Books With Hard Topics/ Top 5 Wednesday

This week’s Top 5 Wednesday looks at books with “hard topics” such as violence, sexual assault, mental illness etc. In others words books which made you pause in disgust or wary mode and not the flattering “awww.”

Let us dive into it:

1.The King’s Daughter by Barbara Kyle

A rape scene that  made me turn to the other page because I could not finish reading  the page of the leading lady, Isabel. To make matters worst it was the beginning of her downhill battle.

2. Wings of Glass by Gina Holmes

Penny is a woman in a domestic abusive relationship who is hanging on by a thin thread for her life and sanity. She is pregnant…

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My Year In Books

Honestly it is not necessary  to post my Goodreads statistics but the My Year In Books is just so pleasing to the eye, I cannot help but share [just so put together and pretty]. I normally do not post all my reviews on here because I do not feel it is necessary. Yelhispressing is not a specific book blog, so my reviews are more on the route of a journal. I have discovered books via blogs in genres I liked, so starting in January 2015 I decided to post a few of my reviews here. Maybe someone will scroll to one of my reads that interests them. Furthermore, it is my love for reading and discovering new books which led to my participation in Top 5 Wednesday. I love meeting people who love reading either for education or entertainment.

Travelers Rest [A Book Review]

The story immediately grabs your attention for a ride into a heart range of emotions: joy, frustration, regrets, second guessing, patience and  more. Jane’s life is a compelling read because of the way she deals with her fiancé’s [Seth] paralysis  after military duty in Iraq and the people she meets that summer in Ashville. It is reads like an inspirational novel, one where you get in touch with so many feelings that makes you think about the novelty and duality of life.

The novel has that personal effect where you get so absorb in the story, although you guess what may happen in the end, it does not subtract your want to smile, feel horrible and angry when Jane, Seth, Truman and Jon Paul goes through their particular experiences. It is a novel that appeals to feelings and emotions, that after you are finish, you wonder about all the ways your vision may  have cloud by the desire of selfishness or selflessness. It is that and  something more that I am trying to put my fingers on, hmmm.

Movie Cast For Book Covers?

Have you ever enter a book store and sometimes the face of an actor and/or actress greets you as the cover page for a novel? I am sure the answer is yes, especially if the film adaptation of said novel is/was on the big screen. I believe it is trying to bring more sales attention to the book because so many people love to compare the book version versus movie version. In addition, it is also a technique to bring attention to the movie version because after all, DVD sales count after the movie debuts on the big screen. Sometimes publishing houses use the faces of the movie cast to launch a new edition.  To a certain extent  it is a brilliant idea because if someone likes the movie, they may incline to buy the book which features the face of the character he/she likes. I remember when I saw the movie ‘Something Borrowed’ a few years. It was only when I entered a bookstore a few weeks later, I knew of a book version because the cast graced the cover. I quickly bought the book because I liked the movie version and I was curious to see the difference in the stories. In the end I liked both the movie version and the book version.

However, would you buy a book which has the cover of a movie cast/character that you dislike or dislike the movie in general? If I dislike a particular character, I would not buy that edition because every time I flip the book or pick it up, I would boil in anger. Another edition would suit me better. If I dislike a movie and I have not read the book before, there is a high chance that I may never read the book thus never buy. It would take much persuasion from someone who  love the book to entice me to read. I am the type of person whose reading appetite spoils by disappointing visual image. Hence, one of the reasons I try my best to abstain from watching movie versions of books that I really wish to read. When I do break that rule, I plead to the heavens that the movie turns out great.

What do you think about movie crew/cast members on the cover page of books/novels? Like or dislike it?

Favourite Book?

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I do not have a favourite book.
Am I the only one who has

this predicament?  ah hmm.
There are too many books for

such a heavy choice.

A commitment

for just one

can be

mad.

My post today for Reading month is the poetry form ‘Nonet’ on my lack of an overall favourite book. Do you share the same fate as me or do you have a favourite book. Could you please tell me your fate? :).

The Tycoon’s Revenge [A Book Review]

There is a good story in there about Jasmine and Derek’s lost years because of their misunderstanding and Jasmine’s father’s deceit. There is a good story of a father reuniting with his son after losing ten years [never mind the way they meet and the conversation soon after is very awkward]. However, it is clouded with the author’s quest to keep the misunderstanding a misunderstanding until the end of the story. A simple direct conversation quarter way through the novel, could clear all that unnecessary drama. If the author thought she would lack material, she could focus on the worker at the newly acquired Titan Medical howling out revenge at Derek. The author could even explore more in the relationship between Jasmine and her father. Even tap more deviously into Amy’s quest to have Derek.

Clearly, the story has potential but the author chose to introduce Derek’s cousins in such a non connective way and the sex scenes were blah. At one point I said, the novel is an excuse to have sex scenes between Jasmine and Derek. It seemed the focus of the story started flattering way. They both claim self control and the tendency to be head strong yet fall into each other’s pants when they do not want to? Really?[By the way Rated M for Mature scenes]. I was so disappointed that the author chose the table method for the couple’s first sex act after 10 years. Only the last chapter sort of saved the connection as a romance and not just sexual chemistry.

I was disappointed that the author introduced Jasmine as an independent and determined woman, yet she allowed Derek to control everything in her life. From her body to her future and backed it up with the good of her son. Really? I am disappointed that Derek to the very end used the church setting and his dad to execute revenge on Jasmine, yet convinced himself that he is tortured whether he love her or not and suddenly, he understood and his love shine brighter than before.

Another post for Reading Month 2015. Have you read this novel? please do share with me your views.

Judging A Book By Its Cover [An Otta Rima]

I have erred, the sin of judging a book by

its cover. I know I forsake the law

of old but I cannot turn a blind eye

to graceful yet enticing covers, withdraw

that concept maybe? Applaud me, I lie

not to you about my practise, redraw

all efforts to castrate my honest view

instead reward my bravery and review.

A Post For Reading Month 2015 is an Ottava Rima Poem. It a mixture of seriousness, comedy and mock heroic irony. It is an eight line Octave of 10/11 syllables and a rhyme: abababcc.

Do you sometimes judge books by the cover or are you entirely against it, please spill your beans to me? :D.

Jane Austen’s Names: Riddles, Persons, Places by Margaret Doody, review: ‘exuberant’ – Telegraph

Jane Austen’s Names: Riddles, Persons, Places by Margaret Doody, review: ‘exuberant’ – Telegraph.

‘What’s in a name?” shrugs Shakespeare’s Juliet. Margaret Doody, an American academic, would explain. A name is a story with a complex history; names are rooted to place, to religion, to politics. They can be games or puns; in Jane Austen’s hands a name can be poem. In her examination of the names of people and places in Austen’s novels, Doody uncovers new levels of complexity and comedy, and suggests that the nation’s favourite author was less a realist than a surrealist.”

Post One: Reading Month 2015

A review of a book review of arguably one of the most beloved author in English Literature History. It is also no secret that JA is my favourite author. :).

Appreciating Jane Austen: Part 2

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Shortly before sleep yesterday, I thought since I shared my review of Jane Austen’s seven main novels, I should share my general views on the rest of her work today.

 The Watsons

The Watsons unfinished piece was just an interesting enough writing in my humble opinion. The love triangle in the story did not stir me with a vengeance. I do not believe my judgement is influenced by the fact that the novel is incomplete, I know how the story would end. Well at least I think I would know based on Mr. Austen-Leigh’s explanation of Jane Austen confiding to her sister Cassandra details on how the novel would end. It is true she may have revised the story as she did to her other novels but The Watsons did not excite me tremendously.

 Sanditon

Is it me or Austen wanted to show ridiculous Sir Edward Denham unintelligible comment were at times? Oh this incomplete novel held my interest. From the questionable ill disposition of three of the Parkers siblings to the inclusion of a different rich Lady, in the name of Miss Lambe. The appearance of Miss Lambs reflects Austen’s attention to the social and economic changes in English society. At that time period England profited from enslaved sugar production in the West Indies. Hence, there were many Creole English families in the islands. It is just interesting to read about Austen inclusion of such life in Sanditon and how the others characters respond to the West Indians

Juvenilia Volume III

Of the two stories Catharine Or The Bower stands out for me. Catherine strikes me as one of the few of Jane Austen female characters who does not breath solely for clothes, high society.