Children's Publishing Blog: Death Books and Tea

Home > All Blogs > Blog > Death Books and Tea

Sort Blog Posts

Sort Posts by:

in
from

Suggest a Blog

Enter a Blog's Feed URL below and click Submit:

Most Commented Posts

In the past 7 days

MyJacketFlap Blogs

Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.

Blog Posts by Tag

In the past 30 days

Blog Posts by Date

Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month

new posts in all blogs

Viewing Blog: Death Books and Tea, Most Recent at Top

Results 51 - 75 of 401

Run by two girls in England, Death Books and Tea will read and review almost anything remotely weird. We live on horror, manga, steampunk, dystopia, manga, anything paranormal and tea, but will read other stuff if it looks good enough. So come in, settle down, and we can share books, tea and cake.

Statistics for Death Books and Tea

Number of Readers that added this blog to their MyJacketFlap: 3

51. 2014 in Review- The End of Year Book Survey

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 12/31/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: kim curran, rainbow rowell, end of year survey, robin stevens, joe hill, david levithan, marjane satrapi, patrick ness, malinda lo, end of year lists, cat clarke, james dawson, Add a tag

So, I wanted to do a roundup of this (rather quiet) year. But I didn’t know how I’d put it together. And then I remembered that there was a giant survey from Jamie (The Perpetual Page Turner). Anyone can do it and I’m sure I should have started earlier as it’s 5 pages spaced and empty, but hey. Let’s try!

2014 Reading Stats
Number Of Books You Read: 110
Number of Re-Reads: 6 (Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Frankenstein, The Huger Games, Mockingjay, and The Hobbit)
Genre You Read The Most From: I don’t know because I don’t keep track. I plan to work it out some day though, so watch this space.

Best in Books

1. Best Book You Read In 2014?
Out of a shortlist of Adaptation, Delete, and this, my favourite this year was probably A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith. I’d heard many great things about it, but the writing style slowed it down and I couldn’t get into it as much as I wanted.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read in 2014?
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare. I knew it was bloody, but four deaths within a few lines... well.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did) In 2014?
Either This Book is Gay by James Dawson, or Persepolis by MarjaneSatrapi.

5. Best series you started in 2014? Best Sequel of 2014? Best Series Ender of 2014?
Series: Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens. Sequel: Inheritance by Malinda Lo. Ender: Delete by Kim Curran.

6. Favourite new author you discovered in 2014?
Joe Hill. I’d seen good things about him, but never bothered to read anything. Then I read Heart Shaped Box and really enjoyed it.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
I read mostly within my comfort zone, but I think I’ll put down Phillip Larkin’s poetry from The Whitsun Weddings, which I read (and analysed) for school. initially thoroughly depressing, but it grew on me.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Delete by Kim Curran. Another of my “cannot put down” reads J

9. Book You Read In 2014 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley for school? Eh, I don’t know. Reread love comes and goes. But maybe Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, in preparation for Carry On.

10. Favourite cover of a book you read in 2014?
This Book is Gay by James Dawson. It’s bold, eye catching, simple, and it works exceedingly well.

11. Most memorable character of 2014?
Laureth Peak from She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgewick. It’s such a good book and so much more than it seems and fuller explanation will follow.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2014?
Persepolis, again. Also, More than This by Patrick Ness, even if I really didn’t get on with the book as a whole.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2014?
Persepolis, again.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2014 to finally read?
Persepolis, again *will try not to use this again* Also, The Princess Bride by William Golding.

15. Favourite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2014?
From Fanny and Stella by Neil McKenna, “French male prostitutes in drag... wore false bosoms made from boiled sheep’s...lungs... “One of the prostitutes complained to me the other day” the Parisian doctor François-Auguste Veyne reported “that a cat had eaten one of his breasts which he had left to cool down in his attic.”

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?
Shortest: The Card Sharp or The Snake Charm by Laura Lam. Longest: Winter of the Worlds by Ken Follett.

17. Book That Shocked You The Most
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan because it was SO MUCH BETTER than my expectations that were based on Boy Meets Boy. Does massive improvement count as shock? I don’t know, but it was definitely unexpected.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR
Reese/David/Amber from Adaptation by Malinda Lo.

19. Favourite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
Daisy and Hazel from Murder Most Unladylike. So much love and fun.

20. Favourite Book You Read in 2014 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Delete by Kim Curran.

21. Best Book You Read In 2014 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
Can’t think of one.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2014?
Amber from Adaptation.

23. Best 2014 debut you read?
Trouble by Non Pratt. Looking forwards to Remix!

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Best worldbuilding: The Wall by William Sutcliffe. Most vivid: The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
Fanny and Stella by Neil McKenna, or American Savage by Matt Whyman.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2014?
Can’t think of one. Sorry.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
Or one for here.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan because COOPER.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2014?
Grasshopper Jungle by Alexander Smith.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
More Than This by Patrick Ness. What feels like fifty pages of a character walking around and describing scenery with not much else happening just...ugh.

Bloggish/Bookish Life

1. New favourite book blog you discovered in 2014?
I’ve mostly been keeping in contact with bloggers via means other than their blogs, and the people who I love, I can’t think of people who I definitely discovered in 2014. But down the side, there’s links to bloggers! Go check them out!

2. Favourite review that you wrote in 2014?
None of my book reviews stand out for me. But I do quite like my theatre reviews, so if you’re interested, go have a look.

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
Mr. Gove, you are the UK's education secretary. Educate. #saveourbooks
With the help of Georgia’s graphics, there were many of us speaking about against Gove’s reforms to the GCSE and Alevel English syllabus.

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
Hmm... I loved the Ken Follett and Cat Clarke and David Levithan and James Dawson talks and signings. Honourable mention for best event goes to the Divergent premier!

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2014?
Some of the many many conversations I’ve had with some people in the past year. You guys rock.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
I think my post on my We Need Diverse Books display counts by views, if you take into account its tumblr notes, after being reblogged by authors and the WNDB team!

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
Ugh. Can’t think. Sorry.

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)? Hmm...shops. Two in Edinburgh which I found on the last day of my trip. Word Power, which does independent things, books I’d never heard of and sadly didn’t have money to buy. And Transreal Fiction, which is all the fantasy/ssf/specfic/pretty books that I’d ever need.

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
No. *laughs* (goodreads doesn’t count becasue I’d adjusted it halfway through the year!)

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2014 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2015?
The many on my ex-to read pile of doom. Especially Look Who’s Back by Tim Viernes.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2015 (non-debut)?
Prudence by Gail Carriger because I can’t wait to go back and maybe get bits of Alexia and Maccon, as well as seeing the new things.

3. 2015 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
Tatum Flynn’s D’Evil Diaries. Looks funny, and has been compared to Good Omens, which I love.

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2015?
Does Carry On count as a tie-in or sequel to Fangirl? It’s going here.

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2015? Review books once they’re read! A post with further 2015 plans will come soon.

6. A 2015 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:
None.

Other things:
Thank you so much for sticking with me, even though it’s been relatively quiet around here. That goes to all of you-readers, publishers, bloggers, authors, everyone. I hope be blogging more soon, and interact with blogs, not just the bloggers behind them, more. I also hope to pick up some failed projects from earlier on in the year- anyone still up for Bard to Bookshelf?

Throughout the year, I have had really bad days. You won't have heard from me about them, because when that happens I take myself off the internet and curl up in my bed. But I get through them, and then I'm back, with the things I've done on my good ones.

I've gotten involved in theatre, and did Godspell and Lucky Stiff with two separate, brilliant groups. I got into a program called Pathways to Law. I went to some blogger events and met people. I tried teaching myself Spanish and can now understand basic pieces. I did exams and ended up with a batch of A and A* GCSEs that I'm proud of myself for.

I have read a lot this year, if you take into account the fact that this year I discovered my kindle can download mobi files off the internet and so I read many novel length fanfiction pieces (such as a 280k piece by SaraNoH and the_wordbutler called 180 Days and Counting about the Avengers being teachers at a primary school which is cute and funny and brilliant, which I started at noon one day and finished at 5pm the next).

Thank you, everyone. I hope that 2014 wasn’t entirely awful for you (anyone who says it was entirely brilliant must have had an exceptional year –and- have been ignoring the news), and I hope that 2015 is better.

0 Comments on 2014 in Review- The End of Year Book Survey as of 1/4/2015 9:11:00 AM

Add a Comment

52. 2015 Books I Am Highly Looking Forwards To

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 12/29/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: rick riordan, gail carriger, cat clarke, james dawson, rainbow rowell, laura lam, lisa williamson, iw gregorio, abbie rushton, becky albertalli, francesca zappia, jennifer latham, n non pratt, tim clare, Add a tag

Hey. I have no excuses any more. I just haven’t updated the blog in a month because of the books I’ve been finishing, I haven’t felt excited enough about a book to post about it. This should be changing soon though, if you don’t mind my attempts to review non fiction!

Despite this, I was lucky enough for Megan (The Book Addicted Girl) to name me in a list on the Guardian Teen Books site of some of the best book bloggers! Many other brilliant people were named, so go check it out and add to your blogroll!

Anyway, as a result of my year-and-a-bit half-blogging period, I’ve been quite out of the loop with upcoming releases. So I went on Goodreads to find 2015 releases and...there’s many many awesome ones! I was going to release this on New Years Day, but I was excited about finishing a decent post and so you get it right now. Here are some of the favourites for 2015 that I found in the last half hour.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson (January)
What: Two boys. Two secrets.David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl. On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long…
Why: You know I try and keep up with all the lgbtq fiction being published (and mostly fail, but hey). But lots of people whose taste in books I like have said it’s really good, so hopefully I’ll enjoy it too.

Unspeakable by Abbie Rushton (February)

What: Megan doesn't speak. She hasn't spoken in months.
Pushing away the people she cares about is just a small price to pay. Because there are things locked inside Megan's head - things that are screaming to be heard - that she cannot, must not, let out.
Then Jasmine starts at school: bubbly, beautiful, talkative Jasmine. And for reasons Megan can't quite understand, life starts to look a bit brighter.
Megan would love to speak again, and it seems like Jasmine might be the answer. But if she finds her voice, will she lose everything else?
What: Does this not look adorable? And also maybe emotional? I want to know Megan’s secrets!

Prudence by Gail Carriger (March)
What: When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar circumstances - names it the Spotted Crumpet and floats to India in pursuit of the perfect cup of tea. But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier's wife, and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do but turn metanatural and find out everyone's secrets, even thousand-year-old fuzzy ones?
Why: I absolutely love the Parasol Protectorate series, and Prudence, as a child, was pure comedy gold and wonderful to read about. I’m sure her grownup adventures will be similar!

Under My Skin by James Dawson (March)
What: Seventeen-year-old Sally Feather is not exactly a rebel. Her super-conservative parents and her treatment at the hands of high school bullies means that Sally’s about as shy and retiring as they come – but all that’s about to change. Accidentally ending up in the seedier side of town one day, Sally finds herself mysteriously lured to an almost-hidden tattoo parlour – and once inside, Sally is quickly seduced by its charming owner, Rosita, and her talk of how having a secret tattoo can be as empowering as it is thrilling. Almost before she knows what she is doing, Sally selects sexy pin-up Molly Sue, and has her tattooed on her back – hoping that Molly Sue will inspire her to be as confident and popular as she is in her dreams.
But things quickly take a nightmareish turn. Almost immediately, Sally begins to hear voices in her head – or rather, one voice in particular: Molly Sue’s. And she has no interest in staying quiet and being a good girl – in fact, she’s mighty delighted to have a body to take charge of again. Sally slowly realises that she is unable to control Molly Sue… and before long she’s going to find out the hard way what it truly means to have somebody ‘under your skin’
Why: James Dawson is a generally brilliant author, and this looks like it’ll be another great read. Because tattoos and pinup girls and possibly horror and most likely humour in places. Also, the cover and pink page spray is gorgeous.

None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio (April)
What: A groundbreaking story about a teenage girl who discovers she's intersex . . . and what happens when her secret is revealed to the entire school. Incredibly compelling and sensitively told, None of the Above is a thought-provoking novel that explores what it means to be a boy, a girl, or something in between.
What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant?
When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She's a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she's madly in love with her boyfriend. In fact, she's decided that she's ready to take things to the next level with him.
But Kristin's first time isn't the perfect moment she's planned--something is very wrong. A visit to the doctor reveals the truth: Kristin is intersex, which means that though she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy "parts."
Dealing with her body is difficult enough, but when her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, Kristin's entire identity is thrown into question. As her world unravels, can she come to terms with her new self
Why: The title was what caught my attention. Then finding out that it’s a contemporary about an intersex teen made me want to read it.

The Honours by Tim Clare (April)
What:TRUE HONOUR IS ENDLESS. JOIN US. 1935. Norfolk. War is looming in Great Britain and the sprawling country estate of Alderberen Hall is shadowed by suspicion and paranoia. Thirteen-year-old Delphine Venner is determined to uncover the secrets of the Hall's elite society, which has taken in her gullible mother and unstable father. As she explores the house and discovers the secret network of hidden passages that thread through the estate, Delphine uncovers a world more dark and threatening than she ever imagined. With the help of head gamekeeper Mr Garforth, Delphine must learn the bloody lessons of war and find the soldier within herself in time to battle the deadly forces amassing in the woods . . .
The Honours is a dark, glittering and dangerously unputdownable novel which invites you to enter a thrilling and fantastical world unlike any other.
Why: After seeing his Be Kind to Yourself and Grave Invaders in Edinburgh, I have decided that Tim Clare is a wonderful poet and I’d be very interested in seeing whatever prose he put out. The fact that it’s historical and fantasy and mystery is a bonus.

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (April)
What: Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
Why: Another lgbtq piece, which looks like it’ll be cute and funny and those who have already read it seem to love it.

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia (May)

What: Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson,Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.
Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.
Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.
Why: I haven’t read many books dealing mostly with mental health an it’s a topic I’d like to be more informed about.

The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke (May)
What: A taut psychological thriller...about a girl whose young sister was abducted and returns to the family as a teenager.
Why: Cat Clarke is one another one of those authors I will read anything by. Taut psychological thriller? Heck yes.

Scarlett Undercover by JenniferLatham (May)
What: Meet Scarlett, a smart, sarcastic, kick-butt, Muslim American heroine, ready to take on crime in her hometown of Las Almas. When a new case finds the private eye caught up in a centuries-old battle of evil genies and ancient curses, Scarlett discovers that her own family secrets may have more to do with the situation than she thinks -- and that cracking the case could lead to solving her father's murder.
Jennifer Latham delivers a compelling story and a character to remember in this one-of-a-kind debut novel.
Why: Genies and curses and diversity. Need I say more?

Remix by Non Pratt (June)
What: I don’t know.
Why: Trouble was brilliant and I just want to read more of what Non writes.

The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (October)
What: Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother's mysterious death, he's lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers. One day, he's tracked down by an uncle he's never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. His uncle tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god. The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years. When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision. Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .
Why: Percy Jackson is, I think, the second major series I ever got in to- I was in middle school when I read Lightning Thief and discovered it was pure perfection. Despite having gotten majorly behind with the many series, the fact there’s a new one still makes me excited. Plus, non classical gods!

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (October)
What: Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything. Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters.
Why: Fangirl was adorable (review to come) and I loved the insight into fandom and dedication that I see from so many people on the internet and the complete Harry Potter parody that translated so well but had a spin so Rainbow made it her own. And the excerpts throughout Fangirl were very goo, so to see the whole the fic Cathy that was writing thoughout Fangirl will be very exciting.

Masquerade by Laura Lam (maybe)
What: Book 3 of the Micah Gray series.
Why: I love that series so much. It may or may not be released next year, but if it is, it makes this list (if not, it makes the list of books I want released one day).

These discoveries have made me want to try and keep up with books in the coming year. And I’m sure I missed many things... What are you excited about? Tell me in the comments! And I hope everyone has a brilliant 2015!

0 Comments on 2015 Books I Am Highly Looking Forwards To as of 12/31/2014 10:59:00 AM

Add a Comment

53. Book Review- The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 11/26/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, fantasy, high fantasy, strength 4, kameron hurley, the mirror empire, Add a tag

Title: The Mirror Empire

Author: Kameron Hurley

Series: Worldbreaker Saga #1

Published: 26 August 2014 by Angry Robot

Length: 569 pages

Warnings: semigraphic sex, assault, graphic gore

Source: Netgalley

Other info: Hurley has written many things, like God’s War and We Have Always Fought.

Summary : On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past… while a world goes to war with itself.
In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin.
As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war, a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father’s people or loyalty to her alien Empress.
Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself.
In the end, one world will rise – and many will perish.

Review: Two worlds exist, mirrors of each other, and two versions of people exist, one in each world. Doorways can be opened between them, but you can only cross into the other world if your double in that one is dead. In one world, the Kai, the leader of the magic workers,Kirana, dies mysteriously, leaving her ungifted brother Ahkio to take her place. In another story line, Lilia was pushed through a door to escape death. Many other stories weave together to form the story of this mirror empire.

I read this because Kameron Hurley's blog posts are really good and Angry Robot had this on offer from Netgalley and I'd heard of really good diversity and so I read this.

I haven't read high fantasy for some time,I think, and it shows. I did infer lots of things about this world and my head picture is probably completely different to Hurley's.

I also think I missed something crucial as to how everything fits together in terms of plotlines. There's Zezeli,an army captain, who goes campaigning and then.has to find her husband Anavha (who we followed for a bit then I think we stopped following him which was sad because I liked him). Other characters I liked include Roh, Ahkio, Taigan, Gian and many others. Most of the main characters really. They were all developed, and their stories were intriguing and I wanted to carry on reading about them despite me not fully understanding the links between them all.

The worlds are well developed. Polyamory and female led relationships and strong belief in magic and a coherent magic system can be found, and settings range from army camps to cities to frozen areas.

The writing is descriptive, even in the very gory areas. It felt like a long book, but it didn't feel slow. i didn't want this book to end!

characters' storylines clearly overlap in places, but in others, it felt like we were just following someone without it feeding in to a main thing. I didn't mind, because the small plots were well written and interesting, but I would like to see more convergence in any future novels.

Overall: Strength 4 tea to a book I enjoyed for its characters' individual plots, despite them not all coming together.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads| Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review- The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley as of 11/26/2014 5:50:00 PM

Add a Comment

54. Book Review: Purity by Jackson Pearce

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 11/23/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, contemporary, jackson pearce, purity, strength 3, Add a tag

Title: Purity

Author: Jackson Pearce

Series: N/A

Published: 6 March 2014 by Hodder

Length: 224 pages

Source: publisher

Summary : A novel about love, loss, and sex -- but not necessarily in that order.
Before her mother died, Shelby promised three things: to listen to her father, to love as much as possible, and to live without restraint. Those Promises become harder to keep when Shelby's father joins the planning committee for the Princess Ball, an annual dance that ends with a ceremonial vow to live pure lives -- in other words, no "bad behavior," no breaking the rules, and definitely no sex.
Torn between Promises One and Three, Shelby makes a decision -- to exploit a loophole and lose her virginity before taking the vow. But somewhere between failed hookup attempts and helping her dad plan the ball, Shelby starts to understand what her mother really meant, what her father really needs, and who really has the right to her purity

Review: Shelby promised her dying mother that she would listen to her father, love as much as posible, and live without restraint. She's done quite well in the five years since then, but when her father wants to arrange her part in a purity ball, in which she promises her purity to her father, which is essentially no drugs, drink or sex. Shelby doesn't want this. So she tries to find a loophole; if she has sex before then, she won't have purity to give. Thus begins a five week search for someone to lose her virginity to.

I wanted to read this obok because commentry on the value of virginity and women in society is an important one to me, and I quite liked Sisters Red, even though I knew from the presmise that this would be completely different.

The characters are funny, not particularly bright, but the friendships are nice and supportive, even if the end “revalation” isn't that surprising or enjoyable. I liked watching the relationship between Shelby and her dad develop.I think Shelby could have developed more.

I like the fact there's humour throughout, without which Purity would be much less lighthearted, and either too sad or too serious.

I find it a bit weird that Shelby goes from not really caring about sex to wanting to do it without caring about who it is as long as they're not diseased. Sure, the possiblity of lack of sex for years is obviously going to make her try and find someone, (it would me if I were in that situation) but there are other ways she could have dealt iwht it, and other parts in the novel when she could have done something else.

I like the fact that faith is a theme. It's not there too much to make it into a preachy book, but it did add a bit of depth to Shelby.

Finally, I just want to ask; since when was “listen to” synonymous with “completely obey”?

Overall: Strength 3 tea to a book that opens discussions for lots of things.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review: Purity by Jackson Pearce as of 11/23/2014 11:04:00 PM

Add a Comment

55. Book Review- Tanith Low in the Maleficent Seven by Derek Landy

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 10/24/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: skullduggery pleasant, tanith low, book review, derek landy, strength 4, Add a tag

Title: Tanith Low in The Maleficent Seven

Author: Derek Landy

Series: Skullduggery Pleasant 7.5

Published: 8 May 2014 by Harper

Length: 283 pages

Source: publisher

Other info: Landy has also written a lot of Skullduggery Pleasant novels, the world of which this book is set.

Summary : This time, the bad guys take the stage. Tanith Low, now possessed by a remnant, recruits a gang of villains – many of whom will be familiar from previous Skulduggery adventures – in order to track down and steal the four God-Killer level weapons that could hurt Darquesse when she eventually emerges. Also on the trail of the weapons is a secret group of Sanctuary sorcerers, and doing his best to keep up and keep Tanith alive is one Mister Ghastly Bespoke. When the villains around her are lying and scheming and plotting, Tanith needs to stay two steps ahead of her teammates and her enemies. After all, she's got her own double-crosses to plan – and she’s a villain herself.

Review: Tanith Low has a remnant inside of her, which made her stronger and more powerful and more suited to . Two teams of seven want a set of God Killers, and

I was very excited to read this. I've been recommended Skullduggery Pleasant for years, (and apologies, I still haven't read it) and one of the key things I’ve noticed people like is the world. This being sent to me for review, and this being set in the same world, I was looking forwards to this.

The world building lives up to its hype, incorporating a mix of the folk tales, and more traditional fantasy staples.

I liked Tanith's backstory and the meaning for her name. I l liked all the major characters, especially Tanith, Sabine and Jack, and they were well fleshed out, and I'm looking forwards to seeing more of them when I (eventually) get round to reading the Skullduggery Pleasant books.

The book is short (well, nearly 300 pages, but it feels short) and pacy, and I feel the overall story was quite simple, but I liked fact that the characters and their views on what they were doing add conflict and interest. I thought the dialogue felt quite samey, sassy, and funny, in some places, especially when comparing the two teams' interactions, but I liked the characters too much to mind.

Overall: Strength 4 tea to an action led novel in a world I’d love to return to one day.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads| Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review- Tanith Low in the Maleficent Seven by Derek Landy as of 10/24/2014 8:32:00 AM

Add a Comment

56. We Need Diverse Books Display

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 10/7/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Add a tag

A levels come with crazy amounts of work. So, I'm going to make it clear that I am not going to be stopping blogging any time soon (hopefully). It just can't be the priority of my life. I am still always going to enjoy books and reading though!

Proof I still love books: I got permission from my school librarian to make this display, and Sarah, Rebecca and I did. In one of the main corridors. There’s also a display inside the library, with bookstands of the books we have in stock (photos to follow).

These books I have either read and enjoyed, or I know many people who read and enjoyed them.

This list is in no way complete, I just chose the books that were either in the library or were likely to be in major bookshops in the UK and that would be suitable for people 11-18 years old.

I'm really proud of this display. For one, it was hard to decide which of my favourite books would be appreciated by many others, and find some other books (there are very few books with middle eastern and muslim characters that I know of).
Then there was the decisions on how to arrange it. We were thinking of intersectionals in the middle, then groups around the side by what kind of characters each book had (queer characters, Asian characters, disabled characters etc.) We decided against it because composition was more important than information for this display, as we have a list organised by type printed. Then we just started arranging with major intersectionals in the middle and by colour around the outside and by chance the symmetry and colour worked out really well. Also, Sarah really likes the centre of Hollow Pike and The Night Itself and and that they're facing in opposite directions.

The empty space is for people to come into the library, and fill out a heart with recommendations of their own on. What else would you add?

Close ups and list of books under the cut.

Lesbian/ gay characters

o The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth

o The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

o Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

o Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

o Maggot Moon by Sally Gardener

o Annie on my Mind by Nancy Gardener

o Ash by Malinda Lo

o The Difference between You and Me by Madeline George

o A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke

Bisexual characters

o Hollow Pike by James Dawson

o Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

o Far From You by Tesse Sharpe

o Proxy by Alex London

Trans* characters

o I am J by Cris Beam

o Luna by Julie Anne Peters

Asian characters

o The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott

o The Bubblewrap Boy by Phil Earle

o Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens

o Cinder by Marissa Marr

o Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari

A Mix of Everything

o Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis

o Pantomime by Laura Lam

o Every Day by David Levithan

o Adaptation by Malinda Lo

o Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

o Skulk by Rosie Best

o Young Avengers

Middle Eastern

o Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

African characters

o The Oathbreaker’s Shadow by Amy McCulloch

o Fake ID by Lamar Giles

o Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Disability

o Knife by R J Anderson

o The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

o Wonder by R. J. Palacio

o The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

o She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgewick

0 Comments on We Need Diverse Books Display as of 10/7/2014 7:23:00 PM

Add a Comment

57. Book Review-Adaptation by Malinda Lo

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 9/13/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: science fiction, book review, romance, mystery, adaptation, aliens, thriller, malinda lo, strength 5, Add a tag

Title: Adaptation

Author: Malinda Lo

Series: Adaptation #1

Published: April 3 2014 by Hodder

Length: 432 pages

Source: publisher

Other info: Malinda Lo has also written Huntress, Ash (review here), and Inheritance.

Summary: Flocks of birds are hurling themselves at aeroplanes across America. Thousands of people die. Millions are stranded. Everyone knows the world will never be the same.
On Reese's long drive home, along a stretch of empty highway at night, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won't tell them what happened.
For Reese, though, this is just the start. She can't remember anything from the time between her accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: she's different now. Torn between longtime crush David and new girl Amber, the real question is: who can she trust?

Review: It all starts when Reese Holloway is waiting for a plane back from debating and birds fall out of the sky. Stranded, she and the debate team decide to head home in a rented car, and things change even more. With no idea of the events after a crash, nor the later happenings or procedures, Reese finds some anwers that will change her life, and humanity, forever.

Huntress, I didn't enjoy especially, but Ash was one of my favourite books due to the writing style and the new take on an old story. Adaptation leaves the fantasy route and goes down the scifi men-in-black route, and it does this really well.

I love the characters. Amber's probably my favourite, because she's adorable and funny and I fell in love with her. I also liked that you had to constantly question her and her loyalties. David- CHINESE MC HECK YEAH (I get excited by chinese main characters) was also really adorable and smart. Reese isn't one of my favourite characters, she seemed a bit ordinary compared to a cast full of scientists and government agents and conspiracy theory website runners and things which I want to say but that's kind of spoilery, but I did like the fact that she constantly questioned things. Oh, and love to Reese's mum. See the lawyering badass love for her daughter and reaction to her coming out as bisexual.

Nowhere in this book is a good place to stop reading-most certainly not the end.. Every point in Adaptation was either too intriguing or too exciting or too adorable to let you even think about putting it down, and I've had the must-never-stop-reading-this-feeling for very few books before.

Overall: Strength 5 tea to a book I recommend to everyone, especially mystery, scifi, thriller, romance fans.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads| Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review-Adaptation by Malinda Lo as of 9/13/2014 5:30:00 AM

Add a Comment

58. Book Review- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 9/11/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, mystery, contemporary, e lockhart, strength 2, we were liars, Add a tag

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Series: N/A

Published: 13 May 2014 by Hot Key Books

Length: 240 pages

Source: library

Summary : A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Review: Cady is one of the Liars, the younger end of a family that meets every summer to spend the holiday at the summer home. At some point, she loses her memories. Two years later, she wants to find out what happened.

I was really looking forwards to this and everyone really enjoyed it and watching somep ople's reactions during the liveread made me think it was going to be amazing. Sadly for me it wasn't.

I think I missed something at the start but I really don't get why everyone loves this. It's slow. The writing, while stripped back in places, seems boring too. The story doesn't seem to go very fast, and the forbidden love aspect is not my favourite as a trope anyway and this book didn't change my mind on it.

I didn't connect or like any of the characters. They seemed too detached from me and I didn't really care what happened to them. Cady is a bit whiny and the rich WASP background comes through and she comes off as pretentious in places, something I'd had enough of with Leo from The Go Between which I read at the same time.

I really enjoyed Gat's comments on race and racism, being Indian and surrounded by white people. The repeated retellings of fairy tales were also really good.

I also think that the style, full of metaphors and winding around, is the kind of thing that could be praised in a literary sense. It just wasn't my kind of thing.

The ending is good, I suppose. It didn't seem like a huge thing to me though, and when it was revealed, I just shrugged and read on. I think it's because I disconnected with the whole story so I didn't really care.

Overall: Strength 2 tea to a book I didn’t get into at the start which meant I didn’t enjoy the whole thing.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads| Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart as of 9/11/2014 1:18:00 PM

Add a Comment

59. Book Review-This Book is Gay by James Dawson

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 8/29/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, nonfiction, lgbt, james dawson, strength 5, this book is gay, Add a tag

Title: This Book Is Gay

Author: James Dawson

Series: N/A

Published: 4 September 2014 by Hot Key Books

Length: 271 pages

Source: publisher

Other info: James Dawson has written many things.

Summary : Former PSHCE teacher and acclaimed YA author James Dawson gives an uncensored look at what it's like to grow up as LGBT. Including testimonials from people 'across the spectrum', this inclusive book explores everything anyone who ever dared to wonder wants to know - from sex to politics, how to pull, stereotypes, how to come-out and more. Spike Gerrell's hilarious illustrations combined with funny and factual text make this a must-have read.

Review: I don't normally review nonfiction, but this is a hugely anticipated book by a brilliant author and a topic I have an interest in. There’s so many things that make this book wonderful.

First, there’s the fact that this book exists, with a bright rainbow cover and direct information and not hiding. I can only think of one other sex-ed book that addresses queer people as well as cishet people, and that's Scarleteen's book, which I read once in a library but it later disappeared. The fact there's a book that speaks directly to a group of people ignored by almost every school when it comes to sex-ed, is brilliant, and I hope this book finds its way into the hands of everyone who needs it.

Then here's the breadth of topics covered; labels and common definitions, biological theories, stereotypes, coming out, dating, sex, marriage, and children, as well as more serious, less happy topics, such as religious opposition, homophobia, transphobia, HIV/AIDS.

James gives clear advice that hopefully will be hopeful to people of all genders and sexualities about how to combat homo&transphobia, coming out, and many other things.

I love the range of voices from the online survey, especially the longer studies, that talk about experiences such as living with HIV, transitioning, and having children via surrogate mothers. They give a snapshot into many different lives, and, after reading about things like this in fiction, it's fascinating to see real-life perspectives.

My favourite thing is James's voice tying it all together. I read the book straight after James did a reading from this book, and it's so easy to imagine him reading it aloud. There's a lot of laughs in appropriate places, highlights including "a very bad lady-let's...call her Maggie....some years later [there was] a slightly less evil man let's call him Tony", "what I felt for Dean Cain (whose name I did not change for this book- I mean, I think it's time he knew of my love", and (in the first edition) bullet points 2 and 3 on page 45.

Now, this is going to sound really picky, but I did notice that it sometimes reinforces the gender binary (yes, I'm aware one of my contributions does too, and I apologise for younger, less informed me and cis-centric language) and uses ciscentric language when talking about sex (e.g. a label of a woman being accompanied by a diagram of a female-bodied person, or the words "gay women get turned on by vaginas" (here not taking into account e.g. gay women with preop transwomen). I do get that it is impossible to cover the full range of identities in one book, and my noticing this is probably a result of me getting used to sites where gender and sex are strictly separated, and this book is wonderful in its existence, but still, a couple of word changes here and there could make this book absolutely perfect.

Overall: Strength 5, tea to a book that needs to be everywhere.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review-This Book is Gay by James Dawson as of 8/30/2014 3:04:00 AM

Add a Comment

60. Blog Tour Book Review- A Dark Inheritance by Chris D'Lacey

By: Nina @ Death, Books, and Tea, on 8/28/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: science fiction, book review, fantasy, thriller, strength 3, chris dlacey, Add a tag

Title: A Dark Inheritance

Author: Chris D’Lacey

Series: UNICORNE Files #1

Published: 7 August 2014 by Chicken House

Length:270 pages

Source: blog tour

Other info: Chris D’Lacey has also written the Last Dragon Chronicles.

Summary : When Michael Malone discovers his supernatural ability to alter reality, he is recruited by an organization dedicated to investigating strange and paranormal phenomena. He joins in hopes of finding his father, who mysteriously vanished three years earlier. Michael's first task is to solve the mystery of a dog he rescued from a precarious clifftop -- a mystery that leads him to a strange and sickly classmate and a young girl who was killed in a devastating accident. Stakes are high as Michael learns to harness his newfound ability and uncover the deadly truth about his father's disappearance.
A bold and thrilling tale of alternate realities, paranormal mystery, and extraordinary adventure.

Review: Michael’s going to school via a non-normal route when he senses the thoughts of a suicidal dog, and somehow manages to stop her going over a cliff. This brings him to the attention of UNICORNE, who say they can tell him what happened to his father, who disappeared. They set him on the task of finding out what the dog was doing on the cliff, and this leads him to a mystery involving a classmate, a dead girl, and his newly discovered powers.

I’ve heard great things about Chris D’Lacey’s other work (which I have never read) so I was hoping this would be good. The blurbed concept isn’t particularly original, but I really liked the idea of cellular memory and the way it played out in the book.

There’s science-fiction elements, fantasy elements, and some thrillery elements too. It could have been a good mix, but in parts it goes so quickly that things don’t get explored as much as they could have been.

I like the characters, especially Josie, Michael’s ten year old sister, Chantelle, a UNICORNE agent, and Freya, Michael’s sick classmate.

The plot twists and turns, sometimes well, and sometimes in convenient places. I like the mix of more normal things that Michael has to deal with, in between the paranormal. I think the start of it was stronger than the way the setup played out though; it started with a strong hook, but then got a bit confusing. The main mystery did get played through well looking back on it, but with side elements being created due to Michael’s powers, it is harder to follow than it needed to be.

Overall: Strength 3 tea to a genremixing thriller.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads| Author website |

Blog tour!

26th August - Book Zone For Boys

27th August - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

8th August - Death, Books, and Tea

29th August - Fiction Fascination

1st September - Booktrust

2nd September - Teen Librarian

3rd September - Book Angel Booktopia

0 Comments on Blog Tour Book Review- A Dark Inheritance by Chris D'Lacey as of 8/28/2014 8:33:00 AM

Add a Comment

61. Does YA Challenge or Reinforce Gender Stereotypes?

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 8/24/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: gender, discussion, stereotypes, long long post, Add a tag

You may have remembered a few months ago, I begged for responses to a long thing about gender and stereotypes and then a few weeks later I begged for responses to a shorter one. HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR GIVING ME RECS OF WHAT TO READ AND THINK ABOUT AND/OR DATA TO QUOTE HERE!

This was for a level two project, also known as a higher project qualification or HPQ. We got to choose anything to research and come up with a 2000 word essay on it. It was finished in February 2014, and came back with an A* :)

Anyway, I chose to write about YA and how heavily gender stereotypes feature in it. A googledoc of this essay can be found here; the essay is uncut here, but there you can find the whole bibliography, and results of the shorter surveys.

What do you think? Does YA challenge or reinforce gendered stereotypes, or is it changing? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Does Young Adult Fiction challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes?

Introduction

Gender stereotypes invade every aspect of life. From the moment a child is born and pronounced a boy or a girl, they will have the trappings of gender thrust upon them. However, by the time they are teenagers, they will have started questioning these, and many other things about the world around them. Literature written for teenagers, also known as Young Adult literature (YA), addresses many issues such as grief, bullying, drugs, suicide and rape. However, in my years reading a wide range of books on the market, I have not found many books that prominently challenge gender stereotypes, unless it is one of the few with a main character on the transgender spectrum. I have also often thought about the more general representation of gender throughout YA-the characteristics, traits and ideas attached to characters of different genders. In my time as a book blogger, I have also grown to know the methods of marketing YA literature, and I am going to analyse these, and if and how gender plays a part in these. Gender stereotypes are rife throughout all forms of media, not just young adult literature. But as teens question and explore life, and are influenced by the media they consume, the books they read challenging or reinforcing gender stereotypes will help form their ideas that will stick with them throughout their lives.

My Research

The majority of my research involved reading and rereading many books on the YA market. As the selection is much too large for me to read in its entirety, I selected major books and book series in the YA category, and books with protagonists that challenge gender stereotypes. I have also drawn on books I have read previously and have stood out to me as reinforcing or challenging gender stereotypes. To gain an idea of other peoples’ opinions on gender in YA, and the gender distribution of those involved with it, I conducted an online survey, read blogs and articles by readers and authors, and directly asked authors, both in person and over the internet.

Do major YA books feature characters that conform to gender stereotypes?

Stereotypes placed on women in everyday life include being emotional, passive, flirtatious, and dependant. Examples of passive and dependent women in YA include Bella (Meyer, S., 2005) and Nora (Fitzpatrick, 2009). Girls challenging this view a major feature in YA, as seen with Katniss (Collins, 2008) Celaena (Maas, 2012) and Tris (Roth 2011). However, as these girls are, in-universe, challenging the norm of women being submissive and obedient, it could also be said that these books reinforce the idea of most girls being weak. Even in these worlds, reinforcing the passive, romantic female adds value to their character; in The Hunger Games, Katniss’s worth increases when she has a boy-kissing Peeta earns her gifts to survive in the arena, and when presenting her as victor, she is made to look “like a girl. A young one. Fourteen at the most. Innocent. harmless” (Collins, 2009, p431), compared to the independent, fierce fighter she was in the arena. Katniss’ conformity to traditional feminine stereotypes is further reinforced when her story ends not with the end of the revolution, but her marriage to Peeta and her raising children (Collins 2010). Another common idea attached to female characters in YA literature is the idea that they need to have a romantic relationship with a boy, or possibly two, being in the centre of a love triangle. Not only is this heteronormative, it reinforces the idea that a woman must be dependent on someone, often a man, an idea that feminists have spent years trying to combat.

Boys also fit into one of a few major stereotypes. There are ones such as Four (Roth, 2011), Jace (Clare, 2008), and Gale (Collins, 2009), heroic and adventurous, who are providers, and independent when they are not tied in to romantic relationships. There’s the dark brooding immortal supernatural creature such as Edward (Meyer, S., 2005) and Patch (Fitzpatrick, 2009), who conform the idea that men do not share their emotions very well. There are also emotional and non-aggressive boys such as Peeta (Collins, 2008), who also challenges stereotypes by being skilled at “feminine”, creative activities such as painting and cake decorating, and Simon (Clare, 2007), Charlie (Chbosky 1999), Dash (Cohn and Levithan, 2011), and all of John Green’s protagonists. These have become so common in young adult literature that they are becoming a stereotype in themselves. However, as these boys do not conform to traditional views of men, they can be said to challenge stereotypes.

Some stereotypes grow in popularity due to high sales of a book that features it. Twilight (Meyer, 2005) is responsible for the popularity of vampires, paranormal romance and, unemotional boys with ordinary but special girls, selling one million copies in two and a half years in the UK (Alexander, 2009), and the series selling over 100 million copies worldwide (Sellers, 2010). Strong girls fighting against a dystopian system have exploded in the wake of The Hunger Games, which has sold over 65million copies across the trilogy (Scholastic, n.d.) in the US alone. Books with such a large audience will majorly reinforce any gendered stereotypes, as examined above, contained within them.

How are characters challenging gender stereotypes presented?

For a category of literature with such a wide appeal, the amount of characters challenging the stereotypes in their everyday life is surprisingly small. Within the small, slowly growing, selection of queer fiction, trans* and intersex representation is negligible, with only two books featuring trans or intersex main characters published by mainstream publishers being published in 2013 (Lo, 2013a), and 7 (4% of 167 books featuring queer characters) featuring trans characters in a decade by “the big six” and three other major US publishers (Lo, 2013b). Agender and nonbinary-gender characters are practically non-existent, unless mentioned in passing. The erasure of characters who, with their gender expression, challenge cisgender norms, aids in the reinforcement of the gender binary and attached stereotypes.

Cisgender characters challenging their gender stereotypes have often been girls attempting to pass as boys, for example Deryn from Leviathan (Westerfeld, 2009), Polly from Monstrous Regiment (Pratchett, 2003) and Jacky from Bloody Jack (Meyer, L., 2002) to gain freedom, owing to the repression of women in their respective worlds . Rare are characters challenging gender stereotypes in contemporary settings, although over the past few years, the selection has been slowly growing; for example Jesse from The S Word (Pitcher, 2013) and Eleanor and Park (Rowell, Eleanor and Park, 2012)who challenge gender stereotypes by the way they dress, and Ben, who takes up knitting, a conventionally feminine hobby, and ends up enjoying it, becoming the “only male knitter to have ever attended” the English Knitting Championship (Easton, 2014, p227 ). These help to challenge perceptions, both in-universe characters’ and readers’. What also helps challenge stereotypes is characters being supportive of these characters, for example Megan Hooper (Easton, 2014) and Angie (Pitcher, 2013). However, as the characters challenging stereotypes for them to support are few and far between, their effectiveness at challenging stereotypes is limited

Do covers reinforce gender stereotypes?

The marketing of a book is based mainly around a cover. Books aimed at boys often feature darker colours used in a more aggressive way, explosions, weaponry and technology, reinforcing the stereotype of boys being violent, active and dominant. Covers on books targeted at girls often feature a girl in a long flowing, especially in paranormal romance, even if the dress is not relevant to the plot at all, for example Gena Showalter’s Alice in Zombieland (2012), possibly because the stereotypical girl has through her life, in the words of Stacey Whitman, been “romanticizing…the fairy tale, including all the pretty things to wear.” (Wan, 2013). All these tactics used by publishers’ art departments reinforce gender stereotypes to do with the perceived audience of the book, and have the added effect of unnecessarily gendering genres and stories. The colour pink will also mark a book as girly, regardless of the content. An example of this is What’s Up with Jody Barton (Long, 2012), which features a bright pink cover, off-putting to boys, despite the fact that the main character is a teenage boy. Over time, book covers that are more gender neutral than others have emerged. Examples include the US first editions of The Hunger Games series, the Divergent series, and certain editions of John Green’s novels, particularly Penguin’s 2012 editions. Features of these covers include block colours, symbols, a lack of cover models, whose gender will assumedly influence the gender of readers, and no suggestion of romance.

Gender stereotypes in book covers may also be influenced by the author. In May 2013, prolific author Maureen Johnson (2013a) tweeted “I do wish I had a dime for every email I get that says, “Please put a non-girly cover on your book so I can read it. – signed, A Guy”, then challenged her 77000 followers to take any novel, imagine that the author was a different gender to what they are, and redesign the cover accordingly (2013b). This activity was performed on books from all genres, but you can see stark cover design differences by author gender. Books with female authors were given symbols in place of people, and books with male authors were given people in place of symbols. The altered cover designs reinforce the lack of emotion often associated with men, and the gentility often associated with women. Johnson (2010) also suggests that “female stories are consistently undervalued, labelled “commercial,” “light,” “fluffy,” and “breezy,” even if they are about the very same topics that a man might write about”. While books will be marketed on merits such as content and tone as well as the author’s gender, this labelling of women’s work and the Coverflip exercise shows that gender stereotyping is still, to some extent, present in the publishers’ marketing departments.

Are reading and writing gendered activities?

Genres are heavily gendered. Romance is seen as a feminine genre, due to the idea that women are emotional. Contemporary is also seen as a feminine genre, with the exception of John Green novels, as many contemporary books heavily feature romance, even though they also deal with harder issues. Thrillers, action and science fiction are seen as male genres, due to the stereotype of men being intellectual, active, and technical, which can lead to women using initials when publishing in these genres, which reinforces these stereotypes. Dystopia is a gender neutral genre; however many dystopian novels with female authors have a stronger romantic subplot, while dystopian novels written by male, or initialled, authors emphasise the control and destruction of the regime.

Women are often said to dominate the YA market. At first glance in a teen section of a bookstore, you would think so, and in my survey, 75.3% of the writers were female, but when it comes to bestsellers, it’s the men who win. In 47 weeks, two women topped the New York Times YA list for five weeks total (Jensen, 2013a), and at no point, women have had more than 4 books in the top 10. This seems strange considering that 75% of the authors on a selection of “Best of” lists in 2013 were female (Jensen, 2013b). The reason why more male-authored books have higher sales figures despite critics believing female-authored books are better are unknown; but it could be partially due to the idea that women are less likely to produce quality product.

The use of gender concealment reinforces gender stereotypes. Louisa May Alcott, Marian Evans and the Bronte sisters all used pennames to conceal their gender, (Anderson, 2011) in a time when women had strict restrictions on control over their rights, property, and money. The author who is often credited with kick-starting YA as a genre, Joanne Rowling, used initials J.K. to avoid a negative impact on marketing to male readers. Women who take on initials in modern YA include J.R. Johansson, S.J Kincaid, D. J McCune, and S. D. Crockett. They may use initials because they are all writing from male perspectives, and may not be taken as seriously as a woman, or because their books are not heavily romantic, as would be expected from a woman, and these two facts would impact the sales of the book based on the preconceptions about the book based n the gender of the author. Men taking on initials was common in classical literature, for example J.R.R Tolkien, T.H. White and J.M. Barrie, however I can only find two modern male authors using initials- M.T. Andersen, who wrote Feed, a science fiction novel, and T.S. Easton, who wrote Boys Don’t Knit. Easton, who uses pseudonyms, also wrote My Year in Agony and My Summer on the Shelf, two books about a girl who becomes the school’s anonymous Agony Aunt, under Lara Fox, a female pseudonym, (Easton, n.d.), and Haven, a thriller, under his full male name, which reinforces the gendering of genres.

A Canadian survey (Katz & Sokal, 2003) found that 24% grade 2 boys found reading feminine. A recent survey conducted by the National Literacy Trust found that 56.8% girls like reading “quite a lot” or “very much”, compared to 43.9% of boys (Clark 2013), and a survey carried out by the Canadian Council of Learning (2009) found girls outperform boys by 23 points in reading tests. That reading is feminine activity is reflected in the fact that, of the 149 people I sampled, 84.6% of the readers were female, 84.7% of the book bloggers, people publishing book reviews to the internet, were female, and 80% of the workers in publishing were female (see appendix).

There are many possible explanations for this. One is the fact that reading is not seen as a “masculine” activity-it does not require physical exertion, is not technically challenging, and often invokes emotion. Another reason may be that “as the majority of the teen publishing industry is female, boys see reading as a female activity, and are put off by it”, as suggested by Darren Hartwell (personal communication, 31 January 2014). I believe that a major factor is the androcentricism in society, combined with marketing. Jacqueline Wilson, writer of books for children that cover topics that affect many children, such as abuse, divorce, grief and mental illness, said that she had been told in the past that the books had to be pink because “it would sell “twice” as many copies among girls even if it put boys off.” (Bingham, 2013) This attitude is effective at upholding the stereotype of pink for girls, blue for boys. In the same interview, Wilson then “I do think that with books a boy is going to have to feel really quite confident if he is going to be seen in front of his mates with a book that is bright pink because it is immediately code for this being 'girlie'.” Bluemle (2012) says “We steer kids—no, we steer boys—away from stories they might respond to from a very early age.” Wilson and Bluemle are referring to the stigma that society places on boys who do “girly” things, even while accepting girls who do “boyish” things. Due to the majority of books being believed to have “girly” covers, as 88.5% respondents believed most books have covers aimed at girls, covers not only unnecessarily gender a book, they also gender reading as a whole.

Does YA challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes?

The aim of every author is to tell a good story, with an intriguing plot and fully developed characters. Many authors don’t go out of their way to include or avoid stereotypes. However, being ways of quickly conveying information about a character or situation, it is inevitable that stereotypes will appear in any form of fiction. The aim of this report was to examine whether or not gender stereotypes are reinforced by young adult literature as a whole. The extent of this research is limited by the fact that I am unable to analyse every book on the YA market, and that people have different ideas of stereotypes relating to genders; however, I believe my research has given me a good overview of the market. My findings have led me to believe that gendered stereotypes have grown in popularity due to high sales of books featuring these idea, and waves of similar books riding on their success perpetuates them, as seen in the dystopian and paranormal romance genres, which are full of romantically dependent girls and protective boys. Gender stereotypes are also reinforced by the marketing of a book, which is influenced by both the content and the author’s gender, and is expressed in a book’s cover and words used to promote it. As the selection of YA increases week by week, characters that challenge gender stereotypes are slowly gaining visibility, and as attitudes towards queer people change and we see more and more, gay characters, in time, maybe we will have a full range of characters, both trans* and cisgender, challenging stereotypes . However, as the market stands, I believe that YA fiction as a whole does reinforce gender stereotypes.

Reference list

Alexander, J., 2009. Twilight: Book breaks sales records, The Telegraph, [online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6590249/Twilight-book-breaks-sales-records.html[Accessed 13 February 2014]

Anderson, D., 2011. Nom de Plume-YA Lit and Marketing. Faith and Feminism. [blog] 31 May 2011. Available at: http://diannaeanderson.net/blog/265[Accessed 17 February 2014]

Bingham, J., 2013. Dame Jacqueline Wilson challenges publishers to halt the pink tide, The Telegraph, [online]. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10039848/Dame-Jacqueline-Wilson-challenges-publishers-to-halt-the-pink-tide.html [Accessed 11 February 2014]

Bluemle, E., 2012. He Won’t Read Books About Girls. Publishers Weekly Shelftalker. [blog] 5 April 2012. Available at: http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/shelftalker/?p=5713 [Accessed 3 February 2014].

Canadian Council of Learning, 2009. Why Boys Don’t Like to Read. [online] Available at http://www.ccl-cca.ca/pdfs/LessonsInLearning/02_18_09-E.pdf[Accessed 18 February 2014]

Chbosky, S., 1999. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Simon and Schuster

Clare, C. 2008. City of Bones. London: Simon Pulse

Clarke, C., 2013. Children and Young People’s Reading in 2012. [online]. Available at: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0001/8829/Young_people_s_reading_2012_-_Final.pdf) [Accessed 8 February 2014]

Cohn R, and Levithan, D., 2011. Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares. Richmond: Mira Ink.

Collins, S., 2009. The Hunger Games. 2^ndEdition. London: Scholastic.

Collins, S., 2010. Mockingjay. 2^ndEdition. London: Scholastic.

Easton, T.S., 2014. Boys Don’t Knit. London: Hot Key Books.

Easton, T. S, n.d. YA Books. [online] Available at: http://www.tomeaston.co.uk/#!books/cee5 [Accessed 14 February 2014].

Fitzpatrick, B., 2009. Hush Hush. London: Simon and Schuster

Jensen, K. 2013a. On Cover Flipping. Stacked Books, [blog] 9 May 2013. Available at: http://www.stackedbooks.org/2013/05/on-cover-flipping.html [Accessed 2 February 2014].

Jensen, K. 2013b. "Best of 2013 YA" List Breakdown, Part 1. Stacked Books, [blog] 10 December 2013. Available at: http://www.stackedbooks.org/2013/12/best-of-2013-ya-list-breakdown-part-1.html [Accessed 20 February 2014].

Johnson, M., 2010. Sell The Girls. Maureen Johnson, [blog] 22 September 2010. Available at: http://www.maureenjohnsonbooks.com/2010/09/22/sell-the-girls/ [Accessed 10 February 2014]

Johnson, M. (@maureenjohnson), 2013a, “I do wish I had a dime for every email I get that says, "Please put a non-girly cover on your book so I can read it. - signed, A Guy", [Twitter], 6 May 2012, Available at: https://twitter.com/maureenjohnson/status/331444327278587904[Accessed 2 February 2014]

Johnson, M., 2013b. Let’s Do the Coverflip. Maureen Johnson, [blog] 6 May 2013. Available at http://maureenjohnsonbooks.tumblr.com/post/49786559615/lets-do-the-coverflip[Accessed 2 February 2014]

Katz, H., and Sokal, L., 2003. Masculine literacy: One size does not fit all. Reading Manitoba, 24(1), 4-8.

Lo, M., 2013a. LGBT Young Adult Books Published in 2013. [online] Available at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApI5exYREuAwdEFXUC1hUTRJQXBuZmQ4Q01nZnJkMFE&usp=sharing#gid=0 [Accessed 21 January 2014].

Lo, M., 2013b. LGBT Young Adult Books 2003-13: A Decade of Slow But Steady Change [online] Available at: http://www.malindalo.com/2013/10/lgbt-young-adult-books-2003-13-a-decade-of-slow-but-steady-change/ [Accessed 21 January 2014].

Long, H., 2012. What’s Up with Jody Barton? London: Macmillan

Maas, S. J., 2012. Throne of Glass. London: Bloomsbury

Meyer, L., 2010. Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy. Boston: HMH For Young Readers

Meyer, S., 2005. Twilight. UK Edition. London: Atom.

Pitcher C., 2013. The S-Word. New York: Gallery Books

Pratchett, T., 2003. Monstrous Regiment. London: Corgi

Roth, V., 2012. Divergent. New York: Katherine Tegan Books.

Rowell, R. 2012. Eleanor & Park. London: Orion Books

Scholastic, n.d. The Hunger Games|Scholastic Media Room. [online] Available at: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/hungergames [Accessed 4 January 2014].

Sellers, J., 2010. New Stephanie Meyer Novella Arriving in June. [online]. Available at; http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/42636-new-stephenie-meyer-novella-arriving-in-june.html[Accessed 4 February 2014]

Showalter, G., 2012. Alice in Zombieland. New York: Harlequin Teen.

Sokal, L. et al, 2005. Boys will be “Boys”: Variability in Boys’ Experiences of Literacy. [online]. Available at: http://ajer.synergiesprairies.ca/ajer/index.php/ajer/article/viewFile/550/537 [Accessed 15 February 2014].

Wan, M., 2013. An Insider’s Take on Cover Story. Forever Young Adult. [blog] 23 August 2013. Available at: http://foreveryoungadult.com/2013/08/23/an-insiders-take-on-cover-story/ [Accessed 11 February 2014].

Westerfeld, S. 2010. Leviathan. London: Simon and Schuster Children’s Books

0 Comments on Does YA Challenge or Reinforce Gender Stereotypes? as of 8/24/2014 5:03:00 PM

Add a Comment

62. Theatre Reviews: I Need a Doctor and Shakespeare's Avengers Assembleth

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 8/13/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: shakespeare, doctor who, musicals, strength 4, theatre review, Add a tag

Title: I Need a Doctor: The Whosical

Director: Benjamin Occhipinti

Major cast: James Wilson-Taylor and Jessica Spray

Seen at: Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe

Review: Jamie and Jess are two Whovians who want to perform a Doctor Who themed musical. Who have recieved a Cease and Desist notice from Stephen Moffat. Oh well-changes can be made so copyright infringement can be avoided, right? With this in mind, Jamie and Jess take on the roles of a companion, A Doctor, and multiple villians, and journey through time and space in the TARD- Phone Box. I wasn't sure if I was going to see this, but then I got told they make fun of Moffat and I was sold.

Its a very clever parody. Yes, they do make fun of Moffat, using fairy godmother Amy Wand, who continually advises Jess to obey the Doctor and stay where she is. Like companions of a better time, Jess ignores her and goes and has adventurers.

Both performers, and the pianist, are very good at what they do. The multiroling that Jamie does is brilliant, especially when portraying A Doctor and Da Master simultaneously.

Jokes come continually, a mix of Who-related, musical related, generally awesome lines, and one thing that was set up from the start just to include

which just made the whole show better.

[if you can't see it, that’s the BARROWMAN gif]

The original songs are catchy, and funny. I also likes how they included changed bits from other musicals like The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (the Exterminators), Confrontation (from Les Mis, A Doctor and Da Master), and Music of the Night (from Phantom, Da Master and Jess, leading to "sing for me, angel....bloody hell!")

Overall Strength 4 tea to a really fun show that every Whovian and every fan of musicals (that catches most of you guys, right?) must see.

Links: Company

Title: Shakespeare’s Avengers Assembleth

Performed by: Drake's Drummers Theatre Company

Seen at: Greenside Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe

Review: Queen Elizabeth is about to be crowned, making England Protestant. Knowing that The Pope will try and keep England Catholic she commissions William Shakespeare to write a play with his greatest heroes, warning of Catholicism. The Vatican's High Inquisitor is not happy about this, and he in turn summons Shakespeare's greatest villains. This results in a cobbled together play starring Cardinal Dave, William Shakespeare, and his greatest characters (and Brutus).

I was very excited about seeing this play. I knew it wasn't going to be Marvel's characters in Shakespearean (though that would have been awesome too), and was excited to see how they'd all interact.

There were lots of running gags that always made me laugh, such as Hamlet always talking to Banquo, Ophelia's offstage actions, Brutus being very stabby and the High Inquisitor's grasp on his religion.

Interpretation of characters was a mix of brilliant and...interesting. I loved the characterisation of Brutus, Macbeth, and Juliet.

The plot wasn't great, and the play within a play was impossible to follow. I think that might have been intentional though, judging by the jokes about it within the script. This play should be judged more on its jokes; the oneliners, physical things, and ones that take a bit more time to set up.

The cast multiroled and played off each other really well. The lighting and stage were kept very simple, and I think as well as a riff off Shakespeare, it's also a comedy about very amateur productions and how they get produced (that is, badly organised, lots of arguements, and lots of laughs, which is highly highly accurate).

Overall Strength 4 tea to a fun story and spin on Shakespeare's characters.

0 Comments on Theatre Reviews: I Need a Doctor and Shakespeare's Avengers Assembleth as of 8/13/2014 5:35:00 PM

Add a Comment

63. Theatre review- Travesti

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 8/13/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: feminism, strength 4, theatre review, travesti, Add a tag

Title: Travesti

Director: Rebecca Hill

Performed by: Unbound Productions

Major cast: John Askew, Dominic Attenborough, Aled Bidder, Hugo Bolton, Stanley Elridge, James Lawrence

Seen at: Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe

Review: Six men tell women's stories about things such as makeup, pressure, sex, and assault.

The set of six revolving mirrors is very effectively used throughout, as ironing boards, kitchens, display boards, and hanging spaces for the suits the actors wear at the start.

For a cast that all works very well together, I found it a shame that they put some actors out of action at various points in, the play, and they don't return until the end.

At times, they used songs to transition to the next topic. Props to Francesca Fenech, musical director, for putting in some really nice harmonies. Also, the actors have very good voices.

In parts, there's two or more stories being told at once. I have mixed reactions to this; it works at times when two contrasting opinions on one topic are being related, but sometimes it seems like they're talking over each other and interrupting in midsentence just for the sake of it which made both stories disrupted and harder to follow.

They talk about a good range of topics, and it's interesting to see lots of perspectives on things.

Each individual actor is very good at using movement to emphasise the point that is being made. This is especially clear at the points when they strip, the way they do so and their expressions showing how the person being objectified at that point feels.

The concept of Travesti is a very good one, and does make you think about the differences between expectations and perceptions of genders in society; for example, people were laughing when the men were grinding and singing Do What You Want With My Body, while if it were women doing it then it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. It's a very good play to see starkly the way different genders are treated in society, in situations ranging in seriousness.

Overall: Strength 4 tea to a thought provoking, well performed piece that everyone should watch.

Links: Company

0 Comments on Theatre review- Travesti as of 8/13/2014 3:32:00 AM

Add a Comment

64. Theatre Review-Lysistrata by Christopher Adams and Aristophanes

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 8/11/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: comedy, tragedy, lysistrata, strength 4, theatre review, Add a tag

So, I went to the Edinburgh Fringe festival. It was brilliant-most shows. I’m only going to review the shows I really enjoyed though-I don’t really see much point in spending time writing a 250 word review saying “this was okish.” So over the next week, here’s my pick of shows.

Title: Lysistrata

Writer: Christopher Adams and Aristophanes

Director: Christopher Adams

Performed by: DEM Productions

Major cast: Lousia Holloway, Charlotte Mulliner, River Hawkins and Robert Willoughby

Seen at: C Nova

Review: It starts with Lysistrata's birthday party and her friends have bought her a stripper. But prices are rising, they can't pay and so he leaves. Lysistrata, angry with the austerity measures and work exploitation and the state of Greece in general, convinces her friends to withold sex until the men of Greece sort out the situation.

I've read Lysistrata by Aristophanes and I thought this was a very clever adaptation. I love the relavence of the Greek financial crisis and the use of social media as a rallying call to women. The transitions between rhymed verse and normal speaking is quite jarring and the tone set up at the beginning means the verse sounds really out of place.

It starts off a faithful modern adaptation, as much as you can do with four actors, distilling choruses down to single people and using sound effectively to create crowds. Then about the 2/3 mark I think (I’m not entirely sure) it gets very different, a lot darker, and by the end I'm thinking two things: this was meant to be a comedy and the writer seriously thinks Greece is screwed. I left thinking “woah. Not expecting that.” and I think it worked in this version [possible spoiler-highlight to see] as the war on austerity would obviously take time to fix and not be sorted by a sex strike in one night, as opposed to a war being fought by men who could easily stop. [end spoiler]

All four actors are very good. Louisa Hollway is Lysistrata throughout, doing well as a drunk angry woman who wants change, but also good at showing a more vulnerable side. The other three actors multirole, often crossdressing, creating very different characters through voices and movement.

The logistics could have been better. I sat in the centre of the third row, but a few scenes were on the ground, an unraised stage, so only the front row could really see, and the actors didn't have microphones so it was really hard to hear them when music was playing, meant to be in the background but drowning the actors out.

Overall: Strength 4 tea to a strong modernisation and adaptation.

0 Comments on Theatre Review-Lysistrata by Christopher Adams and Aristophanes as of 8/11/2014 4:21:00 AM

Add a Comment

65. Book Review- Bombmaker by Claire McFall

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 7/31/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: dystopia, book review, thriller, action, strength 4, claire mcfall, Add a tag

Title: Bombmaker

Author: Claire McFall

Published: 1 February 2014 by Templar

Length: 336 pages

Source: publisher

Other info: Claire has also written Ferryman, which I reviewed here and won the Scottish Booktrust Award.

Summary : The English government have closed the borders with their Celtic neighbours. Any Celt found in England is branded with a tattoo, found twice they are executed. Scottish Lizzie is the 'property' of psychopathic London gang boss Alexander. Can Lizzie escape Alexander's deadly grip and at what price her betrayal?

Review: Following bad economic times, England closes the borders with Scotland and Wales and brings in a new policy: Celts found in England are branded. Branded Celts in England are killed. Lizzie is one such branded Celt, who is the "property" of Alexander, a gang boss in London, who keeps her around for her bombmaking skills. as time goes on, Lizzie realises she might like a life outside the gang. Which is something that Alexander does not like at all.

I read McFall's Ferryman last year and really enjoyed it. I was looking forwards to this, especially with everything going on about the Scottish Independence referendum. Extreme nationalist governments make good reading (not real life), and so do gangs. Add in promises of a clever awesome female character and I'm sold.

You very quickly get pulled into Lizzie's world, both the political climate and the gang life that she’s part of. It’s a world that is believable, if you imagine that a yes vote leads to extreme xenophobia on the English peoples’ part (ie just a huge ramp up of how it is now).

I love the fact that all the characters are well fleshed out really well. You really get close to them, even if that closeness is not something that you really want to be. Alexander’s creepiness seems to know no bounds. Lizzie, I liked a lot; she’s resourceful, and you want things to go right for her, even though they tend not to. I loved reading about them and how they got where they are and where they want to go.

It’s very very different to Ferryman. McFall writes well in both softer afterlife stories and gritty thrillers. I’m looking forwards to see what she does next.

Overall: Strength 4 tea to a fast paced relevant dystopia.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads| Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review- Bombmaker by Claire McFall as of 7/31/2014 8:10:00 AM

Add a Comment

66. Book Review- Run by Gregg Olsen

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 7/17/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, mystery, thriller, run, gregg olsen, strength 2, Add a tag

Title: Run

Author: Gregg Olsen

Series: Vengeance #1

Published: May 2014

Length: 256 pages

Warnings: off-stage past rape and killings

Source: publishers

Summary : What if you discovered that everything you thought you knew about yourself was a lie?

Rylee is fifteen. She comes home from school one afternoon to find the most shocking thing possible - her father dead, with a knife through his heart, and a key clutched in his hand. Her mother's purse is on the counter, but she appears to be long gone. A message in blood is written on the floor... RUN.

With her brother in tow, Rylee begins a dark journey, one that will uncover horrific and chilling crimes and lead her to an unexpected and gruesome discovery about her real father and what - or who - is behind his insatiable desire to kill. By the journey's end Rylee's childhood is a long way behind her...

RUN is the first title in the new Vengeance series, following Rylee as she begins to piece together the story of her life and to avenge unpunished crimes - starting with her own. This is DEXTER with a feisty female protagonist unlike any other in contemporary young adult fiction.

Review: Rylee, having come home from school to find her father dead, her mother missing, and message that just says “RUN”, gets her brother and runs.

I was excited to read this because I’ve read bits of Olsen's Envy, and liked it, and the trailer that HKB made was quite good (music win).

It starts off very quickly, the set up from the summary happening in the first chapter, and the running happening in the second. This pace is kept up throughout, which was good, and I read this in one sitting.

The mystery as to what happened is quickly partially revealed in favour of a thriller story, which I didn't mind. I liked the fact that we get to meet lots of characters as Rylee tries to discover how things happened to others that fits into her current situation (not very well worded in comparison to the book, but I can't explain it better without spoilers), who each brought clues to the table. The way it developed was good, but the twist at the end was predictable.

The main reason I didn't enjoy this was Rylee. I don't know why I disliked her so much, but I just didn't care for her or her story or the way it turned out. Maybe it was her narration; there's some interjections and thoughts which are kind of obvious. Maybe it was her, she seems a little too conveniently prepared to know what to do, and I didn't think she developed. It was probably the romance; there's a short flashback and a facebook conversation with a guy in the middle of the book (and why are you even worrying about facebook when all this is happening?) and the ending just comes out of nowhere and the book could have easily done without it because it just seems like an afterthought that wasn’t properly explored.

Overall: Strength 2 tea to a turny fast thriller, that I didn’t get into as much as I’d hoped.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads | Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review- Run by Gregg Olsen as of 7/17/2014 7:45:00 PM

Add a Comment

67. News! I'm back! And...off again.

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 7/7/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Add a tag

Hi, people. So for the last few weeks I have been failing to blog. I've done it occasionally, but felt like I didn't really want to. But now I've been reading some quite good books that make me want to tell you all about them and so review writing is happening again!
I am going on holiday for a week. Typical for me to get my mojo back the days before I lose internet connection (I think. I have no idea on the wifi situation where I'm going). I will be planning lots of things while I am gone! And here's things for you while I'm gone.

Books for free(ish).
I'd like to draw attention to my pile of books that I've finished with. This is because they are overrunning the area under my bed. I charge for postage and packaging. Normal payment details apply- £3 for one or two books, £1.50 for every book hereafter. This can be payed by Paypal or in the form of an Amazon voucher. Email me with your choices and we'll sort something out. Books in the first two columns (ie the finished copies) will be going to charity at the start of September!

UK ARC share Database
I was thinking-is there anywhere where all us UK bloggers can list books we want to pass on, at a central site? Apparently there used to be one, but it got shut down. Would people be interested in me setting one up? It would be a googledocs based spreadsheet document, one sheet with all the books, and bloggers by the side of it who have that book, and another sheet with bloggers' names, contact details and any of their comments regarding postage. Should I start one? Comment with thoughts, please!

Bard to Bookshelf
This is still going ahead! I have just been lazy. I propose we move it to September. I'll email the people who signed up in the next few weeks. What is Bard to Bookshelf? A celebration of Shakespeare, and his work's influence on YA. More info and a signupsheet can be found here.

Events
So I'm going to Edinburgh for the Fringe *dances with excitement* I'll also be at the Cat Clarke and David Levithan event, which I'm looking forwards to. Londonwise, I might be going to either the Angry Robot Forbidden Planet Night (13th August) or the James Dawson and David Levithan event (14th August). I can't go to both and it's really hard for me to decide which one I want to go to...because LGBT YA or fantasy (ANNE LYLE!!), so I'm going to base my decision on whichever one more people I know are going to. Anyone going to either? Tell me now!

That's it from me for now. I will be extremely jealous of everyone at YALC and LFCC. I might be reachable on facebook, email, goodreads or other internet haunts. Might. Have a great week,everyone!

0 Comments on News! I'm back! And...off again. as of 1/1/1900

Add a Comment

68. Book Review: The Young Avengers: The Children's Crusade by Allan Heinberg

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 7/4/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: graphic novel, book review, marvel, allan heinberg, strength 4, the childrens crusade, the young avengers, Add a tag

Title: Young Avengers: The Children’s Crusade

Author: Allan Heinberg

Series: Young Avengers, Avengers,

Published: March 28 2012 by Marvel

Length: 248 pages

Source: library

Summary : The Young Avengers return in an epic saga by series creators Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung. When Wiccan's reality-altering powers begin to rival those of the Scarlet Witch, the young hero sets out on a quest to find her that spans the Marvel Universe and pits Wiccan against both the Avengers and the Young Avengers. But will Wiccan's desire to solve the mystery of his parentage be his salvation or his undoing? With three words, the Scarlet Witch changed the world forever...and now with her return, nothing will ever be the same for the Marvel Universe. This self-contained Marvel event reintroduces and redefines the Young Avengers and the Scarlet Witch for the Heroic Age, and is essential reading for any Avengers fan. COLLECTING:UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) 526 (B STORY); AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE 1-9; AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE - YOUNG AVENGERS 1

Review: The Scarlet Witch, who once cast a spell that took powers from millions of mutants, is wanted by the Avengers and the X Men. To find her, they decide to use Wiccan and Speed, who they believe are her sons. This results in a clash with a lot of groups from the Marvel universe.

I wanted to read this because I really enjoyed most of Marvel's cinematic universe, wanted to read the comics, and the general consensus of the internet on where to start in the wide world of Marvel is pick up any book and roll with it. But, among other things recommended by Georgia(The Bibliomaniac) and Cicely (Loves Books), I was recommended Young Avengers and this was all my library had in that respect so I started with this.

It had short character introductions for each of the Young Avengers, which was useful. It also told us simply or let us easily infer the past events of the Marvel timeline.

I liked all the characters. Wiccan, aka Billy, is the main one for this storyline, and you got to know him quite well. Also features heavily was Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. I liked her story. I think some of the characters came in a bit too late in the story to knoew them in this one, but I suppose it matters les when they have extensive stories of their own. The team of the Young Avengers I liked, and I'd like to see more of them, especially Kate Bishop/Hawkeye.

The plot brings in a lot of characters from the Marvel universe. There's also a bit randomly in a future timestream, which I had to go over a few times to understand. Otherwise, it was easy to follow, and quite quick.

The art was consistently good. I liked the fact it was all in full colour (I'm used to black and white manga where colour story pages are rare) and the action pages looked really good.

Overall: Strength 4 tea to a fast story that made a great introduction to the Marvel comics universe.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads|

0 Comments on Book Review: The Young Avengers: The Children's Crusade by Allan Heinberg as of 7/4/2014 8:21:00 PM

Add a Comment

69. Theatre Review- Avenue Q

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 6/27/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: strength 5, theatre review, comedy, coming of age, musicals, Add a tag

Title: Avenue Q

Writer: Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty

Director: Cressida Carré

Performed by: Sell A Door

Major cast: Tom Steedon, Lucie-Mae Sumner, Stephen Arden, Richard Morse,Jacqueline Tate , Ellena Vincent, Jessica Parker,

Seen at: Wycombe Swan

Other Info: They're still touring! Try and catch them if you can. More info here.

Review: Princeton has just completed a BA in English. He now doesn’t know what to do with his life. Moving into Avenue Q and meeting a range of colourful characters, puppets such as Kate, Rod, Nicky and Trekkie, and humans like Christmas Eve and Brian. Oh, and Gary Coleman. Avenue Q follow them all as they all wait for their dreams to come true.

I wanted to see this because...hello, Avenue Q! It’s a brilliant coming of age show, with a few songs for which it's well known but some others that are also really good, and I was looking forwards to a night of comedy and music and adorableness.

The show started with a cute little animation to the short opening theme. The screens occasionally came on between scenes or during songs, providing extra comedy.

All the cast were really good. Lucie-Mae Sumner's Kate voice was annoying to start with, because it's quite squeaky in places, but her Lucy was really good. Tom was good as both Princeton and Rod. I would have liked to see more of Ellena Vincent/Gary. Jacqueline Tate and Richard Morse's Christmas Eve and Brian were both cute and funny and paired well together. My favourites were Stephen Arden and Jessica Parker, who are Nicky, Trekkie and the Bad Idea Bears. They worked together really well, Parker's facial expressions as... well, everyone, were really good, and I loved the range of voices that Arden did (normal for Nicky, growly for Trekkie, and quite high for the Bad Idea Bears). All the actors put a lot of energy in, the very skilled puppeteers made the puppets come to life, and this really showed.

The music was very good. The arrangements were a little different to the one on the recording (of a different cast), which I liked, though it's a shame they only got licensed shorter versions of Schadenfreude and The Money Song. Trekkie's song was very good, with an added pause after Kate's “Normal people don't sit at home” line which worked really well for comedy. You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want (When You're Making Love) was really well staged, showing off the whole cast (and the puppets' inventive sex). I also really liked the way they did My Girlfriend Who Lives in Canada, Fantasies Come True, Schadenfreude, and The More You Ruv Someone.

I liked the staging, and the use of lights in windows to show where on the street each scene was taking place in. The book is very good (someone else must have thought so too because it won an award for it). It touches on lots of themes, like acceptance, friendship, relationships, in a way that is funny about 90% of the time, emotional the other 10%, and brilliant throughout.

Overall: Strength 5 tea to a wonderful show with a very strong cast that made for an excellent night out.

Links: Company | Writer | Theatre

0 Comments on Theatre Review- Avenue Q as of 6/27/2014 5:23:00 PM

Add a Comment

70. Book Review- Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 6/20/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, andrew smith, strength 3, grasshopper jungle, Add a tag

Title: Grasshopper Jungle

Author: Andrew Smith

Series: N/A

Published: 27 February 2014 by Electric Monkey

Length: 394 pages

Source: won from FictionThirst

Summary : In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend Robby have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things. This is the truth. This is history. It's the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it.

Review: Austin and Robby accidentally unleash an army of giant praying mantises. They also find somewhere where they might be able to survive the end of the world.

I wanted to read this because I was told queer protagonist plus laughs plus weird stuff and this looked right up my street.

It started with one of my favourite ever opening passages. Then an introduction to Robby and Austin, and the people in their town. Then lots of weird weird things.

A lot of things happen in Grasshopper Jungle, which would seem crazy on their own, but just about work when combined into the story.

This is definitely funny in places. Austin is a sex obsessed teenager questioning his sexuality and other things in life. He's also attempting to record everything as a historian. This makes for a unique writing style, with many funny parts such as “Even though we dutifully archived elaborate records of everything we've ever done, we’ve also managed to keep on doing dumber and dumber shit” and the chapter titles. However, this also comes with a lot of annoying things. We are told every time he gets horny, and we also get repeated things like names and histories of people which he's already explained. Both these things get irritating after the first few instances, and they carry on throughout the entire book.

I like the fact we get a lot of information about everything, which I think works because 1)it's interesting and 2)some things are so bizarre that not knowing as much as we can about a thing can make it impossible to understand. It felt like I was reading slower than usual, maybe to make sure I caught everything, maybe because the of the style. I don't know.

The characters are well fleshed out, though I felt I didn't really get to get close to them, maybe because of the blunt writing style. Also, regarding Austin's sexual confusion: this is why bisexuality and options of nonmonogamy need to be openly offered. (I might do a post on bisexuality and nonmonogamy and why that would solve so many problems in literature and life. More on that later maybe).

The plot developed slowly, which meant we got a chance to take it in. we also got a full history of each generation of Austin's family from leaving Poland down to Austin, which I liked.

Andrew Smith's imagination is wonderful.

Overall: Strength 3 tea to a book which was weird in an awesome way, but not entirely my thing.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads | Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review- Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith as of 6/20/2014 8:59:00 AM

Add a Comment

71. Book Review- Love Letters to the Dead

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 6/7/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, contemporary, strength 2, love letters to the dead, Add a tag

Title: Love Letters to the Dead

Author: Ava Dellaira

Series: N/A

Published: 1 May 2014 by Hot Key Books

Length: 327 pages

Source: publisher

Other info: This is Ava’s debut

Summary : It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person - any dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain - he died young, and so did Laurel's sister May - so maybe he'll understand a bit of what Laurel is going through. Soon Laurel is writing letters to lots of dead people - Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia Earhart... it's like she can't stop. And she'd certainly never dream of handing them in to her teacher. She writes about what it's like going to a new high school, meeting new friends, falling in love for the first time - and how her family has shattered since May died.

But much as Laurel might find writing the letters cathartic, she can't keep real life out forever. The ghosts of her past won't be contained between the lines of a page, and she will have to come to terms with growing up, the agony of losing a beloved sister, and the realisation that only you can shape your destiny.

Review: Laurel's sister died. Laurel is told to write letters to someone dead as an assignment. Laurel writes to Kurt Cobain. And then to Elisabeth Bishop. And then to Amelia Earhart. And then to lots of other dead people as she tells the stories of ger life and those of others around her.

I was expecting this to be good because I'd heard lots of people say how brilliant it was.

This is very similar to Perks of Being a Wallflower, which kind of make sense considering Chbosky is "a dear friend and mentor" of Dellaira. And considering Perks broke me with its beauty and feelings, I should have enjoyed this.

sadly, I didn't. It's repetitive. Laurel goes on a lot about what X dead person is doing or what their family is doing or what a situation would be like if that person was involved. it's ok to start, boring by the end.

The writing style goes from really simple like the part where she describes getting dressed and eating lunch at high school, and random words and metaphors and things to describe something that is being made to seem much more important than it actually is.

The Perks similarities. Oh my gosh they were endless. Coming of age angst? Check. Epistolary form? Check. Queer friends in hiding? Check. Even the thing with Billy, which while I understand it's important to not gloss over these things, didn't work for me because I just wanted to scream "this is a female led attempted copy of Perks and it isn't working at all."

Why didn't it work? For one, it's hard to imagine it happening in these modern times, at least since Amy Winehouse died, and there's something about the tone that puts it in a weird time setting. Then there's the fact that the plot didn't hold my interest.

The romance was of the "he's cool and doesn't talk but he will to me" variety, and ugh no. I didn't feel like anyone really developed. I just didn't care for the characters and felt no emotions for any events at all.

Overall: Strength 2 tea to a book that had everything I should have loved, but just didn’t work for me.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads| Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review- Love Letters to the Dead as of 6/7/2014 11:41:00 AM

Add a Comment

72. Book Review- Spireseeker by E.D.E. Bell

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 5/29/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: adventure, book review, fantasy, elves, strength 3, ede bell, spireseeker, Add a tag

Title: Spireseeker

Author: E. D. E. Bell

Series: Spireseeker #1

Published: October 2013

Length:472 pages

Source: author

Summary : Spireseeker is an epic fantasy tale by debut novelist E.D.E. Bell in which the heroine, Beryl, is forced from the only home she's ever known and must discover her true identity in order to confront one of her own kind, before the evil Aegra is able to enslave all of Fayen’s creatures.

Please join us in sharing this creative new novel about Beryl, a young elf who discovers that she is not who she thinks she is but instead is looked to as the one remaining hope to save her home. Communicating with the diverse creatures of the land, Beryl and her unlikely companion march through mountains, forests, and deserts to defeat evil—even as that evil seeks to destroy them first. Though a classic fantasy tale, we promise this one will be unlike any you've read. Experience it today!

Review: Beryl believes herself to be a normal girl until she is able to heal her grandomther when she is badly wounded, and she is told that she is an elf. And not just any elf. She has a unicorn’s blessing, enabling her to do the healing, and is also believed to be the one to free the land of Fayen from the grasp of Aegra, who uses her blessing to manipulate loyalty to help her eliminate the other elves.

The fantasy world is different to those I’ve met before. Each elf can be blessed by an animal that gives them a unique gift, which I liked learning about.

I really liked the characters. Beryl and her healing powers and Kick, the human companion, were fun to read about and get to know. The culture ofthe elves was fully developed and so were all the other cultures of animals. I quite liked the fact that the nonhumanoid characters played a larger part than they often do in other high fantasy stories.

The writing style is simple, with more formal language during the council meetings and more modern language occasionally that feels out of place.

Pacingwise, it starts off well, introducing new powers, new ideas and new quests for Beryl quickly. The middle is quite slow, It picks up towards the end, when Aegra finally appears more after an introduction at the very start followed by 70% of Beryl’s adventures. I think it would have been nice to see her a bit more, to break up the sameness of the visiting various groups of animals and the discussing in the council, which does get a bit boring after some time. The action scenes were better written than the talky ones.

Overall: Strength 3 tea to a fantasy with great characters but was really dragged out in the middle.

Links: Amazon| Goodreads| Author website |

0 Comments on Book Review- Spireseeker by E.D.E. Bell as of 5/29/2014 4:17:00 PM

Add a Comment

73. Author interview- E.D.E Bell on Gender in Spireseeker

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 5/29/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Add a tag

Today, we have author E.D.E. Bell talking to us about her novel, Spireseeker

, the review of which is coming soon. We’re talking about gender identity, both in the real world and her fantasy one,

Did anything specific make you want to present gender as a theme in your work?

Growing up with two engineers as parents, I wasn’t introduced to gender rules as a child. As a toddler, I was bald and wore overalls, and people thought I was a boy. Then I had two brothers, and we played together with the same set of toys. You get the idea. I played low brass in high school. I went to electrical engineering school surrounded by mostly men, and was one of four women out of sixty-four students in my graduate program. I ended up working with the military, while my husband became a stay-at-home dad. And so I’m fascinated by society’s strict definition of gender. Once you’re really tuned into it, you see rules, expectations – as well as artificial limitations – everywhere. It’s a subject I feel passionate about and wanted to explore in my writing.

What bugs you about gender and stereotypes in the real world world?

Where should I start? I don’t think we should program children with the pink and blue toy aisles in the store, but it’s so much more complex than that. It’s dismissing men as stupid, or women as emotional. It’s, “boys will be boys” and “girl power.” It’s being overly impressed by a woman repairing a car, or making fun of a man who likes to sew. It’s insulting phrases like, “Mr. Mom,” women labeling themselves as “strong,” or people dismissing a heterosexual transgender woman and a gay man as the same. And then if you question these things, then you get accused of denying science, which I’m not. I know men and women are different. I just don’t think people want to be pushed into artificial boundaries. If people are so into nature, then just let people act how they naturally are and stop forcing it. Society just won’t fall apart if some men like flowers.

Does Beryl, the main character, being an elf in a world identifying as female where the elves’ default setting is gender-neutral, affect the story? I initially wanted to write a story with a female lead, but then—and honestly I don’t remember the moment I came up with this—changed the elves to instead be genderless. At first, I worried the story may lose credibility with those seeking female protagonists in fantasy literature, especially female role models for their young daughters. What I found was that most people reading the story identify with Beryl as a female, whether she physically is or not. This made me wonder – if I were to reprint the story with Beryl called “he” how would that change the reader’s perception? I also wonder if I would have written Beryl differently under that premise.

How have your readers reacted to your gender neutral characters?

Rikian is one of my favorite characters, and out of respect, I managed to avoid all gender pronouns while describing the elf, which was not an easy task. So, yes, I’ve heard, “You said he was genderless but instead he was just a flamboyant gay man.” What, quoting RuPaul is gay? But, yes, I did worry about this unintended effect after that chapter was written, but the people who read it told me not to change it. So I do think Rikian’s persona was a bit over-the-top but I also think that people (or elves) tend to exaggerate themselves when they grow tired of their perfectly reasonable choices making people so uncomfortable. Perhaps once treated a bit more normally, Rikian would put the raspberry robes away and tone down the flamboyance. Or not. Either that, or I fell victim to the same stereotypes I was trying to dismiss. But I still love the character, and that chapter (A Garden Walk) remains my favorite.

Do you regret challenging gender norms in Spireseeker?

No, not a bit. It makes some people uncomfortable, but if it makes others think (or even better, just enjoy the story), then it’s worth it to me. I am so interested by the many facets of gender in our culture, and plan to work a diverse cast of characters into all of my novels – both in terms of gender identity as well as issues of attraction. And all the blurring in between.

Anything else you’d like to say?

Yes. I’m sorry to my friends and family who are tired of the phrase, “genderless elves.” But not too sorry. And thanks, Nina, for the opportunity to talk with you. This has been great.

Thanks for the interview! I enjoyed Spireseeker, as you’ll see later.

Find E.D.E. Bell online at her website, her blog, on facebook, and on twitter.

0 Comments on Author interview- E.D.E Bell on Gender in Spireseeker as of 5/29/2014 10:53:00 AM

Add a Comment

74. Mr. Gove, you are the UK's education secretary. Educate. #saveourbooks

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 5/28/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: gove, discussion, rant, Add a tag

It's no secret that I disagree with Michael Gove on the majority of the things he's doing. But his changes being made to the GCSE English Literature course made me very very angry. Angry enough to write a 650 word post on it. With footnotes.

Gove, Gove, Gove. Once again, I must ask: what are you doing? You’ve already played with GCSEs and A Levels to the point no teenager really understands fully what they're doing in the next part of their school years. And now you're changing the literature syllabus to remove important non-British works from the classroom.

Such works include American classics like The Crucible, To Kill A Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men, which is studied by 90% of students,[1] and works from other cultures like Purple Hibiscus and Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence.

These works are important. Not just because they’re works of literature that have stood the test of time. But because as well as being able to be studied and teach us about symbolism and metaphors and all other things you do when you study them for a literature course, they teach us about other cultures and themes.

Of Mice and Men’s themes include: power, privilege, friendship, racism, sexism, ageism, injustice, and prejudice. To Kill A Mockingbird’s themes include: racism, education, bravery, and justice. Both are set in cultures different to our own, but have themes and ideas that are timeless, and relevant to life today.

I understand that the main point of the English literature course is to develop analysis skills. But you can do that with many pieces of literature, regardless of where they originate from-look at my language notes for the start of Of Mice and Men.

You say that "If [exam boards] wish to include Steinbeck – whether it's Of Mice and Men or The Grapes of Wrath – no one would be more delighted than me, because I want children to read more widely and range more freely intellectually in every subject." [2]
The new plans state that students should study “at least one play by Shakespeare, at least one 19th century novel, a selection of poetry since 1789, including representative Romantic poetry [and] fiction or drama from the British Isles from 1914 onwards” [3]. I can’t see Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men fitting into any of those categories. No, your four guidelines don’t say you can’t study other things too, but two years to study these four things in depth, alongside multiple other subjects, means that exam boards will probably want to steer clear of piling extra things on students, meaning they will likely be excluded.

Britain is a multicultural country. We have students of all races and backgrounds studying the course, and we don’t need solely British Victorian viewpoints and ideas about poverty and romance, which is what the majority of Dickens and Austen is made up of.
Likewise, English is a multicultural language, spoken in most parts of the world either as a first or foreign language. It should not be surprising that quality literature written in English comes from all corners of the Earth. The study of world literature is important to broadening all our horizons.

Of course, British literature is important too. You know my love of Shakespeare, and works by Orwell and Huxley might go on the list to be studied, and some of these books are pretty good. But these aren't the easiest to understand and read and engage with. Difficulty levels really can put people off reading. One reason why 90% of students get taught Of Mice And Men is because it is short enough to be studied in depth, and the language is both accessible to lower level students and good for analysis for higher level ones.

No, you’re not banning teenagers from reading these books. I get that these books will still be available to teens in bookshops and the dwindling number libraries that are still going. But according to the Reading Agency, 46% teenagers don't read for pleasure [4] . For some, the books they read in school will be the only books they read at all. Shouldn't the few books these people read showcase experiences and ideas other than those of long-long dead people, and be able to teach us something about cultures and issues both historical and contemporary? You are the secretary of state for education, Mr. Gove. Educate.

References
1- BBC findings, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12829392
2- Guardian website, http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/27/michael-gove-denies-ban-of-american-novels-from-gcse
3- The Department of Education’s document on GCSE English Literature
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254498/GCSE_English_literature.pdfhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12829392
4- The Reading Agency http://readingagency.org.uk/news/reading-facts003

To try and do something about it, there are a number of petitions. What are your thoughts on the changes to the GCSE?

0 Comments on Mr. Gove, you are the UK's education secretary. Educate. #saveourbooks as of 5/28/2014 9:01:00 AM

Add a Comment

75. Mini-reviews- Tainted by A E Rought and Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

By: Nina @ Death Books and Tea, on 5/26/2014
Blog: Death Books and Tea (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: broken, supernatural, tainted, tessa gratton, blood magic, strength 3, strength 2, a e rought, book review, fantasy, Add a tag

Title: Tainted

Author: A E Rought

Series: Broken #2

Published: October 2013 by Strange Chemistry

Source: Netgalley

Review: Post events of Broken, Alex and Emma should be able to get back to their normal lives. These plans gets scrapped when Hailey Westmore turns up—Alex’s ex-girlfriend who we are quickly introduced to as a “manipulative, spoiled witch”. People start dying and it’s clear there’s more secrets that may come out.

This book is told from Alex’s POV as opposed to Emma’s which was a nice change because it helps you understand the Alex from Broken a little more too. It also means the narrator knows things that everyone else doesn’t, a feature I like sometimes in mysteries.

The beginning was good. Something big happens in a car which really changes the dynamics, which I liked, and the way that scene was written kept me gripped. Later, it wasn’t quite as good-it’s quite predictable and the villain, while being beautifully crazy, isn’t very deep at all.

It’s very over the top with use of tropes and lots of romantic lines that you’ve heard before. There’s a lot of focus on the romance, which I found less interesting than all the action going on. Alex also goes a bit broody and annoying at times. I liked Emma just as much as in Broken.

There’s still bits of Frankenstein in here, but there’s bits of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde in here too.

I liked the fact that the deers were still a thing.

Overall: Strength 3 tea to a book where we saw different parts of other characters.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Title: Blood Magic

Author: Tessa Gratton

Series: Blood Journals #1

Published: 26 April 2012 by Corgi

Warnings: cutting (for magic, but still cutting), lots of gore

Source: borrowed from friend

Review: Ever since her parents were murdered, Silla’s been mentally scarred. Nick’s the new boy in town with past experiences of magic. When he finds Silla experimenting with magic, they form a bond, and romance happens. And then there’s a journal kept by Josephine, a girl from years past whose experience with blood magic will highly shape theirs.

From the start, you’re pulled in. The magic and intrigue starts pretty quickly, and promises to build.

The story is narrated by Nick and Silla in alternating turns. They’re two very contrasting characters that work together well. The writing is intricate, gothic and a bit longwinded in places.

I must admit, I didn’t read all of this. The copy of Blood Magic that I got had journal entries in copperplate, which I looked at and thought “Eyes broken enough anyway. Not even going to try decoding that.” *bases view of plot on characters’ reactions to this*

The magic system is good. Due to it all requiring blood, this book isn’t for the faint hearted!

I didn’t really get into this for reasons unknown. I got characters mixed up a bit every now and again, it took a while for Josephine’s relevance to become clear, but the main thing is that it didn’t have that spark of awesome for me.

Overall: Strength 2 tea to an atmospheric magic story that I didn’t get into.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

0 Comments on Mini-reviews- Tainted by A E Rought and Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton as of 5/26/2014 8:24:00 AM

Add a Comment

View Next 25 Posts

You are not logged in

Register Now (it's free!)

Log in to JacketFlap

Sort Blog Posts

Sort Posts by:

Suggest a Blog

Enter a Blog's Feed URL below and click Submit:

Most Commented Posts

In the past 7 days

Recent Posts

(from Death Books and Tea)

Recent Comments

Recently Viewed

MyJacketFlap Blogs

Blog Posts by Tag

In the past 30 days

Blog Posts by Date

Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month

Writer Blogs

Agent Blogs

Publisher Blogs

Editor Blogs

Librarian Blogs

Bookseller Blogs

Reviews Blogs

Illustrator Blogs

News Blogs

Industry Blogs

Viewing Blog: Death Books and Tea, Most Recent at Top

Results 51 - 75 of 401

Statistics for Death Books and Tea

<<	September 2025					>>
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
	01	02	03	04	05	06
07	08	09	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30