The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Reading books like this one, make me miss my childhood. it fills me up with such warmth and comfort, and a longing for so long ago. I do have to admit reading as an adult how much i loved reading it and how good the book still is after all these years.

It will always be a classic tale about a toad and his friends who no matter what happens and how many seasons go past they will be there till the end.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

I am usually one that doesn't like an unfinished book, but on this case i had to stop half way through as I found it dull, uninteresting, and very hard to read as it didn't seem to flow well. In parts it had to much explanation and felt as the author was trying to hard.. I will not be able to recommend this book at all to anyone who wants a good book to read.

The Psychopath Test: A Journey through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

This is such an amazing topic to read about and to experience, you can tell it has well researched and well-written. The author was given a chance to delve himself into a world of madness and let himself become involved in an unknown.

The thing I liked about this is the author starts to question his own convictions and that of his findings but helps the reader to question their own beliefs. The test itself that pucks up on Psychopath’s needs to be taught, properly and softly so that it ensures that the result and the care afterwards is done correctly and safety and the author has shown that there is still lots we do not know about the mind and that the way we help those with mental illness and look at those who have them still has a long way to go.

The Dancing Jax Series

The first book in this series, was good and full of promise. The idea was very interesting. However the second was good but started to feel rushed and lie the author was getting tired of writing the series. Now with the last and third book, I had trouble reading and getting through the book was difficult as it got to far fetched for me and not the greatest.

The book is good but not what I have personally like. The idea of book is good but not well delivered, so if you  read, don't be disappointed when you get to the last book.

Where we are laying.

Hello everyone, I hope all of you are having a fun time, and school or work isn't getting you down.

Over here I am almost finished a trilogy (from my reading list) the dancing jax series. Which I will post at the end if the week.

Now after the post at the end of the week I will be completing something from my bucket list,  this list has been a little ignored lately, which is a real shame as it has quite interesting things placed on this  list. 

While I am doing the bucket list, I have had the idea of running some possible competitions, during the next few weeks, so keep your eye out for the upcoming weeks.  :D

The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

It is no wonder this book is considered a classic, the way he writes is simply superb and the way he creates the relationship between John and Sherlock, they are the missing parts if each other and they both fill the void within each other. This is a true platonic friendship

The stories will always stand the test of time as they already proven to do.

Auckland!! Where A Book?

Auckland, What a city! It is what I call a book lovers dream; it has a lot of independent bookstores if you look hard enough. So far, I have fallen in love with 3 of them.

The first being one that Is in the heart of Mount Eden , open 9-9 everyday including the weekends, with a great selection and it’s shelves filled with books, and even has a great loyalty system. It even sits near a great coffee shop, which is open from 6am till very late in the evening. It is one of the small gems that inhabit the inner city.

The second book store is one that was recommended to me by a friend at work, she said that it has such a large selection of books and is stacked from floor to ceiling with books, and boy was she right!!! This book shop, I take two trains to get too as it lives in an area of Auckland called Onehunga, and the name being ‘Hard to Find’ and no the shop isn’t hard to find, but It does have loads of selection that the big stores like Whitcholls or Paper Plus don’t have and it is like a Tardis, it seems small on the outside but is so much bigger on the inside and is wonderful and magical. There is the bottom floor, and there are two top floor sections and you could easily spend hours in there. There will always be a place in my heart for this store.

The third store being somewhat amazing, its name… Bookmark, and what a name that its. Bookmark lives on the main street of Devonport; it has a feeling of adventure to get there, crossing the ferry from the city to this store, which has so many choices and beautifully bound books, and dose of fresh air, mixed with that special aroma that comes from books. This book store becomes a part of your soul and once you leave you feel like you are leaving somewhere that you wish you could stay forever, but once you are outside you are just a few steps away from the water and the ferry, and even if you sit near the water to read or on the way back to the city on the ferry, you feel way more alive.

These three bookstores are only some of the many that lie within Auckland, so go out and explore, who knows what you will find or where you will end up. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, what can I say, simply superb!! Pride and Prejudice is such a fantastically written book, one that no matter how many times it’s read It gives you the real emotion of each character and even though you know that Mr Darcy and Miss Bennett end up together you still fear that they won’t. 

Jane Austen is one of those authors that made each character real and unique, she makes you laugh, cry and at time angry and then makes you sad, I only wish she were still alive to write more books. I will always carry Elizabeth Bennett in my heart as well as Mr Darcy.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Just finished reading, and to be honest it was a nice read, interesting however in certain parts it dragged. The story line was thought out and in parts thought it was suicide like it was told In the media or a murder like it actually was. The Cuckoo's Calling is a must read!

The Harry Potter Series by J.K.Rowling (Reading List)

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

Reading the start of the series again for the thousandth time never stops astounding me, just the magic and innocence of it all. Rereading it, with Harry who hasn’t a clue of the world yet and still has a lot to look forward to.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Every time I read the Chamber of Secrets, all I think of is Dobby and how much Lockhart was a douche and why In the Order of the Phoenix did he not think of the chamber for the meetings after all it would have set the mood.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This is the one year Harry didn’t have to fight Voldemort, but found something close to a family he could get with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Every time I read Prisoner of Azkaban, I get so angry at how they act about Sirius and how he will never be a cleared man as we know all know he is an innocent man and know the Peter Pettigrew is still alive and was living as scabbers, but I also note that there Rowling gives us obvious clues, for example the lifespan of scabbers and how Hermione’s cat going after it more than other rats. I am always glad that we have been given Sirius Black he was always a fabulous drama queen.

Side note

Once I start reading Harry Potter nothing else matters and it is when I get to the Goblet of Fire, the fire in my soul burns for the series more than life itself and it is here where I feel the most excitement and love of the series, but it also pains me to know that death comes to often from now on.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The year Voldemort returns, and the year war starts even if the Ministry denies everything. One of the parts I have found the saddest and always will is when Harry finds out about Neville’s parents and how it puts a little perspective on Neville, that he is as lost as harry.  Then there is Cedric who was should of comeback as victor of the tournament but was killed by Voldemort and to have people deny that Voldemort was back as to say his death meant nothing, it was heart-breaking, he should have been the hero. 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Looking back on the Order of the Phoenix, I had always considered it my favourite out of the series, but now I find pain. Harry finds himself in a way absent from everyone else and unsure of how to deal with the death of Cedric and being left without information and everyone else not telling him much, even Sirius. Harry also had to deal with the abuse from awful Umbridge, fellow students, the government and the ridicule from the daily prophet, how is a 15 year old supposed to cope.

Then there is Sirius… the man who was locked up for twelve years (even though an innocent man) and two years on the run and then cooped up in a house he hated from his cruel and horrendous childhood, and then to give harry (the only real family he had left other the Lupin) to not open the present that meant they could talk more often without too much risk and then only to be killed in front of Harry and Lupin (who know have all his close friends, who were like his family dead), and not only to mention that he died according to the wizarding world a guilty man and that the world was never told of his innocence, and that only a selected few new of his innocence. I will never be over the death of Sirius Black.

Then there is Snape who was always my favourite character, seeing how he was treated by the marauders was horrible and unfair, yes I will admit he was not in any right to call Lilly a mudblood, but he was treated unfairly by them, and I feel in this part of the book is where his undercover work for the order began, as there were people who knew he was a former death-eater like Mr Malfoy and even Umbridge knew that the two were connected and Mr Malfoy had given a nice word on Snape to her and I do believe the Snape has a good side but is being exploited for the his mistakes and his bitterness.

It is only now that I feel a lot of sadness when I read Harry Potter and the Order of the phoenix, but I think it is the fact I gain a lot of emotions and that it speaks to me on a spiritual level that it is my favourite book even through the sadness and even when I am trying to hold back the tears.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The world now knows that Voldemort is back, and things aren’t going well for the ministry and for the Order, and Harry is still coping with the death of Sirius, and is going back to school, but not till his mission with Dumbledore.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is where the whole wizarding world changes and for the reader, for all the books we have believed that as long as there is Dumbledore, everything will be fine, but we find that even with Dumbledore there nothing is the same. Then unexpectedly we find Snape kills Dumbledore (even if Dumbledore knew and told Snape to kill him, so that he can help bring Voldemort down from the inside (and that we don’t know this till the next book when we find out that Snape was never Voldemort’s, but Lily’s)) the death of Dumbledore hits home like we all have lost someone dear. The wizarding world is never going to be the same again.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It all ends here, the final part of the series. Lord Voldemort reigns supreme and only Harry can stop it; The Deathly Hallows is one where death must came and we all must live with the loss of all we love and hold true, and must realize that those we did not trust can be trusted again and old judgements must die and in the end, all will be well.

The Series Overall

The Harry Potter Series is the thing that got me into reading and is one that I will love passionately till the day I die. The characters and emotion are as real to me as flesh and blood. I have cried and wept with Harry and his friends as much as I have cheered with him through his entire journey. Harry Potter will be with us always..… Until the very end……

Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant (Reading List)

What a personal triumph! I am never one to not like a book on philosophy or even a book at all, but this took all of my might to finish, but then again, with books I am a completest.

Books And Me

As a kid I loved reading and going to the library, I would always forget to take the books back, I just wanted them for myself, now reading is still as important as it was then maybe a little more important today than then.

The book that hooked me on books the most was Harry Potter without it yes I would have probably still liked reading but Harry Potter gave me a life that I thought wasn’t possible, one where I could escape fight battles, it taught me that sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do, and to fight for what you believe in, and people and governments can be corrupt and evil so don’t always believe what you’re told and sometimes a random act of kindness can make someone’s days and the world right.

 

I now have books everywhere, and I feel happier in a bookstore than a club, and more alive reading than doing those things you do when you’re drunk. Books have taught me to live life for myself not for others, that life can be both fair and unfair even at the same time and that the world is a vast and scary place but it is still so wonderful.

So here’s to the books I’ve read and to the books I will read and the most important thing that they will teach us which comes from Doctor Who from the Tenth Doctor: “You want weapons? We're in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world.”

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee, i believe is a great book yes a bit rushed and some parts a bit disconnected but it changes the views we have ourselves since To Kill A Mockingbird, it teaches us that change isn't as easy and doesn't come fast enough and the way we view people especially through the eyes of a child and through they way we perceive things to be, but to challenge one's way of thinking, and at the same time questioning the status-quo helps us grow and the more we are open to other ideas and options the more things will change in the long run we must first stop running from ourselves.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Reading List)

Written in the viewpoint of the two children of Atticus Finch, a lawyer defending an innocent man of color named Tom Robinson who is being prosecuted on a rape and assault of a young white woman  in the 1930’s where town views were not so kind towards those you were not of the ‘same cloth’. The story shows Atticus trying to teach his children against the prejudice of the town’s viewpoint and teach them the morality of their convictions and actions. Even with the loss of the case Atticus still allows his children to observe the brutal honesty of the conviction and death of Tom Robinson and it’s ripple effect it has on the Alabaman town of Maycomb .

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that over the years has sold over thirty millions copies and has been read by so many more. Atticus Finch since the books debut in 1960 has been the moral hero of the story and has given them a moral compass to be guided by and given us sense of the moral integrity that we must live by which shows through the way he speaks and acts, his actions follows his words and acts the same no matter where he was and who he was with and he explains this in one simple line to scout “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what”

With the recent news of a sequel ‘Go Set a Watchman’ which is based 20 years after the events of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ has given the story an extra burst of life. I look forward to reading the sequel and to return to the town of May

comb.

To finish I leave you with quote from the book, but it holds true even in today’s world “but sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down...”

Gone With The Wind by Margret Mitchell

Gone with the Wind by Margret Mitchell was written over 60 years ago  in 1936, and was written through the eyes of the slaveholder at the break of the American Civil War, it was based around Scarlet O'Hara who after certain events found herself a survivalist. Mitchell writes O’Hara as a woman who makes chooses and decisions to keep her home running and to keep the man she secretly loves and his family safe, however she marries three men, one being the beau Captain Rhett Butler who is the only man who sees her for what she really is and the cloak she hides behinds. Mitchell depicts the way society worked at the time of the war and the reconstruction brilliantly and shows that the line between true love and love lust is a thin one and that telling the difference at the wrong moment can be the worst mistake one can make. By the end after the anger, love and sadness you feel more for Scarlett and even more for Rhett but as it goes, tomorrow is another day

The Art of War by Sun-Tzu (Reading List)

The Art of War by Sun-Tzu (Reading List)

The question I keep asking myself is how to describe this book and give it the justice it deserve, it is an interesting read that I have read out of pure intrigue. The Art of War was originally written in Chinese but has been translated to English, it is one that most people wouldn’t read but it is one that I find people should just for a new way of thinking and to see that there are processes for everything. I know no matter how I review this it will not give the book the justice it deserves, all I can say is give the book a go.

   

The Casual Vacancy By J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling does it again with this book, brilliantly written and heartbreaking. I have made the town of Pagford my home, this is one book I could not put down.

Boarder Town: A Novel by Shen Congwen (Reading List #34)

Boarder Town: A Novel by Shen Congwen

First published in 1934, Shen Congwen had released a brilliant story about a girl making her own mark on the world and choosing what she thought she wanted. It was sad and sweet with a bittersweet ending. The story of Cuicui and her grandfather is one of love and something to be admired. 

The Reading List

I have compiled a list of 80 books to read, some of which i have read but am keen to read again and the others i have not read at all. The plan is to read them review them and hopefully gain a little more insight into the workings of the world, as it has been said that books have the power to change us n ways we cannot fathom. Over the weeks  will write my review and opinions on each book.

The list:

1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
2. Paper Towns by John Green
3. A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
4. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
5. Another Day in Paradise by Eddie Little
6. Speed by William Burroughs Jr.
7. Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue by Eugene Richardson
8. Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Scheff
9. White Girls by Hilton Als
10. Necessary Errors by Caleb Crain
11. Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austin
12. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
13. Gone With the Wind by Margret Mitchell
14. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
15. 1984 by George Orwell (completed 1/12/14)
16. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graeme
17. The complete stories of Sherlock Holmes
18. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
19. Dancing Jaxs (First in Series)
20. Dancing Jaxs: Freax and Rejex (Second in Series)
21. Dancing Jaxs: Fighting Pax (Third in series)
22. Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Extermination, 1939-1945 by Saul Friedländer
23. The Social Contract by  Jean-Jacques Rousseau
24. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 
25. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
26. The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
27. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
28. Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
29. THE ENGLISH GIRL' BY DANIEL SILVA
30. Atonement – Ian McEwan
31. The Invisible Man – H.G. Wells
32. Snobs by Julian Fellowes
33. Forever a Stranger by Hella Haasse
34. Border Town: A Novel by Shen Congwen
35. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
36. This Is Where We Live, by Janelle Brown
37. Villages, by John Updike
38. What Was She Thinking?, by Zoë Heller
39. The Farm by Tom Rob Smith
40. The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
41. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
42. EVERYTHING IS PERFECT WHEN YOU’RE A LIAR BY KELLY OXFORD
43. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE BY EDITH WHARTON
44. A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND BY FLANNERY O’CONNOR
45. The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson
46. Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
47. Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh
48. Stay Up With Me by Tom Barbash
49. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
50. The Art of Fiction by Henry James
51. The Art of War by Sun Tzu 25/2/15
52. Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
53. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
54. Entering the Circle: Ancient Secrets of Siberian Wisdom Discovered by a Russian Psychiatrist
55. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
56. This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor  by Susan Wicklund
57. Looking for Alaska by John Green
58. The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbaith
59. The Casual Vacancy by J.K Rowling (Completed 9/12/14)
60. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
61. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
62. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban
63. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
64. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
65. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
66. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
67. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
68. Crime and Punishment By Joseph Frank
69. My Secret Life by Henry Spencer Ashbee
70. Story of O by Pauline Réage
71. I’d Rather Be Short by Becky Murphy
72. All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
73. Diary of a Nobody  by George Grossmith
74. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
75. Religion and Society in Early Modern England: A Sourcebook - David Cressy
76. Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography - John Toland
77. Lying About Hitler - Richard J. Evans
78. The English Civil Wars: 1640-1660 - Blair Worden
79. War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust (Critical Issues in World and International History) - Doris L. Bergen
80. All Things Bright and Beautiful - James Herriot
    

I hope you all will my list and experiences on each book

The Nerd is Home

Hello, my name is Tara and I am 23 and currently live in Auckland, New Zealand and I love reading, writing and am afraid to try new things which I am on the process to change.

So with the help of a reading list and a bucket list which I intend to review after completing each number on those lists.