SPOTLIGHT SUNDAY IS HERE!
This is a new feature to my blog where I will spotlight certain things in the book world that I think should get spotlighted. Books varying from future releasing books, new releasing or already released, and not all sitting under the YA title!Maybe some websites that are great for those book worms, other blogs and much more!
For today's spotlight I have chose The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Volume 1 by HITRECORD and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This book tiny book is full of 67 contributors as art and short stories are combined to fill this witty and clever book.
So what is HitRecord? The company was set up by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (yes, the actor and director) and his brother, Dan Gordon-Levitt. The website (http://www.hitrecord.org) was launched in 2005 to share the thriving community of creativity in media including video, literature, music, photography, spoken word, performance, script writing, graphics and much much more! It has spread the creativity worldwide and in 2010 it launched a new scheme where contributor can charge for their individual pieces.
So here as I am writing this I have this tiny book, it does stick true to it's name, sitting next to me. It is a hard back book with crepe like paper bound around it with the symmetric front printed on the front. The drawings in this book really reflects the talent that is around as they vary from page to page.
The stories are full of wit with a combination of cleverly thought stories. It is hard not to smile as you read through the book.
I encourage anyone who has wishes to have a future with something creative to check out the HitRecord website, or maybe if you have a hobby which has some sort of creativity in it. It is a really nice website where you can view other peoples work...maybe do a bit of shopping at their shop?
Title: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth
Published: 1st May 2012
Hell has broken loose. The Dauntless have been taken over by the injection which the Eudrites have created and Tris and Four are on the run. I don't want to say anymore than that as someone reading this may not have read the first book and, you know, spoilers....
I have to say that I have been a bit slow on my reviews and this has been in draft for a looong time.
But anyway..
“People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them.”
This book delves more into the character of Four and his past - I LOVE it. Four seeming much more vulnerable as we meet his past and how he interacts with his family, but is still the awesome boyfriend he can be for Tris. I enjoyed the fact that Divergent was all about Tris and then you start to read Insurgent and suddenly it has so much more about Four but still not unbalancing everything for the other characters. Tris and Four's relationship is a minor and it is largely build with action.
But it's not crammed in too much, it's nicely paced with an ongoing rhythm, just like Divergent. Roth has managed to keep my expectations high throughout this book and hasn't made it wobble.
Now as we wait for Book 3, the bar is even higher than the first and second, knowing what Veronica Roth can actually do.
Twists and turns and a cliffhanger, definitely need to read!
I managed to go to book Q&A and signing on the 19th March with Lauren Oliver at Waterstones in Piccadilly. Unexpectedly, I was instantly struck by how many people had Requiem in their grasp to then later find a holy shrine before my very eyes!
For those in the UK waiting for the book, it comes out on th 21st March 2013.
Do NOT forget this date!!
Title: Requiem
Author: Lauren Oliver
Published: 21st March 2013
Ok so the love triangle continues with Lena, Alex and Julian along side the build up to the war of the "animal" invalids and the regulators.
There were definitely tense moments between Lena and Alex as they are "reunited", with Julian completely swept away with feelings of "what-the-hell?!" Alex says everything of the past has been killed and buried between him and Lena, they are different people. But this is clearly not true, until Coral shows up. Lena starts to become jealous and questions whether or not anything has truly changed.
Alongside this we get Hana's narration, which was quite a contrast as we finally get to see and understand the mind of a "cured." It was quite surprising with the addition of a new narration but Lauren Oliver made it work, with the paths finally crossing near the end of the
book.
This is yet another beautifully written book and I only wish it was real (with out the war part.) Books are for escapism, this sure gives you it, it's as if my imagination eye sight has been heightened a hell of a lot more! Amazingly amazing, beautiful.
I have heard complaints about the ending of this book that it seems too open ended, abrupt. But I really liked it. It is open to interpretation. I loved the ending, especially the setting of it..(is that on purpose? maybe?)
Overall I thought this was a really cute ending, and although I would like an epilogue (which we will never get, exact words of Miss Lauren Oliver) it was a pleasure to read this book before the release!
"We wanted the freedom to love. We wanted the freedom to choose. Now we have to fight for it"
Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Published: 7th May 2009
Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the one decision she has left—the most important decision she’ll ever make.
Simultaneously tragic and hopeful, this is a romantic, riveting and ultimately uplifting story about memory, music, living, dying, loving.
This book is a book mix of Lovely Bones and Afterwards, which are both adult books and highly recommended. This book is everything it says it will be. Tragic and hopeful and an uplifting story about the memories of Mia. This book is written beautifully and Mia is a great character to follow, fragile and vulnerable.
You can't help but want everyone to be alright. From the beginning you get introduced to the family and I noticed how real the family is (mum, dad, Mia and Teddy), and the whole feel they have as a cohesion.
The book covers the idea of out-of-the-body experiences. The idea that while you are unconscious your spirit can float around and still see what's going on around you, as well as covering the love for family and friends.
The ending was great, it fits in with the whole flow of the book without going into a massive BAAM the end. If I could cry at any book this one is definitely a crying one, in my mind. It's a delicate flowing book and definitely recommended.
Title:The Secret Hour
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Published:March 1st 2005
Meh....yeah so this book was...meh. I'm not overjoyed by this book but I'm not bored out of my mind reading it, it was a good read, but after finishing it I feel like nothing had really happened in the book. It's like we've moved 1cm, only revealing one main piece of information which we've been looking for through the entire book. Everything is still in the shadows and you could say that from reading this book you don't really know know the characters and their history with one another enough. Saying this, this book is included in a trilogy called The Midnighters and therefore I'm hoping that all will be explained, the other two books are eagerly waiting to be read, as I have read the Uglies series also by Scott Westerfeld and thoroughly enjoyed them.
My main attraction to this book is it's fresh. I haven't heard anything like the blurb. Something supernatural without the vampire..but it does in a small way, you could say, there are werewolfs. "The Secret Hour" is after 12pm, time freezes allowing people who were born at midnight to have an extra hour of Bixby. Other creature explore the area at the same time, only coming out during this special time. Everyone who can acess this secret hour has some sort of "power" but at first glance it doesn't seem like Jess has one and so the characters venture on to figure it out.
I find that I'm drawn to Dess and Rex. Rex is a really interesting character to read about and I only wish there was more detail about him in the book. The way Rex is represented as this "dark" and "mysterious" character makes his character such a good read...and kinda wanted Jessica to fall for him, but he seems to be a guy who has no emotional features. I liked Dess because, maybe, she was more of the character I could relate to in this book. She is the friend who is always there. She is someone that I wouldn't mind being friends with myself, she looks out for you and does what she thinks is best for you.
What you get out of this book? It's self discovery for Jessica, the main character, and that's pretty much it...
Meh...
Not one of Scott Westerfeld's best.
