Tuesday 30 September 2014

Top Ten Tuesday | Books That Were Hard For Me To Read

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke And The Bookish. Lists galore, I can think of nothing better!

This week's topic is book that were hard for me to read. It might be due to a difficult topic, a huge amount of pages, a cringeworthy plot or anything else. I struggled a bit with this topic but managed to make a list of ten.

1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
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I absolutely loved Divergent but I really struggled through Insurgent. I felt like a lot of the plot dragged on a bit and I had to stop myself from giving up on it a few times. In the end I did like it but it was hard to get through.

2. Naked In Knightsbridge by Nicky Schmidt

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I hated this book! The plot wasn't great and very predictable, the characters were not at all likeable and I really struggled to finish it. It was so hard to read that I felt like my IQ was dropping as I read it, I really didn't enjoy it.

3. Friends Forever by Danielle Steele

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Friends Forever deals with so many difficult topics that I found it very hard to read. It was a great book but I cried constantly while reading it and it left me feeling very emotionally drained. You can read my full review here.

4. We Were Liars by E Lockhart

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The writing style in We Were Liars is very unique and I found it quite difficult to read. There are a lot of metaphors used throughout and I often found myself questioning what was real and what was just a metaphor. The confusing writing style made it much harder to read than it should have been.

5. Wedding Cake In Turin by Lynda Renham

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This is another book that I just did not enjoy. I did not enjoy the plot, none of the characters were likeable and there were a lot of silly mistakes and overly repeated phrases. I found this book very annoying which made it very hard to read.

6. A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks

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Cancer in teenagers is never an easy subject to read about but I cried my eyes out all through reading this book. I even made the mistake of finishing it in public and got very strange looks from the other plane passengers as I sobbed hysterically. This was definitely a hard one for me.

7. Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

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I will never be able to read Shakespeare easily. The language goes straight over my head and it is too much work to enjoy.

8. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

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This is another book that was a very emotional read for me. The main character, Ronnie, goes through some difficult stuff in this book and I found some of it quite hard to read about. I cried a lot during this one as well.

9. Fifty Shades Of Grey by EL James

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This book was so hard for me to read that I didn't even finish it. It was not the subject matter that made this book hard to read, I didn't even get to the 'dirty stuff' before giving up, it was just a bad book. The plot was not very interesting, the main characters really annoyed me and I did not want to waste my time reading the rest of it.

10. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

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I'm finishing of the list with yet another book that made cry a lot. My Sister's Keeper is a very hard book to read emotionally. It deals with some very difficult topics and Jodi Picoult dealt with them so well that I couldn't help but shed quite a few tears. 

What books did you find hard to read?

Sophie :)

Thursday 18 September 2014

Review | Divergent by Veronica Roth

Image and video hosting by TinyPicDivergent by Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #1
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Published on: April 25, 2011
Genre: Dystopian
Pages: 487
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: 
Amazon | Goodreads

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. 
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Divergent is the story of Beatrice, a 16-year-old living in a society divided into factions, each representing the cause of war, as they believe it. At the age of sixteen, each member of the society must take an aptitude test to discover which of the five factions they belong to, before choosing which faction to be a part of. However, things are not so simple for Beatrice – she is Divergent.

I loved this book so much. I don’t know why it took me so long to eventually read it but I am so glad I got around to it. I was a little sceptical of the hype but after reading it I can completely understand it all. It was just amazing.

I really loved the characters. I loved Tris, especially as she grew throughout the book. She starts off as a quite confused young girl who tends to follow the rules, although often finds it hard to do so, and grows into an incredibly strong young woman who is not afraid to stand up for herself. I also really loved Four, both his tougher side and his soft side. I loved the connection between the two of them and think he is a really great love interest. I also love Tris’ mother and her brother, Caleb, especially when we, along with Tris, begin to see them as more than we initially thought. I didn’t really like her father, I did not feel like he was a strong enough character to develop an attachment. I would say the same goes for Tris’ fellow initiates, even her friends, until nearer the end of the book.

The plot was enjoyable and not very predictable. I really enjoyed reading about the society and found the initiation process really fun, if that is the right word. I did find some aspects of the plot to be a little predictable but for the most part I did not expect what was happening. I also enjoyed the fact that I found myself both laughing and crying throughout this book. There were some serious issues tackled, which were dealt with well in my opinion, as well as some light-hearted, amusing moments. Though the plot has similarities to many other dystopian books, I think this is one of the more unique YA dystopian books I have read plot-wise.

The romance aspect of the book was great. I am not a fan of insta-love in these kinds of books and I was so glad that there was not any of that in this book. While it is obvious from the start that the two have a connection, they are not declaring their love the day they meet, nor are they incredibly serious by the end of the book. I also think they make a great couple and was all for them getting together.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and I am looking forward to continuing with the series. To anyone who has not yet read this book, do it! The hype surrounding it almost put me off but it was well worth the hype. I was also a little put off by the comparisons to The Hunger Games but found it was a great book in it’s own right.