thelittlebookowl

This read-a-thon was hosted over on the Bout of Books blog  which you can check out here. This was my first ever read-a-thon and I am really glad that I participated. I really liked the no pressure feel of it and enjoyed taking part in the daily challenges, although I did miss a few. My tbr worked out pretty well and I ended up reading more than I would in a normal week. Onto the actual wrap up.

 

The last 3 books in the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis – some brief thoughts on each

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ★★★ 189 pages

 – This was probably my favourite of the three, although Eustace is kind of annoying. It was also interesting to see the differences from the film.

The Silver Chair ★★★ 191 pages

– Another enjoyable book in this series, however I didn’t enjoy this as much as some of the other books. I found the idea of male superiority in this book particularly frustrating and I wasn’t a huge fan of Jill.

The Last Battle ★★ 172 pages 

-It was OK, but I couldn’t see past the racism, sexism etc and it got far to preachy for me to handle. The more I think about it, the more frustrated/infuriated by it – especially the whole thing with Susan.

 

Amulet Vol 1 The Stonekeeper / Kazu Kibuishi ★★★ 185 pages

I had been debating whether to try out this graphic novel for a while now and this month I decided to take the plunge. I did enjoy it, but I did also have a few issues. The illustrations worked well for me – some of the pictures are stunning. However the beginning was a bit of an issue for me – within the first few pages the dad is killed in a pretty dramatic way (so technically not a spoiler), but I felt that it is just used as a characterisation, a plot point and a  motivation for the characters. It just felt unnecessary to me. Overall I did enjoy it and I would be interested to see how the story progresses in the next book.

 

At the Mouth of the River of the Bees / Kij Johnson ★★★★

Although I did not completely read this, I finished this short story collection during the read-a-thon – I think I read just over 100 pages. I really enjoyed dipping in and out of these stories. I enjoyed some stories more than others, but overall I just really enjoy Johnson’s writing.

 

The War of the Worlds / H. G. Wells ★★★ 208 pages 

2.5/3 As this was originally published in 1898, it is definitely abit dated for the modern reader, but I still found it to be an enjoyable read. However I personally found the lack of suspense and tension abit disappointing – we hear about the alien invasion from someone who survives to tell the tale so I never had any concern about the main character. While I liked the way it ended and how the Martians are defeated, I also felt that it is a little anti climatic. It is quite a big build up of death and destruction and then it just kind of ends. Overall I am glad I read it and would recommend, especially if you are a science fiction fan or like books with aliens in.

 

The Icebound Land / John Flanagan ★★★★

This is the third book in the Ranger’s Apprentice series. I am loving this series so far and I have flown through the first three books – it is really quite addictive. Safe to say that I enjoyed this instalment as much as the others and I have book four waiting for me to read.

 

There you have it – all of the books I read during the week long bout of books read-a-thon. I’m pretty happy with my wrap up. I will definitely be interested in trying out more read-a-thons in the future. Hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

Pippa