We probably all have those blog posts we like writing but they keep getting put on the back burner in favour of time-sensitive blog posts, or posts where we're working with brands. For me, my book reviews (along with 'what I ate this week' and Etsy wishlists) fall into this category. Reading is a hobby I have a mixed feeling with - I always have a book on the go but it takes a lot for me to get lost in a book and I can spend a month on the same book. This year I've been buzzing my way through my book wishlist (remember in 2013 one of my goals were to get through the books I favourited on Amazon five years ago?) and I now have many book reviews in the pipeline.
But this is only my third recently read of the year (the first one is here, and the second one is here). I've read wayyyyy more books than I've reviewed but I do like to roughly split them by genre. This post however doesn't have much of a genre outside all of these books being fiction (rarity in itself, most of my books are non-fiction learning type books about feminism or sex) and very well known fiction at that.
Maybe you've dipped into these well-known books or maybe they're still on your list.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
One of the classics. And like most classics I can't say it's going on own personal list of bests. It was extremely well-written, albeit at times in a high-brow I need an English Literature (and French) degree to understand this. But I did love some of the turn of phrases. But....the content. It's a controversial book for a reason though it wasn't 'as bad' as I imagined, mainly cause it lacked graphic detail. It's told from a first person perspective which meant you have to put up with the bizarre thought process of Humbert Humbert but never know how Lolita feels about her experiences (and the author has been accused of using this technique to silence the victims voice). He's also an unreliable narrator which I only found out reading other reviews which would explain why I was confused for quite a bit of the book....
Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls by Ann.M.Martin
From a high-brown classic, to something that might be on your niece's bookshelf. I loved the Babysitter's Club series as a teenager but with over 100 books ever published (including specials and mysteries) my school library didn't stock all of them. I've made it a goal this year to fill in the gaps and get the series read. The first book I ordered was the second book ever published Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, because Claudia was totally my favourite when I fan-girled as a child.
Re-reading as an adult I notice things I didn't back in late primary school that just subconsciously went in. The writing style is simple - it is for 11 year-olds - but the character development is brilliant especially considering how many characters the series managed to pack in (Game of Thrones could learn something on managing lots of characters!). As a child I learned about a lot of important issues from these books (I hadn't heard of diabetes until Stacey's character was introduced) but as an adult the social justice warrior in me sees the variation in the character's family backgrounds, the inclusion of non-white characters and a male babysitter. Sure, there are some questionable storylines but on the whole I still think this the perfect series to get your pe-teen daughter/niece/child's friend for their brithday.
I also think Dawn is my favourite character as an adult though, she's a health food loving Californian...
I also think Dawn is my favourite character as an adult though, she's a health food loving Californian...
Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli
Graphic novels are a form of literature that can be up for debate as to whether they actually count as a form of literature. I'm very much in the camp that they do (and here's an academic paper which covers most of my feelings). Though graphic novels weren't something I got into until the turn of this year, I've always loved the Batman TV shows and films and decided it was high time I got familiar with the source material. Since then I've fallen in love with graphic novels and comics but for today I'm concentrating on the first graphic novel I purchased Batman: Year One,
Deciding which Batman graphic novel to start with was something I sat around Googling but Year One was the one that kept getting recommended as the first to get your paws on. It's the source material that Batman Begins was roughly based on and follows Bruce Wayne as he begins his journey into vigilantism and his reasons behind doing so. It's darkish and it's always worth reminding parents/people not into comics that despite the Batman kids TV show the original comics aren't suitable for young eyes and shouldn't be gifted until mid-late teens.
Personally, I prefer some of the later comics and graphic novels that I found but my main reason is my favourite characters of the Batman universe (mainly Batgirl who I've developed fan-girl love for) appear later on. But if your favourite characters were Bruce himself, Alfred, Selina Kyle or Jim Gordon then Year One is a perfect graphic novel to pick up.
There's also plenty more to come on my blog from the Babysitter's Club and the Batman series however I'm planning to do a big round-up of them somewhere down the line and keep my more regular recently reads for my other books (you know, feminist sex books). Whilst my book reviews posts aren't even close to regular you can add me on Goodreads to keep up in real-time and also if you add me on Snapchat (username: moadore) one of my most common snaps are passages from books I'm currently reading.
Have you read any of these well-known books before? Any other fiction books you recommend for someone who doesn't read a lot of fiction?
