Friday 31 May 2013

The Great Gatsby

So old sport, the Great Gatsby is a tragic love story of Jay Gatsby and Daisy. It's set in the era of flappers, prohibition and gangsters so it's no wonder that this novel comes off with a slight edge. Nick Carraway, neighbour of Gatsby, narrates the story. He doesn't exactly like Gatsby, but despite this holds a certain respect for him.

Reading this I could see straight away why it would be used as a set book at school; it is beautifully written. It's one of those few books that you actually make you itch to get out a pen and underline and annotate the beautifully constructed quotes. It was such a pleasing read; like a journey I felt like I had travelled somewhere by the end of it and I love that in a book. With so many books being pumped into production good books, really good ones can be hard to find. It is satisfying to know that a good book will stand the test of time as seen with 'the Great Gatsby'.

Sunday 19 May 2013

The Fault in Our Stars- John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Am I the only one that found this book incredibly predictable?

Yes, yes it was great and heartbreaking and everything but I was expecting more. I guess you do have to take into account that it's evidently a 'young adult' book; that will at least account for part of the predictability of the book.

Despite this it was good, not one of my favorites, but it wasn't a waste of time to read it.

I read it after my sister had read it when we were on holiday in Berlin. I was a intrigued by it; when we had been there the book had followed my sister around everywhere to such an extent that you could hardly see her face. And then on top of that she seemed to be eating the tissues they were going down so fast. I think it's safe to say that she found it pretty heartbreaking. I will give it that; John Green took my heart, tore it to pieces and threw it in the bin. Thanks for that John Green.

I did enjoy the read, and I'm certainly pleased I read it but I'm still not sure about it. I'm just hoping that the film does it justice

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Paper Towns by John Green

'What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person'


Read it. If that's the only thing I can persuade you to do then that's enough. Just read it.

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin into the middle of the night- dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign for revenge- he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q.. until day breaks and she's vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues and they're for Q.

It wasn't the blurb that drew me in and to be perfectly honest I didn't think it looked to good. Or at least not my type. But as soon as I got reading BAM and in I was drawn. John Green writes delicately and with care weaving the book together and reeling in the reader until you find yourself up at three in the morning reading with a fury that isn't often found when it comes to books. There was something about 'Paper Towns' that got me hooked and that kept me thinking about it and turning it over long after I'd finnished it. It's a book that stays with you, one of the few that really does. Read it if you can. I loved it, and I hope you will too.

Nothing to envy by Barbara Demick

The journalist Barbara Demick is seen to follow the lives of North Koreans over the period of 15 years showing us a lot about the hidden and harshly controlled of their communist state.

As a rule I'm not keen on purely factual books, but, this is one of the few that I would say is worth reading. IT portrays life in North Korea as Orwellish making it unbelievable to readers in free societies. It constantly changes between the different people and weaves between their storys. It is surprisingly understandable for all the stories and it helps to keep it flowing and interesting to the reader.

To me the most interesting was the fact that not all of the people that were interviewed for the book had been completely against the regime. In fact most of them seemed to find it very positive at first with them genuinely being heartbroken when Kim Il Sung died. This made it a lot more believeable and therefore made it seem (wether it's true or not) to portray the North Korean way of life.

I'd give it maybe a 4/5 and I suggest that if you want to read a factual book then you should read this; it was as hooking as a fiction book.
Sorry that I haven't been on in forever. I had a lot going on. Bad excuse but that's all I have. I'll definitely be a lot better now. If any of you have any blogs to check out then please let me know because I really need to follow some more people!