Waiting on Wednesday #7

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.  Here are the books that I am most look forward to reading.

Night School by Chrisiti Daugherty

UK Publication Date: 5 Jan 2012
Publisher: Atom
Pages: 320

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk

When everyone is lying, who can you trust?

Allie Sheridan's world is falling apart. She hates her school. Her brother has run away from home. And she's just been arrested. Again. This time her parents have finally had enough. They cut her off from her friends and send her away to a boarding school for problem teenagers. But Cimmeria Academy is no ordinary school. It allows no computers or phones. Its students are an odd mixture of the gifted, the tough and the privileged. And then there's the secretive Night School, whose activities other students are forbidden even to watch. When Allie is attacked one night the school begins to seem like a very dangerous place, Allie must learn who she can trust. And what's really going on at Cimmeria Academy.

In My Mailbox #3

In My Mailbox is an event hosted by The Story Siren

Books I Brought This Week:

This is another 18 books.

Review: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

UK Publication Date: 26 May 2008
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Pages: 361
Series: The Morganville Vampires #1
Format: Paperback
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Vampires, Young Adult
Rating: 4 out of 5

Morganville is a small town filled with unusual characters - when the sun goes down, the bad come out. In Morganville, there is an evil that lurks in the darkest shadows - one that will spill out into the bright light of day.

For Claire Danvers, high school was hell, but college may be murder. It was bad enough that she got on the wrong side of Monica, the meanest of the school's mean girls, but now she's got three new roommates, who all have secrets of their own. And the biggest secret of all isn't really a secret, except from Claire: Morganville is run by vampires, and they are hungry for fresh blood...

Glass Houses tells the story of Claire Danvers, a brainy 16 year old, who has been sent to college in Morganville by her parents. Not only is Claire the youngest college student in Morganville, she is also having a hard time making friends. This isn't made any easier as she has to share a dorm with girls that torment her for just being her.

Claire, realising that she's had enough of dorm life, decides to try living off campus. After looking a few different places, she finds an advertisement for a roommate at the Glass House. But what Claire doesn't realise is that the occupants of the Glass House have secrets of their own.

Once Claire moves in the story really picks up and doesn't stop until its shocking climax.

I found Glass Houses to be an interesting read, with characters that I both loved and hated at the same time. Rachel Caine has created a intriguing and mysterious town that I cannot wait to find out more about.

I recommend this book to fans of vampire novels.
(please note this review was written back in November, but was never published on the blog.)

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

UK Publication Date: 15 September 2011
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Literary Fiction, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Reves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire.

Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its afficionados, who call themselves the reveurs - the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and their love.

The Night Circus is a book that only comes around once or twice a year, by this I mean it’s a book that captivates the reader so much that you can’t help thinking about it when you’re not reading it.This happen all the time for me.

I first became aware of this book whilst visiting my local bookstore and overheard a conversation between the assistant and a customer. He was basically asking her if she could recommend a really good book, and of course this was the book that she recommended. So being a curious person I had to have a look for myself.

The cover was mesmerizing.  I had never seen a cover that was black and white, with only a splash of red. When I picked it up and read the blurb I didn’t think it would be for me, but I decided to give it a go and I am so pleased that I did.

No sooner had I opened the book and read the first paragraph:

The circus arrives without warning.
No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers.  It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

I was hooked. It took me back to the first time I visited the circus as a child. The mysterious tents, the strange sounds and the strangely dressed people. But the circus that I saw as a child was nothing like this one.

But you haven’t come to read about my childhood you’ve come for the review and so here it is. Erin Morgenstern has created a story that captivates the reader from beginning to end. She has created a world that is truly believable. Whilst reading I felt that I was really there seeing the circus, smelling the caramel popcorn. There are so many characters in this book, the circus being one of them that I would be lying if I said I didn’t like them all.

The story does tend to jump between different time periods, which can be a bit confusing at times, but I found this really interesting.It reminded me a lot of The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, who is quoted on the cover of the book as saying ‘This is a marvelous read’ and ‘The Night Circus made me happy. Playful and intensely imaginative, Erin Morgenstern has created the circus I have always longed for.’

I will admit that I totally agree with her. Not only are the characters believable but Erin Morgenstern’s writing style is so lyrical. At times I thought I should be reading this book aloud. I guess this is helped by the fact that Erin is also a painter.

The Night Circus is a must read for anyone who is looking to escape into a world of magic, fantasy and romance. If this review hasn’t wetted your appetite to read it. Take a look at the book trailer.

Review: A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka

A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka

UK Publication Date: 2 March 2006
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 326
Format: Paperback
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Historical, Family Saga
Rating: 4 out of 5

Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save the emigre engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she will stop at nothing in her pursuit of Western Wealth.

But the sisters' campaign to oust Valentina unearths family secrets, uncovers fifty years of Europe's darkest history and sends them back to roots they'd much rather forget.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is the most engrossing book I have read in a very long time. Ok the title is a little deceiving to start with, but you soon find out what the title is about. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is a family saga with a difference. Its actually three stories in one. The main story, as the synopsis says, is about two sisters and their struggle to save their father, Nikolai, from the clutches of gold-digger Valentina. Interspersed within the main story are two other stories. One being Vera and Nadezhdas' , or Nadia as she's known in the book, family history and the turbulent times during the war in the Ukraine. You then have the third story which is actually the title of the book. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is actually a book that Nikolai is writing.

Although this may seem confusing to start with, the three stories actually blend beautifully together. I didn't find the story funny at all, despite what the blurb on the cover says, but this didn't affect my enjoyment of the book.

My favourite character has to be Nikolai. For me he was the only character I found myself caring about. My least favourite character was Valentina. Not only was Valentina trying to steal his money she was also extremely abusive towards him.

Here is an excerpt showing the cruelty that Valentina shows towards Nikolai.

She corners my father as he is coming out of the toilet, bent over, fumbling with his flies.
'You living corpse!' she screeches. 'I will show you dooh-ress!'
She is wearing yellow rubber gloves, and has in her hands a tea-towel, wet from washing up, which she starts to flick at him.
'You useless shrivel-brain shrivel-penis donkey.' Flick Flick. 'You dried shrivelled relic of ancient goat turd!'
She flicks at his legs and at his hands that are stretched out for protection or in supplication. He backs away and finds himself pressed up against the kitchen sink.
-page 138.

I highly recommend A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

Review: Shatterboy by Scott William Carter

Shatterboy by Scott William Carter

Publication Date: 8 July 2009
Publisher: Flying Raven Press
File Size: 165kb
Format: Kindle Edition
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3 out of 5

Review:

Let me start by saying that this is a free kindle short story.

Shatterboy tells the story of 54 year old, childless, divorcee Rebecca Wilson. Rebecca, having been married for 36 years to Don Wilson, finds a glass baby at a local recycling centre. Thinking that its just a glass figurine, Rebecca takes it home and it to her surprise it starts to move. Over the course of a few days the child grows at an alarming rate until the day he decides to leave home.

There was a few things that bothered me about this story. The first thing is more emphasis could have been put on each of the stages of Shatterboys life, but this didn’t detract too much from the story. The biggest let down for me was the ending, it ended to abruptly for my liking.

I guess Scott Carter was showing us how fast children grow up.

Overall Shatterboy was an interesting read.

BTT: Mystery or Love Story

This weeks Booking Through Thursday question is:

All things being equal, which would you prefer–a mystery? Or a love story?

My Response:

This is an interesting question for me. I was originally a mystery lover, I enjoyed nothing more than sitting back to read the latest Patricia Cornwell novel. Then I was introduced to Young Adult fiction, and I was hooked.

Young Adult fiction has made love stories more interesting for me, I was always under the impression that for a story to be classed as a love story it had to be like Mills and Boons - big turnoff - but I am pleased to say that I was totally wrong.  I have read so many YA books now, that I can say love stories are the books I enjoy the most.

Thats my response to the question. What's your answer?