Bout of Books Day 1

Whoops! I am running a bit late on this.

As it is already into the wee hours of the am, I am going to keep this short and sweet.

Books read: 2 Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz and The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan.
Books completed: 0
Pages read: 206
Challenges: I didn't do them. :( Maybe tomorrow's? (Seriously! The world was coming to an end, disaster was striking! There wasn't time to do anything but read! The challenges were rather awesome though. I was really tempted - had it already not been the early hours hours of the morning.)

I must say that The Heroes of Olympus books are great for readathons. They are hard to put down and go super quick!

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Done and loving it!

Percy is back! Can you hear how thrilled I am? The story starts in the middle of the action, with Percy Jackson not knowing anything about himself except for his name. Sound familiar? It should after reading The Lost Hero. Anyway, I am not going into the synopsis at all on this one. It will, one way or another spoil book one if you happen to be part of the minority who haven't read it. All I will say is: action, action quest, action action action... while learning backstory on characters.

The new characters that were introduced were interesting. Hazel's backstory, in particular, was unexpected and intriguing. Although, having said that, Frank was an interesting mystery too.

Once again, I am going to say that these books would probably be very well suited to a younger reader. They have lots of general knowledge in them, are fast paced and I absolutely adore Riordan's sense of humour. . Having said that though, I found I was getting impatient for them to get on with their quest. All the detours along the way, while necessary to the plot, started to feel like detours. I suppose I felt that way because I am wanting to know what happens at the end of the series and not just curious about each book.

Over all, another enjoyable read.
Rating: 4 stars.

Bout of Books 12

It is probably a good idea to kick the new year into go by doing a readathon. I had great luck with the bout of books readathon last year, so I figure I would join it again this year!

I have no definite plans on what I am going to read yet, but I am going to get stuck into my TBR pile. I have tons of books there that I would like to read - in fact there are so many that I would like to read that I don't know where to start!

Actually, I know where I am going to start. I received Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz for Xmas, and I can't wait to read it. I thoroughly loved The House of Silk, Horowitz's first Holmes novel. Anthony Horowitz is a prolific writer, not only of books, but of screenplays for British TV too. He wrote Agatha Christie's Poirot, Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War to name a few. And then there are the Alex Rider books which I absolutely adored. (Don't watch the movie! Although Alex Pettyfer is great, the movie was written for a younger audience and the darkness of the books was not conveyed. What was absolutely disappointing was that these changes were a requirement to have the film distributed in America - something that eventually did not happen. The movie Horowitz wanted to make, and the movie I would have almost-killed to see, never happened. Such a disappointment as they had such an amazing cast... But I will leave the whining there.)

Chances are very good that I will try and finish the The Heroes of Olympus series. I have managed to get my hands on the second book, The Son of Neptune, and already have The Mark of Athena and The House of Hades. That will clear some books from my TBR pile.

Well, I do not know how far I will get during the readathon, but as I am still on holiday, there is a good chance I will have a successful week. On the other hand, I was supposed to plan and build my new ceiling-to-floor, wall-to-wall bookcase!!! Hmmm.... Choices choices.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

OK, hands up. Who hasn't read the Heroes of Olympus series yet? Yeah, I didn't think there would be many.

The series following the Percy Jackson books began with a bang. Three new demigods: Jason, Piper and Leo got right into the action right from the get go. And we learnt one thing (well, actually, we learnt a lot of things, but it was the only thing I cared to remember) - Percy Jackson was missing. And then the trouble began. Trouble worse than before - and that says something. Oh, and did I mention that one of the heroes has no idea who he is? Yip! Complete amnesia. But he is definitely a guy you would want in a fight.

This is a tough one to judge because I am getting to the point where I feel I am a little old for this. Having said that though, I think this book reaches it demographic market perfectly. It is action packed and humorous. I also feel that these books (including the Percy Jackson series) provide a fun way to learn some general knowledge of mythology. Sure beats reading an encyclopedia when you are in your early teens.

But there was something that didn't feel right about this book. It took me a while to realise that I missed the first person narration of Percy (yes, I like Percy - although the new lot don't seem too bad either - but I am all about the Percy). He had a fun, quirky set of expressions and a delightful way of describing things. Also, each chapter focused on a different character, and I realised that I was missing the corny (yet highly appealing) chapter headings. Can something as small as that really be something worth complaining about? I am not sure. But I am putting it out there. I missed that.

I enjoyed the intrigue created around the new characters. Jason, especially, seems to be an interesting chap, and I would love to know more about his past. Leo is lovable. My jury is still out on Piper. There were parts of her that I really enjoyed but the whole super beauty thing ... meh. I get it. Girls would like to be beautiful because we are judged on looks (sucks but it is true) but ... meh. I will see how her character develops in the later books. Until then, I will withhold my judgement as Riordan has given us one super brainy girl (Annabeth) and one kickass gal (Thalia).

The Lost Hero is a good start to what is clearly going to be a rather epic adventure for the demigods. Although I am not as into this series as I would have been twenty years ago, I will definitely be continuing it. As if that ending was not to going to accomplish that! Now I just need to wait for my bookshop to get a copy of The Son of Neptune.

Rating: 4 stars (because I think it hits it market well - even if I am not a part of that market)

2015 Goals and Plans

Happy New Year everyone!

A new year always brings new plans and goals. Who am I to argue with tradition? So here is mine.

The BIG plan

I have one and only one plan for 2015. Get another job. I am keeping it short, sweet and simple so as to not divert any energy into any other less important plans. This is the year where I kiss my current place of employment goodbye and find one that has humane expectations. So. Just to make sure it is clear, I will be getting a new job. Got that universe!?

Now onto the reading goals - because this is my reading blog.

1) Read 30 books.

I like to start off reasonably. While in my head I would like to aim for something closer to 100 books, that is not feasible with my current work load. When the BIG Plan comes through, maybe it will become a possibility. But for now, 30 it is.

2) Review every book I read.

This is pretty self explanatory. I am not bad with this on Goodreads, but I am rather dreadful on my blog. I am going to try and rectify that this year.

3) Start a booktube channel.

Another one that doesn't need much explaining. I have been watching booktube for many, many months, constantly thinking about what I would do or say. It is about time I got off my backside and actually made it happen. It isn't as though I have to carry on with it if I don't enjoy it.

ETA 4) Try the Alphabet Reading Challenge again

This one does not really require completion. I like having the A-Z list on my door and trying to fill in the blank spaces. I will be happy if, as with 2014, I have 4 letters not achieved.

And that is it. Initially I was going to have a ton of goals for my reading: read so many classics, read books written by South Africans, read books that have been given awards, read more diversely... But my TBR pile is full of that already, so if I just continue moving though it, then that will be accomplished already - without adding the pressure of making it a goal. At the moment, reading is for FUN and I plan on keeping it that way.

I hope 2015 brings everyone health, wealth and everything 'ealth'!

Toodles!

My 2014 Wrap Up

What a crazy year this has been. Have I mentioned that I am tired of crazy? My one ULTIMATE resolution for 2015 is to find a job teaching at another school - but the resolution post will come tomorrow (when I have thought of more things besides 'get another job'). This post is about what I read this year.

2014 Reading Challenge

Pan has completed her goal of reading 50 books in 2014!

76 of 50 (100%)
view books


OK. So according to Goodreads, I got through 76 books or 28668 pages! Shew! With my work schedule, I don't know how I did that!

There were two reading challenges that I had. The first was to read 30 books for the year (I was thinking one a week not including November (Nano), or the majority of the second and forth terms at school as I have ALL the English exams to set (16 in total) and sleeping is the only thing I plan to do when I am not working my 20 hours a day (no exaggeration there - see why I want another job?)). This challenge was met, raised to 50 and met again then surpassed. Yay!

My second challenge was less of an official challenge for me, but an incentive to try new things. It was the book alphabet challenge. It got me to read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides (would you believe that my thoughts are still out on that one) and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I came close to actually finishing the challenge, but my TBR pile is short of books starting with J, Q, X and Z. But I think four short is not bad, considering the letters that were left (if I had another week, I would have got Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton).

This is the 3rd book in the Night
 Angel series and the one with
super stalking powers.

I had some great experiences reading this year. I discovered Brent Weeks and decided to give him a go. (Actually, his books were stalking me for months, and I decided to give them a go as a result.) I really enjoyed his Night Angel trilogy. It is high adult fantasy with plot twists and turns, but without the grim, gory details of GRR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Talking about GRR Martin, I suppose I should mention the low point in the reading year: Book 5 - A Dance with Dragons was such a disappointment. You can check out my review of it here.

Other great reading experiences happened too. I read a load of Neil Gaiman, and that can only ever please. I think he is fast becoming my favourite author. I discovered Cinda Williams Chima's Seven Realms series and breezed through those with delight (my first ever blog post was a review of this! You can read it here if you are curious.). Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy was also a HUGE hit for me. I read this during the BookTube-a-thon. It was brilliant. I read some classics and thoroughly loved them. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Oops! Just discovered that I wrote the review of this and never posted it!) and Brave New World by Albert Huxley come to mind here. I love it when books make you think about them months or weeks after the fact.

My TBR pile is still at a reasonable number. It did go through a moment  where it threatened to grow out of proportion when I got over stressed and needed to feel better (which means I spend a lot of time in book shops) but I got both it and myself under control in time. I have not totalled it recently - in fact I reorganised my book cases again and just put them where they are supposed to be so that I don't look at a pile of books that was starting to sway and threatening to fall. I am not worried about it though. I read from my TBR pile all the time. Since I can remember, I have always had a fairly healthy TBR pile and have liked it that way. Then, when I am in the mood for "insert genre here", I have something to read. I am looking forward to 2015's reading. My TBR pile is awesome and should keep me happy for months. It has a combination of classics, award winning books, light fluffy reading, more light fluffy reading, adult contemporary, middle grade and crime - to name a few.

Well, that was the 2014 brief wrap up. I apologise to all the books I loved that I didn't mention. (I didn't want my post to look like a novel.)

The Diviners by Libba Bray

I really enjoyed this one. Libba Bray can build suspense and maintain it! If you happen to be in the mood for a well-written piece of light reading with a scary atmosphere, then this is the book for you.

Something evil has been released in a post World War 1 New York. Mysterious murders are happening. Evie O' Neill, a girl with a strange gift and a penchant for getting into trouble, has been sent to stay with her Uncle in New York, who also happens to be the curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult. Noticing a connection yet? Interested? You should be.

I think that what I enjoyed the most about this was how it was written. Unlike many books these days where things are spelt out for the reader in such tiny little details that, as the reader, one feels a bit insulted, Libba Bray left much of that up to the reader. It was a pleasant change. I also felt that although this book is classified as YA, it was written in a maturer style. 

I also appreciated her characters. First, I have to talk about the individual voices. Memphis was a young black man. I could hear it in his diction and accent. I did not have to be told it (and if memory serves me right, I wasn't told it - well, not bluntly at least). Second, the characters were different. While Evie and I would probably never agree over much (I am more of a Mabel), I could still appreciate her and enjoy her. And Sam! I really liked Sam. I can't wait to see what happens with him in the next book. The mysteries surrounding these characters were awesome, and kept me busy trying to guess what had happened in their pasts. If there is one thing I could fault, it would be that Evie was not a very realistic 17 year old. She would have been better off being in her early 20s, which would have matched her behavior a lot better. But is that necessarily a fault? I think it is what made me enjoy this more. I am tired of YA reads where the heroine's main concern is finding true love. Evie was not that girl and I loved her even more for it.

And now I am going to be left guessing what is going to happen until the next book comes out! In the mean time, I think I am going to see if I can get my hands on Beauty Queens  by her. It sounds like fun (and she seems hilarious too).