Supermarket Monsters: The Price of Coles & Woolworths’ Dominance

Supermarket Monsters: The Price of Coles & Woolworths’ Dominance – Malcolm Knox (2015)

Pages: 150


 

24184387Supermarket Monsters is an enlightening and quite honestly terrifying look into the current grocery industry within Australia, in particular as the title suggests, Coles and Woolworths.

This book is absolutely fantastic. It’s quick, easy to read and gives a good summation of the issues at hand. In a society where it’s easy to close our eyes and ignore what’s going on around us, this book gets to the heart of the matter fast.

This book should be mandatory reading for all grocery buyers in Australia (everyone) as it really states what our consuming is doing to farmers, suppliers and independent grocer owners.

 

 

4.5/5 Stars

“Like anything too colossal and too ubiquitous to stand back from, Coles and Woolworths almost defy comprehension”

7 Books I Have Abandoned (For Now)

I’ve recently found myself in a reading slump. It’s been very frustrating, wanting to read but just cannot get into any books. In recognition of this, I have created a list of books that I just cannot get through. For now at least, they have been abandoned. Let me know if there is anything you think I should keep working through.

1. Lies My Teacher Told Me – James W Loewen

This book came highly recommended, and the premise is great. I don’t know why I can’t get through it. Maybe there is just too many other books that are great that I need to read. I found it a little bit.. dry I suppose. (20% through)

2. The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster

I found this to be weird, and bizarre and I could not wrap my head around it. I definitely intend on picking this back up at some point, but I will probably have to start again from the beginning. (14% through).

3. Confessions of a Sociopath – ME Thomas

I was incredibly uncomfortable reading about sociopaths, which is why I put this one down. I don’t think I will be picking this one back up again.. Sorry. (12% through).

4. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

Don’t hate me! I don’t know why I couldn’t get into this, and I will definitely try again. I know it’s supposed to be funny. Maybe I just tried to read this in the wrong mood. I am going to try again! (20% through).

5. Lost Continent – Bill Bryson

I love Bill Bryson, a lot. This book seemed different to me, I thought it was bitter and snarky. I couldn’t read very much of it at all (4% through).

6. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke

I have heard this starts off slow, and I agree. I intend on starting this one again at some point, but it was just sooo slow. (10% through).

and the mother of all disappointments;

7. A Song of Ice and Fire – George RR Martin

I love the show. I love the characters. I love Jon Snow. I love Arya Stark. I love to hate Joffrey and Bran Stark (he’s just so boring). I love Ygritte. I love Tyrion Lannister. I love Margaery. I love the backgrounds. I love it all.

I hate the books. I just cannot get into them. I want to so bad, but I just can’t do it. There are too many characters to keep track of, I forget what’s happened. I don’t think that endless world building is for me. (I read the first book, and about 10% of the second).

A-Z Book Survey

Author you’ve read the most books from:

JK Rowling (Want an easy way to figure this out if you have Goodreads and keep good track of your stuff? Go to your account, hit “my books”and on the left hand side under your shelves you will see “most read authors”)

Best Sequel Ever:

I don’t read a lot of series, so for the first 2 questions in this survey, I must relate it to Harry Potter. Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite book in that series.

Currently Reading:

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls – David Sedaris

Drink of Choice While Reading:

Tea, with milk and sugar. Yum.

E-reader or Physical Book?

I love my Kobo, but I do miss the look of books on my shelf.

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

Hmmm tough one. Hermione Granger? (Harry Potter AGAIN).

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

I think probably Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman. I was expecting the book to be very physics oriented, which it really wasn’t.

Hidden Gem Book:

Catch Me If You Can – Frank Abagnale & Stan Redding.

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

In October 2014 I decided to have the summer off of school, and promised myself I would do two things. 1. Read more and 2. learn how American Football works. I did one of those things, arguably the better one. I have stuck with it since.

Just Finished:

The Diary of Anne Frank

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read:

I love the the Game of Thrones show, but I really struggled reading the series, possibly because it is so epic and hard to follow (in my opinion). So anything with such a massive world.

Longest Book You’ve Read:

Under the Dome  – Stephen King (1074 pages)

Major book hangover because of:

11/22/63 – Stephen King, because I didn’t think I would find a book that I love as much (so far it’s true).

Number of Bookcases You Own:

1. Most of my books are on my Kobo.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

I probably re-read more books as a kid. Definitely Harry Potter series, but the most re-read single book is probably Matilda – Roald Dahl.

Preferred Place To Read:

In bed or in the sun.

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:

Geez, I’m going to say Harry Potter again. I promise I won’t do any more after this. Anything Dumbledore says. Anything.

“Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!”

Reading Regret:

I regret not reading a lot from my late teens to early twenties.

Series You Started And Need To Finish(all books are out in series):

I can’t think of one. I finished the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, but there is now the Heroes of Olympus series that I have not read. So that.

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:

11/22/63 – Stephen King, A Fraction of the Whole – Steve Toltz, (FINE, I lied) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Unapologetic Fangirl For:

Sigh.

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:

Actually, none at the moment.

Worst Bookish Habit:

Reading about books more than actually reading books.

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

I did this on my Kobo, but the same principle:

It – Stephen King, which I am yet to read.

Your latest book purchase:

The Diary of Anne Frank.

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

Under the Dome – Stephen King.

From this survey, I have learned that I need to read more. I think that’s a great lesson.

This book survey was taken from this blog

The Percy Jackson series – Rick Riordan

The Percy Jackson & the Olympians Series – Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief (2005) Pages: 337

Sea of Monsters (2006) Pages: 279

Titans Curse (2007) Pages: 317

Battle of the Labyrinth (2008) Pages: 341

The Last Olympian (2009) Pages: 381


pj The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan centres around the title character Percy Jackson who is the demigod son of Poseidon going on various adventures with his friends. This is a children’s series, with a target age group of 8-14.

I wish these books had been around when I was a kid, I would have loved them so much. They weren’t terribly bad reading as an adult, but they are amazing for preteens/early teens. I picked up these books when I was longing for something like Harry Potter – which they are not. The Greek mythology background was great, and I think kids especially would actually learn from reading these books. Reading as an adult, I give this series 3.5/5 Stars, however that’s not fair. As a former child:

5/5 Stars

“With great power… comes great need to take a nap. Wake me up later.”

Books I Want to Read Before the End of 2015

I intend on reading the following books before the end of 2015. If you have any suggestions as to other books I should read, or opinions of the books I am going to read, put a comment below!

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat – Oliver Sacks

This is a book detailing some of the case histories of Oliver Sacks, a neurologist. I am very excited to read this book.

Running with Scissors – Augusten Burroughs

Running with Scissors is a memoir by Augusten Burroughs. This has come highly recommended by my friends and family, who also recommended Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris. They were right about David Sedaris so I am ready for them to be right about Burroughs.

Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas

I’ve heard  lot about this series, so I am going to make an effort to read at least the first book in the series by the end of the year.

The Heroes of Olympus – Rick Riordan

I have recently read Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

The Martian – Andy Weir

I keep hearing about this book. I need to read it soon to find out what all of the fuss is about.

It – Stephen King

Again, this has been recommended by friends and family. I have never read a Stephen King horror, so I think this is a good start.

The Fault In Our Stars – John Green

Everyone has read this book.. Haven’t they?

Under the Dome

Under the Dome – Stephen King (2009)

Pages: 1074


download (1)Under the Dome is the Stephen King equivalent of the Simpsons Movie. An entire town is trapped under an invisible dome and chaos ensues.

I mostly liked this book. The part reason that I didn’t like this book is ***SPOILERS AHEAD STOP READING NOW** because the ending was rubbish. It didn’t seem to flow with the tone of the rest of the book. I really liked the book up until the last 100 pages or so. **SPOILERS OVER NOW**

I read this after reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. If you haven’t read either, I would suggest to read that before Under the Dome.

3.5 Stars

“Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead”

Top Ten Books I Have Read in 2015 So Far

We are more than half way through 2015 already! I have compiled a list of my favourite books I have read in 2015 so far in no particular order. These books are not necessarily published in 2015.

1. 11/22/63 – Stephen King.

This one is a no brainer, this is one of my favourite books I have read ever! I can’t write too much about this book without giving spoilers, but it is amazing.

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky.

This book had flaws, but in despite of them I could not put it down.

3. Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman – Richard Feynman.

Feynman is a genius, literally. Sometimes it seemed like he was humble bragging through the book, but his stories of safe cracking and learning musical instruments were just so fun and almost child like.

4. Choose Your Own Autobiography – Neil Patrick Harris.

This was a fun book by NPH that covered his personal life, his time on How I Met Your Mother, theatre, Doogie Howser and more. I definitely recommend this as a short, fun read.

5. The Harry Potter series – JK Rowling.

I adore these books, I reread them this year for the umpteenth time. If you haven’t already read these books, you just have to.

6. The Diary of Anne Frank – Anne Frank.

I somehow made it through school without having this book assigned to me, so in my mid twenties I decided to go ahead and read this book. It’s really amazing and heartbreaking to see the insight into Anne’s life. It’s not as upsetting and depressing as I had assumed it would be before I read the book.

7. One Summer – Bill Bryson.

As I am a huge fan of Americana I picked up this book. It was a fun history of events that happened in 1927. The book covered from Babe Ruth to Charles Lindbergh to Al Capone.

8.  Catch Me If You Can – Frank Abagnale & Stan Redding.

This was an incredible, ture story of Frank Abagnale and his very much illegal exploits into cheque fraud, pretending to be a pilot and more.

9. Born Standing Up – Steve Martin.

I love Steve Martin, from watching clips of him on SNL in the 1970’s to children’s movies he was in that I watched so long ago. This book showed a very different side to him. It was funny, but it was also very interesting to hear about his thought process of comedy and his family life as a kid.

10. The Divergent Trilogy – Veronica Roth.

This series was quite good, although it definitely dropped off on the third book. It reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky (1999) Pages: 224


The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book set in the early 90s, centred around Charlie, a naive, sheltered teenager. The book is a lovely coming of age story. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book that is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

The story was quite beautiful and I found it very easy to relate to. Although I really liked it but I did see some flaws. Charlie is supposed to be quite intelligent and well read, but his writing is atrocious. I also had issues with the ending, but obviously I can’t write about that without giving away spoilers. I had seen the film first, which I also very much liked, and I think the ending was portrayed a bit better.

I recommend reading this book, even if it does have it’s flaws, even just because it is such a short read. It’s perfect for young adults.

3.5/5 Stars

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

Edmund Morris

Pages: 920


40929The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is an epic biography that covers from Roosevelt’s childhood up until the moment he finds out he will be the President of the United States.

I have never read a better biography, of a better man. Within the first 100 pages I was hooked. For Roosevelt to overcome his childhood health issues, to become a cowboy, boxer, historian and politician is remarkable.

I will admit, at times is becomes a slog, however it is made up for in how meticulously researched it is.

I have never felt so inadequate with my accomplishments, as I did after reading this book.

5/5 Stars

“The light has gone out of my life”