Title: My True Love Gave To Me
Author: Stephanie Perkins, Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Rainbow Rowell, Myra McEntire, Kiersten White and Laini Taylor
Published: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 321
Rating: 2/5
In this anthology 12 popular contemporary authors write short stories set during or around Christmas. Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's Eve, all are present in this anthology edited by Stephanie Perkins.
I was really excited to read this with one of my book clubs, but this did quite disappoint I felt like the stories were lacking quality. It felt like anyone could have written it, they were not special in any way. I did quite like Rainbow Rowell's story 'Midnights' which was the first one in the book, which made it start of good.
'The Lady and the Fox' by Kelly Link was the second story in this book which I enjoyed as well but not as much as 'Midnights'. Lastly I also liked 'It's A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown' by Stephanie Perkins herself. That's for all the stories I liked in this anthology.
What can I say, this wasn't my cup of tea and I am contemplating to erase the summer anthology, co-written by the same authors of my wishlist.
Title: Diary of an Oxygen Thief
Author: Anonymous
Published: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 151
Rating: 2/5
"Hurt people hurt people. Say Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographer's assistant and somehow they met in Bright Lights Big City. He's blinded by love. She by ambition."
I was intrigued to read this when I saw the first page of this book pass by on Twitter. "I like hurting girls. Mentally, not physically. I never hit a girl in my life. Well, once. But that was a mistake. I'll tell you about it later. The thing is. I got off on it. I really enjoyed it."
I was so curious about this book, and what it had to offer. I wanted to find out what sort of sick person thought this thing, and the reason behind his feelings. But this book was one disappointment. Our main character was super annoying. Ninety-five percent of the time he was pitying himself, the other five procent he was talking about how much he enjoyed hurting women.
The only reason that this is a 2-star read instead of a 1-star read is because of the way this book was written. It is a fiction, but I felt like I was reading a non-fiction. I find it really impressive that one can make such a horrible character, and make him feel so real.
Title: Crossed
Author: Ally Condie
Published: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 367
Rating: 2/5
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR MATCHED, BOOK ONE IN THE MATCHED TRILOGY.
"Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by Society to his certain death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life . . . and the enthralling promise of rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game. On the edge of Society, nothing is as expected, and crosses and double crosses make Cassia's path more twisted than ever."
As mentioned in my review of Matched, I had quite the problems with the writing style in the first book. It was too youthful and boring in my opinion. In this book a lot more things happened and it Cassia was acting way more adult until the romances resurfaced.
There were also some new characters introduced in 'Crossed' which I really liked, they were all very likable especially Eli. Still the story didn't grab me and I can't say I was attached to either the story or characters.
I do own the final book in this installment which I will be reading and reviewing, but only because I already own it and because I want to finish a series once I start it. Not because I actually would like to know how it ends.
Title: Life of Pi
Author: Yann Martel
First published: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 460
Rating: 2/5
"Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, a Tamil boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker."
I bought this book when the movie came out in 2012. A very impulsive buy because I never wanted to read it. Now the fruitmachine finally told me it was time to read this book and as I expected it did not live up to my expectations.
The book is divided in three parts, part one I found especially very boring. Part two got more exciting but as we got further in to part two it went a little boring as well. I really liked part three, but this was only around 30ish pages short.
I think that for me it got so boring that Pi was on the lifeboat for 227 days. If it was a lot shorter I think it would have been way more exciting, now it just felt like it had to be very comprehensive.
I know a lot of people absolutely adore this book but it was not put away for me, unfortunately.
