The Reader Problems Book Tag

This tag is old and done but I thought, since I’ve been MIA for a bit with uni work, that I’d let you guys get to know a little bit more about me as a reader. And how better to do that than through a list of questions that everyone’s already answered before me! 



  1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?
     
Well I tend to look at a few things when I’m picking up books to read. Usually I’ll look at what I have on my kindle first. These are my ARCs or paperback reprints that I get through NetGalley and was really interested to read from their synopsis. I’ll usually revisit my shelf and reread synopsis to see if any of those interest me. If not I take a trip to my shelves and pick out what I’m feeling like. Maybe a book I’ve heard lots of hype about, or a new book by one of my favourite authors? Admittedly sometimes I choose the smallest books. Or the ones with the prettiest covers. 

  1. You are half way through a book and you are just not loving it! Do you quit or are you committed?

This question has me a little stumped. Sometimes I read on, other times I simply can’t. I feel bad for leaving books half finished but sometimes I just feel there isn’t enough of a plot to catch onto. However, if I feel there are enough ends to be tied up at the climax of the novel I do tend to read on in the hope that it’ll get better. Sometimes it does and it just takes time to get to. 

  1. The end of the year is coming and you are soooo far behind on your reading challenge. Do you catch up and how?

Hahaha reading challenges. I try and say I want to read 50 books in a year but it never happens. With university I’m trying to be so creative whenever I can, writing and what not, that I find reading tends to be at the back of my mind. I’m hoping it will be less so next year when I’m in a house, away from the noise and hassle of halls, where I can take more time to myself to really read. I think if I was behind I’d try and  catch up by reading novellas and graphic novels. 

  1. The covers of a series do not match! How do you cope. 

I don’t. Plain and simple. If I can’t get a matching cover I feel the need to buy a whole new set. Granted I tend to be so behind on popular series that I can just tend to buy them with their final cover evolution in a set so I tend not to be faced with this issue too often. But I do truly despise cover changes when the original covers are just so so pretty. 

  1. Everyone and their mover like a book that you don’t. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

I tend to just read lots of reviews. I’ll usually find someone who has the same opinions as I do. And I tend to just write honestly on my blog and put it aside. I’ve had this experience before but I’ve never gotten too hung up on it. Sometimes you just don’t like certain books. And that’s okay. 

  1. You are reading a book in public and you are about to cry! What do you do?

Stifle tears as best I can. Locate the nearest bathroom. Cry there. If no toilets are available; grab tissues and just cry it out. If anyone asks you what’s wrong, recommend them the book. If you’re crying, that book has obviously gotten you emotionally invested; it’s a good book. 

  1. A sequel of a book you really like has come out and you have forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Do you reread the book? 

I tend to prefer standalone novels but when I am faced with a sequel or part of a series that I am late to reading I’ll usually try and find a review on youtube or a synopsis somewhere. Usually I’m pretty good at remembering the details of the books I really like and would seek the sequel of, so I don’t think I’d reread. Maybe I’d skip through a couple of chapters towards the end or so. 

  1. You don’t want anyone borrowing your books. How do you politely tell them no?

“Oh uh I’d really rather not. I’m kind of particular with my books and I’d hate to have the spine bent or something like that” 
“But I promise I wouldn’t…."
“Ah but you never know. Really sorry but I can link you to places where you can find it cheaper"

  1. Reading slump! You’ve picked up and put down at least 5 books! What do you do?! 

I try and take myself away from reading all together if I’ve picked up that many. Usually I’ll sit and watch Netflix, take a walk, spend time with friends and family, and do all the other things I can until I become bored of the real world and long for the one between pages. I’ll usually start with a book I know I’ll love, or one of my favourites, just to get me back into the swing of things. 

  1. There are so many books you’re dying to read! Do you buy them all?

I have a note in my phone of all of the books I see when I’m in Waterstones that I can’t buy. If I’m in there I’m usually buying one or two already (only if they’re buy one get one half price) but then I’ll come home and search on amazon or book depository to see if they’re selling them any cheaper. Usually I just wait until birthdays, christmas etc for books. Easter time I got Caitlin Moran’s Moranifesto which I’m slowly working my way through!

  1. After you buy those new books how long till you get round to actually reading them?

Sometimes I’ll start them the same day, other times they’ll sit on my shelf and I won’t read them for a few months, or when I have the time. You’d think if I bought them I’d want to read them straight away, but I already have so many I haven’t yet read!


Thank you so much for sticking with this blog if you’ve been reading for a while. I really appreciate every reader and it’s something I love to do. Thank you!

The End of the World Running Club - Adrian J Walker

“Beliefs are strange. Things of certainty about things uncertain. Take mine for example. I believe there are graves in the field next to the house where I live. I stop at the fence every morning and I look at three lashed crosses standing crooked against the sea, and I believe I know who is buried beneath them. 
But I can’t be sure. So I believe instead. I supposed I could dig them up, but, as I see it, there are only two ways that little enterprise can end and neither of them is particularly palatable. Besides, if you have to go round digging up graves to prove your own sanity then you’ve probably already lost it."



Oh my goodness, where do I start with this one? Well let me just start out with a virtual round of applause for Adrian J Walker for this incredible novel. It’s just joined the list of my favourite novels. And he has others!! They’ll quickly be joining my to be read list. 

So how does one go about defining The End of the World Running Club. Well as the title suggests it is set during and after an asteroid strike; note the "End of the World” part. It follows the protagonist Edgar, or Ed as he is mostly referred to throughout the book who is a 35 year old man living in Edinburgh. He’s got a family; a loving wife called Beth, a daughter Alice and his son Arthur. However he’s not the best. He’s an overweight regular drinker and a very reluctant father. He’s often dreamt about being left in the world on his own, as if the world has ended, but he didn’t expect it to actually happen. 

The family are forced to live in their basement for a couple of weeks before they are rescued and offered refuge in a nearby army barracks just in the nick of time, with the hop that they’ll be picked up by helicopters for evacuation from the UK to somewhere safer. Whilst at the barracks Ed offers to go on salvage runs to find food and other supplies with a few others but on their return they find they’ve just missed their evacuation; left behind by their families. 

This novel follows Ed’s journey, as well as the friends he makes, across the United Kingdom, from Edinburgh to Cornwall, to find his family. It’s a true exploration of what the human mind and body is capable of. 

So, why do I love this novel so much? 

There are a few reasons I could throw out and not talk about in detail but I really want people to understand where my love for this book comes from. So I think I’ll start by looking at some of the characters, because they are phenomenal. 

Ed is the perfect protagonist for a book about a man running across the UK to find his family. He’s overweight and actively seeks to avoid his family when he can. It’s such a complicated situation that he is put in and Walker really uses the first person narration for us to see Ed’s physical and emotional torment throughout. And boy does he go through some rough times. They all do. 

Also, as part of the salvage group, and later the running club, are Richard, Harvey and Bryce. These men are also civilians but all have something to offer Ed. Richard is a father as well and often has Ed’s side when people begin to question his role as a father and his dedication to his family. He’s also lost his wife and therefore feels the same desire as Ed to reach the evacuation point in Cornwall, so that he can be with his son. 

Harvey is the one who teaches Ed how to run effectively. Throughout the novel we hear about his incredibly running adventures and whilst they do seem a little unbelievable at times, it acts as a little comfort to Ed to know that it is possible to cover the 20 miles a day they have to average. He’s also an Australian (if that helps you at all). Thinking a little more about it and looking at Adrian J Walker’s biography the two seem a little similar, I don’t know if this is in fact the case but I’d be interested to know if he took any experiences from his own life when writing for Harvey. 

Bryce is probably my favourite of the male characters purely for how he’s described by Walker; “His eyes twinkled like diamonds from a deep coal pit. His hair was black and long and a beard covered half of his face, all of his neck and what appeared to be a permanent grin.” He’s such an interesting character to me because when we first meet him he’s full of bravado and yet as the novel progresses we see  him start to soften and become more human than “bear” as he’s described by Ed’s daughter, Alice. There was one particular moment where I really began to dislike him, but that was quickly rectified. And that moment was during a conversation with a character called Grimes. 

Laura Grimes is one of the army personnel who is out on the salvage mission when the evacuation helicopters leave. She’s very strong yet has a very kind heart. Bryce tries to intimidate her, asking if she should really be out with them or if she needs protecting and she just hits back with the fact that she’s really protecting him, although she was seriously debating stopping doing so. I think she’s such an interesting character who I really enjoyed reading about. 

There are another two people with them on their salvage trip; Yuill and Henderson. However, I think I’ll let you read about those two for yourself. 

What Walker has done incredibly well as far as I’m concerned as a reader, is create really well rounded characters who carry the plot with them. Even the secondary characters are fleshed out to a point where you almost want to read more about them. For example they meet a teenage single mum called Gloria with her new born Sofia and I wanted to read about how her life changed after the asteroids hit. The same with Rupert who they meet at Bartonmouth Hall. And I even wanted to read more about Jenny Rae (who is by far one of the most terrifying people in this novel). Every single person has a flaw but also has something they’re working towards. No one is completely good or completely evil. Often times you can find yourself sympathising with someone you know you shouldn’t because you understand their actions. 

Additionally, what I love most is that this is a novel set in the UK. I love novels set in Britain. To me they just mean so much more because understand the geography of where they are and how far it is to get from A to B. Even more importantly with this novel was to understand the devastation of the place. To find out London has essentially become a giant crater made me understand the level of destruction that had been caused and how many people must have died or been injured in that one asteroid hit. It also allows me to have a good indication of the scale of the task at hand. Whilst I can claim to know how large America is from one side to the other, I don’t. It’d be harder for me to get my head around that scale than it is for me to do so with the place I currently live it. The well crafted devastation really meant that the novel was full of unexpected twists. I learnt that in an end of the world situation, don’t rely on finding a car. Because even if you do it might not get you very far. And stay away from the coastline if possible. Sometimes it’ll have become swamp like. 

The novel’s themes are obvious ones such as endurance and family, but there is also an undercurrent of love. Whether it’s love for themselves or the longing for or rejection of love, Walker covers it all. In this desolate place that has been created, there is nothing quite so heartbreaking as seeing someone long for the love of another and be rejected, or to discover someone’s love just too late. Pair that with the exhaustion and hunger that you feel alongside the characters who have to struggle through this wasteland, meeting all kinds of people and battling, at times, with each other, this novel becomes incredibly overwhelming in places. The ending of this novel feels as though it should be the happiest ending to a story that there could be. A clichéd reunion between Ed and his family, Bryce finding someone he can love as much as he loves himself or alcohol, and Richard finding his son. I’m not going to tell you the exact ins and outs because I’m not a spoiler of books unless asked specifically. But just be prepared with a box of tissues. In fact I’d have them there from the start. 

Yet what Walker has done so well is juxtapose these dark times with humour, either in the form of Bryce's excitement about finding miniatures of alcohol, to just conversations that they have. The way that Walker writes, utilising the first person, is incredibly engaging and made me want to continue reading. The narrative voice was something that, in fact, kept me going. This, with the characters and the plot line itself, is really one of the reasons it's one of my new favourite books.

This novel taught me a lot about my own self too. I learnt that I can be resilient and can conquer that inner voice that says that I can’t do it. I learnt that, especially in running, it’s better to take smaller steps and make smaller decisions, all of which amount to one larger outcome. I feel that I have learnt so much about human strength and the capability to survive when the worst happens whilst building friendships and keeping each other strong. It’s going to be one I reread when I need to remember that not everything is so bad and that there’s always a positive to what seems like the end of the world. 

Total pages - 464
Total read time -  Untimed
Rating /10 - 8.5/9

Recommend - Yes

Also, once you've read it. Go back and reread the first chapter of the book again. Realise all of the things that you didn't originally and revel in the feeling that you now know something you didn't before. You won't regret it. 

Buffering

I don’t usually write personal lifestyle-esque blog posts on here but I feel like right now I need to. I could disguise this as a piece of fiction but I don't think I can. What I'm experiencing is affecting my every day and I’m not reading as much as I would like to. This is because I’m buffering.

Buffering is how I like to talk about my struggle with depression and anxiety. It’s the feeling of having to stop whilst everyone else moves forward. Imagine watching a youtube video with a friend and their’s continues to move on whilst yours stops loading for a few seconds so you’re constantly behind. That’s what I’ve always felt my depression to be like. 

I’ve been medicated since August 2015, so not very long in the grand scheme of things. I know people who have been on tablets for way longer than I have but this for me was a struggle in itself. I didn’t want to admit that I needed help. I just thought I was in a dark patch that was due to hormones and it would pass. This was what happened to every teenager right? Everyone’s stressed and down at times and it just passes?

Well, I took some time to really research what I was experiencing and discovered, thanks to the NHS online test, that I could be diagnosed with depression and generalised anxiety. When I went to the doctors that was what it was and I was offered counselling or tablets. At the time I felt so much stigma attached to my depression that I couldn’t face counselling, so took the tablet option instead and that’s where I’ve been ever since. 

There have been two occasions where I’ve stopped taking my tablets at university. The first I forgot to renew my prescription due to exams and my christmas holiday. The second has been in the last few weeks and I don’t think I’ve ever felt worse about the best time of my life. 

I’ve recently got a new boyfriend, been to an anime and comic book convention and even been told that I’ll be having two of my original poems published in an anthology by my university, yet everything feels like I’m buffering still. Not taking my tablets has not helped. Any doctor you talk to about mental health medications will tell you that you shouldn’t stop taking them without discussing it with your doctor first, yet I’m prone to forgetfulness. However what hit me today was that I’m sick of seeing things in black and white; I want to see the world in technicolour. Much like Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz, I want to leave this hurricane and step into a bright new world of opportunity where I can make friends again and enjoy life. 

I just want people to know that mental health issues are not something to be shy about. If you’re not happy, go and speak to a professional. They will be able to help you to come to terms with the issues that you may be going through, or the effects you may be feeling on your body. They may not be severe to begin with but they are better to be treated early than left to manifest. Linked below are some really good websites for mental health issues that you might want to investigate. 

Mind: For Better Mental Health

SANE: Together We Can #StopStigma

YoungMinds: The Voice for Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing

Blurt: Increasing Awareness and Understanding of Depression

And there is also this wonderful list of websites and phone numbers produced by the NHS


Please remember that you’re alive in this world for a reason. You are incredibly special. You are loved. And you’re never alone. You do not have to suffer in silence. 

RE: The Imagination of the Child

This blog post could also be entitled, “Why Samantha Shannon is right”. I was reading through the Guardian in search of some feature articles for my second year research and I came across a title which read “Why the headteacher who believes reading Harry Potter causes mental illness is wrong”. In this article written by Samantha Shannon she discusses a blog post written by The Acorn School’s headmaster, Graeme Whiting called “The Imagination of the Child". I wanted to to do the same. 

So what Whiting’s post is trying to say here is that children’s minds should be protected from “negative experiences”. He suggests that this should be done until they’re 14 at least and then they can slowly “move towards conscious thought as adulthood looms”. It’s a very interesting subject, that of protecting the minds of children, yet I’m not in any sort of agreement with Whiting here. I think that whilst, yes, some of the darkest things should be kept from children in order not to encumber them in life, children need to learn how to talk about difficult issues that may arise. I’m not saying let a 8 year old read “Room” by Emma Donoghue, but there are certain elements that arise, particularly in fantastical fiction, where they can actually help a child’s development. 

One of the series he mentions is Harry Potter. This book series, like to many others, is very near and dear to my heart. It helped me through a lot of tough times and gave me some much needed friends from time to time. So to hear Whiting talk about how children should leave these books until they have “first learned to love beauty” hurts me. A lot. I think that fantasy fiction is best enjoyed as a child. They are full of fun and fantasy which is incredible to read as a child. It was also what got me into reading! I also can’t see how, in any way, reading a Harry Potter novel could “damage the sensitive subconscious brains of young children.” 

Sticking with Harry Potter as an example here, I think that Whiting has missed a key issue. Books can be used as therapy, especially when looking at the darker matter. There is a guide book written by Kathryn Markell called “The Children Who Lived”. In this it uses literary references in order to help grieving children and adolescents. Harry Potter is a key component of this book because it does deal throughout with Harry’s loss of his parents and what he has to live up to. It allows a child to then relieve their grief and talk about it more openly because they’re using literature as a stepping stone to recovery. Without something like this they may not be able to talk about it as well with counsellors and therefore be stuck in a cycle of thinking they should have done something or they could have stopped it, which could leave them more severely mentally ill. 

Furthermore, Whiting states that he “stands for the old-fashioned values of traditional literature, classical poetry, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Dickens, Shakespearean plays, and the great writes who will still be read in future years”. Samantha Shannon makes a very good point in her article about "Titus Andronicus", a Shakespearean play which by all means should mean, to Whiting, that it is perfectly acceptable for children to read. The daughter of Titus,  Lavinia, is raped and then has her hands and tongue removed so that she can’t tell anyone. She is murdered by her own father out of shame for her being raped. I personally love that Shannon tries to find a Harry Potter equivalent which is near impossible, settling for Wormtail cutting off his hand, although she admits “it’s not quite in the same league”. 

I just want to mention a couple of other Shakespeare plays, whilst I’m here. "Romeo and Juliet” has three people stabbed in duels, Romeo drinks poison, Juliet stabs herself and Romeo’s mother dies of a broken heart. In “Hamlet” almost everyone is stabbed or poisoned apart from the people who die off stage who are beheaded or drown themselves. And in "Macbeth" just pretty much everyone dies. I think what Whiting wants us to think about are the comedies of Shakespeare, but even in those there are elements wherein they can be tense which could be said to torment a child. 

Additionally, lets talk about Dickens shall we. “Oliver Twist”, wherein a child is in a workhouse without family, is sold to the local undertaker who beats him before he runs away to London. He ends up in the company of pickpocketing homeless boys but on one of his pickpocketing jobs he is taken in by a rich man because of how much he looks like a young woman he has a portrait of. However he’s taken from this place by Bill Sikes and his lover Nancy and told he’ll go and burgle the place where he’d stayed. Oliver is shot but then taken in by the people who live there. If this currently isn’t enough of a tough time for a child reading it, I can’t imagine what they’d think when they read about Sike’s brutal murder of Nancy or that he inadvertently hangs himself on his escape mission. 

Classical literature isn’t all light and beautiful as Whiting would have parents of his school children believe. I feel that whilst classics are interesting to read they aren’t the be all and end all of beauty. I do not have a favourite book that could be classed as a classic. Additionally, I feel that when children are forced into reading classical literature it almost instantly kills their love of reading. I have had to talk to so many young adults who have just finished their A - Levels or their first year of university and many have said they’re just getting back into reading because they’re not being forced to read anything. Whilst I understand that Whiting may believe that beauty may only lie within the pages of classical literature, I implore him to read more. I think more than anything within his post the idea of having read all he wanted to before he was 30 hurt me the most. I can’t imagine having read everything I wanted in the next 10 years. There is always more. There are new classics to be made. New beauty to discover within new book pages. There is so much more to the world of literature than middle aged white men. 

Whilst I’m here too, Whiting talks about how children are “magnetised by the colourful and graphic attraction of the new book cover”. Yes. That’s because there are so many books that if you’re ever going to find something new it needs to stand out. I have picked up many a great book because of it’s eye catching cover. There’s nothing to say that this is wrong, sir. I’d also like to say he's wrong in suggesting that “authors don’t really care who reads what”. Ask any author of young adult fiction if they care about their audience. I’m almost certain that every single one would say yes. Because they’re writing to better the modern child. They’re writing to open children up to modern issues and creating a safe way for them to discuss issues which I think is incredible and something that Whiting is missing out on. 


He concludes his blog post by saying “beware the devil in the text! Choose beauty for your young children!” I can’t remember the last time the devil was mentioned in a novel I read. I can’t remember the last time I picked up a fantasy, or contemporary novel and didn’t think “wow this is beautiful”. What Grahame Whiting is trying to do here is say that classical literature is better than contemporary literature or that which lies in the fantastical realms of the imagination. Allow your children to explore and examine the world around them through different eyes. Allow your child to pick a book they think they’ll enjoy and if they’re young read it with them and don’t allow them to be ignorant. Discuss issues with them. Allow them to be free to read and enjoy reading. For after all, understanding yourself and the world around you is the most beautiful thing of all, isn’t it?

Shakespeare and Me - Important Decisions

Now I and many others can vouch for this. Learning Shakespeare quotes is the hardest thing in the world when you’re not sure which quotes you actually want to use. As fabulous as it is to know whole soliloquy’s and conversations but really they’re only good as party tricks amongst scholars. I know I’ve never made a friend over my knowledge of the beginning of Hamlet’s “to be or not to be”. So what are the most important things to think about when shakespeare revision time comes around. 

  1. Theme
It’s important to know what quotes are linked to which theme, or themes. This way if you get a question such as religion, conflict, hypocrisy etc. you’ll have a whole list of quotations you can rifle through to really bulk out your essay. 

  1. Length
Keep your quotes short. There is nothing worse than trying to remember long quotations. For example if we relate back to the last Shakespeare and Me, where I wrote about some of my favourite quotes, rather than writing out “forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum”, you could simply say that Hamlet uses the hyperbole of “forty thousand brothers” to show how much more he loved Ophelia than her brother. Keeping quotes short is vital to markers as well as they don’t want to see how well you can remember quotes, although it feels like it. They want to see that you can use these quotes and show a real depth of understanding about how they relate to a theme or concept. 

  1. Context
Know your quotes in context. There’s no good using a fabulous quote if you don’t know where about in the play it comes from. This is because perhaps quotes may have a different meaning depending on how a character is feeling in a particular moment. Additionally this can often link to the theme as in one scene a quote may link to one theme whereas it could easily mean something else in another scene. This sounds far more complicated than it really should be. Essentially the key is to know where about in the play the quote is said and...

  1. Who said it?
If you’re about to say that so and so said such a line when actually it was said by another can really lose you marks in a paper. It’s really important when looking a themes like conflict as it shows your knowledge of who is in a more powerful position. Additionally getting a quote wrong can put you in bad stead for the rest of the paper as you can continuously think that that character is in fact saying those lines when it is another character entirely. This is something that happens mostly with minor characters who don’t have large roles in multiple scenes, yet mostly they have a lot of important things to say and therefore should not be disregarded and their names should be learnt.
 

So there are a few tips on how to choose your quotations. Now how do you go about learning them? This was something I struggled with when I was in sixth form as I had to memorise two plays worth of quotes and poetry as well! And then my teacher told me that Hamlet was the longest of Shakespeare’s plays and I almost had a breakdown. But here are a few of my top tips. 

  1. Flash cards are your friends
Indeed they are! Flash cards made my life so much easier when I was learning quotes. On one side I had my quotes, on the other side their meanings, split off into act and scene. Every day I would take a stack of these to school with me and flick through them when I had a spare few moments. 

  1. Repetition
Repeating your quotes may get boring, but it’s worth it. Even if you do it with friends, where one of you starts off a quote and the rest of you finish it. It can be made into a game but at the same time you are learning quotes. Maybe even if one of you said a quote and the other said where it was from and who said it. It’s all about repeating key quotations to get them stuck in your brain. 

  1. Practise 
When I say practise I mean practise writing essays. Every exam board has a load of past papers with questions for you to practise with. Some even have a corresponding mark scheme so you can have a look at how  you did. What this does is give you the opportunity of practising how to use your quotations in context with the linguistic analysis and historical context. 


These are my tips for picking and learning quotes for Shakespeare essays. I’m hoping to do a whole post soon about the historical context for Shakespeare and some more about the period in which he was writing. Maybe also when I get home to all my notes I can have a dig out of all of my old work and show you how I structured and wrote my old essays. If you have anything else you’d like to see in this series do let me know! 

The Bombs That Brought Us Together - Brian Conaghan

It was hard to remain silent. I tried. I really did, but my breathing kept getting louder as I gasped for clean air. My body was trembling, adding noise to the silence. Mum pulled me closer to her, holding tight. Dad cuddled us both. Three spoons under one duvet. With the summer heat and us huddled together the smell wasn’t amusing. I shifted about. 
“Shhh,” Dad whispered. “Try not to make a sound."
Mum kissed the back of my neck. Her wheezing chest blew out little puffs of air on to my head. “It’s OK, Charlie, everything’s going to be alright,” she said. 
“Promise?” I said. 
“Promise.” Mum said. 



I had high hopes for this book, and for the most part I was happy with what I read from Conaghan. On the Bloomsbury website where there’s a whole host of information on this book, and on NetGalley where I got my copy from it stated that it would be perfect for readers who enjoyed Patrick Ness, John Boyne and Malorie Blackman. Now if you’ve been following this blog for the year that it’s been running you may have noticed that I am a huge fan of Patrick Ness’ work. I wanted this book to live up to those high standards that I have in place for young adult novels. 

“The Bombs That Brought Us Together” follows Charlie Law who lives in Little Town, which is on the border of Old Country. They are under a regime in Little Town where there’s a curfew and other such rules put in place for what is assumed to be their safety. Charlie then meets a boy around his age called Pavel (Pav) Duda who is a refugee from Old Country. His family have left the troubles there in order to live what they believe to be a better life in Little Town. However things slowly start to crumble around the two boys, which culminates in the dropping of bombs and the infiltration of Old Country soldiers. 

Now when I read the synopsis of this book before I requested it I was so excited. I love reading about societies that differ from my own and how they function, as well as having a really keen interest in cultural differences. When I saw this novel focusses on a refugee I was overwhelmingly excited to read it. What I discovered was that actually, Little Town is essentially England. In an interview that Conaghan did for Bloomsbury Publishing he said that he was inspired by what happened in Crimea and how refugees, mainly children and their mothers sought refuge in England. I felt that through the very British colloquialisms in the language that I was maybe too involved in the story. Usually I don’t have an issue with such but in the context of this story I felt that I needed to understand Little Town and Old Country as two very different places from where I was, so that then I could choose which pieces of the story I wanted to take away and say that I understood that that was something that England was currently experiencing. I think that this may not be a problem to most people, but I felt that the use of terms such as “scran” and “eejit” which are both British colloquialisms made it almost too specific rather than general as the two place names would suggest. 

However I felt that the characters were incredibly well written. The dialogue, if you disregard my previous concern about the colloquialisms, is very natural and therefore seemingly real. I can imagine many people reading the conversations through and realising that they themselves may have said them. The character of Pav is probably one of the characters I liked most and this was purely through Conaghan’s characterisation. His use of dialogue and the broken English gave me a great sense of his confusion around the world and I could imagine being in his shoes, moving to somewhere where you didn’t know the “lingo”. Yet for me, Charlie Law wasn’t the best character. He had some characterisation yet I didn’t really know what he stood for. I wouldn’t have wanted him on my side during an argument as he seemed a little too weak to really stand up for what he believed in, and all of the things he really wanted to say weren’t ever said. Also he relationship with Erin F is something that confused me entirely. I’m almost 90% sure I’m right in saying that Charlie is only meant to be 14/15 years old in this novel, so it confused me that he was so sexually aware. In places, particularly talking about the use of the shed, he makes comments about Erin F which he distracts himself from but I’m pretty sure this is suggesting a sexual relationship with her. I feel that in places Charlie was written as older than he actually is which could be a societal comment about how war makes you grow up incredibly quickly, yet for me it stood out as a strange step back from the character. 

Erin F however is a great character in this book. She stands for the stereotypical female role I believe. She’s the pretty girl who is the love interest which could be seen as a cliché yet she is strong enough to speak her mind, especially regarding the Old Country hospital where she has to take her mum. We’re never told what’s wrong with her mum specifically yet at the end of the novel there’s a reference to Erin F shaving her head to support her mum which makes me think that perhaps it is cancer, although this isn’t specified. What I love most about Erin F is how she’s so dedicated to looking after her mother and no regime or old country infiltrator is going to stand in her way of doing that. 

Marcy Lewis was also another female character that I enjoyed reading about and wished had been more of a part of the story. I feel that Mercy had a lot more to offer as a character than what was actually given to us as readers. She initially starts out as a love interest for Pav, showing his vulnerable side and showing that not everyone hates people from Old Country, which is fine. I didn’t mind this actually as I felt that she was a really sweet character and I wanted her and Pav to be together from the moment that I heard about her. Yet later in the book she begins to really develop and discuss the politics of the Old Country Vs Little Town battle and she makes an incredible case for the fact that before, under the Little Town regime, that they wouldn’t have been able to talk about how they really felt living there, but now they were able to do so freely. I think that I would’ve personally preferred more of Mercy Lewis throughout the novel, just to maybe give a little more background to the whole situation from a more political standpoint. 

There are three characters in this novel who I really dislike. Two come as a package. Max and Bones are meant to be disliked. They’re the bullies at Charlie and Pav’s school, who ultimately fear what they don’t know, that being Old Country and by association they hate Pav. These two are, whilst being horrible people, a great source of comic relief at least during a couple of scenes where Bones is really unable to make up an argument of his own so simply copies Max’s comments in a slightly more dumbed down manner. I think this a great exploration of how people copy what they’re told by others who are trying to scaremonger them. 

The Big Man is the other character I’m not truly a fan of. I don’t know if I just don’t see how he really fits into the whole story and therefore have missed out on the key reason for why he’s such a great character, but honestly I cannot pin point a single reason for really having him there. Honestly I feel that he could’ve been taken out and the whole story could’ve continued regardless, with a little more focus on the politics. He’s meant to be a leader within the regime, with eyes and ears all over the place and yet he doesn’t seem to have a grip on the infiltrators who are known for taking his guys in and torturing them until they spill his secrets. Additionally I feel that he may have been written in as purely a test for Charlie’s strength and assertiveness, yet in no part does Charlie stand up to The Big Man. I wish that Charlie had before the very end of the novel. 

I think this novel had a lot of potential to show the effects of a war on refugees and the people they befriend. I like the idea of the regime and the strict boundaries that are put up in order to protect and I enjoyed to see how those changed. What I struggled with though was how some of the characters fitted in and how the pacing of the novel allowed it all to play out. I felt that everything moved almost too quickly for my own liking towards the end as I feel like I missed out on certain pieces of information. The themes are really important to this piece and yet I feel like I missed out on a few of them towards the end. Charlie and Pav’s friendship despite country of origin is inspiring and something I enjoyed having a focus on, additionally I loved the focus on how the families are both treated and react between each other. Yet what we lost was the control of the parents which once again made Charlie and Pav appear older than they actually were. 

All in all towards the end I found myself caring more about Charlie’s mum and her inhaler than I did about his work for The Big Man. I wanted to have more about Pav and his life back home rather than him just complaining about where he is now. And I really just wanted more of an exploration of how society built itself back up after the devastation of the bombs. After all, this novel is called “The Bombs That Brought Us Together”. 

Total pages - 320
Total read time -  4.5 hours
Rating /10 - 5
Recommend - Maybe

Brian Conaghan interview for Bloomsbury Publishing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7x4hGGr8ks

Shakespeare and Me - Quotes Quotes and More Quotes

Shakespeare is known for having some of the most frequently quoted work. Whether we were forced to learn quotes like I was for my A Level English Literature course, or we just say things that we don’t realise are quotes at all, we have adopted Shakespeare into our lives as a great author and poet. Yet I feel that we are taught to learn the same old quotes over and over; the “to be or not to be” and “Romeo Romeo where for art thou Romeo”’s. Shakespeare’s language is so rich and vibrant that there is almost a quote for every situation you may find yourself in. For this post I really want to shine a light onto some of the lesser known quotes, give them a little bit of context and maybe even dive into a little bit of the use of language. 

Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting
Henry V - The Dauphin Act 2 Scene 4

This is set when the men of the King of France are heading off to battle with the English. The Dauphin, the kings son, is suggesting in this quote that the King should stand his ground and that he should not be timid when facing the oncoming battle with the English. In this context, self love could be seen as the act of winning this and reclaiming the lands that are supposedly his, whilst self neglecting would be to lose the lands he already has to King Henry. Additionally what Shakespeare is doing here is really characterising The Dauphin during this one simple line. He  is shown to be caring of his own self and that can be seen as being self indulgent which has been once or twice before called the root of all evil because humans become self idolatry. This goes against the ideas presented in the bible that “you shall have no other God before me” and “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” This would have been well known by the people attending Shakespeare’s play, which would simply highlight the fact that The Dauphin is the central instigator of the conflict throughout Henry V. 

Forty Thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum
Hamlet - Hamlet Act 5 Scene 1 

This is by far one of my favourite Shakespeare quotes of all time. Hamlet has come across Ophelia’s grave during her funeral where he fights with Laertes, declaring this line to him after they have been pulled apart. Up until this moment the audience are left confused as to their relationship as Hamlet draws her close and then pushes her aside as he dissolves into madness trying to discover if it was indeed his uncle who murdered his father. This outburst however is what really draws Claudius, his uncle, and Gertrude, his mother, who decide that he is in fact mad. What I love so much about this quotation is that is is using a hyperbole in such a way that if you read it out of context you can still determine the tone in which it would be said. It’s one of the ways in which Shakespeare really heightens the tension throughout this ending act as Ophelia’s death is what puts a definite break in Laertes and Hamlet’s relationship. They are never truly friendly throughout but this is where their conflict becomes more serious and eventually deadly. I think this quotation is beautiful and it’s one I remember so clearly for it’s pure sense of agony. 

I wonder that you will still be talking, Signor Benedick, Nobody marks you 
What, my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living?
Much Ado About Nothing - Beatrice and Benedick Act 1 Scene 1 

There’s something marvellous about this being the first real meeting between Beatrice and Benedick that we see. Beatrice is essentially telling Benedick that he may as well stop talking because no one is listing to him and he replies simply by noting that she isn’t dead yet. It’s humorous as these two characters play off each other exceedingly well. They bicker and make jokes at the others expense but it is all to cover up their feelings for one another. It’s actually incredibly hard to pick out one line in particular from this play as every line is humorous or well written and I particularly enjoy the dialogue between Beatrice and Benedick purely for the undertones of love throughout the hate. Also by calling her Lady Disdain, Benedick is really saying that is feels he may not be worthy of her whilst knowing that she dislikes him greatly. It’s a harsh joke to make, that she is contemptible and therefore wholly unlovable, and yet we know that this is just the way in which they interact. 

If you were men, as men you are in show, you would not use a gentle lady so to vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts, where I am sure you hate me with your hearts. 
A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Helena Act 3 Scene 2

What I love about this quote is just how defiant Helena is. She’s really standing up for how Lysander and Demetrius are treating her in this scene. She knows that she is second to Hermia, particularly in Demetrius’ eyes, and yet he is complimenting her as if she is Hermia. What Helena is saying here is that they are taking advantage of her good nature to make promises and praise her beauty when she knows that they do not love her. What Hermia is saying here speaks for many women across all nations and I for one have felt this way before, particularly in regard to feeling that I am being duped because I know someone doesn’t quite love me. Not quite in the same sense as this, for Demetrius has been given the eye drops by Oberon. This quote can be used as a contemporary quote for all sorts of man based issues. 

Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue. Look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.
Macbeth - Lady Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5

Lady Macbeth is instructing Macbeth on what he must do when he meets the king. What she is saying is that he should be kind and endearing yet under that pretence he should be aware of his end goal. I love this quote because of the imagery of the flower and the serpent. This is something that Shakespeare uses often in his plays. The serpent links to the biblical imagery of the serpent that leads Eve to sin. At the time of the original production, people would all be knowledgable of the bible and its teachings which makes this image even more vivid as the audience are aware of the eventual sinning of Macbeth. 



Shakespeare’s language has always been something that we’ve used regularly, meaningfully or not, and these are just a few of the lesser known quotes that I have found and really loved. Most of these can be used, if you really want to show off, in your every day life because who doesn’t want to tell someone that “nobody marks you”? or advocate “self-love” for it is “not so vile a sin as self-neglecting”?
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