Monday 28 November 2011

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Synopsis (according to the waterstones website)

Julia and Valentina Poole are normal American teenagers - normal, at least, for identical 'mirror' twins who have no interest in college or jobs or possibly anything outside their cozy suburban home. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn't know existed has died and left them her flat in an apartment block overlooking Highgate Cemetery in London. They feel that at last their own lives can begin ...but have no idea that they've been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the obsessive-compulsive crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt's mysterious and elusive lover who lives below them, and even to their aunt herself, who never got over her estrangement from the twins' mother - and who can't even seem to quite leave her flat..

What I Have to Say

Most people have read The Time Travellers Wife and agree that it's a beautiful story. This however is, in my opinion, better. It's a bit strange, but if you like books that make you think then this might be the one for you.

As I said, it's weird. It can leave you feeling unsure about whether you like it or not. But I really liked it. Though it's probably not right if you're just looking for a light read.

The thing that I liked most about it though is the take on death and ghosts that it has. I love the parallels between death and birth. So I would really recommend this book even though it gets very strange in places.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Synopsis (according to the waterstones website

 Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before - and survival, for her, is second nature. "The Hunger Games" is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show  ever..

  What I Have to Say

This is the one book that I recommend to absolutely everyone I know. I think it's so amazingly well written. The character's feel so real that you have to root for them to succeed and the book will keep you reading well into the night (so be careful about starting to read it before bed.)

The cover above is from the first book in the trilogy. This book will get you hooked. The second book, Catching Fire, feels a little bit repetitive but the final book, Mockingjay is the best of all three. 

I think that this book is so incredible that I will say one thing more:

Read this.



Introduction Post

Hey, my name is Lily and I like books. Because of this, I decided that I would create a blog dedicated to the books that I think are so brilliant that I want to tell everyone to read them.

That's what this blog will mainly be about. What I recommend. I may do the occasional review but that's not the main point of this blog. This means that I won't be sticking to any sort of schedule. When I read a book that I really like then I'll write a blog about it, but if I go months and months without reading a book that I don't think is worth recommending  then I'm not going to apologise for not writing a blog about it.

I'm doing things this way because I don't want to sit down week after week and struggle to find a good thing about a book I hated or to find a  bad thing to say about one I absolutely loved. I also read a lot of books and I don't have time to review every single one. So this is my way of selecting the ones that I want to share. I'm also sure that you don't want to waste your time reading a lot of blog posts that are about books that I liked, but not enough to recommend.

For the next few posts, I'm going to catch you up with the books that I read before making this blog and which I can't bear to miss out on writing about or you to miss out on reading.

Lily