Review - A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Author Info: Website
Published: August 6, 1996
Publisher: Bantam Spectra (US) | Voyager Books (UK)
Pages: 694 (US Hardback)
Age Group: Adult
Format I Own: Kindle e-book
Purchase: Amazon

When I first started getting more heavy into reading, this was one of the books that I was hearing the most about, and mostly good things, so naturally I looked it up to see what it was about and was immediately drawn to it based on that it was an adult novel (sometimes I like to step away from YA) and that it was in a medieval setting. Awesome, sword fights! I love books that take place in medieval times. Unfortunately, my excitement over this book stops there.

I never actually finished this book, so this review will be short. I also never posted this on GoodReads, but wanted to share on my blog, my reasoning for not finishing this book. In a nutshell, I just felt like there was way too much going on for me to keep track of everything that was happening. Once I'm finally starting to understand what one group of characters is doing, then a new chapter starts and we switch over to a new group and what they're off doing. I'm not sure if there were too many characters or not, but I also found that I wasn't able to distinguish them all individually while reading, none of them stood out to me.

I am disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book, I had EXTREMELY high hopes for it when I started it and was expecting to love it. Perhaps I just over hyped it and that's what made the book bland for me.

Review - The Waves by Virginia Woolf

Author Info: Wikipedia
Published: October 8, 1931
Publisher: Hogarth Press
Pages: 324
Age Group: Anyone
Format I Own: Kindle e-book

 I don't have a huge collection of things that I've read at the time I'm writing this review, but I do know one of my favorite things (whether it's in reading or watching) is anything with a psychological aspect. Something that makes you think about life and your existence, or that just completely messes with your mind. Unfortunately, I'm finding books of this sort quite difficult to find thus far. I expect that when reading a book with lots of psychological aspects in it, that if it is good, it will certainly draw out some sort of emotion in me, be it good or bad. When I started reading The Waves, I fully expected that would happen (and was ecstatic to find something along the lines of what I had been looking for). Sadly, it didn't draw me in that much.

I'm not at all saying this was a bad book. I did love the concept of it, the fact that there wasn't really a plot, you're just exploring the minds of a group of people. I also loved the way the surroundings were described, it painted quite an amazing picture of the landscape in my head. But that's about all I can think of that really interested me about this book. The story itself just didn't draw me in as much as I'd hoped. So while I do not think this was a bad book, I also didn't think it was spectacular. It was only mediocre to me.

Review - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Author Info: Website | Wikipedia
Published: November 30th, 1867
Publisher: Roberts Brothers | Signet Classics
Pages: 449
Age Group: Children/Young Adult
Format I Own: Kindle e-book

Before I start this review, I do want to mention that this is the first book review I've ever written. It may not be the most detailed, longest, or generally best review you've ever read, so I hope you'll give me a break.

Little Women is one of the classics that I've been interested in reading for a long time and unfortunately, I feel like I probably would have enjoyed this book much more had I read it at a younger age. Perhaps instead of attempting to read Gone With The Wind at age 13, I should have read this. I couldn't get into Gone With The Wind as a young teen, but found it far more appealing when I read it as an adult. And I feel Little Women is much better suited for women younger than me (I'm only 23).

At the start, I was grumbling thinking this was going to be just a book about a bunch of spoiled girls that whine about all the things they don't have. Yes, I have a bad habit of judging things early on, and probably could have realized that a book that is nothing but talk amongst spoiled girls probably wouldn't be likely to be a classic. I kept on reading and soon realized it was indeed more than that. It does seem to send the message to girls that your goal in life is to get married and be a housewife, so I feel the morals are pretty outdated. I'm indifferent on the religious aspects so I won't go into that.

If I could I'd give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. Typically I think 3 stars is an ok book and 4 stars is a good book, this just sits somewhere in the middle. It never bored me and I never thought there were any dry points in the book, but I found myself not reading it because I wanted to know what happened next, but reading it because I just wanted to get done with it and move on to something else.

Even though it may not seem like it, I did enjoy the book, but I didn't have a strong connection to it. Which may be because of most of the morals ot having much meaning in this day and age, or because the major plot points of the book were all spoiled for me. Likewise, it also doesn't hold much of a reread value, but I am glad to finally have this read and I wasn't disappointed.