MissWhitlock Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 (edited) Night Watch- Terry Pratchett Blurb: Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch had it all. But now he's back inhis own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck. Living in the past is hard. Dying in the past is incredibly easy. But he must survive, because he has a job to do. He must track down a murderer, teach his younger self how to be a good copper and change the outcome of a bloody rebellion. There's a problem: if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future. A Discworld Tale of One City, with a chorus full of street urchins, ladies of negotiable affection, rebels, secret policemen and other children of the revolution. Truth! Justice! Freedom! And a Hard-boiled Egg! My thoughts: I wanted to read this book thinking it would be like the classic Terry Pratchett books, you know, not too serious, hilariously written. But I never knew the Watch books weren't supposed to be that funny! Seriously, it wasn't at all. Apart from maybe a few names and the Hard Boiled egg thing, I was disappointed. I was reading it waiting for the funny parts to come but they never did. This book is yes, too serious for Terry Pratchett. I really liked the plot though, the plot was good. And the ending- the ending was just perfect. Well written, I think, very well written. I rate the it 7.5/10 Just because I really really liked the ending. Edited May 23, 2009 by MissWhitlock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted May 29, 2009 Author Share Posted May 29, 2009 Added quite a few books in my list... I can't help it, okay!! I added the rest of the Vampire Chronicles, but was hesitating to because... There are so many, I feel pressured by my already ginormous list. Also added the Stookie Stackhouse series and more of Jodi Picoult and a coupla others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 Interview with The Vampire- Anne Rice Blurb from the back In a darkened room the boy sits, waiting for the story to begin. His companion is a young man, cloaked in shadow, his voice low an soft. Only the pure white of his collar is visible in the gloom. The story of this man's life is about to be told. A story of a vampire facing the dark stretch of eternity, cursed with an exquisite craving for human blood. My thoughts: I really really like Anne Rice's writing. I have no idea why, I just...like it. I'm attracted to it, for some unknown reason. Anyways, I really like the whole plot of this! The story of Louis, the vampire, is full of... betrayal, loneliness, hatred, love and passion, I love it. Although Louis himself can be quite annoying at times, he's so..sentimental. He over thinks things, it's annoying. I give this whole book a... 9.5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted June 11, 2009 Author Share Posted June 11, 2009 The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger My Thoughts: I loved pretty much everything about this book. I loved the plot- a time traveler, Henry, travel's to his wife's past, when she was 6 years old and Henry was 36. Henry just keeps on coming back when Clare, the wife, grows up. They eventually fall in love. It's a beautiful story, really. How Clare always has to wait for him to come back to her and how Henry always has to leave her at some point. Besides the fact that it was a beautiful plot, I really thought it was well thought out. It was very original, and Niffenegger's writing is just brilliant. It's powerful and moving, and I like it, and I also like the way she set it out, with the date and the age of Henry and Clare at the top of each section or chapter or whatever the hell it's called. I think that the ending could've been better though- that's the only thing I don't like about it. It wasn't sudden, it WAS predictable and I just...HATED it. It was so..cliche and...I just didn't like it at all. It could've been better. I still give this a 9.5/10 though. I really recommend this to everyone, it's great, definitely one of the best books I read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanC_84 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Glad to see you enjoyed TTTW so much! It is probably still my favourite book so far this year. Just a great story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I'm delighted you enjoyed this MissWhitlock! I thought you might feel that way about the ending, as I notice you're not one for happyish/soppyish endings when they don't really fit, but I'm glad it didn't spoil the overall experience of the book for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimmy619 Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I am glad you enjoyed it. It took me a while to read as I found that there was a lot to concentrate on! It must have been difficult for the author to write because of the different time lines of the different characters etc. I really liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted June 12, 2009 Author Share Posted June 12, 2009 It must have been difficult for the author to write because of the different time lines of the different characters etc. That's what I thought as well! It must've been really confusing for her. I thought you might feel that way about the ending, as I notice you're not one for happyish/soppyish endings when they don't really fit, Haha, Am I really that obvious? Yeah, It didn't really affect my opinion about the whole book. Well, it could've been worse, no? Dan, It might actually be my favourite too. It's just a beautiful original story. I wish I could've had more time to read it though, I only read it in 3 days. Ah well. No worries, eh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted June 14, 2009 Author Share Posted June 14, 2009 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams It wasn't that good. I didn't like the plot much, it was original, yeah, but meh. I liked the way he wrote though, very funny and witty. But I think the whole book needed more depth. I give it a 5.75/10 Next one's IT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimmy619 Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams It wasn't that good. I didn't like the plot much, it was original, yeah, but meh. I liked the way he wrote though, very funny and witty. But I think the whole book needed more depth. I give it a 5.75/10 Next one's IT! This has been on my TBR pile for a while, but I don't think that I will read it now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucybird Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Oh I love Hitchhiker's Guide! Are you planning on reading the rest of the series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted June 14, 2009 Author Share Posted June 14, 2009 Okay, I didn't know til now that it was a series! That explains why I didn't like the ending. Haha, I'm so stupid sometimes. That definitely makes me wanna read the rest of the series though, which means five more books in my list. :S But I still think that the author needed more depth. I loove the way he writes though! It's so awesome, it reminds me of Terry Pratchett, makes me laugh. Oh, please, Kimmy, give it a go, our tastes could be different, you never know what you're missing out on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 How awesome is it that I had reached my 666th post. And now I'm ruining it all by posting my 667th. Ah well. Dracula by Bram Stoker I had lots of great expectations for Dracula. Thought it was gonna be like, awesome blood and guts and stuff like that. This is like, the oldest book I've ever read, ever. It feels weird. But anyways. At first, I really liked his style of writing. I thought it was very formal, but at times it could be QUITE annoying. It was TOO formal, and it annoyed me. I didn't feel connected with the characters either. Like, usually I feel for their pain if someone died, I feel for their joy if someone lived, but I didn't. I felt distant and..I dunno. I didn't like it. All in all, though, I give it a 7/10. I could understand that it's one of the most influential books ever, but it just had some kinks that just weren't for me, ay. You know, at the end, I got kind of impatient with his writing that I just read it just to finish it. I was so annoyed, I wanted to just FINISH it. That's what kept me going, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella Finished it! It was pretty awesome, I love her style of writing! So funny. I give it 9.5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 I had lots of great expectations for Dracula. Thought it was gonna be like, awesome blood and guts and stuff like that. This is like, the oldest book I've ever read, ever. It feels weird. But anyways I'm so gutted you didn't enjoy this... it was one of my favourite books as a child (oh, the anger when I discovered years later upon buying my own copy that I had been duped with an edition heavily abridged for kiddies!), it's gothic as opposed to modern horror - blood and guts weren't really in fashion yet - so it's one of those books where it's all about the atmosphere conjured up by the language. I hope it hasn't put you off reading oldies, admittedly there's a lot of faff but there's also a lot to be treasured and who knows, there might be an old musty volume destined to regale you with wonders... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share Posted July 15, 2009 Yeah, I get where you're coming from, but I dunno if I have the patience to ever read it again. Maybe when I'm older! I don't know what it is, but I have always been impatient with oldies. I try to read them but I just can't enjoy them! Everyone seems to LOoooove Jane Austen and I couldn't even read Pride and Prejudice without drifting off every page or so. Ah well. Yet again, maybe I'll appreciate oldies more when I'm older. IT by Stephen King FINALLY finished it and I gotta tell ya- Oh my God. Seriously. The only things bad about it were that it was too long (although I don't think it woulda been this awesome if it wasn't long) and that there was like pages of unimportant bits that I just didn't wanna read. It was like, history stuff and I was like mehh. That's it though! Everything was PERFECT. The plot! Genius. The characters? Brilliant. and the way he set it out is so effective! I love it. Definitely give it like, a 9.75/10 or something. Next one up is Things I Want my Daughters to know! I've already read 50 pages and not really HOOKED yet. I like it, but I'm not INTO IT, if you know what I mean. Hopefully it'll be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted July 29, 2009 Author Share Posted July 29, 2009 Things I Want my Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble Hmmm. Where to start? Well, I guess the plot is pretty good, a Mum dying of cancer and giving her daughters goodbye letters and her journals...it was sad at the start, and at the end but the middle wasn't really and I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Like, at some bits I just wasn't interested. Like, I was more interested in the letters, the journals and like, my favourite character (amanda) but they were only there like, a couple of times. It was more about the life of the sisters, and I got bored of it after a while. BUT. The ending makes up for all the boring wasted bits. The ending was what I was expecting of books like these. I heard that this book really made people cry aLOT and I expected myself to just bawl my eyes out throughout the whole book, but I guess it just didn't live up to my expectations. (I DID bawl at the end though) Twas good anyway. 7/10 should do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 I added 14 books to my list. I've been wanting to put those books in my list for ages but have restraining myself because..well if I just keep adding and adding books, It won't feel like I'm doing any progress, will it? I added: Children of Men- PD James Forrest Gump- Winston Groom The Reading Group- Elizabeth Noble Mao's Last Dancer- Li Cunxin Life of Pi- Yann Martel The Scarlett Letter- Nathaniel Hawthorne The Historian- Elizabeth Kostova The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson The Memory Keeper's Daughter- Kim Edward His Dark Materials Trilogy- Philip Pullman -Northern Lights -The Subtle Knife -The Amber Spyglass Plain Truth- Jodi Picoult Keeping Faith- Jodi Picoult Mercy- Jodi Picoult I would also like some books that you think I should read. I like mostly fantasy, YA and Chick-lit and drama fiction stuff like Jodi Picoult and stuff like that, but anything will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 You have "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak on your list already, but since you say that you like YA- what about some of his other books? "Getting The Girl", "I Am The Messenger" for example. Just a humble suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 Getting The Girl and I Am The Messenger sound good! I looked them up in Amazon and read some of the reviews and alot of people liked the books, and Markus Zusak as an author himself so I'll definitely give it a go. Thanks, Sara. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 I'd love to know what you think of "The Scarlet Letter" as it's one of my favourite books of all time on a different note altogether may I heartily reccommend "Generation Dead"? You mentioned you liked YA books, well this is what you'd get if you took the vampires out of "Twilight" and replaced them with the zombies next door. It's funny, it's cute, it's sad, and it's utterly brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookBee8 Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Have you read The Pact and Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult? Those are my favourites by her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 ^They're on my list, BookBee and I'm looking forward to reading them, I love Jodi Picoult. BookJumper, that Generation Dead book REALLLLY sounds interesting. I looked it up and I wanna read the book now! Thanks. I looked it up in our library catalogue though, and it said that it's Horror, i suppose they're wrong? Either way, I'll still wanna read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Indeed, they are wrong - I think they must have considered that zombies ----> horror, but it isn't really. I'd say that what horror elements there are are a YA version of those you find in Stephen King's "Carrie", where what's horrific is the evil people are able to dish out on other people who just want to be normal and are not allowed to. Actual scary elements are few, far between and quite tame in a sense, personally I'm a big horror reader but that's not why I'm enjoying this; I'm enjoying it because the story is sweet and the characters are suitably loveable or detestable (not to mention well-constructed: so far at least, no one is detestable without a motive) so you really care about what happens to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissWhitlock Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Ooh, I'm VERY intrigued now. I love those kind of characters, the ones that don't feel generic and poorly described and stuff like that. I'll definitely put this up on my list then! Thanks for that BookJumper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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