Whoops

I’ve been sort of neglecting writing about books in the last 3 or 4 months. I haven’t been reading as much as I normally do and I also haven’t found a book that I really love and want to talk about. However I did buy 3 new books on the last week of last term, when I was down in Perth on a school sporting camp.

The first book I bought was Shadow Girl by John Larkin. I started reading this book a few weeks ago but I haven’t gotten into it and have yet to finish. It is about a girl who is/was homeless and how she became homeless and things that happened to her while she was. It is written in a strange format, with half the chapters written as an interview type way, with the author talking to the shadow girl. The other half is written in the shadow girl’s point of view about things that happened to her. It is weird way to write, I have never seen it before, and it is confusing me and I am unable to concentate while reading it.

The second book I got was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. She also wrote the book I talked about in my first post, Carry On. I enjoyed reading her work and so I bought another of her books. The story follows Cath and is written in third person. She has a twin sister, called Wren, who has been her best friend since she could remember. When they both move out to go to college Wren suggests not sharing a room. So Cath ends up with a girl called Reagan. Cath is the kind of girl who would rather sit at home reading while Wren is a party girl, going out and getting drunk with her new roommate and BFF. Cath struggles at college, not used to being on her own so far from home and without her sister. Family problems arise and Cath finds herself stuck in the middle. Carry On and Fangirl have a weird relationship. They are kind of a series but at the same time not really. In Fangirl, Cath is writing a fanfiction, what she thinks the yet to be released final book of a fictional series should be like.  Carry On is Rainbow Rowells fanfiction on what she thinks the last book of the fictional series should be. I imagined Cath’s fanfiction to be very similar to the way Rainbow Rowells wrote it and I was confused for a long time about the books relationship. (It took my sister a solid half an hour to explain all this to me)

The final book I bought was called If I Was Your Girl and it was written by Meredith Russo. It is about a transgender girl (so she was born a boy but now identifies as a girl), Amanda, and about her life after she moves to a new school. She moves because of what happened at her old school. No one knows what Amanda’s life used to be like and she has no intention of anyone knowing. She makes friends with a girl named Bee who she grows close to in their ‘Art’ lessons. (The teacher wasn’t at school, they were away on holidays, but the girls would have to go to PE so they pretend they have a teacher for a solid two terms) Amanda and Bee play the Honesty game and it ends with Bee coming out as bisexual and Amanda admitting she used to be a boy. Amanda is amazed to have found such a great friend but can she really trust Bee? I loved this book so much as it was not something I would normally read but it was interesting to learn and find out about subjects that people don’t really talk about like LGBTQ. It was kind of cliche with the whole new girl meets friends, gets accepted, meets a boy but then it also has the drama of her being transgender and no one knowing. She doesn’t know how to open up to anyone and is shutting everyone out, leading them to believe she doesn’t like them. But the truth always finds a way of getting out and jealously comes into play, Amanda is in for a whole lot more than she bargained. I don’t really fully support how the story ends I think their could have been some more on what happened, it was a little bit of a cliffhanger but there is no next book. Other than that minor detail I would fully recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a good book.

 

The book I read!

I have read the best book in the world! It is definitely my new favourite. The Host by Stephenie Myer is the most amazing, thought provoking, thrilling book.

It follows Melanie, a person who has had a soul inserted into her. The souls name is Wanderer because of how many planets she has been to. A soul would go to 2 or 3 planets before finding a favourite and living there forever, swapping hosts when one reaches the end of its life span. But Wanderer has been to nine planets, having nine different lives. The souls are a race of aliens that invade planets that are in trouble and help to fix them.  They control a person through their brain and body. Souls are very calm, non-violent race and they believe that they make a planet better.  Most planets they invade are very passive and accepting. But humans are different. They are not going down without a fight.

Normally when a soul takes over a host, the host‘s conscious  disappears. However Melanie has survived the insertion and talks to Wanderer. When this happens, though rarely, souls and hosts can communicated through their brains. Wanderer is watched 24/7 because of the strange ability she possesses.

Melanie starts to show Wanderer her life before insertion. Melanie was looking after her younger brother (Jamie) and had met another human called Jared. They lived together in a house that Jared‘s father built. Melanie had gone looking for one of her cousins in hope she was still human. That was when she was caught.

I highly recommend reading this book it is amazing.

My Favourite Type of Book

I have a few types of books that I love. I think my favourite is fairy tales. However I don’t read just normal fairy tales. I read books that are based on fairy tales but with modern twists.

I read a series called the Lunar Chronicles with four books in the series. They are called Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and Winter. As you can guess Cinder is about Cinderella, Scarlet is about Red Riding Hood, Cress about Rapunzel and Winter about Snow White. I really love these books and would recommend them for anyone who wants to read fairy tales but not the normal ones.

I also like future books. The last book I read was ACID and it was a futuristic book. It was set in 2113 and Britain had been taken over by ACID, the most brutal police force in history, after the government fell. I really liked it because it had so much story but there was only one book. It starts with the main character, Jenna Strong, and her life, and why she is, in jail. I won’t say anything else but if you want to, read the book.

The other genre that I read a lot is fantasy. I am in the middle of reading the Waterfire Saga. Jennifer Donnelly,the author, has not finished the saga yet. It really is slowly killing me. Three of the books are finished and I have read and own all of them. The Saga is about six mermaids who have been called by the river witches to save the ocean. Sera must find all of the mermaids destined to save the oceans from falling into a war of the seas.

These books are my favourite from each genre to date. I hope you enjoyed this post.

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My First Post!!

Hi my name is Meg and this is my new blog. This is a class assignment that a few people in my class, and I, and have been set to do. I was a bit stuck on what my blog would be about but I have kind of decided to have it about my life and things I like to do. My first page is called my bookshelf which will be about books that I have read and books I want to read. I will put up photos and reviews if I can be bothered.

I would like to mention a book that I read recently. It is called Carry On and it is one of those books. You know, those books that make you give up on your life for a few days while you read it. I was on holidays down in Perth and my sister bought it. She read the entire book in four hours. She immediately found me and made me read it.

Carry On is a little bit like Harry Potter. I read the first few chapters and was so amazed at how a book could be so similar but also so different at the same time. However, as it progressed I realized it was not at all like Harry Potter. If it was Harry Potter then it would be about Harry and Draco.

Here is the blurb.

Carry On Rainbow Rowell

Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here—it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story—but far, far more monsters.

 

I have not read any other books by Rainbow Rowell but I am looking for them at my local library. I hope that this is an interesting first blog post.