Alexander the Great

Middlesex is one of my all-time favourite novels. It's been about seven years since I've read it, but I remember that it sucked me in completely. I want to re-read it very badly, it's going on my list now!

@Athena The run after that one was good again Also, as you know, I did end up buying more books! The Bone Garden review The Bone Garden is part historical novel, part modern novel. The emphasis lies heavily on the historical part, though - 1830 Boston, to be exact. That's also where the majority of the story plays out, to the extent that the modern day chapters often felt irrelevant and very flimsy compared to the amazing historical parts. I feel like the novel could have done without the modern parts entirely. In the historical chapters, we follow some truly fascinating characters. The pace of the story is well-set and it's a true pageturner. I couldn't stop reading and loved being sidetracked before getting the true reveal, which I had not seen coming. I'll definitely be reading more of Gerritsen's novels!

I've only read Mrs. Dalloway so far, but it's a kind of life's ambition to read all of her work. I'm so fascinated by her life and who she was that I want to do justice to her work. I've been kind of waiting until I'm ready for it, so to speak. Where did you begin? I had a nice time in London. I found the books I'd been debating whether to buy online or in London. Last time I was there, I didn't find them, even though the website of the bookstore said they were available. Now I checked and the website said they were available again, but I couldn't find them in the store. I'm too shy to ask staff, even though they're all very kind there. Then I had the epiphany to look in the horror section, and ta-da! I was fairly sure I owned "The Last Watch" but quickly FaceTimed my mom to go and check in my room. My sister was at our place for lunch and she went and checked. They had all the other books, except the first. I then went to Waterstones, where they had the book I already owned, and the first book. So I managed to complete my collection! In Waterstones, I also found John Irving's 'The World According to Garp'. I've never found it anywhere, they only had the one copy and I was super excited. I'm that guy who inspects all the copies to get the most impeccable one and would sooner not buy a book than one that has damage (if it's full price). But I didn't think twice, so excited. Only when I got home did I notice this, and I'm super sad about it I also this bag/satchel in Camden Market, it's a kind I've been wanting for ages.

I'm the opposite - unless I'm reading a series, I have a general rule not to read the same author twice in a row. I do that because I want to avoid comparing two very different books, which I tend to do less if I read a different book in between. For example, I've just read Misery by Stephen King. I want to read 11/22/1963 by Stephen King, but took Tess Gerritsen's The Bone Garden in between to avoid reading two Kings in a row. My plan has been sidetracked somewhat, though. Today, I fell into the Library Trap. I had to bring books back this week and I've finished them all last week, but haven't had time yet to bring them back. Knowing I wouldn't get a chance later this week either, I went now. I swore not to take any books. Then I allowed myself just one. I ended up going home with five library books - leaving only 11/22/1963 in the library because I own a copy, or I'd have taken six.

Do you remember some of them? I'd be interested to read books like that. They're hard to find because 'running' will usually not be included as the key word if the character does running, but the novel isn't specifically about that. Something slightly odd, maybe, but reading about or seeing people in films or tv series run always makes me want to run. I had a very very bad run yesterday and I'd usually dread the next one, but I'm binge-watching Big Little Lies in which Jane is pictured running quite a few times, and it makes me impatient for my next run. I just finished Misery, which is a book I own. The next one I've picked up, The Bone Garden, is also a book I own. Making progress with the books in my possession rather than forever getting lured into the Library Trap is exciting, but while there's no danger of running out of material soon with 400+ books in my collection of which I certainly haven't even read 100, I'm already worrying about what I'll do once I've read them all! Misery review This is my third King novel - previously, I've read Under The Dome and It. Each of these novels have been vastly different, but they have one thing in common: they are unputdownable. This is a thriller, but there's so much more to it. I feel like there is a lot of symbolism. The focus is on two characters: writer Paul Sheldon and his captor, Annie Wilkes. I thought it was very interesting to see Annie deteriorate. Her depiction is masterfully done, her downwards spiral shown with very much attention to detail. Also intriguing to me was how Paul isn't depicted as the Good Guy - he's morally ambiguous and while as a reader I feel for his situation and root for him to get out of it, I definitely didn't always like him. The novel had a great pace and kept me on the edge of my seat most of the time. I would definitely recommend this one - not the biggest, but definitely a great King novel indeed!

Congratulations, Gaia!

Waarover ik praat als ik over hardlopen praat review (English title: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running) This is a book for hardcore Murakami fans who want to read everything he's published, and for runners who also like to read or at least have an interest in writing. It's a collection of thoughts on running that Murakami's collected over the years. Being a runner myself, I did recognise many elements. Running seems to come easily to him and he runs a marathon every year, has once even ran 100k. Murakami runs 10k every day. In that sense, I can't compare - I only do two runs a week and wouldn't be able to run a marathon. But still, many things rang true for me. It's made me think of running in a new light, which was interesting. The most important 'insight' was when he wrote how many people ask what he thinks about when running, imagining he comes up with great ideas for his novels or thinks about them when running - when in reality, when you're running, you don't really think of big important things. Very often, you can't quite say what you think about when you run. This is true for me too. Of course, when I'm dealing with something very important or close to me, I'll think about it. But in general, I don't come to grand discoveries. I just enjoy the feeling and relax when I run.

Happy reading this year, Athena! I hope you'll have a year with more reading mojo than ever before, and find pleasure in every book

Hi everyone, I will be posting my review of Haruki Murakami's Waarover ik praat als ik over hardlopen praat (English title: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running) soon. I just wanted to say - today is January 7th and I'm already on my third book of the years. It seems my reading mojo is back full force - I hadn't really lost it, but I've had some hard weeks where I sometimes would not read for a few days, which has only happened once in my life. It also seems I will be battling my TBR pile, as I am picking up books I own more and more often in between my library reads!

Thank you @Inver, @Athena and @chaliepud! I hope you guys have great (reading) years too! Twilight of the Romanovs: A Photographic Odyssey Across Imperial Russia review I've been fascinated by the history of Russia for a few years now. This is a very interesting photobook. Each region of Russia gets a comprehensive introduction. The photos used vary greatly and cover many different topics/people. All of Russia is presented in this book and it's a great summary of what makes the country so intriguing.

Currently Reading Inferno, by Dan Brown Read in 2018 1. Twilight of the Romanovs: A Photographic Odyssey Across Imperial Russia, by Philipp Blom & Veronica Buckley 2. Waarover ik praat als ik over hardlopen praat, by Haruki Murakami 3. Misery, by Stephen King 4. The Bone Garden, by Tess Gerritsen 5. Hanging Hill, by Mo Hayder 6. De voorspelling, by Paul Kustermans 7. The Silent Girl, by Tess Gerritsen 8. All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr 9. A Column of Fire, by Ken Follett 10. Blue Monday, by Nicci French 11. Tuesday's Gone, by Nicci French 12. Waiting for Wednesday, by Nicci French 13. Thursday's Children, by Nicci French 14. Friday On My Mind, by Nicci French 15. Saturday Requiem, by Nicci French 16. Sunday Morning Coming Down, by Nicci French 17. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

The Quickening Maze review I don't know. This book is beautifully written - but that's about where it ends. The language is fluent and inviting, sucks you in and doesn't let you go. But there isn't much emotion in this book. We see the characters, but can't touch them, can't feel them. We stay too much on the surface for that. There also doesn't seem to be much of a point, much of a story. I don't mind a book not having much of a plot, but if the characters remain this superficial, not much is left. It's a shame, because this could have been a great book. I don't regret reading it, and give it three stars for the language, but wouldn't recommend it.

Is that the The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper?

Yep, that's him! If you can still get it, I heartily recommend you read it!

After reading the Poirot stories, I thought picking up a 'regular' detective novel would probably not be a great idea. But this is a book I own and had been planning to read next around the time I started reading Poirot. I thought wrong. The Blood Detective Brilliant. There's no other way to put it. On the front cover, it says: "Elegant writing, engaging characters, a cracking climax" - not hollow praise, it turns out. I agree wholeheartedly. In this chilling pageturner, DCI Grant Foster and DS Jenkins turn to genealogist Nigel Barnes to help them solve a series of inexplicable murders in West London. It truly is a breathtaking rollercoaster of a read. The characters are indeed engaging - the focus is mainly on the three characters I mentioned earlier, which helps to really establish a connection with them. None of them are perfect, but they are likeable enough. I also thought it was quite interesting how differently Foster and Jenkins perceive the people they interact with. It helps make those other people very real, not at all one dimensional. This is excellently plotted as well. The tension can be cut with a knife, the reveals are well-paced. There is just enough information and emphasis to allow you to work things out for yourself, without being able to guess the exact outcome. You can really think along with the detectives. The characters have enough background to really come to life, but not so much that it distracts from the main plot. The pace is excellent - not too fast, not too slow. I would recommend this to anyone who likes the genre. I immediately ordered the sequel and can't wait to start it.

This isn’t the first book I’ve noticed this with either. The errors are usually small - spelling errors, or just a typo (something like ‘suppper’ instead of ‘supper’), but sometimes even a wrong character name! It grates me and tends to get me out of the zone for a few seconds so to speak. It’s very annoying.

Cards on the Table Hercule Poirot's Christmas Five Little Pigs The Labours of Hercules These are the four other stories in "The Best of Poirot". I enjoyed reading these stories. They are pure detective stories, where the focus is really on the psychology of the characters and the crime being committed. Poirot is a very real character - an intelligent, observant, (sometimes painfully) honest man who also has his flaws, but doesn't deny them. In most stories, I couldn't guess who the culprit was, but it did make sense when explained. That's the best kind of detective story there is to me. I can see why these are classics. In modern detective stories, so much focus lies on the personal life of the detective, on his personal demons. It was a breath of fresh air to have these stories where all of that doesn't matter. Poirot doesn't have an angsty background that takes up half of the stories, he doesn't have a personal grudge that blinds him, or some big mission. This is clear-cut whodunit, and I loved it. My favourite stories were Murder on the Orient Express and Cards on the Table, my least favourite was The Labours of Hercules. The idea for the last one was good, but it often felt a bit far-fetched or uninteresting. This is a collection of stories printed in 1980 and in this edition, towards the end of the book, more and more typos came up. It got quite disturbing, as if they'd stopped bothering to edit at some point. But I would definitely recommend Poirot to other lovers of a good detective story.

I went to London last week and managed to buy only three books! American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor and The Art and Making of Penny Dreadful.

You're a braver reader than I am! I always worry my book will get wet or I will drop in the bath.

I read it in English, when the original is in English I usually try to read it in that language.

Murder on the Orient Express review Being Belgian, it's a crime that I've read a Poirot story before! As you can imagine, I'd heard quite a bit about Agatha Christie and her most famous character, Hercule Poirot. I also believe this is the most famous story starring the Belgian detective. I had high expectations, and they were definitely met. This story being written almost a century ago, the writing style is obviously different - but I enjoyed that. Christie writes a very vivid tale with enough details for the reader to easily picture the story, but not so many that it becomes a drag. The characters were cleverly put together, the plot moved along at a good pace. The reveal in the end was very surprising, which is obviously the aim of any good detective story. Right before the end I got a bit annoyed at the amount of coincidence, but even that is deal with. I'll definitely be reading more. This was part of a collection of five Poirot stories and I've started on the next one, Cards on the Table.

Those sound like interesting graphic novels! It would be nice to reach 50,000 pages, but crossing 45,000 pages is already a very nice number! Congratulations on the 200 books

As far as I know, all editions have all the content. I don’t think there’s any editions missing passages, so you’re safe wherever you buy them. I bought the five books as paperbacks published by Bantam for roughly 25 euros on the German website of Amazon - in English.

Thank you guys I love the chair, it's very comfy. I love my bookshelves too, even though I could use more of them!

I'm enjoying Murder on the Orient Express so far! We went and picked up my new reading chair today. I had a black Poäng from Ikea before and this is my new reading chair. Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3