Saturday, April 6, 2024
The Art Of War by Sun Tzu || A Book Review
Saturday, January 13, 2024
My 2024 Reading Goals
- Read at least 20 books
- Read at least 2 classics
- Listen to at least 2 audiobooks
- Read at least 2 non-fiction books
- Read at least 2 Stephen King books
- Keep reviewing the books I read
Sunday, December 31, 2023
"Farmer Giles Of Ham" by J. R. R. Tolkien || Book Review
This is a book I read back in the summer, but for a reason I cannot fathom I completely forgot to write a review about it. I only just realized this and decided to write a review now, on the last day of the year, even if it's been quite some time since I read it. So here's my last post of 2023 and my last book review of the year...
This was not my first contact with Tolkien's work. I have tried reading some of his books in the past and while admittedly he's a masterful author and his works deserve credit and admiration, there's no doubt about their worth, I still couldn't quite get into them. Sometimes I thought they were boring, or weird, or I simply couldn't "dive" into the story, so his books I'd tried so far, while amazing in their own right, simply were not my cup of tea.
So, when I picked up this book I was reluctant, to say the least. When I finally started reading, I quite liked it and it sucked me in quickly. I bought myself flipping the pages and only pausing when my son - whom I was reading it with - couldn't follow, and by the end, I was so unexpectedly and pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it!
"Farmer Giles of Ham" is something completely different compared to Tolkien's other works (the ones I'm familiar with, at least). It's a particularly unique and well-written novella. It's a fun little tale aimed at younger and older audiences alike, which stars knights, dragons, giants, and other magical creatures. Don't expect epic battles and endless action, but an enjoyable, entertaining, light-hearted adventure with a fairy tale atmosphere, as well as a subtle sense of humor.
Giles is far from your typical hero/protagonist and while he's brave, he's also smart and cunning. He has an interesting way of dealing with his problems. Instead of taking the predictable direction of immediate action and bloody fighting, he tries to use more careful and smart approaches that border between genius and hilarious. This in itself leaves the tale going in unexpected directions which, in my opinion, is the main clue that makes his character memorable and worth reading.
The story, while short, is still rich in content. It's fast-paced, reads very easily and the ending is satisfying, fun, and pays off. There's a unique atmosphere and worldbuilding, which I couldn't tell you if it's part of some wider Tolkien universe - I suspect it might be - because I don't know for sure but I can tell it stands very well on its own in this story.
My favorite character was Garm the dog who I found hilarious and I loved every scene he was in.
Long story short, I really enjoyed this book, and I rated it 4/5*. Out of the books I read in 2023, this was the one that positively surprised me the most and left me with unexpectedly good impressions.
Friday, December 29, 2023
My 2023 Reading Wrap-Up || Or "How I completely failed the reading goals I set for myself"
- My reading goals for 2023:
- Read at least 20 books ✘
I only managed to read 12 books this year and I'm now halfway through the 13th, but I don't think I'll be able to finish it within the year. - Read at least 2 classics ✘
I read 1 classic book this year; "The Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, which was a first-time read for my son and a very exciting re-read for me, since we read it together. - Listen to at least 2 audiobooks ✘
I listened to 1 audiobook this year and it was "The Art of Always Being Right" by Arthur Schopenhauer. - Read at least 2 non-fiction books ✘
Only one non-fiction book made it to my list this year and it's the same one I listened to as an audiobook. - Read at least 2 Stephen King books ✘
Nope, not even one... 😂 - Keep reviewing the books I read ✘
Did I? I can't even remember, I think I may have written about 1 or 2 reviews this year...
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Spooky Would You Rather || Book Tag
Hello, book-friends!
October is almost over and Halloween is just around the corner so I decided to do a fun book tag for this post. I found this tag over on The Sassy Book Geek's blog so you can go and check her out because she has some amazing content!
- Thrillers or Supernaturals?
I've read plenty of both and I love both so I'm having a bit of a hard time choosing, but I'll pick thrillers for this one... - Ghosts or Zombies?
That was an easy one since I'm not really a zombie fan. Plus, ghosts can have many different interpretations and many different ways to be written and executed. It could be good ghosts, bad ghosts, ghosts you can see, ghosts you cannot see but only hear, ghosts from 1000 years back or ghosts from 50 years back, ghosts that can or cannot affect the protagonist's reality, ghosts that can or cannot be resurrected back to life and the list goes on... So, to conclude, I'll easily pick ghosts over zombies. 👻👻👻 - Vampires or Werewolves?
That one is a bit complicated since we've seen many different kinds of vampires and different kinds of werewolves, so I would say that it depends on the type of werewolf/vampire. - Witches or demons?
I'm not very much into demons and demon stories and I really like witches, so witches any day. - Would you rather read a book with 13 chapters or a book with a black cat on the cover?
I'm not superstitious in general and neither of these two bothers me, but I'll pick the black cat cover because I really like black cats! - Would you rather read a spooky book in the dark with only a candle for light or by yourself in a locked brightly lit room?
I don't really mind the darkness and being locked in a room seems pretty scary by itself. And if I had to be reading something spooky in one of the two settings I'd easily pick an open room - even if it was dark - rather than a closed space, because then I could easily get out of the room 💃 to get fresh air and feel less scared, whereas if I couldn't escape it would feel even scarier. - Would you rather face your worst fears or be trapped in the mind of a killer?
I mean... being a writer... I have to accept that being in the mind of a killer would be rather interesting... 😇 And it could probably give me ideas for a story or two... 😅 And it still doesn't feel remotely as scary as being trapped in a room with cockroaches (which is one of my biggest fears) so I'll pick the killer. Besides, it wouldn't even have to necessarily be a bad killer, it could be like an avenger type of killer, or maybe a killer that kills rapists and criminals, right? 😅😂 And I'd so dig this... 😂 - Would you rather watch a scary movie or read a scary book?
Either one is fine for me, I like them both. - Would you rather read spooky books during the fall time or all year?
I would rather read them any time of the year I feel like it. I'm kind of a mood reader and I want to read whatever I feel like reading at a given time, not specific things at specific times... - Would you rather read 10 spooky books in October or 10 spooky books all year?
I doubt I would have time to read as many as 10 books any given month. My time is limited in general and I'm a slow reader on top of this so I couldn't read 10 books of any genre in a month, so I'll say I'd like to read 10 spooky books spread throughout the year...
I really enjoyed this tag and I hope you enjoyed it as well. If you did, then feel free to tag yourselves and do it as well or comment your opinions down below... I'd love to read them all.
Monday, September 4, 2023
The Last 3 Childrens' books that I Read || Reviews
- "Stories From Around The World", by Heather Amery and Linda EdwardsFirst, we have this big book that contains a collection of stories from many different parts of the world. More specifically, it shares 22 stories from the following locations: Australia, Persia, Greece, France, South America, New Zealand, Germany, Mexico, India, Scandinavia, Italy, Holland, Morocco, China, Chech Republic, Spain, Africa, Russia, Britain, North America, Japan, Cambodia. All the stories are unique in their own way, as they carry not only the myths and fairytales from various countries but also the essence of the cultures they came from, and part of their philosophy. The stories are interesting and they're painted in their own beautiful colors - literally and metaphorically. The stunning illustrations show beautifully the different origins of the stories and the variety of ideas and values that created them. Most of the stories contain a nice message at the end, and a moral conclusion, so they are educational as well as entertaining. This is a good, solid contribution to literature that develops cultural awareness. My son loved it and we both gave this book 5/5*.
- "Newton and Curie": The Science Squirrels", by Daniel KirkNewton and his little sister, Curie are two adorable little squirrels that explore the world and learn new things about it. In this book, science is given in a simple way that is easy and enjoyable for kids to understand. The two squirrels are named - as you may have guessed - after scientists Sir Isaac Newton and Marie Curie. While I loved the premise and the idea behind the book, I wasn't too excited about how the two siblings were portrayed. While Newton (the older brother) is curious and actually interested in science and the mechanics behind it, Curie - his little sister - doesn't seem to care much about most of it, and instead, seems to only be interested in playing games and having fun. Not only is she not interested in much of it and doesn't get to do much as her older brother does, thus failing to live up to her namesake, but she also repeatedly dismisses her brother's interest in those things. I can't tell if she was portrayed like that because she is the little one, or because she's the girl. In any case, and even if it was done entirely unintentionally, I didn't like it, because not only it doesn't respond to the truth either way, but it also helps perpetuate wrong and harmful stereotypes. This was the main reason I could give this book the highest rating was 3/5*.
- "The Story of Space: A First Book About Our Universe": Catherine Barr, Steve Williams, Amy HusbandThis book was given to my son as a gift and I was excited for it from the moment I saw it. It talks about the universe and the creation of the earth and planets in a beautiful and simple way. The illustrations are stunning, I loved looking at the images and my son loved them as well. This book was both educational and entertaining and it's a book I'd definitely recommend and pick as a gift for young kids to help stir their interest and love for science. My son loved it and his rating was 5/5*. On the other hand, I thought it was more like a 4/5*.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
"Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King - Book Review
The Art Of War by Sun Tzu || A Book Review
I read this a while ago and it was one of the books that are completely out of my comfort zone. When it comes to books I don't usually g...
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“It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying.” Hello book friends, So... 2023 started with a book I'v...
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Hello book friends! I'm back with some more reviews of children's books. This time I'm going to give you a brief review of the l...
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Hello, book-friends! October is almost over and Halloween is just around the corner so I decided to do a fun book tag for this post. I foun...