Books are Alibis

My name is Elizabeth and whenever I can get the time, I'm reading. I am 18 and living in Australia. I am currently at university studying law. I blog a lot, probably more than I read, which is saying something. I pretty much will read all genres but my favourites are horror, dystopian and literature. I have troubles keeping to book buying bans and my TBR pile will always be unmanageable.

Gunslinger (Dark Tower)

The Gunslinger  - Stephen King I'm hooked.

Middlesex

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides What a wonderful book. So full of life and character. It's such a masterpiece.

Middlesex feels more than just one book. It tells the story of a family over three generations, starting with the relationship of Desdemona and Lefty Stephanides. They're relationship begins during a war in which they flee to America to begin their life together. They are met with obstacles and fears but they prevail and have two children, Milton and Zoe. The story then follows along with Milton and Tessie, who then have their own kids, Chapter Eleven and Calliope, who is the narrator and main character of the novel. About halfway the book becomes heavily about Calliope's childhood.

The whole novel is being narrated by Calliope 'Cal' and some of the chapters begin with flash forwards into her/his life. I found this very interesting as a way of connecting the story to the relevant outcome of the trials of her and her family.

I loved this book. I felt connected to Callie and her family. I was anxious to keep reading. It felt real for me and this is why I liked it so much.

I thoroughly enjoyed the extensiveness of the novel in which three generations got their appearance. It reminds me of One Hundred Years of Solitude in this way and I love that book as well.

It is a long book but I would recommend it to anyone who has the time.

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code  - Dan Brown I really like this. I knew practically everything that was going to happen because I'd watched the movie beforehand. I did actually like Angels and Demons a bit better because in scenes when Langdon or Teabing were talking about history or symbols, it seemed like Brown was trying a little bit too hard to show all of his knowledge about the topic. So I felt a little bombarded with information even though it was very interesting and crucial to the story. Overall I loved this book because it was so captivating and I couldn't put it down.

The Shadow Of The Wind

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón A book about books. Absolute perfection. :)

I fell in love after 10 pages. His writing style is gorgeous and captivating. I felt myself get lost inside his world of words.
His storytelling was incredible. I loved the way he would intertwine all these people's stories to make one amazing journey.
I felt so connected to Daniel and his search to solve the mystery of Julian Carax. I loved the connection with Victor Hugo's pen. That was so ingenious.
His story writing is just so amazing. I didn't want it to end. I'm so glad I decided to pick this book up. I want to read more of his books.

Bloodlines

Bloodlines - Richelle Mead Did it really have to end like that? Seriously, I feel physically compelled to buy the rest of the series now.

This book was amazing. I had put it off for awhile because I love Vampire Academy so much. I can't wait to read more of this series. I love Sydney's perspective so much. She's much different to Rose but I think it makes for a better narrator.
Some things were a bit predictable but then a heap of things flew out of nowhere. Like Lee. Seriously didn't see that.
Richelle Mead can kinda do that, just pull things out of her sleeve. I love it.

Can't wait to read the next ones. :)

Atonement

Ghostbusters II (The Book of the Film) - David Hately Tragically beautiful. The last couple of pages lined my eyes with tears.

A Song of Ice and Fire (1) - A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones  - George R.R. Martin This was just so amazing. It may have been long but I was hooked the whole way.

Insomnia

Insomnia - Stephen King This was incredibly awesome. It was so full and fast-paced. Ralph's experience was extraordinary. I loved this.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gregory Rabassa, Gabriel García Márquez I love this book. The writing was beyond amazing and I was totally immersed in the storyline. It was so interesting and something was always happening. I love this book so much. SOOOOO GOOOD!

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4)

Blood Promise - Richelle Mead I love this one. SOOOOO GOOD!! I can't wait to read the rest of them :)

We

We - Yevgeny Zamyatin, Natasha Randall, Will Self It was really interesting but I'm kinda confused which is why I can't give it a higher rating. I really loved the writing style and D-503 was such an interesting character.

Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, Book 3)

Shadow Kiss - Richelle Mead Oh how I love this series. This is one of my favourites. I am going to finally finish the series. These books are just so good.

The Second Sex (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics)

The Second Sex (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics) - Simone de Beauvoir, H.M. Parshley FINALLY, I finished it. This book seemed to take forever and I'm so glad I finished it. I was pretty much skim reading it by the end of it.
It was a really interesting book and that's why I gave it 4/5 stars. The writing was really good and I was really captivated in the subject. It seemed to ramble on but I think that is just because it had so much to cover. I'm not really one for non-fiction so that is why to took me so long to read and why it felt tedious.
Overall, really interesting book.

The Host: A Novel

The Host - Stephenie Meyer I liked this. The story was interesting and it was engaging. It's just I felt like the climax just wasn't enough to fulfil the potential of the book. It was good though, just not as good as it could of been.

The Worth of Women: Wherein Is Clearly Revealed Their Nobility and Their Superiority to Men (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)

The Worth of Women: Wherein Is Clearly Revealed Their Nobility and Their Superiority to Men (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe) - Moderata Fonte I really enjoyed this. I'm glad I decided to pick this up and read it so impulsively.

Exemplary Tales of Love and Tales of Disillusion (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)

Magic to the Bone  - Devon Monk, Emily Durante This was much better than I thought it was going to be considering it was the first book I had to read for university. I also have never read any Spanish literature before. I loved the style of writing that allowed for the ballads that expressed deeper emotions. I also loved the way the book was a festival with the stories being part of that festival. Like a story inside a story inside another story. It was a great way to set up a collection of short stories.
The second half of the book "Tales of Disillusion" was a lot darker than the first half "Tales of Love" where the stories had relatively happy endings. Especially 'Forewarned but Fooled' which was just plain witty and I've recounted it to a few friends and we've laughed over it. The 'Fifth Tale of Disillusion' was my favourite out of the selected tales in the second half because of the graphic description of Dona Ines after six years. It painfully describes the torments she experienced even though she was an innocent women.
The writing was beautiful and even though it took me longer than other books I throughly enjoyed it. After reading the descriptions of the other 'Tales of Disillusion" in the footnotes towards the end of the book, I kinda wish I could've read all of them.