Hamlet – William Shakespeare * Reading Challenge Recap *

Challenges – Ultimate Teen Book Guide 15/691, Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – 16/782.

Synopsis –Hamlet is not only one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, but also the most fascinatingly problematical tragedy in world literature.

First performed around 1600, this a gripping and exuberant drama of revenge, rich in contrasts and conflicts. Its violence alternates with introspection, its melancholy with humour, and its subtlety with spectacle. The Prince, Hamlet himself, is depicted as a complex, divided, introspective character. His reflections on death, morality and the very status of human beings make him ‘the first modern man’.

Countless stage productions and numerous adaptations for the cinema and television have demonstrated the continuing cultural relevance of this vivid, enigmatic, profound and engrossing drama.

My Thoughts – I studied this book for my second year of  A levels so i have quite an indepth knowdlege of this! I even got to see it performed in Stratford Upon Avon starring Sir Patrick Stewart and David Tennant with the college.

This is an enjoyable play – the themes in it arent too light though – death, murder, madness etc but it still an enjoyable play.

I havent read any Shakespeare since leaving school but I think I would again as long as I had a bit of time to concentrate on it as its not the most easy going thing to read!

Rating – 5-5

Recommendations – Ultimate Teen Book Guide – Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Nights Dream – William Shakespeare, Ophelia – Lisa Klein, Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead – Tom Stoppard, Dating Hamlet- Lisa Fielder.

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Nights Dream – William Shakespeare, Dating Hamlet- Lisa Fielder, King of Shadows – Susan Cooper, Cue for Treason – Geoffry Trease

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman * Reading Challenge Recap *

Challenge – Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – #15/792

Synopsis – When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard? Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But for Bod there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him – after all, he is the last remaining member of the family. A stunningly original novel deftly constructed over eight chapters, featuring every second year of Bod’s life, from babyhood to adolescence. Will Bod survive to be a man?

My Thoughts – I read this book back in 2011 and my original review can be found HERE. I remember really enjoying this book and I wish I could say that I had read more by this author – sadly I havent yet but I have a lot of his books on my wishlist!

Rating – 4/5

Recommendations – Coraline – Neil Gaiman (Challenge Book), Elsewhere – Gabrielle Zevin (Challenge Book), Edge Cronicles – Paul Stewart (Challenge Book)

Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell * Reading Challenge Recap *

Challenges – #14/691 – Ultimate Teen Book Guide, #14/782 Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition

Synopsis – Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell’s magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. Above all, it is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O’Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler.

My Thoughts – My orginal review can be found HERE. I really enjoyed this book – surprisingly so. I always struggle with long/classic books and I didnt think I would get into this as much as I did. I would definitaly re-read this at some point too.

Rating – 5/5

Recommendations – Ultimate Teen Book Guide – Cold Mountain – Charles Frazier, The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane, Katherine – Anya Seton.

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – Scarlett – Alexandra Ripley, The WInd Done Gone – Alice Randall, Katherine – Anya Seaton (Challenge Book), Cold Mountain – Charles Frazier.

Girls in Love – Jacqueline Wilson *Reading Challenge Recap*

Challenges – #13/691 Ultimate Teen Book Guide #13/782 Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition.

Series – Girls

• Girls In Love
• Girls Under Pressure
• Girls Out Late
• Girls In Tears

Synopsis – Meet Ellie and her best friends Nadine and Magda, three teenage girls just starting Year Nine with a lot on their minds – mainly boys! Told in the bright, sparky and authentic voice of Ellie, Girls in Love is a funny, frank and revealing look at their friendships, problems and heartaches that older fans of bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson will adore.

My Thoughts – I read this book back when I was a pre-teen – over and over again. I really really enjoyed it at the time but I never realised that it was part of a series! I also really enjoyed the TV show that it was made into. This was a really good read for a pre-teen/young teenager and I’ve just added it to my wishlist to read again!

Rating – 4/5

Recommendations – Ultimate Teen Book Guide – Girls Under Pressure – Jacqueline Wilson, Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging – Louise Rennison (Challenge Book), Mates, Dates . . . Series – Cathy Hopkins (Challenge Book), Notes From the Teenage Underground – Simmone Howells.

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – Girls Under Pressure – Jacqueline Wilson, Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging – Louise Rennison (Challenge Book), Ginger Snaps – Cathy Cassidy.

 

Flowers For Algernon – Daniel Keyes *Reading Challenge Recap*

Challenges – Ultimate Teen Book Guide – #12/691, Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – #12/782

Synopsis – The classic novel about a daring experiment in human intelligence Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper and the gentle butt of everyone’s jokes – until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental tranformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.

My Thoughts – I read this back in 2011 – and while I cant really remember too much about it my original thoughts were – ‘ i really enjoyed this book. It actually made me cry at the end! i thought it was a fantastic read and would highly recommend it.’.

I’d just started book blogging and recording y thoughts on books then so while it wasnt the best of reviews I did at least enjoy it!

Rating – 4/5

Recommendations – Ultimate Teen Book Guide – One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest – Ken Kesey (Challenge Book), Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck (Challenge Book), The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner.

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest – Ken Kesey (Challenge Book), Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck (Challenge Book), The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner, The Wrong Hands – Nigel Richardson (Challenge Book)

Fattypuffs and Thinifers – Andre Maurois * Reading Challenge Recap *

Challenges – Ultimate Book Guide – #8/672

Synopsis – This is the tale of two brothers. Edmund is a little on the plump side and Terry is a bit of a rake. When they discover the countries under the Earth they are divided and sent to the warring kingdoms of the Fattypuffs and the Thinifers. The Fattypuffs eat hourly with light snacks in between. The Thinifers like nothing more than discipline and work six days a week. Whether you are a jolly Fattypuff or a driven Thinifer you’ll be rooting for the brothers to bring peace to the countries under the Earth.

My Thoughts – I read this book when I was a child – it was actually my dads copy from when he was a child so its now a very old book. I still have it somewhere in amounst my ‘classic’ books! I can remember that I really enjoyed the story and my copy had some beautiful illustrations! I’m going to give this book to my children once they are old enough.

Rating – 4/5

Recommendations – The Giant Baby – Allan Ahlburg, Professor Branestawn – Norman Hunter (Challenge Book), The Great Piratical Rumbustification – Margaret Mahy, The Libraian and the Robbers – Margaret Mahy (Challenge Book), The Legend of Spud Murphy – Eoin Colfer (Challenge Book)

The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde * Reading Challenge Recap *

Challenges – #11/691 Ultimate Teen Book Guide, #11/782 Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition.

Series – Thursday Next

• The Eyre Affair
• Lost in a Good Book
• The Well of Lost Plots
• Something Rotten
• First Among Sequels
• One of Our Thursdays Is Missing
• The Woman Who Died A Lot

Synopsis – There is another 1985, where London’s criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of the new crime wave’s MR Big.

Acheron Hades has been kidnapping certain characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom. Jane Eyre is gone. Missing.

Thursday sets out to find a way into the book to repair the damage. But solving crimes against literature isn’t easy when you also have to find time to halt the Crimean War, persuade the man you love to marry you, and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays.

Perhaps today just isn’t going to be Thursday’s day. Join her on a truly breathtaking adventure, and find out for yourself. Fiction will never be the same again …

My Thoughts – I tried to read this a few years back – I think in around 2014 ish but unfortunatly I really couldnt get into it at all – which was a shame as the plot sounds like a book I would enjoy and a lot of people really rate this series. I’m not sure if it was the timing of reading or something else but having just read through the synopsis again I do think I’ll give it another go. I’ve added it to my wishlist on audible as I’m really getting into audiobooks so hopefully it will appeal to me in that way!

Rating – A bit unfair to rate as I never finished it.

Recommendations – Ultimate Teen Book Guide – Is Heathcliff a Murderer? – John Sutherland, Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (Challenge Book), Austenland – Shannon Hale.

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – Nursery Crime Adventures – Jasper Fforde, M is for Magic – Neil Gaiman (Challenge Book), The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (Challenge Book)

Dracula – Bram Stoker * Reading Challenge Recap *

Challenges – Ultimate Teen Book Guide – #10/691, Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition #10/782

Synopsis – When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client’s castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: a ship runs aground on the shores of Whitby, its crew vanished; beautiful Lucy Westenra slowly succumbs to a mysterious, wasting illness, her blood drained away; and the lunatic Renfield raves about the imminent arrival of his ‘master’. In the ensuing battle of wills between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries – led by the intrepid vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing – Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

My Thoughts – I read this back in 2012 on my Kindle and actually really enjoyed it. I’ve always struggled with classic books as I seem to struggle to get into them but this one was really good. My original review can be found HERE.

Rating – I rated this book 5/5.

Recommendations – Ultimate Teen Book Guide – Carmilla – Sheridan Le Fanu, dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Stevenson (Challenge Book), Twilight – Stephenie Meyer (Challenge book), Peeps – Scott Westerfield (Challenge Book), The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova (Challenge Book), Jane Austen – Northanger Abbey (Challenge Book)

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – Carmilla – Sheridan Le Fanu, dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Stevenson (Challenge Book), Night World Series – L.J. Smith (Challenge Book), Twilight – Stephenie Mayer (Challenge Book), Interview with a Vampire – Anne Rice (Challenge Book), Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen.

Double Act – Jacqueline Wilson * Reading Challenge Recap *

Challenges – Ultimate Book Guide 7/672

Synopsis – Ruby and Garnet are ten-year-old twins. They’re identical, and they do EVERYTHING together, especially since their mother died three years earlier – but they couldn’t be more different. Bossy, bouncy, funny Ruby loves to take charge, and is desperate to be a famous actress, while quiet, sensitive, academic Garnet loves nothing more than to curl up with one of her favourite books. And when everything around the twins is changing so much, can being a double act work for ever?

My Thoughts – I read this book when I was probably around 9 or 10 and Jacqueline Wilson was an author that I really enjoyed back then. Her books were always meaningful and normally had a decent story behind them. This book was no different – I must have read this over and over again and I cant remember that the twins dad either lived in a bookshop or owned lots of books and I can remember wishing that I did too. A really good pre-teen book. At some point I want to re-read and read some new books by this author.

Rating – 4/5

Recommendations – Lottie and Lisa – Erich Kastner, St Claires Stories – Enid Blyton, Goggle Eyes – Anne Fine (Challenge Book), The Prince and the Pauper – Mark Twain (Challenge Book)

The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank * Reading Challenge Recap *

Challenges – #6/672 Ultimate Book Guide, #10/691 Ultimate Teen Book Guide, #10/782 Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition.

Synopsis -First published over sixty years ago, Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl has reached millions of young people throughout the world.

In July 1942, thirteen-year-old Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the occupation, went into hiding in an Amsterdam warehouse. Over the next two years Anne vividly describes in her diary the frustrations of living in such close quarters, and her thoughts, feelings and longings as she grows up. Her diary ends abruptly when, in August 1944, they were all betrayed.

My Thoughts – I first came across this book in Primary School when it was introduced to us by a class teacher. My mum then brought me the book after hearing me talk about it and I honestly believe that its a book that everyone should have read. It is such a haunting book especially the abrupt ending and it really tells the story of what it was like to be Jewish through the eyes of a child. Her innocence but at the same time the horrors to what she is subjected too will never leave me. I’m pretty sure this book is one of the reasons that I am so interested in the second world war.

Recommendations – Ultimate Book Guide – Zlatas Diary – Zlata Filipovic, Maus – Art Spiegelman (Challenge Book), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne.

There is also a section entitled – Books that make you sad – but happy too.

• Goodnight Mr Tom – Michelle Magorian
• Charlottes Web – E. B. White
• Journey to Jo’Burg – Beverley Naidoo
• The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Up on Cloud Nine – Anne Fine
• The Snow Goose – Paul Gallico
• The Iron Man – Ted Hughes
• Becky Bananas – Jean Ure
• A Little Princess – Frances Hodgeson Burnett
• The Snowman – Raymond Briggs

Ultimate Teen Book Guide – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne (Challenge Book), When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit – Judith Kerr, Surviving Hitler – Andrea Warren, Number the Stars – Lois Lowry, Hitler Youth – Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Challenge book).

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – Surviving Hitler – Andrea Warren, Hitlers Canary – Sandi toksvig, Saving Rafael – Leslie Wilson, The Story of my Life – Helen Keller.