Thanks to WordPress to remind me that today it’s my first Blogiversary!!
I can’t believe that my blog is one year old! I want to thank all my followers and the lovely bloggers that I met during this year!
I’m really happy and grateful for the attention and all the comments on my little blog. To me is a great achievement, especially because English is not my first language.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a giveaway this year, also because I’m currently on vacation, but I promise something in the next year!
Hello to everyone! Today I’m here with a new meme, created by me, where I share a quote that I love.
The title for this meme it’s from a song of Michael Bublè (“It’s a beautiful day”, you can hear it here).
I didn’t like Harry Potter and the cursed child, but I love this quote:
“Harry, there is never a perfect answer in this messy, emotional world. Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind, beyond the reach of magic. In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.”
(Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child)
I read a total of 6 books on November, 3 written in English and 3 in Italian.
The Wild robot, by Peter Brown: well, I’m always the black sheep here, but I didn’t love this book. The illustrations are good, but the story is a little meh. 2,5 stars.
Cogheart by Peter Bunzl: a steampunk Middle grade with a lovely cover and a fantastic side kick animal, but oh, so predictable. 3 stars.
It seems that November was dedicated to Middle grade books! However, the best book of the month is the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone, that I have re-read in Italian!
How was your reading month? Do you plan some Christmas/winter theme reading?
Hello everyone, this post wasn’t planned, but I’m feeling the need to write it: if you follow me on Goodreads (if not, I love to make new friends!) you can easily see my policy for negative reviews. One of the “rule” is: if I read/watch about violence against animals, or animal abuse, I will automatically rate the book/movie/tv series 1 star or less. And I will write a review, or a post like this, to warning everyone about it.
In fact, there’s a motivation for this post: the past Saturday I commented the first episode of a Tv Series on Twitter that makes fun of violence and death of an animal, and I was teased by the producer and other fans of this series, mocking me because they obviously haven’t killed an animal. I was so angry and sad, and I was forced to delete my tweet.
The death or the suffering of an animal it is not and never will be funny.
So I decided to write this post to encourage writing in reviews, or on the cover of the books, to warning people about this.
Maybe to realize a sticker or a sign like the “cruelty free” on the shampoo flacons.
I know that sometimes trigger warning are considered spoilers, but I’m really exhausted, and I don’t want to read or watch anything with these awful scenes.
Obviously, I am not referring to “animal’s death” when the death is inevitable or “comprehensible” in a certain way, like (highlight to see the spoiler)Edwige’s death in Hp and the deathly hallows.I
Sorry if this is a weird post, and thanks for reading it.
The challenge is to post some books that I loved and some books that are still on my TBR (please TBR, don’t hurt me), corresponding to each letter of the alphabet.
Please remember that maybe some books will be in italian. I will write the english title too.
Goodreads is the only way I can remember all the book on my TBR list. I also made a hand written catalog that I keep at home, near the bookshelf. I cancel a title from that everytime I finish a book.
Is your TBR mostly print or e-book?
I have a lot of print books, and I was thinking that I have just a dozen of e-books. Guess what? I was wrong. They are hundreds.
How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?
I’m a mood reader, and I always try to diversify my reading: I can read one horror book, then a middle grade and after that a classic. I’m also easily annoyed, and that’s why I didn’t read two books of the same genre (or the same series) one after another.
A book that has been on your TBR the longest.
Well, the italian edition of Pride and Prejudice is on my bookshelf for years.
A book that you recently added to your TBR list?
A book on your TBR list strictly because of its beautiful cover.
A book on your TBR that you never plan on actually reading.
Sorry, no translated title for this one. This book is on sale for years now, and I’ve bought it a long time ago. I read a couple of pages and seems terrible. Also, the GR rating is 3,2.
An unpublished book on your TBR that you’re excited for.
It’s Cat Winters!! With a book about Edgar Allan Poe!!
A book on your TBR that basically everyone has read but you.
A book on your TBR everyone recommends you.
I see this book everywhere!
A book on your TBR you’re very excited to read.
This tag seems a collection of morbid books. I’m sorry.
Some people fall down rabbit holes. Others hide inside magical wardrobes. Skye Thistle looked through an old spyglass.
Lost and alone on a world filled with Goblins, Orcs, Dragons and others that, until now, she was convinced existed only in fairy tales, Skye wants only one thing: to return home.
If she’s to have any chance of getting home safely, Skye must overcome her own fears and prejudices and embrace the prophecies that she fears have already sealed her fate on the distant world of Ithilmir. All that stands in the way of restoring peace and balance is a fearsome and worryingly familiar Dark Queen.
Goblins are very real, and whether Skye believes in them or not, she’s their only hope.
Readers around the world are enjoying the complex mythology and descriptive world building of The Spyglass and the Cherry Tree, the first adventure in the Shadowlands Chronicles.
Review:
First of all, thanks to YA Bound Books Tour for giving me a free copy of this book.
The cover is the reason I decided to request this book, because it’s the perfect cover for an MG/fantasy/adventure book.
The beginning is like a lot of other fantasy: a normal girl who has a mother who strongly believes in Fairies and Goblins, is forced to spend her holidays with her grandparents.
But when she watches throught the old spyglass she doesn’t believe at her own eyes! A new planet? Skye hasn’t the time to be happy about that, because the Spyglass transport her on that planet!
She is lost and alone, afraid of the dark and the sounds of a forest, and soon she is surrounded by Goblins. And not the kind of Goblins we usually know.
I must admit that I didn’t give a high rating at this book because a lot of world-building information are given to us step by step, with long and sometimes boring monologues by this or that character.
When finally the long journey of Skye began, I was there thinking that this story reminds me of another: The Hobbit. We had a main character who is afraid in a perilous world; we had a group of people that are not the same race of the MC; we had a powerful enemy and a long journey in the wild world.
However, this book is really adventurous and it’s not predictable. I like a lot all the mythology of the different species and the background story. Skye is really a likeable character, totally human at the beginning and who grows during the entire book.
About the Author
Matt Beighton was born somewhere in the midlands in England during the heady days of the 1980s and continues to spend most of his days in the same shire. He is happily married with two young daughters who keep him very busy and suffer through the endless early drafts of his stories.
When he’s not writing, he teaches primary school (Kindergarten to some of you), messes around on canals in his inflatable kayak and supports his beloved Leicester City.
He is currently recruiting avid readers of children’s books for his Street Team. Find out more and request to join at http://mattbeighton.co.uk/street-team.
Hello everyone! Another month has passed! How was your reading month?
I read a total of 7 books, with only 1 DNF.
Who let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans: I Loved this book!! I laughed so hard, the Gods are so funny and this is a wonderful middle-grade fantasy! 4,5/5 stars!
Death or ice-cream? By Gareth P. Jones: it’s strange, I read two books with a question in the title this month! I love this cover, and this book is original and quite amusing. 4 stars!
Cast: Kandido Uranga, Eneko Sagardoy, Uma Bracaglia
Release Date: 12 October 2018
Genres: fantasy, horror, retelling
Rating: 5/5
Trigger Warning: it’s a horror, so death, Satan, suicide, blood, visions of Hell and Demons.
Plot:
Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil is a re-telling of an ancient fable about a Blacksmith who finds himself battling the Devil. In this story, the Blacksmith has captured the Devil and lives a life of hermit-like seclusion away from the prying eyes of the townsfolk. All is going well until a desperate little girl, Usue, accidentally stumbles across the devil and unknowingly releases him. It is then left to the Blacksmith to reclaim his bounty, but this is easier said than done as he also finds himself at the end of a lynch mob that have come searching for the missing Usue.
Review spoiler free:
You know you have found a good horror movie when you and your dad, who sacrifices himself every time this blogger want to watch a horror movie, at the end of the movie, turn to the other and say simultaneously: that was awesome!!
Errementari is a retelling of a fable, is located in Spain and is written in Basque (but they translated it in italian!): after the artistic prologue we are introduced in a world dark and gloomy, devastated by the war. And we first meet The Blacksmith.
Then we skip 8 years, and we found Usue, a little girl living in the same village as The Blacksmith, and a mysterious stranger who is searching the Blacksmith. But nobody in the village wants to enter the property of the Blacksmith, because it seems an old, crazy and nasty man.
The scene, dark as usual for a Netflix movie, are fascinating: the old village with a forest deep and strange, with twisted trees and fog; the property and the house of The Blacksmith, completely covered with cross; the church of the village, with demons statues.
It’s the perfect setting for Halloween! I’ve loved it!
That was me during the entire movie.
The plot: I hate when for the first 20/30 minutes of a horror movie nothing happens. But Errementari doesn’t fail, and every minute of the movie is interesting, or sad, or funny. Yes, you hear me right: there are a lot of scenes so funny, and let me say it, it’s all because of Sartael, the demon.
The characters: Sartael is the best. I want a fan club for him. And I want to protect Usue and The Blacksmith, because remember if “Not all tales always have a happy ending”, you can’t judge a person by their appereance.
I want to applaud the make up artist: as a cosplayer I’m so impressed by their work.
As always with a positive review, I’m not sure if this is a “professional” or “convincing” review, but I just want to say this: this is an original movie so well done, with a lot of emotions, perfect for Halloween, and it became one of my favorite horror movie of all the time.
Hello! As I already said, October is all spooky here! Here’s the Creatures of The Night Book Tag that I found on Another Book In the Wall.
Go and check Kelly’s blog, it’s fantastic!
The rule is simple: choose a book or character that features the creature listed.
Vampire: Count Dracula.
Werewolf: Remus Lupin
I don’t like so much the werewolfs, but Remus Lupin is probably the character that has helped me to find a new obsession: the harry potter series. I cried for days after you know what.
Zombie: Resident Evil
I don’t like Zombies. At all. I don’t like The Walking Dead, or books with Zombies. But I like Resident Evil.
Ghost: The graveyard book
This book is full of ghosts!
Witch/Warlock/Spellcaster: Princess Olive
Fairy/Fae: Flights and chimes and mysterious times
Angel/Demon: Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens
I cheated a little here and I combined the two characters. But seriously, how cool is this poster? Have you seen the trailer?
Alien: The Long way to small, angry planet
Superpowered Human: Van Helsing
Maybe you don’t know, but there’s also a book from this movie (that I love so much!)
