The Book Feed: Challenge

Showing posts with label Challenge. Show all posts

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Sunday, October 5, 2014 -

Challenge , Fantasy , Favorite , favorites , Halloween , Magic , Reading

IT'S OCTOBER!!!!

Hello everyone :)!

I know it's been a while.. I apologize, but school has been a priority and it will continue to be until around May of 2015. ANYWAYS, as the title of this post says.. IT'S OCTOBER, which is exciting for me for so many reasons! For starters, I love halloween, I love how the weather transitions from summer to fall, I love how the leaves change color, and yeah.. this time of year is amazing.

SOO, to try and get back into reading, I'm going to make a list of some of the books I plan to finish this month. Now of course since it's October, these books are going to be primarily magically themed. Let's begin:

1. The Book of Life - Deborah Harkness
I read the first two books of the All Souls trilogy last year and I've been wanting to get my hands on the third for a while. However, I have this thing about not reading books that are over hyped. Now don't get me wrong, Deborah Harkness's books are pretty awesome, but I wanted to wait until all the hype faded away.. maybe I'm weird, but yeah. Anyways, with Halloween approaching, I think it's time I finally time I see how this trilogy ends. I'm super excited :D

2. Girl on a Wire - Gwenda Bond
As far as I know this book doesn't contain magic, per se, but the cover was too appealing for me to not pick this book up. Plus, I think Girl on a Wire reminds me of The Night Circus, which is one of my most FAVORITE books ever, so reading this was a must. So far, I've really enjoyed what I've read and look forward to seeing how it ends :).

3. Family Magic - Patti Larsen
Not sure if I will be able to make it this far down the list, but if I do, well then this is the book I will be reading. I know nothing about this book besides what the summary gives me. However, I'm a little scared of books that sound cliche, but since the GoodReads rating isn't too bad, I'll give it a try and let you guys know how it goes.

Recommendations for Others:
Now maybe you've already finished some of the books above, or perhaps you have no interest in reading them whatsoever. If that's the case, well here's what I recommend you read if you haven't already:

1. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness
2. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
3. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sunday, November 10, 2013 -

Challenge , Fantasy , fiction , Witch , YA

6 comments

Paradox Child

For those who enjoy my normal review font (Apple Chancery), I'm sorry to inform you that I will not be using it for this review. However, it's only because I'm writing it from another computer. Normally I would just wait, but I've been wanting to do this review for a while now.

Rating: 3 Stars
Version: eBook
Author: Jane Yates

Amazon Summary:
Set in the 1980’s most of the drama for this time traveling adventure is set in the Pitt Rivers Museum Oxford UK.

Lilly's family has an extraordinary secret, one they have kept for four generations. Lilly's proud to be different and special. At Halloween she's happy to stay at home and cast spells with her mum and her gran rather than go out trick or treating like the other kids. At 12 years old, she thinks she knows it all.

But then Lilly becomes unsettled by odd events, like seeing the sinister man in the white shoes staring at her while she walks the dogs, and then local children start to go missing. When her mum doesn't come back from one of her regular night-time jaunts, Lilly's gran thinks it's time to tell her the whole story. Lilly has second thoughts about whether her family's secret is a blessing, or a curse...

Review:
Normally I don't gravitate towards science fiction and even though this book isn't science fiction per say, the aspect of time travel would still turn me away. Yet, I ran across this copy on Pixel of Ink, which means it was free, plus the central theme is about magic, so I decided to give it a shot.

The story is a bit on the long side (554 pages) and packed with grammatical errors/typo's, but the plot was interesting enough to dissuade me from giving up. I read this copy on my iPhone and saw as many as 3-4 errors per page with an average of about 1 per page. Under normal circumstance I would just put the book away, so the fact that I finished this book, not because I had to, but because I wanted to, should underscore how much I enjoyed the plot. As I've said before, I don't want to give the false impression that my grammar is perfect, but the mistakes in this book were prominent. It should be noted that the author describes herself as a "dreamer and a dyslexic", which helps provide a bit of insight and understanding to what I referenced above.

The story is definitely geared towards a young audience, but it has bits and pieces for all ages. For example, there's magic, romance, death, mystery, and science. Of course dealing with time travel, it's not hard to guess where the title paradox child comes from or where the book may lead you. However, I really enjoyed learning just how and why Lilly became one. If it had not been for the numerous typos/grammar issues, this book would definitely have earned 4 stars. So if you're borderline about reading this book, I suggest you give it a chance. After all, you can always get a sample from Amazon.

I've read that Paradox Child is only book one in a two-part series, but that information could be mistaken. Hopefully I will get back to you guys soon with an answer from Jane.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Tuesday, October 15, 2013 -

Challenge , Magic , Witch

No comments

Witches and Wizards:

Rating: 3 Stars
Version: Hardback
Authors: Anton and Mina Adams

The full title is "The Learned Arts of Witches & Wizards: History and Traditions of White Magic", but I've shortened it to "Witches and Wizards" for convenience.

GoodReads:

For most of us the practice of witchcraft and the terms 'witch' and 'wizard' are shrouded in myths and mystic rites. Here is a visual almanac that lifts the veil on the story of witchery. This elegant book offers a concise, accessible history of witches and sorcery and also provides a fascinating insight into the world of magic - sacred places, power spots, magic sites, and ways to reconnect with nature through rituals and practices. Lushly illustrated with pictures drawn from medieval to contemporary sources, this beautiful compendium is an informative guide to the history, traditions, and ways of witches and wizards.

Review:

I decided to pick this nifty little book up at my local bookstore, to provide a “nonfiction” perspective on the Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge. I didn’t go looking for a book on magic… it just caught my eye as I was perusing the stacks. Not to mention, it was hard to miss with the reflective lettering and colorful design. Seriously, if you’re ever in a bookstore, look for this book. When you find it, check out the pages and layout. I think you’ll see what I’m talking about.

As for the book, it was both very brief and informative, but at times I thought it was trying to test my impartiality. This is the particularly reason I placed nonfiction in quotations, because some sections seemed overly fantastical. Please keep in mind that I’m in no way trying to discredit the authors or their beliefs, just simply stating my honest opinion. Also, I noticed the reviews on GoodReads and Amazon were both lacking in numbers and slightly low on ratings. For example,

GoodReads: 38 Ratings, 3 Reviews

Amazon 6 Ratings, 6 Reviews

This combination of low ratings and reviews, coupled with the first review I saw entitled “The first book on the Craft I ever read, but not very accurate is some areas” did not help enforce this book’s credentials.

One thing I found particularly interesting was the connection between chapters of this book and topics from some of my favorite YA books. For example, “Witches and Wizards” provided a brief run-through of ley lines and ley centers, which can be found in “The Raven Cycle” by Maggie Stieffvater. It also provided an overview of the Egyptian gods that’s key in Michael Scott’s “The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel” series. Other topics of this book touched on real world applications such as breathing exercises and meditation techniques, a few of which I’ve seen in fitness training sessions.

Overall, this book helped quench my curiosity, but I couldn’t take it too seriously. I think it was a timely selection seeing that Halloween is nearing!