Book Review: Our Numbered Days; Neil Hilborn.

Yay, poetry! 2017 has very much been about me revisiting genres I never really got into before and trying new things! Poetry was on the list for quite a while. I watched the viral video of Neil Hilborn's 'OCD' and adored it, even buying this book for my fiancé because he was a big fan too. I thought it would be a great place to start! 

SOURCE: Borrowed
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Our Numbered Days
AUTHOR: Neil Hilborn
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Button Poetry
PAGES: 63
GENRE: Poetry

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
In 2013, Neil Hilborn’s performance of his poem “OCD” went viral. To date, it has been watched over 10 million times. 

Our Numbered Days is Neil’s debut full-length poetry collection, containing 45 of Neil’s poems including “OCD”, “Joey”, “Future Tense”, “Liminality”, “Moving Day”, and many, many never-before-seen poems.



What I Liked:

• There really were some fantastic poems in here with lines that were very quotable and relatable for a lot of people. 'OCD' was of course one of them, and reading it proved to be just as powerful and heartbreaking as hearing it performed. Anyone who says they have OCD because they had to tidy up should read this poem and face the reality. Other great poems included 'Dust Mop' (that last line actually hurt), 'Bystander Paralysis' (I so relate), 'Little Poems' and 'Joey'.

What I Disliked:

• There were always going to be poems I didn't 'get' first time around. Neil Hilborn suffers heavily with mental illness himself, and most of these are clearly random musings that come upon him every so often. He even states in one poem that he's afraid to take medication because he feels he won't be able to write poetry under it's effects. There were poems here that were a little nonsensical, but in all honesty, that was also part of this book's charm!

Overall Conclusion:

I honestly see Button Poetry's books becoming my new favourite thing because this was really good. I only found a few of the poems really spoke to me, and the rest didn't make a whole lot of sense in the first reading (plus they had this strange sense of not quite being finished) but I still loved this book a lot and will definitely delve into it time and time again.

Book Review: The Geek Feminist Revolution; Kameron Hurley.

I'm definitely trying to read more non-fiction this year, and this book was one I really wanted to read because I consider myself to be a very 'geeky' girl. I used to get bullied over it, now I embrace it. But while I did like aspects of this book, I didn't end up taking from it what I wanted to, which was a shame.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Geek Feminist Revolution
AUTHOR: Kameron Hurley
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Tor Books
PAGES: 288
GENRE: Non-Fiction, Essays, Auto-Biography

RATING: 3/5 Stars

Blurb:
A powerful collection of essays on feminism, geek culture, and a writer’s journey, from one of the most important new voices in genre.

The Geek Feminist Revolution is a collection of essays by double Hugo Award-winning essayist and science fiction and fantasy novelist Kameron Hurley.

The book collects dozens of Hurley’s essays on feminism, geek culture, and her experiences and insights as a genre writer, including “We Have Always Fought,” which won the 2014 Hugo for Best Related Work. The Geek Feminist Revolution will also feature several entirely new essays written specifically for this volume.

What I Liked:

• Hurley's passion and raw anger was truly stirring in this collection. It carried through from beginning to end and it's my favourite 'type' of feminism because, as she puts it, trying to constantly be civil and educational in your approach doesn't always get you anywhere. The swearing, the rage, the opinionated but logical mindset. I loved it.
• I really worried about a lack of diversity in this book written by a white woman, but I needn't have. Hurley does a tremendous job of acknowledging her privilege and seeing how PoCs (and the LGBT+ community) have it one hundred times worse. She looks at her own past mistakes when it comes to being diverse and her constant desire to do better, which is something we all want in the end.

What I Disliked:

• I really felt that while I expected a collection of essays on the titled topics, what I got was more autobiographical. This would have been fine, but it was so repetitive. I didn't feel that Hurley had connected them very well, and she treated each one as an individual meaning I got the same facts about her over and over again (yes, I get it, you loved 80s lone wolf action heroes...). It was pretty frustrating.
• Hurley mentions (numerous times) that while she's a writer, she also works in advertising. This clearly came through, as she spends a lot of the book advocating her own work. It felt, at times, like an advertising campaign and self promotion rather than the 'revolution' I was expecting. Confidence is good, but this was pretty arrogant a lot of the time.

Overall Conclusion:

Meh. This was a promising book with a good message: Geeks, feminists, unite and fight against the oppressive patriarchy! The anger and emotion that Hurley wrote into her essays, as well as her referenced works and sources (though those footnotes were messy) were impressive and the best parts of the book, that's for sure. However, the constant self-promotion, repetition and 'look how my hardships I've suffered' attitude did wear on me a little bit. I wasn't expecting an auto-biography or reviews for various media and that's what I got from this more than anything.

Last Week's Shenanigans (28th August - 3rd September)...

This whole week has been so wedding focused! On Monday, I travelled down to my hometown to meet up with friends from school that I haven't seen for ages and we went to the Wedding Reception of someone we knew during our school years! It was a lot of fun to meet up with old friends and have everyone together in one place. It was also nice to see my family, though Mat and I quickly returned to London the next day to watch the Game Of Thrones Season 7 finale! Wow! It was everything I'd hoped for and more!

The week went by fairly quickly, though little did I know that the tight-chested feeling I felt through Friday night was going to be the start of a monstrous chest infection/cough/cold. Still, I went to visit two of my closest friends here in London and I'm really pleased to say that they've agreed to be my bridesmaids! Ahhhh! Mat and I are really getting into the whole wedding planning thing so we're in the process of putting together our 'team' for the big day. I'm very excited!

I Read...

I Received...

- 'Trans Mission' by Alex Bertie: Approved by Netgalley (29/08/17)
- 'Godsgrave' by Jay Kristoff: Approved by Netgalley (01/09/17)

Note: The next two books were actually received in my Illumicrate Box a little while ago but there was a problem with one of the items that I'm currently trying to sort with Daphne! I wanted to wait until it had all been resolved before doing a full unboxing (which I will still do) but I'm so excited about the books I received that I'm going to add them on here now!

- 'Wonder Woman: Warbringer' by Leigh Bardugo.
- 'Nyxia' by Scott Reintgen.

I Posted...

August Wrap-Up
Planned Reads for September
Bookish Bingo (September 2017 - November 2017) Sign-Up

Bookish Bingo (September 2017 - November 2017) Sign-Up Post

I love Bookish Bingo! It really makes me excited every time a new one is released because I get to think of a ton of books I'd like to read to fit the categories!

I managed two bingos on my last card, and this one is themed around Autumn! Anyone who likes a bit of fun while reading, should definitely take part in this challenge hosted by Bekka at Pretty Deadly Blog.

What a lot of cool categories! Plenty of school-themed and Halloween related choices for September and October, I'm excited to see how well I do.

Planned Reads for September.

No matter how badly I do the month before, I always aim to go into the next month with a positive attitude. I'm focusing on smaller reads for September in the hopes that I'll get through more of them. There are some really cool ones too!

'The Geek Feminist Revolution' by Kameron Hurley: So I started this month a little way through this non-fiction read, and I'm liking it. It's angry and passionate, and has women at it's heart. It's not quite what I expected, but I'm sticking with it because it's still a good read that puts me in a motivational mood.

'The Girl From Everywhere' by Heidi Heilig: After reading something so grounded in the real world, I think it will be nice to read something a little more magical. I have not read any books about time travel recently, and it seems like such an awesome concept that I want to find a good one! It's well-reviewed and will fit the bill nicely I think!

'The Return Of Sherlock Holmes' by Arthur Conan Doyle: Time to delve into more of the Sherlock Holmes series of books! This time I'll be reading a collection of short stories, which is very exciting! I love murder mysteries, especially if they're written by Arthur Conan Doyle! I have high hopes. I'm going with a school theme seeing as September is 'back to school' month, and Sherlock Holmes can be found on any curriculum.

'The Hate U Give' by Angie Thomas. This book has had my attention for a while. In fact I bought it almost as soon as it came out, but never got to read it. Until now. It's held the top spot in the NYT bestsellers list for such a long time and from the sounds of it, that record is well deserved. I can't wait! This is a book a lot of people would like to see on the curriculum I think.

'Our Numbered Days' by Neil Hilborn: Poetry? When do I ever read poetry? Not since school is the answer, but I do enjoy it. Neil Hilborn is a particular favourite of mine and I've watched a few Youtube videos of his work. I bought this book, for my fiancé who loves this guy and I really want to see how they look on paper.

'Holding Up The Universe' by Jennifer Niven: I'm going with a bit of a school theme this month, as it was school that evoked my love of reading. This book is set in a school and I have been putting off reading it for too long. I really enjoyed 'All The Bright Places' so I'm hoping this second book from Niven will be equally as good, maybe even better!

'Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki & His Years Of Pilgrimage' by Haruki Murukami: I have never read Murukami. Ever. He's one of those classic authors who everyone tells me to read and I've just never got round to. Nevertheless, it's also set in a school and I like the concept of this book. It's not as long as some of Murakami's other works either so it will let me get a good taster of his style.

'Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education' by Malala Yousafzai:, by the author of the same name, is certainly a biography I'd be interested to read. As a girl who 'stood up for education' it fits the school theme very nicely. I want to read this book so badly, it has been on my TBR for an absolute age, and will hopefully be my second non-fiction read of the month!

August Wrap-Up.

So, reading-wise, I didn't really do all that well. I managed four of my eight chosen reads and I'm a little disappointed. I'm actually falling massively behind on my Goodreads challenge too so I'm hoping that September will be a lot better. But I still read some really great books!

1. 'If I Was Your Girl' by Meredith Russo. So many fellow bloggers adore this book and it has been on my TBR for a little while. It's the first ever book that I've read following a member of the trans community as they struggle through love and life in their new high school. I felt Amanda was a great voice too, and I liked that Russo acknowledged that despite her struggles, she actually had it a lot easier than most trans people. Good friendships to be found here, though I wasn't so struck on the romance. 3.5/5 stars.
2. 'The Sun Is Also A Star' by Nicola Yoon. I'd been hoping to read a book by Nicola Yoon for ages and finally found time! I liked the focus on racism within minority communities, both MCs were actually POCs, Natasha being Jamaican and Daniel of Korean heritage. There were some great themes in this book. Again, the romance was a little unrealistic but I don't think it interfered too much and actually Nicola provided some nice breaks with random POV chapters from side characters. 4.5/5 Stars.
3. 'Not A Drop To Drink' by Mindy McGinnis. This is definitely my favourite read of the month, that's for sure! I haven't read dystopian fiction for ages but I liked that this one was very natural. Not too many government conspiracies, or zombies of any kind, just mother nature doing it's thing. Great characters, heartwarming relationships and interesting despite not an awful lot happening. I thought the end was a little rushed but I look forward to reading the companion novel. 5/5 Stars.
4. 'Flame In The Mist' by Renée Ahdieh. My latest read and one I was really excited about, I'm definitely on board with this series. Set in Feudal Japan, Ahdieh had clearly done a lot of research and knew the time period well. I liked the characters and the beautiful blending of history and the supernatural. I would have liked a little more backstory to explain what was really going on and felt that the cliffhanger ending should have provided some resolution at least. Still, a great read! 4/5 Stars.

Now it's time to see how I did with my challenges this month!

This month I have read one book for the Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge, bringing my yearly total so far to nineteen. My read was:

- Flame In The Mist

This month I have read one book for the 2017 New Releases Challenge, bringing my yearly total so far to nine. My read was:

- Flame In The Mist

This month I have read one book for the LGBTQIA Challenge, bringing my yearly total to nine. My read was:

- If I Was Your Girl

This month I have read three books for the Diverse Reads Challenge, bringing my yearly total to twenty five. My reads were:

- If I Was Your Girl

- The Sun Is Also A Star

- Flame In The Mist

And here's my update on this quarter's Bookish Bingo card, courtesy of Pretty Deadly Blog!

Over 5 Years Old: Green Rider; Kristen Britain.
Red Cover: Good Bones; Margaret Atwood.
Latinx MC: One Of Us Is Lying; Karen M. McManus.
LGBT+: Release; Patrick Ness.
Summer Release: Not A Drop To Drink; Mindy McGinnis.
White Cover: A List Of Cages; Robin Roe.
Blue Cover: Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls; Francesca Cavallo & Elena Favilli.
On My TBR Forever: The Sleeping Prince; Melinda Salisbury.
Name In Title: The One Memory Of Flora Banks; Emily Barr.
Royalty: Flame In The Mist; Renée Ahdieh.
A Book With A Map: The Final Empire; Brandon Sanderson.
Author From Another Continent: The Sun Is Also A Star; Nicola Yoon.
Flowers On The Cover: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours; Helen Oyeyemi.
Romance: If I Was Your Girl; Meredith Russo.
Award Winner: Through The Woods; Emily Carroll.

Book Review: Flame In The Mist; Renée Ahdieh.

Reading this book was a little like being on a rollercoaster. You end up, for the most part, having a really great time and enjoying yourself. But you also kind of want it to be over, and come out of the experience feeling a little dazed and confused. This book definitely had it's good and bad points, but I still felt that the pros far outweighed the cons.

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Flame In The Mist
AUTHOR: Renée Ahdieh
SERIES: Flame In The Mist (#1)
PUBLISHER: Hodder & Stoughton
PAGES: 416
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
Mariko has always known that being a woman means she's not in control of her own fate. But Mariko is the daughter of a prominent samurai and a cunning alchemist in her own right, and she refuses to be ignored. When she is ambushed by a group of bandits known as the Black Clan enroute to a political marriage to Minamoto Raiden - the emperor's son - Mariko realises she has two choices: she can wait to be rescued... or she can take matters into her own hands, hunt down the clan and find the person who wants her dead.

Disguising herself as a peasant boy, Mariko infiltrates the Black Clan's hideout and befriends their leader, the rebel ronin Ranmaru, and his second-in-command, Okami. Ranmaru and Okami warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and ingenuity. But as Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history of secrets that will force her to question everything she's ever known.

What I Liked:

• Historical fiction is a genre I love, and it's been a while since I read a historical novel. This book is set in Feudal Japan (my all time dream destination) and I loved it! I really felt that Ahdieh had done a lot of research and knew the time period and setting really well. There were samurais, and geishas and tea ceremonies galore, such a great 'Japanese' vibe!
• There were a lot of different POVs included in this book which helped to mix things up a bit. Mariko was a great MC, a tough, stubborn woman angry with her 'place' in the world and seeking to honour her family more than just by marrying someone important. I thought all of the characters were unique and had great personality, and while I don't usually enjoy romance, I liked this one because it was slow-building.

What I Disliked:

• There were definitely areas of this book that felt very rushed. The pacing was off. I found myself almost missing so many twists because they'd been casually mentioned and didn't feel like 'big reveals' and it was a little irritating. That paired with the constant jumping around from POV to POV made feel a little confused about who I'm supposed to be supporting and who is actually 'the good guy'. The thing is while Ahdieh's character's were vibrant they lacked detail backstory which meant I had little idea about what was actually happening. Who is the villain in this story? I'm not sure! 
• There were a fair few plot-lines in this book - mostly political. I felt like very few of them were resolved by the book's conclusion. I don't mid cliffhangers in a series, and I understand they are a great device for bringing readers back. But I believe there needs to be a certain amount of resolution and there was absolutely none. Such a shame!

Overall Conclusion:

Don't get me wrong, this was a great book. Well thought-out and researched, with a wonderful sense of atmosphere. It was fun to read with good vibes that gave me a sense of attachment to the story. I'll definitely be coming back to this series. My complaints come from a place of frustration with how the plot direction was handled. Twists and turns need to be built up to. Characters need backstory. And most importantly there needs to be at least some resolution at the end!