The Book Thief

I have finally gotten around to reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and I am very excited about the upcoming film. I love Geoffrey Rush, enjoyed the atmosphere of the trailer, but thought that it was ruined by the American voiceover at the end. Totally ruined the mood for me. Anyway, back to study, only two weeks until my final year 12 exams! Isme 

Perfectly Quote-able

It was unseasonably rainy today, which made it seem perfect to snuggle up in bed with a classic.

My eyes flitted across the tempting cover of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and the wit of Mr Wilde pulled me in.

The first chapter was beautiful, I found myself re reading lines just to enjoy the verbosity of it. My first chapter was so enjoyable, this may just be the first book that I read twice?!

I will be sure to share some quotes later - that will be a long post! - but in the meantime, you can hear about some other quotes from all sorts of books through the Book Depository's great Quotemark system....

Until then, Isme !

On the Grapevine: News

Catton is the youngest person to ever win the  Man Booker prize, which, by the way, will be opened to non-commonwealth countries next year. The novel, The Luminaries, sounds like a right bit of fun, being described as such:

 "The Luminaries centers on a man named Walter Moody who comes to a New Zealand prospecting towin in 1866 and finds himself immersed in a web of saloons, seances, and skulduggery."

I'm sure many can relate to the last line of the article, relating to the book's 832 pages:

“Those of us who didn’t read it on e-readers enjoyed a full upper-body workout,” Macfarlane said

Good to know!

I also heard about a book called The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason on The Story Siren's stop on it's blog tour. Sounds interesting...

I love the 'clockwork scarab' on the cover, the colours all gel really well too!
The stakes are high - punny! (see blurb below)

Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes never meant to get into the family business. But when you’re the sister of Bram and the niece of Sherlock, vampire hunting and mystery solving are in your blood. 

And when two society girls go missing, there’s no one more qualified to investigate. 

Now fierce Evaline and logical Mina must resolve their rivalry, navigate the advances of not just one but three mysterious gentlemen, and solve murder with only one clue: a strange Egyptian scarab. 

The stakes are high. If Stoker and Holmes don’t unravel why the belles of London society are in such danger, they’ll become the next victims.

I sped through The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, which was amazing! One of my favourite books - ever! 

Awesome. Review coming soon. And an interesting introduction to the concepts from MTV Geek.

"The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.

In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.

Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, THE ROOK is a richly inventive, suspenseful, and often wry thriller that marks an ambitious debut from a promising young writer.