Last Week's Shenanigans (4th December - 10th December)...

What a strange week! I feel like so much has happened, but looking back on it, it hasn't really. Mat and I put up our Christmas decorations on Monday, watched Frozen, listened to some Christmas bangers and generally had a very festive day. I love decorating the tree, so it was a lot of fun! We've been trying to watch The Punisher TV series on Netflix to catch up with the MCU because we want to get back to The Walking Dead!

On Friday I did something very exciting too. I won't talk about it too much for now but it gave me the opportunity to explore Canary Wharf a little, somewhere in London that I've never actually been until now. It is beautiful. The shopping centres are so cute too, I even popped into a Waterstones to buy my self a little treat. I ended up buying four little treats...I have no regrets.

I Read...

I Received...

- We Care For You by Paul KitCatt: Approved by Netgalley (04/12/17)

- Moonshine by Jasmine Gower: Approved by Netgalley (04/12/17)

- The Beginning Of The World In The Middle Of The Night by Jen Campbell: Approved by Netgalley (07/12/17)

- Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie: Bought in Waterstones (08/12/17)

- Last Night In Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel: Bought in Waterstones (08/12/17)

- Calm by Tim Parks: Bought in Waterstones (08/12/17)

- Madness by Roald Dahl: Bought in Waterstones (08/12/17)

- The Gifts Of Reading by Robert Macfarlane: Bought on Amazon (10/12/17)

Book Review: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki & His Years Of Pilgrimage'; Haruki Murakami.

This book, for better or for worse, provoked a strong reaction out of me. I'm still not quite sure whether I liked or disliked it for that very reason, especially as I threw it so violently across the room upon finishing it.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki & His Years Of Pilgrimage
AUTHOR: Haruki Murakami
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Vintage
PAGES: 298
GENRE: Contemporary, Asian Literature, Adult

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
Tsukuru Tazaki had four best friends at school. By chance all of their names contained a colour. The two boys were called Akamatsu, meaning ‘red pine’, and Oumi, ‘blue sea’, while the girls’ names were Shirane, ‘white root’, and Kurono, ‘black field’. Tazaki was the only last name with no colour in it.

One day Tsukuru Tazaki’s friends announced that they didn't want to see him, or talk to him, ever again.

Since that day Tsukuru has been floating through life, unable to form intimate connections with anyone. But then he meets Sara, who tells him that the time has come to find out what happened all those years ago.

What I Liked:

• Okay, so after a slow start, this story gripped me. It was weird, metaphorical and almost 100% symbolism rather then literal. But it worked. And the mystery was one I was totally on board with. I wanted to know all about Tsukuru's past, his four friends, and what had happened all those years ago. The side tracking did help to build tension, Murakami certainly has a knack for keeping readers hooked.
• I liked Tsukuru as an MC! He was a little lifeless (as he was supposed to be) but his strange anxieties and elements of his depression and paranoia resonated with me, making it impossible not to care about the fate of his character. I loved watching him develop too, as he got deeper into the mystery and started to care more.

What I Disliked:

• I did not become that invested in 294 pages for that ending. I'm sorry, I hate vague endings at their best, but here I felt like I was missing pages. There were so many unsolved mysteries and unanswered questions, and that final chapter felt like such a waste of page space. Maybe I just didn't get it, or it wasn't supposed to be important, but it's the reason why I had such a tantrum after being so engrossed. I was disappointed.

Overall Conclusion:

This book won't be for everyone. I have doubts that it was for me even, but really I can't deny that I found it highly thrilling to read most of the time. It definitely had a slow start though, and Murakami's tendency to go of on a totally unrelated tangent will irritate people if they like a story that keeps moving. I have so many regrets about becoming so invested however, because now I am left feeling cheated. What did Sara say on Wednesday? What actually happened to Shiro? And where did Haida go? I will never know. That upsets me.

Book Review: A Christmas Carol; Charles Dickens.

My first ever Dickens read? Whaaaaat? The truth is, I've grown up with his work, I loved the film Oliver! while growing up and watch The Muppets Christmas Carol every year at Christmas! This year, I felt it was necessary to read the book as well, seeing as I've loved the story so much for so long. It did not disappoint.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: A Christmas Carol
AUTHOR: Charles Dickens
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Wisehouse Classics
PAGES: 63
GENRE: Classics, Fantasy, Historical Fiction

RATING: 4.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.




What I Liked:

• Dickens' characters are a little like caricatures, and that's what I love about them. They are exaggerated, but it's part of the story's charm. I love how much personality and quirky humour he gave each one, and it made the story so endearing to read! I was also glad for the female characters in this book: they are strong, have a voice, and are viewed as 'equals' in almost every respect.
• The story itself is famous but I was surprised to see how deep and reflective it really got. I recognised some of the quotes (this book is very quotable) and it really is a book that makes the reader reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas.
• Dickens did a great job with the fantastical elements of the story, and it was my favourite part of reading it. His ideas for the ghosts that visit him, Marley's fate and the way that the story plays out really shows a great imagination on Dickens' part. Bravo!

What I Disliked:

• I think that Dickens handled the 'paid per word' thing that Victorian writers did really well! He almost mocked himself for it! That being said, as a lot of Victorian literature is, Dickens used a lot of repetition in this one. Do you need that many paragraphs to tell me that Marley is dead? I think not.

Overall Conclusion:

I adored this book and the proof is in the fact that I didn't originally intend to read this right now. I opened it on my Kindle in preparation for when I would nearer to Christmas and found myself completely engrossed. It was everything I'd hoped, watching media adaptations before reading the source material can often be a disappointing experience. Not here.

Last Week's Shenanigans (27th November - 3rd December)...

This week feels busier than it has actually been because I've done a few things differently at work! But I did get a lot of time to myself and I really enjoyed taking more time to read! On Sunday I went down to Ashford with Mat to see my family. We went for a lovely dinner with my grandparents and discussed all the exciting, upcoming things in our lives.

I Read...

I Received...

- 'The Wicked Cometh' by Laura Carlin: Approved by Netgalley (28/11/17)
- 'The Cruel Prince' by Holly Black: Approved by Netgalley (28/11/17)
- 'Folk' by Zoe Gilbert: Approved by Netgalley (30/11/17)
- 'Piecing Me Together' by Renée Watson: Approved by Netgalley (30/11/17)
- 'The Battlemage' by Taran Matharu: Approved by Netgalley (30/11/17)
- 'The Mermaid And Mrs Hancock' by Imogen Hermes Gowar: Approved by Netgalley (01/12/17)
- 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens: Bought on Amazon (03/12/17)

Memes...

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Winter TBR List

I Posted...

November Wrap-Up
Planned Reads For December
Bookish Bingo Sign-Up Post

Book Review: Ghost Stories; Whit Taylor.

Here's the thing. I thought the cover of this graphic novel was so cute and the premise looked promising. Everything else...I really didn't like.

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Ghost Stories
AUTHOR: Whit Taylor
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Rosarium Publishing
PAGES: 157
GENRE: Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Contemporary

RATING: 1/5 Stars

Blurb:
Ghost Stories is a graphic novel collection offering three haunting explorations.

Granted the chance to meet three of her dead idols in "Ghost," the author’s cartoon-self embarks on a journey to remote and unanticipated landscapes, in a story of self-discovery and healing. In "Wallpaper," a child tells the story of a household move, remodel, and loss through the lens of flashbulb memory. And in "Makers," two girls with an unorthodox friendship make a rocky transition into adulthood. 

Throughout each tale, ghosts exist as past selves and remnants of past relationships that are met with inquiry, resolution, and personal rebirth.

What I Liked:

• Uhh...like I said, the cover? Seriously guys. I struggled with this one and spent the whole read trying to make sense of and like something. I failed.

What I Disliked:

• The stories were so disappointing. I already knew they weren't going to be creepy, I didn't feel misled by the title in any way (a lot of people were though). However, I was expecting deep and reflective. I got what felt like a load of nonsense. There was no point to any of them - 'Ghost' felt more like a poor theory lesson on Campbell and Darwin's life work more than anything. 'Wallpaper went by so quickly that I did not get a story from it at all. And 'Makers' felt...pointless?
• The art...meh. It was rough. Like looking at a twelve year old's homework, not the work of a professional artist. It might sound harsh but I really hated it and I felt pretty cheated. Even the wallpaper designs for story two really didn't entice me, and the odd glimmer of 'oh that panel looks semi-okay' is not what I expect to find in published work.
• The work is riddled with grammatical and factual errors? Firstly referring to a companion as 'me and <name> went to...' made me inexplicably angry. 'NAME'. AND. I.' Also, don't make a joke about the moon by referring to it as a planet? It's a moon. Which is why it's called the moon.

Overall Conclusion:

Hmm. Maybe I've been harsh but I really felt very negatively about this work. It felt, above all, that it had been lazily handled by all parties. An editor really ought to have gone through this with a fine tooth comb but it really showed that this hadn't happened. I expected way more than I got and it left me feeling very lacklustre about the whole thing.

Bookish Bingo (December 2017 - February 2018) Sign-Up Post

The time has come for a wintery themed bingo card! Yay! I love this challenge so much and always look forward to seeing Bekka's newly designed cards at Pretty Deadly Blog!

There are some great opportunities for fantastic reads here and I've already chosen a few for December! I'm looking forward to reads themed around the holidays, winter, snowy weather and nature! 

Planned Reads For December.

December? My goodness! It's almost Christmas! I cannot believe the speed at which 2017 has passed me by to be perfectly honest. But despite hating the cold with a passion, I'm looking forward to snuggling down with some great wintery reads!

My first choice has evaded me a couple of times since buying it, so I'm placing it as my first read of the month! 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki & His Years Of Pilgrimage' will be my first ever read by Haruki Murakami, and I always find winter to be the best season to read deep, reflective writing. I'm interested to see what this author can do!

'Renegades' by Marissa Meyer. Do I even have to say any more than that? It's no great secret that she's one of my favourite authors, and I've adored every single one of her books that I've read so far. Since the Avengers: Infinity War trailer dropped a couple of days ago too, I'm really looking forward to a superhero/villain themed read too.

It's surprising, even to me, that I've never read a book by Charles Dickens. But there's something about him that really invokes the holiday spirit, so I've picked 'The Christmas Carol' because it is literally about spirits and Christmas eve/day! It was a definite tradition to tell ghost stories during those cold winter nights, and this is one that I would love to tick off of the TBR!

It's so frustratingly upsetting how often I have gone to pick 'Six Of Crows' up but never quite managed to read it. I loved the 'Grisha Verse' series by Leigh Bardugo, and I have high hopes for this one too. It was heavily hyped, it's true, but I'm hearing great things: diverse characters, LGBT+ coverage and most importantly, a better look at Ravka which is heavily based on one of the world's snowiest places, Russia!

The cover of 'The Toymakers' alone is enough to make anyone think of Christmas. Toys in shop windows, snow falling, the hint of magic. I've been eyeing up Robert Dinsdale as an author as his retelling of Hansel & Gretel, 'Gingerbread', looks fantastic. This should hopefully give me a decent sample of his work!

Mary Shelley is another classic author, and I feel that winter is a great time for classics. Especially if they are sombre, victorian reads! 'Matilda' certainly sounds like one of those reads and it's a little one too, which is ideal. In the winter I like my reads to be either very long or very snappy!

'Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore' by Matthew Sullivan intrigues me for a lot of reasons. Firstly, I like books about books. Book shops are my favourite places in the winter because they are always so warm and inviting. This one a little less so if the synopsis is to be believed, but who doesn't like a good mystery now and again?

I haven't been able to read an awful lot of historical fiction this year, which has been a bit upsetting to me as it's a genre I like a lot. 'Wolf Winter' by Cecilia Ekbäck will be my last before the year is out! It's certainly got the right snowy setting, and has been compared a number of times to 'Burial Rites', a historical book that I also loved. I have high hopes!