All posts tagged: recom-monday-tions

Happy Halloween and Recommendation of The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

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Happy Halloween, to those of you lucky enough to live in countries that celebrate Halloween, and condolences to those who don’t (like myself). It’s not Monday, but I’m here with a recommendation all the same. So I decided to take a brief break from dying (I’m being a tad overdramatic but I have had a flu-like thing for like 7 weeks now and it’s getting a bit ridiculous) and writing about cancer and the immune system to mention one of my favourite horror classics, The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill. Firstly, I love female horror writers, and I believe Susan Hill is known as one of the best horror writers around. This is the only one of her books I’ve read but I really enjoyed it and it’s pretty creepy. “For I see that then I was still all in a state of innocence, but that innocence, once lost, is lost forever.” The Woman in Black is the story of a young lawyer sent to sort out the estate of a woman after she …

Recom-Monday-Tions – Alice in Wonderland

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Hello everyone. Sorry that I have been so absent, but I’m just super busy writing my PhD thesis. This is one of those books that everyone read as a child, but few have read when they are a bit older. If that describes you, you really should give it a re-read. And if you haven’t read it at all, then you really really need to do that right now. Right this second. Off you go. “It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” I also thoroughly recommend this edition, which the wonderful Alison from readaroundtherosie sent me for my birthday. It is one of the Classics Reimagined collection. And it is so beautiful! you can find this one here.

Recom-Monday-Tions – The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

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I have spent the previous three days writing my introduction for my PhD thesis on cancer immunotherapy, and it has inspired me to recommend this book. It also is probably worth mentioning that due to the fact that I am currently writing my PhD thesis, that I will be on semi-hiatus for the next few months. I will still try to post my regular features, including my Recom-Monday-Tions and my Friday Photographer Feature, but I may be too distracted at times to remember to post, or organise photographers to feature. I also expect my reading (well reading that is not scientific journal articles) to reduce dramatically, so there will also be fewer revies. Sorry about this, but it is unavoidable. Now, back to the matter at hand. “My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.” The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a contemporary romance about two teen cancer sufferers. It is a beautiful story about living with a terminal disease and trying to live your life in spite of it. It is …

Recom-Monday-tions – The Giver by Lois Lowry

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“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” The Giver is a dystopian novel set in a world where every aspect of every persons life is carefully controlled in order to maintain the peace in the society. Everyone in the society is stripped of their emotions (and anything that could incite and emotional response) and given a family unit and a nice peaceful job. Their lives are peaceful… but utterly dull. Jonas, our protagonist is chosen to become The Receiver, meaning that he will inherit all of the human race’s collective memories from The Giver. His life becomes a lot more complex as he begins to experience the entire range of human emotions. For a book set in a society that is so devoid of colour and feeling, this is absolutely a book that is all about the feels. I think what I like best about it is it’s subtlety. It never hits you over the head with its philosophy. It presents you …

Recom-Monday-Tions – Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

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So I have not even finished this series. I’ve only read the first two books, but this is such an awesome series that I feel confident enough to recommend it anyway. “It is a condition of monsters that they do not perceive themselves as such. The dragon, you know, hunkered in the village devouring maidens, heard the townsfolk cry ‘Monster!’ and looked behind him.” This is one of the most unique fantasy stories I’ve ever read. This is sort of an angel and demons story, but not really. It’s also quite dark (which I love!) so that’s a bonus. Daughter of Smoke and Bone follows the story of Karou, a 17 year-old artist living in Prague with a rather unusual family. “She moved like a poem and smiled like a sphinx.” Karou had a rather unusal upbringing, as she was raised by Brimstone, a powerful Chimaera (creatures made up of people and animal bits) who makes wishes out of teeth. I don’t want to say much about this as I don’t want to give anything …

Recom-Monday-Tions – Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

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You know how everyone has that book that made them fall in love with reading? Well this is mine. This is a retelling of the fairy tale of The Six Swans by the brothers Grimm. It is the story of a young girl whose brothers are turned into swans by an evil stepmother, and about her struggles to break the curse and set her brothers free. And it is beautiful. I have lent this book to a number of friends and every single one of them has fallen in love with it. I read this book over ten years ago, and it still holds the number one spot of my favourite books. I don’t think it will ever be dethroned. This book is part of a series, and even though I believe it is definitely the best book in the series, every one of them (there are six – a trilogy and then three companions) is fantastic. This is a must read for any one who loves historical fiction/fantasy. Find it here:  Goodreads. The Book …

Recom-Monday-Tions – Graceling by Kristin Cashore

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“I’m not going to wear a red dress,” she said. “It would look stunning, My Lady,” she called. She spoke to the bubbles gathered on the surface of the water. “If there’s anyone I wish to stun at dinner, I’ll hit him in the face.” Set in a kingdom where a small percentage of the population are born with Graces, meaning they are super-dooper talented in one particular thing, any one found to be a Graceling immediately becomes property of the king. People can have all sorts of Graces, from cooking, to dancing, and in Katsa’s case, killing. Katsa spends her early life being the king’s goon and beating/killing people for him. And then one day she decides that it probably isn’t the life she wants, and well who is going to stop a Graceling graced with killing? You? No? I didn’t think so. I absolutely love this book. Mainly for Katsa. Katsa is awesome. A little overly aggressive, but we all have our flaws. Po (the love interest) and Bitterblue (a little girl in …

Recom-Monday-tions – NOS4R2 by Joe Hill

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Joe Hill considers NOS4R2 (sometimes published as NOS4A2 for some silly reason) his senior PhD thesis of horror, and I can totally see why. This is the story of a Christmas-obsessed 140 year old serial killer named Charlie Manx and his silver Rolls Royce Wraith – that is also magical! Manx lives to save children. He saves them from their evil parents and takes them away to magical world called Christmasland. It is also the lifetime-spanning story of Victoria, a girl who has an uncanny talent for finding things using her magical bicycle. “Fantasy was always only a reality waiting to be switched on.” While she usually uses her bike to distract herself from her ever-bickering parents and generally sucky reality, when she finds out about Manx she figures that she just might be the only person who can find him. “Innocence ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, you know. Innocent little kids rip the wings off flies, because they don’t know any better. That’s innocence.” This is also a coming of age story, …

Recom-Monday-Tions – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.” This book. This. Book. I can’t even count the number of friends who count this book as their absolute favourite and when you read it, it’s not hard to tell why. It is stunningly beautiful. The Book Thief, as the name suggests is the story of young Liesl, a girl with slight literary kleptomania, growing up in Nazi Germany. What makes this story truly unique is the fact that it is narrated by Death. “I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.” If this book is still on your TBR, you should bump it up immediately. And don’t forget the tissues. Find …

Recom-Monday-tions: The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold.

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This is a book I actually read quite a few years ago. Honestly I was drawn to this book for the strangest reason. The main characters name is very similar to my own. I know it’s an odd reason to want to read a book, but I ended up loving it. Now this book is quite dark and deals with some nasty subject matter. Suzie is raped and murdered on her way home from school one day, and her body is never found. This book is the story of her in the afterlife watching her family recover from her disappearance, and also try to solve the mystery of what happened to her. I know that this book definitely isn’t for everyone. I have friends who love it and friends who hate it (and naturally I made all my friends read it), but it is a beautiful book, despite the obvious ugliness. I really think this book will end up a classic. I would highly recommend it. You can find it here: Goodreads. Amazon. The Book Depository. …