But enough of where I got the book, lets talk about the book itself. This book was good, but not great. I like the cover a lot, but that really doesn't have too much to do with anything. But you must admit that the cover is pretty neat. The content between the cover pages is pretty good too. I especially liked the story-line as well, which was unique in the right sense.
Thanks to Netgalley for a free digital copy of this book. As always, this does not affect my opinion in any way. I am sorry that so many of my reviews lately have been Netgalley reviews - I'm sure it doesn't matter too much to you, but hey, I'm Canadian, and other than hockey, bathing in maple syrup, and saying "Eh" every second sentence, apologizing is what we do best. A year ago, my sister and I signed up for Netgalley, which offers free copies of books from their publishers in exchange for honest reviews, and a month ago, Elizabeth and I started requesting books. But we (mostly me) went on a book-requesting frenzy, expecting for a lot of the requests to be turned down. Apparently we (alright, I) were wrong. A lot of books were denied, but quite a few were approved as well, leaving me with a lot of books to review. I have learned my lesson though, and from now on will request with moderation.
But enough of where I got the book, lets talk about the book itself. This book was good, but not great. I like the cover a lot, but that really doesn't have too much to do with anything. But you must admit that the cover is pretty neat. The content between the cover pages is pretty good too. I especially liked the story-line as well, which was unique in the right sense.
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For each book mentioned, there will be a link to the review of it.
Elizabeth: Hi! My Top Three books for the year aren’t going to be in any particular order, and I will probably be mentally replacing some of them within seconds of posting this, but then, we all know that I can’t choose between my books! Here we go: -Steel by Carrie Vaughn -Narnia by CS Lewis -Skullduggery Pleasant (the first one) by Derek Landy Now I need to add a fourth book that might be one of my favourites of all time (well, the series really), but I have no words for it, so I can’t review it. The series is The Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter. It grew up with its audience, so the first book or two are a little bit young, but they are so good. Jason: Hello! I am going to pick the top three books that I read in 2014 (that I reviewed), which is going to be difficult, but I will try, and I will succeed. Somehow. My first book that really stands out to me is one that I just posted the review for about 25 seconds ago. Not because I just read it and reviewed it, but because it is so good. And that book is: -The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. I promise I won’t write a mini review on each book, otherwise I will probably keep you here all day. -Elizabeth is Missing, by Emma Healey. Alright, I lied, but I’ll keep it brisk. I was never good at keeping promises like those anyways. This book had a unique perspective that I had never read before. I bugged my mom to read it for half a year straight (I am not kidding) and when she read it she agreed with me that it was really good. -the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. As Elizabeth said earlier, I have no words for this one. I reviewed it, and that is probably all that you will ever get from me on this series that is not blubbering geek-out nonsense, because I like this series a lot. My sister says that Flavia is annoying, but I say that she is special. (Haters gonna hate.) Well, that is all for this post! Have a good start to your New Year, and Stay Addicted! -Elizabeth and Jason A few years ago, there was a huge commotion about this book. Everywhere I went that sold or loaned books, there was a few prized copies displayed prominently on a shelf where everyone could see them. Chapters stores had tables dedicated to this book (and, it became a ‘Heather’s Pick’), local Costco’s had mounds of this books piled sky-high in their book section. Everyone talked about it; this book had really made quite a splash. To be honest, I am not even really sure why I am reviewing this book – you have probably read it already. And if you haven’t, why have you not read this book yet? My guess is that you are probably like me, late to get onto the popular book bandwagon, and that’s alright, there’s no shame here. I do it every single time a book gets popular. For example, the Hunger Games came out, what, in 2008? Didn’t read any of them until last year, didn’t even finish the series until the end of this summer. Percy Jackson? Came out in 2005/2006, I did not even look at them until a few years ago. And I know these are all children’s books and Young Adult examples (although the Hunger Games is much too violent in my opinion for any child), you probably get my point, because it is not only these books, but multiple others as well. My other problem is getting on the book bandwagon too early, reading books before they are popular, but that is a whole new can of worms that I do not intend on opening today. The Help was stunning. If you need to leave and want a quick summary of what I thought of the book, that is it right there. This book was stunning. It was good-stunning; it was bad-stunning (but not in a bad way); it was attention grabbing stunning; it took the whole wide range of stunning and packed it into a 522 page book, as though with no trouble at all. You know how sometimes you just can't wait for a book to end? Well, this is not one of those books. In fact, this book made me remember how it feels to not want a book to end (lets just say that I have somehow managed to have a long streak of books that I just did not enjoy). I bought a $25 gift card for Chapters, and went online, where I found a great deal that allowed me to get three books for just over $25 (allowing me to get free shipping), and if the other two books go as well as this one did, I can say that the money was very well spent. Very. They say you should be with someone who makes you happy - well, I'm fine with just this book (and of course a few of my other books, also). Who needs other people, anyways? This book brought me out of my bad book gloom - because it is a truly good book. And yes, I do recommend it to you. I'm not going to tell you to buy it (I promised myself I would do my best to not tell you to buy a book), but it is definitely worth a read sometime. So. Glad. I. Stopped. Reading. This. How's that for setting the tone for this review? Alright, I won't be so mean. I actually really loved (this part is no exaggeration) the first section in this book (it is divided into three or four sections, each called a book), and I enjoyed the first little bit of the second 'book'. But soon after, I started disliking this book, and eventually couldn't bring myself to finish this. I just couldn't. The book is basically about a girl named Grania, who is deaf, and her experiences in life before and during World War One. For the first bit, it is actually better than it sounds. First off, I would like to let you know that I officially value you more than my being happy in the future. How so, you ask? Here's how: I really should be doing my homework, but instead I am writing this, just for you to read. You should feel honoured - I am, in a way, picking you over my educational success which would lead to my receiving a degree from a college/university, enabling me to get one of the few jobs I am currently considering, which would leave to my having a happy life. So, in a way, I value you more than my life (or something like that). That, my friend, is opportunity cost at one of it's greatest examples (my Economics teacher would be so proud, but with the number of typos I had to fix while writing this, my English teacher wouldn't be). But let's not talk about my undying faith to you any longer. If you are a fan of having absolutely no clue what on God's great and somewhat-green Earth is happening to the main character, then this book is for you. I'm serious. This book is a journalist's look back at what she should know the most about - herself. And although generally this might apply to a person, and I'm sure this does apply to Cahalan herself as well, there is a short span of time where it doesn't. Where she wonders if she truly was ever there during that time, and if she wasn't, well, where was she? Have you ever read a book, where you want to say something about it, and you just can't figure out what to say? That is how I am about this book - so if how I feel about this book is blurry at first, please be patient while I babble my way out of this slightly confusing state! Personally, I am very interested in deafness (I am walking along the path to deafness myself), Deaf Culture, Deaf history, and d/Deaf people. Helen Keller was both deaf and blind - and I am very interested in how a person would live out their life like that - being blind might be difficult at first, but after a while, a person could probably adjust, and the idea of deafness does not really scare me. But being blind and deaf is something else altogether - I do not know if I could handle them both at the same time - I think that I would find it frightening. Helen Keller is both, which interests me greatly. I found myself looking for a book about Helen Keller, and this is what I found - a book from the perspective of the highly overlooked teacher of Helen Keller, the person who taught Helen everything she knew - Annie Sullivan, about her first month trying to, well, reach Helen Keller. So, a while ago I went to a local (to the area that I was working in) book store that is basically a sorted out warehouse of books on shelves at dirt cheap prices (a.k.a heaven) (although dirt isn't that cheap anymore, if you are buying it). Most of the books that I bought, all of which are new, were for $2.50 or less each.
I literally spent hours in that bookstore on one of my trips (and I'm not saying this like some annoying teenager who has no sense of the true meaning of words, which is really annoying, but I really did spend hours in that bookstore - ask Elizabeth for verification, if needed). This is because I am the kind of person who at least looks at the title of every book on every bookshelf I stop in front of, and if I find a book that I am even somewhat considering, I put the title on a list in my mind for later on in the visit when I do a run through of what I found interesting. I usually spend an hour looking for books, and then 10 minutes doing a recap of the books I have looked at in consideration of buying them, then hit the shelves again for another hour, then do another recap (wash, rinse, repeat). I have a bad memory, and so by this point I usually have trouble remembering what books I looked at in the beginning, so I go back to the beginning and comb through the shelves I looked at previously once more (yes, I'm that book-shopper), this time picking up books that I remember finding interesting before, as well as books that seem interesting now. I then get a cart, because although at first I was having trouble finding good books, the few that I have now are weighing my arms down too much after the (no lie) third hour has passed. |
AuthorsJason and Elizabeth are brother and sister book addicts who somehow manage to get along (most of the time). They reside in Canada with their dog Becky, and one (slightly insane) fly-hunting cat named Fish. Oh. And their parents. They're important too. Archives
July 2016
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