ByMarlida

WAKE
BY AMANDA HOCKING
PUBLISHED: 2012
AVERAGE RATING: 3.70
309 PAGES
READ: NOVEMBER 3RD - NOVEMBER 6TH 2015
★★★☆☆

A while back I stumbled upon Amanda Hocking's series called "Watersong" in my local bookstore - so I started buying the books in the series because they never had all of them in the store. I had absolutely no idea what they were about, and I kind of thought that they were some kind of dystopia, so I can with a hand over my heart say that I was kind of surprised when I got to the point in the book where it all kind of, revealed itself.

THE GREAT GATSBY
BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
PUBLISHED: 1925
AVERAGE RATING: 3.86
192 PAGES
★★★★★


The Great Gatsby. The book we've all heard about, but unless you had it in school you never really read it, but you saw the movie. I saw the movie first, shame on me, and I loved the movie, so I thought; why not try the book?

The book is well... I'm kind of lost for words, but it's beautiful in its own way. What I love about it is the way Fitzgerald uses his narrator Nick Carraway as the eyes into this story and how the one honest and decent person in the story tells us what really happened. He's standing apart from these happenings, even though he's still a part of them. He's the stark contrast to the other characters;

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

I think that in the end, Fitzgerald manages to show us the sad, bleak portrait of America while maintaining a sense of restrained optimism about the future. This is a book worth reading, not only because of Fitzgerald's amazing way of writing and capturing each moment in the book, but also because of its themes and characters.

ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES
BY JENNIFER NIVEN
PUBLISHED: 2015
AVERAGE RATING: 4.20
400 PAGES
READ: JULY 29TH - JULY 31ST 2015
★★★★☆

I started this book with no expectations. I’d seen hundreds of instagram posts about this book being cute and heartbreaking, and I was like; well, let’s see about that. So I picked it up on a beach in Platanias, Crete - and finished it two days later with tears in my eyes.

All The Bright Places is about Theodore Finch and Violet Markey - two very different people with one thing in common; they’re both surrounded by death. While Theodore searches for it, Violet has seen it up close. They become the most unlikely friends, and it turns out that they have more in common that they kind of thought.

CITY OF ASHES
BY CASSANDRA CLARE
PUBLISHED: 2008
AVERAGE RATING: 4.22
453 PAGES
★★★☆☆

We continue on Clary’s journey through the Shadowhunter’s world, this time there’s someone or something murdering Downworlder children, and the Clave is out to get Valentine for what he’s done. Are they safe? Does the Clave believe Jace and Clary when they tell them the truth? And what about Simon and Jocelyn? Clary’s best friend and her mother.

First of all, it’s a weird book. It’s written without the typical 1, 2, 3... chapters, and it kind of tells you a story that happened, not something that is happening right now. We look through the eyes of Susanna Kaysen, the author; and the person this biography is about.

This book is probably one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. But it confuses me at the same time. Why?

I don’t like the characters, at all actually, but yet, I’m so interested in them. Basil Hallward, the painter is probably the most likeable person in this book, and yet, I hate it when he talks about Dorian like he’s the purpose of life. I don’t like Dorian Gray because he just seems so full of himself I can’t even handle him. And Lord Henry Wotton, what a douche. But it’s like so interesting to read about these characters, because the author himself, Oscar Wilde said that these three characters are three sides of Wilde himself: “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks of me: Dorian what I would like to be - in other ages, perhaps.”

I think that mostly the book is about shallowness, vanity, casual cruelty and hedonistic selfishness. Basil Hallward is an artist who after painting a picture of Dorian Gray becomes obsessed with him because of his beauty (There’s been a lot of discussion around the topic, because some people believe that Basil is homosexual and others think he’s just got this love for the object of Dorian). Dorian then meets Basil’s friend, Lord Henry, and becomes enthralled with Lord Henry’s world view, which is a form of extreme hedonism that posits the only worthwhile life is one spent pursuing beauty and satisfaction for the senses.

I loved the book, I had seen the movie and I liked the whole theme of the film. It was special somehow, and the language, the words, the phrases that Oscar Wilde uses in this book is beautiful. I want to read more of his books in the future, just to read his words. This is writing at its best, and I love it, love it, love it, love it.

★★★★☆

I wanted to know what the Selection series was all about, so I eventually got the first short story in the series and started reading it just the other night. There’s been so much fuzz about this series on instagram, so I wanted to know if this was really something I would like.

My first impression was that this was a weird dystopian series, I mean, it’s like a dystopian “The Bachelor”. Thirty-four girls are picked to come to the castle and fight to become the princess. Everyone gets a make over so that there won’t be differences, and eventually are introduced to the prince himself. Who’s super shallow and seems like a jerk.

Now, we get to meet America, who’s probably be the girl he ends up with in the end, or at least she’s the one he’s going to fall in love with because that’s just pointed out during the 64 pages of this short story. And America is only a five, and the king wants his son to have at least a 2. So.. The Prince’s in trouble.

I don’t want to slaughter this series, because I was kind of tipped off by the whole idea, I guess that I will be reading this soon, but I won’t be stressing about it. I know there’s a lot of people who think that this series is amazing, and that it just blows their minds, so I’m going to read the series with an open mind when I get that far.

★☆☆☆☆

In Pandemonium we’re introduced to this mysterious character called Raven, we don’t know much about her, only that her name is Raven and that she’s a somewhat leader of the Invalids in the Wilds.

Raven becomes really important in Pandemonium, and we kind of understand Lena and Raven’s connection, that they’re sort of like sisters. And in this book, called Raven, we actually get to know more about her backstory. About why she eventually called Blue, Blue. Why she’s the way she is, why she came to the Wilds. Everything kind of seems clear when we read this book.

This book is also put in this position when Lena goes into the place where Julian is about to be killed, and she’s there to ultimately save Lena AND Julian. She and Tack, Raven’s girlfriend is working together to get Raven on the inside so that she can make sure that Lena gets out safe.

After I read Hana, I started on Pandemonium the same night. Now this has been my favorite book of the trilogy so far because it’s so much more action filled and it’s got me sitting on the tip of my toes reading. Which is what I really love about reading books. That anxiety and that feeling of being scared to what’s going to happen next.

Pandemonium goes kind of deeper into the wild, who’s there, how does Lena start building her life there? What is she doing? And the thing I love about this book is the way Lauren Oliver actually writes this book in “now” and “then” instead of putting it into chapters.

The “Now” and “Then” building makes me keep reading even though I should have been in bed two hours ago. It’s really exciting, and the way Lena transforms in this book is mandatory for the rest of the series (or at least that’s what I think). The exciting part is also that there are some new characters introduced, characters that are also kind of important for Lena’s life and how it’s going to be, in the “end”.

Now, this book also introduces us to more of the society, the DFA, which is the disease control people who believe in a disease free America. Now, when Lena’s life dramatically transforms in Delirium at the end, this book kind of swoops us over for her new love-interest, who’s kind of a big deal. It also takes us into the world of Delirium, outside Portland and where Lena was brought up, and into this whole new place of people.

★★★★☆ because this book is more what I would like the whole trilogy to be, more exciting and action filled. It shows us that Lauren Oliver can do better, and I think that this books shows exactly who she could be as a writer.