Review: These Broken Stars

These Broken Stars

(Starbound book 1)

By Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This was a solid four star book for me. It was an incredibly fast read and just what I needed during my busy uni schedule. The story is light while still managing to tug on my emotions. 

This is a science fiction companion series and I am planning to read the sexual but I am sad we will not be following Lilac and Travor. The book is very light sci fi and reads more as a romance/magical realism/contemporary in a lot of ways. 

Told in alternating perspective this book follows Lilac - daughter of the richest man in the galaxy - and Tarver - a solider. When the starship they are aboard crashes and they land on a deserted planet they have to figure out how to survive as well as uncover the planet's mysteries. 

This book was super quick and light but very enjoyable. You definitely don't have to like sci fi to thoroughly enjoy this book. 

Goodreads link. 

T5W: Bookish Habits

So this T5W is a bit different as it isn't so much to do with books and instead about my reading/bookish habits.

1. Reading multiple books at once  - I usually dedicate myself to one book once I am into it but while I am starting a new book I tend to start more than one then pick the one I am more into. I also sometimes start books that are either really long/dense or that for some other reason I don't get into yet still want to read and so read slowly over the course of many books until I can get into it.
2. Carrying a book around at all times - I always have a book on me even if I know there will be no time to read.
3. Going early to meetings in order to read  - If I have class across town or am meeting friends for coffee I will try and go early and read before hand.
4. Have highlighted/marked books - not often (unless it was for school) but I have marked my books and I sort of wish I did this more often - highlighting favourite quotes etc. - but I usually never think of it when reading a book for the first time.
5. Crying - I cry an awful lot in books. An awful lot. And even more than crying I get a little bit chocked up and watery eyed in nearly every book I ever read.

Top 5 Wednesdays Goodreads page.

Mothers in Books

With it being Mother's Day yesterday (or at least it was in the UK) I was thinking about the role of mothers in books. So many books neglect to show us the parent even (especially) when the book is about a teenager. Personally I love books that add a family aspect to the story so here are a few of my favourite mothers in books. 

1. Sally Jackson from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan - Percy was only 12 in the first book so it made sense that his mother would be a big influence in his life. Everything she did for him and all her struggles make her such an empathetic character. I'm so happy she got her happy ending. 
2. Molly Weasley from the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling - I don't think I need to explain this one. Molly was an amazing mum and the way she took Harry under her wing just warms my heart. 
3. Mrs. Mendoza from Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Ari's mum is amazing in this book and because Ari is a sixteen year old he doesn't always appreciate her but she's always there for him and understands him the way only a mother can. 

T5W: Books that made me think

1. Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman  - this book is about racism and tackles it in the unique way of having black people be the privileged race and white people are oppressed. This is a trilogy (and a companion novel) and while all four books made me think about different things this first book made me think the most. One of the things it made me think about was actually terrorism as there is a terrorist group/group of freedom fighters in this series  that are fighting for equality but with really messed up methods. The hatred that grows inside Callum (a white boy) towards the black-ran world, despite his best friend (Sephie) being black, and Sephie's unintentional ignorance towards the problems he faces were really thought provoking.
2. The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness  - this is another trilogy but this is the second book. While all the books dealt with thought provoking topics this one in particular made me think about what motivates people to do bad things. There are really horrendous acts carried out by the main character but he is in no way a bad person he is just confused and hurt and doesn't have all the information he needs to see what he is doing is wrong. It also shows that he is doing these things out of a need to survive and not because he wants to. His journey also gives a second look and some of the "bad guys" from the first book and you see that while some of them are even worse than they appeared from afar some are still good people who just have been raised to not see an issue with their actions. The last few chapters of this book I have read again and again and again.
3. Nothing by Janne Teller   - this book seriously messed with my mind. It takes an existential look at humanity and what the point of living is when we are inevitably going to die. The fact that it does this through such young characters adds another layer to the story as they slowly have their innocence stripped away as they struggle to find meaning in their lives. 
4. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach  - I find it hard to explain what this book did to me but it made me think on so many smaller topics. It is a very character driven story and one example is Chapter 6 which I read three times before moving on to the next chapter - a new character is introduced and so it is unrelated to the previous chapters but it just made me think about passion and what I truly care about and that if you follow your passions you will live a happy life. The way Guert described his love for Moby Dick has really stuck with me. It also was about learning to have self worth that isn't purely dependant on your performance in one field. It made me question the way I look at myself. I think was really incoherent but I don't even know how to articulate all the ways this book changed me.
5. The Bot in Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne   - This book is about the Holocaust and is set at a concentration camp but the main character is the child of the man who runs it. He befriends one of the boys in the concentration camp and they talk often from either side of the fence. Because it was told through a child's eyes it was really innocent and when horrors were being talked about the character didn't understand what was being referred to but the reader knew. It was also interesting because the boy was not morally against the concentration camp as it was just a part of his life (even if he wasn't entirely aware of everything that went on inside the fence). I read this book when I was very young and I am sure I will get even more out of it when I get around to rereading it but I still think about it often 10 years later.

Top 5 Wednesday Goodreads page.

Goodreads Tag

I thought I would do the Goodreads Tag as my first tag blog post as I do use the site/app all the time to keep track of all my read books and to look up new books I have heard about or that look cool.

I cannot seem to find who came up with this tag as there are multiple videos claiming to be the original plus every video I have watched has given a different person credit. This tag has 11 questions related to my Goodreads account which is listed on my blog if you click on contact me o feel free to add me as a friend.

1. Last book I marked as read  - The Thinking Ape by Richard Byrne which I read for my Evolutionary Psychology class.
2. Book I just started reading  - I am currently reading quiet a few books and I have had a lot of work/reading for uni which has gotten in the way of reading but the last book I started which I am still reading is These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner.
3. Last book I marked as Want To Read - A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
4. What do I plan to read next  - well other than the books I am currently reading I am planning to start is We Should Hand Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist as it is the Booksplosion Book of the moth for March.
5. Do I use the star rating systems?  - I do but in my head I give a lot of books half star ratings and round them either up or down and I should specify this maybe but I don't.
6. Do I have a 2015 reading challenge?  - I do. My goal is to read 26 books this year and I am currently 3 books ahead of schedule.
7. Do I have a wishlist?  - I am not entirely sure what this question means but I do have a shelf on Goodreads called my top-to-buy shelf where I keep a note of some of the books I don't own which I want to get my hands on sooner rather than later.
8. What will I buy next?  - I don't know. I try not to buy books often unless they are on sale so it will probably be whichever book I find next in a charity shop or the next Booksplosion book if it is one I haven't got already.
9. Do I have any favourite quotes on Goodreads?  - I favourite a few when I see them as I only recently learnt this was a feature. I would like to keep a not of all my favourite quotes though so I may try and update this.
10. Favourite authors  - This question isn't specifically Goodreads related but the authors which have the most high starred books on my read shelf are Patrick Ness, J K Rowling, John Green and Rick Riordan.
11. Groups I have joined  - I haven't joined many so far but I am a member of the Booksplosion Book Club, The Little Book Club and Top 5 Wednesdays. 

Doing old tags

One large part of BookTube is doing book tags but many of them could be just as easily done in blog form. I really enjoy watching tags and when I do I always come up with my own answers for the questions so I've decided to start doing some tags here. There are a bunch of old tags I have really enjoyed and so I am planning to start with those. Now seeing as I only discovered BookTube six months ago I have no idea how some of the ones I'm planning on doing are so I hope this is something you're interested in.