Listening to Daughter and reading some books

My plan was to just write an update on a couple of books that I've read recently, but I'm going to tie it all in a bow and also talk about some books that I've bought and will be reading next.  

One of the main things that I was excited about with finishing uni was having the chance to read some non-history related books without guilt. I've managed to get through some that I was really excited about so far and I'm gonna go over the last two that I've finished.

The first one of these is the night circus by Erin Morgenstern. I don't have a picture of my copy as I've leant it to a friend, but it has definitely become a favourite of mine. I was a huge Harry Potter fan growing up and I think that the main reason that I got so into the books was the realistic world full of 'muggles', alongside the magical 'wizarding world' in which the story primarily takes place. The presence of the ordinary world in the Harry Potter series allowed me to relate better to the story and feel more involved (something that was soon ruined after my eleventh birthday came and went without any acceptance letter from Hogwarts).

 In a similar way to Harry Potter, the characters in the night circus exist in both the realistic setting of the Victorian era and their world of magic and I couldn't help getting nostalgic over the feelings of excitement and mystery of a visiting circus. The mixture of the realistic and fantastical made it unputdownable for me and I would describe it as a more literary Harry Potter (long listed for the Man Booker Prize), but with less villains.  

The second of these books is paper towns by John Green and I'm sad to say that I wouldn't recommend this book too highly. I'm disappointed because I really wanted to love it. I've heard a load of good things about John Green, especially since the release of a fault in our stars, but I'm worried that I might have chosen the wrong book to start with. The plot basically follows the story of Quentin Jacobson as he attempts to understand the 'real Margo', Margo being his mysterious and elusive next door neighbour. After she surprises him into an all night road trip around their town, Margo disappears and then the rest of the story follows Quentin's attempt to find her (no spoilers, it says basically the same thing on the back). I loved the dialogue between Quentin and his parents and friends and John Green does write very well, I just couldn't find any reason to care about who Margo was or where she was and it didn't seem like anyone else in the book other than Quentin cared either. I actually really liked parts one and three, but sadly part two took up about half the book. I am still going to give looking for Alaska and a fault in our stars a read as I've heard they are the two best, but as for paper towns I was just disappointed. 

I've got a load of books that I'm really excited to read, including the perks of being a wallflower, which I need to read before the film comes out and the first book in the Fire and Ice series, a game of thrones. At the moment I'm about a third of the way through the age of miracles by Karen Thompson Walker and I'm really loving the narration. I'll probably post about this book once I'm done. If anyone has read any of the books mentioned, or took another view on either the night circus or paper towns I would love to hear what you thought. 

xx                 

P.s. I've decided that Daughter is the perfect band for me to listen to while reading-  http://www.youtube.com/user/ohdaughter