Share - 25 signs you're addicted to books

I saw this shared by Litlovers on facebook, and had to share it here.

I guess I named my blog right after all!  There's only about three signs that don't completely and utterly suit me.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/signs-youre-addicted-to-books-reading

Top Ten Tuesday # 7 - My Bookish Week

I had a week off work last week, so I decided to take a week off the blog too, so other than the posts I'd written ahead of schedule I didn't publish any reviews, or do any of my regular meme's.

Now I'm playing catch up, which is why this weeks Top Ten Tuesday list is being published on a Wednesday.

This week is a Freebie, and I've decided to write about the Bookish things I did in my week off. So here it is:

• As I had lots of free time from work and not having to spend ages thinking of/writing blog posts, I had lots of time to do some actual reading! And for once I didn't get distracted or moaned at. In fact I sometimes got told to go and read a book which made a refreshing change.
• I received my first delivery from The Folio Society. Two large boxes came with all the books I'd picked. It cost way too much money really, but the books I bought were stunning! The first I read from the delivery was Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. It's the first in The Dark Is Rising sequence and I can't wait to read the next. Review coming soon.
• I have seen lots of recommendations recently for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, so I read that book too. And lo, it was good. Review to follow soon.
• I unfortunately admitted defeat on the Book Club read for May. Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. I had high hopes, but the terminology of climbers and mountains, and that it was a non fiction book proved too hard to swallow I'm afraid. I have confirmed to myself that I am a fiction girl all the way.  Kind of an anti-bookish thing I'm afraid.
• I attended Book Club where most of the other members discussed the book and I listened in nursing my diet cola :-) There were mixed reviews really, on Goodreads one of the group gave it 4 stars, another gave it 1.
• I started June's book club book - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. I read it last year, and wouldn't normally re-read so soon, but it is really a brilliant read, and I'm looking forward to reading it again. I think knowing how it ends and the secrets that are revealed will make it an even more enjoyable re-read.
• I got considerably further through The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I just can't seem to keep going and going with this one. I wish I could because I think it deserves it, but something just makes me keep looking around for something else to read.
• At the book club we chose July's book, which I bought on ebook format. I read the first page as a taster, as yet I'm undecided if it feels like something I'll enjoy. On the theme of other books bought I also received an ebook of The River of No Return which I'd forgotten I'd pre-ordered. I'm looking forward to that one.
• The Folio Society delivery included an extra copy of The Hobbit. It was a free gift with purchase for joining up, and they'd sent me two. When I called they said to keep it.  I've sold the extra copy to a friend whose wife loves Tolkien, The Hobbit is her favourite book, and I know she'll treasure it.  The money will be donated to charity.
• I had to buy another bookshelf from the Swedish Shop to house all more books. The place is no tidier though.  Must read more ebooks!

Friday First Paragraph's # 6

Welcome to another Friday First Paragraph's.

I normally try to bring in a book that I'm about to start, to kind of whet my appetite.  I'm a little bit behind in my reading at the moment, and so this time I thought I'd bring you the first paragraph's of one my favourite books.  Chances are you've read it already, but who knows, maybe this will reach someone who hasn't read it yet, or prompt a re-read of this wonderful book.

It's all pretty good in my opinion and I had a job to know when to cut off, so there's actually quite a bit here.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

DEATH AND CHOCOLATE

First the colours.

Then the humans.

That's usually how I see things.

Or at least, how I try.

HERE IS A SMALL FACT

You are going to die.

I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing in me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can  be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the As. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.

REACTION TO THE AFOREMENTIONED FACT

Does this worry you?

I urge you - don't be afraid.

I'm nothing if not fair.

Of course, an introduction.

A beginning.

Where are my manners?

I could introduce myself properly, but it's not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at some point in tiem, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A colour will be perched on my shoulder, I will carry you gently away.

It later goes on to say

It's just a small story really, about, amongst other things:

• a girl
• some words
• an accordionist
• some fanatical Germans
• a Jewish fist-fighter
• and quite a lot of thievery.

Top Ten Tuesday # 6

Welcome to my Top Ten Tuesday list! The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information.

This weeks Top Ten list is my Top Ten Favourite Book Covers (of books I've read).

Most of my books are in storage at the moment, so I'm kind of limited by my terrible memory, and only those books I've recorded on Goodreads, hence there are a couple on here that are high on my TBR list.  I've spent a few days trying to recall what books tempted me to buy and read, based mostly on their covers. A book cover might play a good part in my selecting a book, but once read it's relegated to the back of my mind for the most part.

Here's what I could come up with;

Not just one book but the entire Thursday Next series - so colourful, and I'm a little bit of a petrolhead, so I love that there's a car on the cover of every book. Does this count as seven books?

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. The cover is nice enough, but I love the unusual shape of the hardback version of the book, it's much more square (squat?) than you'd normally see.  It's one of the books in storage, so I don't have a picture to illustrate I'm afraid.

The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw - I must admit I have not read this one, but I couldn't leave it out of this list. The hardcover version is STUNNING!! Here's a live photo of it, so you can see it's beauty. It's not just the cover that strikes me as gorgeous, I love the silver edged paper. The whole thing is beautiful.


The Universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence. I'm sorry, it's another that I haven't read, but the cover reminded me of Corfe Castle, where we would often find ourselves on holiday cracking jokes like "Is that the Castle I see before me?" to which someone else would reply "Of Corfe if is!" Yes, we're easily amused.  Here's a couple of pics so you can see where I'm coming from:



The Teleportation Incident by Ned Baumann, I'm reading this at the moment, and so it kind of fits the brief of this weeks Top Ten. I love the Deco feel of the cover.



The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen, everything you need to know about the story is on the cover... the little girl gazing out to sea from a snow covered island.



The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I just loved this. The lonely figure perched on a pole, the glimpse of a venetian like city across the water and the gilt embossed title with it's sweeping f. I kept stopping to flip back to the cover hoping I might somehow have missed the Elderglass structures that feature so strongly in the book. The sequel 'Republic of Thieves' cover looks fab too, it features some fantastic clothes.



My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier - I bought a special edition hardback cover which I just couldn't resist when I saw it on Amazon.

The Discworld Books by Terry Pratchett. Every one of them. Everything you need to know about the story, all the characters and so on, are all on the covers, and I love that the picture spans the back and front cover as a single picture. Just fab!

Mr Penumbra's Bookstore by Robin Sloan. At first an assault on the eyes, but then you notice the ladder and the books propped up on every surface, and as I have a thing about bookshelves I can't help but like it.

Friday First Paragraph's # 5

Friday's come around again, so it's First Paragraph's time.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce is next months book club read.  I read it last summer and loved it, and I'm quite looking forward to reading it again.

It's one of those books that feels just about OK while you're reading it.  I remember thinking that it wasn't really living up to the hype, but it's pleasant enough, amusing and at times intriguing, but not overly special.  By the end you realise you've had your socks knocked off.  It's wonderful!!  But you do have to read it all, this is not a book to give up on.

Here goes....

1

Harold and the Letter

The letter that would change everything arrived on a Tuesday. It was an ordinary morning in mid-April that smelled of clean washing and grass cuttings. Harold Fry sat at the breakfast table, freshly shaved, in a clean shirt and tie, with a slice of toast that he wasn't eating. He gazed beyond the kitchen window at the clipped lawn, which was spiked in the middle by Maureen's telescopic washing line, and trapped on all three sides by the neighbours' close-board fencing.

'Harold!' called Maureen above the vacuum cleaner. 'Post!'

Book Review: W.A.R.P. The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer

Publisher: Puffin
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-0141341750

For a few years I've been meaning to pick up the Artemis Fowl books, but it seemed like a big deal to start a new series when it was so far along.  When it was announced that Colfer was starting a new series (first saw here it on Fennell Books) I thought I would check it out as soon as it was published.

I picked it up and loved it instantly, and now that I've sampled some of Colfer's writing, I'm definitely going to look closer at the Artemis Fowl books, as well as keep an eye out for the next in the WARP series.

Short Synopsis:  The FBI has access to Wormhole Time Travel technology and so they hide witnesses in the past, supposedly safely.  One such witness meets Albert Garrick, magician and Assassin and his apprentice Riley in Victorian London.  Garrick and Riley travel through time and encounter teenage FBI agent-in-training Chevie Savano and wreak havoc in modern day London.

Albert Garrick is just about the best villain I've come across in a long time.  He's gruesome, remorseless, clever, calculating and a very challenging opponent for Riley and Agent Savano.  My niece and nephew (ages 12 and 14) would love him if I let them near the book.  They'll have to wait for it in paperback though, as there's no way they'll get their paws on my hardback copy!

What I liked best:  I have a soft spot for Time Travel stories, people out of their place etc...  Albert Garrick is a fabulous character, Evil as evil can be, but fab nonetheless.

What I liked least:  The idea of a teenage FBI agent being so gung-ho and all that.  I found it ever so slightly unbelievable.

I had a look to see what others are saying about this, and it seems other reviewers are more familiar with Colfer's previous works, and have been comparing this with them.  I don't have that background.  In summary if you like Artemis Fowl and his other stories you'll probably like WARP The Reluctant Assassin, but it won't be unfamiliar territory for you.  If you're like me and not familiar with Colfer's writing/previous novels then this is probably a great introduction.  Either way I think it's enjoyable.

Top Ten Tuesday # 5

Welcome to my Top Ten Tuesday list! The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information.

This week's theme is books dealing with tough subjects. 

I have a fairly stressful day job, so for me reading is about pleasure and escapism, so I tend to avoid the books you might describe as 'tough'. At least that's what I thought until I started to compile the list. Then I had to re-organise my thoughts as I just kept thinking of multiple books covering the same topics and couldn't figure out which to not include. So here's my top 9 tough topics and my favourite books in each.

Terminal Illness

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom - This is the true story of Mitch and his relationship with an old college professor who is dying of ALS, a terrible disease that destroys the body slowly while leaving the mind intact. I think it was well written if I remember rightly. Heart wrenching and emotionally draining at times, but ultimately uplifting and life affirming.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - Her books have a little bit of the 'Dilemma of the week' about them. I think Picoult's an engaging writer, but after a while a little predictable. Though with this particular book there was a final twist at the end that I never saw coming That twist turned a good book into a great book. If you've watched the film but not read the book - the book has a much bigger emotional impact than the film, not to mention that the film completely ignores the twist I'm referring to, so go read it. Now.

Murder

Yes, there are lots and lots and lots of books about murders. But this one has never been far from my thoughts since reading it in 2007... The Lovely Bones by Alice Seebold - It deals with the murder of an 11 year old girl and the aftermath of her death as she watches from the heavens.

　

Child Abuse

A child called It by Dave Pelzer - My sister and my cousin love these true stories of traumatic childhoods, especially where the child concerned has emerged from their ordeal triumphant and well balanced. I read the first in the trilogy, and I think I cried the whole time. I read the two sequels though the first is the best in my opinion.

　

Racism

A huge category here, and some fabulous books...

Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington - A friend sent me a copy of this when I was living in Australia. A short but powerful true story about the terrible treatment experienced by three Aboriginal girls at the hands of a white regime.

A Time To Kill by John Grisham - This is a story of racism and discrimination in the American justice system, which will leave you thinking about what you would do in the same situation.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee which tackles the same topic in a different way.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - A brilliant book about black maids and their white bosses in the 1960's.

The Holocaust

The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank (aka The Diary of a Young Girl) - I read this in school in the late 80's, there are other books that deal with the topic, but this is the one I remember.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak - A fantastic story about what it was like to be an ordinary German citizen during the second world war (some events in the book were based on the experiences of the authors grandmother). Narrated by Death himself there are some very poignant passages, and the books manages to be heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. this is one of my favourite books of all time.

Mental Health

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon - While not necessarily about a tough issue in plot terms, the narrator's mental health condition is the primary focus, and it serves wonderfully well to illustrate what it's like to live with autism.

The Howling Miller by Aarto Paasilinna - This is a Finnish fable about a man who behaves rather oddly, though not harmfully. He imitates animals, and howls at night. This annoys his neighbours and they turn on him. It's a wonderful story about persecution, mental illness, love and friendship.

Abduction

Room by Emma Donoghue - Written from the perspective of a five year old child kept captive in a single room with his mother, his innocence is in perfect juxtaposition with the situation he doesn't even realise he's in. Quite a fitting book to include given the events in Cleveland over the last week or so.

The Collector by John Fowles - Frederick Clegg has been watching Miranda Grey for a while, but has a total lack of social skills and can't talk to her. When a windfall makes purchasing an isolated house in the country possible the Collector abducts Miranda and imprisons her in the basement. Written from both perspectives this is a fantastic abduction story.

Identity

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. This is also a story of racism, but I already have a few in that category so I chose identity for this one. It's a huge book, but I read it so quickly, I just couldn't put it down. In terms of identity this is a story about Peekay who through a long series of events pursues his dream of becoming a champion boxer and Oxford University student.

All Rounder..

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker - Racism, but also rape, incest, poverty, you name it. So many terrible things happen to Celie, and yet this is such a wonderful and uplifting story. I was not expecting to even like this, but I loved it. It's incredible.

Quotes on Sunday # 1

This idea started as a Top Ten Tuesday list I was preparing for a future Rewind/Freebie day, but there were so many options I could have written a top ten list a dozen times, and you're always discovering new quotes of course.  So, I decided to create 'Quotes on Sunday'.

The following two quotes are both from The Well of Lost Plots by that author that I hardly ever mention, Jasper Fforde.

The first quote is needed so that you have an idea what 'imaginotransference' means...

"Books may look like nothing more than words on a page, but they are actually an infinitely complex imaginotransference technology that translates odd, inky squiggles into pictures inside your head."

The second quote, or exchange actually, comes from a scene when Thursday Next is attending a Jurisfiction staff meeting in the BookWorld... 

" 'Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren’t you working on this?'

Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. 'Indeed. The uses of had had and that that have to be strictly controlled; they can interrupt the imaginotransference quite dramatically, causing readers to go back over the sentence in confusion, something we try to avoid.'

'Go on.'

'It’s mostly an unlicensed-usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had  sixty three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim’s Progress may also be a problem due to its had had/that that ratio.'

'So what’s the problem in Progress?'

'That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked, but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.’

'Hmm,' said the Bellman, 'I thought had had had had TGC’s approval for use in Dickens? What’s the problem?'

'Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,' said Lady Cavendish. 'You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had  had had approval but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.'

'So the problem with that other that that was that?'

'That that other-other that that had had approval.'

'Okay' said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, 'let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC’s approval?'

There was a very long pause. 'Right,' said the Bellman with a sigh, 'that’s it for the moment.' "

I think I have the stresses and pauses right, but not 100% sure, my mind is melting.  Wikipedia has a page on this exact topic

Friday First Paragraph's # 4

Welcome to the fourth installment of my Friday First Paragraph's (original idea from Bibliophile by the sea).

To me non-fiction feels like going back to school and reading a text book.  Biographies don't interest me at all either, so when Touching the Void by Joe Simpson was selected as a book club read I can honestly say I wasn't thrilled. I'd tried watching the film some years ago with little success, so have not been holding out much hope for the book, but actually it's not a bad start. Having to read the first page or so to write this blog entry I've been pleasantly surprised, and am feeling a little more positive about it.

I

BENEATH THE MOUNTAIN LAKES

I was lying in my sleeping bag, staring at the light filtering through the red and green fabric of the dome tent. Simon was snoring loudly, occasionally twitching in his dream world. We could have been anywhere. There is a peculiar anonymity about being in tents. Once the zip is closed and the outside world barred from sight, all sense of location disappears. Scotland, the French Alps, the Karakoram, it was always the same. The sounds of rustling, of fabric flapping in the wind, or of rainfall, the feel of hard lumps under the ground sheet, the smell of rancid socks and sweat - these are universals, as comforting as the warmth of the down sleeping bag.

Outside, in a lightening sky, the peaks would be catching the first of the morning sun, with perhaps even a condor cresting the thermals above the tent. That wasn't too fanciful either since I had seen one circling the camp the previous afternoon. We were in the middle of the Cordillera Huayhuash, in the Peruvian Andes, separated from the nearest village by twenty-eight miles of rough walking, and surrounded by the most spectacular ring of ice mountains I had ever seen, and the only indication of this from within our tent was the regular roaring of avalanches falling off Cerro Sarapo.

Book Review: Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Piatkus Books
ISBN: 9780749958114

I admit I've been a fan of Ms Roberts work for many years, and I religiously collect every new book she publishes. The last stand-alone book she published (The Witness) I found a little disappointing, but Whiskey Beach was better, though not perfect.

Short Synopsis: Eli Landon (Lawyer/Murder suspect/Writer/Artist) is in retreat after the murder of the wife he was divorcing and the investigation that focussed on him as her killer. He has retreated to his grandmothers house at Whiskey Beach where he meets Abra Walsh, the housekeeper/ cook/ yoga instructor/ masseuse/ waitress/ jewellery maker).  The only problem is that someone has followed Eli, and is intent on causing trouble. There's murder, mystery, buried treasure, legends, secret passages.

The story was good, much better than her last stand-alone book The Witness, and unlike that book I didn't think that there were any loose threads that could have served to tighten up the plot. However I was a little disappointed in the principle characters Eli and Abra. To my mind they came across a little too perfect at everything they do, which made them feel quite one dimensional. Depth of character really comes not just from the things we're good at, but the things we're not good at, and there's quite a lot of focus on everything that Eli and Abra do well, and far too little on their flaws and quirks. As a result you don't really care for them the way that I think you're meant to. I cared far more for the secondary characters like Hester, Maureen and Mike, Stoney etc...

I didn't get who the baddie was until a little while before it was revealed (though I didn't really try). I'm terrible at suspense's like these, and rarely guess right, unless I've guessed at everyone and then get it right by default.

What I liked most: Secret passages in old houses, just love them!

What I liked least: How good everybody is at everything they do. I know I don't read these books for their realism, but does everybody have to be fantastic at everything? Can't some of them be a little bit crap at something!?

Top Ten Tuesday # 4

Welcome to my Top Ten Tuesday list! The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information.

Books are a very personal thing I've found. A friend of mine loves to be scared, so her definition of something fun would be a Stephen King or James Herbert.  I'm the biggest scaredy-cat cry-baby you ever saw, so something light and fun for me is something that makes me laugh, or where I feel like I want to be in the story myself.

Also something that means I don't have to think all that much, and that won't elicit a strong 'negative' emotion like grief or fear.

As usual with my lists, they are not in any particular order, they are listed as they popped into my head.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.

Really good fun, I was laughing most of the way through it, and I can't imagine feeling tense while reading this.

Any Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb book.

Yep, any of them. Even the dark and supernatural ones. IT must be something about knowing that by the end of the story evil will be defeated, the baddies will get what they deserve, the couple will get together, and all will be right with the world again. These are my comfort blanket books.

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde. 

Yep, him again. I have thoroughly enjoyed most of his books, but I think The Fourth Bear is the better of the two Nursery Crime books, and this series is more lighthearted than any of the others (I admit I have not read the Dragonslayer series). Anything that can make you laugh or smile can't be bad.

Romances like Mills and Boon and the like.

They're light and fluffy, you don't have to think, everything works out at the end, and they're short. They're the spoonful of honey after foul-tasting medicine. The literary equivalent of a sugar-rush.

Moranthology by Caitlin Moran.

Snappy, funny and a quick-fix. The beauty of this collection is that you can pick it up, open it at any page and laugh. The downside is that you can't read it for too long before you need something with more depth.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

Science was never my strong point at school, and neither was paying all that much attention. This book was entertaining, and educational and Bill just makes things fun.

Chick Lit.

I mean such books as those written by Marion Keyes, Sophie Kinsella, Jane Green (until Jane Green moved to Connecticut and got married, after that I stopped reading as she was only writing about being married in Connecticut). The same reasons as M&B Romances.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

All the books. Is an explanation really necessary?

Friday First Paragraphs # 3

Welcome to the third installment of my Friday First Paragraph's (original idea from Bibliophile by the sea).

I originally saw this on Mr B's website, then later saw a good review on Fennell Books, so when I was perusing the shelves in a highstreet bookstore on a recent trip to Basingstoke, I had a read of the first paragraph. I couldn't put it back on the shelf, I HAD to buy it. I hope it grabs you like it grabbed me.

Edit: Thanks Nellie for pointing out that I didn't include the title...  This first paragraph is from The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman.  Enjoy!

1

BERLIN, 1931

When you knock a bowl of sugar on to your host's carpet, it is a parody of the avalanche that killed his mother and father, just as the duck's beak that your new girlfriend's lips form when she attempts a seductive pout is a quotation of the quacking noise your last girlfriend made during sex. When the telephone rings in the night because a stranger has given a wrong extension to the operator, it is a homage to the inadvertent substitution of telegrams that terminated your adulterous cousin's marriage, just as the resonant alcove between the counterpoised struts of your new girlfriend's clavicle is a rebuttal to the apparent beauty of your last girlfriend's fleshier decolletage. Or this is how it seemed to Egon Loeser, anyway, because the two subjects most hostile to his sense of a man's life as an essentially steady, comprehensible and Newtonian-mechanical undertaking were accidents and women, And it sometimes seemed as if the only way to prevent that dread pair from toppling him all the way over into derangement was to treat them not as prodigies but rather as texts to be studied. Hence the principle: accidents, like women, allude. These allusions are no less witty or astute for being unconscious; indeed, they are more so, which is one reason why it's probably a mistake to construct them deliberately. The other reason is that everyone might conclude you're a total prick.

Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Publisher:  Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060530928
Illustrations by Dave McKean (Adult Edition)

Website:  http://www.thegraveyardbook.co.uk/

I saw this in a book-haul on a post on Fennell Books the other day and though I don't yet own every Neil Gaiman book I could not believe I missed this one, it's right up my street!  So the next time I passed a bookshop I headed in and they had one last copy left.  My copy.

Short Synopsis:  A toddler escapes from his home while the rest of his family are murdered, and ends up in a graveyard. The ghosts of the graveyard take him in and raise him.  He has no name, no family, and he's a nobody.  So that's what they call him - Nobody, or Bod for short.  This is the story of Bod's life in the graveyard, a coming of age story, with that brilliant Gaiman supernatural twist.

Though written for a teen audience I think young-at-heart adults will thoroughly enjoy this one too.  It's delightfully grim, and for younger readers it would be pretty scary.  Night gaunts, Ghouls and Ghoul-gates, witches, ghosts, werewolves, and Silas.  FAB!

What I liked most:  Everything.  It's charming and entertaining, there are moments of genuine threat and you don't know how it will turn out exactly.

What I liked least:  I've just checked and it said 312 pages for this edition.  Maybe it's because it contains a fair few illustrations that take up a few pages, or that the font size is quite large, but it really didn't feel like a 300+ page book.  I wanted it to be longer, and I now wish I hadn't read it so quickly.

Favourite Quotes: 

“ 'Name the different kinds of people,’ said Miss Lupescu. ‘Now.’
Bod thought for a moment. ‘The living,’ he said. ‘Er. The dead.’ He stopped. Then, ‘... Cats?’ he offered, uncertainly.”

" 'I want to see life. I want to hold it in my hands. I want to leave a footprint on the sand of a desert island. I want to play football with people. I want,' he said, and then he paused and he thought. 'I want everything.' ”