I went on holidays... that is my excuse for not blogging. But I did manage to come away with some (hopefully) good book titles from looking in book stores, so I think I'm pretty much set for the rest of the year. 

Before I left I re-read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  The first time I read this I was in college and managed to completely devour all five books on a road trip. I guess Adams and travelling go hand in hand. This time though I only read the first one and if you have never read it I suggest you do because they are wonderfully funny and entertaining.

Animal Farm by George Orwell has always been one I've been interested in but I put off reading it because I had heard a lot of negative comments about it. When I picked it up I realized that it actually wan't very long, it's a very thin book and when I finished reading I realize that the negative comments were wrong! It is a social commentary but by no means is it dry or very violent, like I had heard. I would suggest it because it makes you think about certain political parties in a very interesting, animal, way. 

 I signed up to receive notifications when e-books become free (it is very exciting). I don't have any control over what kind of books but sometime they prove to be quite interesting like Stash your Swag - 100+ Secret Hiding Places by Tarrin P. Lupo. It's a very short book and basically describes every hiding place you could have around your house to stash your money/valuables instead of putting them in a bank. There's a little touch of the paranoia about banks here but it proved to be an interesting read - did you know that you can hide money in toilet paper rolls?!? 

One of the things I love best about my Kindle is that a lot of classic literature is for free (sensing a theme?)! Many people may think that classic literature is boring but I happen to find it very interesting so The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells did not disappoint. I thought the book would end once someone discovered that he was invisible but in fact that was just the beginning! It is an interesting look at how the things we want to attain end up consuming us and become our ruin.

The Nightmare Within by Glen Krisch was a book that I thought I would give a try because the idea was interesting: A man can pull dreams and nightmares from people and was putting them in a museum. He ends up pulling a particularly nasty nightmare man from a small boy and well, you can guess what happens... In the end I found this book to be a little disappointing. I feel like it started out well but then left me feeling cheated in the end because it just kind of became predictable. There were also scenes of violence and sexuality that I skipped over because they seemed unnecessary. So I suggest skipping this one...

Well now that I'm all out of books the next step is to head to the library! Till next time...

The Wakeful Dreamer

I was supposed to post the last post on Wednesday but one day late is as good as ever! 

Having not posted in a while (sorry 'bout that!) I have returned to find that Weebly has made some changes that are really cool and time savers - not to mention life savers. Is anyone else thinking about candy right now? Anyways...

The first book, which I will now refer to as MPSPC, looks creepy. In fact I had to kind of hide the cover for a bit before I started reading it (Note: turning it over does not help, there are only more "peculiar" children on the back). However, it only looks creepy because the story revolves around a boy who finds the photographs of these peculiar children and goes off to find Miss Peregrine to get some answers about his grandfather. 

It has some time travel, mysterious persons, and Wales to keep me interested. I guess all in all I was a little disappointed in the timing of the plot. I felt like it took a while to get to where we were going and then everything sped up so that we could get to the end. I also think I expected it to be... more thrilling? Not scary but I think I expected to be more on the edge of my seat. And I wasn't. I was comfortably reclined. With my feet up. 


The Night Circus on the other hand was enchanting. I was drawn into the world of the circus with the desire to go and see it (if only I could)! 

The story is weaved around the circus. Two older magicians enter in a challenge, a game of magic. One binds his daughter to it and the other finds an orphan boy to teach and train. The rules of the game are not quite clear and the opponents know that there is someone out there that is against them but they are not sure who. The circus is the arena and it holds wonderful, magical tents and performers who all play apart in the game. 

I want to write so much more about it but really you just need to read it...

The Wakeful Dreamer

I rarely watch a movie before reading the book, I think I've only done it twice: first with A Walk To Remember and now with My Sister's Keeper. In both cases I filled with the anxiety that the book may not be as good as the movie... which is strange because usually my anxiety is the other way around - that the movie will not capture the book. 

I have come to peace with my anxiety in both cases knowing that my imagination is more vivid then any movie screen and I have to say that I really did like this book. You might say I was cheating by knowing the whole story and how it ends but if I told you there was a good year between me seeing the movie and reading the book will you cut me some slack?

First I have to mention that I picked this book up at the local church book sale, which if you ever have the chance to go to one you'll be amazed at all the great books you can get! *plug finished*

The thing I loved the most about the book was the formatting. This may seem strange but the book switched from character the character (sometimes in different years) almost each chapter and when the character changed so did the font. Genius on someone's part because over time you knew who was going to be speaking without even looking at any names. Which is important by the end...

Is it sad? Of course! A book about a child suing her parents for the right to her own body because they are using her to save her sister who has cancer, never mind the fact that they have a son who is left out of the picture most of the time, would be sad don't cha think? 

A good sad story is good once in a while...

The Wakeful Dreamer