W... W... W... Wednesday 27/11/13

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading, 

where you answer the following questions:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently read?

What will you be reading next?

What are you currently reading? I'm reading "The Shadowhunter's Codex" by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis, and I just started reading "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan.

What did you recently read? "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan. I really, really liked it. 

What will you be reading next? Next on my list are "The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and I want to check out "Hild" by Nicola Griffith. 

So what's you WWW for this week? Post the link in the comments or, if you don't have a blog, answer directly in the comments!

Quote-Tastic 25/11/2013

"Quote-Tastic" is a meme hosted every Monday on Herding Cats & Burning Soup . To participate you have to post a favorite quote from a current or past read.

This week there are two quotes, both from "Neverwhere", by Neil Gaiman. A truly wonderful book, I definitely recommend it.

Richard wrote a mental diary in his head.
Dear Diary, he began. On Friday I had a job, a fiancée, a home, and a life that made sense. (Well, as much as an life makes sense). Then I found an injured girl bleeding on the pavement and I tried to be Good Samaritan. Now I've got no fiance, no home, no job, and I'm walking around a couple of hundred feet under the streets of London with the projected life expectancy of a suicidal fruit fly.

“We have to get the... the thing I got... to the Angel. And then he'll tell Door about her family, and he'll tell me how to get home."
Lamia looked at Hunter with delight. "And he can give you brains," she said, cheerfully, "and me a heart.”

So, what are your favorite quotes this week? Let me know in the comments!

W... W... W... Wednesday 20/11/13

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading, 

where you answer the following questions:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently read?

What will you be reading next?

What are you currently reading? I'm reading "The Shadowhunter's Codex" by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis, and I'm about halfway through "Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan.

What did you recently read? "The Twilight Swimmer" by A.C. Kavich, which was pretty good, I'll post a review in the next couple of days. 

What will you be reading next? Next on my list is "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan. I also want to read  "The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and "Attachments".  

So what's you WWW for this week? Post the link in the comments or, if you don't have a blog, answer directly in the comments!

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend to Someone Who Wants to Get Into Fantasy

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by the Brooke and the Bookish. This week's top ten was of books I'd recommend to a person of my choosing. Since I am often asked which novels I'd recommend to someone who wants to get into fantasy, I chose that kind of person for my list. These are not necessarily the best fantasy books around, but I think that they would be able to interest the reader enough to urge them to look further into the genre whilst also give them a clear idea what sort of books they will find and easing them gently into the genre.

Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

The Lighting Thief by Rick Riordan

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien


Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett


Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

So, which are the ten books you'd recomend to a person of your choosing? Let me know in the comments!

Quote-Tastic 18/11/13

"Quote-Tastic" is a meme hosted every Monday on Herding Cats & Burning Soup . To participate you have to post a favorite quote from a current or past read.

This week's quote is from "The Iron King" by Julie Kagawa. I really liked this book, especially the banter between Puck and Ash, so this quote reflects that aspect. 

Ash blinked. "Are you raiding the cellars now, Goodfellow?" 

"Me? Stealing?" Puck flashed a devious grin and popped another fruit into his mouth. "In the house of my ancient enemy? What gave you that idea?" He plucked another fruit and tossed it to me with a wink.

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

"Eleanor & Park" is a brilliant novel. It's cleverly put together and gorgeously written.  
The characters are very well developed. One of Rowell's greatest talents lies in creating understandable characters: the motive of pretty much everyone in the story is something the reader can relate to. Of course there are some characters whose actions are inexcusable, like Eleanor's stepfather. 
The main character's dynamic was also very well done. It did the thing I care the most about in a romance: it felt real. I can imagine these people being together in real life: they had things in common and they connected on a platonic level before they started being attracted to each other. 
By all accounts, this should have been 5-star read. And for a while, it was. What made me drop the rating were the last few chapters. In order to give the reader closure the novel kept going for several pages after the story itself had ended. I feel that in that it fell short. The things that happen in those last pages are mostly things I didn't care to know. I would have wanted more information on Tina's motives and how the situation with Eleanor's stepfather and the rest of her family is resolved. We do know (spoiler) that they are gone, but we don't really know what happened: did Sabrina rebel and leave her husband? Where did they go? (end of spoiler)
In spite of that, "Eleanor & Park" is an awesome book and I definitely recommend it. Though, be warned: it's a lot less lighthearted than Rowell's second YA book "Fangirl", so keep a box of tissues at hand if you choose to read it. 

Rating:

★★★★ 1/2

Source: Goodreads

W... W... W... Wednesday: 13 November 2013

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading, 

where you answer the following questions:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently read?

What will you be reading next?

What are you currently reading? I'm reading "The Twilight Swimmer" by A.C. Kavich. I'm one third in and I really like it for now.

What did you recently read? "Eleanor and Park" by Rainbow Rowell. It's very good and I'll post a review in the next couple of days.

What will you be reading next? I really want to read "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan and "The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I'll probably pick Rainbow Rowell's first novel, "Attachments", in the next couple of days.  

So what's you WWW for this week? Post the link in the comments or, if you don't have a blog, answer directly in the comments!