Book review: "Girl Code" by Cara Alwill Leyba

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Let me start the review of "Girl Code" by saying that I went into this book fully aware that it is not my type of a book. Over the years many people, mostly my mother and female friends, tried to push various self-development books on me. I detest them. There is nothing else that can put me quicker to sleep or annoy me to the point of throwing the book across the room (something that I more often than not imagine doing but have actually never done) than a book telling me who and what I should or should not be. Part of this is a bit irrational, as I do enjoy learning about other people’s experiences, especially if it is on a topic that I am interested in.

 

 

I learned about this book by Cara from her podcast named “Style Your Mind”, which was mentioned and recommended by the self-published author Kristen Martin (whom I got the privilege to finally meet in person at BookCon). Kristen is someone who I admire and look up to when it comes to organization and being a self-published author - she has a youtube channel and her vlogs are my favourite videos! She mentioned Cara’s podcast, and even though, like I said before, I am not into this type of thing, I went to iTunes and listened to several of her episodes in quick succession. (I was deep cleaning my apartment and her podcasts made this tedious task more bearable.)

 

I liked Cara’s energy and her message about empowering women. I liked what she was saying about her life, how she never had a privileged childhood, but she crafted her life to where she is right now. I liked her way to putting ideas into simple statements. Cara is a life coach and a self-published author, and only recently her self-published novel, "Girl Code", was reprinted by the traditional publisher. I decided to give that book a go, since it was the only novel available at my library.

 

"Girl Code" is extremely short and extremely easy to read. In fact, I found it so simplistic, that I almost felt as if I was reading the scripts to Cara’s podcast. It is not necessarily a bad thing. But for someone like me, who relishes reading complicated prose, it was a bit too simplified at times.

 

Besides her own advices and coaching, Cara’s book also has interviews with other empowering women, interspersed by quotes by famous women. I liked some of them, others I found a bit ‘meh’.

 

Overall, I think this book is great for picking you up if you are in some sort of a funk, but I would not call it ‘groundbreaking’ or ‘empowering’ or ‘inspiring’, and definitely the rating of over 4 stars on GoodReads is a bit surprising (I feel as if it is more of a reflection on Cara’s personality than her writing ability). It was not bad, but there were a lot of things that I could not, personally, relate to. And it is fine. If you are interested in being an entrepreneur or if you want to hear from women who came through a lot of hardships but stayed true to themselves - give this one a try. It is a very short book and I read half of it while getting my pedicure done (which was the appropriate amount of attention this book required from me).

Personal rating: 3 stars

 

Affiliated link:

 

Theatre Blog: The plays I want to see (Fall 2017 - Spring 2018) - National Theatre Live

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So far, this year has been absolutely great on all National Theatre Live broadcasts. There were a lot of plays that I loved and would happily watch more than once. I know that I am a bit behind on reviews here, but since I found information about upcoming broadcasts at Cineplex website, I just had to share!

Yerma - National Theatre Live

September 21, 2017 | 2h 00m

GENRE: Drama, Stage

DIRECTOR: Simon Stone (Director), Federico García Lorca (Playwright)

CAST: Billie Piper

SYNOPSIS

The incredible Billie Piper (Penny Dreadful, Great Britain) returns in her award-winning role. A young woman is driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child in Simon Stone’s radical production of Lorca’s achingly powerful masterpiece. The unmissable theatre phenomenon sold out at the Young Vic and critics call it ‘an extraordinary theatrical triumph’ (The Times) and ‘stunning, searing, unmissable’ (Mail on Sunday). Billie Piper’s lead performance is described as ‘spellbinding’ (The Evening Standard), ‘astonishing’ (iNews) and ‘devastatingly powerful’ (The Daily Telegraph). Set in contemporary London, Piper’s portrayal of a woman in her thirties desperate to conceive builds with elemental force to a staggering, shocking, climax. Please note that this broadcast does not have an interval.

Links:

My comments: I have already purchased the ticket for this broadcast. I am very excited to see Billie Piper on stage, whom I really liked in Doctor Who. And this time I swear, I will read the play before watching it.

 

Follies - National Theatre Live

November 16, 2017 | 3h 30m

GENRE: Musical, Stage

DIRECTOR: Dominic Cooke

CAST: Imelda Staunton, Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee

SYNOPSIS:

Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical is staged for the first time at the National Theatre and broadcast live to cinemas. New York, 1971. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee and Imelda Staunton play the magnificent Follies in this dazzling new production. Featuring a cast of 37 and an orchestra of 21, it’s directed by Dominic Cooke (The Comedy of Errors). Winner of Academy, Tony, Grammy and Olivier awards, Sondheim’s previous work includes A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George.

Links:

My comments: I am not familiar with this story but I am excited to see Imelda Staunton on stage again. After watching “Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (read my review here), I developed a new level of appreciation for Imelda. She was terrific in that play, so I can’t wait to see this production.

 

Young Marx - National Theatre Live

December 7, 2017 | 3h 40m

GENRE: Comedy, Stage

DIRECTOR: Nicholas Hytner

CAST: Rory Kinnear, Oliver Chris

SYNOPSIS:

Rory Kinnear (The Threepenny Opera, Penny Dreadful, Othello) is Marx and Oliver Chris (Twelfth Night, Green Wing) is Engels, in this new comedy written by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman. Broadcast live from The Bridge Theatre, London, the production is directed by Nicholas Hytner and reunites the creative team behind Broadway and West End hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors. 1850, and Europe’s most feared terrorist is hiding in Dean Street, Soho. Broke, restless and horny, the thirty-two-year-old revolutionary is a frothing combination of intellectual brilliance, invective, satiric wit, and child-like emotional illiteracy. Creditors, spies, rival revolutionary factions and prospective seducers of his beautiful wife all circle like vultures. His writing blocked, his marriage dying, his friend Engels in despair at his wasted genius, his only hope is a job on the railway. But there’s still no one in the capital who can show you a better night on the piss than Karl Heinrich Marx.

Links:

My comments: Can’t say I am very interested in the story of Karl Marx, but Rory Kinnear is a terrific actor. I have seen him in The Threepenny Opera and Othello (both by NT) and I know that this is going to be a great play!

 

Hamlet - National Theatre Live ENCORE

March 1, 2018 | 3h 25m

Links:

My comments: Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch - what more can I say? I have seen it twice already but will watch it again, and again, and again.

 

 

 

 

Julius Caesar - National Theatre Live

March 22, 2018 | 3h 00m

GENRE: Stage

DIRECTOR: Nicholas Hytner

CAST: Ben Whishaw, Michelle Fairley, David Calder, David Morrissey

SYNOPSIS:

Ben Whishaw (The Danish Girl, Skyfall, Hamlet) and Michelle Fairley (Fortitude, Game of Thrones) play Brutus and Cassius, David Calder (The Lost City of Z, The Hatton Garden Job) plays Caesar and David Morrissey (The Missing, Hangmen, The Walking Dead) is Mark Antony. Broadcast live from The Bridge Theatre, London. Caesar returns in triumph to Rome and the people pour out of their homes to celebrate. Alarmed by the autocrat’s popularity, the educated élite conspire to bring him down. After his assassination, civil war erupts on the streets of the capital. Nicholas Hytner’s production will thrust the audience into the street party that greets Caesar’s return, the congress that witnesses his murder, the rally that assembles for his funeral and the chaos that explodes in its wake.

Links:

My comments: Ben Whishaw on stage. What else do you need? I fell in love with Ben as Freddie Lyon in the British TV series ‘The Hour’. I believe, it will be the first time I see him on stage, and I can not wait!

 

 

This is all that has been announced for the broadcast in foreseeable future. As always, keep an eye on Cineplex and NTLive.com websites for more information. (And, no, I have no affiliation with either companies - I am just an avid theatre goer ♥).

Check out my play reviews here.

Book review: Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, #3) by Marissa Meyer (audiobook)

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After finishing Cinder and Scarlet in a quick succession, I was impatient to start Cress. The beginning of Cress was everything I wanted and expected - it was dramatic, fast paced and worked perfectly well.

 

Then came the slump. I listened to about one third of the audiobook and started to lose interest in what was happening. Mainly, it had to do with a very long and predictable journey through desert - everything that happened there, including the following kidnapping, I was able to foresee a mile away, which left me feeling ‘meh’ and reluctant to continue. I found myself turning to this audiobook less and less, and eventually had to have a little break.

 

I did continue with it, and once all of our character finally assembled in one place, the pace picked up again. I did, however, find some of the revelations very obvious, which saddened me. Although I find the narration pleasant and the storyline entertaining enough, it is not as engaging as I would have liked. At times, the series has a bit too much teenager’y drama and soap opera for me.

 

I do what to remark on the fact that although almost all characters went through some character development in this book, I still can not figure out Carswell Thorne. He was introduced at the end of “Cinder”/beginning of “Scarlet” and was depicted as a completely fluke, a self-absorbed moron and a failed conman, whose mind seemed to be only occupied by ladies and maintaining his good looks. I disliked him a lot at that point. Throughout “Scarlet” Thorne was developing into a better fleshed out character, but I still was not sold on his “a conman with a heart of gold” persona. I found it difficult to believe that Cress would fall for Thorne, when there was clearly nothing heroic about him.

 

By the end of “Cress”, however, Thorne is turning into a real hero. He is not afraid to admit to his less favourable deeds to Cress, and he is hiding less and less behind his jokes and over-exuberant confidence. Cress is slowly growing into a strong character in this story, perhaps, less than Cinder and Scarlet, but she is a real team member by the end of this novel. She saved the day more than once in this book, which I absolutely loved.

 

The only character, who has not failed to annoy me in every single book, is Emperor Kai. Not only he is willing to be a sacrifice lamb and go through the marriage with Levana, but he seems to completely incompetent in everything that he does. He is praised for his diplomatic skills, while he failed to secure future peace for his nation. His decision to marry Levana is not only the suicide but also a definite disaster for his nation, if he is, indeed, killed after Levana is crowned as the empress. It is a ridiculous decision, which the author is trying to portray as this big and important sacrifice, but it is just plain stupid. He is choosing to prolong the suffering of his nation (and his own) by implementing this short-term solution. Kai is completely oblivious to everything that is happening in the palace - he is not fully aware of the research, he doesn’t know that there are tunnels under the palace, etc. He seems to be surprised by the most obvious decisions and is fully dependant on his advisor Torin. I hope that he will undergo at least some character development in “Winter” as for now I don’t understand what Cinder (and Iko) see in him as he is not the Prince Charming I expected in this series. (I love the fact that all the female character in the series are badass in their own ways, but Kai just annoys me.)

 

I feel that this book could have worked really well with at least 50 pages cut out. It is long and the middle of the book is rather slow. The pace did pick up at the end, although I found the ending of “Cress” to be less dramatic and intense than the ending of the second book in the series.

 

I hoped that I would give this book a higher rating than books one and two, but alas. It is a good series, but so far it has failed to enamour me to it to give it anything higher than 3 stars.

 

Narration: 4 stars

Plot: 3 stars

Overall: 3 stars

 

Cress

Book review: Shadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1) by Leigh Bardugo

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  As always I am late to the party. I mean, everyone has already read the Six of Crows duology a year ago which followed The Grisha trilogy, and here I am - finally reading the first book in the trilogy. But better late than never, huh?

Following my rather mixed feelings in regards of  “Crown’s Game” by Evelyn Skye (I was excited to read the book set in Imperial Russia but also found all language fumbles and misconceptions rather frustrating - neither of which prevented me from buying the book or its sequel, by the way), I became increasingly anxious over starting The Grisha trilogy. I heard good things, but not amazing things. People were praising Bardugo for setting her fantasy in Russia, but at the same time they were not calling it an amazing book. Even the title of the series made me feel apprehensive - who names the series a short version of the name Gregory which, by the way, is the name for magicians of that world.

 

Errr, what?

 

Not to mention, the types of the order - Corporalki, Etherealki and Materialki - that make even less sense and only vaguely resemble Russian language. (Stapling ‘ki’ ending to an English word is not how you go about it. It just makes it sound derogatory.)

 

But at some point I was like - enough is enough, time to read the series! If I hate it, then I will hate it, but if I don’t - then I want to be able to say so.

 

Long story short: I did NOT hate it. But I was not instantly enamoured either.

 

Linguistic fumbles aside (and, yes, I did find mistakes in the language, which once again made me what to pull at my hair and yell at non-native speakers incorporating words in foreign languages to seek reliable native speaking translators), you can definitely tell that “Shadow and Bone” is Bardugo’s debut novel. It is not a necessarily bad novel, but it is cliched and raw in some parts, although I did enjoy the fact that it is a very fast paced book. You get thrown into the midst of action almost from the very beginning, which is great and saves you from paying too much attention to certain plot holes.

 

I liked all main characters, although the trope of “the chosen one” is getting pretty old. The Darkling is, probably, my most favourite character, in spite of how cliched of a dark brooding but incredibly attractive villain he is. I loved the depictions of the Shadow Fold and Unsee and volcra.

 

While reading the book, I felt compelled to stop treating this world as an actual historical depiction of Russian Empire in 1800s but treat it as a sort of resembling reality fantasy world. I am thankful that unlike Skye, Bardugo did not claim any historical prowess when it comes to world building. I would not have handled that well. The world of Ravka (another word that makes me cringe internally) is as historically accurate as the animated movie ‘Anastasia’ (which is a great movie but is also so Hollywood-like that it is almost offensive that it was so well received and is still loved by many, considering how far fetched it is from actual events). Since “Shadow and Bone” does not claim to be set in Russia, I am (almost) willing to overlook poorly constructed sentences in Russian (please, do not use Google Translate when you write books), misconception that kvas is a heavy alcoholic drink (it is lighter than beer and I can’t imagine anyone getting drunk on it!) or that everyone eats buckwheat and marinated herring for breakfast (the herring is delicious, by the way) or that the name of the main protagonist, Alina Starkov, sounds like an immigrant Russian name in USA (because since Alina is female, her last name should have been Starkova). As you understand, I can continue with this list.

 

I did enjoy reading the novel, when I was not cringing or rolling my eyes. It is better than some debut novels, I have read. It is not perfect - not even close, but it is book one in the trilogy, and I have heard from several people that Bardugo’s writing does get better in later books. Which gives me hope.

 

Overall, the book has a distinctive Hollywood flair to it. The alluring boys are too alluring, the stubborn main characters are too stubborn, and the creepy villains are too creepy. You know what I mean. But the pace of the narrative was enough to keep me hooked. I flew through the book that turned out to be shorter and a much quicker read than I expected. So, I have to give Leigh that. She managed to keep me entertained in spite of everything.

I can not wait to read the second novel. I hope it does get better.

 

Personal rating: 3 stars

 

Affiliated links:

Shadow and Bone   

July 30 - Apple Photo Walks

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Today my friend Anya and I went to one of Apple’s Photo Walks. It is an hour and a half free session of walking around the neighbourhood (in our case - Old and New City Halls) with an Apple rep, talking about basic iPhone camera features, exposure, light, contrast, etc. It is great for newbies and those who don’t use their iPhone’s camera much but want to learn. I can’t say that I personally learned something new from it, but I loved walking around with a group of people and intentionally trying to be creative and look at ordinary things at different angles. It would have been even better if it weren’t so blazingly hot!

Here are some  of the photos from that walk. All taken by iPhone 6S, standard Camera app, no editing apps.

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Book review: This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1) by Victoria Schwab

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Do you know that feeling when you open a book, read the first line and go like, ‘yup, this is my author, alright’. I got this feeling when I started reading “Vicious” - the first book by Victoria Schwab that I read. And I got the same feeling when I started reading ‘This Savage Song’. And it thrilled me to no end.

 

“This Savage Song” was doing a lot of rounds on BookTube last year, and the most mentioned thing about it was the fact that there is no romance in this book, which is incredibly rare and unusual for a young adult novel. What this book does have in abundance is monsters - both of human and supernatural variety.

 

The novel is set in a dystopian world, in the city which is divided by civil war. August Flynn and Kate Harker might seem like dystopian Romeo and Juliet but, thankfully, they are not star-crossed lovers, although there is an undeniable connection between them. There is enough gore and violence in this book to make it seem almost an adult novel. Almost but not enough. I would have loved this book to be more heavy (yes, more angsty and more intense), but I loved it for what it was worth.

 

“This Savage Song” seems like such a my book that it is surprising that it doesn’t have my name printed all over it. I couldn’t have asked for a better book (well, maybe a bit more angst and queerness) to read. I am surprised I have not written it myself, in a way. Just like when I was reading “Vicious”, I kept thinking that Victoria must be my brain twin as she created monsters that are more human than humans, and humans who are more monstrous than monsters - something that I aspire to do too.

 

I adored this book. I read it in less than two days because I just couldn’t put it down. I did, however, manage to predict who the real bad guys are, but it didn’t disappoint me in the least but rather made me more firm in my assumption that Victoria writes much in the same way as I think. Which is brilliant.

 

I don’t want to discuss plot for the fear of spoiling it, but I must say that I loved everything about this world: the monsters and their different powers; the fact that monsters are born from the vile crimes that people commit (which is something that I feel strongly about); the dystopian city divided by civil/turf war; chosen families; instant connections and unlikely friendships; being true to oneself, etc. There are so many things that I love about this book. I want to read it again. And again. And again.

 

The best thing about this book, though, is the fact that there is a sequel and I am already reading it.

 

Rating: 4 stars

 

Affiliated links:

 

This Savage Song    

Book review: Peter Darling by Austin Chant

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Have you ever been in a situation when you don’t know what to read and then randomly find a book and it is exactly what you have been craving but you just didn’t know that? Well, this is what I felt when I started reading “Peter Darling” by Austin Chant, after seeing it being recommended by Cece at ProblemsofABookNerd. I still mentally salivate when I think about it.

I did not read the synopsis of the book before reading it, and I encourage you to do the same. Not because it is really spoilery (it is but there is just no other way to summarize the books, I guess), but because it does not reflect the dark and surreal feeling that this book inspires. To put it shortly, it is an adult fantasy novel, a sequel to Peter Pan, which features a transgender main character. That’s all you need to know. Go and read it now!

It takes place 10 years after the events of “Peter Pan”. Peter Pan has grown up, but his life has not been easy with Darlings. His father keeps calling him Wendy and his brothers think he invented Peter Pan. Peter feels the pull to return to Neverland, and this time for ever. Once he is back, he has to face his old adversary, Captain Hook. Ten years is a long time, and Peter is not a boy anymore, and it is not only hatred that he feels towards Hook.

I love reading books by indie authors, however, I rarely stumble upon real gems, and this book is definitely one of them. The book is well written with the right amount of angst and action. And I am a big sucker for angst. Peter struggles to be true to himself while managing his relationship with his brothers and parents, who see him only as Wendy. It is striking and moving, and I couldn't help but root for Peter.

Peter, when he returns to Neverland, and Lost Boys are brutal and more savage, which reminded me of “Lord of the flies” in some ways. There is a certain twist in the novel, which I freaking loved, and wish I could rant about it in my review, but it is a big spoiler.

Relationship between Peter and Hook is very believable, and I appreciate the fact that it did not happen out of blue or developed at a warp speed. For those who are concerned with the age difference, remember that Peter is of legal age in this story.

I really, really liked this book. I wish I had a physical copy, but it is definitely joining my favourites collection on my Kindle. I liked this book so much that I immediately went on twitter to tweet at the author and ask if he plans to do more fairy tales retellings/sequels because this one was awesome.

So, if you like queer stories and retellings peppered with angst, go and read it!

Personal rating: 4 stars

Buy on Kindle: