The Good Novel

Books we enjoyed as children.

Do you remember the first base time you read Roald Dahl ’ s ‘ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ’ ? I surely do. I was 8, it was Easter and along with the batch of chocolate eggs, I had been given a copy of the book. I remember racing upstairs, sitting under my loss desk, cracking open a Smarties egg and peeling open the first page to what I can immediately describe as one of my all prison term favored books. Being transported into a charming worldly concern where the imagination can run crazy and anything is potential is something every child should be entitled to .
With a recent report showing that 72 % of parents believe that bedtime reading is one of the most significant bond experiences they can have with their child and with 75 per cent putting on voices to bring their children ’ sulfur favorite characters to life, it is obvious that enjoying books from a young old age is not lone a winder partially of a child development, but besides for their pornographic kinship with read. With World Book Day coming up in a copulate of weeks ( Thursday 5th March ), Sainsbury ’ second conducted a poll of 2000 readers, which found that six in ten-spot parents choose to read stories to their children that their own parents once read to them. Nostalgia, it seems, is a mighty thing. Having recently read most of the Roald Dahl books to my six year old son, having already gone through the Enid Blyton ‘ Faraway Tree ’ and ‘ Wishing Chair ’ collection, I can empathise with this nostalgia wholeheartedly. Seeing the delight on his face as Mrs Twit served up worm spaghetti to Mr Twit is something that will stay with me forever and I can only hope that he will share the same gladden with his own children when he is older .
In honor of World Book day, a tilt has been compiled of the top 50 books every child should read by the senesce of 16 :

1. Charlie and The Chocolate Factory- Roald Dahl
2. Alice in Wonderland- Lewis Carroll
3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- C.S. Lewis
4. Winnie The Pooh- A.A.Milne
5. Black Beauty- Anna Sewell
6. James and The Giant Peach- Roald Dahl
7. The BFG-Roald Dahl
8. A Bear Called Paddington- Michael Bond
9. Treasure Island- Robert Louis Stevenson
10. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Mark Twain
11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
12. Matilda- Roald Dahl
13. The Railway Children- E. Nesbit
14. Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens
15. Five on a Treasure Island- Enid Blyton
16. The Wind in the Willows- Kenneth Grahame
17. The Very Hungry Caterpillar- Eric Carle
18. The Jungle Book- Rudyard Kipling
19. Charlotte’s Web- EB White
20. The Tale of Peter Rabbit- Beatrix Potter
21. Watership Down- Richard Adams
22. The Hobbit -J.R.Tolkien
23. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- J.K. Rowling
24. Lord of the Flies- William Golding
25. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾ Sue Townsend
26. Great Expectations- Charles Dickens
27. The Cat in the Hat- Dr Seuss
28. The Secret Garden- Frances Hodgson-Burnett
29. The Diary of a Young Girl- Anne Frank
30. The Twits – Roald Dahl
31. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz- L. Frank Baum
32. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne
33. Anne of Green Gables- L.M.Montgomery
34. The Tiger Who Came to Tea- Judith Kerr
35. Green Eggs and Ham-Dr Seuss
36. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
37. Bambi- Felix Selten
38. Tom’s Midnight Garden- Phillipa Pearce
39. Little House on the Prairie- Laura Ingalls Wilder
40. Funny Bones- Janet and Allan Ahlberg
41. Where The Wild Things Are- Maurice Sendak
42. Carrie’s War- Nina Bawden
43. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
44. The Magician’s Nephew- C.S. Lewis
45. The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman
46. The Story of Doctor Dolittle- Hugh Lofting
47. The Story of Tracy Beaker – Jacqueline Wilson
48. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
49. Curious George- H.A.Ray
50. Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

I have printed this list off for my young foster son, who has identical proudly ticked off 11 titles already and he ’ s only 6 ! We are immediately making it our mission to slowly work through them. I besides worked out how many of these children ’ second classics I had read – 34. not bad, but that leaves 16 to still read, which I intend to do, either by myself or with my son. Take a search through yourself and see how many you have read from the list. I would besides actually enjoy hearing about the books you enjoyed as a child – can you remember Bobby Brewster, Flossie Teacake or Superfudge ? Send us your own lead 20 childrens books and we will share them on here for others to enjoy.

Laurence, October 26, 2018. No Comments on Books we enjoyed as children. News

So many books, so little time!

Everybody reads at unlike rates ; some people lone get a gamble to read on holiday, some every day on their commute to work, some open up a newly book and skim read through the pages like a automaton whereas others like to take their and absorb each and every password. I would say that I am a relatively agile lector, surely compared to my conserve at least, but these days I struggle to find adequate free time in the day to indulge in a good book. The only meter I do tend to catch a spare few minutes to read is when I go up to bed and whilst picking up my script is a sure arouse direction to guarantee me nodding off, it surely isn ’ thymine allowing me to get through vitamin a many books as I would like. Before having children, I worked in London and would have an hours commute on the train, the perfect opportunity to read. Holidays were besides spent feet astir, round the pool, book in hand, cocktail next to me, needle to say those days are gone .
It got me thinking about how many books I could expect to read in my life and I worked out that if I were to read an median of 2 books a calendar month, which allows for the different read rates throughout my life, and if I were to live until the average animation anticipation of a woman in the UK, 82.5, then in my life I can expect to read approximately 1,980 books. It might sound a batch, but compared to the sum of books that are out there and that ’ s not flush including the ones that haven ’ metric ton been written even, how can I begin choose which ones to read and which ones to leave ?
Amazon have a yoke on their web site for 100 books to read in a life, which I guess is a good starting point and so I challenged myself to run through the list and see how well I had done therefore far. I am embarrassed to admit that I got a measly 28 out of 100, pathetic ! but who actually compiles these lists and if I am only going to read 1,980 books in my life, surely I should be choosing the ones I in truth want to read ? How many times have you read a book entirely to get a third base of the direction through and inactive not get what it ’ s about, but not wanting to give up on it you ’ ve persevered, got to the goal and are inactive none the knowing and left wholly sterile. Why should we be wasting our time on these books that do nothing for us ? From now on, if I get to page 50 in a book and it ’ s not floating my boat and I am going to take great pride in laying the book down and starting a new one. A book has got to earn it ’ sulfur identify if it want to be part of my 1,980 !
For my next article, I intend to make my own personal tilt of the clear 100 books I believe should be read in a life. And, yes, of course not everyone is going to agree with it, but if nothing else it will act as a record of those books that have struck a chord with me and may even act as recommendations for others. I would love to see your lists of books that would appear in your top 100, so send them in to us and we ’ ll plowshare them on the page .
Laurence, March 25, 2017. No Comments on So many books, so short time ! Uncategorized

Top tips for reading Shakespeare!

William Shakespeare is one of the universe ’ s most celebrated playwrights and his plays are still enjoyed as a lot nowadays as when they were beginning performed. Many of us will be familiar with some of the more popular and arguably ‘ easier ’ plays, such as Romeo and Juliet, chiefly because this authoritative sexual love narrative has been retold in so many different guises that we know the plot inside out and many of us will have studied this textbook at school. however, reading Shakespeare at school is frequently the very argue why so many of us are put off reading it in our adult lives. Sitting in a dull classroom, reciting lines from a play that seem mixed up, unfamiliar and lack ocular clues is enough to put anyone off and it ’ south surely not how Shakespeare would have wanted his plays to be received. One key thing we must all remember is that these are plays, which means they are meant to be performed, not read. so is it any wonder that we find it so unmanageable when faced with the challenge of trying to read it ?
Shakespeare wrote his plays in Modern English, which means any of the words we read in his plays are in precisely the same speech we use nowadays and are therefore wholly familiar to us. What we find difficult is the social organization of sentences and the placement of certain words. Shakespeare used very poetic language and had bang-up fun playing with words to indicate personality traits, tone and setting. In speech and writing today we put the subject of a sentence before the verb, however Shakespeare would much do the complete diametric in order to change the poetic cycle and meter. Words we use nowadays may besides have had double meanings or slenderly different meanings during the Elizabethan Age, which again confuses count for us and we much give up reading when we reach the first hurdle. What a shame, though, to miss out on some of the finest, most poetic and ample writings around, when all we in truth need is a very rocky, general understanding of what ’ s happening and who is speaking. Which is why we feel it is significant to help people understand that reading Shakespeare can be enjoyable, you just need to be patient, willing and have a bit of a plan .
here are our top tips on how to read Shakespeare…and enjoy it :

Watch it

Taking the time to watch Shakespeare ’ s plays performed on stage by professional actors is without doubt one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to understand and appreciate Shakespeare. Having the ocular theatrical performance of a character, the set of the stage and hearing the words read with rhythm, tonicity and clarity makes everything slot into locate. even if you don ’ t understand absolutely everything, you will surely get the main idea and it will mean next time you attempt to read the playing period at home you will do so armed with a cognition and sympathy before you ’ ve even opened the book. If, for whatever cause, you are ineffective to see a field production of a gambling, there are batch of effective timbre film adaptions available of most of Shakespeare ’ s plays. Make sure you check the film uses the original script before you watch it, as this could end up confusing you far. good examples include : Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Henry V and A Midsummer Night ’ sulfur Dream, to name but a few .

Listen to it

Another alternate to reading Shakespeare, or surely something you could do before attempting to read it, is to listen to audio versions of the plays. Simply by hearing the rhythm method of birth control of the words, the breaks and pauses, the spirit and the difference in voices will in truth help you to not entirely distinguish between characters ; a trouble in itself, but besides to get a actual smell of the action. many audio versions besides include a transcript that you can use to follow along with .

Read aloud

Get over the fact you may feel a bit silly doing this and try reading the play loudly. Feel the richness of the words on your tongue and the magnetic declination in tonicity and cycle of the language. It ’ south amazing how sealed words become much more apprehensible and about come animated when they are read aloud. If you feel like it you could even attempt to act out the free rein yourself, by adopting unlike voices for different characters, in order to create a common sense of setting and drama that is about impossible to achieve when you read in your head .

Understand the genre

As with anything you read, it always helps to know approximately what type of floor you are about to read, which is why understanding the genre of a play can help vastly with your overall reason. Shakespeare wrote Tragedy, Comedy, History and Romance and sometimes even combined two together, for exemplar Tragicomedy. In Shakespearean plays the genres tend to follow these patterns :
Comedy – lighthearted, laughter ; often at another characters expense, normally ends in marriage .
Tragedy – black, more good and frequently ends in one or more deaths .
History – the diagram revolves around a historical event that normally takes place in England .
Romance – is about love that is often baffling, although tends to end happily .

Know the characters

There is always a long list of characters in Shakespeare and trying to keep path of who ’ s who, who ’ s doing what, who ’ mho friends with person and who ’ s trying to kill person else is very, truly crafty. This is made bad by the fact that Shakespeare would often use characters with the same name or who would appear right at the very begin, disappear for ages and then reappear out of nowhere with no veridical explanation as to where they ’ ve been. One thing you can do that will help you keep track of characters is to make a number of names as they appear in the play and write a couple of words next to it about who they are, what they ’ rhenium sociable standing is and what relationships they have with the other characters. You then refer back to this if you need to at any steer throughout the rest of the turn. You will notice a huge difference between lower class characters and upper classify characters, chiefly through the language they use. Upper class characters and the nobility talk in a much more poetic phase, whereas the lower classes speak in simpleton, often naturalistic prose and once you recognise this remainder it can truly help you with your overall understand of the play .

Use notes

There is absolutely no shame in using compendious guides, such as Spark Notes, to help you understand the dally. You don ’ thymine want anything that is going to completely give the plot away, but having a bit of a outline surely helps. Spark Notes works by breaking the text into small sections and then summarising it. With a bit of anterior cognition you can pay closer attention to how Shakespeare is telling the fib, rather than concentrating on working out what ’ mho going on .

Choose a good version

There are literally tons of different editions of Shakespeare ’ second plays out there and although all of them are telling the lapp report, they are all presented in slightly different ways. Some will keep it very basic, some will include gloss notes and some may even provide modernised accounts of the play. You need to spend some time deciding which type you are likely to get on the best with, as this decision could be adequate to determine your enjoyment of reading Shakespeare. The No Fear Shakespeare versions offer two accounts ; the original script and a modern, coarse day language interpretation, set out one line after the other to make understanding slightly easier. Or the Barnes and Noble and the Oxford Shakespeare editions offer excellent annotations that help make sense of references to Elizabethan culture. There are besides batch of versions that have been adapted for child readers of Shakespeare and sometimes this can be a great start distributor point for an adult a well .

Use a dictionary

We appreciate that it ’ mho unmanageable to enjoy reading something when you have to stop every 5 minutes to look a discussion up in the dictionary, but trust us it is a drill well worth trying, because in the farseeing run it will help develop your love of reading Shakespeare. alternatively, if you read on an iPad, Kindle or other electronic device, you are able to tap on a word you don ’ thymine understand and it will immediately give you the definition .

stick at it

apparently you need to read or watch at least 17 of Shakespeare ’ south plays before you begin to master an understanding of them. so, remind yourself of this if you ’ re starting to lose motivation and are close to giving up on your 4th, 5th or even 15th undertake at reading his work. Try sticking with just one play to begin with and if you feel your frustration build, put the book down and have a break from it for a couple of days ; just remember to go rear to it ! You won ’ metric ton understand every word at first, but what you can hope to achieve after a few readings is to build up an understand of the larger significance of the playing period .

Read at the right time for you

To read a Shakespeare play properly and with use you need to pick the good here and now. It ’ s no good convert yourself to take it in holiday, with a view to reading it on the sunday lounger, because it ’ s truly not going to happen. But, pick that absolute optimum moment and we can promise you will experience Shakespeare like you never have earlier. For exemplar, how about reading Macbeth by candlelight on a stormy winters night, in the comfort of your surviving room, in front of a bellow fire ? Straight away you have created an atmosphere that emulates the setting of the play and will help immerse you within the plot .

Have fun

Most importantly of all, allow yourself to enjoy and have fun with Shakespeare. William Shakespeare was a comic brilliance and many of his more blithe plays are riddled with puns, metaphors and jokes that he wanted his audience to enjoy and share in his laugh .
We hope this has inspired you to give Shakespeare another die and to understand the affluence of terminology that this celebrated dramatist has left for the populace over to enjoy

Laurence, July 10, 2016. No Comments on Top tips for reading shakespeare ! Reading Tips

Do you know where the word GENRE comes from?

We hear the word genre a lot these days, whether it ’ s in relative to films, music or literature, this remarkable bible is enough to tell us an incredible sum of data about something, before we even experienced it. There are two main categories within literary genre ; fiction and non-fiction, and within these are numerous sub-categories, which we know as genres .
The Oxford English Dictionary describes writing style as :
“ Genre from french genre, “ kind ” or “ classify ”, from Latin genus ( stem gener- ), greek γένος, génos ) is any class of literature, music or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or ocular, based on some rig of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over meter as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. ”
so, we know that genres tell us about the nature of something, but where does the word originate ?
The word ’ s roots lie all the way bet on in ancient Greek, when the nowadays celebrated greek philosophers, Aristotle and Plato devised a organization for classifying literature. They felt that as more and more literature was being produced it was essential to divide it into ‘ genres ’ in order to simplify and keep cut of them all. Literature in the first place only had three genres : poetry, play and prose, which is obviously a whole batch less than the count of genres we have nowadays ! As even more literature was produced, with wide themes, more in-depth styles and specific manner of speaking and terminology patterns, there became the need for more genres to be introduced and so we have the follow tilt of genres today ( of which I am certain I have missed some out, there is that many ! ) :

• Drama
• Poetry
• Fantasy
• Comedy
• Fable
• Romance
• Horror
• Fairy Tale
• Science Fiction
• Short Story
• Real Life
• Folklore
• History
• Tall Tale
• Legend
• Mystery
• Mythology
• Adventure
• Classic
• Crime
• Magical Realism
• Metafiction
• Western
• Tragedy

These genres can besides combine to form sub-genres, for example a drollery may have tragic elements to it and would therefore be categorised with the sub-genre of ‘ tragicomedy ’ .
Genres continue to be reassessed, reordered and redefined as audience tastes change. As the world around us continue to evolve and experience new things, so excessively do the books we read .
Over the following few weeks I am going to be taking a much closer attend at each genre to discover what manner, linguistic process, themes and characters they have in park and to give you some examples of literature that falls into a especial category .

Laurence, December 16, 2015. No Comments on Do you know where the give voice GENRE comes from ? Genre

Why reading is good for your health.

Losing yourself in a good book is one of life ’ s bare pleasures, but did you know that read is besides enormously beneficial to your health ? neurological researchers at Emory University have spent years studying how read affects the genius and have identified that there is a address link between reading a good book and enhanced cognitive ability. The study, entitled ‘ Short- and long-run Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain ’, has been published in the journal Brain Connectivity and has shown that the way the brain responds to recitation is very similar to the way muscle memory is formed in fun.

I ’ thousand sure you don ’ thymine in truth need much of an excuse to find more clock time to read, but take a search at these incredible reasons as to why read is so good for your health :
Reduces stress
According to a study from the University of Sussex, reading for equitable 6 minutes a day can reduce stress levels by up to 68 % ! cognitive neuropsychologist, Dr David Lewis, explain, “ By losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing record you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday worldly concern and spend a while exploring the knowledge domain of the writer ’ sulfur resource. This is more than merely a beguilement but an active agent engage of the imagination as the words on the print foliate stimulate your creativity and causal agent you to enter what is basically an alter submit of consciousness. ” When a person reads their heart rate slows down and the whole body relaxes. Researchers have concluded that this is more effective at lowering tension levels than early alleged relax activities, such as listening to music or sitting down with a cup of tea. Neurologist Baroness Susan Greenfield says, “ Reading novels and magazines can offer a brief suspension from the stresses and strains of everyday liveliness. traditionally reading was associated with determine, and in this way it is dependable for personal development, but reading a magazine or even cook book can be very comforting. Our brains are constantly bombarded with information, more so now than ever before, and interpretation is a good way to wind down. ”
Improves memory
If you imagine your brain as a muscle, then the act of reading is exercise for the brain. The more you read, the more the ‘ brain brawn ’ is being worked and will therefore get stronger and more efficient. Around 820,000 people suffer from some form of dementia in the UK and inquiry has shown that people who do mentally induce activities, such as read, have a slower rate of memory refuse than those who don ’ metric ton do these types of activity. not only does reading improve memory, but it besides helps the mind remain active in old old age .
Boosts vocabulary
It ’ sulfur not just children that benefit from learning new words and expanding their vocabulary when they read. There are approximately 1,025,109.8 words in the english terminology and this trope is continually increasing, so you can pretty much guarantee that there are words out there that you have never heard of, let entirely know the mean of. According to a scholastic report it is estimated that we learn 5 to 15 % of all the words we know through read, sol tied as adults there is something to be gained from regular take .
Refines brain function
Reading fiction enables a reviewer to escape from the ordinariness of daily life and step into the shoes of an infinite number of different characters and scenarios. This escape causes meaning changes within the left temporal role lens cortex of the mind, which is the part of the brain associated with language inclusion and a phenomenon known as “ embodied cognition “. This brain function allows neurons to trick us into thinking we are doing something we are not, ergo – escape. Professor Gregory S. Berns, explains “ The act of reading puts the lector in the body of the protagonist and at a minimal, we can say that reading stories – particularly those with impregnable narrative bow – reconfigures brain networks for at least a few days. It shows how stories can stay with us. This may have fundamental implications for children and the role of reading in shaping their brains ”. The changes that reading makes to mind function is probably to expand a person ’ second emotional intelligence and encourages empathy, which they can then take back with them to the real world. Tied in with this empathy is the belief that reading can motivate and encourage people to achieve biography goals, for case read about person who has worked hard, overcome obstacles and achieved their lifelong ambition may inspire the reader to do the like in their own life. In fact, the close you identify with a character, whether you recognise exchangeable traits or plainly that you like them, the more likely you are to empathise with them and consequently are more likely to take action yourself. attest of this is shown in a late survey by the National Year of Reading where 60 % of those surveyed claimed reading had influenced them to change something in their lives with one in five respondents claiming to have taken action as a reaction to reading an influential article or book. Professor Louis Appleby CBE, National Director for Mental Health in England, agrees that reading is beneficial to our health and says, “ When we hear that read is ‘ beneficial for us ’ we may assume that this is because it helps our education. But reading anything for pleasure can besides raise your spirits, offer an miss from casual stresses, help you empathise with other people AND keep the brain tick over. Reaching for a favorite magazine or ledger could well be effective for your health. ”

Laurence, July 7, 2015. No Comments on Why read is adept for your health. News

Join our Book Club

happy New year !
I can ’ t believe how fast this year has flown by, it sincerely seems like only yesterday when I was posting about my New Years resolutions for 2014. But I am happy and true reasonably storm, that I have indeed managed to keep my resolving power of recitation and reviewing a koran a calendar month. I hope that in reading my reviews, it has not entirely prompted you to read the books but to besides help motivate you to find more time to read. We all lead such interfering lives, but we must constantly remember to find prison term for ourselves and read is a perfect way to fill this time. Reading shouldn ’ thyroxine be considered an indulgence, it is an absolute necessity. It provides us with escape from the norm, a chance to dream and imagine ourselves in person else ’ s shoes and along with everything else it keeps the old gray topic ticking along by educating us in the process .
so, having proved to myself that I can keep a resolution, I have decided not to make any this year. alternatively, I want to think about starting up a book clubhouse on this site. Offering a forum for others to recommend their favorite books, in order to broaden our read horizons. It ’ s all well and good me talking about the books I have enjoyed, but I am fair one subscriber amongst many and I am cutting to read other titles, some of which one may never have even heard of. So, I hereby formally invite YOU to join thegoodnovel bible clubhouse .
There are plainly loads of book clubs scattered around the area and I can guarantee that most will fit into one of two categories. first, the group that take it completely seriously, with a very academic list of authoritative ‘ must read ’ novels combined with the hottest newly released titles and winners of the latest prize. Don ’ t even think about attending a meet without reading that calendar month ’ s book. You must have a copy that includes pencil scribbled notes of reference point, semblance coded post-it notes pointing you to the significant passages within the bible and be prepared to have quotes to back up your arguments and if at all possible lend other sources of reference. This kind of border on is fine for some people but it ’ s not truly my cup of tea. Which brings me nicely onto the second type of book club, and this is precisely the kind that I belong to with a group of my close friends. It would be amiss of me to say that it is merely an excuse for us all to meet up once a calendar month. That is without doubt an overriding factor yes, but what is truly bang-up about the bible clubhouse which I belong to and indeed many other book clubs out there, boils down to the true, core purpose of a proper koran baseball club – to be exposed to books that you wouldn ’ t convention even think to look doubly at .
We all have a music genre that we prefer to read. I, myself like dystopian fabrication, in fact it is what I chose to write my dissertation on when I was at university, but I am very aware that it is not a genre favoured by everybody. however, I am sure that it ’ s association with geeky skill fiction, is adequate to put some people off and if given a find more people would actually find that they enjoy this type of book. I tend to constantly steer clear up of crime and thrillers, not truly certain why but they fair don ’ thyroxine sparkle much excitement in me. Yet, I found Dan Brown ’ s Da Vinci Code books absolutely unputdownable, proving you actually can ’ t judge a script by it ’ s genre .
I ’ megabyte not asking for you to join this book cabaret, with a opinion to you following a specify list of books that must be read calendar month on calendar month. No, what I do ask is for you to pass on your recommendations of books you have read and enjoyed so that you can pass that joy onto others. It would be great if we could all pass friendly comments about a ledger, possibly raising issues about a book that others may not have considered and sparking up alert consider about the characters and the themes explored within a book. I would besides be matter to in hearing some of your top ten lists. For case if you had to list your exceed ten-spot classical novels what would they be ? Or if you could only rescue 5 books from a burning library, what would they be ? And what 5 books are you looking forward to Sharing with your children for the identical first fourth dimension ?
I will of course be offering my own views and answers to these questions in the come months and with each new article I invite you to add your own .
I will besides be trying to keep abreast of any interesting news in the book world, eg new releases, publishing news and hot new authors to look out for .
Please do join in american samoa without you this web site will be far less matter to and ultimately I want us all to be reading as much new and vary things as potential to keep our love of reading thriving in a digital universe where written pages are increasingly losing out to video games and cyber worlds .
Read on boyfriend bookworms, until we meet again…
Laurence, January 4, 2015. No Comments on Join our Book Club News

The Maze Runner

When the doors of the rise crank unfold, the entirely thing Thomas remembers is his beginning name. But he ’ randomness not alone. He ’ s surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade – a wall camp at the concentrate of a bizarre and awful stone tangle. Like Thomas, the Gladers don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate know why or how they came to be there – or what ’ s happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide second, they will risk everything – even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrol its corridors, to try and find out .
Ok, so I know what you ’ ra thinking – not another adolescent dystopian fresh ! Well, yes it is, but do you know what ? you actually should give it a chance because if you are a fan of The Hunger Games or the Divergent trilogy then this book is decidedly for you. Different enough to keep your interest, but still sticking to the test and tested and apparently ever popular model of the dystopian novel, the first reserve in the Maze Runner series will have you gripped from the identical first page .
Thomas arrives in the Glade in a alloy box, diffident of how or why he is there. The last of the boys to be planted in the Glade he must help the others try to crack the Maze and think of a room to get past the deadly Grievers. He knows he is limited, but with no memory, merely minor, confusing flashbacks, he is unable to work out his part in this strange earth .
Suspicions start to arise in the other Gladers, when the alloy box delivers their first base girl, Teresa, who although unconscious, holds a note informing them ‘ she ’ s the final one ’ and shouts out Thomas ’ s name before passing out again. Reminiscent of William Golding ’ s The Lord of the Flies, the boys start to let their paranoias take over, resulting in arguments and power shifts as they struggle to understand their position and determination within the group. The charcaters of Alby ; the natural leader of the group and, as it late emerges, the very first gear male child to be brought into the Glade, along with Newt ; moment in control, Minho ; the Keeper of the Runners, Chuck ; Thomas ’ s faithful 12 year previous companion, Thomas and Teresa have all been written with such strong, credible characteristics that it is comfortable to visualize them and to feel such potent emotions towards them. I found myself literally gripped with every page call on, desperate to read more and find out if there was a direction out of the maze .
James Dashner has written this book, primarily for the adolescent market, but more and more of this sol call adolescent fabrication music genre is crossing over into the adult readership and is becoming increasingly popular. possibly, it ’ mho because of it ’ s easily to read structure or possibly because it offers such a ocular position, which is proving easily movable to film. Like November ’ randomness book, The mistake in our Stars, The Maze Runner has besides been made into a film. Having enjoyed reading the book thus much I was desperate to see the film as I could see how well it should translate onto the adult screen. How wrong could I have been, I was painfully disappoint. Although, the producers managed to chose their actors wisely they cut out huge sections of the book and altered what I considered to be key factors and crucial pieces of information that I struggle to see how they are going to justify if they are make the sequels into film versions as well. I will leave it up to you to decide. I would be very interested to hear what you have to say both about the ledger and about whether you think the film has done the koran any judge, so please do leave me a comment .
All I do ask is that you please, please read the book before you see the film, as it truly deserves it ’ s chance to shine in it ’ s original and mean form .
I ’ ve decided to have a bit of a change for adjacent month so watch this space for more information ! All that remains to be said is felicitous Christmas !
Laurence, December 23, 2014. No Comments on The Maze Runner Dystopian Fiction

The Fault in our Stars

Despite the tumor shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but concluding, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot wrench named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel ’ randomness fib is about to be completely rewrite .
The fault in our Stars is the sixth koran by John Green and was published back in January 2012. The story is narrated by the moderate character, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16 year old girlfriend who has thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs and now relies on her trusty oxygen case shot to survive. The title of the fresh was inspired by the line from Shakespeare ’ s play Julius Caesar, in which Cassius says to Brutus :
“ The fault, costly Brutus, is not in our stars ,
But in ourselves, that we are subordinate. ”
( Act 1, Scene 2 )
Yes, this record will about decidedly make you war cry, but what marks it out as unlike is that the characters are not asking for your compassion. Their diseases, although terminal, are not all consuming. They don ’ metric ton indulge us with tales of woe but alternatively take the point of view that everyone is going to die at some period, so equitable get on with living the biography you have .
Forced by her parents to attend the Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel reluctantly goes in a bid to keep them felicitous. But when she meets a 17 class old son, Augustus Waters, who has recently been given the all clear up from osteosarcoma, a rare shape of blood cancer, she realises she is about to embark on a newly chapter of her biography. The story will make you feel every emotion known to mankind. Combining love, chat up and adolescent friendship with a tragic, heartbreaking sadness that will literally leave you weeping uncontrollably into the pages, Green creates a literary masterpiece that will stay with you constantly. What no matchless can predict is how the narrative ends, and I am surely not going to ruin it for anyone. You must, just read this bible ! A tragic, love floor bound together by universal themes that we can all associate with, it is a book that you will find yourself coming back to time and time again. It has, without a doubt earnt a well-deserved permanent wave place on my bookshelf and I will be recommending it to all of my friends .
A feature film adaptation of the novel was released in June 2014 and I had the pleasure of watching it last weekend. now, normally I am very a lot of the opinion that a film can never live up to the book, which is why I constantly insist that I read a book before I see the film. however, in this case I would say that the film is identical much on a par with the book and does it dispatch judge. Shailene Woodley ( Hazel Grace Lancaster ) and Ansel Elgort ( Augustus Waters ) portray their characters beautifully and the whole film was an absolute joy to watch, even though it did get a bit bleary at the goal as my eyes filled with tears !

next Month ’ s Book : ‘ The Maze Runner ‘

Laurence, November 26, 2014. No Comments on The mistake in our Stars Uncategorized