Book Review//Sophie's World

Last week I shared this post about how important reading is in our daily lives. And going back through some of our recent blog posts I realised I have never shared a full book review here! This seems a bit ridiculous considering how much I read (just look at these posts), but today that's going to change. I'm going to be sharing this review of Sophie's World.

Title: Sophie's World: A Novel about the history of Philosophy.
Author: Jostien Gaarder
You can find more information about the book here

Plot Summary:

Sophie's World follows the life of 14-year-old Sophie as she begins to questions what she knows and comes to the edge of her understanding.
As the book begins we find Sophie, just come home from school, receiving two letters in the mail. Each letter contains just one question, no return address and no sender. Simply 'Who are you?' and 'Where does the world come from?'. These questions get Sophie thinking, as they would anyone. As the story progresses Sophie receives more questions, each guiding her to think deep and complex thoughts. Soon enough, Sophie receives at thicker envelope, one filled with information from a person who introduces themselves as Sophie's philosophy teacher.
As Sophie delves deeper into the world and history of philosophy she begins to find herself questioning everything she has ever known. And when she starts receiving mysterious letters, addressed to another girl, Sophie has to use her new found philosophy skills to find out what the truth is, and who these letters are meant for. Resulting in her discovering a truth more complicated than Sophie could have imagined.

Things I enjoyed:

There were a few things I enjoyed about this book. To begin, the complicated and detailed plot was one the kept you guessing and wanting to know more throughout the whole story, even when it seemed like things were coming to an end. And the beginning of the book, with the way that the plot was introduced and the questions that Sophie received was interesting, engaging and got you hooked. I particularly liked the questions that Sophie was receiving, as they allowed me a chance to think as well.

Things I did not enjoy:

Whilst the idea behind the book was a good one, and the plot was interesting there were several things I didn't like about it. To start with it was long. I am a reasonably fast reader and this book took me almost two weeks to read, perhaps not only because of the amount of pages, but also because it was dense and deep and required a lot of concentration to read- it was not a light read.
Secondly, the philosophy lessons were long and complicated, and at times it felt like it was a textbook. Some of the letters from the philosopher went for pages and pages, and took almost an hour to read, and they occasionally felt like they had been taken from a history book.
I also felt like Sophie was a bit obnoxious, towards the end of the book she began challanging things, which I get because she was learning philosophy, but when she was having conversations with the philosopher she was a bit rude and her parts of the conversation were unnessecary. It's hard to explain, but if you have read the book let me know if you agree below.
Finally the end of the book was, in my opinion, just weird and confusing, it kind of felt like I had been cheated- reading this book for so long and then the ending just being a let down. But don't let me tell you,  if you want, give the book a go and let me know what you think of the ending.

Finishing it up

To finish this review I just want to let you know that I don't like being negative and saying that a book is horrible, and I have tried not to do this with Sophie's World.
I didn't enjoy the book, but I don't want to put you off reading it. I'd love if you'd let me know in the comments below what your thoughts on Sophie's world are, if you read it.
xxxPoppy

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Reading

I hope that anyone who started school last week had a good week (or as good as it could be). I've just started my 10th year of school, which in Australia, is the 3rd year of high school. (back to school posts can be found here)

The other day I was sitting in my English class, listening to my teacher talk about reading and how important it is that everyone is reading. It got me thinking, and although I might not have listened to the rest of her speech about reading, I was thinking about how important it is in my life. If you'd like to see some of the things I've been reading, check out these posts.

You think you don't read much?
A lot of people my age say they hate reading, or never read. But that is not true. You read everyday. Just think about it for a minute. You are reading this right now. But you also read when you turn on your phone to check social media, or when you get a text. You absentmindedly read all the signs and advertisements around you. Reading is such an important and significant part of your life, and you don't even realise it.

Think for a second, back to before you started school and learnt to read. Do you remember what it was like? I don't. But I can image it would be like being in a foreign country, where they speak a language that you don't understand- perhaps one with different letters or characters. So many people don't realise how much of an impact reading has on their lives, but it is just as important or significant, perhaps even more than numbers. But even then don't you read numbers too?

Why should you start reading?

Anyway, the main reason I am writing this post is because reading is such a huge part of my life, and I want to share that with you, and if reading isn't a big part of your life- I hope that I can inspire you to give it a go.

Reading a wide variety of things (from newspapers to blogs, novels to magazines) improves you vocabulary dramatically. You learn many different words, and the context they are used in, and this will translate and be evident in any writing that you do, and even in your everyday conversations.

Reading is also the best way to improve your spelling, which once again translates into your writing. (and when you have in class tests, it is reasonably valuable to know how to spell all those amazing words you hear.)

Why is reading such a big part of my life?

To be honest I don't really know. But I have always read, since I was little I have read for a while each night before I got to sleep, it is just normal in my family.
And I really enjoy it, it is something I can spend hours doing on the weekend or in the holidays, and generally speaking I never really find it boring.

Reading is a way of escaping, it gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are. Through reading you can visit thousands of different worlds, without having to travel for even a minute.

Why is reading disappearing?

Most people don't read for fun. They don't enjoy, or have never tried, picking out the book at the shop and spending hours transported into another world. Personally, I believe that this is because we are so caught up with other things, and everyone is so busy. All the time that used to be spent reading is now taken up by social media or browsing the internet. I'm 100% not saying that you shouldn't still use the internet and social media. I just think that it is important that we still find time to do other things (like reading).

Another possible reason for how unpopular reading has become, could be schools. At the moment, we are constantly being told that we should be reading and we need to read everyday. And one way that is almost certain to make someone less likely or motivated to do something is to tell them they have to. By making 15 minutes of reading each night compulsory, or forcing books onto people, schools may just we working in the wrong direction.

One of my least favourite parts of school is having to read novels in class. The main reason for this being, that I find them boring. They always seem to choose the least interesting books for us to read in class, and really that is not going to help encourage anyone to start reading.  (and this paragraph is the actual reason I wrote this post)

Tying it up
It really frustrates me how people make it so loud when they hate or don't like something. Reading is something I really like, and I am perfectly fine if you don't want to read or have no interest in it. But I hope that you have read this and are aware of what you are missing out on by choosing not to read.

qotp: do you like reading? why?

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Books I've been reading.

 Hi,
I feel like it has been a long time since I wrote a post about what I've been reading, so today I am going to give you an update.

How to keep rolling after a fall by Karole Cozzo
Everyone deserves a second chance. After copping the blame for a cyberbulling incident Nikki Baylor's life is in shreds. She turns to a wheelchair rugby player, and learns how to get her life back on track.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Liz Hall has died, and she quickly finds herself in elsewhere. Elsewhere is very similar to Earth, however you age backwards- from your day of death back to being a baby, when you are re-born. Liz has to learn to let go of her old life, and be happy with her new one.

Quiet:growing up as an introvert in a world the can't stop talking. by Susan Cain

See this post.

A week of Mondays By Jessica Brody

Ellison Sparks wished for another go, a do-over. And she got what she wanted...a week full of Mondays.

Falling into Place By Amy Zhang

Liz Emerson decided that the world would be better off without her. She ran her Mercedes of the road, but still doesn't understand what repercussions her actions will have.

Enter title here By Rahul Kanakia

Reshma is the perfect student and well on the way to being valedictorian. She believes the only way she can beat all the other perfect students is by writing a book. To do this she has to do 'normal' high-school activities.

The lies about truth By Courtney C. Stevens

Sadie Kingston has survived the car accident that killed her friend Trent and left her heavily scarred. But as she reconnects with other people involved in the accident, she struggles to work out what the truth is.

Let me know in the comments below if you would like me to review any of these books.

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What I've read recently

Hey there,

I'm so busy at the moment it is almost ridiculous. The first week back at school for the final term of this year has been very full on and to be honest I can't wait until this term is over. I find that during the school term I get very stressed and worry about the smallest things. One of the things I do to help manage this stress and worry is reading. I try my best to read for at least half an hour every night to help myself relax and get ready for a good sleep before a new day. Today I am going to share some of the books I have read in the last few weeks.

Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley- I read this book while I was away in Queensland and I enjoyed it but did find it a bit confusing at times. The story follows Rachel Sweetie and Henry Jones, two teenagers who were once best friends- but that was before Rachel moved away. After years with no contact Rachel moves back, grieving for her brother and tries to blend back into the life she left behind. This is a romance novel by an Australian YA author, I definitely recommend it.

The Memory Book by Lara Avery- I loved this beautiful book and the way it was written. Sammy McCoy is on the way to graduating at the top of her class, moving away from the small town she hates and going to her dream school. Nothing will stop her from getting there, not even the rare disease that she has been told will steal both her memories and her health. Written to her future self the memory book is Sammy's way of trying to secure her future in a world that seems against her.

Nothing Tastes as Good by Claire Hennessy- This book was different to many things I've read before and I really enjoyed it. Annabel is dead and has been assigned to 'help' Julia. Annabel thinks the problem is obvious- Julia is fat and being fat makes you unhappy. But as the story unfolds and Annabel learns more about Julia the real problems start to appear.

Only We Know by Simon Packham- A very interesting book that I could barely put down. New, school, new town, new Lauren. Lauren's family have moved from their previous home very suddenly, with no obvious explanation (or at least not that we know of). Lauren settles into her new life until she sees Harry, a boy from her old life, a boy who could let her secret out. Just as Lauren was settling her past starts coming back, the text isn't it time your new friends knew about you' being only the beginning.

Let me know in the comments below what you thought of these books if you have read them.

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I've been reading....

Hey there,
Finally, we only have one week of school left for this term! I can't wait for the holidays, especially because I am going to Queensland with one of my friends for a week! As I mentioned in my last post I have started a bullet journal experiment. I am really enjoying it at the moment and tomorrow I will share some of the things I've been doing with it, please let me know in the comments below if you have any bullet journal inspiration for me, or ideas that you have tried.

Today I wanted to share some of the books I've been reading recently, most of these I've been re-reading, so sorry if I've mentioned them before.

More than this- by Patrick Ness. I read this book about a year and a half ago and I remember I really enjoyed it so it has become by at-school book. If you love mystery/ dystopian or similar styles of books I can almost guarantee you'll love this one. A review of it should be going up on our goodreads account in the next few weeks.

The summer I turned pretty, it's not summer without you and we'll always have summer- by Jenny Han. I just finished re-reading this series and while they are not my all-time favourites I enjoyed reading them. These books are for lovers of romance novels and/or realistic fiction. Again, a more thorougher review will be going up on our goodreads account.

This is what happy looks like- by Jennifer E Smith. I just finished reading this book for the first time and I loved it. It is again not my faovurite ever book, but it was enjoyable and entertaining. Another one for lovers of romantic and/or realistic fiction. Let me know in the comments if you would like to see this book reviewed on the blog in the next few weeks.

Hope you will enjoy reading one of these books and don't forget to let me know if you have any suggestions for me.
See you tomorrow.

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Books I've Loved Recently

I am so sorry that we haven’t posted in almost a week now, both Mop and I have been super busy with school work but everything is under control now and things are going to go back too normal.

During the last weekend I worked on updating our good reads account, which you can find here, and I decided that I haven’t shared any book ideas with you in a while, so that is what I am going to do today. These books are the ones I have read most recently.

The last leaves falling. This book is about a teenage boy, Sora who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, one that has taken away all his dreams for his future and even his hopes of finishing the school year. Desperate for someone to talk to him normally, Sora turns to an online messaging forum, where he can talk to others without them knowing about his illness. To his surprise Sora makes some friends who he trusts enough to invite over. Together with Mai and Kaito, Sora spends his last few months of his life as happy as he possibly can be.

The sisterhood of the travelling pants. This book follows four life-long friends (Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget) as they spend their first summer apart. On the eve of their separation the girls find some pants that magically seem to fit all four of them, despite their different body shapes, the girls agree to send the pants between them during the summer as a way of keeping in touch. The book alternates between the four girls and their summers. Following Carmen to her dad’s new house, Bridget to a soccer camp in Mexico, Lena to Greece to visit her grandparents and Tibby to the local shop for her summer job.

One. This book is about conjoined twins, Tibby and Grace. Since they were born Tibby and Grace have not known anything but being one, and they have never wanted to be separated. But one fateful day Grace begins to get very sick and there is only one way the doctors can save her life. The girls have to make what seems like an impossible choice, their lives changing forever no matter what they choose.

Hopefully you have found one of these books (at least) appeals to you. Let me know in the comments below what books you have been reading recently.

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