Book Q&A

It has been absolutely ages since I have posted anything book related (not including craft books!) because I have been that busy reading uni books I haven’t had time to read anything else! A little while ago I decided that I wasn’t going to review the books that I had to read for uni on my blog for two reasons; first, I was being forced to read the books which can often affect your ability to enjoy reading the book; and secondly, I read books differently when I am reading for uni and reading for pleasure. There is a surprising amount of thoughts running through my head when I read for uni as I am constantly on alert looking for common themes of the genre or author or making mental notes of quotes that may be relevant later and I find it is much harder to get lost in a book that I am reading for uni as there are so many other things running through my brain. For these reasons, it didn’t seem fair to review university book that I am likely to have a completely different opinion on when I am reading for pleasure and I have found several books that I would like to re-read so that I can really get absorbed in them and review them fairly.

Yesterday, however, I stumbled upon this Q&A on Stephanie’s blog and it reminded me how much I miss being able to read books of my choice and really enjoy reading like I used to so I decided to answer the Q&A to remind me of some of the fantastic books that I have read, both for uni and for pleasure, and look forward to the time when I can once again pick up books that have been gathering dust on my shelves since I started my degree!

So, here goes:

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Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked…

So, it would appear that my aim to keep up with blogging in December after the slump in posts during NaNoWriMo hasn’t quite come off. December is a pretty hectic month anyway, but I am currently feeling pretty overwhelmed with Christmas crafting and university work! Luckily, I have just finished my Faith hope and Charity Shopping Swap and that is all parcelled up ready for posting. That just leaves me with 4 presents to finish before Christmas day! I’m slowly beginning to feel like I am making progress!

In terms of university work, my next set of deadlines fall in the second and third weeks of January, and I have three essays due with a combined word count of 9,000 words. Ideally, I would like to get these out of the way before Christmas, which might actually be achievable if I didn’t also have 19 books to read and 7 films to watch in preparation for semester 2!

The books include:

Amended Reading List

As some of you may have noticed, my recent reviews haven’t matched the reading list that I shared with you a while ago!  There have been a few of reasons for this, the first being that my German pen pal was reading Dracula, so I decided to bump it up to the top of my list so that we could read it at the same time and discuss it. The second reason is that I have received my confirmed Shakespeare reading list, so I don’t have quite so many to read! Thirdly, it has suddenly occurred to me how little time I actually have left to get my reading finished before the start of term, so the books of my choice will have to be set aside for the moment!

So here is my amended reading list:

1.Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

2. Dracula by Bram Stoker  GOTHIC 

3. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

4. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

5. King Richard III by William Shakespeare

6. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle GOTHIC

7. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

8. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole GOTHIC

9. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen GOTHIC

10. The Beetle by Richard Marsh GOTHIC

11. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson GOTHIC

Then once all of that has been read, I will be ready for the start of term!

Reading List #2

As I have just finished the last book on my first reading list, I have decided to share my next one with you! As my summer holiday is slipping away quickly, I have decided that it is time to tackle my university reading list. In my first semester, I will be doing a Shakespeare module and a Gothic module, but I still want to read some of my own books while I have time! So I have decided that I will read a Shakespeare play, Gothic novel, Shakespeare play, book of choice, Shakespeare play, Gothic novel…etc. So, here are my first ten plays/books to read!

1.Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

2. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe  GOTHIC 

3. King Richard the Second by William Shakespeare

4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

5.The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

6. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle GOTHIC

7. King Henry the Fifth by William Shakespeare

8. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

9. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

10. Dracula by Bram Stoker GOTHIC

So this should keep me busy for a while! Plus, I still have the reviews from the last two books I read, (Dr Jekyll and Mr Holmes and Elsewhere) so keep an eye out for these! And of course I will be reviewing all of these as soon as I have finished them!

Also, if you haven’t had chance yet but you are interested in doing so, I would appreciate it if you would have a look at the article that I wrote about the Horror Night as part of our local literary festival. Thank you!

Reading List: Next 10 Books to Read

Here are the next ten books that I am planning to read (the order is subject to change.) I have written a brief summary under each of the titles, however, this was just the information I pulled from the blurb. Full length reviews will follow when I have read them

1.‘Enduring Love’ by Ian McEwan (1997)

After a bizarre and fatal hot air balloon accident, Joe Rose never expected his mundane life to take such an unexpected twist.

2. ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman’ by Haruki Murakami (2006 – in English translation)

A collection of short stories about everything from animated cows and a criminal monkey to a romantic exile in Greece and a chance reunion in Italy.

3. ‘The Omen’ by David Seltzer (1976)

A man exchanges his stillborn son for a new-born orphan. But as the years go on, Robert Thorn begins to unravel the horrible truth about the child that he has raised.

4. ‘Déjà Dead’ by Kathy Reichs (1997)

See Dr Temperance Brennan, Direct of Forensic Anthropology solve her first murder. The series that inspired the television series ‘Bones’. 

5. ‘Carrie’ by Stephen King (1974)

A young girl in New England is not quite what she seems. A demonic force lies behind an innocent face.

6. ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue (2010)

‘Jack is five. He lives in a single, locked room with his Ma.’ Witness the world through Jack’s eyes, a child who was born as a result of abduction and rape. His whole world exists in the only room he has ever known.

7. ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

Visit the world of Nick Carraway and the mansions that lined Long Island, America in the 1920s and the mystery that surrounds him.

8. ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (2001)

Ten-year-old Daniel chooses a book from the ‘Cemetery of Forgotten Books’ in 1945, but as he grows up, people begin looking for him. It becomes a race to discover the truth.

9. ‘The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes’ by Loren D Estleman (2010)

Conan Doyle’s infamous detective solves Robert Louis Stevenson’s fictional tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 

10. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (2005)

A sixteen year old girl dies when she is hit by a car. She finds herself is ‘Elsewhere’, where ‘life’ continues as usual, but the inhabitants get younger.

If you enjoyed this please read my article on the London Olympics: http://bit.ly/IaTK1X