Anne of Green Gables, a review

I am so glad that I pressed myself into picking up this book. I have never intended on reading it and actually bought it to donate to my old school (I’ve given them other books instead, don’t worry!), however, as it sat there on my shelf I felt drawn to it somehow. I decided on a whim that I was going to read it… and then it sat on my shelves for another few months! Okay don’t judge me with that, we all do it (I hope), but then the BookTubeAThon came around and I decided that it was going on my tbr, and I was going to read it. And read it I did.

I was enjoying myself with the beginning, I liked our introduction to Anne and watching her wait anxiously to see whether she would be accepted into this family. However, once it was concluded that Anne would stay and once she had settled into her new life I started to be a little bored with the story. Although there were little events here and there as Anne got into mischief, there wasn’t exactly much happening in the novel and those little bits I found more annoying than anything else. Maybe I’m becoming a grumpy adult?

Once Anne turned 13 however, I re-fell in love with the story, absorbing it so quickly until the very end. The section of the book was paced well, with interesting plot points and I was fully engrossed in Anne’s world and the events going on around her. This is the section that made me fall in love with this book, this is the section that made me want to give the book 5/5*! I had to be reasonable and remember that I didn’t enjoy the middle of the book, hence why my rating of the novel is actually 4/5* but I am now incredibly invested in Anne’s life and I will definitely be continuing with the story at some point!

I definitely recommend picking this children’s classic up, and I also recommend pushing through to the end if it isn’t appealing to you at the beginning. You might find a new favourite is in your hands.

July Wrap Up! Hella late but better than never!!| 2018

So this is ridiculously late (just wait until I pop my August TBR up!) but surely it’s better late than never?! Okay, shush just let me get on with it! If you’d rather see this in a video format, then click here for the link to my YouTube July wrap up, which was actually posted within a reasonable time frame! Shocker, I know.

Who-Ology by Cavan Scott    4/5*

This is a fun read which covers the whole history of the show and goes into details about all the doctors, companions, villains and more! As a whovian it was fun to read about some episodes I’ve not been able to get to and have some more depth to the show.

In The Shadow of Hitler by Richard Vaughan-Davies     3/5*

Find my full review here! This was an interesting read, but it didn’t quite hit the mark. Certain aspects were interesting, however, they couldn’t quite make up for the rest of the story to increase my rating.

 

Hit Squad by Sophie McKenzie    4/5*

Find my full review of Hit Squad here! I am so glad I finally finished up this series, this ended the Medusa Project in a really satisfying way, as well as leaving it open enough that it could be picked up in the future! I would absolutely love that, but seeing as it was published in 2012 I doubt Sophie McKenzie is going to write any more in the series. I can always hope though!

Being Nikki by Meg Cabot     4/5*

I’ve been really enjoying this series. Contemporary with a fun twist that really adds another dimension to the story, the ending of this book was really shocking and left me on such a cliffhanger!

 

Othello by William Shakespear    1/5*

Oh my god, I HATED this!!! I just could not get through it and ended up DNFing it! Maybe one day I’ll pick it back up again, and I’d like to watch an adaptation seeing as it is supposed to be performed. But for now, I’m leaving it be.

 

Fractured by Teri Terry     4/5*

This is the second installment in the Slated trilogy and I really enjoyed it! It has been years since I read Slated (around 5!) so I’m really happy that I still love this series and I’m excited for Shattered!

 

The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse    4/5*

I listened to this book via audiobook (thank you library) and sadly I think this might’ve made me less emotionally attached to the characters, and with a book like this, I personally feel that this is an important part. So maybe this could’ve gotten 5* if I’d read a physical copy, or maybe it was the writing. Either way, I still recommend this read!

The Eye of the North by Sinéad O’Hart    4/5*

I absolutely fell in love with these beautifully written characters and the world building was fantastic. I genuinely felt sad that the story was over and hope that there could be a sequel in the future! A great 8-12 read and I’ll be keeping an eye out for more from Sinéad O’Hart in the future!

That Old Black Magic by Cathi Unsworth     4/5*

Find my full review here! This was a really really odd book, but don’t let that stop you from reading it! Magical, dark and intense, this book has the potential to suck you in and only spit you out hours later.

Next up, the 7in7Readathon reads! Find my wrap up and reading vlog here!

The Punisher    3/5*

I enjoyed this comic, however, this was my first experience with this format and I had been expecting to get more of the story within the issue. Therefore I finished it feeling slightly disappointed, but I still enjoyed the story arc and may finish it up in a bind up in the future.

Norse Mythology by Neal Gaiman    4.5/5*

I really enjoyed Gaiman’s take on the Norse God’s and their antics! The short stories all lead on beautifully to the next and come together at the end to create one larger overall story. I definitely recommend this one!

 

The Essential Spike Milligan   3/5*

I think I could’ve given this 4/5* if I wasn’t reading it for a readathon. It made me read through this a lot faster than I would’ve liked and took away some of the impacts. I want to reread this at some point and see how I feel then.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell    4/5*

I can’t believe this took me so long to read! I’m so happy that I give contemporaries a chance nowadays. This is a deep book that follows Cath through her discovering college and being introduced to adult life, slowly but surely.

After Anna by Alex Lake    4.5/5*

This book fucked me up so bad. I 100% recommend! Even though I could tell all of the “twists” I was still completely hooked and couldn’t put it down. Total mind fuck! (a great compliment for a thriller!)

Now into the BookTubeAThon reads! Find my wrap up here in blog format and here in video format!

I Used to Know That Geography by Will Williams    4/5*

This is a great little geography book and written in a way that keeps you interested (rather than feeling like it’s a textbook!). Great for those wanting to recap the subject or be introduced to the GCSE (14-16 yo) standard of the subject

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery    4/5*

Although I found the middle section of this book (before Anne turns 12/13) quite tedious, after finishing I absolutely adore Anne and can’t wait to read more following this young girls life! Definitely very invested haha.

 

And that is my wrap up! I read loads this month and took a loooong time to recover after it! Hence this really late post haha, but I’m getting myself back on track now… before I go and leave for uni. So hopefully I can stay this way! I don’t think I’ll keep this level of reading up but I’m really glad I got through what I did.

BOOKTUBEATHON 2018 WRAP UP!

I did it! I finished my first ever BookTubeAThon! It was genuinely difficult, as I did the 7in7readathon just beforehand, however, I am really proud of what I managed to do! So, let’s get into the challenges and what I managed!

Book 1 was I Used To Know That Geography, by Will Williams. This book was part of the coin toss challenge, I did it between this book and a 1950s geography textbook, and clearly, this one won. This is a non-fiction book which encompasses the basics of Geography within the GSCE sector of UK education. My boyfriend bought me this as a little gift as this is the topic of my undergraduate degree! I genuinely enjoyed this, I think it would be such a good book to remind someone of the basics of geography or to even teach them it for the first time if they didn’t choose it as a subject. I gave it 4/5*. This book also counted as a book with green on the cover, reading a whole book with the same hat on (my mortarboard!) and also something that I want to do, which is geography.

Next up was Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, which was my choice for the challenge of reading a book and then watching its adaptation. This took me a little while to get through, I enjoyed our introduction to Anne however, after this up until around when she turns 13 I struggled through. It was just not overly interesting to me and felt a lot like filler. Maybe I just really don’t like kids! Either way, once I got to the section where Anne was a little older I absolutely fell in love with her and with the whole story, speeding right through the last hundred odd pages. I then watched the adaptation from the 1980s and also loved this! I’m really excited to carry on with the books so that I can watch the next film! I gave Anne 4/5*, which is a pity as I feel really invested in this world now and wish I had read this as a girl!

Book number three was The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank, by Willy Lindwer. This book follows the story of six women who survived the Holocaust and their stories. They all individually had interactions with the Frank family during this time, however, that is not the main focus of their stories. They simply are telling us the atrocities they suffered, the comradeships they formed to make it through this horrendous event and how their lives were forever changed. This is such an important read, we should not forget horrific past events, lest we make the same mistakes. 5/5*

Onto something a little lighter for book four…but only a little, with Alice by Christina Henry. This is a dark retelling of Alice in Wonderland with Christina adding her own twists and turns to the aftermath of Alice’s visit and what it did to her. This version of events is not a cutesy fairy tale, it’s horrific and realistic and absolutely engrossing. I was still in this world days after I finished the book. Loved it! 5/5*!!

Now onto something that actually is lighter, Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. The 6th book in the Discworld series! As anyone who is aware of the Discworld knows, these books are very lighthearted, humourous and silly so definitely a good choice after the last two, darker books. This is my favourite book so far in the series, I love all three witches and just lost myself in the world. Excited for the next witches story! 4.5/5*

Now this is where I started to deviate from my tbr for the BookTubeAThon. I was in a slump from all this reading for both this readathon and also the 7in7readathon which was for 7 days directly before BTAT. A lot of reading! So I went for a re-read instead, Battle of Britain by Chris Priestley. I picked this thin, 8-12 book which I know I enjoy and also has a spine which I love so that I could still meet that challenge. This is historical fiction which is written in a diary-like style and I personally think that all the books in this set are brilliant for children. 4/5*

I was still in a panicky stage, so I went for this 3-7 book that came with an American Girl doll I got when I was 7! Bright, Shiny Skylar by Valerie Tripp. I just really needed a quick read! Took me around 5 mins and was a really good way to stop me from stressing about the books I was reading as this was my 7th book! 3/5* for the age range that it’s in.

 

So now I wasn’t panicking as much I was able to actually read! Runaway by Meg Cabot, so back onto my planned tbr! This is the 3rd book in the Airhead series, which I’ve really enjoyed. It didn’t go in the direction I expected but tbh I’m not mad! All three have been quick and fun reads for me and I definitely recommend people who aren’t usually into “fluffy” contemporary to have a look at these. They are a good middle ground I think! 4/5*

Now technically that was my last book for the BookTubeAThon, at least it’s the last book that I completed. But I was in a good reading mood after finishing this so I picked up the final book that had been on my tbr.

Unrivalled by Alyson Noël. I only got 109 pages into this book, and tbh I’m still making my way through it now, but I have enjoyed what I’ve read of it and I’m really glad I managed to at least start it within BTAT. So far, I’d give what I’ve read 3/5*, but I’m not even halfway through yet so fingers crossed I’ll rate it higher!

 

And that’s my wrap up for the BookTubeAThon! In total, I read 1980 pages!!!! 1871 of these were from books that I started and finished during the readathon. This has taken me a while to get up, to be honest, I’ve been swimming in things to do for moving next month and it’s been hella stressful. So I decided that I was going to let myself write and upload this when it actually worked for me rather than stressing myself out to hell and back! Hopefully, I’ll be back on track….after the next post! Which is a July wrap up!!! (Halfway through August, I know, I know. It’ll be up to date after that!! haha).

BookTubeAThon 2018 TBR!

I originally did this TBR as a video (if you couldn’t tell by the thumbnail-esque picture) so if you’d like to watch that then click here!

This will be my first foray into BookTubeAThon, which is spanning the 30th July till the 5th August this year, and I am really excited to take part in as many of the YouTube and Instagram challenges as possible! It’ll be a bit of a test for me as my editing skills are still in development but I’m looking forward to the challenge!

There are 7 reading challenges every year, so I’ll go through each challenge and explain my book choices.

1. Coin toss – this challenge is for my book to be decided by the flip of a coin (which I am horrendous at!). I decided it would be picking between 2 geography books that I own, one from the modern day and one a textbook from the late 1940s. I’d love to read both of them, especially now that I’ve finished my geography degree, so either one is fine by me! I ended up flipping and getting the modern day book so that is the first book on my tbr.
2. A book about something you want to do – so for me the book for challenge one is doubling up for this challenge. I really would love to have a job within the field of geography and so this fits in perfectly for me!
3. Book & Adaptation – challenge 3 is to read a book and then also watch its adaptation within the BookTubeAThon. I decided on Anne of Green Gables, which I have never read before and have been meaning to get around to for a while. I’ve also never seen an adaptation for it so I’m looking forward to this story.
4. Green – the fourth challenge is to read a book with green on the cover. The first two books I have already chosen also fit into this category as my copies both have green covers. However, I decided to pick some other books to also fit within this. I chose two books for this challenge, book #1 is Runaway by Meg Cabot (3rd book in the Airhead trilogy) and book #2 is Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (6th book in the Discworld). I have been really enjoying reading both of these series and felt that their covers being green was a sign that I should read them soon!
5. A hat? – This challenge is to wear a hat the whole time while reading a book. Not going to lie I’m not keen on this challenge, I dislike hats for multiple reasons (I also get migraines and just… no thank you) so for me I am going to wear a hat reading Runaway as I always blitz through Meg Cabot’s books and I won’t have to have it on for long! It also means I won’t have to wear the hat outside, which is good as the only one I can find is a woolly hat and it’s July (and I live in the northern hemisphere) so I’d look like a crazy woman!
6. Beautiful spine – challenge #6 is to read a book which has a very pretty spine, specifically the spine rather than the cover as a whole. I picked a book called Unrivalled by Alyson Noël, which I picked up for no reason other than its spine! What else could fit this challenge so perfectly?
7. 7 books – the very last challenge is to simply read seven books over the course of the readathon. As I only have 5 books so far on my tbr I have just chosen random books which I would really like to get to for the last two. Book 6 is The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer, which I have owned for almost a decade now! I bought this on a school trip to the Netherlands in year 8 (12 to 13-year-olds) when we visited the Anne Frank Museum, and I was 13 at the time. I didn’t read it then as truth be told, I was kind of scared of the topic. It was stories about a dead girl which I knew were going to make me upset. I don’t think I was quite mature enough to read this book at that stage. Now I’m nearing the end of 21 years and I feel like I can pick up this book and really get out of it what the author intended. This will have a very different feel to all the other books on my tbr, however, I am happy to finally be getting around to this book. Book 7 is Alice by Christina Henry, the first book in a duology (I think) with the second book being Red Queen. My friend bought me these two books a couple of years ago for Christmas, and I was unable to get around to them as I had so many other books on my tbr! This seems to be a dystopian retelling of Alice in Wonderland and I am excited to dive into this darker version of the world.

That is my whole tbr explained and disected, so for ease of reference I’ll list all the books below:

• I Used To Know That Geography – Will Williams (Coin toss and something I want to do)
• Anne of Green Gables – L. M. Montgomery (Read a book and watch its adaptation)
• Runaway – Meg Cabot (Read a green book)
• Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett (Read a green book)
• Unrivalled – Alyson Noël (A beautiful spine)
• The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank – Willy Lindwer (Additional)
• Alice – Christina Henry (Additional)

Please let me know if you’re going to be doing the ReadAThon too, I’d love to interact and see how you guys interpret the challenges! I’ll be posting updates and responses to the challenges on my YouTube channel and my Innstagram (and lets be real probably Twitter too) so if you’d like to keep up with my progress then you can find me there! Links below (they’ll open in a new tab).

Click here for my Instagram – @autumnofpellinor

Click here for my YouTube – Autumn of Pellinor

Click here for my Twitter – @autumnpellinor