How To Stop Time - Matt Haig

Synopsis:

I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret.

He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try and tame the past that is fast catching up with him.

The only thing Tom mustn't do is fall in love.

Review:

Matt Haig is a wonderful writer, i mean most of the bookish community know that right? if not all of it. So when i heard How To Stop Time was coming out and people were so pleased with the book itself I couldn't not grab a copy and i honesty can't even say I regret it.

We follow Tom who is 400+ years old yet he looks 40, we follow him as he tries to get on with life in London as he takes up a job as a History teacher. Being how old he is he has experienced alot of history and you can see how incredible Matt is just by even making this a concept.  We get to see the past of Tom as he journeys through time and history to help us understand his character and it's incredible to see the interactions and pieces of history woven so neatly into a story.

The characters we see and interact with throughout the story seemed to take up a place in my heart, both whether they were particularly nice or not, they still had a part of me.  We see several famous people woven through time in this book, great famous people whom i shall not name in case it may ruin part of the book for you.  To create such a wonderful character such as Tom and those whom he meets in the current time is brilliant and to go as far as to interpret and portray people of the past is amazing.

Matt shows off his incredible writing talent in this book, taking us on a roller coaster ride that is a hell of a lot of fun. Reasons To Stay Alive had me hooked on Matt and to then go on to read The Humans and now How To Stop Time, I don't think I'll be walking away from Matt's writing anytime soon.

How To Stop Time is a tale of belonging, love, loss and so much more. Rich in history and love its surely a book you wont want to put down until the last page has been turned. Its yet again another great book from an amazing Author and i hope that if you haven't picked up a copy.read it yet that you will  I hope you'll fall in love with it as quickly and as easily as I did.  Easily a 5/5 from me without any doubt.

Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Best Books Of 2016

I've read 49 books this year give or take, each and everyone has been their best and my best in their own way yet I couldn't exactly fit all of them in this post, well I could fit 14 at least.

The Food Of Love - Amanda Prowse

Caraval - Stephanie Garber

The Easy Way Out - Steven Amsterdam

The Two O'clock Boy - Mark Hill

 

Ravens Peak and Ravens Fall -  Lincoln Cole

          

    

  Risen, Ascent and A Strange Chemistry - M.T.Miller

 

The Edge of Juniper - Lora Richardson

 

The Art Of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson

Just Juliet - Charlotte Reagan

 

The Sign of One - Eugene Lambert

 

Geek Girl Head Over Heels - Holly Smale

Gravedigger - Michael Israel Jarvis

 

 Reasons To Stay Alive - Matt Haig

 

The Flight Of The Pickerings - John Grayson Heide

                       Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday - Books Set Outside of the US

1. Geek Girl series by Holly Smale although themail books do include going to several other countries.

2. The Girl In The Red Coat by Kate Hamer

3. The Humans by Matt Haig

4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

5. Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling


Top ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The broke and the bookish

Top Ten Tuesday - 10 Of My Most Recent 5 Star Reads

Definertley Dead - Charlaine Harris

Dead As A Doornail - Charlaine Harris

Dead To The World - Charlaine Harris

Both Of Me - Jonathan Friesen

Risen - M.T.Miller

The Dean Machine - Dylan Lee Peters

Will Grayson Will Grayson - John Green

The Humans - Matt Haig

Itch - Simon Mayo

Everyday - David Levitan

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. 

Reasons To Stay Alive - Matt Haig

Synopsis:

What does it mean to feel truly alive?

This is the true story of how Matt Haig came through crisis, triumphed over mental illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again. Moving, funny and joyous, Reasons To Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth.

Review:

Well what can I say? It took me a little while to finish this book, I had barely any time to read physical books from my shelves as I found myself taking on more and more Review requests but when I bought this book it took me a week to find the courage to open up the covers. I was not scared to read it as such, I guess I was just scared that I could understand everything Matt Haig spoke about.

To myself I have a right to feel scared about understanding every word Matt had written, because to me in my own mind, no one had ever suffered those things I had, but reading Reasons To Stay Alive, I became aware that I was never alone in the things I had suffered, and than my feelings and situations that I had experienced were in no way unique to me, they had been felt and experienced somewhere else too.

Like the synopsis says, the book is moving, funny and joyous, I could not agree more. The book covers so many areas throughout the struggle Matt faced with hid Depression and Anxiety, to read chapters like Things Depression Says To You left me feeling somewhat light in the chest, to know that someone truly understood, and not only that but to know that readers out there who may not be suffering from either Depression or Anxiety can now have an insight and help by offering out a hand to those who need it.

There are pages and phrases which really struck a chord with me which will cause me to re visit the book whenever the time is right to, reading this book felt like a warm hug offered from an understanding being, a warm hand to hold extended from the support of others.

There is a lot that could be said about this book, I could write a 6 pages 10 sized font essay about the book, its contents and Matt and I will resist that urge as much as I can. To Matt, a man to whom I extend a warm understanding hand to, an offer of support and encouragement through the days. To Andrea who with the power of love, support and friendship, guided, supported and encouraged Matt to the stage he is at.

A no doubt rating 5/5 a work of pure honesty and emotion. A recommendation to anyone, and I mean anyone, its a needed read to increase the understanding and break down the stigma of Anxiety and Depression alongside other mental illnesses that exist. I hope those who have read, are in the process of reading or will read this book will understand and enjoy this book as much as I did having passed the fear of  understanding everything it speaks of.

Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Books On My Spring TBR

Eyes Like Lighthouses When The Boats Come Home - Dane Cobain

Gravedigger - Michael Israel Jarvis

Mistwalker - Saundra Mitchell

No Rest For The Wicked - Dane Cobain

Tales Of Blood And Sulphur - J.G.Clay

The Art Of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

Vampire Diaries 1and 2 - L.J.Smith (this totally counts as two books)

Reasons To Stay Alive - Matt Haig

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post hosted by The Broke And The Bookish

The Humans - Matt Haig

Title: The Humans

Author: Matt Haig

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2013

Publishing Date: July 2nd 2013

Available Editions: Paperback, Hardback, EBook, Audio

Book Synopsis:
After an "incident" one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge. Professor Andrew Martin is not quite feeling himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confuse him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels los amongst a crazy alien species that hates everyone on the plant. Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he's a dog.

Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race.

Review:
A friend of mine called Amy had gotten this book a while before me, she expressed her opinion on it and I couldn't help but be intrigued in her experience with the book so when I next orders books offline, The Humans was one of them and was the first books to arrive from my order. It sat on my shelf for a little while and then it was finally time to read it and I was extremely excited.

Andrew Martin is a maths professor at Cambridge University and somehow he unlocks the answer to the Riemann Hypothesis, a mathematical puzzle that concerns prime numbers and may unlock answers to some of humanity's biggest questions and could guarantee a great improvement of technology for humans.

Having learned of the breakthrough from the other side of the universe, Vonnadorians (a more intellectually advanced race) decided that humans are too destructive to let them keep the knowledge of the discovery.

A single Vonnadorian is sent to earth to kill any humans that may have discovered the information about the discovery and finds itself in the body Andrew Martins (who is now dead having his body being taken over by an alien), trying to discover if his family or anyone else knows anything about the discovery of the solution to the Riemann hypothesis.

The Vonnadorian shows us a distorted vision of how perfection looks and is able to store a large amount of theoretical knowledge but finds it harder to understand the human unreasoned and illogical norms. To understand the Humans he must become one.

“If getting drunk was how people forgot they were mortal, then hangovers were how they remembered.”

As a work of fiction, it leaves a message of viewpoint, and what morals are considered “right” or even logical. Although we see ourselves as individuals and see our morals as personal, the book shows us that as a single species that has a fixed definition of what it means to be human, at the beginning. Yet it later reveals our diversity and individuality. It gives us a new perspective of how small we are in comparison to the entire universe. Nevertheless it allows us to see what a big impact we have on each other and potential outer sources.

I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, people would often look at me funny as I read it on the bus but who cares? I have to recommend this book to literally anyone, like I don't even have any specific person to recommend it to, its suitable for anyone no matter what genre they usually read. I have to give it 5/5 without any doubt.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books on my Fall TBR

Here in the UK, Fall is known as Autumn and begins in September, so by the time you see this TTT it is 22 days into September and as most of us know Autumn and Winter are great times to curl up into small spaces and weird positions and read books. The following books are not only books on my Autumn reading list but also books that I believe are coming to their 'time to be read' stage in life.

They are not listed in any specific order but these are my top ten books on my Autumn/Fall TBR.

Geek Girl: Picture Perfect - Holly Smale

Geek Girl 4: All That Glitters - Holly Smale

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

The Humans - Matt Haig

Everyday - David Levithan

Itch - Simon Mayo

The Spooks Apprentice - Joseph Delaney

Class A - Robert Muchamore's

Maximum Security - Robert Muchamore's

The Medusa Project: The Rescue - Sophie McKenzie

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over on The Broke And The Bookish

Book Haul - Tuesday 28 July

So on the 28th of July my mom had allowed me to buy some books from some online stores, three of them were ones to finish off a collection and two others were just two random choices from some recommendations I had. Not only did I order these 5 books but I also had a few EBook editions of books for review that I'll also add to this 'Haul'. The books I ordered online begun to come today so I thought to share them with you.

Geek Girl Geek Drama - Holly Smale

Geek Girl Picture Perfect - Holly Smale

Geek Girl All That Glitters - Holly Smale

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

The Humans - Matt Haig

The following books were those I was granted the right to read for review on Netgalley, I look forward to read them and review them for you guys.

Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon

Burn Girl - Mandy Mikulencak