03 Friday Feb 2012
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Goodreads have an area where you can set yourself a reading challenge for 2012. I set mine as 40 initially but then realised this was totally unrealistic, since I only read 11 books last year. I have settled on a more respectable 25, being just over two a month. I am already 1 book behind, according to my profile!
Here are just some books I would like to read this year:
my on-my-bedside-table shelf:
27 Friday Jan 2012
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
For some reason, I had high hopes for this book. I expected to be blown away and instead, when I finished the book, I felt decidedly underwhelmed. This was our last book club choice for sew make believe and we had our book chat meetup last night. Despite not being totally enamoured with the book, I really enjoyed the meetup.
*spoilers ahead*
I hadn’t known much about the book before I started: I was aware of the film’s existence but I hadn’t seen it; I knew there was a sad ending; I had read (and thoroughly enjoyed Nicholls’s previous novel Starter for Ten); I had read the blurb which described the format as visiting these two characters on the same day through twenty years of their lives.
My biggest problems with the book were as follows:
Despite enjoying Starter for Ten, I can’t see myself rushing out to read more of Nicholls’s work when there are already so many books on my ‘to-read’ list. The next sew make believe book club book is The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue which I am looking forward to getting my hands on, although next in my pile is Saturday by Ian McEwan – can’t wait!
15 Thursday Dec 2011
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There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom by Louis Sachar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It has been a while since a book has made me cry but this one did, in a good way. This is a story about Bradley. He starts out as a bully and a ‘bad kid’ – the sort that sits at the back on the classroom and doesn’t do his homework. Yet there is another side of him that his schoolmates don’t see and this is shown to us through his make-believe play with his stuffed animals in his room. His attempts at making a friend go horribly awry and I ended up rooting for this prickly character. His saviour is Carla, his guidance counsellor. She is kind and cheerful. She is entertained by his ‘Bradley-ness’ and he responds.
As someone who is applying to be a teacher, I think this book really struck a chord.There is so much bad press about our children – they are all wild animals with no soul, if you believe the Daily Mail. But I do believe that in most cases, kindness and patience can go a long way in bringing those marginalised ‘bad kids’ into the heart of their society, rather than leaving them lonely and angry on the sidelines. You might think this is a very naive or idealistic point of view, but I refuse to believe that bad kids are inherently bad. I think they just live in bad situations with bad role models. I think this is a great book for children and adults alike. I haven’t read anything else by Sachar, including his more famous Holes, but I definitely intend to now.
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05 Monday Dec 2011
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chilren's books, Cornelia Funke, Inkheart, Laura Ruby, Louis Sachar, readin', The Invisible Girl, Theres a Boy in the Girls Bathroom, WHSmith
Now that I have finished reading Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (you can read my full review later this week), I have decided I needed a change of reading-scenery and so I am looking to my bookshelf to read some children’s books. And since it Christmas is approaching, I thought I would share the newest three children’s books on my shelf which would all make great gifts for the kids in your life.
I have started There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sachar. Bradley Chalker is a bully and an outcast. He can’t help but tell lies and uses his physicality as a defense mechansim. In comes Carla, a new guidance counsellor who is charmed by Bradley and thinks he can change. I am thoroughly enjoying this book and am sure I will rattle through it.
The Invisible Girl by Laura Ruby sounds like an intriguing story. Here is a bit of the blurb as I haven’t started reading this yet:
Step into a wildly imaginative world with an invisible girl, a flying boy and where being weird is brilliantly wonderful! A magically fantastical story from American author, Laura Ruby. In a vast and sparkling city where nearly everyone can fly, 12-year-old Gurl is trapped. Orphaned and lonely, she believes she is nothing more than a flightless “leadfoot”, until one fateful night when she discovers that she has the power to make herself invisible.
I love a good quest story and this sounds like nothing I have read before.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke is the one I am most excited to read and it would make a super gift too for the mere fact that it looks so lovely. I am afraid despite the much repeated advice, I do tend to judge my books by their covers. And what a great name for the author too! There has been a film made about this book which I have not seen and it is the start of the Inkworld trilogy.
Inkheart follows the adventures of a 12-year-old girl named Meggie Folchart whose life changes dramatically when she discovers that her father, a bookbinder named Mortimer (Mo), has an unusual ability; when he reads aloud, he can bring characters and items from books into the real world.
25 Friday Nov 2011
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
This has been one of those books I have been wanting to read for a while ad although it has been much hyped, I didn’t know much about it.
I am only about a third into it and the pace of the novel surprised me – I expected it to move much faster. Yet, I am not finding it slow going; on the contrary, I have been pulled into the story and am desperate to know more. Only being able to read a few pages at a time has not helped me get into this book, and this perhaps accounts for my impression of the slower pace.
When I am finished with this book, I think I will read some more children’s literature. I have some great-looking books on my bedside table including The Invisible Girl by Laura Ruby, There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sachar and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I will be writing a bit more about these books next week.
