Friday 25 May 2012

Ibis Reader - great for classic novels!

Hi bookworms, just a little post about Ibis Reader. I use this on my phone to read. It's not as great as actually holding a book but. if you love classic novels such as Alice in Wonderland and the Great Gatsby or always plan on reading them but never get around to it, Ibis Reader is really worth checking out. You can sign up for free and there's hundreds of free, public domain, titles you can start reading pretty much instantly. You can use it on your computer or smartphone, change the font size and type to your liking.

Besides the vast amount of great literature freely available, you can also add titles that you already own, simply by adding them to your library. The great thing about it is, it doesn't cost you a thing and you have immediate access to some of the best novels ever written! Not sure? Check out the "get books" section and I'm certain you will find something you like, from Sigmund Freud's work Dream Psychology, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to the Kama Sutra. Pretty much any classic you can think of will be there for you to read for free! It really is worth checking out: http://www.ibisreader.com/!

Thursday 24 May 2012

City Under the Moon - Hugh Sterbakov

Good day, bookworms! Today I will be talking about Hugh Sterbakov's debut novel, City Under the Moon. Doesn't the cover already look exciting?


The story starts outside the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan where an ambassadors wife got brutally attacked and her baby has been stolen (or worse). The fierce, emotionless FBI Special Sgent Brianna Tildascow gets called out to take on the case. Quickly she finds out that this is not just an ordinary animal attack, but something far worse. The attack seems to have infected to victim with a virus that triggers something in the body, causing her to become a wolf-like beast who goes on the rampage. The victims start multiplying fast each night and soon Manhattan has a werewolf epidemic on their hands.

While Dr. Jessica Tanner, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and her viroligist husband start fighting over the nature of the virus, Lon, a geeky basement-dweller gets cut off from talking to his online girlfriend when his werewolf expertise gets called upon by none other than the government...

City Under the Moon is a fast-paced read. Every moment is utilised to it's full extend, every page is covered with werewolves, guts and action. Yet, it's not a lighthearted story full of fluffy werewolves that rip their shirts off, or even your usual anguished puberty-metaphor, it goes in deep and it goes in hard. Everything and everyone becomes involved, from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, the President, the Military, the FBI, a Romanian werewolf hunter with a tragic past and the irritating but lovable lycanthropy nerd Lon (after Lon Chaney Jr.) Toller who, despite not having the guts to meet his girlfriend in person, shows a hell of a lot of bravery when faced with disaster.

This story is so well written and planned out, it must have been a hell of a job to make sure everything is plausible and fits together. All the details make sense and seem extremely accurate. The governing bodies involved are written very realistically, Sterbakov has obviously done extensive research into the way things work and the methods that are available.

Sterbakov set out to write a story that portrayed the transformation as a werewolf to be far more frightening than being attacked by one and I think he managed that perfectly. The description of what happens to a person when they transform made my bones ache and my tendons recoil in horror. No thanks, I'd rather be ravaged by a werewolf (ooh err!) than become one myself.

If you like a good fantasy story packed full of action, gore, kick-ass female FBI agents (well, there is only one of those, but she sure counts for more than one woman), triumphing nerds and a President facing a terrible dilemma, this punchy, throat-grabbing book is for you.

I'm trying to come up with a rating system here, eeehmm, I give City Under the Moon five werewolves out of five!

Check out the official City Under the Moon website: http://cityunderthemoon.com/
You can follow Hugh Sterbakov on twitter here: @darhkhugh
Not had enough of the Sterbakov? Official website: http://hughsterbakov.com/

Hey there, bookworms!

Reading is probably my favourite thing to do, I always have a book on the go, sometimes more than one. Without one I feel naked and weird. I love reading mostly because it transports you to other worlds, lets you make friends and takes you on the wildest adventures. Ever since I was little I've read a lot. I can't help myself, I'll read over peoples' shoulders, I'll cast sideways glances on the train, something about a book just draws my attention. Knowing that in those pages covered with small black enscriptions is a world to be discovered, I can't resist.

So, I thought, why not make a bookclub for my fellow bookworms? I've come across some great books, it'd be a shame not to share them. I'll tell you some of my favourite books, so you can get a feeling for the type of things you might find here in the future. I'd say my two all-time favourite novels are Glen David Gold's Carter Beats the Devil, a fictionalised biography of the great magician Charles Carter and I also love Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, which is a story I'm sure most people are sort of familiar with. My most current reads are The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson, an intruiging and exciting read about life as a self-made circus-freak working for the famous P.T. Barnum, and part one and two of 1Q84 by Haruki Marukami, who is quickly becoming my favourite writer.

I'll probably do more recommendations than just reviews, I tend to shy away from books that I feel just won't interest me. I hate giving up on books, but if it just feels like too much hard work I'm going to have to move on to something else. There's too many good reads and too little time to read them all! For my first review/recommendation: City Under the Moon by Hugh Sterbakov, a thrilling tale of werewolves in modern day Manhattan.