My week in books (#4)

My week in books is a feature where I share things I've found interesting from the past week that concern books, literature and all things book blogging.

There's not long to go until Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas is released (you can read my review here). In the meantime, Maas has written a couple of novellas which are being exclusively published by bloggers. First up is The Assassin and The Princess, set between Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, and 12. The second one, The Assassin and The Captain, starts here.

You have no idea how much I love a good infographic, and this week Ruby over at Feed Me Books Now combined my love of infographics and books by creating an amazing infographic about dystopian novels. (Could I have used the word infographic more in the previous sentence?) Here's the original post, and here's the large version of the infographic, which you can zoom in on. Go look, and leave her some praise in the comments.

This week I discovered that the estate of Roald Dahl has a Twitter account - @roald_dahl. They publish lots of cool quotes and tidbits from the novels, as well as news and information, and plenty of illustrations by the amazing Quentin Blake.

Also on Twitter is @BooksOnTheBBC, a campaign to get a regular book programme/slot on to one of the BBC's television channels.

Daniel D'Addario wrote a piece in Salon this week (here) about what makes a novel literary as opposed to chick-lit. It's an interesting read.

The Independent on Sunday announced this week that it will launch a new arts and books section on September 8, concentrating on features, interviews, essays, previews and comment rather than reviews. In a time when many publications are cutting back on arts and books coverage, it's good to see a newspaper trying to do something different rather than just shutting something down.

And finally, some pretty pictures. I popped in to Waterstone's the other day, and spotted some gorgeous Harry Potter covers I'd not seen before (they didn't have all the books)...

Have you spotted anything this week you want to share? Let me know in the comments below.

Book review: The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale

Detail is at the heart of Jane Borodale's The Book of Fires, and it's that detail that creates a world so full that it's easy to imagine.

It's 1752, and young Agnes Trussel leaves her home in rural Sussex to head to London. She's pregnant, after being raped, and has stolen a bunch of gold coins from a dead neighbour to help her escape.

On arriving in London, she finds work as an assistant to the surly John Blacklock, maker of fireworks. As Agnes learns more about fire and alchemy, she also finds herself rapidly approaching the moment she will be discovered as an unwed mother.

Borodale's novel features a heroine who is instantly likeable - she's practical, honest, innocent, and you root for her every step of the way. Although she is in an awful situation not of her own making, Agnes still manages to find joy in her work, and her curiosity about both the science of fireworks and John Blacklock was a curiosity I mirrored.

The book is told in first person, so John Blacklock remains a mystery to the very last. I like that we only ever see him from Agnes's point of view - it helped me to feel some of what Agnes was feeling. Agnes proves to be a good judge of character throughout the novel, apart from in one instance, but I'll leave you to discover that one instance yourself.

The novel opens with Agnes and her family preparing to slaughter a pig, as they do every year, and the metaphor of the pig - trapped and doomed - is one that runs throughout the book. Also running through the book is the spectre of hangings, common in London at the time. They add a sense of foreboding throughout.

The detail was what struck me most about Borodale's novel - you could almost smell, hear and see everything she talked about, from the Sussex countryside to John Blacklock's workshop to the streets of London.

I found myself utterly caught up in The Book of Fires, and so impressed with both the plot and pacing, and with Borodale's writing, which is exquisite. I'm utterly unsurprised that it was shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers when it came out. 

The Book of Fires is a book in which many of the key events happen outside of the reader's (and Agnes's view), but you never feel like you miss a moment, and the surprises are well worth it. For fans of historical fiction, this is sure to be a hit, and for fans of well-crafted, well-written work, this is a must read.

How I got this book: Bought

Top Ten Tuesday (#11) - books I wish could have had sequels

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish, where the writers, like me, are particularly fond of lists.   

This week's topic is...top 10 books I wish could have had sequels (they were complete stories but you just could have read more and more about these characters or set in that world).

This is a tough one, because lately I've been speaking out about how every book nowadays seems to be part of a trilogy or series. I think a lot of great books stand on their own, and don't need sequels. Therefore, none of the below are books I really, really want to read a full sequel to, but ones where I sometimes wish I'd been able to get a definitive answer on what happened next.

1. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
We'll start with I Capture the Castle. When I first read it (as a young teenager) I was saddened to find there was no sequel. I felt like I'd been shown a slice of Cassandra Mortmain's life, and I really wanted to know exactly what happened next. Now, I see why Smith worked that way, but I still want to know more.

2. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
This is one of my favourite books, and ends on such a perfect melancholy note. Still, I'd love to ask Shriver what she thought happened next, and how Kevin and his mum dealt with each other.

3. Matilda by Roald Dahl
I'd love to find out what a grown-up Matilda was like. I imagine she set up a school for clever girls, and spent her life making sure all women got an education.

4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Okay, I don't want a full sequel but five minutes with John Green to find out his headcanon for Hazel would be great.

5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Lord of the Rings series has a huge number of appendices which expand on the history of Middle Earth and events outside the books. I'd like something similar (on a much, much, much smaller scale) for The Hunger Games, where Collins tells us more about the world and how it copes after the Games finish. We get a small glimpse, but since it's through Katniss's point of view and she's out of it, we don't get much.

6. After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross
I read this recently (review here), and I'm quite happy that there's not a sequel, because I think the characters I met are just fine. I would like to know from Cross, though, how (if) the world recovers and what's ahead for Britain in her universe.

7. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
A beautiful, haunting novel, Never Let Me Go (review here) is pretty much perfect. Sometimes a small part of me wants to know exactly what happened to Kathy though, rather than me being the one to figure it out. I think it would be easier to come to terms with if Ishiguro spelt it out.

8. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
I'm a huge fan of Gaiman, and could read more of his worlds anytime. It was a toss up between Neverwhere and Stardust as to what went on this list, and I went for Neverwhere.

9. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
There is actually a sequel to this, called Scarlett, and written by someone who's not Mitchell. I don't need a full book, I just need to know whether Rhett ever forgives Scarlet and the two get together.

10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Another book I recently read (review here), Gone Girl's ending is jawdropping. I won't spoil anything, but I'd love to know how the lives of the characters panned out. If you've read it, you'll know what I'm talking about.

What books would you like to see sequels to?

The Sunday Post (#17) and Showcase Sunday (#3)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren. They're a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, highlight our newest books and see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, or bought.

Book stuff this week on Girl!Reporter
Top ten Tuesday (#10) - opening lines
Book of the month - July 2013 
My week in books (#3) - bookish ice cream flavours, 15 classics you should, tips on marketing your blog and more.

Books I added to my shelves:

From the library:
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
Paper Towns by John Green












From a PR:

This is a coffee table book about the history of Centre Point, a massive building in London, on Oxford Street/Tottenham Court Road. The authors have picked a different subject for each "floor" (chapter), and explore that subject and what it was like at the time Centre Point was built.




Won:


The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence, published by Hodder, won through a Twitter competition run by @HodderFiction.

Red Winter by Dan Smith, published by Orion, through a competition run by Lindsay at The Little Reader Library. Thanks Lindsay!











What have you been up to this week?

My week in books (#3)

My week in books is a feature where I share things I've found interesting from the past week that concern books, literature and all things book blogging.

I have so many things to share this week, I'm not quite sure where to start.

I guess with something everyone's been talking about - the cover reveal for Cress by Marissa Meyer, which you can see here. This is a beautiful cover, and definitely my favourite from The Lunar Chronicles so far.

The Atlantic did an interesting article on why children's books matter about the New York Public Library's exhibition on children's books (here). I've always been a firm believer that you shouldn't discriminate against literature because of who it's aimed at, so it was lovely to see this piece, the introduction of which should be a manifesto of sorts for children's books:

"A good children's book is a young person's earliest exposure to art and design, a conduit for parental bonding, a means to teach individual and social lessons, and these days, possibly the last vestige of printed matter for the next digital generation as it weans itself from ink on paper to pixels on screens."

I can't tell you how much I agree with the above statement.

I saw lots of lists this week that I loved:

• Marie Claire did 15 classic books you have to read at least once, which you can find here.
• The Guardian looked here at six self-publishing surprises, and discovered some really unusual books.
• Buzzfeed had some fun here and came up with six perfect ice-cream flavours for book lovers. Let me know in the comments if you come up with any.
• I found lots of lists on Stylist, from 100 best opening lines from children's books, to 100 best closing lines from books, to the 50 most romantic lines in literature. They've got lots more, and you can create your own lists on the site as well.

There was lots of great advice being offered to bloggers and authors this week, from all sources. Some of the best include:

• Trish at Between the Lines is doing a great series on marketing for bloggers, which is full of sage advice. You can find the first post here.
• The Guardian did a piece here on why authors need to join the PR circus.
• Asti at A Broken Heart shared her tips on having a breakout blog, and similarly Chris Hill over at songofaseagod gave advice on how to get more views.

This week I also followed some great publisher Twitter accounts, my favourite of which was @HodderFiction, who spent the week running great competitions (disclaimer: I won a book from them!).

And finally, it's not quite about a book, but the British government is trying to stop a ring belonging to Jane Austen leaving the country, as it was won at auction by Kelly Clarkson. What do you think? The Guardian debates here.

Did you spot anything this week you wanted to share? Let me know in the comments.

Book of the month - July 2013

It was tough to choose a book this month, because I read a few really, really great ones.

After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross almost took the top spot, but I finished Gone Girl right at the beginning of July, so that pipped After Tomorrow to the post.

I loved everything about Gone Girl, from the writing style, to the pacing, to the plot. It had me on the edge of my seat, and I just couldn't work out where Gillian Flynn was going to go next with her novel. This is a grand description, but Gone Girl, in my opinion, is a modern masterpiece. If you haven't read it, what are you waiting for?!

What's the best book you read in July?