Rainy Day Reads

Everyone raved about this new Western book so I decided to pick it up. I soon realized that everyone hadn’t really specified the plot too much, as I thought it was set in modern day with a Western spin. But it turned out to be an actual Western set in Frontier America in the late 1800s.  The story revolves around a girl whose father is murdered by a gang. She sets out to hunt them down and take revenge and during the hunt she soon finds out, that the murder was not a random act of violence. The gang was after something her father had been hiding from her since her childhood. I can’t really say too much more without spoiling the plot, so I won’t.  The writing style tried to imitate an old-timey Western dialect, which is always a gamble. Sometimes it works well, and other times it really doesn’t. For this book I think it was alright. The author would use enough vernacular to make it realistic without overdoing it. I feel like the book was based more on plot than characte

I decided to read this as part of my Bingo Chart Reading Challenge for the year, because it featured vampires.   I have mixed feelings about this book. Obviously I have decided to DNF it, but I actually kind of enjoyed reading it. For the most part it had a good flow and interesting characters and I made it 500 pages in before I finally decided that my problems were larger than my enjoyment. The book is about 700 pages long, so I almost made it through and I debated whether to just push through and finish it. But in keeping with my attempt to DNF books I am not enjoying, despite my major FOMO, and due to the fact that this is the first book in a trilogy, I decided to call it quits! The book is about Diana, a witch, who is currently at Oxford in England doing research on alchemy. Due to various events she has renounced her witchy powers and tries to lead a non-magical life. One day she receives a book from the library where she is studying, that turns out to be magical. She s

You cannot go to Athens and not go to the Acropolis. It is a staple on any sightseeing tour and is likely to be crawling with tourists at any given point in time. Still, it is definitely worth it to brave the masses and see the fortified citadel above the city of Athens for yourself.   The word acropolis means the highest point of the city, and there are a number of these acropoleis scattered throughout Greece, but the one in Athens is so well known that it is simply called “The Acropolis”.  There is evidence that the area on the rocky outcropping overlooking the city was inhabited already in the 4th millennium BC, but it was Pericles who started construction on the many famous buildings in the 5th century BC. These famous buildings include the Parthenon, probably the most iconic of the buildings, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike. These buildings were all seriously damaged in 1687 AD when the Venetians had sieged the city and used th

I picked this book as my next classic because it is one of those classics that everyone agrees is actually a classic. Lately I have also been wanting to watch the movie, and I do try to read the book first if at all possible, before watching movie adaptations.   The book This is a whopper of a book coming in at about 1400 pages. The last 200 pages or so are notes, which I must confess I usually skip, unless I am completely lost in the story and need some help.  The book was first published in 1862 and as I said it is considered not only a classic but one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Aside from the narrative plot Hugo uses the book to discuss the nature of the law and grace, types of love, the sewer of Paris, language and other things, often in (very) great detail.  The publication of the book was highly advertised and it was very much anticipated. The critics were divided as to whether or not it was a good book, although most of them were on th

This was the most recent pick out of my TBR jar and I was looking forward to reading something lighter. And I must say this was that, at least.  The story centers around a demon and an angel, who have struck up an unlikely friendship, since both of them are residing on Earth and they have both come to really like it there. Unfortunately Doomsday is just around the corner, and the Earth is set to be ruined in the ensuing war between good and evil. The forces of evil have planted the Antichrist with an unknowing human family and when the boy turns 11, the apocalypse is set to begin. Through some unexpected events, however, things don’t go according to plan, but our protagonists find that they don’t really mind.  There were a number of interesting characters in this book, and I thought it was generally quite well written and fun, but a bit too fun, almost. It was written in that comedic writing style, where the style is almost more important than the plot, and that is a d

This was my pick for the challenge of reading a graphic novel this year. I’ve seen it on Youtube, specifically on Jean Bookishthoughts’ channel and I thought it sounded interesting.  It details the author’s life growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She tells of the demonstrations, the imprisonment of family members and friends and the fear of not only the war with Iraq, but the country’s own government.  The art is pretty cartoonish and all done in black and white. This lends a starkness to the story that for the most part suits it, but it does take a little getting used to. A few times I had trouble discerning between the different people, as the cartoony art style was quite basic and not very detailed.  The story was interesting, but a little confusing at times, simply because very complicated political matters had to be boiled down to a few sentences, and since I don’t know a lot about the history and politics of

I read this book because it was Emma Watson’s pick for the “Our Shared Shelf” book club for one of the past months (I’m behind, I know) and I thought it would do well for my “read a feminist book” part of my reading challenge this year.   I must confess I didn’t really know too much about Caitlin Moran before I read this book, but I think she is wonderful and I will definitely be checking out more of her work.  This book is a memoir/debate book about Moran’s experiences growing up as a female and working in media. She speaks openly about her experiences with boys, sex, pregnancy, drugs, bad and good relationships, the pressures of being a woman, sexism and getting tangled up in expectations and how she untangled herself again.  I really enjoyed this book. I could relate to a whole lot of her experiences and thoughts, although there were some that I couldn’t really relate directly to. But I think that most of her experiences are almost universal for women. Who has

Another installment in my "Reading the Classics" series. This time I tackle "Tess of the d'Ubervilles" by Thomas Hardy, and change my opinion (somewhat) from a previous read. The book The book, like many of its time, was first published in a serialized version. It was published as such in 1891 in the British illustrated newspaper “The Graphic” and as a book in 1892. It is considered one of the major novels of 19th century England, and some think it is Hardy’s masterpiece. When it first came out, it had mixed reviews, because it challenged the sexual morals of the time.  The author Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 and wrote about Victorian society at the end of the 19th century. He was influenced by Charles Dickens, but focused more on rural society, rather than Dickens’ cityscapes. He wrote a lot of poetry, but was mainly know for his novels during his lifetime. He was in school until the age of 16, when he was apprenticed to a local architect.

I picked this up because I saw it making the rounds on Youtube a little while ago and it seemed like an interesting concept. The novel is based off of pictures of things in a break-up box and I thought this seemed really interesting. The art is by Maira Kalman, and since it is not really the style I usually go for, I won’t comment any further on it. As the title suggests this book is about a couple who have broken up and now one person is writing a letter to the other person explaining how each thing in the break-up box is connected to their relationship and their breakup.  First off, in case you didn’t know, a break-up box is a box of all the things that reminds you of your ex. You collect these things in a box, and based on your feelings around your breakup and your need to purge, you might return the things, throw them out or burn them.  This book was quite different from what I expected. First of all, I thought the couple were adults, but it turns out they are 16 years o