Friday Finds (7) – 7 November 2014

Friday Finds is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading which encourages you to share the books you have discovered over the past 7 days with your fellow bloggers. Whether you found them in a bookshop, online, in the library or just heard about them from a friend, Friday Finds is a great way to spread the love with other readers. All books are linked to their Goodreads pages so you can discover them too.

I’ve had a busy day today (which included spending an hour in a bookshop, yay!) so I’m a little late posting this as it’s technically Saturday in Scotland now, but I reckon a lot of you in different time zones are still up!

This is the longest that I’ve ever stuck with a weekly meme, and I’m so glad that I have. Between my own discoveries and those of other Friday Finders I’m building my “to-read” list faster than I’ll ever be able to keep up with, but that’s a cross all we bibliophiles must bear! I’m also enjoying the challenge I set myself every week of rewriting the synopsis of each book into my own words as much as possible. I could just copy the synopsis from Goodreads, and I do include the occasional quote if it is particularly interesting, but one of the reasons I started blogging was because I wanted to practice my writing and publishing skills. If I ever get a marketing job in a publisher, the ability to write a good synopsis will serve me well. I’m sure I don’t always get it quite right, which is why I provide the Goodreads link too, but it’s a fun activity and makes me feel even more excited about the books I discover.

1) The Young Elites (The Young Elites #1) by Marie Lu: This was recommended to me by a book loving friend. She gave it a 9.5 in her review, which is a rare thing, so I’m optimistic about it. Also, it sounds pretty damn awesome. Having survived a deadly illness which killed most of those it infected, Adelina Amouteru finds herself with an altered appearance and strange powers. She is now one of the Young Elites, and there are those in society who see her and those like her as a threat. The Inquisition Axis is tasked with killing any Young Elites they can find, while a secret group of Young Elites known as the Dagger Society set out to find and protect those like them before they’re killed, like Adelina. But Adelina isn’t just any Young Elite; she has abilities no one has ever seen before, and a desire for vengeance which may be the biggest threat of all. Sounds good to me!

2) Beggar Magic by H.L. Burke: The Strains are musical magic which weave their ever-changing melodies through the world of Gelia City. The ability to use them is hereditary, but not all citizens are created equal. The city is divided between the Highmost, those who can access the full power of the Strains, and the Commons, those who have only limited use, known as beggar magic. When Common teen Leilani befriends Highmost born Zebody, both girls get a new understanding of each other’s worlds. As their friendship grows, they discover a dangerous threat to the Strains hiding within the manors of the Highmost; one which could silence the music forever. In order to save their beloved Strains, the girls must risk everything, including death, to stop those responsible. I love the idea of music as power. I think most people would argue that music does have power, like its ability to calm, inspire and move us, but I’m really looking forward to reading about a world where music is truly magical, and about who would dare to destroy it!

3) Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King: This title really intrigued me and reading the synopsis sealed the deal. Lucky Linderman has a difficult life. His grandfather died in the Vietnam War, leaving his father devastated. His mother refuses to acknowledge the problems within their family, preferring to pretend that everything is just fine. And every day Lucky has to deal with the constant bullying of Nader McMillan, which is getting dangerously out of control. At night, though, Lucky has a unique escape from all this. His vivid dreams take him to the jungles of Laos during the Vietnam War, where he can be the person he wants to be and succeed where his grandfather failed. But reality is never far away, and Lucky must face the fact that he can’t hide in his dreams forever. I’m always intrigued by stories which feature dreams as a key element. Ever since I was a young girl, I have been able to remember my dreams in vivid detail. Going to sleep every night is like entering another world where anything can happen and the laws of physics do not exist. I love it, especially those rare occasions when I realise I’m dreaming, or lucid dreaming as science calls it, and that I’m no longer bound by the limitations of reality. Flying is usually my favourite activity, but I do like a bit of telekinesis! I’m really looking forward to finding out what Lucky does with his dreams.

4) Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig: “I want life. I want to read it and write it and feel it and live it. I want, for as much of the time as possible in this blink-of-an-eye existence we have, to feel all that can be felt. I hate depression. I am scared of it. Terrified, in fact. But at the same time, it has made me who I am. And if – for me – it is the price of feeling life, it’s a price always worth paying.” Like a lot of people, I can definitely relate to this. There are parts of my past that I would never want to relive, and I have to keep fighting with my illness-affected body and anxiety-riddled mind every day not to go to back to the place I was in as a teenager, but at the same time I would never change the things I’ve gone through. I draw strength from how far I have come in the last 10 years and all I have accomplished, and from the knowledge of how far I know I will go as I pursue the goals I have set for myself. We are shaped as much by our bad experiences as we are by our good ones, and accepting that fact is an important part of life. Having read Haig’s The Humans, I know he is very skilled in writing about human emotions, so I’m sure he will do the subject matter of this novel justice.

So what books have you discovered this week? Have you read any of the ones I’ve mentioned? Let me know in the comments!