The luminaries review

The Luminaries is pretty hefty coming in at 832 pages long but if you love big books and especially historical fiction, this is perfect for you.

The story is a mystery set in the gold mining town of Hokitika, on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand back in 1866.

One man is found dead, another is missing, and a working girl is found unconscious in the middle of the road plus there is $4000 of gold found in the dead man’s hut and a previously unknown wife who arrives to claim it.

Walter Moody arrives in town and finds himself in the confidence of twelve men in the back room of a local bar on the evening he arrives. They all have their own suspicions as to what has happened to the missing man, the dead man and where the money has come from.

I picked up this book because:-

1. It had won the Man Booker prize 

2. I liked the idea of a reading a historical fiction set in New Zealand, as I hadn’t read one before.

3. I’m trying read as many of the big books of 2013 as I can.

4. I liked the description of the book

5. I had read many good reviews

From the beginning of the book, I was hooked on the various mysteries.

I found the characters and the descriptions of the country very compelling. 

There are quite a few characters and a lot of overlapping storylines but it was laid out in such a way that I never got confused. 

Every time I thought I’d solved the mystery, there was another part of the story still to be told by someone else that changed everything.

I got a bit confused by all the astrological bits at the front of each chapter, so I ignored them and found doing so did not impact on the story at all! 

Though I did love the little teaser of what was to happen at the beginning of each chapter.

I do normally struggle with big books; however, I was so absorbed in everyone’s story that I didn’t notice the length of this book at all.

So I would say, try this book, even if you are afraid of big books because it’s worth it!

Welcome to Night Vale

If you are looking for a new podcast, you really need to download Night Vale - it's brilliant! I love walking to work, on a sunny day, listening to the updates about this dark, mysterious, basically creepy town!

Night Vale community radio updates us twice a month with all the comings and goings of Night Vale, a small desert town in the USA. This town, though, is a little bit different to others. There is a non-existent dog park, secret police, a beautiful scientist called Carlos who has everyone under his spell and you do not want to get on the wrong side of the community radio bosses, it could end very badly for you. 

I was in instant fan as I love anything creepy and a little bit weird! I'm not sure what that says about me though!

I found this through the Bookrageous podcast, another podcast I would recommend as well to book lovers.

New geek shirts arrived-woo hoo!!

I was never a t-shirt kind of girl until I discovered ThinkGeek. And no, this is not a sponsored post!! I'd found all these cool t-shirts related to my favourite shows, so my Xmas wishlist last year was on ThinkGeek. 

I've now discovered Redbubble and Threadless too which have awesome t-shirts from many different artists.

So guess what my Xmas list is going to be this year! More t-shirts of course!

3 t-shirts have just arrived today, that takes my geek tops total up to 8. For some reason I got 2 Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock t-shirts last Xmas!

 T-shirts already owned

my work t-shirt - awesome boss or what!!

Intolerably Stupid-Jane Austen quote

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal

What girl doesn't want all the Doctors on her chest!

Christopher Ecclestone was mine!

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock

T-shirts on this year's Xmas list!

glow in the dark-cos that's always cool!

River is scary cool!

Second scary thing after River!

Enough said!

Such a beautiful picture and my dream!

The Guild artwork from Jeminabox

Aren't they always-great art
from Jeminabox @ redbubble

Been gone a while!

I've been gone since May due to a big trip overseas (mainly to see my sister's new baby, who graciously waited until the day after I arrived in the UK to go into to labour-excellent timing Tree-Frog!) and moving house but I'm back now and can't wait to get back into blogging again!

I logged back onto Glipho for the first time in 5 months to discover that back in May, the lovely rubyeclipse had included me in her nominations for the 'The Lovely Blog Award'. I'm not sure if I'm too late to return the favour or if this is a continuous thing, just in case I will post separately on that on Glipho.

I am full speed ahead with reading, and I have discovered some of the great books released over the last year are available at my library-that'll save me some dosh now we have a house to decorate!

I've read 2 books since Thursday, one of which I have just posted a review about prior to this post.

I'm just about to start reading Burnt Ice by Steve Wheeler, which is a science fiction novel, the first one in a trilogy called A Fury of Aces. This is the blurb from Goodreads 

"A superb space adventure from a fresh new voice.
In our future worlds the Administration rules the Sphere of Humankind, the Games Board sanctions and funds wars and conflicts, and the Haulers' Collective roams the space routes like the caravanners of old.
Marko and his crew of fellow soldier-engineers are sent to investigate an unknown planet. When they encounter strange artefacts and an intelligent but aggressive squid species, they are forced to embark on a perilous journey far from the Sphere.
They will have to survive not only other alien encounters but also their own Administration's deadly manipulations.
Political factions and galactic media moguls vie for power ... and money."

Sounds good right?!

Review: In The House Upon The Dirt Between The Lake And The Woods by Matt Bell

I had seen this book mentioned quite often since its release and always in a positive light, so I thought I would see what the fuss was all about. Though I didn’t actually know what the book was about.

Sometimes I like starting a book with no prior knowledge, especially as some blurbs can be misleading and I have been very disappointed before now because I read a book based on the blurb.

The library did not have a long queue of customers waiting for this book, I guess my area haven’t heard about it yet, therefore it arrived within 2 days of me requesting it and I dove straight into it.

Immediately I was captured by Bell’s writing style, so unique, lyrical, visceral, like he wrote exactly as he was thinking with no restraints of correct form or structure.

“Beneath the unscrolling story of new sun and stars and then-lonely moon, she began to sing some new possessions into the interior of our house, and between the lake and the woods I heard her songs become something stronger than ever before. I returned to the woods to cut more lumber, so that I too might add to our household, might craft for her a crib and a bassinet, a table for changing diapers, all the other furnishings she desired. We labored together, and soon our task seemed complete, our house readied for what dreams we shared - the dream I had given her, of family, of husband and wife, father and mother, child and child - and when the earliest signs of my wife’s first pregnancy came they were attended with joy and celebration.”

However, his writing style wasn’t just lyrical, it was so descriptive, so rich, bringing strong, vivid images to your mind, like the one below that made me a little nauseous!

“Into my body I partook what my wife’s had rejected, and while she buried her face in the red ruin of our blankets I swallowed it whole-its ghost and its flesh small enough to have in my fist like an extra finger, to fit into my mouth like an extra tongue, to slide farther in without the use of teeth - and I imagined that perhaps I would succeed where she had failed, that my want for family could again give our child some home, some better body within which to grow.”

and this one that is a perfect example of Bell’s descriptions throughout the book that bought forth many horrifying images into my head!

 “The bear that stood before me now stomped unsteadily on its meat-thin limbs, its fur-torn, bone-sprung body led wobblingly forward by its squared head, that skull burst through tearing skin of face and snout. Orbital bone gleamed bright around the jaundice eyes  it was meant to protect, those spheres drooped upon distressed tendon, sleepy on frayed muscle, and my eyes roved mad too, took in all its shape, its stomping stance, its claws flexing free of its threatening paw. It’s voice tore from its lungs, the sound of that roar so fierce it stumbled me even before the bear tensed its body forward, ready to lean into the angry first step of its charge – and as it roared again I heard its true voice for the first time, a speech like no other.”

I could not stop reading because the writing drew me into the story in such a way that I could feel the husband’s pain, smell the rotten flesh, fear the dark as if I was him or inside him, like his fingerling son.

If I got distracted reading this, I would be surprised by my surroundings which, I feel, is always a sign you are thoroughly enjoying yourself!

I was nearly finished with this book and quite prepared to say that this is a magnificent piece of work, however, there is one thing that stops me from saying that. The story did drag on a little bit towards the end, and I’m probably not quite clever enough to fully grasp exactly what the writer was trying to say, so I felt a little confused by the ending.

I would read this book over and over again though as I just am so in love with his writing style and am hugely envious!

Science Fiction and Fantasy Bookclub in the Brisbane area

I work at TLC BOOKS in Manly, QLD and I run the Science Fiction and Fantasy Bookclub. I'm not sure if there are any similar bookclubs in the Brisbane area so I thought I would post here what our bookclub is about and the contact details. 

Please pass it on if you know anyone who's looking for something like this.

We are next meeting on Friday 24th May to discuss what books we've read over the last few months and agree on the books we will be reading over the rest of the year.

"High Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy, Science Fiction and Science Fiction & Fantasy Classics, these are areas we are going to cover in our Sci-Fi & Fantasy book club this year.
We’ll be choosing classics from the 19th century all the way up to new releases from across all the sub genres of science fiction and fantasy.
So whether you like Asimov, Kim Stanley Robinson, Joe Abercrombie or Veronica Roth or you just want to broaden your sci-fi & fy minds, hopefully we’ll have something come up over the year that you would like to read.
The book club will meet at Manly Pizzeria on a designated day each month so keep an eye out in store or on our website or Facebook for the up to date bookclub dates. If you wish to attend then you just need to pick the book up from us with 10% off and confirm you attendance the day before so we can book a table."

If you have anymore questions, please contact TLC BOOKS
on 07 33935130
or info@tlcbook.com.au
or send a message via
https://www.facebook.com/TLCBOOKS,
or https://twitter.com/bellabookgirl

Star Trek: Into Darkness Review *beware of spoilers*

I was extremely lucky to be offered a free double pass to the preview of the new Star Trek movie, thanks to the Queensland Star Trek Fan Club.

Of course, I would have gone anyway, being a Trekkie but it was a lovely treat to go free along with other huge fans!

As I watch the 2009 Star Trek movie plus a few episodes of DS9 and Voyager at least once a month, I was a little pessimistic about this new movie living up to its predecessor.

So here we were, all sat in this lovely cinema (which was really quite posh compared to my usual movie theatre-no sticky floors nor did it smell damp), 3D glasses on, all highly anticipating what Abrams has done to the second movie, who Benedict Cumberbatch (my vote was for Section 31 to be involved-high 5 to me!) was really playing and whether we were going to be on the edge of our seats or not.

First thing I noticed was that the movie was really dark compared to the first movie, though if I took off my 3D glasses, I noticed it was a lot brighter, so that annoyed me a lot! Definitely don’t bother with 3D, not that much crack, though I’ve never been a fan of 3D anyway. I always find it extremely overrated.

Then it got straight into the action, and it never stopped.  I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole movie, much to my hubbie’s annoyance, and my blood pressure was sky high all the way through.

And a bonus to the beginning of the movie was old Mickey from Doctor Who-loved seeing him! (which reminded me, I really must watch his movie, Storage 24)

The storyline was interesting with lots of little twists, though I could quite easily have done without Carol Marcus. She was completely pointless, not a great actor and there was no chemistry whatsoever between her and Kirk, I’m hoping for her and Bones to get together instead!!

I felt poor Chekov got a bum deal in this movie, bless his little Russian ass!

I quite enjoyed the relationship between Spock and Uhuru and that it was not overplayed, which was great. It showed the respect they have for each other’s abilities and the Federation. By that, I mean, even when their lives were in danger, they trusted each other and what was meant to happen, was meant to happen. There were no, ‘I must jump out of this airlock and risk my life or the ship to rescue him/her’ issues (that came from the other love in Spock’s life instead!), that there usually is in this kind of working relationships in movies and tv series (such as Dax and Worf in Change of Heart).

For some reason, even though I loved the character, John Harrison, I did think, they underplayed him a little. I mean, I know he had quite a bit of action and there was some great badness and some lovely moments of humanity but it just didn’t ring right at the end when he tried to kill them even after they gave him what he wanted. It seemed like an unnecessary thing for someone who so much empathy earlier, to kill a crew who helped in when they themselves were incapacitated.

I did love the Spock/Kirk moment towards the end, I had my Vulcan salute ready and waiting, because, sadly, I could see it coming-boo, many tears….

Unfortunately, I could also see the end of the movie coming a mile off too, which was disappointing.

Despite all the things that annoyed me though, there was far more that I adored and I will definitely be buying this on blu-ray (2D of course) and having a Star Trek (new timeline)-a-thon every month!

book reviews-many!!

I know, I've been a bit slack lately with reviews! Sorry! 
So here are some of the books I've read in the last couple of months.

The Age of Miracles By Karen Thompson Walker

A few customers came in looking for this or recommending it, so I felt I really should give it a go.

Well, I have to say, I was quite disappointed really, and I think it’s my own fault. I expected a dystopian style novel, only for it to be a coming-of-age-in-time-of-disaster type of novel instead. Very Judy Blume-ish.

In that vain, it did a great job, though the main character seemed a lot older than her 11 years of age, to me anyway.

I thought the author portrayed the way humans are likely to cope with a situation like this very well, though a little exaggerated. I don’t really think there would be such a divide between the 2 ways of life i.e. living with a 24 hour clock or with the sunset/sunrises, or I have more faith in human nature than her!

However, as I said, it did what it said on the packet and in a successful way.
Another book to recommend to the teenage girls today who are loving their dystopian/coming-of-age novels

Shades of Grey By Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde has an odd mind, that’s what I kept thinking all the way through this book!

To invent a world where our class/position in life is determined by the colours we see, is an odd concept to come up with but because of the incredible detail he went into with this world, it works! 

There were many little things in the book that made me laugh, and even more that made me yell out ‘What!!’ much to my hubby’s annoyance!

The storyline itself is fairly dull, but it’s the world the characters inhabit that makes this book so much fun to read.

If you enjoy a little bit of silly with your books every now and then, this is definitely worth a read.

Shatter Me By Tahereh Mafi

I had this book on my shelf for quite a while before I read it. I bought it because I thought the blurb made the book sound interesting.

I wasn’t disappointed. From the start, I adored the way the author wrote, the way she portrayed this girl and her broken mind, how she’d coped being locked away from any human contact for nearly a year. As the book went on with the main character having more and more contact with the outside world, she slowly got better and better at coping with reality and the many people she came in contact with. She was strong and fought back when she had to so she could survive.

I also loved that the author didn’t forget what the girl went through, that the fears never truly left her.

I can’t wait to pick up the next book in the series.

If you love dystopian teen fiction, this is a series for you.

The Things We Never Said By Susan Elliot Wright

*SPOILERS*

I was sent this book by the publishers as a possible book club book.

It arrived and I was very excited-my first reading copy! It had a lovely cover and I thought the blurb about a past and present life intertwining sounded very intriguing.

So I sat down with this book with a great deal of anticipation. I read this book very quickly as I wanted to know why Maggie was in the psychiatric ward and how it related to Jonathon. However, I have to say, whilst I thought the story was good, I felt a little flat after reading it. I’m not sure if it’s because Maggie and Jonathon needed more depth or the story did. I also got a little annoyed at the fact that if Jonathan’s wife couldn’t handle the obvious stress he was under, how was she going to cope with a baby?

Also Maggie seemed to be doing a great job of raising her twins, then later in the book, she says that she was a terrible mother but that just didn’t come across to me at all.

So whilst it’s a book that I would recommend as a light read, I wasn’t entirely convinced my bookclub group would like it.

The Casual Vacancy By J K Rowling

Of course I heard about this book before it was even released, we all did. I just did not seem to be able to get around to reading it until now. No particular reason, I knew it would be in a completely different vain to Harry Potter of course, so it wasn’t that, I think I just didn’t have time to fit in such a large book amongst my already huge reading list!

Once it was released, the vast majority of readers of this book seemed to fall into 2 categories, those that loved it and those that hated it. I did wonder if that’s because most of them really did expect a Harry Potter style of writing and were just disappointed but I couldn’t comment until I read it.

Well, I have read it now and I loved it! The descriptive style of writing that she developed through Harry Potter is very evident is this book and sometimes to it’s detriment but aside from that, it is a wonderfully written piece of literature that shows an honest and comical take on a small English town. Being English myself and having grown up in a small town, I felt she did a brilliant job of capturing the attitudes of the men and women who live there (myself included, though I’m not saying what traits of mine those were!) as well as the attitude to council estates and the populace who abide in them.

I adored all the characters and couldn’t put the book down until I knew what would happen to them all. I laughed out loud on many a train ride, much to the disapproval of fellow train passengers and also cried like a baby a couple of times, though luckily not in public!

I felt Rowling must surely be a fan of Roddy Doyle as I did feel the style of writing in some places was very similar to his.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Roddy Doyle, A.M. Holmes even Michael Chabon.

My Life as a Traitor By Zarah Ghahramani

This is a beautifully written memoir full of fascinating facts about the history of Persia, quotes from many wonderful Persian poets and fables tied in with the brutal honesty of Zarah’s experience in prison. What made the book for me was Zarah’s account of how she emotionally coped with the torture, how she quite easily backed down and was happy to give them whatever they wanted, which know we would all do in the same situation, just to make it all stop. She thought she was weak but in reality, I felt she was incredibly strong for not just lying down and giving up. I finished this book with a realisation, which I must admit I’d never thought about before, of how lucky I was to be born where I was.
How lucky to have been able to wear pink shoes or say what I think or wear what I like without worrying about retribution.

Too many books

I really do have this problem!

I now have books stacked up against other books thereby destroying my once beautifully organized shelves. Eventually, I'll end up with books on the floor again. Time to head off to Ikea again I think!

I guess I should stop soon before I run out of wall space but there are just too many good books to read and more being released every month.

I suppose some people would recommend a ebook reader thingy to keep the piles down somewhat but I just can't enjoy a book in digital form.
I have tried, I read Jane Eyre, or tried to but halfway through I picked up a paper copy instead.

So, either I get help for my book shopping addiction or I buy more shelves!!!

Oblivion - review

We went to see Oblivion on Sunday night with much skepticism and no idea what the movie was about.

I'm generally not overly impressed with mainstream science fiction movies and, well, Tom Cruise was not really helping those expectations any!

Well, I was pleasantly surprised.

It started off nice and slow, introducing Victoria and Jack and Sally, plus the world they inhabit, but you still had the nice little hints that things aren't quite what they seem.

Then the action picked up, Julie arrived, and things got really exciting. 

Plus there was the unexpected bonus of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau , aka Jamie Lannister, popping up midway through the movie!

I was engrossed from start to finish and thought it was a brilliant story line. 

By the end of the movie, I was praying the graphic novel by the writer, Joseph Kosinski, had been released so I could read it only to be brutally disappointed that it hadn't!

This is definitely a science fiction movie I'll be watching again and I recommended it to anyone who loves action, even if you are not a big sci-fi fan.

The Last Bookshop - a short film

Shelf Awareness shared this link to a short film called The Last Bookshop, written by Richard Dadd (who co-directs with Dan Fryer), features Alfred Hoffman and Joe Holgate and "imagines a future where physical books have died out." 

According to the filmmakers, "We wanted to contribute to the cultural debate with our own celebration in support of these glorious independents and their shelves of treasures. So with the help of some remarkable independent bookshops, and a lot of talented friends, we have been able to make our idea for The Last Bookshop into a reality. We hope you enjoy this film and share it with your friends...."

The beginning of the movie shows a world that is not that hard to imagine, no shops left and everything is online. A boy's screen has busted, he doesn't know what to do with himself so takes ends up wandering the streets. Everything is boarded up and you can tell it's just normal for him, all these boarded up shops. 

He then discovers a bookshop, that's open and is confused by all the books, he's obviously never seen any before. 

Now that's a scary thought, that our kids may get to a point where they've never read a book made out of paper! That they might not even know how to open a book.

Anyway, regardless of the point the movie is making, this is worth a view for the bookstore alone!

Incidentally, I really, really want to visit the bookstores used in this movie!

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2013

I just woke up to the announcement of this year's The Pulitzer prize for Fiction.
I'm very happy with their choices this year. I was so sure they were going to pick a Hilary Mantel! God forbid!  

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is a brilliant book.

I bought this book after attending a Brisbane Writers Festival panel that Eowyn Ivey was on.

She didn’t actually talk about her book but I liked her so I thought I would give it a try. also, I've been a sucker for anything Alaska ever since Northern Exposure was shown in the 90's!!

 Unfortunately due to the backlog of books I have, it’s taken me 5 months to pick it up and read it but I’m glad I did. I took it on a 5 day holiday, which was pretty action packed and yet I still managed to finish the book by the end of the holiday!

It’ is a lovely book and I, very quickly, got lost in her wonderful descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness.

The fable on which she bases the snow child herself is told throughout the story, it’s a sad story and ties in well with the lonely couple in this book, who are trying to survive in an alien landscape whilst still grieving for the loss of their only child.

It is a lovely book and there is a list of book recommendations from the author if you are interested in reading anymore books about Alaska which of course you will be after reading this!

The Orphan Master's Son is a book I've heard a lot about following the Tournament of Books. It's not really a style I think I would enjoy but it seems to hugely popular, wonderfully written and a fascinating story.

I've never heard of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander but I will be keeping an eye out for it now as the judges seem to have excellent taste in books!

After all, Olive Kitteridge won one year and I love that book!

Book Review - anything by Richelle Mead

I love, love all books by Richelle Mead!

She never fails to pull you into her books and the lives and loves of her characters.

All her main men make you swoon and you want to be every one of her main female characters.

Plus anything with a little bit of magic or has a supernatural sway makes a story so much more fun.

Succubus series by Richelle Mead

 This series is about a pretty girl working in a bookstore and falling for an author, except she is also a succubus for the devil. Bought over to the dark side centuries ago, Georgina Kincaid has learnt to live with her unusual job-on-this-side. She and her friends, bar one angel and the guys from her day job at the bookstore, work for the devil but they are so much fun, it doesn't matter! 

These books are easy reads, with great characters and storylines. 

Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead

The Vampire Academy series contain 7 books with the Bloodlines series following on from that as a spin off series.

The academy is for Moroi and Dhampirs. Dhampirs are Moiri Guardians who are born of a human and vampire and Moroi are pure blood vampires, though not immortal as we usually find in most stories.

Lissa, a Moroi, and her best friend, Rose, a Dhampir, return to the academy after being on the run for 2 years.

The books follow their lives at school, their bond with each other as well as with other students and teachers (namely Dimitri, Rose’s tutor and crush).

They also have to contend with the bad guys, Strigoi. Strigoi are vampires who are immortal and want to kill pretty much everyone.

The Bloodlines series follows a girl called Sydney who is human and part of a group called The Alchemists. Their job is to ensure humans don’t know the Moroi, Dhampirs and Strigoi exist.

Richelle Mead draws you into every story she writes, the characters become best friends, when their hearts break, so does yours.

  

These books are well recommended if you love romance, fantasy and are a lover of serials. You won’t be able to think about reading anything else whilst working your way through these books and now I think I must go back and read them again-oh well, that’s another month lost in Rose, Lissa and Sydney’s world. Please don’t bother calling me, I won’t answer! I’ll be in the hammock!

The Vampire Academy series is being made into a movie which is due for releases in 2015, much to my husband's disappointment as he knows he'll be dragged there, just like he was to the Twilight movies, Star Trek and Doctor Who!

I have yet to read her Dark Swan series but I have added the first book to my 25 books to read before July list.

She also has a new adult fantasy series, Age of X Series, the first of which is coming out in June and is called 'Gameboard of the Gods' and is also added to the above list.

Bookstores going down

I know this story is a couple of weeks old but I've been busy!!

This is a link to a story about a woman who has started charging customers $5 to browse her store. The $5 is redeemable if you buy anything.

You might laugh or think she's nuts but honestly, sometimes in a bookshop, it's tempting to do just that. 

I love the book shop I work in, the customers are wonderful though we do have, luckily in the minority,  some customers who come in and look around, or they ask your advice on what books to get and you are friendly and help them with recommendations that you are more than happy to give because you love books and want to share your knowledge, in the hope the customer goes home, settles down with the book and is happy with their choice.
Then they actually tell you they are going to buy that same book online or in Target or Big W, so you want to brain them with hardback copy of War and Peace.

I know it's cheaper online or even in discount bookstores and most of us are guilty of looking around for the best price before buying, myself included, but why should  we be allowed to do this for free?

That's why bookstores, most independent stores in general are struggling or even going out of business and why eventually, there will only be discount and second hand bookstores left.

In fact, the way it's going at the moment, there will be no independent stores left at all, of any kind.

We'll all be shopping online or at big brand departments stores.

Do you think that's a bad thing, or that it doesn't matter where books are sold, as long as they are still being published?

I personally will be very, very sad to see the personal attention you get in an independent store die off.

I just found this great article on Bookriot regarding this very subject-what do you think?