Aemilia

I’m 17 //Loving books // book reviews by me // Booklr

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The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

After binge watching The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings films I finally committed to reading the books. Whilst I knew wha to expect before reading the book in terms of the plot, I was very much surprised still; the story was a lot more mysterious and magical to experience and I thought Bilbo’s character was portrayed as much more brave and courageous in the book.

I absolutely loved reading this book. It is definitely one of those books that can be read many times and no doubt be any less spectacular each time. The dwarves’ adventure turned out to be primarily led by a simple hobbit from the shire to whom no doubt had no idea that he would find such a powerful ring and create such a mark on this fantasy world.

One of my favourite characters whilst watching the films was always Gandalf, he is wise, powerful and trustworthy and I’m glad the book didn’t change my opinion of him. In fact it probably made me appreciate and love him more as a character. I’m genuinely so impressed that this book was published in 1937! It’s fantasy world that it created is known to just about everyone and the book inspired so many other writers and games like dungeons and dragons. It is a timeless classic that anyone can love reading.

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Quiet by Susan Cain

Are you an Introvert? Or do you want to understand the characteristics of extroverts and introverts? This book helped me realise that being an introvert and all the social implications that derives from introversion isn’t necessarily the worst thing and also has positive factors. For example introverts do need to recharge after an exauhsting event or social interactions that are particularly stimulating but this also means that they work better in less stimulating environment, with less people and work well by themselves a lot of the time.

It also sheds light on conflicts that arise with a relationship with an introvert and an extrovert and how to improve them and compromise within them. Quiet is empowering, especially to an introvert that is unsure how to deal with their personality. 

I especially admire how it outlines the history of the ‘culture of personality’ and the difference of location that plays a part in the desired personality that comes with introversion or extroversian. 

☆☆☆☆☆

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Frankenstein By Mary Shelley

Previous to reading Frankenstein my only knowledge of the tale was crafted through common knowledge and the black and white film I still have on DVD; I was presently surprised at the lessons and the depth of the book.

Despite the book being hundreds of year old I found it transcended time with the adventure and suspense that carries the tale. It starts of with victor Frankenstein being a young boy and eager to learn, especially in the field of science. Victor is curious and is fascinated by nature and life itself. Unfortunately as we all realise his curiosity and ambition only twists his life into turmoil. The monster that he created is at first, although still visibly terrifying, is seemingly innocent at heart but we soon find out his isolation and lack of human connection turns him into a monster.

There is clearly an underlying set of morals imbedded in the story, including science having some answers but not all, the importance of human connection etc. This Gothic Horror is both disturbing and beautiful. I’m in love with the mesmirising scenery of Switzerland. The though of Frankenstein’s creation on a sled travelling through rough ice terrain was a fascinating one for me and I don't think I’ll ever erase it from my mind.

★★★★

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Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig

I love this book. It paints an experience of depression without lying or cherry picking. At first it obviously expresses a dark, negative and well depressing experience. What I love about it is the hope and how it’s purpose is often to bring a moment of hope to a depressive. I didn’t know so many celebrities had depression.

After reading this I think my head has cleared a bit, I’m a bit lighter. It has helped not hindered me.

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favourite books. I had a brief understanding of what the narrative was, which was that a black man was on trial for rape, but that was only due to reading a short summary of the film.

At times it was certainly funny due to the main characters’ liveliness and corybantic nature of the children but the humour was often also due to the bizarre characters like the Radley family.

Whilst there was a sense of innocence accumulated in many parts of the book it also dealt with a very prevalent and serious issue which was of course the racism of the 30s and the deep routed racism of the south. I often found myself engrossed in the town of Maycomb and their life.

I think this is a perfect example of a novel commenting on serious issues whilst also keeping a lighthearted feel to it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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The Catcher In The Rye: J. D. Salinger

What did I think this book would be? I have no clue, but certainly I didn’t expect an angsty teen prancing around talking shit about everyone. It was the 1950s and this kid hates anything that breathes, seriously its goddamn true. Despite this, it has some interesting characters involved and sometimes you sorta feel sorry for him with his dead brother and all.

I’m seventeen and this character reminds me of my emo phase; I drank alcohol, smoked and judge every living soul that I came across with distaste. I despised school, especially the people and wasn’t too keen on how it the school system was run either.

The book just didn’t have much events that could draw you in and not let you go though, it was a long rant by a teenager and his unstable thoughts. My main criticism is just the lack of excitement, it didn’t grip me in too much. I can see how it can be appealing. It’s an easy read, sort of calming because nothing much actually goes on.

Anyway I understand that this book captures a rebellious, angst that most people go through in their teens.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Louis De Bernières: Birds Without Wings.

Focusing on a little town in Anatolia during the fall of the Ottoman Empire, this book will never fail to impress me. The characters are extremely well made and with characters like philothei, drosoula, karatavuk and rusted bey reading this I developed a connection to them. I cared for them. However, whilst they were living their lives the world around them seems to be falling apart; I had no idea that the fall of the Ottoman Empire was like this. The descriptions of the wars and the deportations due to religion or ethnicity is scarily relevant and accurate.

It being a Louis De Bernières book, I adore the atmosphere of early 1900s Europe due to the beautiful descriptions of the nature and culture in Turkey. Unsurprisingly it’s still devastatingly tragic, deaths that will make you cry and a upsetting death of the way life was in their little village, the death of their peace.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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The Green Mile by Stephen King:

I love this book. The characters in it like Percy, Paul, Janice and John are so real and their own. There is no cutting corners as far as I have witnessed in this book. Reality bites back in the plot with old age and consequences ( not including the supernatural element of the book obviously.)

It was both entertaining and devastating; the more you read the more you witness the faults in humanity and society now and in the 30s. It would be unfair to state the book is either solely a supernatural orientated story or solely a social justice and prison story. The Green Mile incorporates both the supernatural phenomena plot and the reality driven prison and execution plot based in the 30s exceedingly well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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So I finished reading misery by Stephen King and WOW I was gripped. I did watch the film of Misery before reading this so I wasn’t surprised by the outcome and knew it would be gruesome; I had no idea it would be as gruesome as the book depicts.

Paul the big shot writer drove in a storm and crashed, poor Paul got kidnapped by crazy Annie and treated. In the book he gets put through so much more shit than the film, yet he still persists. I was rather creeped out when he found out who Annie really is and what she has done.

When people came to the house multiple times, each time I was on the edge of my seat screaming in my head for the situation to favour Paul. Even the ending produces a jump scare.

All in all it’s as good as you’d expect a Stephen King book to be: gory, typical detailed characters that grip you in and fear. His character Paul is an extremely typical Stephen King character that pops up in most of his books but still a really enjoyable read that I genuinely couldn’t put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Taking me a while to read this one but feeling Christmas and coffee

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Dune by Frank Herbert

I’ve been pining to read Dune for a while now so I was given the book for my birthday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dune is a 60s sci-fi Novel that is definetly the most impressive sci-fi Nobel I’ve read to date. It’s not short of pages, with over 500 pages, and in these pages Frank Herbert creates a unique universe of his own.

The main character is Paul who arrived on Arrakis, the desert planet in which the story is set, with his mother and father. This new world is daunting to them all due to the most important and sought after resource being water. After a devastating betrayal Paul and his mother are left out in the seemingly Barran land of the desert in fear of the dangerous worms.The Fremen are a mysterious and loyal community that the reader begins to fall in love with.

The character development of Paul is huge, him being 15 at the beginning of the novel, he grows massively and transforms into a messiah of sorts.

Overall the ending gave way nicely to the sequel and didn’t disappoint. I reccomend this book to any sci-fi lover, the length of the book will not dissapoint any reader.

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When I read the first Rama ‘ rendezvous with Rama’ I enjoyed the whole book, Intrigued from start to finish. When I began Rama 2 I didn’t think it was going to be nearly as good. For the the first part of the book I dipped in and out of it not fully engulfed into the book due to it being deeply about the characters on earth at first ( which was actually vital to me being involved with the characters). However, When they actually explored the ship I couldn’t stop reading; at one point even reading until 2am. I was so curious as to what they would discover around the next corner! The characters were made extremely well ( I thought better made than the first) I absolutely hated some and adored the main character, nichole, and the relationship towards the end.

I appreciate the ambiguity of just about everything because I’m positive if I did get a full answer to everything I would have been dissapointed. The creatures met in the second book are so strange and fascinating. At some points I was even pretty scared as I shared their fear of some of the creatures ( the octospiders I think). The very real nature of humanity expressed through this book SPOILER!! ( for example when most of the crew and controllers wanted to destroy the ship in fear) helped the book ground a more realistic view that humanity would take on the second Rama’s situation. I loved the ending it gave way perfectly to a sequel!

I’m conclusion I enjoyed the second Rama probably more than the first and definelty reccomend it to a person who’s read they first book ( I reccomend the series and obviously the author Arthur C Clarke). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Finally got round to reading this classic!

I love both Plato and Aristotle’s writings I don’t really know how to sum it up but it definetly makes You contemplate your approach to life. The themes of the chapters are extremely in depth and in my experience mostly enjoyable.

If you’re someone who is interested in philosophy, specifically ethics, then aristotles’ input into ethics would definelty be perfect. The translation of this particular copy I was also surprisingly impressed with

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Arthur C Clarke is probably one of my favourite sci-fi writers, I love the atmosphere he establishes in each book that reveals a disturbing and fascinating future for humankind. I’ve been waiting a while to read this well known book. I haven’t even seen the film. What I can say is that it was shorter than I expected but no less imaginative and bright. Since I’ve read some of the Rama series before I could see connections between the two books. In both Rama and 2001 a space odyssey the alien life forms do seem to be extremely advanced which makes it more mysterious. However in 2001 a space odyssey the alien life we knew much more about and the ending. SPOILER ALERT!

The ending was groundbreaking, the character was in a alien invented room, representing an earth like room.I love the idea of the aliens being beyond a body due to their evolution and intelligence. The idea that they were just too late to witness them in their galaxy as physical life forms was so interesting. The portal made by the alien forms that the main character discovers and goes through is mesmerising; there’s an overwhelming Myriad of ideas and discoveries flashing before his eyes!

It was a short read and a refreshing one at that at the time as I was alongside it reading herodotus ( the histories) which I’ve just finished. There will be a review of that soon as obscure of a book that is, it’s a difficult read for anyone therefore I read light books as well.

Anyway I definelty reccomend reading this book it’s worth it one hundred percent and it’s not the most challenging read. If you have spare time definelty read it! I think I found this book in a charity shop so You don’t need to spend too much money on it at all.

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Daily reminder!

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Girl interrupted by Susanna Kayson

(TW ED,SUIDIDE)

So I saw the film before I read the book again with this one so I did know what to expect. The book however filled me with a lot more hope than the film, with recovery seeming more possible rather than just inpatient. I’m an inpatient in an eating disorder ward so I can somewhat relate to this book it describes being inpatient perfectly ( except mine is nhs). The book centres around a suicidal, borderline personality 18 year old who goes into hospital and meets some interesting characters. I will admit it was rather shorter than I expected but I did like the simplicity of it as I found it refreshing. The struggles she goes through with her thoughts and her mental illness was hard to read but the ending ( not giving anything away) was more hopeful than I expected. I would have liked a deeper look into her life but when I was reading the book I was deeply inspired to write a book about my own experience and life being in and out of mental health hospitals in the UK. It’s frustrating how little mental health is prioritised as Mental illnesses affect so many of us and I think this book really does try to make awareness of numerous mental illnesses. Although if anyone is reading this far and does finding suidide or mental health inpatient life triggering please don’t read it. I found it more inspiring but I am trying to recover and it was a great boost of inspiration. It made me more aware of borderline personality disorder which isn’t often talked about. It does mention a suicide and obviously the main character is often suicidal so major trigger warning for both the film and book.

I loved the character of Lisa ( Angelina Jolie in the film) she was just as bright in the book as in the film. (Myself suffering froman eating disorder) I noticed ED’s we’re lightly brushed over but it didn’t seem to romantisise mental illnesses which is really good! Anyways I would reccomend this book if You want a light, short read, unless however You think it could be triggering.

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Pet Sematary by Stephen King

I noticed reading numerous Stephen King Novels including Pet Sematary, Dreamcatcher and The Shining he repeatedly paints a picture of a similar male character that often has the characteristics of an alcoholic, abuser who is well educated and possibly a father. He writes a lot about places in Maine and Derry. However, each book is repeatedly still as unique as ever but eerily similar to every other Stephen King novel. This doesn’t however mean I think that his writing is bad, quite the contrary, each story brings a life of its own and a universe that seems connected to each other but still wholly itself.

In Pet Sematary the affect of death on the family shows a unique effect on each character, the death of family members and pets. This in turn affects their family dynamic that is otherwise a strong familial bond. The character of Jud and his wife I found rather cute especially their relationship with Louis.

I did actually watch the first version of its film before reading the book so I did have an idea of the plot overall so none of the events came as a particular surprise to me unfortunately. I did find all the deaths quite emotional as they had a very real effect on all the characters. The film made it seem like a quick blood fest at the end which is exactly what It was in the book minus the details ( for no spoiler purposes).

The rivalry between Louis and his wife’s father I found quite amusing, I love his odd details that help make the book more alike reality. Anyways I’m not really disappointed with this book; I don’t however think it’s Stephen King’s best book but I wouldn’t rate it as his worst. Definitely I reccomend this book even as a beginning book to drag You into Stephen King, due to it not being overly complicated in any way but it is entertaining and odd.