Book Review: Exquisite Corpse by Penelope Bagieu

Sunday, May 31, 2015
I love reading. Books are amazing. They are a form of escapism, yes, but they are also inspiration, joy, and... well. Goodness. I think in some ways I have used my appetite for reading to define parts of my personality, so it made sense for me to review some of what I read! Here we go...



Title: Exquisite Corpse
Author: Penelope Bagieu
Publication Date: May 5th 2015

Synopsis: "Zoe isn't exactly the intellectual type, which is why she doesn't recognise world-famous author Thomas Rocher when she stumbles into his apartment...and into his life.
Zoe doesn't know Balzac from Batman, but she's going to have to wise up fast...because Rocher has a terrible secret, and now Zoe is sitting on the literary scandal of the century."

My thoughts: This graphic novel has beautiful art, a really original storyline (at least, I haven't read it before) and a pretty surprise ending. I fell in love with the presentation of the book quite quickly, and really quite enjoyed the artwork. The tension within the book was built very nicely, despite it being quite short, and the characters were interesting, each very flawed in their own way, and all were fond of cats (I am happy with this!).

However, I do feel like a few things were just lost in translation a little bit - I felt like some decisions were made very suddenly with little explanation as to why, and I really think that the ending could have been investigated a little more - unless the author was going for blind-siding the reader as much as one of the characters. I just felt like I needed more and I didn't quite get it.

Despite my gripes, though, I do still like this book, and will be keeping it on my shelf to reread occasionally, just to enjoy the strange and wonderful associations and relationships that human beings can make in complex situations.


I received a review copy of this book from First Second Books (thank you!!).

You would like this book if: you enjoy French films and want to try some French graphic novel, too; you like seeing how crazy authors can get.

Rating:  7/10

If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads here!

random poetry

Saturday, May 30, 2015
written today.


empty blossom.

do not try to understand
and yet do not stop trying
i exist in this parallel, in this complexity.

your being here helps
and yet it confuses me
why must I think more when there are more minds
to do the thinking?

open your heart to me
and yet do not be hurt

when i cannot do the same yet for you.

Book Review: The Catalyst by Helena Coggan

I love reading. Books are amazing. They are a form of escapism, yes, but they are also inspiration, joy, and... well. Goodness. I think in some ways I have used my appetite for reading to define parts of my personality, so it made sense for me to review some of what I read! Here we go...



Title: The Catalyst
Author: Helena Coggan
Series: I believe this is the first book in a series but I am not completely sure!
Publication Date: April 2015 in Aus, Feb 19th otherwise

Synopsis: "Rose Elmsworth has a secret. For eighteen years, the world has been divided into the magically Gifted and the non-magical Ashkind, but Rose's identity is far more dangerous.
At fifteen, she has earned herself a place alongside her father in the Department, a brutal law-enforcement organisation run by the Gifted to control the Ashkind. But now an old enemy is threatening to start a catastrophic war, and Rose faces a challenging test of her loyalties.
How much does she really know about her father's past? How far is the Department willing to go to keep the peace? And, if the time comes, will Rose choose to protect her secret, or the people she loves?"

My thoughts: Okay, I actually finished this a while ago, but needed some time to get my head back in gear and my thoughts into a reasonable state. I had a lot of trouble reading this book. Although I liked the premise, I was not looking forward to what just seemed to be another YA dystopian to me. The Catalyst did end up surprising me, but I feel that there are a few places that it could use some work.

Rose as a character is interesting. I don't mind cold main characters - ones that keep their emotions locked down and don't betray much - but occasionally it felt like Rose was either super underreacting, or kind of overreacting for the character she had been written as. The other thing that was hard for me was that I feel like this book was dealing with one too many issues at once - what I mean by this is that there were several separate storylines happening that I think could have been separated out into later books, rather than continuing on and trying to tie up every single issue in a neat little bow in just one book.

Finally, I often had trouble telling the difference between all the different (for want of a better word) races - the Gifted, the Ashkind, and then there were Angels, Demons... I eventually kind of understood what was happening, but it took me a while.

While I would say I liked this book overall, and I feel Coggan has a lot of potential to create really amazing fantasy-inspired worlds, this one just didn't quite hit the mark for me.


I received an unsolicited copy of this book for review from Hachette (thank you!).

You would like this book if: you enjoy dystopians with a magical twist; you like characters with closed emotions and deadly secrets.

Rating:  6/10

If you'd like to keep up to date with what I'm reading, follow me on Goodreads here!

On letting go of plans.

Friday, May 29, 2015
Once again, hello there! This is me updating old posts so you can read them, because for some reason I kept starting posts in the past month but never getting them to the actual 'public view' stage.
The below post is slightly more recent, about a week old, and it was written over a day or so as there were many interruptions while I was writing it. I have also added in some additional stuff here and there to give you some more context and to try and make everything flow a little better.
This is all in the spirit of trying to be less of a perfectionist with my blog posts, because whenever I do that, things don't get published at all! And that means my blog just looks empty and abandoned, which is not nice.
Anyway, here is the post!:

Oh, I know I have written about this before. And I know I will probably continue to write about it for as long as I live - it is a difficult topic sometimes and it can be hard to remember at the crucial moment. But it is something that I always try to relearn (once I remember that is a thing).

What I'm talking about here is the need to let go of expectations and plans. This is something that comes up a lot for me, due to my health and also to my occasional tendency to stress out about study and things like that (I am always working on it, but sometimes it sneaks up on me...).


Lately I have been going back to my style of starting the day with 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks) and trying to get them done. For the most part, this works really well and I tend to get all three done and then some. Sometimes, I have to move one (or part of one if it is something bigger than usual) to the next day to get it done. No big deal, can do.
But then sometimes I get up with the best of intentions and find that, after an hour of trying to settle into the day, I am just not capable of getting anything done. This is a difficult thing to realise, as I feel like I am letting myself down by not completing things the way I had planned.


But then I remember - let go let go let go. I realise that in the grand scheme of things, if my body is demanding rest I ought to give it that opportunity. After all, I am kind of fond of this body and I don't want to let it fall in a heap. And I am liable to do that, on occasion.




I had to take a small hiatus while writing this, as I was then hit with some of the worst cystitis I have had. I could no longer focus. Talk about learning to let go!


I am back on antibiotics again, and I am finding that I just need to focus on breathing a lot more. I am making a bit of an effort to return to meditation, I suppose in a way to gain more control over what seems to be an uncontrollable situation, but also, conversely, to get better at letting go of control. As I have mentioned before, cystitis is something that completely messes me up, and I have trouble even thinking straight when it descends upon me. I am having to remind myself to relax and let go a lot more lately, which is simultaneously really difficult and annoying, and also kind of a good practice to get into.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this? Do you feel like it is easy to let go of certain things but not others? Please chat with me in the comments.

My timeline is not lining up.

Thursday, May 28, 2015
Hi guys,
sorry for the lack of writing lately - it has been a hard month to be honest. I am still feeling quite cheerful, but I had a few times there where things just felt really wrong and I was having trouble keeping my head above water. Today I am dealing with a full-blown cold thing (mostly it's my throat that is hating on me, but that is totally okay because throat lozenges, tea, and medicated mouth wash are things that I can do!), and I just got my new mechanical keyboard (I can do a post on it later if you would like! just leave a comment below) so I thought I would go through some posts that I have started lately and just spruce them up a bit so you can read what has been happening!

Below is a post that I wrote about two weeks or so ago, and it was during a pretty bad time. It is a bit rambley, but those posts seem to still get a lot of interest as I am sharing my experience, so here you go!:

The last week has been a lesson in patience and pain. I started last week managing to do some exercise, and even do a scary thing where I had to go in to a place for a meeting-type-thing that I knew very little about. I started the week feeling strong and capable and did the things and didn't even chew gum during it.

And then the next day I woke up with cystitis, a bad CFS and fibromyalgia flare, and ohmygoodnessholyemotionsbatman. It was hard - and not just on me. It was hard for those around me, because I was sitting there, rocking backwards and forward trying to find a comfortable spot (such things often cease to exist when cystitis is around), and questioning out loud why this was happening. 'I was doing everything right!' I kept repeating. 'I just don't understand why this is happening...' often fell out of my mouth, too.


And the truth was, I had been doing everything right. I'd being drinking lots, drinking my special kidney tea, taking cranberry pills, doing all the right things. I had started doing a little more exercise (just walking mostly) and I was feeling better for it.


The only conclusion we could come to was that I had gotten more stressed about the scary thing than I thought, and my body had reacted. Strongly.


And it took a couple of days before I was able to convince my doctor that I needed antibiotics, so that meant I had about two and a half days of being in pain and discomfort, where I could barely read. I'm on antibiotics now, but everything is still ten times harder than it was before, and I am trying so hard to keep doing the things I need to (particularly study things) while my brain and my heart keep whispering to each other 'more rest would be best' and 'if this thing didn't have to be done, we would rest more'. These whispered conversations are constantly there, and I am having trouble.


The thing is, it is now the pointy end of my current study period, and I am behind on almost all the things. I have had to ask for extensions on many things just so I can try and do them justice, and I am trying not to panic over the things. I want so much to be well enough to do the things at the moment, but I have to admit to myself that I'm just not. My health timeline is not matching up with my study timeline, and I am suffering for it.

Reading Plans May 2015

Saturday, May 9, 2015
For those that follow my monthly wrap-up posts, you may have seen that I've kind of fallen off the wagon lately of reading more books from my shelves than new ones I've just bought. I am determined to remedy this situation.
As such, I have decided to try and assign myself a few books from my shelves to get through each month. At the moment this is just a challenge to myself, with no real punishment if I don't succeed (I have other stuff to do and I sometimes get too sick to read), but the benefit if I manage to do it will be a clearer conscience, and a smaller TBR. That's the theory anyway!

So, the books I have picked out for this month are:

Vicious by V.E. Schwab


A gift from ages ago from the lovely Katharine, one that has sat on my shelf for about... a year and a half? two years? and has been staring at me unforgivingly.
This book uses sciencey stuff to explore the existence of superheroes and supervillains. It is a stand-alone book that has received an average of 4.25 stars out of five from 8,133 ratings so far, so might be time to give it a shot!
For more info, here is the goodreads link (image above is also from there).



Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci


This one I received for my birthday from a lovely friend, and was highly recommended by one of my favourite book people, Misty. I have read the sample in the past and decided I definitely wanted to give it a read, and it's a relatively short one at about 230 pages. The first book in a series (maybe a trilogy?), it has so far clocked an average of 3.66 stars out of five from 687 ratings, which equates to 'not too shabby' in my mind. Plus, the cover is full of beauty.
For more info, here is the goodreads link (image above is also from there).


And finally, if I manage to get through those two, I am going to add just one more to my 'do try' list...

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly


This was an impulse buy from about a year ago, when I was in a Dymocks book store and really needed some book-retail-therapy. Aaaand it has sat on my shelf ever since. If you can't tell from the pretty cover, it is a mermaid book. Seems legit. I want to give it a go. It is the first book in the 'Waterfire Saga' - the second of which, 'Rogue Wave', is already out. 
Deep Blue has received an average of 3.71 stars out of five from 3,445 ratings on goodreads, which seems pretty decent.
For more info, here is the goodreads link (image above is also from there).


I will be reading other books in addition to those, as I have a review book or two to get through, and I already have things on my 'currently-reading' shelf that I would like to finish (particularly The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson!). If you want to check out my goodreads and add some more books to your shelves, find my profile here.
Wish me luck!

{2015} April Reading

Friday, May 1, 2015
Goodness, is it really May? I just... everything is happening so quickly!

still one of my favourite reading locations...


Books bought/received:
~ The Catalyst by Helena Coggan (review)
~ Ms. Marvel volume one: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson (gift)
~ Rat Queens volume one: Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J. Webe
~ The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass Novellas #0.1 to 0.5) by Sarah J. Maas
~ Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas
~ Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas
~ By the Book: A Reader's Guide to Life by Ramona Koval
~ Rumor Has It (Animal Magnetism #4) by Jill Shalvis (ebook)
~ Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2) by Diana Gabaldon

Books read:
~ Ms. Marvel volume one: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
~ Rat Queens volume one: Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe
~ Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas
~ A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas
~ By the Book: A Reader's Guide to Life by Ramona Koval
~ Rumor Has It (Animal Magnetism #4) by Jill Shalvis
~ The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass Novellas #0.1 to 0.5) by Sarah J. Maas
~ The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger
~ Cross Stitch (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon

Oh man, the system kind of broke down this month. I just bought books whenever I felt like it, only talking myself out of it once or twice. To be honest, looking back, its been a bit of a rough month for my health, and so I guess I got into a mood of just spoiling myself because I felt I needed it. That happens sometimes, and I don't feel super apologetic about it, but I am determined to get some more of the unread books on my shelves read. Just have to get back on the wagon, I suppose!

Anyway, on to what I read this month. I started the month with a couple of comic collections, Ms Marvel vol. 1 and Rat Queens vol.1. I went shopping with my dear internet friend Katharine when we met for the first time in person during Swancon, and I took her to my favourite comic shop. I wasn't very vigilant in watching her and she sneakily bought me Ms Marvel (thank youuu!) and I read and quite enjoyed it. 
Rat Queens is something I have wanted for a while and when I finally got my hands on it, I was not disappointed. The characters in this are just so amazing, with such an interesting storyline. I can't wait for the next installment.

Now, onto the novels. Throne of Glass. I tried to read this back when I first bought it, and I actually had a bit of trouble feeling close to Celaena (the main character) and so I put it down. Recently, though, as part of investigating my library's ebook-lending service, I started reading it again and ended up enjoying it (and finishing it!). I then went out and bought all the other books currently out, including the book of novellas, as they were going for a very reasonable price at the time from Dymocks. I did end up finishing The Assassin's Blade, the book of novellas, and I actually found that more enjoyable than Throne of Glass, but I do feel like the books will get better as they go on!
In addition to the Throne of Glass books, I was very excited to read A Court of Thorns and Roses, which is also written by Maas. I really enjoyed this one! I am very excited for more books in this series already, even though I think it isn't actually released yet in some places! It is a wonderful blend of fae and human issues, a fabulous re-writing of the Beauty and the Beast tale, and with a strong, stubborn, cynical main character, to boot. I loved it.

Speaking of cynical main characters, I was convinced by my partner Xin that the DUFF might be something worth my time after he went and saw the movie. It was a fast read, done in about 24 hours, and I actually appreciated the differing view of high school to what you normally get in YA Contemporary fare. There was slut-shaming in this one, but it was done in such a way that the main character noticed it, questioned it, and ultimately comes to a conclusion about the pointlessness of such behaviour. Very interesting and an enjoyable read that I am still thinking about.

Let's see, what else did I read? By the Book was something I picked up while in Canberra for the Aurealis Awards to read on the plane back, as I was getting close to finishing Court of Thorns and Roses at that time. By the Book basically takes a broad look at Ramona Koval's life in reading, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I am likely to enjoy any and all books written about someone's reading habits. I have a bit of a collection of these kinds of books now, and I was happy to add this one to the shelf.

My Jill Shalvis reading has continued on, though not at the breakneck speed of February. This instalment was very cute and I appreciate the small personality quirks of the main female character, and the knowledge of migraines that came into play for the male character. It was a smutty romance, and I loved it. Thinking about continuing on with this series soon.

And finally! I had a craving something fierce for something of a Scottish tone, and my mum had been reading/watching Outlander lately, so I picked up the first book in the series, Cross Stitch (though I believe reprints have been renamed 'Outlander' so that people can know for sure which book is first). Man this book is a chunker! At almost 900 pages I wondered at the start what I had gotten myself into and I confess that at the time of writing I am actually still reading this one, but will be finishing it soon. And I love it! I find the writing so immersive and, while the book is super long, I have enjoyed every moment of being in this story. And some moments are so damn cute, so that's a win in my book.

I am hoping to head back into reading stuff that's on my shelves during May, and try and get back on that wagon, but having said that there are quite a few things I want to get into, plus books that have been sitting on my currently-reading shelf on Goodreads that have not really been read in a while...

What are you reading at the moment?
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