The Tales of Beedle the Bard
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'You've never heard of The Tales of Beedle the Bard?' said Ron incredulously. 'You're kidding,...
A Foolish Virgin
Liz Waters and Ida Simons
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It is the middle of the roaring twenties, and Gittel is living The Hague with her parents, whose...
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner and Michael Gorra
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This Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1985 corrected text and is accompanied by detailed...
The Betrayers
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The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis is a searing novel about a man whose principles are tested to the...
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories
Leo Tolstoy, Andrew Kahn and Nicolas Pasternak Slater
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'no one pitied him as he would have liked to be pitied' As Ivan Ilyich lies dying he begins to...
Nausea
James Wood, Robert Baldick and Jean-Paul Sartre
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Jean-Paul Sartre's first published novel, Nausea is both an extended essay on existentialist ideals,...
While the Women are Sleeping
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Celebrated as one of the greatest writers of his generation, Javier Marias is best known for his spy...
Hans Richter
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The Austro-Hungarian Hans Richter (1843-1916) was the first career-conductor to gain international...
The premise for the book is interesting with the crossover of fictional characters into our world being enabled by those able to read them out. However the fact that this was something that was stated in the blurb but didn’t really get covered until well into the book I think speaks to the drawn out nature of this book. I really think it would of been better if it had been condensed. When a character gets captured for a second time I was all “oh no not this again” rather than feeling tension and excitement.
Perhaps a function of this being a translated work, I never really felt I got into the flow of this book. I didn’t like Meggie the 12 year old protagonist, although that may just be a dislike of stubborn annoying 12-year olds in general. I did however love the Elinor character (and not just for the solid name choice!) She’s a no nonsense full on book nerd. I did however find the books general and constant attitude of people that love books are far superior to everyone else to be a bit patronising.
I’m sure I would have enjoyed this a lot more when I was 12.


Kaz (232 KP) Jul 10, 2019
Emma (519 KP) Jul 11, 2019