Halloween in London

Less books, more of a celebration of the weather today in London! It's the last day of October, more than half way through an abnormally mild Autumn (if you count Autumn as September, October and November - I do!) The average Halloween temperature in the UK is somewhere around 13 or 14 degrees celsius, and today it hit 24c!

Anyways, have some random photos of my day in London...

A house in Kensington dressed up for Halloween.

Green Park looking Autumnal.

Buckingham Palace.

Myself at Trafalgar Square.

Big Ben and the London Eye from Westminster Cathedral.

Trafalgar Square!

The sad task of choosing which books to take and which to leave...

Only until Christmas though, so I suppose it isn't too sad.

Today I am heading back to London so have to decide which books I take back with me. I have room for a fair few, but unfortunately I am not Thor, and do not have super strength. My big suitcase is already packed with heavy items that are necessities, so I am left with a bit of room in the small suitcase my brother will carry for me.

My options are basically ANY of my unread books (this really makes more sense, as I can't change them from unread to read if they're sat on a shelf 90 minutes away) or ANY of the books on my main shelf. I have so many to choose from, it hurts my head. HOW TO CHOOSE?!

Here is the pile of unread books...

A chance to look at them all a little closer...

Wool by Hugh Howey
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
The Wise Mans Fear by Patrick Rothruss
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
The Resurectionist by James Bradley
Delilah by Eleanor de Jong
Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James








Here are my non-fictions...can you see the theme?
Sisters to the King by Maria Perry
A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain (or 2000 years of utter idiots in charge) by John O'Farrell
She-Wolves by Helen Castor
The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer

And some more fiction I haven't read:
My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgewick
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern









Aaaagh too many choices, I'm sure you'll agree!

I had already decided on these two books, so completely forgot to take photos

Awful photo of the Winter Palace, but I chose this because it fit the theme - I wont be home until Christmas so any Winter or Christmas books are coming with me!
I started reading How to be a Woman during the summer (I met Caitlin Moran in June!) but it got misplaced during moving. Time to continue!

So, plus the Winter Palace I settled on these books. The Snow Child seemed perfectly seasonal, apparently Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is becoming a TV series, and The Night Circus has been eyeing me up for a while ;)

Now, I haven't finished packing yet but if there is room I will be packing these books that I have already read:

I packed The Host because I adore this book, and feel I could reread it very quickly.

The Bone Season because I want to reread it before The Mime Order is released.

Rivers of London and Moon Over Soho because they are London based and awesome!









Also, check out this on the front of the Moon Over Soho...

A recommendation from the author of Outlander, linking it to Harry Potter! How could this be more perfect?!

Right, it's back to lesson planning, packing and watching Phantom of the Opera for me :) Have a great Thursday!

Clair x

Book Creatures of the Night Book Tag

This is a tag that has been done on youtube by the booktubers I follow, created by katytastic. I really wanted to do this as a vlog, but I don't have a decent camera, privacy OR the time, as Halloween is on Friday! So here it is as a blog post instead :)

I also thought this might be a good idea to introduce some of the books I own and love, so although I will be picking one favourite (if that's even possible!) I'll be talking about more than one book that fits each category. In lots of cases, the books I talk about will be part of a series. As I don't want 500000 books in my photos, I just took photos of the first book. Finally (before I get round to the actual tag) this tag is mainly about the books I have here, at my moms house. I only took books I hadn't read to London when I moved, and I left all my other books at home. It makes me sad, but I hadn't got the space in the car or my new room for the hundreds of books I've gathered.

Let's begin!

The first category is...Vampire

I own MANY Vampire books. But when I took all the books off the shelf, I realised I didn't have as many as I thought, at least not on the shelves. There could be more in the loft. So here are the book series with vampire characters that I have at home:
Soulless (book one of The Parasol Protectorate series) by Gail Carriger
Moon Called (book one of the Mercy Thompson series) by Patricia Briggs (I also have her same world/different characters series Alpha and Omega, but Mercy's storyline  is my favourite).
Twilight (book one of the Twilight series) by Stephenie Meyer
Clockwork Angel (book one of The Infernal Devices trilogy) by Cassandra Clare
City of Bones (book one of The Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare (I've included book of these series, because unlike Patricia Briggs two series, I feel these two are separate enough to be involved apart :P)
Parasite Positive (also known as 'Peeps') by Scott Westerfeld
A Discovery of Witches (book one of the trilogy) by Deborah Harkness
The Passage (book one of a trilogy) by Justin Cronin

Does anyone know the book series where the first book is about a girl who finds out she's really ill and her best friend reveals he's a vampire to save her? I loved that book when I was younger. I think it might have been the first vampire book I read that wasn't related to Buffy.

The winner for me is going to be...Twilight, with Parasite Positive and A Discovery of Witches as runners up.
Twilight was the first book I read after a bit of a drought when I was 17. I was the first person I knew who had read it; in fact I'm fairly certain I ordered it from amazon USA before it  was even out on amazon UK. I remember recommending it to EVERYONE. I was a little obsessed, until Breaking Dawn came out, which I hated. I loved all the characters and the world of Twilight.
Parasite Positive is a runner up because it was such an interesting, witty, different take on the world of vampirism.
A Discovery of Witches is a runner up because I enjoyed how their vampires were styled.


The next category is: Werewolf

Bitten (book one of the Women of the Underworld series) by Kelly Armstrong
Raised by Wolves (book one of the Raised by Wolves trilogy) by Jennifer Lyn Barnes
City of Bones (book one of The Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare
Soulless (book one of The Parasol Protectorate series) by Gail Carriger
Moon Called (book one of the Mercy Thompson series) by Patricia Briggs
Twilight (book one of the Twilight series) by Stephenie Meyer

The winner is...Moon Called, with Soulless and Raised by Wolves as runners up.
The majority of the characters in both the Mercy Thompson series, and the Alpha and Omega series, by Patricia Briggs are werewolves, and I love these stories. However, Mercy herself isn't a werewolf but a shapeshifter (she specifically shifts into a coyote), and an underlying theme of this series is how the werewolves and Mercy mix. They're gritty urban fantasy books, and I love them.
Soulless is a hilarious book (the whole series is great) with some key characters being werewolves (SCOTTISH WEREWOLVES ALERT!). Raised by Wolves, like many werewolf books, focus' on 'packs', but, like the Mercy Thompson series, the main character is a girl who has been raised by wolves (hence the title) without being a wolf herself.

Zombies

I didn't take any zombie book photos because I thought I hadn't read any. Then I realised that some of my vampires actually take on zombie characteristics, so I'd speak about them. I cant be bothered to go upstairs to take photos because a) I am comfy and b) I have a cat on my lap who is asleep and cute.

The Passage (book one of a trilogy) by Justin Cronin
Parasite Positive (also known as 'Peeps') by Scott Westerfeld

The Passage (and the entire series!) win this purely for creep factor.
I bought The Passage without really researching it first, with the thought of 'let me step away from my normal supernatural vampire type read'. Urgh I couldn't have been more wrong. Vampire apocalypse, although the vampires are a lot like zombies, hence their placement in this category.
When I thought about Parasite Positive I was actually thinking of the sequel, The Last Days, which is a vampire/zombie apocalypse too. I actually didn't like the book too much, as it seemed quite disconnected from Parasite Positive, which I loved.

Ghosts

I didn't take any ghosty book photos, because I don't really have many ghosts that I love in the books that I've read? The book that do have ghosts are:

Soulless (book one of The Parasol Protectorate series) by Gail Carriger (I think, anyway...been a while since I read it!)
Moon Called (book one of the Mercy Thompson series) by Patricia Briggs
A Discovery of Witches (book one of the trilogy) by Deborah Harkness
The Name of the Star (book one of the series) by Maureen Johnson
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone  (book one of the Harry Potter series) by J K Rowling

The winner is The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, because basically the entire book is about them, and it is an awesome book, not because I like the ghost (it's Jack the Ripper guys).

Category 5: Witch/ Warlock/ Spell caster

As you can see I forgot to include some books in my main photo, as I only later realised they could be counted as 'spell casters'.
City of Bones (book one of The Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone  (book one of the Harry Potter series) by J K Rowling (the photo is of book 7 because book 1 was too far buried :P)
A Discovery of Witches (book one of the trilogy) by Deborah Harkness
Clockwork Angel (book one of The Infernal Devices trilogy) by Cassandra Clare
Rivers of London (book one in the The Folly series) by Ben Aaronovitch
Beautiful Creatures (book one of the Caster series) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
White Cat (book one in the Curse Workers trilogy) by Holly Black
Witch Child (book one in the duology) by Celia Rees
A Book of Shadows (book one in the Sweep series) by Cate Tiernan
A Chalice of Wind (book one in the Balefire quartet) by Cate Tiernan (a completely separate world to the Sweep series)
Witch Light by Susan Fletcher
Sabriel (book one in the Abhorsen trilogy) by Garth Nix

So, apparently I adore witch stories, as this is my biggest category and the majority are a part of long series! There can be no one winner for this category...can I break it down into different types of witchcraft? Nope? Well...
The winner for the 'traditional' Witch/Wizard books is...The Sweep series AND Witch Child, in joint first place! I've counted 'traditional' as books set in this world, where those found 'guilty' would be executed! The Sweep series were the first books I read, at the age of 14, at the end of a reading drought. They made me realise which genres I loved most - paranormal, supernatural! I loved the stories, became very interested in wicca, and felt like Morgan Rowlands was my soul mate. She was easy for me to relate to. Witch Child is a brilliantly written historical read, with a fab sequel called 'Sorceress'. I also really love the other 2 books in this category, guys! Balefire is also written by Cate Tiernan, but a different type of Witchcraft to Sweep, and Witch Light is a historical read that also relates a lot to the Highland clans of Scotland (if you're an Outlander fan :P)
When thinking about warlocks, I couldnt choose between the two Shadowhunter series. Both have Magnus Bane, who is a brilliant character, and I love Tessa Grey (although I'm not sure that Warlock defines her properly).
For spellcasters, my winner is Sabriel, because this trilogy is amazingly written. I am SO excited to read the new prequel (Clariel) which is sitting on my bookshelf in London.
I didn't categorise Harry Potter, because he is in a league of his own. I LOVE THOSE BOOKS.
For The Folly series, I didn't know which would suit most out of the three categories I made, as it's a bit of them all. Also, the main thread of this story may be magic, but it's not normally from or created by the main character. Read these books!!

Category: Fae (fairies)

City of Bones (book one of The Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare
Tithe (book one of the Modern Faerie trilogy) by Holly Black
Wicked Lovely (book one of the Faerie Courts series) by Melissa Marr

The winner is...Wicked Lovely! There are 5 books in this series, with 3 following the main plot line, and 2 (books 2 and 4) following branches off the main plot. They are so good; dark and twisted, with interesting characters you can't decide if you love or hate, and so many plot twists.
The Modern Faerie series is awesome too, the first 'fae' or Urban fantasy book I read was Tithe. No one likes the fairies we've met so far in Cassandra Clares books, do they?

Category: Demon

City of Bones (book one of The Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare
A Discovery of Witches (book one of the trilogy) by Deborah Harkness
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (book one of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy) by Laini Taylor
The Demons Lexicon (book one of The Demons Lexicon trilogy) by Sara Rees Brennan

The winner is The Demons Lexicon. I love Nick! This trilogy is funny, deep and dark. And is set in England, which seems rare with so many US YA authors around. Special mention to A Daughter of Smoke and Bone where there are demons, but this book is number one in another category, so it couldn't win twice.

Category: Angels

Daughter of Smoke and Bone (book one of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy) by Laini Taylor
City of Bones (book one of The Mortal Instruments series) by Cassandra Clare
Clockwork Angel (book one of The Infernal Devices trilogy) by Cassandra Clare

The winner is Daughter of Smoke and Bone! The 'demons' and the Angels are amazing in this, but it's all about Karou and her human friends, right?! This is an amazing trilogy that I would definitely recommend.

Category - Aliens

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
The 5th Wave (book one of the 5th Wave trilogy) by Rick Yancey (I couldn't find the book for a photo)
The Bone Season (book one of the The Bone Season series) by Samantha Shannon

The winner is The Host, no doubt about it. This book is so amazing, I love ALL the characters! Doc! Ian! Jamie!
I do look forward to reading the next installments of the other books though, The Infinite Sea and The Mime Order.

Final category: Super powered humans

There are so many books and characters in this category, I wasn't able to take photos of them all.

Rivers of London (book one in the The Folly series) by Ben Aaronovitch
Soulless (book one of The Parasol Protectorate series) by Gail Carriger
Moon Called (book one of the Mercy Thompson series) by Patricia Briggs
The Passage (book one of a trilogy) by Justin Cronin
Parasite Positive (also known as 'Peeps') by Scott Westerfeld
Sabriel (book one in the Abhorsen trilogy) by Garth Nix
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (book one of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy) by Laini Taylor
Finding Sky (book one of the Savant series) by Joss Sterling
Unspoken (book one of the Lyburn Legacy trilogy) by Sara Rees Brennan
Immortal Beloved (book one of the Immortal Beloved series) by Cate Tiernan
Fire and Graceling (books 1 and 2 of the Graceling series) by Kristin Cashore

The winner is...more than one. Sorry. There's such variety! Fire because I love her character, and the writing, and the plot. Soulless because the characters are so well developed and hilarious!

This is a very long, listy post. There are so many more books I could talk about, but they don't quite fit the categories above (for example, Outlander, His Dark Matierals, The Wind on Fire, A Great and Terrible Beauty).

I hope you enjoy! I've posted links to some booktubers and the tag below :)

Clair x

Booktubers do the tag...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf4Y2-X3bQo&index=9&list=WL (Jessethereader)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK2-9-98ZlI&index=12&list=WL (Tashapolis)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPvg5fHpxO4&list=WL&index=14 (Little Book Owl)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctf5Q47C1GQ (PolandbananasBOOKS)

So many books, so little space.

It's half term and I'm back at home at the mothers house (outside of London - clean oxygen, I have missed you!). My sister has also moved out since I've been in London, which means the tiny room we had to alternate sleeping in (the other got the sofa) is empty of all of her belongings. Not that she had many; I follow my moms footsteps and hoard. I'm also older and have spent more time living away from home - I think this justifies having so much 'stuff'.

The top of my shelves. Can you see my twilight
books hidden at the very top?

The bottom half of my overfull bookshelf!

Anyway, the room is clearer, but still crammed full of stuff I didn't need in London or had no space to pack. Including books. So many books, it has freaked my mother out. There is a tall thin bookshelf, which is packed with all of my read books. There are some desk shelves with non-fiction books, Sookie Stackhouse books (that series was too big for the bookshelf!) and the books I haven't read. I'm about to spend the day sorting out: books to take to London with me, unread books, and books I don't care to keep anymore. I will be honest, I am also procrastinating from lesson planning, an evil task that feels wrong to do during half term. Fun times! I will be blogging here (hopefully with photos and mini reviews) about my day, and sharing my favourite books with you :)

A double stacked pile of my unread books!

If anyone ever wants to suggest types of post (I'm going to try to do booktube type posts on here, whilst I wait to buy a decent camera for vlogging) feel free! If you see a book on my shelf and want me to talk about it more, comment and let me know!

Clair x

I've decided

I've spent enough time talking about books with friends, and attempting to force the children in my class to read more...it's about time I started blogging it. And maybe vlogging it (I've put a camera in my amazon basket, waiting for me to pluck up the courage to spend hard earned cash on a little electrical box). I've always loved watching youtube videos, and somehow only just found the booktube community (which I really enjoy) but writing a blog is free, and I can do it in my pyjamas.

So here it is. I couldn't come up with an exciting or imaginative name, so I've stuck with a name that still makes sense - 'Clair Reads'. Exactly what this blog will be about...unless I decide to add other rambles about my life, which is pretty likely. I like to ramble. Can you tell?

I can't promise these posts will be regular, especially at the beginning. Working as a teacher is not the cushty job that some people imagine, so I will not always have the time or the energy. I will, however, have the passion to update as much as possible :)

Clair x