The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Challenge
BBC Top 200 Books
1001 books you must read
Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge

Synopsis – The armies of the Dark Lord are massing as his evil shadow spreads ever wider. Men, dwarves, elves and ents unite forces to do battle against the Dark. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam struggle further into Mordor in their heroic quest to destroy the One Ring.

My Thoughts – To me this book was the icing on the cake of a fantastic trilogy. It rounded off the story perfectly and i was actually quite sad that it had come to an end. It has amazed me that one man could have come up with the entire story and complex plot and settings by himself, really its like another world, and it is described so well it could actually have been real. I know i keep comparing it to the film, but i thought the book was better again because of all the extra detail that is explained, for example, what happens at Hobbiton. This series is fantastic, and if you havent yet read it give it a read!

Rating – 5/5

The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Challenge
1001 childrens books you must read
501 must read books

Synopsis – ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ is the first part of JRR Tolkien’s epic masterpiece ‘The Lord of the Rings’. This paperback edition has the classic black cover featuring Tolkien’s own design and includes the definitive edition of the text. In a sleepy village in the Shire, a young hobbit is entrusted with an immense task,. He must make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ruling Ring of Power — the only thing that prevents the Dark Lord’s evil purpose. JRR Tolkien’s great work of imaginative fiction has been labelled both a heroic romance and a classic fantasy fiction. By turns comic and homely, epic and diabolic, the narrative moves through countless changes of scene and character in an imaginary world which is totally convincing in its detail. Part of a set of three paperbacks, this popular edition is once again available in its classic black livery designed by Tolkien himself.

My Thoughts – This is the first time that i have read Lord of the Rings, but i am quite a fan of the film version, not something that i say very often! The book is fantastic, i had heard that they were difficult to get into, and were lots of discription, but i didnt find this. i did find the poetry bits a little hard to understand, but thats just me i think, i find that sort of thing very hard to understand! The plot was so much more interesting in the book too, and this book is definitaly one to re-read again and again! I am so amazed by the mind of Tolkein to how he created such a world in his head. it is like escaping into another world!

Rating – 5/5

 

The Group – Mary McCarthy

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge
501 Must Read Books

Synopsis – Eight young women from the class of 1933 have graduated from Vassar and are beginning to learn about life. They choose or are offered marriage, a career or an emancipated life, one of sexual or social freedom. In their discoveries and development they mirror the growing up of provincial America.

My Thoughts –   This book seemed to be a book of two halves for me! I really enjoyed half and really disliked the other half! I loved the parts when ‘the group’ interacted with each other and found some parts funny and entertaining. however, i couldnt really relate to any of the characters and i didnt really understand why all the politics was relivant to the actual story. I am glad that i have read this book, and think its a great discussion book!

Rating – 3/5

Wicked – Gregory Maguire

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Challenge

Synopsis – An astonishingly rich re-creation of the land of Oz, this book retells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn’t so wicked after all. Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world rich with imagination and allegory, Gregory Maguire just might change the reputation of one of the most sinister characters in literature.

my thoughts – this book tells the story of Elephaba, or as many people know, the Wicked Witch of the West! it is a modern take on the story of the Wizard of Oz. The book makes the reader alot more sympathetic towards the witch, and alot less on the side of the good witch.
It goes into a lot of depth about her early childhood and teenage years, and i think i enjoyed this part of the book the most. it was interesting to see the story from her point of veiw.
i foind the begining of the story a little hard to get into, because there was a lot of characters, but after a few pages i really got into it and found the book hard to put down.
the only little bit of disapointment i had was that dorothy was only mentioned for the last 100 pages or so, i had assumed that she would have been in it for more of the book!
Overall a brilliant read, which is highly recommennded. It is part of a series and i cant wait to read more about it! Oh, and i really want to go and see the musical that is based on this book now too!

Rating – 4/5

The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

Challenges – Rory Gilmore Challenge
Ultimate Teen Guide Book Challenge
New Classic Challenge

Synopsis – My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer. This is Susie Salmon. Watching from heaven, Susie sees her happy, suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings grow up, fall in love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But life is not quite finished with Susie yet …

My thoughts – This was quite a harrowing book to read. I found the subject matter very hard at times. I had started to read this book a few years ago, but it went back before i had a chance to read it properly. This is a book that was an alrite read, just the subject matter was hard to get through.

Rating – 3/5

Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safron Foer

Challenges: Rory Gilmore Challenge
1001 Books to Read

Synopsis – A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into bizarre new forms; a ‘blind’ old man haunted by memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis Jr, Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive – a truth hidden behind veils of time, language and the horrors of war. What they find turns all their worlds upside down.

My Thoughts – This was an interesting book for me. I wasnt overly keen on it, for some reason i just couldnt like it. I didnt really get into it at the begining and i think this might be why. I did find it a little confusing at the begining as it jumped about a little bit. However, i really enjoyed the storyline. I think i will give this a re-read at some point as i think that i might enjoy it a bit more then.

Rating – 3/5

Week in Review 16th Jan 2011

Its time for my weekly round up of reading activities 😀

Memes

This Week i took part in four memes, Musing Mondays, Its Monday what are are Reading?, WWW Wednesdays and Booking Through Thursdays. I really enjoy taking part in these. I think for the moment i will limit it to these four as i dont want to be overwelmed by them.

Books Read

This week i have read two books, 31 Dream Street, Lisa Jewell, which i ended up really liking and also Falling for you – Jill Mansell, which i loved. I need to stop judging a book by its first few pages. I have started Isobels Wedding – Shelia O Flannagan, but i think this will be the only book i read this week because its quite long, 600 pages. I reviewed both books both here on my blog and also on the BCF.

Books Brought This Week

This week i have brought three books, none of which have arrived yet but all the books i have brought are for challenges or reading circles.

1 – The Ultimate Teen Guide Book – As im taking part in this challenge i thought i had better have this book!

2 – Flowers For Algernon – This book is the choice for the February Reading Circle on the BCF. I have wanted to get involved in this challenge for a while so this is the first time i will be doing it. It is also a book for the Rory Challenge and the Ultimate Teen Guide Book Challenge.

3 – Everything is Illuminated – There are several of us over on the BCF that are taking part in the Rory Challenge and have decided in february that we will all read Everything is illuminated. This obviously counts towards my Rory Challenge, but also the 1001 Books you must read Challenge.

Books I Have Heard About This Week

I have been reading lots of blogs this week and have found quite a few books to had to my wishlist.

1 – The Fry Chronicles – Stephen Fry

2 – Small Town Sinners – Melissa Walker

3 – Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins

4 – Slam – Nick Hornby

5 – The Night Watch – Sarah Waters.

 

My Sisters Keeper – Jodi Picoult

Synopsis – “A major decision about me is being made, and no one’s bothered to ask the one person who most deserves it to speak her opinion.”

The only reason Anna was born was to donate her cord blood cells to her older sister. And though Anna is not sick, she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since she was a child. Anna was born for this purpose, her parents tell her, which is why they love her even more. But now that she has reached an age of physical awareness, she can’t help but long for control over her own body and respite from the constant flow of her own blood seeping into her sister’s veins.

And so she makes a decision that for most would be too difficult to bear, at any time and at any age. She decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body.

My thoughts – this is a book that i wanted to read for a long time however i had heard some mixed reviews about it. I have to say that i loved this book, it made me cry at the end of the book, didnt see the ending coming either. I read this book in just over a day, thats how addictive this book was. I loved how the book didnt sent on just one character, but on several and then they all had their own points of veiw. also how the book jumped about from the past to the present, how it followed the progress of the week. This is a fantastic read and would highly recommend it to anyone.

this was also a book for my rory challenge, however i had wanted to read too

The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger

The Catcher in Rye is the ultimate novel for disaffected youth, but it’s relevant to all ages. The story is told by Holden Caulfield, a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Throughout, Holden dissects the ‘phony’ aspects of society, and the ‘phonies’ themselves: the headmaster whose affability depends on the wealth of the parents, his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. Lazy in style, full of slang and swear words, it’s a novel whose interest and appeal comes from its observations rather than its plot intrigues (in conventional terms, there is hardly any plot at all). Salinger’s style creates an effect of conversation, it is as though Holden is speaking to you personally, as though you too have seen through the pretences of the American Dream and are growing up unable to see the point of living in, or contributing to, the society around you. Written with the clarity of a boy leaving childhood, it deals with society, love, loss, and expectations without ever falling into the clutch of a cliche.

My Thoughts – i picked up this book as part of the Rory Gilmore Challenge and i have to say i really was disapointed. I had heard alot about this book and as it is a ‘modern classic’ i would have thought i would have enjoyed it. Unfortunatly i didnt. Mostly i wanted to slap Holden Caulfield. I was really fed up with him saying ‘that nearly killed me’, it must be mentioned about fifty times in the book! It was well written and easy to understand however i just felt that the author was rambling about nothing! I wanted to know how he got ill at the end too. In the end im glad that i read it, however it is not a book that i would recommend to anyone if they asked about. Whether i will get shouted down for this review or not considering it is meant to be a classic, but i just didnt think it was very good!

Reading Challenges

I’m currently looking for some more reading challenges ir reading lists on the internet, i think its because i like lists 😛

I’m already taking part in the Rory Gilmore challenge which is the list of books that Rory Gilmore has read in the show Gilmore Girls.

I’m also reading all the books on the 100 books likst by the BBC. These books are meant to be the best books but not many people have apparently read.

I also looked into the 1001 childrens books to read before you grow up and 1001 books to read before you die, but i think the last challenge is a bit morbid

think im going to research more reading challenges today.