A Fault in Our Stars by John Green

This book has been recommended endlessly to me and I thought I would read to see what the fuss was about. I can't convey to you my attachment to this book. It took me a day and a half to read and within the first chapter I fell in love- not with just the characters but the style of writing. 
John Green's style of writing isn't predictable nor cheesy but a subtle journey and you don't realise until the end of the book that you need to come back to reality.

It is a cancer story within a love story, magnificently executed. AND... as if you haven't figured out already, I'm in love with this book.

This is my favourite quote as it uncovers the raw truth to a world unable to accept
it and I like that he aimed to show us what we hope to do before eventually dying.

Blurb:
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has brought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist names Augustus Waters suddenly suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.      

Hazel, a sixteen year old with stage four thyroid cancer “with an impressive and long-settled satellite colony” in her lungs. Thanks to a drug treatment she calls “the Miracle” Hazel’s cancer has been kept from spreading further. When she leaves the house, Hazel has to wheel a cart bearing an oxygen tank attached to a cannula, a tube that delivers oxygen to her nose.

Hazel doesn’t leave the house much, though. Instead she spends a lot of time in bed, and ponders death, so her mother decides she’s depressed. Hazel doesn’t really disagree (“Depression is a side effect of dying,” she states) but she doesn’t particularly want to do anything about it, especially not the thing her mother wants her to do – attend a support group for teens with cancer. Here’s Hazel’s irreverent description of the support group:

This Support Group featured a rotating cast of characters in various states of tumor-driven unwellness. Why did the cast rotate? A side effect of dying.

The Support Group, of course, was depressing as hell. It met every Wednesday in the basement of a stone-walled Episcopal church shaped like a cross. We all sat in a circle right in the middle of the cross, where the two boards would have met, where the heart of Jesus would have been.

I noticed his because Patrick, the Support Group Leader and the only person over eighteen in the room, talked about the heart of Jesus every freaking meeting, all about how we, as young cancer survivors, were sitting right in Christ’s very sacred heart and whatever.

So here’s how it went in God’s heart: The six or seven or ten of us walked/wheeled in, grazed at a decrepit selection of cookies and lemonade, sat down in the Circle of Trust, and listened to Patrick recount for the thousandth time his depressingly miserable life story—how he had cancer in his balls and they thought he was going to die but he didn’t die and now here he is, a full-grown adult in a church basement in the 137th nicest city in America, divorced, addicted to video games, mostly friendless, eking out a meager living by exploiting his cancertastic past, slowly working his way toward a master’s degree that will not improve his career prospects, waiting, as we all do, for the sword of Damocles to give him the relief that he escaped lo those many years ago when cancer took both his nuts but spared what only the most generous soul would call his life.

AND YOU TOO MIGHT BE SO LUCKY!

So Hazel doesn’t want to go, but her mother insists. Hazel caves “for the same reason that I’d once allowed nurses with a mere eighteen months of graduate education to poison me with exotically named chemicals: I wanted to make my parents happy. There is only one thing in this world shittier than biting it from cancer when you’re sixteen, and that’s having a kid who bites it from cancer.”

Hazel has one friend in support group, Isaac, who lost an eye to cancer. Isaac brings a friend to support group with him, Augustus Waters. Augustus has a prosthetic leg, also thanks to cancer — in his case, osteosarcoma. But he has been cancer free for years, and he comes to support group mostly to give Isaac company.

Augustus is hot-looking and he cannot take his eyes off of Hazel. He and Hazel are both witty and clever, as well as quirky, so they quickly connect.

Augustus invites Hazel to his house to watch “V for Vendetta,” and soon the two them exchange their favorite books. Hazel’s favorite book in the world is An Imperial Affliction, a book about a teen with cancer, but one which eludes all the usual cancer novel clichés. She has read the book countless times and is a bit nervous about sharing it with Augustus, but he gets the book in the same way she does.

And then Augustus does something magical: he manages to get in touch with the book’s reclusive author. An Imperial Affliction, which is written in a journal format, ends in mid-sentence, indicating the narrator has died. But other threads of the story are left untied, and Hazel desperately wants to know what happened to the heroine’s mother after the heroine’s death. 

This uncovers a whole range of adventures...

BUT AS ALWAYS I'VE SAID TOO MUCH. THIS PLOT IS JUST THE START OF WHAT IS TO COME. ONLY IF YOU READ THE BOOK YOU WILL UNDERSTAND. THERE ARE UPS AND MANY DOWNS BUT JOHN GREEN NEVER CEASES TO KEEP YOU INTERESTED WITH HIS WITTY AND DEEP MEANINGFUL NARRATIVE.

Hazel refers to herself as a 'grenade'

Augustus' and Hazel's version of 'Always'

 Without a doubt I would give it a 5/5. It was breath-takingly brilliant. It was insightful and a joy to read with fast pace and it wasn't too melodramatic.

I’ve quoted a lot from The Fault in Our Stars in this review, because I liked the witty narration so much and wanted others to get a feel for it, and for Hazel’s character. Augustus is equally appealing, clever and funny. For me this was (obviously) a strength of the novel, but also (perhaps less obviously) a weakness, because there were times when Hazel and Augustus sounded smarter than any sixteen year old I've ever met.

Not only that but even the side characters sometimes shared this preternatural cleverness. As much as I liked Hazel and Augustus, and found them charismatic, I also felt I could see the author’s hand behind these characters, and others in the novel. 

 But one last piece of advice...
YOU MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST READ THIS BOOK.
NOW.
OR ELSE. 

 John Green's website:
http://johngreenbooks.com/

Other books include:

Paper Towns
Looking for Alaska
An abundance of Katherines
Will Grayson, Will Grayson

John Green is also a Youtuber and one half of the Vlogbrothers.
NERDFIGHTERS!

Song about the book:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dVVcL-X1pc

Fan Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cv5RSQ5ADc

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

 Life of Pi

Blurb: ONE BOY, ONE BOAT, ONE TIGER.

After a tragic shipwreck, a solitary lifeboat is left at the mercy of the wild blue waters of the Pacific. The only survivors are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a zebra with a broken leg, a hyena, an orang-utan- and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. 

 Pi Patel is an unusual boy. He is the son of a zookeeper, he has a wide natural knowledge of animal behaviour and a passionate love of stories and practises not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks and Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions are a hyena, an orangutan  a wounded zebra and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal Tiger. Soon the tiger has destroyed all but Pi, whose fear and knowledge allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell 'The Truth'. After several hours of interrogation, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional- but is it more true?

3.5/5 Stars

Recommended for 13+
It is an amazingly well written novel, yet it was fairly hard to get into and I didn't feel the stereotypical 'I could hardly put it down'. The imagery was brilliant and I felt it did educate me with new vocabulary. The pace was slow at times that's why I only gave three and a half stars. 

It is now a major motion picture- 

Reviews on the book:
"Every page offers something of tension, humanity, surprise or even  ecstasy"
THE TIMES

"A terrific book. It's fresh, original, smart, devious and crammed with absorbing lore"
Margaret Atwood, Sunday Times

"This enormously lovable novel is suffused with wonder"
Guardian

"Vivid and entrancing" 
Sunday Telegraph 


FAVOURITE QUOTE: "Richard Parker has stayed with me. I've never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart."

I love this quote as it is very absurd. This is when they are no longer lost at sea, this is a running theme throughout- who would ever thought you could miss a tiger that tried to take your life?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_Martel   ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

Plot:  It is about a soldier called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life from the trenches of World War I in France. Each chapter of the book brings the reader closer to the present until the story turns to present tense. It all starts off with him explaining his pure dread of having to go to school with his elder brother Charlie. (His other brother ‘Big Joe’ has learning difficulties and so stays at home with his Mother).  At school he meets a young girl named Molly (of whom he develops a love for) and after that day Thomas, Charlie and Molly become bestfriends or the ‘trio’ as they call it. They go on many adventures together however Thomas realises that Charlie and Molly grow closer and he feels left out. Later on Charlie and Thomas get recruited for the army and are taken to train and then on to the trenches of France. From here many twists and turns take place until the end where all seems lost.

Characters:

Thomas Peaceful- Protagonist

Charlie Peaceful- Thomas’ elder Brother

Big Joe- Thomas’ oldest brother

Mother- Mother

Molly- the boy’s bestfriend

Grandma Wolf- horrid Grandmother

Sergeant ‘Horrible’ Hanley- Sergeant who brings difficulty to them in the later stages of the book

The Colonel- employer

What I enjoyed:

I enjoyed the way Michael Morpurgo changed the tense until the two stories met. He included facts as well as places we had visited on the Ypres trip. It really emphasized what it was like to be a soldier in WW1: the diet, the conditions, diseases, feelings, weather, the training and recruitment and how the English ploughed through.

Recommended for 11+

Those who want a first hand account of life of a soldier in WW1.

I would give this book 4 stars as the ending was a slight anti-climax.

Enjoy!

Uglies by Scott Westerfield

For those who love the Hunger Games, this series is for you! However it was actually written before the hunger games. 'Uglies' is the first in the series followed by 'Pretties', 'Specials' and 'Extra's! 

Scott Westerfield

Uglies is set in an unnamed futuristic city in Northern California three hundred years in the future and the genre comes under 'Science Fiction '. 

On their sixteenth birthday all citizens of the fictional society receive this “pretty” operation which, as its name implies, turns people into the biological standard of beautiful. After the operation, the new pretties cross the river that divides the city’s inhabitants and begin the section of their lives in which they have no responsibilities or obligations. In total, there are three operations; the first transforms people from “uglies” (unchanged teenagers), to “pretties” (young adults over the age of sixteen free to do what ever they want). Another one transforms “pretties” to “middle-pretties” (adults who hold a job), and a third transforms “middle-pretties" to "crumblies. " 

IF EVERYBODY LOOKED THE SAME, EVERYONE WOULD BE EQUAL!

Gremlin

Tally Youngblood, the protagonist, is about three months from her sixteenth birthday at the opening of the story. Much like every other ugly in the city, she awaits the operation with great anticipation. Tally’s best friend, Peris, has already made the transition and motivated by her desire to see him,  she sneaks across the river to New Pretty Town, the home of all new pretties. There she meets the character Shay, another ugly who was also sneaking around in New Pretty Town. They quickly become friends and Shay teaches Tally how to ride a hoverboard. Shay also mentions thoughts of rebellion against the operation. At first, Tally ignores all these ideas, but is forced to deal with the concept as Shay runs away from the city a few days before their shared sixteenth birthday.

On the day of Tally’s operation, she is taken to Special Circumstances, a branch of her city’s government that is described to be “like gremlins, ” and “blamed when anything weird happens. ”. The character Dr. Cable is a woman described as “a cruel pretty” with a razor voice, sharp teeth, and non-reflexive grey eyes. She is the head of Special Circumstances and gives Tally an ultimatum to either help them locate Shay, and more importantly the Smoke, or to never become pretty. After some thought, Tally sides with Special Circumstances. Dr. Cable gives her a hoverboard and all the necessary supplies to survive in the wild, along with a heart shaped locket that is actually a tracking device. Once activated, it will inform Dr. Cable of her location, and thus the location of the Smoke. She then sets off to find her friend.

SMOKE=REBELLIOUS SETTLEMENT 

After a little less than a week of travel, Tally arrives at the Smoke, where she finds Shay, her friend David, and an entire community of runaway uglies. She finds herself reluctant to activate the pendant, and in her time spent stalling it becomes clear that David has a crush on her. One night, David takes her to meet his parents, Maddy and Az, who are the original runaways from the city, and they explain how the operation does more than “cosmetic nipping and tucking." It actually places lesions in people's brain to make them placid, or “pretty-minded. ” Expressing great horror at what her own city has done, Tally cancels any thoughts of giving away the Smoke, and, in a display of loyalty, throws the locket into a fire without telling anyone that it was a tracker. It is damaged in the flames, which causes it to activate, giving away the Smoke’s location.

(LEGIONS- DAMAGED TISSUE)

From here on they flee (Tally and David) and begin their adventure... A rescue plan. 

 As I am a massive fan of the Hunger Games I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It is writtenso cleverly and there is a quick pace which is brilliant so you won't get bored. I recommend this book there is romance, action and way more.

Recommended-- 12+ 

I loved this book as it is good for reflecting on today's world. There is so much pressure on everyone (especially youths) to look good or a certain way and this book takes this idea and takes it to the extreme. It makes you realise just how mental it is. 

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Book

The Film- 

The Lovely Bones is an incredibly moving book (and film) that really tugs at your heart strings throughout. It is about a 14 year old girl, called Susie Salmon, living in Pennsylvania in the 1970's who is brutally murdered by her neighbour. She tells the story from the place between Heaven and Earth, showing the lives of people around her and how they try to cope with the grief of losing Susie and trying to find the killer.
Her body is never discovered and her parents suffer an unimaginable pain. The strain is far too much and her mother leaves. Her father continues to investigate and over many years maintains contact with the police officer in charge of the investigation. Susie also gets to watch Mr. Harvey and learns of his long list of victims. She also sees him prepare for his next victim - her younger sister Lindsey.


At the start of the book, we are taken through a detailed chapter of the gruelling murder of Susie. Even though it is excellently portrayed, it is quite detailed and I wouldn't recommend it for people who like to have an easy and nice read. 
Rating


4.5/ 5


It is a very interesting, heart-wrenching and bitter sweet book that I wouldn't recommend to anyone under the age of 12. It includes sensitive subjects (Rape, Murder ect) and strong emotions that young children would find hard to comprehend and understand peoples actions due to their emotions.(Grief, love)


My most memorable scene would have to be when it names the other girls Mr.Harvey has murdered. It's not as if its my favourite scene, but the scene is very effective and very well put together to maximise the full impact of the chapter and as the reader we can't comprehend how evil a human being could be.


Effective quotes and analysis:



“He wore his innocence like a comfortable old coat.” 
This describes Mr. Harvey, the serial killer, who has killed and gotten away with it so often that he almost believes his own innocence.



"These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections - sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent - that happened after I was gone."
Susie explains how her death impacted the world while she was in it and how it has impacted the world without her. This is also the basis for the title of the novel.


Thank you for reading :)

The Hunger Games! By Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is a thrilling, post-apocalyptic story of a 16 year old, Katniss Everdeen. It starts in Panem- what is left of North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds absolute power over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive.

As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol in which a 13th district was destroyed, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, an event in which the participants (or "tributes") must fight in an outdoor arena controlled by the Capitol, until only one remains. The story follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th annual Hunger Games in place of her younger sister, Primrose. Also selected from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a baker's son whom Katniss knows from school, who once gave her bread when her family was starving.

Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol where their drunken mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, victor of the 50th Hunger Games, instructs them to watch and learn the talents of the other tributes. They are then publicly displayed to the Capitol audience in a televised session with interviewer Caesar Flickerman. During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his long-time unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain audience support for the Games, which can be crucial for survival, as audience members are encouraged to send gifts like food, medicine, and tools to favored tributes during the Games. The Games begin with 11 of the 24 tributes dying in the first day, while Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and outdoor skills to survive. As the games continue, the tribute death toll increases. A few days later, Katniss develops an alliance with Rue, a 12-year-old girl from the agricultural District 11 who reminds Katniss of her sister Prim.

Katniss Everdeen is the 16-year-old protagonist. She lives in a region of District 12 known as the Seam, which is the poorest area of the district. She lives with her mother and sister, Primrose, whom she calls simply "Prim". Her father died before the beginning of the story in a mining accident. She is described as having dark hair, olive skin, and gray eyes. She is best friends with Gale Hawthorne. She makes a living by illegally hunting with Gale in the forest borders of her district and selling her catch in the Hob, District 12's black market. She volunteers to be a tribute in the Games in order to save her sister, Primrose Everdeen, who was originally chosen. She must enter the Games along with Peeta Mellark and have the mentorship of Haymitch Abernathy. Katniss has mixed feelings for both Peeta and Gale.

Peeta Mellark is 16 years old as well, and was born in the richer part of the district to a baker. He has wavy blond hair and blue eyes, a physical indicator of the wealthier people who were born in town, and is described as being very strong. He is the chosen male tribute to represent District 12. He saves Katniss's life multiple times, and has had a crush on her since he first saw her at age 5 at school but never had the courage to reveal it until the Games.

Haymitch Abernathy is the mentor of Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen, and is the tribute winner of the 50th Hunger Games. Haunted by the nightmares of the Games he was in, he is rarely sober throughout the book. At first he does not bother to protect Peeta and Katniss from the doom awaiting them in the Games, but after they prove their strength he guides them through the Games.

Gale Hawthorne is 18 in the first book of the trilogy, and is Katniss's best friend. They've met up in the woods for years prior to the beginning of the novel and since then became best friends and hunting partners. Gale's appearance is similar to Katniss's, as is true of most people who live in their area. Gale became head of the Hawthorne family after his father was killed along with Katniss's father in the same mine explosion. Katniss mentions that Gale is, "the only person with whom I can be myself."

Recommendation- This book is the best book (and trilogy) that I've read in a while. Although it is a gruelling story we can somehow relate to Katniss. She is skilled and beautiful and that is what Peeta falls for.

Ages= 12+

This book receives a wide audience as it doesn't just focus on the 'love' between Katniss and Peeta but on the gory action of the book. It is a well balanced novel and I just couldn't stop reading. Each page was better than the next and you just couldn't wait to find out what happened next. However you did find yourself feeling sad that the book had finished- there was no pleasing me!

TEAM PEETA TEAM PEETA TEAM PEETA TEAM PEETA TEAM PEETA TEAM PEETA TEAM PEETA

Raven's Gate - Anthony Horowitz

Plot

Matt Freeman is a fourteen-year-old orphan who gets into trouble with the law in the opening chapter of Raven’s Gate and is sent off to a remote village in the Yorkshire countryside for rehabilitation. Officially, he is part of the L.E.A.F. project (Liberty and Education Achieved through Fostering) but unofficially, he becomes a mere servant to his foster parent Jayne Deverill and is forced to help out on her farm.

As wretched as his daily life might be, Matt realizes that something quite sinister is going on at the farm and that something is not quite right with Mrs Deverill. When Matt sees lights and hears whispers coming from an abandoned nuclear power station, he becomes more suspicious and realizes that, somehow, all of the local villagers of Lesser Malling are involved. Matters come to a head when it seems that everyone who tries to help him lands up dead. Can he escape before he becomes the next victim?

Favourite Quote

"He ran his tongue over his lips. His mouth was parched. For a moment, he thought he smelled something burning. The jug was so close to him - only a few metres away. He reached out to it, pulling it towards him with his mind.The jug smashed. It seemed to explode, almost in slow motion. For a split second the water hung in the air, its tentacles sprawling outwards. Then it splashed down on to the table, on to the pieces of glass."

This is my favourite quote as it merges into the storyline nicely and we get a taste of what Matt is capable of and what is to come in the story.

Blurb

He always knew he was different.

First there were dreams.

Then the deaths began.
When Matt Freeman gets into trouble with the police, he's sent to be fostered in Yorkshire. It's not long before he senses there's something wrong with his guardian: with the whole village.Then Matt learns about th Old Ones and begins to understand just how different he is. Bu no one will believe him; no one can help.

There is no proof.

There is no logic.

There is just the Gate.

Recommendation

Raven’s Gate is the first book in a five-part series, and Matt is the first of five children we will meet who will eventually save the world. This series is certainly recommended to lovers of fantasy fiction and for people looking for an alternative to the ever more prevalent vampire books.

Star Rating- 3.5/ 5

Although this book is exciting, after a while the storyline drags on a bit towards the end of the story when Anthony Horowitz is trying to unfold the mystery. I would also recommend this book to 11+ as it isn't a challenge compared to what I usually read.