What if I don't like the book I'm reading?

DNF'ing books.

For those who do not know, DNF means 'did not finish', therefore, if you were to DNF a book, you would not be finishing it for whatever reason.

So what happens when you get this feeling? Simple. DO IT. You are not someone who can be controlled by the thoughts and opinions of others. If you pick up a book on the recommendation of others, be it through Google, Goodreads, YouTube, the newspaper, the shop, a friend or family member etc., and it turns out that really, you aren't enjoying it, then that is completely fine.

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When I first joined the blogging and BookTubing worlds, I never expected to dislike a book. Before I joined, I read tried and tested authors who had either written something else that I had previously read, or were so similar to another franchise I liked, that they couldn't go wrong (I'm looking at, and blaming you, Twilight). But then I joined YouTube and began a BookTube channel and this blog (which is now a year old - yikes!), and realised that there are so many authors out there, who write so many different things, and in different styles, and that I wouldn't mind trying them all out.

Well that was a bad idea.

I found authors I didn't like, topics I thought were very very wrong (I'm looking at you Stolen, and Gone Girl), and to be perfectly honest, BookTubers who only seemed to be in it for the money. That wasn't what I wanted. So I began properly researching.

I looked first of all for BookTubers who were based in the UK. Why? Because that is where I am from. No, I'm not being culturally picky here, I couldn't care less where you come from, particularly if you're a wonderful person (and I'm sure you are). The reason I chose the UK to start my search was because if I found book recommendations from UK BookTubers, I knew I was guaranteed to find books they were talking about. Which was also a weakness. It opened my eyes to the various ways I could access books in the UK, and I bought pretty much every recommended book going that I thought I would enjoy. And in all honesty, I really didnt enjoy a lot of them. Some I found were juvenile, other just weren't to my taste.

And do you know what?

That's okay.

If you do not like a book, for whatever reason, you are not required to read it. This isn't school or college or university, you will NOT get an exam in it. It's almost guaranteed that if you force yourself to read a book, you will decrease your chances of ever enjoying it, and pretty much end up in a reading slump - another place you do not want to be headed too.

I don't really know where I was going with this, I just wanted to blog some thoughts that have been going around in my head the past few days. I hope you're all well, and do you ever DNF books? Or have you ever wanted to, but didn't grab the opportunity? Let me know in the comments!


Goodbye for now!

#FAIRYTALEATHON pre-announcement post

Thanks Google for the image, can be found here

Hello world! Today I come at you with an exciting post about a readthon.

Myself and Madeline, from Mad Novels (who's Youtube channel can be found here) are hosting our very own readathon! It takes place from midnight in your own time of 14th September, running right through to the 20th September. Exciting stuff hmm?

So, what is the focus of our readathon, I hear you all pretending to ask?

Well, we are focusing this readathon around fairytale retellings! So that means books such as The Lunar Chronicle, ACOTAR etc. We will be doing challenges (which we are releasing at a later date ;) ), and using the '#' #fairytaleathon across the social media platforms we use, including Twitter and Instagram, in order to promote our readathon idea in the hopes that people would like to join in! 

Why are you doing a readathon? And why a fairytale retelling focus?

Basically, Madeline contacted me via YouTube (apparently thats a a thing!), and asked if I had a certain series of books, as she was interested in doing a readathon. Sadly, I lacked those books in my possession, so we settled for a different option in fairytale retellings, as we both have those on our TBRs!

Personally, I like that it's a fairytale retelling focused readathon, as it allows for the more unfamiliar books on our TBRs to be recognised, not just the popular ones I've mentioned before. We are able to discuss a generic theme of a book, but give eachother different options and ideas of where to head next within the theme, as it's such a diverse one. 


If anyone has any questions regarding the readathon, or would like to participate, let me know in the comments down below!  I was going to post a video for this, but my camera currently hates me! :(


See you all soon with hopefully another blog post, if not a video!


Rebecca x

BOOK REVIEW: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

***please note, this review may not be completely spoiler free. If you wish to remain unspoiled about this book, please avoid the blue areas. Some areas may contain spoilers without realising due to my frustration with this book. My apologies in advance***

Okay, so maybe calling this a 'sad excuse of a book' on my Instagram was a little bit harsh.

I was frustrated, okay?

Stolen follows a girl named Gemma, who is writing a letter to her former captor. Within this letter, there are details regarding her disappearance, how it was carried out, and how she managed to survive a month in the middle of the desert. And that's it. 

Yup.,

So, this book had me frustrated. It's 300 pages of poorly thought out storylines and scenarios, in which we are meant to sympathise with both Gemma and her captor, Ty, simultaneously, whilst also hating Ty for taking her in the first place. And just how are we meant to do that? I found myself hating Gemma moreso than Ty, even though I really didn't want too. 

The ending. Well, that just made everything worse! The fact that she openly admitted there were two options available, explained both of them, and then decided on a third, which merged the two, just angered me more. If it wasnt for the snake bite, I actually dont think she would have went back at all!

Overall, I gave this book a two star rating on Goodreads, where I have also left a mini review summing up my thoughts.

Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments if you have, and how you feel about it, as I seem to be on a lonely train of distaste for this book!

Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll be back with another review soon!

BOOK REVIEW: The Girl with All The Gifts by M. R. Carey

Click here to see my thoughts via video

Book: The Girl With All the Gifts
Author: M. R. Carey
Released: 2014

This book is a one that I picked up and read quite quickly, it took me about a week overall, which I am really impressed with. Whilst the book is classed as a Thriller, I found the writing to be slightly juvenile, and would categorize this as a YA/NA Thriller, rather than an adult thriller.

This book follows Melanie, who has a strain of the Hungries gene. But she is not alone. Each and every day she is kept in a prison cell, and goes to class, gets fed, and showers, all whilst tied to her chair and she doesn't know why she is restrained. People approach her with caution, and she has no idea why. When she gets strapped into her chair each day, guns are pointed at her, and she jokingly states 'no need for guns, I wont bite' - to which nobody laughs. 

The book follows Melanie's journey to finding out what she really is, and how she copes with this information. When the army base where she is kept imprisoned gets invaded by a mix of Hungires and Junkers (the 'normal' people who chose to live in the wild when the Hungries took over), Melanie must flee with the surviving humans, including her teacher, a scientist who wants to kill her, and the Seargant who points a gun to her head everyday.

I absolutely loved this book, and filmed a video review, which you will be taken to by clicking the image of the book cover at the top of this post.

The characters are really easy to love, or hate, and I found myself sympathising more and more with Melanie, who reminds me a little bit of Nick Frost's character in Shaun of the Dead at the end, which for me made her more relatable. The story is also set in the UK, not to far from London, so it also made a pleasant change to read a book set in my home country.

DISCUSSION: I cant afford to buy books, should I quit blogging/YouTube...the digital edition

Hello World! I'm back again with part two of my discussion regarding affording books, and what to do if you cant.

Today, I'm looking at the digital options. In todays society, pretty much everyone has either a tablet/Kindle/iPad, or a smartphone that can download apps, such as Apple or Android phones. Personally, I own a Kindle and an iPhone, and therefore, I also have the relevant digital reading options. On my Kindle I have way too many unread books (I'll explain how I got them later), all of which come to a total of maybe £10.00, and on my iPhone I have the Kindle app in sync with my Kindle, as well as iBooks, which comes with the phone, and I have about 5 or 6 books on there.

So, how do I manage to have so many UNREAD books on my Kindle, at a teeny tiny cost? I'll explain!

There are a number of options for digital books that cost very little, or are even free! So here's a couple of tips and tricks I use myself in order to drastically grow my TBR pile!

1. Overdrive app -  this app is a gem I've heard about on booktube (the part of YouTube where
people go mental over books, it's great, and if you haven't tried it yet you should). As long as your library is signed up, you can borrow digital copies of books and e-books, without having to leave the comfort of my pyjamas or bed. It's pretty straight forward to set up, and can be downloaded on both Apple and Android devices for free!
How to get it: http://app.overdrive.com/ 

2. Netgalley - This is a place the majority of people who review books already know about. Netgalley is a free site where you can request titles to read and review, usually before their release date. On some occasions, they also have the first book in a series available to request should a sequel be being released. The more you request, read and review, the more likely you are to be accepted for titles to read. I currrently have five or six books to read from Netgalley, but I have read and reviewed a few so far and really enjoyed them.
Where? https://www.netgalley.com/


3. Bookbub -  THIS SITE. My god. this site is brilliant. Basically, you sign up to their site, and they e-mail you daily with a bunch of exclusive deals to their site. All books are kindle books, and if you choose a book, it goes straight to the Amazon page where you can download it to the relevant device. They do a lot of free deals, but they also have a lot of bargain deals, such as £5.99 down to £0.99 for example.
Where? https://www.bookbub.com/home/

4. Kindle daily deals - If, like me, you have a Kindle, you will get emails daily about Kindle daily deals on books, and whilst the deals are not free deals, they are recent releases at a fraction of the price. In one instance, I got A Court Of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas for £1.99 instead of the retail price. For all I am yet to read it, it also means I wont be urged to buy the hardback or paperback versions instead!

5. Amazon (or iBooks) - Yes, I am well aware that this is where you get all of your books for the relevant e-reader, BUT each of these platforms have free books. Yes, I said FREE. One of my all time favourite books was a one that I found on my Kindle, for free. I downloaded it on a whim expected chick-lit mush, and it really wasn't!  For all there are quite a lot of books available for free on each domain, it is worth raking through some of them just to find a book you may fancy. You may also see that Classics are available on both platforms, completely free of charge, and there is nothing wrong with a good classic.

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Okay, I think that's it for now. I know it's quite wordy and things,  but ultimately it's my way of trying to advise you in finding bargains in e-books. If you read more e-books, and you feel unworthy of YouTube, DO NOT. Many many people film reviews for e-books or post blog reviews for e-books, and nobody judges them or looks at them any differently. I apologise if this post isn't relevant to you, but if you manage to get your hands on an e-reader, I'd definitely recommend checking out all of the options above.


Find me elsewhere:
Twitter: www. twitter.com/craftsandreads
Instagram: www.instagram.com/craftsandreads
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6gNsTH21OANbS8mgoYfc4A

DISCUSSION: I can't afford books, should I keep blogging/ using YouTube?

Hello world! Today I'm coming at you with a response/reply to a certain video I watched this morning on YouTube, regarding the issues surrounding being able to afford books, and whether or not you should cease to blog or film if such money problems occur. 

The video in question:

The creator of the discussion is a man named Richard Denney (https://twitter.com/richarddenneyyy), who explains pretty much straight off that he's an author. He's an avid reader, booktuber and tweeter, and within this video he gets personal. As in he explains how he can 'afford' to keep Booktube going. How? It's simple.

You dont.

There are means and methods around having to 'afford' books. A lot of the time, as a Booktuber and blogger, you go through an introductory impulse buy when you join either community. I've been blogging and posting videos since September 2014 (it's now July 2015), and I still find myself impulse buying through recommendations of others. You bad influences you ;)        
However, this phase does need reigning in for myself personally, but if you can afford brand new books every single month, well done you! It is important to note though, that not everyone can afford this, and that's OKAY. There are other means to reading the newest books, or even older books that you want to read.

The methods:

SO, I've compiled a couple of things together to show different methods of being able to stay active on social media, whilst still being able to read new or newish books. Some of these Richard mentioned in his video, and some of them I have thought of on my own. 

1. Get a library card - if you live in the UK, you have the opportunity to get a library card from your local council, which doesn't tie you down to just one library, it opens you up to accessing several different libraries in your area, and some may have better options suited to your reading taste than others. You may need to pay a fee to get such a library card, but even if you pay £5.00 for that little bit of plastic (which is the most expensive I've seen), it is worth it in the long run, especially if you want to keep reading or prefer reading to deadlines in order to get another book out.

2. Bargain hunting - even if you begin in the big book stores, the majority now have SALE sections. That's right people of the UK, Waterstones have a sale section. Now, curb your excitement for a moment okay? Often, these books have been slightly damaged, or have been used for display purposes and may have nothing wrong with them at all. They're books at a fraction of their actual cost, and if it's something you really really want, maybe that slightly torn edge will be worth it?

3. Use popular books to your advantage - okay so this one may seem a little confusing. Basically, many UK supermarkets (and possible US walmarts, I'm really not too sure), get a wide selection of best sellers to sell in their stores. For example, the beautiful covers of the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series by George R.R Martin are available in at least two of the popular UK supermarkets, on deals of two for £7.00, which I have no shame in admitting is where I got my copies of the first two books. Considering they retail at £8.99 individually, there really is no harm in using your generic supermarkets.

4 Shop around - Yes, this is basically the same as number 2, but at the same time it's different. In the UK, there are a chain of shops called 'The Works', and pretty much every single city or town will have one. In this shop, they have a wide variety of stock available at a fraction of the price, such as a George R.R. Martin boxset for £30.00 instead of it's retailed price of £65.00. They also often have a sale on, with the majority of the books included being reduced to £1.00 each.

Within this 'Shop around' section, I am also going to mention car boot sales and charity shops. Quite a lot of my books in my hauls are all second hand, and I may buy one or two new books every three months or so depending on how desperately I want a book. Sometimes, those urges for new books take over, and that is OKAY, I just don't make a habit of it, as I already overspend on books! 

Quite a lot of the time, I manage to find books in spectacular condition in charity shops, their spines still like new, and the majority barely touched bar the odd knock here and there from storage. Plus, the most I have every paid for a second hand book is (from what I can remember) is £2.50, which is a third of the price of a usual brand new book. 

5. Ask Santa! (or your birthday fairy or the Easter bunny) - when I was younger, I always used to ask the Easter bunny for a book, as the newer Harry Potters were released around that date. As it was an alternative to chocolate, and slightly more expensive than an egg, it was often more favoured, as parents and family knew I would get more joy out of a book that I could read over and over, rather than egg shaped chocolate that would barely last an hour!

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Now, I am aware that we are in a digital age, and therefore, a lot of people have smartphones and tablets with Apps on them that allow them to read. As this post is mainly focusing on my responses to being able to afford physical books, I shall post a separate post regarding digital books.

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You've seen my examples so what now? Do you still have doubts about posting reviews or using YouTube? All I can do is offer advice, and it is up to you to take it. However, I will say a couple of more things before you're free!

It is YOUR decision. Just because a bunch of people who have more popular channels than you with all the books you want and they havent had to pay for them, should not put you off. As I've previously stated, the library is a good source of newly released books, so you can always pick up a copy to get you through a new book hype, return it when finished, and purchase it after if you really really want too. 

If you have issues with buying second hand, I completely understand that. However, their is an unspoken rule in second hand shops in the UK, which is that no book should be sold on if it smells. Sometimes, books smell. Usually of smoke, and often the smell is not always prominent until you actually flick through the book. I found this out the hard way at a car boot sale on day, brought the book home and it absolutely reeked of smoke and made me despise reading the book. My advice to you is this. Smell the books.

I know it sounds crazy, but trust me. Smell the books. It is easily the best thing I've started doing at car boot sales, and usually if you point out it smells a tad funky, theyll knock a little bit off the price too!

Okay, I think that's it for now! Thank you all for reading the post, I know it's a long one, but if it's made someone think, even just a little bit, then it has done it's purpose. Many thanks also to Richard, for posting such a thought provoking topic discussion on YouTube!

*Thank you Google, for providing such wonderful imagery that i can use in my posts, such as this one.

Find me here:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/craftsandreads

Instagram: www.instagram.com/craftsandreads

BOOK REVIEW: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

***please note, any spoilers will be in a different colour to my usual black text, and unless there is a block of spoilers, may occur without warning. I apologise in advance if this review spoils the book for you in any way, although you have been warned! ;)***


I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK.

Anyone who follows me on Instagram or Twitter (linked at the bottom of this post), will know how long it has taken me to get through this book.
7 months,

SEVEN LONG MONTHS.

Saying that, the book isn't all that bad.

It's a historical war fiction novel, set in WW2, and follows the stories of two characters who are actually destined to cross paths at somepoint, we just don't know when until it actually happens (but when it happened, all I could say was IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME, followed by IS THAT IT?!). The two main characters, Marie-Laure and Werner, could not be more different if they tried. One is a blind girl living with her father in Paris, the other a German orphan living with his sister under the care of the orphanage, until one day, he is enlisted in the army.

Werner likes radios. A lot. He enjoys watching how they work, and pulling them apart to fix them back up again. This is a skill that comes in handy throughout this book, as he becomes one of the only people who has the ability to receive radio transmissions unbeknown to the original transmitter.

Marie-Laure is blind, lives with her father in Paris, and has a miniature of the city in her room. Her father created this miniature of the city for her, so she is able to get her bearings of the city before being allowed to go out alone. In the throes of war, they are made to leave Paris, thus leaving the familiarity behind, rendering Marie-Laure helpless. Until they arrive at her Great-Uncle Etienne's home, where she is then cared for by her father, as well as her Great-Uncle and Madame Manec, her great-uncles help.

From then on, chaos ensues, for both Marie-Laure and Werner. Their paths do cross eventually, but it does take a while.

***

I struggled to complete this. In all honesty, it was a very well written piece, although lengthly, and in my opinion, often unnecessary. Why? This is because I picked it up and put it down again several times over the 7 months, as I found it difficult to read in big spurts. Some of the scenes for me, were unnecessary, as they focused on a lot of side characters, although personally, I believe they were the wrong side characters. I would have liked to have heard more not just about Jutta (Werners sister), but also Marie-Laure's father.


Overall, I gave this book 4 stars on goodreads, but it falls closer to 3.5 stars for me. I will be posting a full review on Youtube, and you can find the link to my channel on the blog home page.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully see you soon with another review!