Books & Travelling

First of all; happy Halloween! I’m from Norway and here it never really been a huge tradition of Halloween; not Valentine’s Day either for that matter.
Me and a friend of mine went out for a walk today; I think we walked around the streets for about an hour or so. We saw maximum five kids celebrating Halloween… I would imagine that in the US and the UK this is much more of a bigger happening – I mean, honestly? It can’t be smaller than this!

I’ve never read many horror books in my life. Of course, I’ve read those vampire books (Sookie Stackhouse and so on. Is that counted in as horror, by the way?), some Stephen King books and as a child I used to read R.L. Stine’s horror books for children. I remember I loved them! Me and my best friend at that time used to go to the library, get as many R.L. Stine – books as we could possibly carry (which was a lot! My library has shopping – baskets available for us to carry books around in).

However; the last weeks I’ve been travelling much more than I really meant to. A couple of weeks ago I was in Aalborg; which is an awesome place in Denmark – and this weekend I spent on a political conference in Oslo. A lot of fun!
On the airport on my way home from Oslo, me and my travel buddies went into this bookshop called “Book store”. I wasn’t actually going to buy something, but then I found a book I’ve been wanting to get for a while – book number 2 in the “Dark Tower” – series by Stephen King. I’ve read the first book (The Gunslinger) and thought it was amazing, and I’ve spent the last 24 hours reading in book number 2 (The drawing of the Three) which is, so far, also really good!

This was quite the long post, though, but I wanted to kind of explain to you why I have been so busy that I haven’t posted in a while. In a couple of hours I’ll start out NaNoWriMo (wish me good luck, guys!), but as you know – to be a good writer you have to be a good reader, so I’ll read as much as I possibly can.

 

Happy Halloween!

Warrior Cats: Into the wild

One of the books that I’ll be reviewing this month is the first book in the series Warrior Cats, which is written by Erin Hunter. It’s called Into the wild, and I’m actually really excited about this book; even though it’s a children’s book.
‘
Some facts:

Title: Warrior Cats: Into the wild.
Author: Erin Hunter.
Pages: 304.
Publisher: HarperCollins.

Summary:

For generations, four Clans of wild cats have shared the forest according to the laws laid down by their warrior ancestors. But the ThunderClan cats are in grave danger, and the sinister ShadowClan grows stronger every day. Noble warriors are dying—and some deaths are more mysterious than others.

In the midst of this turmoil appears an ordinary house cat named Rusty . . . who may turn out to be the bravest warrior of them all.

Have you read this book?

I’m back

Okay, I haven’t written as much as I would like it to be on this blog, but I want to change that. My life has been really hectic, you see. First, in May, I became chairman in this political organization, which I – of course – had to learn how to lead. After that, as you all probably heard, there were some terror going on at Utøya in Norway, and even though I wasn’t there life suddenly felt a bit without meaning. I didn’t want to kill myself, but it was like someone just hit the pause-button in my life. Days passed, but nothing happened.

Therefore, I went to the library yesterday, and picked up 4 totally random books, where I’ll review one of them ASAP. The ones I got was:

1. Gossip Girl 0.5 – It had to be you.
2. The Carlyles (spinoff Gossip Girl. Seeing a pattern here, are we?)
3. Warrior Cats.

I won’t be reviewing any of the three Gossip Girl – books, so Warrior Cats it is 🙂 I will make a post regarding that book later.

July – Favourite of the Month

Hi!

I recently made a new category; called “Favourite of the Month”, where I’m going to talk about my favourite book of the month – out of those which I’ve been reviewing that month.
Usually I will be making a  Favourite of the Month post in the end of a month, like I’m doing now, or in the first couple of days of a new month!

My favourite of the month for July is Stephen King’s Under the dome. If you haven’t read the review yet, or want to refresh your mind; you can read it here.
The main reason of why I chose this book and not one of the others (and mind you; the others were pretty good too!) was because King made great characters, which had their own personality – all of them! Unlike the other books; even the “evil” ones had good sides, and even the “good” ones had darker sides. All of his characters seemed so darn realistic; how they treated each other, their flaws and traits and so on! This is a really good book which I really recommend to everyone. However; as I mentioned in my review, it’s quite a heavy book with it’s 1074 pages, so it’s not exactly a beach read.

Sara Shephard – Pretty Little Liars

Title: Pretty Little Liars.
Author: Sara Shepard.
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 304
Genre: YA (Young Adult).
Language: English.About the book:
Pretty Little Liars is about five friends; Alison DiLaurentis, Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, Spencer Hastings and Hanna Marin. Alison is incredibly popular, and when she starts talking to the rest of the girls they almost don’t believe it. The five girls are best friends, and always stick together –and they always do as Alison says. For some of the girls, Alison is not only a friend, she’s also a rival because it seems like she’s best in almost everything. Suddenly Alison disappears, and the girls slowly start to rip apart.

Three years later Alison is still disappeared, and Aria comes home from Iceland, where she has spent the last years. Aria falls in love, and almost has sex with her English teacher, Hanna is caught shoplifting, Spencer has an affair with her sister’s boyfriend and Emily falls in love with the new girl next door. After a while the girls start to receive creepy messages from a girl called “A”, the messages is about things from the past, that only Alison knew. One day Alison’s body is being found, and the girls wonder if Alison really is dead. And if she is, who is sending the messages?My opinion:

Pretty Little Liars is that kind of a book that cannot be put down. It’s a real page turner.  This is not a book full of literary quality when it comes to character development and plot, but it makes you put away all of the good, old classics for a while. Not only because of its easy language, but also because of witty comments and a great feeling which only gets better after every page in this delightful book.

It is pretty clear (in my opinion at least) why this book is so popular with teens. It’s typical Gossip Girl and a young version of Desperate Housewives, without the housewives, of course.  Already now I’ve bought the next book in the series, Flawless and can’t wait until I’ve read it.

Rating:

4/5

NB: This review is taken from my old blog, readingwithpassion.

Scott Westerfield – Uglies

Title: Uglies.
Author: Scott Westerfield.
Pages: 425 pages.
Language: English.
Genre: Science-fiction, YA, Adventure.

About the book:

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. Not for her license — for turning pretty. In Tally’s world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to be pretty. She’d rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world — and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

(Info from http://www.goodreads.com)

My opinion:

One thing that I really loved about this book, and which I loved even before I started reading this book was it’s concept and plot. Sure; it may sound a bit cheesy at first, but as you get into it, it’s actually awesome.
Another thing which I really liked is the new things that Westerfield creates in this novel. Meanwhile most of the people in this world don’t know what things like rollercoasters are, Westerfield developed a lot of cool things like hoverboards (just like snowboards – but they can fly!).

My favourite character is probably Shay, because she seems to be the only real three-dimensional character in this book. She starts out like a really nice girl to Tally, but she develops and shows emotions that none of the other characters in the book shows: hate, jealousy and true love and admiration.

In the end this is not the kind of book you go to if you want to read a real masterpiece, but it’s great for a beach read. However; this book is good written, and I recommend it for young adults. No matter if you like sci-fi or not, this one will probably appeal to most young adults!
Also; this is the first book in a trilogy; the next books are called “Pretties” and “Specials”.

Rating:
4/5

Review coming up!

Hi!

I haven’t been blogging lately because I’ve been on my summer holiday in Sweden. I brought my computer, but unfortunately there wasn’t any internet connection available, so I obviously wasn’t able to blog.
However; I’m back on track now, and last night (literally last night… about 2 AM) I finished “Uglies” by Scott Westerfield, a book which I really loved the concept of, and the review will be published in a couple of days.

Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged

  Atlas Shrugged:

Author: Ayn Rand.
Publisher: Random House.
Pages: 1168.
Language: English.
Genre: Philosophical novel, mystery fiction.

About the book:

This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world – and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators? Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor – and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the characters in this story.” “Tremendous in its scope, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life – from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy – to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction – to the philosopher who becomes a pirate – to the composer who gives up his career on the night of his triumph – to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad – to the lowest track worker in her Terminal tunnels.

(info from http://www.goodreads.com)

My opinion:

After reading this book I’m not entirely sure if I love it or not; however I think that this book is amazing. It changed the way I think; both about myself, the world and others.
While I was reading this book, I read some reviews at goodreads.com, and one of those who had reviewed this book said that this book was about pride. And I believe that the person who wrote that is right. Most of the main characters in this book (Hank Rearden, Dagny Taggart, Fransisco D’Anconia) has pride in what they work with and that shines well-through.

One of the things I didn’t like about this book is that it is quite heavy to read. My version of the book contains nothing less than 1168 pages and the font was really small! I compared it with the book I’m currently reading (Uglies – Scott Westerfield) which has normal font-size; and the normal one seemed huge in comparison!

Another thing which pulled the book down a bit was the characters. The only realistic thing about them was their names and how they looked. The characters are practically one-dimensional – the good characters doesn’t have any flaws at all; and the “evil” ones doesn’t have one good trait. The one-dimensional charcters kind of reminds me of the characters in Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight”, where you have the exact same concept.
The only thing  I absolutely love about these characters are their names. John Galt, Dagny Taggart, Fransisco D’Anconia and so on. Gorgeous and completely realistic names!

I think I would recommend this book for libertarians and people who like philosophical novels. For other people who wants to read something from Ayn Rand, I would suggest another book from this author.

Rating: 3,5/5

Stephen King – Under the dome

Under the dome

Author: Stephen King.
Publisher: Scribner.
Pages: 1074.
Language: English.
Genre: Science Fiction.An invisible dome has descended the small New England town Chester’s Mill. As the residents speculate about what has cut them off from the rest of the world, the army searches for an inside man. Iraq war vet Dale Barbara is put in charge, but Big Jim Rennie, the man who holds the town in his powerful grip, has other plans. As food, electricity and water run short and children start to have premonitions of a terrifying Halloween, Dale Barbara is forced to take on Big Jim and his renegade supporters. Time is running out for those living under the dome, and they have to find what has created it before it’s too late.

One of the things I like about Stephen King’s books and writing style is that his writing style is unique. With a plot like this it is quite easy to lose your readers, because the same usually happens over and over again. A lot of authors use the same theme, in different situations of course (for example Michael Grant’s novel Gone or in the popular TV-series The Tribe). But King succeeds, and if you wonder how he succeeds the recipe is here: thoughts from several people’s point of views (these people are both mean and kind, but all of them have strong personalities), criminal actions, intrigues, frustration, politics and a little bit of humour. Those ingredients got to be a success right?If I should find a negative side with this book, it will be the exact same thing I just credited. Stephen King’s writing style. I can imagine that way of writing will be too “heavy” for most people, and become a little too much of “the good stuff”. I mean, the book is 1074 pages long. This is a book you have to lay down a bit, think through what you’ve read, live your life and after a couple of days continue reading.
So this is not the kind of book I would recommend to anybody. Of course that person should love reading, but also be able to analyze what he/she is reading, stop a minute and think through it all. A book that requires this of its reader doesn’t fit everyone, but then again: which book does?

Rating: 4/5

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. After you read this, you should delete and write your own post, with a new title above. Or hit Add New on the left (of the admin dashboard) to start a fresh post.

Here are some suggestions for your first post.

1. You can find new ideas for what to blog about by reading the Daily Post.
2. Add PressThis to your browser. It creates a new blog post for you about any interesting  page you read on the web.
3. Make some changes to this page, and then hit preview on the right. You can alway preview any post or edit you before you share it to the world.