30 books challenge #5

Hey there! I just finished my next book on my list. I was actually very prejudiced about it, because I had to read it for school, and normally I don't like the books I have to read in class, especially the ones we read in English. They always end up dissapointing me, because they are either really boring or I imagined them really different and don't like what they end up to be.
But not so with this book!

The book's called 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbowsky. It's about a fifteen years old boy called Charlie, who's going through puberty and becoming an adult, while being a little different from the norm.

When I read the first few pages, I noticed that it was fairly easy written and you didn't need to think much about what you were reading, because you just understood everything, even as a non native speaker. Over the course of the book the style in writing changes though, at least that's what I got the impression of, probably because the main character develops into a more confident person, so his thoughts are more complex as well. The book is written in the form of letters, by the way, a thing I had to accostum myself to, because I normally don't read books written like that.

Also the subject of the book was very interesting, especially seeing someone grow up to who he ends up to be in such an inordinary way. I really liked the fact that you didn't get to know everything in the first place and you have to read further to actually learn everything.

All in all, I think this book is definitely worth giving it a try and I wouldn't mind reading it a second time!

4 stars out of 5

Fun thing: The book was written by the same person who wrote the screen play for the film version of one of my favorite musicals, 'Rent'.

other books I read:
- Queer Greer, by A. J. Walkley

books to read until I'm done with the challenge: 25 

30 books challenge #3

I have found the most perfect book in the world and I read it.
I might have talked about it before, but I'll say it again. John Green is one of my very favorite authors I have ever stumbled across. He's not only genuinely brilliant in everything he writes, he's also very funny and overall a nice man (I'm only assuming from what I have seen of him on Vlogbrothers, but that's quite a lot, so I deemed myself able to judge).
Last week, his latest book was published, 'The Fault in Our Stars'.

I'm not going to talk about what this book is about, the only thing I will say is that I have never laughed and cried more in a book before. It is, I dare say, the best book I have ever read in its genre ( young adult literature, in case you are curious). I fell in love right away and placed it right at the top of my list of brilliant books roughly after the first chapter.
I'm not going to review the book like I have done with the first one, basically because it doesn't need it. It is perfect the way it is and I have not even the slightest bit of criticism about it. I love it, dearly and from the bottom of my heart. I have been thinking about taking it back from my shelf and reread it, even though I only finished it a couple of hours ago. I want to carry it around in my bag everywhere I go, as my personal little bible (I'm not going to pray with it, trust me, but it has such a beautiful content, I want to keep it with me everywhere I go).

This book will have all the stars there are in the world, five are way too less to pay it a proper tribute. 


Other books I read:

-Choice, by A.J, Walkley 

books until I'm done with the challenge: 27

30 books challenge #1

I haven't told you here, but just like my friend Ria, I'm going to try myself with the 30 books challenge this year. Basically, you have to read 30 books of your choice withing the next 12 months. I love reading, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm going to review some, if not all of the books I'm going to read, and this post will be the start. Because yesterday, I finished the first book of my list: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner is a YA scifi-book, about a boy called Thomas. He wakes up one day in an elevator, not knowing anything about himself, apart from his name. When the elevator stops, he's greeted by a group of teenage boys, living in the Glade, a community surrounded by nothing but a sky high maze. Over the course of the book, Thomas makes it his mission to solve the maze and find a way out of it, but there seem to be more obstacles than one would have thought...

I'm going to review the book with the help of 4 categories. For each category, the book ca receive 5 points. In the end there will be a result as to how much I liked the book, combining all for criterias.

1. Readabilty: The book is fairly easy to read, there aren't many 'big words' that are hard to understand, even for non-english speaking readers, like me. Still, you have to get used to the 'Glader slang' and some of their words and structures. It's easy to catch uo, though, after a few chapters.

4 of 5 points

2.Structure: The book is devided into many short chapters instead of long ones, which is a definite plus for me. Also, the chapter ends are very well made with many cliffhangers, leaving you on the edge as to what happens next. The last very good thing is the fact that there are no titles to the chapters, which leaves you the possibilty to use your own imagination without having a catch phrase in your head that you cling to.

5 of 5 points

3. Plotline: The book has a very good concept and I really like the idea of it. It is quite innovative, and I have to say I have never read something wuite like that. Still, some parts of it reminded me of the Hunger Games books, but that's not a bad thing, because I believe the series is the best I have read in a very long time, if not ever. Another thing I really liked was that you could get to know the main characters vrey good and that you started feeling with them. A minus is the fact that some things happening were really predicatble, way before it actually happened. Also, I was quite irritated by the fact that one of the main characters was introduced in about chapter 6, but not really set into action until halfway through the book. I found that to be really annoying, because I wanted the plotline around her to be revealed way sooner, and actually, the whole book could have been shortened by a few chapters that really weren't necessary, in my opinion.

3 of 5 points

4. Crave-factor: I had difficulties reading the book at first. I found it to be a pain sometimes, because I bhad the feeling it was just droning on and on, without much actually happening. I had thought about putting it away and not finishing it more than once. I have to say, though, that I'm glad I didn't, because the second half of the book was excellent and I read it in two sittings. Really, would the book have been like that the whole time, it would have been perfect. 

3 of 5 points

End result: 15 of 20 points => 4 of 5 points in whole

Books until I'm done with the challenge: 29