Book Haul: January and February 2014

Yes, I may be living on a student's budget but it's clear that nothing can stop me from buying new books! Here are the titles that I purchased over January and February, and what I think of them so far. I don't need food anyway...

 
 Title: No and Me

 Author: Delphine de Vigan

 Publisher: Bloomsbury





 First Thoughts
Although I'm still waiting for this title to arrive, I'm really excited to start reading. The story follows Lou, a highly intelligent young teenager who meets No as a result of her school project about the homeless. No is also a teenager, but one who is currently living on the streets. Lou's family has been darkened by a terrible loss so I can imagine that No's eventual moving in will change everything for them. I don't believe that I've read any translated novels before, so the fact that this book was originally written in French really interests me. I'm wondering if there will be any unconventional phrases or expressions as a result of its translation, and this is something that I will be paying special attention to as I read. I've previously expressed my interest in Young Adult fiction so I have high hopes for this book and will be writing a review in the near future!
 


Title: Txtng The gr8 db8

Author: David Crystal

Publisher: Oxford University Press




  

First Thoughts

As a current student of English Language and Linguistics this book is right up my street. I actually purchased this title when Professor David Crystal gave a lecture to the students in the ELL society at my university, kindly signing my copy of Txtng, The gr8 db8. (I had a photo taken with him too, but shh!) Firstly, appreciate the title- a reflection of the subject matter that is discussed inside the cover. I'm currently halfway through and enjoying the book immensely. As a work of 'pop linguistics', it is easily accessible and, in my opinion, highly interesting. I particularly enjoy reading about the controversies that have been created through the introduction of texting and the use of 'text talk'. I really recommend this read to anyone with an interest in language, and how it is changing in modern society.You don't have to be studying linguistics in order to read it!




Title: The Rosie Project

Author: Graeme Simsion

Publisher: Penguin

Star Rating: * * * *


 

Review  
I made a good choice by picking up The Rosie Project a few weeks back, and here is the beginning of my review!

Introducing Don Tillman; a thirty nine year old geneticist whose scientific mind led to the formulation of The Wife Project, in order to help him find a compatible partner. To be fair it's pretty easy to become a candidate. All you have to do is complete the answers to fifty nine make or break questions in Don's carefully designed questionnaire. Answer them correctly, and you've found yourself a date- just make sure that you're not imaginary first! Rosie would definitely fail the test, of that Don's sure. She's completely incompatible....

Click here to read the full review

Book Review: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

 

Title: The Rosie Project 

Author: Graeme Simsion

Publisher: Penguin

Star Rating: * * * *

Introducing Don Tillman; a thirty nine year old geneticist whose scientific mind led to the formulation of The Wife Project, in order to help him find a compatible partner. To be fair it's pretty easy to become a candidate. All you have to do is complete the answers to fifty nine make or break questions in Don's carefully designed questionnaire. Answer them correctly, and you've found yourself a date- just make sure that you're not imaginary first! Rosie would definitely fail the test, of that Don's sure. She's completely incompatible.
 
I'd seen this book dotted around bookshops for weeks before I was able to pick up a copy for myself, and I'm really pleased that I did.

A rather socially challenged individual, I found that Don's quirky personality was reminiscent of The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper. As a character I found him easy to love and his peculiar habits made me snigger endearingly throughout the novel. There has definitely been a dark past to Don's life, but that is uncovered more as the story progresses. Don also struggles greatly with understanding the emotions of others, acknowledging the technicalities behind how people work but never really knowing how to interact with them as his peers would. As I read on, it was wonderful to watch Don open up and loose some of the rigidity that had ruled lived his life for so long.

Don's new found love is not only heartwarming but also conveys a crucial life message that I wish more people could hear. It is important to realise that other people should love you for who you truly are, and that no-one should ever be expected to change in order to fit the expectations of others. This point was reinforced through Don and Rosie's romance, two characters who have learned to compliment, but not force change, upon one another.

Quite the unconventional love story, The Rosie Project is a highly entertaining, often hilarious read that offers something a little different than the standard Romance novel. Four stars.

Book Review: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

 Title: How I Live Now

 Author: Meg Rosoff

 Publisher: Penguin

 Star Rating: * * *





Young Adult Dystopian Fiction is one of my all time favourite genres, so when I came across this title in a YouTube video by booksandquills I was eager to get my hands on a copy. I'm going to say upfront that some elements of this book can be very controversial, and I will be discussing themes such as anorexia and incest in the course of my review.

How I Live Now features Daisy, a troubled fifteen year old whose father sends her away from America to live with her cousins in England. These are relatives who she's never actually met, and provide a link to her mother who passed away long before Daisy can remember. Shortly after her arrival in England war a breaks out and, with the absence of her aunt, the group must fight in order to stay together and to stay alive.

The  story itself is written through Daisy's perspective, and told through her own thoughts as she was thinking them. Naturally this has resulted in some very long, rambling sentences of teenage thought that help us to more deeply understand her character. It is through this in particular that we become acquainted with Daisy's battle with anorexia, the reason it began, and how she finally overcame her addiction, as well as many more of her innermost thoughts.

I really enjoyed being able to watch the war unfold through the eyes of the children who lived together in the house. At the beginning of the book the group seemed very detached from the events that were unfolding in England, and at first the outbreak of war allowed them to expand on the unusual amount of freedom they were already accustomed to. For a while it was almost like reading a novel set in Britain during one of the previous World Wars, a bit strange for a title set in the present day! Because of the way the book is written, we as readers come to understand the seriousness of the situation at the same time as Daisy, so it is not until further on in the story that I began to understand the full extent of the war and the terrible consequences that it brought with it.

One of the most controversial elements of this book is of course the inclusion of incest between Daisy and her cousin Edmond. I'm always a sucker for a good love story but I don't really understand why the romance between these characters was a necessity. Alas, this is something that I became less shocked about as the story progressed, and the controversy of the relationship was adequately addressed in Daisy's thoughts. Still, I remain a bit uneasy about the issue.

This title was definitely an interesting read, and I settled on a three out of five star rating for the book overall. I want to recommend it to any pre-existing fans of Young Adult Dystopian fiction as it certainly has a variety of strong points and, at almost two hundred pages in length, isn't very time consuming to read.