George R.R. Martin said “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one” and that is exactly how I view reading. It’s a great escape from reality and a good way to deal with stress because I can just go live someone else’s life for a bit and forget about everything. I have a book buying addiction, though, so I always end up buying books faster than I can go through and read them all. I managed to knock three books off that pile last month since I was working less, travelling more and was left with some spare time to read. Here’s what I thought of them…

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
I’ve wanted to see this film for ages, but I like to read the books before the film, which is the main reason why I decided to pick up and read this book. From what I was told and had read, it was a creepy short-story aimed for children, so I did not expect to be sucked into the story as much as I did. They definitely weren’t joking when they said it was creepy either (although, I’ll admit that it was mainly the illustrations within the book that freaked me out…). I haven’t read any of Gaiman’s other books so I can’t really compare to anything else he’s written, but if you’re a fan of eerie fantasy stories, then definitely check this out!

Night Owls by Jenn Bennett
This was by far my favourite book from last month. I’m not sure what I expected when I picked up this book, but I definitely didn’t expect it to be as good as it was. It’s such a damn cute book and I was hooked right from the start and finished the book in less than a day. I think the main character, Bex, reminded me a bit of myself and other characters reminded me of other people I know, which was one of the main reasons I was so hooked. The book is well written, funny and the romance is just too CUTE. As a side note, I’d like to let you know that the book is not about owls because, honestly, a part of me was slightly disappointed that the Night Owl is the name of the night bus and there’s not even one owl in the book…

The Earth Hums In B Flat by Mari Strachan
I’ve tried to read this book once or twice in the past, but didn’t quite get into enough to carry on. I’ve always been one to finish what I’ve started, though, and it’s been bugging me for months that I’ve started this book countless times, but never actually finished it. So… I finally finished it. It got better. The book is set in North Wales and, because I live there, I felt like I knew these people because they speak like I do, behave like we do and they even have nicknames for everyone just like us. I felt like I was reading a story about my own village and the main character, Gwenni, reminds me a lot of myself at her age. The book sort of reminded me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, although that’s not a bad thing. Great book, definitely worth a read.

Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading lately?

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