23 Aug 2018

Review - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Title: Ready Player One

Author: Ernest Cline

Synopsis:


In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.


My Thoughts:

Not being a gamer myself and knowing what Ready Player One is about, going into it I wasn't sure it'd be a book I'd entirely enjoy. I shouldn't have worried.

Most of the novel is set in a virtual reality called the OASIS. It's a world created by James Halliday who recently deceased and now his legacy is up for grabs... whoever finds the easter egg hidden in the game will inherit the OASIS and all the money that fuels it.

Wade Watts is a gunter, he dedicates all his time to his quest for the egg. When he finds the first clue he can't believe his luck... However, soon he realizes the danger that comes with his ambitions. The evil organization's the IOI's hand reaches out even to the real world and they'd do anything to beat Wade to the egg. 

The novel is packed with references to movies, tv shows and video games, mainly from the 1980s and 90s. It's fun to find out how many of the mentioned tv shows or movies you know. The video game references were mostly lost on me, but hey, no one is perfect... 

The movie Ladyhawke appeared so many times in the book I had to rewatch it because I remembered I'd loved it as a child. I also smiled at the Indiana Jones references and I especially appreciated when the song Kids wanna rock by Bryan Adams was mentioned. 80s, Baby.

Since I have a thing for popular culture in general, Ready Player One had a lot to offer to me. It's also a great adventure for the admirers of the 80s or the ones who were teenagers in that decade.

(Also it's a lot like Spykids 3D – Game Over for adults I just can't shrug this thought...)

Give yourself a favour and take a trip to the futuristic past. I know I'm glad I did.



21 Aug 2018

Events in my life

I have a pretty intense few weeks behind me intense in a good sense and I feel blessed because of all the amazing things that have happened to me since July.

Let me present the newest of news with a picture:


I'M ENGAGED!!!!

This is not a drill!

It was not easy for me to actually believe this happened because...


Six years of it!

Haha, I'm sorry I couldn't resist the gif (it's David-approved by the way, he knows he took his time and it drove me insane :)

We should start thinking about the wedding soon because we'd like to have a little one before I'm 30. Such excitement!


I promised I'd bring you some pictures from London Film and Comic Con, now's the time to make good on that promise.

Unfortunately the professional photos are still not uploaded to the con's website so I cannot show you the one I took with Pearl Mackie (12th Doctor's companion) or the one that David took with Jewel Staite (Firefly). Later I'll be able to post those ones as well I'm sure.

But here are some that'll give you an idea about how much fun we had:






Aaand a couple of pictures of us in London doing tourist-y stuff:



I'll be back soon with a new review, stay tuned!

17 Aug 2018

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #24


THE LATEST NEWS:

We have internet in the flat at last! Yay!! 

This means from now on I can blog whenever I'd like to and I'll post regularly again.

I hope all of you are well and your August has been going well so far!


Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.


Here's the book I've started this week:
 
by Marty Ambrose


Synopsis:

A tragic death leads Claire Clairmont to be haunted by her past and the 'summer of 1816' she shared with Byron and Shelley in this first in an intriguing new historical trilogy.

1873, Florence. Claire Clairmont, the last survivor of the 'haunted summer of 1816' Byron/Shelley circle, is living out her final years in genteel poverty, but the appearance of British tourist, William Michael Rossetti, brings hope that she may be able to sell some of her memorabilia to earn enough cash to support her and her niece/companion, Paula.

But Rossetti's presence in Florence heralds a cycle of events that links the summer of 1816 - when Claire conceived an ill-fated child with George Gordon, Lord Byron, when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, and when four tempestuous lives came together - to a tragic death. As Claire begins to unravel the truth, she must go back to that summer of passion to discover the identity of her old
enemy.


 Book Beginning:

His letter came just at the point when I thought death was my only option.

 I knew from the very first line I'd like this book.


The Friday 56:

Trelawny had organized the whole thing and, supposedly, reached into the fire to grasp Shelley's heart for Mary to keep forever.

Did you know this little trivia about the Shelleys? Supposedly Mary kept Percy's heart after his death... A suitable keepsake for the writer of Frankenstein is it not? 


What is your current read? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

8 Aug 2018

Book Haul

I usually do book haul posts in the weekends, but since we moved to our rented apartment on Saturday, I had no time to share with you all the new beauties I received/purchased. My posts are scarce these days because we don't have internet in the flat yet (that will change next Tuesday). I can't wait to be able to blog from the new place too!


Received as a Gift:

Last Firday was my brithday and my sweet boyfriend surprised me with two books:

Title: IT

Author: Stephen King


This book is huge. It's over 1300 pages long and will take some time to get through it but I can't wait to tackle it. We'd like to watch the new movie with David too, once I'm finished with the novel.



The other title I received from my beau is a Hungarian one, A Rudnay Gyilkosságok (Ambróczy Báró Estei #2) by Gyula Böszörményi. It's the second book in a detective series that is set in Budapest in the beginning of the 1900s. Unfortunately as far as I know it is not translated to English yet.



Purchased:

Even though my packing space was limited, I couldn't pass on the opportunity of buying at least one book in London.

Title: The Color Purple

Author: Alice Walker


I bought The Color Purple in the huge Waterstones near Piccadilly Circus. Now that's a place that is hard to leave after you entered... 




ARC:

Title: Time Crawlers

Author: Varun Sayal


I received this book from its author. It's a sci-fi short story collection, with stories from parallel universes. Sounds fascinating.





This is all for now, see you all again soon!

3 Aug 2018

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #23


Hi Lovelies!

I'm sorry I didn't post in the past week, but I spent my well deserved freedom galavanting around London town. The holiday is over, but I'll write a recap for you in a few days' time so you'll be able to read in details what happened to me and David in one of Europe's most vibrant cities.

Until then, please enjoy this week's Friday post!


Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

 
This week at last I have started reading this beauty (I know I'm waaay too late to the game):

by Ernest Cline


Synopsis:

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.


Book Beginning:

Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest.

 Must have been a pretty big announcement.


The Firday 56:

The OASIS would ultimately change the way people around the world lived, worked, and communicated.

It seems like this virtual reality game becomes everyone's unhealthy obsession in this novel.


What is your current read?

Happy Friday!

23 Jul 2018

Review - The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics

Title: The Women in the Walls

Author: Amy Lukavics

Synopsis:

Lucy Acosta's mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she and her best friend and cousin, Margaret, know the ancient hallways inside out. Or so they think . . .

When her beloved Aunt Penelope disappears while walking in the surrounding woods, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret, meanwhile, has been spending a LOT of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her mother's voice whispering from the walls.

Shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin's sanity slowly and completely unravels. And then she begins hearing voices herself...

My Thoughts:

Welcome to the house in the middle of nowhere, where your dead loved ones speak to you through the walls. There's nothing creepy about it at all; they simply love you so much, they want you to join them. They suggest you could live happily ever after together behind the walls. You don't have much choice in the matter anyway they say, why wait? Not creepy at all...

The basic premise of this book is extremely disturbing. The whole haunted house trope gives me the chills in itself, but when the house and whatever power is hidden in it's structure gets into your head... well, that's even more unnerving. 

The Women in the Walls is a very atmospheric horror book. The claustrophobic feeling that the house as a setting generated in me helped me put myself in Lucy's place, helped me imagine what she was really going through. 

Most events in the book take place inside the house, the characters rarely venture outside and thanks to this seclusion a certain kind of sinister mood is created way before the nasty things start to happen.

While I was more than happy with the terrifying setting, unfortuantely I cannot say I was fully satisfied with this book. The characters were a bit shallow, they could have been designed with more care. They lacked details, they were mostly endowed with one or two characteristics... all in all they were very two dimensional. On the top of that Lucy's cousin Margret was very unlikable – at least to me –, which was a problem because all Lucy's actions in the second half of the novel were driven by the love for her cousin. The few glimpses I'd got of Margaret before she started to go bonkers didn't convince me she was the best of best friends. It was really hard to see what Lucy loved about her, at least that's how I felt.

It was also strange that the girls had lived on the estate for 17 years and they didn't discover their surroundings (at some point they found something in the forest they didn't know was there but obviously had been there since they were born...) 

I loved the pacing on the last 20-30 pages, the plot became very dense there, one horrifying thing happened after the other and I couldn't wait to know how the dark adventure would end. The ending was somewhat surprising but I absolutely liked it!

As you can see I had mixed feelings about The Women in the Walls, but it was still fun. I don't regret that I picked it up.



21 Jul 2018

Mini Reviews - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Hold Your Own

Title: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Author: Edward Albee

Synopsis:

When middle-aged Martha and her husband George are joined by the younger Nick and Honey for late-night drinks after a party, the stage is set for a night of drunken recriminations and revelations. Battle-lines are drawn as Martha and George drag their guests into their own private hell of a marriage.


My Thoughts:

I wanted to like this play so much but I had an eww feeling about it. The main couple, Martha and George live in a dangerous, abusive relationship (I'm talking about mostly verbal abuse but it is suggested in one of the scenes that George may kill Martha someday). One night after a party they invite a young couple to their home, Nick and Honey, who are basically forced to glimpse into the dark well that is George and Martha's marriage.

All the characters are drunk during the happenings and they keep playing games that reveal personal information about both couples. The games are childish, just like the choice of words often are in this drama, but both the games and the words point towards the secret that is unveiled at the end of the play. It's supposed to be a twist but if you pay attention, you can guess it way before it is brought to the surface.

I'm seeking high and low for 20th century American plays that appeal to me, unfortunately Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? didn't make it to the list.





Title: Hold Your Own

Author: Kate Tempest 

Synopsis:

Kate Tempest, winner of the Ted Hughes Prize for Brand New Ancients and widely regarded as the UK's leading spoken word poet, has produced a new poem-sequence of electrifying power. Based on the myth of the blind prophet Tiresias, Hold Your Own is a riveting tale of youth and experience, sex and love, wealth and poverty, community and alienation. Walking in the forest one morning, a young man disturbs two copulating snakes - and is punished by the goddess Hera, who turns him into a woman. This is only the beginning of his journey . . . Weaving elements of classical myth, autobiography and social commentary, Tempest uses the story of the gender-switching, clairvoyant Tiresias to create four sequences of poems: 'childhood', 'manhood', 'womanhood' and 'blind profit'. The result is a rhythmically hypnotic tour de force - and a hugely ambitious leap forward for one of the UK's most talented and compelling young writers. 

My Thoughts:

Wow, just wow. If only you could see how many poems I marked in this collection! Many of the poems were very relatable to me. I liked how ancient and modern voices and settings were mixed, how Teiresias's story was stretched as far as our day.

Kate Tempest pondered upon thoughts and theories like:
  • Life is a memory, everything happened before
  • There are different stages of us, we change all the time and who we are today is not the same person who we were 10 years ago
  • Sometimes there is no point in differentiating between man and/or woman, after all in the end we are all humans
I recommend this little poetry book to those who like gender studies and enjoy good verse.