JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL - Susanna Clarke
Genre: Fantasy/Historical Fiction

Number of pages: 782

First sentence: "Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians."
One Sentence summary: If you enjoy History, magic, wild adventures and fairies then this is the book for you - it's a slow burn but every chapter takes you on a new journey with fascinating and lovable characters; a very riveting way to weave together history and fiction with a satisfying ending. 
Favourite part:I don't particularly have 1 specific part of this book that was my favourite - however I do love Clarke's style of introducing you to Characters that seemingly have no correlation to one another and then intertwining their journeys in a way you never expected. 

3.8/5

THE LORD OF THE RINGS - J.R.R Tolkien
Genre: Fantasy Fiction

Number of pages: 1031
First sentence: "This book is largely concerned with Hobbits, and from its pages a reader may discover much of their character and a little of their history."
One Sentence summary: If you haven't heard of, read or watched The Lord of The Rings by now - Where have you been living? This is a book of EPIC proportions; if reading about long journeys and epic battles isn't your thing, I recommend putting this book down and finding something else. 
Favourite part: As difficult as this book was for me to read I think the first half of the first book was probably my favourite - the setting out for a journey gave me a sense of excitement to keep reading. I think if I hadn't already watched the movies I would have been far more into the book. 

5/5 - for sheer epicness.

Mini Reviews

Hello my lovelies.

A LOT has happened in the past few weeks. The rising threat of the COVID-19 virus has alas gotten worse.
At midnight tonight NZ will be closing its borders to everyone except NZ Citizens or residents. It's been a wild time and I feel like I'm living through an apocalypse movie.

One of the only good things to come out of this situation (and it's only for me personally) is that now I HAVE to stay home which means, a lot of reading will hopefully be getting done.
A couple days ago my best friend and I went to the first (of hopefully many) book clubs that another friend of mine was hosting. My best friend is lucky enough to get sent books to review and she was talking about a condensed form of reviewing that she does for the books she reads. So I thought, going forward instead of writing page long reviews for a few books I do read, I'd write a condensed form on the books I read - this will allow me to write reviews for every book I read as well as make the task of writing reviews less daunting. 

That being said let's start off with the first full book I've read since getting back home.

Title: The Shining

Author: Stephen King

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 310

First sentence: "Jack Torrance though: Officious little prick."

My one Sentence summery: Jack Torrance, with his wife, Wendy and son Danny, move to the Overlook Hotel. Jack is to be the caretaker of the property during the winter months when the hotel is closed. Jack starts to spiral out of control as the spirits of the hotel digs it's claws into him slowly but surely.


My favourite part: I think my favourite part about this book is that it's the first horror book I've read that has actually made me feel scared while reading it. I haven't felt this way since reading Goosebumps when I was a kid.

Stephen King is a classic - I personally think he can do no wrong when it comes to writing horror. 5/5 for sure. 

You've Got Mail #7

Hello Lovelies!
It has been a TIME since I last updated!
I've been very busy socializing and relocating my life back home.
Yup! You read that correctly, my 2 years in Canada has come to an end - I am currently writing this from the comfort of my teenage home.

The packing stress to fit my two year life worth of things into 3 bags was REAL. And of course there was no way I was going to leave behind the 7 books I had accumulated in those 2 years (even though I promised myself I wouldn't buy any).

Since being back I have bought 2 more and I've only been back home for a full week!
It's been very relaxing having time off and just being able to read. I left about 3 books at home that were only half read and so even though I'm about halfway through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I decided I needed to finish the others I left behind first.

So I've finished 'Salem's Lot and The Shining and now I've got my focus back onto The Lord of the Rings which I will hopefully finish before the week is out.

It's been nice being back home surrounded by my books and my things. I plan to do as much reading as I can this year and so far we're off to a good start! I don't know if I'll be reviewing every book I read but I'll make a good go of it! 

Until next time - C xx