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Joelene

 

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown – Holly Black

Entire cities blocked off to control world-wide vampiric outbreaks. A girl wakes up to find that all of her friends are dead. Now she has no choice but to enter a Coldtown.

 

Bitterwood Bible – Angela Slatter

A strange and deadly man wanders the pages of this book of overlapping short stories, destroying anything in his path.

 

How the Light Gets In – Louise Penny

Almost a cosy mystery but with more political scope and scandal than any I’ve read before.

 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor

Doors that only open from the inside and lead to places that you would never imagine. This novel has immense and mind-blowing imagination in its world-building.

 

All Our Yesterdays – Cristin Terrill

Would you go back in time to kill the one person you had loved all of your life? If it meant saving the world? A fun time-travel novel that actually deals with some serious ethical issues.

Most Anticipated

I admit I haven’t kept up with books that much this year, and I have a massive TBR pile at home so next year most of the ones I’m looking forward to are already out.

 

Darkest Part of the Forest – Holly Black

I don’t even know what it’s about. It’s Holly Black and usually that’s enough.

 

Unmade – Sarah Rees Brennan

The third in the Lynburn Legacy trilogy. Though the second in the series wasn’t amazing, I have great hopes for this one.

 

Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch

This is one that I’ve been seeing around for ages as well as having customers recommend it. Hearing that Lynch has Pirate Queens sealed the deal.

 

The Monogram Murders – Sophie Hannah

I’m a massive Agatha Christie fan so when I heard that Sophie Hannah was writing a new Hercule Poirot, I was sceptical. I really like Hannah’s writing style though and, when I read the blurb, I knew I had to have it.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters – Laini Taylor

The first two were great, so my expectations for the final are high. It helps that Bel enjoyed it so much too.

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The Fault in Our Stars

By John Green

(or, reading outside your comfort zone)

Here at Escape Club, each year we write up a wrap of our top five reads. It’s normally something I really enjoy; going back through my bookshelves and lists of reviews, sorting which of the dozens of books read will make my own list. Unfortunately, 2014 was a bit of a dud reading year for me. You know when you just can’t seem to find that book that grabs you? Or you read the first hundred or so pages of one novel, only to be distracted by something else (ooh, shiny!) and not end up completing either of them? Well yeah, that was me this year, with only a couple of exceptions.

And one BIG exception.

I spent a lot of hours on aeroplanes this year when we travelled to the United States from Melbourne. I watched a LOT of movies on those planes – all from my usual genre of choice, which captures my book taste too. Malificent. Godzilla. The latest X Men and Planet of the Apes movies. Movies about time-travelling detectives and a heap of superheroes. Get the picture? I’m a speculative fiction gal, through and through. I don’t like watching or reading about real life, I already live that. I want fantasy and horror, science fiction and action on my entertainment menu.

And then, on the final leg of our trip home from Hawaii, I clicked the button to watch the film adaptation of John Green’s uber-selling novel, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’. I saved it ’til last because a/ not my thing, b/ it would bore me into sleep and quicken the ten hour flight, and c/ not my thing again. I was wrong. I sobbed and laughed out loud and sobbed again. It was mortifyingly embarrassing. I had to cover my face, wiping away the black-mascara tears with Qantas napkins, not able to speak to my family or the aircraft crew. And still, I couldn’t turn it off. As we disembarked at Sydney for our connecting flight to Melbourne, my sister-in-law, Kerrie (who was seated a couple of rows back from me) said: “Omg, can you tell I’ve been crying? I just watched that movie, that Fault in Our Stars”. Yep, her too.

So of course, I had to read the book. Just to you know, see which was better. I needed to know how the author, John Green, had created such beautiful characters in Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters – two teenage cancer patients – to be so witty, so clever and yet never whiny or precocious. I wanted to know if the movie was a fluke or if the book could evoke that sort of emotion from me as well. Of course, like everyone in the Western World, I’d seen The Fault in Our Stars on display in every bookshop and department store for months beforehand. I refused to buy it. Too commercial for my tastes. Too mainstream. Too soppy. Too real-life.

I’ve never, ever been so wrong. And I’m very happy to admit it.

I loved the novel version, knocking it over in two sittings and keeping me up until 2am to finish. The only reason I put it down at any time was to reach for another tissue. I forced my Mum and BFF to read it NOW with the threat of not speaking to them until they had (they did. And loved it too) Of course, I knew what happens, there were no surprises or twists for me – the movie keeps pretty close to the book – but still, Hazel and Gus’s story of love and commitment through all that is thrown at them kept me entranced. And the writing – oh, the writing! John Green the most incredible way of playing with words and tugging at your heartstrings. While the story is told from terminally-ill Hazel’s point of view, we’re not left wondering what might be going on inside the delicious mind of her beloved Gus either. These two characters could easily become boring Mary-Janes (too perfect) but they are so full of faults and imperfections, and in Hazel’s own words: Cancer Perks to be anything of the sort. Against all my preconceived ideas, they completely won me over.

If you’re one of the few people out there yet to read The Fault in Our Stars, or see the movie, sorry, but I won’t be handing out spoilers here. You MUST read it. Or at the very least, SEE it. The film adaption, while of course not quite being as amazing as the book, captures Hazel and Gus so well. Starring Divergent’s Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace and the kinda quirky Ansel Elgort as Augustus Waters, amongst a slew of well-known actors, John Green’s characters really are brought to life.

So the moral of my story? Well, besides the fact that you must run out right now and jump straight into this very real, very funny and painful world, don’t be scared to read outside your preferred genre. You might surprise yourself, like I did. Go on, be adventurous. If you normally read science fiction, give a bit of crime fiction a go. Fantasy lover? Try some hard core space opera. Horror more your style? Who says you won’t enjoy a little high fantasy. You just never know.

 

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Anyone else noticed that some of our favourite YouTubers are coming out with books lately? Here’s just a few to get you started.

Grace Helbig of the YouTube channel It’s Grace is a ‘tell it like it is’ comedian and her book Grace’s Guide: The Art of Pretending will be out later this year. She also co-hosted the Streamy awards this year with our second entry.

Hannah Hart of MyHarto with her book My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking, and Going with Your Gut. My Drunk Kitchen is already available overseas. ***Under age or irresponsible drinking is not condoned by any of the Escape Club team.

Zoe Sugg of the channel Zoella has her book Girl Online coming soon.

Her OTL Alfie Deyes of Pointless Blog has a fun activity book, The Pointless Book, out now. I love that the by-line says ‘Started by Alfie Deyes finished by you’.  His signings have been just a little insane. He gets more hits on his videos than the BBC gets on some of its most highly-rated programs.

ItsWayPastMyBedTime  aka Carrie Fletcher (yep, the little sister of Tom Fletcher, the guy who did the best wedding speech ever). Not only does she spend her working life as Eponine from Les Miserables, but she’s also coming out with a real page turner next year called All I Know Now.

And for our picture book lovers, that Tom Fletcher guy mentioned above has a picture book series called The Dinosaur That Pooped . I dunno about you, but I think there’ll be a few little boys happy to be reading something like that.

If I’ve missed any that you know of, put them in the comments. Oh, and remember to link both their book and their channel.

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Jamie’s Japanophile Blog – Part 2 – First week in Tokyo

Our first week in Tokyo was action-packed to say the least.

On our first real day in Tokyo we headed to Harajuku: a part of the city well known for its alternative fashion culture, but also for its historical importance.

As we got there early in the day, we headed straight up to the Meiji Shrine. The shrine and its grounds, once the land of a local lord, take up a large part of the surrounding area and comprise of a long forested path up towards the shrine that include many beautiful Torii gates (usually large wooden gates that signify the entrance to a Shinto shrine).

The shrine itself, dedicated to the Emperor Meiji who was the first modern emperor of Japan and one of the main figures in the modernization of Japan in the 19th century, is an impressive series of treasure houses, shrines, and courtyards.

On the walk to Harajuku proper we bumped into a man who had set up what was essentially a mobile cat café with five cats just relaxing in a stroller. He allowed them to be patted for 100 (about a dollar) yen for as long as you wanted. We of course took the opportunity to get some cat time and take pictures.

We quickly discovered that Harajuku has changed since its heyday as an alternative hotspot. As with many places, once it got too well known, the crowds of alternative kids have moved on and been replaced with hipsters and American tourists.

It was still pretty fun to see all the fun little fashion stores around the place, and discover that Japan’s love of crepes has yet to wane. We even saw our first few Japanese with facial piercings and tattoos, which is a change from most of Tokyo.

We quickly moved on to Tokyo proper, which is a huge town but eerily quiet for somewhere so big. At the end of the day we discovered that the lack of people was due to it being a public holiday and so no-one was really working.

As such we took advantage of the quiet and wandered up to the site of the Tokyo Imperial Palace gardens. A massive and beautiful site right in the middle of one of the world’s biggest cities.

To round off the evening we ventured into Akihabara. This place is true nerd central and home of the famed Otaku culture.

Even on a public holiday, every street is packed with bright neon, Jpop music, young men and women beckoning people into maid cafés and anime stores, and the luring songs of so many wonderful things to look at and buy.

The next day we headed out of Tokyo for a day trip to Nikko. Partly to see some proper autumn colours and partly to see some of the amazing sights it holds.

And boy did we get colour. The mountain was spotted with deep reds and shining gold in between the evergreens.

The main and most amazing sight however was up the mountain a little ways. The final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man responsible for establishing peace amongst the warring clans of Japan for nearly three centuries and paving the way for the modern way of life here.

The complex is incredible and awe inspiring. We were both nearly overcome by the feeling of reverence and importance of this site, so was the impact of getting to walk through something of such historic significance.

During the next day, we decided to go for a run around in Tokyo for a bit. So first off we jumped into the famed Tsukiju fish market. We arrived well after the rush of the morning (we got in about 10am) but we still saw plenty of bustle.

And boxes of octopus…

After an amazing sushi breakfast we headed south and ended up in the Hama Rikyu gardens. A sprawling garden with beautiful gardens with views of Tokyo through the foliage…

…and friendly cats who are happy to curl up next to you in the sunshine….

…and a wonderful little teahouse where we had proper Japanese tea and sweets with a beautiful view over the park.

And only a few blocks further south we ended up in the Tokyo Pokemon Center. A haven for my inner child who went more than a little crazy buying merchandise from my childhood…

…And going crazy fanboy at the Charizard hanging from the ceiling.

Our final night in Tokyo was pretty relaxed. We spent a while running around in Asakusa, picking up souvenirs, and getting packed for the next stage of the trip. But we did have one last attraction to get to: Robot Restaurant!

 

Robot Restaurant is not something easily described. Flashing lights, blaring music, robots, costumes, barely conceived stage plots and just insane strangeness combine to make what I now believe to be the greatest show on earth.

We also got to get a photo with a robot and one of the performers.

Since we were in Shinjuku, I had one final act to perform before we left.

I broke out my Kobo and read the opening line of Neuromancer by William Gibson. This book shaped a lot of the way I see the world, and since it is based in Tokyo, I felt no better way to honour it than to read it in one of the most Cyberpunk places in the world.

Next up: Kyoto and Osaka!

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Jamie’s Japanophile Blog – Part 1: To the land of old and new

Japan has always been on my Must-Go list. Over a decade of being exposed to Japanese culture through language & cultural studies, not to mention that all the anime, manga,and Japanese friends I’ve had over the years have built up my desire to go to an almost fever pitch.

So at 10pm on the 31st of October 2014, a mere decade after making the decision that going to Japan would definitely happen, my girlfriend and I boarded a flight to the rising sun– an adventure that we could hardly believe was really happening.

At around dawn we woke up, peered out the window to see Japan rolling into view. Just past the coast was something that explained more in one viewing than all of my research into Japanese mythology than anything else: the forests of Japan, swathed in morning mist.

Suddenly I found myself taken back to the stories of forest spirits and demons and lonely samurai wanderers. An instant reminder that I wasn’t in Sydney any more.

Japanese bureaucracy is beautifully efficient. Have your documents sorted, make sure you’re in the right line, and you’ll be through in no time. What was expected to take us a good hour just waiting for customs and immigration to get through with us was done in about 20 minutes, including the time to get our bags, and, after a bit of a wait to get our rail passes, it was off on the first of many…many….MANY trains we would take during our stay. Getting anywhere requires a bit of planning. Getting from A to B can be a chore when you look at just how many different lines each train rail company runs.

Japanese trains are amazing. I never thought I’d be praising public transport but I love it. While walking from platform to platform can be a bit of a slog, the trains themselves are very regular, punctual to an almost unsettling degree, and full of quiet and polite Japanese people who are far better than we Westerners are at realizing that personal space is a purely mental thing.

My girlfriend and I are staying in Asakusa (pronounced asak-sa) in Tokyo for this leg of our Japan trip, then back there again at the end of the month. We chose the location for a few reasons: great-yet-cheap hotels, very tourist friendly, close to pretty much everything, and more dripping with history than an encyclopedia.

No more than two blocks from our hotel  is the Sensoji temple complex. This includes two incredible entrance gates, Sensoji Temple itself, and a beautiful five story pagoda that overlooks it all.

Despite the heavy rain we were quickly approached by a group of students wanting to practice their English by taking us on a tour of the temple complex. Explaining the history of each structure and their mythological basis. We gave them each a couple of Caramello Koalas as a thank you gift. I think we made some friends here already.

Later that night we hit up the Shinjuku district for dinner and a wander through the night life. Shinjuku is everything I imagined and more from a night-life district in Japan; strange, alive, crazy, and pure Cyberpunk. I feel like I’m walking through the opening chapters of Neuromancer around here.

All in all a pretty packed first day in Japan.

Stay tuned for the week one round up.

 

 

 

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