Review: House of Secrets

Life had seemingly ground to a halt after their father lost his job due to an 'incident' at work. Now the Walker family were living in a tiny apartment, with no sure way on how and when they were going to move forward.
Until their parents found a new start in a beautiful Victorian house, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francsico Bay. The family is now set on moving into Kristoff House; a place which they'd discovered was built by writer and Occultist, Denver Kristoff, and it was just in their price range. It was absolutely perfect. Too perfect.
All too soon, the three Walker Children are thrust into a world that is born from the dead writer's twisted imagination. They had to quickly learn that when something is too good to be true, it usually is; now they must cross a plethora of nefarious fictional characters and alien landscapes, in order to obtain a deadly book that might save their parents. And themselves.

When I found out about this book, I was overly excited; although I know very little about YA writer Ned Vizzni, his co-writer made me a little weak in the knees.
With the first two Harry Potter films, The Goonies, Mrs Doubtfire, and Home Alone under his belt; film maker Chris Columbus needs absolutely no introduction. All you need to know is that he certainly has the Midas touch when it comes to children's entertainment.
My expectations just went through the roof, I just knew I would be immersed in a beautifully picturesque world and I absolutely could not wait! The anticipation was certainly worth it.

This was a fantastic read. It was like reading a copy of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, and at the same time being chased by Death-Eaters through the The Forbidden Forest, while you're blindfolded on your Nimbus 2000. It's overflowing with adventure and suspense, and rapidly took me into new directions all the time. At first I started to get annoyed with the pacing, too much seemed to be happening at once but once I'd let go of how I felt it should be, I found myself enjoying it an awful lot more.
I really enjoyed the characters, the Walker siblings managed to be quintessentially family orientated with just the right amount of argumentative behaviour. It seemed like a true representation of what family life is like, I always feel a bit on edge when siblings in fiction get along perfectly.

The book read just like a screenplay, the images were so vivid and it was described so perfectly, I had absolutely no trouble imagining this as a film. I suspect a lot of this has to do with Columbus's writing style and although it would make an incredible movie, I felt like this was his chance to really go wild with a story without a budget looming over his head.
I'm really excited to see how they continue with this series. If the first book is anything to go by, I know the ride isn't quite over yet.

Rating: ★★★★☆

World Book Day!

Happy World Book Day to all!
I pretty much love any book related celebration out there! Especially ones that enables me to share my love of books to anyone who is willing to listen.

What I particularly love about World Book Day is the fact that it targets children to pick up a book and really enjoy themselves. The book tokens provided in schools will allow them to read outside of school. I also happen to know a teacher or two out there who are dressing up as characters today, so the whole experience is about good, clean, wordy fun!

I was taught to enjoy reading from an incredibly early age, and couldn't imagine where my life would be without it. In an age where technology and gaming pretty much rules the world, reminding children you can have the same kind of fun whilst reading warms my heart incredibly.

In the spirit of the day I thought I'd share some of my favourite children's books, if I've reviewed them the titles will be clickable. So without further ado:

1) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K Rowling: We all know the story here, 11 year-old orphaned boy discovers he has magic and is about to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Oh, and he's famous for being The-Boy-Who-Lived. So many people haven't read this series yet, and I urge you to do so, whatever age you are. There is nothing out there quite like it.

2) Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll: Young Alice finds herself falling down a rabbit hole and into a very peculiar world, where nothing is quite what it seems. If you want mind-boggling imagery with beautiful splashes of colour this is certainly the book I would point you towards. If you can, procure a book with the original illustrations- they accompany the rest of the book beautifully.

3) The Twits - Roald Dahl: Probably my favourite book by Dahl, which tells the tale of the horrible couple Mr and Mrs Twit who live in a brick house with no windows, have a family of pet monkeys and who hate each other so much, all they want to do is play pranks on one another. You can get nothing but laughs out of any book by Dahl, but I'd always recommend starting off with this one.

4) Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie: One of the most wonderful magical tales out there. Peter, the boy who wouldn't grow up, befriends the Darling children and flies them off to have an adventure in Neverland. The writing is a little hard to get your head around, considering it's publication date is 1911 but once you do, you discover there is a tale that has incomparable beauty.

5) The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter: The story of a mischievous Peter Rabbit who is chased around the garden of Mr McGregor despite being warned by his mother not to go there. A book recommendation for the very young here, but it doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by any age, if you haven't had a chance to read it you most certainly should!

There are so many others out there, but these are the ones I love very much. A special mention goes to Percy Jackson and the Olympians; The Alex Rider Series and The Jimmy Coates Series. All of which I have started (or completed) reading and have more in depth reviews already written for them.

Thank you for taking the time out to read this, I hope I've added some titles to your shopping list. Enjoy the rest of your World Book Day and remember World Book Night  is just around the corner!

Happy Reading!

Review: The Casual Vacancy

Reasons why I won't be comparing this to the Harry Potter series:

1. It's a muggle story.  It's not about witchcraft or wizardry.
2. No Hogwarts, Hogwarts. Hoggy, Warty, Hogwarts.
3. The distinct lack of one beautiful Potion's Master.
4. Its target audience isn't young wand wielding, Quidditch practising muggles. 

Reasons why you shouldn't to read this book.

1. If  you're expecting a murder mystery, it isn't one.
2. If you think it might secretly be about Gryffindor house. it's not. Don't let the colours of the dust jacket fool you. 
3. If you're easily offended, disturbed or expect that Jo won't kill your heart with words of sadness and mercilessly throw you in a dark, bleak hole of blackness.

I unashamedly admit that ever since I heard this book was being published I've been a simmering pot of excitement. The Harry Potter series has been a predominant force in my life since the age of 8 and Rowling? Well, I've pretty much looked up to her as a hardworking role model for more than half of my life. With that in mind, I pushed down any expectations I had of The Casual Vacancy, while I have a blind faith in Rowling's writing skills this is about as far as way you can get from the Castle walls. True to form, she certainly doesn't hold back on the depressing factor, the novel has sadness, frustration and a whole lot of angst woven within the pages. I managed to read this fairly quickly and with ease regardless of its grim nature; I would definitely pick it up again.

Barry Fairbrother quite suddenly dies on the evening of his anniversary and the small town of Pagford finds its Parish council with a 'casual vacancy'. The death shakes the community down to its very foundations and behind the scenes, we find a town that is indeed 'at war with itself'. They are desperate to fill the the empty seat and will stop at nothing in order for that to happen in their favour. That's pretty much the plot line here, nothing more.

As the story unfolds, we are introduced to a plethora of unlikable characters as they all scheme, back-stab, bully, intimidate and double cross one another into gaining an upper hand. I've not read a book all year where I've wholeheartedly hated every single character.

I couldn't hand out the award for most hated character in a book this time, as there were simply too many to choose from. Do I go for the crack whore? The cheater? The rapist or the abuser?
Of course, there is also the selfish widow, the gossip queen, the overbearing mother and the rebel without a cause to choose from. (I finally decide to award it to everyone. You're welcome, Pagford.)

The only saving grace seems to be the late Barry Fairbrother himself, although I'm fairly certain if he wasn't surrounded by the halo effect and I did manage to get inside his head, I would hate him just as much as the rest.

This novel is not without faults, the character-jumping chapters got very confusing at times and at the beginning of the book I was simply overwhelmed with the sheer number of names that were thrown at me. I quite unashamedly admit that I had to map down the family trees in order to keep on top of it. It didn't really help, I struggled throughout. At times, I did feel there were profanities that were slipped in for no other reason than 'just because'. 

Tiny chapters of 3 or 4 pages send me round the twist, I have no sense of understanding for them and they serve no purpose for me. There was an abundance of them in this book and sometimes it was a little more than small irritant, I was longing for fleshed out chapters after a while. 

It's quite a shame really that modern culture was used so freely, while I respect the right of authors who wish to do this, I was expecting more from Rowling. It gives the book an instant shelf life and in 10 or 15 years the references will mean little, if anything at all. She's managed to keep her books timeless up until now, I just wish she'd carried on doing so. 

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and as a first adult novel I think it was pretty great. I really do believe she successfully pulled of the transition from writing for children to writing for adults. There were times and passages that quite simply took my breath away. The writing style is magnificent and while unlikable, the characters at times, were wonderfully insightful. 

Obviously, a novel by Rowling isn't a novel by Rowling unless she successfully tears your heart out and feeds it to a meat grinder in the process. That was something  I welcomed with open arms, it truly felt like coming home and being hugged by your slightly sinister mother.

So, should you read this attempt at literature for adults? Absolutely. If you've enjoyed Rowling's writing style in the past, then it's a given you should pick this up immediately, she's only improved with time. If you're not familiar with her work, I'd still pick it up, it is a page turner if anything. Mainly though, I believe it deserves a fair chance, without Harry Potter looming over it like a great smoky Dark Mark in the sky. (Finite Incantatem your Morsmordre, you guys.) 

Rating: ★★★★☆

A New Home.

November 2011 started with a book list, compiled from the endless unread tomes stacked around my house. As the list grew, my determination to read them all grew with it and in January 2012, I set up a review blog on Tumblr documenting my progress along the way.

I didn't realise how much writing reviews and literally becoming one of the greediest readers I know, would end up meaning to me. It really got me involved in a lot of amazing things not only did participate in this year's World Book Night but I recently ended up being part of a reading group for this year's Guardian First Book Award, too. Equally amazing and wouldn't have been at all possible if I hadn't thrown myself in front of the literature train. 

As much as I love my Tumblr account, which you can find here- I felt I needed a space without all gif images and photo sets of Harry Potter going in between my actual written words. Essentially, it'll be the same blog but with less Severus Snape and more literature based activities, (as well as my usual review stuff). I'll be keeping my old one too, I've grown rather attached to it. In the mean time I'll move all my old reviews on to this blog.

So here's to a new, grown-up home.
Thanks for joining me. 

Kaveeta