Books for when you're... (7)

Each fortnight I will showcase 1-2 books that I think would be fantastic reading if you're going through a  certian emotion/stage in your life.

Books for when you want to have a fictional friend (part 2).
There were so many books I wanted to feature in which I have found friends, fictional or otherwise, that this had to be a two part spot. Of course there are many, many more books that I would recommend, but these final two are absolute favourites.

Howls Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

Why I chose this book:
I chose this book because of Howl and Sophie and Calcifer, because of the dear friends I made and re-make each time I go back within the pages. I chose this book because Howl, despite being flamboyant and unpredictable and terribly unreliable, is an excellent human being and he cares, if not always openly, about the people he loves about. Because Sophie is strong and unwilling to let something pass if it's wrong just because it's easier, because she is fiesty and loving and understanding and loves flowers. Because I have always, always had a bond with Calcifer, the hot-headed thing.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by J. K. Rowling.

Why I chose this book:
I make no secret of my outright love for the character Luna Lovegood, and she is being featured here today; even though they become her friends, best of friends, later on, I dislike the fact that people don't understand Luna, that Hermione, always so strong and level headed, doesn't take the time to understand her because she doesn't agree with her, and I dislike that Luna seems alone, even with Ginny. If we were to go to school together, we wouldn't be like friends, we'd be like a really small gang.

Stay tuned for some more bookish suggestions for the good times, and the bad.

So far I've covered-

Books for when you're going through a breakup.

Books for when you're having a run of bad days.

Books for when you're in a book-hangover.

Books for when you're wanting to get into a book hangover (part 1).

Books for when you're wanting to get into a book hangover (part 2).

Books for when you're in search of a fictional friend (part 1).

Live Below the Line.

Welcome.

This week there is only going to be this one post because I am super busy with two very important things-
1. I am working on finishing transcribing my NaNo novel, which ought to be done by Friday.
2. I am taking part in Live Below the Line, where, from the 6th-10th of May, people the world over are living on $2 a day to raise money for people living below the poverty line.

I will be tweeting (intermittently) about LBL, perhaps vlogging about it and blogging about it over on my LBL page, so if you want to keep up to date the links are below.
I'm not shameless, but I am shameless enough to say that if anyone would like to help me meet my fundraising goal or participate themselves, well... *winks with lots of allure*.

Twitter.
Youtube.
LBL page.

This is the food I shall be living on for the next five days. Yes that is cake.

All This Could End by Steph Bowe.

Title- All This Could End.
Author- Steph Bowe.
Publish date- February 2013.
Publisher- Text Publishing.

(Goodreads)

Review...

Synopsis from goodreads:
What’s the craziest thing your mum has asked you to do? 

Nina doesn’t have a conventional family. Her family robs banks—even she and her twelve-year-old brother Tom are in on the act now. Sophia, Nina’s mother, keeps chasing the thrill: ‘Anyway, their money’s insured!’ she says. 

After yet another move and another new school, Nina is fed up and wants things to change. This time she’s made a friend she’s determined to keep: Spencer loves weird words and will talk to her about almost anything.

Thank you to Text Publishing for this review copy!

What I thought:
All This Could End was a very enjoyable read for me- I found the characters to be very fun and I connected with them, it was quick and extremely fast reading for me, getting 150 pages read in a day without even working at it, and it came at the perfect time for me.

I found the Nina and Spencer, the protagonists, to be fun characters with a good amount of depth, something that I often find is lacking even in protagonists- they connect very quickly after their initial meeting (which I did find questionable because Nina makes sure she doesn't make lasting friendships and Spencer doesn't talk to people often) and I just wish there could have been more time spent with the two growing together. Instead, after their first day together it basically skips forward a few weeks and then continues to skip until a later point in time; I thought if it had gone more slowly, focused less on getting the plot to the spot in time it needed to be for the end scenes, which was December (the novel starting in December and then going backwards in time to April), or even had a shorter length of time to cover it would have been more enjoyable. Instead it did feel uncomfortably raced and the characters, I feel, could have been developed more than they were.
The characters themselves I found to be pretty awesome- Nina I had a few problems with, particularly towards the end with the choices she made and the way she looked at life, and I didn't think she had an awful lot of backbone, but I throughly enjoyed the trivia she learnt as a pastime. Also she refers to her conscience as being a "bitch" on the second or third page, which I enjoyed.
Spencer definitely took the place of favourite character; he loves words that aren't in the English language, lost words, words like Vergangenheitsbewaltigung, a German word that means "coming to terms with the past", and it's something I enjoy myself and I loved the fact that I recognised some of the words he spoke of.

I really like the feel of the cover, though I'm perplexed by the fact that the female, presumably supposed to be Nina, appears to be wearing some kind of life-jacket dress; it could be a dress, but the shoulders look like they've got a strange thickness to them, like shoulder pad thickness, so that didn't make much sense to be- one of my favourite things about this cover is that it actually has a link to the book; I'm not a huge fan of books that have a cover that then has nothing to do with the book, no matter how exquisite they are (okay, if they're really exquisite it won't bother me too much, but still), but the water scene pictured actually is in the book and that made me really happy. It's also in fairly soon in, so that was also a good point.

I don't like the main part of the synopsis, found online in a different form to what is shown on the back of the book, which I only just noticed.
Book version- "What's the craziest thing your mother has made you do?"
Online version- "What's the craziest thing your mum has asked you to do?"
The second riles me because Sophia, Nina's mother and the one who runs the bank heists, does not ask. She presumes, she takes advantage of, and she does. not. ask. I'm glad that the book cover has it written truer to the story.

(I should probably note the heists, seeing as that's a fairly big part of the storyline- they didn't feature very prominently, recollections of past ones are mentioned and one actually takes place in the story. I certainly felt that it added an excellent and otherwise unexpected element to the story.)

I found this incredibly quick to read- I felt that the story was important and interesting and I really did enjoy it; there were points, as mentioned above, that I wasn't a massive fan of, but I was really pleased with it and enjoyed the reading experience a lot.

Rating: Excellent-
I really enjoyed this and can see myself re-reading it in the future; I liked the characters a lot and the storyline was fresh and interesting. It never quite managed to be an all out stunning read, but I don't regret reading it, it just never became overwhelmingly brilliant.

Quote Sharespace 3.

Now it's time for Quote Sharespace, the time of the week(end) when I share a quote I find incredibly beautiful, thought-provoking, sad, and generally all around wonderful. 

--

"But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more."

Hans Christian Anderson, The Little Mermaid.

--

When I search for quotes for my Quote Sharespace, which I have neglected over the past fortnight month, I'm never quite sure what I'm looking for. There is an abundance of quotes on my computer, in my goodreads account, saved on my desktop, on my tumblr- a huge amount- and yet I don't want to choose any one. I want a particular something, maybe it suits my mood, maybe it makes me wonder at that particular moment- whatever it is, it made me pick this one, for which I am very thankful, even if I don't know what to say about it it, apart from the fact that it makes me feel and think.

Romi.x

Lets go deeper- Between the Lives.

So last week I posted my review of Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington and as part of the anticipated release I decided to make a video review, too, covering some of the things I liked and disliked in different ways and depths and such. 

If you'd like to check out some of my other youtube videos, which are about as much like this as peas are like corn, go here!

Romi.x

Books for when you're... (6)

Each fortnight I will showcase 1-2 books that I think would be fantastic reading if you're going through a  certian emotion/stage in your life.

Books for when you want to have a fictional friend (part 1).
Life can be awful. Fiction can be awful, too, but that's beside the point- having a book in which you are able to really connect with a character is an incredible feeling, and being able to say you feel like you would be best friends, already are, is something I adore.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

Why I chose this book:
Cassandra, the protagonist, is a character I immediately felt passionate about- she is witty, amusing, strong, compassionate and loves without hesitation. She is one of my favourite heroines and I can see us getting alone very well indeed.

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan.

Why I chose this book:
Prepare to be inundated by Unspoken/Kami Glass appearing in these posts, because she is featured heavily in the next few. Kami is just so fantastic and I get incredibly happy/excited when I think/talk/write about her- she and I are fairly similar, but I don't know if that's why I immediately loved her so strongly. She is incredibly strong and brave, a little headstrong at times, has a taste in fashion that makes me swoon, has amazing dialouge and is just "The best" in all the things. She is a friend one would make and keep forever, and she wouldn't let you be lost, either.

Stay tuned for some more bookish suggestions for the good times, and the bad.

So far I've covered-

Books for when you're going through a breakup.

Books for when you're having a run of bad days.

Books for when you're in a book-hangover.

Books for when you're wanting to get into a book hangover (part 1).

Books for when you're wanting to get into a book hangover (part 2).

Here and Now by J. M. Coetzee and Paul Auster.

Title- Here and Now.
Author- J. M. Coetzee & Paul Auster.
Publish date- March 2013.
Publisher- Allen and Unwin. (Imprint: Faber)

(Goodreads)

Review...

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Although Paul Auster and J. M. Coetzee had been reading each other’s books for years, the two writers did not meet until February 2008. Not long after, Auster received a letter from Coetzee, suggesting they begin exchanging letters on a regular basis and, “God willing, strike sparks off each other.”
Here and Now is the result of that proposal: the epistolary dialogue between two great writers who became great friends. Over three years their letters touched on nearly every subject, from sports to fatherhood, film festivals to incest, philosophy to politics, from the financial crisis to art, death, family, marriage, friendship, and love.

Thank you to Allen and Unwin for this review copy!

What I thought:
One of my main thoughts about reading this as a review copy was that I felt a little rushed reading it- if I bought myself a copy I would read a few pages every few days, read the whole thing over the course of a few months, because I felt it was a book I would have loved to savour more than I felt I did.

I am a lover of letter compilations- I don't know when it began or why I have such a passion for them, but I cannot deny that letters compiled into book form are one of my favourite things, and I very much enjoyed this collection, perhaps a little more than I expected-
The letters between J. M. Coetzee and Paul Auster were wonderful- I didn't read the entirety of all the letters, but I felt that was okay and I really enjoyed reading about their thoughts on people, books, films and travel- they ocassionally mentioned their own, and each others books, which was always something I enjoyed, and at one point one of the men went to see the film adaptation of the other's book (I can't quite recall whether it was Coetzee or Auster, I think Auster) and that was really interesting, seeing his thoughts on it after having heard that it wasn't very good (from the author of the adapted work).

The correspondence begins as being letters sent from America to Australia and vice versa, but gradually they begin adding notes in emails and faxing in addition, so reading about that gradual transition was really interesting.
I found fairly quickly that I had a preference for the letters sent by Coetzee, though I can't say why they attracted me.

Overall I did really enjoy Here and Now- it goes without saying that I didn't find myself fully enjoying each letter and, as I say, I skipped sections when I found they didn't appeal to me, but overall my enjoyment went up the longer I read. I would definitely recommend this to readers of the authors work or those who enjoy letter collections.

Rating: Ooh, very good-
I really enjoyed this- I would recommend it and only feel I could have imporved my enjoyment if I could have taken a little longer to read it. I haven't read any of either authors work yet, but this has made me keen to, more so than previously, and I hope that is something I accomplish this year.