Tuesday 9 September 2014

My Summer Reads



 For those of you who don't know, I'm a total literary bug.  So holidays are when I get to read most.   This summer I read five books,  some I found dissapointing and others very enjoyable.  No spoilers!

Palo Alto by James Franco (3/5)
This book is a collection of short stories that are based around the city of Palo Alto.  The reason I read this is because I saw the trailer for the film and wanted to read it before I watched it.  I can't quite explain the mood of the book, I think it's perfect considering that it's mainly based on teenagers.  This book opened my eyes in a lot of ways.  Especially to value myself and my body more and not just give it anyone if you know what I'm sayin...  There's a part of the book that I think most people would find unpleasant,  and something that distracted me when I was reading it, is that I kept trying to match people up.  As in,  the same people came up in different stories and I'd flick through pages trying to see which story they were in and that got a bit annoying. I read it in a day and I liked the book, but I enjoyed the film so much more.  One name guys, Jack Kilmer. 

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (2/5)
I was so dissapointed by this book!  It was recommended to me and I had such high expectations, but I didn't really like it.  I personally think it droaned on for so long.  It's based on this one group of sisters and I think we can all guess what happens to them.  The interesting thing about this is, that it's told from the point of view of the teenage boys living in the neighbourhood.  These girls are super mysterious to them,  because they're not allowed to do alot due to their very old-fashioned mother.  And I'm not used to being told a story that way,  I liked it.  If I hadn't started this book with such high expectations I don't know whether or not  Iwould have disliked it so much, but I wouldn't recommend this book.  Yet I'd still like the other member of my two-man bookclub (shoutout to Marketa) to read it so we can discuss how dissapointed we were.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee  (5/5)
I loved this so much!!!!  I think everyone should read it at least once in their life.  It doesn't matter whether or not you like classics,  this is too good a story.  I wouldn't have been drawn to it, if someone had told me what's it about.  A definite favourite!

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris (4/5)
This book was recommend to me by a booktuber (books and quills) as a hilarious read.  So once again,  I went in with really high expectations, and at first I didn't think it was that funny.  But there are parts in this book, where if you read it out to someone,  they'll laugh too, which is rare.  The book is David Sedaris just sharing some of his life experiences, from when he was a child to living in London and travelling.  There are some very short extracts that are fiction and extremely random, but otherwise it's all him.  I've gone on to recommend it to my friends and I'm actually reading another one of his books now because I really admired him after this. 

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini (3.95/5)
I picked this book up in Waterstone's (SUCH A GREAT SHOP) because of the illustration on the cover and it turned out to be the book of a film that I started watching and never finished.  So I decided to buy it,  and really enjoyed it.  It's about a teenage boy struggling with depression because of the pressures of school, friends and just life.  This book isn't depressing at all and it's quite a nice read.  The only downside is that it's (well, my copy) quite heavy.  But I have lent it to friends. 


Those are the books I read while I was away on holidays.  Have you read any of the books mentioned above?  What's your favourite type of book?  Do you judge books by their covers? 

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