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lexiepiper

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    "Around The World" Reading Challenge!

    in Reading Challenges

    Posted

    I have a question about this challenge, how do you define where an author is from? is it family history, place of birth or the place they have lived longest? for example Lisa See has lived in the USA almost her whole life, has obvious Chinese ancestry and writes predominantly about that country but was actually born in France. so where would I put her on my list??

     

    this challenge has caught my imagination now and I plan to pursue it! I like having my horizons expanded and have chosen many books to achieve this. problem is, I'm rubbish at keeping track of what I have read and consequently can't go back and check where the authors are from. the ones on my map are the ones I am sure of, but I suspect I have read more than I realise.

     

    With regards to deciding which country to define someone as, it's just down to personal choice, most people either do it as the country the author was born in, or the country they currently live in. But then of course there are people who do it by which country the book is set in, so it can be any of them or a mix of them all :lol:

     

    Sucks about not knowing authors you've read in the past, all I can suggest is maybe when you do some research for each country a name will pop out at you and you'll remember reading something by them?

    Kelly's Reading 2010

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Hope you enjoy The Book of Lost Things and The Host both good books I like the idea of a Halloween read although not a fan of horror but I do like supernatural.

     

    You should join in! :) You can read either horror or supernatural for it, I decided to go the supernatural route mainly because I just seem to have a lot more of those types of books lying around.

     

    The Host is really an excellent book. I'm not a big fan of the Twilight-series although I read them all....:-p But The Host is different I really did like it more then I expected to.

     

    I'm glad to hear it, I've had it for ages and just never gotten around to it, so figured now was the perfect time! :)

    Kelly's Reading 2010

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Hope you are okay hen :friends3: and good luck with your halloween read~a~thon, which sounds cool, what books are you reading for that? :)

     

    Thanks hun :D I haven't definitely decided yet, but I was thinking maybe Let The Right One In, The Book Of Lost Things, The Host and something else, but I'll probably decide as I go along. Quite looking forward to it though, I do love supernatural and horror books so it's right up my street really!

    Kelly's Reading 2010

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    :lol: Thanks you two!

     

    I've been in such a bad reading slump lately and it's really annoying me. It's not even that the books I'm reading are bad, I just have absolutely zero desire to pick them up and when I do, I put them down again after 10 minutes. So frustrating! :doh: Anyway, because of that I decided to sign up for a 'halloween read-a-thon' for this coming weekend, so I'm hoping that kicks me up the butt a bit!

    Mac Reads (started 2009)

    in Book Blogs - Discuss your reading!

    Posted

    Nemesis by Jo Nesbo

     

    I finished this book a few days ago and just haven't had time to get on here and write about it. Nevertheless, it's a cracking good novel - I just wish I had read his earlier ones first. Thanks to the BCF, however, I know what I need to do.

     

    I've talked about how I enjoy the Scandinavian authors I've stumbled across and Nesbo certainly fits into this trend. I really liked the character Harry, and was a little unsure of why he seemed to be so unpopular with his colleagues (although his colleagues, for the most part, are pretty unpleasant) and enjoyed his interaction with the key players throughout the book. The plot was well paced and kept me interested, and the ending was satisfying, yet with enough loose ends to keep me wanting more.

     

    I liked it and will be purchasing more of Nesbo's novels.

     

    9/10

     

    Glad to hear it was good! I picked up The Snowman last week after hearing that this guy is really good, so I'm looking forward to starting it :)

    Controversial Topics in YA Literature

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted

    Yesterday I had a customer come through my line with a YA book called Before I Die by Jenny Downham. She and a bunch of the other parents here in Fargo are trying to get the book banned from schools because it is about a 16 year old girl who is dying and her main goal before she dies is to have sex. After reading many reviews today on the book trying to a few more opinions about it, I've discovered that its is actually highly recommended and almost every review I've read offers high praise for not only the story but also for the author's brilliant writing. Next week I plan on buying it so that I can read for myself, but I was curious about how all of you would feel about a book like this being avaliable in your children's school library. Below is the synopsis if you'd like to read.

     

    Before I Die Synopsis

     

    I read this last year I think, and it's not as sordid as it sounds, and the thought of it being banned is absolutely ridiculous. It's more about the fact that a girl wants to live a bit before she dies rather than a randy teen just wanting to get it on. I find this whole banning business very sad and silly indeed. Will taking all of the books in the world that have sex in them away stop teenagers thinking about or engaging in underage sex, of course it won't. For children who have parents that are very strict or too embarrased to talk about growing up and the things it entails, books can be a massive help, and they don't mean that everyone who reads them will rush out to have sex, do drugs or god knows what else. Makes me wonder what these adults really think of their own children, because it can't be anything of any value can it?!

    The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

    in Children's / Young Adult

    Posted

    I've seen a book series that they're claiming is the new Hunger Games, so I thought I'd just note it here for those who are interested :) It's called The Maze Runner series, and only the first book - The Maze Runner - has been released so far, but I've read rave reviews about it from some reading blogs I follow. My copy came today, so I'll be sure to let you know what I think when I'm done :)

     

    I completely forgot to come back and say, this is definitely one for people who enjoyed The Hunger Games, it is of course different, but in some ways it's very similar too. I thought it was very enjoyable and will definitely be looking out for the second one :)

    Kelly's Reading 2010

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted · Edited by lexiepiper

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    TimeRiders: Day Of The Predator by Alex Scarrow

     

    No. of pages: 433

    Rating: 4/5

    Series: TimeRiders series (Book 2)

     

    Synopsis: Liam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2029. But all three have been given a second chance - to work for an agency that no-one knows exists. Its purpose - to prevent time travel destroying history.

     

    Review: Liam, Maddy and Sal all should have died, but just minutes before death they were taken into a different destiny, one in which they time travel to save the world. Liam goes on a mission to stop the assassination of someone important to the future, but something happens and they all get thrown back to the dinosaur era. As they race against time to get back to the future, they come up against something they never could have imagined...

     

    This was a review book, so I'd not heard anything of this series before I went into reading Day Of The Predator, which is the second in the TimeRiders series. The synopsis was intriguing though, especially the aspect of dinosaurs which I'd never read a book about before. The action starts up from the first page, and just intensifies as the story goes on. I really enjoyed how well the author had researched the dinosaur era, with both the dinosaurs themselves, but also the surroundings in which they lived. The characters were well written, although as Sal and Maddy played a background role in this book we don't get to know them too well, so I hope that changes in future books. I think Becks turned out to be my favourite, I really enjoyed her evolution from pure robot to having more human reactions. I'm definitely going to back and read the first in the series, which I would recommend to people thinking of reading these books as they do refer back to previous storylines. The next in the series The Doomsday Code is out in February and looks awesome, it's going to be about Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest, can't wait!

     

     

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    Prom Nights From Hell by Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe & Lauren Myracle

     

    No. of pages: 304

    Rating: 2/5

     

    Synopsis: Stephenie Meyer and Meg Cabot head up this collection of 5 thrilling paranormal short stories which take bad prom nights to a whole new level. Imagine discovering you're dancing with the Grim Reaper -- and he isn't there to tell you how hot you look. Worried that your Prom Night is gonna bite? This thrilling collection takes bad prom nights to a whole new level -- a paranormally bad level!

     

    Review: Five short stories, showing the terror of the school prom. The Exterminator's Daughter - Mary is trying to hunt down and kill the vampire that got her mother. The Corsage - Frankie gets a corsage that grants her 3 wishes, although in the end she wishes she had never touched it. Madison Avery And The Dim Reaper - Madison meets the grim reaper at her prom, and finds he has very nasty plans for her. Kiss And Tell - Miranda has 'super powers' and uses them to protect a young girl she encounters during her job. Hell On Earth - A low level chaos demon decides to have a little fun at the prom.

     

    This turned out to be nothing like what I was expecting it to be. I thought all of the stories would be set within proms, instead only one story was, the rest had about 3 pages of prom action, which I found to be disappointing. Of the five, I only thought one of them was particularly good, and that was Michele Jaffe's Kiss And Tell, which was by far my favourite. I don't really know what else I can say other than to say it was generally very dull to read, and it was only the fact the stories were so short that I bothered to finish it.

     

     

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    The Road by Cormac McCarthy

     

    No. of pages: 307

    Rating: 4.5/5

     

    Synopsis: A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

     

    Review: An apocolyptic event has happened, and the earth has burned. Few humans have managed to survive, but a man and his son have and are walking south in the hopes of out running the bitter cold in which they will not survive another winter. As they scavange their way through towns trying to find food and shelter, they have nothing but a gun with two bullets to protect themselves and their map to lead them south.

     

    I decided to read this after watching and appreciating the film, and I'm so glad I did. The book is just as bleak, if not even more so than the film, and it really makes you think about what would happen if such a thing were to really occur. I found the lack of punctuation slightly strange, and it took a little while to get used to, but that and the lack of chapters lends to the feeling of endlessness, to the lack of hope the man must feel as the story evolves. While normally I wouldn't like such a book, for this particular story, it was absolutely perfect. I found it hard to put down, because it's just so gripping, the story of this man and boy trying to survive against all odds. I found the ending very sad, but in a way, it was hopeful too. I would absolutely recommend this, it's beautifully told, even if it's almost too hard to bear at times.

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