Six Stories for Summer

Hello!

It's been a while, hasn't it? I thought this could be a rather fitting post considering that I am now officially on a summer break from college. As I ignore the pesky assignments that are due in September, I plan on getting a tonne of reading done. Some of these books, and the ones I want to talk about in this post, are ones that I have been meaning to read forever! Summer is the best time of year to dedicate catching up on the ever-growing and towering To-Be-Read pile.

1. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Okay, who hasn't read this yet? (*Raises hand*). At the beginning of the year THIS was the YA book to be reading. But I haven't read it yet! Oops. Come on, it's about death; I need to be emotionally prepared for this roller-coaster of sobs, A.K.A: I need to by some tissues, desperately. Meanwhile, I will continue to admire the sheer and utter beauty of the cover. JUST LOOK AT IT! 

2. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Yes, I know, I know, another one that has been out for a while. I think it will be one of those books that I either find really weird or absolutely love. Set in autumn 1686, Amsterdam, an eighteen year old Nella Oortman receives a miniature version of her home. I love, love, love magic realism so I cannot wait to dive into this world. 

3. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

I don't know too much about this one but I want to read it. Do you ever experience that? Do you ever see a book and know that you have to read it? I've seen a lot of high ratings for it on goodreads and just want to read it too. 

4. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The cover of this just screams dystopia! The thing that drew me towards this book was that it involves solving clues that as a reader we are likely to know the answers to. We can actually involve ourselves in the story world without being in the story. This is a lot of people's favourite standalone so I'm hoping I'll enjoy it. 

5. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Last summer I read Fangirl and Eleanor and Park. I adore her writing. I feel like she just nails the voice of her characters perfectly for them and for us to read. I'm not a massive romance fan but with the other two books of hers you didn't have to read it for that. Sure, it was central to the plots but there are always other things going on with the characters that are just as interesting. I just enjoy being able to read her books in so many different ways. 

6. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

The second dystopia on this list. I plan on reading more classics over the next year but I will definitely get through this one over the summer. One thing that fascinates me about this is the naming of the characters (particularly the women) and the concepts as well as the idea of indoctrinating children to act as spies on anyone who breaks the rules of the regime. 

Thank you for reading.

Comment below with what you plan on reading over the summer months.

Bye!

My Favourite Standalones

Hello,

Today I want to share with you a few of my absolute favourite standalones. In my opinion, these are all worth a five-out-of-five-star rating. All the stars! All the joy! All the best!

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Wow, oh, wow. I recently read this and it is possibly my favourite book ever! The world inside the story was easy to picture; I felt like I was peering over the narrators' shoulders all the time. The story is told by three women that we learn have connected lives as the events unfold. The protagonist, Rachel, is the main narrator and she is 'The Girl on the Train'. Every morning and evening during the week she commutes to London and while doing so she always pays particular attention to a certain house she passes. 

Overall reading experience: I had a hard time putting this one down. 

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton by Caroline Smailes

I've actually done a review on this one which you can read at your leisure by clicking on any part of this sentence, go on, enjoy. Anyway, this is one of those books that I really cannot compare with another. It was fantastic! This is an urban fairytale about a teenage boy who hides in an Edwardian bath house where things aren't all as they seem. Again, this one has a few narrators, but each voice has a different style and sometimes even format. 

Overall reading experience: I could quite easily read this over and over again. 

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

The thing I love most about this is that you are told that the narrator's brother is dead as soon as he introduces him. But what you don't know is how his brother died. Nicely played, author, nicely played. It's written as if you are experiencing the main character's thought process. If he wants to think it, you read it. If he doesn't, you don't. The whole story feels very real rather than a work of fiction. 

Overall reading experience: I loved the characters and felt extremely involved with the story throughout. 

What's your favourite standalone?

Why I'm All For Paperbacks!

Hello,

I've had this post idea for a while and in that time I have started to edge slightly towards hardcovers. Only slightly. It think it's because the corners don't bend as easily in my rucksack. Isn't that annoying? Anyway, I am still a paperback fan and these are my reasons why:

Lighter to carry

So you know I carry my books in my bag. That's not the only thing in my bag. I normally have folders and a huge bottle of water and it's just a delight to know that I can carry a book too without a lot more extra weight. And I always have a book with me.

No dust-jackets

This is my number one pet-peeve about hardcovers. The book bends one way and the dust-jacket goes the other, plus it slips. All. The. Time. (I normally end up just putting the dust-jacket aside until the book goes back onto the shelf once read). On the other hand, you've got your naked paper back. That's right, it's naked. It doesn't need to wear a jacket. It wears it's real cover out in the open for all eyes to see. What a beauty. 

I have a little story about dust-jackets on books. Have you heard of the Gone series by Michael Grant? Well, my copy of Plague was a hardcover and came with a dust-jacket. Yes, very nice and sophisticated. I take the dust-jacket off and the cover is upside down. Okay, okay, maybe the jacket was just on the wrong way, right? Right? No. The pages were the other way up from the cover! What?! Each time I read the book without the jacket it looked like I was reading it upside down!

Reading Positions

Drawing by Quentin Blake, from Matilda by Roald Dahl

Hello,

This is a bit of a list/discussion post. We all know how hard it is to find the perfect reading position and be able to maintain it for however long it takes us to put the book in question down. Seriously, it's near impossible. You lay down in bed with your reading companion in hand, and five minutes later you're tossing and turning all over the place to get comfortable again!

This post is inspired by the illustrations by Quentin Blake in my favourite childhood book, Matilda by Roald Dahl. Leave me a comment below if you also adored this as a child.

1. The laying-in-bed style

Ohhhh yeah! That classic reading before sleeping position. Sounds like heaven. That is, until your arms hurt! Try laying on your side and half your face gets squished and you can't see one side of the book (even worse if you wear glasses and end up with half a skull of agony!). We've all been there, haven't we? Like every single night until our eyelids force themselves shut.

From Matilda

2. The sitting-in-the-armchair/sofa style

We do sometimes venture out of the comfort of our little nests (bedrooms) to read. The television sometimes come on as we are definitely certain that we can multi-task. Yes, fab. Totally works... nope. Our legs are usually curled up underneath us while we devour about a hundred pages because, let's face it, this reading position means business! You don't go into this kind of reading-position without a trusty cup of tea and some kind of fuel a.k.a. snacks and plenty of them.

My Current TBR Pile (April 2015)

My TBR pile is beginning to dwindle as it feels like forever since I last bought any new books. Some of the books I have to read are ones I've owned forever but just haven't gotten around to reading yet because other, more exciting, books fall into my hands.

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Confession: I haven't read this before. I know, I know. I should have read it by now, but I just haven't. While we're here, I'm also going to admit to not having read any Jane Austen novels yet either. And swiftly moving on...

2. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

I picked this up at the beginning of the year because my friend was reading it and suggested it to me. It involves a scavenger hunt surrounding books from what I can tell from the synopsis, plus a love story.

3. Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

I read the first two Hush Hush books last year but decided to take a slight break from them to read other things. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the series - because I did. I enjoyed it a lot. I just wanted to read other things before returning to these books.

Inside Out (Book Tag)

This week I have a book tag coming at you. It was originally created by Booktuber MathomBooks, and it's an acronym style tag.

Inside flap/Back of the book summaries: Too much info? Or not enough? (Discuss)

Not enough! What is this trend of just slapping reviews on the back cover? It's great that so-and-so thought it was flipping marvellous but that tells me nothing about the story. I want to know what happens, the name of the character, what the world is like! The book shop might say it's a thriller but is it? Is it really? What kind of thriller is it? Someone give me a summary and tell me! 

Entering the World of The Girl with All the Gifts

I recently finished reading The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey and wondered what it would be like to enter the world of the characters. The book is about a ten year-old girl, Melanie, who is a subject of scientific research due to her strength against a disease outbreak. The author takes the idea of a zombie-apocalypse world and turns it into something much more complicated with meaning and emotion.

Warning: this post contains spoilers for those who have yet to read The Girl with All the Gifts.

Let's take Melanie. She's a ten year-old girl whose only memories involve the base and the people who work/live there. Most of us would probably be terrified if an army group pointed guns at us each morning in order to tie us to a chair. Obviously she understands that she is a potential danger to these people due to her hungry need to devour human flesh but she is still an extremely audacious girl. I can guarantee that if I were in her position I would not feel able to tease Sergeant Parks in a way alike to her.