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elouisedouglas's Reviews (721)
Do you remember reading about the terror attack on the Bataclan in 2015? I remember seeing it unfold on Twitter and being horrified at what was happening, but also feeling a sense of disconnect because it was happening so far away.
Imagine if you saw what was happening and realised that your wife was there? That was the reality for Antoine Leiris, and the heartbreaking story in this brilliantly written book.
Inspired by an open letter that the author wrote to his wife’s killers on Facebook, this memoir of how he dealt with the death of his wife and realising he was alone with his baby son Melvil was extraordinarily courageous and made me so sad that we live in a world where this could happen.
The author is unflinchingly honest, leaving himself emotionally open to the world as he describes how he dealt with such tragic events, but there’s not a hint of anger in his voice, he does not want to give the killers such satisfaction.
There were so many quotes I could pick from this book, but this one stuck with me the most:
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/02/25/antoine-leiris-you-will-not-have-my-hate/
Imagine if you saw what was happening and realised that your wife was there? That was the reality for Antoine Leiris, and the heartbreaking story in this brilliantly written book.
Inspired by an open letter that the author wrote to his wife’s killers on Facebook, this memoir of how he dealt with the death of his wife and realising he was alone with his baby son Melvil was extraordinarily courageous and made me so sad that we live in a world where this could happen.
The author is unflinchingly honest, leaving himself emotionally open to the world as he describes how he dealt with such tragic events, but there’s not a hint of anger in his voice, he does not want to give the killers such satisfaction.
There were so many quotes I could pick from this book, but this one stuck with me the most:
“No one can be healed of death. All they can do is tame it. Death is a wild animal, sharp-fanged. I am just trying to build a cage to keep it locked in. It is there, beside me, drooling as it waits to devour me. The bars of the cage that protect me are made of paper.”
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/02/25/antoine-leiris-you-will-not-have-my-hate/
What the heck did I just read? When I was about three quarters through this book, I turned to my husband and said “I’m not quite sure what’s happening in this book”, and having got to the end, I’m still not quite sure!
But even though I’m completely confused, I really want to read the second book to see if it answers some of the many many questions that I have. And since it has left me wanting more and it kept me so interested, I’ve given it 4 out of 5. But if the second book doesn’t make more sense, I can’t see myself giving it as many…
Four women, going on the twelfth expedition into the mysterious Area X to observe and collect samples. None of the previous expeditions have been successful (far from it), and from the start, it seems like we’re waiting for this one to go wrong too.
I definitely found the book thrilling and enthralling and it was really well paced to make me keep turning the pages, but I really hope the next book in the trilogy explains more about what is actually going on in Area-X, as I still don’t think I’d be able to explain it to anyone who asked me…
The imagery in the book was beautiful, I was completely drawn into the world that the biologist was describing in almost a stream of consciousness. It was definitely a book to be read slowly and savoured to really appreciate.
But having said that, I still can’t figure out if this is a real world, or some sort of induced state of reality (are the people part of some weird experiment in the real world and not actually leaving – is it all chemical)?
The thing that creeped me out the most is that none of the characters are ever named – just referred to by their job title. And we only ever hear from the perspective of the biologist, who seems to be going slowly more and more crazy and delusional. It was just very hard to know whether to trust anything she was saying.
Onwards to the second book and fingers crossed it makes more sense!
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/02/28/jeff-vandermeer-annihilation/
But even though I’m completely confused, I really want to read the second book to see if it answers some of the many many questions that I have. And since it has left me wanting more and it kept me so interested, I’ve given it 4 out of 5. But if the second book doesn’t make more sense, I can’t see myself giving it as many…
Four women, going on the twelfth expedition into the mysterious Area X to observe and collect samples. None of the previous expeditions have been successful (far from it), and from the start, it seems like we’re waiting for this one to go wrong too.
I definitely found the book thrilling and enthralling and it was really well paced to make me keep turning the pages, but I really hope the next book in the trilogy explains more about what is actually going on in Area-X, as I still don’t think I’d be able to explain it to anyone who asked me…
The imagery in the book was beautiful, I was completely drawn into the world that the biologist was describing in almost a stream of consciousness. It was definitely a book to be read slowly and savoured to really appreciate.
But having said that, I still can’t figure out if this is a real world, or some sort of induced state of reality (are the people part of some weird experiment in the real world and not actually leaving – is it all chemical)?
The thing that creeped me out the most is that none of the characters are ever named – just referred to by their job title. And we only ever hear from the perspective of the biologist, who seems to be going slowly more and more crazy and delusional. It was just very hard to know whether to trust anything she was saying.
Onwards to the second book and fingers crossed it makes more sense!
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/02/28/jeff-vandermeer-annihilation/
Part of my Book Bingo for this year is to read a Costa Book Awards winner. So when I was at Waterstones and this beautiful cover caught my attention, and then I saw the Costa Book Awards Winner sticker on it, I knew that this would be the one.
I didn't realise until I started reading it that it is actually a children's book, I've never really come across a children's book thats's 400+ pages long before, and although I can see how the story is definitely aimed at children, there were definitely many reasons why this was a great book for an adult too.
The picture that the author creates in your head is so vivid that you might as well be stranded with these four kids in the rainforest. I was so lost in the book that I didn't realise how many pages I was turning subconsciously until I stopped for a tea break and I realised I'd read 150 pages. To me, that's a sign of a great book, when you're so enthralled that you sink into the pages and it becomes like a live-action film in your head.
When I'm reading a book and come across a quote that I like, I usually take a photo of it on my phone so that I can read it back later. Needless to say, my phone is peppered with quotes from this book. Some of the phrases that jumped out at me would probably have sailed over the head of a child, but sometimes left me feeling a bit stunned or made me laugh out loud.
I'll repeat a few here:
I won't go into too much detail on the story itself as I would just recommend that you buy this book and read it. Either to yourself, or out loud to your children. But definitely read it, and if you're an adult - don't be put off by the 'children's book' label - you'll definitely get a lot out of it too.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/03/04/katherine-rundell-the-explorer/
I didn't realise until I started reading it that it is actually a children's book, I've never really come across a children's book thats's 400+ pages long before, and although I can see how the story is definitely aimed at children, there were definitely many reasons why this was a great book for an adult too.
The picture that the author creates in your head is so vivid that you might as well be stranded with these four kids in the rainforest. I was so lost in the book that I didn't realise how many pages I was turning subconsciously until I stopped for a tea break and I realised I'd read 150 pages. To me, that's a sign of a great book, when you're so enthralled that you sink into the pages and it becomes like a live-action film in your head.
When I'm reading a book and come across a quote that I like, I usually take a photo of it on my phone so that I can read it back later. Needless to say, my phone is peppered with quotes from this book. Some of the phrases that jumped out at me would probably have sailed over the head of a child, but sometimes left me feeling a bit stunned or made me laugh out loud.
I'll repeat a few here:
"I just liked the idea that there's still things that we don't know. At school, it's the same thing, every day. I liked that it might be all right to believe in large, mad, wild things."
"Can't bear moustaches myself. Grotesquery mouth-eyebrows, I always thought"
"The time will come, I hope, when the world values people as much as it values land. But for now, we do not need more men in pith helmets marching through the jungle towards us".
"And cut only what you need. Don't hoard. Leave enough that the tree can replenish itself. The greatest threat to living things is man, which is not a thought to make one proud".
I won't go into too much detail on the story itself as I would just recommend that you buy this book and read it. Either to yourself, or out loud to your children. But definitely read it, and if you're an adult - don't be put off by the 'children's book' label - you'll definitely get a lot out of it too.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/03/04/katherine-rundell-the-explorer/
I stumbled across this book when looking for any coding books on my library app – turns out there aren’t that many. But actually, I’m really glad I ran across it as I found it such a relateable story. Sophie and Andy were two teenage girls who found themselves at a coding camp together and through that camp, they built a game called ‘Tampon Run’ which was intended to challenge the taboo of talking about periods when people are perfectly fine with guns and violence. The game was only really intended for a few people to see, but it ended up going viral and getting international attention.
Partly a story about their experiences with the reaction to such a ‘controversial’ game, the part of the story I related most to was their experience of being a female in the world of coding.
I was the only girl in most of my computing classes at school, I spent 8 years at my last company and I was the only woman who was ever on the development team, and although I’m really lucky that the place I work now has a more even gender balance, there’s still such a disparity in the dev world in general and it was great to hear about the more positive experiences that Sophie and Andy had.
I really appreciated that the book was written by both girls. Although they both have a huge shared interest, they’re very different people and this book celebrates that. It’s also intensely personal in parts, with both girls opening up and sharing things about their private life which impacted on their coding life too.
I’d guess this book was mainly aimed at young girls looking to get into coding, but actually I’d say it’s a valuable read for a much wider range of people than that – whoever you are, you’ll probably learn something.
One of my favourite quotes from the book (although completely serious, it really made me laugh):
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/03/08/andrea-gonzales-sophie-house-girl-code/
Partly a story about their experiences with the reaction to such a ‘controversial’ game, the part of the story I related most to was their experience of being a female in the world of coding.
I was the only girl in most of my computing classes at school, I spent 8 years at my last company and I was the only woman who was ever on the development team, and although I’m really lucky that the place I work now has a more even gender balance, there’s still such a disparity in the dev world in general and it was great to hear about the more positive experiences that Sophie and Andy had.
I really appreciated that the book was written by both girls. Although they both have a huge shared interest, they’re very different people and this book celebrates that. It’s also intensely personal in parts, with both girls opening up and sharing things about their private life which impacted on their coding life too.
I’d guess this book was mainly aimed at young girls looking to get into coding, but actually I’d say it’s a valuable read for a much wider range of people than that – whoever you are, you’ll probably learn something.
One of my favourite quotes from the book (although completely serious, it really made me laugh):
Coding is like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for someone who has never heard of either ingredient, never opened a jar, or used a knife. You can’t just tell them to put jelly and peanut butter on a piece of bread and smush it together. You need to explain how to pick up the bread and how to pull it out of the packaging and then how to open the jar and how to pick up the knife…
And if your steps don’t make sense, you get a coder’s worst nightmare: a bug, the programming term for when a program fails to run the way you expect it to. The bug will either make the computer follow the steps incorrectly (like trying to spread the peanut butter on the plate instead of the bread), or the program won’t run at all.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/03/08/andrea-gonzales-sophie-house-girl-code/
Imagine if you had one wish, and you knew for sure that it would come true. What would you wish for? Money? Beauty? Success? Love?
But what if you had already seen generations of people make their own ‘one wish’ and you could see the toxic affects it had on their lives. Would you still be so eager to make that wish?
For Eldon, that’s his reality. He lives in Madison, a place where each citizen can make one wish on their 18th birthday and it’s guaranteed to come true. But Eldon’s life has been heavily influenced by the consequences of his mother’s wish when she was 18, and he’s dreading his.
All his friends are excitedly discussing theirs, or they knew for months in advance what they would wish for, but Eldon just doesn’t know. He knows what his mother wants him to wish for, but he also knows it wouldn’t have the outcome that she wants.
I was taken on so many turns on this book that I honestly couldn’t decide what Eldon would wish for. I did find it got slightly teenage and brooding in points, but there we were also many places where it was pretty spot on as well.
“Wishing either gets you everything or nothing. And it’s a gamble everyone is willing to take.”
“Eldon, we all mess up. No one should measure their worth by how often they screw up. What matters most is how a person deals with the aftermath. How they grow and change.”
Including this one which was so relevant for me right now that I actually had to stop and have a little cry.
“When someone dies, it doesn’t just take them. It takes a piece of everyone who ever loved them and everyone they ever loved.”
I think I’d give this book 4 out of 5. The idea and most of the execution was great, but I just feel like it was a bit juvenile in places.
Posted on: emmaloui.se/2018/03/13/chelsea-sedoti-as-you-wish/
Urgh. I don’t know if I’m just way older than the target demographic for this book, but I just could not get along with it. I’m guessing it was aimed at teenagers who may be able to relate to the main character, Zoe, but I just found her a whiny brat throughout the whole book and it completely spoilt it for me.
I think it’s supposed to be played as Zoe the wild child going on this grand adventure and somehow reuniting the family and making everything right in the world, but all I could think about was how selfish Zoe was being.
Her grandma has dementia and she’s finding it hard to live alone (although she doesn’t realise it herself), so Zoe’s parents place her in a care home so she can be looked after. But Zoe decides that her grandma shouldn’t be in a care home, she should be “free”, so she decides to take her on a trip across Canada to visit her estranged son.
I think we’re supposed to think Zoe is a hero for trying to rescue her grandma from the evil parents, but the only thought running through my mind was how naive she was.
Unfortunately, this is my first 1 star review of the year. Maybe other people would enjoy it more than me (it does have a 3.85 average on Goodreads), but it just wasn’t for me.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/03/16/allan-stratton-the-way-back-home/
I think it’s supposed to be played as Zoe the wild child going on this grand adventure and somehow reuniting the family and making everything right in the world, but all I could think about was how selfish Zoe was being.
Her grandma has dementia and she’s finding it hard to live alone (although she doesn’t realise it herself), so Zoe’s parents place her in a care home so she can be looked after. But Zoe decides that her grandma shouldn’t be in a care home, she should be “free”, so she decides to take her on a trip across Canada to visit her estranged son.
I think we’re supposed to think Zoe is a hero for trying to rescue her grandma from the evil parents, but the only thought running through my mind was how naive she was.
Unfortunately, this is my first 1 star review of the year. Maybe other people would enjoy it more than me (it does have a 3.85 average on Goodreads), but it just wasn’t for me.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/03/16/allan-stratton-the-way-back-home/
http://emmaloui.se/2018/04/08/katherine-rundell-the-wolf-wilder/
I was really quite excited about this book coming out having read the first three in the series over the new year. But when I started reading the first reviews coming through on Goodreads, I was a little apprehensive and the reviews weren’t great.
The reviews did prepare me for the fact that this is a novella between the original trilogy and the planned new trilogy to connect the two plots together, so at least I wasn’t expecting a full novel, but I was still left wanting more at the end – less than 300 pages just didn’t seem like enough.
Saying that, I didn’t feel like there was a huge amount of plot in this book compared to the first three – now that the war is over, there wasn’t too much action – it was a lot more focused on relationships than fighting. Not that it was a bad thing, I did enjoy seeing relationships develop more in many ways, even though not all relationships went in the direction I had hoped.
A word of caution – this was the first book in this series that actually had a warning on the back about mature content not suitable for younger readers (which I think really should have been on the others too), but I would definitely agree that the book was quite adult in places. In fact, I think it would be pushing it to include this in the young adult genre which is usually applied to books aimed at 13+ it seems.
Some reviews weren’t happy with this content, but I did feel like it fit quite well in the story-arc, I mean Feyre and Rhys are now mated/married and it seems like a natural turn for the book to take, especially given other decisions they make towards the end.
I can’t wait for book number 5 now, I’m just hoping it will be a bit more action-packed than this novella.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/05/08/sarah-j-maas-a-court-of-frost-and-starlight/
The reviews did prepare me for the fact that this is a novella between the original trilogy and the planned new trilogy to connect the two plots together, so at least I wasn’t expecting a full novel, but I was still left wanting more at the end – less than 300 pages just didn’t seem like enough.
Saying that, I didn’t feel like there was a huge amount of plot in this book compared to the first three – now that the war is over, there wasn’t too much action – it was a lot more focused on relationships than fighting. Not that it was a bad thing, I did enjoy seeing relationships develop more in many ways, even though not all relationships went in the direction I had hoped.
A word of caution – this was the first book in this series that actually had a warning on the back about mature content not suitable for younger readers (which I think really should have been on the others too), but I would definitely agree that the book was quite adult in places. In fact, I think it would be pushing it to include this in the young adult genre which is usually applied to books aimed at 13+ it seems.
Some reviews weren’t happy with this content, but I did feel like it fit quite well in the story-arc, I mean Feyre and Rhys are now mated/married and it seems like a natural turn for the book to take, especially given other decisions they make towards the end.
I can’t wait for book number 5 now, I’m just hoping it will be a bit more action-packed than this novella.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/05/08/sarah-j-maas-a-court-of-frost-and-starlight/
So if you look at the Goodreads data on when I started and finished this book, you’ll see it has taken me a ridiculously long time to finish reading it. I’d like to point out that this definitely isn’t a reflection of the book, it’s just that I started off only reading the book when I was in the bath, and I don’t get to spend much time in there!
However, over the past week I’ve finished the last half of the book and it has been fantastic. The author has a way of blending the history with comedy to make the book entertaining as well as full of facts. I never really got on with history at school as I found it a bit boring, but this book made sure I was never bored and I learnt so much from it – if school history lessons had been like this, I might have paid more attention!
The book starts 2,000 years ago (as you may have guessed), and covers everything from the Nicene creed, through to the reformation, the abolition of slavery and the ordination of female priests. How the author managed to pack so much information into so few pages is beyond me, but I never felt ‘short-changed’ on information.
Interspersed throughout the book are little ‘fact files’ about important people in Christian history, along with little cartoon sketches which added to the ‘comedy’ side of the book without taking away from the seriousness of it too.
I would really recommend this book to anyone interested in learning a broad overview of Christian history, you will most likely find areas that you want to learn about in more depth – I certainly did. I’m now reading ‘A Nearly Infallible History of the Reformation’, in part because of how interesting I found the reformation part of this book, and in part because I want to read more by this author.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/05/09/nick-page-a-nearly-infallible-history-of-christianity/
However, over the past week I’ve finished the last half of the book and it has been fantastic. The author has a way of blending the history with comedy to make the book entertaining as well as full of facts. I never really got on with history at school as I found it a bit boring, but this book made sure I was never bored and I learnt so much from it – if school history lessons had been like this, I might have paid more attention!
The book starts 2,000 years ago (as you may have guessed), and covers everything from the Nicene creed, through to the reformation, the abolition of slavery and the ordination of female priests. How the author managed to pack so much information into so few pages is beyond me, but I never felt ‘short-changed’ on information.
Interspersed throughout the book are little ‘fact files’ about important people in Christian history, along with little cartoon sketches which added to the ‘comedy’ side of the book without taking away from the seriousness of it too.
I would really recommend this book to anyone interested in learning a broad overview of Christian history, you will most likely find areas that you want to learn about in more depth – I certainly did. I’m now reading ‘A Nearly Infallible History of the Reformation’, in part because of how interesting I found the reformation part of this book, and in part because I want to read more by this author.
Posted on: http://emmaloui.se/2018/05/09/nick-page-a-nearly-infallible-history-of-christianity/