New Blog...

For anyone who happens to come across this, I decided to start a new blog called In The Stars Above, where I will talk about everything, not just books. I found this blog to be a little restricting because I could inly talk about books and I'm not reading enough lately for this to be enough. So head on over there for books, films, fashion and more.

Book Haul: December 2015

I received a Kindle this Christmas, as well as an Amazon voucher so I thought I would treat myself to a few books on the Kindle. Here are the books that I bought, and as a whole they came in under £15.

The Final Empire: Mistborn Book One by Brandon Sanderson

This is a fantasy novel that I have heard so much about on the book blogging universe, so I had to give it a go, seeing as fantasy is one of my favourite genres (not that you'd know if from this haul). From what I know, this novel is set in a world of magic that is ruled by some sort of evil. I don't know much more than that, so I'm looking forward to this.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

I'm getting into mystery novels recently, and this is a sort of young adult version which I thought would be a good introduction.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

This is a young adult contemporary novel about two best friends and the film they make for a dying girl that they befriend. Although this focusses a lot on depth, I've heard that it's actually pretty funny.

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

I don't know much about this book, but I think that's the point. It tells the story of one man's descent into mental illness, something that is often ignored in fiction, particularly fiction aimed at a younger adult audience.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Once again, I don't know a whole lot about this one. It's a historical novel with aspects of magical realism. It isn't anything like what I've read before, so I thought I would give it a go after hearing some good things.

Winter Break TBR

In a week, my Christmas holiday begins and I will be back home for about a month before university starts up again. Over that time, I want to get through several both, both for my studies and just for my own reading pleasure. So here are what I am going to try and get through.

1. Great Expctations by Charles Dickens

Part of my study of Victorian novels at university, this is a book that I've been wanting to read for ages but just haven't gotten round to it, so I'm glad to finally have something that will force me to read it.

2. A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

I heard so many good things about this book so I broke my book buying ban to purchase it, so this will be my Christmas read this year.

3. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

I'm also studying post-modernism at university, which is what this falls under. I don't know much about this, I think it has something to do with WWII but I'm not sure.

4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Another of my university reads for a unit on science fiction and dystopia, The Road is a book that I have already tried to read and despised. It took me three weeks to get to about 100 pages, at which point I gave up, but I really need to finish it now.

5. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I bought this a while ago when there was a lot of hype surrounding it, but then I head from various people that it wasn't worth the hype and so that put me off, but I have decided to give it a go for myself.

6. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Another Victorian novel, this is a bloody long book. I'm trying to listen to an audio book of this, but that also takes a long time.

7. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

I love Throne of Glass from the beginning, preordered Crown of Midnight, and then just haven't gotten round to reading this somehow. I want to catch up though, which is why I ahve put this on my TBR.

What books are on your TBR this festive season?

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

My Review: 4/5 Stars

Goodreads Average Review: 3.79/5 Stars

“Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.”

Never Let Me Go is generally described as a distopic novel, though I would say that it is an alternate world, coming of age, semi-romance novel. As you can tell by that description, this novel doesn't really fit into one category, and that it was I found so deeply interesting about this novel.While the skewed version of our world is a large part of this novel, this isn't science fiction. This focusses on the protagonist, Kathy, her friends Ruth and Tommy, and her memories of their time together. Generally, I prefer to know everything about a world such as this one, but I found Ishiguro's writing so hauntingly beautiful that I found myself more engrossed in Kathy's story. For me, this novel tells a story of mortality and morality. When your life expectancy is dramatically reduced, what actually remains important in the grand scheme of your life? What does it mean to be human, to have a soul?