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Tuesday 15 April 2014

Book Haul

Hi!
So I may or may not have bought more books...... *coughs* I have a problem... I'm sowwy >.<
Don't worry, I didn't spend too much money because my mum bought me one and all but two are from charity shops where they were 20p and £1, so it wasn't too bad this time! But still...a lot of books. I need to stop but that's never going to happen.
Anyways, the first book is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Here's the blurb:

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? 

{blurb via}

I have been waiting to read this book for so. long. I feel like it's going to be so relatable! So excited to read this - I really want to read Eleanor & Park as well, because everybody says that it is amazing.

The second book is another book for the Carnegie competition thingy that my school does - for an explanation of that, click here (or here if you really want to. Or here if you're a little rebel ;] ) to check out my previous book haul where I explain everything at the end. It is Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell. Le blurb:

Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no other recorded female survivors from the shipwreck which left baby Sophie floating in the English Channel in a cello case, but Sophie remembers seeing her mother wave for help. Her guardian tells her it is almost impossible that her mother is still alive, but that means still possible. You should never ignore a possible. So when the Welfare Agency writes to her guardian threatening to send Sophie to an orphanage, she takes matters into her own hands and flees to Paris to look for her mother, starting with the only clue she has - the address of the cello maker. Evading the French authorities, she meets Matteo and his network of rooftoppers - urchins who live in the sky. Together they scour the city for Sophie's mother before she is caught and sent back to London, and most importantly before she loses hope.
{blurb via}

I have just finished reading this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I don't read a lot of these types of books but I loved this book. I will definitely be reviewing this one for Carnegie!

We're now onto the books that I have bought from charity shops. One book was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Blurby:

 In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy come of age while their father is off to war.
{blurb via}

My mum bought me this book because I haven't read it and she thought I should. So now I have it. And I will read it. At some point. I have so many books to read though....

I also picked up a copy of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Blubby blurb:

Wuthering Heights is a story about the love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr. Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries.
{blurb via}

I think we have a copy of this somewhere but I wanted my own copy and it was only 20p - and that 20p goes to charity, so why not?!

Now, if any of you have read the Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, you know that there are a lot of references to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Blurby blubby thing (I have run out of things to call a blurb. Help!):

After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.
{blurb via}

 I have been wanting to get a copy of this book for a while now. We already have a copy of it but it is a beautiful leather bound, gold leaf-patterned copy which is part of a Charles Dickens set, all of which are leather bound and gold leafed with two Charles Dickens story in each book. This set belonged to my dad's grandmother. So, very old, very beautiful books that I don't want to be taking to school. Now I have a 20p, paperback copy to get bashed around in my bag. Can't wait to read this!

Those books were all from the same charity shop that I went to on Friday after I got my hair cut. I then went to some more charity shops today after I got my eyes tested (I don't need glasses. I'm relieved but sad, because I suit glasses....) I got two books, one of which is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Here's the blurb:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 
{blurb via}

This was more of an impulse buy. I don't know if I'll like it but it's money to charity. If I read it and don't like it, I can always give it to another charity shop as a donation!

And the last book is Close my Eyes by Sophie McKenzie. Der Klappentext (that's 'the blurb' in German. Thank you Google Translate) :

When Geniver Loxley lost her daughter at birth eight years ago, her world stopped… and never fully started again. Mothers with strollers still make her flinch; her love of writing has turned into a half-hearted teaching career; and she and her husband, Art, have slipped into the kind of rut that seems inescapable.

But then a stranger shows up on their doorstep, telling Gen the very thing she’s always wanted to hear: that her daughter Beth was not stillborn, but was taken away as a healthy infant and is still out there, somewhere, waiting to be found. It’s insane, unbelievable. But why would anyone make that up? A fissure suddenly opens up in Gen’s carefully reconstructed life, letting in a flood of unanswerable questions. Where is Beth now? Why is Art so reluctant to get involved? To save his wife from further hurt? Or is it something more sinister? And who can she trust to help her?

Ignoring the warnings of her husband and friends, Gen begins to delve into the dark corners of her past, hopeful she’ll find a clue to her daughter’s whereabouts. But hope quickly turns into fear and paranoia, as she realizes that finding the answers might open the door to something even worse than not knowing. A truth that could steal everything she holds close – even her own life.

{blurb via}

This was also an impulse buy and again will probably read this and then donate it to another charity shop. But I thought for £1, which goes to charity, it was worth a try. Who knows, I might really enjoy it. But if not, no harm done!

And that concludes today's book haul! I hope you enjoyed it :)
Thanks for reading 

xoxo,
Bethan

2 comments

  1. I just loved your book haul! XD

    "Blubby blurb"

    xoxo,
    Mackenzie

    P.S. My sister read Wuthering Heights for school and LOVED it. :) Just thought I'd share that. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I need to stop buying so many books.... that is not going to happen though! >.<
      Haha, glad you liked that ;) We can make it a trend - that is now what everybody should call blurbs :}

      Oooo, that's good to know! I'm looking forward to reading it! It's one of those classics that everybody loves but I haven't read it yet!

      xoxo,
      Bethan

      Delete

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