Dead poets society (N.H. Kleinbaum)

Welton Academy is a strict private school rich fathers send their sons to in order to prepare them for their following education as doctors and lawyers. Their daily routine is dictated by the school's four pillars tradition, honor, discipline and excellence and everything nonacademic is deemed as unnecessary and is punished severely. Mr Keating, the new English teacher, however challenges them to life their lifes as fully as possible and inspires a group of boys to resurrect the Dead poets society, a club with its origin during the time Mr Keating went to Welton Academy. The boys have to realize the tragic consequences their new-found freedom and individuality will have soon or their hopes and dreams will be brutally destroyed by the authorities.

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. So medicine, law, business, engineering... these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love... these are what we stay alive for."

I read this book with my English class in school, which led to a few reasons that caused me to enjoy this novel a lot less than I would've enjoyed it if I just read it by myself. First of all, it took us over a month to finally finish it and because of that the whole reading process felt super unsatisfying for me since I literally could've read it in two hours. Also, some of my lovely class mates spoiled the only kind of shocking event for me thereby making the book even more boring and predictable than it already was. Obviously I wasn't expecting a really intense and exciting story when I started this book, but I wasn't even close to being prepared for such a dull and dreary storyline. Nothing happens for the first 70 pages and, considering that the novel only has a bit less than 170 pages in total, that's a pretty big part of the book. When the story finally picks up the pace, it just gets weirder. Suddenly the book is going into a completely different direction for the next 20 pages and after that it goes back to normal as if nothing ever happened. The story in general felt kind of unbalanced to me since the different plot lines don't really affect each other and the book tends to focus on one character's point of view for way too long. Most of the time when the POV changes, it's so sudden and abrupt, which confused me a lot. Something that completely perplexed me as well are these random and unnecessary remarks that are everywhere in this novel. Even worse, some of them are unintentionally hilarious, which just makes the book seem pretty ridiculous. The only thing I really enjoyed about the plot is the ending because it does complete the story in a lovely, even moving way, especially by bringing up a scene from the very beginning of the book again. Another aspect I quite liked is the big role that poetry plays in the story and even though I did skim through most of the poems or even skipped some completely, the few I read, mainly the ones the main characters came up with, actually managed to inspire me and I ended up really enjoying them. The writing is quite good, you can obviously see that it was written about 25 years ago but that honestly didn't bother me at all. However, one thing that I got a little bit mad about when I found out, is the fact that the book is based on the movie and not the other way around like it usually is (and supposed to be), so I definitely lost some respect for the author as well as the novel.
I had a lot of issues with the characters as well. None of them, except for Todd, Mr Keating and maybe Neil, really stood out to me, so at the end of the novel I still had no clue who the hell Meeks is and didn't even realize there is someone called Cameron in it until everybody started hating on him. Whoops. All the characters are either really boring, for example Neil and Meeks, or really annoying, like Knox and Charlie. For me the most interesting character is Todd because he's seriously the only one to go through some sort of development, which I actually quite enjoyed, and I also feel like I understand his struggles as a shy and introverted character pretty good. The friendships between the boys are decent, they're nothing special, but they add a nice atmosphere to the book. Even though it seemed a bit unusual for me at first, simply because we have a completely different contact with our teachers, the bond between Mr Keating and the boys is lovely and in very few scenes even empowering. The big romantic relationship in this book however is just horrible and so cringeworthy. Everything about it just feels forced and wrong since they don't fit together in my opinion.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but we'll definitely watch it in class soon and even though it's quite old, I'm still looking forward to it and I'm quite hopeful it'll be more enjoyable than the book.

Rating: 2/5 ✹

I hope you enjoyed this review. Have a wonderful day!

Leah

Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell)

So I've read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell a few weeks ago and I didn't feel like writing a review. But since I now feel like doing it, I'm gonna do it ;) I guess I won't remember everything in detail but I hope you don't mind. I always fail with taking bookstagram pics as well bc I forget to take them when I have the copy I've borrowed and afterwards it's too embarrassing to lend it another time just to take that picture (I will post a pic of the next few books I'll be reviewing bc they are all mine). And now, let's get started!

Cath Avery and her twin Wren did everything together. But not anymore, because Wren had decided that she wants to go to college alone to meet new people. Therefore Cath has to deal alone with her new and kind of strange roommate Reagan, Reagan's cute ex-boyfriend Levi and all the other problems she has while being in college. The only thing she is really interested in is writing, or more precisely, writing Simon Snow fanfiction. At first Cath hates college bc of her fear of talking to strangers (actually people in general) and she's only caring about her fictional-writing class. There she meets Nick, another nice boy who seems to understand her, and her boring life gets a little more exciting...

 “Sometimes writing is running downhill, your fingers jerking behind you on the keyboard the way your legs do when they can’t quite keep up with gravity.”

So I've enjoyed reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell so much. I guess a main reason besides the good story is that I can see parts of myself in Cath. Like she loves reading (just like me), she loves staying up all night alone in her bedroom (like me), she is really shy when she has to talk to strangers (well, again just like me) and the most obvious point is that we are both fangirls. Because of that I was able to understand her feelings pretty good (at least I think so). I also liked the parts when I could read her fanfic about Simon Snow and I'm really looking forward to reading Carry on as soon as I can. (By the way, Leah did a review of it and you can read it *here* )
Some chapters were a bit boring when Cath did the same stuff all over again but bc of the interesting characters like Reagan and Levi I didn't mind that much. I just wanted to go on reading and to learn more about Cath's life.

Rating: 5/5 *

That's it for today. I hope you guys liked it.

Have a nice day!

Vicky

The seven deadly sins book tag

1. Greed - What is your most inexpensive book? What is your most expensive book?

To be honest, I have no clue what the cheapest book, that I own in physical form, is, but I got Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout as an e-book on my phone for free.
The most expensive book I own is probably the German hardcover edition of Clockwork princess by Cassandra Clare, which cost around 30€, and the most expensive one I bought as a christmas present for my older brother is probably The world of ice and fire by George R.R. Martin, Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson with a price of nearly 45€.

2. Wrath - What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

I don't hate any authors because I just know them as writers, not as human beings and I'm also way too grateful for their great works to have such strong dislikes against any of them. The only author that does annoy me a bit is George R.R. Martin since he just needs so much time to finish his books and I'm a not very patient person, but I do (or at least I try to) understand his situation and I guess in the end I'll be glad he took his time and didn't rush the last two books in the A song of ice and fire series.

3. Gluttony - What book have you devoured over and over again with no shame?

The book series I've reread the most is definitely the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. These books were literally my childhood and I'll love them forever. However, the series I'm most obsessed with is the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin because I just love it so freaking much.

4. Sloth - What book have you neglected reading due to laziness?

I've wanted to read Sense and sensibility by Jane Austen for quite some time now, but I've always procrastinated it because it just takes me forever to get through books written in that time period and I didn't enjoy Pride and prejudice that much, so I'm also not very excited to start it.

5. Pride - What book do you talk about most in order to sound like an intellectual reader?

I really don't read to seem like a more intelligent person and I think that's a super stupid thing to do anyway. If you want to read, do it for your own enjoyment or the personal gain you might get, but don't do it just because you want other people to think you're smart. Anyway, the books I'm proudest of finishing are Great expectations and A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens since I think it's a pretty big accomplishment for me to have read them as a still pretty young person, which native tongue isn't English. Yet I'd never boast of reading these books to sound intellectual.

6. Lust - What attributes do you find attractive in male characters?

I think it always depends on the total package of attributes if I fall for a fictional character or not. What I do want them to be is clever and loyal in any way. And, let's be honest, a pretty face doesn't make them any less attractive.

7. Envy - What book would you most like to receive as a gift?

I'm happy about every book someone gives me as a gift, as long as books in a series match and I don't receive a second copy of a book I already own. Of course it'd be great to receive ARCs of books I look forward to reading, but it's not like I absolutely need them.

I hope you enjoyed this little book tag. Have an amazig day!

Leah

The BFF book tag

1. Setting the example: A pair/group of book bff's that you love?

Definitely the crew from Six of crows by Leigh Bardugo. They are amazing as a group as well as individuals. I love their chemistry and loyalty and reading about them is just so much fun! I can barely wait for Crooked kingdom to come out in September and at the same time I'm already sad the series is gonna be over since it's just a duology.

2. Childhood bestie: Which book character would you like to grow up with?

I think growing up with Cath from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell would have been pretty amazing since we share the same interests and are in general quite alike. She's in general pretty calm, so I guess it wouldn't be too stressful to hang out with her a lot and we'd get along wonderfully.

3. Frenemy: Which book character would bring out your competitive side?

I'm not a competitive person at all and as long as I'm satisfied with my achievements, I don't care if someone else is better than me and even if I'm not, I blame myself instead of hating the other person for being better. The only character I can think of right now I definitely wouldn't grant succeeding in something is Cersei from the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin, mostly because of her insufferable arrogance. I'm not gonna lie, seeing her fail at something feels so good.

4. Fashion guru: Who would be the bestie whose closet you'd want to raid or would want to go on a shopping spree with?

Lara Jean from the To all the boys I've loved before series by Jenny Han for sure. I absolutely LOVE her style. I really like cute skirts with overknee socks, bows and polka dots so I think our style is pretty similar even though she wears a lot more colorful clothing (my whole closet basically only contains black, grey and white clothes). Anyway, I'd love to own her clothes (and her boyfriend as well).

5. The bad influence: Which character would you want to commit a small act of rebellion with? (Go skinny dipping, sneak into a movie, have a drug race with, etc.)

That's actually a really difficult question since I'm a person who pretty much always sticks to the rules, so I'd definitely never do something like sneaking into a movie or stealing. But I do think someone as confident and fun as Sloane from Since you've been gone by Morgan Matson would probably at least make me skip a lesson with her, because she's good at inspiring people to be brave and to do stuff they'd normally wouldn't do. And let's be honest, the idea with the to-do list full of dares is awesome, so simply because of that she'd manage to make me want to rebell with her.

6. Blood brothers: Which character would you want to be your surrogate big brother/sister? (You can do both if you want!)

Is that even a question? Obviously Alec and Izzy Lightwood (and Max as well since he's so adorable) from the The mortal instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I love them both so much. They're incredible loyal to each other and just support each other in any way possible. As the youngest child in my family, I'm used to my brothers being protective, which I actually quite like, and both Alec and Izzy are super protective as well, which just shows how much they care about each other and the rest of their family, so I wouldn't mind having them as older siblings at all.

7. Mother hen: Which character would you want to be by your side when you're having a bad day to cheer you up?

Probably Marlee from the Selection series by Kiera Cass because she's always in a good mood and just an extremely positive person in general and I don't think you can still be sad after spending some time with her.

8. The counselor: Which character would you go to for relationship advice or confide a secret to?

Maybe Celia from The night circus by Erin Morgenstern? I feel like she can definitely keep a secret and also gives quite good advice. Her relationship also works out pretty good, so she should be the right person to approach and ask for help.

9. More than friends: Who would be your book boyfriend/girlfriend?

I've already answered this question so many times, but honestly I can't even tell you often enough how perfect Robb Stark from the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin is. I just love him. A lot.

I'm so sorry for being absent these past few weeks, but I'll hopefully finish my reread of the A song of ice and fire series soon since I'm nearly done with the third book right now, and once I'll start reading something else again, I'll definitely write weekly reviews again. Until then, I hope I'll be able to do a book tag every week. I hope you enjoyed this book tag and have a fantastic day!

Leah

The mortal instruments tag

Since I've finally finished reading City of heavenly fire by Cassandra Clare a few days ago, I thought it'd be interesting to make the Mortal instruments series tag. I don't know if there are official questions, so I just picked a few I like and I'm going to answer them. And yes, it took me over a year (actually almost two) to eventually read Cohf and I don't even know why I didn't read it earlier but I'm glad I finally did.

1. Who is your favorite character?

Well, I like a lot of characters and I can't settle down on one but if I had to, I would choose Izzy or Jace. Jace is just the perfect mix between bad-ass, caring, funny and hot and I totally fell for him. The reason for naming Izzy is that I think she's really tough. Like she's been through a lot but she still looks out for her friends and she is such a strong young woman and I really appreciate that. And I love the way she treats Alec (it's like there's a strong band between the two of them and I'm also pretty close to my brothers and that's a good thing).

2. Who is your OTP?

Clace and Malec! I ship them soooo much and they are both my OTPs and their relationship is just perfect. No need to say more.


3. If you could have any shadowhunter last name, what would it be?

I actually like the sound of the name Shadowwalker or Nightshade but since all German shadowhunters have stupid names in the books it would probably be something like Fishblood.

4. What downworlder would you be?

Hard question... I guess either a vampire or a warlock or a werewolf. I would certainly not be a fairy. Being a werewolf actually sounds good bc I could walk around in the daylight but I could still defend myself against my enemies. And I feel like I'd be a crappy warlock and always mess around with spells and all that stuff. So for the world's sake it would be best if I became a werewolf.

5. Who is your most hated character in the series?

I don't hate any of the evil characters and I actually liked Sebastian, so I can't name a villain here. So I go with Maureen bc she was the most annoying person in the book (especially after she became a vampire) but I don't like Simon in many situations either bc he always fails but he still is overpowered. And he's annoying as well (e.g. when he turns Maureen in a vampire or when he manages to get kidnapped by the vampires in the beginning of City of bones).


6. Jem or Will?

Even though I really hated the love triangle in the whole TID series, I can't say who I like more. When I started reading the books I loved Will more but then Jem did something cute and I changed my mind. And I changed it so many times that I chose to love both equally so I don't have to settle down on one. 

7. If you could spend a day with any character, who would it be?

Definitely Magnus. He would show me some of his magic tricks and after that we'd go to one of his parties and have a lot of fun there and then we'd talk the rest of the day about a lot of things. I mean, who wouldn't like to speak with an immortal warlock?!

8. Your favourite book of the series?

All of them?! I only have great memories of all those books and they were the reason why I really got into the world of fandoms and fangirling and all that stuff. So it's impossible for me to name only one!

I hope you enjoyed this tag and have a nice day!

Vicky

Me before you (Jojo Moyes)

Okay, I've just finished Me before you by Jojo Moyes and I really need to talk about it. And I'm sorry that I don't have a pic of it but I only have a crappy German version and you can't take a cute pic with it.

Louisa Clark has everything she needs: a job that she likes, a boyfriend and a lovely family. But after losing her job her whole life changes. Because then she meets Will.
Will Traynor, a once successful business man, had everything he wanted until the day of the accident. Now he has quadriplegia and is forced to live in a wheel chair, unable to move his arms and legs.
Two years after the tragedy, Louisa starts her new job as Will's personal assistant. Instead of serving people in the small bakery like only a few weeks before, she now has to take care of the disabled young man who is always grumpy and mean. But Louisa doesn't know the whole story behind her six month contract and when she's discovered it, a race against time begins...

“You only get one life. It's actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.”

Firstly, the topic of this book is really serious and difficult and in my opinion Jojo Moyes dealt with it in a fantastic way. Secondly, it's not only a romantic book about love but also about the point of living and the question what a happy and wonderful life looks like. Thirdly, I'm actually destroyed right now bc the story was beautiful and cruel at the same time.
So I loved that you could see the difference between the two families. On one side there was Will's, a noble family, rich, but not that warm and loving towards each other (at least that's what I think). They cared about Will but they didn't let him make his own decisions. On the other side we had the Clark family. Although they are poor and in constant fear of losing everything, they look out for each other. They were always there to help each other (e.g. with Thomas, the son of Lou's younger sister). I mean, they are obviously chaotic and people may see them as weird but I personally really like them.
The plot was really heart-braking but in general it was a good story to read (maybe not the most unique story I've ever read but still not as boring as some other romance books).
The writing was fantastic bc you were taken with emotionally but you also started to make an own opinion about the topic assisted suicide. I could see their character development (especially concerning Lou and Will) as well and I guess that's part of why the book is so good.
Jojo Moyes wrote a sequel called After you and I'm really looking forward to reading it even though I'm not quite convinced that it's gonna be as good as Me before you. Anyways, as soon as I bought and read it, I will let you know what I think about it.
All in all, I totally recommend this book to everybody who enjoys reading dramatic love stories. But be prepared for a lot of crying, heart-breaking moments and laughing in tears.

Rating: 5/5 *

I'm really sorry for not posting for such a long time but I was on a reading break bc I had no motivation for reading or doing anything but laying on my bed all day (it was pretty stressful at school and a lot of other stuff had to be done). But now I'm back and I found my motivation again. I hope that I can at least post one review/tag per week and you also get something from Leah weekly.

I hope you have a nice day!

Vicky

Glass sword (Victoria Aveyard)

To keep this review completely spoiler-free, the summary won't be for Glass sword, but for the first book in the series called Red queen and the quote is from Red queen as well.

Mare Barrow lives in a world where people are divided by the color of their blood - the silvers are the elite of the society because of the supernatural abilities they have, while the poor and ordinary reds are the workers and soldiers. Her blood is red, yet she has powers only a silver can have. To cover this up, Mare is forced to live at the palace as a lost silver princess and betrothed to one of the crown princes. As she learns more about life with the silver nobility, she decides to join a red rebellion - and risks everything she's gained and more.

"The truth is what I make it. I could set the world on fire and call it rain."

I've read the first book pretty exactly a year ago and usually I still remember a lot after that time span, but weirdly this wasn't the case for Red queen at all, even though I really loved it. I couldn't even recall any names other than the main character's and while I did know there is a huge plot twist at the end, I apparently forgot everything else about it. Since the second book picks up right where the first one ended, I'm sure that's amazing if you read them back-to-back, but if you don't, it's confusing. Really confusing. I needed at least 50 pages to figure out who each character is and in what way they're even relevant to the story and the main character. I just couldn't get into the story at all, so reading it was frustrating and tiring and it even caused a small reading slump, since it took me so long to finish it. The plot is okay, it's mostly the same thing over and over so it gets boring pretty quickly, but it gets at least better towards the ending. The aspect that's so special about the first book, which is the shocking plot twist, is just completely gone from the second one. You're constantly being reminded of the possibility of betrayal, so when it's actually happening, you've already been expecting it for the last 20 pages, which just takes away all the tension and results in a pretty boring plotline despite the mostly action-filled events. The ending is completely predictable, because the plot twist or betrayal or whatever is placed at the pretty exact time where it is in Red queen as well, so I was already expecting it and it isn't shocking at all. The writing is good, even though it definitely was a bit too dramatic and over-the-top for me and not only the planned repeats of certain phrases got quite annoying after a time, but the writing in general, which seemed repetitiv and unvaried in the use of words and metaphors. Obviously, since this is a sequel, there isn't too much worldbuilding and the little bit that's in it was okay, but to be honest I don't really like the world a lot. I'm just not into that mix of a dystopian novel with magic in it. I prefer the "traditional" kind of high fantasy that takes place in a medieval inspired fictional realm without any highly developed technology like planes and computers. Apart from that, the fantasy elements in this book were quite good and I actually enjoyed them, even though I don't like the superhero-like powers that much.
And don't even get me started on the characters. A lot of new characters are introduced, but seriously every one of them is one-dimensional, flat and in the best case, if we get to see a tiny bit personality, it's a stereotypical character. Everything is so focused on the main character Mare Barrow, it's obnoxious, especially since she's one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever read about. Don't get me wrong, I hate a lot of characters, but I can at least see reasons why other people would like most of them. In this case, I just can't get how anyone can stand Mare, let alone love her? She's so obsessed with herself, extremely arrogant, selfish but thinks she's so selfless and often just plainly stupid. She's so busy pitying herself she's apparently no longer capable of seeing what's going on around her or empathizing with people so she ends up treating them really badly. I can see that Victoria Aveyard wanted to create a gray character, somebody with good intensions but also a lot of flaws, or some kind of anti-heroine who demands your sympathy anyway, but Mare clearly turned out as neither of those, since I can't see a freaking way how you could actually like her. The few minor characters I genuinly liked and remebered, since nearly none of them are in any way memorable, were not likeable for me because of their personality, but rather because of their ability to annoy and make Mare suffer the most. I enjoyed the villain for example a lot, not because he's a good villain, since he's not, but because he fights Mare and hopefully kills her soon so I won't have to suffer anymore reading from her point of view.
All in all, this novel certainly isn't in any way horrible, even though my review kind of makes it look like it is, but I definitely was dissappointed since I enjoyed the first one so much more. I'm not sure why I couldn't love Glass sword as much as I did Red queen, I don't even think neither I nor my taste in books has changed that dramatically. Anyway, I guess I'd still recommend it to everyone who's into fantasy and dystopian YA books, because I feel like I'm basically the only one who didn't absolutely love it, judging from the high ratings on goodreads.

Rating: 2/5 ✹


I'm not going to post a lot of reviews over the next month or so, since I've just started my reread of the A song of ice and fire series, which means I won't come around to reading any new books I could review, but I'm still gonna be trying to post a tag weekly. I hope you enjoyed this review and you're having a nice day!

Leah