It’s no secret that I have read very little during my time in Berlin so far. Being busy, tired and just generally occupied with other things will do that. I also have a very short way to and from work (which I love), so there’s not even really an opportunity to read on the train or so. But I am nonetheless quite happy I read something and here’s what that something was:
Click on the covers to get redirected to Goodreads!
Parsnips, Buttered: How to win at modern life, one email at a time by Joe Lycett
Every now and then, when the mood strikes, I like to dabble in some non-fiction books. And when I do, I am mostly drawn to works written by either actors or comedians I already know – Parsnips, Buttered was no exception to that.
People who have seen some of Joe Lycett’s work, know exactly what kind of ridiculous email-exchanges he gets himself tangled up in. This book is a hilarious compilation of some of his mischief, but it is by no means a guide or how-to-book. It’s just a little bit of short-lived fun that definitely got better with me hearing Joe’s voice narrate the whole thing in my head.
Fazit: 3/5 stars! I can see this working for some people and not at all striking the right chord with others.
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
Some of you already know this, but I won tickets to see a preview of The Darkest Minds in August. Even though I usually try to avoid dubbed versions of movies, I didn’t even mind it as much for this one and really enjoyed the film. In my opinion, that movie would have worked a whole lot better a couple years back, because dystopian YA book adaptations just aren’t really that sought after these days and all the adult reviewers kept comparing it to the likes of Hunger Games and Maze Runner, even though it could have been its own thing.
I am rambling too much tough. What I meant to say was that I enjoyed the movie, but that made reading the book in hindsight a little more tricky. It’s not that I think one or the other is better per se, just that there are almost as many similarities as there are differences and therefore reading can get a little tiresome.
For me, the book filled in some questions that were left open after watching the movie, while I generally enjoyed some of the visuals better than reading about those events. I am curious where this story will go, but it is not exactly a priority of mine. Chubs is definitely one of my favourite characters now and the guy who played Liam in the movie is on my radar for young talent!
Fazit: 3.5/5 stars! Is it wrong of me to say that the prime of those kind of stories is past?
Have you read either one of those? Did you read more installments in the Darkest Minds series? Did you see the movie and would you like a more thorough comparison from me? Let’s talk about it!
Life and Other Disasters 
I haven’t read either of these, though I’ve been reading/listening to books that *gasp” aren’t horror stories! Imagine that! And I’ve liked them a lot.
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How come? What kind of books?
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Some are from friends and/or my publisher, so they’re more science fiction. Others were Stephen King’s literary works. And one was a novel about a dancer, because I wanted to see if it could give me insight into writing dance sequences.
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And did it? Get you insight into writing dancing scenes?
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A lirrlw, but I’ve learned some other things, too. I wrote a blog post about it last week, if you’re really interested.
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Great reviews! Chubs is my favorite in the book! I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I hope to see it soon! ❤
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Thank you! I liked movie Chubs as well, so I hope you will too. It’s definitely not a faithful adaptation, but I had fun watching it.
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I agree that dystopian books such as The Darkest Minds are not as popular as they were a couple of years ago. It’s interesting how there are trends in what’s popular in books. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Darkest Minds. I was considering maybe reading it, but I think I’ll just stick to watching the movie when it becomes available on itunes to rent.
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I hope you’ll enjoy the movie once you get around to watching it. It’s really a shame, because it could have been much bigger and now I am not even sure it will get a sequel.
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I don’t think you’re wrong about The Darkest Minds – I feel like the dystopian era is a bit over now and it makes me sad how this movie has been compared to the hunger games and the maze runner even if, from the trailer alone, it seems like it is its own thing. I really need to watch it ahha 🙂 I’m happy to hear you still enjoyed the book, 3,5 stars is a pretty good rating so I guess you were entertained overall, that’s good! I’m still very curious about that one and I hope to read it soon maybe 😀 AND to watch the movie obviously, I need to. It stayed in theaters only a couple weeks here, it’s, ughhh why. 😦
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It’s kind of a shame when movies and books just get passed up because they are not en trend anymore. I hope you still get to watch it someday 🙂 I like the story!
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Yeah I honestly didn’t see that much originality in darkest minds and I also think people are a bit past the dystopia phase as well (at least I am) I’m curious about the film adaptation though! It’s cool that you won tickets to the premier! 😀
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I don’t think that the Darkest Minds was a bad idea when it was first written. I also don’t think it resembled that much back then, but a lot of time has passed since. I enjoyed the movie! It wasn’t the best one ever, but it was interesting. A lot of questions I had afterwards were only answered by the book though.
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Yeah that’s really fair- I read it after a lot of similar books had come out (for me personally it was too much like shatter me, but without the writing style that I ended up loving) so I think I judged it a little harshly. That’s good!
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It won’t ever be a truly great book in my eyes, but I am curious about what happens next and I kind of hope that they’ll continue with the movies even if the numbers were bad.
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