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Athena's Reading List 2017


Athena

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 It's not your imagination! You are totally right, so nice of you to notice :smile2:. I looked at my 2016 thread before I made this one, and saw there were quite a few things I meant to add but never did (instead just leaving the post mostly empty). I wanted things to be a bit simpler this year (no pressure and all that), so I decided to not add quite a lot of the things I had in my 2016 thread.

 

I can totally understand that :smile2: Seems like quite a few of us have made our threads more simple this year! :)

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Gaia, Death in Paradise started last night on BBC1 - with a very clever denouement ! - and it`s available on DVD next month - click.   :)

 

Thanks :)! I'm eagerly awaiting it :D. I can't find it yet on my usual Dutch website, so I might end up getting it off Amazon.

 

I can totally understand that :smile2: Seems like quite a few of us have made our threads more simple this year! :)

Yes :).

 

I read Herbert Blankesteijn - NL Digitaal. My dad was on a radio / podcast thing and one of the people of the podcast, Herbert Blankesteijn, gifted my dad his newly written book. Dad let me borrow it and I read it. This book is written for young-adults / teenagers but I found it pretty nice to read as an adult also. The book talks about digital and internet related things (such as the cloud, big data and cybercrime, to paraphrase what's on the cover) and has lots of nice pictures and graphs in it. I knew some things already, but other things were new to me and I enjoyed learning about these things. I quite liked the writing style. On occasion the author referred to things where it made it clear he was talking to teenagers, then of course I was pulled a bit out of the book because it didn't apply to me, for example I'm old enough to have experienced a time when we didn't have smartphones yet. But overall I quite enjoyed reading this book and found it educational. I did like that the book talked about some Dutch things as well as non-Dutch things (ie. U.S. companies like Google and MicroSoft). It also made me a little bit nostalgic thinking back of earlier times and I enjoyed that. Though I do quite like the nowadays times with the internet and other things. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this book.

 

I will go back to reading Blake Charlton - Spellwright 2: Spellbound now that I've finished NL Digitaal (though I did read bits in Spellbound also during the two days that I read NL Digitaal).

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Happy reading in 2017, Gaia! Like Frankie, I noticed that your thread was simpler this year. Mine has become simpler over the years too. :) For the read-a-thon, if you still want to participate you could perhaps change your focus from reading as many books as you can to just focusing on one or two longer books that also don't require as much processing?

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Happy reading in 2017, Gaia! Like Frankie, I noticed that your thread was simpler this year. Mine has become simpler over the years too. :) For the read-a-thon, if you still want to participate you could perhaps change your focus from reading as many books as you can to just focusing on one or two longer books that also don't require as much processing?

Thanks, Kylie :). That's nice of you to notice. How nice it's been the same with your thread. That is a good idea, I shall have to give that some thought :). Thanks :friends3:!

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I read Blake Charlton - Spellwright 2: Spellbound. I read part of this book, then put it down to read NL Digitaal (see post #52). After finishing off NL Digitaal I went back to reading Spellbound. I quite enjoyed reading this book and particularly during the second half I found myself not wanting to put the book down. There were some really good plot twists and revelations in this book. Different than the first book, this second book follows slightly more characters than the first. It is necessary to tell the story properly. I quite liked the new characters, as well as seeing the old ones again. You learn again more about the world, and the ending satisfied me. I liked one particular scene towards the end a lot, but I can't say anything because of spoilers. Between the second and third book will be again a few years of time in terms of the story, just like between books 1 and 2. It makes sense in the story. I quite liked how the author, himself a medical student while he wrote this book, used his medical knowledge in this book. One of the characters in this book is a physician, a healer, and it was nice to know the medical situations happening in the book, are actually based on things that can happen in real life, with the proper names for parts like bones and such. The author based the situations on real life experiences (he says in the acknowledgements). Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to read book 3 (which I plan to start soon).

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Wishing you a wonderful year of reading, Gaia.  :smile: 

Thank you Chrissy :)!

 

I read Diane Chamberlain - Keeper of the Light / Kiss River 1: Keeper of the Light. I'm not sure what this series is called, as the websites I looked at call it either Keeper of the Light or Kiss River trilogy, depending on the website.It's the story of a woman named Olivia, who is a nurse in the ER when her husband's mistress / crush is brought in (called Annie), wounded from a gunshot. The woman dies. It's the story of Olivia, her husband Paul, and Annie's husband (now widower) Alec (and his children). I realise it sounds odd, I was also confused when I read the back of the book, but when you read the book things will make sense. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this book. I read it in two days! With first of those two days 100ish pages and the second 400ish pages. I wanted to keep on reading the book. I don't know when I'll read book 2 in this series, book 2 is called Kiss River, and book 3 Her Mother's Shadow. I felt in the mood for something different after reading this book. It looks like book 2 is about different characters so I'm not sure how it'll tie in (other than having the lighthouse in common). Has anyone on here read the whole trilogy? I would like to read books 2 and 3 in a while, but I'll have to see when I feel in the mood for them again. I really love Diane Chamberlain's books, but I don't want to read too many of them in too short a time span (I have that with most authors. I don't want to get author burnout).

 

Then I read David Levithan - The Lover's Dictionary. This is a love story told through dictionary entries. So each entry is a word, and then a bit of text about the word and the relationship. The dictionary is written by a man who talks to the woman as being 'you' (ie. On our first date you did this etc. That's not a quote from the book btw, I made that up.). My paperback edition has 215 pages, but because each dictionary entry starts on a new page and because some entries are only a few lines long, the book doesn't take that long to read (maybe it'd be 125 - 150 pages in a book with text on most of each of the pages). I thought this was a pretty unique way to tell the story and I quite liked reading the book. I was less fond of the ending, it was kind of abrupt. I didn't know some of the dictionary words. Sometimes my British boyfriend knew, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes I looked it up, sometimes I continued reading. I'm sure I missed some double meanings and wordplay / puns and such, but what I did understand was good though. I couldn't be bothered to look everything up, that takes the flow out of reading. Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book. There were some beautiful quotes in there. Looking on GoodReads, people quote different things from each other, so that's interesting.

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I have all three of the Keeper of the Light books on my TBR pile. I didn't realise I had all three.....for some reason I was convinced I only had the second book. I have to make sure I read them in the correct order!

 

The Lover's Dictionary sounds a bit strange. Is it a proper story with a plot, or does it just use dictionary definitions to discuss the relationship?

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Just wanted to pop in here to say I hope you have a great reading year Athena and I love the way you've laid out the beginning of your thread this year  :smile:

 

I'm also really interested in the answer to bobblybear's question. The Lover's Dictionary does sound like a very unusual book!

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I have all three of the Keeper of the Light books on my TBR pile. I didn't realise I had all three.....for some reason I was convinced I only had the second book. I have to make sure I read them in the correct order!

 

The Lover's Dictionary sounds a bit strange. Is it a proper story with a plot, or does it just use dictionary definitions to discuss the relationship?

Me too, though I'm not sure when I'll get to them, I have too many books to be able to start a trilogy! :)

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I have all three of the Keeper of the Light books on my TBR pile. I didn't realise I had all three.....for some reason I was convinced I only had the second book. I have to make sure I read them in the correct order!

I hope you enjoy the books when you get to them :). Keeper of the Light (the first book) has an ending, it could totally be read as a standalone. In fact, if I didn't know it was part of a series, I wouldn't have known it was based on just reading the first book. I do plan on getting to the other two books this year though, before I forget what happened in the first book :P.

 

The Lover's Dictionary sounds a bit strange. Is it a proper story with a plot, or does it just use dictionary definitions to discuss the relationship?

 

There is a plot, but the story isn't told chronologically. There isn't tons of plot though, but you do get to know bit by bit what happened in the relationship. Not all entries move the plot forward, some are more about love and how it makes the main character feel, or some are tidbits about the two characters interacting with one another.

 

Just wanted to pop in here to say I hope you have a great reading year Athena and I love the way you've laid out the beginning of your thread this year  :smile:

 

I'm also really interested in the answer to bobblybear's question. The Lover's Dictionary does sound like a very unusual book!

Thanks Hayley :).

 

It was an unusual book! I would say don't go into it expecting massive plot twists, there are a couple of twists but it shouldn't be your only reason to want to read the book. I don't know, I guess it's a bit hard to describe for me. You could try reading a sample / excerpt online and see if it becomes more clear what the book is like.

 

Me too, though I'm not sure when I'll get to them, I have too many books to be able to start a trilogy! :)

That makes sense! I have been feeling that way for several years so this year I thought, maybe this year is finally the time! I still have other trilogies on my TBR that I've been putting off for the same reasons though :P.

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I read Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - The Illuminae Files 2: Gemina. This is book 2 in a trilogy (I believe). I read the first book last year in August. I was excited to read the second book but I waited until I really felt in the mood for it. Last Monday I found myself really in the mood for it, so I started to read Gemina. The books are unique in that the story is told through chatlogs, video footage analyses, diary entries, things like that. The pages generally look pretty interesting, and the sections aren't too long which I liked. In the first book it took me a bit of time to get into it because I wasn't used to the way it was told. It was easier to get into book 2, I knew more about what to expect. The story contained several good plot twists (like, I couldn't believe some of them at first!). I wanted to keep on reading the book, it was suspenseful. There was quite a bit of action and I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen to the characters. I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved it. I'm eager to read the third book in this series, though I don't know anything about a release date yet (nor a title) so it might take a while. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading Gemina (it'll be one of the favourites of the month in my monthly summary).

 

Then I read A. S. King - Glory O'Brien's History of the Future. I found myself not being sure what to read after finishing Gemina, so I went to one of my many favourite authors. I had meant to save this book a bit longer, because it's the last book I have to read by the author. I've read all her other works, and the newest one isn't out in paperback yet. She is currently working on a new book, too, so that will be out in paperback maybe next year. But I really felt in the mood for this book yesterday and I didn't know what else to read, so I decided to read it. I really liked this book. I quite like this author's writing style and I like the short chapters. The story was interesting and I particularly liked the parts where Glory could see the future (and what that future held, it was interesting to read about. Though I definitely hope it won't come to pass!). I liked the characters of this book. Overall I quite liked reading this book (another favourite of the month).

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I read Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - The Illuminae Files 2: Gemina. This is book 2 in a trilogy (I believe). I read the first book last year in August. I was excited to read the second book but I waited until I really felt in the mood for it. Last Monday I found myself really in the mood for it, so I started to read Gemina. The books are unique in that the story is told through chatlogs, video footage analyses, diary entries, things like that. The pages generally look pretty interesting, and the sections aren't too long which I liked. In the first book it took me a bit of time to get into it because I wasn't used to the way it was told. It was easier to get into book 2, I knew more about what to expect. The story contained several good plot twists (like, I couldn't believe some of them at first!). I wanted to keep on reading the book, it was suspenseful. There was quite a bit of action and I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen to the characters. I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved it. I'm eager to read the third book in this series, though I don't know anything about a release date yet (nor a title) so it might take a while. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading Gemina (it'll be one of the favourites of the month in my monthly summary).

 

I have the first book in my ` buy at some point` list, though I think I`ll wait till the third book is out, in case there are any special offers then ; I`m happy that the second book looks just as good. :D

 

Did you sign up for the Amie Kaufman`s newsletter so you know when the next book comes out ? :)

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I agree with your thoughts on Gemina, in particular finding it far easier to get into. It's a format that won't work for everyone, but I love it. :)

 

Me too :).

 

I have the first book in my ` buy at some point` list, though I think I`ll wait till the third book is out, in case there are any special offers then ; I`m happy that the second book looks just as good. :D

 

Did you sign up for the Amie Kaufman`s newsletter so you know when the next book comes out ? :)

I hope you'll like the series when it's all been released :).

 

I didn't know about the newsletter, thanks! I've signed up now :).

 

 

I read David Baddiel (ill. Jim Field) - The Person Controller. I enjoyed reading this book. It was the first children's book I read this year. The illustrations are nice and I liked the concept of the book. I did find it took a bit of time before we got to the part where the children get the controller as described in the synopsis on the back of the book (but it didn't impact my reading experience too negatively). I liked the characters in the book. I really liked the British humor in the book. I think that was one of the best things about the book for me. I also liked the video game references. Overall I enjoyed reading this book.

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I read Nicola Yoon - The Sun Is Also A Star in one day (yesterday). It's not a long book, just under 350 pages, but some chapters are really short. It's a book that reads pretty quickly. It's about these two teenagers. The girl (Natasha) is from Jamaica and she is an illegal immigrant in the United States. Her family has to be deported by the end of the day. She doesn't want to leave the U.S., she's lived there most of her life (she's 17.). The boy (Daniel) is Korean American, his parents are from Korea I think, but he was born in America if I'm not mistaken. His parents want him to become a doctor, but what Daniel really wants is to be a poet. His brother is a real jerk. Nathasha really likes science. The book mostly takes place over the course of this one day, where at the end of the evening the Jamaican family will have to board the plane. Natasha and Daniel meet each other (of course), somewhere in New York. I don't often read books about the subject of illegal immigrants but I really liked the book and found it to be interesting to read about. The book is mostly described from the points of view of Natasha and Daniel but every now and then there is a chapter about one of the side characters in the story which I really liked. There are also chapters about specific parts of the history of Jamaica and Korea, certain aspects of it (which I liked). And there are also parts about science and the universe (I liked that as well). Anyway, I really liked this book. It does have a bit of insta-love considering the book mostly takes place in one day, but it didn't bother me. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book, more than I thought I would. I also quite liked the author's debut novel, Everything, Everything which I read last year. I look forward to see what she's going to write next (I hope she is writing a new novel).

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The past week I've been reading two books at once, Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn 4: Wax and Wayne 0: The Alloy of Law and Cassandra Clare - The Mortal Instruments 1: City of Bones. It's not something I usually do, and I don't think it'll be something I should do again. I feel I would've enjoyed both books more had I read them separately from each other. I will post some thoughts on both books, below.

 

The first book I started and finished was Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn 4: Wax and Wayne 0: The Alloy of Law. This book takes place some 300ish (?) years after the events in the Mistborn trilogy (hence why I titled it 'Mistborn 4'). The book involves two characters named Wax and Wayne, but it's apparently not part of the Wax and Wayne trilogy. Two books have been published in that trilogy, Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning. Hence why I titled The Alloy of Law, Wax and Wayne 0. I would say Wax is the main character in The Alloy of Law. This book is a fantasy book, it involves magic in a steampunk-like setting. It also reads like a mystery novel, Wax is trying to solve a crime.

 

I liked reading this book, but I didn't like it as much as the Mistborn trilogy. What I really liked about the book were the characters. Wax and Wayne are two great characters. I loved their banter and personalities. I also liked another character, but because of possible minor spoilers I won't name who the character is. I also quite liked the magic in the book and the action scenes were suspenseful. I also enjoyed the quieter scenes. While the magic was cool, I did prefer the magic powers of the Mistborn & others in the Mistborn series. They are both using the same magic system, but I can't explain exactly what it was, just in case of spoilers for either series. That said, there are some cool magic powers in this book. I had hoped to learn more about the magic system in this book, and I did, but it was done in a way different than what I was expecting (ie. compared with what I expected based on having read the Mistborn trilogy).

 

Overall then I enjoyed reading this book but didn't find it as enjoyable as I did the Mistborn trilogy books (Mistborn / The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages). As I said in the first paragraph of this post, I might've enjoyed this book more, had I not been reading Cassandra Clare - The Mortal Instruments 1: City of Bones at the same time.

 

The other book, Cassandra Clare - The Mortal Instruments 1: City of Bones, is Cassandra Clare's debut novel. I have read two books by the author before I read this book, but they were co-written with Holly Black (Magisterium books 1 and 2). I'd not read anything by just Cassandra Clare. A lot of people have been raving about this book and this author (and this world a lot of her books take place in). I finally decided to read it, after I read an excerpt of it and couldn't help myself but read the rest of the book (I already owned it, but read the excerpt on my phone while waiting for something).

 

I quite liked the writing style of the book. The pacing could've been a bit better. I liked the characters and found them interesting. Sometimes there were some info-dumps. Most of the time though, I was interested in the information though it did take the pace out of the story a bit. Then later in the last part of the book, the pacing is a lot higher. I liked the action scenes in the book for the most part. There were several twists later in the book I didn't see coming. Though I did suspect another twist that happened (and I suspected it for half the book). I look forward to learn more about the characters and the Shadowhunter world in the next book of the series. I plan on reading something else first though. I quickly get author / series burnout and want to prevent it so I plan to read something else first (or maybe even multiple books) before diving back into this series. Last year I read the Gone series books by Michael Grant at a rate of one a month, maybe that's an idea. I don't know, I'm just going to see where my mood takes me!

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I'm halfway through the Mortal Instruments series and enjoying it (much better than Twilight, so far anyway), I like to leave a gap between authors, but with a series I tend to forget what happened in the previous book if I leave it for too long!  I've also got the Infernal Devices trilogy, which is a sequel to the MI series, and apparently you don't know to have read the MI books first.

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I started City of Bones last December, then got distracted and put it down about 80 pages in. I`d already seen the film ( which I kind of liked ) but thought I should start off with Book 1 ( because after seeing the film, I wanted to know what happens next, but didn`t want to just get Book 2 ). Glad the pacing picks up a bit. :)

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Wait what? There are more books in the Mistrborn series? O.O

There is the original Mistborn trilogy. Then, on the same planet 300ish years later (something like that?), are the Wax and Wayne books. First there's The Alloy of Law. Then there are Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning. The last book in this 'second era of Mistborn' will be called The Lost Metal.

 

From the author's website:

 

Mistborn

 

The Lost Metal, Wax and Wayne Four, will be my next non-YA novel project. I still intend to write it so that it can come out in 2018. You should see a progress bar for it pop up sometime in the fall of 2017.

 

This will be the last Wax and Wayne book. Because of fan outcry, we’re just going to call the Wax and Wayne books “Era Two” of Mistborn from here out, and I’m sorry for the “Era 1.5 fiasco” of last year. That would have worked if I’d started calling it that from the get-go, but it’s too late now.

 

Once Era Two is done, we’ll let Mistborn lie fallow for a few years while I move on to Elantris/Warbreaker sequels. (See below.)

 

Status: Book Seven (W&W 4) being outlined.

 

Source: State of the Sanderson 2016 (scroll down a while) on the author's website.

 

I'm halfway through the Mortal Instruments series and enjoying it (much better than Twilight, so far anyway), I like to leave a gap between authors, but with a series I tend to forget what happened in the previous book if I leave it for too long!  I've also got the Infernal Devices trilogy, which is a sequel to the MI series, and apparently you don't know to have read the MI books first.

 

That makes a lot of sense, I tend to forget it too if it's been too long. According to the FAQ on the ShadowHunters website (I think it's official) the Infernal Devices are prequels (I looked it up since you said sequels but my sister said prequels). The recommended reading order is City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, then:

 

The Infernal Devices Book 1: Clockwork Angel

 

The Mortal Instruments, Book 4: City of Fallen Angels

 

The Infernal Devices, Book 2: Clockwork Prince

 

The Mortal Instruments, Book 5: City of Lost Souls

 

The Infernal Devices, Book 3: Clockwork Princess

 

The Mortal Instruments, Book 6: City of Heavenly Fire

Source: see FAQ link above.

 

Of course, you don't have to read them this way, my sister didn't. I plan to do so however.

 

I've read the first 3 of the Mortal Instruments but then got distracted with other books, I have 4 and 5 on my TBR so hopefully will read them at some point as I did like them! :)

Good to hear you liked the first 3. I hope you'll get to books 4 and 5 some time and that you'll enjoy them :). (And then, maybe, book 6).

 

I started City of Bones last December, then got distracted and put it down about 80 pages in. I`d already seen the film ( which I kind of liked ) but thought I should start off with Book 1 ( because after seeing the film, I wanted to know what happens next, but didn`t want to just get Book 2 ). Glad the pacing picks up a bit. :)

The pacing does pick up :). I've heard from multiple people that they had trouble getting through the first part of book 1. For me it wasn't as much of an issue but hopefully you'll enjoy the book more once you pick it up again and get a bit further in the story :). Interestingly enough, a lot of fans of the series didn't like the film overly much, they called it 'average', it was okay. My sister (who's read all the MI and TID books), liked the movie allright enough. I haven't watched it yet, I thought I should read the books first. If my boyfriend says he wants to watch it though, I'll watch it with him, but if it's me watching it on my own, I'll wait until I've read more books (as to not spoil the image of the characters I have in my head).

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Yes you're right Athena I did mean "prequel"!  Sorry about that.

 

I watched the film quite recently and it was OK, passed the time harmlessly enough.  Thought Jonathan Rhys Meyers was totally miscast as Valentine though. I haven't seen the TV series as I don't have Netflix.

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