Athena

31 °C predicted here today (here = in the south of the Netherlands), 32 °C tomorrow.. ugh. It's been hot the past while, it's hot inside the house and both my partner and I have trouble sleeping because it is so hot. I hope it will cool down next week here with some rain.

It is so far, thanks !

Thank you! I hope you enjoy it more than I did. Congratulations on having your first vaccine appointment today! I hope it goes well . I hope you get to see your gran tomorrow! Happy reading to all of you who are joining the read-a-thon this weekend !

Books read in May 2021 71. Angela Hartlin - Forever Marked 72. E. J. Copperman - Mysterious Detective 2: Edited Out 73. Dana Simpson - Phoebe and her Unicorn 3: Unicorn vs. Goblins 74. Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed - When Stars Are Scattered 75. Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy 2: Royal Assassin 76. Sheila M. Averbuch - Friend Me 77. Talia Hibbert - The Brown Sisters 2: Take a Hint, Dani Brown 78. Guus Kuijer (ill. Mance Post) - Madelief 1: Met de poppen gooien (From: Het grote boek van Madelief) (re-read) 79. Guus Kuijer (ill. Mance Post) - Madelief 2: Grote mensen daar kan je beter soep van koken (From: Het grote boek van Madelief) (re-read) 80. Guus Kuijer (ill. Mance Post) - Madelief 3: Op je kop in de prullenbak (From: Het grote boek van Madelief) (re-read) 81. Guus Kuijer (ill. Mance Post) - Madelief 4: Krassen in het tafelblad (From: Het grote boek van Madelief) (re-read) 82. Guus Kuijer (ill. Mance Post) - Madelief 5: Een hoofd vol macaroni (From: Het grote boek van Madelief) (re-read) 83. Kay Kerr - Please Don't Hug Me 84. Gillian Cross - The Demon Headmaster 2: The Demon Headmaster and the Prime Minister's Brain 85. Sonja K. Solter - When You Know What I Know 86. Lucy Cuthew - Blood Moon 87. Tommie Niessen - Tommie in gesprek 88. Gina Sheridan - I Work at a Public Library 89. Jaap Bartelds - Het ABC van de Nederlandse gezelligheid 90. Cornelia Funke - Inkheart 2: Inkspell (Tintenblut) 91. Ann M. Martin - De Babysittersclub 55: Jessie en de grote zwemwedstrijd (re-read) 92. Mario Giordano - Heb jij dat ook? (1000 Gefühle für die es keinen Namen gibt) 93. Jordan Reid and Erin Williams - Het grote maak-je-niet-drukboek (The Big Activity Book for Anxious People) 94. Jordan Reid and Erin Williams - Het grote doeboek voor digitale detox (The Big Activity Book for Digital Detox) 95. Jeroen de Leijer and Marjolein Schalk - Niemand de deur uit! 96. Séverine Clochard, Cécile Hudrisier and Audrey Gessat - For Girls Only: Alles wat coole meiden moeten weten! (Vives les Filles!) 97. Angie Manfredi & Others - The (Other) F Word Least favourite book(s) I read this month: Jeroen de Leijer and Marjolein Schalk - Niemand de deur uit! Séverine Clochard, Cécile Hudrisier and Audrey Gessat - For Girls Only: Alles wat coole meiden moeten weten! (Vives les Filles!) Mario Giordano - Heb jij dat ook? (1000 Gefühle für die es keinen Namen gibt) Best book(s) I read this month: Kay Kerr - Please Don't Hug Me Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy 2: Royal Assassin Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed - When Stars Are Scattered Talia Hibbert - The Brown Sisters 2: Take a Hint, Dani Brown Lucy Cuthew - Blood Moon

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope you get book 2 in soon and that it is an enjoyable read for you also . I'm reading A Column of Fire by Ken Follett this month, with a friend, we read a chapter a day. I also started Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke, another friend and I read that together, 100 pages a week (ish). I re-read A Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood (Death in Paradise 1), which I finished on Thursday, then I read a Dutch children's book called Mees Kees 2: Op de kast by Mirjam Mous (ill. Rick de Haas), which I finished (it was 85 pages). Today then I will read another chapter in A Column of Fire, and I hope to read something else.

I saw some of Michael Palin's travel shows, when I was in the UK my boyfriend's mother had a DVD of it. I just looked it up and it was called Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin. I liked it. Good to know his travel books are nice too! I loved The Midnight Library. I don't mind 'tell instead of show' much though.

I enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy too when I read it years ago . I'm glad you liked it! I should re-read it some time, as well as the other books (I have an omnibus with 5 books).

Hi Muggle Not! Maybe you'll read more in the second half of the year. Sorry you've been struggling a bit with your reading.

My copy of Dune has just over 600 pages, definitely a longer book.

I look forward to it . I only know one of the people, my friend. Everyone else are people I don't know, which is what makes me hesistant as they don't know me either. True . Yay! I'm glad to know it is not just me!! Yes, I found it boring too.

I've been in a bit of a reading slump the past week (because I am really not liking War and Peace, even though now I've decided to DNF it for now (though am worried about telling the people I read it with because they seem to like it.), I still feel slumpy and not really feel like reading), I only realised yesterday that it was supposed to be the read-a-thon weekend . My bad! I'm sorry for not realising it last week and then posting about it. I have re-read a couple of manga yesterday evening because it was the only thing I felt up for reading (aside my daily chapter in A Column of Fire). It's fine with me to move the read-a-thon to next weekend. I will see if I feel in the mood for more reading then, we shall see.

Aww thank you, that is very nice of you !

From what I know, as a non-Brit Dutch person living in the Netherlands, it is/was something started in the 2000's somewhere to help non-readers get into reading. Every year they asked several authors to write a novella / short story, which would be published and available to buy in certain English book shops for £1 during a limited period (February/March or May/June? Some thing like that). I have quite a lot of them collected throughout the years, though they are not always easy to find from the Netherlands (I only managed to order 1 or 2 of this year's so far). In the past when I travelled to the UK I have got lucky before finding them in shops. I also ordered some from Amazon UK back in the day before they changed their shipping prices to NL, now we have Amazon NL since just over a year but they can't always find them for me. The recent few years QuickReads have had some financial trouble, they shut down for a while but then opened again. Well, I'm sure the internet will tell you more, but this is just on top off my head . I'd like to know what you think of it when you've read it .

You're welcome, thank you so much for the nice reply . It is nice to hear/read about your family and how you experience things! I don't read in a waiting room either, I'd be worried about missing my appointment, plus I need the time to mentally prepare myself anyway. Aww thank you! Thank you, me too. We don't do it anymore (my partner's back to not reading much anymore) but it was fun. I liked reading the parts about her family and the parts about her being a bookseller and later on working for QuickReads (which I've read a number of). I was less interested in some of the books she talked about, I didn't recognise many of them, and most were not the kind of books that I normally read. It probably doesn't help that I'm not British, as I've heard from several people I know who are British, they really liked the book and recognised more of the books.

I read the book some years ago (as I posted in the other topic), but I have never seen the TV show!

I have read the first 4 books in the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin several times (I have them in an omnibus called The Earthsea Quartet). I would recommend reading them in order, as I think the world will make more sense that way. They are sort of separate stories with some of the same characters some years later (from what I remember), but I think it'll be easiest if you start with book 1, if you can. I have yet to read books 5 and 6 in the series, though when I eventually do I will re-read the first 4 again first.

I read Black Beauty some years ago and enjoyed it as well, I think I rated it 8 out of 10 at the time. I did not know the book helped making the 'bearing rein' being illegal, that is interesting. I agree, I don't understand either why Black Beauty's owners couldn't just use his original name. I think it is confusing for any animal, it would be confusing for humans/ children too.

Shiny Happy People ~ REM

Hi Luna! No problem . I get asked this question from time to time, and I think the answer consists of several things. Yes, I did read all of that in April. Oh, I should perhaps tell you first up that I am autistic and have ADD. It's more or less common knowledge for our older members but since you are newer, there you go . Firstly, I've always been able to read faster than, say, my classmates at school. In the past couple of years I learnt this may have to do with two things, subvocalisation and aphantasia. Most people do/use subvocalisation when they read, they silently say the words in their head. I don't do this, and I don't like it when I have to do it (for example, as someone whose first language is not English, when books in English use dialect I have to sometimes subvocalise the words, or I might not know what they mean). I also learnt that aphantasia is when someone is unable to form images in their mind. I am able to form images but I have partial faceblindness or prosoprognosia (I recognise people mostly by their hair, I have known this for a long time), when I read a book I can't visualise people's faces and so I don't. They look like blobs to me. When faces are described, some things don't mean much to me, because I can't visualise it. I never realised it could affect my reading speed, until I met someone online who told me she has aphantasia and because she can't form images she reads faster than most people. I think because of these two factors, I read faster than most people. Secondly, it also depends on the types of books I read. I tend to read some manga, graphic novels or graphic memoirs and illustrated children's books, during most months. I can read those a lot quicker than say a book with just lots of text. I also read some books with just text during a month, but if I read solely books with just text, I would not read as many (and I really like to vary my reading). I don't like reading old classics most of the time and when I do I read them more slowly (not that that's the reason why I don't read them much, I'm just not as much into them, I'm not as much into reading historical things, some exceptions exist though). Thirdly, I have processing input issues. With my autism and my ADD, it means that I don't have lots of energy, and dealing with input signals usually costs energy. Sound in particular is harder for me to process. Because of that, where some people might watch lots of TV in their spare time, I cannot watch it as much. Concentrating is hard too (ADD), I'm glad if I can watch one episode of something per day. Films are longer and tend to have more sound effects (more sounds going on at once), and they are even harder for me to watch (hence why my list of things I want to watch, is way longer than how much I am actually able to watch) (also subtitles really help for when my concentration wanders again). Instead of watching a lot of TV or movies, I usually read instead. (I can't play as many video games as I'd like either). I do have other hobbies as well, I like adult colouring for example, but again due to my processing issues and lack of energy, I usually tend to read as reading costs less energy than most other things (and depending on the book they cost more or less energy / processing power to read). Though if I am exhausted I can't even read. That happens too unfortunately, and that's hard. When I am so tired I can't do anything, then I can only stare at the wall or lie on bed and rest. Then for the month of April I decided to try something different. My partner wanted to do some more reading himself, so for most evenings in April, we went to bed early and read in bed (he read a manga volume and I read some in whatever book I was reading). So I got way more reading done in April because of that. In May we're back to being downstairs on the couch by the TV, where he plays a video game or watches something and I read (he wears headphones). We don't have TV channels btw, we watch Netflix and Amazon Prime and YouTube and DVDs/Blu-rays. In case anyone is confused, because having TV channels is a normal thing to have (we haven't had them since before 2013 and now that I've moved we could have them, but it costs extra money and we haven't missed them so). My partner/boyfriend is from the UK btw, I'm Dutch and we live together in the Netherlands (he doesn't speak mcuh Dutch, so he wouldn't be able to watch most Dutch TV stuff anyway). I hope that sort of answers your question. If anything was unclear or if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask . Aww, thank you Muggle Not!! You are amazing too!

Awww, shame it is finished now . I'm glad you enjoyed it! I have read books 1 - 8 and really enjoyed them, I'm glad you're liking the series too .

Wow Muggle Not, that is an accomplishment (reading all of his books)! I've read some of his books but definitely not all. I've read the first 22 Discworld books (I DNFed/abandoned book 23: Carpe Jugulum as I wasn't enjoying it when I was reading it) as well as some non-Discworld books by him (Only You Can Save Mankind, Johnny and the Bomb, Johnny and the Dead, The Carpet People, Good Omens (co-written with Neil Gaiman)). Yes, I miss him too .

Oooh I've read quite a few Jodi Picoult books too! I tried to read Songs of a Humpback Whale some years ago and couldn't get through it, and wasn't overly keen on Change of Heart but I liked or loved most of the other books by her that I've read. Some of my favourites by her: My Sister's Keeper (the first of hers I read, so it's probably a very biased opinion), The Pact, 19 Minutes, Sing You Home, Handle With Care, Perfect Match. I still have some of hers to read, and I don't own her newest book yet because I'm waiting for a medium size paperback release. Which of hers did you particularly enjoy?

April 39. Cornelia Funke - Inkheart 1: Inkheart (Tintenherz) 40. Alwin Ritstier - Gek van mezelf 41. Willem Ritstier - Wills kracht 42. Willem Ritstier - Opstaan... en doorgaan 43. Sankakuhead - Himouto! Umaru-chan 10: Volume 10 44. Claire Belton - Ik ben Pusheen de poes (I am Pusheen the Cat) 45. Liz Pichon - Tom Gates 4: Genius Ideas (Mostly) (re-read) 46. Thea Stilton - Thea Sisters 1: De drakencode (Il codice del drago) (re-read) 47. Christine Kliphuis (ill. Helen van Vliet) - De Ziekenboeg: Het Oor van Leonoor (re-read) 48. Christine Kliphuis (ill. Helen van Vliet) - De Ziekenboeg: De Kop van Jop (re-read) 49. Christine Kliphuis (ill. Helen van Vliet) - De Ziekenboeg Extra: De Epilepsie van Annemarie (re-read) 50. Christine Kliphuis (ill. Helen van Vliet) - De Ziekenboeg Extra 5: De ADHD van André (re-read) 51. Øyvind Torseter - Het Gat (Hullet) 52. Stefan Verweg - Hoe open ik een boek 53. Peter De Lange & Various Authors - Strand! 54. E. J. Copperman - Mysterious Detective 1: Written Off 55. Ichigo Takano - Orange 1 (1-3): Orange The Complete Collection 1 (re-read) 56. Ichigo Takano - Orange 2 (4-5) + Bonus Story: Orange The Complete Collection 2 (re-read) 57. Ichigo Takano - Orange 6: Orange: Future (re-read) 58. Lucas Rocha - Where We Go From Here (Você Tem a Vida Inteira) 59. Maarten van der Meer - Wie noemt zijn kind nou Chardonnay? 60. Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy 1: Assassin's Apprentice 61. Gillian Cross - The Demon Headmaster 1: The Demon Headmaster (re-read) 62. Cathy Rentzenbrink - Dear Reader 63. Kelly Jensen & Others - Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World 64. Kelly Jensen & Others - (Don't) Call Me Crazy 65. Kelly Jensen & Others - Body Talk 66. Cynthia Leitich Smith - Hearts Unbroken 67. Sophie Jansen - Volg Me 68. Guus Bauer - Vogeljongen 69. Juno Dawson - What's the T? 70. -- Book by a relative Least favourite book(s) I read this month: Guus Bauer - Vogeljongen Best book(s) I read this month: Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy 1: Assassin's Apprentice Alwin Ritstier - Gek van mezelf Cynthia Leitich Smith - Hearts Unbroken E. J. Copperman - Mysterious Detective 1: Written Off Kelly Jensen & Others - (Don't) Call Me Crazy Ichigo Takano - Orange series re-read

Thank you Muggle Not! I shall post the April one shortly.

Welcome here !