Group Collaboration | Fact Or Non-Fiction?

Saturday, 31 August 2013

Group Collaboration | Fact Or Non-Fiction?

The focus of today's group post is based on something we don't often discuss here at BB, non-fiction reads! As a mainly fiction focused review blog we thought it would be interesting to find out what non-fiction books our team have read and enjoyed. What we've ended up with is a real mixture of titles including books covering travel, biography, psychology, film and more!

Here's the details on the books our readers & writers would recommend...

A Walk In The Woods: Rediscovering American on the Applachian Trail by Bill Bryson - chosen by Niina
'It's a really enjoyable and fun read about hiking, the Appalachian Trail and american wildlife. I recommend it to everyone who likes spending time in mother nature...'

Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson - chosen by Laura C
'Having lived in both the US and UK, I have a deep appreciation for Bill Bryson's travel writing. This book, written as he makes a farewell tour of the UK before returning to live in the US, is by far one of the most accurate and hilarious accounts of British culture.'

Walt Disney: Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler - chosen by Laura C
'I love a good biography and they come no better than this portrait of the man behind the Mouse. Expansive and meticulously researched, this is a remarkable insight into the life of Walt Disney and by far the best biography I have read.'

Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl - chosen by Anjali
'I don't read any non-fiction...at all, but I remember reading Boy, by Roald Dahl, when I was about 13, in high school. In it he says “An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details.” Except it's Roald Dahl - he's never boring. I remember enjoying it a lot, and though it never pushed me to read more non fiction, it did make me appreciate a fun, and well written, autobiography.'

Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops by Jen Campbell - chosen by Erin
'Made up of short but ridiculous real-life conversations between booksellers and customers, this coffee table read is full of laugh out loud moments.'

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran - chosen by Ali
'An autobiographical exploration of feminism in modern day Britain. Moran brings out the humour, the horror and the joy of womanhood with no subject treated as taboo. Read it and pass it on to your best friend.'

Wild Swans: Three Daughters Of China by Jung Chang - chosen by Laura C
'Tracing the existence of her family across three generations of women, Jung Chang offers an epic account of life in China before and during the rule of Mao Zedong. Beautiful, moving, and horrifying.'

Coraline: A Visual Companion by Stephen Jones - chosen by Erin
'Personally I find stop-motion animation fascinating and this book has lots of information and beautiful photographs detailing the long process of turning Coraline into a film. '

The Bible - chosen by Lulu
'My fav nonfiction is the Bible as that's the word of God and I'm a born again Christian ☺'

The Making Of Memento by James Mottram - chosen by Erin
'I really love reading books on film and this one in particular is an interesting read. Author James Mottram spent time on the set and takes the reader behind the scenes to share the experience.'

Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli - chosen by Ria
'This may be the post-LeakyCon blues speaking, but I really think 'Harry...' is a wonderful look at the book series' journey, the people who made it such a success and the dedicated fans who loved the story itself. It's also a great look at parts of the fandom that you may not even realised existed and captures a moment in history that may never happen again.'

Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson - chosen by Ria
'I was recommended this book by my former English Language teacher for class, I begrudgingly read it thinking that it would be good revision for my A Level exams and what I found was a great book on how the English language developed, infused with Bryson's original witty humour.'

What Type Am I? Discover Who You Really Are by Renee Baron - chosen by Niina
'This is a really informative, easy and fun introduction to anyone who's interested in learning more about personality types.'

Life Below Stairs: In the Victorian and Edwardian Country House by Sian Evans - chosen by Niina
'This is a must read for Downton Abbey fans. You get a whole new understanding for the different characters in the story. Easy to read and very informative! '



Don't forget BB is a place for reviews of books from all genres and we're always happy to feature non-fiction reviews alongside our vast collection of fiction ones. So, if factual books are more your thing and you'd like to share your favourites please drop us an email, we would love to hear from you!

Contributors: Laura C, Anjali, Lulu, Ali, Erin, Ria, Niina
Cover images: Goodreads
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Our next group post is all about those popular titles that we haven't read! We want to know which famous books you haven't gotten around to reading yet. Maybe they've been sitting on your shelf for years or perhaps just don't appeal to you - send us your opinions via Twitter (@blog_bookshelf) or email - bloggersbookshelf@gmail.com

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A Walk In The Woods: Rediscovering America On The Appalachian Trail | Bill Bryson | Review

Wednesday, 28 August 2013

A Walk In The Woods: Rediscovering America On The Appalachian Trail | Bill Bryson | Review

“I wanted to quit and to do this forever, sleep in a bed and in a tent, see what was over the next hill and never see a hill again. All of this all at once, every moment, on the trail or off.” - Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods

I saw A Walk in the Woods when I was looking for a non-fiction book to read during my vacation. After spending a lot of time in big cities (as I’ve done this summer) I always long for the nature. So I kind of thought that I could experience the Appalachian Trail through Bill Bryson (I don’t really have a few months to spend at the moment to experience it myself).

Yeah, I know, this is not supposed to be about why I bought this book. This is supposed to by about what I thought about it, so let's get started...

I’ve always enjoyed spending time in the nature and I’ve always been intrigued by the thought of doing some serious hiking so I thought that A Walk in the Woods would be an interesting insight to hiking. And I have to say that I truly enjoyed this book by Bill Bryson! It was funny, interesting and insightful. Bill Bryson shares his experience of planning and walking the Appalachian trail and he also shares a lot interesting and upsetting information about the wildlife and national parks in the United States. Even if Bryson touches some important and upsetting subjects, this is still mostly an easy and fast read. It’s funny and well-written and it makes me want to go out walk the trail myself. That's kind of weird considering that Bryson doesn’t describe it as the most pleasurable or easy thing to do.

Overall this was a fun and easy read, the perfect book to read during my vacation. But it was not only funny and easy, it was also insightful and I learned a few new things about American wildlife. If you’re interested in nature, wildlife, hiking or just enjoy a good and funny travel book I truly recommend A Walk in the Woods! And I’m definitely going to check out more of Bill Bryson’s books in the future!

So it’s time for me to give A Walk in the Woods some kind of rating. I always find it harder to rate non-fiction book because you naturally don’t feel as strongly for them as you do for really good fiction stories (at least I don't). It’s not because I enjoy fiction more, but it’s because I get more attached to the characters in a fictional story. And to be honest, I don’t have a lot of negative to say about A Walk in the Woods. It was a book that I really liked and enjoyed reading. But I still can’t say that I loved it that much that I’m going to carry it in my heart for the rest of my life and that’s almost needed for me to give a book 5 stars. So yeah, I’m making it easy for myself, I give A Walk in the Woods 4,5/5 stars! It was pretty awesome!

This post was written by regular reviewer Niina, get to know her here.

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Guest Review | Cruel Summer | James Dawson

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Guest Review | Cruel Summer | James Dawson

“He’d assumed Janey’s death was the finale. Turned out, it was only the beginning…’

Cruel Summer follows a group of friends as they reunite after a year for a group holiday in Spain. They’ve had a busy year - living their separate lives, preparing for their futures and trying to forget their pasts. They haven’t seen each other since the suicide of their friend, Janey. They are in the middle of enjoying their holiday and time together when an unexpected guest arrives claiming to have evidence that Janey’s suicide was in fact murder.

The novel deliberately follows the typical thriller stereotype, hitting every single nail on the head – even a creepy mask features! This is deliberate on Dawson’s part, taking one of his main voices obsession with playing the leading role and adding a slightly satirical note. The book is written in “scenes”, with each scene from the different points of view of the main characters. You would think this makes the storyline predictable but it’s really anything but. There are plenty of twists and turns in the storyline that keep you guessing right until the last chapter – which I promise you do not see coming. Even if you do figure out the ‘who’ (I flitted with the idea), you will not guess the ‘why’. The story stays at a relatively fast pace to keep up with all its twists and turns which meant I could not put it down and devoured it.

Being honest, I was totally prepared to not like this book. I found the first few pages, which is a flashback, hard to read and the initial premise incredibly annoying – a group of friends who get to jet off to Spain, stay in an expensive villa that one of their dads own, get drunk all the time… we all knew those people as teenagers, and did I want to read a novel about them? Heck no. But I was genuinely surprised by the amount of depth Dawson managed to give to these characters, and I found myself incredibly attached to them by the end of the book.

I was lucky enough to meet James at LeakyCon London, and he is a truly fantastic person so I am over the moon that I love this book. Most authors tend to lack on their second book out of three, but he genuinely writes so well (this book could easily be a how-to on descriptive writing) and I can’t wait to read his first novel Hollow Pike and his next, due in 2014.

With total confidence, Cruel Summer is a 5/5 from me, and is definitely now a favourite of mine.

This post was written by guest reviewer Kath
Book cover image via Goodreads

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The Last Song | Nicholas Sparks | Review

Monday, 26 August 2013

The Last Song | Nicholas Sparks | Review

Ronnie’s parents divorce, her Dad moves across the country, she haven’t seen him for since and three years later she’s angry, alienated and going off the rails. That is until her Mum decided that she and her little brother are going to stay with him for the summer. It’s time to see if she can reconnect with her Dad and put the past behind her.

Now I think it’s obvious that I’ve become a bit of a Sparks fan and this was the last of his books sat on my ‘to-read’ shelf (for now anyway) and I couldn’t let it sit there any longer. Within the first few pages I realised that this book had the typical Sparks style of writing and as I read further and found it had love and loss, grief, confusion and happiness of which I always find in his novels.

What was different about this book that I really like was that it was a story of growing up, becoming an adult and dealing with the issues life will throw at you. I got to watch (read) how Ronnie’s character developed, grew, changed and adapted as she grew as a person.

Ronnie was not the only character which I enjoyed in the book, I felt that almost every character had something that made me want to read more about them. Although Ronnie’s little brother has to be one of the most entertaining characters he’s so sweet.

I went off and watched the film too and did also enjoy it, it wasn’t quite what I expected especially for some of the casting but I did enjoy the adaptation.

Any Nicholas Sparks fan would love this book, chic-lit readers or anyone who likes a good cry when reading a book.

This post was written by regular reviewer Laura, get to know her here.
Image from Goodreads

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Glow | Amy Kathleen Ryan | Review

Sunday, 25 August 2013

Glow | Amy Kathleen Ryan | Review

"Teenagers Waverly and Kieran believe their future is written in the stars. They are part of the first generation born in space. They are in love. They have never seen a stranger before...until the day they are wrenched apart and suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives."

This blurb from the back of the book, along with the description of Glow, by Amy Kathleen Ryan, on Good Reads intrigued me. Even though I love a good sci-fi movie, or tv show, I haven't ever really read may books that are set in space before. I thought it was about time.

Glow is the story of Waverly and Kieran, and the life threatening events that take place in their space ship home, the Empyrean. The ship is one of two that were sent from Earth decades ago, in the hopes that they would find a better planet to live on; New Earth. Waverly and Kieran are the eldest children on board and they have never known anything else. One day they are happy teenagers, in love with being in love, talking about getting married...the next they are torn apart. They are attacked, their ship half destroyed, their adults killed, stranded or left to die from radiation poisoning and lack of oxygen. The girls are taken away, or 'saved' as is the lie they are told, and are kept on the New Horizon, the other ship from earth. At first, Waverly thinks that Anne Mather and the people of the New Horizon have saved the girls from the attackers, and they are looking for the Empyrean with hope that the others are still alive...but soon she realises things are not right, and are not what they seem.

While Waverly is trying to figure out what is going on, and trying to keep all the younger girls from believing what Mather says, Kieran and all the boys are still on the Empyrean, trying to survive, trying to rescue some of the adults trapped on board. They face gravity issues, who-is-in-control issues, people are thrown in the brig, guns are used...

The story, though told in third person, alternates every chapter or so between Waverly and Kieran, which meant that we knew what was going on in both ships, around the same time. The writing style was simple, easy to read, and easy to follow, though the font was a bit annoying. Details, I guess. As characters go, I didn't really like any of the characters. I didn't 'bond' with any of them, or feel like if one of them died I, too, would die. I wouldn't care. They're dead. So be it. Although Waverly came across as stronger than the other girls, she still didn't make me feel for her, or want to her to do well. I didn't like Kieran in the beginning, then he got better, but at the end I disliked him more than at the start.

The story line was all right, but I didn't find it was very 'I need to know what happens next right now or I'll die', if you know what I mean. It took me a whole week to get through it,  I don't think I'll bother with the next one. I've given a two star rating (which, going with my usual Good Reads rating system, means 'It was okay'), but meh. Could have been better.

Image from Goodreads

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Event | LeakyCon 2013: A Magical And Literary Experience - Ria

Saturday, 24 August 2013

Event | LeakyCon 2013: A Magical And Literary Experience - Ria

LeakyCon is a Harry Potter fan convention, established in 2009 by Leaky Cauldron webmistress , journalist and author Melissa Anelli. Their first run of conferences held in the US centred around the series, it's fandom and the positive messages of the books. Since then the size and scope of the convention has expanded at an astronomical rate, encompassing all kinds of popular culture, and more pointedly literature. 

This year at LeakyCon's ran their first European convention, held at the Grand Connaught Rooms in central London. Their focus was very much present on it's roots in the Harry Potter fandom with the celebration centred on the 15 year anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and dubbed by Anelli as the 15 year reunion for the fans. Though the focus was very much on Harry Potter, fans of Doctor Who, Supernatural, Glee, Games of Thrones, Nerdfighters, Team Starkid and so many more, were all attendees at the convention.

Close friend of the convention runners and YA author Maureen Johnson helped establish LeakyCon's Lit Track, a special pass for attendees to get the opportunity to meet authors, discuss writing and literature. 

This year's Lit Track came along sans Maureen (*sad face*) but there was still plenty on offer for those with passes to go along to.

The authors present at this year's event included James Dawson, Laure Eve, Sally Gardner, Abigail Gibbs, Will Hill, Dawn O'Porter, Samantha Shannon, Elizabeth Wein and Matt Whyman, all of whom were the loveliest people ever and I was lucky enough to meet some of them all at the author's signing too.

As well as being their for book signings many of the authors participated in panels about writing. Due to the insane amount of scheduled events at Leaky I sadly only got to properly join in on a few of the panels, but the ones I did attend were amazing. The first, held on the Friday, was about 'Fear and Loathing in the writing process', the authors present discussed techniques breaking writer's block and shared what scares them the most about publishing a novel. It was reassuring to hear that even some of the most experienced YA authors suffered from the same anxieties about getting their work right as an amateur.

The other panel dubbed 'Who needs school' focused on the authors, their academic (or in some cases non-academic) lives and whether a creative educational background helps you become an author. This panel was my favourite as it started on topic and ended up with conversations about side-jobs the authors did to supplement their career as novelists, conversations on writing under pen-names and pseudonyms and secrets I'm not allowed to reveal about certain authors writing for certain dancing dogs from BGT's autobiography...;)

The biggest panel of the LitTrack was open to the whole convention and had James Dawson and Dawn O'Porter debate Boys vs Girls: Who has it worse? I caught only the part of this one - damn scheduling again! - as the two debated topics centred around feminism. 

- LitTrack authors panel l-r moderator Rosianna and authors James Dawson, Matt Whyman, Samantha Shannon, Abigail Gibbs & Elizabeth Wein during the 'Who Needs School?' panel - Dawn O'Porter & James Dawson debate Girls vs Boys - 

As you can tell from the small amount of Lit programming I was actually able to attend - once again Ahhhh scheduling! - , LeakyCon ended up being a lot more hectic than I anticipated. With Harry Potter as the obvious starting point, literature, literary discussion and insane amount of creativity literature inspires ran on throughout the whole Convention.

Not to mention the awesome that was Waterstones Oxford Street - and the man behind their genius Twitter account! - set up a pop up shop on the fourth floor with all of the Lit authors books, John Green and Maureen Johnson's YA novels, and all of the Potter novels. They were even lovely enough to take orders for Leaky attendees and would bring them to the Convention the next day!

Writing this post-Leaky has made me think of the impact Harry Potter as a literary series on so many people. It's been almost 6 years since the last Harry Potter book was released yet Rowling's work still stands to inspire every individual who was at the Convention. From the creative minds who run the Convention such as Melissa Anelli and Maureen Johnson, the special guests from the Potter films (including Evanna Lynch herself!), the 'crazy Internet famous' stars like Hank Green and Team Starkid, YouTubers like Lex (who was running Lit Day in Maureen's place) and Sanne (a.k.a BooksandQuills, who I managed to chat with brief at the Con!), the Lit Track authors and the Wizard Rockers. No matter how famous, no matter how old, or how dedicated, everyone was a fan at LeakyCon :) and they sum it up best in their Mission Statement...

We come from the Harry Potter fandom and celebrate everything about it, and everything about the pop culture fandoms our community is growing to include. LeakyCon is a place where fans can, finally, be their true selves. Where that’s the coolest thing in the world to be. - LeakyCon website

LeakyCon really was a fantastic experience and was actually a great opportunity to plug Blogger's Bookshelf too ;)

....hehe Mischief Managed!

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If you want to read more about my LeakyCon experience check out my round ups on my blog here and here, feel free to tweet me questions (@RCagz) about the Con or comment on here if you wanna know more!

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