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Athena's Reading List 2016


Athena

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I read Paul van Loon - Dolfje Weerwolfje 2: Volle Maan. I enjoyed reading this second book in the series. There were some more hilarious bits in it. Aside from liking the main character, I really like the dad (Dolfje lives with his friend Timmy and Timmy's parents, because Dolfje's parents abandoned him when he was 3). I have to commend the author for writing a character (Timmy's dad) that's a bit different. The book had some funny moments in it again. So far I'm really liking this series. I have book 3 on my shelf still to read, and I have another book in the series that's shorter, but I don't know where that one falls in the series (I've not been able to find the information online, maybe it doesn't matter so much). There are plenty more books in the series but I don't own them.

 

EDIT: I read Paul van Loon - Dolfje Weerwolfje 3: Zilvertand. I enjoyed this third book as well. It was maybe not quite as funny as the first two but I still really liked it.

 

I then read Paul van Loon - Dolfje Weerwolfje: Het Nachtmerrieneefje. This book was a lot shorter than the first three books in the series, and is more meant as an introduction for even younger children (compared with the age range for the first 3 books). I don't know where in the series it falls, though I do know it's after book 3 (based on certain things in the book). Anyway, I enjoyed this one but not quite as much as the first three books. It was shorter so there was less of it. But I did enjoy reading it.

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I read Becky Chambers - Wayfarers 1: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I bought this book after Noll recommended it (her review). It took me a bit of time to read the first half of this book. There were a lot of new things coming at me (such as various alien species) and it was a lot to take in at the beginning. I have trouble processing input and my head easily gets too full, so this is likely just me as I haven't heard anyone else say something like this (not even about other books really). It's certainly not something that's restricted to this book for me, I have it with quite a few books. I guess the reason it stood out to me, was that I really wanted to keep reading!

 

The second half I was able to read much quicker and I didn't need to stop as much. I was used to the characters and species and was able to read more in one day.

 

This is not a fast-paced action-packed story. There is some action, but the story is usually more about the characters and their backstories. The characters were amazing, I loved the alien species and the different characters. It was so interesting to learn about them and the story makes you think of differences between ways of life and mindsets and, in the book's case, the alien species.

 

If you've read the review up to now it might seem as if I didn't like the book. I loved it however! I flew through the second half and wanted to spend lots of time with the amazing characters. I definitely plan on buying book 2 once it's out in medium size paperback. It's just been released in hardcover (but I don't like hardcovers). This book doesn't end on a cliffhanger or anything, it was a very satisfying read on its own. The second book features a few of the same characters, so it takes place in the same world but it's a different story. I haven't read it though so I couldn't comment, but the first book was a satisfying read on its own. I just loved the characters and alien species so much!

 

This is definitely an amazing debut novel. The author must have so much imagination to have created all these different alien species and different characters. I loved the diversity and how each character was different and how they interacted with each other.

 

Anyway, in conclusion I can only say that if you like science-fiction character-driven stories, I think you'd like this book. If you're expecting a plot-driven action-packed story, you won't find it here. I loved this book and it's definitely one of my favourite books I read this month, and this year (though even that is a long list haha).

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I hope you enjoy the Paddington Books, Gaia.  :)  They were firm favourites of mine as a child.  I enjoyed the film, but it wasn't really Paddington!

Thanks, Janet :). I've seen the Paddington movie and liked it well enough. I hope the books will be nice.

 

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is only £3.99 on Kindle, so I have just bought it. :readingtwo:

 

What a great deal! I hope you enjoy it :readingtwo::)!

 

The title alone makes me want to read it! Do you think I'd like it?

The book isn't heavy on technology though it does play a role of course (being in a spaceship and all), and isn't too sciency other than the explanation of punching holes in space-time (which I had to read twice), so that would seem something you'd like, and if you like reading about alien species then you could certainly give the sample a try :). The Kindle edition is priced for me at the moment at Amazon US at $4.89, that's a very good price. I wonder if they have a sale going on because the second book just came out, just like for BB on Amazon UK.

 

I found out the paperback should be out between March - July 2017 depending on which website I try, so hopefully it shouldn't be too long to wait. I watched one review (on YouTube) that liked the first book much more than the second (which the girl / woman called a 'companion novel'), so I'll have plenty of time to read and watch reviews before the medium sized paperback is released. I think I'll want to read it for myself though even if some reviews are less positive than for the first book.

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October 2016 Summary

 

Books read: 41

Pages read: 7395

 

Books read in the read-a-thon: 23

Pages read in the read-a-thon: 3118

Books read outside of the read-a-thon: 18

Pages read outside of the read-a-thon: 4277

 

Most impressive / Favourites of the month:

Becky Chambers - Wayfarers 1: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Oliver Jeffers - Once Upon an Alphabet

Eoin Colfer (ill. Matt Robertson) - Anna Liza and the Happy Practice

A. C. Baantjer - Baantjer 47: De Cock en een Dodelijk Rendez-vous (re-read)

 

Slightly less my favourites but still really good, this month:

A. S. King - Reality Boy

Thea Stilton and Geronimo Stilton - De 13 Zwaarden 2: Het Kwade Verbond (Il Segreto della Fenice)

Geronimo Stilton - Noormuizen: Het Gevecht Tegen De Monsterdraken (Il Segreto del Drago Blu)

Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre - Pugs of the Frozen North

Liz Pichon - Tom Gates 9: Top of the Class (Nearly)

Stephan Pastis - Flip Fiasco 3: Nóg Een Keer (Timmy Failure 3: We Meet Again)

Gill Lewis (ill. Sarah Horne) - Puppy Academy 1: Scout and the Sausage Thief

Paul van Loon - Dolfje Weerwolfje 1: Dolfje Weerwolfje

Paul van Loon - Dolfje Weerwolfje 2: Volle Maan

Paul van Loon - Dolfje Weerwolfje 3: Zilvertand

Anita Ganeri (ill. Mike Phillips) - Waanzinnig om te Weten: Woeste Woestijnen (Horrible Georgraphy: Desperate Deserts)

 

Biggest disappointments / Least favourites of the month:

Julie Buxbaum - Vertel Me Drie Dingen (Tell Me Three Things) (abandoned / DNF)

Jenny Han - The Summer I Turned Pretty 3: We'll Always Have Summer

Marieke Nijkamp - 54 Minuten (This Is Where It Ends)

 

Shortest books read this month:

Tony Ross - Little Princess: I Didn't Do It! (20 pages), Tony Ross - Rita's Rhino (22 pages), Jane Chapman - No More Cuddles! (24 pages), David Walliams (ill. Tony Ross) - The First Hippo on the Moon (28 pages)

 

Longest books read this month:

Jodi Picoult - Vanishing Acts (421 pages)

 

Other notes:

 

Overall I didn't have the best reading month in terms of lots of excellent reads. There were only a few. I did read a lot of nice books though. I read and finished 2 books I didn't like overly much and I read part of one book and then abandoned it. The last week of the month I ended up not reading much at all, because of lots of other things happening and such.

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Did you read 41 books in October alone? That is brilliant! That is only 29 books less than I have read in the whole year.

Thanks :)! A lot of those were children's books, I couldn't read 41 books for adults with ~300 pages in one month. I actually only read I think 4 books for adults in October, and 6 YA books. The rest were children's books (31 of them), mostly middle-grade but 5 of them were picture books). But I do read a lot :blush2:.

 

I finished reading Every Day is a Holiday by George Mahood (and am currently reading the sequel, Life's a Beach). Some time ago this book was free on Amazon Kindle, and I decided to download it at the time because it sounded good. For some reason last week I started to think about the book and decided to read it. And I'm glad I did, because I really liked it. George decide to, for 6 months, celebrate as many special days as he can. Days like Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, Hugging Day and Chocolate Cherry Appreciation Day. George also writes about his life, he is a wedding photographer and has also written a few books (though at the time of this memoir, he had only published one book and was in the middle of writing this memoir). I really liked this book. I didn't know there was a sequel until I finished this book and the book told me at the end of it there was a sequel, which I then bought for my Kindle and am reading now.

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I read George Mahood - Every Day is a Holiday 2: Life's a Beach. This is a continuation of the project he began in Every Day is a Holiday (which is the first book). I really enjoyed reading this book. It was really nice to read about George's life and the things that happened in it. I did feel this second book had maybe a slightly smaller focus on the special days George was celebrating (see my thoughts on the first book, a couple of posts before this one). But I enjoyed reading about George's life anyway, so it didn't matter hugely. Overall I would say I enjoyed this one slightly less, but that's only if I had to choose. Both books would receive the same rating, had I still been rating books, it's only a marginal difference. I think it's probably because the first book was quite original whereas the second one was a little bit like 'more of the same', even though different things happened (and quite a few things happened in the author's life during the second book). Overall, I really enjoyed reading these two books.

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I'm glad you liked it!

Thanks, I did :).

 

Now just waiting for the cataloguing... :)

Yep :). It will take a bit of time :P. So many books! And I don't want to tire myself too much, so I can only do a bit in a day.

 

I read Alex Gino - George, a book I reserved at the library. Pictures and a list of my library books will come, once I'm done cataloguing all the books I've acquired recently (bought, birthday gifts, library haul). Anyway, I really liked George (it's interesting how the previous two books I read were by an author whose first name is George, and the next book I read was titled George.) I had heard this was an important piece of transgender literature in children's books, of which there aren't so many around. I'm familiar with The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams, a book I really enjoyed, but I don't know too many others (in children's literature). Anyway, I really liked George. I thought the story was well written and it was understandable how George, the main character who felt she was a girl but was born with the body of a boy, felt. While I don't get it 100%, in the sense that I know that society has certain barriers of how genders should act, which I don't always believe in, but I found it understandable how George felt and that she didn't want people to call her 'boy' or 'man'. She wants to play Charlotte in the play the school is putting up, called Charlotte's Web based on the book by E. B. White. But she's not allowed because she's a boy. I thought this was a good book, and I think it's important transgender issues are represented in children's literature.

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I read Francine Oomen and Annet Schaap - Hoe Overleef Ik... Strips 3: Hoe Overleef Ik De Brugklas?. This is the comic book version of the third book in the HOI series (which I've read). The book contains the comic which is interspersed with actual text pages (containing e-mails between Rosa and Jonas). The text pages have illustrations on them. I enjoyed reading this book. I'd still prefer to read the story in a text-format but I really liked experiencing the story in this way. I do really like Annet Schaap's illustrations and they suit the story well.

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Yeah, I don't normally browse the children's and YA comic section of the library. I just walked past it and my eye fell on it. I didn't even know it existed!

 

(Library haul and all that is coming, but it'll be a while :P.)

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the past while I've read these books:

 

Agatha Christie - The Double Clue & Other Hercule Poirot Stories

This was the first of my read-a-thon reads for November. This book contains 4 short stories: The Market Basing Mystery, The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim, The Double Clue and The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb. I quite liked the first 3 stories, but I wasn't that keen on the last (4th) story. The first 3 were nice and enjoyable though.

 

Chrissie Manby - Proper Family: Falling Leaves & Fireworks

I really like the 4 novels in this series, but I was a bit disappointed with this novella. It was nice, but it wasn't as good as the novels in my opinion. I did enjoy reading more about the characters though some were only mentioned briefly and I would've liked to know more about how they're doing. The novels generally had several different viewpoints and while the novella did have a couple of different viewpoints, it didn't have as many as the novels, though I guess that does make sense. I did enjoy the story but I wish it was longer and that we'd seen more of certain characters. It's a nice addition though for someone who likes the novels as long as you don't expect it to be as good as the novels.

 

Lucy Diamond - The Beach Café 1: The Beach Café

Lucy Diamond - The Beach Café: Christmas at the Beach Café

Lucy Diamond - The Beach Café: Christmas Gifts at the Beach Café

I loved these books (1 novel + 2 novellas). A few months ago I read the novella A Baby at the Beach Café which admittedly I should've read after reading these 3 mentioned above. I loved the main novel as well as the novellas. The 2 novellas were gifted to me by my friend Anna :friends0:. I really liked them. I love these characters. So thank you so much for your gift, I really enjoyed reading these :).

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