THE YELLOW WALLPAPER | Book Review

Title: The Yellow Wallpaper
Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Originally Published: 1890
Page Count: 21 pages (on kindle)

As a history student it is rare that I get assigned fictional books to read, so when my module for American History (1865-1989) had this as seminar reading I was so excited to finally be able to fully engross myself in the seminar work for once in my life. Even though I study history I do often respond more to fiction. It gives a sense of author's perspective but more poetically and metaphorically, it gives a sense of time, a sense of emotions, and I think a lot of history professors/lecturers overlook that. 

Back to the book - this is a short classic novel documenting one woman's entrapment in a rented-out house's nursery. The character is kept in the room to help her rest and relax, but the story has increasingly creepy elements to it. 

There's only so much one can say in a short metaphorical piece of literature and Gilman seems to do it effortlessly; she offers a stream of consciousness that not only can be seen as one woman's descent into madness or depression but also as a metaphor for feminism. The character is repressed, none more so by her husband, John, a physician. The character begins to see things in the ugly wallpaper, she believes there's a code to it, and suddenly she cracks it and is desperate to break the chains and bars that hold her in place.

The whole metaphor of entrapment and emancipation is documented in its final sentence, an ambiguous yet fitting end. 

I've seen a lot of people wanting to read many 'bigger' books this year, people wanting to read a certain amount of books, and yet my aim is also to read more of these shorter books, especially if they're classics. I want to be able to immerse myself more in 19th and early 20th century literature and appreciate them because it's something I've rarely done before.

And because of that and the story's fantastic writing, there is only one rating I can award it, and that's: ★★★★★

THE MAZE RUNNER | Book Review

Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Genre:YA / Dystopian
Published by: Chicken House
Originally Published: 2009
Page Count: 371

"When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas can remember is his first name. But he's not alone. He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade, an encampment at the centre of a bizarre maze.

Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they came to be there, or what's happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything to find out."

I picked this book due to the overwhelming attention that has gone with it. I first heard about it on the likes of Joey Graceffa's youtube channel, and had since been recommended to read it by my friend, Sean. I've just finished it and these are my thoughts.

I'm going to talk about this book chronologically. 

The opening. I don't think I can articulate my anger at the first, what, 100 pages of this book. Luckily, I'm allowed to type ARGHHHHHWHATISTHIS, and you will probably grasp my point. The novel is written in third person, and we follow Thomas throughout the entirety of the book, almost. When Thomas is welcomed into the maze, no one is willing to help him. This may be good writing about how tired the other boys have become with this world, but I don't get that impression, I feel Dashner was trying to build suspense. He instead drove me away from this novel. I read two other books alongside this, just to feel sane. Every character would tell Thomas things but then when Thomas asks a question he is immediately shot down and not told anything. It became a viscous circle of characters not saying anything and being annoying. 

The language of the boys in this novel is interesting, they appear to remember so much of the outside world without directly remembering the outside world itself. However, they invent names to call things, to call people. At first I thought it ingenious, a new world, a new language. Then it just seemed a little irrelevant, surely if they remember words, they remember offensive ones?

The book has many promising moments when the plot picks up, but it's through stupid decisions of Thomas, that have no real reasoning, that we are finally able to taste a slight bit of action. After that it is left to the final third of the book to convince you that what you read was worth while. The plot picks up, questions are finally going to get answered, and then it ends. It's just one big build up to the sequel and it was annoying.

The premise of this book wasn't even so original that I can praise it, we're pretty aware what's happening in the outside world if we know dystopian YA. And frankly, I'm sure I understand dystopian YA. 

I can't say I'm going to read the sequel anytime soon, but overall, even though I did rant a lot in this review. It wasn't the worst book I've read, but it's definitely not the pinnacle of dystopian YA. It has its moments where it sucks you in, it's short chapters mean it's an easy read and you pretty much breeze through it after the initial bump in its opening. 

3 out of 5 stars. 

Bout of Books 8.0

Hey guys, so I've decided to sign my blog up for the bout of books readathon, the only readathon I've done was the booktube-a-thon and that was a lot of fun and made me read so many great books. So this post will be about signing up and what is in my TBR.

"The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team"

So, what to read? 
I'm going to challenge myself to read around 200 pages per day, (1, 400 pages all together). And in this readathon I hope to read the following books:

Stephen King - 'Misery' (369 pages)
James Dashner - 'The Maze Runner' (the remaining 163 pages)
Rick Riordan - 'The Sea of Monsters' (265 pages)
George RR Martin - 'A Feast for Crows' (778 pages)

Obviously, I do not intend on finishing 'A Feast for Crows' by George R.R. Martin, however, I did place this in my August TBR and I feel this readathon will be beneficial in helping me start this MASSIVE book. 

I plan on making update blog posts on what I've read every 1/2 days. 

Robert.