First Ever Kindle Read | The Art of Being Normal

  

I always meant to buy a kindle, but I never got round to it. When they were first introduced back in the day, I hated them. I was in my mid teens and I thought all bookshops were going to shut down, and the world was officially over. But I grew up. I realised that Kindles and E-readers aren’t replacing books in the market. That they are convenient and cheaper and easier to carry round.  I still adore paperback books and prefer them. But the thing we’ve all come for is the stories. The stories are what keeps me interested, not whether I’m reading it on paper or a screen.

But I never bought one. I never could afford to just drop £50 or £60 on something I didn’t really need. So when someone offered me a 1^st gen kindle as they’d never used it, I jumped at the offer.

Christmas Reads (that aren't all that Christmassy)

Now that we're on the Christmas holidays, and i finally have spare time again,  I felt I should address my poor neglected blog.  I thought i'd run over the books i'm currently reading (as there are a lot of them). 

I’ve been very non-committal with my reading habits lately, fluctuating between a few different books and never finishing them. I’ve had a pretty busy Uni month and haven’t found a lot of time to commit extensively to one book which has left me with a pile of half read, unfinished books.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare | Book Review

Disclaimer: this is a major head rant written immediately after finishing City of Bones where i hadn't had a chance to fully process all of the book and therefore definitely does contain spoilers (sorry!)

So a while back my dear friend Amy lent me the first three books in The Mortal Instrument series and I was super excited to read it, having seen SO MUCH about it in the booktube/YA world and it really was time for me to read it.

At first, I thought it was a bit slow. I wasn't really intrigued too much into the characters – nothing stood out to me as that interesting. But I was only 50 pages in, so I powered through, and I am glad I did!

More Than This by Patrick Ness | Book Review

 “We have to lie to ourselves to live. Otherwise, we’d go crazy.” 

I don’t even know where to begin with this book. My sisters (thanks guys) gave it to me for my birthday, and in the height of procrastination, I figured it was time to read it, and thank god I did. This god damned book bundled me up into a little ball and shook me about until I was pretty much taken over with emotion.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth | Book Review

Disclaimer: this review was written as soon as I finished the book and so may not be fully coherent (there was just too much emotion).

I don’t even know where to begin with this. Allegiant is the 3^rd instalment and conclusion in the Divergent series. For those of you who have been living under a rock, Divergent tells the story of Tris Prior, a girl born into a society divided into factions that are separated out according to personality type. Tris, however, doesn’t fit into any faction; she is known as Divergent. And the story pretty much unravels from there. The second book, Insurgent, was fast paced and told the story of the aftermath of Erudite’s mass killing of the people of Abnegation. In the final pages, we were left with the knowledge that the outside world is ‘waiting for the Divergent’ to come and rescue them

And so here we are. I had this book for so long that I had to actually reread Insurgent before eventually diving back into the world of Factions (or lack of oooh spoilers)

Zombicorns by John Green | Book Review

This short novella was given away as an E-book during the 2010 Project for Awesome, a charity event run by the Vlogbrothers in which youtube users donate and make videos about their favourite non-profits.  It feels slightly strange reviewing this, as it was never really meant to be read! In the preface, John Green describes it as a “bad zombie apocalypse novella” and a “steaming mess of prose”, which should give you some idea what we’re up against!

Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter | Book Review

                 

Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter was published by Hot Key Books in 2013.

I first heard about O’Porter’s debut novel Paper Aeroplanes through Sanne Vliegenthart’s review (2014, February 10) on her Youtube channel, and her praise along with the premise and vibrant design of the cover intrigued me.

Paper Aeroplanes is an incredibly relatable young adult (YA) contemporary novel centring around Flo and Rennee, two teenage girls who, in the midst of a gritty, gossip ridden high school, find friendship together.

Boys Don't Knit by T.S. Easton | Book Review

Boys Don't Knit by T.S. Easton was published by Hot Key Books in January 2014.

I won my copy through a twitter nail art competition (Thanks Hot key Books!) so that was pretty awesome. I'd added it to my wishlist a while back, initially because of the bright cover which drew me in with the yellow and pretty patterns (I'm a sucker for patterns!)

Boys Don't Knit follows the story of Ben Fletcher, an average teenage boy from Southern England who gets caught up in an incident with his friends involving a lollipop lady and a bottle of Martini Rosso. Ben is therefore put on probation and as part of his 'giving something back' scheme, he is made to join a knitting class at the local community college. Being from the South of England, I particularly enjoyed the Corfe Castle reference as I actually work in that village (so that entertained me, and my Gran when I told her!)

Wonder by R.J.Palacio | Book Review

Wonder by R.J. Palacio was published by Knopf in January 2012

Wonder  tells the story of August, or 'Auggie' who is a ten year old kid who is obsessed with Star Wars, laughs at the word butt, and loves his dog. However, he was born with an abnormality on his face which has caused him to undergo many surgeries all throughout his childhood. Because of this, he never attended school. The novel starts at a point where his mum thinks he should be enrolled into Middle School.

I originally picked this up because it kept getting placed next to The Fault in Our Stars in bookshops because of the blue and white feel, you know? And I kept looking at it because that cover is oh so intriguing and so, one day, I just threw my stuff down and bought it. That was the best decision I've ever made.