Sunday 19 February 2012
Dusting off the cobwebs!
So it's been quite some time since the last post in here! Not really sure why that is. Anyway, let's try and revive this ...
A couple of short, quick reviews to blow out the cobwebs ...
A recent trip to the library resulted in these two reads ... one which I'd been dying to read for ages and one which appealed to my need to escape reality for a little while!
From lovereading.co.uk
Tally lives in a world where your sixteenth birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation which erases all your flaws, transforming you from an 'Ugly' into a 'Pretty'. She is on the eve of this important event, and cannot wait for her life to change. As well as guaranteeing supermodel looks, life as a Pretty seems to revolve around having a good time. But then she meets Shay, who is also fifteen - but with a very different outlook on life. Shay isn't sure she wants to be Pretty and plans to escape to a community in the forest - the Rusty Ruins - where Uglies go to escape ' turning'. Tally won't be persuaded to join her, as this would involve sacrificing everything she's ever wanted for a lot of uncertainty. When she is taken in for questioning on her birthday, however, Tally gets sent to the Ruins anyway - against her will. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she could ever imagine: find her friend Shay and turn her in, or never turn Pretty at all. What she discovers in the Ruins reveals that there is nothing 'pretty' about the transformations...And the choice Tally makes will change her world forever.
Uglies is a book I'd heard a lot about ... one of those with rave reviews that I was expecting huge things from. I wanted it to be like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I absolutely cannot wait for that film to be released!). But sadly it did not live up to expectations (you'd think I'd learn not to have such high expectations by now!). I found the characters to be thoroughly unlikable with very few redeeming features (maybe this was the point, but I do like to have some kind of affinity with the characters). The storyline was predictable and the plot seemed to take a long time to go anywhere, and when it got there it wasn't all that exciting. I guess this is one YA book that is not for me, and sadly I doubt I'll be bothering with the rest of the series.
My rating: 2/5
And now for something completely different!
From lovereading.co.uk
Suzy fell for Harry the moment she showed him her husband's sperm sample. It didn't really belong to her husband, though, because she wasn't married. It wasn't a sperm sample either, it was a drinks carton containing the dregs of her milkshake. But when you're trying to get off a speeding charge you just have to improvise, don't you? And it wasn't actually love at first sight. Still, it was undeniably a healthy attack of lust...
This book turned out to be exactly what I needed! 500 pages of shameless fun. Amusing (if sometimes a little annoying) characters, a twisty turny (if a little predictable) plot and not too much thought required to follow the story. If you're looking for a book to lose yourself in and forget about the real world for a while, this is the book for you! This is the second Jill Mansell book I've read, and it definitely won't be the last!
My rating: 4/5
A couple of short, quick reviews to blow out the cobwebs ...
A recent trip to the library resulted in these two reads ... one which I'd been dying to read for ages and one which appealed to my need to escape reality for a little while!
From lovereading.co.uk
Tally lives in a world where your sixteenth birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation which erases all your flaws, transforming you from an 'Ugly' into a 'Pretty'. She is on the eve of this important event, and cannot wait for her life to change. As well as guaranteeing supermodel looks, life as a Pretty seems to revolve around having a good time. But then she meets Shay, who is also fifteen - but with a very different outlook on life. Shay isn't sure she wants to be Pretty and plans to escape to a community in the forest - the Rusty Ruins - where Uglies go to escape ' turning'. Tally won't be persuaded to join her, as this would involve sacrificing everything she's ever wanted for a lot of uncertainty. When she is taken in for questioning on her birthday, however, Tally gets sent to the Ruins anyway - against her will. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she could ever imagine: find her friend Shay and turn her in, or never turn Pretty at all. What she discovers in the Ruins reveals that there is nothing 'pretty' about the transformations...And the choice Tally makes will change her world forever.
Uglies is a book I'd heard a lot about ... one of those with rave reviews that I was expecting huge things from. I wanted it to be like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I absolutely cannot wait for that film to be released!). But sadly it did not live up to expectations (you'd think I'd learn not to have such high expectations by now!). I found the characters to be thoroughly unlikable with very few redeeming features (maybe this was the point, but I do like to have some kind of affinity with the characters). The storyline was predictable and the plot seemed to take a long time to go anywhere, and when it got there it wasn't all that exciting. I guess this is one YA book that is not for me, and sadly I doubt I'll be bothering with the rest of the series.
My rating: 2/5
And now for something completely different!
From lovereading.co.uk
Suzy fell for Harry the moment she showed him her husband's sperm sample. It didn't really belong to her husband, though, because she wasn't married. It wasn't a sperm sample either, it was a drinks carton containing the dregs of her milkshake. But when you're trying to get off a speeding charge you just have to improvise, don't you? And it wasn't actually love at first sight. Still, it was undeniably a healthy attack of lust...
This book turned out to be exactly what I needed! 500 pages of shameless fun. Amusing (if sometimes a little annoying) characters, a twisty turny (if a little predictable) plot and not too much thought required to follow the story. If you're looking for a book to lose yourself in and forget about the real world for a while, this is the book for you! This is the second Jill Mansell book I've read, and it definitely won't be the last!
My rating: 4/5
Saturday 13 August 2011
Books for postage cost only!
Well, it's a bit dusty in here!
I'm having a summer holiday house declutter, and in the process and pruning my books. I have a long list of books I would like to get rid of, and am happy to send these to anyone willing to pay the postage! If you're interested in any book listed, leave a comment or email me and we can sort out the postage! All books are in good or better condition (quite a few are as new!) except where noted. This list is posted on several forums. I will do my best to keep it up to date and cross off books taken!
Paperback
Pomegranate Soup - Marsha Mehran
Gallows View - Peter Robinson
Let’s Meet on Platform 8 - Carole Matthews
The Brutal Art - Jesse Kellerman
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Hunting and Gathering - Anna Gavalda
Sorting Out Billy - Jo Brand
Shadows and Strongholds - Elizabeth Chadwick
The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Attwood - cover a bit bent and scuffed
Body Surfing - Anita Shreve
The Resurrectionist - James Bradley
The Xmas Factor - Annie Sanders
Stereophonics - Danny O’Connor
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - acceptable condition, some marks on cover (received in a swap in this condition)
Like Water for Chocolate - Lauren Esquivel
The Church of Dead Girls - Stephen Dobyns
Goodbye Jimmy Choo - Annie Sanders
Sleepyhead - Mark Billingham
A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
From Dead to Worse - Charlaine Harris
Catch Me When I Fall - Nicci French
Seven Sunny Days - Chris Manby
Marshmallows for Breakfast - Dorothy Koomson
Iris and Ruby - Rosie Thomas
Swansea Summer - Catrin Collier
Samantha Smythe’s Modern Family Journal - Lucy Cavendish
The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
Embrace the Night - Karen Chance
Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris
Queen of the Big Time - Adriana Trigiani
Which Witch is Which - Patricia Telesco
The Outcast - Sadie Jones
100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Alentejo Blue - Monica Ali
The Constant Gardener - John le Carre
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee - Rebecca Miller
Birdman - Mo Hayder
The Witching Hour - Anne Rice
A Prisoner of Birth - Jeffrey Archer
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
Secret Diary of a Demented Housewife - Niamh Greene
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
March - Geraldine Brooks
The Behaviour of Moths - Poppy Adams
The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks
The Cupid Effect - Dorothy Koomson
The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite - Beatrice Colin
26a - Diana Evans
Hiding from the Light - Barbara Erskine
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies
Hardback/Large Format Paperback
A Place of Execution - Val McDermid
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
31 Dream Street - Lisa Jewell
Book of the Dead - Patricia Cornwell
Violets are Blue - James Patterson
Blow Fly - Patricia Cornwell
Fox Evil - Minnette Walters
Predator - Patricia Cornwell
The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory
Trace - Patricia Cornwell
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (First 3 Novels in One Volume) - Laurell K Hamilton
Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones
Further Under the Duvet - Marian Keyes
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
The Other Side of the Story - Marian Keyes
This Charming Man - Marian Keyes
I'm having a summer holiday house declutter, and in the process and pruning my books. I have a long list of books I would like to get rid of, and am happy to send these to anyone willing to pay the postage! If you're interested in any book listed, leave a comment or email me and we can sort out the postage! All books are in good or better condition (quite a few are as new!) except where noted. This list is posted on several forums. I will do my best to keep it up to date and cross off books taken!
Paperback
Pomegranate Soup - Marsha Mehran
Gallows View - Peter Robinson
Let’s Meet on Platform 8 - Carole Matthews
The Brutal Art - Jesse Kellerman
The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
Hunting and Gathering - Anna Gavalda
Sorting Out Billy - Jo Brand
Shadows and Strongholds - Elizabeth Chadwick
The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Attwood - cover a bit bent and scuffed
Body Surfing - Anita Shreve
The Resurrectionist - James Bradley
The Xmas Factor - Annie Sanders
Stereophonics - Danny O’Connor
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - acceptable condition, some marks on cover (received in a swap in this condition)
Like Water for Chocolate - Lauren Esquivel
The Church of Dead Girls - Stephen Dobyns
Goodbye Jimmy Choo - Annie Sanders
Sleepyhead - Mark Billingham
A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
From Dead to Worse - Charlaine Harris
Catch Me When I Fall - Nicci French
Seven Sunny Days - Chris Manby
Marshmallows for Breakfast - Dorothy Koomson
Iris and Ruby - Rosie Thomas
Swansea Summer - Catrin Collier
Samantha Smythe’s Modern Family Journal - Lucy Cavendish
The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
Embrace the Night - Karen Chance
Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris
Queen of the Big Time - Adriana Trigiani
Which Witch is Which - Patricia Telesco
The Outcast - Sadie Jones
100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Alentejo Blue - Monica Ali
The Constant Gardener - John le Carre
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee - Rebecca Miller
Birdman - Mo Hayder
The Witching Hour - Anne Rice
A Prisoner of Birth - Jeffrey Archer
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
Secret Diary of a Demented Housewife - Niamh Greene
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
March - Geraldine Brooks
The Behaviour of Moths - Poppy Adams
The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks
The Cupid Effect - Dorothy Koomson
The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite - Beatrice Colin
26a - Diana Evans
Hiding from the Light - Barbara Erskine
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies
Hardback/Large Format Paperback
A Place of Execution - Val McDermid
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
31 Dream Street - Lisa Jewell
Book of the Dead - Patricia Cornwell
Violets are Blue - James Patterson
Blow Fly - Patricia Cornwell
Fox Evil - Minnette Walters
Predator - Patricia Cornwell
The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory
Trace - Patricia Cornwell
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (First 3 Novels in One Volume) - Laurell K Hamilton
Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones
Further Under the Duvet - Marian Keyes
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
The Other Side of the Story - Marian Keyes
This Charming Man - Marian Keyes
Thursday 2 June 2011
Update coming soon!
But in the meantime .... sign up to Dream to get free books - just review them on twitter or facebook!
Use this link: http://dreamonus.com/eo9ht
Use this link: http://dreamonus.com/eo9ht
Sunday 8 May 2011
Distracted ...
I've been a bit distracted from my reading lately as we've booked a holiday .... for Easter 2012! Long time to wait (325 days if you must know, not that I'm counting!) but I've had a mad planning week looking at things we need to do on this visit to Orlando, and when I start I get completely immersed in the whole Disney thing ... it is quite alarming! Anyway the initial excitement has worn off a bit now, and I managed to finish The Weight of Silence this weekend.
I really enjoyed this book. A touching, sad tale of Calli, a selective mute, and her best friend Petra who go missing in the woods near where they live. Each chapter is told from a different person's perspective, and I felt this worked well with the story. It did not become disjointed as this type of book sometimes does, but continued to flow nicely throughout. I'm rating this a 4* star - as I've read elsewhere, a similar writer to Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain.
Next up, I have to put the Kindle down and read The Gallow's Curse by Karen Maitlaind which I reserved at the library and collected yesterday.
I really enjoyed this book. A touching, sad tale of Calli, a selective mute, and her best friend Petra who go missing in the woods near where they live. Each chapter is told from a different person's perspective, and I felt this worked well with the story. It did not become disjointed as this type of book sometimes does, but continued to flow nicely throughout. I'm rating this a 4* star - as I've read elsewhere, a similar writer to Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain.
Next up, I have to put the Kindle down and read The Gallow's Curse by Karen Maitlaind which I reserved at the library and collected yesterday.
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Ugh ...
Hmmm ... I seem to be choosing the wrong books lately! Another 1* read came in the form of The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas.
I'm finding it difficult to think of anything nice to say about this one! What a horrible bunch of characters. I think I'll just leave it there!
What made it even more disappointing was that it was my first read on my brand sparkling new KINDLE!!! Oh my, I never expected to love this gadget as much as I do! I'm sure I won't ever give up "tree" books completely, but I can definitely see me using the Kindle more than I thought I would! I do miss seeing the nice pretty book covers, but I think I can live without them ...
I'm finding it difficult to think of anything nice to say about this one! What a horrible bunch of characters. I think I'll just leave it there!
What made it even more disappointing was that it was my first read on my brand sparkling new KINDLE!!! Oh my, I never expected to love this gadget as much as I do! I'm sure I won't ever give up "tree" books completely, but I can definitely see me using the Kindle more than I thought I would! I do miss seeing the nice pretty book covers, but I think I can live without them ...
Saturday 23 April 2011
30 Day Challenge
Day 8 - the book you can quote the best
Hmmm, I would have to say Hamlet for this, purely because we studied it for finals at school and it was drummed into me. I do love Hamlet, my favourite of all Shakesepeare's works (well, those I've read - I'm not pretending to have read them all!).
After only several days of dropping major hints, my hubby came home from a trip to buy tropical fish with a Kindle for me! Woohoo! So excited about this :) I've downloaded a few free books, and a couple of books from the Spring Spectacular on Amazon ... now I need to get reading :)
Also, please excuse the mess ... I'm trying to make a new blog header to match my new colour scheme ....
Hmmm, I would have to say Hamlet for this, purely because we studied it for finals at school and it was drummed into me. I do love Hamlet, my favourite of all Shakesepeare's works (well, those I've read - I'm not pretending to have read them all!).
After only several days of dropping major hints, my hubby came home from a trip to buy tropical fish with a Kindle for me! Woohoo! So excited about this :) I've downloaded a few free books, and a couple of books from the Spring Spectacular on Amazon ... now I need to get reading :)
Also, please excuse the mess ... I'm trying to make a new blog header to match my new colour scheme ....
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