Guest Review from Musings of a Bookshop Girl

Even though I have had to cut Favourites Fortnight short I still have to post the Guest Review that Ellie from Musings of a Bookshop Girl did for me because it's bloody awesome and you need to read it!

Take it away Ellie!

*     *     *     *     *

Hi LadyViolet readers!  I'm so chuffed to be over here sharing some fangirl excitement for one of my fave books of all time, the wonderfully titled BOOKS, BAGUETTES AND BEDBUGS (US Title - Time was Soft There) by Jeremy Mercer.  How could I not love it really - it's the story of a man who lived in a bookshop for a year!  IN PARIS!  Plus it helped inspire me when it came to setting up our own bookshop...  Here's my review:

 

On the run from an unfortunate mistake in his Canadian life as a crime journalist, Jeremy Mercer heads to Paris to escape for a while.  Caught in a rainstorm near Notre-Dame one afternoon, he spots a welcoming light across the river and thus stumbles inadvertently on the Shakespeare and Company bookshop.  Invited upstairs for tea by the beautiful woman behind the desk, wandering the labyrinth of books and beds, he soon realises that this is no ordinary bookshop and, as a poor writer, is invited to join the ranks of lost souls inhabiting the book-lined rooms.

 

So begins his whimsical and quintessentially bohemian stay, under the watchful eye of eccentric owner George Whitman (surely the star of the book, with his fascinating life and Communist ideals), who renamed his unique store after the original literary oasis, run by his good friend Sylvia Beach, which was forced to close down during the Second World War.  Here all are welcome to browse and lose themselves in their reading; tea is offered on a Sunday; eclectic readings take place in the library; literary and political opinions are argued out – and those in need of a bed will find one amongst the books in return for a few hours helping around the shop and in the kitchen.

 

Mercer deliciously evokes days trawling the scattered tomes, nights spent storytelling by the Seine, tourists attracted by the store’s reputation, wanderers attracted by Whitman’s generosity, showering in the public washhouses, scrounging leftover food to get by: in short, a poor life, without good facilities or scope for wastage of any kind, but a happy, lively life nonetheless.  The characters moving through Whitman’s utopia are many and varied, yet he remains, a kind of rock in the tides of time and tourism, as the chaos of youthful dreams and books and wine whirls around him.  

 

Of course, eventually reality bites for Mercer and it’s time to move on – but his journey is magical while it lasts, and there's lots of interesting ideas to think about and lessons to be learned from this amazing place.  If you like the sound of all this there's a brilliant documentary called 'A Portrait of the Bookstore as an Old Man' which is well worth watching!  This really the perfect book lover's book, especially if you like haunting ramshackle old bookshops, so consider this a shout out for book bloggers everywhere to go find a copy and spread the love!

Ellie's Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Ellie sent me the link to the documentary which is nearly an hour long so I won't force people to sit staring at my blog for that amount of time :P If you wanna watch it here you go- A Portrait of the Bookstore as an Old Man

After looking at pictures of this place I'm sorely tempted to ring up and ask if *I* can live there for my year abroad cos frankly nothing would make me happier than spending several months surrounded by books and the people who love them. 

A big thanks to Ellie for doing this review for me and anyone who *hasn't* seen Ellie's blog well shame on you! Get over there now! She has awesomely eclectic taste in books and she runs a freaking bookshop! She does the most hilarious posts on the weird and wonderful customers she gets and has a book-buying habit that would put most of us to shame :P 

LadyV

Read more...

Book Review - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I should have got this done for yesterday but since I fell behind earlier this week with my Favs Fortnight posts I'm now trying to play catch-up even though my capacity to write coherent reviews is probably a bit dented after the two behemoth reviews of *last* Friday and Saturday :P. The next two should be much shorter since I've not got time today to write loads.

Title: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Author: J.K. Rowling
Date: 26/9/2010 PM (re-read)
Source: Bought
Description: Harry Potter is a wizard. He is in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's always a relief after summer with the Dursleys, however, Harry doesn't realise that this year will be just as eventful as the last two! The atmosphere at Hogwarts is tense. There's an escaped mass murderer on the loose, even the Muggles have been warned. The sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school and Harry, Ron and Hermione rapidly discover why all witches and wizards live in fear of being sent to Azkaban. Lessons, however, must go on and there are lots of new subjects in third year - Care of Magical Creatures and Divination among others. Plus the delights of Hogsmeade, the only village in the UK entirely populated by the magical community. (Description taken from Amazon.co.uk)


Review:
Well since there is very little that I can actually say about this series that you won't already know or have thought yourselves I shall keep this very brief and merely outline why this particular book in the series was the one I chose to include in my Favs Fortnight.


Ok first off I have to mention the slightly pragmatic reason that was because this was a lot smaller than Goblet of Fire (another of my favs) and so easier and quicker to re-read. I could have probably re-read GoF if I wanted but as this comes before it I thought it more appropriate to read my original favourite out of the series.


After Philosopher's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets the third book was just so brilliant (sheesh do I overuse that word). There's finally a little ray of hope for Harry that his family life might not be so hellish in the future and I just loved the new subjects that Harry, Ron and Hermione got to study in their third year, although I would have liked it more if we could have got to see some of Hermione's Ancient Runes & Arithmancy classes cos they sounded so awesome (but alas since the books are always from Harry's POV that was never going to happen).

This book was also a good deal darker and more complex than the previous two and bugger me if the Dementors are not some of the most chilling monsters I've ever come across in children's fiction - heck knows how my 8 year self dealt with this potential nightmares this book could cause to someone that young (I have no memories of my immediate feelings after finishing it for the first time). We also learned some very interesting things about Harry's father when he was at school. Sirius and Lupin became two of my favourite characters *why Jo why?!?* although for years until I saw the actual third film (which at the time I hated) I always read Sirius as Sirus without the "i". No idea why but I did.

Prisoner of Azkaban was my overall favourite of the first three books and it's still one of my top 3 books out of the whole series (the other two being Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix). It's sort of the last book where things are going reasonable well for Harry and there's still a smidgen of good in the world before everything gets progressively darker from the start of Goblet of Fire. I find it impossible to call either of the last two books my favourites even though I do love them, I just can't entirely forgive J.K. Rowling for Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Hedwig and Colin Creevey (pain in the arse that he always was to Harry he was still only 16).

So there you go, my rather spare thoughts on the 3rd in a series I'm sure I'll never tire of re-reading even long after I've finally given up hope of receiving my letter to Hogwarts :P (oh come on you can't fool me, I know you're all still waiting too)

My Rating: 5 out 5 Stars


So which Potter book is *your* favourite? Tell me in the comments or link to your own review :)
Well gotta dash now as dinner is calling my name *om nom nom*
LadyV

Read more...

Guest Post from Jess Hearts Books on Harry Potter!

Since I was re-reading one of my favourite Harry Potter books for my Favs Fortnight I thought it would be a smashing time to ask the lovely Jess (whom I'm sure you know by know is one of my best friends) to write a guest post about *her* favourite Harry Potter book. Of course she happily obliged and I now bring to you her thoughts on one of her favourite series of all-time.

Welcome to the Library - Jess Hearts Books!

*     *     *     *     *

For Rachel’s favourite fortnight I’m going to be talking about my ultimate favourite series which is probably a lot of people’s favourite - Harry Potter. When Rachel first approached me to do this post asking me what my favourite Harry Potter book was I couldn’t possibly decide because they all hold such a special place in my heart. Before reading the first Harry Potter book I did enjoy reading but Harry Potter was the first book that made me fall in love with reading, that had me obsessed, that made me want to spend every free moment I had devouring a book. I always felt that way about it right from the very first book. 

I can still remember to this day how I first found out about Harry Potter and his world of magic. In junior school we were required to do a half hours reading in the morning during registration and the girl sitting next to me was utterly engrossed in what she was reading I noticed over the following few days that she was reading this particular book at every moment she got, sometimes even sneakily reading it under the table during a lesson.  I remember thinking what kind of book would be so good that you’d risk missing playtime by getting a detention for not paying attention? 

So intrigued I asked her what she was reading and that book of course was Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. I saved up my lunch money that week and went hungry so I could buy my own copy of the book to read (it was fairly new back then and they didn’t have it in the library) and that was it, I was hooked. Every year after that I would eagerly await the release of the latest Harry Potter book. Right from my last summer before high school up until me working and sneaking out to get my pre ordered copy of the last book. 

I grew up with those books, I grew up with the characters as if they were friends, and now I get to relive it all a little bit every year when the new film comes out. It’s played such a huge role in my life and in my love for books as I’m sure it has for many other people. Only a short while ago I bought a brand new box set of the books because my others are that battered from countless re-reading sessions over the years, especially my poor paperback copies of the first 3 books that are hanging in there for dear life!

It’s so hard for me to choose a favourite Harry Potter book. I love The Philosopher’s Stone for introducing this world to me.  I love The Chamber of Secrets for making me start keeping a diary so if I ever died a piece of my soul would live on ( Hey, I was only 13 at the time!) which made me love writing. I love The Prisoner of Azkaban for being the scariest book that I read at that age and feeling really grown up for reading it late into the night and not having nightmares.  I love The Goblet of Fire for making me believe that the hardest of challenges are possible to win. I love The Order of the Phoenix for making me feel like I’m not alone in feeling like an outcast sometimes. I love The Half-Blood Prince for showing me that true friends will always stand by you no matter what, and lastly The Deathly Hallows for showing me that even though the battle may be hard and bloody if you do the right thing you’ll always get the right outcome. 

I learnt so much from these books and learn something new every time I read them. They hold the most special of places in my heart and for that reason no matter how many books I read or how many I fall in love with the Harry Potter series will always remain my most favourite and most cherished books.

Thank you so much Jess for agreeing to do a guest post and I hope it won't be too long until you're here again (both in blog form and real life :P).

I'll be hopefully having my (rather short) review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban up later today along with an equally brief review of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. So stick around for those.

Anyway I must dash, I have much to do and not a whole of time to do it in.

LadyV & Jess :D

Read more...

Book Review - Wild Magic

Ok first off I am *really* sorry that this review is late. It should have gone up yesterday but I've been so totally whacked these past few days that I've had to summon up energy enough to actually read and with writing two massive and kinda intense reviews on the trot it's wiped me out mentally. And that's not even taking into account my uni work which I'm slowly beginning to realise will actually eat my soul this year (if there's anything left after I attempt to do Nano in November - that is starting to look like reckless foolishness now). But anyway before I try and attack the beastly spanish translation I have to do by Friday I'm gonna get this bloody review up and I'll have to figure out what the hell I'll do about the one for Trickster's Choice. *brain melts*

Title: Wild Magic
Series: The Immortals Quartet
Author: Tamora Pierce
Date: 26/9/2010 PM
Source: Bought
Description: "If anyone might be a hero -- could I?" she asked herself and smiled.

All the orphaned Daine wants when she comes to Tortall is a job. What she finds is magic in many forms. Hired by the Queen's Riders because of her knack with animals, Daine soon reveals that her knack is truly magical. Not only do animals obey her, but they understand her words. Under the tutelage of the great mage Numair, Daine struggles to focus her powers and confront the nightmares of her past. And so her wild magic grows even stronger. She now can sense the presence of the immortals, evil creatures who threaten the future of Tortall. But Daine will have to learn to trust humans before she can come to terms with her powers and her past -- and protect the kingdom from immortal invasion. (Description taken from Amazon.com)

Review: 

This is gonna be a tad different to the other reviews in this series because this will be the only one that doesn't has 5 Stars. This isn't my favourite book in this quartet, it's not even in my Top 5 fav Tamora Pierce books. However it is on this list because it was the *first* Tammy book I ever read. Back in 2004 I found myself browsing a bookstore for something new to read and I happened across this unassuming reddish-brown book with gorgeous cover-art. The blurb caught my attention and before I knew it I was out the door with it -and now it's all ancient history and I have to say that in the 6 years since I found Tammy (lol I make her sound like a cult) I've read a prodigious amount of fantasy novels and thought long and hard about writing my own although that didn't turn out so great.

Wild Magic was my first foray into Tammy's brilliant fantasy world that I would literally give my right kidney to be able to live in - heck I don't care if they don't have proper plumping in Tortall I'd be in a world where knights were still rife and there were ruddy magical creatures flying about! Meeting her fabulous characters for the first time was such a rapturous experience that I was desperate to buy all the other books mentioned on the back of my copy of Wild Magic right away so I could read about Alanna, Kel and Aly- oh yea and George (Cooper who is married to Alanna) cos I'm a little bit in love with him the charming rogue that he is *winks*.

So yea, another thing which I love about this quartet (besides the awesome characters and setting) is how a large part of the overall story arc revolves around the return of these weird and wonderful creatures which are essentially immortal (although they can be killed). Some are peaceful and stay away from humans but some are rather mean and will purposefully attack people - my particular favourites out of a selection which includes, Spidrens, Hurrocks, ogres, giants etc. absolutely *have* to be the Stormwings. They're nothing like any other fantasy monster you've ever seen and even though they are foul, evil creatures I can't help but love them for their originality and for how bloody *logical* they are! 

Picture this: a bird that isn't quite a bird - it's feathers and claws are all made out of razor-sharp steel and instead of a beak it has a human face and torso too. It's teeth are also sharp as knives and caked in old blood. Also the smell - Stormwings feed off the fear and mayhem of battles and if dead bodies are left on a battlefield too long then they will come and tear into them, urinate and defecate on the bodies and roll in the resulting filth so you can only imagine how utterly foul the Stormwings smell in person - it's enough to turn even the strongest stomach. Their purpose was to scare people into *not* fighting wars through the fear that if there was a battle then the Stormwings would come and desecrate their dead warriors in the most hideous way imaginable. But after all the Immortals were sent to the Divine Realms 400 years before this story began the humans forgot and so now the lesson must be re-learned. *shudders at how creepily awesome the Stormwings are*

Now, Daine; she's either my third or fourth favourite Tammy heroine (it's a toss-up between her and Beka Cooper) and although her Wild magic is way cool I just find it a leetle bit eerie that she could basically sic a sparrow onto me and have it peck my eyes out with little to no effort. As much as I wouldn't mind having the ability to talk to any animals which I owned and felt affection for, her level of power is kinda scary and in the third book of the quartet she gets *very* badass when she's angry (incidentally the 3rd is my fav of the quartet). But she is a good person and considering the hard times she suffered through before the story starts I admire her for being trusting enough to even be around humans again. I do like Daine although she scares me just a tad so it's not entirely surprising that I like Kel and Aly more. I kind of envy her cos Numair (her uber-powerful mage teacher) is so lovely and ditsy-funny and well yea I'm not saying any more on that subject :P

So basically - I do love this book although story-wise it's not quite as amazing as some of the Tortall books but I can forgive it because it holds such nostalgic and sentimental value for me. Now after writing this review I really want to re-read the other three books but dang it I *can't* cos I have tons of TBR books and they're at home anyway where I can't get them *pouts*. Anyway as an introduction to Tammy's books Wild Magic is fab cos we're seeing this world through Daine's eyes and she's never been outside of her village before the start of the book so everything is as new and fresh for her as it is for us. The series only gets better after the first book so I really hope that if anyone does decide to pick this book up that they'll continue on with the other books and eventually everything Tammy has ever published :P.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Phew there we go! It's finished and now I must go eat some dinner and then whup some spanish (translation) ass! I'll do my bestest to get the Trickster's Choice review up soon but I've also got to do Harry Potter and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader so things could get a little backed up :S

Oh yea and I turn 20 tomorrow!!! *squee* So I will be doing a vlog showing my awesome pressies and maybe waffle a bit about how crazy it feels to be two whole decades old. 

Until Tomorrow

LadyV

Read more...

Book Review - The Protector of the Small Quartet

S'up folks tis Saturday and therefore it's only SIX FREAKING DAYS TIL MY BIRTHDAY!! *dies* I know I've been whining a lot about turning 20 but my inner four year old is soo freaking excited cos being away from home for my birthday means I'll get cards and stuff through the mail and I *love* getting stuff in the mail! Anywho on Thursday I'll do a nice rambly post and do a vlog showing any bookish or funky presents I receive so be ready for that :D

But I'm procrastinating the true purpose of this post - to review the second book/series in my Favs Fortnight event. Warning this post will contain *extreme* amounts of gushy adoration and a healthy dose of ranting about mean-publishers-who-don't-publish-my-favouritest-author's-books-in-this-country HUMPH!

Title: The Protector of the Small Quartet
Books in Series: First Test, Page, Squire & Lady Knight
Author: Tamora Pierce
Date: 25/9/2010 AM (Finished re-read of last book)
Source: Bought
Description: Keladry (known as Kel) is the first girl to take advantage of the decree that permits girls to train for the knighthood. The only thing that can stop her is Lord Wyldon, the training master of pages and squires. He does not think girls should be knights and puts her on probation for one year. It is a trial period that no male page has to endure and one that separates the friendly Kel even more from her fellow trainees. But Kel is not someone to underestimate. . . . (Description from Amazon.com)


Rant: It won't take long promise :P
At the risk of sounding hideously pretentious and snooty I have to say that Tamora Pierce is a *vastly* under-appreciated author in Britain because to my utmost sorrow her books are not actually in print anymore in this country and a few others that I can't recall right now. But even when they were in print I cannot remember seeing them displayed and advertised with any vigour (granted this was back in 2004ish when YA book marketing wasn't anywhere near as extensive as it is now). I think that with the influx of Paranormal and the ridiculously named "Dark fantasy" novels in the YA market, there just isn't as much demand for the medieval-esque/high fantasy series like what Tammy writes - to actually find these kind of books you'll need to either be very determined to hunt down copies through online sellers or second-hand bookshops or you'll have to write the damn books yourself. Heck if you can't buy what you want to read then write it - it worked for Tolkien and C.S. Lewis right? Do you think that if I wrote enough pleading emails to Scholastic (who published the copies which I own) that they'd reprint Tammy's books with either the same funky covers or EVEN MORE AWESOME ONES?!?


Review: For real now
Out of all of the 25+ books that Tammy has written over the past 20 years, the Protector of the Small quartet is quite possibly my absolute favourite set of stories (although the Trickster Duet is a very close second). In fact just in general the style of book that Tammy writes is one of my favourite to read. The medieval-esque fantasy world that she writes the PotS quartet and several others in - Tortall - is such a fabulous world and with it being the kind of country where old-fashioned knights and heroes are needed, the books are infused with a wealth of knowledge about horse husbandry, weaponry and other knightly aspects. I will not lie to you, the tiny amount that I know about horses that was gleaned from reading Tammy's books (and also in part from behind the scenes footage from my LOTR dvds) was actually kinda useful when I went horse-riding for the first time. Ok so I had no clue how not to bounce around in the saddle when my horse decided to start trotting without warning but I reckon the horse knew I was a green rider and I scolded him for his mischief.


*anyway*
Keladry of Mindelan, or Kel as she's more often known is the protagonist in this quartet. She's really quite unique compared to Tammy's other Tortallan heroines - Kel has no magical Gift whatsoever which when contrasted with Alanna's vast Gift, Daine's Wild Magic, Aly's Sight and Beka's intriguing Air magic, makes Kel a very special gal. What she achieves is a result of her own determination and physical effort - she doesn't have magic to back her up, or gods helping her out, just her own strength and will-power to succeed. 


As a role model she's fabulous; she always works harder and longer than she's required to, her sense of ethics and morals is the strongest and most admirable out of *any* fantasy heroine. She's fiercely loyal to her family, friends and those in her care and she will always do her duty by them. She's wise beyond her years and knows better than to dwell on things that she can't change, she can only strive to overcome them. When she sets her sights on a goal - the whole plot of the series being her goal to become a knight - she goes after it whole-heartedly and with every intention of succeeding *without* resorting to cheats and short-cuts. 
She's also brilliantly funny and witty, I find myself laughing constantly at her dry good-humoured quips and I envy her ability to stay cool-headed and reasonably polite when dealing with idiotic folk who have their heads stuffed up their collective backsides. Best of all she's still human - her fear of heights was nearly her undoing on several occasions during her Page years and even when she does get over the main terror she at least is sensible enough to respect the danger that heights still present. 


In case you think I'm never going to stop gushing over my girl-crush of Kel (it's *nawt* a crush I just wish I could be her!) I am now moving onto the other ah-mazing characters which appear in this quartet.
If you have read some of Tammy's other Tortall books (if not then get on it or I'm sending the hounds after you) then you will be happy to see several of her previous characters popping up for varying chunks of time. Alanna, Daine, Numair *sigh*, Jonathon, George, Raoul, and several other people all put in an appearance. Raoul gets the most screen-time as it were because he is the man who takes Kel on as his Squire in the third book (aptly titled Squire *guffaw*). Kel's time spent riding with the King's Own, who are kind of the King's police enforcement teams and back-up for the regular army, is brilliant to read about. The camaraderie between the men and Kel makes for some great funny scenes and "seeing" Kel tilt (joust) against Raoul is possibly the funniest thing I could ever dream to see on film one day.


I know that this review has gone on for *waay* too long but I'll try to keep this last bit shortish. So why should you read this quartet? Because if you love books with a fantastic cast of characters whom you can laugh and fall in love with then this is for you. If you love a rich and vibrant fantasy world that you just wish you could dive into then this is for you. If you want books that you can re-read over and over and *never* tire of then this series and any of Tammy's other books are so perfect that I think you should go out and buy them right now!


I have literally poured my heart into this review because only then will people who have never even heard of Tamora Pierce understand how much she has affected my reading and to be perfectly honest my life. I don't think that any author has inspired me to rave about their books quite as much as Tammy has and I really hope that one day I can get to meet her (although the chances of that when I live in the UK are slim indeed) so I can tell her just what a fabulous influence she has been for me - although this will invariably come after I've hyperventilated for 15 mins in true fangirl style :P


So to sum up - READ THESE BOOKS!! *ahem*


My rating: 5 Stars out of 5 (plus 30 more stars)


Phew! It has taken me an inordinate amount of time to write this whole review out and I reckon I can safely say that unless I get serious Writer's Block sometime soon I am gonna have no problem at all churning out 1,667 words a day for NaNoWriMo considering this review alone is nearly 1,200 words. 


But anyway a massive congrats to anyone who has made it down as far as this - I commend your perseverance and I promise to try and keep the next few reviews a good deal shorter but I just can't help myself when it comes to Tammy Pierce books :P


Until Tomorrow then
LadyV

Read more...

Book Review - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Hello All, I now bring to you the first in my series of book reviews for my "Favourites Fortnight". It was only last October that I first read this little beauty of a book and I'll be damned if I've not read chunks of it four times already. (After writing this review I just had a massive urge to re-read it *again* and I got 144 pages in and then my internet came on so obviously I was distracted :P)
But anyways without further ado!

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Author: Mary-Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Date: 22/9/2010 AM (re-read)
Source: Bought
Description: “ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb…. (Description taken from Goodreads)


Review

If you haven't heard about this book I'm just gonna assume you spent the last two years under a sound-proofed rock and tell you all about it. If you have heard of it and better yet *read* it then you can have a cookie.
It's not very often that I pick up a book and enjoy it so much that it actually affects my education - I kid you not after I read this I was so intrigued by the German Occupation of Guernsey that I did a presentation on it for my Uni french speaking class- yea no one else was interested but I enjoyed researching it for myself. The book paints such a fascinating image of the islands in their Post-War/Occupation state that you just want to know what life was like for the inhabitants during that terrible time.


Another thing which I totally adore about this book is the epistolary format - I find letter-writing to be a saddeningly diminished institution so reading books made up of letters is wonderful. The characters in TGLAPPPS (I *had* to abbreviate it) are beyond fabulous to follow through their respective letters, Juliet's self-deprecating sense of humour, Sidney's brotherly affection, Isola's zany observations, Amelia's kindness and concern, Dawsey's quiet intensity, heck even Adelaide Addison's two hilarious letters endear me to the nosy old bat (only very slightly though). You get to know and love these people and darn it if I don't wish that it was a true story because by the end you can't help but smile like a loon as the story is so uplifting. Seeing how this community came together thanks to the brave and resourceful Elizabeth McKenna, and stayed together through a love of books just makes me so happy and wishful that there are real literary societies somewhere created from such a trying time. 


What's also so brilliant about this book is how much of it is quotable and relatable if you're of the book-loving persuasion (so everyone here yea?). When Juliet mentions how the man she almost married had packed up eight boxes of her books and filled her shelves with sports paraphenalia, I totally agree with her outrage and anger. If anyone dared to move my books without my permission, woe betide them I would be furious!
When reading this book I find myself nodding along when someone writes something that I agree with whole-heartedly; the kinship between two strangers when they realise they both love the same book, the urge to say "Me too!" when someone mentions a strange reading quirk they have, meeting someone through written correspondance and when actually seeing them face to face for the first time feeling like you've known them your whole life (I can certainly attest to that one being true).


I don't know if I can recall another book which creates such a heart-warming story out of a truly terrible event like World War Two so it's hats off to Mary-Ann and her niece Annie Barrows (who had to help finish the book when Mary's health failed) for writing such a wonderful book that I would be happy to re-read many times in the future and also to recommend it to any and everyone I knew to be true book-lovers (Cos I think they'd appreciate it the most). 


My Rating: 5 out 5 Stars


If anyone else has any opinions or reviews of this book please link them below in the comments, I would love to see how it affected other people because I really believe that it is one of those special books that does affect people on various levels.


I hope you've enjoyed this first stop on the (short) list of my all-time favourite books and do drop by tomorrow when I'll be reviewing the Protecter of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce!
LadyV

Read more...

Favourites Fortnight - The Starting Line

Good Morning one and all! (Ironically for me it *is* morning although I've not yet gone to sleep), today marks the beginning of my two-week event of gushy adoration for 8 books/series that have wormed their way onto my list of All-time Favourite Reads over the years. Some have arrived there as recently as last year and others have been there for nearly 10 years although there is a very clear pattern to the genre of this selection of books - 5 fantasy books and 3 literary fiction books.

Thinking about what makes a book so awesome in my eyes that I have to re-read it several times within the same year or in consecutive years, brings to mind at least three reasons which I will now explain for ye in reasonable detail.

Characters
This is probably the biggest deciding factor because if I get to the end of a book and couldn't care less what the characters did after the story ended then it's probably not gonna get re-read any time soon if ever. It's the books where I'm literally dying to know what will happen next in the character's lives and I anxiously hunt about for any information indicating that the author is planning a sequel or two, that will invariably crop up again and again on my Urgent Re-read pile. I need to love the characters in a book, or heck love to loath them but I need to feel attached to them by the end of the story and run the whole gamut of emotions when something happens to them both good and bad. If I find myself wishing that a certain character was real so they could be my friend then I know that the book is a keeper. Basically even if a book's plot was rather wishy-washy I could probably overlook it if it had a fabulous cast of characters that made me laugh, cry and want to cuddle them all to bits.

Situation Envy
I know this may sound strange but some of my favourite books are ones where I would literally *kill* to either be the main character or to be able to live in that world - this usually applies to fantasy novels being the escapist that I am. I will happily re-read all seven Harry Potter books back-to-back every year just to keep myself immersed in that fascinating and wonderful world until the day when J.K. Rowling takes pity on all us Potterites and writes us something new about Hogwarts and the Wizarding Community (I will openly admit that I'm still waiting on my letter, I'm sure the owl has just got a bit lost right?). Reading Fantasy novels allows me to live in a world I know can't exist, but at least for a little while Hogwarts is real, Narnia *is* in the back of my wardrobe, and Tortall is just a far-off country we haven't discovered yet. So don't try to argue with me that none of these places exist, I know they may not for you, but in my mind we just haven't looked hard enough for them and the brilliant authors who write about them are explorers who know something we don't. (At least that's the little fantasy I like to tell myself- please don't spoil my dream)

How hard I cried
No seriously, I do base my rating of a book on my tears. Any book that provokes me to cry is worthy of 4 stars straight off the bat - unless of course the tears are from laughing at how awful the book is :P. The books that get the 5 star ratings and are fervently recommended to anyone with ears and eyes are the ones that leave me red-eyed and exhausted from sobbing my heart out. Admittedly I do give high ratings to Nicholas Sparks books but that is more because I'm a big mushy romantic and he always gets me misty-eyed in the last two chapters rather than the book being all that brilliant by itself. I probably do cry more often than most people at books, films and tv shows but I think it's because I get wholly invested in the characters and their stories so when something terrible happens in their life it hits me like I'm watching my best friend go through it and my emotional reaction is heightened accordingly.

Books to be Reviewed over Favs Fortnight
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary-Ann Shaffer
The Protector of the Small Quartet by Tamora Pierce
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce Review Cancelled
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis Review Cancelled
Atonement by Ian McEwan Not been re-read
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger Review Cancelled

Guest Posts
Jess on Harry Potter

Now there will hopefully be some other "Favs" posts related to this but not exactly book reviews, I've asked my dear friend Jess of Jess Hearts Books to do a post about her favourite Harry Potter book and some thoughts about the series in general - that will go up when the poor girl has time to write it, busy thing that she is at the moment *hugs*
As the posts go up I will put links to each individual review/post as the title so this will become the handy master list of all things pertaining to the event.

I do hope you folks enjoy the posts I'm preparing for the next two weeks, do leave comments and whatnot, heck do your own nostalgia filled post on a favourite book and leave a link either on this post or if you happen to talk about one of the 8 books I'm reviewing, leave the link to your post on that particular review.

Happy October 1st! White Rabbit! (that is what you say at the start of a month right? For some reason I want to say that there's some ritual involving fish as well :S I really need to go to bed now)
LadyV

Read more...