Mini Reviews | Misfits, Foxes + Witches

I'm back today with some mini reviews of some recent reads. You can find my last lot of mini reviews here!

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Lolly Willowes is essentially about a spinster who, after years of being used as a babysitter for her various nieces and nephews, makes a pact with Satan and becomes a witch. Y'know, just your classic modern classic storyline. For the most part I did enjoy this book; I thought Laura was a charming protagonist, and while some parts of the story were quite sad other parts were fantastically funny, but I didn't like it as much as I'd hoped I would. The book just got a little too weird for me near the end, which is saying something; I quite like weird books, but this one took such a turn that it suddenly felt like I was reading a different book.

My rating: 

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Unfortunately I didn't like this one very much. I found my copy of Stargirl in a local charity shop a few years ago for only 99p, and I decided to pick it up because it had been one of those books I'd seen everywhere as a pre-teen. Stargirl basically tells the story of Stargirl, the new girl at school, and how the rest of the school reacts to her... herness. The main character (whose name I've already forgotten) ends up falling for her, and I'm not going to bother explaining the rest because I'm already bored thinking about it.

I can totally see why this is often read in school, and I got what it was saying, but Stargirl was such a Manic Pixie Dream Girl and I'm really not a fan of that trope. If I'd read it when I was younger I think I might have liked it more, but I just feel like Spinelli went a bit too far trying to make Stargirl 'quirky' and 'unique'.

My rating: 

Jane, the Fox & Me by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault

I was dying to get my hands on this graphic novel as soon as I saw it, and eventually decided to treat myself. I thought it was a beautiful little story, and parts of it, for me, were very emotional because it hit so close to home. Essentially this is a story about a young girl, Hélène, who is being bullied by girls who used to be her friends; in particular they make fun of her appearance and she has terrible body confidence and self-esteem issues. She starts reading Jane Eyre, and Jane helps her. I thought the art style was lovely, and I particularly loved how the sections in the real world were very muted but the sections in which Hélène was reading Jane Eyre were brightly coloured. The only reason this missed out on five stars was because it didn't blow me away, but I think that might be my own fault as I was expecting rather a lot from it!

My rating: 

Have you read any of these? What have you been reading recently?

#TBRTakedown Readathon | Wrap-Up!

Last week I took part in Shannon @ Leaning Lights's TBRTakedown Readathon. I managed to finish three books in total, which I'm pretty pleased with!

Lolly Willowes

by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Lolly Willowes is a twenty-eight-year-old spinster when her adored father dies, leaving her dependent upon her brothers and their wives. After twenty years of self-effacement as a maiden aunt, she decides to break free and moves to a small Bedfordshire village. Here, happy and unfettered, she enjoys her new existence nagged only by the sense of a secret she has yet to discover. That secret - and her vocation - is witchcraft, and with her cat and a pact with the Devil, Lolly Willowes is finally free. 

My Rating: 

How To Be a Heroine

by Samantha Ellis

While debating literature’s greatest heroines with her best friend, thirtysomething playwright Samantha Ellis has a revelation—her whole life, she's been trying to be Cathy Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights when she should have been trying to be Jane Eyre.

With this discovery, she embarks on a retrospective look at the literary ladies—the characters and the writers—whom she has loved since childhood. From early obsessions with the March sisters to her later idolization of Sylvia Plath, Ellis evaluates how her heroines stack up today. And, just as she excavates the stories of her favorite characters, Ellis also shares a frank, often humorous account of her own life growing up in a tight-knit Iraqi Jewish community in London. Here a life-long reader explores how heroines shape all our lives.

My Rating: 

Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli

From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, hallways hum “Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’s heart with one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. Until they are not. Leo urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her - normal.

My Rating: 

As I'm sure you can tell by my ratings, How To Be a Heroine was the best thing I read last week, and probably one of the best things I've read this year. I've been on a real non-fiction kick lately, and I'm on the lookout for more!

Did you take part in the readathon last week? What did you read?

This Week in (e)Books

This Week in Books is a feature created by Lipsy @ Lipsyy Lost and Found which gives bloggers an opportunity to share what they've read recently and what they're hoping to read next. I didn't take part in Top Ten Tuesday this week because Tuesday was a very busy work day for me - I went to the Hay Festival! - so I wanted to do something else this week, and I love any opportunity to talk about what I'm reading.

Perhaps you guessed this by the title, but I bought myself a kindle this month! I never thought I'd get an eReader; I'll admit when eReaders first came about I'm afraid I was one of those awful people who hated them and thought they 'weren't real books', but I've since learned the error of my ways and come to appreciate how useful eReaders can be. I'm always going to love physical books - I love the feel of them and the smell of them and the pretty covers - but since buying my kindle I've loved it, and I've found it so much easier to carry around in my bag when I'm on the bus or the train. So all the books mentioned this week are kindle editions!

At the moment I'm about a quarter of the way through Jane Eyre's Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine's Story by Jody Gentian Bower and I'm really, really enjoying it. I don't read as much nonfiction as I should - in fact this is my first nonfiction read of the year - and I guess a lot of the reason behind that is I find it very difficult to read nonfiction that doesn't have a really casual, readable quality. Dry, dense nonfiction books tend to remind me of the books I had to turn to at university whenever I had to write an essay, which in turn makes me incredibly sleepy.

But this book is brilliant so far. Jody Gentian Bower has a great narrative voice, and I've highlighted so many passages and quotes already. For any of you interested in the idea of the heroine or just writing women in general, I definitely recommend checking this fairly new release out!

The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly was my very first completed book on my kindle, and it was okay. It was fun enough for me to read to the end, but I had too many issues with it to rate it highly - my review will be going up on Friday if you want to know my thoughts on it!

I've never been a big fan of the question: 'what do you plan on reading next?' because that totally depends on my mood. After finishing Jane Eyre's Sisters I could decide to read more nonfiction or I could turn to some fluffy contemporary or I could read a collection of short stories. It all depends on my mood. I do have Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor on my kindle, though, and I've heard nothing but amazing things about it; it has an average rating of 4.10 on Goodreads, which is pretty damn good, and not too long ago I was talking about how I've been eager to get back into high fantasy, so I think I might give this one a try!

But I also have a few other books I'm in the middle of that I'd like to finish soon, too!

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

What are you reading?

Bout of Books 13 | Bookish Survey Challenge!

It's the first day of Bout of Books 13, and Lori @ Writing My Own Fairy Tale is hosting the very first challenge, complete with a giveaway! I've never taken part in any of the Bout of Books challenges before, but this survey seemed like too much fun to pass up - I love getting the chance to talk about books I love and recommend them to people!

Thanks, Lori, for hosting this challenge!

The Questions

1) How do you organise your shelves?

I don't, really. I try to have some semblance of organisation, but as I'm pretty much entirely out of room I stick my books where there's room for them, although I do have spaces of organisation. I have one shelf dedicated entirely to my classics, and I always keep my series together, and, if I can, I'll keep books written by the same author together, too. One day I'd love to have a big house with a huge library room where I can organise them to my heart's content, either alphabetically or by genre.

2) What is one of your favourite books that's not in one of your favourite genres?

This is a great question. I think I'll have to go with Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble, which I really, really enjoyed when I read it a couple of years ago. I don't dislike contemporary, but it's certainly not a genre I tend to read a lot of.

3) What is the last 5 star book you read?

Well-Read Women: Portraits of Fiction's Most Beloved Heroines by Samantha Hahn. It's a beautiful book, and I'm really glad to have it on my shelf.

4) What book are you most excited to read during the read-a-thon?

Probably Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, which is a modern classic from the mid '2os about a spinster who dabbles in witchcraft.

5) What book do you recommend the most?

It has to be my favourite book of 2015 so far, and one of my all-time favourites now, Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It's exquisite and you should read it. You can check out my review here!

Happy reading!

Bout of Books 13!

Bout of Books 13 is on its way, which is great because I've been in the mood for a readathon!

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, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th 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 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I have a tentative TBR. I'm rubbish at sticking to TBRs, but I always like to make them - just in case! I know I won't read all of these, but if I could get through one or two of them I'll be a happy bunny, and if I don't I'm sure I'll enjoy whatever else it is I read.

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner: This is a relatively new find - I saw Lesley @ Words of a Reader talking about this book on her channel and I was immediately intrigued. Ever since I started reading Daphne du Maurier and Shirley Jackson I've been getting into modern classics more and more, especially modern classics written by women, and this one sounds right up my alley!

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton: I own three of Jo Walton's books now - Tooth and Claw, Among Others and My Real Children - and I've heard such great things about her writing that it's about time I read something of hers. This sounds bizarre but brilliant, and I'd like to cross it off my TBR soon!

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: I really want to finish this. I haven't picked it up for a couple of weeks, not because I wasn't enjoying it but simply because it surprised me so much I've needed time to recuperate. I think I'm ready to return to it now!

Where She Went by Gayle Forman: I always like to toss a short, contemporary read into my TBRs whenever I take part in a readathon - sometimes they can be just what I need to stop me from falling into a slump. I really enjoyed If I Stay, so it's about time I read this one.

Persuasion by Jane Austen: There's a teeny tiny chance I might use this readathon to give Austen another try. Maybe.

Are you taking part in Bout of Books? What are you planning to read?