The Royal Wedding of William and Kate

               Like many people I love weddings. My cousin got married last October and it was a day that I thoroughly enjoyed; I saw my family, My cousin was happy, there were embarassing speeches and lovely food. The only thing I didn't like about the day was that I had to spend some of the morning finishing an essay.

             Today, for me, was very similar. I Loved it. I got to see beautiful dresses, crowds of people of whom many are from my national community and the Bride and Groom looked radiantly happy. I was in my element, as I have to say I'm probably a bit of a Royalist. I spent my morning camped out in the living room watching the BBC coverage up until the appearance of the Royal couple on the Balcony at Buckingham Palace.

             However there was once again an element of the day which spoiled it for me, just a little. Which is that my dad is the polar opposite to me and a Republican. Therefore he was making irritating background noise which made it difficult to hear a lot of what was happening. Despite that I have to say I've Loved it and would be glad to hear from anyone who is in the same boat as me; enjoying such occasions despite friends and relatives who do not?

Rowen

Good Time Girl - Kate O'Mara

I read a lot of trashy books, I have a thing about the predictability and comfortable happy ending which a Mills and Boon book never fails to provide. If I'm in a foul mood or simply bored I'll pick one up and read it, cos I know that chances are I'll have finished it in about a day and i'll be left feeling satisfied. I assumed this would be similar, a friend gave it to me with several Mills and Boon books that her grandma was chucking out. I was wrong.
            This book to the term trashy novel to an entirely new level and I can say quite honestly that I wish never to read a book like it. It wasn't just that it was trashy, but it had no plot, was riddled with affairs and some of the language used made me cringe. I still like Mills and Boon books, but for that kind of fix I think I'll stick to them from now on.

The Grave Tattoo - Val McDermid

The Grave Tattoo is a book I wasn't expecting to like, as I had suspicions of it a Silent Witness type novel, and it was a bit like that, but there was enough variation in it that it didn't overwhelm. The book is actually about the discovery of a lost William Wordsworth manuscript, which is gradually revealed to you at the end of each chapter, but it is interpsersed with suspicious deaths as someone kills for the manuscript.
           The thing that I liked most about the book is that it kept you guessing about who the murderer was right until the end of the book, and I think I guessed just about everyone but who the murderer actually was. If I'd been like my sister, an avid Silent Witness and similar programmes fan, then I probably could have used stereotypes to figure it out very near to the beginning of the book. I didn't like the book that it seemed to drop a couple of threads somewhere near the middle, or that it left some of the characters a bit unresolved, there was some stuff I'd have liked to have known that it didn't bring up.
          I also don't believe that it's part of a series of books, although if it had've been then I think I would have been interested, having finished that one, in reading more of them.

Rowen

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Last night I finished reading Little Women which is one of the 'Great American Novels', I can't say I was overwhelmingly impressed with it, but it had both good and bad aspects. I read it because a friend got it for me as a Christmas present because it's in a book I have entitled '1001 books to read before you die' and I'm intent on reading them all, this is the 45th one that I've read.
      The book started out much too like a sermon for my taste, it was preaching very particular morals, and effectively criticising those who do not have them, as a lot of them are outdated, it made me feel uncomfortable. At this point it also didn't seem to have much of a plot, a situation which improved after reading approximately the first quarter. Meg got married and Beth got ill and there was a general middle, and then you skipped three years and the book once again declined as it lost all sense of timescale. Beth died, a part of the book which was very well written and moved me to tears, but then Laurie married Amy instead of Jo, a point which made me angry as the Author had been very nicely setting up a camaraderie which would naturally lead to Jo and Laurie rather than Amy and Laurie, and although it was explained it left me feeling so angry I had to put down the book and do something else to distract myself. This may be seen as good writing to have such an effect on emotion but I like my books to be comfortable reads and not want to throw them across a room for the troubles they afford me.
                I can see why this book is described as it is, but for me it will never be a work of brilliance, as is my opinion of the majority of the '1001 books' which I have so far read, one thing I can say is I'm glad I was guided to read it because it's widening my experience of books and causing me to look outside my comfortable genre of high fantasy.

Rowen

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

I've just finished reading 'The Book Thief', literally a few hours ago, and it's an unusual book. It's narrated by death as opposed to the main character, Liesel, which is the first strange thing about it. Secondly he's rarely met her, but he has met her more than once, which when you stop and think about it seems odd in itself. Thirdly in places the outcome of an event is told to you before you're told any of the accompanying circumstances.
            I bought 'The Book Thief' because I take history. One of my coursework essays is on the status of women in nazi germany, and my teacher for this area suggested it as a different perspective that I might like to read. She told me the basic plot summary and it sounded like the kind of book that I might like. I can't say it was the most entrancing book I've ever read, I can't even say it moved me as much as some books I've read, although that could be because of the reason I was reading it. I did however enjoy reading it, which is afterall the primary function of any good novel.
            I liked the fact that it was unusual and I also liked the fact that it made the perspective of a difficult era of history generally acessable through the eyes of someone, albeit fictional, whose story would probably have never been told.

Rowen

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

Image from Goodreads

I recently read 'The Name of the Wind' and I have to say it's the most fantastic book I've ever read. I'm eagerly anticipating the uk paperback release of the sequel 'The Wise Man's Fear' this August. Whilst I desperately want to read this I feel like I should wait until the paperback release, if only so the books on my shelf match and to give me more of a chance to remember the earlier sections when the third part of the trilogy is released.
        I picked 'The Name of the Wind' up on a bit of a whim, I'd gone into town and had some vouchers that I intended to spend in Waterstones, there was a textbook that I thought I probably should buy, however there were no copies of the textbook in stock and as it can often take several weeks for an ordered book to arrive I decided it wasn't worth it as we'd have practically finished our course by the time it arrived. As a consequence I ended up looking around the fantasy/sci-fi section, by far my favourite, and happened to pick this one up. I like the look of the cover and some of the blurb simply intrigued me;

 'I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.'

It announced much recited heroic deeds in a blase way. It made you think of someone who was a nonchalant celebrity but frankly tired of it. I sat in waterstones for a long while looking at that blurb, but decided that I should mull it over more before i decided to buy it. I left the shop, spent several hours in town, both wandering and doing not a lot else, and the book plagued me. It nagged at the back of my mind. I wanted to know more about this mysterious character who had done these things. I wanted to know why they would expel someone from a University who was obviously very talented. I wanted to know who the Felurian were and why they caused people to lose their sanity or their life, and more importantly why this man hadn't. I wanted to know why he would burn down a town and expect to be praised for it. I wanted to know why he would do something which most people obviously deemed very dangerous.

                Eventually I bought the book, I went to the till and was greeted by two cashiers who got very excited upon seeing it, "that's an excellent book", they told me, very reassuring, "but it comes with a health warning, it's the beginning of a series, the only one released, and it's been two years since that has been. You will want to read the sequel." The warning they gave me couldn't have been more accurate. It took me approximately four days to read 'The Name of the Wind', but during that time I would be reading it for hours at a time, and I would lose track of time. I would become so engrossed in the story, right there with Kvothe, that every one of those nights I was awake beyond midnight still reading without realising I had done so.

             The story is told by Kvothe in the present about Kvothe in the past. It answered very few of my questions, only the one about the town in fact, but it managed to create a million more. It was an excellent book, I don't want to give away any of the plot, I'm not actually sure I'd be able to because it was so artfully woven that I don't know I could untangle it enough to tell the plot.

       I would reccomend it to anyone who happens to read this, not just those who love fantasy as I do, but those who read anything, even perhaps those who rarely read at all. It's the best purchase I can remember making, and also the best book I've ever read.

Rowen