This Just Happened

OH YEAH!!
Went to Chapters to buy SK's new book Mr Mercedes and by a stroke of luck I found Hardcover Ken Follet's Fall of Giants for 5$

If you haven't seen the "book trailers" for Mr Mercedes then you've been missing out. They are essentially all of SK's most famous (or infamous) characters introducing the character Mr Mercedes. They are amazing....

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Book: The Road

The Author: Cormac McCarthy

The Publisher: Vintage Books, 2006

The Acquiring: Bought at Chapters last year… I’m sure for full price

My Thoughts: I don’t even know how to begin…

I find myself saying “On my f@#k” repeatedly and rocking back and forth trying to console myself as I read this book.

I have read this book several times. Twice in the first week that I owned it. ...Well I skip over some parts because they frighten me. But each time it leaves me with the strangest feelings that I cannot shake for days. There is something both horrifying and beautiful at the same time and I both love and hate the story. I have so many mixed feelings that I cannot decipher through them and it has been almost a year since I read it for the first time. It emotionally drains me (in a good weird way) each time.

The Gunslinger By Stephen King

The Book: The Gunslinger, Dark Tower Series Book #1

The Author: The Grand Master, His Lordship Stephen King

The Publisher: Signet, 2003 (first published in 1983)

The Acquiring: Bought at Chapters for regular price for a mass paper copy, 9.99$

My Thoughts: I could not put this book down. I kept telling myself, just one more chapter, just one more chapter, just one more chapter (or rather sub-chapter). Then three hours later I was still reading.

After I finished reading The Gunslinger, I mentally beat myself up for not picking up this series before now. I know many people claim all kinds of different books as Harry Potter for adults and they just never measure up but this is the true Harry Potter for adults. Actually, it is more like Harry Potter is the Dark Tower Series for the youngins.

The Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry

The Book: The Truth that’s in Me

The Author: Julie Berry

The Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 2013

The Acquiring: Was sent to me as a Goodreads Giveaway, First Reads

My Thoughts: I received this book via a First Reads Giveaway. I was hesitant at first because I was unsure of the whole process since this was my first giveaway that I had received. I am very grateful that this was the first book that was sent to me.

The book is written in a Cormac McCarthy The Road sort of style of writing. The Chapters are short and the book moves very fast, somewhat non linear and very mysterious with deep emotions. I am really hesitant to make that comparison because McCarthy is a grand master at what he does so I feel like I may be setting it up for failure but I’m not sure who else to explain it. You just have to keep in mind while reading that it’s a YA novel and written to those standards.

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

The Book: Hollow City

The Author: Ransom RIggs

The Publisher: Quirks Books, 2014

The Acquiring: Bought at Atlantic SuperStore for 40% off

My Thoughts: This is the sequel to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children which I’ve heard of but never read. Sometimes I do these things…

The author’s first name is Ransom, which I had not realized before right now. Yes! I love it. I hope it’s his real name  One day if I have children of my own, I wish to name my child an equally as awesome name.

At the beginning of the book, there is a series of photos of weirdly unusual children. They are photos of the characters. My first reaction was maybe the writer is horrible at character descriptions which caused me to prejudge his writing.. in a negative way. I was wrong, once I’d read about a particular character, I simply returned to the pictures to compare my imagination to.. I guess.. the writer’s imagination, and they were pretty much exactly how I pictured them. So LESSON LEARNED: don’t judge a book’s ability by the pictures in the beginning.   

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The Book: Stardust

The Author: Neil Gaiman

The Publisher: William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers

The Acquiring: Bought at Chapters for full price (something I rarely do) 16.50$

My Thoughts: I must confess, this was my first Neil Gaiman book. I know what you’re thinking… where have I been living all my life… I’ve been asking it to myself since I finished reading the first chapter in this book and I just do not have a good answer to that question. I tell myself and others that I’m not really into fantasy novels but that’s just a lie I like to tell them (and myself) so people don’t see me for the nerd I really am.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Book: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The Author: Douglas Adams

The Publisher: Pan Books, 2009

The Acquiring: Bought at Chapters in the Bargain Books section for 5.99$

My Thoughts: I’m not sure why I chose this book in particular to become the first review on my blog ever…. maybe I have a subconscious death wish?

I read some of the reviews on Goodreads and boy, some people sure do love their Douglas Adams…. and venomously defend his honour, ripping apart any reader who dares besmirch his novels.  

I really wanted to LOVE this book, much like I really wanted to LOVE Sam Robert’s Band’s new album…. (sigh)… but I don’t.