Goodreads...

I mentioned in my last post that I'd started using Goodreads - an amazing online community of book lovers where you can read other people's reviews and see what any of your friends who are also on there are reading.

It's a really lovely idea and one that I've fully embraced, which is why I've been so lazy with posting on here. Now that it's become incredibly easy for me to transfer reviews that I write on Goodreads on to my blog, I'll be posting everything up as I go in both places.

I'll spare you the backlog of reviews from my summer, as I read quite a bit - the Count of Monte Cristo was a definite highlight though, so I've decided to share my thoughts on this classic with you - and if you've yet to read it, I honestly can't recommend it enough!

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lots of people had said to me that The Count of Monte Cristo is a book you should read before you die - but then that's said about plenty of books. Having picked this up, I cannot recommend it enough. It's the most fantastic story of revenge and setting the world to rights.

I became so emotionally invested in the Count that by the end of the book I was just desperate to find out how he would succeed in his ultimate goal, while also showing mercy and compassion to those who deserved it. Dumas achieves the conclusion in an eloquent and skilful manner, leaving you wanting the story to continue, as there can be no doubt that the Count would have more adventures.

Although it's long, it's worth the effort and as you become more deeply immersed in the story, you'll find you fly through the pages (I did anyway).

Truly wonderful. A masterpiece in every sense of the word.

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If you're not on Goodreads already and you love reading, sign up and start following your friends - or make new ones!

So, I've been super inactive on my blog, largely because I was introduced to Goodreads, which basically seems to do what I was envisaging, but on a much wider scale. I'm going to try and post my latest review from that site on to here and see what happens!

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book having rescued it from my Dad's charity shop pile. Before I started it, I had little idea of what it was about (other than the end of the world).

That's not strictly true though, the world is pretty much fine, civilisation, however is not.

What struck me about this is how realistic the reactions of all the characters and people in general were. The authors really managed to capture human behaviour and I think they're probably not far wrong in the way most people would react to the possibility that a comet could hit the planet.

There is a lot of variety to the characters you're introduced to and in the aftermath of the Hammerfall, there are some quite shocking scenes.

I also liked that fact that, right to the end, I was kept guessing about what the outcome would be. I never felt certain of knowing anything and there were times where I verged on being scared, particularly in the lead up to the meteor strike.

So, all in all a good read - although I had to resist the urge to repeatedly sing Hammer to Fall by Queen every time I picked up the book.

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