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Guards! Guards! Discworld Novel 8
Guards! Guards! Discworld Novel 8
Tony Robinson, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
9
8.4 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
A great introduction to the City Watch
You've got to hand it to Terry Pratchett, he knows how to write a good fantasy novel.

Guards! Guards! is yet another great Discworld novel, and the first to introduce Captain Vimes and the City Watch. Vimes himself is a loveable anti-hero who develops greatly over the course of the novel and the same too can be said for the other members of the Watch. Carrot the 'dwarf' provides a real introduction to the Watch and also a lot of the humour from his exploits, and I loved seeing a lot more of the Librarian.


The plot itself on the face of it is a fantasy fairy tale filled story of dragons, maidens and heroes. But with every Pratchett novel, beneath it lies dark wit and humour, and a slightly sad social commentary on human greed and corruption. There are a lot of references in this to other media, like The Hobbit, which really poke fun at the myths and lore used in the fantasy genre.


A great read with some very engaging characters. A little rambling at times, but fortunately the rest of the book makes up for it! Discworld books are the only books that can really make me laugh out loud.
  
A World Full of Animal Stories: 50 favourite animal folk tales, myths and legends by Angela McAllister is a beautiful and interesting book of folktales and legends that celebrate animals and culture. These stories are brought to life as the reader travels the globe to Africa, Asia, North and South America, Europe, Australia and Oceania.

It is a book full of cultural stories, with strong messages and wonderful illustrations. Familiar stories such as The Billy Goats Gruff, The Nightingale, and The Ugly Duckling are in the book so the reader will learn where those stories came from. In the contents guide it has each of the stories listed under the continent they belong to, with the country that relates to the story in brackets next to its title, which is useful for finding a specific story or learning about a certain region.

The stories are not long, which makes it perfect for bedtime stories. One story a night will give your child something to think and talk about. This would also would be great for the classroom, particularly when learning about different cultural stories and traditions.

I received an ARC of A World Full of Animal Stories from NetGalley via Quarto Publishing Group and Frances Lincoln Childrens. 
  
RA
Rape: A Love Story
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
First off, I hate the title. This was not a book that I could read out in public without getting some very concerned looks. I picked up this book because a book blog that I follow had a post about the book and it made me curious. Other than the title, I liked this book. I was a volunteer for an anti sexual assault group for 2 years and this hits the nail on the head (how a sexual assault survivor is treated). This book is extremely dark. I had to put it away every few minutes and regroup.

This book shows how one rape can send ripples and waves through a community. When reading this book the reader gets to see what impact a rape has an individual and society. There were a lot of rape myths that were present and it just made me want to scream at the media. I think the most depressing thing about this book is that the experience of the mother and daughter are true for so many victims of sexual assault.

Ultimately, I found this book interesting and fascinating. I'm going to have to have to reread it again because I feel like I could get more out of this novel on a second read.
  
Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong
Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong
Angela Saini | 2017 | Gender Studies, Science & Mathematics
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
As a scientist myself, I see all the time the imbalance of sexes within the industry. As a teacher, I see girls outperform boys in exams all the way through the school, the gender gap in attainment is one national trend many school are trying to combat. So when this book was made available to me through the school (each school got sent one free copy) I nabbed it up before any of my peers could.
This book covered how males and females have been viewed differently throughout history and how scientific developments have changed the views of both sexes. Even Darwin thought that women were lesser than men cognitively, which shocked me considering his research on evolution. There is evidence from neurological research and anthropological observation debunking views so engrained in our societal views that they as seen as common knowledge.
This book is definitely for the feminist. Both the brains of men and women have been studied and observed in tribes and show that we have so few differences. Myths of "women are better at multitasking" and "men are hunters" are challenged and proven otherwise.
I have nothing but praise for this book and cannot wait to read the next: Superior