Audiobook #re3 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

As you guys probably know if you have been reading the blog for a while, I have actually read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland not once, but twice. The first was back in 2010 and was an abridged version of the book (I know, there are abridged versions of books!) and the second was in 2013 and that was full of grammar mistakes. Oh, so many grammar mistakes/errors!

So when Leanne from Midas PR emailed me if I wanted to listen to Scarlett Johansson's reading of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I said I would once I caught up with my audiobooks. And now that I have, I have downloaded, listened and am going to talk about the story and Scarlett's reading of this tale.

I think we all know the story of Alice in Wonderland. Alice falls down a rabbit hole chasing a White Rabbit. She falls into a world where she has tea with the March Hare and the Mad Hatter, playing croquet with the Queen of Hearts, meeting the Caterpillar and talking to (my fave character!) the Cheshire Cat.

As you guys are probably aware, i have very mixed feelings on this. If I had read this as a child, I would be obsessed with this story and the world (hence my love for Disney and any other version I can watch). But as an adult... well, it's really surreal. There's not much plot - but that's the point. This is a story of a young girl have a dream of a world that makes no sense. Dream logic and all.

So, Scarlett Johansson's reading of this tale. I have two feelings on this. Once I found my footing with Scarlett's voice and got use to how she read, I found myself enjoying it. It flowed and Scarlett has a voice I could listen to.

However, there were times I found her reading jarring. There were a few times Scarlett reading made me feel like she was a school governess. It was so strict and straight-laced. And I wonder at times, if it's because Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is such a British story and Scarlett is American that maybe this was the wrong story for her to narrate. I can't help but wonder if The Wonderful Wizard of Oz would have been a better choice (and if she does, I would very happily devour that! I believe Anna Hathaway has done an audiobook version of this so I will be investigating that!)...

It was a lovely reading and am intrigued over who Scarlett reads next...

Audiobook Review - Les Liaisons Dangereuses

At the beginning of the year, I wrote some New Year's Resolutions for this blog. One of the resolutions was that I should try and take more risks and be braver. I know we are only 3 months in but I feel like am going on the right track. Wouldn't you agree?

So, when Leanne from Midas PR emailed me about this, it instantly caught my attention. I can't put my finger on what, but I knew from the tiny press release that this would be something I should take a risk on. I mean, it's just over 2 hours long. What's the worse that could happen, right?

In 18th century Paris, La Marquise de Merteuil and Le Vicomte de Valmont begin a bet. A plan that involves seduction and revenge. Valmont wants to have his wicked way with Madame de Tourvel, while La Marquise de Merteuil wants Valmont to come and seduce young and naive Cécile Volanges, the wife-to-be of the Marquise's former lover. But events soon spiral out of their control and soon, both realise that the heart can not be controlled... 

Before I go any further, I want to stress something. This is not the novel. This is the cast of the sold-out theatre production in London (starring Dominic West, Janet McTeer and Adjoa Andoh to name a few of the actors) reading out letters taken from the Choderlos de Lacios's novel. Letters which are private and reveal private things about the characters. Because of this, the story flows and jumps and we gives an interesting insight to the characters, most of which we are vaguely aware of from either the 1988 movie, Dangerous Liaisons (starring Glenn Close) or 1999's Cruel Intentions (starring Sarah Michelle Geller).

I am going to admit this, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected. I went into this with very low expectations, and once I found my stride with this, I enjoyed myself. It was weirdly gripping to listen to these private thoughts and go "This isn't going to end well...". Plus, the actors who read seem to have a good amount of fun reading the extracts out.

However, there are a few negatives to this. Because these were letters, it did feel jumpy as you had no idea how much time had past between letters. Was it a few days? A few weeks? Months? Also, there wasn't much gap between where one letter ended and another started. You had to hit the ground running and you had to keep up, which was hard for me as, for a while, names were thrown out and it took me ages to get the names and which voice went with each character.

The ending is something I want to bring up quickly. This is split into five 30ish minute long tracks. But the last track felt a little rushed. I get that the events that happened between the end of track four and the start of track five happen off letter (remember, these are readings from letters) but it felt a little jarring to have a not only such a big jump but also to feel like we missed out on something quite important...

But I did enjoy myself with this and I will be intrigued to see if Audible does something similar to this in the near future...

Esther McCaustlin Talks Books

I am thrilled to welcome Esther McCaustlin to the blog. Esther is the author of the newly released Gabriel and the Swallows. Gabriel and the Swallows is a coming-of-age story with hints of historical fantasy about main character Gabriel who, one day, rescues a wounded creature, only to discover it's a small girl with swallow wings. While trying to protect her, Gabriel has to wrestle with questions and problems, both in his regular life and in this new life that this little girl brings...

After chatting to Ben (you guys will know him as Benjaminoftomes on YouTube - and yes, he is COE of the micro-publishing company who is publishing this story) about this story and a few others, he asked if I would be involved in this blog tour, and I become excited. And, after chatting to Esther via email about a few ideas for this stop, Esther revealed the five books that influenced her as a writer. So, to both Ben and Esther, thank you for your time and help on this! 

And now, onto those books! Have you read them? 

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clark
Called the “Adult Harry Potter” - this 800 page book written in an old-English style, with a ton of footnotes and a first chapter so dense that many a reader has given up on this gem before they even began, influenced my writing in a huge way.  It’s a wonderful story - about two rival magicians in England seeking to bring magic back to the land, and it’s utterly absorbing.  I wanted it to be 8000 pages! Quite possibly my favourite book.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
I never wanted to read this series because I didn’t want to see what happened to Cassandra Clare - I was one of those rabid readers in the early 2000s who logged onto FictionAlley.net every week to get my daily dose of The Draco Trilogy - Clare’s infamous Harry Potter fan fiction that was just too incredible for words.  However, City of Bones did not disappoint, and in fact influenced a particular chapter in Gabriel and the Swallows! Can you tell which one?


The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Wow.  This book. A contemporary drama about a girl who tastes all the emotions a person has felt preparing dishes - she learns terrible truths about her family and this awful gift nearly lends to her ruin.  A completely absorbing one-of-a-kind story I could not put down.  And when I learned the truth about her brother - never in my life has a passage in a book affected me like that!

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
A detailed look at the life of a Whitechapel prostitute and her rise to riches in this Victorian novel.  It’s so detailed it hurts, and Faber is this generation’s master story teller. A disturbing, illuminating read and a masterpiece for any writer to aspire toward.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Imagine you are attending the birthday celebrations of a famous South American political leader when a guerrilla terrorist troupe takes over the venue and traps you and all the other esteemed foreign guests inside.  This tale, about the relationships that develop between these people (centred around a Japanese diplomat, a famous opera singer, a translator and a teen girl soldier) in the midst of duress is the best piece of writing out there.  Recommend to anyone and everyone!

Book Review - Spot The Difference

HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY EVERYONE!!! *hugs those pretty books of yours! HUG THEM!*

Today, am going to chat about another World Book Day story, Spot The Difference by Juno Dawson.

Avery knows what it's like to be bullied. They call her Pizza-face because of her acne. But when her doctor puts her on a trail for a clinical trail and her skin clears up, people see her. Including the "A List" - the very people who call her Pizza-face. But soon, Avery doesn't like the person she becoming...

Out of Rainbow Rowell's Kindred Spirits (review for this went up yesterday) and this, Spot the Difference is the gritty one out of the two. Juno just gets what it's like to be a teen and the struggles teenagers face every day at schools. I liked how Juno tackled the issues raised in this and try to explain (in one character's case) why they do it. I also like how one character pointed our flaws, not only in the people around her, but in the schooling system - something that is rarely highlighted and should be more often.

This has a poignant message (both this and Kindred Spirits do, now I come to think about it) but if this story makes one reader feel less alone, then this has done its job.

Book Review - Kindred Spirits

World Book Day tomorrow! So, let's chat about one of this year's World Book Day titles: Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell!

Set a few days before the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Elena joins the line to see the movie. Shame the line is three people, including herself. Nor did she imagine that she might have to pee behind a dumpster or meeting someone who "gets" her...

This is very much a Rainbow Rowell story. It's sweet in tone, has engaging characters and leaves readers wanting me. It has the feel she created in Fangirl (if you liked Fangirl, this is totally up your street). And the relationship between the three characters happened quickly yet naturally - something I really enjoyed.

My only nitpick is that I wanted more. The story ended and I wanted to see what happened next between Elena and another character. We might have to tweet Rainbow and demand another book about this couple...

But this is a fun read! A good gateway into Rainbow Rowell and a lovely ode to fandom.

Book Review - Too Good To Be True

In a few days's time, it will be World Book Day here in the UK. So, to celebrate, the next few reads will be short reads that will be published for either this year's World Book Day or as part of the Quick Reads range for this year.

So, let's start with one story from the Quick Reads 2016 range: Ann Cleeves's To Good To Be True. 

When Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez visits the small Scottish town of Stonebridge after getting a call from his ex-wife, he didn't imagine that Sarah would ask him for his help. Sarah asks Perez to look into a recent suicide of Anna Blackwell. The gossip running wild round the small town is that Sarah's new GP husband, Tom, was having an affair with Anna and it's his fault that she killed herself.

But that doesn't make sense. Anna is a single mother who loved kids - she was a teacher at the local school. Why kill herself when no one could look after her daughter? And she seemed to be happier in the recent few weeks. To Perez, this doesn't suggest a suicide. This suggests murder...

I have never read Ann Cleeves before and when I saw this on my kindle for 59p, I couldn't resist. And I am really pleased that I did as I enjoyed myself while reading this.

While this is a quick read, I enjoyed the story and I liked the main character, Jimmy Perez. There's not much I can say without spoiling it due to the story's length, but I like this. It's been a while since I read something with a crime element and I forgot how much I enjoy reading this genre.

If you are a fan of Ann Cleeves's Shetland series, this might fall a bit short as this is a novella and takes place over a very short period of time - 2 days. But for someone who only has just discovered the series (aka myself), this is a good introduction and I plan to read another book by Ann Cleeves (Twitter suggests I read the first book in the Shetland series, Raven Black, so I will trying that) in the near future...

Books And Their Theme Songs - Volume 32

LEAP YEAR!!! And this is gonna be a busy few days on the blog. So, let's get this week off with a bang and share some of my reading music for January and February. And yes, there isn't that many as was listening to audiobook so... yeah... moving on!

REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton
"Devil Side" by Foxes


THE SERPENT KING by Jeff Zenter
"Heal" by Ellie Goulding


I did warn you that there wasn't that many songs these last 2 months...

Book Review - The Fox and the Star

I won a contest, hosting by the lovely Beth from The Reader's Corner, to win any book (to the cost of £10 or roundabout) from Wordery. There was a few that caught my eye so I gave Beth the list and said "Surprise me! I trust you". This was the book she picked for me and, because of that, thank you Beth.

Once upon a time, there was a Fox that lived in deep forest. His only friend was Star that shone high in the sky and shone on forest paths for Fox to use. But one night, Star isn't there, leaving Fox alone in the dark forest... 

This is a beautiful book that children will love. It's short and uses very simple language that children and family members can read together, and express the message of love, loss and learning to accept change beautifully. And the illustrations in this are beautiful! I shall put a few of them below so you can see for yourselves. 

I adore this simple yet beautiful book, and can't wait to read Coralie Pickford-Smith's next book. Or just stare at one of her illustrations!