bookshoplaura

The Blurb "Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificent, adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she opens his bedroom window late one night and summons him to join her on a ingenious campaign of revenge-he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to find that Margo has not. always an enigma, she now becomes a mystery and soon Q learns that there are clues to be followed in his search for Margo" So I seem to be on a bit of a run with the John green novels, I cant help it. He is one of the more interesting voices in young adult fiction today. His books centre more on characters than the events themselves but there is something utterly compelling about them. It's easy to see why teenagers identify with this style of writing and now I know what to expect I know I'll shortly be reading the two books I haven't gotten to yet. I found I was a little disappointed in how the book ended but I feel it ...

1) It's difficult to be healthy when you're in an unhealthy relationship. 2) It's tough to see the value in yourself if you're with someone who doesn't. 3) You are what you do so if you Change what you do then you'll change what you are. 4) Judging by how strong my reaction to sugar withdrawal is, it may just be the root to all evil ( or at least some evil). 5) That I have a voice worth listening to even if I'm the only one who listens. 6) I am not defined by my past mistakes even though they have helped shape me into the person I Am today. 7) It's never a good idea to get inside a tumbler dryer, even if your sister dares you, you might get stuck (I learned thus as a small child and i never made that mistake again ). 8) Doing something you hate a lot doesn't. Always make you hate it less ( like burpees). 9) Sometimes it's ok to just eat the whole jar of jam ( see photo nom nom). 10) That I'm stronger than I ever though I could be. 1...

I know what depression is It's in supermacs on a Wednesday evening In a saggy grey tracksuit Shouting at a sullen, over weight child I know what depression looks like It is in penneys on a Saturday Wearing pyjamas because The best tracksuit is in The wash and nobody Wears their fanciest clothes to penneys. I know what depression sounds like. It is over heard in the bookshop on A week day afternoon saying things like 'I never read a book before 50 shades of grey' I know what depression smells like, It's the Stench of a dole queue Full of wont work and can't work and Absolutely don't work Standing shoulder to shoulder With those desperately cloying for jobs I know what depression is, it's a city That's really a town that's closing Down shop by shop Job by job I know what depression is.

The land of decoration by grace mcleen The blurb "Judith Doesn't have much. The house she shares with her devoutly religious father is full of dusty relics, reminders of the mother Judith never knew. Bullied at school, she finds comfort in creating a miniature world in her bedroom - a world of wonder she calls the land of decoration. Perhaps, she thinks, if she makes it snow in the land of decoration there will be no school on Monday. Sure enough, when Judith opens her curtains the next day, the world beyond her window has turned white. And that's when her troubles begin" I found it to be very well written but somewhat troubling. The story appears to be about a girl who has retreated from her own life into a make believe one and who starts to believe she has a direct connection with good through this. on a much deeper level the book is really About father - daughter relationships and the effect being fanatical about religion can have on your life and your psy...

I have reached an impasse And all roads lead to Somewhere I wont follow. I hover in the Inbetween As to do lists become lazy coasters. I have run out of words And wonder should I abandon ship For one small night And pack my hopes and dreams away I sit forgotten yet unaware Lost in the humdrum of everyday noises I am deafened by my own silence All that I could be remains unfinished , Could I ever be anything but me? And do I want to be That one Lone voice In the crowd. Colour me in, I am empty I am stuck Like I am paralysed by my own unimportantance. It is as though i have forgotten The fundamentals of making Sentences from words and Finding humor in my anger. Wanting to chip, chip away At the walls which hem me in

Not to get all sound of music here but to contrast the mini rant from the last post I have decided to rave about a few of my favourite things. Rest assured, there are no raindrops on roses in this post and quite frankly I feel that anyone who classes that as one of their favourite things needs to get out more and see some of the world. Okay so first things first. I do find that's best, whenever I do first things second everyone gets a little confused. 1) currently one of my absolute favourite things is booja-booja. If you have not heard of booja-booja you need to sort that shit out because you are missing a whole world of deliciousness. well you know how you might have said at some point I really wish that someone would make ice cream that's not bad for you, well I hope you are sitting down because I have some news for you! some genius actually has and its delicious. I swear this is not a trick to sneakily get you eating healthily, I think it sounds made up and you wont get...

Here are some of my non favourite things......... 1) People who cannot spell or grasp basic Grammar ( this is native English speakers only, I am pedantic but not mean). Who are these people who can't differentiate lose and loose or to and too. How did these people make it into adulthood unencumbered? that part baffles me.  Punctuation is said to be the difference between helping your Uncle Jack, off a horse and helping your Uncle Jack off a horse. Obviously that's a hilarious example and I will hold my hand up (admittedly not very high) and confess sometimes in punctuation I have made slip ups and even in spelling but it annoys me when I do it and embarrasses me to think I might be doing it unawares.  Here's a secret that I have learned growing up, for the most part, people do not appreciate you helpfully pointing out their spelling mistakes. It is not considered socially acceptable to do so. no matter how much you want to. You will make more friends biting your lip ...

The land of me  I remain in a land of my own design and the walls are closing in. all silence reigns but for the insistent beep beeping in the hall a sound so bone-grating it makes me want to scream. I am restrained by social mores and knowing it will continue undeterred I forge a world of nothing and somewhere in the recesses of my mind voices whisper. some critical, some strange until I can hear nothing but the hum wanting many things or maybe wanting nothing at all. late night snacking only leads to regret and an ominous growling deep within my gut. my thoughts race and I only grasp tendrils in my hand, beginnings of possibly great ideas or maybe nothing is new just a collage of words I've read but not created. wishing I had a voice worth hearing and maybe I do darkness falls and I delve into the land of me

How to be a good wife - emma chapman quoted from the back cover 'Marta and Hector have been married for a long time-so long that she finds it difficult to remember her life before him. he has always taken care of her and she has always done everything she could to be a good wife. But when Hector comes home with a secret, their ordered domestic life begins to unravel, and Marta begins to see things, or perhaps remember them. In the shadows there is a blond girl that only Marta can see and she wants something' a story that draws you immediately into Marta's world as you try and work out what is real and what is imaginary. Throughout the book I constantly found myself trying to discover the real story as it is difficult to decipher if Marta is going mad or is there something sinister going undetected. Beneath the haze of anti depressants the truth seems lost and I will admit I rushed to the end in hopes of finding it. It seems like there are crucial moments in the boo...

Time ticks by and I move to its rhythm, lost in the silence of my mind. Watching, waiting as the minutes crawl lazily down my skin. I feel the cold easing into my bones until I dont feel it anymore and I am left alone in a cloud of my own sweat stained air. Forgetting things which need to be forgotten, like a broken doll I move awkwardly through my own life but I'm not moving . I am trapped in the sludge minimum wage watching money trickle from my wallet into a never ending void of poor but not quite poverty. I follow the tracks within my mind not sure which thoughts are yet to come. All that which remains unspoken but doesn't . It does it count if I'm only saying it to myself. A coiled spring of emotions, I feel them stirring in my belly like a growling bear in the dark and I say hush now but time still ticks by.

the fault in our stars- John green "Despite the Tumor shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, hazels has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeo,us plot twist named Augustus waters suddenly appears at her cancer kid support group, hazels story is about to be rewritten" ( the story As described on the back cover) John green seems to have entered into new territory as far as young adult fiction is concerned. As far as the books written for this age group go ( I should know , I've read enough of them) most can usually be slotted into one of a few categories . we have the girly romance ones, we have your dystopian fiction like the hunger games and other in that vein and then there's girl meets vampire /werewolf sagas. But fault in our stars is different , the characters feel real and are likeable. It's funny and irreverent and also quite sad in parts but I liked that he didn't feel the n...

Oh one of the big benefits of my job ( aside from the hilarious anecdotes all the strange strange people of Waterford provide me with ) is that I can check out books and return them once I've read them. I believe I've mentioned this before. So this the list I'm currently working my way through. I'm starting with a fault in our stars, after looking for Alaska I have high hopes but it remains to be seen if this will live up to my expectations. feeling all kinds of happy about the reading that awaits me :D

I pray that it doesn't snow even as the temperature plummets  and the threat of a freeze hovers temptingly in The air. I huddle in my poorly heated apartment and I hope the  weather forecasters are wrong, misguided,  as they have been many times before when they have promised sun and summers  and all those other things Ireland never sees. I don't dream of snow days and snow men  as I remember only too well snow turns to slush , a cold, wet mush that coats everything.  It seeps into your bones until all you feel is cold. Live as I have lived and  you too will remember no great adventures  only the Inconviences of snow. I dream of buses stopped ,  of roads closed , of bums bruised and  foot wear made obsolete .  I dream of seeing my breath above me in the bed spiralling into clouds of smoke And making me fear dipping my toes into the unwelcoming air. I dream of being stranded here as days off pass by and I ...

this is me, bookshop Laura. welcome to the random musings of a thirty year old book enthusiast. really should be doing more with my life like sorting out something that resembles a career or using my degree but for now i'm slaving away in the childrens section of a bookshop. devouring any books that catch my eye. having a book shop as your own personal library - definite perk of the job and one that im taking full advantage of. Currently discovering John green for the first time, who knew there was still so much happening in YA fiction. I will read pretty much anything, chick lit - i dabble in it, crime, literary fiction, YA fiction and the odd biography. the only place i draw the line is at fifty shades or any derivative therof. always being one to see what everyones talking about I read the first one. sadly I can never unread it.  poorly written smut masquerading as a novel ( i use that term lightly). I dont think it bodes well for literature how many poorly written sagas of the ...