50 Book Challenge – Summary (+ GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCED)

DETAILS OF GIVEAWAY FURTHER DOWN – DON’T MISS IT!

Now that I’ve completed my 50 book challenge, I thought it would be good to reflect on it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve truly challenged myself (outside of battling my illnesses) so it was really good for me to do this challenge and succeed at it.
If you really do enjoy reading, I highly recommend this challenge – you don’t have to do 50 books – you can set the amount to whatever you like but make it challenging for yourself. The great thing about this particular reading challenge (there are many others) is that you can read whatever you want.
For me this took on many different types of books, I read books published in 2012 itself but also right back from 1843. In those 50 books; I read 10342 pages.

Of those 50 books I thought I’d share 3 of my favourite books and 3 I didn’t really enjoy. I apologise that I’m still behind with reviews however after being horribly ill over the Christmas period with a virus. Nevertheless:

3 Worst Books of the Challenge

1. Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo – Which I’ve yet to write a review on. It’s really not an awful book but so many characters are introduce to you, people constantly entering and exiting the (usually moving) car that it’s hard to keep up with who is who, never mind really grasp much about the characters. Perhaps if you see the movie or read it through again things will become much clearer but for me, the last few scenes are the best as they reveal the most about the main character, it’s just too bad it ends not long after.
   
2. Do Bats Have Bollocks?: and 101 more utterly stupid questions by Jon Butler – This is sort of a spoof of the New Scientist books where they do actually answer weird questions. This however is also the story of the office (not New Scientist) where all those questions come to – which I believe is supposed to be funny, but it just isn’t. It’s a quirky humour book, but that’s about all. Too much gimmick and not enough substance.
3. Pale by Chris Wooding – Written with dyslexic children in mind – the font used is dyslexic friendly and the story short so as not to frustrate them – I thought I would pick this up as I enjoyed Wooding’s other books. It’s probably not an awful book for it’s intended readers – but the story is so short it lacks a lot of depth and although I understand the actual reading must be made easy for such children, I also wonder if this would even engage their interest in reading more at all.

3 Best Books of the Challenge

1. The Well of Ascension: Mistborn Book Two by Brandon Sanderson – There is just no escaping that Sanderson is one of my favourite writers and I love the characters from the Mistborn series. This book did not disappoint at all. Sanderson always keeps you guessing until the very end.
2. The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh – Another book with fantastic characters. The setting is really unique; putting together the religious grounds of a monastery and the realm of the Fae. I loved it so much I picked up the second book and I’m patiently  hounding Walsh for the third book.
3. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs – At first I couldn’t decide if I wanted to read this or not, but I was so damn curious about it I just had to. The first half of the book is quite dark and pretty much everything is kept from you, it almost feels like a horror story but it unfolds cautiously into a secretive wonder in the world.

Don’t get me wrong, there are other books that I really loved too.

If you want to read the full list of books I’ve read in my challenge, plus easily find all the updates I did just check out my 50 Book Challenge page.

Now how about that giveaway?

I’ve chosen two books to giveaway that I read during this challenge and enjoyed. I choose two different genre’s because although my main love is fantasy – that’s not to everyone’s taste.

WHAT YOU WILL WIN

• ONE COPY OF Room by Emma Donoghue (Read my [Review])
  
• ONE COPY OF The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh (Read my [Review])
  

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

1. Comment below telling me what your favourite book is.
   
2. Leave your twitter username in the comment also OR leave consent for me to contact you by email using the email address provided in the email box of the comment (you don’t need to write your email address in the comment).

RULES

• I will ship the books worldwide, so it doesn’t matter where you live, you can enter.
• If you are under 18 years old please get your parents permission before entering.
• Giveaway ENDS on 1ST FEBRUARY. The winner will either be announced here on my blog or contacted directly.

That’s it!

Happy Reading! Good luck to those taking up the challenge this year and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

50 Book Challenge – Week 48

I’m now at week 48 – the start of that is, which means there’s only 5 weeks left of the challenge. I have to have finished my 50th book by midnight on 31st December 2012.
It suddenly feels like the past 10 weeks or so have raced by. I even went back through my posts and checked I hadn’t missed a week or something. But no, start of week 48!

I’ve not started my 48th book yet, but I’m part way through book 46. But before we get to that – I finished up Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (book 44) and I really loved it. If you want to know more, read my review.

Then I decided to pick up Nobodys Perfect Charlie Brown by Charles Schulz, since I’d purchased two 1970’s Peanuts books from eBay a few weeks ago and I really wanted to get to read at least one of them this side of Christmas. So meet book #45) It’s a fairly decent book, but I’m not overly impressed. I enjoyed it but not sure I’ll be looking at collecting these editions of the books.

So that brings me to book 46 which I’m currently reading – The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin. My sister lent me this book as she meant the author whilst she was living in Nigeria (which is where this book is set). This is not normally the type of book I go for but I’m really enjoying it. The book follows a polygamist household where Baba Segi rules over his four wives. The newest wife – the fourth wife is not like the others – she is educated and young. The other wives take an instant disliking to her – knowing they are in for less attention and less money now that it has to be split four ways instead of three. However the book flicks from wife to wife to show you their background, how they come to be Baba Segi’s wife and why they are the way they are now. It’s very interesting.

So that’s me all up to date now. If your doing the challenge also – no matter what your target amount of books is for the year – how are you getting on? Have you made it this far?

Book Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I first picked this book up and read the back cover in a book shop, then put it down again without buying it. Only to find myself back at the shop a week later looking for that exact book – I admit it, I was curious. Who are these peculiar children and why are they so peculiar? It has peaked my interested more than I first thought, and so I brought myself a copy.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is the story of sixteen year old Jacob who sets off from his home in Florida for a small island off the coast of Wales chasing the stories his grandfather told him when he was a boy.
He arrives on the island (father in tow I might add) to search for an orphanage which his grandfather had been in when the war started and which he’d told Jacob a great many stories about and only a few months ago shown him photographs of his friends there.
But there was something not right about the children in the photographs, something peculiar and maybe dangerous.
Jacob is disappointed to find the big old house which was the orphanage is in ruins – but have the children gone or died? Or where they still here on the island?

I’ve seen this book shelved under Childrens Crime and Thriller, Horror and Paranormal but for me although all those things do play their part – this is also very much a fantasy book. However it’s nothing like I’ve read before.

The ideas and storyline in the book are quite unique and so even though I’ve read a lot of fantasy and dipped my toe into horror and thrillers – I never knew quite what Riggs was going to come up with next. What the next chapter would bring and I certainly couldn’t second guess the answers to the questions that I had.

At the beginning of the book – particularly when Jacob begins to consider leaving for Wales – I was starting to think, this is not believable. There’s no way any parent of a sixteen year old is Jacob’s state would let them go half way across the world on some crazy mission. This book does after all appeal to an adult audience – so there is more work to be done than a parent magically agreed. Luckily Riggs does an excellent job of ironing these issues out.

I really was expecting some sort of big reveal; like “TADA!” you’re on the island and all is explained. No. Not at all. Everything is kept very mysterious. You’re spoon fed information so delicately that you’re kept in the dark, in suspense for 95% of the book. It’s only when you get to the end that all those tidbits fall into place.

Character development is quite slow but I hardly noticed the lack of it to be honest, I was so caught up in the storyline, mystery and descriptions.

I honestly did not want the book to end – I wanted to know more, see what happens next and just have more to read. As I understand there will be a second book – the speculated release is sometime next year and so in a way, I can now see why there was little character development – it’s a fantastic story on it’s own, but you definitely get the feeling that this is only the beginning. I would think more character development will come with the sequel now that all the foundations are in place.

I for one will be buying the second book. I loved this one. I’d recommend it to anyone. You definitely get a lot more than you bargain for as the synopsis doesn’t do it justice – it doesn’t even tell you 1% of what’s going on in this book. There’s definitely more than meets the eye here.

50 Book Challenge – Week 45, 46 & 47

Just just crapped myself writing that title. Seriously. I was thinking… I only have 3 weeks left?! That can’t be right! No it’s not 52 weeks in a year… 50 books. PHEW!

So why 3 weeks worth of updates all in one post? Well to be honest – at this late state, I’ve not got a whole lot to say. At this point – I’ve got the reading speed down, and if I need to catch up then I know I can. Which is a long way from when I first started the challenge at the beginning of the year – where I was worried if I started a book a few days late.

The past 3 weeks have been pretty busy – so I gotta say I’m still reading Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs – which to be honest, it rather frustrating because I really want to get through this book, which I brought on a whim but it’s actually really good – very different from what I’ve read before.
I’ll be done with this book pretty soon though, so hopefully – next week I’ll have a bit more to say.

However this is only book #44 so I feel a bit like I need to get a move on!

I’m really missing writing reviews! But it seems there’s always something that needs doing, or needs my attention lately. It’s just one of those times and I’m trying to grab what “me-time” I can to keep hold of my sanity.

 

50 Book Challenge – Week 43 & 44

It’s been a busy, busy week – hence I didn’t update last Sunday.

I started off with a whole week (mostly) to myself meaning I had plenty of time to read The Alchemyst: Book 1 (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) with Maaike. Suddenly my week seemed to fill up with appointments, people wanting my attention or presence somewhere. I did finish The Alchemyst with the week but a little behind Maaike who finished it in 3 days. Good book – review soon.

So now I’m pondering what Book #44 will be for me, I’m thinking maybe Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs but I’m not 100% sure yet as I won’t be starting my next book until later this evening. But since Miss Peregrine’s is of the horror variety is does seem rather apt for this time of year.

7 Books to go!

So Me…

Want to recommend a book? Maybe I’ll read it in my last few books of this year. Leave a book recommendation in the comments!

It’s well and truly autumn now and it’s getting cold. Everyone knows (or at least every reader knows) that there’s nothing better on a cold and blustery day than curling up on the sofa with a blanket, a book and a hot beverage.
For a lot of people that’s tea, but I don’t like tea… or coffee for that matter, and  well I do like hot chocolate but it gives me heart palpitations, so my choice (at least right now) is Chocolate Horlicks (it’s also got a bunch of vitamins in too. What’s your choice of hot drink?

See ya next week!