Bookish Buys: Standard Designs

Standard Designs on Etsy has some really great author and book-related prints. Here are my faves...

Oscar Wilde print

Virginia Woolf print

J.D. Salinger print

Alphabet print

Typewriter print

Charles Dickens print 

Picasso print

Animal Farm print

Sylvia Plath print

Joy Division prints

Radiohead print

Brideshead Revisited print

Top Ten Authors On My Auto-Buy List

 
1. Melina Marchetta. I was going to make a joke about being so willing to buy anything she writes, I'd purchase her shopping list, but then I realised that sounded totally stalkery and so I won't mention it at all. Ahem.

2. Markus Zusak. I loved The Book Thief and am eagerly anticipating Zusak's next novel, Bridge of Clay. In the meantime I should really get around to reading his earlier stuff.

3. Caroline Overington. Overington's stories cover so many important issues, but at the centre of them all are very authentic characters and realistic emotions. I've loved everything of hers that I've read.

4. Shirley Marr. I love Marr's writing style and the unique stories she writes. Cookie cutter they ain't.

5. Gayle Foreman. Foreman's If I Stay and Where She Went shattered my heart into a million teeny tiny pieces. I admire a writer who can do that.

6. Stephanie Perkins. On the other end of the spectrum, Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss made my heart all light and happy. It's literary fairy floss at its finest.

7. Craig Silvey. I have a bit of a literary crush on Mr Silvey. I devoured Jasper Jones and adored The Amber Amulet, and have Rhubarb on my husband's Kindle waiting for me to steal it away. I can't wait to see what Silvey does next.

8. J. K. Rowling. C'mon. It's the Queen.

9. Charles Dickens. I know, he's dead, but he managed to release a helluva lot of books in his lifetime that I'm slowly making my way through. I've loved what I've read so much I don't hesitate to buy his work, especially when I come across a really cool edition. I totally judge books by their covers.

10. Charlotte Bronte. Same deal as Dickens, except I've actually only read one of her books, that I happened to absolutely love. So I really want to get the rest of Bronte's work.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Talking Point: Book Hangovers

Symptoms

• You feel like crying when you finish a book, not because it was particularly sad, but because you don't want it to end.
• You find yourself unable and/or unwilling to start a new book, because you're not ready to let go of the last one.
• You go back and reread your favourite passages - or, in extreme cases, the whole thing.
• You imagine what the characters are doing now or how they'd react in certain circumstances. Serious afflictions may even lead to fanfiction.
• Everyone you know starts to look panicked whenever you come their way. You're not sure why - you only want to remind them again that they MUST read this fabulous book.
• You squee when you come across others who have a similar love for the book and instantly become their friend.
• You start to lose your ability to form coherent sentences and instead begin to express yourself in gif form (which is not particularly practical in real life).
• You can't concentrate on anything and wander around in a daze for days.
• When you finally do start a new book, it inevitably disappoints you, because it just can't live up to the last one.
• You want to take the book to bed at night and cuddle it.

Hi, my name is Belle, and I'm suffering from a book hangover. You see, ever since I finished Melina Marchetta's The Lumatere Chronicles, no book has been able to satisfy me. Granted, I've only tried three, and they could just be bad books - but I get the feeling that even if there were outstanding, I still wouldn't enjoy them as much as I normally would. My heart is still in Lumatere.

I was trying to think of previous book hangovers I've had, and the one that immediately sprang to mind was when I read Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga - which of course is light-years away from The Lumatere Chronicles (and not in a flattering way). Still, despite all its faults, The Twilight Saga got under my skin. First I tried to cure my hangover with more vampire books. Then I ended up just rereading the whole saga.

Another time I remember is when I finished David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It's quite a hefty book and took me a little while to read, but when it was done I was left wanting more. Not because the ending wasn't satisfying, because it was - rather, I had enjoyed the world of the book so much I wanted to stay there awhile longer. I read some other Dickens books to remedy the situation, and I enjoyed them, but none grabbed my heart quite so much as David Copperfield.

So now, I have this book hangover I need to cure. Do I just bite the bullet and reread the trilogy (though I would feel guilty about all the completely unread books staring at me from my shelves)? Try and find another fantasy series that I may love as well (even though I'm not a massive fantasy reader and wouldn't really know where to start)? Or just plough away through mediocre reads until the hangover lifts? Tell me, dear readers, have you ever had a book hangover? If so, what was the book, and how did you get over it?

Top Ten Books I Resolve To Read In 2013

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fantastic evening and 2013 is off to a good start for you all. I personally have big plans and high hopes for this year. Including (but not limited to) reading these books...


Source

1. Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff. This book received so much buzz in the blogosphere that I knew I just had to read it. I managed to get my hands on it when it came out, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. Here's hoping I get to it soon.
   
2. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. This one received even more buzz and I pre-ordered it despite never having read John Green before. I figured it would be as amazing as everyone was making it out to be. But I've been too scared of being totally depressed to actually read it yet.
   
3. Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan. It sounds amazing and is another that has gotten brilliant reviews. I can't wait to read it!
   
4. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley. An Aussie gem (or so I've heard) that I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read yet.
   
5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. Anne is the only Bronte I have yet to read, and I plan to remedy that.
   
6. Divergent by Veronica Roth. Of the many dystopians to hit the scene post-Hunger Games, Divergent was one of the few to get resounding praise. I finally picked it up at a book sale after Christmas so I can read it soon.
   
7. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. The first in a series that came to my attention when I found out it was one of Melina Marchetta's faves – so it must be good!
   
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This has been on my bookshelf for years and for some reason I've never read it. I think it's probably about time I did.
   
9. Night Beach by Kirsty Eager. Eager is another Aussie author that I've heard great things about, and I've been meaning to read one of her books for awhile.
   
10. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. When I was at uni I was obsessed with Dickens and read a bunch of his books, but I haven't read much of his lately. I plan to rekindle my love this year, and NN looks like a good place to start.
    

What books do you want to tick off your to-read list this year?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Reading Icons: Charles Dickens

"My father had left a small collection of books in a little room upstairs, to which I had access (for it adjoined my own) and which nobody else in our house ever troubled. From that blessed little room, Roderick Random, Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, the Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, Gil Blas, and Robinson Crusoe, came out, a glorious host, to keep me company. They kept alive my fancy, and my hope of something beyond that place and time..." - David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!''- Fred, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Top 5: Gateway Books (Plus Follow Friday)

This week for TGIF, Ginger asks "Gateway books: Which particular books opened you up to a new genre?" Here are my top five...

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. My gran gave me a copy of this book when I was little, because I was so obsessed with the musical Oliver! Obviously it went way over my head, but it was the first classic I remember attempting to read. Later, my grandad bought me a whole heap of abridged classics that gave me an even greater taste, and as I got older I returned to them and Oliver Twist and quickly fell in love. By the time I was 17, I was a fully-fledged classic lover, going on to study English Literature at uni.
 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I've read dystopian novels before - such as George Orwell's 1984, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and P. D. James' Children of Men - and while I did appreciate them, I still wasn't a massive fan of the genre as a whole. Which is why I was resistant to The Hunger Games for a very long time, until finally the hype became too much and I caved. Thank goodness I did, because I freaking loved the series - so much that I decided to give dystopian books more of a chance. 

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares. When I was at uni, I had a friend who was really into YA. Not gonna lie, I judged her on it. I thought she was too old to be reading silly teen trash, and saw it as, well, really dorky (clearly I was going through a pretentious stage or something). Then, for my birthday, she gave me Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, one of her favourites. I'd seen the movie and enjoyed it (for some reason, I didn't turn my nose up at trashy teen movies as much as books), so one summer day I decided to give the book a go. I LOVED it, and devoured the whole series within a week. Needless to say, it caused me to do a complete 180 in my views of YA , not to mention made me feel pretty damn guilty - and silly - for being so judgey.

Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding. This was the first adult chick lit I read, and what a book to start the genre with! It made me laugh out loud more than any other book I could remember reading, and it still makes me giggle every time I read it. It's such a fun read, and Bridget's inner monologue is so easy to identify with. The experience of reading BJD has made me pick up many a chick lit book, with mixed results.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Ah, Twilight. I have a feeling I'll see this on many lists in answer to this question. It seems that Twilight introduced a lot of people to a lot of things, whether it be reading in general or a particular genre. For me, it was the first paranormal romance I really read. I picked it up not long after I started working at Girlfriend, curious to see what was sending so many teen girls (and, for that matter, adult women) ker-razy. Like so many others, I got completely sucked in, and went on a binge of vampire/paranormal romances for the next few months. Too much of a good thing meant I went off the genre completely for a while after that, but now I like to mix the odd PNR with contemporary, literary and other types of fiction.

P.S. This weeks Follow Friday question from Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's View is: "We want to see what you look like! Take a pic with you and your current read! Too shy? Boo! Just post a fun pic you want to share." Because it's 11.15pm here and I'm not exactly ready for my close-up, here are some pics of me with my favourite author, Charles Dickens, instead. Or the closest I'll ever come to him, anyway.

At Madame Tussauds

At Dickens' house in London

Happy Friday everyone!

Bookish Fun: Game for history/Dickens nerds

My mum always says I was born in the wrong era (I am kinda obsessed with the past). But she also exclaims, "EW, imagine how bad their breath would be?!" every time a couple kiss in a period drama (way to ruin the romance, Mum!). So, when put in that light and mixed together with corsets, major gender inequality and the likelihood that even if I did live in the past, I probably wouldn't be a fancy lady but rather a scullery maid or, if I was lucky, a governess making eyes at the master, I do consider myself better off living in the modern day. Mostly. 

But, if by chance I was to fall into a time machine or discover a secret entry to David Copperfield's drawing room in my closet (holla, Lost in Austen), it's comforting to know that I would be able to survive and, in fact, be "the picture of politeness" if this fun little game (via Jezebel) is anything to go by. Although, apparently, I would have been better as a man in the Victorian era. As a woman, I was let down by my proclivity for dresses that bared a bit too much arm. Whoops.