The Mid Year Book Tag

A couple of months ago I did my roundup of the best books of 2015 I'd read so far. While I still stand by those recommendations, when I stumbled across the Mid Year Book Tag I thought this was a fun way to elaborate on what I've been reading this year, in terms of the good, the bad and the downright boring. If you love book tags why not give this one a go and leave your link in the comments so I can check it out!

Best Book You've Read All Year?
This would have been a hard one to pick as I've read a lot of great books this year, but the standout which I have just finished so was never mentioned in my 'Best of 2015 So Far' post would have to be All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It's truly a beautifully written book and one that made me appreciate the delicacy of the written word. Far and away this is the best book I've read so far in 2015.

Best Sequel You've Read So Far.
None. Absolutely zero, zilch, diddly sequels have been read this year! However I am really really excited to read the sequel to Libba Bray's The Deviners (called The Lair) which came out a few weeks ago and lots of lucky book bloggers (ie not me) featured it on their blogs, which I have resisted the temptation to read anything about for fear of ruining it for myself!

New Release You Haven't Read But Want To?
I just picked up a copy of the fourth Millennium book, The Girl In The Spiders Web by David Lagercrantz. It's a controversial one for sure since Stieg Larsson passed away after writing the first three, but I've heard rumours that the writing is actually pretty good and I love the character of Lisbeth Salander so really can't wait to get reading it!

Most Anticipated Release For The Second Half of 2015? 
A tie for me between The Lair, The Girl In The Spiders Web and the next Robert Galbraith crime fiction novel because I love all of these series. So much goodness is dropping this year!

Biggest Disappointment?
I read a couple of Cecelia Ahern books this year - Thanks For The Memories and A Place Called Here and while I enjoyed them I'm kinda disappointed that I don't love her books. They are great holiday reads but she has a very passionate fan base and I thought I would really 'get' her books but so far they have just been good three star reads for me which is a bit disappointing.

Biggest Surprise?
This would have to be You by Caroline Kepnes as I thought the book was going to be great but I was really surprised and conflicted with myself for finding the main character actually a little bit likeable at times. This is obviously troubling because he is a massive creep which made me feel like a massive creep for laughing at his jokes. Also I was quite surprised by certain events in this novel that went from creepy to massively psychopathic in the space of a few pages.

Book To Movie Adaptation?
I actually haven't read any books that have been turned into movies this year but I did pick up a copy of Paper Towns so that I can read it before seeing the movie as it's highly likely I'll be watching that soon. I've never read any John Green before so my expectations are a little high!

Favourite New Author?
Libba Bray for writing The Diviners. I've since tried to hunt down some of her earlier works as once I find a great author I love to read everything they've ever written in a weird binge-reading kinda way. Also I really like reading Ben Elton, both his satirical and his historical fiction novels.

Newest Fictional Crush?
Concierge Ryan from Must Love Otters. This book is so adorable and Ryan is a complete babe and is also a nice down to earth guy who should always win the girls I say.

Newest Favourite Character?
Evie O'Neill from The Diviners for her party girl ways but also because underneath all that bravado she's a sweet and caring friend, plus her cute 1920s slang made me like her even more.

Book That Made You Cry?
I don't think I've shed an actual tear reading any books this year, as far as I can remember but The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes was definitely an emotional one by the end!

Beautiful Book?
The paperback cover for All The Light We Cannot See is truly beautiful. I bought a copy for my Dad and felt pretty reluctant to hand over something so pretty, definitely one worth displaying on the bookcase. Unfortunately my library copy came plastic wrapped and wasn't the shiny version which had beautiful blues and yellows that sparkled in the light.

Books You Need To Read By The End of The Year.
The main three I'm looking forward to are the sequals for those I mentioned earlier, but my to-read book list is soooo long I really don't think I will get to everything I want to in the next few months.

What I'm Watching On Netflix

Netflix has officially turned me into a binge-watching television monster and I'm really okay with this. Since I'm always looking for new shows to delve into I thought I would share my favourites so you too can lose hours of your life in the best way possible.

Pretty Little Liars. With the finale airing recently and the true identity of 'A' being discovered I realised this is one show I had never sat down and watched. Being a former fan girl of Gossip Girl I thought it was probably something I should remedy and a recent sick day had me curled up on the couch for what was definitly an unhealthy amount of time. Kind of a guilty pleasure but one I'm not ashamed to admit. Hopefully I can avoid any spoilers on who A is by the time I get to the end of the last season.

House of Cards. Frank and Claire Underwood are a power couple not to be messed with as the first couple of seasons have seen careers destroyed and enemies taken care of in a very Sopranos-like way. I can't even tell you how many times I've been shocked by Frank's ruthlessness and he's definitily a character I love to hate.

Vikings. Bearded, shirtless, muscled Viking dudes with man buns, is there ever a better descriptive sentence than that? But there's also a plot that I really like, some awesome characters including kick arse ladies and not to mention a fascinating culture with rituals, gods and the occasional sacrifice to be kept up with.

Sens8. I absolutely loved this programme and I think we watched the first season in record time. Eight people across the world are connected through their shared use of senses allowing each person to use their abilities to help one another.

Orphan Black. This show needs to be watched if only to see the amazing transformation of it's lead actress who plays about 90% of characters on the show. When Sarah witnesses the suicide of a woman who looks identical to herself she plans on stealing her identity but ends up discovering a secret about her own origins.

Black Sails. This one's not strictly on Netflix (it screens on the History channel) but fans of Vikings will surely enjoy this Carribean-located series about pirates. Apparantly this is a prequel to Treasure Island but all you really need to know is this series has it all - dishy men, sword fights, love triangles and a beautiful island location.

Book Review: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Sometimes I dread doing book reviews even though the book in question was truly amazing. After reading All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr I had no idea how I could eloquently sum up this beautiful book and really do it justice. I won't be able to of course for Doerr's writing is truly breathtaking and I can honestly say it's been a long time since I've read a book of such a high calibre. It felt like every word had been chosen for a reason, even sentence been perfectly constructed to flow just so.

The book centres around the lives of two youths leading up to and during the Second World War. Blind since she was six years old, Marie-Laure learnt to navigate the streets of Paris when her Father constructed a miniature of her neighborhood for her to study with her fingers. When Father and daughter flee Paris to take refuge in Saint Malo, the walled city by the sea, her Father takes with him something very valuable that he must keep safe from Nazi hands.

Miles away in Germany a young orphan named Werner has been noticed for his talents with working with radios, a skill the Hitler Youth are keen on nurturing. Although intelligent and physically able, Werner's success in the Hitler Youth is more about keeping himself from a life destined as a labourer in the mines than serving the Fuhrer.

As Marie Laure and Werner's lives continue throughout the war their lives are seemingly being pulled toward one another. Told with spectacular description and a gentleness which is not often present during war.I loved that so much of the story was spent developing Marie and Werner's character stories so that by the final chapters I was so reluctant to finish reading!

Rating: 5 stars