Letterbox Love #61

Letterbox Love all of the lovely, lovely books I’ve gotten in the post, bought and everything else. Summaries are taken from the cover, or Amazon/NetGalley/Goodreads in the case of e-books, unless otherwise stated. Hosted by Narratively Speaking.

For review:

Lips Touch, Laini Taylor (paperback)

From a writer of unparalleled, vivid imagination and emotional insight, three stories about the deliciousness of wanting and waiting for that moment when lips touch...

In Victorian times, goblins offered sumptuous fruits in exchange for maidens’ souls...and were usually successful. But what does it take to tempt today’s savvy young women. Discover the answer in GOBLIN FRUIT.

In SPICY LITTLE CURSES a demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test the curse placed upon her.

And in HATCHLING, six days before Esme’s fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?

Man, I cannot wait to get stuck into this. Thanks Hodder and BookBridgr!

Bought:  

The Outsiders, SE Hinton (paperback)

‘...the hand at the back of my neck was strong. I’m drowning, I thought...’

The Socs’ idea of having a good time is beating up Greasers like Ponyboy. Ponyboy knows what to expect and knows he can count on his brothers and friends – until the night someone takes things too far.

A ground-breaking, timeless story from a brilliant writer.

I’ve never read this and it’s shameful. I’m going to make it my October classic read.

Zom-B Family, Darren Shan (hardback)

B has been taken hostage by Dan-Dan and his evil associates...who include her father. But someone is coming to her rescue...

‘What’s wrong, Daddy dearest?’ I simper. ‘Oh, that’s right, you can’t beat me up anymore, can you? Unless you want ot go get a plank to hammer me over the head with.’

‘Don’t say such things,’ he croaks, sitting again, looking on the verge of tears.

‘Why not?’ I shout. ‘You never gave a damn about me really. And what happened to Mum? You haven’t mentioned her. If you’re such a big family man, that’s the first thing you would have told me. Go on, Dad, let me have it. Did you look for her? Did she even cross your mind?’

‘Of course she did,’ he yells. ‘She was my wife. I loved her.’

‘And?’ I whisper when he doesn’t continue, fearing the worst, sure he’s going to tell me he couldn’t find her or that she was dead when he got there. Instead he shocks me.

‘She’s here,’ he mumbles.

Bring on book nine!

Vivienne Westwood, Vivienne Westwood and Ian Kelly (hardback)

Vivienne Westwood is one of the icons of our age. Fashion designer, activist, co-creator of punk, global brand and grandmother; a true living legend. Her career has successfully spanned five decades and her work has influenced millions of people across the world.

For the first and only time, Vivienne Westwood has written a personal memoir, collaborating with award-winning biographer Ian Kelly, to describe the events, people and ideas that have shaped her extraordinary life. Told in all its glamour and glory, and with her unique voice, unexpected perspective and passionate honesty, this is her story.

Westwood is a fascinating lady and I think she’s brilliant. I’m really looking forward to hearing about her crazy life from her own eyes.

Not That Kind of Girl, Lena Dunham (hardback)

From the acclaimed creator, producer and star of HBO’s Girls comes a hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays that establishes Len Dunham as one of the most original young talents in writing today.

In Not That Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one’s way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only healthy food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and, most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.

Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not That Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the frontlines of the struggle that is growing up. “I’m already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you,” Dunham writes. “But if I can take what I’ve learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile.”

I broke my ‘no hardbacks unless they’re over 300 pages’ rule (for the second time this week) for this book so it has to be good.

Not a Drop to Drink, Mindy McGinnis (e-book)

Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water.

Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or not at all.

Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.

But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it.

With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different from our own.

I hadn’t really heard of this until I started watching Epic Reads’ videos and found out that it was one of their favourite books of last year. Lo’ and behold, it was only 99p on Kindle!

Sophie

A Song for Ella Grey, David Almond

Pages: 293

Publisher: Hodder

Release Date: 2^nd October 2014

Edition: UK e-proof, NetGalley review copy

Other Titles by this Author: Skellig, Clay, My Name is Mina, Jackdaw Summer, The Fire Eaters, The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, The Tightrope Walkers and many more

‘I’m the one who’s left behind. I’m the one to tell the tale. I knew them both... knew how they lived and how they died.’

Claire is Ella Grey’s best friend. She’s there when the whirlwind arrives on the scene: catapulted into a North East landscape of gutted shipyards; of high arched bridges and ancient collapsed mines. She witnesses a love so dramatic it is as if her best friend has been captured and taken from her. But the loss of her friend to the arms of Orpheus is nothing compared to the loss she feels when Ella is taken from the world. This is her story – as she bears witness to a love so complete, so sure, that not even death can prove final.

The novels of David Almond promise stories of love, magic and awe-inspiring prose; he is a national treasure after all. And I’d definitely say A Song for Ella Grey delivered.

It was about two paragraphs into the novel that I had to tweet about how mind-bendingly beautiful the writing in this book is. Claire was telling me the story of Ella and Orpheus and she was almost daring me to stay until the sad, sad end. Set in the North of England, the dialect that Almond used consistently throughout the novel sets a solid voice for Claire, Ella, Orpheus and the rest of the characters. Although it can be one that’s a little hard to understand for those not familiar with it (I pity the poor Americans reading this...), it brought the novel alive, especially with the descriptions of the cities and beaches of the north east.

The rugged, industrial, abandoned beauty of Ella and Claire home city is wonderful. It brings a fitting sense of greyed melancholy to the story and almost preludes the death of Ella as well as contrasts the bright, vivid colours that you should imagine when you come in contact with a Greek myth. A Song for Ella Grey is a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice, and it actually follows pretty spot on. Other than being set in modern England and changing Eurydice’s name to Ella, of course. I love retellings of classics myths and legends; I think it’s a wonderful way to introduce these stories to people who otherwise wouldn’t know them, or think to seek them out.

A Song for Ella Grey is a beautiful, intense and wonderfully strange novel from David Almond. My words can’t do it anywhere near justice so you should just go and read it instead.

Thanks to Hodder and NetGalley for the review copy.

Sophie

Favourites: September '14

This is a blog where I pretty much exclusively talk about books, but I want you guys to get to know me a little better so I’ve copied some YouTubers and decided to post the things I fall in love with every month. Enjoy, and make sure you share yours in the comments!

Banned Books Week (21^st-27^th)

What can be more excellent than a week dedicated to getting the word out about some of the most important books ever written? Not much, really. Although Banned Books Week will never quite manage to undo the damage of banning books, but it’s trying and that’s awesome.

Old El Paso BBQ Enchiladas

A chance buy when looking for something a little different to feed my fussy little sister and BAM – we fell in love. We’ve had them at least four times this month...

‘Centuries’, Fall Out Boy

Oh, my boys. After seeing them in Wembley earlier this year, my fourteen-year-old self was reignited with love. Damn, they are good live, and I knew every single word of every single song and I didn’t even refresh myself before I went. Then when this masterpiece came along, I realised that actually, my 22-year-old self is a pretty massive fangirl of Pete, Patrick, Joe and Andy too.

Outlander

I wasn’t really bothered about this until my Twitter feed refused to shut up about it. So I watched an episode and I got it. SO GOOD. I binged all five episodes that were out at the time, and now there is a mid-season break until April. APRIL. I may have to rewatch them to get my Jamie fill. This seriously needs to air over here, stat.

Scented candles, particularly vanilla

This is a bit of random one. My flat still doesn’t feel like home and walking past some discounted candles last weekend, I got it into my head that this would help. Surprisingly, it did. And as a bonus, my flat now smells like vanilla. It’s my day off from work today so I’m going to buy a basket full as I’m burning through them pretty quickly...

Diet coke

Now this is a pretty standard favourite of mine and has been for a long time, but with work becoming more and more stressful as we get busier and loose staff, it has become essential. I work in a really little town just past Gatwick and there is nothing there so I’ve become rather partial to the giant fountain drinks you get in Subway. Fill it up with diet coke and I’m set for the afternoon. I think I need an IV of the stuff...

What are your favourite things of September?

Sophie

Belzhar, Meg Wolitzer

Pages: 264

Publisher: S&S

Release Date: 9^th October 2014

Edition: UK proof, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: The Wife, The Position, The Ten-Year Nap, The Uncoupling, The Interestings

I was sent here because of a boy. His name was Reeve Maxfield, and I loved him and then he died, and almost a year passed and no one knew what to do with me.

A group of emotionally fragile, highly intelligent teenagers gather at a therapeutic boarding school where they are mysteriously picked for ‘Special Topics in English’. Here, they are tasked with studying Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and keeping a journal.

Each time the teens write in their diaries they are transported to a miraculous other world called Belzhar, a world where they are no longer haunted by their trauma and grief – and each begins to tell their own story.

With the power and upbeat poignancy of Dead Poets’ Society, the lightness and warmth of John Green and the beauty and lyricism of The Bell Jar, Belzhar is set to be one of the most talked about YA novel of this year.

I had never heard of Belzhar until a proof came through my letter box a couple of months ago, but as soon as I realized its connection to The Bell Jar I packed it in my suitcase and took it on holiday with me.

This novel has an intriguing premise and I was eager to see how it played out and just what Belzhar is. The base on Sylvia Plath gives a good idea about what parts of this novel focus on: mental illness and writing. In the same way that Plath wrote her pains in Esther Greenwood and her poems, the students of Special Topics wrote their pain into a red leather journal issued t each student at the beginning of class. As the classmates put pen to paper for the first time and begin to tell their stories, they are taken to Belzhar.

The act of writing in their journal throws them into a world before the trauma that got them into Woodbarn, a boarding school for damaged teenagers. Belzhar is a place where the teenagers can re-live the time before their trauma. Jam is at Woodbarn following the death of Reeve, the boy who’s death she can’t move on from and in Belzhar he is alive and with her. We know very little about what happened to Reeve until the very end, when Jam is the last to reveal to her classmates what her Belzhar contains. The group become very close and share their experiences with Belzhar, fears and the stories of how they came to be there with each other. I love that each character’s story was drip fed, each different to the other, but all focusing on loss in some way or another.

With the mystery surrounding Reeve’s death and the portrayal of Jam’s relationship with him, both through flashback and Jam’s visits to Belzhar, I guessed it would be something major, but I couldn’t have guessed what actually happened. I was flabbergasted, and that’s not a word I whack out often. It turned the story on its head, and Jam’s character too. The vague thread of mental illness and the effect it has on teenagers was hammered home and I was completely speechless. Belzhar is an incredibly clever book and the ending was the icing on the cake.

Belzhar is unique, fascinating and brilliantly surprising. I highly recommend setting aside a few hours on a Sunday afternoon and devouring it whole; you won’t regret it in the slightest.

Thanks to S&S for the review copy.

Sophie