Days when it hits 35•C it's just easier to stay inside with the aircon and a book.... Sherlock agrees; it's just all too hard.

My father recommended this to me years ago!! I've been meaning to read it. Luckily it works perfectly for one of my reading challenges!!

This is the second alternate reality dystopia I have read recently and I think I am not a huge fan.
Written in 1935 and published in 1937, The story tells of Alfred, an Englishman, on a Holy Pilgrimage 700 years after Hitler. Alfred has had issues believing the concept that Hitler was a god, who exploded into existence rather than being born of woman, and that Germans are the superior race. A chance encounter gives Alfred a glimpse of the truth.

"Sir, where there is no liberty of judgment, there is no honour. 'Nothing is dishonourable.' If there is in a man's mind any overriding idea, any faith, that can make all things honourable, however cruel, however treacherous, however untrue, in that man's soul there can be no honour. Your word as a Teutonic Knight is no good to me."

This was a weird one. It started off slow and I wasn't sure I was going to like it. Then the middle section of the book takes off and had me enthralled but my goodness what an odd ending!! This was all managed in 181 pages which is quite impressive! The obsession of Fabrizio, his own demons coming out to haunt him and of course the book revolves around, a book. So basically I would recommend this to all obsessive book nerds out there!

Picking my next read is always a challenge! That's why I devised a simple system. Each piece of paper has a book title from my #tbrpile and they fit into a jar. Each time I need to choose my next read I spread out the little pieces and choose a random one.
Sherlock helped. 🐱

I know some people who couldn't manage 500 pages of this book. I loved it. The language, though plentiful at times is stunning and the ultimate message is utterly important!
The language makes the devastating moments in this book easier to read and absorb.
If you can't manage to read the whole thing. Read Section Three - Book Eight. It may help to convince you!

This story is about a movie, or more precisely a movie based on a documentary based on real events that happened only in the novel. Have I lost you yet? Ok, let me start again.
This story is not one story, it consists of fragments of different stories about an event which led to the disappearance of a woman on Venus. Told through movie fragments, radio shows and the occasional journal entry, these moments attempt to explain the disappearance.

Having successfully lost 5kg (10kg to go!!) I wanted to reward myself but am not ready to buy new clothes. (That's in the next 5!) so after much deliberating, I came up with an acceptable reward.... 😂🤗

"All the rest of the nonsense a story requires is just a long seduction of the ending."

This section hits home for me. Not because I am Jewish but when I moved to Holland I found it such a wonderfully tolerant society. Now it is one of the most anti-Muslim countries and it breaks my heart to see such hatred. Over a religion.

I almost feel bad about bringing this book along to my volunteering at the first ever Australian Short Story Festival! I really should be delving into the amazing collections of Australian short stories I have at home! 😳#bookfail

Just another Friday night with my friends!

Ok, this took me an age to read but only because I out it down for a while after Part One. Big mistake! Part Two absolutely blew my mind from the first chapter and I flew through the rest of the book. My favourite thing about this novel? It's left me questioning how reliable the narrator was by the end of it! I love books that make me think!

I was no more than the garment worker who made sure the stitching was correct in an outfit designed, produced, and consumed by the wealthy white people of the world. They owned the means of production, and therefore the means of representation, and the best that we could ever hope for was to get a word in edgewise before our anonymous deaths.

So I'm a bit late reviewing this but here goes;
The story centres around a young boy named Vaelin who is left at the walls of the Sixth Order before he hits puberty. He is taught to fight and how to survive, building as he goes companionships with his fellow brothers.
I loved it. Never a dull moment, this book made me laugh, cry and had me at the edge of my seat.
Highly Recommended!

This book is very odd! I'm almost halfway through and still haven't decided what to think about it. Should make for an interesting discussion during BookClub!!

"I'm glad it was you, brother"

It's been a while since I read high fantasy and I'm loving it! Takes me back to my teen years before I tried to expand my reading habits! The prologue had me hooked. Only about 100 pages in thus far....

This book was amazing! Great book for people who want to try Sci-Fi but are intimidated by it! The story is very relevant to society today even though it was written over 35 years ago. The writing is fluid and easy to devour and I promise you; you will want to devour this book!

"Bapu Gandhi said, 'All religions are true'. I just want to love God," I blurted out, and looked down, red in the face."
* Kids say the darnedest things...

Others of my book club had issues with this book. Mainly to do with concepts that they felt were not fully realised within the narrative.
I liked it.
The concept of science and nature needing to work together to prevent disaster is a familiar story but in this book it felt new again.

Within the first 12 pages I had tears in my eyes. The last 20 pages made me miss my train as I was so distracted with reading I didn't hear it arrive!
Was it predictable?
I guess so.
But that didn't prevent the emotions of lost love to lose their impact on me as a reader.