This was a Christmas present from my boyf because he really likes reading scifi and I said I would give it a go.

This book follows the story of Tanner Mirabel as he travels across the universe to get revenge on the man who killed his friends, obviously running into more and more trouble on the way, and ending up in Chasm City.

I'll be honest, it took me a while to get into this book and I did spend the first 50 pages just shouting "urg I hate space opera". But I stuck at it, got into it and actually really enjoyed it.

The story does take a while to get going and you start sort of half way through and then have to understand what happened through memories, conversations and some flashbacks. This sounds a bit melodramatic but is executed very well with 3 different timelines running simultaneously, the present hunt for revenge, the events that led up to needing revenge and (my favourite) the memories of the man who established Tanner's home planet hundred of years ago.

Sometimes they are a little hard to keep track of but these three stories

So if you don't know me in person, I'm 6 foot, loud and a bit awkward. So you can see why Miranda would appeal to me. It's not just the almost constant comparisons being made between the two of us, she's also very funny and perceptive about the world around us.

So I was delighted when I got this bad boy for Christmas. It's not your typical celeb bio, it's Miranda's guide to life for all of us slightly awkward ladies (and gents) out there.

And I loved it. I devoured this book in one day and I laughed my way all the way through. I mean there were depressing bits, like when I could just send my friend a page number of something embarrassing Miranda was talking about that I had done and she got it straight away.

But that aside, I will gladly accept Miranda as my like-minded, like-heighted guru. And you should too. It's not preachy life advice and it's not sickeningly life affirming. It just makes you laugh and feel good, and that is more than enough.

So when I was little I had the film of this book and I flipping loved it, so much so that I got the DVD for my 22nd birthday last year. But this Christmas I finally got round to actually reading the book.

And I loved it!

It's the story of a boy, Milo, who finds a surprise present in his room when he gets home from school. The present turns out to be a tollbooth that takes Milo into a magical world where he encounters a string of interesting friends on his trip through the lands beyond to the castle in the air.

It's silly and it's childishly funny while at the same time being somewhat educational. There is some really good wordplay, puns galore and some really nice illustrations.

If you want a break from everything and a quick read that will make you smile then please go read this book, and then tell me what happens on the page that is missing from my copy.

This book follows the story of Rosemary and Guy, a newly married couple who move into a new building but then encounter some very odd neighbours.

I loved this book but at the same time hated it. It's really well written and full of suspense but at the same time the plot is a bit harrowing. It's one of those books that I found myself screaming at the pages in an effort to save Rosemary from the conspiracy around her. But she just never listened - shocking I know - and so I had to just sit and read as things got worse and worse.

So yeah it's a thriller in every sense and I really enjoyed reading it, even if I did have to start another book before I went to bed because I was scared. One thing I will say is that this book might be a bit of a girl's book as although there is lots of drama and action, the plot does centre around a pregnancy and I think there are a few things that won't scare men but will make women tremble in their womb - if that's not too disturbing an image.

This book follows the story of Stephen Wraysford through his youth spent in France and then through the first World War with sections written from the point of view of his granddaughter in the 1970s.

It wasn't the most cheerful book to read over Christmas but it's a classic. It's also not for the faint hearted as the scenes during the war are often fittingly horrific and very visual. These scenes are really powerful and really express some of the horror of the situation to the point of being hard to read.

Another thing to look out for are the quite graphic sex scenes which I found on the day I decided to read on the bus. I know nobody else knew what I was reading but it made me a little uncomfortable on the number 8 at midday.

But overall this is a great book. It is truly moving both in the depictions of war but also the personal relationships that survived it. The only thing I would say about the book is that while the sections from before the war really stressed how much life had changed, the sections from the 70s, I felt, were a bit unnecessary and didn't add much to the book (although I know someone who only read those sections and would disagree).

But yeah, it's a really god book although not the most cheerful of stories. And as a little bonus I got my copy for £2 just because it had the TV series cover - score.

So I thought I'd go all classic for a change and try a Bronte sister out.

Wuthering Heights tells the story of the troubled Earnshaw clan and the misfit boy Heathcliff they bring into their fold. It's also a song by Kate Bush which is a classic in another way.

It's a classic yes, but by God is this a depressing book. I got really into it and really attached to some of the characters, mostly Nelly and Hareton, and then I just had to sit and read as their lives got worse and worse and then somehow even worse. It's horrible. Just depressing.

But while I say that I did kind of enjoy reading it. It was really nice to curl up in bed take a glance at the frost outside and delve into a big ol' lump of classic.

So yeah not a cheerful book but a great book to curl up with on a winter morning.

This is the second book in Asimov's Foundation trilogy.

The first book saw Hari Seldon use the new field of psycho-history to predict the fall of the dying empire and to map out the future of humanity and establish a new foundation at the edge of the galaxy. By creating a society under the right conditions and by predicting the course of mankind's future, Seldon was able to steer humanity out of barbarism and into a new civilisation. Seldon died but many came after him to steer the Foundation through each Seldon crisis, a crisis that threatens the Foundation but which Seldon has predicted and preemptively counteracted.

So the second book tells the story of how the current inhabitants of the Foundation, 300 years after Seldon, are continuing to try and survive based on Seldon's principles. But they are threatened by a new and unknown enemy called the Mule, a mysterious man who is slowly taking over the galaxy by forces unknown.

I loved the first book. I thought it was a really clever idea and that the characters used to act it out were some of the best I'd ever read. So I was dubious coming to the second book because on the one hand it would continue the story I had enjoyed before but would it be as good?

The answer is that it is very different and, in my opinion, doesn't measure up to

I read this book because I found myself bombarded with recommendations and was even sent a free copy in an attempt to make me read it. Not one to disappoint my fans, I read it.

And I'm glad I did because I really liked it.

The book tells the story of a magical circus that appears out of nowhere with nothing more than a sign on the gate with opening hours on - twilight until dawn. Inside this circus are a range of exciting people but in particular are two "gifted" twins and a pair of illusionists trapped in a challenge they don't understand.

This is a very pretty book. As I read the first pages I could see the glorious circus unfolding around me so vividly that I could have been watching a film. And this continues throughout the book. The circus is so well constructed that you feel as if you have actually visited it and it becomes as important to you as it is to the performers. And it's not just the look of the circus that catches your imagination as Morgenstern manages to express the sounds and scents and even feel of the circus as well.

As much time has been put into the creation of the characters and their mixed up relationships as has been devoted to the circus. The characters are so

This book follows the story of fifteen year old Kambili as she visits her cousins and discovers there are other ways to live than the one prescribed to her by her abusively evangelical father.

I really enjoyed this book. Not much happens story-wise and in that respect the book is a bit of a slow-burner but this means that more time is devoted to developing the characters, and it is completely worth it. Each character has their own distinct personality and I found myself becoming really attached to them, especially the central character Kambili. Even her dad who could have become entirely defined by his religion is developed enough to tug on your heart-strings at points and leave you as confused as Kambili about his way of caring for his children.

Perhaps because I got so attached to the characters I found sections of this book quite harrowing and hard to read as Kambili's father often resorts to

This book is bafflingly beautiful. Set in Faulkner's mythical deep south, it follows the trails and tribulations of the Compson family as they try to retain their family values in an ever changing world.

The narrative is split into four sections each narrated by a different character. You start by being thrown in at the deep end with Benjy, one of the Compson children who obviously has some kind of learning difficulties. Faulkner treats this issue sensitively and you definitely feel that Benjy has a complex personality, even if his family don't seem to think so, but with such a narrow point of view the opening of the novel is very hard to follow. 

Once you feel you have the hang of Benjy's erratic narrative style the book changes pace as his brother Quentin takes up the narrative. Quentin tells his