Such a beautiful book with such wonderful tales. Absolutely loved it.
Just finished Aesop's Fables (and loved it!)
Sunday 29 December 2013
Thursday 26 December 2013
Book Review: A Little Princes by Frances Hodgson Burnett
This book was the first book I ever read and for Christmas, my mum bought me the B&N leatherbound edition which is absolutely beautiful and illustrated. I hadn't read it since I was a child so re-reading for the first time ever was just so much fun. I spent practically all day Christmas reading this book and just breathing in it's amazingness.
The story is about Sara Crewe who is left in Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Little Girls, which is a boarding school in London. She was raised in India and has "peculiar" views on enjoyment, such as she loves to pretend/imagine things and make up stories. Her father is ridiculously wealthy so she can practically have whatever she pleases. She is treated like a princess at the school but she doesn't really act like a spoilt children. One day she is given some bad news and our little princess gets put into a tough situation and the book follows from there.
I absolutely love the story. It is magical and I fall in love with every word. I literally finished it then wanted to go back to the start and read it again. It is so perfect.
The writing style is quite simple since it is targeted to a younger audience though it is thoroughly enjoyable as an adult.
The characters are a treat and you love and hate them accordingly.
Sara is just such a wonderful character and an image of virtue.
Overall, I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone. It is that good.
Rating - 5 out of 5 stars (ONE OF MY FAVOURITES OF ALL TIME)
Tuesday 17 December 2013
Book Review - Inferno by Dan Brown
Inferno, follows the story of Robert Langdon after he wakes up in a Florentine hospital with no memories of the last two days. He is then thrown into a world of assassin followed chases and a threat of a worldwide plague that could be as catastrophic as the Black Plague. He has to use his knowledge of Dante's greatest work, The Divine Comedy to unravel the puzzle and try and save the world from sudden outbreak.
Like I said, this book was fast pace and really easy to jump into. Something was always happening and I just wanted to know what would happen next.
In terms of overall plot, I just loved the characters (Zobrist and Sienna Brooks being my favourites) and the content the novel produced. The mixture of history and science information that is presented in this novel makes for an incredibly interesting and immerse read.
These books are super fun to read and anyone could just pick it up and be thrown onto the roller coaster of Langdon's adventure. Would recommend to everyone.
Rating - 5 out of 5 stars
Monday 16 December 2013
Book Review - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is about a society that is completely controlled from before birth and all the way through their lives with conditioning and scientific influence. All babies are born from test tubes and are "conditioned" (raised) in centres that assure that they will be perfect adults that fit into society absolutely. This is achieved through pre-determining their rank and how they will be conditioned such as are they going to be scientists or factory workers. They are then subjected to conditioning that moulds everyone to believe that they are living the perfect life. In my opinion this entire concept is what makes the book mind blowing because it is totalitarian to the point of dsytopian.
The portrayal of sex in the novel is another key point throughout this novel and I thought it was executed brilliantly. Sex is viewed differently from our perceptions; practically everyone just has sex and it is a form of entertainment. They start from an early age and no one marries or falls in love. They just have sex with someone a couple times then move onto the next one. This was so interesting to watch to play through.
Also the use of Soma (a drug that induces euphoria and in heavier doses, deep sleep periods called soma holidays) was incredibly well done. The citizens of this controlled world rely on the drug to get on with day to day life. It's controlled addiction.
The characters themselves didn't seem to be used as main plot points, except for John, the Savage, who is the contrast in the book, who attempts to prove that liberty and the happiness/pain that goes with it is superior to this controlled and conditioned civilisation. John serves as the reader's opinion on the aspects of the controlled environment because it is in our nature to view this sort of culture as disturbing and horrifying.
This book really brings about some important philosophical and ethical questions about whether it is right or wrong to condition (passively control) everyone to adapt to a set of ideals that brings about general happiness for everyone. It takes away our born right of freedom and liberality and forces us to be happy. What is the difference between forcing someone to be happy or sad when in the end you're still forcing someone to do something or think a certain way, when they have no actual choice? This book definitely induces these types of philosophical ponders.
Absolutely amazing premise and execution. Would recommend to pretty much everyone who doesn't mind a small amount of mind-fuckery.
Rating - 5 out 5 stars
Sunday 15 December 2013
Book Review - Don Quixote by Cervantes
Long classics are incredibly intimidating which is probably why I had such troubles actually sitting down and picking this book up because it intimidated me so much. Although the length is scary, the content isn't.
I found this novel to be fully entertaining and almost always hilarious. Honestly, I caught myself laughing out loud in some bits, it was that ridiculous.
Don Quixote is a guy, who after reading a heap of novels about knights, decides to become one himself and practically deludes himself into this strange scenario where he is a gallant knight. Everyone in the book thinks he is a madman, but the fact that they acknowledge this and then continue to go along with his nonsense is what makes this book so hilarious.
(Also the fact that 'Don Quixote' was supposed to ridicule the novels that Don Quixote reads [and what was popular during Cervantes time] but in fact, made them more popular and became one itself. I swear in the second half it was the story of a true knight, if not a very strange one.)
The relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is funny in itself and definitely matures throughout the novel. The intelligence of Sancho, even though he is portrayed as simple-minded, is superb and matures with the novel. Sancho really becomes a part of Don Quixote's madness in the second part and it's also quite funny to see him react in all the crazy situations.
The plot wasn't that of a regular novel; it was simply the string of events that happened to Don Quixote after he decided that he was a knight and as a knight, he should do knightly things.
The only thing I didn't quite like about this book was the length. I caught myself wishing it was shorter countless times throughout reading this book. In my opinion, it really didn't need to be this long.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book as a first (big) classic to anyone who is interested because I feel that the writing and story are quite easy to follow.
Rating - 4 out of 5 stars
Below the Break - Collection of Quotes
Monday 9 December 2013
Book Review: Crash by Lisa McMann (Visions #1)
The reason she tries so hard to stop it is because in one of the nine body bags she sees as a result of the crash, the face of her childhood crush is present. She still has feelings for this guy and she believes that if her vision is true that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't try to save him.
See, the premise seems quite interesting, but it was the execution where this book had it's downfall. The writing was simplistic and didn't seem to suit the story very well. The plot was undeveloped and lacked depth. It all just kind of happened with no reason why. I just felt like her character could've been developed further and maybe a background of why she is having this vision. Is it due to a mental illness(this is implied throughout the book but it seems unlikely or at least wasn't explained fully) or some kind of power she has? I think it could've improved if her "power" had more of an impact in the storytelling. For example when she asks her Psych teacher about psychic abilities being linked to mental illness and he says to do some research. That kind of research would've enriched the story and made it more interesting. Also if she had more than one vision, like she had tiny visions about small incidents like tripping on the ice on SuperBowl Sunday. For me, the story was developed enough and it is the reason why I didn't like it too much; it was kind of average.
RATING - 3 out of 5 stars
Book Review: Linked by Imogen Howson (Linked #1)
Wow. I didn't really know what to expect from this book but I got surprised with how fast-paced and awesome this book was. The concept was brilliant and was immediately what got me excited and intrigued about the novel.
Linked is about Elissa and how she finds out that she has a Spare (aka Twin) who was taken by the government for experiments at birth. Her parents were made to forget/lie but it becomes obvious to her Dad when she hits puberty and starts experiencing "hallucinations" which are really just flashes, through a telepathic link, to the inhumane experiments that are happening to her twin sister. These hallucinations are destroying Elissa's life because she is consistently in pain because of them. It is not till after she's been signed up for a brain surgery appointment that she realises that they aren't hallucinations and that the person she sees through is real and needs her help. After meeting each other for the first time, Elissa's life gets turned upside as the attempt to get "Lin" away from the government and find safety.
It is a wild ride from the get-go because Lin is a bit of wild-card because she immediately lacks empathy for anyone other than Elissa. Elissa has to try and teach Lin that not everyone deserves her wrath. I found this transition for Lin to go through was particularly interesting because she has spent her whole life being told that she isn't human and to try and change her viewpoint on the world and other people is incredibly realistic and a central point of stress for Elissa throughout the book.
The relationship between Cadan and Elissa is incredibly interesting because there is a lot of background there. I'm glad of the direction it took and that it wasn't some pointless YA romance that was slotted into the book for the sake of it.
As a twin myself, it was weird and interesting to try and imagine myself or my sister being viewed as non-human or a clone just because we were born at the same time and look alike. I don't share any telepathic link with my sister but it sure is interesting to read about those kind of connections. I find that a lot of other stories I read about twins are quite pathetic because they cast twins as being fully compatible and as a twin, this is so false. I'm glad that the relationship between Elissa and Lin was as complicated as any sister's relationship. It definitely helped to relate more to the situation (not that I can really relate to fleeing from a government that is trying to kill me and my sister.)
Overall, I don't have anything bad to say about this book except that it was released in June this year and I'm going to have to wait awhile to complete the series. This book is also Imogen Howson's debut novel and since it was so excellent, I'm quite excited to see more from her.
RATING - 5 out of 5 stars
New Book Blog
I've decided to get back into book blogging through creating a new blog.
I don't aim to review every book I read but maybe every second or third.
Maybe small opinions about every book so that my feed remains constant.
I will post book hauls and book-related opinions and discussions as well.
I hope to keep this active and as I am on a massive holiday at the moment and all I'm doing is reading I thought that now is the best time to reactivate my book blogging capabilities.
I don't aim to review every book I read but maybe every second or third.
Maybe small opinions about every book so that my feed remains constant.
I will post book hauls and book-related opinions and discussions as well.
I hope to keep this active and as I am on a massive holiday at the moment and all I'm doing is reading I thought that now is the best time to reactivate my book blogging capabilities.
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