Book Review: In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park

An absolute must read. An insight into life in North Korea and how people have managed to escape and adjust to new life.

'I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, 

and that I escaped from North Korea.'

Yeonmi Park grew up thinking it was normal to see dead bodies on your walk to school; to be so hungry that you ate wild plants; and for neighbours to 'disappear' without warning. She believed the 'Dear Leader' could read her thoughts - and punish her accordingly.

Aged thirteen, when famine and her father's imprisonment made life unbearable, Yeonmi Park and he family made the dangerous decision to escape North Korea, crossing the frozen waters of the Yalu River into China only to fall straight into the hands of human traffickers.

After nearly two years at the mercy of their Chinese captors, living in a world perhaps even more brutal and dangerous than the one they'd left, Yeonmi Park and her mother risked death once more in another desperate attempt to escape. They fled across the Gobi Desert, following the stars to freedom in the freezing night.

Yeonmi Park tells her astonishing story in full for the first time with bravery and dignity, and even humour. In Order to Live is a testament to the endurance of the human spirit. and an exploration of the risks we are prepared to take in order to be free.

There isn't a single thing about this book that could've been done better. It is detailed and thorough, opens the eyes to North Korea, China, Mongolia, and South Korea, and leaves you with a wanting to learn more about this area of the world.

This book is great value for money and unlike many books nowadays, the quality of the book is definitely reflected in the price in the sense that it's worth every cent.

Cate
xx

Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Not a typical book that I would pick up, but I loved this one. There's something with reading about places you've never been or know much about that has the ability to transform your views and really take you there as a reader.

"Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them - in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul - they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just otheir own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival."

This is one of those books where you don't know what to expect all the time. It's hard to put down and stop thinking about, and really sticks with you after you've read it.

Only downside is that it ended so soon and kind of abruptly, as all good books do. If only there was a sequel...

Cate-Marie xxx

Book Review: It's Not Me, It's You by Mhairi McFarlane

I absolutely loved this book. I was a little apprehensive about reading it as it was a genre I hadn't really explored before but it was an adventure and I would definitely recommend it to people who are looking for something a bit different. 

"Delia Moss isn’t quite sure where she went wrong.
When she proposed and discovered her boyfriend was sleeping with someone else – she thought it was her fault.

When she realised life would never be the same again – she thought it was her fault. 
And when he wanted her back life nothing had changed – Delia started to wonder if perhaps she was not to blame…

From Newcastle to London and back again, with dodgy jobs, eccentric bosses and annoyingly handsome journalists thrown in, Delia must find out where her old self went – and if she can ever get her back."

I found this book to be a rollercoaster and much more indepth than I thought it would be. It took turns and twists that I didn't quite see coming and I found Delia Moss to be quite relatable. The way she was portrayed, I found myself really feeling what she was feeling. 

This was the first time I had read something written by Mhairi MacFarlane and I was definitely not disappointed. Written in quite a high standard, I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for something new to read and a bit different to what you'd normally look at.

I'd be interested in following Delia's story even further. Though the book does a great job at giving us, the reader, a really good adventure, the way Mhairi MacFarlane wrote Delia - I want more! Even the small stuff after this giant change, I want to read it all. 

On sale for $9.99AUD at Dymocks!

Cate-Marie xxx

Book Review: Kathy Reichs

I'm a huge fan of the Bones tv series. Forensic or science heavy tv shows have always been a favourite. So when I had the chance to get my hands on the books I started devouring them. 

Deja Dead

Kathy Reichs first novel, follows Dr Temperance Brennan who works in Montreal on forensic cases, and at the University of Charlotte teaching Anthropology. For a first novel, it is well written scientifically, on the characters personal level it needs work. But if you can manage to power through this one you'll find it to be quite rewarding afterwards. I wont give too many spoilers though, but compared to the other books it's a bit more dull. Overall, a good introduction to the series.

Death du Jour

The second novel in the series. For those who want to skip the first one and read this one instead, the series is written so you can do that without missing anything at this stage. I really liked this novel. The language and pace is much more relaxed and the story line is quite good. It takes a few chapters to really get into it, but once you do it's quite hard to put it down. I did feel as though the ending was rushed, ideally it would have been spread out a bit more and had more depth. But it's still a really good book, so far my favourite of the first three.

Deadly Decisions

The third book I finished a few days ago. In this one family gets involved and you get to know Dr Temperance Brennan's nephew, Kit, much better. Though this story moved faster than the others, you can see how much more relaxed Kathy Reichs writing style has become making it much easier to read. Once again it takes several chapters before you become invested in the book and want to continue reading. 

The next book in the series is Fatal Voyage. I am keen to see how Kathy Reichs writing style develops and how she allows her characters to evolve. Personally, I'd love to see more of Dr Temperance Brennans relationships develop. *No spoilers*. Sorry.

Next up on my reading list is It's not me, it's you by Mhairi McFarlane.

What book have you read lately that you've found to be a good read? Let me know in the comments.

Cate-Marie xxx

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars is short for a novel and has relatively large font - 225 pages in total. Whilst at the beginning the writing style was frustrating due to the enormous amount of short sentences, as the novel progressed the sentences became longer and more descriptive and much easier to read. 

The layout of the book is split into 5 different parts, Welcome, Vermont, Summer Seventeen, Look a fire, and Truth. In total there are 87 chapters - most chapters being only one and a half pages long. 

The book itself, once you've gotten past the first 25-30 pages of difficult-to-read writing style, becomes very easy and flowing to read. Also due to the large font size, you get through it fairly quickly - I managed to read it in roughly 3-4 hours. 

Storyline wise without spoiling anything, the novel follows the lives of Cadence Sinclair and the Sinclair family on their summer holidays on the family owned private island. You get to know Cadence or Cady, and the other three in the group Johnny, Mirren, and Gat. As you read and become deeper and deeper into their lives, you find it easy to become attached to certain interactions between certain characters. The part that really sold me on the novel was part 5, Truth. It's hard not to give anything away but in the most basic way I can explain it - almost the entire book is a lie and the truth is harsh, horrifying, and a reality no one wants to face.

Before I hit part 5, I wouldn't have recommended this book to anyone as it seemed pointless and in all honesty, unintelligent writing. After reading part 5 - I'd rate it a 7/10 and recommend it to people probably between the ages of 13 and 17.

You can get this book from Dymocks for $17.99AUD.

If you guys have read the book let me know in the comments down below what you thought of it!

Cate-Marie xxx

American Sniper by Chris Kyle

First of all, I will say that it is hard to write a review on a book by someone you know has served his country for many years and died helping others, not wanting to say anything bad about something he did. With that in mind, I will try to make this as accurate as I can without treading on too many toes.

The way the book is set out, having these large chapters split up by many subchapters, is both good and bad. Mostly good. The bad side of it is it stops the flow of things and it becomes quite evident that each time you are almost completely submersed in the book, or you already are, you become yanked out and start all over again. That said, it does allow a broad range of topics to be touched upon, allowing almost everything to be covered, and everything seems to be in an appropriate section.

In between some subchapters there are passages from Chris Kyle's wife, Taya. At the beginning it confused me a little as to why it was needed to put these in and the effort it would make. Toward the end I began to realise that it put war into perspective for the reader - that as good as shooting the bad guys and blowing shit up sounds, there's always normal life that you eventually have to go back to and deal with what you've done over there. As much as attributing informative content, the passages could've gone a little bit better. Understandably trying to get as close as possible but there were some parts that seemed a little 'rambly'.

The conclusion, or last few subchapters, felt quite rushed and were very brief and short.

Overall, I would give this book a 9/10. It's informative, entertaining, and gives you an insight to what goes on and how people react afterwards. 

You can pick this book up from Dymocks for $19.99AUD or from Amazon for your kindle for $9.99AUD

Word of warning though, as you know there are subchapters coming up at regular and short intervals, it's easy to keep saying "I'll just read until the next one...I think I can squeeze another one in" and then accidentally read for the entire day.

Cate-Marie xxx

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

I absolutely LOVED this book. I picked it up thinking it would be corny and boring - the same feeling you get when you read a history book you're really not that into. But this one, I 100% recommend it to everyone. Even if you never intend on visiting Denmark, read it. It's easy to read, there is never any rambling or unwanted information, and the chapters are so brilliantly set out.

Each chapter is essentially a summary of the month, except instead of writing things like "on this day we did this and this happened", Helen Russell writes it as it it's really happening right then and there in complete detail with conversations included. She also adds in the names and qualifications of all the people she spoke with to get opinions or background on what ever the strange and crazy Danish tradition is going on at the time.

At the end of each chapter there is a short list of anywhere between 2 to 7 dot points of things that were learnt that month. And at the end of the book there is a detailed list of 10 things you can learn and apply to your life in your own country that would supposedly improve your level of happiness. The list at the end I didn't really read much of as it just reinstates everything from the book, but the dot point lists at the end of the chapters are absolutely brilliant. They're humorous and provide a good reminder of what you've just read as you go on to the next month. I love the layout - more books need to be like this.

A few of my favourite dot points are;

1. You can dry hump in water (don't ask, read chapter 3 for more detail).
2. Cows can't dance.
3. You can set fire to a Danish flag but a tardy hoist is criminal (completely backwards - I know).
4. Vikings are tougher than penguins when it comes to surviving the Danish winter.

There are sooo many more of them that I love but telling you those would be both extremely out of context which would be confusing as hell, and contain a million spoilers that would also ruin the awesome reading experience if you decided to pick up the book!

It isn't an overly expensive book. Depending on where you purchase it, it can range between $22AUD - $30AUD. I like my books to be around the $20AUD mark but with this book, definitely worth that few extra bucks.

If you guys have read it, let me know what you think!

Cate-Marie xxx

February's Book List

Hola!

Recently I got back into reading! Yay! Mainly because I've noticed my spelling and grammar take a dramatic recline and a slow decline in gaming hours. Also because reading is incredibly relaxing and you can take books anywhere!

Now my reading genre ranges from crime to scifi to popular fiction to classical. Anything that seems a little bit interesting and suits my mood at the time of either buying or reading, I read that. I went on a massive (for my boyfriend, he was gobsmacked) book shop where I bought 7 books. Two of them a few days before I bought the remainder. So far I've flicked through one as it was incredibly easy to read with minimal effort, and half read another before I put it down and started on my current one. So, my February reading list;


1. Shine: Making the most of life without losing yourself by Samantha Armytage

Always being curious by the 'Self-Help' section of the bookstore, and always wondering "What could be in those books that help people so much more than a counsellor could?" I decided to pick up one for myself. Overall, I'd say though it has valid points, it really isn't worth . All of these things are things you could easily find either online, or do anyway. Also I found that for it to reach max potential in helping people, you would have to fit into a very specific life style, and one that I find isn't that common. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

2. More Fool Me by Stephen Fry 

Firstly, someone help me out. Is it pronounced Steev-en, or Stef-en? I can't quite figure it out and everytime I read his name it bugs me. 
Back to the book, I found it to be only enjoying if you were to read it in his voice. Any other voice that I used somehow made it less comprehensible. As for the content, I love the descriptiveness of it all. How he goes off on a tangent about his childhood home and the comparisons to modern homes, and even his friends homes at the time. I found it easier to picture it and get involved in the story. The human interaction side of things I found to be quite lacking so far. Though I am only half way through so who knows! It could get a lot better toward the end. I'll hold off on my recommendation. Though his previous book about his high school antics does sounds extremely tempting to buy...

3. A Year of Living Danishly: Unearthing the Secrest to the Worlds Happiest Country by Helen Russell.

I found this book under the 'Travel' section. A genre I don't particularly read or even browse. Having gone overseas recently and blogging about it (on my previous blog), I thought "maybe reading someone elses journal or blog on a country I didn't visit would be eye-opening". So I picked this one up over the others (mainly because I absolutely loved the cover art) and I am so incredibly glad that I did. I have almost finished the book now and each chapter is eye opening and informative about Denmark. Writing in the first person, without referring to anyone's real names, Helen Russell has done an amazing job at creating this book. Also at the end of the chapters there's a little "What I've learnt this month" section and it sumarises the chapters into a few dot points perfectly. Definitely recommend this book to someone else. It feels like a completely made up fiction novel, yet isn't, and I love it. Cannot wait to finish it.

And there it is! My February reading list! I'll save the other 4 books I purchased for March or possibly April depending on how busy I get.

Cate-Marie xxx

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

First of all, I love Zoella. Her attitude towards everything is so happy. I will admit going into this that I was only keen on the book because of who wrote it but I will try not to let that taint my view.

I loved the first third of the book. It was descriptive, relatable, it draws the reader in quite well and makes you really root for the main character Penny.

In the second third of the book it was quite...slow. Everything was unnecessarily drawn out and I found it quite hard to remain interested. I did skim over parts as I couldnt bring myself to read the sloppy bits that were obvious and already stated really...

As for the last section, I was both happy, disappointed, and unsatisfied. Happy because I love it when the main character gets their justice. Disappointed as it was done in quite a rushed fashion. Particularly the payback which I found to be completely unrealistic and far fetched. And unsatisfied as it felt extremely rushed. There were loose ends everywhere that weren't dealt with, along with miraculous solutions that just so happened to come along at the right moment. As much as I looooooved the first third of the book and I love Zoe Sugg I cannot bring myself to recommend this book to anyone who wants something a little bit...more.

I give it 3/5 stars.

However if you are looking for a book and your around the 10-13 age mark, then this may be right up your alley...

Cate-Marie xxx