45 books to London

I brought this book really cheap from a book store & the cover was really uninspiring (or, as my manager said "Hmmm, she's rather unfortunate looking, isn't she?") so I wasn't excited about reading this book. But wow, am I pleased I did. This book was amazing, & so intense the whole way through. 

The book was a psychological thriller, which isn't usually what I read (because I usually end up questioning everything & everybody afterwards) & this one was no different. Ginny was incredibly psycho, & it just got creepier as the book progressed. There were parts in the book when I was actually cringing at how far off the mark she was with things. 

I really liked that the relationship between Ginny & Sarah wasn't the only thing happening in the story. There were a few sub-plots which were quite good, but not distracting from the main story. All the characters were developed really well I thought, especially Thel (although- Thel, short for Thelma? Doesn't sit very well with me) & Sarah. 

Overall, I really liked this book, & would definately recommend it to others (in fact I already have, my flatmate is gonna read it soon).

I really liked this book. I found it a quick, easy read. It was split into very small chapters (no more than two pages each), which are in chronicle order, expect for the odd flash forward (maybe five in total). 

I was really impressed with how much Nicky had picked up about his dads activism & the reasons he was sent to prison. It must have been hard for Nicky to defend his dad, when kids were mean to him, but instead of hiding away Nicky behaved much older than his years. For a young kid he understood quite a lot. He was also really sweet to his siblings, probably much nicer than most kids would be in his situation. 

I thought that Nicky was mean to his father (Des) in the flash forwards. As somebody whose father isn't very healthy from time to time, I could never imagine treating my father the way Nicky treated Des. I understand that people have different relationships, but it struck me as very odd, & almost hard to read. It wasn't very often, & he wasn't horribly mean, so I don't want you to think that, but just an observation. 

So yes, I realise that this post is all over the place, but I'm not sure what to write about the book. It was good, but not mind-blowing. Interesting, but not a gripping story. I think I'm possibly too young to fully understand this story. 

I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't have picked up this book and read it if I'd seen that Richard Branson had said "What I have read has offended me on every single level... It is a foul piece of work from the first words to the last- really rotten, nasty stuff" about it, but I'm pleased I did.

Because of Branson's words, I was a bit worried about reading the book, but it turned out to be fine. It was a hard read, but it was very informative, & paints a totally different picture about Branson to the public persona we all know. As I read more of the book, I realised that Branson is a lot like my boss (who likes to think of himself as Steve Jobs), so that was off-putting, & made me dislike the book, but that's not the books fault. Although something to keep in mind when reading the book is that the author is incredibly biased (as seen from the preface).

I would have liked to read more about Bransons private life, but I understand why that isn't written about. I also would have liked to know more about his upbringing, but again, I understand why it wasn't written about. 

Overall, a very interesting read that I would recommend to others interested in business. However, reading this book is an effort, so be prepared.

I really liked this book, but I thought the name was a bit deceiving. I expected the men (Charlie, Adam & Gray) to have bad habits (alcoholics, drug addicts, married etc), instead of just being toxic to themselves.

This was a nice, easy read, which is what I wanted. It was a very different story to any I've read before, I think it is an unusual theme. Usually books are about spinsters wanting to find a husband, rather than lonely men, so I liked that the tables were turned. 

I think that Adam & Maggie's relationship, while very sweet, was a bit unrealistic. I also think that any man in his position would want a pre-nup signed, yet he never mentioned it. I found Charlie & Carole to have an odd relationship, but I think they were also perfectly matched. Both having good hearts & wanting to help people. Gray & Sylvia I really liked. I think they were both good for each other. 

Aside from the characters, this book was easy to read, albeit a bit predictable. I really like Danielle Steele, & she still hasn't let me down.

I would recommend this book to other people who like Danielle's books.

I really liked this book, but I waited a long time for the climax which didn't arrive. Which isn't to say that there wasn't suspense, there was, but there was no climax.

To me this book was less of a murder mystery, & more of a psychological thriller, because boy do those people have some issues. Kristina & Albert/Nathan the most. Although I'm not sure if it representational of other school with wealthy kids. 

I have read a few Paullina Simons books in the past, & I have always found them to be hit or miss. I've never finished one of her books completely engaged & excited to read more of her. But this one did keep me hooked & wondering what would happen next. I found a few continuity issues with the book that bugged me, but overall that wasn't a huge issue. I also think that the book was very well researched. The part that impressed me the most was the talk about body decomposition (gory, I know).

Overall, I liked this book & I would recommend it to others, but it isn't my favorite book.

I enjoyed this book, but I found it to be quite a challenging read. It was very heavy, & I found I had to keep flicking back to figure out who a certain person was, what place this was etc. I also didn't understand any of the local terms that were used (& there were quite a lot), so I think a glossary at the back of the book would be very useful.

I think this book was very well written, & it was very interesting to hear about WW2 written from the perspective of Asia, rather than England/America, which is the norm. I didn't know much about Japan, China etc in WW2 (aside from Pearl Harbour) so it was really interesting (& harrowing) to read that. Some parts of the book were difficult to read, & it does make you wonder how people kept on living; the conditions sound horrible. 

The ending left a lot of loose ends I thought, although I think that the author did her best, considering that if she made the book any longer it would be too long, & she couldn't tie up the loose ends without adding to the story.

Overall, whilst I recognise that this was a well written book, & was an interesting story, I wouldn't put it in my top 10. I never found myself absorbed in the book, & it was a heavier read than I am used to. 

September was a new month for me lieracy-wise, because I joined BookLikes and started my 45 Books to London challenge. So far I have read 8 books, and am 18% complete. I'm probably a bit behind, but hopefully I can lift my game in coming weeks.

In September I read:

• • • - The Carnivorous Carnival

• - The Slippery Slope

• - Gone Girl

• - Winter Wonderland

• - The Grim Grotto

• - The Penultimate Peril

• - The End

• - Christmas Magic

• - The Wedding Girl

• - Going Solo

• - Breakfast at Tiffany's

• - For Love and a Beetle

•  

  So that's a total of 12 books (wow, I've never counted how many books I read in a month, but that's more than I expected), and 8 were towards my challenge. The books with links are links to my reviews, and the rest were read pre-Booklikes.

   

  So, onwards and upwards!

This is a book that is part love story, part travel journal, and it was a really nice mix! I thought that the author (Ivan) seemed like a really nice, funny guy (although sometimes not very sensible, like when travelling through Iran). I also liked that he focussed on the travelling, rather than talking about his family back home. I usually like to know about the background of the author/characters, but this time it felt right that it was left out.

I really enjoyed the comparison to the 1961 trip, although sometimes I got confused about which story I was reading. It seems like many of the countries and towns visited had not many improvements in the 35 intervening years between the two trips!

I also really liked Ivan's stories about the people him and Beth met along the way (on both trips). Meeting the different people would be one of the most amazing parts of a trip like this, and I really admire anybody who has the guts to do it. Especially when you are in the public eye (like Ivan and Beth were).

I did get confused by some of the book (like at the end of the 1961 trip when the boat fare for the boat cost more than the last trip, but the car is supposed to be on it's maiden voyage...), but overall it was pretty straight forward and easy to read.

I really liked this book and would recommend it to others looking for a good travel motivation.

I was a bit worried about reading this book, because I thought it might be written in olde English, but thankfully I was wrong. I really liked Holly Golightly, I thought she was a really sweet, character, and I imagine that in "real life" she would be somebody that the girls love to hate, and the boys want to date.

I liked the main character, and his naiveity was quite appealing. I also thought his crush on Holly was quite sweet; he was quite obviously charmed by her, despite his better judgement.

Although I did really like this book, I do struggle to see why it is such a cult sensation (or was 50 years ago), and why it was made into a movie. In fairness, I haven't seen the movie, but I imagine that it has been expanded on greatly. The book is only 100 pages long, so to make a feature length film out of it is quite a Hollywood feat.

At the back of my book were three short novellas that Truman Capote wrote, and they were quite sweet as well. They were all love stories, but tragedies. 

Overall, I liked this really liked this book and would recommend it to others who want a short easy read. 

This book was different to what I expected, but I liked it nonetheless. I thought it was going to be a novel, but instead it was a series of short stories, & they did not seem to have a sequence.

I don't usually enjoy reading war stories, but this book somehow made me interested in them, although none of the stories involved actual fighting. Although Roald was in the war for a while, he seemed to miss most of the action. 

I also liked how at there stories about Roald's time in Africa before the war, because I particularly liked those. Africa seems amazing to me, so anything like I love.

The story about Home was quite sweet, everybody was so excited to hear from him. I think it was a really fitting end to the book. 

Although I don't remember reading any Roald Dahl books when I was growing up (although I'm sure I must have), this book has made me realise why he is consider a legend, & it has made me want to read his other "biography", Boy. Maybe one day I'll get around to it.

Overall, I really liked this book, & would recommend it to others.

PS- I know the link at the top is to an audiobook, but I can't figure out how to add the paperback. Very frustrating.

I was excited about reading this book, because I've liked all the other books I've read by Sophie Kinsella/Madeline Wickham, & I wasn't disappointed this time. I was intrigued about the writing in this book, because in the foreword Madeline had said that she used a pen name because she has two different writing styles, but honestly, I don't think the writing styles were pretty similar.

I've always thought that the leading characters in the SK/MW books are very similar style (a little bit ditzy, but friendly. In love, about to get married/engaged, but suddenly in a bit of a pickle about a particular situation, which she can't seem to figure out on her own), & this book was no different. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I've really enjoyed them, & you know what you get.

I thought that Milly & Simon were a really sweet couple. I wondered a few times whether they were right together, but I'm pleased that ultimately they did get married. I also loved that Isobel & Harry end up together. It's a bit creepy, I'll admit, but it seems like they are perfect for each other.

Overall, I loved this book, & I'm pleased I read it. My book had a lot of spelling & punctuation errors, which was annoying, but not a big deal in the scheme of things.

This book was split into two smaller stories (novellas, I think they are called), & while I liked the first one (called All I want for Christmas), the second one (called The Magic Moment) nearly distroyed me.

All I want for Christmas was a really sweet, easy read. The characters were all really likeable, and the story had a really nice, natural ending. The story was believable with out being boring or predictable. Plus it featured Christmas (and Halloween) which is always a win for me.

The Magic Moment nearly killed my soul. For a start, both the characters were very flakey, and didn't know what they wanted from each other. They were both very creepy (especially Pierce) and kept secrets from each other, and they kept picking petty fights with each other. Ryan and Pierce were both insecure, which is why they kept fighting, but the fights were so frustrating to read because they were so pathetic. I also thought that the story was very slow moving. AND the story didn't even involve Christmas. What the hell, Roberts?

As if this review didn't tell you, I would not recommend this book at all to anybody.

This book was such a let down. It didn't answer many of my questions, & I thought the ending was confusing. I also thought that towards the end of the book, it started being aimed at people older than the target demographic (which I assume is ages 7-13) & more confusing than they would understand.

I started thinking towards the end of the series that A Series of Unfortunate Events was a lot like Harry Potter. This is because both the Baudelaires & Harry Potter were orphaned, & secrets were kept from them by family & friends. Since The Bad Beginning was released in 1999, & Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone was published in 1997 it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the Baudelaires were inspired by Harry. Also, the general tones of both series' was dark & gloomy. 

I think this series peaked at about The Grim Grotto. I thought the first 6 books were all off the same template, & then got mixed up a bit.

Overall, I'm pleased I read this series, but it was a hard slog. I'm not sure if I'll be committing myself to another series this big again any time soon.

I thought this book was good, but it was very different to other books in the series. I liked it, but found it confusing as to who was on which side, but I suppose that is how it is supposed to be.

Sunny is growing up so much, I can't get over it, she is a little person, rather than a baby. 

I didn't think this book was amazing, & it doesn't seem like Lemony is any closer to the conclusion of the story (although obviously he is), as there are still so many loose ends. To be honest, I'm a bit annoyed about everything not being so slow.

This book is not my favourite, but at least I am one step closer to the end of the series. Yippee!

I've been reading The Series of Unfortunate Event books for a few months now, & overall I've really enjoyed them. The Grim Grotto is book 11 out of 13, which is quite a big commitment for me. I usually prefer books that are singles, rather than a series, & other than the Twilight series (yes- I read them all) I can't remember the last series that was longer than a trilogy that I've read.

I thought that this series was starting to get really exciting (as you can imagine, each book is basically written off the same template, to various degrees of drama), but this one... didn't. There was no climax or tension, not in comparison to previous books. Maybe Lemony (the author) is trying to wind it all down because the end is near? I hope that prediction is wrong because there are still so many unanswered questions!

I am starting to wonder whether all the unanswered questions will be answered by the end of the book, as there are still so many, & so little time for answers.

Something which has annoyed me from the beginning of the series is that we have no idea of timeframe, so I don't know how long it has been since the Baudelaire adventures began. I like to know how much time has passed in a story, so this is something which annoys me about many books, but over a series as long as this, I think the reader deserves to know what sort of time frame we're dealing with. I'm going to get a year since the beginning of the first book though. 

I really like the people that the Baudelaires are becoming, especially Sunny, who was just a baby at the beginning. 

Overall, I would rate this book 3.5 out of 5. I would recommend this book to others as past of the series.

Hello! I'm really excited about this blog & keeping a record of my reading. Just secretly, I've had a book journal for a few years now (I call it Bob) where I write mini reviews and such about books I've read. The reason I keep Bob a secret is because it's a little bit nerdy, but I love it all the same, & I'll continue to keep Bob (I'm not sure whether I should be calling it a she or he, thoughts?) as well as this blog. I will probably write more of my thoughts about certain characters & plots (such as "Wow, I can't believe Karen ended up killing Stan in the end") in Bob, because I wouldn't want to have any spoilers here.

So, enough about that. I'm 25 years old and live in Auckland, New Zealand. I do admin work for a small company and have worked there for about four years. I am hoping to move overseas in January, and want to have read all of my books on the book shelf by then, so that I don't feel like I have to take them with me. My big dilemma with moving overseas is, what do I do with my cat? I have a five year old cat who I love (despite the 2am wake ups ever morning. I haven't had a decent night sleep since I got him), and the thought of not seeing him every day breaks my heart a little bit. 

I have lent my Kindle (aka- Kinsley) to my flatmate (who I'll call Texas) indefinately, so that I'm not tempted to veer off from my goal. It's a bit of a shame really, coz I recently downloaded a ton of new books that I was excited about reading. Oh well, much like the books on the bookshelf that have been waiting to be read for a while, I'll get to them eventually. I will also no longer be borrowing new books from the library, except for the three I currently have out on loan, and the one that I have on hold. 

Any questions? Don't hesitate to ask!