Tuesday 11 March 2014

Five Books to Read Right Now!

The Rosie Project.


By Graeme C. Simsion

This book, with its wacky characters and fluid writing style, is simply one that should not be missed. Consider having a companion for a few days that not only makes you laugh-out-loud but also gives you that fuzzy, indescribably warm feeling that can only be experienced in a relationship of pure emotional friendship. This is the ultimate feel good book--it's an easy, yet deep, take of self-discovery and personal growth parceled in such entertaining prose that the reader will find themselves enthralled rather than instructed, but, nevertheless, there is a lesson brewed and shared from amid its scintillating pages.

Gone Girl


By Gillian Flynn

I have to include this tale because it is one of the cleverest mind-game novels of the decade. It has been so often promoted by bloggers and critics as a must read that it has almost lost value through appearing too commercial for serious readers to take too much notice of. That, however, is a blundering error! this fiction will leave you breathless not only as a consequence of its stunningly original and intricately devised plot, but also from the sheer clarity of the prose which is, simultaneously , devilishly evocative and unusual in subject and execution--take this excerpt, which must be one of the most striking opening paragraphs in fiction.

"When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. The shape of it, to begin with. The very first time I saw her, it was the back of the head I saw, and there was something lovely about it, the angles of it, like a shiny, hard corn kernel or a riverbed fossil. She had what the Victorians would call a finely shaped head. You could imagine the skull quite easily."

Here and there I have seen negative reviews offered for this work, but my mind goes with the impression that you either love this book or hate it, understand it or fail to grasp it. Truly, I don't believe a thinking reader can set it down without being profoundly affected.

Firebolt.


by Adrienne Woods

If magic, mysticism and fantasy adventure are your thing then this is the book for you. The might, power and awe inspiring nature of dragons is brought vividly to life on the pages this exciting and original book. It is a YA fiction, aimed at the teenage crowd, but who can resist the golden threads of fable and myth, especially when worked, as they are by this talented author, into a glittering, fabric of a novel, that will leave you with a glowing sense if wonder and smile on your face.

My Review

For the love of blueberries this is a delicious read. Firebolt is packed with spectacularly imaginative scenes populated with characters that are highlighted by the spark of dragon blood coursing through their veins. Dragon lore is woven throughout the story lacing this marvelously creative plot with a truly intelligent and awe inspiring concept. This book is part Tolkien, part Stephen Donoldson, but it is also wholly original in both its breath of planning and its fantastical principle.

Elena, the main protagonist is thrown into a new and exciting world after her dad dies. To her bafflement, she discovers her father was a dragon, and she has a curios mark on her body that is the darkest of its kind, making her something special into the half-human, half-dragon world. The world of dragons is wonderfully and realistically presented and throughout the tale the light of the dragon in the protagonists hair and eyes are the tell take signs that give away their true dragon nature, they are more than shape shifters, they are real dragons. The idea that there are classes and different types of dragons not only adds to the interest level of this marvelous story but it projects it into the realm of intrigue, since not all dragons are good--their true nature has to be tamed by their chosen rider. Ahh... and there it is the true kernel of magic in the story: the taming of the dragon by the only person able by fate to complete the task--the dragons life partner. They are destined to be together eternally, beautiful.... This is a YA read, but truly it is so well written and conceptualized that it would be a fitting read for any age group; it is filled with mystery, shrouded in magic and glittered with soaring imagination. Do not miss this book.

Wallbanger


By Alice Clayton

A flight into romance as it should be, and has never before been told. Drown yourself in the delicious tension Alice Clayton builds as she unreels a yarn of awe inspiring wonder. Tag along while Simon and "Nightie Girl", as they sleuth out the lost O (in-house... Or rather in-book joke) (giggle). This should be prescribed reading for.... Well everyone really. I challenge you not to enjoy this; I'll lose.

Bloom


By Martin Kee

Bloom, or Scribblers disease is introduced as a horror fungus, a sprouting phenomena that is bound to keep you awake at night; however, it evolves into something far more complex and calculating--a measure of a wonderfully productive imagination. Bloom is the future, it is all knowledge, science and life. The story opens with two young characters; the male character's function is to protect and love the female, the female must protect and love the world. This is an adult fairy tale, a gem, a marvel. It is Alice in Wonderland, The Hulk, The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix all rolled into one. Rarely if ever have I enjoyed or become so completely enmeshed in a book.

The reader is transported into a dystopia world on the brink of extinction. Allison Rosling and the charmingly named, Tennyson Middlebrook, are childhood friends whose devotion to each other is the stuff of legends. They populate the pages of the novel's past, present and future. Allison cannot bear anything to feel pain, she is special and Tennyson must struggle to keep abreast. The story unfolds intelligently on more than one level at all times. We are pulled along by the parallel tale of Lil'it the fairy. But, this fairy is of a type you've never even begun to imagine; she is beautiful, tiny and brilliant, however, she is also poison itself. Her adventures are a delight to read, they are also spectacularly woven into the Allison-Tennyson backstory that traverses a myriad of millennia--you will find yourself flinging pages aside in your need to discover the outcome of their strange symbiosis. The book is exciting, unique and beautifully written. To imagine how this wonderfully original fantasy escaped major publishing interest is only a sad sign of the times.

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