My Recommended Reads!

I’ve got an hour until my lecture and some time to kill (technically I should be doing uni work and tidying but… nah!) so I’ve decided to go through some of the books on my bookshelf (both real and virtual) and give you my list of recommended reads.

 

 

“If I Stay” by Gayle Forman

I’ve finally learned what the genre is called and technically it’s “sick-lit”, there’s been a bit of controversy over books in this genre being marketed to vulnerable 13-year-olds, but honestly I think it’s all down to the maturity of the reader. This book isn’t an easy read – it’s not very long, I finished it in a couple of hours (although I am a fast reader), but some of the content is quite graphic (I’ll post a warning now – brain chunks are mentioned) and I do think that this should be aimed at more 16+ than 13+ purely because it is a bit… gross at times. Still, it’s a great book.

 

“To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee

Honestly, this is one of my favourite books. I love the story, I love the language used in it, I love the characters and I love the imagery it evokes; Lee is an incredible writer. I studied it for GCSE and it didn’t ruin it at all for me, unlike many stories where studying it has put me off ever wanting to read it for pleasure (step forwards, Wuthering Heights!), this one I could easily read again and again, because of the nostalgia it evokes – my childhood was so different to Scout and Jem’s, and yet reading this evokes memories of hot childhood summers.

 

“The Hunger Games” Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Obviously these books are fairly well known because of the films (which are quite possibly my favourite film-adaptation-of-a-book because there wasn’t that much they left out and the actors were all great and it was everything I hoped it’d be), but the books in themselves are great. I know there’s been a lot of comparisons with Battle Royale; personally I can’t comment because I haven’t read it, but I think these books are fantastic and I’d highly recommend them.

 

“Tales From The Terra Firma Fleet” series by Christopher Maine

I know, I go on about this guy a lot, but I really enjoy his writing! He’s an indy writer and I think he deserves to do well because he’s got a great series going on. Check it out on http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Flight-Renegade-Tales-ebook/dp/B007B3CZF2 . Great characters, great plots, some fantastic relationships building up… it’s like sci-fi-action-romance-drama all in one.

 

“Harry Potter” series by JK Rowling

Do I really need to explain this one? If you haven’t read the books, just read them! Do it! Now!

 

“Marley and Me” by John Grogan

I watched the film and it made me cry. I read the book and it made me cry even more. This book is hilarious, heartbreaking and so touching all in one, and it really is wonderful. I read it all in one sitting and I wouldn’t recommend it because the emotions are overwhelming; read it bit by bit but just make sure that you do read it!

 

Writing Away!

Spurred on by my recent piece of writing (Night Of The Living Love, Actually), I’ve decided that I want to write a full-on zombie novel; without the mushy love story (I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know!). I want to write it differently though – it’s from the point of view of a girl living in the only zombie-free area in the world, and what happens when the barriers break and all the protective measures fall, and a group of zombie rights campaigners have to lead a group of people who are completely inexperienced at fighting and totally unprepared to battle zombies, in a war to save the world. All sounds very cheesy and lovely, right?

So, we have our main character, who starts off about as anti-zombie as you can get – a young American who’s managed to escape the virus ravaging the country, only to discover that the rest of the world isn’t doing too great either. She’s a blogger (I promise that’s where the similarities with me end!) and eventually discovers that she cares about the zombies and doesn’t want to fight them, but must if she wants herself – and her family – to survive.

I’m not going to divulge any more than that, because I plan on uploading it to fictionpress and posting it here for you all and I don’t want to spoil it, but if you see me jabbering on about zombies over the next few months, that’s why. I’ve already started my research – that is, I’ve read Max Brookes’ “Zombie Survival Guide” and have just started on “World War Z”, I watched some of “Dead Set” (I’m sure it would’ve been helpful if my novel was set in the Big Brother house, but alas, it isn’t) and I’m going to watch “28 Days Later” and many other zombie films, no doubt scaring myself silly in the process.

I don’t want my novel to be some ethical yarn about how even zombies have feelings and are human (no they don’t and no they’re not, otherwise they wouldn’t be zombies!)  – I want it to scare the reader and make them see this as a potential future and think about what they’d do. I’m not saying I believe that in the future there will be zombies, but we’re already starting to see the outbreaks of a possible zombie apocalypse, what with the bath salts craze… I kid, honestly. Still, I don’t think there’s anything scarier than the psychological warfare some authors utilize so well, creating the impression that however supernatural and improbable, this could happen one day – or may even be starting to happen at this very minute.

In other news, my sleep pattern is still messed up but I’m hoping that existing on about an hour of sleep in the past 24+ hours will mean that I’ll fall asleep almost instantly tonight and get back into a routine. I’m going on holiday in 5 days, which is very exciting, and I’m 18 in 9 days, which is very very exciting! There’s free Wi-Fi in some areas so I’ll try to keep you all updated, but things are going to be sporadic. I have a big weekend ahead too – especially Saturday, where it seems things are a bit non-stop – but I promised I’d keep blogging regularly now that my exams are over, and that’s what I intend to do. Particularly now that I’ve started writing again, I can start  blogging about what this was actually intended for – my writing! There’s also the good news that I’ve started reading for fun again – I was worried that studying English would ruin reading for me, and I don’t think my frayed relationship with Wuthering Heights will ever be repaired (sorry, Emily Bronte, but your ever-changing narrative perspective and use of dialect annoyed me, even more so when I had to analyze it, and it’s just not going to work out. It’s not you, it’s not me, it’s studying English A Level). However, I’ve started reading World War Z and can’t wait to read more once I’m all caught up on sleep, and after that I’m going to re-read one of my all-time favourite novels, “To Kill A Mockingbird”. That’s probably the only text I’ve studied that I haven’t ended up at least disliking, if not hating, and I think that’s because it’s written in a way that’s easy to relate to because we can remember those lazy childhood summers where the tiniest thing became the hugest adventure, and because I had a brilliant teacher who made the book come alive. Health-wise, things still aren’t great – now waiting on a specialist and a chest x-ray, which isn’t going to be fun – but it’s all progress in making me better, and if it means I’ll be able to do the half-marathon for BCH, I’m all for it.