Change of Plan

I have decided not to review every book this year and this is for a number of reasons

The first is that reviewing has lost a lot of the joy for me. It is time consuming and stressful when I fall behind (so the last three months have been a bit crazy). I have struggled to find things to say for some books because some books are average or I decide to read them just to switch off my brain. 

Secondly, I am taking the BMAT on the 5th of November because even though I decided not to be a doctor, I managed to pick a course that requires the BMAT. I would like to do well and that is academically draining so I don't have the mental capacity to write.

Thirdly, I have had a ritual of writing when I do exercise as it distracts me. However, I've had to stop doing exercise because I've accidentally made myself pretty ill by doing it. So the one time I made myself write is no longer part of the daily routine. And then the illness gets in the way.

I hope this makes sense

Sophie

Review #71 - Heart Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

Heart Shaped Bruise is a British YA novel set in a mental hospital in a prison. It is told by Emily Koll, a girl who's been in the press a lot for her crime, which we the reader do not know of.

The best part of this book is the intruige. Emily Koll assumes the reader knows what her crime was because it was in the headlines of the fictional news. As a result she doesn't mention what she's done which was a really clever way to not give the climax of the novel away. Emily hints at what she's done as to intruige the reader but it still leaves enough suspense. There are constantly these plot holes that are all resolved at the end.

The way Emily is portrayed is very clever because we are really taught to pity Emily and to empathise with Emily even though what she does is really morally unhinged. I still really liked Emily even though she wasn't likeable. She was just a really great antihero.

The pace started really slowly but warmed up and the ending is really outstanding.

I didn't really relate to the voice which was a shame. I felt it had reverted to the Classic Brit Lit YA Voice without really understanding being a teenager beyond having crushes on boys.

I would recommend this if:

You want a book that's pretty vindictive

You want a book that covers child psychology.

You want a classic british YA novel

I gave this three stars

Review #70 - September Girls by Bennett Madison

September Girls is essentially a male coming of age book about a boy who travels to a town for the summer when his mother has left the family. In this beach town there are all these attractive, blonde girls and they're everywhere. And they're all flirty and obsessed with our main character.

This is a fairly odd book because it is about mermaids and romance, but 12 year olds I warn you while you rush to Amazon to read this, this book is fairly adult. The demographic is not that of the demographic of Emily Windsnap. I was suprised at the contrast between the set up of this mermaid book and these adult (sexual) themes. It does add something very new to the mermaid genre but does adding new dimensions to a genre make you a great author? I think these adult themes of sex and loss are really interesting in what could easily be a book for young teens. By adding this element of fantasy it makes all the contemporary elements have more weight due to the juxtaposition.

The male characters in this book were fairly annoying but the female ones were very interesting. They're flawed and that was really great to read. The girls are very similar physically and it can give you the impression that they are the same. However, their temperaments are all extremely different and I really enjoyed that contrast between how the reader thinks of them very much as a collective and how they are all different once you get to know them. When the girls get the narrative it's very interesting because they use the fourth (is it called fourth) person which again, makes you think of them as one.

I found it odd because even though this book contains great female characters it felt very much like a book for boys. The coming of age element didn't really make me feel like I could relate and that felt like it was because of my genre.

I would recommend this if:
You want a male coming of age book
A book about mermaids for older teens
A slightly odd romance

I gave this three stars

Review #69- The Time Machine by HG Wells

I read Ann Veronica earlier this year by HG Wells which I just adored. The Time Machine didn't quite live up to the same standards that Ann Vernonica did.

Whereas Ann Veronica is a contemporary novel this, no suprise, is science fiction. It's about a man who invents a time machine and tells the story of his adventure to a group of people over dinner. The book tells the story from the perspective of one of those listeners. 

I'm not always a fan of science fiction but HG Wells I think, while sometimes rambling, is top of his game at science fiction. I am a biology nerd and you can really tell that HG Wells knows what he's talking about. It weaves Darwin's evolutionary theory with social commentary. This is HG Wells' strongest theme in this book. 

The theory behind the evolution of humans is that the upper classes become so timid that they become weak and boring while the working classes become savage and have the ability to literally eat the upper classes. This social commentary is not only really interesting but uses key evolutionary theory that communities can separate and they can evolve into two different species entirely. I love the fact that H G Wells takes real science because often science fiction is just fantasy with big scientific words in.

I did find the ending slightly odd which did take away from the book. The book kind of lost the plot and began to ramble.

I would recommend this if:

You love ecology

You want a science fiction book that isn't about space

You want an engaging classic

I gave this three stars

Stacking the Shelves / August and September Haul

I got a lot of books in September and a few in August

August

My friend Nina, my sister and our mums went on a bookshop tour in early August in London. We walked six miles (six miles!)

1. Hallucination by Oliver Sachs (Watermark Books, Kings Cross)
2. The Island of Dr Moreau by H G Wells (Skoob Books)
3. Patience by John Coates (Persephone Books)
4. The Domesticated Brain by Bruce Hood (The LRB)

Hallucination is a non-fiction book as I'm interested in neurology. It's written by the same guy who wrote The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat which is one of the key texts for Oxford Biomedical Sciences.

I read Ann Veronica and The Time Machine by H G Wells earlier this year and my friend Aimee was reading it at the time for her possible English degree.

Patience is a comedy about a woman who is catholic who's brother suddenly announces she is living in Sin. I love the Persephone Books shop as it focuses a lot on female writers and female characters. The covers are gorgeous.

The Domesticated Brain is another neurology book.

5. Austerlitz by W G Sebald

Austerlitz was sent to me by Rosianna as part of her giving-away-all-her-books and world-cup-fundraiser. Apparently it's weird, according to her postcard.

September

1. The Handy London Map & Guide
2. Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
3. The Humans by Matt Haig
4. These Days Are Ours by Michelle Haimoff

These are the books I didn't get for my birthday.

I went to Foyles at the end of my holidays and my mum bought me The Handy London Map & Guide partly because my sister wants to know her way round London and I think partly because my phone kept running out of charge because citymapper is v energy heavy.

I also got The Humans by Matt Haig on this Foyles trip which is a book about an alien who inhabits a human's body in order to destroy the mathematical proof that would cause universal destruction.

I got Heir of Fire in the post which I preordered before I got my electronic ARC.

I bought These Days Are Ours in Blackwells in Oxford as I was in desperate need of a coming of age book. Also, the book is really pretty

I turned 18 on the 27th which was so unbelievably awesome and I got loads and loads of books.

5. Oxford Sketchbook

6. The Diving-Bell and The Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

7. The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs

8. Angelfall by Susan Ee

9. The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder

10. Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy 

These are all the books I got from my friends because they are all wonderful human beings *deep breath*

I got the Oxford Sketchbook from my friend Nithya. I have the London, Singapore, Paris and New York Sketchbook's already and I was super super excited to get this one. I really love Oxford as it has definitely become my home town in the past year and a bit even though I've lived near since I was four. It's just such an amazing city.

I got The Diving-Bell and The Butterfly from my friend Miranda. It's really short because it was written by a man with locked in syndrome who can only move his head side to side and blink one eye. It was all dictated. It's so so clever.

Sif gave me The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat which is by the same guy who wrote Hallucination which I bought in August and am currently reading. Oliver Sachs is a good writer.

Nina who is *amazing* got me three books. THREE. 

So the first book is Angelfall which she has been begging me to read which I ignored but then she bought it for me. I shouldn't have ignored her because this book is awesome if a little gory. It's dystopian angel YA snarky fiction.

The other two books she got off my goodreads and got me *AMERICAN HARDCOVERS.*

The Museum of Intangible Things is about friendship and happiness and I don't know much more about it but I am so excited. I love American Contemporary YA Coming of Age books.

Side Effects May Vary is a fairly dark book about a girl with cancer who starts taking revenge on those who have hurt her, and then she goes into remission. I am so excited about this.

11. Harry Potter Film Wizardry
12. Lonely Planet's Best Ever Travel Tips

My neighbours got me these & I love them. They're pretty self explanatory but I will say the Harry Potter book includes a marauders map.

13. The Fault in Ours Stars by John Green

14. Looking For Alaska by John Green

My grandparents got me signed (I think 1st editions) John Green books and I love them and LFA especially is a book that is so important to me.

15. Macbeth by William Shakespeare

16. The Anatomy Colouring Book

My parents got me this really beautiful copy of Macbeth which has loads of paper cuttings. Macbeth is probably the favourite Shakespeare I've read

They also got me an anatomy colouring book which isn't pictured here but it's awesome. I mean it's a colouring book mixed with human biology. It's wonderful

Review #68 - Reboot by Amy Tintera

Reboot is your classic YA novel. Set in a world where a disease is fatal, but some victims come back to life creating humans which are faster, stronger and most importantly lacking feelings. It centres on 178, the coolest and hardest reboot of them all. And insert cute boy.

The first part of this book is really enjoyable. The world building is fantastic and 178's lack of emotion was a really fun perceptive to read from because YA is a very emotional genre. It was also great to read from such a strong female character who is flawed and wonderful. The socially hierarchy is also really insightful.

The early-romance was also done well. The flirting was believable and 178's reaction was done excellently. Her character development was very strong during this point.

However, I found that the second part of the book deteriorated rapidly. Whereas the first part and been punchy and hard the second part was drippy. The plot became very slow and took a while to get anywhere of any interest. Also, the romance became boring. The thrill of the chase was over (ironically if you've read the book) which just left a fairly dull book.

I would recommend this if:

You want a book that is a classic YA dystopia

You like good female characters

You want a book that I questions what makes us human

I gave this two stars

Review #67 - The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver is one of the "classics" of the YA dystopia genre. And in a lot of ways I found it cleverer than the hunger games because apart from the lack of choice in birthday presents and careers this society isn't that bad when you discover this world. 

This book is very short and very basic. At times it did come across as too simplistic in its language. Also, setting up the world was very much at the expense of the plot speed which was a real shame. In a lot of dystopias they use the plot to build the world but in this they were two very different things. I did find it a little boring in places but the fact it's tiny really meant that I didn't have to push through it.

The story is very clever. It progresses well and the plot twists are unexpected. I didn't guess any of this book and that was really wonderful and the characters were really great as was the dialouge. Perceptions of characters were very much set up via the dialouge and that was really good. 

The way emotions were tackled was extremely good. There's this comical bit when Phoebe, who's the younger sister, says she felt anger at a situation so she balls her hand into a fist to represent it.

I would recommend this if:

You are dystopia crazy

You want an early dystopian novel

You want a book that deals with perceptions really well.

I gave this three stars