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Athena's Reading List 2017


Athena

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I re-read Maria V. Snyder - Chronicles of Ixia 2: Study 2: Magic Study. I read most of this series some years ago. I re-read Poison Study earlier this year, and a few days ago I felt in the mood to re-read the second book. I don't have a whole lot to say about this book, because I just loved it. It was really good. I will say that one aspect could perhaps have been handled better but spoilers. But other than that I quite enjoyed reading this book. There was plenty of suspense and action, I really liked the characters and I quite liked the magic and the world in this series. It was really nice to re-read the continuation of this story and I look forward to read the third book (Fire Study) hopefully later this year.

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In other bookish news, I have been running out of space on my bookshelves the past while. But, yesterday my dad had an idea of how to fit in more bookshelves in my book-room-library :D. We measured it and not all his ideas worked, but I should be able to place some more bookshelves in my room :D. So that will be a great summer project, to get new shelves and rearrange my bookshelves :D. I'm so excited for it   :exc:. I love getting new bookshelves and organising my books :exc:.

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On 10/06/2017 at 9:59 AM, Athena said:

I read Jasmine Warga - My Heart & Other Black Holes. This book was giften to me by Michelle :hug:. I quite liked this book.  I thought for the most part depression was described well and I felt for the two characters. The book reads quickly yet talks about deep issues. I thought the storylines were interesting. There was one thing I felt that wasn't entirely resolved and I would've liked to see more of, but: spoilers. Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book. 

 

Glad you enjoyed this, I was pleasantly surprised by it myself and thought it did a great job of handling sensitive topics well.

 

Congrats on the new bookshelves too!

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4 hours ago, Nollaig said:

Glad you enjoyed this, I was pleasantly surprised by it myself and thought it did a great job of handling sensitive topics well.

 

I agree. I'm glad you liked it too :).

 

4 hours ago, Nollaig said:

Congrats on the new bookshelves too!

 

Thanks :)! I don't have them yet, but I'm excited! I'll have to talk to my dad and figure out when we can get the bookshelves. I love re-organising my books when I get new bookshelves.

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9 hours ago, Athena said:

In other bookish news, I have been running out of space on my bookshelves the past while. But, yesterday my dad had an idea of how to fit in more bookshelves in my book-room-library :D. We measured it and not all his ideas worked, but I should be able to place some more bookshelves in my room :D. So that will be a great summer project, to get new shelves and rearrange my bookshelves :D. I'm so excited for it   :exc:. I love getting new bookshelves and organising my books :exc:.

 

Oh, how brilliant ! :friends3:

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I read Becky Chambers - Wayfarers 2: A Closed and Common Orbit. I read Wayfarers 1: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet last year and I liked this book a lot. This one was a bit smaller in scale, there weren't as many characters and the stakes were less epic and more personal. In that sense this is a bit of a different book.

 

I would recommend reading the first book before this one, otherwise certain things will confuse you, and it would spoil one of the storylines of the first book.

 

The book is told in chapters that take place in what's the "now" for the book (it starts taking place during the final events of the first book), and in flash-back chapters (that start about 20 years ago).

 

I enjoyed reading this book but not as much as I did the first book. It was still enjoyable though. In the beginning it took me a bit of time to get into it. Once certain things happened in the story, the book got a bit more tense and suspenseful, and then I didn't want to stop reading.

 

It's hard to talk about things in the book without spoiling the bit of the first book. So I'm going to put into spoiler tags, what would spoil one of the storylines of the first book. Don't read the spoiler if you haven't read the first book, but you can definitely read the spoiler if you haven't read the second book but have read the first book.

 

Spoiler

I enjoyed how Lovelace's experience with the world was described, ie. her sensory issues. I thought that was quite well done. I also enjoyed the chapters taking place in the past, and in the beginning there were times where I exactly enjoyed these past chapters more than Lovelace's chapters (not that the Lovelace chapters weren't enjoyable).

 

 

What I also liked about the book was that it had, similar to the first book, some ideas on how to live together as people and about diversity and such (you'll know what I mean if you've read the first book, I think). There wasn't as much of that as in the first book, but there was some, and I thought these were quite valuable lessons.

 

The last part of the book I particularly enjoyed. I finally understood the past chapters and the nowadays chapters and things made sense, and the last part of the book was pretty suspenseful. I didn't want to stop reading.

 

I would have liked to have learned a bit more about certain things, have a few more questions answered, though they are notthat important or anything (I'm just curious). But maybe there will be another book in the series?

 

Overall then I didn't like this book as much as I absolutely loved the first book, but I did enjoy this book a lot and I would definitely say it is worth reading, as long as you know that we don't see many of the characters from book 1 and that it's not as epic but more personal. But it's a good book and I thought it was quite enjoyable :).

 

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10 hours ago, Athena said:

I'm looking forward to it :D. I hope you have a great summer too  :friends3:.

 

Thank you. :D I`m excited about your new bookshelf pics.* :)

 

* When you`re all sorted out. 

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14 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Thank you. :D I`m excited about your new bookshelf pics.* :)

 

* When you`re all sorted out. 

 

I'll be sure to show some pictures once it's all sorted out (and perhaps a few 'in between' pictures) :). It'll take a while! But it'll be so much fun  :D. I've been thinking about what I want to move where, I've come up with one plan but I'm going to think about it some more (I made a 2D picture of my room and drew the bookcases on there, on the computer.).

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23 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

How many more books will you be able to display ? :)

 

Well, a lot I hope :). I'm not sure how many books fit on average on a shelf, I think anywhere between ~10 and ~75 depending on the size of the books and whether you double-stack them or not (the 75 being in the case of really thin books - like my Babysitters Club books or my Baantjer books). How many books fit on your shelves, on average? I think maybe 30 is a good average?

 

Anyway, it looks like I'll be getting 6 new book cases and 1 smaller book case (so 6 1/2 in total). I'm planning to have space for books for at least a few years to come (of course, a lot of books will (eventually) be doublestacked, I just have a lot of them :P. But I'm okay with that.). I'm going to try to create more space for all genres, if it's possible. I think I've almost figured out how exactly I want to move the genres around :).

 

This will most likely be the maximum amount of bookshelves I can comfortably put in my room though, so after this there won't be much of an expansion possible. I made my 2D drawing and figured out almost everything of how I want to move things around. I'll be buying the book cases later next week, and they should be delivered probably the week after that (my parents don't have much time to drive me to the shop, so my dad suggested I order the bookcases online instead and have them delivered). Then I have to wait a few days for my boyfriend to put the bookcases together, and I have to wait a while longer before my dad has time to saw a piece out of one book case to fit with the radiator in my room (though I can start the organising then already perhaps). I think the actual re-organising should be able to begin in a few weeks from now :). I look forward to it :D. I might post some work-in-progress pictures :).

 

I'm also planning to go to the library in a few weeks and to borrow some books, so I'll have to split up my time between re-organising my books and reading my library loans. In the summer you're allowed to loan the books for 4 weeks instead of 3, so I was thinking of going then.

 

I haven't felt much like reading recently, to be honest :(. Hopefully I'll feel more like it soon. I might have a browse through my books in a little while and see if anything inspires me. I don't really know why I don't really feel like reading. It's been I think about a month now, that I've felt less like reading. I just don't feel like it as much. Maybe it'll pass in a while, or maybe going to the library in a few weeks and / or re-organising my books will make me feel more like reading. Or maybe I'll find a great book tomorrow on my shelves that'll get me in the flow of reading again.

 

How've you been :)?

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Based upon BB's recommendation, I read Greg Jenner - A Million Years in a Day. It took me about 3 weeks to read this book, as I read it alongside other books. The book contains a lot of information and it took processing time, and I could not read it on its own. Instead I read several fictional books and a biography alongside it.

 

I liked the way the book was structured, with the chapter reflecting a day, beginning from when you get up until when you go to bed again and set your alarm clock. I found some chapters more interesting than others, though that's probably a personal thing. I didn't really care much for the chapter on champagne, it was only 5 pages long but in my opinion it would've been better suited had it been integrated into the 'drinks' chapter.

 

The book describes various daily things, such as clocks and alarm clocks, toilets, breakfast, showering, pets, correspondence, dinner, drinks (alcohol), brushing your teeth and sleeping / beds.

 

I thought the book was written humourous, and I liked the nuggets of humour that came past now and then. The book doesn't read fast, and the information does take some processing power. I found most of the information interesting. A few things I already knew.

 

Within a chapter there were subchapters, and I quite liked the titles of these subchapters. They often contained humour.

 

Overall I guess I would rate the book 8 out of 10, or 4 out of 5 stars if you're that inclined (I'm not). The book was enjoyable, a few parts I struggled with, most chapters were interesting, and I quite liked the humour and the way the chapters were structured and I liked the way the subchapters were titled. This was a book certainly nice to read if you're interested in what it has to tell you.

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3 hours ago, Athena said:

 

Well, a lot I hope :). I'm not sure how many books fit on average on a shelf, I think anywhere between ~10 and ~75 depending on the size of the books and whether you double-stack them or not (the 75 being in the case of really thin books - like my Babysitters Club books or my Baantjer books). How many books fit on your shelves, on average? I think maybe 30 is a good average?

 

30 is it exactly. :D That`s for paperbacks, so I estimate 100 for a three-shelf bookcase, cos some of my vintage paperbacks are slimmer and around 130 pages, instead of the usual 250-300 pages. :) 

 

I haven`t been reading much lately ( books, that is ). It`s been too hot and I had a whopping migraine and  sinusitis, so my reading`s tailed off a bit. The recycling was picked up yesterday, so for a few days before that, I concentrated on getting through almost 2 weeks of newspapers. I did start the last Batya Gur book, Murder in Jerusalem, so hopefully I can get back into that. :)

 

I hope your mojo reappears soon. :D

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That's very exciting about getting new bookcases! :smile2:  I bet you can't wait!! Looking forward to the pictures when it's all done and you've had time to reorganize. 

 

I hope your reading mojo will return soon! :empathy:  It's so annoying when you don't feel like reading, even though you want to :(

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15 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

30 is it exactly. :D That`s for paperbacks, so I estimate 100 for a three-shelf bookcase, cos some of my vintage paperbacks are slimmer and around 130 pages, instead of the usual 250-300 pages. :) 

 

That's an excellent estimate :D.

 

15 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

I haven`t been reading much lately ( books, that is ). It`s been too hot and I had a whopping migraine and  sinusitis, so my reading`s tailed off a bit. The recycling was picked up yesterday, so for a few days before that, I concentrated on getting through almost 2 weeks of newspapers. I did start the last Batya Gur book, Murder in Jerusalem, so hopefully I can get back into that. :)

 

I'm sorry to hear you've not been feeling well :(. It's nice you read some newspapers though. I hope you enjoy the Batya Gur book :).

 

15 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

I hope your mojo reappears soon. :D

 

Thanks :D!

 

11 hours ago, frankie said:

That's very exciting about getting new bookcases! :smile2:  I bet you can't wait!! Looking forward to the pictures when it's all done and you've had time to reorganize. 

 

I hope your reading mojo will return soon! :empathy:  It's so annoying when you don't feel like reading, even though you want to :(

 

I'm totally excited for it :smile2:. I'll be sure to post some pictures when it's done :). It'll probably take a while though. I intend to go through almost everything :P. Though I'll probably keep a lot of shelves the same in terms of which books fit next to which other books or which books go at the top and bottom and in the middle (I have reasons!). I'm quite excited about it :).

 

Thanks :friends3:! I hope so too. I saw the film Bridget Jones' Baby yesterday, so I was thinking of trying to read the book. But I seem to remember that you didn't like the book as much as the movie?

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That's true, I didn't like the book. To the extent that I didn't remember that book even existing, and thinking you were talking about the third book in the series, which I loved. And wondering why you thought I didn't like that book. 😀

 

I can't remember what it was about the book, but I definitely didn't like it. But I hope you will 😊

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6 hours ago, Athena said:

I'm sorry to hear you've not been feeling well :(. It's nice you read some newspapers though. I hope you enjoy the Batya Gur book :).

 

I'm totally excited for it :smile2:. I'll be sure to post some pictures when it's done :). It'll probably take a while though. I intend to go through almost everything :P. Though I'll probably keep a lot of shelves the same in terms of which books fit next to which other books or which books go at the top and bottom and in the middle (I have reasons!). I'm quite excited about it :).

 

Thank you. :hug:

 

Ooh, it sounds really satisfying, that idea of going through all your books. :)

 

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6 hours ago, frankie said:

That's true, I didn't like the book. To the extent that I didn't remember that book even existing, and thinking you were talking about the third book in the series, which I loved. And wondering why you thought I didn't like that book. 😀

 

I can't remember what it was about the book, but I definitely didn't like it. But I hope you will 😊

 

Hmm, I ordered Bridget Jones` Baby ( the book) a couple of days ago ( it was really cheap, and I needed to add something to the order list to get free P&P ). I still have Book 3 to read as well . :) 

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1 minute ago, Little Pixie said:

 

Hmm, I ordered Bridget Jones` Baby ( the book) a couple of days ago ( it was really cheap, and I needed to add something to the order list to get free P&P ). I still have Book 3 to read as well . :) 

 

Well I hope you enjoy them both, and it's just me who didn't like the fourth novel :)

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2 minutes ago, Little Pixie said:

 

Thanks. :)  Even if Book 4 is really awful, I think I`d want to read it anyway, to complete the series. :lol: 

 

I know what you mean, I would, too! And as it was a cheap copy, there's no harm done :)

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On 2017-6-23 at 2:59 PM, Athena said:

Based upon BB's recommendation, I read Greg Jenner - A Million Years in a Day. It took me about 3 weeks to read this book, as I read it alongside other books. The book contains a lot of information and it took processing time, and I could not read it on its own.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Most of it was interesting, but some chapters didn't grab me as much as others.

 

I hope your mojo comes back soon.....I lost mine for a little while earlier in the year, and it's not nice. It's a strange feeling to not want to read. :(

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3 hours ago, bobblybear said:

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Most of it was interesting, but some chapters didn't grab me as much as others.

 

I hope your mojo comes back soon.....I lost mine for a little while earlier in the year, and it's not nice. It's a strange feeling to not want to read. :(

 

Maybe our minds need to subconsciously process everything we've read and catalogue stuff. Or maybe our brains are just full up. ;)

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22 hours ago, frankie said:

That's true, I didn't like the book. To the extent that I didn't remember that book even existing, and thinking you were talking about the third book in the series, which I loved. And wondering why you thought I didn't like that book. 😀

 

I can't remember what it was about the book, but I definitely didn't like it. But I hope you will 😊

 

Sorry for the confusion! Unfortunately I didn't really like Bridget Jones's Baby that much, in comparison with the earlier books. But at least we can bond over it! I'll post a review below.

 

16 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Ooh, it sounds really satisfying, that idea of going through all your books. :)

 

I hope it will be :hug:.

 

16 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Hmm, I ordered Bridget Jones` Baby ( the book) a couple of days ago ( it was really cheap, and I needed to add something to the order list to get free P&P ). I still have Book 3 to read as well . :) 

 

I hope you enjoy both books :). It's nice it was pretty cheap! I pre-ordered it (as a new copy of course) so I paid full price for it.

 

15 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Thanks. :)  Even if Book 4 is really awful, I think I`d want to read it anyway, to complete the series. :lol: 

 

I would feel the same way.

 

12 hours ago, bobblybear said:

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Most of it was interesting, but some chapters didn't grab me as much as others.

 

I hope your mojo comes back soon.....I lost mine for a little while earlier in the year, and it's not nice. It's a strange feeling to not want to read. :(

 

Thanks again for the recommendation :).

 

Thanks, me too. I have still been reading books these past few weeks, but not as many as before and there are days where I don't feel like reading at all so I don't. It's a strange feeling indeed :(.

 

9 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Maybe our minds need to subconsciously process everything we've read and catalogue stuff. Or maybe our brains are just full up. ;)

 

I know mine does! :)

 

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