A lion called Christian

Uglies by

Tally Youngblood is an Ugly. All her friends have gone off and become Pretties, but she is the youngest, and eagerly awaiting her 16th birthday so that she can join them. But before she reaches that magical age she meets a new friend, Shay, who tells her about a mysterious boy called David, and the notion that some people don’t want to be made Pretty. To Tally this is insane. Science and evolution prove that people like beauty. And back in the “Rusties” day, when they weren’t able to make people pretty there was so much discrimination just over the way people lived. She’ll never go off looking for the Smoke. She’ll stay in the city, and become Pretty, just like all her friends.

Of course, if she did then this book wouldn’t have much of a plot now would it?

Nicholas Dane by

This is the sort of book I don’t usually read. You know the ones, from the “sad story” section of the bookshop. The misery-books as I call them. But a few years ago I’d heard of Melvin Burgess as an author to look out for. I’ve read his Lady : My life as a Bitch and to be honest I wasn’t all that impressed, but I’ll always give an author a second go. So I tried this one.

In the 1980’s Nick Dane is growing up as an average, if bright kid. He comes from a single parent family, and his mother has a secret. She never got off the drugs, not completely. And in the course of having a “taste” she accidentally overdoses and Nick is left all alone in the world. Soon he finds himself carted off to a “home” for boys, and soon learns that the violence and random beatings are not the worse this place has to offer.

Summer of night by

Read for RIP challenge It is the last day of school at “Old Central”, the building is being decommissioned and after the summer holidays the children will be going to a...

The Village dir. by

For this year’s RIP challenge Carl has suggested that as well as reading horror-ific books we might also watch some suitable films and to get the ball rolling on my RIP films I decided to rewatch M. Night Shymalan’s The Village.

I quite enjoyed it the first time around. I don’t seem to recall having been all that surprised by any of the so-called twists or reveals, but it was an enjoyable film.

Sisters Red by

Sisters Red is the story of two sisters, Scarlett and Rosie, one day, while walking home they encountered a stranger upon the path. A stranger who followed them to their grandmother’s house, and although he seemed pleasant enough at first, it soon turned out that he wasn’t very nice at all. Ever since that day Scarlett and Rosie have been among the few who know about the existence of the Fenris, or werewolves among us. They live in packs and kill and mutilate for fun. But Scarlett is an expert hunter. And Rosie isn’t too far behind.

Bridge of birds by

In an Ancient China, that never was, Yu Lu (not to be confused with the eminent author of The Classic of Tea) sets out on a quest to save the children of his village. Everyone between the ages of 8 and 13 has been struck down by a mysterious plague. He is sent to the Peking in order to bring back a wise man who can help them solve the mystery of this plague that can count. Soon Yu Lu (also known as Number Ten Ox due to his great strength) and the wise man Li Kao are racing across China in an attempt to locate the Root of Power that just may save the afflicted children.

The devil in the flesh by

by Raymond Radiguet translated by Christopher Moncrieff

Although the 1930’s mini challenge has come to an end, when I spotted this book at work I thought it might fit, and wanted to read more books of that time. Of course then I read the details and discovered that it was actually written earlier than that… Oh well :)

The devil in the flesh created quite a bit of a scandal when it was published, semi-autobiographical, the author wrote it from the age of sixteen to eighteen, after his own affair with a married woman. And that, my dears, is the central theme to this book. In fact, it is the end all and the be all of everything in this book. Our 15/16 year old narrator’s affair with a married woman. And I found that incredibly off-putting.

Olympos by

By Dan Simons
I really loved Ilium when I read it in June so was looking forward to this, the sequel. And it kicks off right where we left the story in the first book. Unfortunately it just didn’t work as well. All through this book I was interested in what was going on, but never gripped, never fascinated or engaged by it. Merely hmm, that’s interesting.

The Strain by ,

A plane lands at JFK airport and almost instantly it descends into darkness. Air traffic control get no response. It stopped dead on the runway. There are no lights, no engine noises, and no sounds. Response units break in and find a dead body. Instantly people’s thoughts turn to terrorism; is this some sort of gas attack? Or a biological agent?

Abraham Setrakian, the owner of a small downtown pawnshop is one of the few who knows the truth about the horror to come.

Fun home : a family tragicomic by

Like many father, mine could occasionally be prevailed on for a spot of ‘airplane’.

This is the memoir of Alison Bechdel, her recollections of growing up in an emotionally-distant family, the role of literature in her, and her father’s, life, her identifying as a lesbian at college and coming out, by letter, to her parents. It is the story of growing up in a house that can seem more like a museum than a home. Of living in a funeral home. Of trying to connect with her father. All told in graphic form.