Recently Read | January

I know, I know, this is horribly late but better late than never. I didn't get to read quite as much as I wanted to last month due to general busy times and living life but I managed to squeeze these few in. I got the first two books in the kindle sale there after Christmas for just a couple of euros each so if they were terrible, I knew I wouldn't feel too hard done by. I was especially worried about Bridget Jones as I'd heard a fair few negative reviews but I've also read the previous two books in the series so I felt like I had to complete the trilogy. Other book addicts will understand. 

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding.

This time around, (SPOILERS AHOY) Bridget is now middle-aged, has two children and is still coming to terms with the crushing loss of her husband Mark Darcy (that's not really a spoiler actually as it was revealed before the book was ever even released). I struggled with how I felt about this book because parts of it rang really true to life; Bridget's grief was actually palpable, it came off the pages in waves and hit me so hard that I felt real empathy for her- I cried for her loss and then wondered how I would possibly ever cope in the same situation. But then, Bridget is also the same shambles of a human being, which somehow seemed less realistic. I'm not saying that one big event in your life will change you irrevocably as a person but it surely would alter you on some level? The fact that she copes with both of her children being in the throws of a nasty gastric bug by swilling wine directly from the bottle just seemed a little false to me. Also, her obsession with gaining followers on Twitter felt empty, like Helen Fielding threw it in there to make it relevant for the year 2014. Having said all of that and in spite of my misgivings, I did at times enjoy this book and am glad I saw it through to the end, even though it was incredibly predictable. I won't read it again but I'm glad I gave it a go.

All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman.

This is a quick and quirky little read about a regular guy called Tom who finds himself surrounded with superhero friends after marrying "The Perfectionist", also a superhero. Unfortunately, at their wedding, a jealous ex-boyfriend of hers hypnotises her into believing that Tom has left her. Tom is now completely invisible to The Perfectionist and spends the next six months trying to make her see him again. I really enjoyed this book, the characters are brilliant with unusual and very witty superpowers that make for fun reading while at the same time you really feel for both Tom and the Perfectionist, who have both lost their soulmate. It's also quite nerve-wracking waiting to see will Tom get her to see him before it's too late. I would definitely recommend this one and you'll have it finished in a day!

Harry Potter 1 & 2 (it's quicker) by J K Rowling

As I've mentioned before, I've never read the HP books and so I decided to set myself a challenge for the year to read them all. I'm so very glad that I did. I'm already half way through the third book and I'm absolutely loving them. I'm sure no one needs a review of these given that I'm so late to the party but basically, they're beautifully written; exciting, emotive (I've cried several times already), captivating books that really make you want to read the next in the series. Many people have commented on Twitter and Instagram about how lucky I am to be reading them for the first time and I genuinely feel that way too. Roll on the rest of them, I say!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty

Yis all know by now that I'm a massive Buffy fan. MASSIVE. So himself bought me the first three in the series which are a canonical continuation from the TV show. The first one takes place a year after the show ended whereby Buffy and Xander are now leading "command central", training the new slayers and going after the baddies with the help of Willow and her super-witch magic. This definitely goes to a lot weirder places than the TV show ever could (Dawn is still annoyingly there but is now a giant. Gah.) but it still retains it's unique Whedon-ness; the language, the pop culture references and the in-jokes, so for me it's a really great way to continue the Buffy legacy.  The drawings are also rather beautiful. I can't wait to get stuck in to the rest of them!

And that's your lot.

Let me know in the comments if you've read any of these yourself or what you're currently reading!

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