The highlight of last week definitely was Halloween on Thursday. This was the first year I’ve participated in the festivities and I did so for one big reason: A major discount on books at my favorite Bookshop.
As you might know, I’m a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, so it was clear from the get-go that I’d portray the boy that lived.
Decked out in Gryffindor gear, I made my way to the Bookshop, where I then spent a few hours reading through books and mulling over some very difficult choices. How much money should I spend? Would I be spending too much? Which YA novels are truly worth buying? Which book about Kennedy should I get?
I had made a list of books I absolutely wanted to get beforehand, but I swapped some of them out to save for another time. I ended up buying six books for myself and in hindsight, I probably should have bought some more. Oh well. So which books did I get?
Of course, I tried to buy books of different styles and genres. In the fantasy genre, I bought the fourth book of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R Martin. “A Storm of Swords”, the third book, was my favorite book of the series so far, as I found many of the storylines to get more interesting. “A Feast for Crows” will probably lie around for a few months, before the HBO series will make me want to read it.
I also got the debut novel by Marisha Pessl, “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”. I loved her thriller “Night Film” (described in this post), so I’m eager to read more from the talented American author. The novel is written from the perspective of a young Harvard student reliving her last year of High School and built up as a curriculum. I’m sure I’m in for another thrilling ride.
With the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination nearing, an avalanche of books on his life (and death) are being released. I’m not interested in conspiracy theories about the nature of his murder. So I was extremely pleased to find a wonderful book titled “Letters of JFK”, which is a collection of letters sent to and by him. I’ve read a few chapters and they make me long for the time when people still sent each other elegant and classy letters.
The most interesting book I bought was “S” by J.J Abrams and Doug Dorst. If you have the chance, you should definitely check it out. The book is home to various stories, one of them playing in the margins, where an undergraduate and a grad student exchange notes on the nature of this novel written by the elusive (and fictional) novelist V.M Straka. The first few pages were extremely gripping and I’m looking forward to immerse myself in the beautiful book as soon as I have more time.
And last but not least is the one book I’ve finished reading from my impressive haul, the dystopian YA novel “Allegiant” by Veronica Roth. The book ends the immensely popular “Divergent” series (which I’ve written about here) and what an ending it is. It’s fast-paced and gripping. The ideas portrayed are fresh and personally, I loved the ending. It is definitely my favorite book of the three.
I hope I’ll be able to talk about these books more after I’ve read them. But otherwise, how was your Halloween? Which books would you have gotten with a 50% discount? Let me know here or on Twitter!
I’m back on Friday with Chapter 23 of “An Elusive Hero”.
Sincerely yours,
Albert
An Elusive Hero 