Showing posts with label Reading list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading list. Show all posts
Hey look! It's been less than a month since I last posted! What are the chances?
So I'm back at university and you know what that means, my already unimpressive blogging consistency takes a nosedive. But I am trying to keep up some regularity and have been reading all my favourite blogs even if I haven't had the time to leave any thoughtful or insightful comments.
I thought I'd keep the ball rolling by featuring my October 'TBR' books (I term I'm stealing from BookTube). I mentioned on my Instagram how much I liked that they were all quite colour appropriate for the autumn and, although none of them are especially 'spooky' they all sound quite dark and creepy and great for Halloween reads.
The Gunslinger ~ Stephen King
I'm a big fan of Stephen King but I've never tried his long running fantasy series, which is bizarre because I love me some fantasy. The Gunslinger is the first in what I usually see described as something like 'A Western style Game of Thrones' which sounds really fun. I mentioned a while ago that since finishing what's written of the A Song of Ice and Fire books and the entirety of the Emperor's Edge Chronicles (which I'll be reviewing in the coming weeks) I've missed having a series on the go. There's something so great about a big world with characters you spend a lot of time with so I'm hoping this'll rekindle my spirits and give me another fantasy world to flail hopelessly over.
The Shining Girls ~ Lauren Beukes
I know next to nothing about this book but my friend Holly has said it's amazing and she has excellent literary tastes so I'm looking forward to it. I get the impression it's a crime thriller in the vein of the Gillian Flynn books but with some type of supernatural/ magic realism elements to it so I'm really intrigued. It's not the genre of books I usually go for but I'm always looking to branch out so I'm excited to try something new.
Alias Grace ~ Margaret Atwood
For those who don't know, I love me some Margaret Atwood. She's a sassy bamf who writes awesome literary fiction in a wide variety of genres but that all fit together in a very distinct style. I'm actually lucky enough to be studying a module dedicated to her this year so that's really exciting! This is one of three books on the reading list I have yet to tackle and it's one of her chunkier ones. It's historical fiction of sorts surrounding the true story of Grace Marks who is accused of murdering her employer in 1840's Canada. I'm already a few chapters in and enjoying it so far, though like all Atwood novels you have to let the narrative wind round you for a bit before she closes in on you and smacks you in the face with her sheer amazing-ness.
So that's what I'm hoping to read in the next few weeks. I will probably review The Shining Girls independently, Alias Grace along with a few other Atwoods (I'll have read eight by the end of the year so I'll probably review them in groups.) and The Gunslinger depends, I may wait and see if I read on in the series before I form any major thoughts.
Let me know what you think or if you've read any of these books. I should be back in the next few days with some beauty and skincare so stick around and I have a free day Wednesday so I'm going to come and perv on all your blogs and catch up with you all.
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I bought books! Since having started my English Literature course at university last year I've really found my reading slowing down. I know that might sound counter-intuitive, but the downside of a literature course for book lovers is that instead of reading books for enjoyment at your own pace, you have to read them in a limited time frame and read them with a critical eye which often takes from the enjoyment. In addition you begin to associate reading and books with deadlines and essays which is just the worst.
But in 2014 I want to begin to take up reading as a past time again, and get through some really good works of literature. No YA or 'holiday reads' for me at the moment, I'm going to keep it all high brow for the time being until I get burned out and have to delve into something a bit more relaxed. All but one of these was picked up in my local charity shop so I've made quite the saving as well.
The Books I Bought -
Slaughterhouse 5 ~ Kurt Vonnegut
Metamorphosis and Other Stories ~ Franz Kafka
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius ~ Dave Eggers
The Hobbit ~ JRR Tolkein
The Monk: A Romance ~ Matthew Gregory Lewis
Oryx and Crake ~ Margaret Atwood
So quite the selection. I'll definitely be doing reviews of these and some other books I've accumulated recently, maybe in threes as I get through them. I'm really looking forward to punctuating the masses of renaissance literature (that, don't get me wrong, I really love) by dipping into the fantasy lands created by Tolkein, revelling in the bleak lucid writing style of Kafka and navigating the twisted, unhinged creations of Lewis and Atwood.
Let me know if you've read any of these books and what you thought! I'm really excited to get some personal reading under my belt this year. What are you looking forward to reading in 2014?
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About a year ago an Oxfam Books & Music store opened on my local high street and I took pretty much no notice of it. My experience with charity book shopping is fusty old 80's chick lit and big unread books with titles like 'Best of the Churches of North Wales' and other generally crap stuff that noone wants to read. However my Grandma came to stay a few weeks ago and, while I was taking her shopping and lunching in town, she spotted said Oxfam shop and dragged me inside, claiming that the one that's opened near her is absolutely fantastic. Eyebrows raised and skepticism on full I wandered in after her.
How wrong I was! So many wonderful books! Including ones I'd had on my 'want to read' list on Goodreads for ages and ages. I'm an English student and a book lover and a very fast reader so I go through books really quickly and always want more and can't be doing with shelling out £6.99 a time! The general price I saw scribbled in pencil on the inside cover was £2.99 and all the books were in pretty good nick. Though there was an adorable little section called "Distressed but still desirable" which featured slightly more... loved books, a few of which I do have my eye on.
The books I picked up in that one trip were:
Paul Coehlo - Veronika Decides to Die - £2.49
Susan Cain - Quiet - £2.49
Caitlin Moran - How To Be a Woman - £2.99
Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated - £2.99
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov - £9.99
Total Spent: £20.95
The last one, The Brothers Karamazov seems pricey but this particular one is an amazing edition created by the Folio Society and I fell in love with the beautiful cover. Although I couldn't find an exact price for this book other Folio editions go for upwards of £20, some for £40 and over! So whatever the price of this was it was a steal! I'm going to estimate the value at £30, which is the price I saw for books of a similar size and age.
I actually went on Amazon.co.uk and saw how much it would be to purchase all of these books brand new from there. The four smaller books came to £21.44, I paid £10.96 for them. Adding the price of the Folio book takes the brand new retail price to over £51.44 and as you can see above I paid just over twenty pounds! What a steal!
I'll definitely review these at some point. I've already ready the top two while I was away on holiday (on top of my summer reads from this post) so I have quite a bit of catching up to do in regards to book reviews!
Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought of them!
How wrong I was! So many wonderful books! Including ones I'd had on my 'want to read' list on Goodreads for ages and ages. I'm an English student and a book lover and a very fast reader so I go through books really quickly and always want more and can't be doing with shelling out £6.99 a time! The general price I saw scribbled in pencil on the inside cover was £2.99 and all the books were in pretty good nick. Though there was an adorable little section called "Distressed but still desirable" which featured slightly more... loved books, a few of which I do have my eye on.
The books I picked up in that one trip were:
Paul Coehlo - Veronika Decides to Die - £2.49
Susan Cain - Quiet - £2.49
Caitlin Moran - How To Be a Woman - £2.99
Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated - £2.99
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov - £9.99
Total Spent: £20.95
The last one, The Brothers Karamazov seems pricey but this particular one is an amazing edition created by the Folio Society and I fell in love with the beautiful cover. Although I couldn't find an exact price for this book other Folio editions go for upwards of £20, some for £40 and over! So whatever the price of this was it was a steal! I'm going to estimate the value at £30, which is the price I saw for books of a similar size and age.
I actually went on Amazon.co.uk and saw how much it would be to purchase all of these books brand new from there. The four smaller books came to £21.44, I paid £10.96 for them. Adding the price of the Folio book takes the brand new retail price to over £51.44 and as you can see above I paid just over twenty pounds! What a steal!
I'll definitely review these at some point. I've already ready the top two while I was away on holiday (on top of my summer reads from this post) so I have quite a bit of catching up to do in regards to book reviews!
Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought of them!
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I'm due to go on holiday in a few weeks! (August the tenth to be precise) it's probably one of the last holidays I'll take with my family as in a few years I'll be out of uni and striking out on my own! (I hope) And it's been a really busy year for all of us, My parents have both had really tough times with work, my little brother had his GCSEs to stress over and, as I've mentioned I've just finished my first year of uni, so we're having a lovely relaxing villa break in Menorca! So I'm looking forward to lying by the pool with a tall icy glass of diet coke and just enjoying some good books. This is what I'll be taking with me to read, although I have a few more free books downloaded on my kindle If I manage to get through all of these.
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.When God Was a Rabbit - Sarah Winman.
I confess this one was actually stolen from mama's bookshelf. She bought it quite a while ago and the title and pretty cover always appealed to me. She enjoyed it and, although we have very different tastes it sounds like something I would also enjoy! The back doesn't give much away, just that it's a book about love, particularly between a brother and sister. I have to say in a society of romances chucked into every story, I absolutely love a good book or film about familial or platonic (non-romantic) love, I think they're often far more interesting and emotional than typical romances. Plus I assume there'll be a fluffy bunny involved and that sounds good to me!
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.The Hundred Year Old Man - Jonas Jonasson.
I may have shortened the title slightly... This book has been getting amazing reviews on Goodreads and as my summer job is working at an old people's home it's something I'm really interested to read. The title basically says what it's about, a man in a retirement home, on his one hundredth birthday climbs out of his window and runs away and has all sorts of escapades. Sounds adorable and funny so I can't wait to read it.
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.The Emperor's Edge - Lindsay Buroker.
Finally my Kindle, which comes with me anywhere that I might end up sat awkward and alone and need something to read. The Emperor's Edge was a free book in the Kindle store which is quite often a synonym for 'not particularly good' but, having looked it up in Goodreads, (THE site for book lovers might I add!) I saw that it had very positive comments. It's set in a steampunk universe and follows a young enforcer (essentially police officer) as she attempts to deal with a conspiracy to kill the Emperor! I've already read a few chapters and am enjoying it so far :)
Hopefully I'll get through all these, either on the two hour flights there and back or while relaxing by our pool. I'll definitely give a reviews once I'm done. I've been wanting to get back into my book reviews as I've been stuck reading uni books for the last few months! But now that I have free time I can enjoy good books and share my favourites with you guys :)
Thanks for reading, and let me know if you've read any of these books or if more book reviews would be something you'd like to read here on BELLAETC xxx
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