Oh well, hopefully I've helped some of you guys with you Christmas shopping.
Katie x
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