Nayu's News #56 A new, extra special rating for my reviews

"I'm all typed out."

Note: quotes are by Nayu, pictures are found randomly (or not so randomly) online.

Hi all! I'd hoped to put up some reviews today, but emails took a bit longer than I anticipated so I haven't got heaps of time left. Here's this week so far. 

"Work done now...zzzzzz" 

I'm easing back into work after being ill. Getting super tired at the moment, but I expected that. I'm resting heaps, I promise! 

Me & my cat. Unfortunately I can never nap unless I'm ill, but I would if I could.

"That's it, work is done and I am reading this book for as long as I please."

I'm reading more than anticipated, because sometimes I'm so tired I'm not up for anime - which believe me, is pretty tragic. 

 "My soul wants anime but my head doesn't!"

Tonight I'm going to settle down to the French version of Heidi - it is gentle, not too confusing, and nice and 'slow', so I don't have to think much and don't have to worry about things being too bright and fast. 

 "The slower you take life, the more you notice, appreciate & achieve."

"What has any of this to do with the post's title?"

Ah, yes, this post's topic! I've wanted a special rating for the books which I squee over. You know the ones where you happily hug it and want every single person you see to read it. 

 "SQUEEEEEEE!"

So what's the rating? It's not a number, not like 11/10 or 12/10. It is...

10/10 E 

Yes, 10/10 E. What is E? E stands for epic. That's the best word I can think of to describe truly awesome books. They are epic. That's why they're special. 

"Oooo! It's getting good." 

So keep an eye out for books rated 10E/10E - you'll know they are extra special to me. I'd like to say I'll go back and re-label reviews that are already up and deserve the E, but that would take a while and time is something I don't have, so I'll just be doing it from now on. 

"Over to you!"

I'd love to know what type of ratings you use, whether you have one for epic books, or whether you don't have a rating at all. 

Keep smiling! 

"Do whatever makes you smile - play with a cat!"

February Reviews: Children's 7 years +, 11 years + & Non-fiction

Note: if you've read the February Reviews: Children's Picture books post then skip past my ramblings to the reviews themselves. I'm repeating this so I don't have to take time rewording it! 

 

This week here on Nayu's Reading Corner is going to be a bit different review wise. Looking at my calendar, I've been ill most of the year. I have about 30 reviews to write. If I kept to my normal style, that would take ages. I've already removed the 'themes' part of my reviews until I'm caught up. However even doing that will still take a while. I hate having a large backlog, and I'm more inclined to spend too much time blogging instead of resting. 

So here's my solution, which is called a compromise. I'm grouping reviews by genre (roughly) and doing one or two line reviews. I will still include the blurb & the all important cover picture, as those are rather essential. I won't include themes, suggested books to read next and author info - those take a fair bit of time to do. 

The books I'm reviewing today are children's 7 years +, 11 years + & non-fiction  Let's get reviewing! 

Children's 7 years + 

Mermaid S.O.S Misty To The Rescue by Gillian Shields, 

 December 2010, Bloomsbury, 96 pages, eBook, Personal copy, 10/10) 

Summary from Bloomsbury 

Just as Misty and her friends start to make their way back to Coral Kingdom with the magic crystals for Queen Neptuna, a storm whipped up by the evil Mantora throws them right off course!

Misty and her fellow Sisters of the Sea are lost, but they must find their way home as quickly as possible in order to complete their important mission.

Misty comes up with a brilliant plan to help her mermaid friends, as well as saving a forest deep in the ocean from a terrible end.

Nayuleska's thoughts 

I bought this because I'm into mermaids at the moment, and wanted to scope out the current range for this age group. Yes my Muse is getting inklings of a mermaid series - not surprising really when I love mermaid drama H20 Just Add Water so much. I adored the illustrations for this book, they are cute and rounded, not super skinny mermaids. Misty gains courage even when danger is all about her and her friends. The grouchy crab was hilarious! The concept of the series is spot on too. This is a super cute and sassy mermaid 10/10 adventure.

Children's 11 years + 

Fairy Lies by E D Baker 

January 2013, Bloomsbury, 256 pages, Paperback, Review copy 9/10 

Summary from Bloomsbury

As if finding out that you're no ordinary schoolgirl but a fairy princess wasn't enough, now Tamisin has been stolen away by fairies! In this delightful sequel to Fairy Wings, the fairy princess Tamisin has been kidnapped from her home in the human world by Oberon, king of the fairies, who thinks he's her father. When Tamisin's boyfriend, Jak, finds out, he sets off to rescue her. In this funny and heart-warming chase through the land of fairies, goblins, sphinxes, unicorns and many more, Tamisin and Jak must look for each other, and find their way back to the human world.

Nayuleska's thoughts 

You can't go wrong with a pink cover. (That's my random thought of the day....) Fairies, mermaids, trolls and sphinxes have lots of interactions, some good, some troubling in Tamisin's chaotic life. I loved Tamisin as a character, what she endures is sometimes entertaining, sometimes scary. It lost a grade because occasionally the characters acted out of character. 

Children's, Non-fiction

Deadly Factbook: Reptiles and Amphibians by Steve Backshall 

14th February 2013, Orion Children's, 80 pages, Paperback, Review copy, 9/10 

Summary from Orion 

Discover the world's most extraordinary creatures in the third of Steve Backshall's DEADLY factbooks.

Packed with fascinating facts and drawing on Steve's own amazing experiences, this is the third DEADLY factbook for Steve Backshall fans everywhere. Illustrated throughout with full colour photographs and art.

Nayuleska's thoughts 

Unsure if I've mentioned it before, but I adore geckos, lizards and frogs. My love of these animals kept me tentatively turning the pages, doing my best to avoid seeing the humungous (exaggeration) photos of snakes, which I have a phobia over. It was worth it - lots of facts to learn about these cool (in more ways than one) creatures. 

 I hope you like this temporary, different style of review. I'm going to implement it whenever I'm ill, to take the stress out of blogging. I can be a bit of a perfectionist, and this is my way of saying it's ok to do things differently. (Yes once again I'm copy word for word from the previous post. So sue me!  (don't!)) 

What are YOU reading? #155

What are you reading on Monday? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where you post books completed last week and plans for upcoming books. Jump over to her blog and see who else is participating.


Read

Into That Forest by Louis Nowra

Children's, 9 years +

(A compelling read of how two girls find it easier to become animals than to return to being human...)

10/10

Dream Seekers #2: Dream Team by Lisa Ard

Children's, 9 years +

(I was surprised at how engrossed I became and I was sad when Patrick's adventure ended...)

10/10

North To Nowhere by Liz Kessler

Children's, 9 years +

(For me this was a mind boggling, compelling adventure- sadly no mermaids in sight!)

9/10

I Love You, Mummy Duck by Dawn Richards & Heidi D'hamers

Children's, Picture book,

(A perfect read for all mothers...)

10/10

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Young Adult

(I love how large a role Hannah's little sister Ariel plays in this murder filled story...)

10/10

Mermaid S.O.S: Misty To The Rescue by Gillian Shields

Children's, 7 years +

(A super cute and sassy mermaid adventure...)

10/10

Dark Nebula by Wanita May

Young Adult

(This 2nd book about Rae's turbulent life is squeesome!)

10/10

Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Young Adult

(Even though I hated Chelsea for part of the book, her story made me cry at the end...)

10/10

The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Logan

Young Adult

(This wasn't my usual type of read but was oddly compelling...)

8/10

Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz

Young Adult

(Some majorly wow scenes made up for the teen angst, which at times was annoying - my tolerance is lower when I'm ill...)

8/10

Deadly Factbook: Reptiles and Amphibians

Children's, Non-fiction

(My love of lizards and turtles kept me tentatively turning pages so I didn't see too many snakes...)

9/10

Three Pickled Herrings by Sally Gardner

Children's, 9 years +

(Fairies without wings feature in this clever detective story...)

8/10

Queenie by Jacqueline Wilson

Children's, 9 years +

(Telling stories helps keep Elsie sane in the hospital, although it does get her in trouble...)

9/10

The Fixer by Gary R Hamilton

Thriller

(Clever plot twists were undermined by a few issues...)

4/10

Reread

Rae of Hope by Wanita May

Young Adult

(Despite rereading this a month or so ago, I simply had to reread it before 'Dark Nebula'!)

10/10

Lolly Luck by Ellie Daines

Children's, 9 years +

(It's only when Lolly gets unlucky she realises what is important in life...)

10/10

Watched

Winx Season 3

REWATCH! - Anime, French version

10/10

(Rewatching it makes me love Stella even more for how brave she is despite losing what she loves the most!)

H2O Just Add Water, Season 3

REWATCH! - Drama, English version

10/10

(Jumping quickly to conclusions actually helps Bella out more than she realises!)

Rainbow Brite

Anime, English version

8/10

(Not always chock full with sense, this cartoon of the 1980s is still cute...although by the end of episode 3 I find I don't care about the rest of the series. Ho hum.)

Lilpri

REWATCH! - Anime, Japanese version

10/10

(Ringo learns making people happy doesn't always make their life easier...)

Heidi

Anime, French version

10/10

(Heidi has learnt how to whistle!) 

Angel's Friends

English version

10/10

(This is as addictive as Winx! Sadly I can only get some on DVD - the rest will have to be a playlist on Youtube. This is what happens when I like a non-recent, hard to find anime!) 

The Unit

REWATCH! - English

10/10

(I have to smile at how the grimness of some of the fighting is such a contrast to the super cute anime I love watching...) 

Bamboo Blade

REWATCH! - Japanese version

10/10

(Every single episode makes me feel good in this school Kendo club drama...) 

Noir

REWATCH! - Japanese version

10/10

(Just like 'The Unit' it amazes me how much I adore this show about two top female assassins who are inventive with their weapon choice...)

Gaming & Cross-stitch 

No gaming - I have been pretty ill this week. However, I HAVE been cross stitching and Pooh Bear looks VERY smart in his red jumper!  ^_^ Here you can see the progress I've made.

The Queen At War by K. A. S. Quinn (Children's, 9 years +, 9 /10)

1st February, Corvus 

336 pages, Paperback

Review copy 

Summary from the press release

In twenty-first century New York, peculiar things are happening to Katie. Strange figures are appearing to her: first, a girl with long red hair, then a pale man in a black silk top hat. And then Katie receives a mysterious note, which sends her hurtling back through time.

In ninteenth-century London, Queen Victoria is on the throne and England is on the brink of war with Russia. Behind the scenes, a great battle is about to be fought – one that could decide the fate of the whole world. Everyone is looking to Katie to save the day.

But for a traveller in time, Katie’s is fast running out...

Nayuleska's thoughts 

I have to confess I  could only read half of this book. It either is darker than the first book or I'm not in the mood for dark books at the moment. Early on I had the feeling it was a terrifying book. I did adore Katie's time travel, which is so enthralling to read. I loved her relation with her friends in the past. In some ways I liked this a little less because it was not totally new to Katie, but her experience proved to be hilarious in places, as well as deadly serious in others.

The inkling of dread increased as more was revealed about the war. I avoid the news as I tend to get too upset over it. The real seeming instances when Katie finds herself in the war zone choked me up making me think of all soldiers past, present and future,. At least we have nurses and medical care in wars. Grace is a sweetheart, and I will be asking K A S what does happen in the rest of the book. The enemy gets revealed as a serpent thing, well, one of the enemy, which is too much for me as I have a snake phobia. That combined with a highly active imagination means I simply can't read about snakes in books - if I do I end up with nightmares, which isn't what a book should do.  So I have no idea yet how it ends. It is awesome writing, which mutes the parts that I found terrifying enough that this rates as a 9/10 read.

Suggested reading

Definitely check out book one, The Queen Must Die

It is with great pleasure to welcome K. A. S Quinn onto Nayu's Reading Corner to talk about how her love of history and writing this series came about. 

Living with the Victorians

I grew up in a very modern world; Los Angeles, the 1970’s – bright sunshine and a swimming pool in every yard. Michael Jackson lived down the street while Sonny and Cher were just up the hill. But mostly I remember the cars; thousands of cars, parking lots, and a labyrinth of freeways – the 101, the 405, the 210. Did I really spend half my life in a car? The heat of the plastic seats would blister the back on my legs, even while the air conditioning was freezing my knees. I couldn’t wait to escape.

So early on, I became a Time Traveller. The large closet in the entry hall was my port of entry; behind a barricade of suitcases with my mother’s white mink coat swaying heavily above me. I kept my books in the suitcases – and a torch of course.

I tried contemporary fiction, but that didn’t take me anywhere.  I needed to go someplace, but it had to be the right place. Pre-historic family life just seemed stupid. Louis X1V and Versailles were still too far away. The Pilgrims drove me batty. Then I discovered the Victorians. They were distant enough to be exotic, yet they were close enough to seem like normal people. And they spoke English. It was the pitch perfect place to time travel.

I started with Florence Nightingale, and I’ve stuck with her ever since. She’s one of those women who pushes and pushes until she gets her way. I can’t say Florence Nightingale is the nicest person, but she’s endlessly inspirational. Dickens followed. Lots and lots of Dickens. I found the endless flow of words comforting. And then Jane Eyre. My utter heroine.

Then one day, I went into a book shop, and there was a copy of London Labour and the London Poor – all three volumes. Written by the great Victorian, Henry Mayhew, it was the first sociological study of the working man, containing details of all the professions found on the London streets. I opened it up, and the voice of the Victorians seemed to shout back at me. I had to have it. “It costs too much,” my mother said, but my father loved to buy things. A week later I came down with the flu and spent eighteen days in bed with London Labour and the London Poor. I stopped travelling with the Victorians. I simply became one.

Thank you K. A. S - it just goes to show books change people's lives! Thank you for coming onto my blog. I'm looking forward to book 3!