What's Hot?

Showing posts with label Me Before You. Show all posts

Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a book meme run by The Broke and The Bookish.

I probably won't be participating in Waiting on Wednesday or Showcase Sunday whilst I'm on my year abroad because I'm really trying to use this time to catch up on some titles that I already own as well as the mountain of French literature I've got to read for my degree. I've hit a blogging low since I started university two years ago, but I'm really trying to get back into reviewing and hopefully something like Top Ten Tuesday will force me to think about the books I've already read. Anyway, enough rambling, here's my list!

1. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The Rosie Project focuses on Don, a man with Aspergers syndrome, who is trying to find a wife. He is very atypical with a unique way of thinking and reacting to events. He can be incredibly blunt and as Hermione said, 'has the emotional range of a teaspoon'. Very funny, very touching, this is a must-read for the summer!

See my review here.

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I don't think this book needs much explanation to be honest, but seeing two teenagers battling terminal illnesses and still trying to live their lives as ordinary teenagers is really inspirational and heartbreaking.

See my review here.

3. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You is one of my all time favourite books. It is the beautiful story of a man who was once very active and sporty who is now paralyzed from the waist down. This book had me in buckets - more so than The Fault in Our Stars! This can almost be seen as the adult version of TFiOS, but I actually think this is slightly better and more touching. READ THIS BOOK NOW. (Also buy a big box of tissues)

See my review here.

4. City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare

I know for a lot of fans of this series, the relationship between Bane and Alec is their favourite part of the story. This series ticks both the ethnic and sexual diversity box and I guess the paranormal one too with all the different creatures present in this series!

5. Lies we tell ourselves by Robin Talley

Set in the 1950s when for the first time ever, black children were admitted to a white school, this book features a dual narrative told from the POV of a white girl and a black girl. Not only that, but these two girls develop a beautiful relationship that portrays the struggles they faced in what I thought was a very accurate way.

6. Ink by Amanda Sun

Most YA books are set in the USA or the UK but this title is set in Japan and most of the cultural references are pretty spot on! It's been a while since I read this so I'm a bit sketchy on the details but I believe its centered on an American girl and a Japanese boy and the magical ink that can make drawings come to life.

See my review here.

7. How To Be Both by Ali Smith

Written in two parts, How To Be Both explores how someone can be ever-present and yet forever-gone, both male and female, both homosexual and heterosexual etc. etc. There are some lesbian relationships in this book and the way Ali Smith writes about adolescence is really touching. Though be warned, this is an incredibly complex and confusing book. Most people I know have a love/hate relationship with this title!

Review coming soon!

8. Tampa by Alissa Nutting

I found Tampa pretty disturbing when I read it as is it's about the sexual relationship between a teacher and pupil. The teacher in question is obviously a paedophile and her psychology is both really interesting and really frightening. Well worth a read!

See my review here.

9. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Wahey for asians in YA fiction! I'm half-chinese and a big fan of Korean culture so I was ecstatic to find a book with an oriental teenager in it. I felt like I could relate to Park's family life, but I also appreciated that Park being Korean wasn't a huge deal. This is just like any old teenage love story (but better).

See my review here.

10. The Immoralist by Andre Gide

This is one from my university reading list and is about a married man who begins to explore his homosexual desires that are awakened through travelling. This was written at a time when being homosexual was still taboo so this book was someone of a scandal (as you can see from the title 'The Immoralist'). This is a fairly short story and an important part of the history of French literature so I'd definitely recommend giving it a read. Some of the descriptions are absolutely beautiful even if the characters aren't the sort of people you want to be.

---

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!

WIN £10/$15 WORTH OF BOOKS FROM TBD!

ENTER VIA RAFFLECOPTER BELOW

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday: The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

Waiting on Wednesday #30.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: The One Plus One

Author: Jojo Moyes

Genre: Romance

Publication Date: 27th February 2014

Publisher: Penguin Books UK

Goodreads Summary: One single mum

With two jobs and two children, Jess Thomas does her best day after day. But it's hard on your own. And sometimes you take risks you shouldn't. Because you have to . . .

One chaotic family

Jess's gifted, quirky daughter Tanzie is brilliant with numbers, but without a helping hand she'll never get the chance to shine. And Nicky, Jess's teenage stepson, can't fight the bullies alone.

Sometimes Jess feels like they're sinking . . .

One handsome stranger

Into their lives comes Ed Nicholls, a man whose life is in chaos, and who is running from a deeply uncertain future. But he has time on his hands. He knows what it's like to be lonely. And he wants to help . . .

One unexpected love story

The One Plus One is a captivating and unconventional romance from Jojo Moyes about two lost souls meeting in the most unlikely circumstances.

{ Thoughts }

If you've read my review of Me Before You (by the same author), you'll know that I am a big, big Jojo Moyes fan. Me Before You had me in floods of tears and affected me in a way that very few books have. I am so excited about Jojo Moyes' new release, The One Plus One, and I hope that it will be just as good, if not better, than Me Before You. I usually stick to YA when reading, probably just out of habit, but its the occasional book, such as this, that has the power to draw me away from the teenage drama to more serious stories. Anyone else read Jojo Moyes' work? I've only read Me Before You but I've heard her other stories are excellent too.

Check out my review of Me Before You HERE.

What's everyone else waiting on this week? Let me know in the comments below! :)

BOOK REVIEW: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: 5th January 2012
Goodreads Summary: Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.
What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.
Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

{ Review }

I'd seen Me Before You on a couple of blogs so when I saw it at the charity shop I thought I'd give it a try. To be honest, the synopsis didn't really appeal to me at first but in the end I loved this book. Me Before You is about Will Traynor, a rich, active businessman, whose life is turned upside down when he is involved in a motorcycle accident and paralysed from the chest downwards. His mother is desperate to find a full-time day carer for him and finds Louisa Clark, a recently unemployed young woman who doesn't have any qualifications. At first, Will and Lou don't get along at all, but they learn a lot from each other as time goes on. This is a heartbreaking story about two people whose lives are irrevocably changed from the moment they meet.

Me Before You is written from the first person perspective of Lou, the female protagonist. Lou is a really likable character and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her narrative because she's really funny and fearless but also sensitive and unique. She is the sort of girl who wears yellow and black striped tights even though she's twenty seven and you can't help but love her. I really connected with her character and felt both her happiness and her pain as I read this book. There are a couple of chapters which give us an insight into the minds of some other characters including Will, Nathan (Will's medical carer), Camilla (Will's mother) and Katrina (Lou's sister). The book starts off with a small chapter from Will's perspective on the day of his accident which is great because it means you can really understand what Will was like before his accident and see the tremendous difference afterwards.

The story line of this novel is really moving. I've never really thought about what it would be like to be completely paralysed or how it would make me feel but having read this book I feel that I have a greater understanding of what life must be like for those with disabilities. Obviously I'm still nowhere even close to really understanding the life of a quadraplegic but I can certainly appreciate that it's a lot more difficult that one might at first imagine. This isn't the sort of book I usually read, in fact, I usually avoid 'illness'-related books but I seriously regret keeping this book on my shelf, unread, for the past year.

This is a completely different sort of romance to any that I've read before because it doesn't really involve any physical touching and, in fact, it's not even really mentioned until the last few passages of the book. Even though it is not explicit, you can feel it developing between the characters, a real connection, a not the whimsical ones you often find in romance books. This is, without a doubt, the most beautiful and heartbreaking love story I have ever read in my entire life. This is the sort of love that creeps up on you when you least expect it. There was one moment whilst reading this that I actually started sobbing, like full on sobbing, and I had to put the book down for five minutes whilst I got all my emotions out. This was not the only time I cried whilst reading this novel, oh no, I was pretty much crying not stop for the entirety of the second half and this book touched my heart in a way that no other book has. In some ways, you could call this an adult version of The Fault in Our Stars, as there are similar-ish issues explored, but I was much more moved by Me Before You - if that's even possible!

Lou and Will learn a lot from each other as the book progresses, so in turn, I too learnt a lot. I think reading this book may have even made me a better person because I certainly have a completely changed perspective on quadraplegics, on life and on love. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is absolutely phenomenal and a must-read for everyone! For teenage readers, if you liked TFIOS, then Me Before You is probably also up your street. For adult readers, anyone with a heart will love this book.

Older Posts Home

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )