Caitlin Considers: Christmas Reading

Christmas is all about comfort and indulgence. To me, nothing screams those things more than rereading. I have always been a chronic rereader. Ever since I was a kid and was forever taking the Malory Towers books out of the library. Since I started blogging, I've tried to cut down on how much I reread, because there are so many other amazing books out there to discover!

Christmas, however, will always be a time for reading old favourites. Especially as this year I am totally on track to hit my reading goal of 100 'new to me' books read! As I write this, I'm on 99. This calls for some guilt free rereading, starting with Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. I read this in December last year and it totally got me in the festive mood! So, this Friday, Christmas Jumper Day, I am going to be reading it again. I can't wait to re-experience that rush of festive spirit (and Dash, also Dash). 

But what else will I be rereading over the Christmas period? There's quite a lot I'd like to get round to...

The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

One of my long-time favourites. I used to reread these once a year, until a couple of years ago. I'd really love to read them again; I've been yearning after the characters and the emotions attached to these books.

The Strange Angels series by Lili St. Crow

A YA urban fantasy series I really love. Full of heart-pounding action and adventure, vamps, weres, magic and with a girl on the run at the centre of the story, I'm yearning to get back into this world.

The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan 

A series I only discovered last year, but one of my favourite fantasy series. A little slow to get started, but so immersive and creative and featuring one of the best romantic pairings I've read in a while.

The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning

I only read these books for the first time this year, but I've been thinking about them ever since! While I may disagree with some of the elements of the stories; these are dark and seductive and totally addictive books. The enigmatic Barrons and his fiery, confusing relationship with Mac really doesn't help my resolve. 

If you could only reread books over Christmas, not start anything new, what would you like to read? What is your ideal Christmas reading, and what will you be delving into this December? Let me know in the comments!

And if you're stuck for some festive reading material, or looking for bookish gift inspiration, check out my Christmas Gift Guide 

Top Ten Tuesday [2]

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Books I Wish Could Have Had Sequels

Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

I really liked the book and the ending, but sometimes you just really want a story to keep going. 

Strange Angels series by Lili St. Crow

Again, I loved the way it ended but I just wanted *more* I want to see Dru's life pan out and damnit I do want to see what she chooses

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Cause what adventures does Bod go on after?

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

One of my favourite books of the year so far, I want to know Josie's life turns out okay

The Demon's Lexicon trilogy by Sarah Rees Brennan

I could read about the lives of the Ryves brothers and Mae and Sin and Jamie for ever. 

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

I know we have the Bloodlines spin off but I always want more of the Rose/Lissa/Dimitri/Christian/Court story

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

I want a detailed account of all their lives. Please

Harry Potter by JK Rowling

See above

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen 

See above

Night World series by LJ Smith

I want that final, never published 10th book so, so much

What made your list?

Memory Lane Monday [11]

Welcome to another edition of Memory Lane Monday. The idea behind this feature is to take a nostalgic stroll along the bookshelves of my past, looking at those books I've loved since I was a small(er) girl.

Today's book is:

Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori

All is not well at StregaSchloss, home of the bizarre but lovable Strega-Borgia clan. Mum's attempts to improve her witchcraft skills are failing miserably. Dad has stormed out in a fit of pique. Titus is virtually umbilically attached to his computer. Pandora is seriously bored. And Baby Damp is getting her fat little fingers into everything around.

Enter wonder-nanny Mrs McLachlan - she'll soon sort out the Strega-Borgia children, and their parents too, but will she cope with the presence of mythical beasts in the basement, to say nothing of the unexpected arrival of four hit-men, including one in a rabbit suit?

Admittedly, when this book was released in 2001, at age 11/12 and a very good reader, I was probably past its target market. But I had this endearing quality as a child/teen (read: inherent laziness) of always reading books aimed at younger age brackets, PLUS children's books are for EVERYONE.

And so began my love for the Pure Dead series. Featuring magic, mayhem, a wonderfully dysfunctional family and some rather touching and emotional plotlines (plus amazing velvety hardback covers, they were like spell books!) I was bound to fall in love with them. In fact, I stuck with this series right up to its conclusion in 2006 (I ran out to Smiths to buy it with my allowance). Who doesn't want to read about a family where the nanny is a witch, the grandma is kept in the freezer and defrosted for special occasions and one of the members is a dragon?

Did you read this series? Who was your favourite character? (Pandora was mine, though I was partial to baby Damp)

All These Things I've Done (in London) [1]

So I thought it would be cool to introduce some more personal posts onto the blog and that a great way to do that would be to talk about the stuff I get up to in my new city :) (I hope you like the title, it made me giggle).

I've been living in London for just over a month now and it's been pretty eventful! Obviously I started my new job which I love. It's gotten to the point now where I feel like I'm getting into the swing of it and my new colleagues have been amazingly supportive. I feel so fortunate that I've not only gotten my first job in publishing but one in the exact area I want to work in.

I've also moved house! When I first moved to London I was staying with my aunt and uncle but I managed to find a house much quicker than I expected to. My house is lovely and big and my housemates are lovely and there is a stray cat who I have named Snaggle and I feed him/her.

On the 4th of July I went to the Cassie Clare/Jamie Campbell Bower/Sarah Rees Brennan event with Casey from Dark Readers, Liz from Planet Print, Rachael from Rachael Reviews All and my friend Eleanor. Casey and Rachel got there suuuuuuper early and queued for ages which means when I eventually managed to get there after work I didn't have to queue forever! We got pretty good seats, I still couldn't see much (not enough to take pictures) but it meant we didn't have to wait too long for the signing which was awesome! Casey managed to get this picture:

AND a video of JCB *SINGING*

He's pretty good and raaaaather attractive ;)

 I *finally* got my SRB books signed:

and we got cupcakes! Nom

So it was a pretty cool event and they were all very funny and it was all totally mental and everyone was dressed as shadowhunters (and I went dressed in a dress I thought Kami from Unspoken would approve of) and then I bullied some girls into buying Unspoken...

Just when I thought my time in London had reached a pinnacle of awesome only a fortnight in, I was invited to attend Sarwat Chadda's launch for the third book in his Ash Mistry series with Sarah Rees Brennan. I'll just say that again. WITH. SARAH. REES. BRENNAN. Only, you know, my favourite author. It was totally cool. Sarah is the funniest person ever and I had lots of conversations with lots of bookish people and then Sarah and I got the train home which involved a wait at the train station where she huggled me so I wouldn't freeze to death (note to self: take a cardie out at night even if it's hot in the day) and we saw foxy babies (I tried to take pictures, they were blurry) and Sarah regaled me with gossip and spoilers from her next books. Then offered to buy me a sandwich. Basically, she is the coolest person alive. So thank you, SRB for inviting me, thanks Sarwat for the amazing launch, for signing my book and for buying me a drink!

I know what you're thinking. Can my time in London possibly get any better? Well the following weekend I went to stay at a family friends place in Milton Keynes. They own this amazing, 5* BnB and we had a fantastic time basically eating and lounging in the sun. I got to see my family and my boyfriend for the first time since moving to London and we played the Pointless boardgame where my years of watching the Eurovision Song Contest *finally* paid off, hello questions on obscure European countries. I recommend the board game, it's hilarious. 

Then, on the Monday I met up with the lovely Stacey from Pretty Books. We went to a lil cafe and had cake (and you know you've found a friend when they don't even bat an eyelash when you order 2 slices of cake) and chatted and chatted. I think it's clear that we both like to chat. But we got on really well and she is very awesome (and has a lovely blog) and hopefully we will do lots more fun things together in the future!

The weekend just gone my boyfriend came down to London to visit me for the first time which was really good. We went to Tate Modern which we've been talking about doing since before I even moved down to London as we both really like modern art. Here are a few of my faves:

So I *totally* failed and didn't take pictures of the lil thing that tells you the artist and about the work, but I can tell you that the last picture (which looks to me like women sitting at a table) is by Dorothea Tanning. 

I've also being trying to cook a lot and eat more healthily. I'm quite enjoying just buying ingredients and seeing what I come up with (I made quesadillas for the first time and they were yummy) and I've developed a thing for using leftover ingredients in creative ways to make different meals out of the same stuff. It's kinda fun. 

And there we have it! The highlights of my first month in London :) I hope it wasn't too long...I'll try and take more pictures next month ;)

Cait xx

Five Friday Favourites [3]

Welcome to Five Friday Favourites! A regular blog feature where myself or another blogger share their five favourites of a particular bookish category, be that favourite books ever, favourite recent releases or favourite bad boys ;)

Today I have the lovely Sophie who has shared her Five Favourite controversial novels

One of our specialties in UKYA is our preference for gritty, controversial novels. I’m a big fan of them myself and here are my top five favourite controversial YA novels:

• FORBIDDEN byTabitha Suzuma took my breath away when I read it during the summer of 2010. I’d never read anything like it. Forbidden is the story of Lochan and Maya, a brother and sister who looks after their siblings in a horrible home situation. They fall in love with each other. I wanted them to be together so badly, but I also knew it was so wrong! Never have I had such a heart-head struggle. And that ending, wow.

One of my favourite books so far this year has been Isla J Bick’s DROWNING INSTINCT. I’m a big fan of her post-apocalyptic series and I wondered how she’d handle the change to contemporary: brilliantly, actually. Bick draws characters who are damaged and broken by things that most people wouldn’t want to think about all while juggling the relationship between a student and a teacher. Motives are questioned and feelings are expressed. But Bick never casts judgment, only depicts two damaged human beings who sought comfort in each other. Breathtaking.

Meg Rosoff’s debut HOWI LIVE NOW is one of my favourite books of all time and I couldn’t even guess how many times I've read it. Though Daisy’s story tackles war, eating disorders and a relationship between two first cousins, that’s not what makes it controversial to me; it's the narrative style and language. Daisy swears, Daisy shouts and she doesn’t use proper punctuation and sentence structure. It’s verging on stream of consciousness and it’s utterly perfect. Never has a character’s voice been so perfectly captured before. If you haven’t read this yet, what on earth have you been doing for the last eight years?

JUNK byMelvin Burgess is often regarded as the controversial YA novel. Sex, swearing, drugs, prostitution; think of a taboo, Junk covered it. I was fairly young when I read this and I didn’t really realise how controversial it was until I re-read it last year. Burgess doesn’t pull any punches and his sharp, clear prose does Gemma and Tar’s story justice. This really is a book you have to read if you love contemporary, or YA, or reading.

I would say that all thought these four are my favourite controversial novels, Philip Pullman’s HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy is probably the most famous. I didn’t get around to read Northern Lights until last year and I still haven’t read the rest of the trilogy as I didn't love it the way I expected to, but I definitely understood why it made such a splash. Pullman’s take on religion shocked the media and outraged religious communities, causing it to be banned countless times. It’s an eye-opening trilogy and definitely worth a read.

So there you have it! My favourite controversial YA reads. Do you think I missed anything important? Disagree that any of these are controversial?

Thanks for hosting me Cait!

Thanks so much for sharing, Sophie! I LOVED Northern Lights, How I Live Now and Junk when I was a teenager! My favourite controversial book is probably Denial by David Belbin...what are yours?

Memory Lane Monday [8]

Memory Lane Monday was a feature I had on my blog originally that I've decided to bring back. It showcases those books from my childhood and younger years that I have fond memories of.

First up in 2013 is Sabriel by Garth Nix

For many years Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the random power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who won't stay dead. But now her father, the Charter-Mage Abhorsen, is missing, and to find him Sabriel must cross back into that world.

Though her journey begins alone, she soon finds companions: Mogget, whose seemingly harmless feline form hides a powerful—and perhaps malevolent—spirit, and Touchstone, a Charter-Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories.

With threats on all sides and only each other to trust, the three of them must travel deep into the Old Kingdom, toward a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death—and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own hidden destiny.

I first read Sabriel when I was about 12-14 and I was enraptured by the fantasy setting, brave  Sabriel and most of all, Mogget. Sabriel overcomes her fears and doubts to fulfill the important quest of finding her missing father. Sabriel isn't one of these hardcore, totally badass heroines, she is scared and she does question her abilities and she does comment that she'd rather be back on the other side of the wall, safe. But she takes  everything that happens in her stride and acts bravely. Mogget is the original talking animal sidekick; sarcastic and enigmatic he is one of my favourite characters ever. I am actually reading this right now after seeing it in the library and being struck by a fit of nostalgia!

What books from your younger years do you have fond memories of?