The Secret History - Donna Tartt

I have two words for this book: pretentious and asinine. It is the kind of story that you would assume the characters of this book would write, trying so hard to be educated and intelligent, when it just comes off as arrogant, long winded and boring. It reminds me of high school essays when a student wanted to sound smart and grown up. But to anyone older that was reading it, you came off as petulant and childish. That is the overall feeling from this book.

The narrator of the audio book was extremely off putting. The main character is a college aged guy from California, yet the narrator is a woman with a deep southern accent. This extreme and unnecessary contract was terrible and unneeded. Why not just get a male narrator with a nondescript accent as there are many out there. For this reason I could not listen to the audio book in large chunks, as I got quite annoyed.

I feel that the main male character, Richard, was very unbelievable in the fact that his through processes were so obviously feminine, so much so that at one point when I was listening I found myself thinking, ‘this must be written by a woman as  she doesn’t understand that guys don’t think like that’. Then I remembered that is a female author and I was right.

Eight hours into the 25 hour book I realised that nothing much had happened in the book and I couldn’t even see where the story was headed. There were flickers in the narrative of a mystery that I wanted explored more, but it just kept dragging. And drag on it did forever. Over 25 hours of almost pure boredom. The story was not even close enough to being interesting to hold anyone’s attention for so long. I’ve found myself thinking that I could condense the entire book into about eight hours and nothing would be lost apart from the inane wonderings of characters and sections that do not lead anywhere in the story itself. Yes the references are dated, but the book is from the early 90s so that is to be expected. The memories of those long disused things were the sole best part of a book which didn’t really finish. It just gave a quick overview, of which the main character even states that is what he is doing, and then fizzles out.

An utter waste of time.

A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking

To be honest I chose to listen to this book due to the fact that it was only 2 hours. I didn't just want to mark a book off on my read list to make my Goodreads stats look good. I am interested in Stephen Hawkins, and A Brief History of Time is on my TBR list, but I didn't know much about his life outside of his scientific achievements (and now I am aware that I only knew a little about those too).

The audio book is great in that each chapter starts out with Hawking's computerised voice and then fades into the narrators voice, so you felt that Stephen himself was talking to you and giving you his life story at a party or something.

His early life was very interesting and as I have not read a biography of someone as old as 70 before, he talks about the early/mid 1900's and gives good insight into how things were, especially in England. He gives exactly what the title describes, a brief history of his life, his family, the places he has been, all interspersed with a few funny tales of adventures. However there is a lot of physics that is described in the book. Whether this should be expected as he is a theoretical physicist, it can be quite difficult to understand and I could imagine 90% of people tuning out when the science is discussed. While I myself an not a physicist and only have a high school year 12 level of physics under my belt, I felt I could understand the concepts of what was being discussed but not the in depth information. I also found that I did tune out on one or two occasions.

Listening to this has only increased my fascination of such a brilliant man and I am amazed that there are people out there with such intellect. This biography could easily have been called "my extraordinary history", because that is what his life is, but I understand the publishers wanted to keep to the theme of his most widely known book. Also throughout this book you'll notice that Stephen has quite a healthy sense of humour, which is not what most people would assume for such a noted scientist.

A good book for those interested in a fascinating man, but perhaps not for those with no scientific background.

13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson

Catching a tube in London for the first time, noticing the yellow bollards at street crossings, the zigzag lines in the middle of the road, the craziness of Rome's drivers; these are but a handful of the wonders of this book. It takes me back to my first time travelling around England and Europe and all the things I think any foreigner notices when they first go there but is never normally or accurately described in books or focused on in TV and movies.

This book reminds me of P.S. I love you, by Cecelia Ahern,  with the whole premise of letters from a dead loved on leading the main characters on an adventure to get them out of their shell or comfort zone. Don't get me wrong, I do love the idea and it would be a ball to do in real life.

Though the main character, Ginny, was only 16 or so, I found that she was written as extremely naive and don't feel that I could relate to her in that respect, but her wonder at the places she was visiting was easy. Again, I listened to this as an audio book and i found the narrator was terrible at accents and wished the whole time she tried to use them that she would stop. It as very frustrating, like when a main characters name is pronounced wrong. Also the voice she put on for Ginny was annoying and sounded like a petulant 12 year old. I feel if Ginny was 18 or 19 instead of 16 the story would have been a little more interesting, plus its so far detached from reality that Ginny's parents would have allowed her to go to Europe for a summer by herself, with no money or contactable technology, based on a request in a letter from her dead aunt.

I feel this book is trying to be a coming of age trip around Europe where aunt Peg is trying to open Ginny's eyes to other places and perspectives, but unfortunately, it fall a little flat for me and i base that on the age of Ginny and her complete inability to explore, interact or ever speak. This book has shown me, for the first time, that I can dislike the main character in a book but still enjoy the book. However this is only if I take the book at face value as a fluffy holiday/summer read.

The Last Thing I Remember - Andrew Klavan

During the first half of this book I was very frustrated as it went so slowly and nothing really seemed to happen. Well it was that or the main line of the story didn't have enough to hook me into it. This did change a little as the story went on but it was more for the discovery of new information rather than what was going on, kind of like the TV show Arrow where you just want to know what happened on the island for those four years that Oliver was missing. I just want to know what happened during that year and leaving it open for sequels to get those answers left me quite upset. Now I have to read two more of these books to find that out. At least this one was a quick read and didn't require much thought and concentration to get through it, which I'm guessing the subsequent ones won't either.  

I must admit I'm not sure how, but I did know almost straight away that Charlie was older than he thought he was (although I thought it was a number of years older not just one). 

I found that I had to re read some lines as the writing was not amazing. It wasn't terrible and definitely didn't put me off the book, as I have experienced before with other authors, it just didn't seem overly polished. Or perhaps that is the way it was meant to be as it could be that is the way the character thinks, but it really annoyed me. However either I got used to it or it didn't occur much towards the second half of the book.

It seems to me that from the pace of this story, all three books could be the arc over one decent length book. It feels like the author presented a book to the publishers and they in turn said they wanted a trilogy instead, so the book was split in three. I'll see if it still feel like that after I finish all three books.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

What a great book. To think that someone wrote a book that centres around video games and 80's movies, TV, music and culture is fantastic. It brings in all the great elements of my childhood and of all people around my age.

I was very engaged in the story the whole way through. I did not find that any part of the story was slow or made me lose interest in what was going on. I had to get back to listening to it whenever I could to find out what happened next. The great part about the audio book is that Wil Wheaton is the narrator. He is great and even puts on slightly different voices for the main few characters. The best part is when he references himself a number of times; I bet that made him laugh when going to record. 

The idea of a completely immersive online community is quite interesting and gives one the ability to be anyone they want to be, and I can see how that would be attractive and even addictive to people. I remember a few years ago when there was a very crude version of the Oasis available but I never heard of anyone ever using it and in fact I don't even know if it still exists. The suspense of the game, the chase, the puzzles is quite addictive and made me wish there were actual games out there like this.

For this book to be something completely new and yet still go through so much nostalgic 80's pop culture is amazing. I cant believe I hadn't read this book before now and that it didn't get more hype around it upon release. I didn't even hear about it until it was on the BOTNS podcast and even since then I have heard nothing of it. Until that is, I started reading it and a few of my geeky friends piped up saying they couldn't believe I hadn't read it before now. I honestly thought this book was written a few decades ago and was pleasantly surprised when i discovered it was only written in 2011. Well done on your 80's geekiness Ernest Cline, well done. 

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher

This book is written in a very distinct style, one I don't think I have ever read before. It is told by the main character clay who is listening to cassette tapes sent to him anonymously. He listens to stories told by Hannah, a girl in his year at school who killer herself two weeks prior. She is telling her whole story.

Just the premise of this is amazing and as the whole point (or at lest I feel it is) of the book is to make people, especially teenagers, think about the repercussions of their careless actions, it makes Clay also questions his actions and reactions to each thing Hannah describes.
I found I was immediately drawn in to this book and I really wanted to know what could have happened to this young girl to make her want to commit suicide. Also to have have it told to you in this fashion, on audio suicide note, is transfixing.

The format of the cassette tapes and each 'chapter' being a side of a tape is a quaint and interesting way to go about telling the story. I must admit though that the jolting back and forth between Clay and Hannah's voices is very quick and at times extremely frustrating. Hannah is 'talking', so be quiet Clay, stop butting in to tell us stuff.

The second half of this book, from cassette 5 side A, gets a little dark and hard to listen to at times, although you are so engrossed there is no chance of pressing pause. Just a warning as it is very different to the first half where you can tell the characters are younger and things aren't as important.

This book has been on my to be read list for well over a year now and I'm so happy that I finally got around to reading/listening to it. It's very easy to listen to/read as it flows easily. I imagine the actual book with large spaces  between lines and large indents on all sides of the text. The narrators of the audio book, Debra Wiseman and Joel Johnstone, were great and Debra has a beautiful voice.

To think this book, which is told from a teenage girls perspective is written by a guy is mind blowing. He managed to get inside a young girls head so well that whilst listening to the book I was positive it must have been written by a woman.

Quidditch through the Ages - J K Rowling & Kennilworth Whisp

This was one of the most fun books I have read in a while. True, it is only a novella about an imaginary sport, but it gave so much detail into the vibrant and colourful history of Quidditch. 

I now know more about Quidditch than I know about other real sports like rugby and even soccer. 

To be able to create such an in depth history, Rowling is truly gifted with an immense imagination of which I am envious. The whole book had me wanting to know more and I thought not only giving the history but also prominent teams throughout the world was a great touch to allow everyone to feel involved and like they would have a home team to barrack for.

Still Foolin' Em: Where I've been, where I'm going and where the hell are my keys?- Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal sure knows how to tell a story. Not only tell a story but make it humorous, funny and touching. While this may be the story of his life it feels more like he is standing there telling you the story one on one. It did help that I listened to the audio book, which he narrated himself, so yes I did have Billy Crystal there telling me everything. The audio book does actually have a few of the chapters read 'live' in front of an audience, making the story telling that much more fun.

While it did not feel like a particularly long book and the tales are told in varying order, mostly from childhood to the age of 65, it sped by so fast that I found myself sad when I realised the end was near and I wouldn't hear more of this amazing funny man that I love.

There was a lot about his life that I simply did not know beforehand, which made the story even more enjoyable for me as I learnt all sorts of fun things about him. He touched on some of the movies he has made, his friends throughout the years, his family and living as a Jew. Don't be fooled into thinking this will be a retelling of the movies he has made with various other celebrities as it mainly focuses on how certain aspects of a movie came to fruition.

A great audio book to listen to that engages you and makes you only love this funny funny man even more.

Clariel - Gath Nix

What a wonderful return to the Abhorsen world. I thoroughly enjoyed reentering this world, hundreds of years in the past before Sabriel, and seeing it from a different point of view. I would have loved to have follow an Abhorsen a little more and get to experience the bells and the world of the dead with the nine gates, but this angle was good also. 

Clariel was a character I came to like very early on for her wit and humour. Then as the story went on and she grew and evolved as a person I found that I still liked her. She is the true representation of the path to hell is paved with good intentions. 

The story started slowly and introduced a lot of things that the reader had not previously learned of In the previous books, but as soon as it started it was fast paced from then on not slowing down for the rest if the story. While I could tell exactly where the story was going as soon as she met with Aziminil and Baazalanan at the Abhorsen's house, I felt that was where the story needed to go and that not every heroine can always be a heroine, no matter how much a person tries to be one.

From the Author's note at the end, I will have to go back to Lirael and read the start again to reacquaint myself with a 600+ year old Clariel as Chlorr of the Mask. I can't wait for the promised further books of the Old Kingdom.

How to train your dragon - Cressida Cowell

This book was so much fun. I wanted to read it after I discovered that the movie was based on a book, and I sure am glad I did. While the storyline of the book is vastly different to the movie, they both have the feel about them. 

Hiccup is just as loveable as the narrator, after all this is his book on How to Train your Dragon, to replace the exceedingly lacking previous book by the same title. His group of training buddies have the same contempt and disdained for the 'useless' Hiccup as they do in the movie, however I was a little disappointed that they were all male. That was a nice touch in the movie to have two girls in the group. However the dragons were a bit of a surprise. I was expecting them to be the huge dragon like creatures that initially come to mind when you think of dragons, so it was a shock when I read that they were quite small creatures more akin to Fire Lizards in Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. 

Being a children's book it made it fun to see drawings of the characters and events that occurred in the book throughout. There was even a basic replica of the original How to Train your Dragon book inserted so that the reader can "share the experience with Hiccup of opening that book for the first time". This sort of inclusion is what makes this book fantastic and would keep young readers involved and turning the pages.

Reading this book only took me a few hours, but it made me feel like I had just watched a half hour cartoon on a Saturday morning like I did when I was a kid. It was simple yet portrayed the story clearly and easily so that kids (and heck, even adults like me) would be hooked and want to read more tales of Hiccup, Toothless and their Viking friends, which is great as there are a further 11 books in the series.

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Very underwhelmed by this book. I'm not sure if it was because of all the hype around it, but then I think that I add this book to my 'to be read' pile years ago before there was even talk of a movie being made, from recommendations and reviews on the podcast 'Books on the Nightstand'.

While it was interesting and I did want to find out what was going on, I thought it was a huge let down. Already knowing that there was a huge twist in the book, I found it totally underwhelming when I realised that I had read that part and completely missed that it was the twist. To me that part was just what would logically follow from where the book had gone.

Amy's little adventure (I'll call it that for lack of a better word) was boring and had me thinking of better ways the story could have gone. There were characters and storylines that seemed to be in there to pad the book up. And things were not tied up all nicely like the character seems to think there were. I can think of half a dozen questions that arise without even going in to detail.

Then ending was completely bland. Just like every other marriage, with compromise and both people not getting to do what they want to do. True that the compromises are on a huge scale and not what you would expect from even a million marriages but that is how it read to me. The book finished and I was trying to find the next chapter to see what actually happened to these two sickening people.

Oh and the writing in the book is so mundane that I thought it should have been a YA novel with graphic context. Sure there were a few (maybe half a dozen) words that I had to look up in the dictionary, but a good sophisticated adult book it does not make.

I just hope the movie I'm about to watch is better and has made this whole adventure worth my time.

3 stars, a thorough let down.

Revenge Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger

Over 10 years after the original Devil wears Prada a sequel has been released. The main characters are all now in their early to mid 30's with more advanced careers and have moved on from Runway. It was great to revisit the lives of Andy and Emily again and hear what they have been up to in the last decade, sort of like catching up with an old friend you haven’t seen since Uni.

However the first half of the book felt very different than “Devil”. It was a lot slower paced and the characters seem to have out grown their swearing that as very prevalent from what I remember. It seemed more of rehashing the interim from “Devil” than actually having a new story. The original was marked with a go-go-go style with no time for breaks, never ending descriptions of people’s outfits and fashion items all interspersed with chipped, snarky comments from numerous characters. So far everyone is civil to each other, there is little to no swearing, the pace is chilled out and the fashion descriptions are so minimal that you actually pay attention to them when you come across them when reading.

The second half of the book gets more into a storyline but it jumps all over the place and is disjointed. You get into a scene and want to know what happens and how things go and then Bam! you are a few months in the future with little to no reference about it at all. Disappointing.

While yes there is more of the storyline it is a boring storyline. No one wants to read a book about a person coming to terms with being married and having a kid, especially when it’s a sequel to such a fast paced, in demand, exhausting book 1.

Emily has lost all her pizazz and edge and is just another run of the mill character from any book, while Andy is a very watered down version of her 'pushed over' self. And still even then you only see that happen infrequently.

It seems as though this book was toned down to be the sequel of the movie version of “Devil wears Prada”, not a continuation of the book version. I was very disappointed and the ending made me gag. Can you get any more American Hollywood feel good ending. Not a story I would choose to read. Ever!

City of Lost Souls - Cassandra Clare

This book was much better than the Mortal Instruments Book 4 City of Fallen Angels. Where that book bored my to tears following characters that were so boring and predictable with their choices, Lost Souls actually had a storyline and made me want to continue. After the last book I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue with the series, but I'm happy I did.

Lost Souls had a lot of teen angst mixed in with the action as well as the story line. I will say however, what does Cassandra Clare have with incest. It seems to be a common thing in the Mortal Instruments series. First Jace was Clary's brother and they were torn about the feelings they had for each other. Now in the latest instalment Clary's real brother 'Sebastian' wants to be with Clary citing the great Egyptian royal families as examples of how it makes it okay. It is not okay folks! So wrong in so many ways.

There were a few parts of the story that I was not expecting to happen and was happily surprised that there were twists and turns and not just the blah story from book 4. Leaving the ending as a big cliffhanger.

Waiting for the next book to be available on audiobook so I can listen to it. In the meantime I will read the Infernal Devices trilogy.

The Assassin's Blade - Sarah J. Maas

Awesome. These five novellas give you all the stories that occurred before Throne of Glass that you hear about throughout the book. It was great to have a little more explained about Celaena's past and what lead up to her being captured and sent to Endovier in the first place. I would still love to read a story about how Arobynn found Celaena as a child and then began to train her to become the worlds most famous assassin.

Here while Celaena is a little younger her arrogance is startling and almost her "fatal flaw" as most characters need. I found myself wanting to slap her every now and then due to her unwavering arrogance in the face of every situation. Interesting how Sarah J Maas could make you really annoyed at a character you love but without turning on them completely, it's more realistic that way as everyone has annoying traits.

A must for anyone who love the Throne of Glass series, especially while waiting for the third book to come out.

The Assassin and the Princess - Sarah J. Maas

What a beautiful insight into the relationship between two such amazing friends. Just a girls day out in the city. I loved the true friendship that is depicted in this short little story that made it miss my best friend.

The Assassin and the Captain - Sarah J. Maas

A little fun exchange between two of the main characters when their relationship was still forming. A love the banter back and forth between Celaena and Choal.

Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas

I loved this book. The story had just enough intrigue, action, and even romance. Celaena the main character is great. She is strong willed, opinionated and cunning. However she is only 17 and she acts just like a 17 year old, which is not a problem except that she is supposed to be the worlds most feared assassin and apart from the fighting, she is a gushing young kid. Putting that aside though, she was a fun character that I enjoyed following. 

I have discovered that I definitely have a "type" of book that I love reading. They don't have to be in the same genre but there are similar themes that run through them all. This book seemed to be all of them combined. All the way through the book I had déjà vu moments and memories of previous books flooded back.

Even though reading this book remind me of all the others before it, I still loved every part of it. 

We were liars - E. Lockhart

This story is brilliant. It is written in a very distinctive style that I have never experienced before, but I really liked it. The story is told from the point of view of Cadence, and is exactly how I remember a teenage girls mind working. The narrative flits all over the place in short spurts. A little information here, a little there, then back to the original information that was being told. I can see how that would be super annoying to many people, as I have seen in many reviews, however I liked it.

This book as just a normal story of a girl trying to remember her past, that is until she does start to remember and then it changed to an entirely different book. It was one of the most emotional books I have ever read. I was crying uncontrollably as I read each page but I had to continue. I had to know more, I had to finish.

Amazing, truly amazing. 

Double Black - Wendy Clinch

I really enjoyed this book. The subject matter (the ski life, not the murder) really appealed to me being an ex ski bum myself. The snow town lifestyle was very accurately described down to the nicknames for equipment, and groups of people. 

The characters seemed very real with faults and all. Even the form of speach in the book was as it is between people in real life, not long monologues that are never interrupted by others. Some people may have found that frustrating but I found it refreshing as I have not seen it in a book before. It made the whole experience more true to life for me and left me day dreaming of my own time on the hill.

The story itself was good and moved at a nice pace with just enough description of everyday life that happened to have a mystery going on around it, rather than a mystery story with only a little peripheral storyline. But that was exactly what I was looking for after all the books I have been reading lately. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I'm just a little bummed that I can't get it from Amazon on Kindle as I'm travelling and that is all I have access to at the moment. At least there is something to look forward to when I get home instead of falling into the post travel depressive state.

The Kill Order - James Dashner

As this book is a prequel, of course there are all new characters. I must say I'm found it hard to feel any attachment to them. I didn't feel that they were written in a way that the reader was suppose to feel any form of attachment to them. 

This book is just loosely based on the Maze Runner trilogy. The story itself is not something I would have read normally. In fact it isn't even that interesting. I hoped it would be a lot more interesting than was. Bummed I've wasted my time and money on it really as I'm not finding it fun. Valuable reading time has been stolen from me on a story that isn't that good.

However it is an easy read, as the original trilogy was. While I was still not super interested in the story I am one of those people who has to finish a book. It's not bad enough to make me put it down and give up on it, but it still erks me that I don't like the storyline especially after The Maze runner was so great.