The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood

The story is told by Offred (not her real name as that was taken away from her).
A religious group called the Sons of Jacob has recently overthrown the United States government. Offred (in her previous name) has been arrested for being married to a divorced man, which is now illegal. She and her husband, Luke, were arrested while trying to escape the country on fake passports with their daughter. Their daughter has been given away to an elite, childless family. As Offred can conceive children (birth rate has diminished), she has been sent to a Re-Education Centre, to be trained for her new role as a Handmaids. In the centre, know as the Red Centre, they are brainwashed into submission to their new role by a group of women called Aunts, where they are taught to believe that its their fault that society was so bad and that men are blameless. Her new role as a Handmaid is to bear children for elite, childless families. These Handmaid's are given the name of the man - commander they are to serve, bear children too. The are made to wear outfits which is modest and entirely red except for a white, winged bonnet. Offred discovers a message from the previous Handmaid carved into her closet, "Don't let the bastards grind you down." This story is about her life and how Offred becomes friends with another Handmaid, Ofglen, her only companion on her daily shopping trips. This is a very harsh time, were beatings and killings take place, if you are found or even suspected of being an non-believer. There is a lot more to this book; government spy's called the Eyes, jealous wife's of the commanders, the unseen life of women who are no good to bear children - a underground hotel, Mayday and so much more. Is this going to be her life until she no longer can bear children? Following her story, the ending part of the book is a historian's speech, in which they try to authenticate the Handmaid's Tale.

This was a book that I wouldn't have chosen for myself - it was one of this years village book club books. I have to say I was dreading reading this, I just kept thinking, please be better than 'Brave New World' (both are about an altered furture). 

Well I loved this book. My feelings went out to Offred through her ordeals and trials, and this feeling of involvement made the story truly thought provoking. The story makes you think about what life could be like if this kind of society actually existed/took over our western way of life. I couldn't wait to find out what happened, I couldn't put the book down - I was gripped. Reference the ending, I have read a few reviews about how they were disappointed with the ending, there was not enough closure. But I liked that, (I finished the book a few months ago) it still gets me thinking about what happened to her - I've been allowed to finish the story for her, and I've made up a few so far!!

Would highly recommend.

Fallen books series by Lauren Kate

    
 
'Fallen' 'Torment' 'Passion' 'Fallen in Love' and  'Rapture' by Lauren Kate

A series of books about fallen angels and forbidden love.
Fallen, On her first day at Sword & Cross boarding school, Luce Price feels like she know the mysterious Daniel Grigori. She is pulled towards him, he is the only good thing about Sword & Cross, an unfriendly place were mobile phones are banned and security cameras watch the students every move. Even though he captures her attention from that first moment, he wants nothing to do with her, he is rude and unkind to her. But she can’t let it go, even though she doesn't want to, she is drawn to him - wanting to find out what Daniel is hiding. 
Torment, It took them an eternity to find each other, but now Luce is forced to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. He must leave to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the California coast with unusually gifted students, Nephilim - offsprings of fallen angels and humans. While at the school, Luce learns what the Shadows are - things that have haunted her most of her life. She learns how to use them as doorways to her previous lives. While at Shoreline she starts to suspects that Daniel is hiding things from her, about their past together. What is he hiding? Are they meant to be together? 
Passion, Luce learns that she has died over and over again in the past, every time she and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart, leaving Daniel heartbroken and alone. Luce wonders if it doesn't need to be that way. Luce begins the most important journey of this life looking for someone in one of her past life's who can help her in her present one - save her and Daniel. Throughout this journey going back through eternities, she witnesses firsthand her romances with Daniel, finally unlocking the key to make their love last. Daniel and his angle friends chase Luce through their shared pasts, trying to catch her before she rewrites history. 
Fallen in Love, This book tells the story of four love stories over the course of a romantic Valentine's Day in Medieval England. And in a twist of fate, four extraordinary love stories combine  Miles and Shelby find love where they least expect it. Roland learns a painful lesson about finding-and losing love. Arianne pays the price for a love so fierce it burns. Luce also while visiting this past life, spends her only night with Daniel - together.
Rapture, The sky is dark with wings... Time is running out for Luce and Daniel, Lucifer wants to erase their past. The angels must find the place where the angels fell to earth in the beginning, but this isn't as easy as it seems as dark forces are after them. Can they succeed? Together they face a great battle that will end with great sacrifices. Luce knows what must happen, as the curse is only about her, brought on by the love she cast aside, the love for someone else. 

I have mixed feelings about the Fallen series. I do wonder if Lauren Kate was trying to do a Twilight thing - 3 books, a mini in between book and then the ending book. I think she could have cut the amount of books and maybe told the story in two or three. Overall I did enjoy the books but for example the third book did go on a bit, I kind of thought the story could have been told in half the amount of time, I found in some places I went 'sigh', yes I get it!! I did enjoy how Lauren Kate allowed us to understand why some of the characters (the angels) acted the way they did - an insight into the lives in heaven, why they fell and the reasons behind them choosing heaven or Lucifer and their relationships with each other - even though they should have been on opposite sides. The books are full of romance, danger, hope and love.

The ending was not what I thought was going to happen so that was a shock - I was a little disappointed, I won't say anything about the ending so not to ruin it for you. I just wish it had been a little more. But then again did Lauren Kate do that so to shock us readers who thought we knew how it was going to end - was it brilliant because no one expect it at all!

Overall I would recommend the series. If you get bored a little in book three just keep going - it will be worth it in the end!

Just adding if you only wanted to choose either the Fallen series or the Twilight book - I would recommend leave these alone and read Twilight - they are written better and keep you gripped throughout them all.

The Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer

   
 

'Twlight' 'New Moon' 'Eclipse' 'Breaking Dawn' and 'The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner' by Stephenie Meyer

The Twilight stories are about Edward and Bella’s romance and so much more.
Twilight, the first in the series, is the story of two teenagers - Bella, a regular girl, and Edward, a perfect gentleman and a vampire!
New Moon is the continuing story of Bella's unusual life in Forks, Washington. When her vampire boyfriend Edward, suddenly leaves, Bella is heartbroken in a way only a teenager can be, leaving time on her hands to develop a friendship with Jacob, another boy with a strange family background.
Eclipse opens with teenager Bella and her vampire boyfriend Edward reunited after their tortuous parting in New Moon. Bella’s eventual transformation into a bloodsucking immortal is now guaranteed, yet all is not well in the town of Forks. Her best friend, the werewolf Jacob, harbours a generations-old vendetta against vampires in addition to unrequited feelings for Bella herself. To top it all off, a plague of murders in nearby Seattle points to an impending vampire threat.
Breaking Dawn opens up issues which have been gathering over the course of the series. There is a wedding and a horrifying pregnancy, new groups and friendships are formed and of course more fighting. A portion of the novel is told through Jacob’s incredulous eyes.
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is the story of Bree Tanner, a character introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits.

I have reviewed all these books together - mainly to save time!! I had no plans on reading the twilight books but changed my mind after watching Breaking Dawn part 1. I only watched the first twilight movie early last year - enjoyed it and wanted to watch the next one to see what happens in the story, that's how I ended up watching the other movies, my need to finish the story I was watching. So to my horror after watching Breaking Dawn part 1, I was at a loss - I hate an unfinished story (that's a big problem for me when reading a series - need to read them all, one after another!). So you can imagine when Breaking Dawn finished I was like - NO!!!! I need to know the ending. That's where reading the books came into it. But of course I just couldn't read Breaking Dawn to find out what happens, I needed to read them all in case the story line differed. I read all five books in 3 1/2 weeks - I just couldn't put them down. I had thought that the twilight stories were for teenagers but I actually think that the stories (and films) has the ability to cross age barriers and will satisfy both teenagers and adults alike. By the end of the first book I was thirsting for more - wanting to know more about the Cullen family and the events that was going to happen. I felt like I was right there in Folks with the descriptions that Stephenie Meyer's wrote throughout the books. The romance between Edward and Bella is both touching and compelling - their impossible love. I didn't want these books to end.

We highly recommend them all!

To Kill A MockingBird by Harper Lee

'To Kill A MockingBird' by Harper Lee

A black man charged with raping a white girl is to be defended by Atticus Finch, a white widower lawyer in Alabama. This book tells the story of his two children Scout and Jem. Through their eyes we read a series of events that shook their innocence, teaches them about human nature and shape their life's. We learn about attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties and how a town showed prejudice, violence and hypocrisy over one man's struggle for justice. 

This is a classic novel and is read and studied in many schools in American, as well as in other countries. I never read this book at school as my English class was seemed not good enough to read classics like this, what a shame! This novel is really good (fantastic!!) and I wish I had had the opportunity to read it years ago. I loved reading the story through the eyes of a child Scout and how she made me see the things she saw and things she felt. There is a lot more going on than just the trial, and Scout tells us all about it. 

Would highly recommend  

The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling

'The Casual Vacancy' by J K Rowling

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils...Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

I have never read any of the Harry Potter books so I was very open minded to this new book from
J K Rowling. I had heard a lot from others on how could she write anything better than the Harry Potter books, as I had never read them I had nothing to compare but knowing what a fantastic writter she is meant to be, I expected more!! For the first quarter of the book I was bored, disappointed and spent most of my time trying to work out who all of the characters were. I just couldn't get into it. I decided to put the book down for the week and then try again thinking that maybe I just wasn't in the frame of mind for reading that week, but no, I still felt the same when I started again! The book was chosen for our camp book club and it has been the only book I haven't finished. I finally stopped 3/4 through and put it down. I just kept thinking what a waste of my time, why am I sitting here reading this, I could be reading something so much better. What a waste of my £9 to buy it and those hours reading the 350+ pages!!

I have to say though, a member of my book club group did say the last 1/4 was the best and I should persevere with it, she was gripped with the ending. I think for now I can't finish it - I just can't waste anymore time on this novel, maybe at a later date when I have no more books to read I will finish it. (maybe!!) One thing I did get from the book though was you never know what goes on behind closed doors!

Would never recommed

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley

Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Reproduction is controlled through genetic engineering, and people are bred into a rigid class system. As they mature, they are conditioned to be happy with the roles that society has created for them. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress...

This book is considered to be Huxley's masterpiece, his best works with many fantastic reviews...I hated it!!! This book was chosen by a member of the camp book club as she loved it when she read it many years ago. Oh what a hard read, I felt like pulling my teeth out would have been a better pass time than reading this!!

An interesting concept, but not at all enjoyable. Would not recommend at all!!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

'The Thirteenth Tale' by Diane Setterfield

Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once home to the March family - fascinating, manipulative Isabelle, brutal, dangerous Charlie, and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But Angelfield House hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart...

Vida Winter is the most respected and widely read living writer, now coming to the end of her life. Throughout her career, she's been interviewed many times but has always given different and fantastical stories about her life, so that she's preserved an aura of mystery.

Margaret Lea is a young, repressed woman who lives above her father's bookshop. All her life she has loved reading, but has never attempted a write a novel. She's written a few articles on her non-fiction research, one of them having been published in an academic journal. Margaret receives a letter in terrible handwriting, an invitation from Vida Winter, who wants Margaret to write her biography.

Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past - and the mystery of the March family starts to unravel. What has Angelfield been hiding? What is its connection with the enigmatic writer Vida Winter? And what is the secret that strikes at the heart of Margaret's own, troubled life?

As Margaret digs deeper, two parallel stories unfold, and the tale she uncovers sheds a disturbing light on her own life...

I loved this book. My friend Frances recommended it to me, so I went on Amazon to purchase it and while there read the reviews. Even though after reading some of the negative reviews I still brought the book as Frances had said how good it was. It was only when I finished the book that I was amazed about the negative comments. As I said I loved it. The Thirteenth Tale is Diane Setterfield first novel (her second came out in May this year) and I think for her first book, it was great. The mystery kept me turning the pages and just couldn't wait to reach the end - kept me guessing!

I look forward to reading her second novel. Thanks Frances for recommending it to me.
Would recommend

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

'The Uncommon Reader' by Alan Bennett

The Uncommon Reader is none other than the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She takes her first book because she feels like she should as she doesn't want to upset the librarian. Her views of the world and those around her soon change. Those around her don't like her reading and try to get her to stop.

Very disappointing, I only stuck with it as it had been chosen for my village book club. I found the whole book dull and wanted to gave up before finishing it but as it was only a small book (thankfully!) I did finish it. I had read that it gave the reader a insight into the reading habits of the queen, but I doubt that, as I guess the queen is probably quite well read, she is certainly no fool as it came across in the book. I did not laugh once, I can't really see the point of the book.

I expected more. Would not recommend

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child; Minny, forever losing jobs due to her sassy tongue; and Miss Skeeter, an aspiring writer who has been raised by black maids all her life.

This book is written in 'Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver'. And where white women should have a ring on their finger.
Aibileen, Minny and Miss Skeeter embark on a dangerous journey to try and change decades of prejudice and pave the way for a better life for the next generations. Through the words of each of these women we learn how racism and intolerance was in 1960 in the south. There are tales of unbelievable cruelty and humiliation but also tales of tenderness and real love.

I just couldnt put this book down. I felt like I was transported into the life of each of these characters. I loved each character and almost felt that I knew them personal at the end. I was gripped reading this book, one minute laughing out loud, the next almost in tears (ok a few times I was in tears!). And one thing that will always stay with me is the part about Minny famous cake.

Would highly recommend

Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson

‘Before I Go To Sleep’ by S J Watson

 

With this book, I was hooked after the first paragraph! I actually hadn't heard of 'Before I Go To Sleep' before being recommended by my friend Frances. Because I haven’t been reading any books for a while, I hadn’t paid any attention of the latest bestsellers and hot reads. Even though Frances had told me how good the book was, I was still surprised how much I loved it. I found I just couldn’t put this book down, and to me this was a sign on how good the book was. I don’t want to hint at or spoil anything so I wont to say anything about the story, I just know if you are looking for a great read, this book is for you! You won't be disappointed!

 

Would highly recommend

Reading

I used to love reading and would read often but when Megan was born, time and tiredness took over and books were put to the side to collect dust!

Back in May after listening to my friend Frances talk about a book that she had just finished made me want to pick up a book again and read. And what a great decision that was. I love reading and its only now that I realise how many good books i've missed out on reading (a lot to caught up on!).

Paul brought me a Kindle for my birthday and I love it - I have read loads on it. I love the size and the fact that I can take it away with lots of books on it, saving so much room in my bag rather than carrying paperback books. But I still love a paperback book too, in fact the book i'm reading at the moment is a paperback.

I have done this blog to write about the books that I have read and would I recommend or not.