Making her Mark: Useful Idiots by Jan Mark

Useful Idiots by Jan Mark is a very thought-provoking read and challenges the reader to develop their own points of view as the book progresses.

The small old English nursery rhymes were a lovely touch which put the reader more in touch with Merrick and the Oysters. I was not totally sure what their overall role was but this is the feeling that I got.

The Useful Idiots characters were well developed and it is easy to understand the story from the points of view of each character. However, the character of Turcat, in my opinion, was slightly misleading and by the end of the book I was confused about his personality. My favourite character was Amandine because she had apersonality that everyone can relate to, everyone has a friend like Amandine. Her character was painted beautifully. In each character, Mark has left enough space for the reader to include their own personal ideas and fantasies.

The climax comes quite late in the book and although parts of it are slightly predictable it remains exciting and keeps the reader reading. I found Shepherd's role in the climax ha rd to believe as my original reaction to him did not fit with this. On the other hand, Frida's part fitted perfectly with the nature of her character.

Setting in this book, I think, is the key to its success. Mark uses different descriptive words, some unusual, for example, 'dense insanitary velvet'. This really brings alive the futuristic nature of the book and feelings of the characters towards our present day culture. The setting makes this book what it is.

Laura's 'Adventuring' Again!!

Check this out on AMZN: Laura Marlin Mysteries 3: Kentucky Thriller http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444000225/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_gb?ie=UTF8

Out on 6th August

Twitter for Worms!!

Worm has just arrived on Twitter!! YEY! He will be tweeting about new posts and will have quotes at the ready! :

https://twitter.com/#!/ReadingwithWorm

May You Be Ever Hungry For More

Suzanne Collins has a way of writing that really captivates the imaginations of readers across the globe. I found out about her Hunger Games books through a friend of mine and was immediately hooked on the entire plot. Collins has a habit of keeping the reader right on the edge and gives away no secrets.

Her first book 'The Hunger Games', had a real underlying message which was easy to pick up on. The characters, Katniss and Peeta, were very well developed and Collins has a wonderful way of creating empathy. The contrast between Gale and Peeta makes the reader sub consciously choose between them and this has a great impact on how they view the rest of the book. For example, my friend Sophie chose Gale and she felt that the 1/2 of the book with Katniss and Peeta being together wasn't as good as the parts where Gale was mentioned.

The storyline of the second book 'Catching Fire' came as quite a surprise to me as I didn't expect Katniss and Peeta to enter the games again. Collins still continues to develop the characters in the second book and with Katniss especially, different sides of the characters are found. The introduction of President Snow as a more primary character added to the drama of the heck and I liked that a lot.

The ending of the set of the third book, 'Mockingjay', came as quite a surprise to me but a pleasant one which I thought suited the rest of the triology. Collins particularly impressed in this book with the true character of Gale which I thought she brought out from his shell. The death of the president slightly confused me and I was talking to the librarian of my local library and she thought the same.

Collins has created a series of books with a message to mankind that tyranny never results in good fortune. I thoroughly recommend them

Film vs Book? Any competition?

In my opinion, yes, because many books are better than their film versions and many films are better than their books.









For example back in August, I did a review on 'Beastly' by Alex Flinn, subsequently I watched the film and I was not particularly impressed. The film did the book no justice whatsoever, it missed out some of the most important scenes from the book and cast Vanessa Hudgens as Lindy, which completely ruined the whole concept of the book because Lindy isn't supposed to be overly pretty. Although after saying that, Alex Pettyfer played Kyle very well and all his arrogance from the book came across.








On the other hand, the film of 'Fantastic Mr Fox'  based on the book by Roald Dahl, went into a lot more detail and focused more on the civilisation aspect of the life of the animals underground. The film was an animation but overall the emotion and pain of the animals still came through as though it was an acted production. I read the book by Roald Dahl when I was younger and I very much enjoyed it. The director of the film added to story by adding new characters and changing the storyline slightly. The new characters was very different and added a new level of drama to the production. In particular the character of Kristofferson, who was Mr Fox's brother.
In conclusion, I think I would have to say that books are better based on the fact that I have only ever watched a few films which are actually better than the books they are based on.

Please feel free to comment with your own opinion.

Apologies x

I'm SO sorry that I haven't posted recently but I've been really busy lately (I went to the USA!). I've got loads of new material so I'll be posting soon!!!

New Material!!

'Heroes of Olympus: Son of Neptune' by Rick Riordan has just arrived yesterday on my doorstep, so I will review it very soon!  I used Amazon, and the service was great. The book came nicely packaged, well protected and was easy to open. I also didn't have to pay a penny in postage, so that was brilliant! I would recommend them for book deliveries.