A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin’s A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
Three great storylines weave through the books, charting the civil war for control of the Seven Kingdoms; the defence of the towering Wall of ice in the uttermost north against the unearthly threat of the Others; and across the Narrow Sea the rise to power of Daenerys Targaryen and the last live dragons in the world.

A GAME OF THRONES

A CLASH OF KINGS

A STORM OF SWORDS, 1: STEEL AND SNOW

A STORM OF SWORDS, 2: BLOOD AND GOLD

A FEAST FOR CROWS

I have read books 1, 2, and 3 pt.1, I am in the process of getting book 3 pt 2 and 4. I am trying not to rush to quickly through this series as book 5 was only just published. Who knows when book 6 will be out?
I love these books. They are a bit slow and tedious in parts, but I am glad I've stuck with them so far. The characters are lovable, even the un-lovable ones!! I found myself constantly thinking about what would happen next after I put the book(s) down for the night.
The chapters are written from the view point of alternating characters, my sister pointed out Jodi Piccoult does the same. I would find myself flipping forward to see what happened next to certain characters. However I don't recommend this as I spoiled a few things for myself!!


These are very popular at the moment due to being a HBO TV series, so I don't know what I can say about them that hasn't already been said except for this: if the opening chapter of A Game of Thrones doesn't grab your attention, then I wouldn't bother. Just put it down and read something else! ;0) 
~LiSa


note: after re-reading this it feels like I was all over the place, I am sorry. It's just hard to say in the written word what I want to say!

Update: I have finished book 4, I found it a bit of a struggle. It introduced too many new characters and even though I liked getting all the information in book 4 A Feast for Crows, I would have preferred reading about the characters I had come to love! 
I am totally enthralled in book 5!! Now that it's back to what feels familiar!!
 ~LiSa 24/07/2012 

World Book Night!!

April 23rd is World Book Night!!

I am a giver!! Check out this post on my other blog!!

The one I'm better at keeping updated!!!

World Book Night UK

World Book Night USA

I promise to update soon, I've been reading the Game of Thrones series, a romantic comedy, and has anyone heard of Shades of Grey?? Stay tuned!!

Beauty by Robin McKinley

When the family business collapses, Beauty and her two sisters are forced to leave the city and begin a new life in the countryside. However, when their father accepts hospitality from the elusive and magical Beast, he is forced to make a terrible promise - to send one daughter to the Beast's castle, with no guarantee that she will be seen again. Beauty accepts the challenge, and there begins an extraordinary story of magic and love that overcomes all boundaries.

A classic love story. Where you learn once again that love is more then lust and magic and that it usually takes time for love to grow and in some cases fester. I hate shallow love stories and this is sort of shallow. Although it can be taken in a couple of ways. It's the same reason I hate Shrek. A princess can't be in love with an ugly Ogre. The only way they can be together is if she's just as ugly and horrid as he is.

Well, here McKinley has made Beauty plain in appearance. Which in any other story would be okay, but I sort of felt the point is that she is beautiful (hence Beauty and the Beast) and isn't expected to fall in love with a beast. Which is suppose to be a double lesson of the story good looking prince gets bewitched for being an ass and good looking girl figuring out that sometimes there is more then meets the eye (transformers!) So, both characters figure out they aren't as shallow after all.

In this version, after months of spending time in an enchanted castle, she becomes beautiful. Now here is where I'm not sure about stuff, because was she always beautiful just in denial? or Was she was beautiful in the eyes of the Beast therefore beautiful to the reader? or Was she physically transformed like the ugly duckling? The latter would really annoy me. So, if anyone has read or now wants to read this please let me know what you thought!

Okay now that I have that out of my system over all I really did enjoy this book. Because really deep down this story is about falling in love with a person's soul? personality? core? whatever you call it it's about falling in love with your best friend and that's where it gets a spot on my shelf as a keeper!

So, I recommend it to anyone who likes a good classic fantastical love story!

On the Road by Jack Kerouac a book review

On the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognized as a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitman than Scott Fitzgerald, and it goes racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance, poignancy and autobiographical passion.

..........hum?..........I'm not really sure where to start? I'm trying to put into words how this book made me feel and I'm having a hard time pin-pointing it. I read it with the understanding that is seen as an "American Classic" a book that changed lives (according to my back cover). I've actually owned the book for well over a year the first time I tried to read it I found it irritating as I felt it didn't say anything. I'm glad I've given it a second go and finished it because I have found that it says a lot.

A lot about life and how people really haven't changed in 50 years. But then it makes me ask: if people haven't changed than what has? Because something has changed...my daughter's new favorite movie is Cars. Sorry that might have been a bit random, but stay with me. In Cars Radiator Springs/Route 66 is left behind to the new shiny highway. Jack Kerouac's America has been left behind. The book made me sad. I think/feel that this was Jack's way of saying goodbye to a certain way of life. When he was traveling (1947) it was right when America was testing the atom bomb, the world was changing.

This book has been very controversial since it was published. Saying it glorifies immoral young men and how it justifies rebellious behavior and drug use. I guess I wouldn't want my kids reading it and treating it as their guide to life, but I wouldn't stop them from reading it. Especially as there are other things to gain such as an insight to another time and the acceptance of all people no matter their station in life and possibly that a simpler life doesn't always mean an unhappy one.  

Did this book change my life? No, but it shows that we're not alone in our ultimate quest to find "it" -- the meaning of life. Would I recommend it? I think it would depend on the person for this one.

Click here to read more about Jack on wikipedia!

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith:   This is the journal of Cassandra Mortmain; an extraordinary account of life with her extraordinary family. First, there is her eccentric father. Then there is her sister, Rose - beautiful, vain and bored - and her stepmother, Topaz, an artist's model who likes to commune with nature. Finally, there is Stephen, dazzlingly handsome and hopelessly in love with Cassandra.
In the cold and crumbling castle which is their home, Cassandra records events with characteristic honesty, as she tries to come to terms with her own feelings. The result is both marvellously funny and genuinely moving.

Dorothy Gladys 'Dodie' Smith was born in 1896 in Lancashire and she was one of the most successful female dramatists of her generation. Her first novel, I Capture the Castle, was written when she lived in America during the 1940's and marked her crossover debut from playwright to novelist. The novel became an immediate success and was produced as a play in 1954. She has written numerous other novels but is best known today for The Hundred and One Dalmatians, a story for younger readers.

This is a coming of age story that made me feel 17 again. Thank goodness I'm not 17 anymore, but sometimes it's nice to remember what it was like: to remember the events that changed our view of the world. Cassandra is a lovely character and you can't help but relate to her. Her relationship with her sister and being the middle child are only two of the reasons I felt I could relate. I also remember what it is like to have someone in love with you, but try as you might you do not love them back in the same way.
I am very much in love with this book and am already wanting to reread it. Part of me wonders if I like this book so much because in the introduction, Valeria Grove, tells us that she was an English woman living in America who missed England terribly. I just know what that feels like. In the novel you can tell how much Smith is in love with England. I Capture the Castle is so beautifully written that even if you've never been to England, you will definitely think you have.
I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. I wish I had read this when I was a teenager. Definitely one I will be encouraging my daughters to read when they are teenagers, that is if they enjoy reading as much as I do!! I don't know what else to say of this book then to read it.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte -- a book review/recommendation

Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage. She is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. All of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic and attractive Mr Rochester. However, there is great kindness and warmth in this epic love story, which is set against the magnificent backdrop of the Yorkshire moors.

This story just flows perfectly. However I was annoyed because it's such a well known novel that I already knew of some of the mystery's. That was just me and if you haven't heard anything of the story then I think you'll really enjoy all the surprises!. I think that these classic novels are all basis for today's love story writers.
I always feel bad because I usually have to write in such a hurry and I always think well that didn't help determine if the book was good or bad. So, unless I have enough time to put into a proper review I'm going to just start recommending books and saying on a scale of 1-10 how good it was! So, I give this book a 9! I loved it and was entertained the whole way through.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte -- a book review

Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.

I thought I'd have a go at the Bronte sisters starting with Wuthering Heights. Even though it has an eventual happy ending I would compare it with a Shakesphere tragedy. I did enjoy this book although I found the main characters annoying and wished for more of some of the secondary ones! If you like story's of love lost or of children overcoming the mistakes of their parents have a read!!

Let's Talk!!

Traditionally, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are both considered stories for children. If you were asked to support the contention that these are actually stories for adults, how would you defend this?

Although a child in the story, Alice often exhibits mature characteristics; and the adult characters often exhibit childish behavior. Do you consider these books to be an adult's view of childhood, or a child's view of adulthood?

Throughout her adventures, Alice grapples with her idenity. While this is a common feature of most children's books, Alice's questioning often inadvertently invokes the ideas of western philosophers from Plato to Bishop Berkeley. What philosophical issues about identity does Alice raise?

What is the significance of the mushroom that Alice eats during her adventures?

Since their publication, many readers have found material in Carroll's book unsuitable for children. Which parts of the Alice books, if any, do you think are unfit, or even harmful, to children today?

And last but not least how did you like the book(s) and how do you compare it to all the movie versions out there?

Whatcha' Reading? or Wordless Wednesdays

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand -- A Recommendation by Melanie

Ayn Rand's story of Howard Roark, a brilliant architect who dares to stand alone against the hostility of second-hand souls. First published in 1943, this best-selling novel is a passionate defense of individualism and presents an exalted view of man's creative potential; it is a book about ambition, power, gold and love.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut -- A Book Review

So it goes.

The first time I tried to read this book I couldn’t give it the proper attention. It was at a busy time and I could only read a few pages here and there and it made no sense reading it like that. That was years ago and now I’ve been able to give it the proper attention it deserves. The story is about a WWII Veteran, Billy Pilgrim, who witnessed the bombing of Dresden, Germany. Today the death toll is estimated to be about 25,000 people, when Vonnegut wrote the book the death toll was estimated much higher. Kurt Vonnegut was a POW in Dresden at the time of the bombings and this story is his experience there, but told through a fictional character that is not himself.

Billy Pilgrim is the main character and we hear is story through a jumble of events. One minute he’s in war the next curled up next to his wife years after the war. He talks of time traveling and of how he was abducted by aliens. He is able to tell in great detail of his experience with these other life forms. The reason it is called time traveling is because he not only has flash backs he also experiences flash forwards. Anytime death is mentioned it is followed by the saying “So it goes.” It is how the author changes the subject and uses it as comic relief. According to wikipedia it appears 116 times. Once the POW’s arrived in Dresden they are imprisoned in an unused slaughterhouse…Slaughterhouse-Five. It’s also there that they take shelter from the bombings.

Watership Down by Richard Adams -- A Book Review

It’s about bunnies.

Adams used to tell his daughters stories, about bunnies, on road trips to keep them amused. They begged him to write them down and so he did…it took him 18 years to complete it. People seemed to want to read more into it then he had intended. To him he was writing about a bunch of bunnies going on an epic adventure! And what an epic it is!!!

The story takes place 30 miles from where I’m currently living. Fiver is a type of seer and he tells his brother, Hazel that all the rabbits in their warren must leave because something bad was going to happen. Hazel knowing his brother believed him and went to the Chief Rabbit only to be told they were crazy and that to move the whole warren would be nuts! So, Hazel and Fiver gather a small band of rabbits and leave. That’s where the adventure begins.

Emma by Jane Austen -- A Book Review

Description:

Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen's most flawless work.

(words and picture taken from Amazon)

My Review:
(Spoilers included)
What a great story! Austen wrote that she thought no one but her would like her heroine, Emma. I have to disagree I loved Emma. She’s a bit spoiled and thinks well of herself, but I ask myself is there anything really wrong with that? Being confident and self-assured are all qualities I look for in people. Yet being confident and self-assured can also be called arrogant or conceited. Which can easily be mis-interpreted in some people (Pride and Prejudice). What’s wrong with being happy with who you are? Being a spoiled brat is awful because one could never be satisfied--always wanting more. If you are a little spoiled it can be nice and most people deserve a little spoiling here and there. There are problems if you think you are perfect and think there is no room for improvement. Emma does not think herself perfect. She just acknowledges that she was born to privilege and plays her role of dutiful daughter and neighbor and she has someone making sure her head does not swell to the size of a watermelon…

(Spoilers Start Here)

...Enter Mr. Knightley! I think he gives Mr. Darcy a run for his money!! He is a lot older then Emma, but I think that was common for the time period. Men had to make sure they could afford a wife and home e&…so they married later in life and chose young brides. Which was suitable for the bride as they had the comfort of knowing they had a sensible man to take care of them financial. That they love each other is obvious when her friend Mrs. Weston confides to her that she thinks Mr. Knightley likes Jane Fairfax and Emma gets in a right start and starts rambling that he can’t marry and ruin her nephew’s prospects. Made me laugh. Which is another reason I like this book: it’s comical. Mr. Knightly has been patiently waiting for Emma to grow up. He does not say anything out right about Mr. Frank Churchill except for passing comments of his foolishness. When he realizes that Emma never had any real feelings for him he can’t help himself, but to confess his feelings. It's my favorite part in the book it’s what the reader has been waiting for!!

(Spoilers End Here)

Emma is a lovable character who grows and changes as the story moves on. She's caring to all around her. Except for that nasty Mrs. Elton!! The supporting characters are fun too and I dare say that you may recognize your friends and family in them! I've read it twice now and I can say I will read it again if I ever find a lull. I have tons of reading to get on with, but sometimes you want a carefree love story. Austen is wonderful and I have three more of her books to get to!!

For a full background on the story check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma