BOOK HAUL PART ONE!
March 13, 2017Hey everyone! I feel like I'm constantly apologising for delayed periods of absence and a lack of posts, and here I am apologising once again. I've been completely bogged down this semester and working on top of that so I've had barely any spare time to myself. Now I'm making a more determined effort to post and finally catch up on all of the posts I've been meaning to get round to, starting with this small haul of books I've acquired!
I've gathered a lot of books the last couple of weeks for both uni and pleasure so I'm going to separate my haul and mini reviews into two, and in this post I'm going to show you guys the spare time reading books I treated myself to!
You'll notice a dystopian, Orwell-esque theme running throughout some of these novels, and normally I wouldn't be a fan of that kind of fiction, however, these books caught my eye when I was browsing and I had to pick them up. I haven't managed to start any of them yet, asides from Persepolis because I have a presentation on that, so I'm just going to give you my first impressions on the novels based on the blurb,
IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE - SINCLAIR LEWIS
I first found out about this novel through an article one of my lecturer shared that spoke of the rise in sales of dystopian novels since the presidential election of you know who (his name will never be mentioned on my blog), and it really caught my eye. Sound familiar? That's because Lewis' novel parallels exactly what's happening in the US and I can't help but wonder if he even had any inkling of how prophetic his semi-satirical novel would become one day. It draws inspiration from politician Huey Long's presidential campaign before his assassination in 1935, the year of the novel's publication, and plays with what could have potentially happened had he have won. This novel is one that I cannot wait to read and it's top of my list... once I get through the mountain of books I have to read for university, but I'll show you those in another blog post!
PERSEPOLIS - MARJANE SATRAPI
I'm currently working on a presentation for my World Literature class about Satrapi's graphic novel. I've always wanted to read the novel after hearing so many good things about the film, so I jumped at the opportunity to take a seminar on it. This graphic autobiography is based on Satrapi's own life as she grew up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and covers many themes such as war, rebellion and Marxism. While graphic novels aren't my favourite genre but I'm excited to find out about the Middle East and an important part of their history.
THE DEATH OF GRASS - JOHN CHRISTOPHER
The Death of Grass isn't a novel I had heard a lot about, but the blurb captivated me from the first sentence. I love anything to do with catastrophic, natural disaster events, and it certainly has an echo of Lord of the Flies about it. It's always interesting to see how humanity responds to these apocalyptic events and it certainly makes us question how we personally would react in these situations, which is a theme I really enjoy exploring when I read fiction.
THE ROMANOVS - SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
History was my second favourite subject at school, and I even debated doing a joint honours English / History degree before making my final choice. I studied Russian History in my A-Level years, but never went into too much detail about the Romanov family which is something that's always fascinated me. The novel looks at the full dynasty of Russia's most famous family and how they came to meet their eventual doomed end, and also features a photo album in the centre, rife with pictures of the ever-changing royal family. If you're a fan of Russian history, or just historical novels in general, this is a book you have to pick up.
THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE - PHILIP K. DICK
Now a critically acclaimed Amazon series, this novel has been on my must read list for well over a year now, but any time I went to buy it I could never find it, so I'm very excited to have this in my possession. If you've never heard of the novel before, it explores an alternative ending to WWII and what would happen if the Nazis, aided by the Japanese, won. Inside the novel, another novel is being composed, as he explores the history of our world. The novel is a classic for a reason, and I cannot wait to get stuck into it.
Well that's all for now, thank you all for reading. I will be doing my best to post at least once every day this week, so I hope you all stayed tuned!
Rachel
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