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Athena's Reading List 2018


Athena

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13 hours ago, Alexander the Great said:

Congratulations, Gaia! 

 

Thanks, Alexander :)!

 

1 hour ago, karen.d said:

Congratulations! Here's to many more posts on the board! :smile:

 

Thanks, Karen :)! I don't plan to stop posting any time soon :D.

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I read Pam van der Veen and Albert Wiglema - Wonderjaren. I recently came across this book and bought it on a whim after reading the sample. This is a Dutch book that talks about the technology in the 1980s and 1990s and how it changed the way a lot of us (in the Netherlands) live our lives. It features quotes from people too and articles. I quite liked this book. It was nice to feel nostalgic for older times.

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I read Marian Keyes - This Charming Man. I hadn't read a book by Marian Keyes before, though I own several. I bought this book a little while ago and somehow the interesting format and different fonts appealed to me about a week ago and thus I started reading it. The book has a few main characters that each talk in a different voice. I liked the distinction between the voices of the characters, I thought that was well done. At times it felt like the plot could have progressed quicker (the book could have been shorter), but I was enjoying the read so I wasn't too bothered by it. I liked the characters, though there was one main character that I thought was a bit mean / stereotypical in her opinion of certain side characters. It wasn't something huge in the story, but it wasn't quite PC. I did approve of some other things she did though.

 

Overall I enjoyed reading this book for the most part. It dragged a bit in places, but I enjoyed reading the book.

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I read Hilary Reyl - Kids Like Us. I read this in one day! This is a YA contemporary fiction story featuring a male main character who has autism. There is also a love story. I quite liked this book. I really liked the main character, Martin. I also liked a lot of the side characters (I really liked Layla!). I was less keen on Martin's mum, because of her stance on 'curing autism' and she wasn't really called out on it.

 

The book takes place in France, Martin and his family go to France for a while, so his mum can film a movie there. I loved reading about the French food, and about other elements of France. I've been on holidays to France for quite a few times, so it was really nice to read about certain foods and towns and things like that, in this book. Ie. I enjoyed reading about the castle they go to. The author lived in France for several years, nowadays she lives in New York City.

 

Martin really likes this old book, a classic work of French literature. While I didn't know much about it, I did like how it was woven into the book and how it helped Martin understand the world.

 

Overall then I enjoyed this book a lot. Not quite as much as Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde and The State of Grace by Rachael Lucas, but I still liked it quite a lot. A new favourite!

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Yesterday I read Paul van Loon - De Leeuwenkuil 1: Paniek in de Leeuwenkuil. It was pretty nice, I enjoyed reading it. I think it's interesting the set up of the family owning a zoo, is based on real-life, with a friend of the author, the friend's family actually owned a zoo when the friend was a young boy. Anyway, I like this author's children's books, I'm a fan of his horror-work. This book is a contemporary fiction story, with a little mystery mixed in. It was enjoyable.

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While I am re-reading Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time 2: The Great Hunt, I wasn't feeling in the mood for it a few days ago, and so decided to start Josh Sundquist - Love and F1rst Sight. I don't normally read two books at once, but gladly it went well.

 

I read Josh Sundquist's memoir We Should Hang Out Sometime and really liked it. Love and F1rst Sight is his YA contemporary debut novel. It's about a blind teenage boy named Will. He develops a crush on a girl. Then an experimental surgery could give him his eye-sight back for the first time ever.

 

I follow a couple of blind / visually impaired people on YouTube and have watched some of their videos, and based on what I know from that, I thought the author did his research really well for this book. The book was insightful and I really liked it. It reads pretty quickly and has short chapters which I like. I really liked learning more about what it's like to be blind (from birth) and while the experimental surgery doesn't quite exist in the way it happens in the book, I thought it was well handled.

Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book.

 

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I made some progress in The Great Hunt but decided to start another YA contemporary alongside it.

 

I read Alyssa Sheinmel - Faceless. This book is about a teenage girl named Maisie whose face gets burnt in an accident. She gets a face transplant, which is a rare chance. She finds it difficult dealing with all the changes in her life.

 

Note to @Alexander the Great, if you're reading this, running is a side-theme of the book. It's definitely not the main point, but it is mentioned throughout the story, it's a side element (if you can find an excerpt / sample, the first few pages of the first chapter, mention running). So I thought of you :).

 

I quite liked Faceless. It had some interesting insights. It was interesting to follow Maisie's thought processes.

 

 

 

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I re-read Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time 2: The Great Hunt. Last year I re-read the prequel and book 1, but then I found myself not in the mood to continue to re-read the series. This month however I did find myself in the mood. I read the book alongside a few other books, because I didn't always find myself in the mood to re-read this book and so read other books when I wasn't in the mood.

 

The beginning was a bit slow for me in this book, but once I got into it I really liked this book. The last part in particular was really good. Stuff happened that in my mind happened later on in the series, it's interesting how memories work.

 

I enjoyed following the characters during this book and I'm glad it worked so well for me to read a couple of other books alongside re-reading this book. I hope to start book 3 in a while (again with other books alongside it).

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I read Olivia Rivers - In the Hope of Memories. Hope passes away, and leaves four of her friends a scavenger hunt to undertake. The four friends don't know each other, but they get to know one another along the way. I really liked the diversity in this book. Each of the characters has their own issues. There's OCD, autism, a character who is going blind, eating disorder, suicide, a character who's neither boy nor girl, a character in a wheelchair because they were in a school bombing.

 

My one point I liked less: some of the clues involved an illustration and I would have preferred to have seen an image of this, I think that would have helped, rather than just a description.

 

The story is told through the points of view of the 4 characters, and I loved how unique each of their POVs was written.

 

Overall I quite liked this book.

 

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Then I read two free short stories (found through SFF180's video).

 

The first one was Sarah Pinsker - And Then There Were (N-One). You can read the story for free online here. This story involves a murder mystery taking place at a convention for Sarah Pinskers in alternate universes. Our main character, Sarah Pinsker, goes to the convention and meets Sarah Pinskers who come from alternate universes. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is referenced, both in the short story as well as in, of course, the title of the short story. I haven't read the Agatha Christie book yet though, so I might have missed out on something by not having read it (to be completely honest, the reason I haven't read it, is that I was gifted an old copy of the book which carries its original title, and I'm worried I'll make someone upset if I posted the original title. But it is the title that is written on the old copy I was gifted, and so I cannot read it without writing down the title + alternate title). Anyway, I found the short story interesting, what it made me think about, but I was a bit confused towards the end in regards to the murder mystery.

 

The second one (called a novelette in the document) I read was Sarah Pinsker - Wind Will Rove. You can download a PDF of this short story on the author's website. This story takes place aboard a space ship. A group of humans left Earth on this space ship a few generations ago. One of the crew members deleted the database with all Earth's art and history. The rest of the crew try to recreate the art and history. The main character of the short story is a female history teacher and musician. She helps recreate old folk songs. The short story made me think about history and art and its importance.

 

 

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I read some more free short stories, found through 2 videos: Thomas' video from SFF180 (the first 2 stories I mention) and Thomas' video from SFF180 (the other stories I mention in this review post).

 

I read Xia Jia - The Psychology Game. You can read this short story for free online here. This is not really a story but more a piece on A.I. and counseling, there isn't really a story as such. It was a nice piece to read, a bit of food for thought, but that's all it was.

 

I read Charles Payseur - The Sound Of. You can read this short story for free online here. This story takes place in a sort of dystopian future, in which a government of some kind is really controlling. It was a nice read but I don't know that I'll remember it a while from now.

 

I read A. Merc Rustad - Later, Let's Tear Up the Inner Sanctum. You can read this short story for free online here. The story involves superheroes and -villains. The story was interesting, I liked the different formats it was written in (ie. by cameralogs, blogs, interviews). I was a bit confused at what happened near the end though.

 

I read Linda Nagata - The Martian Obelisk. You can read this short story for free online here. This story is about an architect on Earth who is constructing a huge building on Mars. It was a nice story.

 

I read Elizabeth Bear - She Still Loves the Dragon. You can read this short story for free online here. I didn't really get along with this story, and reminded me of abusive relationships.

 

I read S. B. Divya - Contingency Plans for the Apocalypse. You can read this short story for free online here. It's about an apocalypse and how a family has to flee. I liked this story, it had suspense.

 

I read Erin Roberts - Sour Milk Girls. You can read this short story for free online here. This story is about a couple of girls in a foster house. Their memories get erased before they get there. Then a new girl arrives, with her memories intact. I liked most of this story but found the conclusion unsatisfying and confusing. I had expected a big mystery and maybe I missed it, but I didn't find the answers to questions I had.

 

 

 

 

 

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January 2018 Summary

Books read: 21
Pages read: 4316

Genres:
Fantasy: 3
Science-fiction: 7
Contemporary Fiction: 6
Rom-com: 1
Historical Fiction: 0
Literature: 1
Detective / Mystery: 0
Thriller: 1
Horror: 0
Paranormal: 0
Biography: 2
Information: 1
'Disney': 0

Age Ranges:
Infants: 0 book(s)
Children: 2 book(s)
Young-Adult: 6 book(s)
Adult: 13 book(s)

TBR vs. R:
Re-reads: 1 book(s)
New Reads: 20 book(s)
Combination: 0 book(s)

Types of books: Novels: 9
Short Stories / Short Story Collections: 9
Information: 1
Biographies: 2

Most impressive / Favourite(s) of the month:
Hilary Reyl - Kids Like Us
Josh Sundquist - Love and F1rst Sight
Olivia Rivers - In the Hope of Memories
Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time 2: The Great Hunt (re-read)
Alyssa Sheinmel - Faceless
Loes den Hollander - Voorbedacht
Anne Frank, Ari Folman, David Polonsky - Het Achterhuis
Dylan Haegens, Marit Brugman and Rick Vermeulen - Dylan Haegens Stripboek
Pam van der Veen and Albert Wiglema - Wonderjaren

Pretty enjoyable:
Marian Keyes - This Charming Man
Paul van Loon - De Leeuwenkuil 1: Paniek in de Leeuwenkuil
Sarah Pinsker - And Then There Were (N-One)
Sarah Pinsker - Wind Will Rove
S. B. Divya - Contingency Plans for the Apocalypse
Megan McDonald (ill. Peter Reynolds) - Fleur Humeur 5: Fleur Humeur wordt dokter (Judy Moody 5: Doctor Judy Moody)

Somewhat enjoyable:
Linda Nagata - The Martian Obelisk
Charles Payseur - The Sound Of
A. Merc Rustad - Later, Let's Tear Up the Inner Sanctum
Erin Roberts - Sour Milk Girls
Xia Jia - The Psychology Game

Disappointments / Least favourites of the month:
Elizabeth Bear - She Still Loves the Dragon

Abandoned book:
None!

Shortest books read this month:
Charles Payseur - The Sound Of (9 pages)
Xia Jia - The Psychology Game (12 pages)
S. B. Divya - Contingency Plans for the Apocalypse (15 pages)

Longest books read this month:
Marian Keyes - This Charming Man (885 pages)
Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time 2: The Great Hunt (re-read) (708 pages)

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13 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

I like the look of the Sarah Pinsker books. :D

 

They are short stories, but out of the short stories I read, those are my favourites :)!

 

13 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

I can`t believe it`s already February !! :o Looks like you`ve had a good month for reading. :)

 

Me either :o! Thanks, I did :).

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