Reading in the Sun!

As some of you will already know I finished my three year degree this week. Capped off with an a pretty good exam I feel great, and not too sad, that I am leaving this chapter off my life now! The last few days I have just been laying in the sun in my local park reading which has been fantastic! We have been having a little mini heat wave here and it has made perfect sun bathing whilst reading conditions.

So I think I Would give you a short low down what I have been reading and what will be coming next. Think of   it as a What are you reading Wednesday, but on Saturday!

Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

This is the #2 book in the dragon riders of Pern series. I have done a mini review of this over on Facebook but basically I love it. I gave it an 8/10 because it has an amazing narrative, some quick arse characters and a fantastic fantasy world. Its big down fall is being quite complicated with about double the amount of characters that I feel I can take in to start with. But once I got my head round all the different name I loved it, and I can't wait to get started on the next ones (and I have three of them to read by next Monday if I am to keep Mr Phillips happy!).

No Good Deed by Bill Blais

I was sent this as part of an up and coming blog tour but I couldn't help but sneak in what I thought of sooner. I have done an interview with Bill earlier this month and I was really excited with the promise "My goal is to give readers something they haven't had from the genre to date" (Blais. 2012). He was not wrong, this fantasy is a little bit more grown up, and little bit more complex and a little bit more awesome. Full review to come in July!

The Calling by Kelley Armstrong

This book was part of my Teaser Tuesday this week, when I had only just started it. I am reading a couple of books at the moment, which is the only reason I haven't had time to finish it. Reading a Armstrong book is like coming home, this one is from her YA series Darkness Rising but the style is so easy to read and so familiar that it would be fantastic if she was writing about bin bags. Yet the narrative is also awesome and action packed! The first chapter leads straight on from The Gathering at a staggering pace and the first quarter of the book is so action packed I was left catching my breath! 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

This book was lent to me Miss Dombey more than a few weeks about and I hadn't found time to read it. But as it was such a glorious day yesterday I thought that I would leave the Kindle at home for a day and read this instead. My gosh it is such a fast read. I have power through 3/4 of it in less than 24 hours and I am sure I will be done by the end of today. I can tell its going to get emotional but I fear there will be a twist before I reach the end!


What's coming next:

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey

Let me know in the comments below what you will be reading this weekend and what is coming up next!

Thanks, as always, for reading,

Love Rie x

Happy World Book Day

Being over 18 now World Book Day doesn't really have the same appeal to me any more. I remember from a young age receiving my £1 book token at school, and the excitement of being able to pick out of the specially released titles that year. But I can't help feeling a little left out now...

Yet I still love what World Book Day stands for:

"World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading."

But with the wonders of the internet you can no download or get a copy of all the specially released World Book Day Titles on Amazon. This selection of children's books are still available to all of us over 18 for their promotional price of £1 and with some fantastic authors contributing they have to be worth a look.

You can view the full list of the books available here, but my top picks are:

Roald Dahl's Fantabulous Facts (paperback)
Despite his death in 1990 (the same year I was born) I am a huge fan of Roald Dahl, with James and the Giant Peach being one of my favourite childhood reads. This fun book aimed at children 8+ is illustrated by Quentin Blake.

How to Train Your Dragon: the Day of the Dreader (paperback)
This series of books was used as inspiration for the movie "How to Train Your Dragon", but as we all know 9 times out of 10 the books are always better!

Big Day Out (Kindle ebook)
Jacqueline Wilson was easily my favourite author as a child. I borrows or begged my mum to purchase all of her releases and still appreciate how this very talented author deals with difficult subjects so well. This has to be worth a read even if you are will above 8.

Skulduggery Pleasant: The End of the World (Kindle ebook)
I haven't heard of this book, or its author Derek Landy, before but its promise of humour, magic and adventure sounds like a good read.

So, if like me, you feel a little left out of the World Book Day celebrations there is no need to feel glum. Lets find our youth again and get involved in celebrating the love of reading!!

Books That Make You Cry.

Anyone who knows me will know I am a rather emotional person. It is ommon to sometimes see people crying in a cinema after a sad movie has finished, but how many people will admit to crying over a book?

I will hold up my hand. Whilst reading in bed two nights ago I was in floods of tears over a particularly emotional part in The Host by Stephanie Meyer. Don’t worry – I will NOT give away any spoilers about this one as I want to do a review!

So here are the books that have made me cry. Some have also been recommended as tear jerker's that I have not yet read so get your self a tissue - and lets get sobbing. To help rate these emotional books I have given them a Sob Scale, with 1 = a single tear to 5 = full out sobbing!

Dobby the House Elf may you R.I.P 

•  As mentioned above – The Host by Stephenie Meyer
  Emotionally written and heart wrenching.  3/5
  
•  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (SPOILER ALERT)
  There are a number of sob worthy scenes within this book, but the only thing that made me cry more than Mrs. Weasley screaming at Beatrix Potter “Not my daughter, you bitch” was the death of Dobby the house elf and his burial (just thinking of this leaves me fighting not to make a fool of myself in a public place while typing this!) 5/5
  
•  Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  I read this book for GCSE English Literature, I cried in class while reading it. I cried again whilst revising it for the exam, possibly more than the first time. The absence of the emotion in the book probably making me more emotional!! 4/5
• Marley and Me by John Grogan
  Still the only book that has made my Mum cry 4/5
  
•  My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
  Written to make you cry, which is something that has received mixed reviews. This is not a book I have read, and something I don’t think I ever will. But on the sob scale it is meant to be a 4/5
  
•  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  I am ashamed to say that I have never finished this book. After a shocking scene in the opening chapters I never really could apply myself to it. And it left me in angry and shocked tears. 3/5
• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
  Finally, a book that some people said made them cry and I didn’t! This book is my least favourite of the Twilight series however and I don’t think I would want to re-read it! 1/5

In the comments below let me know what books have made you cry and why.

Thanks for reading,

Love (emotional) Rie x

My Top 10 Books I Want To Read, But Never Quite Got Round To!

Rather than the next ten books I am going to read, this post is about some classic titles and more contemporary supernatural fiction that I have heard a lot about, but has never made it to the top of my reading pile.

They do vary quite a lot, but are all on the list because they have been recommended to me at school, in college or from friends on and offline.

Listen what I have to say about them here:

1. Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
2. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien [reading now!]
3. 1984 by George Orwell
   
4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
   
5.  Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
   
6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen [free to download on Kindle]
   
7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (3 book series) [also available for single book download here]
   [First book read]
   
8. Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith (10 book series) [also available for single book download here]
   
9.  House of the Night Series (first six) by L.C.Cast & Kristian Cast (10 book series) [also available for single book download here]
   
10. The Host by Stephanie Meyer [read]

Please comment below and let me know what you have heard a lot about and is on your reading list.

Is there something I need to add to my reading list? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for reading & watching,

Love Rie x

What should I read next?

I have just stumbled upon (funny enough from stumbleupon.com) a great website for people like me who want introducing to new authors.

Whatshouldireadnext.com is a fab little website, where you enter one of your favourite books, and it searches thousands of different titles to find something similar you might like.

I can see myself using this a lot, as I often do get stuck in a rut of serial reading all the books from one author (you only need to look at the number of reviews I have for Kelley Armstrong).

So go have a look, search, and find your new favourite!

Please comment below and let me know what you have discovered and if you enjoyed it.

Thanks as always for reading,

Love Rie x

Kindle Review

I know that Kindle’s have been out for a while now, but I received mine as a birthday present at the end of October and wanted to play around with it for a few weeks to let you know what I thought.

I initially asked for the original Kindle, now called Kindle Keyboard, for my birthday present before the new one came out. I have been umming and ahhing about e-readers for quite some time and finally decided to have a go. However when it came to my parents ordering it, they got me the new Kindle and I am so glad they did. 

I won’t bore you with the stats of the reader as they are easily available on the Amazon website. But I just wanted to let you know what I think of its features, and also what my friends and family have said about it when having a quick play.

The look and feel of the reader is lovely! It fits easily in one hand and is super light making it easy to read and hold. Whenever people have seen me using it they always go “is that a Kindle… its sooo small!” and it surprising how compact it really is.

In terms of usability it did take a little longer than I expected to really get to grips with all the controls. The 5 way controller works logically but it can be difficult to use the search features especially the keyboard. Having said this finding and downloading books was really fast, so it was not such a big issue. 

I have to mention here that I have never played with a Kindle before, I had simply read the specs, and heard a lot about them so as a big reader I decided I needed to have one! I found page turning buttons on the sides of the screen are really easy to use, and I picked up their function and how to use the without even thinking, yet when others pick it up and see then struggling to get to grips with the concept. 

Just a soft pull down on the keys turns the page, but nearly every person who has had a look at it attempts to push the button into the side of the kindle exclaiming “these buttons are a bit stiff” and “they don’t even work Marie – have you broken it already!”. A simple demo is all it takes to clear the confusion in 9/10 cases, yet my boyfriend still hasn’t got to grips with it! Whereas I think they are slightly too easy to use, with me accidently skipping pages whilst adjusting my position whilst reading!

The screen has to be my favourite part. It actually does read like paper. Super easy on the eyes I have found myself on more than one occasion reading for hours into the night seamlessly flicking pages. There is a small flash when the pages turn, but I didn’t notice after the first 2 pages. The background images are really cool too. If I didn’t know otherwise I would think they were pencil drawings – really showing of the screens quality. There is so many too! I have been using it every day for 2 weeks and I swear I have just seen one I haven’t seen before.

The paper like quality of the screen is not really
given justice in this photo! This extract is from
 Nick Spalding's 'The Conerstone'

The images appear to be randomly selected,
but this is my favourite one.

I haven’t been taking it out and about much of late; due to the case my brother kindly ordered me a case from Amazon, which was out of stock and has taken over a month to arrive. But I have to have everything in lime green and I hope it will be worth the wait! In the mean time I have been storing it in its box which is equally compact.

The sample feature is also been really good. I have been able to download the first chapter of every book I have wanted to read, but never sure if it was going to be for me. After all it was blurb on the back of a Kelley Armstrong book I read once in Waterstones that lead a whole lot of my friends to purchase (and fall in love with) the entire Women of the Otherworld series. And it was the first chapter I downloaded of Charlaine Harris’ Dead Until Dark on Kindle for PC that made me go a buy the entire set. I think this might be a costly habit!!

Overall I think I am in love. Heavy books no more I am a reader of a super light, and super stylish Kindle. I don’t think I will ever run out of space, but with cloud storage you never need to worry about losing your books, or even your page.

4.5/5 (it lost a 0.5 because it is fuelling my book worm habit!)

Thanks for reading,

Love Rie xx

Not Really Public Transport Reading Material...

I am a great lover of adult fantasy fiction, as regular readers will know. But I have come to the conclusion that some chapters I have been re-reading of late are not suitable for reading in public!

The character Eric Northman
as described by protagonist Sookie Stackhouse

Picture me on a train, reading this: 'Dead to the World' by Charlaine Harris.

     "If there was an international butt competition, Eric would win, hands down - or cheeks up" 

This left me laughing softly to my self but it got worse!

     "I was so on fire for him I was surprised that flames didn't flicker out of my fingertips"


     "'Look at me my lover.' The way he said 'lover' was like a caress, like he was calling me by a name no other man had ever used before or ever would after."


    "'I wish' I said, 'I could save orgasms in a jar for when I need them, because I think I had a few extra."


    "Eric wanted me to be looking into his eyes; that obviously flicked his Bic."


I am sure I was blushing by this point, and looking over my shoulders guilty at my fellow passengers to see if they could see what I was reading.

I love the way this scene never got to pornographic, and was really well written! I am going to start using the term 'That flicks your Bic' - love it!

Got any favourite quotes you felt guilty reading in public?? Put them in the comments below; I would love to hear them! [nothing too graphic please!]

Get reading!

Rie xx

Why I Will Always Love Books.

With all things literary moving digital it seems the future will move away from books. But I can't help but love the printed page and the little messages left behind by previous readers. It seems to tell a history that will never be gained by a eBook.

Library books in particular are some of my favourite reads with post-stick notes, pencil scribbles and full on highlighting of pages really enhancing my reading experience.

Here is a book I got out of my university library this week that I really loved.

Black book on bottom right - Mythologies by Roland Barthes (2000)

Little pencil notes of a library book reference, a meeting & a website URL.

Post stick notes found inside the front cover including a shopping list!

There are some book that I will always purchase where I can namely the Charlaine Harris 'True Blood' series and Kelley Armstrong's 'Women of the Otherworld' series - and undoubtedly new. I still hold dear to my heart the printed book.

And I will always be a library dweller reading the notes left by others before anything else.

Despite the above I will not miss carting heavy text books, or running out of reading material whilst on holiday. I may be slow in embracing the digital trend, and will never fully abandon my books I still look forward to the future of reading!

Rie xx

Reading makes you a better person...

Source

A story published in the Guardian.co.uk today says that those that read fiction have increased empathy.

Participants in a Boston university where given an extract from two of my favourite children's authors - JK Rowling and Stephanie Meyer. They were then tested on a number of scales and results showed that those that read JK Rowling's extract from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone identified themselves with wizards, magic and broomsticks, where those who read Stephanie Meyer's extract from Twilight identified with blood, the undead and fangs!

So for those of you that need more encouragement to read, reading fantasy fiction improves your empathy to what you are reading about - which is a little strange when your are reading about characters that are, well, fictional! However, being more empathetic towards over people can only make you a better person in everyday life, and who doesn't love getting lost in something fantastical!

One of my English Literature teachers in college said he loved reading because it let him understand more about the world he might never get a chance to see, and I couldn't agree more!

So what ever your genre of choice, pick up a book today and make yourself more empathetic.

Thanks for reading,

Love Rie Reviews xx

Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/rpYeqA