Wednesday 16 April 2014

A-Z Challenge: N

Hello Everyone,


This is a special post for me as it is my birthday! (Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me…) Luckily for me, it fell on day N, and I am nineteen years old.

Nineteen years ago today, I was born (duh, that’s what birthdays are!), and in my nineteen years I have read a lot of books. So today I am going to share my bookish memories with you guys (to keep with my book theme).
Image courtesy of Marlene Simoes


The first book I read
The first book I read is a difficult one, as I remember it slightly different to my parents. They reckon that the first book I read was Rosie and the Tortoise by Wild and Brooks. I think it was A Bug’s Life book of the movie. Also, what I did was probably not technically ‘reading’. I took it off whoever was reading it and ‘read’ it from memory (will point out at this moment that I was 3 years old at the time, so I hadn’t even learnt how to read properly yet!) Apparently I turned the pages at the right time and everything. I can’t remember what the first book I actually read was, because I read a lot of books with my mum when I had learnt to read. But the ones I remember are Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the Hobbit and Stargirl.
Not me I'm afraid, all my childhood photos are actual photos, not scanned
via: http://www.flowergirlworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/girl_reading.jpg


The last book I finished
The last book I finished was yesterday, and it was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. After writing my post on the series, I decided that I wanted to re-read the series.


The next book I plan to read
Well, it should be Giovanni’s Room, as it will be the book that we are studying next in my course. However, it will probably be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, if I’m going to be honest. There’s not much else to say on that subject.
"'I'm wondering what to read next,' Matilda said. 'I've finished all the children's books.'"
via: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qSFei519jYk/T41BcCx6IcI/AAAAAAAAE7I/F2SnwBRn-fA/s400/Matilda.jpg

My favourite book
This is a difficult one, as I really just have whole piles of ‘favourite’ books (meaning that none of them are my favourite.) I really loved Journey to the Centre of the Earth (see my review here) as it completely captured my imagination, and I just loved it. Another book that I really loved was the Great Gatsby. However, I have slightly gone off it at the moment as I had to study it for Higher, and I just need a couple of months not thinking about it to allow me to fully appreciate it again. I just love the tragic hero of Gatsby, and his love of Daisy: his unattainable dream. There is just something that speaks to me, and that I completely understand and empathise with. I don’t know exactly what.
via: http://media1.onsugar.com/files/2013/05/03/842/n/3019466/44721c4b88300d88_2006.xxxlarge/i/How-whimsical-2006-Great-Gatsby-book-cover.jpg


My least favourite book
I don’t know if I have a least favourite book. I’m not sure if I’ve really disliked a book. One book that I remember not enjoying was Looking for Alaska by John Green. I don’t know why I disliked it, I just didn’t like the characters, and thought they were all despicable. I just couldn’t sympathise with their situation, and what happened to them. Another one that I really disliked reading was Utopia by Sir Thomas More. There was no story or characters to follow, and I just didn’t believe that the society he described could happen.
via: http://www.napsbitmesra.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/alaska.jpg


Most sought after book
At the moment my most sought after book is Heroes of Olympus House of Hades, as I had to go into three separate book shops on three separate occasions to find a copy of it. Then, when I finally find a copy of it, I find that it’s in hardback, and so very expensive. It also wouldn’t match my copies of the previous books in the series as they are paperback. So I still have not got a copy of it.
via: http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370008006l/12127810.jpg


Most anticipated release
Apart from the last Harry Potter, which was the most anticipated release the world has seen, I would say possibly that my most anticipated release may have to be Anthony Horowitz’s Power of Five  series: Book 5 Oblivion. I think I started reading it when I was 10 or 11, and the last book didn’t come out until last year. I can say, it safely lived up to my expectations. Another book that I really anticipated the release was the City of Ashes (what I believed to be the last in The Mortal Instruments series, but it wasn’t). It also lived up to my expectations. One anticipated release that did not live up to my expectations was the third book of the Divergent Trilogy, Allegiant. I don’t understand, I think it could have had a better conclusion, and reasoning behind the book. There were no clever little hidden things in the book that all added up to the conclusion, it was just stated the answer, and that was that. No hidden subtleties. This year’s anticipated release is City of Heavenly Fire: the sixth, and last, book in The Mortal Instruments series. I cannot wait, and I really hope it lives up to my expectations.
via: http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140116020116/mortalinstruments/images/4/42/COHF_cover.jpg


Literary Hero
I have numerous literary heroes. JK Rowling, for hitting the lowest point in her life, and still finding inspiration to write. Anthony Horowitz, for creating some of the cleverest, and coolest characters ever. Roald Dhal, for getting me through my childhood, and teaching me that being silly is very important to life. F Scott Fitzgerald, for creating the most tragic of situations. Cassandra Clare, for allowing me to indulge my romantic and fantasy side. Jacqueline Wilson, for teaching me to always be myself.  Hard to sum up really, without anything really corny and trite. So I won’t bother. Except this.
via: http://meetville.com/images/quotes/Quotation-Louise-Penny-literary-world-heroes-Meetville-Quotes-475.jpg

Who is your literary hero, and why? They can be characters in a book (I decided that I couldn’t go down that road as I would never finish this post) or authors. Comment below letting me know. I’m off to eat some cake.

Gracexxx



2 comments:

  1. Happy birthday! :) Hope you have a good one!

    I don't know about literary heroes... let's see. Maybe L. M. Montgomery whose life's passion was writing. Or maybe Charlotte Bronte who wrote a letter to her literary idol asking for a critique of her work and was told "Writing is for men, get back in the kitchen" (paraphrasing). So she wrote a little thing called 'Jane Eyre' under a male pen name and achieved huge success. Or perhaps it's Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote what is considered to be the first novel over 1000 years ago at a time when women weren't supposed to know how to read or write. She wrote a naughty little romance called 'The Tale of Genji' for the Empress, despite being told by the monks of the time that she was going to hell for it. "You don't know me; I do what I want." Is what I imagine she told them.

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    1. These are all fantastic heroes. I didn't know about Murasaki Shikibu, that is a really great one.

      Gracexxx

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