Chaos Walking – Patrick Ness

I have a confession to make, I have never read a Patrick Ness novel. I have heard such good things and have bought some of his books with the intention of reading them… but I’ve never actually read one. I’ve not even cracked the cover of one. Is that bad? I do really want to read the Chaos Walking series though.

Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi

Again, never read anything by her despite seeing so many good things about her books on various blogs. This is another series I’ve been intending to read for quite a while, I will eventually get around to remedying this. The things is though, I didn’t even know what this series was about until I went and looked up the books on goodreads whilst writing this post. I have had these books on my TBR list for a while, but I think I must have bought them without ever looking at the blurb… oops?

Paper Gods – Amanda Sun

On this one I am guilty of mostly wanting to read this series purely for the book covers. They are just such pretty books covers, I have a thing for ink and watercolour images so the artwork appeals. It isn’t the only reason, thankfully, the fact the book has Japan as a setting and that the books are something different is also a major plus point. The series is one I continually see and then look past, I’ll have to change that.

Midnight Thief – Livia Blackburne

I admit, I forgot this book was even on my TBR list, but after browsing goodreads for book series I want to read I stumbled across it and suddenly remembered that this is in fact a book I was dying to read when I first read the blurb. The book appeals to me with the whole assassin thing, the whole fantasy thing, just it appeals okay.

The Mapmakers Trilogy – SE Grove

I bought this book after seeing the beautiful pictures of the cover posted by Kelly at Oh The Books. I then added it to me TBR pile and… I didn’t forger about it… I just found other books I wanted to read more. This is often a place that many a book goes in my life. I know I will eventually get around to reading it, but it is debatable how long that may be. This has just reminded me how much I want to read it. And read it I will.

The Queen Of The Tearling – Erika Johansen

This is another book bought simply based on the positive things said in the blogosphere. I’ve barely looked at the bio, but I want to read it. I know Emma Watson has been cast in the film adaptation, I love that girl, what more do I need to know about the book than that? Okay, so having an idea of what it’s about would help, but I’ll learn that when I pick it up to read…right?

Gates of Thread and Stone – Lori M Lee

This book sounds good, I’m not sure how much, but the plot intrigues me enough that I definitely hope to pick it up when I get a chance.

The Malediction Trilogy – Danielle L Jensen

This is a book I almost forgot adding to my TBR shelf, it wuld be one of many. Luckily for me this weeks theme led me to search out series wherever I could find them. As you can tell from my list, so far, I am a fan of fantasy. It tends to be the main genre that draws me into to reading a series. I know there are plenty of none fantasy series, but it’s my weakness, even if I don’t always remember to finish (or start) to read a series.

A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J Maas
Am I allowed to include this in my list? Well, I’m doing it anyway. After reading Throne of Glass I was eager to read anything and everything which Sarah J Maas had written, ever, so I went immediately to her website where I saw a link to another book series she was writing. I was, obviously, excited thinking she had another series she had published already, sadly, that was not the case. I was eager to read a series which was not even written and published, it was upsetting to say the list. It is most definitely one of my most eagerly awaited new series, but sadly it is not being released into mid way through next year. I will wait, I have little choice really.

Brilliance Saga – Marcus Sakey

I bought the first book like a year ago after reading about it on buzzfeed and I don't know why I haven't started it yet. It’s just sat on my kindle waiting to be read, then when I saw the second book was out and on offer in the kindle store, I bought that as well. Essentially, I need to start this series because I keep buying the books and not reading them.

I want to stick on the theme of travel my discussion post this week. This is in fact a discussion post I thought of whilst I was on holiday in New Orleans, I was on a river boat, one of those with the paddle thing, and I just randomly started thinking about how New Orleans was very different to what I expected in many ways. I’ve read books where the city features, I’ve seen TV shows and films with it in, but nothing really prepares you for actually visiting a place.

I’m not a great traveller, I’ve not really been all that any places. I know people will think that because I live in England I will be able to relate to all those books set in London, but I am not a fan of London as a place (probably because I’m British and didn’t grow up there, that place definitely appeals to foreigners and those who who are originally from there) and so avoid it at all costs, so I actually don’t know the city at all. When I read books most places are completely unfamiliar to me and so I can fully take the author at their word about what a place is like. It’s great when you can do that, immerse yourself in the authors descriptions and accept them at face value.

Does knowing a place or setting affect your experience of a book though? I mean, is a welcoming, like seeing a place you know so well give you the warm and fuzzies, or does it make you critical as you expect the author to get it right?

As I said, I’m not a great traveller and I don’t usually see a place feature in a book that I’ve been to before because, surprisingly, there aren’t that many books which I read that are set in the West Midlands. I only get the experience of going to places after reading about them in books. So, I’m always visiting places with certain expectations of them, having read about them and felt like I’ve visited them already.

I think that’s sort of what happened with my experience in New Orleans, it wasn’t disappointing, it was awesome, but I had this whole romantic image of the place. I imagined lots of cool and quirky shops and bars and of small side streets and historical buildings and amazing architecture and what I witnessed was tourism. There were people from all over, there were bars appealing to people wanting cheap drinks and a good time. Everywhere you went you saw people trying to show you the classic New Orleans experience, but the one everyone hears about of Mardi Gras and that, and it wasn’t what I expected.

I think when you read about a place in books you are getting the locals experience, and also there is such a thing as creative license. You get a romantic view so whatever you see cannot fully match your expectations. I loved my time in New Orleans, but from everything I’d seen and read about the place, it was surprising how different my time was there than what I expected. I think that’s what I’m getting at, have you ever read about a place and felt like you knew it, and then visited and had it be completely different to your expectations?

Tell me about your experiences of books and places you know featuring in them, I’d love to hear your thoughts because this post is essentially my rambles, my unfiltered thoughts really.

A Little Something Different – Sandy Hall

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult

My Rating:

The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together. Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out.  But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship.

Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together....

This book completely met my expectations in many ways, but it was also completely different to what I expected. I expected that you’d get some of the main characters viewpoints mixed in with the various onlookers to their blossoming relationship, but you didn’t. I expected various viewpoints, I didn’t expect to witness Lea and Gabe’s romance from the perspective of a bench or a squirrel. I expected the book to be slow and the romance slow to happen, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so slow and frustrating.

 

I loved this book despite the things that I didn’t like. I may have felt that it was a bit pretentious the various viewpoints, with the squirrel and the bench viewpoint. It did feel like I was reading someone's homework for Creative Writing where they were demonstrating their excellent ability to write from various perspectives about the same events and demonstrate how perspective can alter your perception of a scene, or something equally intellectual sounding. Yes, that book is a bit like that, it’s different though. I think the fact that the actual thing you are getting various perspectives on is a couple and their blossoming romance helps to make the pretentious side of things such a none issue. If this book wasn’t a contemporary romance I would have found it irritating, but because of what it is and how it’s written and what it’s about you don’t care, because it just comes across as sweet. That is the sign of a good author. An author who may have realised how this book could come across and combatted that issue by writing about something so many love to read about, life and love.

 

As a whole, this was a fun and enjoyable read. The characters were likable enough that I could ignore the flaws. I liked watching the romance from everyone's varying perspectives and was as eager as everyone else to see something happen. It was fun and filled an enjoyable couple of afternoons.

I just saw Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner doing this, and remember a while back Addison over at Of Spectacles and Books also did it, as did Amanda, and I remember when I saw her post then that I wanted to try this at some point. So, since it seems to be a thing everyone is getting in on, and since I’ve been gone for a little while this is a perfect way to catch up.

 

If we were having coffee… I would tell you about how I read A Little Something Different and absolutely loved it and try and force it upon you in anyway possible. It would be brought up repeatedly in conversation until you realised that, actually, this is a book you have wanted to read all along. Because that’s what I do with my friends, force them to read books I like, buying them as gifts at birthdays and holidays because you must read things always.

 

If we were having coffee… I would tell you how embarrassed I am at my current TV viewing habits, I now watch Eastenders and X-Factor! X-Factor was bad enough TV viewing because none of the judges really know what they’re talking about, they’re only in it for the money, but yet it’s mandatory viewing each weekend, I even record it in case I’m out. Eastenders though, that is a big embarrassment, I’ve never really been a soap watcher, there was a phase of me watching Hollyoaks when I was at uni, but I also watched Jeremy Kyle at uni, so I don’t feel that can really reflect accurately upon me as a person. Eastenders has Danny Dyer in being hilarious and I’ve started rooting for Shirley and booing at Sharon and I’m getting really into it, it’s weird.

 

If we were having coffee… I’d tell you my poor TV viewing habits can be redeemed by the fact I am also watching The Leftovers and Legends on TV, so I am not a complete TV embarrassment, just a small one. I would also tell you all about these TV shows to get you to watch them, because as well as being a book pusher, I’m a TV show pusher as well.

 

If we were having coffee… I would get serious as well and tell you that I’m really beginning to not enjoy my job. It’s never been something I loved, but I didn’t mind being there each day. I knew what my job involved and I did it, but there have been changes at work in the past couple of months. People have left, some have been or will be replaced, but one on our team hasn’t been, so our work load has increased. I don’t mind the extra work, that’s not the issue, the issue is that there doesn’t seem to be any appreciation that we are having to do more work, there is no offer of any extra benefits or a pay rise, we just have to do it because it’s a job that has to be done and we’re the only ones able to. It’s the fact that others teams in our department are struggling, just like we are, but as they’re struggling we’re being asked to train in their jobs and help them do their work, whilst I’m left wondering where’s the assistance for us, we’re struggling too why isn’t this going both ways? We’re being asked to help with others peoples jobs, but I know when it gets to the end of the month the managers will be asking why we’re behind in our work for the month and all we’ll be able to say is that we’ve been asked to do other jobs, we can’t be in three places at once. Sorry, this has been a bit of a rant and I could go on longer, but you get the idea, right? Work is getting me down because I feel underappreciated.

 

If we were having coffee… I’d tell you I don’t know what I want to be doing in life and it’s scary. I’m 23 and I have a degree but I don’t think I want a career where I will be continually climbing the ladder trying to get higher and get more money and responsibility. I want to work somewhere I clock in on a morning, do my job, have a couple of people I can chat with and have a laugh with whilst doing it, then clock out at the end of the day and not think about it again until I’m back the next day. I know that’s very uninspiring, I have myself a degree which I am doing nothing with, but that’s my choice isn’t it? When I tell people that though, they’re surprised, shouldn’t I be in a graduate position managing people and earning £30000 a year plus benefits? The idea of doing something like that terrifies me and makes me a bit sick, I don’t understand why there is this expectation for people to get educated and get a career. There’s more to life than money and a job, but sometimes I feel like I’m not even getting that right.

 

If we were having coffee… I’d tell you I’m scared my blog might not last the year. Since I went away on holiday and then with my internet going down I’ve had a month off from blogging and I’m finding it hard to get back into the swing of things. With things annoying me at work I’ve certainly been less motivated to blog, and with the internet being down I’ve obviously been no where near my computer in about three or four weeks, so all in all it’s been a bad month of blogging with September being a none blogging month essentially.I know once I start getting back into some kind of blogging routine I should be fine, but I’m not known for persevering with things so I do sometimes worry one day I’ll stop blogging because I feel a bit unmotivated and then just never come back.

 

If we were having coffee… I’d tell you I’m scared of growing up. I know I’m only 23 so it’s not like I’m a real adult or anything, I mean I still live at home with my mom, not very grown up is it? Last week one of my friends was talking about the future and about moving out and she was talking to me about how her and her boyfriend were saving for a house and she was thinking about mortgages and real grown up things and it terrified me. I can’t afford to move out, I’m saving to, but I know with the job I have now I earn no where near enough money to qualify for any kind of decent mortgage and that scares me. I’m scared that I’m even thinking about mortgages and having to get a better paying job to support myself, because I don’t want to be that person. I’m only thinking of getting a better job so I have more money. Money to buy a house with, because that’s what is expected, but I don’t even know what I want to do in life. I might want to travel, because I’ve never been anywhere really. I want to experience things before I have to be tied down to paying a mortgage and owning a hose, but I can’t save to travel and move out at the same time because of money. And that’s worse, everything is coming down to money at the moment, and I hate that and don’t know how to get out of that frame of mind.

 

If we were having coffee… I would tell you how I hate being so serious and just want to have a little fun. I’d tell you how I sometimes feel like I’ve skipped a few years, I didn’t embrace being a teenager and my early twenties enough and don’t feel like I’ve experienced all the things you meant to have at this point in my life. I’d tell you how I want to let my hair down and have fun but I feel like I forgot how. I’d also tell you that I enjoy being me, and like sitting in my pyjamas being lazy after work, but it sometimes feel like I should be doing more with my life, but I’m happy so I shouldn’t beat myself up.

 

If we were having coffee… I’d ask you how things are with you, because after that therapeutic rant you should get the chance to air your problems too. How are things with you? Have you read a good book recently? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.