Athena's Reading List 2014

[Kylie]

Ooh, maybe I won't both with The Kill Order then. Or I'll just skim it to see whether I can find some answers. I really don't think I will enjoy it too much if you haven't!

 

I'm also thinking about my reading plans for next year, and writing these ideas down in a document .

 

Wow, you're so organised! I've started thinking about it, but I haven't gotten any further than that.

[Athena]

Ooh, maybe I won't both with The Kill Order then. Or I'll just skim it to see whether I can find some answers. I really don't think I will enjoy it too much if you haven't!

 

Wow, you're so organised! I've started thinking about it, but I haven't gotten any further than that.

No, I found it a disappointment to be honest. You won't miss a whole lot if you don't read it or just skim it. I'd be okay with telling you a few things about what happens if you want me to spoil that for you (in a PM).

 

Thanks ! I needed to write the ideas down otherwise I was worried I'd forget them. I look forward to hear about your reading plans when you have some more concrete ideas .

[Athena]

I downloaded some free Kindle ebooks lately and bought some today:

 

Jools Sinclair - 44 6: Forty-Four Book Six (I don't know if this is good, but I got the omnibus of books 1-5 for free a while ago, so when this was free I thought why not download it)

Brittainy C. Cherry - Our Totally, Ridiculous, Made-Up Christmas Relationship (because it's Christmassy and it sounded nice)

Kathryn Primm - Tennessee Tails: Pets and Their People (I like reading stories about pets, this is a biography of a vet and some of her patients (pets))

Linda Grant - I Murdered My Library (this sounds pretty interesting, it's a short biography on how this author was forced to get rid of a lot of her books because she moved to a much smaller place)

Jodi Picoult - Larger Than Life (she's one of my favourite authors)

Talli Roland - Married by Midnight: A Christmas Story

Stephanie Perkins / Holly Black / David Leviathan / Laini Taylor / Kiersten White / Myra McEntire / Kelly Link / Jenny Han / Rainbow Rowell / Ally Carter / Matt de la Pena / Gayle Foreman - My True Love Gave to Me (12 holiday short stories)

Belinda Jones / Ruth Saberton / C. L. Taylor / Milly Johnson / Talli Roland / Matt Dunn / Jo Thomas / Chrissie Manby / Tracy Bloom / Poppy Dolan / Louise Marley / Molly Hopkins / Kiri Mills / Pernille Hughes / Margaret James / Lucy Lord / Hannah Beckerman - Sunlounger 2: Beach Read Bliss (40+ short summer chick-lit stories)

Carolyn Nash - The First Day of Christmas (Kindle Single) (this sample was quite intruiging)

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 68: Jessi and the Bad Baby-Sitter: Collector's Edition (I haven't read any of these BSC ones yet! Because they were never published in the Netherlands. I also preordered a few that will be out at the end of the month. I'm very tempted to start one of the newer ones straight away but since the names are different I don't know if I'll follow it unless I read it all the way through.. dilemmas! I could also start one of the Super Specials but I don't want to spoil the overall story for myself and I'm not sure when the Super Specials or Super Mysteries take place in the series. Anyone?)

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 69: Get Well Soon Mallory

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 70: Stacey and the Cheerleaders

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 71: Claudia and the Perfect Boy

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 72: Dawn and the We Love Kids Club

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 73: Mary Anne and Miss Priss

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 74: Kristy and the Copycat

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 75: Jessi's Horrible Prank

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 76: Stacey's Lie

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 77: Dawn and Whitney, Friends Forever

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club 78: Claudia and Crazy Peaches

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club Super Mystery 4: BabySitters Christmas Chiller

 

I also bought a paperbook last week which should be arriving at the end of this week or beginning of next one. But I'll post about it when I have it (hopefully I won't forget..).

[Kylie]

How cool that you get to read all of those 'new' BSC books for the first time!

 

The Super Specials can be read as standalone books. Have you ever read any of them before? I always loved them because they were much bigger than the regular BSC books and you got to read chapters by many different people (BSC members as well as clients and siblings). The only thing I can think of that might be different from the regular series is if a BSC member has moved out of Stoneybrook so doesn't go on the trip (e.g., didn't Stacey move back to New York in Goodbye, Stacey, Goodbye?) But even then, not all BSC members are necessarily involved in the main plot of the Super Specials, but they might still contribute chapters from wherever they are (e.g., New York). I hope this makes some sort of sense! I don't think I'm explaining it very well. 

 

If you're worried about overall plot spoilers, Wikipedia lists the years that the Super Specials and the regular books were published (here). You could compare the dates and work out where each Super Special 'slots' in to the regular series. If you have read all of the books up to #68 (which was published in October 1993), then you should be able to read Super Specials #1–#10 because #10 was published in July 1993.

 

I did a quick Google search to see if anyone had conveniently made up a list of how to read the entire series in chronological order, but I had no luck. Oh wait! I just found a list! Here is the chronological order that shows exactly where each Super Special fits in. Coincidentally, it was compiled by someone named Kylie.

[Janet]

I have now read 217 books this year so far.

That is an phenomenal number of books, Gaia.  Well done (and good luck with your target). 

[Anna Begins]

Wow- Kylie, you totally rock!

Gaia- I might take you up on the spoilers for The Kill Order, I will have to decide after The Death Cure!

[pontalba]

Wow, you are just tearing up the books, Gaia!!  Congratulations, well done.

 

I have a few of the Sjöwall & Wahlöo  books, both of us really liked them a lot.

[Devi]

I should just hire you to read books to me! I would probably get through them so much quicker. Congrats on the target!

 

Oh and I might also take you up on the spoilers for The Kill Order too.

[Timstar]

There's no stopping you this year! Some great reviews there Gaia

[Anna Begins]

James Dashner - The Maze Runner 2: The Scorch Trials

 

 

Rating: ***** (9/10)

I'm finished!  And I loved your review- I am having a hard time with mine!  I don't really know what to say.  The Epilogue was almost, almost the most screwed up part of it all!!  Definitely in the mind frame to continue... in fact, I am going to start on The Death Cure right now!

Edited November 18, 2014 by Anna Begins

[Athena]

Note: removed some emoticons and had to split the post because I used too many!

 

How cool that you get to read all of those 'new' BSC books for the first time!

 

The Super Specials can be read as standalone books. Have you ever read any of them before? I always loved them because they were much bigger than the regular BSC books and you got to read chapters by many different people (BSC members as well as clients and siblings). The only thing I can think of that might be different from the regular series is if a BSC member has moved out of Stoneybrook so doesn't go on the trip (e.g., didn't Stacey move back to New York in Goodbye, Stacey, Goodbye?) But even then, not all BSC members are necessarily involved in the main plot of the Super Specials, but they might still contribute chapters from wherever they are (e.g., New York). I hope this makes some sort of sense! I don't think I'm explaining it very well. 

 

If you're worried about overall plot spoilers, Wikipedia lists the years that the Super Specials and the regular books were published (here). You could compare the dates and work out where each Super Special 'slots' in to the regular series. If you have read all of the books up to #68 (which was published in October 1993), then you should be able to read Super Specials #1–#10 because #10 was published in July 1993.

 

I did a quick Google search to see if anyone had conveniently made up a list of how to read the entire series in chronological order, but I had no luck. Oh wait! I just found a list! Here is the chronological order that shows exactly where each Super Special fits in. Coincidentally, it was compiled by someone named Kylie.

Thank you so much for that list , that's amazing! I've read Super Specials 1 and 2 in Dutch, I don't think the others were published. I've read up to book 66, more weren't published. I own 67 in paperback and now 68-78 on the Kindle. I'm quite excited to read some new stories (as much as I love the old ones). I agree, the Super Specials were always really good that way, from multiple perspectives and such.

 

That is an phenomenal number of books, Gaia.  Well done (and good luck with your target).

 

Thanks Janet !

 

Gaia- I might take you up on the spoilers for The Kill Order, I will have to decide after The Death Cure!

 

Sure! I've just written up the spoilers in a text file, so whenever you're ready I will copy the text to you in a PM .

[Athena]

 

Wow, you are just tearing up the books, Gaia!! Congratulations, well done.

 

I have a few of the Sjöwall & Wahlöo books, both of us really liked them a lot.

Thanks Kate ! I'm glad you and Charles liked those books.

 

 

I should just hire you to read books to me! I would probably get through them so much quicker. Congrats on the target!

 

Oh and I might also take you up on the spoilers for The Kill Order too.

I'd be happy to help you in any way . Thanks ! As I said above, I've written the text so I will send it to you whenever you're ready. Just send me a PM or post somewhere related on the forum and I'll send it to you .

 

There's no stopping you this year! Some great reviews there Gaia

Thanks, Tim !

 

I'm finished! And I loved your review- I am having a hard time with mine! I don't really know what to say. The Epilogue was almost, almost the most screwed up part of it all!! Definitely in the mind frame to continue... in fact, I am going to start on The Death Cure right now!

Thanks , I hope you really like The Death Cure .

[Athena]

Stephanie Perkins - Anna and the French Kiss 3: Isla and the Happily Ever After

 

 

Genre: Chick-lit

Age-range: Young-Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages: 375

Date read: 16-11-2014 <-> 18-11-2014

Synopsis (GoodReads) (no spoilers for books one and two):The café is boiling. The atmosphere is clouded with bittersweet coffee.

Three years of desire rip through my body and burst from my lips: “Josh!”

His head jolts up. For a long time, a very long time, he just stares at me.

And then…he blinks. “Isla?”

 

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on brooding artist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And, after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer break, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to face uncertainty about their futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

 

Set against the stunning backdrops of New York, Paris and Barcelona, this is a gorgeous, heart-wrenching and irresistible story of true love, and the perfect conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.

 

My thoughts: I wanted to finish off this series. I really liked the first two books so I was hoping to like this one too. They can all be read seperately as standalone stories, but the characters of the other books feature briefly in this. I wanted something a bit slower and sweeter after reading The Maze Runner series.

 

This book wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, and in my opinion it wasn't as good as the other two books in this series (about Anna and Lola, respectively). Not a whole lot happened in the story. There were a few good plot twists (that I saw coming) but that was it. Particularly the first half of the book was very slow. The main character, Isla, seemed to make some in my opinion stupid choices, regarding her actions (I can't say what or it'd be spoiling).

 

I didn't like the instalove. She's had this crush on Josh for years but she doesn't really know him all that well. She instantly loves him, this bothered me. I'm very much a person who believes love should grow, how can you love someone if you don't know them at all.

 

I liked Josh's talent for drawing and reading about his drawings. I didn't like his lack of rules. And I don't quite understand, how, when he has planned later in life what he wants to do, how he can be so lacking towards these rules and not even bothering to show up for class sometimes, when he does need it for later in life.

 

I liked Kurt, Isla's best friend. He has autism. I wish we'd seen more of him in the book, but unfortunately he just seemed a side character. I felt more could've been done with his character. For example, in the first book of this series, there's not only Anna, the main character, but the book also tells bits of the stories of other people. In this book, not as much. It all fell a bit flat.

 

All of these criticisms make it seem as if I didn't enjoy the book at all. I did enjoy it and it didn't take me that long to read it. There were some beautiful scenes in there. The one in Barcelona, for example, that was really, really good (on its own). There's a scene near the end of the book where we meet the characters of the previous two books, this one was also really, really good. If the book was just these good scenes, or if each scene was a short story or something, I would've given it a higher rating.

 

But as it was, the book was slow in places and I had some problems with it (the instalove, certain aspects of the main characters Isla and Josh, the not much happening, the lack of depth). The book is sweet and I did like the writing style. In the end though it was a disappointment when compared with the rest of the books in the series, which I enjoyed much more. I did enjoy this book, but would recommend reading Anna and the French Kiss or the second book Lola and the Boy Next Door if you like these kinds of books, they have more depth, more plot and more character development.

 

Rating: *** (6/10)

[Anna Begins]

Well, not the best "chick lit" book you've read, but a good review and at least you enjoyed some of it!  What's up next?

Edited November 18, 2014 by Anna Begins

[Athena]

Well, not the best "chick lit" book you've read, but a good review and at least you enjoyed some of it!  What's up next?

I'm currently reading I Murdered My Library by Linda Grant (28 pages) on my Kindle but I'm not sure yet which paperbook I'll read next after that .

[Kylie]

I'm currently reading I Murdered My Library by Linda Grant (28 pages) on my Kindle but I'm not sure yet which paperbook I'll read next after that .

 

I don't think I like the title of that book!

[Athena]

I don't think I like the title of that book!

It's a memoir of an author who loves books, but she moves to a much smaller place and is forced to get rid of a lot of her books. The book was allright but not as great as it could've been. Review will follow below.

[Athena]

Linda Grant - I Murdered My Library

 

 

Genre: Biography

Age-range: Adult

Format: Kindle

Pages: 28

Date read: 18-11-2014 <-> 19-11-2014

Synopsis (GoodReads):What happens when you begin to build a library in childhood and then find you have too many books? From a small collection held together by a pair of plaster of Paris horse-head bookends to books piled on stairs, and in front of each other on shelves, books cease to furnish a room and begin to overwhelm it. At the end of 2013, novelist Linda Grant moved from a rambling maisonette over four floors to a two bedroom flat with a tiny corridor-shaped study. The trauma of getting rid of thousands of books raises the question of what purpose personal libraries serve in contemporary life and the seductive lure of the Kindle. Both a memoir of a lifetime of reading and an insight into how interior décor has banished the bookcase, her account of the emotional struggle of her relationship with books asks questions about the way we live today.

 

My thoughts: I bought this book recently, because it sounded interesting.

 

This is a short memoir / biography, about an author who moves to a smaller place and has to get rid of a lot of her books. She starts to read a lot on an e-reader instead. There were parts of this book I really liked, where the writing style was really good and what was said was moving and hit a nerve. Unfortunately there were also parts that I likes less, parts where I didn't understand the author as well, or parts I found just less interesting because they weren't as much about books. I also didn't care as much for the parts where she talks about decoration and interior design, and books. To me, book shelves aren't clutter, they are a personal touch and I love to have them in an interior. I always like an interior more when there's books involved. I don't like minimalist decor, I like seeing pretty books and other objects (of course, not to the point of too much).

 

Overall then I enjoyed parts of it but not all of it. I wanted more of it, I wanted to hear more about the author's books she owned, how it felt to give them up, and more. There were some really good parts, but unfortunately some of it wasn't entirely to my tastes. I also wanted more from the book. It wasn't clear to me, for example, why the author even really moved .

 

Rating: **** (6/10)

[Athena]

After reading a couple of books that were allright but not as good as I'd hoped, I've now started Trudi Canavan - The Traitor Spy Trilogy 1: The Ambassador's Mission, a high fantasy book in a trilogy, that follows onto The Black Magician Trilogy that I read earlier this year and loved.

[Kylie]

Great review of I Murdered My Library. Even though it sounds like it might be disappointing, I'm still curious to read it myself. I would be devastated if I had to get rid of thousands of books. I don't think there could possibly be a good enough reason to move when it means giving up so many things that you love and that have been part of your life for so long!

[Athena]

Thanks . I'd be happy to know what you think of the book once you read it, I hope you like it. I fully agree, I don't know how I would manage! Though in the future it will have to happen once we have enough money, to move out of my parents' place. But I cannot imagine not being with all my books. I love them so much.

[Little Pixie]

Great review of I Murdered My Library. Even though it sounds like it might be disappointing, I'm still curious to read it myself. I would be devastated if I had to get rid of thousands of books. I don't think there could possibly be a good enough reason to move when it means giving up so many things that you love and that have been part of your life for so long!

 

Ditto. I read Howard`s End is on the Landing , which sounds similar ( and was okay ), but I`m always up for reading books about books. 

[Athena]

Ditto. I read Howard`s End is on the Landing , which sounds similar ( and was okay ), but I`m always up for reading books about books. 

Me too! I liked Howards End is on the Landing, I read it last year. I should read some more books about books (any other recommendations are welcome), I still have a few on the TBR . But there are so many books I like to read..

 

PS. I do really like your avatar. I have a poster, that's hanging on the wall upstairs, with a very similar looking cat on it .

[Little Pixie]

 

PS. I do really like your avatar. I have a poster, that's hanging on the wall upstairs, with a very similar looking cat on it .

 

Ooh, thank you. I`ve had it for years now; I still like it. 

[Athena]

Trudi Canavan - The Traitor Spy Trilogy 1: The Ambassador's Mission

 

 

Genre: Fantasy

Age-range: Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages: 513

Date Read: 19-11-2014 <-> 21-11-2014

Synopsis: (no synopsis as to give it would be spoiling The Black Magician Trilogy.)

 

My thoughts: After reading The Black Magician Trilogy by the same author and reading the prequel, The Magician's Apprentice, I wanted to read this trilogy. It takes place some years after The Black Magician Trilogy, and features a lot of familiar characters. I didn't want there to be too much time between both series as otherwise I was worried I might forget some things (as tends to happen the longer it has been since I've read a book or series). Since I want to read some Christmas and wintery themed books in December, I thought it'd be good to start on this series now (in November).

 

I recently read some books that were a bit disappointing, so I was hoping by spending some time with familiar characters, I'd get more into reading again. This was certainly the case. It was great to read about these familiar characters that I love. The book takes place about twenty years after The Black Magician Trilogy. It's split up into two parts, like the other books, and within those two parts split up into chapters (with titles).

 

I was soon drawn into this book. I really liked the characters in this book. There are of course the ones I knew and love from the earlier series. There are also a few new characters, which were very interesting too. The writing style, which I really liked in the other books, was immediately familiar. I was also glad to find out, the book has the same font as the other books (this might not be important to everyone but it was to me, it made reading it more enjoyable since I associate this font with the author's other books that I read, the four of which I really liked).

 

There are plenty of plot twists in the book. You see the story through multiple perspectives, in third person. There are several events going on with several people and places that are very important. In the book there are kind of two seperate stories going on, though some characters are involved in both. I found them both interesting, and it's possible that in the second or third book, the events will come together in a way. It doesn't make the book feel disjointed or anything. I really enjoyed reading every bit of it, to be honest. I also enjoyed learning more about the world and also about what has happened in the past twenty years since the previous books.

 

Overall then I really enjoyed this book. I should say though, it doesn't have a complete ending, since obviously there are two more books in this trilogy. Some things are resolved for sure, but I'm glad I have the other two books here with me to read . If you liked The Black Magician Trilogy I would certainly recommend reading this book. If you're new to Trudi Canavan and like high fantasy, with magic and such, I'd recommend this book though I'd recommend starting with The Black Magician Trilogy, so you can get to know the characters from the start. Things are explained in the book here and there and there are new aspects and a new story, but I think you'll understand the characters better if you've read the previous books. That said, if the other books aren't available for some reason or another, I still think this book is quite readable on its own.

 

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