Tag Archives: books

2015: in Words and Pictures

It doesn’t feel right to be sitting down at my laptop right now, condensing all the great things that have happened this year into one blog post. This year has been one of the most important ones of my life so far, and so many great things have happened. It’s all flown by!

Here’s a few highlights of my year, bookish and non-bookish. I did a similar post last year and would like to make it an annual thing, as it’ll be nice (or embarrassing? I always laugh at my old posts) to look back on these in the future.

One of my favourite bookish events happened in this month – I was lucky enough to get tickets to a talk by Gayle Forman at Foyles when she visited the UK promoting I Was Here. I really admire Gayle’s books so it was a fantastic opportunity to meet her.

I took early entry exams in this month in science, PE and ICT. I was freaking out about them for months (except for PE, which I had… a week’s notice for. Thanks school) and all but one of the five exams were in one week. It was terrifying, considering this wasn’t near as many GCSEs as I’ll be doing next year. However, I’m really glad I took them early and got passing grades in them.

After all of the exam madness was over, I went to see Carrie the Musical in London. It was in a relatively small theatre in Elephant and Castle, and only ran for a couple of months, but it definitely deserves to come back! It was eerie and gory and fantastic.

This month was so exciting. In the first two weeks, I had my first ever work experience placement at a publishing company. I got to work with some fantastic, inspiring people and it’s helped me in starting to decide what kind of a career I want in the future.

Almost accidentally, I somehow managed to get some of the tickets to the #AskPaperTowns event in London. I went with my mum and a friend and it was such an unforgettable night – what was said to be a Q&A with John Green was unexpectedly also joined by Cara Delevingne and Natt Wolff – and hosted by Dan and Phil. It was such a surreal day and I also was able to meet Emma Blackery and LukeIsNotSexy, two YouTubers that I’ve loved for years!

Also this month, Sci Fi by the Sea, which is fast becoming my favourite convention, was brought back to Herne Bay for its third run. It was even bigger than the last one and there was so much cool stuff there! I love seeing this convention grow every year.

YALC! This second year was even bigger and better than the launch of this event last year – a new venue and almost a whole floor dedicated to YALC at this year’s London Film and Comic con meant so much was going on. I’m really thankful to have been invited to a blogger’s breakfast before events started on Sunday, and I had a great time in talks and workshops for the rest of the day, catching up with people and of course, buying books. One of my highlights of the day is actually one of my highlights of this year – after years of talking online, I finally met Siobhan Curham, author of True Face – she’s such a fantastic person and inspiration.

At the end of July, I worked at a summer camp at my school (I did the same in 2014, but unofficially). Those two weeks were incredibly important to me, as I learned so many skills through being on the camp’s media team. I think after those two crazy weeks of photography and filmography, I’d actually like to go into a media related career!

I went on one of the best trips I’ve ever been on in August – to Amsterdam. It was such an unforgettable holiday and I would love to revisit the city sometime in the future. It was fascinating to see Van Gogh paintings in person and visit Anne Frank’s house. And, looking back on it, it’s quite laughable how long I dragged my family around for looking for the TFiOS Bench. There’s a bookish recap of my trip on this blog, and a photos on my photography blog here and here.

Oh, yep, and I made a new blog! It’s called geetakesphotos and it was created when I realised I wanted a place to document my everyday happenings, and adventures, that wasn’t a neglected hard drive. I bought a DSLR with my first Saturday job wages in June and I am loving getting into photography, and sharing it all publicly on my new blog. I’d love it if you could check it out!

After Amsterdam, I spent the rest of my Summer preparing for year eleven (translation: sleeping) and volunteering at my local library for a second year. I love working there so much, as it’s so rewarding to be a part of the process that awards children for improving their reading and encouraging their love for it!

November was full of mock exams. I also took my early entry English Language GCSE. It was even scarier than all the exams I did in May put together, because it’s one of the subjects I really want an A in, especially if I’m doing English at A Level. My mock exam results for English Language were a bit up and down, so I’m just crossing my fingers until I found out how I did in January!

I also went to my first concert this month (the same day as said English exam – I’ve never been so tired, but it was worth it). Seeing Imagine Dragons and Sunset Sons live was such a cool experience, and they were fantastic first concert choice. I’m so grateful to have been able to go. There’s a recap about it on my photography blog!

And, finally… I started applying to Sixth Forms. That’s scary. I’m really excited for whatever place I ultimately receive, because I’ll finally be studying just the subjects I enjoy. I can’t get over how cool it’s going to be to actually learn about films and/or photography for real classes very soon!

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Also, here’s a quick top five favourite blog posts I’ve written / hosted this year:

The Tour in Between Guest Post: Nancy Tucker’s Recommended Reads

Book Review: The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew

Songs and Stories #2

Books About Books: An Infographic

Infographic: Autobiographies I’ve Read in 2015

Thank you, as always, to all of the publishers and authors who send me books to review and give me great advice about the industry. Although there’s been a bit of a lull in reviewing on this blog lately (year eleven madness) I’m hoping to pick up my old blogging habits again in 2016.

Watch this space next week for a similar blog post, about my top reads of the year – I’m also going to be sharing some of my other favourite discoveries of 2015.

Page to Screen: YA Books That Would Make Great Movies

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A lot of people seemed to love Paragraphs to Pictures, a blog post I published a few weeks ago on the YA books I’d love to see adapted as graphic novels. So, here’s a follow up post – this time, I’m looking at some books I would love to see on the big screen! PicMonkey Collage I’m normally team The Book Was Better when it comes to adaptations of books I love – take City of Bones, Stormbreaker or Harry Potter for instance – some of the increasing number of YA novels that have been brought to the screen. As brilliant as the films are, there’s always something more magical about reading the printed word and imagining the scenarios in your head.

I went to see Paper Towns a few weeks ago. I loved the book and it may be my favourite John Green novel – but the movie was unexpectedly maybe even better than the book. I thought the cinematography was perfect – scenes such as Q and Margo driving around the town at night captured beautifully. I think the story was translated fantastically.

It got me thinking about other YA books that I love and treasure. What if these works were brought to big screens? Who would I pick to play characters, or direct the film? Here’s a list of some titles I think would be brilliant on screens.

ALL OF THE ABOVE (James Dawson, Hot Key Books)

As soon as I put down All of the Above, I wanted to pick it up again. It’s a beautifully messy book, capturing the life of a teenager flawlessly. There’s lots of scenes I imagined so realistically in my head – I’ve never really envisioned a book’s setting so in-depth as I did with All of the Above! There’s potential for lots of beautifully shot scenes in the crazy golf course at night, where Toria and the crowd she falls in with hang out. Polly would totally be played by Cara Delevingne, as Cara has that crazy-awesome personality.

THE NEXT TOGETHER (Lauren James, Walker Books)

I am obsessed with a TV show called Orphan Black at the moment, which is about a woman called Sarah Manning, who finds herself falling into a dangerous spiral of events when she discovers she is a clone. The actress, Tatiana Maslany, portrays lots of different clones and it’s amazing. I was watching Orphan Black around the time I read The Next Together, and my thoughts while reading were often about how riveting a film of this book would be. Not only because the plot is constructed so well, and the different eras would be so cool to stitch together in a movie, but like Orphan Black, the same two actors would be portraying many different versions of themselves. It would be awesome.

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE (Benjamin Alire Saenz, Simon & Schuster)

Aristotle and Dante is a beautifully written novel. Everything about it is beautifully crafted. Old me would say making this book into a film would be a terrible idea because you’d lose the magic of the writing. But I think seeing it in a different medium could bring a whole new level of magic to it. Also, of course – both of the main characters are LGBT* and Mexican. Name one movie out there with two PoC & LGBT* leading characters… *radio silence*

AN EMBER IN THE ASHES (Sabaa Tahir, HarperVoyager)

This book was one of the most epic fantasties I’ve read in a long time. It was fast-paced, gripping, and didn’t want to be put down for a second. I adored the characters and the writing evoked so much imagery for me. I couldn’t stop imagining the Empire in my head, how it would look and feel. I have a feeling Peter Jackson would be a pretty good choice as director / producer, as he’s fantastic at creating beautifully detailed alternate worlds – he did a stunning job with the world of The Lord of the Rings.

ALL THESE THINGS I’VE DONE (Gabrielle Zevin, Pan Macmillan)

All These Things I’ve Done is a dystopian novel where chocolate is illegal and the main character is part of a famed family that sells it. It’s so hard to describe (I recommend it to people all the time, but there’s no way to put its brilliance into words!) but it’s gritty, emotional and captivating. Anya Balanchine is one of my all-time favourite protagonists and she would be so cool on a big screen. The setting would be quite interesting to depict in a different medium, too, as it’s 2083 New York with a mafia undertones.

So, there’s my choices! What would yours be?

Book Review: All About Pumpkin by Natasha Farrant

Books About Books: An Infographic

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I haven’t made an infographic in a while, so I picked a random topic and played around a bit on my favourite graphics creator – enjoy! Open the image in a new tab for a better quality.

Do you have any favourite similar books, that have fictional worlds within fictional worlds? 🙂

Paragraphs to Pictures: YA Books That Would Make Awesome Graphic Novels

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Recently, I’ve really wanted to start creating more blog posts about graphic novels, but as I haven’t read many recently, I was stuck for ideas.

I was sitting in front of my bookshelves brainstorming. Then it came to me, inspired partially by the recent news of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses getting a graphic novel adaptation. I started pulling a few books off of shelves and re-imagining them. What if some of my favourite YA books were graphic novels? What would they be like in that format?

So here we go! Five (very different) much-loved YA books – plus why I think they’d be great as comics or graphic novels.

Banished by Liz de Jager – I love Banished and Vowed to bits and can’t wait for the third and final book. I had to include this book in the post! It’s easily one of my favourite Urban Fantasies, ticking all the boxes for a great graphic novel too; a riveting plot, a terrific fantastical world, awesome mythical creatures, and a gothic fantasy vibe to rival Guillermo Del Toro’s works. Also, of course, Kit Blackhart is a super kick-butt protagonist that would be amazing in a comic or graphic novel. Buffy who?

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – This has a richly imaginative, almost steampunk-y fantasy feel to them. I really love the concept of the book, and being set in a future Oxford, would the setting not look gorgeous in a graphic novel? I haven’t yet read the sequel, but there are going to be seven books (I think). I can kinda see it as a comic series. Maybe I’m going too far away from The Bone Season’s genre, but I thought Joe Benitez would be a cool illustrator.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell – This is quite an obvious choice! Comics have a large influence in this book, and if you put together all the fan art on the internet for Eleanor and Park I’m pretty sure you’d have a complete graphic novel anyway! Eleanor and Park would make a fantastic contemporary graphic novel and wouldn’t it be cool if it was drawn by Noelle Stevenson? (She illustrated the cover & inside cover of Fangirl!)

The Memory Keepers by Natasha Ngan – The inventive Sci-Fi / Dystopia setting of this book would be perfect in a graphic novel format. Natasha Ngan’s books are so memorable for their incredible worlds. The Memory Keepers is set in a future London with a huge development gap, where human memories are traded like a currency. If this were a graphic novel, I could see it being in the same vein as the extraordinary Fray by Joss Whedon.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman – This might sound like a strange choice, but it was one of the first books I thought of. I think the format of the book, which is largely flashbacks of Mia and Adam’s romance, could be told really beautifully through illustrations. As the ‘present’ in the book is Mia in an out-of-body experience, that could be portrayed really interestingly in a graphic novel. My instant thought was a black-and-white world in the hospital, but Mia (out of her body) walking around, drawn in colour.

Noughts and Crosses, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and The Graveyard Book are three YA books I know to have been adapted recently. I hope to see more in the future!

What books do you think would make great graphic novels?

Book Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill

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Published 2nd July 2015 by Hot Key Books.

24910026 Goodreads Synopsis: Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn’t exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from.
Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human.
But along with Lorali’s arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory’s bemused Sussex town. With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their own. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway?

My Review: Mermaid books have never really been my ‘thing’ so I can’t say I’ve read many of them. Lorali had been on my radar for a while, but it wasn’t until I listened in person to Laura Dockrill brilliantly pitch it that I’d really wanted to read it! It was refreshing to delve into a new genre – and the writing of an author I’ve never read before. Needless to say, I’d love to read more YA from Laura in the future.

I didn’t realise the book was from multiple perspectives but it was maybe my favourite part of the book – especially the perspective of the sea, which was interesting and a really good way to tell parts of the story.

Lorali is not a typical princess and although I wish more of the book had consisted of it, I adored her narrative; written in a tentative, explorative style that reflects the surfaced mermaid’s confusion and discovery of a new world.

Rory, the boy who finds Lorali on the beach and soon becomes a love interest, was also very likeable, as he was so selfless and simultaneously very vulnerable-feeling. I’ve never read a character quite like him. Lorali and Rory’s love is a driving theme of the plot and I did quite like their chemistry.

The pacing was great and I raced through the book, always wanting to know what happened next. Though I haven’t read many similar books, this is undoubtedly a much grittier mermaid tale than many will anticipate. The world building was fantastic – it felt almost gothic in places, always richly imagined. There are a couple of ‘media clippings’ in the book too by the public about mermaids which made me giggle a bit, too.

Overall, Lorali was an unexpectedly very gripping and enjoyable read. I’m really glad I picked it up. The story was darker than I had anticipated and the ending was shocking; an outcome I definitely didn’t see coming! Lorali is definitely worth seeking out if you’re interested in a darkly fantastical read.

My Rating:

I received a copy of Lorali from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

I’M FOUR YEARS OLD! Blogoversary and giveaway

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That’s the blog’s age, by the way, not mine… If I was four years old and blogging that would be an achievement….

Anyway! Four years ago this week, I was eleven and started my blog with the help of my dad. Back in 2011, this blog started as a kind-of sister blog to my dad’s – his was Books and Writers and mine was first named Books and Writers JNR. I had no idea how to navigate the blogging world and my firsts posts are pretty laughable – but looking back over what I’ve been able to do over these four years has been awesome.

Through blogging I’ve been able to do so much. I’ve never been a very snazzy blogger with a self-built website or anything, but have redesigned this blog so many times – even with a name change, to the current The Bibliomaniac. I’m so happy with the way this blog is right now and hope people who read it are, too.

I’ve learned a lot over four years, from web skills to graphic-design dabbling and building audiences over social media. I’ve also been lucky enough to meet people from the publishing world and the blogging world IRL – which is probably the best thing. All the people I talk to over emails and Twitter and Facebook are the coolest people to talk to. Thank you so much to all of the people who have sent me books for review – and also of course to everyone who reads and comments and shares!:D

I’m not one for organising cool events and things because a) time and b) procrastination so I’m going to celebrate this blogoversary with a little giveaway. Le winning prize pack:

HOW TO ENTER: LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS BLOG POST!

I won’t ask for a reason to win or something like that; your comment can be about literally anything like go ahead talk about unicorns whatever you want as long as it’s nice obvs 😛

Terms and Conditions and stuff:

ONE winner will receive the prize– which consists of two books (pictures above) plus maybe book swag.
I will pick a winner on the last day of May and will announce them on the same day or the first of June.
I’ll announce the winner on my Twitter and Facebook pages so check those when the giveaway’s over!
The prize may have to be sent in two packages due to the size of one book. We’ll see how easily I can get hold of a big enough jiffy bag.
Sorry to everyone else internationally, but due to postage costs I can only afford to send this to somewhere in the UK.
I will be picking a winner at random so it’s fair – by putting names into random.org.

Aaaaand… Yep that’s it! I am bad at writing this kind of post. I can never express my thanks enough. 😛 So again – thank you so, so much to everybody who I’ve met and who has helped me through blogging – whether publicist, blogger or reader. I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for four years. Time has gone so quickly but I’ve never gotten bored of doing this thing. 😀

Good luck if you’re entering the giveaway!

Songs and Stories

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My favourite songs are ones I find relatable or with beautiful lyrics. Occasionally, I’ll listen to a song and not attribute its lyrics to my own life, but to characters in books. I may be the only person who does this… XD

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been jotting down book titles, alongside the titles of songs that fit the stories. Rather productive procrastination, seeing as it might by worthy of a blog post…

It took me a while to get widgets working for Spotify (and I’m not 100% sure these widgets will work…) but now I’ve finally managed to put together a list of songs and stories! Here’s hoping my music taste isn’t that bad…

#1: ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES BY JENNIFER NIVEN

“If you’re ever feeling lonely, if you’re ever feeling down, you should know you’re not the only one ‘cause I feel it with you now…”

I was listening to Kodaline’s new album while revising and I’d just finished All The Bright Places – a story of a girl coping with the death of her sister, and a boy coping with depression, who form a really strong bond. The chorus reminded me of the book so much ~~and what no I definitely didn’t cry at the song.~~

#2: WHERE SHE WENT BY GAYLE FORMAN

“Love is a game that we could play, even only for today, I don’t wanna lose you, we’ve been apart for far too long, now we only have a song, let the music move you, there was a part of me that never left a part of you, I wish I could be everything you wanted…”

If I Stay Spoilers?? >> I love Neon Trees lyrics and when I listened to this immediately thought of Where She Went! I felt like the lyrics could have been from Adam’s perspective as he meets Mia again for a day, and how he doesn’t want to lose her again, and about the music guiding the relationship… Uch my feelings.

#3: LIES WE TELL OURSELVES BY ROBIN TALLEY

“We are surrounded by all of these lies, and people who talk too much, you got the kind of look in your eyes, as if no one knows anything but us…”

The verse I copied above is exactly why I chose this song for Lies We Tell Ourselves, which is a story about a gay teenage girl in the ’50s who falls for another LGBT* girl: All through the story, they have to keep everything a secret because of the people around them. The chapters in Robin Talley’s début all begin with a lie Sarah says to herself – which is why the first line of the verse above clicked with me straight away!

#4: THE BUNKER DIARY BY KEVIN BROOKS

“I feel you in these walls, you’re a cold air creeping in, chill me to my bones and skin…”

Though the song’s called My House and obviously the people who are so inhumanly captured and locked away in this book are not in their house, I found the lyrics could be attributed to the story. There’s a lot in the song about a person who the singer’s afraid of, who is in the house somewhere, and the singer can’t run away.

#5: ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE BY BENJAMIN ALIRE SÁENZ

“Oh and the answer, well, who would have guessed, could be something as simple as this…”

It was easy to pick a song for this book! I had to go with Simple as This. The novel is about Ari and Dante who are both taking very different pathways in life – yet eventually gravitate towards each other again: And the Jake Bugg song is about trying lots of things but coming back to what the narrator couldn’t believe he’d missed.

What did you think of the songs I picked? Are there any songs you can relate to a favourite book? 🙂

TO BE (RE)READ…

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As a book blogger, I read a lot of books: The many I buy in book stores, as well as the titles I’m lucky enough to be sent from publishers for review. But, as blogging schedules, deadlines and looming TBR piles have gotten more and more daunting, what I read can sometimes be a little restricted. Don’t get me wrong – I adore book blogging, and love & appreciate every aspect of it. What I read is always diverse and unique (Every new book is always a different genre). However, there are times when I look at my bookshelves and spot a title I loved recently, or a very old book I loved a long time ago. I’ll often pick the book up, reread the blurb, and maybe flick to a short scene I remember to be particularly memorable. I’ll read a short part then think to myself, I’d love to revisit these characters.

But, nine times out of ten, I put that title back and go to my TBR pile for my next read.

As much as I’m eager to delve into a fictional worlds I haven’t experience yet, I also find myself often wanting to revisit fictional worlds I’ve loved in the past. Therefore, for every ten books or so that I read from now on, I’d like to take an old favourite and reread it! As fun & challenging as reading to keep up with reviewing can be (which hasn’t been that frequent thanks to hectic coursework things!), rereading will be so fun (and a little nostalgic in cases…) and I’m sure it’ll cure the frequent reading slumps too!

Here’s a list of the top ten books I’d like to reread soon:

#1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

There’s not really a need to explain this one! I grew up with Harry Potter, but the last time I ever read the series was when The Deathly Hallows was released… I can’t believe that was just over seven years ago. I would love to reread the series, or at least the first book.

#2: Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

I can recall reading Northern Lights when I was a lot younger, in primary school, but I can’t remember any of the plot now – though I remember it being a completely beautiful book. I came across my old toys of the movie characters a while ago, and they reminded me how I should definitely revisit the story!

#3: Matilda by Roald Dahl

Matilda is just one of the many Roald Dahl books I would love to reread again – I was reminded of how magical his books were when I visited the Roald Dahl Museum again over the summer holidays. I just picked Matilda for this list, because it was definitely the main Dahl book that started my love of reading.

#4: The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

I can’t remember when and how, but recently the Magic Faraway Tree books came up in a conversation and I instantly flew back, in my head, to when my dad used to read these to Six-Year-Old-Me. I really adored them and I would love to reread at least one short story!

#5: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

As a primary school student, I accidentally picked up my first obsession when I bought Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I wish there was a fandom for this book. *Scours Tumblr* I’m sure I destroyed the spine of my copy when I read it over and over again between ages seven and eleven. I can’t find it anywhere though, which is sad! As soon as I find my copy I’m definite I’ll be making time for it.

#6: Paper Towns by John Green

John Green’s books are – I’m sure most will agree – genius. Paper Towns ties with TFiOS when it comes to picking a favourite of his books. As I’ve been getting really excited about the Paper Towns movie, seeing all of the set pictures online, I found myself tempted to go back and read the book. I’m sure I will before the movie is out!

#8: The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan

Another Levithan title, also read very recently! This is on the list because it’s not only a book I want to go back to again, but it’s also probably the easiest to because it’s split into short pieces, each from a different character’s perspective. It was really poetic and moving – in fact, I’ve been rereading passages and pages recently.

#7: Every Day by David Levithan

Every Day is one of the most recently read books on this list; I read it in July. Levithan’s my favourite author at the moment, I think, and that was definitely decided after I finished reading Every Day. As soon as I closed the book, I wanted to start again. I’m not sure rereading Every Day will give me the same experience as reading it for the first time did, but it was a truly phenomenal book and I just want to revisit A so badly!

#9: Marvel’s The Runaways (Vol. 1)

The Runaways is a graphic novel series that I’ve raved about quite a few times on this blog. I just loved it so much! Though I haven’t actually finished the whole series (I think I’m missing two volumes) I would like to read the first volume again. To help cope with my feelings. Because I’m still crying over the most recent volume I read.

#10: Sailor Moon (Vol. 1) by Naoko Takeuchi

Between the ages of ten and twelve, I went through a kind of “manga” pghase – I was totally obsessed with drawing, manga style, and reading manga series including Sailor Moon. Naoko Takeuchi’s books are still an all-time favourite manga, though I haven’t read them in ages. With the recent release of Sailor Moon Crystal, I’d like to reread the original Sailor Moon books, then maybe try the new series!

Wow, that was unexpectedly a very long, rambling post… What books would you like to reread soon?