Monday, January 10, 2011

Review: Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone


Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought




Harry Potter is an ordinary boy who lives in a cupboard under the stairs at his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's house, which he thinks is normal for someone like him whose parents have been killed in a 'car crash'. He is bullied by them and his fat, spoilt cousin Dudley, and lives a very unremarkable life with only the odd hiccup (like his hair growing back overnight!) to cause him much to think about. That is until an owl turns up with a letter addressed to Harry and all hell breaks loose! He is literally rescued by a world where nothing is as it seems and magic lessons are the order of the day. Read and find out how Harry discovers his true heritage at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, the reason behind his parents mysterious death, who is out to kill him, and how he uncovers the most amazing secret of all time, the fabled Philosopher's Stone! All this and muggles too. Now, what are they??

Pure magic

I must be one of the few people in the whole world that have not read any of the Harry Potter books yet. I had actually decided not to read them, beacuse of all the hype, but ever since I discovered the YA - universe I have changed my mind. A lot of Norwegian bookbloggers are also raving about these books, so I had to see what the fuzz was all about. Now I am one of the people that loves Harry Potter.

The story should be known to a lot of you by now: Harry lives with his aunt Petunia and his uncle Vernon, because his parents is dead, killed in a car accident - or at least that is what he has been told. Petunia and Vernon treat Harry bad, they have only eyes for their own son Dudley.

One day Harry receives a mysterious letter and his whole world changes. It turns out that his parents did not die in a car accident...

Like I said in the beginning, I have avoided the Harry Potter books for a long time because of the hype surrounding them. But I decided to give the series a chance, and I am so glad I dit that.I had high anticipations when I started reading, but I was not let down. Not at all. I was completely sucked into the story from the first sentence, trapped in a world I did not want to leave. I almost forgot to get off the train and the bus whilst reading, all I wanted to do was to keep on reading and be in this amaxing world that J.K. Rowling has created.

I loved the characters, the story, the atmosphere. I loved absolutely everything with this book. I understand why these books have gotten such a huge fanbase. Now I am a fan too, and can't wait to read the rest of the series and watch the films ( I have only seen the first when it came out a long time ago).

I cannot describe the feeling this book gave me. You have to experience it for yourself. Just go and read it!


Other reviews for this book:
A Book Obsession
Notes from the North
Bibliophilic Book Blog
Candace's Book Blog

Sunday, January 9, 2011

In My Mailbox (1)

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

I am sorry that I have not been blogging so much lately. I have had so much to do, busy at work, and a lot of school work ( I am studying literature). But I will do better.

I have gotten a lot of amazing books since I last did In My Mailbox. Here they are:

For review:

Janice Hardy: Pain Merchants; The Healing Wars 1
Kiersten White: Paranormalcy

Paranormalcy and The Healing Wars just showed up in my mailbox unexpected a few days before christmas. I was so happy, and literally jumped up and down. I have been wanting to read Paranormalcy for so long. The Pain Merchants also looks great. Thanks to the amazing people at HarperCollins Childrens UK who sent me these books. I am so grateful.

I have also received a few books from Netgalley:
L. A. Weatherly: Angel Burn
Mauren McGovan: Sleeping Beauty; Vampire Slayer
Eden Unger Bowitch; The Atomic Weight of Secret or the Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black
Shirley Duke: Unthinkable
Mara Purnhagen: One Hundred Candles

Bought:

I have bought a lot of books lately. Aside from the books I preordered in 2010, I will try to no buy any more books for a while. Anyway, here are the books I got in December and so far in January:

Kelley Creagh: Nevermore
PC Cast: Divine by Mistake (Bought in Norwegian)
PC Cast: Divine by Choice (Bought in Norwegian)
PC Cast: Divine by Blood (Bought in Norwegian)
Susan Krinard: Chasing Midnight (Bought in Norwegian)
Michele Hauf: Her Vampire Husband (Bought in Norwegian)
Maggie Shayne: Bloodline (Bought in Norwegian)
Christoper Pike: Thirst no 3

I discovered a sale on some books in a bookshop, and they only cost 3,52 USD each, so I had to have them:

Kate MacAllister: The Last of the Red Hot Vampires
Kate MacAllister: Playing with Fire
Kate MacAllister: Up in Smoke
Kate MacAllister: Me and My Shadow
Kate MacAllister: Love in the Time of Dragons
Kate MacAllister: Sex and the Single Vampire
Kate MacAllister: Sex, Lies and Vampires
Kate MacAllister: A Girl's Guide to Vampires
Kate MacAllister: Even Vampires get the Blues

What did you get in your mailbox? And if you have read any of Kate MacAllister's books I would love to hear what you thought of them.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

In My Mailbok (12)

This is a weekly meme, hosted by The Story Siren, where we talk about the books we got our hands on the past week.

I went kind of crazy at Amazon, and ended up with a lot of books - they were advertising with free shipping, even to Norway, and who can resist that? Remind me to not buy any books in a while ;) Anyway, here are the books I got:



Cassandra Clare: City of Bones
Cassandra Clare: City of Ashes
Cassandra Clare: City of Glass
Saundra Mitchell: Shadowed Summer
Anthology: Love is Hell
Anthology: Vacations from Hell


Anthology: Kiss Me Deadly
Anthology: The Eternal Kiss
Anthology: The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance
Anthology: Dates from Hell
Anthology: Immortal



Stacia Kane: Unholy Magic
J.K. Rowling: The Tales of Beedle the Bard
John Harding: Florence & Giles
Jennifer Donnelly: Revolution
David McAfee: 33.AD

I also received some books for review via Netgalley:

Ethan Rutherford: The Keening
Amos Oz: Suddenly in the Depths of the Forest
Sarah Porter: Lost Voices

What did you get in your mailbox?

Friday, December 3, 2010

Stephen King Challenge 2011



I love Stephen King, but I actually did not read a lot of books by him in 2010. I plan to do something about this in 2011. This challenge is hosted by Book Chick City and the goal is to read at least 6 books by this author.

I have not picked the books yet, but I plan to read at least The Tommyknockers and Nightmares & Dreamscapes

Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge 2011


One of the reading challenges I will participate in this year is The Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge, hosted by Book Chick City. I plan to read at least 24 books in these genres.

This is the books I am planning to read ( might change):

1. Laurell K. Hamilton: Burnt Offerings ( Anita Blake 7)
2. Laurell K. Hamilton: Blue Moon ( Anita Blake 8)
3. Laurell K. Hamilton: Obsidian Butterfly ( Anita Blake 9)
4. Laurell K. Hamilton: Narcissus in Chains ( Anita Blake 10)
5. Laurell K. Hamilton: Cerulean Sins ( Anita Blake 11)
6. Laurell K. Hamilton: Incubus Dreams ( Anita Blake 12)
7. Kelley Armstrong: Stolen
8. Kelley Armstrong: Bitten
9. Colleen Gleason: Rises the Night ( Gardella Vampire Chronicles 2)
10. Colleen Gleason: The Bleeding Dusk ( Gardella Vampire Chronicles 3)
11. Colleen Gleason: When Twilight Burns ( Gardella Vampire Chronicles 4)
12. Colleen Gleason: As Shadows Fade ( Gardella Vampire Chronicles 5)
13. Marie Treanor: Blood on Silk
14. Kim Harrison: Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows 1)
15. Kim Harrison: The Good, the Bad and the Undead ( The Hollows 2)
16. Kim Harrison: Every Which Way But Dead ( The Hollows 3)
17. Kim Harrison: A Fistful of Charms ( The Hollows 4)
18. Charlaine Harris: Living Dead in Dallas ( Sookie Stackhouse 2)
19. Charlaine Harris: Club Dead ( Sookie Stackhouse 3)
20. Charlaine Harris: Dead to the World ( Sookie Stackhouse 4)
21. Charlaine Harris: Dead as a Doornail ( Sookie Stackhouse 5)
22. J.R. Ward: Lover Awakened ( BDB 3)
23. J.R. Ward: Lover Revealed ( BDB 4)
24. J.R. Ward: Lover Unbound ( BDB 5)
25. J.R. Ward: Lover Enshrined (BDB 6)
26. J.R. Ward: Lover Avenged (BDB 7)
27. Cassandra Clare: City of Bones
28. Cassandra Clare: City of Ashes
29. Cassandra Clare: City of Glass
30. Lara Adrian: Kiss of Crimson ( The Midnight Breed 2)

As you can see, my main goal in this challenge is to read through a lot of the series I have stacked in my TBR - pile.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Review: Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton


Publisher: Headline Publishing Group (UK)
Pages: 464
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Release date/year: 1996, this edition in 2010

















A gripping and thrilling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel 'When the monsters are involved, it's never just one dead body. One way or another the dead multiply.' First, there were the dead in the graveyard, two hundred years dead. I'd been hired to raise them to settle a dispute over who owned the land they were buried in. Then there were the three dead teenagers in the woods, slaughtered in a way I'd never seen before. And then they found the dead girl, drained of blood and left in her bed. I knew what that meant of course. It didn't take a degree in preternatural studies to figure out that something was wrong. And I was right in the middle of it. My name is Anita Blake. Welcome to my life...


Entertaining and sexy.
Bloody Bones is your typical Anita Blake - novel with loads of action, supernatural elements, vampires and sexy scenes.

A couple of teenagers are discovered in the woods, dead, and Anita must assist the local police. There is not easy to say who, or maybe what, is behind the deaths. More people turn up dead and a boy is kidnapped. Anita must ask Jean-Claude for help to get to the bottom of this. She is also called upon to raise some dead corpses, to establish who owns the rights for a certain piece of land.

Bloody Bones is not the best book in the Anita Blake - series, but still a very entertaining read and a real must - read for the fans. The book is easy to read, entertaining, really funny at times (I love Anita Blakes cynical humour) and there is some surprises too.

The murders and the kidnapping is the main focus in the book, or so it seems, But the real focus is actually on the relationship between Anita and Jean-Claude. There is a development here, that I am really curious to read about in future books. I think Hamilton is so good at building up her characters personality and they are never onedimensional, but change and develop throughout the stories.

Other reviews for this book:
Escape Between the Pages



Wednesday, December 1, 2010

WOW: Wake unto Me, Shimmer, Night Star

This is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking the Spine, where we talk about the books we are dying to read.

I have 3 picks this week. First of all, I am eagerly awaiting the UK edition of Night Star by Alyson Noël and the second book in the Riley series, Glimmer. I met the author a few days ago, as you probably know from my blog, and got the chance to talk a lot with her. And that made me anticipate her books even more. I am always like that, books get a new dimension for me when I have met the author and know more about the books and the work that the author has put down in them. And I love this series.


Night Star continues the epic love story that has enchanted readers across the world. In this installment, Ever and Damen face down bitter rivals, jealous friends and their own worst fears—all in the hope of being together forever. Night Star is guaranteed to mesmerize fans and leave them breathlessly awaiting the sixth and final book!






























I am also awaiting the release of Wake unto Me, by Lisa Cach. I have already preordered the book.



A haunted castle, a handsome young man dead for four hundred years, one heck of a scary portrait of a witch, and a treasure hunt -- not to mention a princess for a roommate! -- all await 15 year old American girl Caitlyn Monahan when she earns a scholarship to a French boarding school.
There are secrets behind the stone walls of Chateau de la Fortune, buried for centuries along with the mystery of who killed Raphael, the charming ghost who visits Caitlyn at night. But as Caitlyn unearths the history of the castle, nothing scares her as badly as the secret she learns about herself, and the reason she was chosen to come to the Fortune School. And nothing breaks her heart as badly as falling in love with a dead guy.




What are your picks this week?
 
Blog designed by Dreamy Blog Designs using Kimla's Storytime kit.