Some series just don't know when to die. But I guess, if you get acclaim - and money - for it, why stop? Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's series was enjoyable enough as a piece of popcorn reading. And the books were better than the awful film - but that's not saying much. In the first… Continue reading A Map of Days, Ransom Riggs
Category: Young Adult YA
30 Day Book Challenge: Day Eight!
So, week two and day eight roll around and we're still going... And the challenge today is to name A series everyone should read. Now I struggle with this concept. Why should everyone read the same thing? Why would one series - which is a massive investment of time - be something everyone should read? Why should anyone read… Continue reading 30 Day Book Challenge: Day Eight!
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30 Day Book Challenge: Day Six!
Today's challenge is to identify A book that broke your heart. There is only one contender in this category and it is Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls. I have read this novel a dozen times: initially as simply a book for myself; later as a class read for work. I have read it in my head… Continue reading 30 Day Book Challenge: Day Six!
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The Sleeper and the Spindle, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell
There are times when I love my job. Some. On rare occasions. One of those times came today when I spotted a copy of The Sleeper and the Spindle on the side in the library and I was asked to have a read of it over night and see whether I thought it was suitable.… Continue reading The Sleeper and the Spindle, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell
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Weekly Round Up 4th June
So, half term is over and we're all back at work. As predicted, I didn't find enough time to complete a book since the last round up so I'm still reading Sarah Schmidt's See What I have Done and am warming to it much more. She has a gorgeous way of creating voice in her four… Continue reading Weekly Round Up 4th June
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A Skinful Of Shadows, Frances Hardinge
Cards on the table. I adore Frances Hardinge. She can, in my humble eyes, do no wrong. I would buy a telephone directory with her name attached to it as an author! Her Cuckoo Song was a masterpiece. The sort of novel which I wish I had more than my self-imposed five stars to give… Continue reading A Skinful Of Shadows, Frances Hardinge
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Railhead, Philip Reeve
This is a delightfully fun and engaging tale with all the confidence you'd expect of Phillip Reeve, returning to the steampunk genre, if in a very different world, of Mortal Engines. Here, rather than walking cities, we have sentient trains and K-gates - wormholes or portals, taking trains and their passengers instantly to different worlds and different… Continue reading Railhead, Philip Reeve
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CILIP Carnegie Medal 2017
It being March, the CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist has been announced and I'm embarking on the ritual of trying to read them. This year, the list is:
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Catch Up
For various reasons - Ofsted, toddler, family visits - I've not been able to add reviews recently and am about to try to catch-up. Once again. As an aide memoir to myself, to you - and a short cut to adding photos later, the books I'm yet to review are: Autumn by Ali Smith: gorgeous,… Continue reading Catch Up
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The Girl of Ink and Stars, Kiran Millwood Hargrave
This certainly has a distinctive and gorgeous cover on it, which has graced the window front of local bookshops for weeks! But they do say that you shouldn't just a book etc etc etc ... The book is narrated by Isabella, a young girl on the island of Joya, who has been brought up on… Continue reading The Girl of Ink and Stars, Kiran Millwood Hargrave
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The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith
Okay. I'm putting my hands up to this. I did not like this book. Yes, I know that Robert Galbraith is J. K. Rowling and the sainted J. K. can do no wrong in the eyes of many... but this did not work for me. The plot was decent enough: the death of Lula Landry,… Continue reading The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith
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The Lie Tree, Francis Hardinge
I am coming to adore Frances Hardinge! I've only read this and Cuckoo Song to be fair, but there's something about her imagination and her writing which chimes with me: dark, intensely personal, yet somehow mythic at the same time. She captures a sense of wonder, of terror, of awe which is simultaneously so childlike… Continue reading The Lie Tree, Francis Hardinge
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Library Of Souls, Ransom Riggs
I'm not going to dwell long on this review: it concludes the story begun in Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and continues in Hollow City from which this book continues directly. It is also my last book of 2015, and Miss Peregrine was my first book of 2015 so it gives my year a… Continue reading Library Of Souls, Ransom Riggs
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Hollow City, Ransom Riggs
Okay. I confess. I only read this and the next book (Library Of Souls) to complete a trilogy for my 2015 Reading Challenge. And because I was running out of time. I did complete them by 31st December... just a little slow blogging about them. Due in part to a busy Christmas and also to… Continue reading Hollow City, Ransom Riggs
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The Collectors, Phillip Pullman
This is an absolute gem of a read - or more likely a listen, as Pullman wrote it for Audible as a free giveaway at some point. That's how I collected it - see what I did there? - and it's been lurking in my library ever since and today I thought I may… Continue reading The Collectors, Phillip Pullman
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The Rest Of Us Just Live Here, Patrick Ness
Ahhh... a new Patrick Ness publication is like a new China Miéville publication: an event to be savoured. Chaos Walking. A Monster Calls. More Than This. He writes science fiction, fantasy, dystopian fictions with drama, true emotion, real depth so well! So it's difficult with this book. It's fabulous. It really is. But it's… Continue reading The Rest Of Us Just Live Here, Patrick Ness
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The World of Poo, Terry Pratchett
This tale has its origins in the novel Snuff: it is the bedtime story that Sam Vimes' son requires every night. It is utterly silly, amusing and delightful. How charming can a book about poo be? This is the most charming book about poo I have ever read! Does it have a plot? Of course:… Continue reading The World of Poo, Terry Pratchett
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Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge
This is a remarkable novel. Of the three CILIP Carnegie nominees I've read, this is my clear front runner. And I'm saying that having read Patrick Ness! Before I review it, however, I'm going to play a game with my sixteen year-old stepson, whose birthday it is today. Despite his protestations, he is going… Continue reading Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge
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Tinder, Sally Gardner
This is the first of my reviews of this year's CILIP Carnegie Medal nominees. Well, my second. Patrick Ness' More Than This I read back in August - see here for my review - six months before the shortlist was announced. And to be honest, it will take some beating!Anyway, this is my first knowing CILIP Carnegie read. And… Continue reading Tinder, Sally Gardner
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Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson
I've been considering reading this for a while. I do like Sanderson's world building, especially in the Mistborn series; I also have a penchant for superheroes, dating back to a misspent youth. Sanderson's take on superheroes was appealing and tempting, especially as the sequel to Steelheart, entitled Firefight, came out in January this year. And yet... For… Continue reading Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson
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My Swordhand is Singing, Marcus Sedgwick
Sedgwick has been on my radar for a few years now, creeping into the shortlists for the Carnegie Medal regularly. I'd previously read his White Crow, and Midwinterblood. The first of those I had thoroughly enjoyed, bouncing between time zones; the second was breathtaking, tracing echoes of a story back through generations and encompassing wartime escapes,… Continue reading My Swordhand is Singing, Marcus Sedgwick
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The House Of Silk, Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz, for me as an English teacher is almost synonymous with his teenage spy Alex Rider. Although probably with fewer helicopters, assassins and explosions. And more writing. The series is a very boy friendly, speedily paced series of novels which are one out go-to series for reluctant boy-readers. So it was with some surprise… Continue reading The House Of Silk, Anthony Horowitz
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Death Bringer, Derek Landy
Death Bringer. An apt title to read this week as I have struggled with another vile bug. Or possibly the same vile bug that I've had since Christmas and never really shifted. The Death Bringer virus. Or perhaps just book six in the Skulduggery Pleasant series. I lost faith a little with Mortal Coil and… Continue reading Death Bringer, Derek Landy
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Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
Woohoo my first finished novel of 2015 and a start to my Reading Challenge! This book was not what I expected. There was something very evocative and intriguing about both the title and cover - as well as the photographs inside. Almost all of which, according to the note appended to the novel, are genuine… Continue reading Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
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Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Ahhhhhh..... Some books are like taking a duvet day in December with a warm fire burning in the corner. And hot chocolate. Even though I don't like hot chocolate, the idea of hot chocolate. And in the arms of someone who loves you. These books are comforting. Warming. Safe. And so it is with Good… Continue reading Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
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