Will Rainbow Rowell please be my Best Friend?

After an inexcusably long hiatus, I’ve returned to the land of blogging and books. It’s been months since my last post and I’ve read thousands of pages between now and then. As can be expected, some of those pages have been good, some have been bad and some have been life-altering.

I haven’t wanted an author to be my new best friend since I read Harry Potter and discovered JK Rowling, so the discovery of Rainbow Rowell has been something of a revelation. I discovered her last September – with the purchase of Eleanor & Park – and moved swiftly on to Fangirl and Attachments.

Eleanor & Park US cover

Eleanor & Park tells the story of two teenager’s first love- Eleanor, the new girl at school who couldn’t be more different than her peers (with her disasterous home life and unique tastes) and Park, the boy who has never been outside of the crowd – but never quite fit in either. It sounds like a conventional premise, however it’s anything but a conventional love story.

Among Others: out of this world

It’s rare that I’ve found a book that speaks so directly to me it feels like it was written just for my eyes to see.

There have been many different takes on Jo Walton’s Among Others. But the most common phrase you will hear associated with this weighty little novel, is “love letter”. Although not a love letter of the romantic variety, Among Others is a love letter to the Sci-Fi genre, to the Welsh valleys, to books about boarding school, to libraries, librarians, to 1979, and to being a 15 year old who just doesn’t fit in. And it’s beautiful.

UK Paperback copy released March 21 2013

The 2012 recipient of both the Hugo and the Nebula awards (the Oscars of SF and Fantasy novels),  Among Others is a book for all those who grew up devouring novels and stories and for those who remember what that was like, to have books be the one refuge that they can return to. It also maintains a lovely fantasy story alongside, although ironically this is the weakest link in a very strong chain that holds Among Others together.

My Verdict on The causal vacancy

So I just finished The Casual Vacancy,  a good week after everyone else did, and also a good week after any news about it was in any way relevant. Because that was just it, wasn’t it? The ‘build up’ was the only thing keeping everyone in any way interested. So because of all of that I’m not going to talk about Rowling’s latest monolith in terms of it’s ‘literary merits’ or what effect it had on the world- I’m going to talk about what effect it had on me.

There are pictures of any old copy all over the internet- this is my copy of the book

***Those who have not read the book/love and idealise Rowling may wish to look away now***

The Thorn and the Blossom- a review of sorts

There have been few books that I’ve so looked forward to reading than Theodora Goss’ truly unique volume, The Thorn and the Blossom.