Some more of the books I've been reading lately

1. 'Crap Taxidermy' by Kat Su
I've been following Crap Taxidermy on Instagram for a while, marvelling at the crazy images of dodgy taxidermy so when I saw this book on Net Galley, I couldn't resist requesting it. It was a quick read. I read it on the train journey back from a day at Alton Towers and it was pretty entertaining although I don't think it was as great as I'd hoped it would be. I guess having already seen a whole host of funny images on the internet kinda ruined it for me a little. The one really cool thing though was a step by step guide on how to create your own taxidermy mouse. If I didn't have two cats who'd try to eat it, I'd love to have a go at it.
3/5 for this quirky little book. Worth a read if you're into the weird and wonderful art of taxidermy.








2. 'Frenemy of the People' by Nora Olsen.
I have to admit that the cover was what drew me to request this novel on Net Galley. The girl on the cover looks like someone I would love to know, or somebody that the teenage me would have wanted to be. I kind of wish this book had been around when I was a teenager. A Young Adult novel with Clarissa,  a newly out of the closet bisexual girl falling for Lexie, the only gay girl in her school, a girl she thought she hated. It's your typical teen romance with a queer twist. The only problem I had was that at times it felt a little preachy. I don't mean in a religious way. More in a moral sense. I felt as though the writer was trying to force some moral values onto the reader, the idea that we should accept everyone for who they are and that our differences are what make us special. And while that's a good moral to promote, I think it came across a little heavy handed via Lexie's staunch beliefs and actions. All in all this was a pretty awesome book though and I'd recommend it to any teen girl dealing with issues around sexuality. Another 3/5 for this one.

3. 'A Dance with Dragons Part 1' by George R.R. Martin.
What can I say about this book without giving away any spoilers... Tyrion's back in this instalment, which was great because I really missed his presence in the last book. It was also great to see more of Daenarys but I kinda missed the goings on at King's Landing. I feel as though as this series goes on I'm enjoying it less. The first three books were packed full of action and these later ones seem to be dragging a bit. It may just be my impatience for Daenarys to stop pissing about freeing slaves and make the journey to Westeros but anyway, I'm still looking forward to reading the next one. I need to know what happens next! Yet again, 3/5 for this one. That seems to be my default rating at the moment.

Have you guys read anything interesting lately? Any GOT fans struggling with the later books?

What I've Been Reading Lately

I've been reading a lot lately and I thought that rather than flood my blog with a series of individual reviews, it might be better to collate them into one post. So here goes...

1. 'The Chronicles of Narmo' by Caitlyn Moran. 
This was a strange little book. Written by Caitlyn Moran when she was just a teenager, it's a sort of fictionalised autobiography chronicling the highs and lows the Narmo family kids go through when their Mum agrees to take them out of the school system. The kids don't exactly get a traditional homeschooling experience but they do learn a lot about life as they stumble through the minefield of adolescence in a world without the parameters of school. Taking into account the kind of drivel I produced at that age when trying to write a novel, I was seriously impressed by the writers stylistic voice and the quality of her prose.
It get's a 4/5 from me purely because it could have been a little longer.

2. 'Allegiant' by Veronica Roth.
What can I say? This was a pretty anticlimactic conclusion to what could have been a brilliant trilogy. Within maybe the first 50 pages, I knew this final instalment was going to fall flat. It was the addition of an extra POV that did it. In the first two books of the trilogy, we get accustomed to Tris' voice, her narrative and thoughts. So when Tobias began to narrate alternate chapters, it threw me off. Plus, this inner monologue version of Tobias just didn't sound like Tobias. It sounded like Tris and I began getting confused over who was telling the story. Maybe it's just me being thick but there were times when I had to pause to think about it. Which was really irritating. And don't get me started on the ending. I won't say what happens because it's a huuuuge spoiler but in my opinion it didn't feel right for the story or match up with the kind of actions and motivations we are used to seeing from Tris.
A disappointing 2/5 for this one.

3. 'Where There's Smoke' by Jodi Picoult.
This was one of those random freebies you find on Kindle. It's a short story, which I don't usually go for but the subject matter intrigued me. It turns out it's sort of a promotional thingy for Picoult's next novel. And that's a clever tactic because it's certainly made me want to read it. If you're interested in Psychics and frustrated ghosts, then give this a go.
I gave this a 5/5. 

4. 'The Art Kids' by Kate Spofford.
This was another freebie I picked up on Kindle. I guess it's more of a novella than a novel but despite its short length it packed a punch. With its well developed characters and a plot full of twists and turns it kept me gripped. If I hadn't had to get up early the next morning I probably would have stayed up reading through the night. 'The Art Kids' follows a group of friends, the outcast of their year group at school as they enter their final year of High School. But there's something different. Sophie's best friend Evan seems to be pulling away from the group, hanging out with the strange new girl whose arms are covered in scars. But maybe there's more to it than meets the eye?
I gave this interesting and heart /wrenching novel a 4/5.

5. 'Paper Aeroplanes' by Dawn O'Porter.
I've been itching to read this since I first heard about it. I've always liked Dawn O'Porter as a TV Presenter and I was interesting to see how her natural charm and humour translated to the page. I wasn't disappointed. 'Paper Aeroplanes' follows Flo and Renee through their GCSE year. The two girls are polar opposites, don't really know much about each other despite growing up together on the tiny island of Guernsey. But fate throws them together and they soon become best friends, a united front against all the drama adolescence can throw at them. I think what I liked most about this novel was the fact that it's set it the UK. I love Young Adult fiction but it's kind of rare to find a British one. So it made a change to be reading about teenage girls in itchy polyester uniforms, eating chips from the fish and chip shop after school and getting drunk on cider, rather than reading about cheerleaders and jocks and all those other American tropes that awesome but so far removed from my sphere of experience. It was also cool to read a YA novel set in the 90s. No mobile phones or social media. No Netflix or Skype. It's the world I remember from my early teenage years. And it was great to reminisce.
I had to give this a 5/5. It was too perfect for anything less.

6. 'A Really Awesome Mess' by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin.
Heartland Academy. A cross between a Psychiatric Hospital and an elite Boarding School. That's where Emmy and Justin find themselves at the start of the new school year. Both troubled in different ways but in need of a reform school education, their respective parents ship them off to Heartland Academy, a school for troubled teens in the middle of nowhere. This was a different take on the YA genre and was kind of a mash up of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Prep'. It was fairly light hearted considering the subject matter and a pretty quick read. I'm not sure I liked it enough to read it more than once but it was still an entertaining read with some distinctive characters.
3/5 mainly because it just wasn't as great as I hoped it would be.

It seems like I've been on a bit of a Young Adult kick lately. Do you have any recommendations for me based on what I've been reading?

What I've Been Reading:I am Pusheen the Cat by Claire Belton

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This was one of those stop-gap reads that you pick up to tide you over until you decide for certain which book you're going to read next.

I've loved Pusheen since I stumbled across her on facebook way back when but unfortunately, this is one of those internet sensations that just doesn't seem to translate well to book format. It would make a great gift for the cat loving teenage girl in your life but for me it was a little bit short and nothing in it really made me glad that I'd chosen to read it.

If you're a die-hard Pusheen fan then it might be worth the money, otherwise, I'd just stick to the comics dotted about the web.

What I've Been Reading:Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

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“Prison is quite literally a ghetto in the most classic sense of the world, a place where the U.S. government now puts not only the dangerous but also the inconvenient—people who are mentally ill, people who are addicts, people who are poor and uneducated and unskilled.”

~ Piper Kerman 

I adore the Netflix sensation 'Orange is the New Black' (if you don't know what I'm talking about you've literally been living under a very large rock for the last year!) and after speeding through the entire 13 episodes of season 2 within 72 hours of them going live, I was jonesing for more of my favourite female prisoners. So I decided to read the memoir the series was based on.

I don't read a lot of memoirs and autobiographies. I can't usually get myself to care enough about the person to stick with their story for too long. But Piper Kerman's voice drew me in just as much as Taylor Schillings comedic portrayal did with the show and while there were some obvious major differences to the tv adaptation, I was far from disappointed. 

'Orange is the New Black' was funny, heartfelt and gut-wrenchingly honest. And I learnt a lot through reading it and I don't just mean how to make Prison Cheesecake. I learnt about the failings of the US prison system, the way the prisons do very little to help the women they are supposedly rehabilitating. But most importantly, I learnt that despite the mistakes these women made, they have hopes and dreams just like the rest of us. 

Piper's determination to make the best of her situation, to use her time in prison to better herself, to learn new skills and help others really spoke to me. This woman is an inspiration and I hope that if I ever found myself deep within the prison system (I'm not planning on it happening but you never know what the future holds!) I'd have the strength to handle it with the "Prison Zen" that she did.

If you too are missing Piper, Alex, Red, Crazy Eyes and the rest of the girls then give the book a go. I promise you'll enjoy it. Although if you're anything like me, you'll find yourself wanting to binge watch the entire 26 episodes in a Netflix marathon!

Read Like a Teenager

I've always been a big reader. For as long as I can remember, curling up on the sofa with a good book has been the ultimate in pleasurable experiences for me. As a child, I never went anywhere without at least one book I could bury myself in if being sociable became too difficult. I would take eight books out of the library each week and read them all. As a teenager, reading became my lifeline. It took me away from the horrors of adolescence, taught me more about the world around me than my High School education ever did and inspired me to begin writing my own stories and poems.

But lately I haven't been reading anywhere near as much as I used to. I've tried blaming it on my medication (one of the side effects is lack of concentration), I've tried blaming it on my mood, I've searched for blame in a hundred and one places. But none of them have felt true. In the last six months, reading has gone from a pleasure to a chore. Choosing a book to read has become difficult, a minefield of incorrect choices and uninspiring subject matter. I've felt self-conscious that my choice in reading material might not be "cool" enough (whatever the hell that means!) and for the first time in years I've found myself going a whole week at a time without reading. 

While wasting time on Buzzfeed yesterday, I came across an article called Why You Should Read Like a Teen Again and its subject matter really hit home. The article isn't about reading teen fiction, it's about reading any book, be it War and Peace or The Hunger Games, the way a teen would, whole-heartedly. It's about allowing yourself to enter the world of the book you're reading and not come up for breath for hours at a time. The article talks about how as adults we're taught that spending time reading is bad. Bad for us and bad for our lives. By spending hours reading there are a whole host of other things we could have been doing: housework, shopping, cooking, playing with our pets or children. But really, why shouldn't we indulge ourselves in a good book once in a while. Why shouldn't we immerse ourselves in a fictional world in order to take a break from our often tumultuous and stressful adult lives. 

Reading like a teenager is completely natural and, I think, potentially a positive for our mental well-being. So why not turn off your phone, make yourself a cup of tea and crack open a book. Read like a teen and don't feel guilty about it.

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