TSS: July and upcoming themed months

Hello. I haven't written a bookish news post in awhile and unfortunately today's post will not be general bookish news but more of an update on books read in July as well as looking forward to the events coming up on my blog in the next few months.

July totals

First of all, here's a look at the books I read in July as well as how I acquired each book.

1. Finding Sky by Joss Stirling* (purchased)
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling* (re-read) (purchased)
3. Raised By Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (sent for review)
4. The Dark Divine by Bree Despain (gift)
5. Milo and the Restart Button by Alan Silberberg (purchased and sent for review)
6. David by Mary Hoffman* (sent for review)
7. Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready (sent for review)
8. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (sent for review)
9. 13 To Life by Shannon Delany (swapped)
10. Sea Change by Aimee Friedman (swapped)
11. Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden (purchased)
12. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (swapped)
13. The Maze Runner by James Dashner (purchased)
14. A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis* (purchased)
15. 0.4 by Mike Lancaster* (sent for review)

It's kind of a mixed bag of books there. There's some review books that I needed to read for whatever reason. A bunch of paranormal books for an upcoming event, some dystopic books for another event. Only 4 books by British authors...

Goals for August? Get through more books for Dystopian August including:

The Fox Inheritance by Mary E Pearson
The Dead by Charlie Higson
Exodus by Julie Bretagna

as well as some review books because I've been falling slightly behind and I need to be completely free of other responsibilities in order to read books for my other themed months:

Wickedness by Deborah White
Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling
Lottie Biggs Is (Not) Tragic by Hayley Long
Pegasus by Robin McKinley
Between by Jessica Warman
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Huntress by Malinda Lo
Blood Ninja by Nick Lake


Upcoming events

It's now August, and I've decided to take part in Lenore's Dystopian August. I have quite a few dystopic/post-apocalyptic/zombie books read and ready to share with you this month which will be quite fun.

But I'm also planning on doing a paranormal themed month during the month of October. So look forward to seeing reviews and other posts featuring vampires and ghosts and werewolves and other mythical creatures. I have stacks of paranormal books that have been languishing on my TBR shelves and this really just gives me a great excuse to get through them as well as tying in with Halloween. So I'm hoping you will be looking forward to that.

And, because I must be slightly mad, if you haven't already heard (I sent out quite a few emails recently advertising this themed month and asking for guest posts and support) I've decided that the month of November will be entirely focused on British authors. I'd like to highlight and promote British authors and books and have been asking bloggers and authors if they'd like to take part in the month with me. There will be posts about our favourite books and authors, places in the UK that inspire. I'd really like this event to be diverse and covering as much as possible, so if you would like to contribute in any way, I would love to hear from you. Already the response and the support for this British month has been overwhelming and I'm deeply grateful to everyone who has already gotten in touch. Thank you.

And I think that's it for me. The summer holidays have completely taken their toll on me and I'm finding that I have less and less time for reading and blogging these days! I hope this feeling passes soon though.

Have a wonderful weekend all, and DFTBA!

TSS: More bookish news on a Sunday

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone has been enjoying the weekend. Welcome to another bi-weekly news round-up where all my bookish thoughts and news are gathered together in one place.

Book(s) I'm currently reading: Argh! I'm feeling a little bit book-restless at the moment and have started several books. I'm hoping that one of them will stick. I'm currently reading David by Mary Hoffman, Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison and The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I think I'll give each book a few more pages before I take the pressure off and pick up something ele for right now. I think these are all wonderful books, it's just not the right timing for me.


Books I've finished reading recently: I don't know what it is, but I've been on such a paranormal romance kick lately! It's funny, I go months and months where I can't even stand to think of reading a paranormal, and then all of a sudden the urge just HITS me. Does that happen for you guys as well?

This past week I've read Die For Me by Amy Plum, Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon, Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris and Nightshade by Andrea Cremer. Phew. Hopefully my reviews of all of these books will be up soon.


Books I'm looking forward to starting soon: I'm still enjoying this paranormal urge, so I thought I'd do my best to clear out some of my TBR shelves.

My new shortlisted stack of books on my bedside table currently has Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan, The Dead by Charlie Higson, Raised By Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Finding Sky by Joss Stirling, The Dark Divine by Bree Despain, Burned by PC and Kristen Cast, Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick, and Forsaken by Jana Oliver. I would really love to clear all of that lot out! Operation Read Own Books has been failing MISERABLY in the last few months, it'll be nice to strike a few more titles off.


Books read in June: As the end of the month has come and gone, as per usual, here is the list of books that I've read in June. It was an OK reading month for me, though I'd (of course, always) hope to have read more of my OWN books. Some really great books there though.

Despite my normal intimidation towards chunky books I did read *6* books this month which were over 500 pages. I'm absolutely impressed with myself! I think I've finally conquered that particular fear of starting very large books.

* marks a British author and next to each book I've also listed how I've acquired the book.

1. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter (swapped)
2. Flash Burnout by LK Madigan (purchased)
3. Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton (sent for review)
4. Hidden by Miriam Halahmy* (sent for review)
5. What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (purchased)

6. Angel's Fury by Bryony Pearce* (sent for review)
7. Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors (sent for review)
8. Duty Calls: Dunkirk by James Holland* (sent for review)
9. Pretty Twisted by Gina Blaxill* (sent for review)
10. Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck (sent for review)

11. Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck (sent for review)
12. Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien (sent for review)
13. The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta (purchased)
14. Blood Red Road by Moira Young (purchased)
15. Die For Me by Amy Plum (swapped)

16. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (swapped)
17. Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon (swapped)
18. To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell (purchased)
19. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (gift)

My favourites of the month? Tiger's Curse, Tiger's Quest and The Piper's Son.


Plans for July: My plans for the following month usually remain much the same - do my best to clear some of my own books as well as keep on top of sent for review books. Catch up entirely with my for review pile once I've read a book. This month, as Lenore from Presenting Lenore is hosting Dystopian August again, I am aiming to tackle a few dystopic books. My goal is to get around to possibly:

0.4 by Mike Lancaster
Forsaken by Jana Oliver
The Dead by Charlie Higson
Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
Exodus by Julie Bertagna
The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Books added to my wishlist: None this week :( I've been so behind on reading my favourite blogs this week and barely looked at any reviews at all. Do feel free to leave recommendations in comments!

Bloggy housekeeping: I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about reviews. There's been such controversy over whether or not bloggers should write their own product descriptions or not. I've always sat on the fence on the particular issue, but lately I have been finding it easier to write my own. This is on a trial basis and we'll see how it does. I am curious though, would you like me to include more information about the book in my reviews? Date of publication? Who publishes the book? Would a link to the author's website be of any use? What about book trailers? If I posted some good ones along with a review, would you watch it?

If I'm honest, I don't pay very much attention to book trailers. I know several bloggers feature book trailers every week and ... I never watch them and generally skip over those posts (I'll add that it's the same with Waiting on Wednesday posts or other such posts with very little content, now that it feels like confession time!) but if they were together with someone's thoughts on a book, would that make a difference to you? It might for me, so I shall possibly be attempting that in the near future.

Here are several that I came across this week and really loved:



Blood Red Road by Moira Young



Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini



Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck


Bookish news: Lots of fab news to share this week. Several awesome books have been cover revealed...

Kiss Date Love Hate by Luisa Plaja has this awesome cover, which I love.

What if you could change your friends' lives and loves through the settings of a computer game...?

Lex Murphy's group of friends have all dated, hated, ignored and lusted after each other for the last few years. If only there was a way of matching people perfectly to avoid all the unrequited love, dumping and drama! Then Lex's friend George is given a mysterious Sims-like game by his software-testing dad which involves building character profiles in the categories of Life, Looks and Love. Lex and George populate the game with avatars for all their mates, making a few 'wishful thinking' adjustments to the settings - and find that the next day these tinkerings have come true! But how long can this new calm, loved-up atmosphere continue?

Torn by Cat Clarke is absolutely beautiful, I love the colours.

Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt.

Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares…

Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down.

Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...

A compelling story of guilty secrets, troubled friendship and burgeoning love.

and of course, everyone has seen Bloodlines by Richelle Mead by now, but I'm going to include it anyway.

LOVE AND LOYALTY RUN DEEPER THAN BLOOD…

Sydney protects vampire secrets – and human lives. As an alchemist, she is part of a secret group who dabbles in magic and serves to bridge the world of humans and vampires.

But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she’s still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. What unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir—the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir—is in mortal danger, and goes into hiding. Now Sydney must act as Jill’s protector.

The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathising with vampires. And now she has to live with one . . .


It was announced that Karen Mahoney has a new three book deal, excellent.

And of course, I'm hugely excited that John Green has announced the title of his new book, The Fault in Our Stars and will be signing ALL pre-orders for it. The book has already flown to the number one spot on the US Amazon site. Hugely exciting news.

And oh, that's enough from me today. Hope all of you are having a wonderful, relaxing weekend! DFTBA.

What book are you reading at the moment?

TSS: Bookish news on a Sunday

Today is Father's Day! I hope everyone out there is spoiling the fathers in their lives rotten. We've taken N out to a local castle and will be treating him to a nice Indian dinner this evening!

I haven't participated in The Sunday Salon in awhile, but I thought there was a fair bit of bookish news and other things that I'd like to share which didn't really fit into my other posts. So this will become a fairly regular occurrence, me joining together what I'm currently reading with some of the things I've come across this week.


Book(s) I'm currently reading: I'm currently reading both David by Mary Hoffman and Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien. I've been reading David off and on for awhile. It's a really wonderful book, but I wanted to take it a little slowly and now I'm savouring the few chapters I read here and there.

And I've been looking forward to Birthmarked for absolutely ages! I'd seen it about on American blogs I read, so was thrilled to hear that Simon and Schuster had picked it up. From all the fantasy I've been reading lately, it's been nice to slip into a good dystopic read.

Haven't gotten very far into this one yet, but so far I've been enjoying it.


Books I've been obsessing about this week: Oh my god. This past week I've been trying my best to get through some of the sent-for-review books that lovely publishers have been sending me lately. I'm always slightly behind and I thought this week would be a good time to catch up. I managed to get through three fairly great books and then I got to Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck.

HOLY CRAP, how swept away did I get by this series? I finished the first book in under a day, and immediately picked up Tiger's Quest. I am now bereft and heartbroken that I will have to wait until NOVEMBER to read the next book in the series, Tiger's Voyage. November :( Such an excellent series of books, which come very highly recommended from me. Reviews soon, promise.




Bookish news: Usually I end up with lots of book trailers and news in my Inbox and I don't know what to do with it. Recently? Not so much. Just a reminder that Bloomsbury are still searching for a Favourite Harry Potter character. I've voted, have you? (click on the image above if you haven't yet voted and would like to! Don't forget to leave me a comment to say who you've voted for!)


Upcoming blog tours/guest posts: I'm hugely excited for all of the upcoming blog tours and guest posting I'll be doing soon enough! You can some of the banners on my sidebar over there --

A blog tour for Reckless by Cornelia Funke.

A blog tour for David by Mary Hoffman.

And a Guest Blogger Week at The Book Memoirs.

Look out for more on all of that soon.


Bloggy housekeeping: I've been doing a fair bit of work behind the scenes of my little blog, and I thought I'd use this opportunity to share some of it with you.

I've added a review page, in which I've listed all the reviews that have been published on Fluttering Butterflies.

I've also included pages for my personal posts on Wednesdays (called 'Behind the Books' button coming soon!) and my discussion posts on Fridays (now called 'Let's Discuss!' again, button coming soon!)

You may now subscribe to Fluttering Butterflies using the RSS feed, Google Friend Connect as well as an email subscription. All of those options can be found in the sidebar.

Would also love to hear if you're finding my 'Popular Posts' interesting at all? And if there's anything else you'd like to see more of/less of, please do let me know!


Books that have been added to my wishlist this past week: There's been quite a few wonderful reviews and interviews with authors that I've read recently and all of these things sort of bombard me and every so often, I'll add a bunch of books to my Amazon wishlist. This past week I went a little bit crazy, and added the following books:

One Seriously Messed-Up Week: in the Otherwise Mundane and Uneventful Life of Jack Samsonite by Tom Clempson - This book just sounds absolutely hysterical and I feel like I need to read it.



Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner - I loved the interview with the author over on Serendipity. I really like the sound of it being in New York and there being an element of magic/magicians. And I think the cover looks sweet.



The Mermaid's Mirror by LK Madigan - I've recently read LK Madigan's other book, Flash Burnout and found it to be hugely funny and moving and after Liz from My Favourite Books raved about it on twitter, I became even more excited and determined to read it.



Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares - The four girls from the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants all grown up! I adored the series and I'm not quite sure yet how I feel about this new book, looking at the girls' lives 10 years on from the last book. Who am I kidding? Of course I'll read it, and I'm sure I'll end up loving it as well..



I've also added a fair few books that I'm looking forward to but aren't published for awhile: Adorable by Sarra Manning, Nine Uses for An Ex-Boyfriend also by Sarra Manning, and I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella.


Reading Challenges: I'm doing really well with my British Books Challenge, and I'm halfway to my goal of reading 200 books for the year! I didn't intend on joining any further reading challenges this year, but I couldn't resist the New York Book Challenge, hosted by Chicklish! I haven't yet decided on which books I'd like to read for the challenge, but do find out more information about the challenge here.

Possible books I'd like to read for the challenge include Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti and Love Story by Jennifer Echols.

And that wraps up my first Sunday News Round-up!

What are YOU reading today?

The Sunday Salon: Old vs. New

I saw a tweet between John Green and Cassandra Clare recently that's had me thinking. The tweet was regarding space in the YA sections of bookstores. It was said that the focus is given to new titles and less importance on backlist titles. And yes, that does seem to be true. What concerned me is that if the same applies to book blogging?

For many years, I ran this blog, Fluttering Butterflies with no outside source of books aside from what I bought myself. I read and reviewed for the pleasure of sharing what I read with others. If I read a book and liked it, it's possible that I might review it. It's only very recently that I began recieving books from publishers or winning them in giveaways on other blogs or via twitter. And it seems to be a pretty common occurrence amongst other book bloggers, recieving ARCs from publishers. Has it changed the shape of book blogging?

A quick glance at my google reader and the handful of blogs that I looked at with reviews recently ... Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma, Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, two for Firespell by Chloe Neill, Forget You by Jennifer Echols, The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, Withering Tights by Louise Rennison... all published this year. There were a few classics thrown into the mix, one for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, one for I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. But on the whole, recent releases.

Do other people review older titles and recieve so few comments that they're discouraged to continue doing so? Are people not reading and blogging about the backlist tiles? I know that I get severely less comments on my reviews of lesser known books. But is that just me? Is it the way I'm writing about these books? Is it just a coincidence? Is it only specific to the book blogs that I read?

One of my birthday presents (last week) was a copy of Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. I'd been dying to read it for ages, but now that I have my copy, a little of my enthusiasm to read it has been dampened by the million or so reviews of it that I've seen since it was published. Do other people feel this way? I'm not saying I don't love the reviews of very recent books published or that I don't read and review recent releases all the time too, all I'm hoping to do is be more aware of what I'm reading and hope that I'm always reading the books I enjoy and not trying to follow a trend. Maybe now that I'm more aware of this old vs new theme, I can try to highlight some more older YA titles that still have a broad appeal.

I read a YA book today published way back in 1992. Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. It was excellent. I fell in love with Josie Alibrandi, her mother, her grandmother, her love interest. I cried. When it finished, it left me thinking. I hope to review it soon and convince you that you haven't already read it, than you really should! Watch this space.

The Sunday Salon: April

I read so many great books in April. If I had to choose favourites, they'd include Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan, Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver and The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. With runners-up including Graceling by Kristin Cashore and Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak.

I've really tried to keep up with reviews this month, but you can see badly I've been accomplishing that. I love the variety of books I've read: it's taken me from Battle School in space, to a boy being raised by wild dogs to lots and lots of first love. I've written reviews for An Abundance of Katherines and The Sky is Everywhere coming up this week, but if there is anything on this list that you're dying to hear about, let me know and I'll write about those books first!


1. Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
2. The Firework-Maker's Daughter by Philip Pullman
3. The Butterfly Tattoo by Philip Pullman
4. Unsticky by Sarra Manning (reread)
5. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
6. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
7. What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
8. Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith
9. Girl With Glasses: My Optic History by Marissa Walsh
10. Shopgirl by Steve Martin
11. The Graduate by Charles Webb
12. Heartbeat by Sharon Creech
13. Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
14. Ash by Malinda Lo
15. Beautiful Dead: Jonas by Eden Maguire
16. The Body Artist by Don DeLillo
17. Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
18. The Unfinished Novel and other stories by Valerie Martin
19. Beastly by Alex Flinn
20. Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak
21. Beautiful Dead: Arizona by Eden Maguire
22. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
23. Bloom by Elizabeth Scott
24. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
25. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
26. Scarred by Julia Hoban
27. Sticky Fingers by Niki Burnham
28. When It Happens by Susane Colasanti
29. The Book of Luke by Jenny O'Connell

I'm still a little in shock that I read 29 books this month. I'm sure every other month in the year won't come close to these numbers! I do love that only six of these were from the library, the rest were from my own shelves. Yay for clearing space!

And for what I'm reading at the moment? I'm reading North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley, which book bloggers everywhere seemed to enjoy. It's going a little slowly as I haven't been making much time to read lately. Hopefully today I'll be able to squeeze some time in. After I'm finished North of Beautiful? Hoping to get to Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson.

How did your reading go in April? What're you reading at the moment?

Sunday Salon: Happy Mothers Day!

It is Mothers Day here in England, I hope everyone is having a nice relaxing day! N and the boys and I went for a walk in the park earlier and later N is making a nice dinner for us. It's been a lovely day, if only I were feeling better! Woke up with a bit of a cold, so I'm hoping a couple of hour's rest with my book will be just what I need right now.

Since last Sunday, I have managed to finish five books and write just the one review here on the blog. I've been feeling such writer's block lately when it comes to book reviews. I am slowly writing more reviews though and I should be back on schedule sometime this week. So even though I *will* review these books soon enough, here are some brief thoughts on what I've read this week.

Last Sunday, I'd just started Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and was enjoyed it immensely. We took the boys to a tube and bus depot yesterday, and seeing some of the memorabilia about the tube made me sort of giggle remembering Neverwhere and how Gaiman had brought the names of the tube stations and things to life in his novel. I did feel a little sad finishing this book, because apart from his graphic novels, one short story collection and Good Omens, the novel he collaborated with Terry Pratchett with, I've read all of Neil Gaiman's work. It saddens me when that happens. I am however looking for a copy of the series, Neverwhere.

After Neverwhere, I picked up Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols. I'd read a review of it over at Books. Lists. Life. last year and Lisa convinced me to search the book out. I was not disappointed at all and even stayed up far too late trying to finish it. I really, really couldn't put this book down at all, and I couldn't wait to see how it all ended. I'm sure review will be gushy, I'm warning you now.

And because I seem to be on a YA roll at the moment, I then picked up Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. I'd seen the movie with Michael Cera, but I much preferred the book. It felt like the book had more attitude and the sexual tension between Nick and Norah was far more evident in the book. I've put the other book written by Cohn and Levithan on my list, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List.

And just when I thought my week couldn't get any better, I recieved a proof copy of Della Says OMG! by Keris Stainton in the post. I squealed, I really did. I was so excited to read Keris' first novel. I had really high expectations for it, and that always makes me nervous, but the book totally lived up to it. I found myself completely relating to Della and I actually started squirming from embarassment when her diary pages start making their way back to her because it felt like I was Della. Oh, it was a wonderful read.

And finally, N managed to find a copy of Ransom My Heart by Mia Thermopolis with Meg Cabot at the library and brought it home for me! It's the romance novel Princess Mia writes for her senior thesis. I really loved Finn and Hugo together. Everything about the book was so much fun to read, but with Meg Cabot writing it, how could it not be?

As for today, I've just started Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. I'm only a couple of chapters in so far. I'm hoping that while Littlest is having his nap I'll have a few hours of uninterrupted time to myself. And if I fall asleep, that'll be OK too...

Happy reading everyone! What've you read recently and what're you reading today?

Sunday Salon: First week in March

It's kind of amazing how quickly time passes sometimes. It's already a week into March! This week, I went to one of my few tutorials for the university course I'm taking and the words 'exam preparation' were mentioned. My youngest son is turning *2* this month. This year will mark my ten year moving-to-the-UK anniversary AND my wedding anniversary. Anyway, I'm sure I'm not alone in freaking out at the passage of time.

Today was mostly spent in the company of trains. We took the boys to a Day Out With Thomas event at a local railway centre. It was a little too cold though, and we spent a lot of our time in the Thomas train, being shuttled to and from the stations, trying to stay out of the bitter wind. We left earlier than expected. On the way home, we picked up some newspapers that had the special World Book Day vouchers, which entitled us to get BOGOF on books. We stopped off at a Waterstone's and I picked up two books: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien and a Paul Auster book I hadn't read before.

I'm looking forward to reading them both, but I've also had word that I should be getting a copy of a different book in the post soon (Della Says OMG! by Keris Stainton, which I'm DYING to read), so I don't think I'll be picking up anything that will take up too much of my time right now because I'll just cast it aside when Della arrives anyway.

As for my personal reading: I've read three books this week: Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon, Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes and Boy by Roald Dahl. I loved them all. My review of Wonder Boys is already up. Flowers For Algernon was absolutely heartbreaking and I cried on several occasions. I'd read snippets of it before for a class but I didn't realise until recently that I hadn't read the whole thing. It was incredibly sad and I'm really glad that I've finally read it. As for Boy, I'm still surprised that I hadn't read it sooner. I'm sure I'd have loved it more if I'd read it around the same time I'd read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Matilda or some of his others. It was still cute and enjoyable reading though, especially the bits that sort of explained some of his inspiration for his stories.

And the book I'm reading at the moment is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I've had it for awhile, it's one of those books I always meant to read sooner. Whenever I'm trying to decide which book to read next, I generally select 4-5 books from my TBR shelves that I'm kind of excited to read or books that I think would fit the mood I'm in at the moment. And several times over the last few months Neverwhere has ended up in that collection of maybe-books and hadn't been chosen. I figured now is the time. I'm about 120 pages into it so far, and quite enjoying it. It's Neil Gaiman, of course I'm enjoying it! And when I'm finished with this post, I intend to switch the computer off and curl up in bed with it until my Littlest wakes up. It sounds like an excellent plan to me!

What're you reading?

The Sunday Salon, February wrap-up

It's been a difficult week and a bit. Until this morning, I hadn't finished a book in 10 days. I hadn't even been properly reading a book, just pages here and there of random books. But this morning, I did manage to finish Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins.

Somehow I ended up following Mitali Perkins (@mitaliperkins) on twitter. I have no idea how that came about, but she posts such interesting links that I thought it might be fun to read one of her books. And I wasn't sure at first about Monsoon Summer (but I wouldn't have been sure of any book the way that book-slump feeling had set in) but by the end I'd shed a few tears and added her other few books to my wish list. And now I'm 40 pages into Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon and I feel like I'm past the worst of it.

February wasn't a great reading month for me in terms of numbers, but I still managed 10 titles. Here they are:

10. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
11. Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
12. The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
13. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
14. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
15. Property by Valerie Martin
16. Skellig by David Almond
17. Plain Jayne by Hillary Manton Lodge
18. Nobody's Girl by Sarra Manning
19. Along For the Ride by Sarah Dessen
20. Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins

As you can see, I've only managed to review one book of the books I've read this month. To be honest, there are still several I haven't reviewed from last month. I'm so behind. But I did enjoy everything I read this month - while you are waiting for my proper reviews, here are my one-sentence reviews:

Heartburn was hilarious and a little sad. Mr Punch creeped me out and almost gave me nightmares, The Wee Free Men was brilliant (Terry Pratchett = genius). Ender's Game blew me away and I'm now desperately trying to find other books in the series. Didn't like any of the characters in Property, but still enjoyed the story. Skellig was as good as everyone said. Plain Jayne was such an amazing accomplishment for my old friend. Nobody's Girl kept me company through a rough patch and made me long to visit Paris. Along For the Ride was enjoyable, even though I didn't quite relate to the main character. And Monsoon Summer pulled me out of a rotten book slump and put a smile on my face.


How did you do reading-wise in February? Good month? Any favourites?

The Sunday Salon: Sad Valentine

Happy Valentines Day, my lovely blog readers! I hope it's been a good one. For me, today has been very strange. N left not too long ago to the airport. He'll be away on a business trip until the middle of the week. We went out to dinner to celebrate last night instead, and I ended up with beautiful cards, chocolates and flowers this morning, but most of the day was spent just waiting. Waiting until it was time for him to leave. It isn't the first time he's been on a work trip, but for some reason today really brought to mind all those times he had to leave when I still lived in America and he lived here in England. Or maybe I'm just being overdramatic in an attempt to get more sympathy, I'm not sure :)

Either way, I'm consoling myself this afternoon with chocolates and Coke. We're watching Thomas the Tank Engine cartoons and I've got my books with me. Earlier in the week I started The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. I've heard he writes very well and I've been interested to read it for awhile. Since moving to England nearly 10 years ago, I've kept up on my American politics only superficially. I know the basics and most of the major headlines, but I don't follow everything that's written in The Audacity of Hope. And that's OK. I'm still enjoying it. But it is being cast aside for a little while.

And that is because yesterday I got a copy of Plain Jayne by my good friend Hillary Manton Lodge. It's her first published book and I'd been waiting for my copy to arrive for weeks. I've never been so excited to read Amish fiction :) I've not gotten very far into the book, but it's written in a funny and charming way and I'm enjoying it. It's slightly strange though, reading a friend's book. I can hear her voice in my head, reading it to me. But I'll be sure to tell you all all about it in my review. I'm sure it won't take me long to read this one. If you're reading this Hillary, I'm proud of you.



What're you reading today?

TSS: Books read in November

It's been a while since I participated in a Sunday Salon. I've missed it. But in other news, I'm really pleased with this month's reading totals.

1. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
2. The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff
3. All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
4. From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
5. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
6. The Enemy by Charlie Higson
7. Generation A by Douglas Coupland
8. The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks
9. Heaven Can Wait by Cally Taylor
10. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
11. Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto
12. Evermore by Alyson Noel
13. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
14. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
15. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

I have reviews of those last few books coming shortly (I hope). I feel like it's been kind of a weird selection of books for this month. I don't know about you, but whenever I cross genres it feels like the month has been stretched in some way that makes it longer. Does that make sense? It barely does to me, so I'm not sure. But it feels like a great distance has been travelled between Ella Minnow Pea and A Wizard of Earthsea.

I finished the last three books in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I've enjoyed it. I wonder how much longer they will continue. I also started the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm not as excited about the series, and doubt I will read all 17 books but at least I've given them a try and will probably at least read the next two (more of that in my review!).

The YA books I've read this month have all been quite different, from the violence of The Road of the Dead and The Enemy to the supernatural in Evermore to the subtlely of The Bride's Farewell. The Whale Rider broke my heart. Generation A and Ella Minnow Pea are both dystopic but not in anyway similar. The Penelopiad is a modern retelling with a twist, I found it very difficult to put my thoughts together about Goodbye Tsugumi and Heaven Can Wait was just a wonderfully fun read. A Wizard of Earthsea kind of crept onto the list at the end of the month but it was fantastic. A book that kept me up at night reading desperate to know what will happen.

With all the books being quite different from each other, I'm feeling a little confused about it all. It does confuse me when the sequence of books I read seem to have no correlation with each other. It makes me wonder how I jumped from book to book this month, what were the reasons behind each choice. I don't want to overthink it though, I'm just enjoying the random selection.

Ah, but what will December bring? Are you expecting lots of time to read or less time with the holidays approaching?

The Sunday Salon: When Books Inspire

I recently had an idea to read books from my childhood. I've challenged myself to read two a month for as long as possible. I chose to read The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney as the first book in my walk down My Favourite Childhood Reads because it actually inspired me to begin my own novel. I must have been 12 or 13 when I read this book first. I think I bought it myself from own of those children's book fairs they hold at school. I've read the sequel, Whatever Happened to Janie? but HAD NO IDEA there is a third book called The Voice on the Radio. (I'm devastated. I am now desperately trying to locate The Voice on the Radio!)

It's been a long time since I've read this book. I remember being swept away by it the first time, but I am a lot older now. And as I started it this time around, I was all about making fun of it. The first chapter is all about names, and how the main character 'Janie Johnson' doesn't like her name. She tries to tweak her own name while writing an essay and ends up with Jayne Johnstone, decides that's not quite enough, and goes with Jayyne Jonstone, etc etc. She moans a bit about her parents' boring choice of a name and even remarks 'they could have named her Scarlett or Allegra. Perhaps Roxanne.' Which kills me. She then envies a bit on her friends' names and there's a bit about what she was fantasizing about naming her own children (Denim and Lace) which is all a little hilarious to me.

Then we get to the more serious stuff, in that, she sees a little girl on one of those Missing ads on the back of a milk carton at lunch, recognises herself and starts having flashbacks that don't make sense and starts asking questions and doing some investigating of her own. Meanwhile, she starts a relationship with hunky next-door neighbour, Reeve. There is a lot to laugh about in the writing style of this book, but once the story got going, I totally did get swept away again. I didn't even snigger at the silly inclusion of a Hare Krishna cult in the middle of the story. Nope, I just carried on like that was perfectly acceptable.

I managed to finish the story late at night when I should have been sleeping. I was even a little disappointed that I didn't have the sequel to hand. I'm not saying I'd recommend the book to anyone, but it was easy to remember what I liked about the story itself. I liked Janie's struggles with her morality. She finds it hard to forgive herself for walking away from her family for a stranger with an icecream. Even though she was only three. Plus, I always had a next-door neighbour fantasy. I liked Reeve.

Anyway. I had fun reading this one. It was nice to indulge in a little nostalgia. To my story then. I mentioned the bit at the beginning about names because naming characters was very important to me. And me at 12 agreed whole-heartedly with Janie. 12-year-old-me was very much into the soap opera names. I'd even go so far as to say that 12-year-old-me was very into the soap opera-esque story lines as well. Let me summarise the plot of my story for you here. This is completely based on the line in The Face on the Milk Carton where one of Janie's friends is trying to explain why there are so many kids on the back of milk cartons:

'All it is,' said Pete firmly, 'is divorce, where one parent gets mad and takes his own kid, but he doesn't tell the other parent where they're going. It's never actually a stranger stealing a kid, like on television.'

And just like that, a story idea popped into my head. About a girl, 14, who lives with her dad somewhere. She's been led to believe that her mother died when she was little but comes to find out that is not actually the case! She sees a programme on TV (couldn't use the milk carton idea!) calls a number and before you know it, she's back with the mother she hadn't seen in more than 10 years. Around this time my own parents were going through a divorce so I channelled my feelings for that and had many an argument with my main character and her father regarding his new girlfriend.

And of course, because I was absolutely boy-crazy then, there are heaps of boys tripping over themselves for the attention of my pretty and witty and smart main character. And they all had fabulous names. For example, my main character has two names. Her name when living with her father is (don't laugh too hard here): Francesca Eleanora Smitsgerald. Frankie, for short. She comes to learn the name she was born with is actually Francis Elena Simms. She's heartbroken to have such a boring name in comparison. Her best friend's names are Blair Torrence and Zora Birch. The boys circling around her like flies are called: Aaron Archback, Matt Richardson, Jeff Thorny, and Roger Cunningham.

I wrote 20 pages, front and back, about the adventures of my little Frankie. I had everything planned out in my head, I had my characters all formed and ready, but I never got to the main bulk of the story. I dithered over the minor details. The school where Frankie goes, meeting a new family in the neighbourhood, describing a winter formal dance. And where I stopped? A particularly bad argument that Frankie has with her father. It was after this that she sees the TV programme about missing children and decides she'd rather not live with her dad anymore and calls the number on the screen, effectively changing her whole life. And at the time, I wasn't ready for it. I couldn't get past my own emotions of my own circumstances to carry on with this soap opera. So I never did.

But it has been fun to laugh about it all now. The horrendous names, the boys. There's even a little scene where two boys fight it out a bit over Frankie. The new family in the neighbourhood? Total rip-off of Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews. There's five children, they're all blonde, all have names beginning with A and there are even little twins.

It was all a little funny and sad to read the things I had written at that age. I tried so hard to write through my issues. It may have helped in some ways, but in other ways here I am 15 years later working through the same things just in a different format. I wish I'd carried on writing my fiction. I wrote all the way through high school, had these daydreams about being a successful novelist when I grew up. I think that's still possible, but unlikely at this point. My heart isn't in it like it was as a teenager. And I'm more sad at the fact then you'll ever realise. But I am quite glad that I was able to read books that inspired me, even if they didn't pan out exactly how I pictured it would.

How have you been inspired by reading?

Sunday Salon: July in review

A few weeks back, a lot of people were throwing the question out there, 'how does summer affect your reading habits?' I thought about it and didn't come to any great conclusion. Until now. I can look at the books I read in July and just know that my attention span over the summer shrinks to the bare minimum. I'm only picking up short, quick (albeit emotional) children's books. I have one adult book on my list and as it's a Meg Cabot, I'm thinking it almost doesn't count! Favourite book of the month? Tough one.

1. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
2. Lottery by Beth Goobie
3. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
4. Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison
5. The Savage by David Almond
6. Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers
7. Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot
8. Are We There Yet? by David Leviathan
9. Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers
10. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
11. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
12. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
13. Ways To Live Forever by Sally Nicholls
14. Jake's Tower by Elizabeth Laird
15. Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones
16. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
17. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
18. Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton

The thing with these books is that I'm finding them hard to review. Have y'all noticed that this blog has not been updated very regularly of late? No? Well, it hasn't been. Partially due to a looming deadline for my latest assignment, mostly laziness, but also a huge dip in my enthusiasm for blogging lately. So maybe you could do me a great favour? Previously on Weekly Geeks, they've asked readers to submit questions about certain books to be answered in a review. Please, please do ask questions. Anything I've read this month that I haven't reviewed. I did review seven books already, but still. Eleven books to choose from, there must be one book there that you want to know more about, right? (Also, if you could help me out with questions for the following books, that would be awesome)

Small Island by Andrea Levy
Falling Man by Don DeLillo
Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

Also, did you notice that I've read four Sarah Dessen novels this month? She's my latest favourite author. Can't get enough of her. I'd be hard pushed to answer which has been favourite so far. I'm leaning towards Just Listen or This Lullaby. I don't know. I flip-flop between them all. I'm thinking that maybe I was overly harsh on That Summer and might go back to give it another chance.

That Summer
Someone Like You
Keeping the Moon
Dreamland
This Lullaby
The Truth About Forever
Just Listen
Lock and Key
Along For the Ride

So, how did you do reading-wise in July?

Please help me out by asking me questions about the 10 books I haven't reviewed this month! Which is your favourite Sarah Dessen novel? Who's your latest favourite author?

Sunday Salon - Playing catch up with reviews

I've said before that I don't normally read more than one book at a time, but somehow this week, I've managed to start two more books, making a total of FOUR BOOKS on the go. I'm wondering if some of those books I just don't want to read anymore and I'm just not aware of it yet?

Anyway, I'll be reading pages here and there from: Are We There Yet? by David Levithan, Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult (still), Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin and Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot. But I thought I'd take a minute to write some mini-reviews of the books that I *have* been finishing this month. All children's books. I'm in a bit of a kick at the moment.


The Lottery by Beth Goobie - Last year, I read Beth Goobie's Beyond Wings and loved it. It was so sad and beautiful and INTENSE, so I knew right away that I wanted to read more from Beth Goobie. While I probably preferred Beyond Wings, I still adored The Lottery. 15 year old Sal is this year's 'lottery winner' at a school that has been taken over by The Shadow Council. Sal is to be ostracised completely from every other student and is at the beck and call of the Council, who terrorise the other students. Sal, herself, is already in a dark place, and with the help of her brother and her clarinet she might just make it through the year.




The Savage by David Almond, illustrated by Dave McKean - Picked this one up entirely based on Nymeth's review. The story itself isn't very long, finished it quite quickly. I almost shed a tear at the end, it was that beautiful. LOVED Dave McKean's illustrations of the Savage. Really, just go read Nymeth's review, because she says everything that I want to say, only better. And then go out and read the book.






Life on the Refigerator Door by Alice Kuipers - I saw this reviewed somewhere, it turns out it was over at Trashionista. Another really quick read. I finished it the same morning I read The Savage while Joshua was napping. I like the idea of it, a novel written in notes between a mother and daughter too busy to spend much time together. But as Keris said in her review, as a reader, I didn't spend much time with the characters, so some of the emotional impact of the story was lost on me.





Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison - Goodybe Georgia, I will miss you! Loved this series. I thought all of the books were hysterical, some more than others. No huge embarassing moment in this one, but lots of fun bits involving Angus, and Libby and friends. It ended the way it should, but I wanted it to be just a bit longer and a little more satisfying.






How much do you love reading children's books? Any good YA recommendations for me?

Have you entered my giveaway for If I Stay by Gayle Forman?

Sunday Salon: Favourites so far

I'm currently reading both The Lottery by Beth Goobie and Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. I very rarely read more than one book at a time, but I'd left the Picoult book downstairs and I had The Lottery on my bedside table! So this is a case of sheer laziness :) I've never read anything by Jodi Picoult and so far, and I'm not sure of Change of Heart yet.

For today, I thought I'd share with you my favourite reads of 2009 so far. I think that this sums me up my reading habits fairly well, as it has two YA titles and a chick-lit book represented alongside some of my all-time favourite authors.


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Everyone's heard of this one already, but I only read it a few weeks ago and I'm still in that stage of mind where I want to talk about it with everyone because I'm so excited about this series.








What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

Read my review for full gushiness about this book. Have recently tried Sorrows of an American though and couldn't get into it, which I'm hoping was just bad timing, as What I Loved knocked me over.







If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Look for a review of this one coming up soon, possibly followed by a giveaway. I hadn't heard of all the hype surrounding this book before I read it, which is always a good thing, I think







The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

My favourite author. Ever. (my review)








Fingersmith and Affinity by Sarah Waters

I heart Sarah Waters. After Affinity, she became my favourite new author, even before I read Fingersmith. And then I read Fingersmith and that just cemented it for me. Am now reading Tipping the Velvet slowly. (my review of Fingersmith)






Unsticky by Sarra Manning

I really did love this one. I've read it twice already. And now, I'm just discovering Manning's YA novels, which are so good. I finished Let's Get Lost recently and now have my eye out for Guitar Girl and the Diary of a Crush series. And I hear she's writing more adult novels! Squeeee!






Honourable mentions? American Gods by Neil Gaiman and Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I am a bit shocked that at least two of the books on my list were published in 2009.

Which books would be on your list so far?

TSS: Rereads

It was a beautiful day today. One of those days where I wished I'd been able to lounge in the garden with a nice light, summery read and bask in the sun. But it wasn't meant to be.

N and the boys and I made an appearance at Legoland in the morning but when Oldest went into meltdown mode because he couldn't sit at the front of the train, we went straight home. It was too hot to be accomodating temper tantrums. And I needed to study. I have a mock exam next week, so I tried to cram a couple hours of studying, but seriously? Reading about social democracy and the welfare state of Britain is such a snoozer. Even without the dire subject matter I probably would have fought to keep my eyes open this afternoon as it was a horrendous night with Oldest finally coming into our bed and then hogging my pillow and my side of the bed.

I did get some reading done. While N was making dinner, I decided to flip through a book I'd only just finished last week. Unsticky by Sarra Manning. Loved it. I can already tell it'll be a book I return to in desperate times. It was kind of an impulse buy the other day, but it's her first adult novel and meant to be the perfect summer read. I second that emotion.

It's been kind of a reread week for me, as I reread another favourite of mine, Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier, which I think I've read once every year. I was really in the mood for some good romantic stories this week and lucky for me, I had them to hand. Nothing better than that.

Sunday Salon: April Books

1. Marshmallows For Breakfast by Dorothy Koomson
2. Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway
3. After the Quake, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, And Flew Away by Joyce Carol Oates
4. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
5. Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
6. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
7. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
8. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
9. The Cellist of Saravejo by Steven Galloway
10. Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde

It's a bank holiday weekend here in England, and my nephew is in town for a few days, so all I have time for today is a recap of the books I read in April...

I always find it a bit strange to look at the results of my reading month. Mostly because by the end of the month, it feels as though I read that first book on the list in a different lifetime. Like each month really is a lifetime in terms of books read. Does it seem that way to you?

April was pretty heavy on the YA in the middle and I tried balancing it out at the end with more adult books. I think Pay It Forward snuck in as my favourite read of the month though I did enjoy every book this month and would be hard pressed to choose a least favourite. They all brought something different with them.

City of Bones and Wicked Lovely were first in two series of books but I'm burnt out with YA, especially YA fantasy so I won't be picking up the sequels anytime soon. I'm also burnt out on Dorothy Koomson. Though I have Cupid Effect with me, I think reading all of her books in a short period of time has been tiring. I think time will make me enjoy these books more.

I've finished The Cellist of Sarajevo and Pay It Forward in the last days of April, bringing my monthly average up to 9 books read a month. No real plans for reading in May except to keep at it and possibly start to focus on the 1% well-read challenge, as so far I've only completed 1 book out of a possible 10-13 (The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan) and I'm nothing if not competitive in regards to this challenge! It feels as though I'm falling behind, and we can't have that...

What're you reading at the moment? What are your reading plans for May?

Sunday Salon: YA overload

I'm in such a YA kick at the moment. I've been reading teen books one after another this week. Normally a reading phase like this won't last as long as this. I almost did pick up something more adult to read the other day, but I was too tempted by another book... about faeries! (I actually clapped my hands after writing that!)

I'm currently reading Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. (Isn't that a fab cover?) I'm only 70 or so pages into it, but I adore it already. Luckily I have Ink Exchange waiting for me when I'm finished. Hopefully it won't be too long before I find a copy of Fragile Eternity. Now that I'm reading this series, my eyes have been opened to the amount of people discussing this series of books on blogs that I read. How did I miss them before?

This week has been trying for me - I try to stay away from a series of books if I don't think I'll be able to finish the series in a short period of time. I'm so impatient to know how things turn out! But I couldn't resist this series and it came just after starting a different series of books - I've just finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I might have to start buying books again so I'm not left hanging!

But definately after Wicked Lovely, I will be turning away from the YA. I love you, YA, but I can only handle so much of you at one time.

How about you? How do you balance out your adult book/children's book reading? What're you reading at the moment?

TSS: Judging a book by its cover...

I'm a member of the library in three different counties. One where I used to live (two years ago), one where I used to work (more than three years ago), and one where I currently live. Obviously I don't often visit the other two, but every once in awhile, I'll go back and visit where I used to work because I'll sometimes visit N and we'll have lunch together. As part of my Doing Something Different, I was able to do just that. And I was also able to check out a load of books that my own local library doesn't have. One of them being Savvy by Ingrid Law.

Just look at these covers. The UK cover...

The American cover...



It's no contest which is the nicer of the two. That American cover screams to be picked up, it's so pretty and magical, while the British version is so ho-hum in comparison. If I hadn't already read some great reviews of this book I would have never picked up this book. Not with the cover it has. Is that really shallow? I don't really care if it is. I think good cover art is important.

Here's another one. This is the book I'm currently reading: Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway. I hope to finish it today. This is the American paperback cover...



And the British version.




Which book would you have picked up based on the cover?

TSS: Books loved as a child

Combining Weekly Geeks and The Sunday Salon, today I thought that I would post this list of books that I loved as a child that has been sitting in my drafts folder for months now. I keep meaning to split this list into parts and delve a bit deeper into it, but it feels like too great of a task so I'm leaving it in a list format. I've left it in three parts.

The first, books I loved as a small child.

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
the Babysitter Club series by Ann M Martin
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
Ramona Quimby by Beverley Cleary
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
The Poky Little Puppy a Little Golden Book
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

The second part, classic children's books.

Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Charlotte's Web by EB White
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Anne of Green Gables series by LM Montgomery
anything by Roald Dahl
Old Yeller by Frank Gipson
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
anything by Judy Blume

The third, books that were required reading for school or that I associate with school so much I can't remember if everyone read it or if it was just me.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green
Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Outsiders by SE Hinton
The Hatchet by Gary Paulson
Night by Elie Wiesel
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Taken as a whole, this books represent my childhood. I look back at all of them fondly. I wouldn't be the person that I am today without them.

Sunday Salon (29 March)

It's been awhile since I participated in a Sunday Salon. I'm currently reading Looking For Alaska by John Green, which has partially inspired me to do something different, but I'll get to that in another post. For now, I thought I'd briefly review some of the chick-lit I've been reading lately. With all the chaos going on in my world right now, all I've been able to handle is some fluffy, light reads.


First off, Rumour Has It by Jill Mansell. I've read quite a few books by Jill Mansell in the past. She's an author that I turn to when I find myself in need of a light romance. This one was cute. Not enough conflict for me, but I enjoyed it. I liked Tilly and Jack, I liked the other minor characters especially Tilly's boss and his daughter and also the stalker-guy. I liked the way the story unfolded. Tilly gets dumped in a terrible way and impulsively moves from London to a small town where her best friend lives, lands a job and falls for a sexy guy with a reputation. Is she going to let the town gossip stand in the way of this new relationship? Is she ready to deal with it all?



Goodnight, Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson - This is the third Koomson I've read in a short period of time. To be honest, I didn't think I'd like it all that much. When it comes to choosing a chick-lit book to read, I'd usually avoid old married couple-ish relationships or anything involving children. Especially pregnancy. God, I normally can't stand to read a book in which I have to read through some woman's experiences with pregnancy. Mind-numbingly boring to me. I'm more of a just-starting-a-new-relationship kind of chick-lit with misunderstandings and passion. And at first, I thought that was what this book was about. Old married couples and pregnancy. But it isn't. It's not that at all and it's so much more.

I gave this book a try, and I really liked it. The relationships and characters are all very well done, they're believable, they have depth. OK, so Nova agrees to have a baby for her childhood friend, Mal and his wife Stephanie. Before she gives birth, Mal and Stephanie change their minds and Nova ends up raising the baby on her own. It's 8 years later and now her son, Leo is in a coma and she hasn't spoken to Mal for years and years. It sounds depressing and in some parts it is but don't let that put you off. I laughed, I cried. I want to read more by Dorothy Koomson.


Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella - This one was fun. I enjoyed the first few books in the Shopaholic series and I adored Can You Keep A Secret? I was waiting to find this one in the library. I knew it wouldn't be too long. I enjoyed it. I did. Though I didn't LOVE it, I did finish it in a day. There was some funny bits, some predictable bits, some bits where I just thought, what? really? But I was rooting for Lexi and the love interest to get together. And... I wanted more conflict. I wanted more pulling at my heart strings. Whatever.

So Lexi wakes up in hospital thinking it's 2004 and she's dating a loser, has a low-paying job, has fab friends and terrible teeth. In reality, it's 2007, she's married to a gorgeous millionaire has beautiful teeth, no friends and is super successful in her job and she's forgotten the events of the last three years. Her life seems perfect, but is it really what she wants?

Tell me, please. The last really good chick-lit book you read that made you cry? Pulled at your heart strings until the very last page?