Book Blogger Hop 12th - 18th July

 

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer and gives bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog. All you need to do is answer this weeks question on your blog, enter the link to your post here then visit other blogs on the list and comment on their posts.

This weeks question:

How long have you been blogging?

My answer:

I haven't had a blog for very long at all, I only started it on 17th June 2013. I'd joined Goodreads earlier this year and then Netgalley and was enjoying reviewing and rating books. I've always loved reading and books so decided it would be a great idea to have a blog. I have to say I'm really enjoying it and wish I'd started it sooner.

 

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

 

 Late Last Night and the Night Before ...

... Tommyknockers, tommyknockers, knocking at the door.

 

Something was happening in Bobbi Anderson's idyllic small town of Haven, Maine. Something that gave every man, woman, and child in town powers far beyond ordinary mortals. Something that turned the town into a death trap for all outsiders. Something that came from a metal object, buried for millennia, that Bobbi stumbled across.

It wasn't that Bobbi and the other good folks of Haven had sold their souls to reap the rewards of the most deadly evil this side of hell. It was more like diabolical takeover...and invasion of body and soul--and mind.

 As I mentioned in my Musing Mondays 8th July post I had decided to reread The Tommyknockers by Stephen King. I think this is the only time I've reread a novel and not thought it was as good or even better than when I'd read it before. I finished it earlier today and although parts of it were excellent it was ridiculously overlong. Now, not many of King's books are short or of a standard length even, but usually the story and writing is good enough so this doesn't matter, however I thought The Tommyknockers was in need of some much better editing. It could have lost at least a quarter of the pages and it wouldn't have affected the story, it would in fact have made the book a much better read. I know a lot of people think that one of the authors weak points is the endings to his novels but I thought The Tommyknockers had a decent one. I'm glad I revisited it and it's worth reading if you're a Stephen King fan but not a good one to start with if you're not familiar with his work.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Six Books, Six Months - 2013

This is a meme that was started by Jo's Book Journey. It looks interesting so I thought I'd give it a go.

Here are mine:

 

Six new authors to me

1. Rachel Abbott
2. Annie Murray
3. Robert Goolrick
4. Jasper Fforde
5. Kate Atkinson
6. Susan Crandall

Six debuts I enjoyed

1. The Night Rainbow by Claire King
2. Seldom Seen by Sarah Ridgard
3. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
4. A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
5. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
6. The Things We Never Said by Susan Elliot Wright

Six books by authors who never let me down

1. Joyland by Stephen King
2. Instructions For a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
3. The Friday Gospels by Jenn Ashworth
4. The Machine by James Smythe
5. Dead Man's Time by Peter James
6. Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler

Six books I was disappointed with

1. Small Kindnesses by Fiona Robyn
2. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
3. Outside by Shalini Boland
4. Safe House by Chris Ewan
5. Phantom by Jo Nesbo
6. The Drought by J.G. Ballard

Six books I enjoyed the most

1. Instructions For a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
2. Looking For Me by Beth Hoffman
3. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
4. The Night Rainbow by Claire King
5. Heading Out To Wonderful by Robert Goolrick
6. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Six authors I'm looking forward to reading more of

1. Beth Hoffman
2. Craig Lancaster
3. Wiley Cash
4. Kate Atkinson
5. Elizabeth Haynes
6. Catherine Ryan Hyde

 

Friday Finds - 12th July

 

 FRIDAY FINDS is run by Should Be Reading and is a chance to share the books you've heard about this week and have added to your TBR or wishlist.

This week I've added the following to my wishlist:

 

The Broken Ones by Stephen M. Irwin
Serena by Ron Rash
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson

This is a review by my ten year old daughter Gemma:

Jacqueline Wilson is my favourite author of all time. I love every one of her books but Tracy Beaker is the one of the best.


Tracy Beaker is a 10 year old girl, (same age as me), who is in a children's home. Tracy is a troubled girl with big anger issues who everyone despises. She has no dad and an apparent famous actor mum. The home, known as the Dumping Ground, is full of children who think Tracy is a nutcase for believing she has a famous mum, but she's convinced her mum is somewhere out there in Hollywood. Without any friends or a mum or dad to look after her she is really bored, until one day, an author called Camilla, (who likes to be known as Cam), visits the children's home. Tracy likes Cam and wishes she was her mum. She thinks Cam feels the same, but has she got the wrong idea? If not will her future be bright?

An exciting first book in the terrific Tracy Beaker trilogy.

You might think that the subject matter means this is a gloomy story, but I thought the book was brilliant and packed with lots fun and the ideas keep flowing as the story continues. It's a real page turner and a very bright book. I recommend The Story Of Tracy Beaker for ages 8-13, but I think anyone could enjoy it.

Waiting On Wednesday - The Returned

 

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we can't wait to be published.

This week mine is The Returned by Jason Mott:

 

Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time.

Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep--flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.

All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he's their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

Publication date: 27th August 2013 

I've been watching and enjoying a French TV show on Ch4 called The Returned which is about the same subject, when I first heard of this book I thought perhaps the two were linked but I'm pretty sure they're not and I think the novel is mainly set in America. Will be interesting to see how the two compare.
 

Top Ten Tuesday - Best/Worst Movie Adaptations

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish and each week there's a different topic. As always, even if you can't think of 10, do as many as you can. This week's topic is the best/worst movie adaptations and it made me realise how few films I've seen of books I have read, I tend to either read the book or see the film but rarely both:

The Best:

                                   

 


The Road by Cormac McCarthy - The film was exactly as I'd imagined the book








Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier -the film is the 1940 Hitchcock version.

                         

 


The Shawshank Redemption, a novella in Different Seasons by Stephen King








American Pyscho by Bret Easton Ellis








Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh







The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - I loved the book when I was a child and enjoyed watching the film with my daughters.









The Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum






            

The Shining by Stephen King - the Kubrick film, I know King hated it and it splits his fans opinions but I like this version.

The Worst: 

 

Autumn by David Moody - I haven't read or seen this but my Husband says the film is
one of the worst he's ever seen and he loved the book.









The Stand by Stephen King - I know it was a mini series and not a movie but I've included it anyway, started well but quickly went downhill, awful acting and script.