Happy National Ice Cream Month! Cool off and enjoy the nation’s favorite frozen treat.
Duration July 1st – 31st
Rules Complete at least two tasks to get the vampire heart All genres welcome Rereads welcome No minimum page count You must read a different book for each task
Duration: 1st July – 31st July 2019 Number of books: 3 Hosted by:Bookworm Bitches
There are 3 tasks, you only need to read three books to finish this challenge. Or pick one task and read 3 books for that one task. Thank you Lori for help with the ideas!
Duration: 21st June – 22nd September 2019 Number of books: 10 Hosted by:Bookworm Bitches
Duration: June 21, 2019- September 22, 2019
Rules ~Books must be read during the selected time period. ~Post the date you finished the book. ~All books read for challenges can be used for more than one challenge. ~Books can be either Fiction or Non Fiction. Your choice.
Now that winter is starting to set in, I’m becoming very… nesty. It’s becoming more and more difficult to actually get anything productive done in the mean time. After all, it is disgustingly cold. Rainy. And just generally annoying…
Title: Because of Winn-Dixie Author: Kate DiCamillo Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Easy reading, Family Dates read: 23rd – 27th May 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Novel Publisher: Candlewick Press Year: 2000 5th sentence, 74th page: “I don’t know,” I told him.
When ten-year-old Opal Buloni moves to Naomi, Florida, with her father, she doesn’t know what to expect – least of all, that she’ll adopt Winn-Dixie, a dog she names after the supermarket where they meet. Before long, Opal and her father realize – with a little help from Winn-Dixie – that while they’ve both tasted a bit of melancholy in their lives, they still have a whole lot to be thankful for.
This was such a fun, easy and sweet novel. It would have
been amazingly easy to just read it cover to cover in one small afternoon, with
a big smile on my face (the only reason this didn’t happen is because I haven’t
sat still for an entire afternoon in a little while). India Opal, Winn-Dixie
and the Preacher are a great little family that so obviously needs help.
Actually, the whole rag tag bunch of characters that make up this story need a
bit of a helping hand. And I love that this comes in the form of a slightly unorthodox
and scraggly dog.
The underlying current of India Opal’s sadness at the loss
of her mother is a little heartbreaking and it winds its way throughout the
storyline so seamlessly. her own yearning to find a sense of belonging is
further backed by the melancholy that seems to haunt every character in this
story. Each and every person Winn-Dixie and India Opal come across are lonely
and feeling some kind of loss. Yet, it surprisingly didn’t make a sad story at
all. I was expecting a little bit of tragedy and an ending that would bring
tears to my eyes. I even had a box of tissues next to me when I was getting
close to the end…. There’s been very few stories I’ve read that feature a dog that
doesn’t end in some kind of tragedy. But this didn’t. that feel good, wholesome
vibe continued right the way through. And it was completely amazing.
This might not be the kind of story that I’m going to pick
up once a year for a nice, fun revisit. But it is the kind of story that I will
pick up again years down the track. When I need a reminder that not every tale
is tragic and that there is always hope in the world. That it doesn’t matter
how down life gets you, there is always something positive just around the
corner…
Miss Weinstein finds herself in a situation she just can’t get out of. Her worst nightmare. Repeating school when she cant make it to a test, is dressed in the worst clothes imaginable and is… well, fat. But things are about to get a whole lot worse…
I thought at the beginning of this story that it was nothing
more than a nightmare. After all, we’ve all had that dream where we can’t make
it to an exam, that everyone has turned on us and we just don’t quite fit in. Alright,
I’ve never dreamed that I’m wearing some weirdly disgusting clothing… but I can
imagine how that would fit into the whole school-nightmare theme that is
obviously going on here.
This short story doesn’t just play on our fears that seem to
come from high school… it also highlights the idea that your decisions affect
you. Every decision effects your potential future. The dumb things that you do
that are questionable… well, they can certainly come back to haunt you. And
throw you into a reality that you didn’t want to face… every day until the end
of eternity.
I wasn’t popular in high school. I also wasn’t unpopular.
But I never really wanted to be the homecoming queen and centre of attention… it
just seemed so boring. So I honestly can’t imagine signing away my soul for the
right to be the popular girl. Even if it was just in joke. This is the only
thing about this story that just doesn’t compute for me. Why would someone want
to be popular? Do anything to be in the centre of the crowd? As the story
unfolded and Miss Weinstein’s attitude became clearer and clearer, it was more
and more difficult to feel any kind of connection to her. More and more
difficult to feel like she was really worth saving at all…
Title: Coraline Author: Neil Gaiman Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Book to Film, Dark fantasy, Easy reading, Horror Dates read: 16th – 22nd May 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Novel Publisher: Harper Perennial Year: 2002 5th sentence, 74th page: “The one who says she’s you other mother,” said the cat.
In Coraline’s family’s new flat there’s a locked door. On the other side is a brick wall – until Coraline unlocks the door… and finds a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.
Only different.
The food is better there. Books have pictures that writhe and crawl and shimmer. And there’s another mother and father there who want Coraline to be their little girl. They want to change her and keep her with them….Forever.
Coraline is an extraordinary fairy tale / nightmare from the uniquely skewed imagination of #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman.
I picked up this book because I absolutely adored the movie.
Just seeing the title makes me want to watch the movie again and again and again.
Which meant that I was seriously hoping that the book would be just as good. I
was a little wrong. For starters, the book is so much creepier and horrifying than
the movie. For another thing. It was just better.
I really expected an easy, fun slightly twisted read when I
opened this book. After all, it is described as a children’s twisted fairy
tale. And it’s a tiny novel! I was wrong. So very, very wrong. I finished this about
10 o’clock at night… and then just lay there, imagining a creepy hand crawling
across the bed towards me in my sleep… I’m really not sure that I would have read
this when I was a child. And even if I did… I’m not sure that it would have
been a great idea. There are certain downfalls to having such a vivid
imagination…
As children, we all have moments when we feel that our
family just doesn’t care about us. That we belong somewhere else. And that it
could just be so much better if we just had someone who understood us more. Or
at least, I felt that way frequently throughout my childhood. I like that Coraline plays on this and gives us a
reality in which everything is far
more fantastic, fun and just plain exciting than the real world. But at a cost,
and it’s one that Coraline just doesn’t want to pay. After all, she realises
that real life just isn’t too bad after all…
Title: Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident? Author: Bruce Pascoe Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Australian authors, Indigenous Australians, Non-fiction Dates read: 14th – 19th May 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Novel Publisher: Magabala Books Year: 2014 5th sentence, 74th page: Sturt climbed one final dune and peered down onto the plain.
“If we look at the evidence presented to us by the explorers and explain to our children that Aboriginal people did build houses, did build dams, did sow, irrigate and till the land, did alter the course of rivers, did sew their clothes, and did construct a system of pan-continental government that generated peace and prosperity, then it is likely we will admire and love our land all the more.” – Bruce Pascoe
Pascoe puts forward a compelling argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer label for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticed plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating and storing – behaviours inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag.
I’ve been meaning to get to this book for ages. Good
intentions and all that. And once I picked this up… wow! It completely changed
my outlook on Indigenous Australians and their culture – pre Europeans. Alright,
I already had a lot of respect and fascination for these peoples, but after
reading all of the different aspects of their daily lives and existences… just,
wow.
Pascoe brilliantly
sets out his arguments for an agricultural and sedentary existence in Dark Emu. Each chapter is set out into different
aspects of this lifestyle and filled with examples, quotes and so many
different forms of proof. Unlike a lot of books I’ve read which use quotes to
back up their evidence, Pascoe
provides some great background information before imparting the words of
others. It feels less like information has just been spewed forth, and more like
the quotes were adding to his
information, instead of just complementing it.
When Dark Emu came
out, it was highlighted as a great outlook on a forgotten group of people, or
at least a group of people who, in Australian history are normally overlooked
and forgotten. But for me it was almost something more… it was a great way to immerse
myself in the ways that we use the land around us. I’m an ecologist and reading
about species and plants which I see in the field all the time, just not in the
same quantities. It gave me a much greater appreciation for the land and the
soil that I step on all the time. A greater appreciation for the world I live
in.
Title: Only Joseph Author: Sophie Hannah In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Contemporary, Crime Dates read: 16th May 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Borough Press Year: 2018 5th sentence, 74th page: We usually refer to ‘the problem’ or ‘the issue’.
She’s trying to find a new school for her troubled daughter. But when she comes across a conspiracy of murder and mayhem at a potential new place of education, things quickly spiral out of control.
Finishing off the I Am Heathcliff collection with this story worked surprisingly well. It took a modern take on Heathcliff’s stalkerish ways and also weaved in other themes of understanding, betrayal and appearances throughout the story.
The school setting made this an immediately relatable story.
Alright, there was never a murder at my school (although there was an exorcism
performed)… but the fact that a mother is searching for the best fit for her
child and is constantly concerned that she’s not doing the right thing by her is
touching. Not to mention a little frightening. I don’t have children, but now
the idea of trusting my potential future children to possible murderers, and
definitely people who don’t have the same concerns… it kind of gave me
goosebumps…
Title: Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds Author: Rick Riordan Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Companion Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Easy reading, Norse mythology, Urban fantasy Dates read: 17th – 18th May 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Collection Publisher: Puffin Year: 2016 5th sentence, 74th page: Having his hand eaten by Fenris Wolf while the other gods bound the beast with the rope Gleipnir
Dear Magnus Chase, Welcome to Hotel Valhalla! We hope you enjoy your eternal stay with us in the afterlife.
This is a guide to the gods, mythical beings and fantastic creatures of the nine Norse worlds – now your fellow guests.
There are stats, interviews, stories and anecdotes to help you avoid those awkward first introductions and make sure you never confuse a dwarf and an elf ever again.
Your story is just beginning, Magnus Chase. We hope you find this guide an entertaining companion on your adventures.
Hotel Valhalla is a great way to fill in the gaps that the storylines of the Magnus Chase novels just can’t fill. After all, they’re stories which follow a specific storyline. This hotel guide on the other hand isn’t a story, but a way to constantly give a background that you really don’t know you need until you read this collection.
Written with the typical Riordanhumour, Hotel Valhalla really brings some of the more distant characters of Norse mythology to life in a very satirical and dry way. It helps to pull you further and further into the storyline of the Magnus Chaseworld and, because of this, the moment I finished the last page I was sorely tempted to get out of my couch next and grab Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead. I didn’t because I had two dogs happily asleep on my lap, but believe me, it was a fight of temptation.
My main complaint about this book is that it wasn’t longer. I would have loved a lot more insight into the characters which make up this aspect of Riordan’sworld. But it still worked beautifully…
Earth and Skye 