Ely's Recommedations #4

Do you know what time it is? That's right...IT'S RECOMMENDATION TIME! You can see my other recommendation posts here: #1, #2 and #3. I've read so so much since my last recommendation post that I had a seriously hard time cutting this down to just five, but without further ado, here they are:

1. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
You might not know this, but Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is one of my all-time favourite books but I think Jamaica Inn is making it's way up that list. Both of these are mystery novels, but this one has a little bit more romance than Rebecca. That's not why I love it. I love it because there are some many twists and turns and the love interest, Jem Merlyn, is to die for. Also, the brand new BBC miniseries is glorious.

2. The Purgatorium by Eva Pohler
If you want a proper review for this, you can check out the one I did earlier this month here. In short, this book gets into your head and you don't know which characters you can trust and which you should dislike. It's absolutely brilliant.

3. Finnkin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
I've been meaning to read Melina Marchetta for ages, but this just happened to be the first one I got to. It's amazing. It's fantasy with some romance with a little bit of mystery and magic thrown in too. It's incredibly fun to read, and the character Evanjalin is seriously amazing.

4. Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier
I warned in my review of this that I was probably going to talk about this one for the next couple of years until everyone is completely bored of me. To sum it up, this is brilliant and so very different to everything else that's out there at the moment. It's definitely become a new favourite of mine and I'm determined to get everyone else on this planet to read it too. Also, you should my review and enter the giveaway (AUS only).

5. The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
This one is also a fantasy, but it's more Middle Grade than Finnikin of the Rock. I can't even begin to describe how fun this book is, I laughed so many times while reading. I also fell completely in love with the protagonist, a fifteen year old boy named Will. And yeah, I might be older than him but true love knows no age. But really guys, you should read this!

Some notable mentions are: Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, North and South, Reboot and Rebel, The Raven Boys, My Life Next Door and Finale. See what I mean when I said I had trouble deciding?

Now, what are your recommendations? Have you read any of these? Have I influenced you to pick any of this up?

As we all know, Chami has taken to an event called, "Let's destroy Ely's post by adding some Chami stuff into it as well". So, Hi everyone. It's me here again. 

Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead
If you are put off just by the title having "Vampire", then you don't deserve to read this series becomes your one dimensional and just damn judgemental. This is one of my favourite series EVER and if you are seriously worried about the fact that there are vampires in it, think of it as a culture. Because in this series, it is. Give this series a good two books to fall in love. Because when you fall. You fall hard.

I can't even mention anything else because everyone needs to read this series. Have you read it? Did you love it? Comment down below and tell us what you think?

REVIEW: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Title: North and South
Author: Elizabeth Gaskell
Genre: Classic.
Publication Date: June 1st 1996 (first published 1855)
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Format: Paperback
Pages: 451
Rating: 4/5

'How am I to dress up in my finery, and go off and away to smart parties, after the sorrow I have seen today?'

When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill-workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction. In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skilfully fused individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale created one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.

In her introduction, Patricia Ingham examines geographical, economic and class differences, and male and female roles in North and South. This edition also includes a list for further reading, notes and a glossary.

I’m not going to lie, I watched the BBC miniseries in conjunction with reading this book and I think it might have taken me a while longer to finish this book if I hadn’t. I adore this book, really I do, but it took me a little while to get into it. I was interested with the story, but I felt it was kind of slow to get started and so to inspire myself I watched the miniseries. This saved the book for me, I would have continued reading even without the miniseries, but because I did watch it I fell in love with the characters and the story.

(I couldn't resist this GIF)

I think Margaret has become one of my favourite classic heroines. I don’t really know why I love her so much, but I just think she’s brilliant. She definitely has her flaws, but I liked how she was a bit too proud at times, it made this so much more entertaining. Let’s not even start with Mr Thorton. He’s definitely in my top classic men now. I didn’t think I’d like him at the start, he’s not really talked about like Mr Darcy and Mr Rochester are, but I prefer him over both of them. Again, I don’t know why that is but I love him so very much now. There are some characters I’m not so fond of, mainly Margaret’s cousin, Edith. I don’t know why but she really got on my nerves. I honestly don’t know how Margaret put up with her!

I really, really like how this is written. While most of the story focuses on Margaret, sometimes she slips into the mind of Mr Thorton or someone else briefly. I realised when I was reading the book, that I kind of do the same thing in my own writing. I don’t know if the fact that I liked it makes me sound a little bit arrogant, but it kind of made me feel a bit more confident about my writing and that’s always a good feeling! 

The only thing that kept this from being five stars for me was that I felt it dragged in some bits. I love the majority of the book, but there were some parts that I felt really weren’t necessary for the story. Those late couple of pages though…I was dying to see Mr Thorton come back into it again!

However, I did really love this book. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go rewatch the miniseries until the end of time.