GoodRead - Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

This book has one LONG title, doesn't it?

A friend of mine, Emily, and I have been chatting about this book on and off for the past few months and our excitement over the movie coming out next year (Tim Burton is directing it so it's going to be weird and slightly wonderful). So imagine my bookish pal's surprise when I admit that I have never read this.

It's one of those books that I know people love online, but there has always been something about this that has always made me be a little hesitant to pick it up. So when Emily asked if I wanted to borrow her copy, I went "Yes!". I mean, it's October - a time of year to read a creepy book and this fitted it perfectly. So, Emily, if you're reading this, thank you for letting me borrow your copy. I hope I took good care of it.

(EDIT: I moved dates for when this goes live on my blog. Reason? My reactions post to LIFE AND DEATH: TWILIGHT REIMAGINED by Stephenie Meyer.)

Jacob has always had a close relationship with his grandfather. His grandfather, who survived the Second World War and is proud of his Jewish roots, always tells Jacob stories. Stories of peculiar children in the photographs. Stories about the girl who has to wear leaden shoes otherwise she will fly away. The invisible boy who has to wear clothes. The boy who has a swarm of bees living inside of him. But they are stories.

And then Jacob's grandfather dies, believing the stories were real and that there were monsters after him. And the monsters weren't the Nazis. Jacob thinks he saw a monster standing close to where his grandfather died. But that was a trick of his mind, unable to cope with the horror of his grandfather's death... right?

Ok, I am going to be honest with you. I am not entirely certain how I feel about this book. I'm not certain on my feelings that I have been holding off over my thoughts and feelings on this for over a week, because I am just in the middle of it.

I see things that work wonderfully for the book - the creepy photographs and the ideas that Ransom Riggs put forward which lead the book forward and will lead the series forward.

But there are things that just didn't work for me. One of which was the writing style. I just couldn't get on board with it. A sixteen year old is meant to be telling the story, and yet... and yet, it didn't feel like a sixteen year old telling the story. It felt disjointed - the voice of the narrator and the age of the narrator.

Because I am so uncertain on my thoughts, I am going to leave this here. I just thought you ought to know that I have read it and I am... well...

GoodRead - Inside Divergent Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity

Ok, I am trying something new here. I am putting together two short-ish reviews on two books I got from two lovely publishers (thank you HarperCollins and Quirk). The main reason for this is because I'm not certain I could write "real" reviews on them so am hoping this mini review mashup will do the trick!

The two books in question are Inside Divergent: The Initiate's World and How To Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity.

Inside Divergent: The Initiate's World is a small book that brushes over Veronica's Roth's dystopian Chicago. With photos from the movie, the book explains the five Factors, a few characters within the story and explains the steps the initiates take from the aptitude test to Choosing Day and beyond.

Ok, let me state this now. If you have read Divergent or the whole trilogy, you do not need this book. This book gives you information that you have already read from the trilogy. So, you don't need it. Borrow it from your local library if you can as you will want to see the photos used (my fave is on page 42 and 43, solely because of the woman's facial expression. Thank you nameless extra!)

However, if you haven't read the trilogy, then this book will help you get a better understanding of the movie. It doesn't matter if you wish to read this before you watch the movie or if you read this afterward your viewing, this helps give information that was either hinted at within the film or will help you get a better grip of why the film is the way it is.

A nice book with great photos, but more a must read for those curious over the movie than the people who have read the trilogy.

And now, How To Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity. This book is giving you tips, advice and ideas on how to make your cat the next viral hit on the Internet and how you can become rich beyond your wildest dreams.

I have to admit this now, I was reading this and I was on the edge of a reading slump (I hate it when that happens!), but I really liked how this book has its tongue firmly in its cheek over all cat videos online. It was a fun read, coming from a place of "Hey, you're reading this because you love cats. So do I! Let's read about cats and plot world - ok, internet domination together!"

I love the photos in this book (one of this book's real advantages), but there was times I did feel like skimming it. Maybe it was because I did feel like I was going to enter a reading slump. Not sure why.

But this is a short, coffee-table book (Never thought I would be typing that) that you would give to that mad cat friend of yours or a great little stock-filler for Christmas (yes, I said Christmas. In July! OH DEAR HEAVENS, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?!)