My Top Five Female Characters of All Time

As Rosianna's annual ladies survey has come out I will release my own Ladies post. There are loads of strong female characters in fiction and here are my top 5

#5 - Juliet Dove

Juliet Dove Queen of Love is about an incredibly shy girl who gets a curse which makes everyone fancy her and therefore pay attention to her. Mix it in with Greek Gods and mythology and suddenly this is one of my favourite books ever. Juliet (spoilers) overcomes her shyness at the end of the book and it's just SO MUCH PRIDE for a fellow introvert (spoilers over).

#4 - Petunia Dursley

Hear me out. Petunia Dursley always felt misunderstood to me. Sure, she spoils her son and was horrible to Harry but I feel like it was a product of her upbringing. Lily always got more attention and showered with gifts and I think she spoiled Dudley because she hated that about her childhood. Harry reminds her of the injustice. But in the fifth book (spoilers) when that letter comes she supports Harry despite the fact Vernon is a raging lunatic. She cares. I feel like she is incredibly strong after her sister got to do what Petunia had always wanted and could never do (spoilers over).

#3 - Hermione Granger

How generic. However, I love Hermione because I feel she was the first character I read which endorsed being a nerd. She loves reading and learning and is so brave. She's always independent and after all, she is the brightest young witch of her age. I do really relate to her and I feel like she was a gift to nerdkind.

#2 - Charlotte

Charlotte's Web is one of my favourite children's books. Mostly because of how much I love Charlotte.

Charlotte is strong and smart (are you getting how I like smart characters yet?) and incredibly loyal. Plus, any spider that makes me sob is obviously pretty important to me.

#1 - Annabeth

Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson series is my spirit sister. She's got blonde curly hair and values being clever over physical strength which will always go down well with me. She's also brave, sassy and really really clever (I would like to be that). The Percy Jackson series really shaped me as a person and Annabeth was a huge part of that so that's why she's got top spot.

People who didn't quite make it into the list: Alaska from Looking for Alaska, Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, Valentine from Enders Game, Athena and Artemis from the Percy Jackson series, Hazel Grace from TFIOS and Stargirl from Stargirl.

The Wave

Facinating, terrifying and utterly mesmerising. 

I was in a mood for an "academic" book so I found this in the "summer reading" part of Barnes and Noble. It's based on a true story from 1969 when a history teacher tried to show his pupils how Nazi Germany was enforced by creating his own regime. It captures what people will do for their beliefs and the terrifying force and magnitude that is the majority.

This book isn't a particularly well written book. This is its biggest flaw and to be honest, if this book was fantastically written it would be the best book of all time. Its writing style is similar to an average year 8 (7th grade) essay (well my average year 8 essay). It lacks flair and style. However, it still manages to capture the attention of the reader in a spell-binding plot. Oh Mr Strasser, how lucky you are by getting a fantastic storyline. 

I was totally gripped. It's a short book, so it's really fast moving. Also the plot is like a horror film. It grabs you by the lapels of your jacket and shows you the terrifying reality a teacher can have on his pupils. It also gives you an insight about what happened in Nazi Germany and how easily that can repeat itself. It is like a more relevant Miss Jean Brodie.

I would recommend this with every fibre of my being.

Buy it here.

I got a kindle.

Admittedly, I was anti-ebook after my bad experience with the kindle app. However, to save my back I got a kindle and it's fantastic.

It's easy to use and works out how long it will take you to finish a book.

How amazing is this case? I got it here.

The London Review Bookshop

The London Review Bookshop is situated in Holborn with about a two minute walk to Holborn tube station. It has a small cafe with really good treacle tart and it has two storeys of books covering the walls from head to toe. It has signed editions of new books that you've always wanted to try as well as really interesting books on display that aren't always sold in Waterstones. The fiction is superb, the signed editions are amazing and the sales assistants are friendly. I would really recommend this for anyone especially those with an interest in History and Politics as that section is huge.

Sophie's Stacking the Shelves on a Budget

 This haul is the haul that I have been able to save most money on so far.

1. The Runaway Princess by Hester Brown
     RRP: £10.75     BD: £9.27     I got it for: £0

I won this in an online competition.

2. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
     RRP: £16.99     BD: £12.75   I got it for: £8.49

 I went to The Last Bookshop and bought two books.

3. Player One by Douglas Coupland
     RRP: £7.99     BD: £7.26   I got it for: £2.00

4. New York at Night by Jason Hawkes and Christopher Gray
     RRP: £25.00     Amazon: £19.87   I got it for: £2.00

Overall I spent £12.49 on four books, which averages at £3.12 each. 

If I had bought these at RRP I would have spent £60.73 so I saved £48.24. This means I saved 79%.

If I had bought these online at the book depository and amazon I would have spend £49.15 so I saved £36.66. This means I saved 75%.

Oxford Bookshop Review - The Last Bookshop

 In the UK we have these things called "pound stores" where everything in the shop costs a pound. They sell food, drink and household items mainly such as Toblerone, Red Bull and dust pan and brushes. However, I went to Oxford and I found The Last Bookshop.

The Last Bookshop has just moved to opposite Argos outside the Clarendon Centre. You don't know the best part, every book is £2.

Many Bargain Bookshops (I'm not going to mention names but it rhymes with The Schmirks) sell books that are of a lower quality but the Last Bookshop sells proper fiction. If you want a good bookshop at good prices, this is the best bookshop ever.

Sophie's Upcoming Release of the Month

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

I am so excited for this book. We'll forgive her for having the name Moriarty (I had a Sherlock nightmare last night) and get excited for the book with a 4.05 star average on Goodreads (believe me, that's high). I think it's already out in the US but it comes out on the 30th July in the UK.

It's about a woman who finds a letter from her husband. The only thing is, she's supposed to open it when he's died. And he is still very much alive. Inside it contains a secret that could change her world and two other women's worlds forever.

Besides, the cover is beautiful, so that's one reason to buy this.

If you would like to support me by buying books from my book depository link I would love you forever. I'm also trying to organise a small giveaway, not sure how successful that'll be but if you are interested in quotemarks tweet me or comment.

To buy this book from me click here

The other cover is a lot cheaper so for that click here

To add to goodreads click here

How the Light gets in

How the Light gets in is a book by M.J. Hyland and is beautiful, heartbreaking and utterly relatable. Lou is a teenage exchange student from a life of poverty and emotional abuse from Sydney coming to live in a suburb of Chicago with the Harding family. She wants to fit in and be loved but she gets in her own way. It's a cross between Catcher in the Rye, the Bell Jar and perfection. It makes you feel peaceful and warm and sad all at once without detaching itself from the reader and when you finish you feel you can lie for hours without having to think about anything.

The plot isn't really very fast moving but it still manages to keep the reader engaged through dialogue and various flashbacks to her past life. There is also a conflict within the family, whether they trust her or their own children and this trust plays a huge part in the complications of the family. It doesn't help that Lou compulsively lies to try to seem more impressive. 

There is a large theme of needing to stay in America because of this unrealistic dream that America will boost her quality of life.I think that is one of the problems with the American Dream, it gives outsiders an unrealistic view of America. As a British citizen I know a lot of people, especially young people, think of the US as this knight in shining armour because we're not shown what it's like to live in Pitsburg or a small town in New Mexico. We're shown New York. We're shown LA. We're shown glamourous cities where the streets are paved with stars and a place where people like the Kardashians can get famous and wealthy. We're shown success. Obama symbolised hope in a way Nick Clegg just doesn't. We're taught at a young age from the media that America is full of rich, beautiful people who follow their dreams and they come true. How the Light gets in shows up the messy, complicated dream.

The characters are possibly the strongest point of the book. They are all real people and you can imagine this being a biography because these people are so well created. With book characters they can often be two dimensional but Hyland makes these characters much more complex. For example,  the characters can be frustrated. In lots of books authors seem to forget about frustration because it isn't as strong as anger. The characters have real relationships especially the marriage in the book. There's comflict and unnamoty at the same time. Relationships are not good or bad.

Overall I would really recommend How the Light gets in (for one thing the cover is stunning frankly) because it's beautiful. Buy this book.

Brooklyn Girls

I contacted Gemma Burgess herself when she tweeted about the possibility of advanced copies of her book. I am not a huge "New Adult" fan but this book is so good.

Brooklyn Girls follows a girl called Pia, out of college, broke and fired from her job. She struggles with anxiety attacks and the aftermath of her first love breaking up with her and the main focus of the novel is about her setting up a business and her relationships surrounding this. This will be a series (I'm assuming five parts, one for each Brooklyn Girl).

I am tired of books solely focusing on love but Brooklyn Girls is twice as interesting because it's focused on more than just love. Pia is strong and confident and the book tracks her incredible drive to succeed. She's fantastic. The book is the new dawn of the "New Adult" genre; it's modern, upbeat and focuses on more than just a man.

Do you know what?  That's not even the best bit. As the book gains speed in a similar fashion to a JK Rowling* novel the plot becomes intense and exciting. You care about the characters. You care what happens to them. The narrative is intense yet bubbly and energetic and that is what makes this book unique and enjoyable.

In New Adult fiction I've found that many of the characters are a caricature of real people and real relationships. However, Gemma Burgess makes the characters real. The lead is not a white, blonde, good American girl; she's a half Indian, half Swiss, American citizen who was expelled twice, fired and has flaws like a real person. I loved that.

I really would recommend this book. Truly. It's a five star read and it's out tomorrow in the UK and yesterday in the US.

Thank you to Gemma Burgess and Quercus for sending me this advanced copy. I loved it.

Buy this book.

*However, in a similar manner to a JK Rowling novel it is a little slow starting, but still interesting.

Small disclaimer: it's not for younger readers. I mean, it's not 50 shades but it covers certain topics. I would say 14-15+

Stacking the Shelves

I'll do these more consistently now.

Since June 16th I've bought 14 books and received 2 free books so I thought I'd go through them with you.

Waterstones Chiswick

The Light of Amsterdam by David Park

Composition No.1 by Mark Saporta

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Oranges are not the only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Amazon

When I was away on work experience my mum bought me some books I'd wanted for ages and sent me them via Amazon :) She's the best.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Lutyens and Rubinstein

Lutyens and Rubinstein is a lovely independent bookshop in Notting Hill in London. It is a two storey building with a nice collection of fiction, gorgeous non fiction and absolutely lovely art. 

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.

London Review Bookshop

London Review Bookshop is another two story bookshop but this one is in Holbern, five minutes from Covent Garden. It has a cafe (with a lovely treacle tart) and a really interesting selection of fiction as well as an extensive non-fiction section, especially History and Politics. It's very close to the British Museum.

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo

The Dinner by Herman Koch

The Illicit Happiness of Other People by Manu Joseph

Waterstones Piccadilly

You and I by Padgett Powell

The Newlyweds by Neil Freudenberger

The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus

Free Books

Some absolutely lovely people have sent me some free books this month: I won the Waterstones Card Read and Review competition for the Sequel to the Devil Wears Prada and the ever-so-generous Gemma Burgess sent me her book which I am so grateful for.

Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess (out July 4th)

Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo

I picked up We Need New Names in the London Review Bookshop (which is fantastic by the way) and I must admit, it's a bit of a disappointment. The book has a very low goodreads score which I was unaffected by because I didn't like Divergent and everyone likes Divergent.

The book is set in two places: a slum called paradise in what I assume is Zimbabwe but is never named and the USA. It follows a girl called Darling and her and her friends trying to escape from their impoverished backgrounds and it focuses very much on belonging and where you live vs. your nationality.

There are some quite grissely scenes through out the book such as a sui***e, a backstreet abor***n, an ex*rc*sm, p*rn and pros*****ion. They are quite shocking so I wouldn't recommend this if you are squeamish like yours truly or a younger reader.

The first half of the book is something I really enjoyed. I liked the information on their culture and what life in a slum is like and I loved the characters and their interaction. If the whole book was like the first half I would have given the book 3 or maybe 4 stars. However, in America the pace slowed down. The passages were monotonous. The relationships were boring. Suddenly,  I started to not really enjoy it.

In America the book became about fitting in and belonging which was interesting but very repetitive. I thought more focus should be put on leaving her family and friends behind and missing them because that could have been extremely powerful.

It is a very interesting book to read culturally but otherwise it's just a bit monotonous.

Buy this book (it gives me commission and would be greatly appreciated)

A note on our stars (****): I am aware a lot of you are older readers but I did review a childs book recently and our demographic may be lower this month. In order to protect innocence I am starring everything. Thank you for your patience

UPDATE ON HOW MANY HAVE YOU READ POST: I have now read no. 16 bringing my score up to 21%.

The Book Swap

I read one of Maiya's favourite books this month which she has reviewed here.

It's called The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines and yeah, it was good. It's about a love triangle (because YA fiction never has one of those) in a small town and the usual "should I go for the perfect boy but I don't love him who I'm dating or the bad boy who I want with all my heart." And despite it's "new adult" label it's surprisingly has a lack of s*x scenes. Oh and to top it off, the lead "Ashton" is the daughter of a minister/vicar.

It is enjoyable. It is definitely more enjoyable than I expected as I fell out the the romance genre when I read 14 days later a year ago (did you know I am the second most disliked review on the amazon kindle edition because I insulted all of its readers?).

I liked the backdrop to the novel but I didn't love the characters. I just didn't connect to them and my empathy with the characters is essential to how much I enjoy the book. I found that Ashton was not particularly likeable because she wasn't very "honourable" in her loyalty to her boyfriend. Beau controlled himself a bit more so thumbs up for Beau. Sawyer was a bit of a douche in the third quartile of the book but otherwise I liked the characters. They were just a little bit too exaggerated for my liking as I'm a huge fan of subtlety.

There was a plot twist I didn't guess (and it's the big one) so four for you Abbi Glines you go Abbi Glines! It was entertaining and made the relationships interesting which is what a lot of romantic fiction lacks. I liked that.

Overall I gave this 3 stars. It was good. It wasn't my kind of book but that didn't stop me from enjoying reading it. If you love New Adult or YA definitely read it.

Buy this book (if you use that link it gives me commission and I would love you forever)

The Extincts by Veronica Cossanteli

When you realise that you can legally drive in 4 months you will suddenly feel a pine for your childhood. At this point, I've found, you should agree to read and review a children's book.

I was a crazily enthusiastic reader as a child. I mean, tell me about a book published before 2008 and I've probably read it. I'm not even joking. As a result I feel like I know a lot about the genre and this review is not coming from the 16 year old girl taking public exams but from my 8 year old self.

The Extincts is about a boy who goes to work on a farm that's filled with dangerous magical and extinct animals. The auther threw in a beginning, middle and an end, an evil stepmother and a grumpy teacher.

The book was enjoyable. I found it was so clearly marketed at 7-9 year old boys that it took away from the actual book. You know the type of boy, he'll love those dangerous animal programs that the BBC makes. It was full of clichées: girls are stupid and stepmothers are evil. It was well written, don't get me wrong, but it's carnivorous attitude got in the way.

Also the "bad-guy" reflects 101 Dalmatians. There's the big house on the hill, the evil woman who is extraverted and drives a fast car (Cruella) and two henchmen: a skinny, tall mastermind and the short one. Oh and here's the kicker: she kills animals for aesthetic purposes.

There is a very clear message going through the book: "let's show boys how exciting we can make the contents of the natural history museum". It was so educational that it might have well been a cleverly disguised textbook.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but didn't love the obvious marketing strategy. I think that books should be written as reflections of an author and their creativity, not their selling strategy. I believe boys should read more but not in a way that girls are compromised. Other than that, it was good. Books need to stand out and this one didn't.

It just didn't shine.

Buy this book: www.bookdepository.co.uk/Extincts-Veronica-Cossanteli/9781908435453/?a_aid=SophieCharlotte

About a Girl by Lindsey Kelk - Review

I don't read chick flick that often. I've had a couple of bad experiences in the past. But this book completely changed my perspective on the genre because it's brilliant. I probably wouldn't have read it if I hadn't been sent a free review copy by Waterstones.

Tess, the workaholic, is made redundant from her job in advertising and is desperately in love with her best friend. She realises that she has nothing going on in her life so she hijacks her flatmates job and goes to Hawaii for a week as a "professional photographer."

I found the start to be a little slow moving but the prologue really starts the book off with a bang. Admittedly until about page 100 it isn't very interesting but stick with it, the rest is fabulous. The plot twists are unexpected (apart from one but that willed me to keep reading, to lap up every word) and not clichée. The ending was... complicated. I was left feeling both satisfied and unsatisfied but mostly very happy. Literally I felt happy inside. A book hasn't done that to me in a while.

The characters are wonderful and really well thought up. You will care for these characters, whether it be Tess or Amy or Paige even Al and character development was done fantastically. You care about their relationships. It's a great thing.

Most of all it was a really enjoyable experience and if I could read it again as a new experience,  I would. Buy it, even if chick flick isn't your thing because it's great.

Buy this book. Out on the 4th July 2013

How Divergent is similar to a sickness bug.

Reading Divergent was a similar experience to vomiting. It starts with mild levels of nausea - but no, you will battle through it, I can read more. This slowly builds to waves of intense "I can't leave the loo phase" and I needed this for my goodreads challenge so I kept going. And then, the final stage, the finale. Unpleasant. But finally over.

The hype! The hype this book has received. John Green recommended it. John Green, who everyone knows is a God to me. Nina recommended it to me (though she has a less god-like status because she has never made me sob uncontrollably curled up in a ball, although she recommended Sherlock to me). My sister adored it. Tumblr and other various fangirl sources worship this book.

Beatrice Prior lives in a dystopian (what? A teen book about dystopia?) society where everyone is sorted into five personality types and live in five "factions" and can choose a new faction at 16. The five factions are Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless) and Erudite (the intelligent). Oh, and if you are thinking "I fit more than one of those boxes!" Then you are a Divergent, a threat to society.

The truth is I don't mind bad quality literature. I quite enjoy it. The thing is Divergent pretends to be good quality. It pretends that the plot twists aren't totally obvious 100 pages beforehand. It pretends you don't know his true identity and how she will fall for him and oh the language is full of bias and lack of subtlety. It just... let me down.

It was a book with a lot of potential and the beginning was really good but as it went on it lost it's way. Maybe it's not you, Divergent, it's me. Maybe I've read too much dystopia, the Hunger Games, Uglies and the like. Maybe I'm tired of it. I just feel like it could be the shining cherry on the dystopia cake and it isn't.

There's a film. This could be really good. Maybe. No, who am I kidding? The book is always better than the movie and the book was terrible. Mind you the cast is basically the TFIOS cast...

I'm not mindlessly hating this book. I do have reasons and constructive criticism for the novel, its predictability, its lack of character development, it lacks a spark that sets it apart from the rest.

So overall, I hated this book. Sorry to all the fangirls who now hate me. But it was my metaphorical sickness bug.

Buy this book: http://www.bookdepository.com/Divergent-Veronica-Roth/9780007420421/?a_aid=SophieCharlotte
Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent

Every Day by David Levithan

You have to read this book.

I enjoyed Will Grayson, Will Grayson but oh sweet love of all that is pure this book makes Will Grayson, Will Grayson like quotes from one of those "teen truth" twitter accounts.

A spends his life going from one body to another when one day he meets Rhiannon and goes out of his way to meet her every day in his different bodies.

And oh it's so good! A is instantly likeable because he constantly tries not to make his inhabitants lives worse. Rhiannon is idolised by A and the obsession over her is so beautifully perfect and well written that it can't be described in writing. Then there's a second sub-plot over the Church's attitude to "demons" and religious experience so it isn't all about the idolisation of this one girl which is so wonderful after YA and adult romance (Marion Keys, I'm looking at you and your kind).

Often teen (is it teen? It could be adult literature?) romantic fiction such as this narrated by a guy includes manic pixie-girl dreams *cough John Green cough* and Every Day was refreshingly pure of this. Rhiannon is so full of love and hope that it's nice to have such a lovely character.

This books main criticism is it is a bit preachy. By that I mean Levithan tried to get his views across over many topics in society. I didn't find that; I loved every second. I liked the way it tackled more than one problem in our culture and yet it was a brilliant love story.

I loved the romance of it all.

So yes, this is my favourite book I've read all year. Maybe even one of my top 20 books of all time.


So yeah, you have to read this book.


Links: http://www.bookdepository.com/Every-Day-David-Levithan/9780449815533/?a_aid=SophieCharlotte

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13262783-every-day

How many have you read?

The BBC published this list of books and apparently most people have only read 6.

I (Sophie, if you haven't worked that out yet) have read 20 and I was thinking of reading them all but I've learned Bible quotes for RS and it's a bit heavy going.

If you're interested in what I thought about them, I've put star rating by the sides of them or look at my goodreads though I read some of them such a long time ago I was sort of guessing. OH THE ACCURACY.

By the way, no. 59 will always remain one of my favourite books though. I will revue it in the near future.

1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (****)

2. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

3. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

4. Harry Potter series, JK Rowling (*****)

5. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

6. The Bible

7. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

9. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (**)

10. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

11. Little Women, Louisa M Alcott

12. Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

13. Catch-22, Joseph Heller

14. Complete Works of Shakespeare

15. Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier

16. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

17. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks

18. Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (****)

19. The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

20. Middlemarch, George Eliot

21. Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell

22. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald (***)

23. Bleak House, Charles Dickens

24. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

26. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

27. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28. Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

29. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

30. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (**)

31. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

32. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

33. Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis

34. Emma, Jane Austen

35. Persuasion, Jane Austen

36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, CS Lewis (***)

37. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (****)

38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières

39. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden

40. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne (****) 

41. Animal Farm, George Orwell

42. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown

43. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney, John Irving

45. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

46. Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery (***)

47. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy

48. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

49. Lord of the Flies, William Golding

50. Atonement, Ian McEwan

51. Life of Pi, Yann Martel

52. Dune, Frank Herbert

53. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

54. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen

55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth

56. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

58. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon (*****)

60. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck (***)

62. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

63. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

64. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (****)

65. Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

66. On The Road, Jack Kerouac

67. Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy

68. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (**)

69. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

70. Moby Dick, Herman Melville

71. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens

72. Dracula, Bram Stoker

73. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (***)

74. Notes From A Small Island, Bill Bryson

75. Ulysses, James Joyce

76. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (****)

77. Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome

78. Germinal, Emile Zola

79. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

80. Possession, AS Byatt

81. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

82. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

83. The Color Purple, Alice Walker

84. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro

85. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert

86. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry

87. Charlotte’s Web, EB White (****)

88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom (***)

89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90. The Faraway Tree Collection, Enid Blyton (**)

91. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

92. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery

93. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks

94. Watership Down, Richard Adams

95. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

96. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute

97. The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas

98. Hamlet, William Shakespeare

99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl (***)

100. Les Misérebles, Victor Hugo.

20% HIGHSCORE

How many have you read?

To buy any of these books: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/?a_aid=SophieCharlotte

The Road vs. I am Legend

I am Legend and the Road are both post-apocalyptic fiction and both are so different that I can't really portray it in writing.

I did have a favourite. A very clear favourite. I may show signs of bias in the review due to the fact I do prefer one of them, but reviews are factories where facts go in and little packets of bias come out.

I am Legend is a book where everyone has been destroyed by an illness and come back as a vampire (apparently it's very early vampire fiction and trust me it's not Twilight). The Road is about a father and son travelling to the sea in a world where we've run out of oil. And oh my is it depressing.

I am Legend is something I enjoyed reading.  Nothing much happens, I find, in post-apocalyptic fiction because books are about people and relationships, and the characters are the only ones who aren't dead. But Matheson deals with that quite well, with the vampires and all that.

The main plot is where the Robert Neville, the protagonist, tries to find a cure to the disease and spends time researching this. However, Neville gets drunk a lot of the book and is alone the rest of the time because of the trauma he went through which becomes clear through out the novel. I found the pacing a little too quick towards the end when things start to happen which I thought was a shame because overall the book is really quite good and really well pulled off.

The Road, however, is a massive juxtaposition compared to the glamourous world of the vampire. It's the most depressing book I have ever read. There are a lot of positive things about this novel. The writing style is ever so clever. There are no speech marks in the novel as there are only really two characters so if one person isn't talking the other person would be. The speech is very monosyllabic and simple and then the next sentence will be a Fitzgerald-like complicated sentence.

But the "good guys" thing was shocking, harrowing and utterly haunting. The Road is one of those books that you read but stays with you for a really long time afterwards. It's brilliantly written but it's so depressing I wouldn't recommend it. I'm sorry.

I am Legend trumps The Road. By a long way. The Road is just so depressing as a novel and I am Legend is quite enjoyable, but they're not my favourite books of the haul. Both are brilliantly written but easy to read which is unusual. If you want a beautifully written book, I'd recommend either.

I am Legend Links:

Book Depository Link: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/I-Am-Legend-Richard-Matheson/9780575079007?a_aid=SophieCharlotte

Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14064.I_Am_Legend

The Road links:

Book Depository Link: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Road-Cormac-McCarthy/9780330447546?a_aid=SophieCharlotte

Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6288.The_Road

Exams!

Okay, I know we need to do more reviews, me specifically. I promise once exams are over I will but for now it's just not possible!
Maiyaxx

Across the Universe Review

I imagined the outrage on my reader's faces as they read my review. "What?" They would cry in anger, the true science fiction fans of this world. "Why did she not read a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? Why would you pick young adult science fiction in the grand scheme of this bountiful genre?"

Needless to say I deleted my first draft.

I was a science fiction v**g*n before I read this book.

The book has two protagonists: Amy and Elder. A space ship is being sent to a new planet so humans can inhabit it. Amy is a human from modern day Earth and has been cryogenically frozen with her parents to be woken on the new planet. However, 50 years early she is woken in an attemped murder and has to learn to inhabit a new society where she sticks out, mentally and physically knowing she won't see her parents for another 50 years. Elder is the future leader of the ship, when he will become Eldest, the leader. He has to learn how to govern the people on the ship and how not to repeat the mistakes made on Earth.

The book is quite political for YA, there's quite a lot about how our society and its flaws and how it would be viewed from another perspective (side note: this specifically strikes a chord with revision-crazy-Sophie as I am having many "what is the point of society/exams" thoughts). There is also a lot about genetic mutation and the information we are fed by the government and how it influences our opinion. I was rejoicing at the fact that maybe YA had a deeper meaning that wasn't necessarily about the beauty of Edward Cullens glittering urethra (I urge you not to google that).

The characters were pretty good, none of them particularly stood out, there was one I wanted to talk to you about but I've forgotten his name. You see? No attachment. Whatsoever. Even though this one scene was supposed to be really emotional because of he strong imagery and... oh Beth. Beth. Step it up.

The main thing I liked about this book was you read a bit, got comfortable with everything that was happening and then BAM plot twist. It made it really fast moving which was lovely compared to all the other books in the haul so far. Revis is a great story teller and that totally makes uo for any other flaws I didn't love.  

The ending was quite similar in style to the Magicians, if you've read that, without the gore. 

I really enjoyed this book and the cover is gorgeous.  It includes a blue print to the space ship.

I want to buy this: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Across-Universe-Beth-Revis/9780141333663?a_aid=SophieCharlotte

I want to add this to Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8235178-across-the-universe

Ketchup Clouds Review

I found out about this book through the pre-roll advertisment on youtube (you know, the unskipable ones before videos). Now, youtube knows how old I am, to the day. It knows my interests, my hobbies so it recommended this book. So why did Annabel Pitcher's marketing team believe I was her target market?

Sure, I bought it. I write a blog so she gets even more media attention. But am I likely to recommend a children's book to another year 11? Probably not.

Now, on the very small chance you have kids, because dear parent I am well aware you are not my demographic, I won't recommend it to you either. It has themes of murder, s*x, divorce (doesn't sound dark but it's dark to a child), money worries, s*xual abuse etc. Minefield of nightmares and awkward conversations waiting to happen.

Now I have had yet another rant about advertising (I have them all the time) let me review the book.

Ketchup Clouds is about "Zoe," a girl who holds a terrible guilt about an event that happened in the past. As a result she writes to a man on death row called Mr S Harris because she feels that he will understand her guilt. The plot was really strong in some places as you knew what was going to happen but not to which character. However, there was a bit of a YA Twilight love triangle and it was a bit tiresome because it was so infeasible and one of the characters was so unrealistic.

I think the characters could have been developed more, the only development that occurs is Zoe's affection for Mr Harris. The family were, I think, supposed to be relatable to everyday families but I haven't had any of those scenarios so I found myself disconnected from the family life.

The boys were two very different characters, one I really disliked and one I found too perfect. You'll know which one is which if you read it. It was a sweet concept, but it was just too YA novel "a 17 year old boy fancies the 15 year old girl."

Why didn't I hate this book with it's terrible love story and pathetic character development? Is it because I've gone revision crazy?

Maybe.

It's mainly because the writing style was really good, though very simplistic. Annabel Pitcher is very gripping and the overall plotline and not the "who done it" but "who died" was done fantastically. I mean really really well. It would be the reason to buy the book. The tension was built up brilliantly.

Hardback link: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Ketchup-Clouds-Annabel-Pitcher/9781780620305a_aid=SophieCharlotte

I would hold out for the paperback though because the cover is gorgeous. It adds so much more to the book.

Link: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Ketchup-Clouds-Annabel-Pitcher/9781780620312?a_aid=SophieCharlotte

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11088150-ketchup-clouds

I gave it 3 stars because it's quick and easy and some bits are well done, but in 5 years time it will sit alone because it doesn't fit anywhere, a mingle of terrible YA, inappropriate children's literature and adults who won't care.

Unbroken (Cedar Cove #1) - Melody grace

Sorry if I was harsh :)
Melody Grace is a fairly unknown writer. She has only released one book so far which is Unbroken.
Unbroken (Cedar cove #1): This is just an outline of the book.
(summary from Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17342189-unbroken)
POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!!
Unbroken is the story of Juliet and Emerson. It is set after their summer of love 4 years ago in which Emerson broke Juliet's heart, which was already damaged. 
In present day Juliet has moved on and is currently attending University in the city, and is planning a life with her boyfriend of 2 years. But she "must" go back to Cedar Cove to clear out her families beach house because her Dad needs to sell it because he is out of cash. 

I had high expectations for this book. It looked like a really good book, still your typical romance but it seemed like it would be more interesting that there would be a lot substance to the book. But in all truth although I quite liked it, it lacked substance.

Negatives:
First of all there were a lot of exclamation marks!!!! In my head that made is sound like the characters were shouting all the time. They didn't affect the book too much but they were a bit irritating. Also I thought the character lacked emotion, it was a very physical relationship between Emerson and Juliet, one which didn't really involve much more than that. Although she said "I love you" a bit, I never really got the sense that she truly did. Also it said that Emerson fought for her. There  was none of that unless you count punching someone in the face then being a jerk towards Juliet as fighting for her. Most of the book he just tries to get rid of her.
Also there were quite a few unnecessary characters such as her sister and Emerson sister, they didn't add anything to the book.
Positives:
I liked the fact that the reason Emerson pushed Juliet away was because her mum before she died wrote him a letter explaining that if he loved her he let her go. I also liked the idea of there being two types of love. It was something that I hadn't read about, although it was part of the book I think she could've focused more on that. I liked the pace of the book, it was an easy read. Although it sounds like there were a lot of negatives that is more because I expected more from it. But on a whole I finished the book and enjoyed the read. In truth I didn't notice the lack of emotion until looking back on the book which was quite interesting for me. 
Overall the book was decent, but definitely not one of the best books  I have read so far.
Star rating: