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Thursday 30 March 2017

Beauty and the Beast Book Tag



The release of Beauty and the Beast prompted me to go find a tag about it to do. And then comes along Kirsty and the Cat Read's Tag and here it is! If you guys want to get on board, do it. It was such a fun tag!! 




A popular troupe, theme or setting you will never get bored of reading

I'm all about family mysteries, I don't know if it's that popular, but generations of mysteries that suddenly is revealed and blow everyone's mind. Including mind. Kate Morton is the best for these!


A book you bought for it's beautiful cover that's just as beautiful inside too

I went to re-read my review for Fairytales for Wilde Girls and the first sentence was "the contents within [this] is as beautiful as its cover." Pretty much sums it up doesn't it. It was magical, whimsical and yet, every time I look at it there is such a saddening feel I get because of how hauntingly beautiful it is.



A book you didn't expect much from but pleasantly surprised you

I feel like you guys are going to be sick of me raving on and on about The Troupe, but this is such an underrated read and needs more attention!! I did not expect it to be so much more than what the blurb let on, and I loved every moment of it.


A book everyone loves but you don't

I feel like I'm going to be shot for even saying this but I did not and still do not like the A Court of Mist and Fury, and that extends to the entire series actually. I just prefer not to read about characters, grow to like them and then have everything taken away from me in the next book. So frustrating! 




A loyal sidekick you can't help but love more than the counterpart

I don't classify Jem as a sidekick per se, but I do find that I love him as much as Will - probably not more, but pretty much the same. Which made reading the series so much harder!





A book that helped you through a difficult time or that taught you something valuable

Surprisingly, Dr Seuss' Oh, The Places You Go, really gave me a lot to think about. I received this as a gift from one of my teachers just after graduating and it put everything into perspective for me. I wasn't in a great place in high school but the world is so vast I never really know where I could go.



A book or series that you weren't into at first but picked up towards the end

Code Name Verity was one of those books that I started off thinking it was okay, but then I fell in love with the storyline and the characters. I loved that it was a friendship novel and that it was so touching at the end.


A fictional character you'd love to have over for dinner

So many characters to choose from BUTTT if I had to choose it would be the Mad Hatter. Hands down that would be the most interesting dinner of all time. 

Try Out This Tag For Yourself And Link Me!

Image Source: Disney Clips

Tuesday 28 March 2017

The Beauty of All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr


Title: All The Light We Cannot See 
Author: Anthony Doerr 
Publication Date: May 6th, 2014
Add to Goodreads | Buy from The Book Depository 

For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes. The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. The microscopic layers within the invaluable diamond that her father guards in the Museum of Natural History. The walled city by the sea, where father and daughter take refuge when Nazis invade Paris. And a future which draws her ever closer to Werner, a German orphan, destined to labour in the mines until a broken radio fills his life with possibility and brings him to the notice of the Hitler Youth. 





Review


All The Light We Cannot See is one of those reads that I will always remember. It’s the combination of the characters, the story and the writing that made the overall experience such a beautiful read. 

I fell in love with the characters and their different personalities - not just the two protagonists, but even the side characters. They all felt so real, so alive, which made reading it that much more enjoyable because I felt for them and was so invested in their lives. I couldn’t help but admire Marie-Laure for her bravery and intelligence. She didn’t read as a character who required sympathy or pity for having a disability, instead she led her own life and had her own experiences. Werner though, had so much grief surrounding him that I just wanted to give him a giant hug and tell him it’ll be okay. 

The story itself was touching and memorable. I loved it mostly because it was a story about war but nothing about the actual war itself. Instead, it focused on the communities and people that suddenly have their lives changed. There was so much insight into the consequences that are felt by the people not only in the immediate future, but consequences that last a lifetime. In saying that, Doerr doesn't try to protect readers from the devastation of war - it's definitely part of the read. It was also historical fiction, but I didn’t feel like I was being bombarded by historical facts. Instead, I was able to grasp the full experience of living in such a time through the characters’ and their stories as I follow them throughout their recount of the era. 

Doerr’s writing resonated with love, courage, grief, loss and every other emotion I felt when reading it. It flowed between past and present to build up to the finale and I appreciated how the characters’ lives intertwine in such a beautifully yet, fleeting manner. Doerr wrote vividly and created such strong imagery that I can still envision the different settings and moments, despite reading it a month ago. Interestingly, he included a myth about a certain gem that really delivered a strong message around human greed - something that paralleled the events at the time.

You don’t have to love reading historical fiction to enjoy this. All The Light We Cannot See speaks volumes on humanity, faith and love between everybody. It is a memorable read that will leave you speechless with all the emotions that will pass through you.


Thursday 23 March 2017

The Waiting List: April New Releases


The Waiting List is a feature hosted by PrintedWordsAnd, where I list some upcoming releases for the month that I'm most excited about! 

April 2017 Releases


1. Defy The Stars by Claudia Gray
I'm not a huge sci-fi reader, but after the likes of Illuminae and Ready Player One I want to give this a go. Also because Claudia Gray seems to be a very popular author.

2. Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
Bailey finds herself crushing on Alex, a film geek she meets online. Meanwhile her new co-worker Porter has been getting on her nerves and she's declared him her arch-nemesis. BUT what happens when both Alex and Porter are the same person? DUN DUN DUN.

3. Geekerella by Ashley Boston
A retelling of Cinderella in modern time - I'm really hoping this is the cute read I expect it to be.

4. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
I told myself I would widen my reading experience, and The Upside of Unrequited gives me a chance to explore more LGBQT reads.

5. The Adjustment (The Program #3) by Suzanne Young
The Program was a great read, and I'm intrigued to see how Young will portray the consequences on the characters beyond the first novel.

6. He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly
Laura witnesses a brutal attack, and now her boyfriend, Kit, and herself live in fear. That's really all I got but I do love psychological thrillers so I'm hoping that this one will deliver.

7. I Found You by Lisa Jewell
You definitely need to read the synopsis to this because I don't think I could do it justify. Just know that a newly married lady is told her husband doesn't actually exist, and in another city a man is taken in after being found sitting outside someone's home. Sorry what?! This is going to be a mystery I need to get my hands on!

8. 180 Seconds by Jessica Park
Allison is seated opposite Esben for 180 seconds, and in those 180 seconds something changes between them. OoooooooOOo.

Which Release Are You Most Excited For?

Tuesday 21 March 2017

Learning To Find Yourself With Looking For Alibrandi

Title: Looking For Alibrandi
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publication Date: October 5th, 1992
Add to Goodreads | Buy from The Book Depository

Josephine Alibrandi is seventeen, illegitimate, and in her final year at a wealthy Catholic school. This is the year her father comes back into her life, the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family's past and the year she sets herself free.

"I'll run one day. Run from my life. To be free and think for myself. Not as an Australia and not as an Italian and not as an in between. I'll run to be emancipated."



Review


I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked Looking For Alibrandi, more so because I thought it would be enjoyable but I actually found it to be very memorable and touching. Thoughts below!




Rating



Thursday 16 March 2017

Let's Talk: How I Organise My TBR

Over the years I've trialled so many different methods to track my TBR list, and I think finally I can say I have found a way that I know I will use consistently and know that I will be happy with. 

I've seen so many Bloggers share their experience in tracking their TBR and spreadsheets seem like the most popular choice. I did try to use that, but as I started creating my spreadsheet I started to feel so lazy. True story. So what I've done is gone back to Goodreads and figured out the best way to use it to my advantage. 



I know a lot of people aren't a fan of Goodreads - and for good reason - but I've found it to be a great tool to use. Initially there are three basic shelves: Read, Currently Reading and Want To Read. Pretty straight forward. I use to file every single book that I wanted to read into "Want To Read" (very self explanatory). However, that made me really confused because some were books I wanted to buy and some I owned and had never read. The solution? I added another shelf labelled "Interest" to differentiate the two. 


Everything in "Want To Read" are TBRs on my bookshelves, and everything in "Interest" includes books I want to read and buy later on. At the moment I'm in the process of adding books into my "Want to Read" self on Goodreads to have it up to date with what's on my shelf, so there's only 80 books listed in there. That's pretty much it! 

Add me on Goodreads here!

How Do You Organise Your TBR?


Tuesday 7 March 2017

REVIEW: The Revenant by Michael Punke


Title: The Revenant
Author: Michael Punke
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015
Add to Goodreads | Buy from The Book Depository 
The year is 1823, and the trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is among the company’s finest men, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker. But when a scouting mission puts him face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. Two company men are dispatched to stay behind and tend to Glass before he dies. When the men abandon him instead, Glass is driven to survive by one desire: revenge. With shocking grit and determination, Glass sets out, crawling at first, across hundreds of miles of uncharted American frontier.

Based on a true story, The Revenant is a remarkable tale of obsession, the human will stretched to its limits, and the lengths that one man will go to for retribution.


Review


Originally I was going to do a movie vs novel comparison, but I started watching the movie and I couldn't make it past the mauling scene. SOO these are my thoughts on the book.

The Revenant was a book I went into quite apprehensively. It would not have been something I would've picked up to read had I not had recommendations from friends tell me that it was good. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it, not just the plot but also the writing style and the imagery it created.

Punke's writing was what made me really enjoy the novel. It provided great insight into the history of the 1800s in the US, coupled with such vivid imagery of the landscape of the wilderness. I was captivated by how realistic the depictions were and I could really feel like I was part of Hugh's journey. Learning about the historical era was also something I found fascinating, being such a history buff. I found that I barely knew anything about the 1800s, especially about hunting groups, colonies and the imbalance between Westerners and Indians. I loved that I was learning whilst experiencing such an adventure.

It was somewhat surreal to find out that The Revenant was based on a true story. In fact, at the end of the story Punke left notes regarding the characters who were real and what happened to them after the event. The only thing I was unsatisfied about was the ending of the novel, but it did change it up a typical revenge story.

I didn't think I could ever like a story or genre like this but Punke's writing really made the difference for me. He made a true story into such a fascinating fictional piece and I would recommend to pick it up - if you've watched the movie, if you're considering watch the movie or if you're looking for something different to read!

Thursday 2 March 2017

February Wrap Up

On The Blog

Goals, Goals, Goals
I reflect on 2016 and what I want to achieve in 2017 

Top Ten Tuesday

I catch you guys up on how 2016 ended!

March releases to expect

Melbourne thrives on brunch and I chat about the places I've visited

Review


              


Reading Time 

I had a great reading month in February. Check out what I read this month!! 


Book Haul 

Also before I reveal what I got for my birthday, Christmas and recently go through all the books I bought last year. This is footage I forgot I have, it was actually very funny to watch over again. 



How Was February For You? What Was Your Favourite Book This Month?