Bookish Links #13

Saturday, 30 January 2016

Bookish Links #13

Welcome to our first Bookish Links of the new year! This is our monthly feature where we share some recent favourite reads from around the web. Here are some of the articles we've been loving lately...

1. Hidden Gems - we're kicking off with Jamie's post all about the 2015 releases she feels should have gotten more attention than they did. We've discovered some new titles for our TBR lists thanks to this blog post and we hope you will too!

2. Controlling Characters - this thought-provoking post looks at how much control authors really have over their own creations, more specifically their characters. Just how much can be changed by the opinions of readers?

3. Home Decor With Books - if you're anything like us you probably love a good coffee table book! This list shared over on Lauren Conrad's website features ten titles for your wish list, inspired by the author's love of using coffee table books as part of her home decor.

4. The Best Of 2015 - taking things back now to reads of 2015, we loved the design and content of Alexandra's recent  favourites post. If you've written a 2015 favourites post we'd love to read it, don't forget to leave a link in the comments section below!

5. Read Like A Gilmore - another thing we love here at BB is the TV series Gilmore Girls! If you want to find out how well you would do when it comes to the popular Rory Gilmore reading challenge check out this Buzzfeed checklist.

6. More YA For Your TBR - this list of hotly anticipated YA titles from the Barnes & Noble blog has some brilliant ideas for what to read this year. We can't wait to dive in to all of these upcoming releases! 

7. New Year, New Goals - worried about struggling to achieve your 2016 reading goals? Ali's post has some top tips to help keep you on track! Don't forget to let us know what your goals for the year are in the comments section!

9. Austen Meets YA - we loved this graphic from xpressoreads which shares YA book recommendations based on Jane Austen classics. Do you have any titles to add to the list?

10. Big Screen Books - as well as discussing books we also love to take a closer look at adaptations. In this post Shannon shares her thoughts on Mockingjay Part 2, the final movie in the Hunger games series. What did you think of the film?

11. An Alternative Format - continuing on with this theme is Emily's article all about movie to comic adaptations! Have you read any of these titles?

12. Judging By Covers? - we're big Harry Potter fans here at BB and really enjoyed this post from Book Riot which showcases the many covers this popular book series has seen over the years. Which designs are your favourites?

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!  

Read more »

No comments

Carry On | Rainbow Rowell | Review

Friday, 29 January 2016

Carry On | Rainbow Rowell | Review

Image from Good Reads

"Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who’s ever been chosen.
That’s what his roommate, Baz, says.
And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git,
but he’s probably right."

Meet Simon Snow. He's in his last year at Watford School of Magicks, and he's the chosen one. But he's not very good at it. To top that off, his mentor and headmaster is avoiding him, his girlfriend dumped him, and his room mate and nemesis hasn't even bothered showing up at school.

But Simon needs to know what's happening. Why has the Mage been ignoring him? Why is Baz not at school yet? Why is no one too concerned that he is back at school after he and his best friend Penny were taken by the Insidious Humdrum the year before? As the story plays out, Baz finally shows up at school, months too late, Simon tries to discover just where he was and why he was away. When Simon and Baz are eventually on speaking terms that are a little more decent than nemesis talk, the two boys and Penny try and figure out who killed Baz's mother years ago and turned him into a vampire (which he denies half the book).

While the plot line of this story lacks a little, I find I didn't actually care too much about that. Simon and Baz's enemy status was replaced by the realisation that they both loved each other madly, which is everything you expect from a Rainbow Rowell book which has the sentence 'It has just as much kissing and talking ... but far, far more monsters' in the synopsis.

There was a lot of controversy and discussions on various internet platforms about how this was going to be a fanfiction of Harry Potter (Harry and Draco), or that it was going to be Cath's fanfiction which she writes in Rowell's book Fangirl, or that it was going to be so similar to Harry Potter that it would be terrible. I can say quite confidently that it was none of these things. While the world was similar to that of Harry's, with a magical school and a bad guy out to get the rest of the world, and three friends/students working together to defeat it, a mentor-like professor character who was a little mad and slightly aloof, I think people tend to forget sometimes that all stories are similar, whether intentional or not.

I think Rowell created a fantastic world in just one book and while I loved this story and loved the characters, I think I'm happy that it was just one, stand alone story. Of course I would jump straight back into that world if she were to write more, but I'm happy with how it ended and it will definitely be one I will re-read again and again.

[UPDATE in 2018: Rowell has announced that there will be more Simon Snow! It's currently called Wayward Son, and it's not due for release until 2020! Argh! What a wait! Add it to your TBR list on Goodreads!]

If you liked her book Fangirl, and were intrigued by Cath's fanfiction in that story, then do pick up Carry On. Or if you like a bit of YA fantasy with kissing and monsters, give this book a go. Tell me what you think. If you've already read it, what did you think? Was it what you thought it was going to be?

Read more »

No comments

Little Girl Gone | Alexandra Burt | Review

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Little Girl Gone | Alexandra Burt | Review

I was really looking forward to reading this book after reading the synopsis. A mother who doesn't report her baby missing when she discovers she isn't in her crib, she doesn't even tell the father. Then, she is found in a wrecked car, miles from her home with a nasty head wound and no recollection of what happened. Without her memory, she begins to question everything, including whether she even had a baby at all, or if she was responsible for her disappearance. 

I love thrillers, the grittier the better. So when I read about this one, I couldn't wait to dive right in. Estelle, the mother in question, is an unreliable narrator, not only because she has amnesia, but because she can remember the days after her daughter was born, when she was suffering from postnatal depression. We hear the story through Estelle's point of view and whilst it is intriguing to not know what is going on, as we get further into the story, it becomes frustrating. Some may argue that is the point, in that we are experiencing the frustration the same way the main character is, but I understand that and still didn't appreciate the POV. It's difficult to explain why I didn't fall in love with this book, as on one hand it kept me fairly intrigued as to what was going to happen, but on the other hand I found myself incredibly bored. It didn't feel fast-paced enough for the plot and I kept looking to see how long was left of the book. I wouldn't really recommend reading this book as there are plenty of better thrillers out there, with much better endings. 

Read more »

No comments

Spirit Warriors: The Concealing | D. E. L. Connor | Review

Monday, 25 January 2016

Spirit Warriors: The Concealing | D. E. L. Connor | Review

*E-book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Summary:

Emme Belrose is a 16-year-old girl in Eastern Montana. She has a small group of friends and a budding romance with Charlie. Since she was little, Emme has had nightmares about her death. She knows she is going to die drowning. Charlie also knows this because, he too, has had visions of her death. In order to save Emme, they must convince their friends of the truth of this and the truth of the existence of the machayiwiw, set to destroy them all.

Review:

I've said in my own blog that I don't do well with books written from the perspective of teenage protagonists. I've been kinda burned out on them. So when I tell you that this book was a fast paced adventure that almost made me cry, you know this has been a very good book.

Admittedly, I have little in common with the teenagers of this book and I had some problems fully engaging the characters. However, I found all of them to be amiable and was not annoyed by any of them for having a lack of common sense. If anything, these kids have a strong understanding of the world around them and I greatly appreciate that. Yes, there is the spoiled cheerleader trope, but it's really not that big of a part in the overall story.

This is a book that I definitely recommend for a quick read (I may have to pick up the next one in the series). It was engaging, it was well written, and it almost made me cry. Seriously, my husband asked me what was wrong a few times while I read this. This is a YA book that I genuinely enjoyed. 

Read more »

No comments

Group Collaboration | 2016 Reading Goals

Sunday, 24 January 2016

Group Collaboration | 2016 Reading Goals

A very belated Happy New Year from us here at Blogger's Bookshelf! Once again at the start of the new year we have our bloggers and readers looking ahead and setting up some reading goals.

Here are the books they are vowing to read in 2016.

Erin

What If?, Randall Munroe | Do No Harm, Henry Marsh | Forensics, Val McDermid | The Horologicon, Mark Forsyth | The 100 Most Pointless Arguments In The World, Alexander Armstrong & Richard Osman

Josephine (@wordrevel)

Incarnate, Jodi Meadows | Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy | Finnikin of the Rock, Melina Marchetta | Kiss Kill Vanish, Jessica Martinez | Resist, Sarah Crossman

Ali 

The Martian, Andy Weir | The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins | Maddaddam, Margaret Atwood | 1984, George Orwell | A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness

Ria 

Changing My Mind, Zadie Smith | Remix, Non Pratt | How To Be A Heroine, Samantha Ellis | A Darker Shade of Magic: V.E. Schwab | Only Ever Yours, Louise O'Neill 

Lulu 

Bible | The Bronze Horseman, Pauline Simmons | Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf | Public Library, Ali Smith | Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

Virginie (@ChouettBlog)
Red Witch, Anna McKerro | False Hearts, Laura Ram | Everything, Everything, Nicola Yoon | Rose and Dagger, Renee Ahdieh | George, Alex Gino

Cat
Amy and Roger's Epic Detour, Morgan Matson | In a Dark Dark Wood, Ruth Ware | To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han | All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven | A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson


Rachel
Ex-Isle, Peter Clines | Hemlock Veils, Jennie Davenport - A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood | NPCs, Drew Hayes | Press Start to Play, Daniel H. Wilson | The Color of Magic, Terry Pratchett


Anjali
Never Always Sometimes, by Adi Alsaid | Yellow Brick War, by Danielle Paige | Landline, by Rainbow Rowell | Heir of Fire, by Sarah J. Mass | The Invasion of the Tearling, by Erika Johansen

---

So those are our contributor's goals, what are yours? Have you read any of these books? Which ones are you looking forward to this year?

Thanks to all of our contributors - Ali, Ria, Erin, Lulu, Josephine, Virginie, Anjali, Cat, Rachel

All book cover images via Goodreads

Read more »

No comments

Features | What I Learnt From Reading All 13 Gossip Girl Books

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Features | What I Learnt From Reading All 13 Gossip Girl Books

Last year I read and reviewed all 13 books in Cecily Von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl series for my blog. It was not exactly what I hoped it would be. It turns out the books are nothing like the TV show, which I love so much. I nearly gave up a few times but I did make it to the end! And now I'm here to tell you a few things that I learnt about reading, writing, and, yes, even life itself, from Gossip Girl of all things.

1. The same two girls fighting over the same guy gets old fast.
This is probably a good lesson for both writing and for life. Serena and Blair swap Nate around between them throughout all 13 books as though he is a pair of shoes they've both borrowed so often that neither of them can remember who they originally belonged to. And not even a nice pair of shoes. A pair of shoes that spends all of its time smoking weed in the park. I've muddled up the analogy but you get the idea. Sometimes love triangles are interesting and heart-breaking, sometimes they are so boring you start to hate everyone involved.

2. A good writer can turn even the most two-dimensional character into someone complex and interesting.
The Chuck Bass of Cecily Von Ziegesar's books is not the Chuck Bass of the TV show. The Chuck Bass of the TV show is complicated and multi-faceted. The Chuck Bass of the books is a bizarre parade of flat stereotypes that do very little but insult. Until the last book. He's actually pretty great in the last book. But that comes out of nowhere! I take my hat off to the writers of the TV show because Chuck is just one example of a character being completely overhauled into something way more interesting for the screen. Nate and Dan are also excellent examples. To be honest all of the boys are just terrible in the books.

3. It's okay to read books that aren't necessarily works of great literature.
There is a lot of stigma around reading 'bad' books, especially among readers of YA. It almost seems sometimes that adults who read YA spend a lot of their time justifying that their books of choice are 'more than' YA. That they are nuanced and deep and really just as literary as any other book, as though a book that isn't any of those things is not worth anyone's time. I disagree. The Gossip Girl books are not works of great literary genius, they do not really hold any deep and important life lessons. They're just fun. Even though they're shallow and full of eye-rolling stereotypes and, yes, not fantastically written, they're fun. Sometimes that's enough.

Read more »

No comments