Category: 2019 Posts
The Biblioshelf5 Comments

Hey Bibliofriends!

Happy 1st September! Whilst my inner child is happily in London at Platform 9¾ to get to Hogwarts, the real me is sat at a laptop screen wondering how on earth September is happening already?!

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BREAKING NEWS – I have actually got rid of some books! 😱 Getting rid of books either by donating them or selling them has been one of those ‘never have I ever’ things for me, but considering all of the books I’ve been buying recently, the fact that my floorboards are now actually bending underneath the sheer weight of all of my tomes, and that I barely have time to read a majority of them… I figured it was finally time to part with some of my lesser-loved reads that I know I’ll probably never pick up again. To be honest, I can’t even remember what I’ve parted with – I just know that they have found their way to a community centre where hopefully others will find some enjoyment in them. How do you decide what to part with and what to keep? Do you donate or sell? Any tips would be gratefully received to try and cure my hoarding affliction!

With that all sorted, it gave me a little more room to concentrate on the epic list that forms the ‘never-ending TBR pile’to see which books I could actually start ticking off my list. In case you missed my summer reads, you can shimmy on over to see which series I’ve finally finished reading here. According to Goodreads, the Reading Challenge to read 50 books by then end of 2019 is ‘on track’, which is hilarious considering the amount of time I’ve actually given to reading these past few months!

September’s TBR focus is still trying to complete a few more outstanding series before I start to get cracking on some of the newer ones.

This month I’m aiming to read:
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C. Dao – This is the conclusion to Forest of a Thousand Lanterns which was one of the first books I ever reviewed on this site. I loved the atmosphere of this Evil Queen retelling that I have been desperate to finally start it the sequel.

Song of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury – After receiving State of Sorrow in a previous Fairyloot box last year and then coming across a gorgeous edition of Song of Sorrow complete with fancy stencilled edges, it was a dead cert that I’d have to be completing this series.

If I have time:
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson – As this is a standalone it’s been allowed to be bumped up the TBR list! 😂 I’ve heard some wonderful things about it on Bookstagram and the magical library may be just the escape I need from teaching young muggles this month!

What are you all reading this month? Are you on track to reach your reading goal? Is your inner child also on board the Hogwarts Express? As always drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

August Book Wrap

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Hey Bibliofriends…if you’re still out there!

Life has been such a whirlwind of adulting over the past few months which has meant that my poor little blog and actually ‘reading’ books has had to take a back seat. In short, there have been house renovations (still not complete!), a large amount of family birthdays and getting a new job! Life in the jobosphere has been quite tricky over the past 12-18 months so it was a massive relief to be offered a new position in a different school; it comes with a higher workload and a lot more responsibility but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. I’ve also gone from teaching the oldest kids in the school to the youngest ones so September is going to be a pretty steep learning curve for everyone in my class. In the absence of my Hogwarts letter it looks like I’m teaching the muggles again for this year at least!

Books I’ve Read: August has finally handed me some free-time to be able to enjoy reading again. I hastily compiled a Newts Magical Readathon List together at the end of July which I’ll be discussing in a forthcoming post. I think I’m still on track to reach my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal by the end of the year – I’m currently at 33/50.

august reads

  • The Immortal City by Amy Kuivalainen – This was my first ever Netgalley book to review *mini cheer*and I really enjoyed it! If you love Atlantis, Venice and want a more grown up mystical-fantasy story then this may be the pick for you; keep your eyes peeled – a full review will be coming soon.44953207
  • Legendary and Finale by Stephanie Garber – With the release of Finale earlier this year there was no better time for me then to finally complete this magical series. I was really intrigued by Stephanie’s take on the Fates and became truly submersed into the world of Tella, Legend and Caraval.
  • Obsidio (Illuminae #3) by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – Another series I was able to complete was the Illuminae Files. I’ve made no secrets of my love for this series and I’d highly recommend it to anybody. I don’t think you have to love the Sci-Fi genre to enjoy this; I’m not the most impassioned reader of spaceships and galaxies far, far away, but the characters Kaufman and Kristoff created and weaved together through this cleverly plotted and captivating series was absolutely 5-Star and will be one of my favourites for many years to come.
  • Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch – This book really called out to my inner wanderlust. Florence is one of my favourite cities in the world so the fact that this was based here was what attracted me to it. Although I would have loved a little more Florence from the novel, the story of Lina’s journey to the Tuscan city and the relationships she made there created a perfect light-read for Summer.
  • Evermore (Everless #2) by Sara Holland – Can you spot the theme running through my reads yet…? Everless was another series that I wanted to finish this summer. I loved the first book and the fable revolving around the Alchemist and the Sorceress. Whilst this one didn’t enthral me as much as the first novel in the series, I really enjoyed seeing how it all ended.
  • Lethal White by Robert Galbraith – I’ve been reading the Strike series since finding out that J.K. Rowling was secretly Robert Galbraith. This latest instalment in the series did definitely not disappoint and I’d even go as far to say that Lethal White is my favourite of all the Strike novels so far. Although I was initially a little scared of its brick-like size clocking in at 656 pages, my need to keep turning the pages to find out what was happening enabled me to breeze through it in about 5 days. I already can’t wait for Book 5!
  • The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw – This book had been on my TBR for ages and being a standalone it wouldn’t have broken the little task I set for myself to try and finish some of the outstanding series I had on my shelves. I thoroughly enjoyed this witchy read and despite working out where the plot was going fairly early on, I still became immersed in the way the story was told and how everything unfolded towards the end. If the town of Sparrow was a real place, then it’d definitely be on my Literary Travel Bucket-List!
  • The Midnight Game (Episode 1) by Cecilia Dart-Thornton – If I’m being perfectly honest, I read this book as it only had 94 pages and would enable me to complete one of my subjects for the Newts Magical Readathon quite quickly. One of my pet hates in real-life is people who try and talk with a fake accent or use language/words which are almost forced – unfortunately this story did precisely that and I don’t think I’ll be reading Episode 2 anytime soon – it’s definitely not the story for me.
  • England in Cameracolour, Cotswolds and Shakespeare Country – This was a delightful and surprising find. It was a collection of stunning photographs from lots of places in the areas surrounding where I live. Accompanying each photograph was writing about the history of each place. Definitely an interesting coffee-table style book which appealed to a Cotswold local like me.
  • Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman – I recently purchased all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe boxsets on Blu-Ray as I hadn’t seen any of the films before Captain America: Winter Soldier. This Summer I’ve been gradually working my way through them in chronological order and the appearance of Thor made me want to dig Norse Mythology from out of my TBR pile. My knowledge of the Norse Myths is very vague and Gaiman is one of my auto-buy authors so it was great to finally tick this one off my reading list. Gaiman really is a master story-teller and this book definitely satisfied all of my mythological cravings!

Now I list them down, I’m actually quite impressed by the amount of reading I’ve managed to do this Summer, particularly as 4 out of my 6 week break has been spent working at my new school to try and get it ready for the new academic year! 😳

What have you been reading this month and what are you looking forward to reading in September? As ever, drop me a comment below to chat!

T xx

May TBR

The Biblioshelf5 Comments

Hey Biblifriends,

We’re nearing the middle of May so I thought I’d better post my May TBR already… 🙈😂

April’s OWLs Magical Readathon was so brilliant and I’m thrilled I passed 11 of my 12 exams, but I’ve got to admit, it’s really knocked the stuffing out of me! It’s almost like I binged on books during April and now I can’t bear to read…or post…or bookstagram. I’ve hit the slump big-time!

To add to this, life has also been hectic. Next week at work, my little darling Year 6 kids are sitting their end of Key Stage 2 SATs exams so we’ve all been revising our socks off trying to get ready. I’ve also been spending my non-working life doing lots of things with friends including catching up with movies, going to our pub quiz and spending almost the entire bank holiday weekend listening to live music at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival (more on that in my monthly wrap at the end of the month).

Hence my little Biblioshelf hiatus – sorry guys!

Anyhow, in a bid to get myself out of my slump, and in preparation for one of 2019’s most anticipated series finales, I’m rereading Caraval by Stephanie Garber which is the first of my May TBR books.

My other three books are: Legendary by Stephanie Garber; Finale by Stephanie Garber; Obsidio (Illuminae Files #3) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

Crates I’m expecting this month:

  • FairyLoot’s May Unlikely Romances Box
  • FairyLoot’s Finale Collector’s Edition Box
  • ShelfLove Crate May Box: We Hunt the Flame and Romanov – this will be my first ShelfLove Box and I’m super excited as I cannot wait to read these two titles!
  • Wizarding World May Box (which I think is themed around Quidditch)

So it looks set to be an exciting month in bookish terms, here’s hoping I actually get myself out of this slump in time to actually read! 😂

What are you all reading this month? Are there any hot new releases you’re really excited for? As always, drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

Top Ten Tuesday – Inspirational / Thought-Provoking Quotes

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Happy Tuesday everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed the Bank Holiday weekend if you’re in the UK!

I can’t remember the last time I actually wrote a Top Ten Tuesday. If you don’t already know, TTT is a weekly, list-themed book prompt hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The theme for this week is ‘Book Characters That Remind Me of Myself’. I’m not feeling particularly reflective this week so I thought I would take this opportunity to go back to last week’s topic ‘Inspirational/Thought-Provoking Book Quotes’ as I missed it and I adore quotes! As there are so many wonderful ones out there in the world, I decided to narrow down my search by thinking of my ultimate go-to authors and choosing my favourite quotes from them. Whilst they may not all be philosophical in the inspirational/thought-provoking category, I feel they’re still pretty special. There’s also a couple of random ones about libraries because what bookworm doesn’t love a good library…?
(Disclaimer: Pictures are not mine; I’ve tried to include sources where possible.)

  • “Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”
    ― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind (picture: quotefancy)2209903-Carlos-Ruiz-Zaf-n-Quote-Books-are-mirrors-you-only-see-in-them

 

  • “I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”
    ― Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane (picture: Risa Rodil)

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  • “So many books, so little time.”
    ― Frank Zappa (Picture: Risa Rodil)

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  • “All that is gold does not glitter,
    Not all those who wander are lost;
    The old that is strong does not wither,
    Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

    From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
    A light from the shadows shall spring;
    Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
    The crownless again shall be king.”
    ― R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (Picture: Tee Public)

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  • “Every book has a soul, the soul of the person who wrote it and the soul of those who read it and dream about it.”
    ― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Angel’s Game(Picture: Picture Quotes)

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  • “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
    ― R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (Picture: Pinterest)

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  • “A Library is a hospital for the mind.”
    – Anonymous (Picture: Pinterest)

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  • “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
    ― K.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Picture: TeePublic)

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  • “We may sit in a library and yet be in all quarters of the Earth.”
    – John Lubbock (Picture: librarysubscriptions.com from Pinterest)

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What quotes do you find particularly inspirational / thought-provoking? Do you have any favourites? As always, drop me a comment to chat! 

T xx

April Wrap Up

The Biblioshelf5 Comments

Wow, what a busy month April was, particularly the end of the month, hence the lack of posting on here and on my Instagram. I’m hoping to catch up at some point soon… 😂 Participating in the OWLs Magical Readathon has definitely helped my reading challenge. After being about 2 books behind schedule last month, I’ve now read 21 of my target 50 books and am 6 ahead of schedule! Having two weeks off for the Easter holidays definitely helped! You can read more about my Magical Readathon escapades here. I’m hoping to get a wrap post up for it during the start of May.

Books I’ve read this month:

  • Mirage by Somaiya Daud – musings here.
  • Five Give Up the Booze by Bruno Vincent
  • Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye – musings here.
  • The Lost Sisters by Holly Black
  • Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
  • Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – musings here.
  • Stardust by Neil Gaiman (reread)
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander [J.K. Rowling] (reread)
  • To Best the Boys by Mary Weber
  • The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien [audiobook]

Films I’ve seen this month:

  • Wild Rose (15)

I love country music so a film about a single mum trying to get to Nashville was definitely going to be on my “must-see” list. Also, it has Julie Walters so it’s a win-win! Asides from the brilliant soundtrack, the film has a great sentimental message at the heart of it too.

  • Greta (15)

This film FREAKED ME OUT – but in that great ‘scary-movie’ kinda way! It isn’t a jumpy film with the non-existent soundtrack and bad guys jumping out from everywhere but it definitely leaves you really reconsidering the phrase ‘the kindness of strangers’. Kudos to Isabella Huppert for playing one hell of a scary psychopath! Basically her character utilises her lonely widow status by leaveing fake handbags on the subway in the hope that people will bring them back to her. She befriends them but then gradually wields her stalkerish and obsessive ways with them. If you love films that leave you with the chills, then this one may just be right up your street.

As the calendar has been quite busy and I was away for part of the holidays, I didn’t really get to see as much as I like at the cinema. May is definitely going to be busier as I’ve already got three films scheduled this weekend and one of them is Endgame! 😆

Other life stuff:

  • My friend Emma got married in April! This was my second wedding of four this year. She lives in Lanzarote so she and her now-husband had a quiet UK ceremony for their friends and family over here before flying back to Lanzarote for the ‘party’ part of the celebrations and their friends over there. It really was the perfect celebration to suit my friends; her dress was beautiful and the lace hair piece (which she had instead of a veil) was so gorgeous and intricate. It was a wonderful day which very nearly ended up with us crashing a country dancing event that was also going on in the hotel!
  • Keeping with the wedding theme, I spent the last weekend in April on a hen party for my Potterhead friend who I’ve known since primary school. We had Potter-themed T-shirts, went on a cauldron cocktail making experience at the Cauldron Pub in London and then finished with a Witchcraft and Wizardry escape room at Escape Leicester. Cocktail making was so much fun – there were robes, interactive wands, magically stirring drinks, fire, mythical beast heads and alcohol a-plenty! It’s amazing we made it back to the train in one piece! The Escape Room was also an absolute blast. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite make it out of the room as we ran out of time, however we’re hoping to go back sometime to complete it again. We’re all such competitive people that the idea of not finishing the game left us slightly dejected until we saw online that it only had a 51% success rate… at least we weren’t the only ones not to finish!
  • The Racing Club I am a part of were treated to a morning on the gallops to watch one of our new horses whose stable-name is ‘Happy’. She wowed us with her speed so we’re looking forward to seeing what she can do once the summer season commences fully. Afterwards we were treated to some deliciously home-baked cakes. One of our members really has top-notch baking skills.
  • The rugby team I support has made it into the top 4 of our league which means we get to enter the play-offs this month! Our boys have worked so hard this year and we’re looking forward to seeing them get their rewards. The final games of the season will be super exciting!

April has been so fantastic and it seems like there is going to be so much to also look forward to in May.

How was your April? Did you meet your reading goals or see any cool films? What are you most looking forward to doing in May? As always, drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

 

Six for Sunday: The Year 6 Takeover! 2019 Kids Lit Must Reads

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Hi there Bibliofriends,

So this post was supposed to be published in time for the final Sunday of April…however, if you’ve ready my monthly wrap up then you’ll probably work out that I was a hen-party weekend which is why I didn’t get around to posting it but… here it is!

The final ‘Kids Lit Represent’ Six for Sunday for April is centred around 2019 Kids Lit Must Reads. For those who don’t already know, Six for Sunday is a weekly list-based meme created by Steph @ALittleButALot and has a different weekly prompt based on a monthly theme.

Now even though I’m a primary school teacher, I don’t tend to read a lot of “Kids Lit” anymore as I’m always busy reading YA Fantasy or Adult books. However, the Year 6s I teach definitely love their reading; one of them seems to be permanently engrossed in a book even in the middle of lessons… So to help me out this week, I decided to give them some time during their reading sessions to browse the online shelves and come up with their Top 7 Kids Lit releases of this year (I know it’s 6 for Sunday, but 7 for Sunday is still as alliterative!).

Here’s what they came up with (synopses from Goodreads):

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
Publication date: 15th January

To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times. Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.

When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored to have tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name.

Min’s quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams.

I like this book because the cover of it looks amazing and I think it will be a great book to read. I also like it because the genre is sci-fi and I really like sci-fi novels. It has a fox/wolf on the cover of it and I love wolves and foxes.

Guinness World Records 2020
Published on: 27 August 2019

Fully revised and updated, the record-breaking compendium of superlatives is back and bursting with facts, figures and incredible stories – each one selected to inspire you to learn about the fascinating world we live in… and to break records of your own.

In a series of 11 fact-packed chapters, we introduce you to the record-holders who’ve pushed the boundaries of what’s possible. Meet…

• The adventurers who trek, swim, ski, climb and fly to all four corners of the globe
• The real-life cyborgs who augment their bodies with cutting-edge technology
• The painters, sculptors, musicians and moviemakers taking performance art to new levels
• The stars of social media generating millions of views on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
• The athletic legends who continue to raise the bar in the world of sports

But it’s not only human beings who set records. Explore the wilder side of life with 24 pages of record-breaking animals, and take a trip around the world to visit the most awe-inspiring sights on each continent!

Plus, we investigate 10 record-breaking robots to find out what makes them tick. And look out for our exciting new “Snapshot” feature, in which our digital artists put a unique visual spin on some iconic record-holders such as the largest ever crocodile, the richest person on Earth and the tallest living tree – prepare to be amazed!

The Guinness World Records is a great book because you can see lots of cool stuff and what epic things people do in the world. They do things like the most people in a car, the biggest vehicle in the world the amount of food people eat in a certain time and many more crazy challenges. I like it because you can see all the high scores in the Olympics sports around the world. Also you don’t have to read it properly you can just scan through. Sometimes it is nice to have a change from reading a normal book.

One Speck of Truth by Caela Carter
Published: March 5th 2019

Alma has everything she needs, except answers to her questions. Her mother won’t tell her why her beloved stepfather, Adam, is suddenly gone this summer. Or about life in Portugal, where her parents met. Not even about her father, who Alma cannot find, no matter how many graveyards she searches with her best friend, Julia.

Then Alma’s mother shocks her by moving them both to Lisbon so Alma can fall in love with the vibrant city where her father grew up. There she discovers she has more family than she could have imagined.

She hopes Portugal holds the answers she’s been desperately searching for, but it turns out finding the truth may be more complicated than she, or her mother, bargained for.

This book sounds good because it is interesting and it looks easy to read. It sounds like there are a lot of mysteries. I think a lot of mysteries is good because it makes you want to read more. The front page also looks cool which is one of the best things about this book.

Skulduggery Pleasant Bedlam by Derek Landy

Published: 30/05/19

I want to read this the most because I am exited to see what happens after the book Midnight where Abyssinia is trying to find her son that Cardevourus kidnaps and lots of people die as she is actually a mad psychopath. Lord Vile is Skulduggery Pleasant’s evil form from when he used to be a necromancer. Skulduggery Pleasant is an amazing series where there is many unexpected twists like the necromancers trying to find a death bringer to kill half the world’s population and his side kick called Valkerie Cain which is French for go forwards. Valerie Cain’s evil form Darquesse would have destroyed the world.

THE DOG WHO SAVED THE WORLD by Ross Welford
Published: April 4th2019

When eleven-year-old Georgie befriends an eccentric retired scientist, she becomes the test subject for a thrilling new experiment: a virtual-reality 3D version of the future.

But then a deadly disease threatens the life of every dog in the country and Georgie’s beloved dog, Mr Mash, gets sick. And that’s only the start of her troubles.

Soon, Georgie and Mr Mash must embark on a desperate quest: to save every dog on earth, and maybe even all of humanity …

… without actually leaving the room.

An extraordinary quest with the biggest stakes of all, and a huge idea at its heart, this is time travel – but not as you know it.

We like this book because we all love dogs and the book also looks very eye catching. We also like the fact that the book is based on a girl who is taking the act of kindness against diseased animals. Although her dog is sick, she decided to take her dog along with her in her mammoth quest to save all dogs. The reason why all dogs have been diseased is because an experiment that was held on the girl had gone wrong. The genre of this book is science fiction.

The Fork, The Witch And The Worm by Christopher Paolini
Published: 1st January 2019

A wanderer and a cursed child. Spells and magic. And dragons, of course.

Welcome back to the world of Alagaësia. It’s been a year since Eragon departed Alagaësia in search of the perfect home to train a new generation of Dragon Riders. Now he is struggling with an endless sea of tasks: constructing a vast dragonhold, wrangling with suppliers, guarding dragon eggs, and dealing with belligerent Urgals and haughty elves. Then a vision from the Eldunarí, unexpected visitors, and an exciting Urgal legend offer a much-needed distraction and a new perspective. This volume features three original stories set in Alagaësia, interspersed with scenes from Eragon’s own unfolding adventure. Included is an excerpt from the memoir of the unforgettable witch and fortune-teller Angela the herbalist . . . penned by Angela Paolini, the inspiration for the character, herself! Relish the incomparable imagination of Christopher Paolini in this thrilling new collection of stories based in the world of the Inheritance Cycle.

The Fork, The Witch and The Worm is a hardback cover book with outstanding reviews. Christopher Paolini’s book costs £7.79. It has 3.6 stars out of 5 stars. Most children who have happily read this spectacular book have commented that the tales are very similar to the tales from Volume 1: Eragon. This book is aimed in the age bracket of 9-12.

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! 2020

Published: October 17th 2019

THE MULTI-MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING GUIDE TO THE WORLD OF WEIRD

Ripley’s is back! This year’s blockbuster annual contains the scariest, grossest and funniest stories from around the world, including:

– The man who lived in a sand castle for twenty years
– The cat who was born with twenty-eight toes
– The restaurant that served a burger made out of worms

. . . and much, much more.

Brimming with mind-boggling stories and eye-popping photographs, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! 2019 is the perfect gift for anyone who is fascinated by the stranger side of life on earth.

We have chosen Ripley’s because it is easy to read and has extremely rad facts occasionally. It can help with school work, especially your topic. There are things about animals and tribes from around the world. It shows exciting and adventurous people with a wide variety of talents. It even goes to the extreme point of the world’s longest pizza which measures 5 miles long. 

There you have it – some of them definitely like their books on the quirkier side!

What Kid’s Lit books are you looking forward to in 2019? Drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

 

Friday 56 – To Best The Boys

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Happy Friday Bibliofriends!

The weekend is here! I love short working weeks, who on Earth suggested only two days for a weekend…?

Hosted by Freda’s Voice, the Friday 56 is a weekly bookish prompt. It’s quite easy to do and could cover no end of different books and genres so seems great if you’re looking for a quick snippet to discover something new!

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.

This week I’ve been reading To Best The Boys by Mary Weber which came in FairyLoot’s 3 Year Anniversary ‘Favourites’ Box in March. This exclusive FairyLoot edition is signed by the author, has exclusive grey sprayed edges and when I turn the pages, I can hear them separating from each other – it gives me that brand-new-book feeling! It is my Herbology exam for the OWLs Magical Readathon (read more about that here) as it features trees on the cover.  It’s such a fun read!

Synopsis from Goodreads
Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of Pinsbury Port receive a mysterious letter inviting all eligible-aged boys to compete for an esteemed scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. Every year, the poorer residents look to see that their names are on the list. The wealthier look to see how likely their sons are to survive. And Rhen Tellur opens it to see if she can derive which substances the ink and parchment are created from, using her father’s microscope.
In the province of Caldon, where women are trained in wifely duties and men are encouraged into collegiate education, sixteen-year-old Rhen Tellur wants nothing more than to become a scientist. As the poor of her seaside town fall prey to a deadly disease, she and her father work desperately to find a cure. But when her Mum succumbs to it as well? Rhen decides to take the future into her own hands—through the annual all-male scholarship competition.
With her cousin, Seleni, by her side, the girls don disguises and enter Mr. Holm’s labyrinth, to best the boys and claim the scholarship prize. Except not everyone’s ready for a girl who doesn’t know her place. And not everyone survives the maze.

“Light and music splash over us. A waltz is being played on a harpsichord that, from my assessment, sounds as perfectly tuned as the guests’ nerves look. I start to smile until I spot her mum, my aunt Sara, standing behind Seleni and peering from beneath a pile of brown curls that seem to be set in some type of hair topiary.”

I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

Have you read To Best the Boys? Is it on your TBR pile? Drop me a comment to chat!

Enjoy your weekend,
T xx

5 Biblioshelf Musings about… Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Series: The Illuminae Files #2
Genre: Sci-Fi (YA)
Publication Date: October 18th 2016
Publisher: Rock the Boat
Pages: 659
Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Gemina is the second book in the epic YA Sci-Fi trilogy, The Illuminae Files. I’m not typically a sci-fi fan but I was so glad when I succumbed to the hype and picked up the first instalment, Illuminae, last year. It truly offers a reading experience with a difference. I read this for my Arithmancy exam in the OWLs Magical Readathon as it has more than one author. Needless to say, there may be spoilers below for anything that happened within the first book, but I’ve tried my best to hold them back so as not to spoil Gemina. Apologies for any space related puns, jokes or language.

<Synopsis from Goodreads>

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.

The format

This series skyrockets the form of the novel to a whole new dimension – pun DEFINITELY intended. Now, I don’t tend to read comics, graphic novels, manga or anything similar so I can’t comment on how much this novel is like one of them, however the format of these books are unlike any other I have ever come across. I love it! The story is told through a dossier of evidence-based files which include video surveillance footage summaries; transcripts of emails and instant messaging programs; scrapbook and diary pages; computer screen graphics and some pretty superb illustrations from Marie Lu. Gemina offers a much more immersive read than normal novels and it also takes the edge off the whopping 659 pages that some people may find daunting. I’ve never read anything like it and it’s definitely a contributing factor into me giving this a 5* rating.

AIDAN is BACK!

After the ending of Illuminae, I wasn’t really sure how I felt about AIDAN. AIDAN: Artificial Intelligence Defence Analytics Network – for me, he’s definitely up there on the morally grey character list.  (I also have a bit of a thing about A.I.s developing their own non-programmed thoughts and feelings, but that’s a whole other rant!) The fact that he has the ability to rise from the ashes of the Alexander fleet makes him the mythological phoenix of our story…then again this is Illuminae where plot twists are shooting from hangar bays everywhere and you have to just go with the flow to work who’s really alive or dead. I loved that he appears again in this story along with some of the other characters from Illuminae; it brought the series back into continuity as at the start of Gemina it felt like the two stories weren’t going to merge. But when they did…cue the nebula-style explosion propelling the story light years ahead! It really felt like a mini-family reunion when the casts of Illuminae and Gemina collided! As for the other characters, at first I found Hanna really annoying, especially the way she moons after her boyfriend, but then as the story progresses she really comes into her own. Nik is awesome and his cousin Ella is comedy gold. Special mention to Ella’s little black goldfish – had my heart in my mouth for that little sucker!

Easter Eggs

One of the benefits of a format such as Illuminae means that so much fun can be had within the pages. I adore media easter eggs (little clues or intentional jokes that are hidden in things) and I loved spotting the ones that are littered through these books. I don’t think there were as many in here as there were in Illuminae however I still had fun spotting different authors names in the pages and the graphics. The illustrations matching specific parts of the action or plot also just add to that fun-factor during reading.

Plot-Twists

Just when you think you’ve got a grip on the story, the authors turn it on its head and makes you think again. Sometimes the twists go beyond all reasoning, well I suppose we are in a sci-fi book after all! These books are brilliantly researched and incredibly well-written. Even with all the Science info, which is perfectly explained and diluted for us non-astrophysics types, Kaufman and Kristoff still manage to keep you completely clued up with what is happening in those precise moments that you’re reading. The facts don’t become overbearing and even when we’re discussing the heights of wormholes and parallel universes, we still feel like we’re finding these things out and comprehending them at the same time as other characters in the novel.

Cover-Ups and Conspiracies

At the heart of this story is a corporation trying to cover-up any of its little naughty goings-on in the Kerenza star-system. I’m sure I’m not the only out there in the entire galaxy that thinks this kind of stuff already happens in our real-world everyday. Wiki-leaks anyone…??? Our news is full of stories of fraud, injunctions, hushed-up investigations, and conspiracies and this is one of the major factors I love about these books. I love a good conspiracy, that’s one of the paramount reasons I love these books, and I know this is sci-fi (emphasis on the fiction), but I completely believe that at some point in our future there will be more and more groups like the Illuminae group who are working towards uncovering all of the wrong-doings and cover-ups that happen on our plant and beyond, if they aren’t out there doing that as we speak…

If the children I teach at school were that little bit older, then these books would definitely be on my syllabus! With that kind of story-line, the galactically great format and the absolute, a$$-kicking whopper of an ending, Gemina was always guaranteed to find a way into my heart and onto my elusive 5* Biblioshelf!

Bring on Obsidio!

Have you read The Illuminae Files? Are you as much as a sucker for literary easter eggs as I am? As always, drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

Top Ten Tuesday – First Ten Books I Reviewed

The Biblioshelf7 Comments

Hey Bibliofriends!

The Easter holidays are officially over for me now and it’s back to work time…but guess what, it’s also another Top Ten Tuesday time! TTT is a weekly, list-themed book prompt hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week we are discussing the First Ten Books (I/you/we) Reviewed. When I first thought about this topic, I must admit I panicked at whether or not I’d actually even reviewed ten books.

I’m relatively new to the blogosphere and despite starting this thing way back in September 2017 (under the guise of Cotswold Bookaholic) my posts were patchy and eventually life caught up, leading to the abandonment of my blog. Reading in general disappeared from my life and family matters, work matters and mental health matters all demanded more attention. However, life is now happily back on that upwards curve and the re-launch of this blog as ‘The Biblioshelf’ gave me a renewed focus on the literary world as well as a something positive to concentrate on. I’ve been back for about two full months and already this blog has grown considerably. This month, we’ve passed the 100 followers mark! I’m so grateful and thankful to all those who’ve stuck by it and the brilliant new blogging friends that have joined the journey along the way. It isn’t perfect and I’m still thinking of ways to adapt it and improve it going forwards but it’s stepping in the right direction.

Rambling aside…TTT this week helped me to look back at all the reviews I’ve done and I did breathe a little sigh of relief that it’s more than ten! Below are links to those first ten books I reviewed.

 

There you have it! Have you read any of these titles? What was the first book you ever reviewed? Drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

Friday 56 – Stardust by Neil Gaiman

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Happy Friday Bibliofriends!

It’s Easter weekend! What are you all up to? I hope you’re doing something fun and enjoy a little extra reading time.

Hosted by Freda’s Voice, the Friday 56 is a weekly bookish prompt. It’s quite easy to do and could cover no end of different books and genres so seems great if you’re looking for a quick snippet to discover something new!

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.

Yesterday I posted my update for how I’m getting on with the OWLs Magical Readathon and most of my reads this month have been geared towards that. You can read about that here.

I’m currently trying to complete my Astronomy exam where the prompt was to read a book with ‘star’ in the title. I didn’t really have anything on my shelves to complete this so I decided to re-read Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I’m really enjoying it this second time around. Gaiman is such a masterful storyteller and he has a really unique way of blending original fairytales and folklore into fresh narratives.

“He stared up at the stars: and it seemed to him then that they were dancers, stately and graceful, performing a dance almost infinite in its complexity. He imagined he could see the very faces of the stars; pale, they were, and smiling gently, as if they had spent so much time above the world, watching the scrambling and the joy and the pain of the people below them, that they could not help being amused every time another little human believed itself the centre of its world, as each of us does.”

Have you read Stardust or seen the movie? As always, drop me a comment to chat!

T xx