My post tomorrow will be on e-readers. Love them or loathe them, they have certainly made their mark on the book world! In anticipation of getting the new Kindle Oasis next month, I will be reviewing my current Kindle Paperwhite and delving in to the abyss that is 'plastic or paper'?
Until tomorrow.
Rachael.x
Monday 14 November 2016
I'm still here!
So as it's been about 3 weeks since my last post I thought I had better jump back on the wagon! As any parent knows, the summer holidays are super busy, especially when you're a parent of 3! They have kept me immensely busy the past few weeks but I have also been busy delving into some amazing books. I am currently reading another offering from Liane Moriarty which I will review after I have finished. The main one that I would like to review next is very different from what you may have come to expect from me.
As well as being a busy mum-of-3 and a complete bookworm I am also a huge motorsports fan. Speedway in particular. For those of you that are unfamiliar with it, it involves 4 riders racing on an oval shaped shale track for 4 laps on bikes up to 500cc with no brakes and capable of hitting 60mph faster than a Formula 1 car. It is a highly dangerous but breathtakingly exciting sport to watch. Take a look at some examples on YouTube here.
The reason for my explanation of my other hobby is my choice of book review. Despite being a huge fan of Speedway for more than 18 years I have never read a book on the subject until now. I came across Tragedy: The Kenny Carter Story on a Speedway related Facebook group and the story appealed to me despite not being my usual choice of genre.
I can without any hesitation say that this is one of, if not the best book I have read so far this year. As the title suggests it is indeed a tragic story. One of early childhood heartache, growing up too fast, International success and fame at a young age and perhaps inevitably, jealousy, rage and murder-suicide.
It is very well written in a chronological fashion to really let the reader travel through time and understand the man behind the name. The boy who grew up to be an international Speedway icon and would have undoubtedly gone on to become World Champion and be a huge influence within the sport had the tragic events of his past not taken place.
I finished this lengthy read in just a few short days. I literally couldn't put it down. Despite the subject matter I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are dark elements for sure but the hilarious anecdotes and fond memories relayed throughout helped to lift the overall tone of the book.
I highly recommend reading it, even if you have never heard of the sport. I promise it is worth the read. It is available in paperback and kindle format from Amazon today.
As well as being a busy mum-of-3 and a complete bookworm I am also a huge motorsports fan. Speedway in particular. For those of you that are unfamiliar with it, it involves 4 riders racing on an oval shaped shale track for 4 laps on bikes up to 500cc with no brakes and capable of hitting 60mph faster than a Formula 1 car. It is a highly dangerous but breathtakingly exciting sport to watch. Take a look at some examples on YouTube here.
The reason for my explanation of my other hobby is my choice of book review. Despite being a huge fan of Speedway for more than 18 years I have never read a book on the subject until now. I came across Tragedy: The Kenny Carter Story on a Speedway related Facebook group and the story appealed to me despite not being my usual choice of genre.
It is very well written in a chronological fashion to really let the reader travel through time and understand the man behind the name. The boy who grew up to be an international Speedway icon and would have undoubtedly gone on to become World Champion and be a huge influence within the sport had the tragic events of his past not taken place.
I finished this lengthy read in just a few short days. I literally couldn't put it down. Despite the subject matter I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are dark elements for sure but the hilarious anecdotes and fond memories relayed throughout helped to lift the overall tone of the book.
I highly recommend reading it, even if you have never heard of the sport. I promise it is worth the read. It is available in paperback and kindle format from Amazon today.
I'm still alive!
Wow, can't believe how long it has been since my last post! What a year it has been too. 2015 finished amazingly as always with a beautiful family Christmas and New Year. 2016 has been incredibly bittersweet so far with some amazing things and some not so good. My lovely Dad was diagnosed with bowel cancer, but thankfully he made a full recovery quite swiftly. I don't know what I would do without him.
The little ones are not so little anymore. The smallest started nursery and we had a visit to the 'big school' for the eldest. Cannot believe this time next year she will be in Year 7! We had a new addition to the family of the canine variety. A beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Cooper! He keeps me busy and we are enjoying going out for walks and snuggling up on the sofa together.
I have had a difficult year personally, and was recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. It's a daily struggle with the energy required to raise 3 children and keep house, but I am so blessed to be able to do it and not worry about an employer. I have also really began to understand myself a lot better this year including doing lots of research on the Myers-Briggs Personality Types. I'm the rarest type which, coupled with the Fibromyalgia, means I can be pretty difficult to live with! I have a super supportive partner and I couldn't ask for more.
I have also read some incredible books this last year, some of which I will be posting reviews on. I set a huge goal of 100 books to read in 2016, which I think may have been a little overzealous considering I struggle to keep my eyes open now past 9pm!
I am hoping to start to blog very regularly, and widen the topics to include more about Fibromyalgia and the day to day life of a Fibro Mum.
Rachael x
The little ones are not so little anymore. The smallest started nursery and we had a visit to the 'big school' for the eldest. Cannot believe this time next year she will be in Year 7! We had a new addition to the family of the canine variety. A beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Cooper! He keeps me busy and we are enjoying going out for walks and snuggling up on the sofa together.
I have had a difficult year personally, and was recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. It's a daily struggle with the energy required to raise 3 children and keep house, but I am so blessed to be able to do it and not worry about an employer. I have also really began to understand myself a lot better this year including doing lots of research on the Myers-Briggs Personality Types. I'm the rarest type which, coupled with the Fibromyalgia, means I can be pretty difficult to live with! I have a super supportive partner and I couldn't ask for more.
I have also read some incredible books this last year, some of which I will be posting reviews on. I set a huge goal of 100 books to read in 2016, which I think may have been a little overzealous considering I struggle to keep my eyes open now past 9pm!
I am hoping to start to blog very regularly, and widen the topics to include more about Fibromyalgia and the day to day life of a Fibro Mum.
Rachael x
Thursday 23 July 2015
The Husband's Secret
I would like to say that I am disappointed with this offering from Liane Moriarty, but I can't. Towards the end of the book I felt let down, wanting more from the story, feeling that it should be... better somehow. Big Little Lies was explosive with plenty of twists and turns and I had, maybe wrongly, expected the same here. It was predictable and I guessed what was about to happen for almost the entire story. Until the epilogue.
The epilogue was a game changer and a welcome surprise. It changed the story entirely and made the book worthy of the brilliant reviews I had read beforehand. It cemented Liane Moriarty as one of my new favourite authors despite only having read two of her books so far. I find her style very easy to read and I am looking forward to reading the rest of her collection.
This afternoon I start What Alice Forgot and I have already loaded the rest of Moriarty's collection onto my Kindle.
Until next time!
Rachael x
The epilogue was a game changer and a welcome surprise. It changed the story entirely and made the book worthy of the brilliant reviews I had read beforehand. It cemented Liane Moriarty as one of my new favourite authors despite only having read two of her books so far. I find her style very easy to read and I am looking forward to reading the rest of her collection.
This afternoon I start What Alice Forgot and I have already loaded the rest of Moriarty's collection onto my Kindle.
Until next time!
Rachael x
Monday 20 July 2015
Goodreads Review
My recent obsession: Goodreads
Earlier this year I discovered something called Goodreads and I have recently started to use it A LOT so I thought I would dedicate a blog post to it, so that I could give it a full review and the credit it deserves.
For those of you who don't know what it is, it is basically THE social media site for books and book lovers. According to their own 'About Us' page it is the "largest site for readers and book recommendations in the World" with over 40 million members and more than 1 billion books. From 2013 on it became a part of the Amazon family and has since gone from strength to strength. It is a great place to connect with like-minded readers all over the world, to discover what's 'hot' right now, to find your next read and much more.
Whenever I purchase a book online, which is usually through Amazon anyway because I have a Kindle, I like to browse through some reviews and maybe look at it's star rating. This just gives me reassurance that I should enjoy it and that it would be worth the price. Goodreads is a step up from that. It gives me access not only to reviews but to groups and like-minded people who I can engage with to talk about a potential read or a previously read book. You feel like you are part of the largest book club in the world whilst still retaining a sense of small town community spirit. There are literally thousands of groups to join so you are almost guaranteed to find something to your taste.
The social media integration is more than adequate. It is very simple to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts, plus invite contacts from your email address book and with just a few clicks in the settings you can automatically share your books and your current reading status with your friends and followers. Some users in the US and Canada I believe also have the rather useful functionality of linking Goodreads to their Kindle which makes the integration between the two even more seamless. No more manually adding books to your library or manually updating your reading progress on the website or app, it is automatic. My only gripe here is that, to date, this function is currently unavailable in Europe which is disappointing, although the Goodreads team have tweeted me to reassure me that it is a work in progress. As you can see to the right of this post there are also various widgets available to share on your own websites including the one that I am currently working very hard on, the 2015 Reading Challenge!
There are plenty of activities to partake in on the site itself including quizzes, polls and group discussions. Of course there is the ability to rate and review books and recommendations for you based on your current 'bookshelves' which are created by you and categorised into shelves such as 'read', 'to-read' and 'currently reading'.
For the organisers like myself who like to keep things in order, Goodreads is a must for your virtual library sorting needs. I have come across various helpful articles online such as this one which helps you to keep your Goodreads super organised.
If you are a book lover, just head over to the link above and create your account. It's completely free to use and a great tool to have at your disposal. Obviously since this is 2015 you can also download the free Goodreads app from iTunes or GooglePlay although in my opinion the apps are fairly limited in their functionality and the full desktop site is the better choice for now.
Don't forget to add me as a friend! You can find my link under the 'Follow Me' heading at the top right of this page.
Enjoy!
Rachael x
Earlier this year I discovered something called Goodreads and I have recently started to use it A LOT so I thought I would dedicate a blog post to it, so that I could give it a full review and the credit it deserves.
For those of you who don't know what it is, it is basically THE social media site for books and book lovers. According to their own 'About Us' page it is the "largest site for readers and book recommendations in the World" with over 40 million members and more than 1 billion books. From 2013 on it became a part of the Amazon family and has since gone from strength to strength. It is a great place to connect with like-minded readers all over the world, to discover what's 'hot' right now, to find your next read and much more.
Whenever I purchase a book online, which is usually through Amazon anyway because I have a Kindle, I like to browse through some reviews and maybe look at it's star rating. This just gives me reassurance that I should enjoy it and that it would be worth the price. Goodreads is a step up from that. It gives me access not only to reviews but to groups and like-minded people who I can engage with to talk about a potential read or a previously read book. You feel like you are part of the largest book club in the world whilst still retaining a sense of small town community spirit. There are literally thousands of groups to join so you are almost guaranteed to find something to your taste.
The social media integration is more than adequate. It is very simple to link your Facebook and Twitter accounts, plus invite contacts from your email address book and with just a few clicks in the settings you can automatically share your books and your current reading status with your friends and followers. Some users in the US and Canada I believe also have the rather useful functionality of linking Goodreads to their Kindle which makes the integration between the two even more seamless. No more manually adding books to your library or manually updating your reading progress on the website or app, it is automatic. My only gripe here is that, to date, this function is currently unavailable in Europe which is disappointing, although the Goodreads team have tweeted me to reassure me that it is a work in progress. As you can see to the right of this post there are also various widgets available to share on your own websites including the one that I am currently working very hard on, the 2015 Reading Challenge!
There are plenty of activities to partake in on the site itself including quizzes, polls and group discussions. Of course there is the ability to rate and review books and recommendations for you based on your current 'bookshelves' which are created by you and categorised into shelves such as 'read', 'to-read' and 'currently reading'.
For the organisers like myself who like to keep things in order, Goodreads is a must for your virtual library sorting needs. I have come across various helpful articles online such as this one which helps you to keep your Goodreads super organised.
If you are a book lover, just head over to the link above and create your account. It's completely free to use and a great tool to have at your disposal. Obviously since this is 2015 you can also download the free Goodreads app from iTunes or GooglePlay although in my opinion the apps are fairly limited in their functionality and the full desktop site is the better choice for now.
Don't forget to add me as a friend! You can find my link under the 'Follow Me' heading at the top right of this page.
Enjoy!
Rachael x
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