August: Read, Reading & To Be Read
Hello!
My inner bookworm usually hibernates during the school term but recently it's come out like the social butterfly I am! It has been thrilling, so I thought I'd share with you three books; one I have finished reading, one I'm in the middle of reading and one I've yet to read but will start reading this month
Read:
The book that I have finished reading is The Well by Elizabeth Jolley. I had to read this book for school and let me tell you, it was haunting! It's a Gothic novel and I don't mean Gothic, dress style Gothic, I mean Gothic as in genre Gothic. The book is about an elderly woman named Hester Harper and the young girl she adopts named Katherine (I don't know if adopt is the right word because she sort of just brings her home and labels her as her own) Eventually Hester gets older and so does Katherine and things start to change. Not to mention Hester's sexuality too. No one, even Hester knows what she wants in terms of gender. This is just one side of the novel! Whilst all that drama is going on, one night when they are driving home to their secluded cottage on the border of a farm, they hit a creature. I say creature because no one but Jolley will be able to tell you what the hell they hit. Some think it's a kangaroo, some think it's a person, some have no idea what's going on. And instead of reporting it, they put the body in the well by their house! You can see why I said this was freaky, I know I sure as well wouldn't be putting any dead bodies in a well. Jolley's writing styles is so emotive and suggestive that readers are left constantly wanting to know more and it's just so beautiful.
I'm going to be honest, I hate all the characters in this book. I don't mean that Jolley has written them as crappy characters. I mean that my personal context has affected the way that I see some of the characters. Hester for example, I just hate until the end of the novel. To put it in it's simplest form, I think she's a manipulative bitch. I feel sorry for her (and if you've read this you'll understand why) but I just don't think she's a good person until the end of the novel. At the end of the novel, I have some hope that she'll change who she is so she can enjoy the remainder of her life. Kathy I just absolutely hate and nothing changes that. I think she is both mental and fake. I don't like Hester because she's manipulative but I hate Kathy even more because she's fake. Throughout the novel, I felt as if she put on an act and sucks up to Hester because she's been adopted and she really hasn't got anyone else or any money to support herself. I feel as if this is motivation for her to act completely different than she would if she didn't have to.
Reading:
I'm currently reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver and let me tell you I AM HOOKED! It won't take me long to finish this. In fact I started writing the reading part of this post because I was sure that I'd finish the book before I got around to writing this part. It is such a good book! The book is about a dystopian world where love is looked at as a disease. Everyone is given the 'cure' for love when they turn 18 and then continue to live their life with no feelings until the day they die. To put it simply: they're all conned into feeling nothing for the rest of their lives. The main character, Lena Holloway, has had a pretty shitty life and is really looking forward to the cure and then she meets this boy ;) and well all know what happens. I haven't even read up to that part and I can tell you that I know what's going to happen. I really like Lena's descriptions of love. I think they're really beautiful. It's like a person experiencing this bliss and happiness in their lives, that they've never felt before and the way Oliver has written it, makes it seem so real. I cannot put it down. Oliver also uses popular and classic books in this day and age and warps them into something rather sinister. Romeo and Juliet known as the greatest tragic love story to this day is turned into a propaganda piece, used to caution people against love. (Mind you, I think Romeo and Juliet were pretty stupid, like take a chill pill and it was probably Juliet was fourteen)
I wish there was more background information on society before everyone looked at love as a disease. Readers are given little bits of detail but not a full back story. However this is only the first book out of a trilogy so maybe we'll be given more information in a later book. But I wish they gave us some background information because I was constantly wondering why love was looked at in such a morbid sense. But once again, this is only the first book and maybe there will be more about the background of America in the next ones.
To be Read:
The book I have to read in the future is All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. The novel is about two high school students named Theodore and Violet who save each other from committing suicide off their school bell tower. Her sister has passed away and he has suffered from a long road of depression and other mental illnesses. From the blurb on the back it appears that the two most likely fall in love. I'm a bit wary about the book because I hate books where main characters die and I don't want either of them to die at the end of the novel. I've heard some great things about the book so I am still looking foward to reading it though! There have been some warnings that if you do have any mental illnesses and whatnot, to not read the book as it may trigger something so if anyone is in that category please keep that in mind. Always worry about your health, whether it be mental or physical first, even when a book is involved! Overall I'm excited to read the book, I've heard good things about the character of Theodore. His name already sounds adorable so that's a good start.
I hope that these books come as an interest to anyone and that they find them as interesting as I do!
Much love
-E
My inner bookworm usually hibernates during the school term but recently it's come out like the social butterfly I am! It has been thrilling, so I thought I'd share with you three books; one I have finished reading, one I'm in the middle of reading and one I've yet to read but will start reading this month
Read:
The book that I have finished reading is The Well by Elizabeth Jolley. I had to read this book for school and let me tell you, it was haunting! It's a Gothic novel and I don't mean Gothic, dress style Gothic, I mean Gothic as in genre Gothic. The book is about an elderly woman named Hester Harper and the young girl she adopts named Katherine (I don't know if adopt is the right word because she sort of just brings her home and labels her as her own) Eventually Hester gets older and so does Katherine and things start to change. Not to mention Hester's sexuality too. No one, even Hester knows what she wants in terms of gender. This is just one side of the novel! Whilst all that drama is going on, one night when they are driving home to their secluded cottage on the border of a farm, they hit a creature. I say creature because no one but Jolley will be able to tell you what the hell they hit. Some think it's a kangaroo, some think it's a person, some have no idea what's going on. And instead of reporting it, they put the body in the well by their house! You can see why I said this was freaky, I know I sure as well wouldn't be putting any dead bodies in a well. Jolley's writing styles is so emotive and suggestive that readers are left constantly wanting to know more and it's just so beautiful.
I'm going to be honest, I hate all the characters in this book. I don't mean that Jolley has written them as crappy characters. I mean that my personal context has affected the way that I see some of the characters. Hester for example, I just hate until the end of the novel. To put it in it's simplest form, I think she's a manipulative bitch. I feel sorry for her (and if you've read this you'll understand why) but I just don't think she's a good person until the end of the novel. At the end of the novel, I have some hope that she'll change who she is so she can enjoy the remainder of her life. Kathy I just absolutely hate and nothing changes that. I think she is both mental and fake. I don't like Hester because she's manipulative but I hate Kathy even more because she's fake. Throughout the novel, I felt as if she put on an act and sucks up to Hester because she's been adopted and she really hasn't got anyone else or any money to support herself. I feel as if this is motivation for her to act completely different than she would if she didn't have to.
Reading:
I'm currently reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver and let me tell you I AM HOOKED! It won't take me long to finish this. In fact I started writing the reading part of this post because I was sure that I'd finish the book before I got around to writing this part. It is such a good book! The book is about a dystopian world where love is looked at as a disease. Everyone is given the 'cure' for love when they turn 18 and then continue to live their life with no feelings until the day they die. To put it simply: they're all conned into feeling nothing for the rest of their lives. The main character, Lena Holloway, has had a pretty shitty life and is really looking forward to the cure and then she meets this boy ;) and well all know what happens. I haven't even read up to that part and I can tell you that I know what's going to happen. I really like Lena's descriptions of love. I think they're really beautiful. It's like a person experiencing this bliss and happiness in their lives, that they've never felt before and the way Oliver has written it, makes it seem so real. I cannot put it down. Oliver also uses popular and classic books in this day and age and warps them into something rather sinister. Romeo and Juliet known as the greatest tragic love story to this day is turned into a propaganda piece, used to caution people against love. (Mind you, I think Romeo and Juliet were pretty stupid, like take a chill pill and it was probably Juliet was fourteen)
I wish there was more background information on society before everyone looked at love as a disease. Readers are given little bits of detail but not a full back story. However this is only the first book out of a trilogy so maybe we'll be given more information in a later book. But I wish they gave us some background information because I was constantly wondering why love was looked at in such a morbid sense. But once again, this is only the first book and maybe there will be more about the background of America in the next ones.
To be Read:
The book I have to read in the future is All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. The novel is about two high school students named Theodore and Violet who save each other from committing suicide off their school bell tower. Her sister has passed away and he has suffered from a long road of depression and other mental illnesses. From the blurb on the back it appears that the two most likely fall in love. I'm a bit wary about the book because I hate books where main characters die and I don't want either of them to die at the end of the novel. I've heard some great things about the book so I am still looking foward to reading it though! There have been some warnings that if you do have any mental illnesses and whatnot, to not read the book as it may trigger something so if anyone is in that category please keep that in mind. Always worry about your health, whether it be mental or physical first, even when a book is involved! Overall I'm excited to read the book, I've heard good things about the character of Theodore. His name already sounds adorable so that's a good start.
I hope that these books come as an interest to anyone and that they find them as interesting as I do!
Much love
-E
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