LitChat: What I'm reading!

I've been so hooked on reading since getting my Kindle! I read a lot before but the Kindle is so convenient for me because I can take it along anywhere, read it on the train commuting for work, etc.

One of my favorite books I've read in recent times is Divergent by Veronica Roth. It's a dystopian story set in a future society - to say I've gotten hooked on the dystopia genre would be an understatement. Dystopia literature has been around for a long time, some of my favorite authors of this genre are Margaret Atwood, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Cormac McCarthy (his book The Road is probably my favorite dystopian novel of all time and it also won the Pulitzer Prize.)

Lately there's been a real revival with dystopian literature being released, many of them geared towards young adults. Nonetheless, I think Divergent is one of the best books of the genre to be released in recent times - unfortunately since this genre has become so popular, many less-than-stellar manuscripts are also being published just to cash in.

Watch my latest LitChat book review where I talk about Divergent, but also some other books I've been reading, including Poison Study and The Iron King, both fantasy stories.

You can also add me as a friend on Goodreads, it's a wonderful site for people who love to read to keep track of what they have read, write reviews, join groups and find new books to based on recommendations.

Book Haul! What I'm reading...

Yay, my latest Amazon book order came! I've been a total bookworm lately, I just love delving into another world for a moment and getting to know all the characters. I recently finished the first three books of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, so I bought the 4th book City of Fallen Angels because I want to know what happens next. I have read the review on Amazons and they weren't all that positive so I guess I'll just let myself be surprised.

I also picked up the second book of George R. R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, A Clash of Kings. I listened to Game of Thrones on audio book several months ago but couldn't get into it, but the new TV show on HBO renewed my interest in the series so I thought I'd take another stab at it, this time with the actual book. It's often rated as one of the best adult fantasy series of all times. If you haven't checked out the TV show on HBO based on these books, I highly recommend it. It's big budget, with fantastic actors and beautiful art direction, and is very true to the books. George R. R. Martin is heavily involved with the writing of the show, so you know it will be true to his vision. The TV show is called Game of Thrones and runs on HBO, Sunday nights. It's definitely a show you need to start watching from the very beginning as the storyline is very complex and there's many different characters, but I love it so far.

Lastly I purchased The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, which is another supernatural/fantasy series I've heard a lot about. The story revolves are fairies - I've never read a book to do with fairies so I thought I'd try it out.

If you enjoy reading, make sure to subscribe to my vlogging channel on Youtube, I frequently review my latest reads on there and will eventually review these ones as well. I've also been thinking of buying an Amazon Kindle, since I read so much and hate waiting for my book orders to arrive, and I prefer shopping for books online rather than in a bookstore. I just get overwhelmed and it takes me hours to find something - plus it's more expensive.

Let me know what you're reading in the comments! Also, if you have a Kindle, let me know your experiences with it - are you happy with your purchase? Why or why not?

What I'm reading + Mascara Haul

My Amazon book order came - finally! Been really wanting to read something new and fresh, so I hauled these three books.

Water for Elephants is a New York Times bestseller, and is the story about an old man's recollections of his youth working with a traveling circus. It seemed like a very different type of story than what I would normally read, so I decided to go for it. Apparently it's also been made into a movie starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon and will be released this spring I believe - something I wasn't aware of when I bought it.

City of Thieves is a story based in Russia during the battle of Leningrad and a young man's experiences during that time. I stumbled upon this randomly just browsing on Amazon so I have no idea if it will be good or not, but it had very positive feedback and I wanted to read something set in Russia for some reason.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is the one I've already started (and nearly finished actually after one night of reading) and is the story about the unlikely friendship of two young girls from very different social classes during the 1800s in China, when foot binding was commonly practiced to ensure a good marriage. The story is about the status and everyday realities of women during this period, and also about the friendship between the two girls throughout their turbulent lives. It's a very fast and easy read, but very engrossing, if disturbing at times. I literally cringed at the description of the foot binding! Hard to imagine that this was regularly practiced by women back then.

I expect I'll be doing a LitChat review on my second channel when I'm done with these. Are you reading anything engrossing lately?

Then today I also picked up two new mascaras to try out. I'm a bit of a drugstore mascara fiend, so I thought I'd try something new. I might do a Drugstore Mascara Review 2.0 so please let me know any mascaras that have newly been released and hyped and which ones you want to see a review of, and I'll try to include them - as long as the brand and mascara is available here and I haven't reviewed them in my earlier video.

For now I just picked up the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes and the Essence Multi action. Can you believe that the L'Oreal one costs over $25 USD here in drugstores? Yay Switzerland prices! :(

What I'm reading: Charlaine Harris

I've been twittering about this since last night and had quite a few questions what I was on about: Charlaine Harris!

I've been reading the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series books, aka the Southern Vampire series. The series is about a human telepathic waitress, Sookie, who works in a Louisina bar. The story revolves around her experience with vampires, shapeshifters and other supernatural creatures. If this is sounding familiar, you might have seen the HBO TV show based off the series, True Blood. I have also started watching the TV show and am enjoying it immensely. Great actors (Anna Paquin stars as Sookie), great scriptwriting, dry humor and a "redneck" Southern drawl make for a winning combination.

What I noticed after starting to read the first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, is that Twilight seems to have completely ripped off key elements from Charlaine Harris' books! Harris' first book was released before Twilight, so I get the feeling that Stephenie Meyer was heavily influenced by this series, even though she claims not to have read any vampire books before starting on Twilight. Yeah right. Some of the key elements are very transparent: the mortal heroine falls in love with a vampire, the concept of shapeshifters, and the entire Jacob/Edward relationship seems to be heavily inspired by the Bill/Sam relationship from Harris' books. Very suspicious to say the least.

Charlaine Harris' series is definitely geared more towards an adult audience, which is also reflected in the True Blood TV series, which includes raunchy but often comical sex scenes, some gore, and mature content. For anyone who felt slightly too old for Twilight but wants to read another vampire series, try out this series by Charlaine Harris. I was told on Twitter that a new book in the series is expected to be released this summer!

Charlaine Harris' series for sale on Amazon

My latest obsession

I know I'm super late on the Twilight bandwagon but I decided to see what all the hullabaloo was about and took the plunge. I did it all in reverse order, I first watched the Twilight movie, then read bits and pieces of Midnight Sun (which is basically the first book all from Edward's perspective and you can read it online on Stephanie Meyer's website - click here) and then finally decided to start things from the beginning! I'm currently on the third book, Eclipse. The picture above shows the sequence of the books in the order that they should be read: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn.

These books are really fun and very easy to read. Although these are young adult fiction, they appeal to all ages. These are definitely not the type of books I normally read but I am hooked and have to know what happens to all the characters.

If you're hesitating jumping on the Twilight bandwagon because you think you're too old or that it's all hype - don't! You'll miss out on some very good, page-turning novels. I thought they would be more cheesy and teen-y than they are. I am really enjoying this series, coming from someone who usually reads adult literature or non-fiction books! Now don't get me wrong, these don't make for intellectually groundbreaking reading, but I enjoy them and that's all that matters.

Expect to see a video of me rambling about the whole series on Youtube once I'm finished, where everyone will be able to participate and share their thoughts. ;)