Book Corner : Goosebumps haul N5 + '' The Cry of the Wolf '' book review by Melvin Burgess

Good morning dear cat readers!

Today is Thursday, the day dedicated to books.
 
   Again i am going to post about the new set of Goosebumps that i borrowed. Don't worry, this kind of post will continue for a little more (until i finish my Goosebumps borrowing "programme") and then a different variety of book posts will follow. Book reviews, book recommendations, tributes to authors.


   This time, these were the books that i borrowed.

A closer look at the Goosebumps 

And from behind

 Books from left to right are:

Goosebumps N29 : My Hairiest Adventure (N26 in the original american edition)
Goosebumps N34 : Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes
Goosebumps N24 : Attack of the Mutant (N25 in the original american edition)


   I think my local lending library has still around 10 Goosebumps that i haven't read. I can't wait to succesfully complete this project of mine. To read all the Goosebumps that i can find.

   I have to admit, something that all of you i think already know, that they are not waaaaay close as scary as they were when i was reading them as a kid. But still what i have to acknowledge is that they still surprise me!

   Most of the times, the ending that is the most obvious isn't the right one. Always the ending is subversive, is something that you had never saw it coming and adds the last ''goosebump'' to your spine before closing the book.......... Ahhh nice days. Wish i was a kid again so i could feel this thrill as back then.




   Moving on, i fell in love with the author Melvin Burgess. First book of his that i read was ''Billy Elliot" (as you can see at this previous Book Corner post).

His writing was so vibrant, so emotional, so ''raw'' and so pure that i knew from that first moment that i wanted to read more books of his.


   Again, i researched what books were available that i could borrow and found myself with 3 choices. Books, Junk (1996) , The Cry of the Wolf (1990) and Lady:My Life as a Bitch(2001).

I picked up The Cry of the Wolf.




Front

Back

Side 

   As you can see from its side it's not a big book. Basically, if i am not mistaken, most of his books are mented for younger - teenage audiences and so is this one. But don't rush so as to reject this book because of that. Again the writing is raw, vigorous and emotional. But first things first.

   The book deals with the life a wolf. A real wolf. 

   In England wolves have vanished for some time now and everybody has forgotten their existence. There is however a hunter that is obsessed with killing rare species of animals. His favorite species is wolves and wants to kill them all until the last one. He as well believes that wolves have disappeared but is mistaken. Some few packs are still alive, hiding from humans. When he finds out about them, killing them all until the last one is his goal.

   The book shows us how he decimates these last wolves and how the laaaaaaast of them try to survive.

   Really an emotional book. It makes you think about life, the choices of people and respect of the wildlife without trying. The book doesn't try to impose on you to think "Oh, the hunter is such a bad person. Oh, why the heck does he want to kill those poor, unprotected animals. Oh, the hunter is an asshole. Oh, those cutie pie wolves". NO! The book just states facts. Just tells you what happened without taking parts who is wrong and who is right. That  is why i say the writing is raw, meaning is impartial.

   Melvin Burgess has this gift with his raw, pure, impartial writing, that just states facts without whitewashing, that makes you feel emotional. That makes you think about was happened, makes you become the hero, all of the heros. The good and the bad ones. And after this ''lifechanging experience'' of getting into the mind and lifes of the heroes, you can decide BY YOUR OWN which part you want to take.

   After undergoing this experience you know from your own WHO and WHY is right or wrong without having the author to tell you through the sentences in his book. And this is pure magic............... The magic of seeing through things and situations and by that becoming a better person yourself.

That was all my loves. I hoped you liked my review and even more i hope that you'll like this book as much as i did, after you read it.

Till the next time,

many many kisses

Book Corner: Goosebumps haul N4 + Book Bazaars haul N1

Good afternoon cat readers!!!

How are you doing?? I hope excellent! :) Thursday is the day and what's better than a book haul!

   Again i borrowed some Goosebumps from my local lending library. I never got the chance to read them all when i was young so now i am on a personal goal to read all the Goosebumps that my library owns, so as to fullfil my childhood unfinished try. Back then , don't laugh, i got really scared of Goosebumps thats why i read only a few of them. Now that i am older they are really boring to read and don't have the same sensation but i force my self to read them as to fullfil my goal......


   Moving on, this time's Goosebumps:

 Books from left to right and top to bottom are:

Goosebumps N9 : Welcome to Camp Nightmare
Goosebumps N30 : It Came From Beneath The Sink!
Goosebumps N32 : The Barking Ghost
Goosebumps N47 : Legend of the Lost Legend
Goosebumps N50 : Calling All Creeps!


And from behind:

   To add something  more to this post, yesterday i visited a ''book bazaar'' that takes place in my city. The words ''book bazaar'' are in brackets as the owner does it for a living so it isn't just a temporary event. I just used the words ''book bazaar'' because they sound more interesting.

   In general i have visited other book bazaars in the past and i really enjoy them as i can find cheap, interesting, new books that i hadn't in mind to read. From these past visits i have bought quite an amount of books that i plan to show you in next posts.

   For this time's book bazaar haul, the bazaar consisted of old, weird, used books that their prices were mostly between 2-3-5 euros (according to their size). Some other books that were bigger in size, cost 10. The owner said that book are easy to be sold, so they are renewed really often. That means that i will pay this place visits more times than once.

Here are my choices!

Front

And from behind

From left to right the title, author and price are :
The House of Sleeping Beauties , Kawabata Yasunari , 2euros
The Red Pavilion , Robert Van Gulik , 3 euros


   Kawabata Yasunari, as the book says from behind, is the only japanese author to ever be awarded with a nobel price in literature. I also happen to own another book of his called ''Snow Country'' where it says inside that Kawabate commited suicide. Only to know this detail gives me the chills and makes his book even ''deeper''. I only read a few pages from Snow Country (i will finish it sometime) and felt the heavy atmosphere of the book.

   This one, The House of Sleeping Beauties, says in a description on wikipedia "The titular house is an establishment where old men pay to sleep besides young girls that had been narcotized and happen to be naked, the sleeping beauties. The old men are expected to take sleeping pills and share the bed for a whole night with a girl without attempting anything of "bad taste" like "putting a finger inside their mouths". Eguchi is presented with a different girl each time he visits the house because of the short notice of his visits. He discovers that all girls are virgins which somehow compels him to comply with the house rules. Each girl is different and the descriptions of his actions are mixed with the dreams that he has sleeping besides the girls."

Interesting right?



   The second one, The Red Pavilion, as i understood from the description behind the book, is about solving the mystery behind a series of murders that take place on the ''Paradise Island'' ?! A detective story in other words.


   In case you didn't already notice, i am really drawn to asian books, books that have to deal with asian culture.



   That were my choices from this bazaar. I also have books from previous bazaars that i can't wait to share with you!!!


Till the next time,
kisses my loves

Book Corner: Gousebumps haul N3 + My newest addition

Good afternoon everyone!


I hope you had a great week so far! Mine was not that bad.

   Today is is Thursday and AGAIN i am going to talk to you about books! I know i write a lot about books lately, but today i am SUPER-EXCITED! ah............ The reason you'll find out in the end.


   Starting of this week's Book Corner, i have for you a Goosebumps haul. The last set of Goosebumps i borrowed, i finished, so i went ahead and borrowed some more.
See below:

Titles from left to right are:
Goosebumps N11 : Be Careful What You Wish For...
Goosebumps N12 : The Haunted Mask
Goosebumps N4 : Say Cheese and Die!

Just to clarify something not that important, i have noticed that the numbering is not excactly the same between greek and american puclications.
For example The Haunted Mak in american publications has the number 11 and Be Careful What You For has the number 12.
Obviously the reason it that the books were published later here in Greece so the numbering got a little confused, but still the differences are insignificant.



AND NOW, LOVED ONES, the thing that i was and am so excited!!!!!!

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TA DA!

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS book1 : CITY OF BONES!!!!!!!!

   I will be honest with you, i found out these book series because of the movie. Firstly i saw the movie, i found it interesting, and then i bought the book. So now it is the latest addition to my bookself. :)

   I decided to read the book as i noticed that the movie was not picturing the book all that well, leaving me with a lot of questions when it ended. Reading the book was the only way to fill those gaps.
Not that i didn't want to read the book, that was one reason more.

   I ordered it online from Public, Monday i think it was, and Tuesday my book was ready for me to go and get it! The edition that i picked up is this one if you are interested, and if you know greek and read the description it says that if you buy it from the store it costs 10,99 euro , whereas if you order it online you pay for it 5,68. Cool right? That was the  money that i paid for it. ( Notification: It didn't include free home delivery. That costs extra. This price is only if you pick it up by yourself from the store. )

   I am so excited to read this book but it has to wait a little until i finish my other books that i have already started.

Last but not least i leave you with a photo tribute to the book.

The book

(bad lighting, sorry)

 First Page

 Last Page

And one last :)

(also newest addition on the bookmark )

That was all dear all.

I'll talk to you soon.

Kisses!

Book Corner: My bookmarks collection + books i currently read + a Bonus

Greetings loved ones!!!


Long time no see :)
But still it is Thursday and it is Book Corner day!


   I have decided for this week's Book Corner to present to you my ''fabulous'' bookmarks. By the word fabulous, you'll see what i mean, as my bookmarks are really nothing impressive. I ought to find some new ones, proper ones, but i am attached to them as silly as they might be :/ And every bookmark needs some love. Let's not say any more and move on to the bookmarks.

Front :

And back:

Now the story behind everyone :

Bookmark N1: This bookmark is actually an advertising card that they were sharing to the students in the university. I don't know why i kept it and brought it home but at that point i was reading a book, had no bookmark and i was in a desperate need of one.
I don't know about you but i am really weird about bookmarks and books. If i don't have a bookmark i can't read. Well i sure can but get really nervous......

Moving on, as i was saying, i didn't have a bookmark and was in a desperate need of one. That was the moment that it hit me that this advertising card could actually do the job! If you notice it has the right proportions.

If you know greek and look closely you'll see that it is an advertisement of a site that sells food online. I don't know, i have never visited this site, i just mentioned it in case you were wondering.


Bookmark N2: This bookmark is typically owned by my sister because it came with a book that she ordered online. It has on it the brand "The Book Depository" even though i don't think my sister bought the book from there. Still. This bookmark is really cool as it has on it the periodic table of all the elements that we were taught in chemistry class at school (nice days).
At the back of the bookmark, as i hope you can see for yourselves, there is more information about the elements and how they are categorized (alkali metals, haloges, noble gases, etc ).
Cool hah? You know, when you are at starbucks and are reading your book, you can inadvertently leave your bookmark in plain sight and BAM! there is an intellectual nerd person. You. ;) And that's how you hit on hot nerds :P


Bookmark N3: Funny story again, i usually read more than one book at a time. In fact i usually read lots of books simultaneously ( or at least i make myself think that i do) It's not something that i suggest and is something that i need to work on , as it really destroys the enjoyment of each book, it takes time for me to finish a book and some times even forget the storyline that i have already read.
Back to my narration, i was reading more than 2 books at that time. So, i was again in need of a new bookmark. I hate the bookshops that i visit because they seldom have free bookmarks available, let alone nice bookmarks. That time the one that i came upon was from ''Πρωτοπορία'' and it was a christmas edition one, eventhough it was mid summer............... What can i girl say?? Still i got it as i needed it and it can be perfect for the winter days that are approaching.


Bookmarks N4 and N5: I think i have shown you these bookmarks before. They are advertising cards from the essence cosmetic brand that usually accompany their newest limited collections. Bookmark N4 is from the Wizard of Oz collection and i kept because i got it while i was in Germany and it serves as a souvenir (get a closer look here) and bookmark N5 i got it from Greece but kept it because i am a secret fangirl of Twilight.


Bookmark N6: This bookmark is my latest addition. It accompanied a book that was a gift to me by a friend. Really a pretty one and it advertises the bookshop that my friend bought the book from, "Βιβλιοβάρδια".


And now, ahem ahem, some......... of the books i am currently reading.

Book N1: Goosebumps N4: Say Cheese and Die! by R.L.Stine  (Maybe a new Goosebumps haul on the way.....)
Book N2: Starlight and Shadows series book1: Daughter of the Drow by Elaine Cunningham
and Book N3: I am not really reading this book for the time being (i try to finish first some others that are ongoing) i just put it in the list so as to show you the book that was the gift that gave me bookmark N6. Book is The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.



And last but not least loved ones i leave you with the bonus. The bonus is a photo tribute to the AWESOME BOOK 50 SHADES OF GREY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that you get my ironic tone. I was in waiting line for almost 2 months at my local borrowing library to get this book in my hands. I read all 702 pages of it in about a week. It was an easy read but really disturbing. It disturbed me that a middle aged, typical housewife, earned a ton of money and made a name for herself as a writer writing this sh*t.
At points the book was ok, funny, emotional even sad. But these points represent the 5% of the book. The other 95% made me wanna vomit from the surrealness of it.
I don't judge her for the sadomasochistic sex scenes ( she at least tries to make them seem like so, i am pretty sure sadomasochism is really much more intense) but for the........... How can i call it. For the nasty, lying, disturbing love storyline.

He is 27, rich as fuck, with a daaaaaaaaaark past, more handsome than any other person on the planet and falls madly in love with an average young student girl, giving her presents as cars, iphones, macbooks, flights with his personal helicopter, a closet of her own full of new, high-end clothes, in only just a week. That's around how long i think everything takes place in the book.
And i am like, SERIOUSLY??? Vomit, vomit, vomit.

Then comes the question why i read the book in the first place, as i already had a hint of what i was about to read.

Reasons are firstly i admit i was intrigued by the sex scenes. I won't lie. Even though i like to badmouth over them, i really was excited to read them.
Secondly i wanted to read for myself and have a full opinion about this notorious!!! book.
Thirdly i don't like leaving a book half-way read and not finishing it.

Giving the reasons 2 and 3 i intend to read the other 2 books in order to completely finish the series, becoming myself one more person to fall in this trap and read this shitty book.....

Forgive me for all my bad language, forgive me dear E.L. JAMES for my bad comments. Nothing personal on you.




SO DEAR READERS, moving on i leave you with a kiss and one of my paws.
Hope to see you soon

MWAH

Book Corner : Summer Book Haul vol2

Greetings dear ones!!!

Here i am back again with another book haul featured in my Book Corner posts.

   I finally finished reading the books that i posted here and so i borrowed some new books from my local lending library. I borrowed 4 Goosebumps, 1 Three Investigators and one more. Here they are :

Up close the 4 Goosebumps:

The titles are :

Goosebumps N3 : Monster Blood
Goosebumps N8 : The Girl Who Cried Monster
Goosebumps N17 : Why I'm Afraid of Bees
Goosebumps N45 : Ghost Camp


The other two books :

Titles:

Billy Elliot by Melvin Burgess (based on the scenario of the homonymous movie)

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in : The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy


   How do think of them? I am really excited to read them all !!

Please beware that more of these posts will follow. As i already have mentioned i am on a personal goal to read all the Goosebumps that my library has to offer.



So, till the next time my loved ones, i leave you with a kiss......


...... MWAH!

The brand NEW : Book Corner !!!

Greetings dear all!!!

   Today i am excited to launch a new post category. It's name will be ''Book Corner'' and will deal with everything related to books. Book hauls, books i'm currently reading, book reviews and specials to book authors. Note that Book Corner will be related to Thursdays as Movies of the Week are related to Sundays.

   To begin this week's Book Corner i decided to post a haul of books that i borrowed from my local library.

   If you remember from this post , i stated that i plan on reading old childhood memories books. For that reason i am on mission to rent as much books, if not all of them, from my local lending  library.

Here follows the first group of books that i borrowed :

I borrowed 3 Goosebumps and one book from the series ''The three investigators''. I think it is the first in the series.

Up close

The titles are :

Goosebumps N2 : Stay Out of the Basement
Goosebumps N10 : The Ghost Next Door
Goosebumps N15 : You Can't Scare Me!
Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in : The Secret of Terror Castle


   And now a little bit on my opinion about the books. If i had to put the three Goosebumps in an order according to their rate of fright, i would have to pick firstly  ''Stay Out of the Basement'', secondly ''The Ghost Next Door'' and last the title ''You Can't Scare Me!''
   As long as the Three Investigators is reffered i didn't have the chance to finish it yet ......... I know know, lazy me.


A little bonus, i thought i'd show you my bookies.

For the titles of Goosebumps i used a small one and for the Three Investigators a longer one.

Hehe. How do you thing of them? They are both advertising cards from the stands of the Essence make-up brand, that usually come with the new limited edition products.
The one on the left was from the Disney's Oz The Great And Powerful collection and the other from the Breaking Dawn collection.
I happen to have picked up the Disney's Oz The Great And Powerful advertising card when i was in Germany so the text written on it is in German.

See for yourselves

   That was all for now.
   So how did you like my new post category? Are you excited for new book posts to come? I sure am.


Till the next time loved ones,
Kisses and my paws