So that went quick.
It's over for another year. Gone. Done.
It's time to look back at how I did over the week.
It wasn't the best, let's be honest...
I knew it was going to be hard to live up to last year's brilliant attempt. I was busy almost every day and I wasn't left with much time to read. But what did I manage to complete? Did I achieve any of the challenges?
Book One
The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket
By John Boyne
Review
(can also been found on my Goodreads)
How Lovely
For an impulse buy, this was such an unexpected treat. A beautiful book with lovely illustrations and a beautiful story about an 8 year old boy who is proud to be different.
"...proving himself to be anything but normal by refusing to obey the most fundamental rule of all. The law of gravity."The story was so quirky and John Boyne's writing was so charming, it made me smile through the whole of Barnaby's adventures. There was a whole cast of different characters that Barnaby meets along the way, that are all different in their own lovely ways which was good to see.
"Barnaby Brocket would be sliced in two. And unfortunately for him, that's exactly what happened. Don't worry - it didn't."
Oh John how you worried me for a moment there
Barnaby as a character was adorable. He comes across as a very innocent child, but not in a way that makes it annoying. He may not know a huge amount about the world and a lot of the time I found myself feeling sorry for him - especially at the beginning when he was with his family - but he was still strong and so positive about everything.
"'I'm not a freak! I'm Barnaby Brocket!'"
Overall, it was a very quick read, left me feeling happy. It was so unrealistic but magical, John Boyne does an excellent job of making you believe in yourself a bit more and keep positive and the added quirkiness is exactly what I love about the story.
Rating:
Completing this book actually fulfilled a number of the weekly challenges:
- Read a book with blue on the cover
- Read a book by an author who shares the same first letter of your last name
- Read the last book you acquired
The Princess Diaries (#1)
By Meg Cabot
Review
(can also been found on my Goodreads)
...Hm
I don't know if i'm just too old for this kind of stuff now or what because I just couldn't get into this at all...
I enjoyed the films a lot, but this is very different to both the films and what I was expecting. There are obviously still so many similarities, I was able to follow the basic story-line very easily because of the resemblances, and I already knew a bit about practically all the characters.
The book version of Mia was my main concern throughout. She's so naive and can be quite childish a lot of the time. I know she's only a teenager so can relate. But she does have so much growing up still to do, I can only hope that she improves (and quickly) as the series continues.
The way Mia narrated her story was also quite confusing. She wrote her experiences about coming to terms with being the princess of Genovia in her journal, which I presume she took almost everywhere she went. But what I couldn't understand is why people she interacted with didn't ever questions or mentions that she takes it everywhere. I feel like at least someone would wonder and ask her about what she's been writing about all this time.
Maybe I am just picking holes. I didn't hate it at all, I just found it difficult. I do want to continue with the series in hope that Mia will become more bearable. Although maybe I am just getting too old for this type of series, wish I would have gotten to it sooner.
Rating:
By Meg Cabot
Review
(can also been found on my Goodreads)
...Hm
I don't know if i'm just too old for this kind of stuff now or what because I just couldn't get into this at all...
I enjoyed the films a lot, but this is very different to both the films and what I was expecting. There are obviously still so many similarities, I was able to follow the basic story-line very easily because of the resemblances, and I already knew a bit about practically all the characters.
The book version of Mia was my main concern throughout. She's so naive and can be quite childish a lot of the time. I know she's only a teenager so can relate. But she does have so much growing up still to do, I can only hope that she improves (and quickly) as the series continues.
The way Mia narrated her story was also quite confusing. She wrote her experiences about coming to terms with being the princess of Genovia in her journal, which I presume she took almost everywhere she went. But what I couldn't understand is why people she interacted with didn't ever questions or mentions that she takes it everywhere. I feel like at least someone would wonder and ask her about what she's been writing about all this time.
"I'm going to have to leave this book here..."
Mia seems to like to write in random tangents. She mentions and talks about pointless stories that don't really contribute anything to the main plot. And my gosh, does she like to complain about a lot of things, she just gets way to dramatic, even for a princess.
Does she really need to write this down? And why does it need to be mentioned in the first place. Sometimes she seems to be writing directly to someone, other times it's just a account of her daily routines. The jumbled mix between the two just confuses me
Maybe I am just picking holes. I didn't hate it at all, I just found it difficult. I do want to continue with the series in hope that Mia will become more bearable. Although maybe I am just getting too old for this type of series, wish I would have gotten to it sooner.
Rating:
I did try and attempt the 'finish a book without letting go of it' challenge with this, as it was so short, but I don't think the story quite kept me entertained enough to carry around with me everywhere...
So overall, this years Book-Tube-A-Thon was a bit of a fail for me. I actually completed two books the day after it finished, which I reviewed elsewhere.
Bring on the next Read-A-Thons, I can only hope that I will do slightly better when I have a less busy week and more time to actually read.
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