Athena's Reading List 2013

[Athena]

I've read and finished three books. This weekend I tried to spend some more time reading, since the past while I haven't done a lot of reading. I still didn't read as much as I would've liked (well, I read quite a bit on Saturday and Friday but not so much on Sunday), but I really enjoyed my time reading. Here are some thoughts on the books I read / finished reading:

 

John Wiley and Sons - A Little Something for Everyone for Dummies

 

This was a Kindle freebie, it's a collection of I think 20 chapters from various For Dummies books. I read the ones I was interested in, I started to read the ones I wasn't interested in, ended up flicking through them in the end. It's hard to rate this book, because the subjects are so different from each other. I really enjoyed the chapters that interested me, they would get 4/5 or 5/5. The text is well written and easy to understand. Overall though since there were also chapters I only flicked through.

 

Rating: *** (3/5) (or 5/10)

 

Rachel Hawthorne - Love on the Lifts

 

I read this book on the Kindle, finished it in two days. It's (I think) a young-adult, chick-lit read. It's an easy read, which worked well for me since I was a bit tired. It's about a girl (I think she's 17), who goes on a winter holiday with her two friends. Upon arrival she finds out she has to share the holiday house (they call it 'condo', I think that's an American word?) with her brother and his two friends. She has a crush on one of her brothers' friends. I didn't like that sometimes things were obvious to me but not to the main character. There was some teasing going on between the main character and her brother, while this is common for certain families/siblings, this is not something that I would like (I really don't like being teased). So this part of the story was a bit hard to understand for me, I don't have this type of relationship with my siblings (and wouldn't want to have it, either). This was a nice, relaxing read. I liked the writing style and the ease of reading. I own another book by Rachel Hawthorne, in paperback, it's called Snowed In, which I also rated four stars (just as this book, see below). All in all, it was an entertaining book but not epic or memorable. That's okay, not every read needs to be, in my opinion.

 

Rating: **** (4/5) (or 7/10)

 

Kristin Hannah - Home Front

 

Home Front is about a family: a wife and a husband (with marriage problems) and two children. The mother gets unexpectedly deployed. The story is about how she and her family deal with all this. Home Front was brilliant. It blew me away. It's written so very well. While I'm not really one for reading about war or things related to war in a contemporary setting, this aspect didn't actually bother me. The book explained things well and made it very easy to read. It depicted the horrors of war well (this time it didn't bother me, in other books sometimes it can). It's not a political book, it didn't specifically talk about the thoughts behind the war or anything, which I appreciated. The book is written by an American author, and takes place in the US. Gladly there wasn't too much patriotism or anything. This book is a very emotional read, it tells of the emotion of the people involved. There were many plot twists I didn't expect (and also a few that I did). It's an amazing book, I'm really glad Diane recommended it to me!

 

Rating: ***** (5/5) (10/10)

 

P.S. Yes this means I'll have to pick up Night Road sooner rather than later. The next time I order books I'll have to think about it (or I'll check the price on the ebook version, maybe it sounds cheap of me but if one version is much cheaper than the other (Kindle vs. paperback) I might get the cheaper version)

 

I'm currently reading a magazine I bought (does anyone here ever read magazines?). Next up to read are possibly a science-fiction book (ie. Joe Haldeman - Marsbound 3: Earthbound or an information book / self help book, or both XD, or something different.

[Athena]

I've read Lissanne Oliver - Sorted!: The Ultimate Guide to Organising Your Life Once and for All. I read this book in Dutch, it's called "Alles netjes opgeruimd! - De onmisbare gids om je huis, je werk en je leven perfect te organiseren". This was a nice information book about organising and decluttering your space. I'll certainly keep it in mind the next time I'll be doing cleaning up of various places around the house. A good book for anyone who has trouble organising and/or getting rid of useless stuff. It has certainly motivated me.

 

I do own one other book on decluttering so I look forward to read that and compare it with this one. I'm quite allright at being organised, I make lists and have a set place for many things so I can find them easily. What my problem is that I don't want to throw much away, I form emotional bonds with my stuff easily. I want to save a lot of things.

 

I think this book is useful for people who have an organisational problem or a clutter problem, though I would recommend also to check other books out (though I haven't read any), use Google and see what you can find, or if you have a real problem, call a professional (the woman who wrote this book gives sessions for clients, she lives in Australia).

 

Rating: **** (4/5)

[Inver]

And I have Hayley to thank for recommending Home Front to me...I too will get around to Night Road.

[Athena]

I've read P. P. Brennnan - Anxiety Management: The Secrets Of Completely Eliminating Anxiety From Your Life. This was a short Kindle freebie, some information about anxiety and how to feel less stressed. This book wasn't of any help and I found it rubbish to be honest. If it hadn't been so short, I would've abandoned it or flicked through it quicker. I kept waiting for it to be useful but it wasn't. I'm not saying someone else can't find value in it, but I couldn't. There are much better books about this subject out there.

 

Rating: * (1/5)

[Kidsmum]

Good job it was a freebie Athena & you didn't waste any money on it 

[Athena]

Nagaru Tanigawa - The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, Vol. 3.

 

This is a continuation of the story begun in Volume one and two. I had a little bit of trouble remembering what it was about, I think it's best if you don't leave too long a time span between the volumes (perhaps wait until they've all been released, unless you have an excellent memory). This volume was quite good, the story moved along at a good pace.

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

 

Janet Matthews - Is Stress YOUR Silent Killer? How to deal with stress and achieve permanent stress relief

 

This was another Kindle freebie. It was a lot better than the previous Kindle freebie I read, but not brilliant or anything. What I liked was that in the book the author talked about her personal story, which I found to be quite enlightening and interesting, the personal angle makes the book unique. What I liked less was the chapter on spiritual healing and religion, since I'm not that interested in reading about it. Overall the freebie was allright and contained some useful tips, most of which can however also be found in other books.

 

Rating: *** (3/5)

 

[Athena]

I've read Roald Dahl - Matilda. I read this book in Dutch when I was a child. I really liked Roald Dahl's books when I was a child, I only owned two of them and borrowed many others from the library. Recently I bought some of his books in English to see what it would be like. Matilda's such a great book! I always loved it when I was a child but it's still a good story for adults too in my opinion. It's about a very bright young girl, her family doesn't care much about her and doesn't understand her, she's a genius. At school she has a lovely teacher and nice classmates, but the head mistress is really mean. Matilda discovers she has special powers, though these don't come into play until about 2/3rds into the book. The story isn't written in a childish way, the sentences are not overly long but the language used isn't that easy (easy enough of course for an adult and for a somewhat older child too). Anyway, I loved this book. I should also point out that my book, and the one I read in Dutch at the library, has beautiful illustrations in it by Quentin Blake. I don't know if all editions of this book have that. I really like the illustrations.

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

[Athena]

I've started and finished Mike Jackson and Pierre Lever - 57 Minutes: All That Stands Between You and a Better Life. It's a short ebook (Kindle freebie) that you can read in 57 minutes and then make changes in your life. I read it in about half an hour or something. It's nicely written and contains some useful tips. Other things are less useful for me personally, though I can see them being of use to others. All in all this Kindle freebie surprised me. I wasn't quite sure beforehand what kind of tips and advice the book would contain. When it turned out it actually had some for me useful tips and some ideas I'd not thought of myself, I was pleasantly surprised (especially after the last two Kindle freebies I read weren't great). The tips are about changes to become more happy and live a fuller life. There are some tips that are work related, some tips are related to time spent relaxing. Some tips are about living a fuller life. Anyway, I thought this was pretty good.

 

Rating: **** (4/5)

[chesilbeach]

I loved Matilda when I was little, Athena, and for me, you can't have a Roald Dahl book without the Quentin Blake illustrations - ALL my Dahl books I had when I was a kid had Blake illustrations in them.  I think he's an amazing illustrator and I actually bought my other half a wonderful book for Christmas called Beyond The Page where he writes about the projects he's worked on since 2000, and has some stunning colour illustrations in it.

 

I actually really like the film version of Matilda too, despite it being moved to America, I think it works really well, and I always sit and watch it if I come across it on television.

[Athena]

I agree, the film is really great too! I've loved it since the first time I saw it. I recently bought it on DVD, we already owned it on VCR tape, and that inspired me to buy the book as well.

 

On another note, today I started reading another Kindle freebie, Elizabeth Wilson - Stress proof your life (52 brilliant ideas), which so far is really good.

[Athena]

I finished reading Elizabeth Wilson - Stress proof your life (52 brilliant ideas), it was really good! It contains lots of useful tips, I recommend it if you're looking for a book on how to be less stressed. There are 52 chapters, in which the author explains the idea / tips and at the end there is a bold printed short idea, a bold printed quote and two or three Q&As to do with the idea and problems that could arise. I thought it was pretty good, I've highlighted many things on my Kindle and look forward to go back to it to put some of these tips into practice.

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

 

I've read a bit more in Joe Haldeman - Marsbound 3: Earthbound. I might also read Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl soon (for something cheerier on the brain). Strange thing is I feel like I've already read it, but my paperback looks brandnew so I haven't. I think it's because I've read a lot of reviews about it.

 

EDIT: Stress proof your life really deserves a longer review, but I'm not sure what more to say on it, it was very good, I really enjoyed it (and it was free, I would've happily paid money for it, the content is certainly worth it).

Edited April 6, 2013 by Athena

[Athena]

I've read Brian Beker - Notes of a Rescue Dog in Progress. I read the Kindle version, it's just been released in paperback too (though that might be US only).

 

This book is a biography of Roo, a rescue dog Brian took home with himself to try and make her feel better. This is only part one of the story, it's still on going as he travels with her, see his website. Brian is planning to write a book about the dog that changed his life, Orville. I supported his Kickstarter for this (e)book and I've been following his news since (using facebook and later on the website).

 

I always love reading stories about dogs, since I like dogs a lot. This story is pretty good, describing the first few weeks Roo's with Brian. I wish there was more of the story, but I usually wish that with shorter books. I'm not sure how many pages the book is, Amazon will know though (I read it on Kindle). The story contains some photos from Roo, which help bring the story alive (also, she's beautiful). All in all it was a good read.

 

Rating: **** (4/5)

 

I've nearly finished Joe Haldeman - Marsbound 3: Earthbound. It's quite interesting, although it's different from the first two books in the series. I had a bit of trouble getting into it (since it's been a while since I read the first two books) but once I got into it and accepted it for what it was, it's quite enjoyable. (I can't say exactly how it's different or it will spoil things if you haven't read the first two books in the series. If you have read the first two books, then you can read the synopsis of the book on Amazon or another site and you'll probably see what I mean).

 

On Kindle I've started to read Allen Elkin - Stress Management for Dummies. So far it's quite good. It offers different tips than Elizabeth Wilson - Stress proof your life (52 brilliant ideas). Both so far have offered a lot of good tips so that's really good (I can certainly use it heh).

 

The read for May for BCF is The Crimson Petal and the White which I've now taken off the book shelf as a reminder so I might start to read it sometime soon too.

[Athena]

I've finished reading Joe Haldeman - Marsbound 3: Earthbound.

 

It's the third book in the Marsbound series and I have to say I liked it less than the other two. It's still good once you get into the story, but it took me a bit of time to get there. It could be I left too long between the other two books and this one. Anyway, this book was a bit different than the first two books, and different from most other science-fiction books I have read. That's because it's (only read if you have read the first two books or if you don't care about being spoilt bits of the first two books)

 

 

apocalyptic. I haven't read many books like that. It's a subgenre of science-fiction, but I just haven't read many books like it so it felt different to me.

 

 

In so far as it went, I wouldn't recommend reading it because I found it different. There are similar books out there (which I haven't read). I do however recommend reading the series (especially the first and second books) if you're looking for a nice science-fiction read.

 

Once I got into the story, it was quite good. I was never quite sure what would happen or how things would end up (but with Haldeman, you never quite know).

 

I've read one other book by Joe Haldeman, The Accidental Time Machine. On my TBR list is Peace and War, an omnibus of the Forever War series, with: Forever War, Forever Peace and Forever Free. Other books by Joe Haldeman are on my wishlist.

 

I've also read more in Stress Management for Dummies (which is quite nice so far). My mojo seems to have picked up a bit, I seem to be reading more .

[Mac]

I've read P. P. Brennnan - Anxiety Management: The Secrets Of Completely Eliminating Anxiety From Your Life. This was a short Kindle freebie, some information about anxiety and how to feel less stressed. This book wasn't of any help and I found it rubbish to be honest. If it hadn't been so short, I would've abandoned it or flicked through it quicker. I kept waiting for it to be useful but it wasn't. I'm not saying someone else can't find value in it, but I couldn't. There are much better books about this subject out there.

 

Rating: * (1/5)

 

I'm not very good with self-help books, to be honest. I dealt with my debilitating anxiety after eventually becoming unconscious, waking up and thinking 'Hmmm, this is unusual!', calling the doctor and, finally, regularly meeting with a CBT specialist doctor. All sorted. Pretty much, anyway...

 

Hope all's well with you.

[Athena]

Thanks! I'm glad to hear you're doing a bit better .

[Karsa Orlong]

I've finished reading Joe Haldeman - Marsbound 3: Earthbound.

 

It's the third book in the Marsbound series and I have to say I liked it less than the other two. It's still good once you get into the story, but it took me a bit of time to get there. It could be I left too long between the other two books and this one. Anyway, this book was a bit different than the first two books, and different from most other science-fiction books I have read. That's because it's (only read if you have read the first two books or if you don't care about being spoilt bits of the first two books)

 

 

apocalyptic. I haven't read many books like that. It's a subgenre of science-fiction, but I just haven't read many books like it so it felt different to me.

 

 

In so far as it went, I wouldn't recommend reading it because I found it different. There are similar books out there (which I haven't read). I do however recommend reading the series (especially the first and second books) if you're looking for a nice science-fiction read.

 

Once I got into the story, it was quite good. I was never quite sure what would happen or how things would end up (but with Haldeman, you never quite know).

 

I've read one other book by Joe Haldeman, The Accidental Time Machine. On my TBR list is Peace and War, an omnibus of the Forever War series, with: Forever War, Forever Peace and Forever Free. Other books by Joe Haldeman are on my wishlist.

 

 

I've only read a couple of his books.  I think The Forever War deserves its status as a classic of the genre, but I've never felt the urge to go on and read the other two - yet.  The other one I read was All My Sins Remembered.  It was interesting without being particularly great.  I might have to give the Mars series a go, thanks for the review 

[Athena]

Thanks .

 

I've finished reading Allen Elkin - Stress Management for Dummies. It was quite good. I've made a summary for myself, put the important points on a list (after highlighting them with my Kindle). I've done the same thing for Elizabeth Wilson - Stress proof your life (52 brilliant ideas). I'm hoping it will help me a bit, at the very least reading it and making the summary was relaxing. Both books offer different tips.

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

 

I've started reading Overcoming Anxiety for Dummies by Charles H. Elliott and Laura L. Smith. It's also pretty good so far. I've read a few chapters.

 

The next physical book I might read may be a Sophie Kinsella book. I've also gotten The Crimson Petal and the White out to remind myself to read it in a little while. It's a bit of a daunting read, it's quite a big (and heavy for a paperback) book, I'm not sure if the language will be complicated or not.

 

I haven't read any fantasy for a while. Maybe it's time for some of that too XD (problem is most of the fantasy books I know are series, well, will have to see).

Edited April 13, 2013 by Athena

[Athena]

I've finished reading:

 

Charles H. Elliott and Laura L. Smith - Overcoming Anxiety for Dummies. This was quite good. It's taught me a lot about the different anxieties and worries people can have. I hope its tips will be of some use to me.

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

 

Barbara Delinsky - The Right Wrong Number

 

This was a Kindle free book, as usual the story itself only took up one third of the pages, the rest was an excerpt from one of her full length novels (I don't normally read excerpts so I didn't read it). I own several of her full length novels. This short story (not sure how many pages it was, it was up to about 37% in the Kindle book) was quite nice. As per usual I would've liked to see more of it, but it was good and entertaining.

 

Rating: **** (4/5)

 

Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl

 

This was an excellent book. I love Sophie Kinsella's books and this one was just as good as the other ones I've read (there's only one left to read now I think (other than her new book which I don't have yet, planning to buy it in a bit), and the books she wrote as Madeleine Wickham). This story is a bit different in that it involves a paranormal element in the form of a ghost. It's not scary or anything, but I found the story as a whole (also due to what happens in the plot) less believable than some of her other books. The story is pretty good though, at the beginning I thought the main character (Lara) was a bit annoying (basically because she wants something that is obvious isn't going to happen), but that faded quickly. I wanted to read on and found out what happened in the story. The book was quite funny (as are most of Sophie Kinsella's books, really).

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

 

As I posted in the April Reading topic, I've started reading W. Doyle Gentry - Anger Management for Dummies and Ann M. Martin - Babysitter's Club 1: Kristy's Great Idea. So far, both of them are quite good. I've read Kristy's Great Idea in Dutch many times (the Babysitter's Club series is/was one of my favourite series of books, when I was a child). It reads in English exactly how I remember it in Dutch, so I suppose they stuck to the translation quite well. The names in Dutch were changed, so I am having to get used to the English names. It's not a problem for the main characters because they're easy to remember, but the minor characters are harder to remember, there are more of them and I don't always remember the Dutch names.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Athena

[chesilbeach]

Good to see you enjoyed Twenties Girl, Athena. I actually prefer Kinsella's stand alone novels to the Shopaholic series.

[Kylie]

I loved the BSC books when I was young, too, Athena. In fact, I still have all of my old books. I couldn't bear to part with them. Not only that, but in the last few years I decided I wanted to try and finish collecting them all (I stopped somewhere around #90). I've managed to pick up half a dozen random numbers for a very cheap price at a bookfair (including a couple of Super Specials...score!) but I think I'll have to work harder to find the rest. One day I plan to re-read them all.

[Athena]

That sounds so nice! In the Netherlands they only published up to #66, so I have 1-66 but not anything above that. I recently bought #67 in English (as well as a couple of numbers I own in Dutch), I hope to eventually have them all and read them all. They published some of the Super Specials and Mysteries, but not all. I bought what I could, at the time. Unfortunately getting the English books here is difficult, you have to order them from the UK or US and pay shipping costs (and if from US then also import tax possibly). I would so love to own them all and read them all.

 

I finished reading Ann M. Martin - Babysitter's Club 1: Kristy's Great Idea, which was really nice. From what I remember, they did a great job with the translation. The names of many characters are different (as well as city names), but the story is exactly the same, the sentences are translated quite well (I've read it so many times that I recognise the sentences XD). Anyway, I really love this book and this series so:

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

 

I also finished reading W. Doyle Gentry - Anger Management for Dummies. It was pretty good. It's been a while now though so I don't have as many thoughts for you as usual (I know, my own fault for not posting about it sooner). I still need to summarise the book, I've been doing that with information books lately. I highlight things on my Kindle and then make a summary out of what I think might be useful. I haven't done that yet with this book, because it feels a bit like work and so I don't want to do it in the weekend. And then I forgot about it XD. Well, will get around to doing it sometime, then I'll remember more of what I read.

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

 

I've been to the book fair and bought lots of books. It's too many to list (though I can try if must XD), a couple from my wishlist and also many ones that weren't on my wishlist (from either new authors that I've heard good things about or authors I have other books from (not all of those are on my wishlist, only sometimes). I've bought a couple of puzzle books as well, because lately I've been trying to keep my brain in shape (or plan to keep my brain in shape once I graduate). So I bought some cheap puzzle books and magazines (I've got quite a few of them now). I also bought two cookbooks, an information book and many fiction books (including contemporary fiction, chick-lit, Young-Adult and literature (and also one historical fiction book, one thriller, one horror and two detectives). No science-fiction or fantasy books).

 

I also bought a few books at the Vrijmarkt on Queen's Day here, three thrillers (Dan Brown, Ian Rankin) and a historical fiction YA book (read it in the library but didn't buy it when I was a child because I didn't have that much money).

 

I'm reading The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber, I'm about 1/4th through and I'm really enjoying it so far. The style is unique and while I certainly don't want it in every book, having it in this one book is nice and makes it unique. I'm interested to see what happens next.

 

I'm also reading an information book on my Kindle, Depression for Dummies by Charles H. Elliott and Laura L. Smith.

[Athena]

I finished reading Michel Faber - The Crimson Petal and the White. I really liked it. The author writes with a different writing style that isn't found in most books (that I've read). While I certainly wouldn't want it in most of my books, it made a refreshing change and gave the book its own unique voice. I picked up this book on a book fair a while ago. I haven't read many books taking place in this time period (Victorian era, 19th century, in London) (yet), and I really enjoyed reading about it. The book contains a lot of details about life in those days, and I appreciated this. The book has a few pacing problems but despite this I wanted to keep on reading to find out what happened next. I really liked the main character, I like strong female characters.

 

More thoughts can be found (once I've made the post) in the discussion topic.

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

[Athena]

I finished reading Charles H. Elliott and Laura L. Smith - Depression for Dummies. It was pretty good, it gave me some insight into depression and how the depressed mind thinks. I was very depressed when I was a teenager, so this book helped me understand certain things a bit better. I'm reading a lot of self-help books on Kindle lately because I'm hoping they'll help me feel better. The one downside that most of these self-help books don't know though, is that my mind works a bit differently than most people's (due to my condition), so not all tips in those books are useful to me.

 

Rating: ***** (5/5)

 

Next on Kindle I'll probably read another information book, as for paperbook I'm thinking of something lighter and shorter than Michel Faber - The Crimson Petal and the White, I've got a few books lined up so will have to see how it goes. I'm catching up with forums and other things first, and I also plan to re-organise a few book shelves.

[Alexi]

Hi Athena,

 

I used to love the Babysitters Club books as a kid, I've noticed the first is available for 76p on kindle so I "accidentally" downloaded it. Oops! I'd love to read them all again in order, but at 2.29 a book that would get expensive!

[Athena]

I'm hoping they'll release them all on the Kindle (I think atm they have up to number 35 ish?), I would love to read the ones I've never read (because not everything was published here in the Netherlands). It's also possible to buy them and ship them overseas, from the UK or US, but it would cost me quite a bit of money. I'm glad to meet another fan!