I'd wanted to read Persepolis for quite some time, even before I saw the film. I had vague intentions of getting it out of the library, but my to-get-from-the-library list is about a mile long and has to compete for attention with all the books I own. Happily, I got given a copy as part of a Secret Santa, so it managed to jump the library queue. Yay!
Persepolis is a (slightly-fictionalised according to various sources) memoir in two parts, which were originally published in French. The edition I have from Vintage Books collects both parts in a trade paperback, but it is also available from Pantheon Books in a larger format. The first part, 'The Story of a Childhood', follows the author's childhood in Iran, following the Islamic Revolution and exploring how her everyday life was altered. She becomes more and more rebellious when she reaches her teens, and her parents decide that she will be safer and happier if she goes away to school in Austria, which is where the second part begins. 'The Story of a Return' is about her experiences in Austria, and her decision to return to Iran.
Successful memoirs feel honest, and Persepolis certainly does. Marjane
Satrapi shows herself and the people she loves as flawed human beings,
and therefore I found it easy to trust her impressions of people who
treat her or other people badly. Persepolis balances the serious, unflinching depictions of wars and revolutions with humour and details about her family life - I cried a couple of times but I laughed a lot more.
I loved all the little snippets of Iran's history. The school curriculum in the UK treats British history as if it's the history of the whole world, while simultaneously leaving out most of the parts of British history that are actually important to world history, ie. all the unsavoury details about the British Empire. I feel like there is a shamefully huge gap in my knowledge and I actually really enjoy learning about history when it's not confined to the World Wars. What is great about Persepolis is that the historical details are interwoven with the author's life - they are things that she learnt about in childhood, or that she explains briefly to the reader so that the surrounding parts of the story make sense. It made me want to find out more.
I started reading Persepolis when I was ill - I was feeling dizzy and wanted something
that would be easy to follow, and that would take my mind off of all the
things that I was incapable of getting on with. It was the perfect
choice, and has left me with a craving for more graphic memoirs. If you have any recommendations, please leave me a comment!
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make My Life as a Reader/Blogger Easier
This is my twenty-fifth Top Ten Tuesday. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by its creators at The Broke and the Bookish.
This topic is a great idea but it took me a while to come up with a full list! Some of my choices are small things, others much bigger, but they're all extremely useful.
This topic is a great idea but it took me a while to come up with a full list! Some of my choices are small things, others much bigger, but they're all extremely useful.
Top Ten Things That Make My Life as a Reader/Blogger Easier
1. Bookmarks - Imagine life without bookmarks. Struggling to remember page numbers or having to bend over the corners of pages. It'd be pretty horrible, right? And what about the other kind of bookmarks? I rely on web browser bookmarks to keep track of all the books I want to read.
2. Gimbles - I used to struggle to eat or do anything else while reading, but my Gimbles changed all that. I even use them now when I'm reading on my bed or the sofa, to give my hands and wrists a break.
3. Online library renewals and reservations - I can renew my library books and reserve future reads without leaving my house. It's amazing. Which brings me to...
4. My smartphone - When I'm in a charity shop and I find a interesting book, I use my phone to check that it's not in stock at the library.
5. Wikipedia and Fantastic Fiction - Both really useful resources for checking series orders and finding out the titles of other books by an author.
6. My Nook - It's unlikely that it'll replace paper books, but it is easier to fit in my handbag sometimes.
7. Goodreads - Being able to catalogue all my books on Goodreads is brilliant. It helps so much when I'm writing book list posts to be able to scroll through all the books I've read and jog my memory.
8. Twitter - For 'networking' with other bloggers. If I wasn't on Twitter I'd miss out on all the great blogs and posts than get retweeted and otherwise shared around.
9. My diary - I make notes about the books I'm reading, post ideas, and I even use it to draft my Top Ten Tuesday lists. I write the next topic on each week's note page, to help me to come up with ideas in advance.
10. My reading journal - Where I write all my thoughts about the books I've read. These notes form the basis for my reviews, though I usually don't include everything that I've written in the journal.
Are any of these on your list?
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Top Ten Tuesday: Books With A School Setting
This is my twenty-fifth Top Ten Tuesday. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by its creators at The Broke and the Bookish.
When I was choosing a setting for this week's topic, I looked back at my Top Ten Settings I'd Like To See More Of (Or At All) list for inspiration. The one word that pops up over and over again in that list is school. Most YA protagonists go to school, but many books are set outside the school year, during the holidays. As much as I enjoy reading about teenage roadtrips and summertime adventures, I really love books where school plays an important role.
I really did not like school. I'm pretty sure that at least 75% of the time I spent in school could have been better used had I been left to my own devices, preferably in a well-stocked library. However, schools are fantastic plot devices. Even if the school itself is just your standard suburbian comprehensive, the mere fact that the characters are forced to go there five or more days per week and spend time with each other can lead to all sorts of fictional trouble. And if it's a secret training ground for spies? Well...
1. The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart - Ruby Oliver is a scholarship student at Tate Prep, the odd one out who can't afford to spend all afternoon eating cake in the trendy cafe or choose the most glamourous school trip option. Although the teachers are fantastic, the Tate Universe is small and gossip is rife, and it's all too easy for Ruby to become a 'social leper'.
2. Girl Meets Cake, by Susie Day - Heidi is another outsider, the only day girl at a boarding school. Again, it's quirky and funny, and the intense school setting provides a lot of the drama.
3. Night School, by C. J. Daugherty - A thrilling mystery set in a luxurious boarding school - definitely the kind of school that I'd have loved to attend, if it wasn't for all the murder.
4. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart - Another E. Lockhart book, I hear you cry. Keep reading, this is only number two of the three on this list, and E. Lockhart is brilliant at school settings, so there. Alabaster is an exclusive boarding school, and the home of the Basset Hounds, an all-boy secret society that Frankie plots to infiltrate.
5. A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray - This is another boarding-school book, this time set in the Victorian era, with plenty of atmosphere. The school is really, really, creepy during the night-time scenes!
6. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin - School is the place where Naomi, the teenage amnesiac of the title, figures out who she is and who she wants to be.
7. Fly on the Wall, by E Lockhart - This time, E Lockhart sets the story in an arts school, but again the protagonist is an outsider, Gretchen Yee, who can't get on with her teachers and is struggling to find a place amongst her peers. Then she gets turned into a fly on the wall of the boys' locker room.
8. Spellbound, by Cara Lynn Shultz - The school itself is just another private day school, but it makes a great setting for the action scenes, and it is where all of Emma's new relationships are forged.
9. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You, by Ally Carter - The Gallagher Academy is a training school for the spies of the future, and is full of secret passageways and gadgetry.
10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J. K. Rowling - How could I not include one of the most famous boarding school books of all time? Hogwarts is a character in its own right.
Do you like books in which school plays a major role? Are you a fan of any of the books on my list?
When I was choosing a setting for this week's topic, I looked back at my Top Ten Settings I'd Like To See More Of (Or At All) list for inspiration. The one word that pops up over and over again in that list is school. Most YA protagonists go to school, but many books are set outside the school year, during the holidays. As much as I enjoy reading about teenage roadtrips and summertime adventures, I really love books where school plays an important role.
I really did not like school. I'm pretty sure that at least 75% of the time I spent in school could have been better used had I been left to my own devices, preferably in a well-stocked library. However, schools are fantastic plot devices. Even if the school itself is just your standard suburbian comprehensive, the mere fact that the characters are forced to go there five or more days per week and spend time with each other can lead to all sorts of fictional trouble. And if it's a secret training ground for spies? Well...
Top Ten Books With A School Setting
1. The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart - Ruby Oliver is a scholarship student at Tate Prep, the odd one out who can't afford to spend all afternoon eating cake in the trendy cafe or choose the most glamourous school trip option. Although the teachers are fantastic, the Tate Universe is small and gossip is rife, and it's all too easy for Ruby to become a 'social leper'.
2. Girl Meets Cake, by Susie Day - Heidi is another outsider, the only day girl at a boarding school. Again, it's quirky and funny, and the intense school setting provides a lot of the drama.
3. Night School, by C. J. Daugherty - A thrilling mystery set in a luxurious boarding school - definitely the kind of school that I'd have loved to attend, if it wasn't for all the murder.
4. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart - Another E. Lockhart book, I hear you cry. Keep reading, this is only number two of the three on this list, and E. Lockhart is brilliant at school settings, so there. Alabaster is an exclusive boarding school, and the home of the Basset Hounds, an all-boy secret society that Frankie plots to infiltrate.
5. A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray - This is another boarding-school book, this time set in the Victorian era, with plenty of atmosphere. The school is really, really, creepy during the night-time scenes!
6. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin - School is the place where Naomi, the teenage amnesiac of the title, figures out who she is and who she wants to be.
7. Fly on the Wall, by E Lockhart - This time, E Lockhart sets the story in an arts school, but again the protagonist is an outsider, Gretchen Yee, who can't get on with her teachers and is struggling to find a place amongst her peers. Then she gets turned into a fly on the wall of the boys' locker room.
8. Spellbound, by Cara Lynn Shultz - The school itself is just another private day school, but it makes a great setting for the action scenes, and it is where all of Emma's new relationships are forged.
9. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You, by Ally Carter - The Gallagher Academy is a training school for the spies of the future, and is full of secret passageways and gadgetry.
10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J. K. Rowling - How could I not include one of the most famous boarding school books of all time? Hogwarts is a character in its own right.
Do you like books in which school plays a major role? Are you a fan of any of the books on my list?
Monday, August 12, 2013
Monday Amusements 15
Which of these books do you think I should read next? Leave me a comment and help me choose!
Fictional Scenes I Want to Live at So Many Books, So Little Time got me thinking. I'd also love to visit Hogwarts, be Edie for that scene in the Louvre, and go to all manner of 1920's parties.
I loved Eleanor Wood's guest post at Fluttering Butterflies - it's like she read my mind, I relate so much to her experience of being a teenager. I will have to read Gemini Rising.
I could have written most of this post myself: Things I’m Afraid To Tell You – A Book Blogger Confesses ALL! I am gradually reading and posting more but I'm never going to be one of those bloggers that posts a review every day, or even every other day. I have too many other interests and I love list posts! Reviews, though important, are less entertaining to write and promote.
Can you work out which books are featured in the YA Contemporary Covers Quiz?
Onto my favourite reviews! I have so many this week - thanks to some determined Feedly-reading - that I'm just going to list them.
Severed Heads, Broken Hearts, by Robyn Schneider, at So Many Books, So Little Time
Dangerous Girls, by Abigail Haas, at Writing from the Tub
The Beautiful and the Cursed, by Page Morgan, at Lunar Rainbows
The Savages, by Matt Whyman, at Wear the Old Coat
Burn Bright, by Marianne de Pierres, at The Pewter Wolf
Dead Jealous, by Sharon Jones, at Fluttering Butterflies
Ocean of Secrets, by Aimee Friedman, at Cicely Loves Books
Deception, by C.J. Redwine, at Auntie Spinelli Reads
Anatomy of a Boyfriend, by Daria Snadowsky, at Once Upon a Bookcase
Weirdos vs. Quimboids, by Natasha Desborough, at SisterSpooky
See You At Harry's, by Jo Knowles, at Readaraptor
OCD Love Story, by Corey Ann Haydu, at Rather Be Reading
The Distance Between Us, by Kasie West, at Quinn's Book Nook
Finally, 12 Onomatopoeias from Around the World - is it just me or is 'ghrutu ghrutu' a much better approximation of the noise a pig makes than 'oink oink'?
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish Had Sequels
Wow! It feels like it's been absolutely ages since the last time I wrote a Top Ten Tuesday post. I took a little break because I was busy and the topics didn't really appeal to me that strongly, but there's a whole load coming up now that are right up my street! My last Top Ten Tuesday was in May, and I've done 24 Top Ten Tuesdays in total. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by its creators at The Broke and the Bookish.
This topic was a tricky one. Lots of the books I love have sequels, and many of my favourite standalones have neat, tied-up endings and don't provide any material for a potential sequel. That's why I could only manage a Top Eight!
1. Dramarama, by E. Lockhart - I would love to know what Sadye did next! There are hints about the path she might take but I'd love to read about it in full.
2. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, also by E. Lockhart - It's a brilliant standalone but I think it's impossible to love it without wanting, even just a little bit, to find out what Frankie does next. Even if only at university. Or in senior year of high school!
3. Journey to the River Sea, by Eva Ibbotson - Need more Miss Minton. That is all.
4. Janes in Love, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg - This is itself a sequel to The Plain Janes, and there was supposed to be a third in the series, Janes Go Summer, but it was cancelled when the imprint was closed. Oh, comics industry.
5. Everything Beautiful, by Simmone Howell - I just want to spend more time with all the characters! I wonder how things work out between Riley and Dylan, and Riley and her stepmother.
6. Notes from the Teenage Underground, also by Simmone Howell - What does Gem do next? Don't get me wrong, both these books are wonderful as they are, great standalones! I am just really curious.
7. Matilda, by Roald Dahl - wouldn't you just love to know what she's like when she's a bit older?
8. Diary of a Grace, by Sarra Manning - I know why this has no sequel, but the little bit of me that is still fifteen desperately wants to know whether she stays with Toph or gets back with Jack!
Do you share any of my choices? Isn't it completely annoying when sequels are cancelled? I know that happens fairly regularly with paranormal romance/urban fantasy series that don't do as well as the publisher and author hoped. Has it ever happened to a series you loved?
This topic was a tricky one. Lots of the books I love have sequels, and many of my favourite standalones have neat, tied-up endings and don't provide any material for a potential sequel. That's why I could only manage a Top Eight!
Top Eight Books I Wish Could Have Had Sequels
1. Dramarama, by E. Lockhart - I would love to know what Sadye did next! There are hints about the path she might take but I'd love to read about it in full.
2. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, also by E. Lockhart - It's a brilliant standalone but I think it's impossible to love it without wanting, even just a little bit, to find out what Frankie does next. Even if only at university. Or in senior year of high school!
3. Journey to the River Sea, by Eva Ibbotson - Need more Miss Minton. That is all.
4. Janes in Love, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg - This is itself a sequel to The Plain Janes, and there was supposed to be a third in the series, Janes Go Summer, but it was cancelled when the imprint was closed. Oh, comics industry.
5. Everything Beautiful, by Simmone Howell - I just want to spend more time with all the characters! I wonder how things work out between Riley and Dylan, and Riley and her stepmother.
6. Notes from the Teenage Underground, also by Simmone Howell - What does Gem do next? Don't get me wrong, both these books are wonderful as they are, great standalones! I am just really curious.
7. Matilda, by Roald Dahl - wouldn't you just love to know what she's like when she's a bit older?
8. Diary of a Grace, by Sarra Manning - I know why this has no sequel, but the little bit of me that is still fifteen desperately wants to know whether she stays with Toph or gets back with Jack!
Do you share any of my choices? Isn't it completely annoying when sequels are cancelled? I know that happens fairly regularly with paranormal romance/urban fantasy series that don't do as well as the publisher and author hoped. Has it ever happened to a series you loved?
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