I've had many a reddit argument about the various pros and cons of e-readers, but since they generally deteriorate into pointless insult flinging, and also since arguing with basement dwelling neck-beards is not a super productive use of my time, I thought I'd write about it here instead.
I'd like to start off by saying - if you don't like e-readers that's fine. If you have no desire to own one I'm not going to tell you you're wrong or stupid or force you to get one or anything. I fully understand that e-readers versus paper books is a matter of personal taste. My issue is this - if you don't like e-readers, no problem, but don't be a dick about it (similarly if you think e-readers are better, don't be a dick about that either). There are a few recurring themes in this argument that I want to talk about:
The either/or argument
I don't understand why this is apparently such a difficult concept to understand - you can use both books and e-readers. Anti-kindlers always seem to say "I could never get a kindle, I like books too much!" - these are not mutually exclusive things. When you buy an e-reader the world doesn't revoke your book reading license, you aren't going to get kicked out of bookshops or libraries. Personally, I tend to buy things on my kindle when I'm not sure if I'll like them or not, then once I've read them I might choose to buy a physical copy, this actually means that I read a lot more than I did before.
Books are "better"
If your hobby is book collecting (a compulsion I fully understand and do engage in), then yes, books are better. However, if your hobby is reading, then the medium is irrelevant. The actual story has the same value no matter how it got into your brain and to suggest otherwise is clearly ridiculous. The people who are proponents of this particular argument tend to be misguided snobs. In my opinion if you are a lover of reading, then you should be glad to have people share your hobby, no matter how they do it. Regardless of whether or not you prefer e-readers or physical books, if you look down on something that makes books accessible to a wider range of people (e.g. larger prints for people with bad eyesight) and encourages people to read more, then you're kind of a dick.
E-readers are killing books
So this is just really not true. Amazon is killing books, not e-readers. People still buy vinyl even though iPods exist, and as much as I love my kindle, it's never going to kill my desire to collect books. The fact that this debate is still happening all over the internet and that there are all these people going "I hate e-readers because they are killing books" clearly shows that there are people out there who will continue to buy books. I mean, obviously I can't actually predict the future but I can't see actual books going anywhere for a long time.
So, that's my take on the whole thing, rant over!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Book Haul!
Is it weird to do a blog as opposed to a video book haul? Well, whatever, I'm doing one anyway. I was just back in the UK for the weekend, and I had ordered some books to be delivered there, and I also went on a bit of a spree at my local second hand bookshop, so I have lots of lovely new books to read.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
I ordered this off Amazon after seeing it mentioned by WordsofaReader on YouTube. I love books about books and this seems like it'll be a pretty quick read which is good for my 100 books challenge!
PopCo by Scarlett Thomas
I read The End of Mr Y last year and absolutely loved it, but for some reason didn't pick up another Scarlett Thomas novel until about 2 weeks ago, I guess because I was slightly worried her other stuff would be a let down. Luckily the next of her books that I read (Bright Young Things) was similarly amazing so I am now determined to read all her novels. I've just started this one and it seems like it's going to be good. Also I'm a sucker for books that have coloured-edged pages (is there a term for that?) and this one blue and gorgeous.
Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas
The other Scarlett Thomas novel I bought, this one is beautiful as well. I'm going to try and hold off on reading this one for a bit so I don't end up racing through everything by Scarlett Thomas in a month and then suffering from withdrawal.
Bagombo Snuff Box by Kurt Vonnegut
I've only read one book by Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions), but I really liked it and have been meaning to read more of his stuff for a while. Sadly my copy of Slaughterhouse Five is AWOL (translation - I lent it to a friend who then lost it) so I was pleased to find this in the second hand book shop.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
This one has been on my wishlist for years and I have just never gotten round to buying it because I never see it in bookshops, but I did this weekend so I had to buy it, it was fate!
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
I read Black Swan Green last year and absolutely loved it, and I've been meaning to read Cloud Atlas for ages (I actually already own it in flipbook version), so I couldn't resist picking this up when I spotted it for only 2 pounds.
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
I've never read anything by Murakami but have been meaning too for so long. This was actually recommended to me by a friend about 5 years ago, so I hope it's worth the wait!
Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy
I barely ever read non-fiction any more, but when I do it's usually feminist stuff. I did a lot of reading on feminism over the course of my degree, but it's pretty easy to get bogged down and overwhelmed in complex literary theory about écriture féminine etc. I picked this one up because I thought it looked interesting, and also like a nice change of pace from the non-fiction I usually read.
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Another recommendation from WordsofaReader - apparently I am extremely susceptible to booktube videos - I am really excited to read this one, I think I'll start it after I finish PopCo. I don't know a lot about this novel or Evelyn Waugh (I thought he was a woman until about 2 years ago) but I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy this.
Japanese Fairy Tales by Juliet Piggott
I am weirdly obsessed with fairy tales (I wrote my dissertation on them), so I was pretty excited to add this to my collection. One of my favourite books that I own is a book of Norwegian Fairy Tales which was my mum's when she was a kid and I recently found it that it's part of a whole collection called the World Fairy Tale Collection. This one was one of the only ones I could find on Amazon, sadly it's not as pretty as the Norweigan one because the dust jacket is missing, but I'm looking forward to reading it.
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| The pile. |
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
January Wrap Up
I read 7 books in January which I am pretty pleased with since it kept me on track for my 100 books challenge (although I am now 2 books behind, oops!) I actually really enjoyed every book I read in January which is nice, although a lot of them were very different to each other, and a couple were a bit different to what I would normally read.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Historian is about a girl and her father, and their pursuit of the real life Count Dracula. I have mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed reading it, but I think that may mainly be because I love Dracula, rather than because it was actually that good. I'll admit that the ending and the final reveal seemed a little anticlimatic, though I guess when you spend 600 pages building tension in anticipation of the ending, it's always going to be a little bit disappointing. The characters were a little bit one-dimensional, and I didn't find myself caring that much what happened to them, but the story was still very exciting, and I loved reading all about their travels around France and Eastern Europe - this was one of those books that really immerses you in the setting and makes you want to travel (anyone want to take me to Istanbul?). Also the switching perspectives and use of letters and diaries to tell the story reminded me a lot of Stoker's Dracula (which in case I hadn't mentioned: I love). Overall I enjoyed this book, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea, especially since it's really long.6.5 out of 10
Pure by Andrew Miller
This was one of my Christmas presents (thanks Mum and Dad!), I actually raced through the first 100 pages or so on the morning of Christmas day and I found it really gripping. The story is a little odd - it's set just before the French Revolution, but isn't actually about the political situation at the time (not really, anyway). It's about a struggling engineer who takes a job clearing out an overcrowded graveyard in Paris. Plot-wise, not a whole lot actually happens in this novel, but the writing is really beautiful, and compelling despite the fact that there's not very much action. This book isn't one I would normally pick up, but I found it really interesting and it made me want to read more novels set in that time period.7 out of 10
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
It's completely different in tone, style, content, and themes. Warm Bodies is dark and satirical, has a nasty sense of humor, is full of blood, sex, drugs and foul language, and is not about romance so much as the meaning of being human. A love story is the engine for all of this, but the destination is not "Aw, they're going to fall in love!" it's, "Aw, they're going to crack the code of humanity's spiritual entropy and try to revive civilization!"
I think that pretty much says it all!
10 out of 10
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
This is another one that I absolutely loved. I got it at the airport when I was flying back to the Netherlands after Christmas (because I was sad and buying books cheers me up), I started reading it then and there and had finished it by the time I got home. I really enjoy reading books narrated by someone with some kind of psychological problem (is that weird?) - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and The Perks of Being a Wallflower are the ones that spring to mind, and this novel actually reminded me a lot of Perks, a more adult version anyway. This book was just great, it's a really quick read, the characters are complex and flawed and interesting, and it's very easy to get invested in the story. I'm not ashamed to say that I cried more than once. I have seen the movie as well, and I think I'll post a book and movie comparison some time in the next couple of weeks.
10 out of 10
Batman: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison (Illustrated by Dave McKean)
8 out of 10
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
I read this because I had just ordered The Child Thief by Gerald Brom, which is sort of a dark re-imagining of the whole Peter Pan myth, and I wanted to be familiar with the source material before I read it. I'm not sure if I ever actually read this as a child, but I really enjoyed reading it as an adult. I found it really interesting, because most of the stories which have kind of permeated our cultural consciousness and popular culture in the way Peter Pan has tend to be are fairy tales which can't really be assigned to one author (apart from Alice in Wonderland I guess...and probably others that I can't think of right now). Anyway, this book is just a little gem, it's actually really funny and I'm sure if I had read it as a child most of that would have gone over my head, but it's also very sweet and a little weird and just great in general. Also I found myself rooting for Captain Hook rather than Peter, and also a little bit in love with him, is that weird? I don't care.
8 out of 10
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Yet another book that I really enjoyed! Since I graduated my reading habits have been a little more towards the low-brow end of the spectrum, so I thought I'd give this a go to try and break that slump, and I ended up loving it! Chopin's writing reminds me a lot of Katherine Mansfield, who I studied at university, so I found it interesting to compare the two of them. Another reason that I enjoyed this was that I love reading novels which are set in the deep South of America, their culture is just so weird to me that I find it really fascinating. The prose in this was really lovely, and it's a very short book so I think I finished it in a day.
7 out of 10
So that's all for January! I've finished 4 books in February so far, so I have some catching up to do for my 100 books challenge, but I have some new books that I'm really excited to read so I should be able to do that soon!
The Shakespeare Challenge
Lately I've been thinking about resolutions and ambitions and reading challenges...I've set myself the challenge (again) of reading 100 books this year. I only managed 75 in 2012, but I'm feeling good about 2013 so far. Right now I'm on 11, so 89 to go!
Anyway, that got me thinking about some other reading resolutions I could make. The main one that came to mind was to read everything by one of my favourite writers (or more than one). I've decided I want to read everything by Jane Austen, but since she only wrote 6 novels that's not really much of a challenge. So instead I've picked Shakespeare. It's a bit of a mammoth task, and I'm not going to attempt to complete it in one year (especially since my copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare is at home in England), but it's something I'm going to try and do in my spare time, and we'll see how it goes.
This is the list as it stands, I've crossed out the ones I've already read (though I may re-read them as I go through this):
Poetry:
Anyway, that got me thinking about some other reading resolutions I could make. The main one that came to mind was to read everything by one of my favourite writers (or more than one). I've decided I want to read everything by Jane Austen, but since she only wrote 6 novels that's not really much of a challenge. So instead I've picked Shakespeare. It's a bit of a mammoth task, and I'm not going to attempt to complete it in one year (especially since my copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare is at home in England), but it's something I'm going to try and do in my spare time, and we'll see how it goes.
This is the list as it stands, I've crossed out the ones I've already read (though I may re-read them as I go through this):
Poetry:
- The Sonnets
- Venus and Adonis
The Rape of Lucrece- The Passionate Pilgrim
- The Phoenix and the Turtle
- A Lover's Complaint
Plays:
The Tempest- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- Measure for Measure
- The Comedy of Errors
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Love's Labours Lost
A Midsummer Night's Dream- The Merchant of Venice
- As You Like It
- The Taming of the Shrew
- All's Well That Ends Well
- Twelfth Night
- The Winter's Tale
- Pericles, Prince of Tyre
- The Two Noble Kinsmen
- King John
Richard II- Henry IV Part 1
- Henry IV Part 2
- Henry V
- Henry VI Part 1
- Henry VI Part 2
- Henry VI Part 3
- Richard III
- Henry VIII
- Troilus and Cressida
- Coriolanus
Titus AndronicusRomeo and Juliet- Timon of Athens
- Julius Caesar
MacbethHamlet- King Lear
- Othello
Antony and Cleopatra- Cymbeline
I'm not a big fan of the histories, so I think that's going to be the toughest part. But anyway, wish me luck!
2012 in Review
I know that 2 thirds of the way through February is not exactly the prime time to be posting a 2012 wrap-up, but I like to chase after bandwagons, wildly flailing, rather than to jump on them while they're still going strong. It's just how I roll. I liked most of the books I read in 2012 so this post is a little heavy on the favourites, but oh well, without further ado:
My Favourite Books of 2012
The Help by Katharine Stockett
A lot of people have criticized this book as being another classic case of white saviour syndrome (see also The Blind Side, Avatar blah blah blah) where a story about black people is told through the lens of a white protagonist who we are supposed to be able to relate to. This did bug me a bit (I probably found Skeeter’s parts the least interesting), I really enjoyed this book. It made me laugh, it made me cry. Fun for all the family. The movie is pretty good too.
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Jane Austen is a babe. Nuff said.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
I actually listened to the audiobook of this (which is loooong) on a bunch of long train journeys and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was that great (I did like it, I’m just not as nuts about it as some people are), I prefer Neil Gaiman’s short stories to his novels, but it was one of those books which I kept catching myself thinking about for a long time after I finished it. I’m really interested in like, fairytales, folktales, myths, fables, etc etc, so I think that’s why this book played on my mind for a long time.
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
I absolutely loved this book. It’s just sweet and good and lovely. It took me quite a while to get through, because the story itself isn’t super gripping, but the characters and the setting just feel really real and the prose is really beautiful. It also made me super glad I’m not 13 anymore. I definitely want to read something else by David Mitchell soon, I have Cloud Atlas lined up and I want to read it before I see the film.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson
This was probably my favourite book that I’ve read this year, I know I’ll read it again. I don’t really feel qualified to express how great this book is, it’s just funny, and clever, and awesome. I love it, and I think Thompson is a crazy genius.
The End of Mr Y by Scarlet Thomas
I’ll admit that the main reason I bought this was because it looked really good (I can’t resist buying books with black-edged pages), but I ended up really enjoying it. There were a lot of times reading it when I was like “this is stupid, this is pretentious” but I still couldn’t help but love it, and I really couldn’t put it down. It’s kind of a strange book, and there are times when everyone starts doing a lot of rambly philosophising which is kind of annoying, but its super exciting. RECOMMENDED.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
This is another one that I couldn’t put down (and also that I bought just because it had black-edged pages…I’m sensing a pattern here). I think I just powered through it in an afternoon actually. It’s about circuses, magic, and the 1890s, and I love ALL OF THOSE THINGS. There’s a lot of flowery description in it, so if you’re not into that then this probably isn’t for you, but I loved it. Also there’s the whole fated true love thing which normally makes me want to puke, but it didn’t really bother me that much in this book. Definitely one my favourites from this year.
Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
I did this for my Contemporary Women’s Writing module and I really liked it. Also I wrote an essay on it and wasn’t even sick of it after that so it’s got to be pretty good. I’ve read two other novels by Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale and Alias Grace, and Lady Oracle is not at all like either of those. It’s really funny and sweet, it’s kind of a coming of age tale in a way, I really liked it. Also it’s quite interesting when you’re thinking about genre fiction and fiction aimed at women, which unless you’re doing a Contemporary Women’s Writing module, you probably aren’t. But oh well, you should still read it. It’s good.
Union Street by Pat Barker
Another one from my Contemporary Women’s Writing module. This book is horrible but really really good. If that makes sense. It reads more like a collection of short stories than a novel, but it’s about a group of working class women in the 1970s, and they all have really grim lives and horrible things happen to them. Not a cheery book by any stretch of the word, but it’s really compelling.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I read this in one sitting and I cried pretty much all the way through. I’ve read all of John Green’s books except Will Grayson Will Grayson and this was definitely my favourite. I don’t really know what to say about this other than it’s really sweet and lovely and heartbreaking, and really easy to read too.
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
This is the only one of Neil Gaiman’s books that I’ve never really heard anyone talk about, and I had no idea what it was about when I started it. This is another one that I listened to the audiobook of, it’s read by Lenny Henry and it’s great. Normally I don’t normally like reading books where I dislike all of the characters, but in this book pretty much all the characters are super annoying but I really enjoyed it. It’s just funny and kind of weird, pretty standard Neil Gaiman.
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
This was by far the best Young Adult book I read this year. I read YA books all the time, they’re like my comfort food. I normally pick one at random that’s cheap in the kindle store and then power through it in one sitting, and I’m pretty sure that’s how I found this one. I know YA dystopias have been done to death (thanks a lot, Suzanne Collins) but this one is really really good. To be honest I think it’s more aimed at like…13-16 year olds but whatever, I don’t care. It’s set in a world where people have had to abandon Earth and move to a new planet, but for some reason their society has really regressed. Also on this new planet there’s some kind of chemical in the atmosphere which means that everyone can hear each other’s thoughts (I know it sounds stupid). It’s told from the point of view of a 13 year old boy called Tom who lives in this creepy village where there are no women. It sounds kind of cheesey and stupid, but it’s really interesting.
My Least Favourite Books of 2012
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Ergh, this book. This is another YA book I bought on a whim (partly because the cover was pretty) and powered through in an afternoon. I guess I did technically enjoy reading it, but this book sucks. I read quite a lot of stuff about it on the internet and people seem to fucking love it, but trust me. It is terrible. I would compare it to Twilight in that it’s about two like…fated loves or whatever. And also in that both these characters suck and are super annoying because they’re just the author’s idealistic fantasies, and in that their super special magical love is total bullshit. Every time the main character is described (which is often) it’s like OH SHE’S SO COOL, OOH SHE HAS BLUE HAIR, OOH SHE’S SO GOOD AT DRAWING, OOH SHE KNOWS SO MANY LANGUAGES, EVERYONE LIKES HER SO MUCH. Enough. Shut up. And then the love interest, oh my god. He is literally an angel. And people are all ooh I’m blinded by his beauty and then it’s all ooh he’s so damaged, he’s so troubled, he’ll never love again. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? To sum up: this book can suck my dick.
Blonde Roots by Bernadine Evaristo
I read this because I needed to write an essay on it and it really really annoyed me. This book is telling the story of slavery but with the sides switched (if that makes sense), so white Europeans are the slaves and black Africans are the slave owners and traders. Essentially, the whole moral and point of this book is - SLAVERY IS BAD. I'm just like, dude, I knew that already. You don't have to make it about white people for me to be like, oh I get it now! Being owned by another human would suck! Thank god someone told it from my perspective so I can finally empathize. NO! Not a fan.
Endgame by Samuel Beckett
God I hate postmodernism. That's pretty much all I have to say about this one.
The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch
I bought this book shortly after I moved to the Netherlands, it's by a Dutch author and set mainly in Amsterdam. I wasn't sure whether to include it on my least favourites list because I mostly enjoyed reading it, but I found the ending so annoying that the cons outweigh the pros. The first 200 pages or so were really great, and mainly focused on the friendship between the two main characters, Max and Onno, but then a girl comes into the picture and the direction of the story kind of changes, and after that it started to drag a lot. The second half of the book focuses on Max's son Quinten who is a total pain in the ass and I found him really annoying. The ending of the book ties up all the loose threads in a way that feels very sudden and strange and it ended up just really frustrating me and making me wish I'd never read it in the first place. Although I enjoyed the first half of this book a lot, overall it just really wasn't worth it.
So that's it for my 2012 wrap-up, hopefully I'll be able to make it to 100 books this year!
My Favourite Books of 2012
The Help by Katharine Stockett
A lot of people have criticized this book as being another classic case of white saviour syndrome (see also The Blind Side, Avatar blah blah blah) where a story about black people is told through the lens of a white protagonist who we are supposed to be able to relate to. This did bug me a bit (I probably found Skeeter’s parts the least interesting), I really enjoyed this book. It made me laugh, it made me cry. Fun for all the family. The movie is pretty good too.
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Jane Austen is a babe. Nuff said.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
I actually listened to the audiobook of this (which is loooong) on a bunch of long train journeys and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was that great (I did like it, I’m just not as nuts about it as some people are), I prefer Neil Gaiman’s short stories to his novels, but it was one of those books which I kept catching myself thinking about for a long time after I finished it. I’m really interested in like, fairytales, folktales, myths, fables, etc etc, so I think that’s why this book played on my mind for a long time.
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
I absolutely loved this book. It’s just sweet and good and lovely. It took me quite a while to get through, because the story itself isn’t super gripping, but the characters and the setting just feel really real and the prose is really beautiful. It also made me super glad I’m not 13 anymore. I definitely want to read something else by David Mitchell soon, I have Cloud Atlas lined up and I want to read it before I see the film.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson
This was probably my favourite book that I’ve read this year, I know I’ll read it again. I don’t really feel qualified to express how great this book is, it’s just funny, and clever, and awesome. I love it, and I think Thompson is a crazy genius.
The End of Mr Y by Scarlet Thomas
I’ll admit that the main reason I bought this was because it looked really good (I can’t resist buying books with black-edged pages), but I ended up really enjoying it. There were a lot of times reading it when I was like “this is stupid, this is pretentious” but I still couldn’t help but love it, and I really couldn’t put it down. It’s kind of a strange book, and there are times when everyone starts doing a lot of rambly philosophising which is kind of annoying, but its super exciting. RECOMMENDED.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
This is another one that I couldn’t put down (and also that I bought just because it had black-edged pages…I’m sensing a pattern here). I think I just powered through it in an afternoon actually. It’s about circuses, magic, and the 1890s, and I love ALL OF THOSE THINGS. There’s a lot of flowery description in it, so if you’re not into that then this probably isn’t for you, but I loved it. Also there’s the whole fated true love thing which normally makes me want to puke, but it didn’t really bother me that much in this book. Definitely one my favourites from this year.
Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
I did this for my Contemporary Women’s Writing module and I really liked it. Also I wrote an essay on it and wasn’t even sick of it after that so it’s got to be pretty good. I’ve read two other novels by Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale and Alias Grace, and Lady Oracle is not at all like either of those. It’s really funny and sweet, it’s kind of a coming of age tale in a way, I really liked it. Also it’s quite interesting when you’re thinking about genre fiction and fiction aimed at women, which unless you’re doing a Contemporary Women’s Writing module, you probably aren’t. But oh well, you should still read it. It’s good.
Union Street by Pat Barker
Another one from my Contemporary Women’s Writing module. This book is horrible but really really good. If that makes sense. It reads more like a collection of short stories than a novel, but it’s about a group of working class women in the 1970s, and they all have really grim lives and horrible things happen to them. Not a cheery book by any stretch of the word, but it’s really compelling.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I read this in one sitting and I cried pretty much all the way through. I’ve read all of John Green’s books except Will Grayson Will Grayson and this was definitely my favourite. I don’t really know what to say about this other than it’s really sweet and lovely and heartbreaking, and really easy to read too.
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
This is the only one of Neil Gaiman’s books that I’ve never really heard anyone talk about, and I had no idea what it was about when I started it. This is another one that I listened to the audiobook of, it’s read by Lenny Henry and it’s great. Normally I don’t normally like reading books where I dislike all of the characters, but in this book pretty much all the characters are super annoying but I really enjoyed it. It’s just funny and kind of weird, pretty standard Neil Gaiman.
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
This was by far the best Young Adult book I read this year. I read YA books all the time, they’re like my comfort food. I normally pick one at random that’s cheap in the kindle store and then power through it in one sitting, and I’m pretty sure that’s how I found this one. I know YA dystopias have been done to death (thanks a lot, Suzanne Collins) but this one is really really good. To be honest I think it’s more aimed at like…13-16 year olds but whatever, I don’t care. It’s set in a world where people have had to abandon Earth and move to a new planet, but for some reason their society has really regressed. Also on this new planet there’s some kind of chemical in the atmosphere which means that everyone can hear each other’s thoughts (I know it sounds stupid). It’s told from the point of view of a 13 year old boy called Tom who lives in this creepy village where there are no women. It sounds kind of cheesey and stupid, but it’s really interesting.
My Least Favourite Books of 2012
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Ergh, this book. This is another YA book I bought on a whim (partly because the cover was pretty) and powered through in an afternoon. I guess I did technically enjoy reading it, but this book sucks. I read quite a lot of stuff about it on the internet and people seem to fucking love it, but trust me. It is terrible. I would compare it to Twilight in that it’s about two like…fated loves or whatever. And also in that both these characters suck and are super annoying because they’re just the author’s idealistic fantasies, and in that their super special magical love is total bullshit. Every time the main character is described (which is often) it’s like OH SHE’S SO COOL, OOH SHE HAS BLUE HAIR, OOH SHE’S SO GOOD AT DRAWING, OOH SHE KNOWS SO MANY LANGUAGES, EVERYONE LIKES HER SO MUCH. Enough. Shut up. And then the love interest, oh my god. He is literally an angel. And people are all ooh I’m blinded by his beauty and then it’s all ooh he’s so damaged, he’s so troubled, he’ll never love again. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? To sum up: this book can suck my dick.
Blonde Roots by Bernadine Evaristo
I read this because I needed to write an essay on it and it really really annoyed me. This book is telling the story of slavery but with the sides switched (if that makes sense), so white Europeans are the slaves and black Africans are the slave owners and traders. Essentially, the whole moral and point of this book is - SLAVERY IS BAD. I'm just like, dude, I knew that already. You don't have to make it about white people for me to be like, oh I get it now! Being owned by another human would suck! Thank god someone told it from my perspective so I can finally empathize. NO! Not a fan.
Endgame by Samuel Beckett
God I hate postmodernism. That's pretty much all I have to say about this one.
The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch
I bought this book shortly after I moved to the Netherlands, it's by a Dutch author and set mainly in Amsterdam. I wasn't sure whether to include it on my least favourites list because I mostly enjoyed reading it, but I found the ending so annoying that the cons outweigh the pros. The first 200 pages or so were really great, and mainly focused on the friendship between the two main characters, Max and Onno, but then a girl comes into the picture and the direction of the story kind of changes, and after that it started to drag a lot. The second half of the book focuses on Max's son Quinten who is a total pain in the ass and I found him really annoying. The ending of the book ties up all the loose threads in a way that feels very sudden and strange and it ended up just really frustrating me and making me wish I'd never read it in the first place. Although I enjoyed the first half of this book a lot, overall it just really wasn't worth it.
So that's it for my 2012 wrap-up, hopefully I'll be able to make it to 100 books this year!
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