Review: The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Sebastian Junger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Perfect Storm has always been a movie that has stuck with me, even with less than basic knowledge of fishing, I knew that the story was important and that it was an event which was real back before I was even born. Although I haven't watched the film in years, (something I will rectifier in a few days), it only just starts to touch on the subject of 'the perfect storm'.
Reading the book, you have such a deeper insight to the story behind the six men who lost their lives within that storm, understand more behind the fishing and what went in to taking a boat out to get the fish as well as the things the coast guard and rescue teams had to go through in order to try and save the lives of fishermen and women.

I highly recommend that 'The perfect storm' Should be a book which is taught in school's or even a book just for people to read and to understand a piece of live outside of the norm of TV and made up stories.

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Review: Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I must admit, that ending had me choking up and nearly crying, it was so sweet and so sad at the same time. But I'm glad that Eleanor got her happy ending and that Park wasn't caught up in so much trouble. I give him kudos for not actually doing anything to Richie, I don't think I could keep myself from doing something when the man is down on his luck, it just shows that Park is the bigger man.

I feel like I know what the the words were, it seems quite simple really to know, but I have a feeling that is Rainbow Rowell was to ever really tell us, it's going to be totally different to everything we all thought.

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Review: Days of Blood & Starlight

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't believe I've finished this book already!

I can't believe I left reading the second book for so long...when I finished Daughter of Smoke & Bone, I searched my local bookstores high and low for the second book until I ended up buying Days of Blood & Starlight online because I wanted to carry on with the series so much.
But then life got in and other books appeared and wow...never making that mistake again.

Once again Laini Taylor has managed to capture each characters personality and person so well, weaving their continuing tales in to new stories and adventures. I could hardly put the book down and I think I'm going to be so sad once I read the last book in the series, I think I might have to restart it all over again to enjoy.

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Review: Misery

Misery by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow....I think that's all that I can really say right now.

Once again, this is the second book that before reading, I had loved the movie, the first being 'The Shining', but after reading the novel, I have come to adore the book way more than the movie. AS for Misery, just...wow...I love everything which was inside the book, from the first moment to the very last moment on the last page.
Although I had a hard time of getting in to the novel, mainly because my mind kept going back to what I already knew with the movie, I soon managed to push the movie out of my mind and start creating a new version in my mind as I read further and further through the novel.

I felt like I was on the edge of my seat with each chapter I read. This is how much I couldn't put it down, I hate having baths...but I even ended up having a bath so I could carry on reading Misery!
I would carry on writing more to this review, but I know that it would be a bunch of nonsense and praise for Stephen King once again.

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Review: Snow Falling on cedars

Snow Falling on cedars by David Guterson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I found it very confusing at times since there seemed to be more writing about each characters backgrounds than the actual murder trial which was going on. I know that in the long run that it was a way of tying each character to each other from their pasts to the present day.
But I personally found it long winded and there was quite a few times that I had to re-read a few paragraphs because I had read through them without really taking in which was on the page. I know that plenty of other people might enjoy the novel, but I personally wouldn't pick it up again...unless it was to help me get to sleep at night.
Another book to be giving to charity for a possible new home where someone might enjoy and love the book a lot more.

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Review: The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II

The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II by Denis Avey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings when it comes to this book. Mainly after reading a lot of negative comments on reviews online about this novel and about Denis Avey, a lot of people call him a liar, that the things he said he did, never really happened at all. But what gets me is...how do they know what happened then and to him? They weren't there, it happened over 70 years ago and many people had passed on or died during the war, so any witness may not be able to say it it happened or not.

Other people say that he's just a old man, making a mistake in the retelling of his history during the second world war, even Jew's have said that it couldn't of happened. But we don't know for sure,there is a reason why the past is the past. And the longer we more forward, the further the past goes and the less people there is to help state whether a story is true or not.

I would like to believe what I've read within this book, but like most post war stories which come out many years later, you have to take them with a pinch of salt, decide on whether you want to believe a piece of information or whether to decide straight away that this person has lied.

If everything that Dennis Avey has said happened, then I call him a brave man, to do something so daring and dangerous takes a lot of courage when facing down the members of the SS. But as most soldiers from the second world war, many don't speak about their experience until years later, sometimes even never at all. I personally have never spoken, or even known if any of my family served during the second world war, I do know that I have a 3x or 4x uncle who served in the battle of the Somme and is buried over in France from world war one.

But I would recommend anyone who wants to learn more about the horror which went on during the war, from different views and to try and find out whether it happened or not, I would tell them to read this novel and then decide for themselves. I know, that had I read all these reviews before I started reading The man who broke in to Auschwitz, then my view on the book would be highly different.

At the end of the day, everyone has their own thoughts to what may of happened and not happened during those years. Just because someone may not believe a person when they are retelling their story, doesn't mean that they should abuse that person. After all, they thought for us in a time that protected our country, all they have to imagine is what life would be like if those men never gave their lives during the second world war, whether they died or are still alive now, because at the end of the day, nearly all those men lost their innocence in that war.

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Review: The Poison Artist

The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I had high hopes for this book, the blurb made it sound interesting, so when I finally decided to read it, I was expecting to be whisked away in to another world filled with crime and murder and a little romance. Instead, I found myself struggling to get through the first couple of chapters, it was almost as if the writer was repeating the same scenes over and over again, just a different day and a different bar.

I must day that I am disappointed in the novel quite a bit, I am sure that others greatly enjoyed it, but for me I never. I found that it had only started to really start becoming enjoyable for me was around chapter twenty two to chapter twenty three, with only twenty seven chapters within the book itself, it was a large disappointment.

The writing wasn't terrible, better than a lot of other books I have read, so it wasn't too hard to get in to it near the end. There was many times at the beginning that I just wanted to put the book down and not pick it up again, but because I'm stubborn and don't like not finishing things, I pushed through it.
Sadly, it's a novel that I won't be keeping on my bookshelves, so I will be passing it on to my local charity store in hopes that someone else will get some enjoyment out of it.

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Sticky notes and unread books.

So, I decided to put little sticky notes on the spines of the books I hadn't read, which actually turned out to be a lot more than I had originally realized. 
It's quite daunting really to see how many unread books I have sitting on my bookshelves, even more so when I know that I have read 61 books this year, because looking at the books that hasn't got a sticky tab on, it doesn't look that many.

Has anyone else came across this problem before? I mean, you think you have probably read nearly all of the books that you own, and then by doing something as simple as adding a sticky note to a spine just shows that you haven't read as many as you thought you had. It's quite disheartening in a way because you want to expand you views on the books, to expand your adventures through each and every story that you read.

But at the same time, it helps to give you a goal towards reading more, the goal of making those tabs disappear one by one until hardly any are left...of course, that's easier to say than actually do, since...well, who can resist the urge to buy new books every week or so? I know I can't.

On another note, who else went out and brought the new Stephen and Owen King novel? I did and I think it's beautiful. Although, I do have to be honesty and say, seeing the American version of the bookcover kind of makes me enjoy and like the UK version just that little more. (I presume its the US and the UK edition covers, I could be wrong of course).

I know that on the UK editions of the hardback, on the cover of the book, underneath the dust jacket we had limited edition prints, there was four or five that you could've gotten. On mine, I got a version which had the snake on it. I think the other ones you could've gotten was a moth, a tiger, a peacock, I know that I'm forgetting one or two, but I can't quite remember without looking online to try and find out.

Here, just look for yourself at how beautiful it looks.

Review: The Lost Years

The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As always when it comes to Mary Higgins Clark, I was drawn in instantly to the story line, kept glued to every page which left me not wanting to put it down at all. (Of course I did have too). From the very start of the book and until the end, it was a whirl wind adventure of murder and mystery and one sided relationships, a serious of unexpected twists just adds to the amazing talent Clark weaves in to her novels.

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We've all been there....

Haven't we?

I mean, we tell ourselves that we are going to be going on a book ban, and then we go and buy new books to add to our collection, to add to that pile of books in the corner of your room, or on a shelf, tucked away out the way so you don't trip over them. And yet we don't actually read them for a very long time...hell, I have books on my bookshelves that I have owned for over four years, maybe even longer that I haven't even read yet!

Atrocious, I know!

But on the bright side, I have plenty to choose from if I can't find anything to read at all. And as well, I'm pretty sure most of my books are second hand, over here in the UK, charity shops are amazing places to find bargains in. And not to mention, most of the time, the books look brand new, not a single crease within the pages or spines. Sure some others have been clearly, well read and loved and I love that too! To me, each crease in the spine of a book tells it's own story, so does the pages if there's stains and marks on them. I mean...who knows, one of those creases could've been someone reading the book during heartache, another could be from a moment when they read the book to escape reality, another could be from a moment the person shared the book with their friends, loved one or just someone they know.

To me, books aren't just paper, ink and glue. They are stories. They are a escape plan, a travel plan to another world. Books are a gift to a friend, a loved on, a stranger. They give the person, who is holding it in their hands a chance to explore another life time, another reality. Whether the reader is new to the book style, or someone coming back to it time after time, it's never going to stop making us feel alive when we read the words.

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.” 

― Stephen King

I can't really remember how old I really was when I first started reading, but I do remember my favorite book as a kid and that was 'A tiger who came to tea.' I loved it so much and read it so much that my mum had to tape the pages together because it was falling apart. I think I owned that book until I was around fourteen/fifteen and I finally had to pass it on during a clear out.

But it was a book that I have loved all my life and if I was to ever have any children, I think I would hunt a copy down and share it with them.

Well....who knew this blog post would have a life of its own. I had started writing it with the intentions of showing you guys the new books which I had brought today. August was actually meant to be a month of book ban for me, but it clearly didn't work out lol.  

But here, have some photos of the books that I brought.

I hope that you have had a great Monday, so, until next time guys, I'll see you around.

Does anyone else buy books just because of their covers?

Yes.

That is the answer to my own question, there has been many times that I have brought books just because I loved the cover art. The latest is a book called Ink. It's so beautiful and shiny! I think even a crow would want the book lol.
See for yourself:

And then we have a few other books that I've picked up just because of their cover art, but really, how can you not buy them? I mean, just look how pretty they look. It's like looking at a bookstore and deciding not to go inside if you don't buy them.