Book Review: 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' by John Green and David Levithan

Just finished this book about half an hour ago, so hoping the details are still fairly vivid in my memory, but we'll see!

Having read two other novels by John Green novels, I have wanted for a while to read more. My sister bought 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' a year or more ago but I didn't really remember about it until I was looking for something to read. It took me a while longer than it usually would to get through it, due to study for prelims (which are all done now... yay!), but there was no rush.

Brief Summary: two will Grayson's meet coincidently. Both at similar stages of their lives and fighting different battles, the novel follows them through good times and struggles with the aim of providing truthful conclusions on the topic of love: romantic, family, and friendship.

I'd never read a novel by more than one author before, or at least not as far as I can remember. It turns out that Green and Levithan wrote alternating chapters, each in charge of bringing to life one of the Will Graysons, but I didn't realise this until I was close to completing the book which indicates that the novel flowed and interlinked well.

One of the two Wills' chapters were written entirely in lower case. This annoyed me to start with but soon just became a natural part of the reading of the book- and was exceptionally useful when I lost track of which Will was narrating!

The main theme that grasped me in the novel was that two of the characters (one of the Will Graysons and the ginormous best friend, ironically named Tiny, of the other WG) were gay, and this was a topic which played a major part in the storyline. Having never actually read a book from the point of view of a homosexual character (again, as far as I remember!) this was very interesting for me, and a nice change. I felt that difficulties for young gay boys and their coping mechanisms, not that I'm an expert on the topic, were dealt with well and made for an interesting read.

Furthermore, mental ill health was a fundamental pert, and this always interests me when its handled sensitively. The descriptions of the character in question's difficult episodes was so vivid and realistic, at least for someone unable to entirely understand what it must be like. What I liked about it was that, although mental illness helped the reader to relate to the character, it did not become so central to the plot that I would go as far to say that that was what the book was about, because it wasn't.

The book was about growing up, finding your feet, and friendship, for the most part. It mostly related well to actual teenage life. I would say that I was slightly disappointed by the ending, as I found it a little bit cliché/cheesy and felt that the authors tried a bit too hard to impart wisdom, as opposed to allowing the reader to naturally draw their own meaning from what was a powerful overall story line.

But the entire thing certainly had me hooked and I would highly recommend- particularly if you're in your teens or struggling with love, relationships, mental illness or your sexuality.  It may be my favourite John Green novel so far, but they're all so different it's very difficult to make an accurate comparison. Either way, it's fairly fabulous.

Happy Belated Birthday to me... and my blog!

So, absence from my blog has been due to prelims. So glad to have them over and done with- they didn't seem quite as significant this year, I suppose because I've been through it twice before and have fewer subjects, but it's been hard work all the same.

Over a week ago (12th January to be exact!) marked a year since my first post! technically, my actual blog is about 4 years old but since I deleted all my old posts, began again, and kept it going, its been just over a year! I can't quite believe  it really, that a year has passed, but I hope to still be sitting typing my blog up in another years time!

And exactly a week ago today was my 18th birthday! I was at school but the evening was great- I was totally spoilt! I got an ice cream cake and everything! I haven't included photos in a while so I'll pop a birthday collage on here!

Being 18 is something which is actually a pretty big step in some ways, and not in others, but I think that's a topic which needs its own post!

Tonight I just wanted to thank everyone for a year of blog-world.. woo! I have a draft-post sitting waiting to be completed and published but I'm kind of too drained today to finish it! I had a 3 hour written exam which went alright but made me exhausted! Then I went out for dinner tonight with a friend who I haven't seen in ages,

So I apologies that this is one of my no-meaning ramble posts but just really felt like I needed to blog something, an urge to write I suppose! Stick with me, my mind is full of ideas for 2015 posts!

Catriona xx

Book Review: 'We Were Liars' by E. Lockhart

This was the second book recommended by The Guardian, alongside 'She is not Invisible'

One of the New Year's resolutions I spoke about in the post that my computer deleted (no, I'm not over it so no, I'm not going to let it go!) was to read more. Last year, I worked out I read approximately 11 books, although I didn't keep an exact count. This year I'd like to top that figure.

I bought 'We were Liars' for my Kindle back in the summer and just started reading it on Monday. I became kind of obsessed and finished it last night, so in between school and everything I read it in 5 days.

'We were Liars' is predominately about a rich family, who are made up of an elderly couple, their three daughters and their families. Every year, everyone meets on an Island the family owns to spend the summer together there. The 3 daughters are all extremely materialistic and inheritance driven and the children are all expected to live in a very specific way, a way in which lives up to the reputation of the family. They can be nothing but completely normal, whatever that's supposed to be.

Among these children are the 3 eldest grandchildren: Cadence, Johnny and Mirren and Johnny's step-dad's nephew Gat, who Cadence falls irrevocably in love with.

We follow the liars as they grow up and attempt to become their own people with their own opinions.

Then we learn that the main character Cadence has had an accident and is suffering memory loss, and the rest of the novel continues with flashbacks appearing as Cadence forms memories.

But the events she remembers may not be things she (or we, in some cases!) wanted to know.

I think the novel is excellently written with a tone that leaves you longing for more.

I think that the author touches on several extremely important themes, including family relationships and break downs, obsession over physical things and worth, growing up and developing ideas, family expectations, stigma surrounding mental health, wastefulness and many more...

I, being romantic, like the Gat & Cadence romance, but, as I said to my sister this morning, what I like is that the book doesn't rely on this relationship. It's an important part but would still function without and it is that kind of novel that I view to be the best kind. Not only does it make it a more comfortable, enjoyable and worthwhile read, but it makes the romance itself seem more real- there are very few couples who are all over each other for 120 consecutive pages worth in real life! 'We Were Liars' isn't like that at all, and yet at the same time could easily be branded a 'romance'.

The author also uses intermittent adaptations of a popular fairy-tales as analogies to the happenings of the book- they're short, and are actually quite effective, but for some unidentifiable reason I found them kind of annoying!

As I was reading this book, I started thinking it would make a great film, and when I was listening to music I even identified a couple of tracks that would fit nicely in it, and me writing the screen play! My imagination runs a bit wild at times!

I have been recommending this book to a lot of my friends already and it's a relatively short read so worth a go!

Until next time,

Catriona xx

GCBA Shortlist, Book #2: 'Say Her Name' by James Dawson

(For information on what the Grampian Children's Book Award is and why I am spending time reading and reviewing books aimed at 12-14 year olds, check out my previous post here!

To read the first review in my GCBA series, click here)


I picked this book as my next GCBA read because all the children in the first-year class I help out with were telling me that it was really scary! Plus, I knew I'd manage one over the Christmas holidays, and finished it last Sunday (January 4th).

'Say My Name' begins with some pupils of a private girls school taking part in a dare to 'summon' the Bloody Mary, a ghost rumoured to be of a former student of their school who committed suicide.


The action begins typically, when the group involved think it's just

a joke and then slowly begin to believe as weird things start happening to them.

What was more interesting was the sub-story of the three victims of the ghost's torment racing against time to discover Mary's 'unfinished business' and stop her from causing them to disappear forever.

If you read into it enough, you can identify underlying themes of not knowing when your life could suddenly end, acting under pressure etc.

There is also a very clear (and cute!) romance involved for the principle character, which I could understand being viewed as some by unnecessarily soppiness. However, I think the budding relationship (while it annoyingly follows the unrealistic pattern of 'hottest guy in town suddenly falls for plain geek school girl') con tributes to the story by strengthening the bond between the characters that begins with their shared fear, and in giving them incentive to keep going.

As for being scary, it begins with the odd scene intended to make you jump, then has a large section without, and then returns for one of the creepiest, most bizarre (and, in my opinion, unsatisfactory!) endings ever!

Overall, I think it's well written and I cannot deny that it had me hooked and desperate to get back to reading it. However, the last few chapters (more short chapters, hurrah!) seemed to rush events a bit, and the last 2 pages were not as I would have ended it. Probably not my genre but really glad I read it! I always did like a book set in a school!

Frustration with technology... (and Happy New Year!)

So, on the 2nd January, I began my first blog post of 2015.

Yesterday, I went to that post and completed it. The post was entitled 'Another year over and a new one just begun', from a popular Christmas song. I went into a lot of detail about how brilliant 2014 was for me, and went on to talk about my various goals, or resolutions, for the coming year.

However, in the process of publishing, my internet crashed without saving all my work and I'm left without it! :(

I was so upset but I had to get on with homework so had no time to re-write it. And now I'm not particularly sure if I want to, because I'll never be able to remember everything I included!

So, for now, I won't log all my resolutions but it's suffice to say that 2014 was probably the best year of my entire life for numerous reasons, and in 2015 I'd like to be a nicer person with great relationships with friends and family (and hopefully a romantic experience of some sort at some point!), stay healthy, read even more than last year, write more and keep up a daily diary, study hard and stay motivated, relax a bit and worry less, play more music, stand up straight with great posture, take more care over my appearance, but also be a self-confident person and be successful- not too much to ask then!!

And I've definitely learnt a massive lesson- don't rely on technology! Once a post gets to a certain length I'm going to have to start making copies so that I don't loose it! For now, the post I spent so much time over will never be! But I wish you all every success for the coming year as I strive to meet my many goals!

Catriona xx