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where our team of writers love to talk all things books, sharing reviews, features, lists, interviews and more.

Getting lost in a book is escapism at it's finest and it's what everyone who contributes here thrives on.

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2012
Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts
This Is Not A Test | Courtney Summers | Review

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

This Is Not A Test | Courtney Summers | Review



“The thing no one tells you about surviving, about the mere act of holding out, is how many hours are nothing because nothing happens. They also don’t tell you about how you can share your deepest secrets with someone, kiss them, and the next hour it’s like there’s nothing between you because not everything can mean something all the time or you’d be crushed under the weight of it.” - Courtney Summers, This Is Not A Test
This Is Not A Test is about six students that are taking cover from a world infested with zombies in their High School. One of the students name is Sloane. But the difference between Sloane and the others is that she can't find a single reason to survive. She doesn't want to fight. She wants to die.

Yes, this is another young adult novel about zombies. And yes, this is yet another review from me about a book involving zombies. But I have to say that this is pretty different from everything else I've read in this genre! This story is not about the action, the danger and the survival. This story is about emotions. It's about fear, about guilt, about love and about hopelessness. And to be completely honest, at first, that kind of made me a bit bored with it. I'm used to those fast paced novels about raw and simple survival. And this is just not it. So, I struggled with the first part of this book. The thing that annoyed me the most was the main character Sloane. I don't know how many times I thought "If you want to die, just walk out that door and get it over with!". But you know what!? The story really grew on me. Even Sloane grew on me. And in the end I found it to be a really enjoyable reading experience.

I'm not saying that the book should be more action filled or violent to deserve a full 4 stars (I give This Is Not A Test 3,5/5 stars). But I think there's just something missing. Something that would have drawn me into the story straight from the beginning. I'm a bit of sad about the fact that that something is missing. Because maybe this book actually deserves 4 stars, because it truly has something that makes it worth reading. That being said, I'll certainly pick up the sequel and I hope it will get at least that full 4 star rating... And I think you should give This Is Not A Test a go!

This post was written by regular reviewer Niina, get to know her here.
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Monday, 31 December 2012

Fantastic Mr Fox | Roald Dahl | Review



I read Fantastic Mr. Fox when I was younger, but when the Roald Dahl collection arrived I decided it was time to re-read one of my old favourites. I always enjoyed this book as a child and have more recently watched the film (although I found this not quite so enjoyable), but it was time to see if the book appealed in the same way to an adult reader.

Roald Dahl has such a great appeal to children, mention The Twits or The BFG and there is an instant recognition of such great stories.  Fantastic Mr Fox is another instant hit, detailing the lives of a family of foxes who steal food from 3 local farmers. But these are no ordinary farmers, all 3 are set up to entertain and amuse with the description of their physical appearance and personalities. These 3 obscure farmers decide to take revenge and try to hunt down the fox family.

This may be a children’s book, but it has a certain magic which allows for enjoyment still to be found when reading this book as an adult. Lots of us remember reading them as children and are desperate to read them to our children (an excuse because we want to re-read our childhood favourites). It is the adventurous story lines, magical events and humorous characters which keep us entertained throughout the whole book.

I would recommend this book to any Roald Dahl fan, child or parents – this is not a Roald Dahl book to be missed. 5/5 stars

This post was written by regular reviewer Laura, get to know her here.
*Photo © Laura
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Blogger's Bookshelf Review Round Up #2

Saturday, 29 December 2012

Blogger's Bookshelf Review Round Up #2

2 11 - 26 12 review

Hello everyone, hope you all had a lovely Christmas and welcome to our second review round up post!
We also had an abundance of guest posts and mini collabs this month:

And of course this month's group collaboration post on our Favourite Reads of 2012. Don't forget to start sending your answers to our next group collaboration post on your Top 5 books/series you vow to read in 2013. Just send us a tweet or email us which 5 books or series' you want to read and why.

On a final note, everyone on the Blogger's Bookshelf team would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!
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How The Grinch Stole Christmas | Dr Suess | Review

Monday, 24 December 2012

How The Grinch Stole Christmas | Dr Suess | Review

Christmas Eve! Christmas Eve! Christmas Eve! How excited is everybody right now?
I thought I'd give you a little review filled with festive cheer in the form of my favourite Christmas tale of all time ... How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess.

It's a tale known by many of the Scrooge-like Grinch, who's lived in a cave on a mountain overlooking the little Whos in the idyllic Whoville. With his tiny cold heart (that was two sizes too small) the Grinch is sick of the Whos and their noisy holiday preparation and even louder and cheerier singing voices, so he's decided he's had enough. He's putting an end to Christmas and stealing all of the Christmas cheer away right from under the Whos noses on Christmas Eve, dressed as Santa Claus himself accompanied by his trusty companion Max.

We all know the ending here...

And the whole message of the book can be summarised with just one line:
"What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

It's a message of goodwill to all and that all the material possessions and presents and fanciful feasts are really nothing compared to spending Christmas with the people you really care about =) Not to mention the fact that it's never too late to let your heart grow for Christmas day. 

Reading Soundtrack

You're A Mean One Mr Grinch: Glee Cast; Winter Wonderland: Michael Buble; Where Are You  Christmas: Faith Hill; All I Want For Christmas Is You: Mariah Carey; Welcome Christmas: How The Grinch Stole Christmas soundtrack; 

For lovers of:

CHRISTMAS! of course :) How The Grinch Stole Christmas movie and for any of you Christmas Scrooges out there!

And on a final note!

Everyone here on the Blogger's Bookshelf team would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!


This review was written by Ria, find out more about her here.
Image via GoodReads & design by Ria
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Group Collaboration | Our Favourite Reads Of 2012

Saturday, 22 December 2012

Group Collaboration | Our Favourite Reads Of 2012

top5title 
As we are now fast approaching the end of the year this month's group post is all about the books we've read and loved in 2012. We asked you to tell us your top 5 books read throughout the year and these were the results...
erintop5
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, About A Boy by Nick Hornby, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
cattop5 
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Catching Fire & The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

taylahtop5 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Genesis by Lara Morgan, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Across The Universe by Beth Revis, A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
lulutop5
Girl Perfect by Jennifer Strickland, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Legend by Marie Lu, Stolen by Lucy Christophher, Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
 
niinatop5 Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Feed by Mira Grant, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
lauratop5 
 Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell 
 
 
riatop5 Virals by Kathy Reichs, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, The Help by Kathryn Stockett 
 
kristinatop5 
 Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, City Of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare, Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green
 lucystop5 
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch, The Help by Kathryn Stockett 
 
 emilystop5 
 A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad, No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay, A Desirable Residence by Madeleine Wickham, The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson
 
 
 francescatop5 
Looking For Alaska by John Green, Freakonomics by Stephen D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner, Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, One Day by David Nicholls 
 
 
elletop5 
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, Salem's Lot by Stephen King, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice 
amytop5 
 The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, Delirium by Lauren Oliver
 
 
 anjalitop5
The Passage by Justin Cronin, Divergent & Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Variant by Robison Wells, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Next month's post will be all about the books we vow to read in 2013! If you'd like to get involved please email bloggersbookshelf@gmail.com for details.
 
 
Contributors - Cat, Taylah, Ria, Elle, Francesca, Lucy, Laura, Lulu, Kristina, Emily, Niina, Anjali, Amy & Erin

All book cover images sourced from goodreads.com
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Sunday, 2 December 2012

Thirteen Reasons Why | Jay Asher | Review


 “To miss her each time I pull in a breath of air. To miss her with a heart that feels so cold by itself, but warm when thoughts of her flow through me.” source.

You may have heard about Jay Asher's debut novel Thirteen Reasons Why for a few reasons. 1) the book drags controversial issues into the spotlight, 2) a movie adaption is planned for the near future to star Selena Gomez and 3) the book has gone on to win multiple awards since its 2007 release.

The book follows Clay Jensen on what turns out to be a scary ride. It's made clear that a fellow student of Clay's, Hannah Baker, commit suicide. When Clay returns home one day from school to find a box of cassettes addressed to him from Hannah he's intrigued and compelled to listen. The 13 tapes take him on an adventure across his town to places that affected and changed Hannah's life. Each tape contains a story about a certain person and how they contributed to her death. Hannah refers to the stories as a "snowball", as time went on and each person hurt her, her depression grew bigger. The tapes were sent to each person from the stories in chronological order, forcing each person to face the negative effect they had on Hannah. The cliffhanger of the book is Clay's tape, what will it say? Will it be bad? What could he have done to hurt Hannah, girl he hardly knew.

The format of the book is complex but easy to follow once grasped. Clays' dialogue and internal thoughts are portrayed in the text as they usually would. Hannah's voice and stories are combined throughout the text in italics or as separate paragraphs making it easy to distinguish between the two story tellers. It's really interesting to see each story unfold from two different points of view. Hannah's story telling of events combined with Clay's perceived opinions contribute to a captivating read.

The book intrigued me when I first picked it up because of personal circumstances, as is the same for a lot of people. In a world where depression and other mental health problems are prominent, it's highly possible we all know someone who has attempted or succeeded suicide. The book is small and highly captivating, leaving it a short read for individuals. I liked the book, I thought the message was loud and clear for the readers to grasp. It was also nice to see an issue like suicide, which is highly debated, raised in public light.

13 Reasons Why deserves 5 stars. Jay Asher's book may be challenging to read, but it's not everyday you come across a book like this.

Recommended For

Those of you who enjoyed Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns by John Green, Go Ask Alice by Anonymous and Somebody's Crying by Maureen McCarthy. If you're a fan of light mystery, dark humour or even teen issues I'd recommend 13 Reasons Why to you. The book isn't coming of age, but rather a story of teenage relationships and issues.

This review was written by regular reviewer Taylah, get to know her here.
Image Source
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Delirium | Lauren Oliver | Review

Monday, 26 November 2012

Delirium | Lauren Oliver | Review




Delrirum by Lauren Oliver was a novel that has been buzzed about this year by everyone I came across on the Internet, so when my lovely Blogger's Bookshelf co-founder Erin (as well as one of my old college friends) suggested I read it...well it had to be done right?

Delirium is set 64 years after the United States declare love to be a disease (so named amor deliria nervosa) with citizens 18 and over are required to be 'cured'. The cure renders them incapable to love, basically turning the population of adults into mundane, feeling-less zombies who love their lives by the Book of Shhh (The Safety, Health & Happiness Handbook)

Lena is a young, girl who wants this life. The disease tore her family apart when her father died, her mother supposedly suffered so horrendously from it that she drove herself to insanity and was forcefully treated multiple times before killing herself. Lena now lives with 'the shame' and constant fear that she too may be susceptible to the disease. She's happy when the day she's to be cured comes around, until her examination is rudely interrupted by anti-cure protesters (and believe me you will never in a million years guess how they do this). She spots high up on the platform above her, a young boy, slightly older than herself. She promptly faints - not from the boy but from what happens during the examination, awaking in the house she shares with her aunt and cousins after her mother passed away with her cure day rescheduled because of the disruption.

She believes seeing the boy was all a dream until she runs into him again. His name is Alex and like most boys in Dystopian novels, he turns her world upside down. Alex takes her on a journey of self discovery, teaching her that love isn't the disease she thought it was at all.



Like most Dystopian novels Delirium is chock full of cliches in terms of characters. Lena is your typical lost soul, a little bland and boring at first, with a troublesome past. Alex is your usual pretentious rogue, hell bent on fighting the system from within. The story is very Romeo and Juliet. But that's where my criticisms have to stop.

This book was quite the surprise. The premise was a little different and though it started off a little slow, once it kicked into high gear it really kicked into high gear, especially towards the end. The world itself is rich and well built. Though we've yet to find out why love is banned, excerpts of studies, poems and mentions of scientific journals really bring the world to life. One of the things I really loved about Delirium was actually how well rounded the secondary characters were. Oliver has clearly been thorough with backstories for Lena's family and her best friend Hana (who actually has her own spin off novel).

So my verdict?

Delirium was both similar and brilliantly different to any Dystopian novel I've read. The themes lost hope, a corrupt government and self discovery are evident as with novel as any other in the genre. What will get you are the sharp u-turns Oliver takes you with the surprisingly unpredictable plot and the detailed world these characters exist it. Not to mention the fact that it's the first in a series so there's plenty more where that came from!

Read my review of Pandemonium, and Anjali's review of Requiem, the next books in this series.

Reading Soundtrack


Emergency: Paramore; Animal Love: Charlene Kaye; Turning Tables: Adele; Nowhere Left To Run: McFLY; Rules Of Attraction: Joe Brooks; This City Is Contagious: The Cab; Love Out Of Lust; Lykki Li

For lovers of

The Hunger Games, Romeo & Juliet, Divergent, and those with a thing for tragic love stories.

*all photos in this post (c) Ria Cagampang
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