On my bookshelf - The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Helloooo,
I am notoriously crap at finishing books. Honestly, name any classic book ever written and my reply will always be "I read the first half...". I don't know what it is, maybe I just have a really short attention span. Whatever the reason, working in a book shop for two years sure was embarrassing when you haven't read any of the 'must-reads...'

Anyway, for my birthday a lovely friend bought me a copy of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Hamid. He claimed it was his favourite book and so he wanted me to read it (also I think my indignant 'I never finish books' stance was getting a bit annoying.) Well I finished this one! So here's a lil ol' review like thing

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - buy it online here (not reluctantly at all...)

The Plot
This was one of those nice wishy washy books that doesn't really have a plot - which I quite like. The story revolves around a Pakistani man named Changez. He moves to America for college and ends up working for a huge corporation. Whilst still in his youth, he falls in love with a girl called Erica who's battling her own demons. The book culminates at the 9/11 attacks, at which time Changez feels increasingly isolated from everyone especially Erica. All the big things he used to love about America seem stale and he becomes really disenchanted.

What I liked
The book is written as one half of a conversation. I'd never read a book like this before and it was a cool style to read in - made it feel like the author was guessing all the questions you might have. It also raised loads of really interesting questions for me about how we treat outsiders...

What I didn't like
Sometimes I felt like Changez was bit wallowy and it almost made it difficult to like him...but he does go through some tough stuff so it's justified!

Recommended? 
By me - Absolutely, espesh to anyone interested in politics and America...
By Waterstone's - 3.9/5
By Amazon - 4/5

Have you read this book? Or any others recently? Recommend me something below...

Everyone's your friend in New York City

So I haven't posted on here for ages. It's not because I'm neglecting it (well I kind of am but not on purpose). But two awesome things have happened in my life which stopped me blogging! Firstly, I spent a week in New York with my mum and my brother! So here's a short little post about my time there!

I was staying in a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn for my holiday. This was perfect for loads of reasons;  it was way way cheaper than staying in Manhattan, it was safer than staying in some of the other cheaper bits (like Harlem and Queens), it was a short Subway journey from our apartment to the Financial District of Manhattan, the Upper East Side and the Lower East Side and it meant we got to experience true New York! Not just the famous bits you see on tv (although those were awesome too!)

We spent a lot of time doing typical touristy things, all the things that you're meant to do whilst awake in the city that never sleeps. Including; Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island (most boring place ever), Empire State Building, climbing the Rockefeller Centre, Central Park! Being there I really understood why these places were landmarks! They were huge and beautiful - it was literally like walking round a movie set I couldn't believe I was actually there!

The portion size is RIDONCULOUS

We also did some less touristy things - we spent our penultimate day in Williamsburg which is like Hipster central and totally amazing! We visited a Smorgasberg and watched a dumpling eating contest! What more could you want from the most beautiful city on earth?!

Overall, New York was amazing! The only bad thing was there was too much of it to really take in! I now need to go back again - I didn't even get to eat a pretzel from a street cart!!

So the second exciting thing that's happened to me is that I've started University...but more about that later...