Haunting of Hill House ; Book Review

After the huge success of the Netflix adaptation of this novel, it was inevitable that I had to read the book. Let’s get things straight, the show takes mere inspiration from the book and the two are completely different.  Bottom line, I prefer the show but this is about the novel.

Haunting of Hill House- the novel entails a sappy tale about a lonely thirty something female who has mommy issues and uses the horrors of Hill house as an escapade from her real problems. Now you can either choose to look at it that way or you can view the novel as a classic take on a haunted house.

It is obvious that the author never meant for the horrors of hill house such as the creepy shadows and the lingering touches of the dead to be the REAL horrors. No, you see, the actual horror is in the minds of the people inhabiting Hill house and the way they recklessly treat each other.

As the novel is written from Eleanor’s pov, she does quite a shallow job of painting the other characters. I mean, according to her they don’t have a past or warranted emotions aside from those that revolve around her. I would’ve preferred the novel to be from different points of views.

Don’t get me wrong, I had goose bumps multiple times reading the book but mostly it felt like i was waiting for something to happen but it never did. Even the ending felt a little anti-climatic.

I much prefer the depth that the show provides with its psychological traumas but if you’re looking for a classic haunted house read to give you a few chills- Hill House is the one folks.

Book Review | The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Xiomara has always kept her words to herself. In her Harlem neighbourhood, her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But X has secrets. Her feelings for a boy in her bio class, the notebook full of poems that she keeps under her bed- and a slam poetry club that will pull those secrets into the spotlight. Because in spite of a world that might not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to stay silent. 

 

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As soon as I heard that this book was written in all poetry format I wanted to get my hands on it.

The beginning of the novel absolutely grips you in, X has this prominent voice that travels beyond the pages and you’re immersed in this world where this girl is trying to find herself and break stereotypes and just be herself.

The author sets the scene beautifully by capturing the diversity of the neighbourhood, the history of X’s parents, her background and her standing on religion. This book is like a neat little package of diversity and I love it.  One of the things this book did really well is that it managed to put every character into the spotlight through X’s poems so no one felt like a sidekick

In terms of the writing itself, it is moving and creative and fresh. Yet, it’s still not the kind of book you wanna finish in one sitting because every page makes you think. X’s story makes readers reflect on their own experiences trying to find themselves and about how if you’re passionate about something you should just go for it.

The only criticism I have is that the plot could have been paced better. I mean there is the build up to the drama, then everything goes down and then bam everything is resolved. I would’ve loved if there was more focus on how relationships were reconciled because that’s often where readers find completion. Some issues were left unresolved, so I’m sensing a sequel?

The Poet X released on 6th March 2018. I would highly recommend grabbing a copy. Thank you to Hardie Grant Egmont for providing me with one!

Cover to Cover | Anne of Green Gables

So I got hooked to the mini series which you should totally check out and started reading the books which are so filled with the joys of girlhood. I am thoroughly enjoying the writing!

The Original Cover

Having green as the theme colour makes so much sense but the checkered pattern really captures the era it was set in. The illustration of Anne in her humble abode gives a nice homely film. Looking at this cover it’s the kind of book you wanna crack open on a Sunday morning

The special edition

This is the one I own and I absolutely love it! It takes me back to my childhood when I’d read those old school short stories. I absolutely love how it’s a painting. However, I’ve never been a big fan of illustrating the main character as it doesn’t leave much to the imagination

The Puffin Classics

Correct me if I’m wrong but Puffin have done a few classics in these types of covers where they’re hardcover collectiles and I love them! I love the font and the imagery and the colour scheme. It’s almost abstract in a sense

The Modern version

So turns out Puffin reprinted these in 2008 with a modern twist. Most classics come in this format but the illustration is what makes it stand out. I’m kind of drawn towards the sketch and it gives the book a peculiar feel

Another modern version

This is a bit different in that they’ve used a real model. It certainly does look very pretty with all the vibrant colours

which ones is your favourite?

Mini Series That You Can Finish In One Day

It can be relentless investing in a show that lasts five seasons and a healthy 22 episodes. So I’m here to share with you a new addiction of mine: Mini series!

Now, these have become very popular on Netflix but have been around for ages

Alias Grace

This one has taken Netflix by storm. Based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, the series consisting of 6 episodes follows the life of Grace who has been accused of murdering two people. It’s narrated in this beautiful monologue way and the suspense just propels you to finish it in no time

Anne with an E

Based on the novel Anne of Green Gables, Anne with an E is another 7 episode thriller. It explores the life of young Anne after she is adopted into a family residing at Green Gables. The series captures the innocence and trials of girlhood with an added sense of drama

BBC Mini Series

I am grouping this into one category as there are so many promising shows that BBC have developed. Some of them are as less as 4 episodes long and aim to adapt well known classics such as War and Peace, Tess of D’urbevilles, Pride & Prejudice and so on and so forth

 

Cover to Cover | Turtles All The Way Down

Look what’s making a comeback in 2018! oh yeah cover to cover baby

This time I decided we’d check out some cool covers of this book that’s been going around the internet lately and you might wanna check out my review here as well

The English Edition

The classic cover that tends to grab your attention straight away because of that bright orange spiral but also because they wanna make sure John Green’s name stands out haha. It’s one of those simple but effective covers

The German Edition

This cover keeps true to the spiral theme but this time we have actual turtles! The blue pattern in the background is also pretty cool and gives it this abstract feel

The Portugese Edition

I love love love the shade of orange they’ve used on this cover. The cute drawing of the diner which holds significance in the novel is lovely too

The Swedish Edition

A lot going on in this cover but it seems like they’ve literally taken buzz words out of the novel and illustrated them to create a cover. Pretty cool tho

The Polish edition

This one is a little bit different to the rest. I actually really like the artwork, not sure how much it holds true to the novel but yeah nice

 

Book Review | Turtles All The Way Down

I feel like John Green always delivers a unique addition to the coming of age genre. This wasn’t my favourite book ever or anything but like any other John Green book, it left its mark

The protagonist Aza is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Right from the beginning the reader can tell that a lot of research and meticulation went into creating this character with all these problems. She almost felt too flawed at times but maybe that was the point. This book allows you to get inside the head of someone who is literally struggling with their mental health on a cellular level. It’s not an easy task to put yourself in someone’s shoes so deeply and Green does that beautifully.

In terms of the plot itself, while the mysterious disappearance does attract you at the beginning, you soon realise that it is not the main attraction of this novel. I think the message Green was trying to send across by making the mystery secondary was that in real life mysteries aren’t all that grand. This isn’t a dramatic thriller novel after all. It does however, work as an element of intrigue throughout the whole novel.

In comparison to Aza the rest of the characters felt quite flat, like they were placeholders. I really didn’t feel the overwhelming romance shining through. I did however, enjoy the perspective that the novel gives you. I mean you’re always going from being close to Aza on a cellular level to zooming out and seeing the story as a whole.

 

The BIGGEST News About Contemporary YA

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a panel hosted by Reading Matters which featured many a loved face such as AS King, Jennifer Niven and Lili Wilkinson.

I managed to gather some rather exciting and exclusive news about the authors’ new project, their fav authors and of course their crushes!

What new projects are they working on?

Jennifer Niven is writing her third YA novel and we already love it without knowing anything about it

AS King released Still Life Without Tornado in October last year AND she’s working on a new book already woo!

What were their fav books as teenagers?

Jennifer: Any Judy Bloom

Lili: Any Judy Bloom

King: Confessions of a teenager as a baboon

Who do they fangirl about?

Jennifer: David Levithan

King: David Levithan

Lili: David Levithan

What’s their secret to world building in YA?

Jennifer: Playlists and casting characters for the book

King: A song for each character

Lili: Pintrest boards

Who would they collaborate with?

Jennifer: Currently working on a secret collab ooo

King: currently also working on a secret collab ooo

Lili: Jennifer and King!

Here are some book recommendations from the lovely authors!

1. The Hate You Give
2. When Michael Met Me
3. Allegedly
4. The Underground Railroad

It was so lovely seeing them all and I hope you guys enjoyed all the insights I managed to give you!

The One Thing That Successful Authors Never Do

It has recently come to my attention that there is something crucial that most if not ALL successful authors do.

They don’t read reviews of their books

I know. Bummer.

And here I am three years later thinking how all the reviews written on this blog and on Goodreads were left unread by all my fav authors

But why?

It’s simple. They do it for their peace of mind.

I mean you tell yourself I’m going to read so and so many reviews to see how my book is doing. But one mean word about your book baby and you’re left shattered

Books are hard work. They don’t just take time and commitment, authors are sending out a piece of themselves. Sometimes people talk about things in their books that they have NEVER dealt with before.

To have that tossed around like an English Literature project must be hard to come to terms with.

I mean as a successful authors who knows they’re successful, why would you need to care what people think anyway. Bottom line is people either liked it or they didn’t. The evolving nature of our society means that people will move on to the next best thing anyway

Of course there are authors who do read reviews, but for the most part, I think the successful ones prefer to live in shadows

A.S.King’s Top Tips For Writing Strange Fiction

Strange might just be the slowly growing sub-genre when it comes to young adult fiction. The idea is to represent ideas, experiences and values through means that are OUT THERE. It’s about putting emotion into things that wouldn’t normally have emotions so you can let people know about the deeper part of yourselves.

I had the pleasure of attending a writing workshop with the queen of strange Amy King. If you haven’t already go check out all the amazing books she has written!

So here are Amy’s top tips for writing strange:

1. Keep it real

Good stories come straight from the heart so remember to be true to yourself

2. Tell people how you feel and not what happened

Too often we get caught up in the action, the plot of a story. But the real gold lies in grabbing people into the whirlwind of emotions that you were feeling, its about raw, painful, gut wrenching feelings.

3. Write from a different perspective

One of the reasons Amy writes fiction and from various PoVs is because it makes it easier for her to project her feelings onto a secondary character. Since emotions are so personal already,writing from an objective perspective gives you room

4. Reach in

So this whole post is about feelings YAY. But yeah in determining your emotions and how you feel it’s easier said than done. Something that might help could be asking yourself, really asking yourself how you felt

5. Try putting emotions into inanimate objects

This is where the real strange lies. One of the exercises we did was pretending we were an object in the room we were sitting in. This object had to best represent how we felt. So fro example, you felt like a carpet cuz you felt walked on. It just makes the story so much more interesting if you can make things that usually don’t talk, talk.

I hope these helped you budding writing out there!

2017 Reading Matters Public Day Recap

So that super exciting thing I did on Sunday?  I’m finally here to tell you about it

Sunday June 4 was the public day for young readers and budding writers to meet some famous names such as Jennifer Niven, A.S.King, Jay Kristoff. It was an absolutely enthralling experience to get to pick these writer’s brains and just breath the same air as them.

Today I’m here to do a recap post followed by detailed discussions on what gossip, fun and banter took place at each panel/workshop

The Speculative Fiction Panel

I had the pleasure of arriving hella late to this but I did manage to catch the end where Jay was talking about how to get boys to read more and how to encourage young people in general to leave their phones and grab a book. There was also some really great talk about what speculative fiction can do for the reading industry so keep an eye out for that post

Writing Strange Workshop with A.S.King

When I first read Everybody sees the Ants back in 10th grade, I had a dream that I would get to talk to the author about it one day. Now King lives in the US and I in Australia so I did not know how that was going to happen but boy did I dream. So yes I had the most exciting time learning how to write with one of my favourite writers and I cannot wait to share all the amazing tips!

The Contemporary YA Panel

Most definitely the highlight of my day! Some of my most favourite faces on one panel talking about the fastest growing genre in YA world! Again lots of great discussions on writing and of course some great insider goss and news about secret projects! Get keen for this one folks!

So yea, that was my hectic but totally worth it day spent at the State Library of Victoria. I hope you guys are as excited as I am!