Cassandra has many wonderful insights on life, on topics ranging from writing to faith to matters of the heart. I personally have had some of the same thoughts as Cassandra, except Ms. Smith was able to put them into words. Capture the Castle should be essential reading for aspiring writers, those looking for historical fiction or romance, or anyone who loves reading amazing classic books. Dodie Smith is an exceptional writer, and I Capture the Castle is a book that will never become obsolete. I appreciated Frankenstein's Cat for its fascinating explanation about the often baffling subject of bioengineering and its sister sciences.
Emily Anthes explains the many sides of today's modern technology, such as gene modification, cloning, pharmaceutical products from the farm , prosthesis, animal tag and tracking and gene cryogenics. This book provides a well-rounded summary of these complicated sciences without being boring or simply factual.
Her real world examples take us on a journey from the farm, to the pet store and then from the pharmacy to the frozen arc. Have you ever wondered if the neighborhood cat is spying on you? Read about Operation Acoustic Kitty and find out if this feline fantasy fiction or fact. Do you think bugs are creepy? What about a zombified cyborg beetle? Is Fido so special that you want two of him? Money can buy you an almost exact copy of your pooch BUT don't expect the same personality.
Emily Anthes makes you crave more information. She makes you want to know the future of Earth's flora and fauna, as well as humanity itself. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who desires a guide to the future of biological science and technology. Frankenstein's Cat is best read by the light of a glow-in-the-dark fish, while cuddling your favorite cloned dog and drinking a glass of genetically modified milk. About Marsupials is the title so the book is about I really think everyone would like the book.
I think someone who likes animals would especially like to read it. The glossary of facts in the back of About Marsupials is the most useful part. I thought the most interesting parts were that some marsupials have their pouch at their back legs and one marsupial, the Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby, is very small but can jump 13 feet wide!
Kids in the age range would like this book. Even though it's not a story book, 4 year olds would like the few words on each page and they would love the beautiful pictures. But older kids would like it because of all the facts in the back of the book. There's a lot of information for each animal. I think boys and girls and parents would enjoy reading it. This book is very interesting. I give it 4 stars. Every day, people around the world use maps. Whether it is an airplane pilot or businessman, housewife or museum group, maps have always and will continue to provide useful information for all.
Mapping the World talks about the uses of maps, as well as how to differentiate between the type of map projection and type of map. In this series, we travel to the past and learn about historical mapmakers, from Claudius Ptolemy who stated the idea that the Earth is at the center of the universe to Gerardus Mercator who created one of the most widely used map projections and more. This series goes into tremendous detail on the cartographer's life and maps. We then journey to the present era to learn about map projections and the diverse types of maps used today.
You might ask, "What is the difference between the two? They sound the same to me. An uncolored projection could be used in many ways. We could use it for population concentration, highways, land elevation, and so many other things! For example, we could make a topographic map of the U. We could make it a colorful map that shows the amount of pollution in different areas, or it could be a population map, or it could even be a map that shows the 50 states, their capitals and borders! Our last step in this amazing excursion is the near future, where we see some hypothetical solutions as to what maps will be used for.
Currently, we are working on better virtual map technology. Now, scientists have been able to put maps on phones. Instead of encouraging her Because, it did not work. Netgalley in exchange for review. My friend Magdalena did enjoy this book. She writes an amazing review at the link provided. I think it's just up to the individual reader on this one. View all 64 comments. I think if you are expecting the emotional punch of the first book you are going to be sorely disappointed. I'm not ashamed to say that Me Before You had me up reading until very late at night and then crying my eyes out until very early the next morning.
It was the kind of book that sticks with you, the kind of book that is extremely hard to follow up. It ended on a very powerful note, so any book that calls itself a "sequel" has to match that kind of power.
This didn't, not even close. We follow Lou's life a year and a half after the death of Will, and we see what her life has become. Honestly, I didn't enjoy this Lou very much. Gone is any spark, any vitality, any humor, and without those aspects of her personality I had trouble staying engaged with her.
I didn't like this pushover Lou, and I barely recognized her from the previous book. Her life is wholly depressing. Lou is stuck completely in this sort of limbo, and reading about her mostly boring day to day things felt one-note and tedious. Lou's family details, like her mother's newfound feminism and her sister's meddling, seemed contrived and almost silly.
I didn't get what those side plots added to the story, and I didn't find them compelling. Lou's love interest was just He was sexy in a classic romance way- the patient, motorcycle-riding savior- but I simply didn't feel the chemistry between him and Lou. It felt like a relationship without weight, certainly without the intensity of Lou's relationship with Will.
If you are going to present a love interest to follow the one from Me Before You, it would have to be absolutely epic And don't get me started on Lily. No spoilers from me, but Lily just irritated me to no end. She was SO selfish, and I struggled to feel much sympathy for her rich-girl plight. I know the author tried to give us reasons to empathize with Lily, especially near the end with her convoluted backstory, but I was rooting for Lou to branch out and have more of the story-line to herself. However, this book's greatest crime, IMO, was that it was boring. I kept putting this book down and starting other stories, only to force myself back to this one after a few hours.
And though this book has brief moments of greatness, and it wasn't bad or offensive in any way, it also failed to grab me the way I was expecting it to. After the way Me Before You gripped me, I think this was the biggest let down of all.
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View all 37 comments. It was heartbreaking, but it was the heartbreak of an impartial observer. I liked Louisa Clark, but, for whatever reason, I never connected with her the way I do in a well-developed story, and the story itself was so. I suppose it felt like tragedy for tragedy's sake. And that shit pisses me off. If you're going to ground my heart into the pavement, there had better be a damn good reason for it.
What's the most impossible falling-in-love scenario I can come up with? Excellent, let's do that. How can I make moving the relationship forward equally impossible? And how can I make the whole thing pointless, from start to finish, while inflicting the most emotional damage?
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And look at the title: It's meant to be a love story, right? But the eye glances over it, and the brain makes excuses, so that you don't realize until it's too late that it's a one-sided love story. Or maybe it's ambiguous, and my interpretation is a reflection of my overall experience. I saw the same spark Will had seen in Louisa, the unrealized potential, and I decided to give Moyes the chance to cultivate that potential. It allowed Moyes to craft something entirely different, something that felt real , even after the meticulously crafted WOE of what came before.
Louisa Clark transformed from a cardboard placeholder into a person of flesh and blood. Treena, previously, a stock baby sister, spoiled and selfish, became a bright young woman struggling with the consequences of a teenage pregnancy. I could feel her despair and guilt wrestling with her love of the son that had complicated her life. Her parents were equally changed, as were Will's. Then there were the new characters, like the members of Lou's weekly group therapy meeting, who we spent little time with, but who were all clear, individual personalities.
That girl broke my heart worse than Will Traynor ever did. But this time I laughed as much as I cried. At the meandering tangents poor Marc unsuccessfully tried to rein in during the Moving On Circle meetings. At Thom's boyish antics, the looks exchanged between sisters, Mrs. Clark's refusal to shave her legs after taking a night class of the feminist variety, and a dozen other things besides. And that laughter made the pain bearable, the pain of truths that were ruthless in their simplicity. A child who knew that her mother loved her, but not as much as she loved herself.
A group of strangers bound together by grief the rest of the world had forgotten: Without someone to talk to, every sight I saw—whether it was the Trevi Fountain or a canal in Amsterdam—felt simply like a name on a list that I needed to check off. These were smaller pains, but they were no less potent. I've always internally scoffed when I've heard or read about someone not realizing they were crying until their face was too wet to ignore, or some Good Samaritan gave them a tissue--how can you cry and not know it?
But AFTER YOU taught me that there are some hurts that sneak up on you, that are subconsciously recognized, even when experiencing them vicariously, and several times throughout the reading I found myself similarly effected as those I'd previously ridiculed. Then Treena would give Lou a look that I've received many times from my own sisters: She pulled the kind of face at me that told me simultaneously that I was an eejit, and also that this was no surprise to her whatsoever.
Instead of the manufactured grief that resulted from a series of events so horrifying that you couldn't help but react to them, regardless of how foreign that grief is to your own life experience, you get the pain from the aftermath of that loss. It's a real pain that few of us aren't familiar with, and that made me feel it all the more deeply.
But it was the potential that made the real difference. The potential for something more than unremitting pain. My recommendation is this: You'll only be disappointed. And frustrating, and heartbreaking, and REAL. My review of Me Before You View all 28 comments. View all 3 comments. Feb 15, Alejandro rated it it was amazing Shelves: And since I won't make any spoilers, I only can tell you that you'll have a lot of surprises!
And the best of that? Nobody expects that you save the world, but as Oskar Schindler found out… …to save a life is to save the world. And not lives needed to save from a physical wound, some lives needed to save from soul wounds and sometimes they are in such dark place that they put themselves beyond of accepting help and they can be testing, but if you think that it's the right thing to do, not matter the outcome, it will be worthy too.
Nobody will do what you need to do in the world. If you don't do those things, nobody else will do it. You're unique in the world in ways that you wouldn't believe it. For better or worse. It's A Wonderful Life! I just think that the thought that nobody else will do what you must do, it was right to apply here. Since you are the only one able to judge yourself and your own actions. Other people and their actions and repercussions? Only God can judge them. View all 33 comments.
I laughed, I cried, I laughed so hard that I cried, and then I sobbed ridiculously. This book has some of the best examples of female friendship I have ever seen in my life and I absolutely love Lily and Lou's friendship. After reading Me Before You , I couldn't help but want to keep the story going. Lou was charming and understandably heartbroken, and despite knowing that sequels rarely live up to the original, I decided to give it a go. After You is so different from Me Before You that it often felt like a standalone more than a sequel It was good in that I didn't feel like I had to spend the length of the read constantly comparing the two in order to determine whether it was a goo After reading Me Before You , I couldn't help but want to keep the story going.
It was good in that I didn't feel like I had to spend the length of the read constantly comparing the two in order to determine whether it was a good follow up.
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But I also felt a bit let down. I had become so attached to those original characters that to be thrown in with a seemingly new group was maybe a bit weird. That being said, I found this book to be thoroughly enjoyable. I wouldn't, though, put it in the same class as it's predecessor. It's different, it's a fabulous story, but I didn't feel the emotional pull or the need to devour it that I had before.
Quite honestly, I think I give this one a hard time because my expectations were so high. What did I think?: This book is far from a disappointment. It's a fun, easy read and if you loved Me Before You, you'll likely enjoy this one too. It wasn't at all what I expected, but that didn't take away from the enjoyment of it. It did feel a bit rushed to fit in a second storyline almost, but since I enjoyed this story as well, I really didn't mind too much.
Who should read it?: If you've read Me Before You, I definitely think you should give this one a read. It's a fun story that will have those that loved it's previous book will love knowing what happens afterward. View all 9 comments. At the start of "After You", I told my friend Iris I never thought it was a great idea to write a sequel to "Me Before You" For one thing, "Me Before You" was never written 'with' the intention of their being a follow up. Expecting a complete plane crash Louisa has an accident early in this story To the extent Louisa was still grieving, it would have been more realistic if Jojo Moyes began this story about 6 or 7 months after his death.
Moyes wrote several incomplete plots, with a variety of characters Basically, this novel lacked a powerful focus!!! It lacked powerful - fresh- insights! It was like an 'ok' meal. View all 31 comments. I'll try to forget. I don't think we needed a new story. I'm not saying this is bad, it's Jojo - it can't, but it just kind of ruined part of what I imagined for Lou after the end of the first book.
And every single time I read Will's name in this my heart skipped a beat, and I c Review after the read 3 - Because I love Jojo Moyes - Stars I'm sorry, I'm very sorry to say that I would've preferred that this book was never born. And every single time I read Will's name in this my heart skipped a beat, and I confessed I was a little bit annoyed with all those characters, it was like if they were "intruding" our story.
And I'm sorry to say that the most annoying and boring part was Lily. I couldn't care less about her. I really don't know what to say about this book, probably I shouldn't have read it, but I couldn't resist. So, if you loved the first book and you're not sure about this, I'd say that you can easily skip this one and continue to imagine what you want about their lives But if you really want to read it, then read it like if this is a new story and you don't know who Will was, even if it's impossible, you have to forget everything you knew about them.
Anyway, if you read it prepare your tissues, it's always Jojo Moyes ; I'm gonna die. I'm happy and scared because I can already imagine what's going to happen I'm not ready for this. View all 10 comments. You are going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. It always does feel strange to be knocked out of your comfort zone… There is hunger in you, Clark. You just buried it, like most people do.
Nothing short of beautiful! An emotionally charged story about healing and learning to believe in yourself after a painful loss. I am in love with this story! I fell in love with You are going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. Well, the sequel After You feels like the epilogue I desperately needed!
This story picks up about eighteen months after the ending of Me Before You. After a fateful night where she suffers from a horrible accident, she returns to her hometown to recover and there begins her attempt to heal from her wounds both physical and emotional. Through her recovery, she meets a cast of wonderful characters that slowly become the foundation for her new life. She meets Lily Houghton-Miller and Sam Fielding, who I absolutely adored because in their own ways, they brought back the Lou I knew from the first book. I appreciated how Lily challenged Lou to try and move on without a feeling of guilt clouding her every move.
Beautiful set of characters that were a perfect addition to this story! There was also another set of secondary characters that added a whole new flavor to this novel. The Moving On Circle was a breath of fresh air! Daphne, William, Natasha, Fred, Marc and Jake each complemented the story with their own journey toward recovery. I enjoyed their therapy sessions that revealed their insecurities, fears and hopes.
It was all so serious, yet shared with a level of brevity that kept the story flowing with ease. This family was absolutely flawed to perfection! It was quite clear they cared about Louisa and her struggles. Finally, the spotlight deservedly belongs to Louisa Clark. Throughout this entire journey, she showed compassion, bravery, determination and heart.
I wanted her to become not only the Louisa we knew and loved in Me Before You , but an even better version of that character as she worked hard to recover from a painful experience. Lou has become my favorite female character of ! There were moments and passages in this story that truly hit me hard. After You had many of those moments of brilliance. Overall, I believe fans of Me Before You will enjoy journeying with Louisa Clark as she learns to fall in love and believe in herself again.
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Jan 06, emma rated it did not like it Shelves: This review contains spoilers for Me Before You. With unexpected sequels like this one, I suppose it comes down to whether the sequel adds anything to the original. I recognize the temptation to write a follow-up to Me Before You. Man dies, everyone learns something, moves on, creates something wonderful out of his death. Or at least liking it enough to appreciate its follow-up. I was already sensitive to criticisms of the first book, because I hate liking things that could be problematic in any way. Let me explain my love for Me Before You so I can carefully outline my qualms against this follow-up.
It made a claim for the humanity of assisted suicide, which is a cause I believe in.
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And it had a nice theme - we only have one life and we need to live it. This book was pages of the latter, again. No, we had to follow along as she monotonously ambled through it. There was no grand love story. Though there was a forced and un-interesting one alarmingly close to the first book. Also, some heavy-handed looks at, like, violence? I think I detected what may have been a soon-removed effort to discuss mental illness. Instead, it inserts truisms. I liked Will Traynor. I liked their romance. The worst kind of sequel is one that casts an uncertain light on your feelings for the first book.
I feel bad for my family - in day two three?
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My mom, a fellow Moyes appreciator, wisely told me to stop reading it. The entire appeal of this book is in the promise of character development. Really, this felt like reading a wholly different world from the first book. She sums up her thoughts on her participation in the pot-smoking with: But Lily was like the cool girl in class, the one you found yourself trying to impress. From a grown ass woman. If you loved Me Before You like I did, swaddle yourself in that love.
I don't have a full list of the other content at the moment. We're picking a choosing things. The epilogue is the same one you read at MoreSelection. The Prince and The Guard, which has 2 more chapters than the e-version. Eventually this will be out in paperback, so if you want to wait so it matches the rest of your set, no worries. I'm assuming this will all be available as an ebook as well in October. Not sure how illustrations will translate I don't really eread, so I don't know much about it but I will keep you posted on this one. And no news as to who is or what exactly will be illustrated.
Updates on that once it's available. You will probably get this in some form or another. That stuff is out of my hands! I'll keep you posted. No, I don't think there will be any more novellas or short stories after this. I think I'll be done. Finally, this was done in partnership with my publisher. I don't make all the calls, and I'm certainly not trying to rip you off. If you feel uncomfortable buying the new book, I encourage you to borrow it from a library or friend.
Book News , General , The Heir. I want to give you guys a few updates, but first let me say thanks. These things only happened because of you. And I'm so, so grateful that you guys are as excited about the people in my head as I am. Trust me when I say there are lots of exciting things coming in the new year, and I can't wait to share them with you. For now, I just wanted to make you aware of two things:.
First, in case you've missed it, Selection jewelry now exists! Viviane Hebel, who has done some excellent work with other bookish jewelry has added America's songbird necklace, the northstar necklace, Maxon's bracelet, and the engagement ring to her collection. People have been sending in pics, and they look spectacular! Please tweet photos at me if you get something yourself. Second, the holidays are upon us. With The Heir just around the corner, I thought it might be time for you to get to know the new voice in my head.
So here, as a little present from me to you, are the opening lines of The Heir. Head over to Entertainment Weekly to see it in all its glory! Second, you now know our heir's name! There's already been a little confusion, so let me help you out here: And, yes, Eadlyn is telling the story. If you look at the cover and watch the awesome video of how it was made you can kind of see that she is not the same girl her mother was walking into this situation. It's strange getting used to a new voice, but I love her for all that she is, and I hope you will as well.
Third, and this is brand new information as of this second If you're confused on this one, too, it's pronounced AIR-en And Ahren, well, he may be Eadlyn's twin, but he is not her mirror, if that makes any sense. And fourth, I have been hearing from you all day "Girls weren't supposed to have Selections! And, yes, that's true. May 5, , guys. I'm nervous and excited. More info to come over the next few months, I'm sure. I have three things I need to update you on, so go get some hot chocolate and snuggle up for a bit… okay, ready?
Yes, we have Schreave twins coming! What does that mean? Second, the year is starting to wind down, and I have a handful of final events on the horizon. What does this mean, exactly? It will also be released in hardback with a new cover and some bonus material for the fancy new bind up! In case you missed the insanity today, I have some news for you!
First, if you head over to unlockmoreselection. Second, we are writing a fourth novella about Marlee entitled The Favorite! The Queen and The Favorite will be out in a paperback bind up early ! The first of the, entitled The Heir, will be out Spring ! I hope you guys are just as excited as I am! More to come soon!
I get questions about a lot of the other women in America Singer's life. The maids of course , Marlee, and one my personal faves Queen Amberly. It seems to be quite a mystery to most of us how such a wonderful woman could have ended up with Clarkson. But soon, you'll all know the answer! We're taking you back to the last Selection to see Amberly's story unfold in a new novella!
HarperTeen Impulse is a digital imprint focused on young adult short stories and novellas, with new releases the first Tuesday of each month. It's only a few short hours away. Here are some final thoughts as The One comes out. Hope you enjoy it! News , The One. The guys at Entertainment Weekly have the exclusive trailer for The One.