Would You Rather Book Tag

I came across this tag recently and I really loved it, so I decided to do it myself. The tag was created by RayKayBooks, so be sure to check them out!

1. Read only trilogies or stand-alones?

This is quite an easy question for me. I prefer stand-alones. Although I've read my fair share of trilogies, I find myself more and more reluctant to begin new ones.

2. Read only female or male authors?

I would go with male authors, only because many of my favourite authors, in general, are men.

3. Shop at bookshops or Amazon?

Bookshops. There can never be any kind of comparison between browsing actual shelves of books to find the one you want and browsing a web page.

4. All books become movies or TV shows?

I like movie adaptations. Even though movies normally don't include everything from the book (and it's impossible to do so), I like to see the director's view on it. Luckily, many of my favourite classics are turned into tv movies and I enjoy them immensely. I don't have a problem with mini-series, but when the tv show tends to be too long, I  get tired of it.

5. Read 5 pages per day or 5 books per week?

Some books are easy to read, so the answer would be 5 books per week. But some books need you to relax and think about them and so in that case it would be 5 pages per day. Weighing those two option, I think I'm inclined to answer 5 books per week because I cannot possibly imagine how I could manage with only 5 pages per day.

6. Be a professional reviewer or author?

The truth is that I used to write short stories and poems and I have begun writing a novel, but I can't seem to finish it. So, I would rather be a professional reviewer. 

7. Only read your Top 20 favourite books over and over or always read new ones that you haven't read?

Only read new ones, that way I will create a new Top 20 list! Although I'll miss my favourite books so much!

8. Be a librarian or a bookseller?

Both of those options sound very attractive to me. I like to talk about books and recommend new ones, so I'll think I'd choose to be a librarian.

9. Only read your favourite genre or every other genre except your favourite?

The problem with this question is that I don't have just one favourite genre. When I read only one genre for some time I tend to want to read something entirely different next. But I would only rather read my favourite genre since I can't imagine my life without fantasy. 

10. Only read physical books or ebooks?

Ebooks have offered me practicality, my kindle never leaves my bag (and the last year I've been moving a lot), but I would rather read only physical books. 

So, this was the Would You Rather Book Tag. Feel free to tag yourselves, I'd be interested in reading your answers!

The Reading Book Post, May 18th

A new week has just begun and now I can really say that summer is indeed here. There's nothing better than reading in the park and that's what I like to do all day long. The list for the funny books theme is almost ready, but if you have any recommendation please tell me in the comments. Meanwhile, let's see what happened in the literary world the previous week.

• The Miles Franklin Literary Award announced the shortlist for the prize in 2015. Among the nominees, there is Christine Piper with her debut novel After Darkness. The winner will be made public on June 23rd.

• A rare first edition of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens will go on sale in this year's London International Antiquarian Book Fair. What makes the edition so rare is the short dedication by its author, J.M. Barrie, to the nanny of Llewellyn Davies boys, who inspired the character.

• The last week was a sad one for the literary world. The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Franz Wright died at the age of 62. Read some of his poems, such as Alcohol and Wheeling Motel. Also, the historian Peter Gay died at the age of 91. He was known for his books on the Enlightenment, the Victorian middle-classes and the cultural situation of Jews in Germany. Finally, the literary world mourns the loss of the author Willian Zinsser at the age of 92. His books On Writing Well sold more than 1.5 million copies.

• The lives of the Brontë sisters will be dramatised for the BBC One. The drama will follow the relationships of Charlotte, Emily and Anne with each other. It will be written and directed by Sally Wainwright, the author of the script of Last Tango in Halifax.

• Fans of An Ember in the Ashes rejoice! A sequel is on its way and is to be expected in 2016. Even though the author Sabaa Tahir claimed that it would be a stand-alone novel, the great success of her debut novel has led to a second book. Isn't this great news?

• An image of musician Thom Yorke has been spotted on the cover of an Iranian sex manual, along with the author John Updike and another unidentified man. The book is called Marital and Sexual Problems in Men and was recently shared on Twitter by the Iranian journalist Sobhan Hassanvand. 

• This week's quiz is one of my favourites. Two pictures are given to you and you must guess the title of the book (it's always a two-word title, without the or a at the beginning). I hope you'll enjoy it :)  

Review: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula was my lucky choice from the Classics Club Spin, in which I decided to take part for the very first time last April. I won't hide from you that I wanted to read Dracula for a very long time, and I had a copy just sitting on my self. For some reason, all of this time I was reluctant and this spin just gave me the right opportunity to open it and actually read it. It took me, though, an awfully long time to finish it, but I finally did it!

Jonathan Harker, a young solicitor, travels to Transylvania, in order to meet the respectable Count Dracula. The Count has decided to purchase an estate in London, so Jonathan will help him with all of his legal dealings. The trip though is turned into a nightmare for Jonathan when he discovers the true nature of the Count, and from a guest he finds himself a prisoner. When he manages to escape and at last returns to England, he finds out that Dracula is already there and there have already been observed several weird incidents. When Doctor Van Helsing reveals with certainty the identity of the creature they are dealing with, a group of men, who suffer a great loss from the vampire, decide to hunt Dracula and kill him.

What can I say about the story? It's one of the most well-known stories, that basically put the foundation on the vampire's modern image in later literature. What made this novel really difficult to get through was the narrative. The whole book is written as diary entries, memoranda, or newspaper clippings. This would be great if it helped the story go forward, but the greatest part of these entries was taken by the descriptions of the locations, or repetitions as to what has already been said. I would like to read a scene when the Count take action, to know how he lures his victims, not just the result of him feeding on them. Another problem I had while reading this book is how some things didn't really match. For example, when Mina started to get paler each day why wouldn't any of the two doctors in the house examine her throat for possible bite marks? This has already happened with Lucy and they were both witnesses to her mysterious illness, death and her becoming undead, so I believe that it would at least be prudent to examine this possibility first. The last thing that disappointed me was that in the end the story was a little anticlimactic. The group travels to Transylvania finds the Count and it doesn't take long to kill him. I felt that it was a little rushed, especially for a book that was very descriptive up to that point.

Apart from these problems the Count is a character you were afraid of. He was menacing, manipulative, and you never were sure as to what his next actions would be. He was the right image a vampire should have. Even Lucy, when she became one, her characteristics changed and it was great to actually see a difference between the living person and the undead. From the rest of the group Van Helsing was the one I liked the best. He was not afraid to acknowledge the existence of that creature that logic dictated otherwise, he didn't reveal it though very early to the others because he was aware of how they would react. Also, Renfield was a complex character, because he acted mad, although in the end he was as sane as any man could be. The rest of the group, Jonathan Harker, doctor John Seward, Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris, were likable enough characters, but I didn't really cared for them that much. Mina proved to be a key character to the story, although I believe that she was depicted much too perfect a woman to be realistic.

Dracula was a major disappointment for me because I was looking forward to reading this novel. I expected to feel the horror since it's one of the classics of this genre. I have to admit that when something actually happened it did build an atmosphere equal to my expectations, but unluckily this wasn't for long. I would recommend it only if you'd be interested in reading the classics, but it might turn out to be a slow and a quite dull read.

So, my advice is...

Sharpen your teeth and fly like a bat!          

Review: MPH by Mark Millar and Duncan Fegredo

Title: MPH

Author: Mark Millar

Illustrator: Duncan Fegredo 

Publisher: Image Comics

Date of Publication: May 5th, 2015

Number of Pages: 136

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Summary

Growing up in Detroit, Roscoe and his friends know all about hard luck. But their fates take a different turn when they stumble upon a street drug called MPH - little pills that give them the power of super speed, and the opportunity of a lifetime. Now holding the perfect Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card, Roscoe leads Rosa, Chevy and Baseball on a lightning-fast crime spree across the nation. But as a good guy dealt a tough hand, that's not enough for Roscoe. Before long, he and his friends are taking the fat cats for all they're worth, and sharing their take with the masses. But zooming through their riches at super-speed has a downside. The pills are running out, the Feds are cracking down, and a mysterious figure named Mr. Springfield is teaming up with the authorities, claiming to know more about the speedsters than they know about themselves. When time is your only asset, what happens when the clock runs out?

Review

When I first picked up MPH I didn't really know what expect, apart from the fact that it had an amazing cover and an interesting premise. Luckily, I wasn't disappointed at all. This comic is a must-read! You shouldn't be surprised though when you think what Mark Millar has already written, like Kick-Ass, Superman: Red Son and Kingsman: The Secret Service.

This is basically a superhero comic, but it has a realistic twist. Roscoe is a man that grew up in Detroit, is poor and works for a drug dealer. When he ends up in prison someone gives him a pill, called the MPH (does it have to do anything with miles per hour?), which makes him move really fast. The first time he took it, the scene reminded me a little of the scene with Quicksilver in X-men: Days of Future Past. The pill helps him escape the prison  and shows him a way towards a brighter future with his girlfriend Rosa, his best friend Chevy and Rosa's younger brother Baseball. They move in California and they rob banks, knowing that they only have a limited amount of pills available. Roscoe, having it hard all of his life, decides to share the money they had stolen with all the poor people across USA. It's sort of like Robin Hood with a superhuman power.

What makes this graphic novel so interesting is the fact that it feels so real. Roscoe is a man that has always been poor and is struggling to make his life better. Rosa tries to look after her brother, but it's difficult for him to stay away from the gangsters if he wants to survive. The pill offers them an opportunity and they grab it. They would do what every normal person would: they try to make enough money until they run out of drugs. The end of MPH is thrilling. It's one of the best twists and it really made this comic a must-read for me. I won't spoil it though, not even the slightest hint because it's best to be unaware of it, in order to enjoy it as much as I did.

MPH is a graphic novel worth reading. It's fast paced, has a lot of action, and likeable characters. You see the struggle Roscoe makes to be with Rosa, even though he has to go to prison and after that when they do get money and she tells him that this is wrong. Then you wonder if his decision to give all of the money to the poor is genuine or driven only from his desire to satisfy Rosa.

I would recommend MPH to anyone who is interested in comics, I believe that you will enjoy it as much as I did. It's not perfect, by any means, but its good qualities are more than enough to make it a delightful read.

So, my advice is...

Take the pill! 

ARC Review: Powerpuff Girls: Super Smash-Up!

Title: Powerpuff Girls: Super Smash-Up!

Author: Various 

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Expected Date of Publication: August 18th, 2015

Number of Pages: 99

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Summary

After their victory in the Super Secret Crisis War, the Powerpuff Girls take it easy with a rave VIP tour of Dexter's Laboratory! But when tag-along Dee Dee accidentally activates Dexter's newest invention, the fate of the entire multiverse is suddenly at stake! A dimensions-spanning epic into the worlds of Courage the Cowardly Dog, Cow and Chicken, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and Dexter's Laboratory! 

Review

Powerpuff Girls: Super Smash-Up! is a graphic novel that is sure to transfer you back in time. I was so happy to find out that it includes so many characters from many of the most beloved Cartoon Network series, like Dexter, Courage, and Cow and Chicken. Between the main story there were a few short stories with Courage the Cowardly Dog, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, a well as a very special Mojo Jojo story and one with Dexter and Dee Dee. Finally, there is also a small cameo from The Justice Friends. The result is this crazy and totally hilarious graphic novel!

The story isn't the most original one, but it's never dull. The Powerpuff Girls visit Dexter's laboratory, in order to get a tour in exchange for a sample of the famous Chemical X. But Dexter's sister as usual creates a small accident and the Chemical X falls on her. As a result, she turns into a monster and runs into another universe. So, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup follow Dee Dee, in order to save the multiverse from the upcoming chaos. The fact that all those characters don't exist on the same universe, and that Dexter is trying to create a multiverse transporter in order for them to communicate, really was something that fascinated me. It was exciting to try to guess in which universe they were heading next.

Dexter and Powerpuff Girls is a great combination. Adorable superhero girls, along with a boy genius. What could possibly go wrong? Along with Professor Utonium, Dee Dee and Mojo Jojo as the villain the result could never be boring. But why do all the evil ones have the self-destruction button placed in such an obvious place? 

       

To summarise, Powerpuff Girls: Super Smash-Up! is a hilarious graphic novel, with a lot of popular characters. The designs are nice and colourful and it's a book filled with action. I had a great time reading it and I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you are familiar with all those characters.

So, my advice is...

Join Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup!