Month: January 2018

How to read for less. #36

On By paperbackpeteIn Pete2 Comments

Hey everyone!

Today I wanted to write a quick blog post giving my three best tips on how to read books and not spend so much money doing it.

The idea of having to pay £7 on average for a book is perfectly ok with me because I understand that that is a fairly low cost to get hours of enjoyment and support literary craftspeople whilst I’m at it!

However I also know that feeling you get when you really want to just buy every book in Waterstones but you know that your bank account just can’t take it.

Thats why I took it upon myself to think of 3 semi-inventive ways of making reading cheaper.

#1 Start a Book-Swap

I’m sure you’ve already seen these at hipster cafés and cute cornish book stores but if not, I am here to enlighten you on the concept.

At your local school, college or even workplace simply proceed to round up a flock of like-minded bibliophiles, ask them each to bring in a book they enjoyed and then SWAP them with each other! It’s that easy, really.

If you can keep the swap up and make it a regular monthly thing then BINGO! You’ve got yourself a free new book every month.

You’re welcome.

#2 Speak to Authors

I don’t need to introduce you to Goodreads (If I do, who even are you?). As well as reviewing and finding out about new books this platform is a great way to read free literature from up and coming authors.

The method is simple: go to one of your favourite books’ goodreads page, look for similar choices, choose one of these similar choices that has far less ratings and then contact the author and find out whether they are giving away review copies! Usually you will, of course, actually have to review the book in payment for the free copy but who doesn’t love reviewing books anyway?

I have said before that often, indie authors’ work is of a lower quality. This isn’t because they are bad writers but instead because they lack editors and all the behind the scenes people that you get when your actually being published. Take this into account but don’t let it spoil your experience! There are loads of great free indie books out there waiting to be read.

#3 Form a Book Circle

I am coining the phrase ‘Book Circle’. It is mine now!

No, this is not the same thing as a book club although it does posses some of the same traits as one.

In fact, a Book Circle is a really social way of spending way less on books whilst still getting all the satisfaction of a good published novel.

Here is how it’s going to work:

  1. Round up three of your bookwormiest pals
  2. Convene in a safe alcove of your local bookstore
  3. Choose one book that you all want to read
  4. Proceed to argue about which book this will be for at least 25 minutes.
  5. Buy the agreed book but only buy one copy: each put an equal amount of money towards the book at the checkout!
  6. Form a rota of who is going to read the book first, second, third and fourth
  7. Allow one week of reading time for each of the four readers!
  8. Convene again at an agreed date by the end of the fourth week.
  9. Discuss opinions on the book and then allow whoever is first on the rota to keep the book for good: Next month’s book goes to person number two for good and so on!
  10. Enjoy reading cheap literature forever more!!

Those were my three tips on reading for less! I hope they help and I hope they give your bank account a well needed rest.

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth.

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgernstern

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review11 Comments

16180175

Goodreads | Amazon

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads: Opens at Nightfall Closes at Dawn. As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears. Le Cirque des Reves. The Circus of Dreams. Now the circus is open. Now you may enter.

I absolutely adored this book. I found it magical and beautiful, and I don’t know how anyone could not feel involved and enchanted by this book.

It’s been a year now since I found this one, and although it’s taken me a while, I’m so glad I finally got round to reading it! It’s not often that I find a book so heavily setting based, but it worked. It worked so well. It’s hard to describe what exactly I loved so much about this book. I just felt utterly captivated by it.

I can understand why people have called this book boring – but I think sprawling suits it much better. This book kind of needs a large collection of pages to explain itself completely. The plot can come across as so complicated, it works being revealed slowly.

“Secrets have power. And that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well. Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them.”

I felt so completely inside this book. That’s hard to describe, but it’s true. I felt so deeply involved with this thing that is the circus. And I think that’s why this book stands so far apart from many others, because I didn’t feel necessarily involved in the characters or the plot or any normal bookish things. But I felt involved in the circus, and for me, that was enough.

I would agree that this book is slow. But it’s slow in a relaxing, chilled way. It’s slow in a way that let me consume this book over weeks. This book isn’t without romance, but don’t go into it thinking you’re going to read a romance book. Actually, I would say this book is much more about love than romance. Love between people. Love between places. Love contained in letters sent across the globe.

“ Writing them down is worse, because who can tell how many eyes might see them inscribed on paper, no matter how careful you might be with it. So it’s really best to keep your secrets when you have them, for their own good, as well as yours.”

I don’t know what else I can possibly say about this book as I don’t feel I could possibly do it justice. This is an incredibly atmospherical read and I would highly recommend that if you like the sound of it, you should go and read it. And when you do, be prepared to be transported into a world that will completely and utterly enchant you.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

How to read more books. #35

On By paperbackpeteIn Pete3 Comments

Hey guys!

Todays blog post is going to be slightly different from the kind of stuff that I usually post.

I want to talk about books (obviously) and how to read more of them.

This is going to sound big headed (but I promise i’m not trying to be).

A lot of people ask me, how do you read so fast? or how did you finish that book so fast? and so I feel today, morally obliged, to share my 3 powerful tips with you so that all you bookworms out there who are constantly having internal battles regarding goodreads goals can stress no more!
Before I start with my tips I would like to mention that I wasn’t always a fast reader. In fact for a while the reason I didn’t enjoy reading was because of how slow a reader I was.

Tip Number One

-Don’t Set Goals

This might sound like a strange thing to do when everyone around you and everyone in the book community is talking about their goodreads goal but trust me, it works.

Think of it this way:

If you are stressing about achieving a book goal then every time you go to pick up a book you are going to have associated anxiety with the speed at which you are reading and the speed at which you are completing any given book.

Not only does this take away from the pleasure of the activity it also slows down your reading speed because you are putting active energy into worrying about how fast you are reading and so your thoughts are going to drift away more often therefore slowing your reading speed down. I know right?!! Who knew reading could be so ironic and sciency?

A Note to be mentioned

Just because I personally don’t find a reading goal helpful doesn’t mean they are not helpful for everyone! Goodreads is a wonderful platform and if you are still wanting to contribute to your reading goal maybe just total all of your logged books by the end of the year and make a post about them on your profile!

Tip Number Two

–Have a routine 

Lots of people ask how I can read so many books in a week but those same people are only reading once every 17 months anyway! For me, one of the most important ways of quickening your reading speed is ensuring that you are reading every day and if possible at the same time every day.

This not only creates a natural pattern for your mind – meaning you will be able to slow down easier and stop thinking so much ( a key to getting engrossed in a book ), you will also be able to be practicing your reading style regularly.

Just like any skill,  your reading is a muscle that, with proper use, will get better with time. Therefore it is important to go to that literary gym EVERYDAY and work out! I know this might sound really obvious but seriously try it out!

Tip Number Three

-Please, do your research

This is by far the most important of all the tips. Too many people waste hours and hours of their lives drudging through a book at a snails pace because they simply hate the plot.

If only they had done their research about the book prior to reading it then they would have known in the first place that they were going to hate it.

I am not talking about revealing every spoiler and reading a summary of every chapter before you turn the first page. Essentially I am asking you to be reading reviews, reading blurbs, watching book tube videos about said book and quite often in my case looking at star ratings! Many people in the book community believe that it is a huge literary no no to overlook a book because of how well it has done with the critics. Well let me just say this: It wouldn’t have gotten such a low star rating if it was as good as sliced bread!

It might sound like a mean casting off of new authors and books that got misunderstood but seriously: don’t read a book if it got one star on goodreads! (Once again I sound obvious but people need to realise that they don’t have to put up with crap literature!).

The conclusion and thinking behind this tip is simple: if you enjoy a book, you are going to read it faster!

Thanks for reading this strange and slightly bossy blog post.

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth!

 

Review: The Territory (#1) by Sarah Govett

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

24644285

Goodreads | Amazon

Limited Space requires Limited Numbers
The year is 2059. Noa Blake is just another normal 15 year old. Except in the Territory normal isn’t normal. The richest children can download information and bypass the need to study. In a flooded world of dwindling resources, Noa and the other ‘Norms’ have their work cut out to compete. And competing is everything – anybody who fails the TAA exam at 15 will be shipped off to the disease-ridden Wetlands, to a life of misery, if not certain death.
But how to focus when your heart is being torn in two directions at once?

I have been provided with a copy of the book and payment by the author in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my review in any way.

I started this book thinking it might take me a while to get into. Thinking it might be a little young and not something I’d usually read. But soon enough, I was picking this book up whenever I had a spare minute just to find out what was happening next.

Rather than this book being in chapters, it had a break every couple of pages and I loved that. It meant that I didn’t have to committ myself to sitting down and finishing 20+ pages, and that I could literally read this book whenever. And that’s one of the reasons I finished this one in under 2 days!

I also found the writing utterly captivating. Although this book read as though it would suit young teens, I still enjoyed it immensely. Because of this, the book was only 200 pages long and very easy to read, which I loved!

I adored the characters and world. The world had just enough relating to Earth as we know it to ensure I could picture everything clearly, but enough differences to make it stand completely on it’s own as something unique. And this book is just that – unique.

Noa lives in a difficult, dangerous and terrifying world and I felt I could really relate to her feelings. Her thoughts shone through incredibly in the writing and I felt her emotions clearly. Noa isn’t the only character I loved – this book actually has some really great side characters. I felt close to Noa’s friends and family and I felt everything they went through right along with them.

Overall, The Territory is intense, emotional and unique. It left me with tears in my eyes, and now I’m absolutely hooked and can’t wait to continue with the story! I would highly recommend this book for teens aged 12-16 and are readers of dystopia.

★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

 

All the Crooked Saints. Book Review #34

On By paperbackpeteIn Book Review, Pete1 Comment

Hi everyone!

I want to talk about a book that only came out in October and has been talked about non stop ever since!

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater is a YA magical realism novel that follows the Sorias, a family of saints living in the dusty part of Colorado that regularly receive pilgrims and regularly perform miracles. Everything is going smoothly until the family’s current saint, Daniel, runs away and leaves his two cousins Beatriz and Joaquin in a difficult situation that may or may not result in his eternal doom. Stiefvater’s newest novel looks at the science behind magic, the impracticalities of falling in love when you have a hole in your heart and the importance of family.

Ever since I read the first paragraph of the Raven Boys I have had infinite respect for Stiefvater as a writer and ATCS could very well have damaged that respect- I’m glad it didn’t!

Despite possessing such a fantastical plot, All the Crooked Saints is really a book about people and the relationships they build and tear apart. This hit home to me very early on simply from my reading of the characters themselves. Each are uniquely displaced in their own worlds and yet each of them manage to come together and act as a unit when the time comes. This is what I mean when I say that this book is about family: It is as though through ATCS Stiefvater is trying to remind her young audience how important it is to respect and value your loved ones even at a time in life when everything seems to be about ones self. The conversation that is had in this book about parents and family is an important one that too many Young Adult books forget to include (why is it that no one seems to ever have any parents in YA? Amirite?).

The topic of miracles and sainthood is very dangerous to talk about when catering to a mass audience because it borders subjects that are personal, like religion. Stiefvater, in my opinion, balances the line between the spirituality behind Saints and the fictional attributes she gives them so perfectly that I don’t think it could ever be argued that she was attempting to encourage any religious sect through her narrative. Rather, I feel that ATCS is a book of whimsy that is constantly tip-toeing the line between reality and the otherworldly; It is like a experiment being carried out by the author in front of the readers eyes at how much magic she can find in our boring old world.

Lastly I want to talk about language. Stiefvater, similar to writers like Claire North and April Genevieve Tucholke, writes about people and events as though they are songs or poems. Her work feels like some sort of grimoire and you can see this massively in ATCS. Every chapter feels parabolical and every line feels ornate. This hyper sensitive and transcendental way of writing is something that always makes me love a book and is certainly something that I could never describe in just one blog post. You will just have to read one of these author’s books to find out what i’m talking about!

All the Crooked Saints was a massive delight to read and I thoroughly recommend it to all of you.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth.

Review: Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

31368214

Goodreads | Amazon

Dash and Lily have been dating for nearly a year, but when Lily’s beloved grandfather falls ill, the repercussions take their toll on everyone. Even though they are still together, somehow the magic has gone out of their relationship and it’s clear that Lily has fallen out of love with life.
Action must be taken! Dash teams up with Lily’s brother and a host of their friends, who have just twelve days to get Lily’s groove back in time for Christmas.

I know, I know. It’s after Christmas, and here I am reading a Christmas book. Why? Because I found it on my shelf and knew if I didn’t read it now I’d have to wait another year! These books are pretty short and easy to read, so I knew I just had to do it.

And I actually really enjoyed this book. I’ve found other books by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan are not usually my favourites, but this is definitely the best I’ve read.

“The minute she left the apartment, I missed having her there.”

I like that this book was short, because I felt like I didn’t need any more. I love the Christmassy feel and Dash and Lily’s relationship. Emotions are explored and written about a lot, and I think the authors wrote about the sad situations in Dash and Lily’s lives were explained really well.

This book made me laugh out loud often, simply because it is so random sometimes. There were some very unexpected moments and it isn’t common for a book to make me laugh!

“But as with all loves, I supposed, the consolation was in the fact that she’d be back.”

I won’t say this book was without it’s problems, though. For a start, I kind of didn’t like Lily for parts of this novel. She’s just so…whiny. She seems so self-centered and really didn’t think about what was best for everyone else. I did feel like this improved throughout the novel, but it annoyed me at the start.

But I have to say, I enjoyed this novel. I felt that the authors talked about the progression of relationships in a relatable way, and although it was cheesy, it was just such an easy, enjoyable read.

★★★★
(3.5 stars)

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

 

Review: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

24685506

Goodreads | Amazon

Before the asteroid we let ourselves be defined by labels:
The athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever.
But then we all looked up and everything changed.
They said it would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we’d been, something that would last even after the end.
Two months to really live.

Happy New Year everyone! I welcomed in the new year with a quiet night in with my boyfriend, and honestly it was lovely. While we were away, I read We All Looked Up, one of the two books my good friend Pete gave to me for Christmas!

We All Looked Up follows four teenagers in the months before an asteroid hits Earth. It sounds unique, and I’ve heard good things. It’s a contemporary, with romance, and poetic words about the end of the world. What’s not to like?

Unfortunately, I found a few things to dislike. I wouldn’t go as far to say I’m not a fan of this book, or that I didn’t enjoy reading it, but it definitely wasn’t without its faults.

The good

Like I said, I did enjoy these books. I felt a connection to the characters and their ways and I loved the apocalyptic feel of the ever-changing world around them. Wallach explores the way the asteroid affects high school, shopping, eating out, prison and even gas stations. And it actually doesn’t seem unrealistic – because I think it’s grounded by the connection we have with our four narrators.

In some ways, I really liked having the viewpoint of four people – two women and two men. I think it gives every reader someone to relate to, and I definitely felt closer to one or two of them. I also really enjoyed Wallach’s writing, it’s so easy to read. I got through this book in a couple of days and I almost felt lazy reading it. The plot was steadily paced, and that made for a relaxing, laid back kind of reading.

“The best books, they don’t talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you’d always thought about, but that you didn’t think anyone else had thought about.”

The bad

Unfortunately, I did find faults with this novel. I may have liked the slow pacing of the plot, but it was just that – slow. I can’t overlook the parts that dragged without much happening at all. It’s the end of the world, let’s have some movement!

Even though in some ways I enjoyed having more than one narrator, you’re always at risk of having a little confusion. And I did feel confused in parts, because I don’t think Wallach defined his characters well enough. I realised around halfway through the book that I couldn’t actually picture any of them. I’m not looking for extensive descriptions, but just a bit of a mention would be nice. Something to help me imagine them – the only one I could describe for you would be Misery. However, I did like Eliza’s development and her interest in photography. It still doesn’t mean I can picture her, but at least she has some kind of defining feature. Something that makes her who she is.

I also have mixed feelings about the ending. I’m so conflicted, but it left me unsatisfied in some ways. I would have just liked something more definite. Something a little more solid and a little less mushy and poetic.

“You read them, and suddenly you’re a little bit less alone in the world. You’re part of this cosmic community of people who’ve thought about this thing, whatever it happens to be”

I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning, but something else stood out for me in this book. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing, because I don’t think Wallach really did a bad job…but I could tell this was written by a man. It just stood out to me when the female characters were talking about men, and it was nothing bad, but I just knew.

So there might be more bad than good here, but don’t read too much into that. The bad is always easier to write about, and even if there were faults, I can’t say I didn’t find this an enjoyable and interesting read.

★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |