What I'm Reading

Taken from Goodreads:A postmodern visionary who is also a master of styles and genres, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventures, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.

I'm approximately 15 -  20% in & really excited to finish this book. I absolutely loved the movie. 

classic book haul

I found the following books (used) for a really cheap price. I'm pretty excited. I haven't photographed them, so I tried to find images that matched the books I have as closely as possible.

A Room With a View - E.M. Forster 

Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf

Bleak House by Charles Dickens 

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

an update

I have been so busy that I feel like I haven't spent as much time reading as I would have liked.
My busyness hasn't hindered the fact that I have added more books to my 'currently reading' list. In addition to Unearthly by Cynthia Hand, I'm also reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth (yes!!! preparing for Allegiant) and an Agatha Raisin mystery by M.C. Beaton. 

I have been thinking about books that I would like to read in the future. I want to add more historical nonfiction and American/British classics to my list. I actually picked up a few used classics recently, so hopefully I will get around to reading them in the near future. 

Nanowrimo is going...um just going. I had an original idea, changed it up a bit but left the basic storyline. I've written a bit, and I've met my goal for the majority of the days. It's an interesting concept, and really forces you to pick your brain to improve the original story that you come up with.

Coffee has been my saving grace each day. 

this is not a test review

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

***

This is the first book that I've read by Courtney Summers, and I'm really glad that I decided to pick it up. She weaves the intense story of Sloane Price, her desire for death and her life when the dead began to roam. 

The character of Sloane is very well written. It's easy to slip into her skin, and experience what she's feeling as well as what she has been through. She's detached but raw, and she so desperately feels that there is no reason for her to keep going on.

It's really interesting to visualize how people change when the world is in chaos, and how they react to one another.

This isn't your typical zombie novel. It's very thoughtful and really plays on your emotions. It isn't as hard, crass, or gory as some novels of the same genre I've read. The book tells a genuinely great story without making it cheesy.

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. 

halloween

At first I wanted to dress as Anne Boleyn or Amy Winehouse (would that even be appropriate now?), but instead I decided to do something simple.

Sugar skull makeup, black lace top, skirt, and sky high heels (I actually managed to walk in them without any issues). 

***

Since Halloween is so near, I've been reading "This is Not a Test" by Courtney Summers. Zombies have taken over the world, and Sloane Price and a group of teenagers have holed themselves up inside of a high school. I'm about 65% in, and I'm really enjoying it.

Happy Halloween!

the book of lost things review

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

***

The Book of Lost Things was very promising, but I found that I didn't like it very much.
The struggle that David faces when his mother dies was heartbreaking, but I didn't find the rest of the book held my attention for very long. 

The characters lack the depth and feeling that normally draw me into a story. However, I did enjoy how the book incorporated fairy tales and folklore into the plot. 


I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars on Goodreads

book haul (again)

I'm a new book fanatic, and absolutely love adding them to my to-read list.
Picked up the following today:

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (Unearthly #1)

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray