Month: December 2013

The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4)

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The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4) by Rick Riordan

Goodreads Synopsis:

Percy Jackson isn’t expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse.

In this fourth instalment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos’s army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth – a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.

My Thoughts:

Oh wow, jam packed teenage action awesomeness!! This the fourth book of the Percy Jackson series and is By Far My Favourite (so far). So much happens in this instalment and the ending leaves you wanting to open the fifth book straight away.

I don’t even know where to begin.

All my favourite characters back together, Tyson, Percy, Grover & Annabeth Yay!!! And they all return alive by a mortal miracle. There’s danger at every turn, Pan is found, non-stop action the whole way though, Kronos awakens. We even get some teen angst romance in this instalment. This book reads really fast because you don’t want to put it down. But I will point out that you have to read the previous three books to know the characters backgrounds and to understand the drama or otherwise you’d be like “what the hell are these teenagers running around doing”.

Five Stars!!!!!

Well that’s all I’m going to say, I’m off to read number five now!!!!!

2014 Must Do Activity

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I’m going to do it this year, I’ve promised myself.

Every year I see this note (or similar) passed around Facebook

Note

Starting the 1st of January write down the good things that happen to you, on little bits of paper: Surprise gifts, Accomplished goals, The beauty of nature, Laugh out loud moments, Memories worth saving, Daily blessings – Then on the 31st of December you get to open the jar and read all the amazing things your 2014 was filled with.

I really will do it this year, I’ve made my jar!

2014

It’s sitting on my desk next to a pile of paper and pens, so I will be forced to look at it each day, which might actually be rather depressing until it’s got some paper in it.

desk shot 

Anyways onwards I go – wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

From Where I Stand

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From Where I Stand, Poetry by Robert Zimmermann

Goodreads Synopsis:

From Robert Zimmermann comes From Where I Stand, an emotional debut poetry collection. Zimmermann explores strained parental relationships, loss of life, and the despair associated with grief. Alongside these darker themes, he delves into the small areas of life that often go unnoticed but become the hope we are searching for.

My thoughts:

Just from reading the forward you already know your about to see a man’s soul laid raw on the pages that follow!

Now normally I look for myself in poetry and I find the more I’ll like a poem is due to whether or not I can place its emotions in my past or present. I went into this collection telling myself, you are not looking for yourself, you are here to learn about this man. Robert really has given us a look at the emotions and experiences he has been exposed to. After reading this collection of poetry I appreciate the man whose blog I’ve come to enjoy reading even more.

I really do think this is a great collection of work. Yes I did prefer the poems I could find myself in, but I found myself drawn into all the poems and at times wanting to jump through the pages into the past and smack Robert’s father in the face.

I find it hard to say I enjoyed these poems, because there is a lot of pain and anger and you can’t really enjoy that, but the collection was emotionally beautiful and I am glad I read it and I will read it again I am sure.

I read to experience what my life can’t give me and to escape my day to day and this book certainly did that, it took me and placed me in another’s life.

I would recommend this collection not just for poetry fans, as I think it’s more of a book for people who like to feel what others feel, to get a glimpse into other peoples life, anyone with empathy could get into this book.

 

I hope that makes sense, I am rather nervous writing a review on Robert’s work as I enjoy reading his reviews, oh dear, better go have some wine now!

The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3)

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The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3) by Rick Riordan

Goodreads Synopsis:

IT’S NOT EVERYDAY YOU FIND YOURSELF IN COMBAT WITH A HALF-LION, HALF-HUMAN.

But when you’re the son of a Greek god, it happens. And now my friend Annabeth is missing, a goddess is in chains and only five half-blood heroes can join the quest to defeat the doomsday monster.

Oh and guess what. The Oracle has predicted that not all of us will survive…

My thoughts:

Oh dear. . . I hate it when a book lets you down, it’s like being betrayed by an old friend. I liked the first book in the series, loved the second, than felt let down by the third. I would think that the third’s down fall was probably be due to the second being so good.

For some reason I didn’t like the presence of the character Thalia, I can’t explain it. I really like the way Annabeth and Percy bounce off of each other and of cause as it’s Annabeth Percy’s off to save (among others) she’s not present for most of the book.

However I like the ending as Grover is off on his search for Pan again and I do so want the ‘Goat Boy” to succeed.

I must remember that this series is aimed at kids and that if I was fourteen, I probably would have been enthralled the whole way through. Even though I had to force myself through parts of the third installment of the Percy Jackson saga, I would still highly recommend this story for younger teens – there are lessons to be learnt, thrown in with fun, action and adventure.

As a ‘whole’ the series is quite good and I am enjoying reading it. I think I’ll take a break and read from another genre before I then return to the fourth book.

Shine

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Shine by Justine Edward

Goodreads Synopsis:

Shine is a children’s book with a BIG difference. Designed to empower and encourage, this series of positive affirmations will have children smiling from ear to ear. Illustrated by 7 yr old Karl Gabriel who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Shine helps all children to understand that anything is possible if they believe in themselves.

My Thoughts:

This is a truly beautiful book, a book you should read to your children over and over again.

Justine’s words are heart felt, beautifully written, flow together and roll of the tongue with ease.

I actually feel this is not just a children’s book, us adults need to be reminded that anything is possible also.

Five stars all round

More info on this book see – https://www.facebook.com/JustineEdwardAuthor

One day in bed

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Here is another poem by a sixteen year old me!

 

It is pretty obvious that I cannot survive on my own

And yet I sit here all alone

This is my fault

It is always going to be because my sin

That need that is to fit in

My love is loneliness

My love is pain

This world so dark it drives me insane

Issues I see them all around me

But they are not all coming from me

The war that rages on inside my head

It can all be traced back to one day in bed

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2)

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The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) by Rick Riordan

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The heroic son of Poseidon makes an action-packed comeback in the second must-read instalment of Rick Riordan’s amazing young reader’s series. Starring Percy Jackson, a “half-blood” whose mother is human and whose father is the God of the Sea, Riordan’s series combines cliff-hanger adventure and Greek mythology lessons that results in true page-turners that get better with each instalment. In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book’s drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come

My thoughts:

I’m glad I persevered after reading the first one and not loving it, because this the second book in the series is awesome! For one I feel it’s faster passed with more action. Our hero’s Percy and Annabeth have to try and save one of my most loved characters from the first book Grover! Riordan also gives us another character to fall in love with in the form of Tyson! Of course at the end of the second book Riordan gives us a cliff-hanger ending propelling us into wanting to read the third instalment. The second is a much more engrossing book, but you would need the first to feel so.

Five Stars!! For young and old.

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1)

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The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan

Gosh dang! Where to start!

Synopsis from goodreads.com:

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school… again. And that’s the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’ master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’ stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

My thoughts:           

I made the fatal mistake of seeing the movie adaptation of this book before reading it! Hence I roughly knew what was going to go down and kept trying to place the parts of the movie into the book. The movie was good, the book was better, but I knew too much so it didn’t really pull me in at first.  Luckily I know nothing of the other four in the series and don’t intent to find out until I’m reading them. Also seeing the movie first, I had figured the main character to be around fifteen/ sixteen (forgive me it has been a couple of years since I’ve seen the film) and in the book he is only twelve. I found Percy being only twelve and doing the things he was doing a bit hard to swallow, I had to keep reminding myself Harry was only eleven at the beginning of his adventures. I had to get my head in the right mind space to enjoy this book, I struggled but by the end it had got me and I will go on to read the next book. So while seeing the movie made this book less impressive, it did introduce me to the series and that’s a good thing.

I would recommend this book to a younger audience and those still in touch with their inner child. While I rate this book a three I think I could have been a four or five if I hadn’t seen the darn movie.

Most of the time if I see a movie I like the look of and see that’s it’s based on a book, I read the book, that’s only fair to the original story and that’s how I found Lee Child and Jack Reacher (now there’s a movie that DID NOT live up to its book) I read all the twilights before I saw the movies etc etc. In fact bar the Harry Potter series this is the only time I saw the movie first, I watched all the Potter movies before I opened the first book, but they were so good that the movies and the books stand up as awesome on their own. Never again my friends will I watch the movie first, always always read the book first.

Dora – that super cool exploradora!

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I’ll set the scene; I was having a bad day, came home from work and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed, all my son wanted was to play, not with his toys only with me, I needed a break, I’d had it.

Now in my house we have a no TV rule when Riley’s awake as everything you read tells you it’s bad and it does distracts him so. I’ve trained my husband well on this matter and he cooperates.

So Riley doesn’t see much TV, only if he’s with his grandparents or at the bank where they them up on all the walls. Hence because he doesn’t see it very often it tends to mesmerise him when it’s on.

So I was cranky and stuffed, angry at the world I turned on the TV and let Riley watch Dora the explorer and of cause he loved it, flashing lights, colour, a singing little senorita – he bounced up and down and ‘talked’ back to the TV. I let the Dora watching go on for about an hour while I sat down and had a cup of tea and a rest on the couch.

Now you can’t tell me that an hour of Dora is going to destroy my son’s brain. I can see the connection between too much TV and learning and behavioral problems. As a parent you get so much ‘don’t do this’ ‘don’t do that’ bull crap shoved down your throat. I mean kids shows where created to teach, right? If you pick the correct ones. Although I noticed that Dora teaches kids to play with wild animals and go run amuck in a forest without parental supervision, but I think I’m being to adult with my interpretation there. I think if I was to go and have a bottle of wine I’d be screaming Swiper no swiping! At the TV myself.

Now I know nothing compares to the parent teaching and playing, but if every now and then when I’m not coping and he’s in a super foul mood, if I have to put on Dora on to catch a break, I don’t think anyone can be mad at me.

Do-do-do-do-do-dora!

Do-do-do-do-do-dora!

Do-do-do-do-do-dora!

Do-do-do-do-do-dora!

Dora dora dora the explorer!

Boots, that super cool exploradora!

Need your help!

Grab your backpacks!

Lets go!

Jump in!

Vámanos!