Going Postal

I picked this one up after reading something somewhere on LibraryThing. I have never read anything by Terry Pratchett so Going Postal: A Novel of Discworld was a first. It is hilarious, a great read. I’m so glad I picked it up. It has been a fun interlude this week and has kept me from reading other things because I keep picking it up.

I don’t know much about Discworld, but I’ve read plenty of books in alternate worlds so it is easy to pick up information about the types of beings and organizations that populate this world. I am learning that this is a skill that is developed with practice. My nephew put down Ender’s Game because he couldn’t figure it out during the first chapter. He hasn’t read enough to know that it can take a chapter or two, nor does he realize the reward for his effort.

This book also has a great business and political side to it. We meet Moist von Lipwig on death row, realizing he is really going to die. Of course, since this is just the first chapter we know something is going to happen and sure enough it does. The leader/rule (tyrant?) of this city takes Moist, after he is hanged within a half inch of his life, and offers him a job getting the post office started up again. There is another choice, but it’s a quick death so Moist takes up the challenge, figuring he can find a way out of this mess pretty quickly.

Due to his curious and self-serving nature, Moist actually catches on pretty quickly and gets the post office going much faster than expected. This is a challenge to the semaphore/telegraph people who are charging a lot of money but delivering poor service to send short messages all over. Here comes Moist (looking to make a quick buck and not really invested in the long-term prospects) taking on the challenge of delivering long messages all over the world (it takes a bit longer but the semaphore lines are down a lot lately anyway) for pennies or maybe a dollar.

Throw in a variety of weird creatures and characters, plus a lady worth fighting for, and it’s all fun. And always remember, Moist can quit this respectable business any time he wants.

“fruit baskets is like life - until you’ve got the pineapple off the top you never know what’s underneath”

#34/81 Dante's Inferno

I read this book/Poem because I had always heard about it but had never read it. So I challenged myself to read this book. I chose the Pinsky translation for my read. The story was very thought provoking, and disturbing as to whether any of it could true. As a born and raised Catholic, I chose the time of the read for the Lenten season since this is not the type of literature that I normally appreciate and I'm not sure that I do appreciate it. I do, however, acknowledge the talent of the writer and his imagination but I was disappointed by the amount of politics involved in the story.

The Field Guide, The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black (17/81)

Twins Jared and Simon Grace, and their older sister Mallory, move with their mother to a decaying Victorian house in the first of The Spiderwick Chronicles. There they discover a secret room, and clues which eventually lead them to an old, handwritten and illustrated book, Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You.


I have had these books for a while but to be honest they are my daughter's .... I have been reading alot of fantasy recently and really wanted to pick these books up and see how they rated with the movie which I quite enjoyed !!!

This is book 1 ... There are 5 books in total which make up the movie .... So I will review each book as I read them .... This is quite short only 107 pages in total but it is not only hard backed which I love but also illustrated throughout beautifully .... It was a real joy to read !!!

One of my favourite lines from the books was:

"He didn't want to find an old, dead body, even if there was something really cool inside it" pg 51

It is a story of 3 children finding a book which opens up a whole new world to them .... It allows them to see Faeries and another creatures that we humans cannot see !!! It is filled with adventure and every young teen would gobble this book up !!

I rate this book 5*****

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (16/81)

COULD YOU SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN, IN THE WILD, WITH EVERYONE FIGHTING AGAINST YOU?

Twenty- four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Well who knew that walking in Big W the other day that I would come across a book that I have been after for a while now !!! And the thing was I was staring at it for a while before it registered that it was The Hunger Games .... I have come accustomed to a different cover ... But I have to say I am delighted with this cover and I couldn't put the book down .... I read it in one day and loved it .... The only down side to the whole thing is that it is a trilogy and the second part isn't coming out until September ...!!!

I have been reading alot of Young Adult reads lately and I am really loving it !!! I think I am going back to my own teen years ... when all I used to read was Fantasy Books ... And I have to admit I have missed them !!!

This is a brilliant first novel by Suzanne Collins ... That both a girl and boy could identify with ... And the front cover is really clever that you can change it to a boy or girl cover depending on what you want !! This book has it all action, danger and romance and you will be grounded to your seat until you finish it !!! It was definitely well worth the wait to receive it !!!!

I rate this book 5*****

A short movie of Suzanne talking about her book .... Enjoy :) It is nice to put a face to a name ...

The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho (15/81)

How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of whom we are?
That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well—or hardly at all. Among them:

"People create a reality and then become the victims of that reality. Athena rebelled against that—and paid a high price."Heron Ryan, journalist

"I was used and manipulated by Athena, with no consideration for my feelings. She was my teacher, charged with passing on the sacred mysteries, with awakening the unknown energy we all possess. When we venture into that unfamiliar sea, we trust blindly in those who guide us, believing that they know more than we do."Andrea McCain, actress

"Athena's great problem was that she was a woman of the twenty-second century living in the twenty-first, and making no secret of the fact, either. Did she pay a price? She certainly did. But she would have paid a still higher price if she had repressed her natural exuberance. She would have been bitter, frustrated, always concerned about 'what other people might think,' always saying, 'I'll just sort these things out, then I'll devote myself to my dream,' always complaining 'that the conditions are never quite right.'"Deidre O'Neill, known as Edda

Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy, and sacrifice.

This is the third book of Paulo Coelho that I have read ... And I have to say that The Alchemist is still my firm favourite ... I loved the cover of this novel ... And the concept to the story is very interesting as it is told from people who knew the main character of Athena ...

It is basically Athena's journey through life told from her friends and family ... Let me start by telling you the good things about the book ... It is littered with loads of stories and quotes which are as ever makes you stop and think ... Some of my favourites are

"What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows" Pg 88

"Look at a skilled blacksmith working steel. To the untrained eye, he's merely repeating the same hammer blows, but anyone trained in the art of calligraphy knows that each time the blacksmith lifts the hammer and rings it down, the intensity of the blow is different. The hand repeats the same gesture, but as it approaches the metal it understands that it must touch it with more or less force. It's the same things with repetition: it many seem the same, but it's always different. The moment will come when you no longer need to think about what you're doing" Pg 91

"Money brings happiness. Fine. In that case, everyone who earns enough to have a high standard of living would be able to stop work. But then they're more troubled than ever, as if they were afraid of losing everything. Money attracts money, that's true. Poverty might bring unhappiness, but money won't necessarily bring happiness" Pg 144

Ok they were among my favourite quotes ... But I have to say that I did struggle to finish this book and it took me alot longer than I thought .... I do know that the book is centred around Athena but I found her quite selfish ... I know that it is her journey but it seems that was all she cared about and she really didn't care about how it effected the people around her ... I do appreciate that you can lose yourself in dance and mediation but I think I would have found her abit weird if every second you see her that she just danced around the place ...

I know alot of people love Coelho's novels and The Alchemist still remains one of my favourites but I have struggled with his other novels ...

I rate this book 2**

Paulo Coelho talking about his novel



Here's a link to his blog ::: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

The Flood by David Maine (30/81)

Category: New to Me Authors

The Flood is a retelling of the Bible story of Noah and the ark. The original story is a good one anyway (whatever your beliefs, it is hard to deny that the Old Testament has some great stories) but the author has managed to bring the characters to life. He has used a lesser known edition as his source, so the names differ somewhat to the ones with which we are most familiar, for example the main character is Noe.

The story is told from different perspectives, which anyone who has read my other reviews will already know is something that I love when it is done well, as it is here. So we see the flood from the point of view of Noe’s wife, his three sons and their respective wives. There is also the occasional chapter written in the third person thrown in for good measure which shows us Noe’s story, but at more of a distance than the others.

The book starts with Noe receiving God’s message about the impending flood, through time on the ark (although that word is never used) and then onto the period afterwards, when the family are dispersed to repopulate the earth, which was less familiar territory for me as I think my school teaching of this tended to end with the flood receding.

I thought this was a great book. I found it very funny in place (there is a great discussion on how the animals should be kept on the ship) and it was just as much about how families react in crisis as it was about religion. However, I would be cautious in recommending this as some people may be offended by some of it (there is a lot of “rutting” in the book) and towards the end, there are questions asked about religion. So despite it being based on a Bible story, I think it might be enjoyed more by the less religious.

Children of Men by P.D. James (19/81)

C1992 241pages 5stars
Category: Speculative Fiction

*** SPOILERS IN THIS SUMMARY***
Theo has just turned fifty. Looking back over his failed marriage, his years teaching history at Oxford and the place he gave up on The Council, Theo finds he is just as disillusioned, despondent and depressed as the rest of England. One day Theo is contacted by a group of rebels named The Five Fishes. They want him to approach his cousin, Xan, the most powerful man in England, about changing certain regulations. Theo knows it's a lost cause but he brings their requests to Xan anyway. Seeing his willingness to help, Julian entrusts Theo with the Fishes' most valuable secret: she is pregnant. The only pregnant woman in England; the only pregnant woman in the world. Her child will be the first born in 25 years. Julian fears that Xan will do anything to obtain her baby. Theo knows Julian is right but does he have the will and the strength to oppose Xan? How much can one man do? How much does one baby mean?

Just over a week ago I was reading a thread in Talk and found mention of a book and movie named Children of Men. I had not heard of it before but I decided to Netflix it. While there were things I disliked about it, the film was moving and its themes interested me. I started the book three days ago and have been in its thrall ever since. I simply cannot express how much I have enjoyed it. Every page. This book has so much to take in and digest. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I want to read it again right now. And then maybe read it once every single year. I am overwhelmed by it.