The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (2005)

I borrowed this book from Mac after I heard yet another positive review about this book and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. This book exceeded my expectations.

I loved this book, I thought it was so clever to have death narrate it and although it was super depressing I still really enjoyed it (which is a rarity for me). Although it is confusing at first, it is wonderfully written and has an amazing plot. My favourite characters were Hans and Rudy, Hans was so considerate to everyone and Rudy cared so much for Leisel that I couldn't help but love him. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone that is willing to deal with a story set in WW2.


For plot summary, see Mac's previous blog here.

Sing You Home - Jodi Picoult (2011)

Mac leant me this book because we share a love of Jodi Picoult and I hadn't read this one yet, it held up to her standard of book and I couldn't put it down.

As usual with Picoult's books, once I get to the trial (usually the last hundred pages) I cannot stop reading, so many twists and turns! I love it! This book once again dealt with a controversial issue that is affecting society today, in this case it was lesbians adopting and church interference. My favourite character was Sammy, although she only is in it for the last two pages and we don't know much about her, I thought her perspective was written perfectly and she was so cute. Definitely recommend this book to any Picoult fans, as well as people that like a good drama.


Zoe is married to Max and is finally pregnant in her seventh month after four unsucessful IVF treatments. At her baby shower she starts bleeding and is rushed to the hospital to learn her baby is dead, she must then deliver the stillborn, and still wants to try for another baby which prompts Max to tell her that he wants a divorce. Max then goes back to his drinking until he has a car accident and finds God. Zoe becomes good friends with Vanessa and then falls in love with her and marries her. On their honeymoon Vanessa brings up kids and Zoe remembers that she still has three frozen embryos from her last round of IVF and Vanessa wants to carry them. Before Zoe can have the embryos, Max must sign a contract, and when she approaches him about it, he says he'll think about it but then goes to his pastor Clive Lincoln who tells him maybe God wants him to have the embryos to give to his brother Reid and his wife Liddy who have been trouble having a baby. A trial then follows where Zoe and Vanessa look like they're winning, until Pastor Clive comes in telling Zoe that the girl she has been counselling is his stepdaughter and he's convinced her to say that she has sexually harrassed her. Zoe decides to let them have the embryos to save Lucy from having to come to court and be torn between her friendship with Zoe or pressure from her father even though it is her last chance to have a child that is biologically hers. Max is awarded the embryos but decides to give them to Zoe. The last chapter is from the Sammy's perspective when she is six years old, she talks about how much she loves both her mothers, her father and his fiancee, and although people tease her, she knows she's the luckiest girl in the world.

Gone - Michael Grant (2008)

I bought this book because it was only ten dollars and I heard many good things about it from some of my friends. I was quite disappointed, and suprisingly scared by some of the things in this book.

The book has an excellent plot idea, however I think it could've been done so much better. I think it was too drawn out, and some storylines were unnecessary, you would think a story that is only twelve days would go pretty fast, unfortunately that was not the case. I also found this book quite confronting and scary for a teen book, the hands encased in cement was just too upsetting for me to handle and reminded me of the human centipede. The character of Drake was also frightening, I would have preferred not to have seen into the mind of such a psychopath, even a fictional one. My favourite character was definitely Lana, she was strong and funny and, her most important quality in my eyes, she loved her dog. I would recommend this book to people who like dystopian fiction, that have a stomach strong enough to withstand Drake and his cruelty.


Everyone fifteen or older suddenly disappears and Sam Templeton is looked to as a leader. Soon Caine, Diana, Drake and other Coates kids come and take over, they organise everything and they are appreciated, until they start making outrageous rules that turn out to be to do with "the power" that some kids have developed. Sam ends up getting most of the kids on his side and defeats Caine when he attacks them, both he and Caine (who we learn are twins separated at birth) also resist what is known as "the darkness" from taking them away like everyone else when they turn fifteen.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green and David Levithan(2010)

I'm continuing to read all the John Green books that could be bought in dymocks and even though this one was the last one they had in stock, I still think it's better than Looking for Alaska.

I really enjoyed this book, although the plotline wasn't the best, the characters were interesting and it was pretty hilarious. It was written from the two different Will Grayson's perspectives, one being written by David Levithan and one by John Green. Although the title may make you think otherwise, I don't think the main character of this book is either of the Will Grayson's, I think the main character (and coincidentally my favourite) is Tiny Cooper, a massively tall and fat gay boy who is just trying to make both Will's lives better. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good laugh, it's also got the right amount of emotion thrown in to make you think.


Will Grayson's best friend is Tiny Cooper, Tiny tries to set Will up with Jane however this only gets them into a fight. will grayson met a guy named isaac on the internet and goes to meet him in chicago only to find that his "friend" made him up. When in Chicago will grayson meets Will Grayson who introduces him to Tiny, who he dates for a short time before they have a rough break up. Will Grayson feels bad about fighting with Tiny and starts dating Jane and then makes up with Tiny. After his break up with will, Tiny's stage show, which he has been working on throughout the novel, is premiering and will gets lots of other Will Grayson's to show up and tell Tiny that they appreciate him after the show.

Looking for Alaska - John Green (2005)

I bought this book because I had heard a lot of amazing reviews of it, however I was kind of disappointed and I definitely liked The Fault in our Stars better.

The part I found most interesting in this book was all the last words that Pudge had memorized, they were all actual last words of famous people and I found them fascinating. The plot was pretty good, however I don't understand what everyone finds so amazing about this book. My favourite character was the Colonel, I thought he was hilarious and I really loved how much he cared for his mother. I would recommend this to any teen fiction readers, both boys and girls would find this book pretty entertaining, although it gets quite emotional in some places.


Miles "Pudge" Halter moves to a new boarding school to find his "Great Perhaps" the thing that he may find by abandoning his safe life to go somewhere that may be better or worse. Once there he meets and falls in love with Alaska, an eccentric pesonality that everyone loves. One night after they pull an amazing prank to get revenge on some boys, Alaska gets incredibly drunk with Pudge and the Colonel and demands that they help her leave without being caught as she forgot something really important. The next day they learn that while driving down the I-65 she hit a police car and died instantly. Pudge and the Colonel feel so guilty about letting her leave when she was that drunk that they become determined to find out where she was going and if she hit the police car by accident or on purpose. They find out that she was going to put flowers on her mother's grave because she had forgotten the aniversary of her death, but they don't find out whether it was an accident or a suicide. They decide it doesn't matter and they then pull a prank that Alaska had planned for their senior year which involved a stripper dancing in front of the whole school and dedicate it to her.

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (2012)

For the past month or so I have been watching vlogbrothers videos in all my free time and I finally decided to actually buy one of John Green's books so I could be considered a true nerdfighter.

I wanted to read Looking For Alaska first, however I couldn't find a copy of it in dymocks and my friend Helen told me that this one was her next favourite of his so I bought this one instead. This book had a similar plot to Before I Die by Jenny Downham, as it was told from the perspective of a teenage girl with cancer who falls in love with a boy. There are some major differences between the two books that make me like this one so much more. For one, the boy also had cancer which makes the whole whirlwind romance so much more believable, the characters were also much more likeable and the book had just the right amount of comedy in it so it wasn't too depressing but wasn't trying too hard. My favourite character was Augustus, he was so hilarious and so incredibly lovely and sweet that I couldn't help but love him too. I would recommend this book to any Jodi Picoult fans, or any people that like drama/romance books. If you don't want to read it because you don't want to read "a cancer book that will make you cry" I will give you the sage advice that John Green offers to people when they tell him that: "if you don't like this book, you can punch me in the stomach."


Hazel Grace Lancaster is a sixteen year old girl with terminal lung cancer, she meets Augustus Waters at her cancer support group when her friend Isaac brings him for support when telling the group he needs an operation to remove his cancer that will make him blind. Augustus is immediately attracted to Hazel and they soon start to fall in love and are brought closer together by Hazel's favourite book "An Imperial Affliction". They decide to go to Amsterdam to meet the author of the book, however once they get there they learn he is a big disappointment, however the trip is a success because it's where Hazel and Augustus admit their feelings to each other and they have many exciting travels while they are there. Augustus then tells Hazel that his osteosarcoma is back and it has spread to most of his organs, he is dying. Eight days before he dies, Augustus arranges to hear his own eulogies from Isaac and Hazel at their support group church, even in this moment of extreme sadness he is able to make light of his situation and make some pretty hilarious jokes. After Augustus dies, Hazel gets an email from Peter Van Houten, the author of "An Imperial Affliction", that has her eulogy attached to it because she told Augustus she wanted him to write her eulogy so he sent it to Van Houten so it would be written in a way she would like.

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (1954)

I read this today because it is my assigned text for my speculative fiction class in english and although it is said to be a classic in its genre I wasn't too impressed.

I don't know if it's because I read a lot of dystopian fiction, because it was a predictable plot or a combination of the two, but I found that the storyline was predictable and similar to other dystopian books I've read. If I had to pick a favourite character, it would be Faber, although I didn't love him like I usually love my favourite characters, there just wasn't really a stand out character in this novel. I wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone these days when there are books like Delirium by Lauren Oliver and Uglies by Scott Westerfeld which are written in a more modern and readable style with a similar plotline.


Guy Montag is a fireman and it's his job to burn books. At the start of the novel he meets his new neighbour Clarisse McClellan who introduces him to new and creative ways of acting and thinking that have been forgotten over the years. Clarisse is then hit by a car and it prompts Montag to steal a book from one of the libraries he burns. It turns out that Montag has accumulated approximately 20 books over the years that he wants to read, however his boss Captain Beatty comes to his house and threatens him about having taken one today. Montag then decides to go talk to Faber, a man who approached him in the park many years ago offering a book of poetry, they quickly make a plan to plant books in all the firemen's houses so there will be no-one to burn the books anymore. However Montag's wife tips off the firemen about all his books and Captain Beatty makes him burn his own house down, after he does this, Montag kills Beatty with the flamethrower and runs away to Faber's. Faber tells him to leave the city and follow the railway tracks to find a walking society that will accept him which he does. The next day, with Montag safe with his new society and Faber in the countryside, the city is bombed and completely wiped out.

The Choice - Nicholas Sparks (2007)

I bought this book because it was one dollar at an op-shop and it was Nicholas Sparks so it would probably be pretty good. However, I was very disappointed and thought it was extremely predictable.

The book is split into two parts, the first part, which is the majority of the book, is the weekend eleven years ago when Travis and Gabby fell in love. This is the first thing that annoys me, a weekend. That's two days. Two days with Travis convinces her to break up with her lovely boyfriend of five years to be with Travis. The second part is the present in which Gabby is in a coma and Travis must make "The Choice" as to whether to put her in a nursing home or remove her feeding tubes. 80 of the 90 pages is just Travis remembering Gabby and repeating the pros and cons of each choice. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, maybe Nicholas Sparks fans because they read all his books anyway.


Gabby is dating Kevin, and meets Travis, her next door neighbour a sexy vet who is good with kids. After a boat trip with him and his friends he invites her to dinner at his house where he kisses her and she pushes him away, despite this they spend the next day together and fall in love. Eleven years later Gabby is in a coma after Travis ran a red light in the rain, and he doesn't know whether to remove her feeding tubes because that's what she made him promise her a few years ago, or to move her to a nursing home in case she ever wakes up. He moves her to a nursing home and then nine weeks later she wakes up.