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Athena's Reading List 2020


Athena

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19 hours ago, Hayley said:

Happy reading in 2020 Gaia! I hope you read some amazing books this year and that the news you've got to disclose is good news!

 

Thank you Hayley! It should be :).

 

14 hours ago, karen.d said:

Happy New Year! I hope you read some great books in 2020!

 

Thanks Karen, I hope the same for you :)!

 

12 hours ago, Brian. said:

Happy reading for 2020 Gaia.

 

Thanks Brian! I hope you read some amazing books this year :readingtwo:.

 

11 hours ago, Lau_Lou said:

Happy Reading! Hope it is a thoroughly enjoyable one. :)

 

Thank you Lau Lou! I hope you have a graet reading year too in 2020 :)!

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Books read during the BCF January 2020 read-a-thon:

 

Natsuki Takaya - Fruits Basket CE 9 (17-18): Volume 9

It was really nice to read more of this series and there was an interesting twist in the story.


Tomohito Oda - Komi Can't Communicate 1: Volume 1

This was a nice first volume of this series. It's about a teenage girl who has a disorder that makes it very hard for her to talk with other people. She wants to have some friends. A (male) classmate who is new at school decides to help her with this. I enjoyed it.


Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata - Death Note 1: Volume 1

I've seen 2/3rds of the anime series. The story in this volume was quite familiar to me, I loved reading it.

 

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My big news is.. I'm in the process of buying a house! We should have the key in less than 4 weeks, then we'll spend some time cleaning and painting and decorating etc. We currently live in a little house called 'the bakery' on my parents' property. There is no rush with moving out, so I want to get everything painted and ready, before we move. 🏠

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On 11/01/2020 at 10:00 AM, poppy said:

That's wonderful and very exciting news for you, Athena. All the best with your decorating and moving :)

 

Thank you so much, Poppy :)!! It'll be an exciting time.

 

On 12/01/2020 at 12:24 AM, Hayley said:

Happy BCF anniversary Gaia! (so sorry it's late!) and huge congratulations on your move too! How exciting! I hope you have fun, making it all just how you want :) 

 

Thank you so much, Hayley!! :) I hope it will be fun too!

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Happy reading Gaia!  Thanks for looking in on my blog. I have heard of Death Note, how was it?

I like your way of organizing each month into a different post on the first page...sadly the number of books I might read in a year wouldn't justify it ;) 

Looking on your TBR, and knowing how much you read in sheer volume, there were several books I was surprised that you had never yet read.

Good luck with your goals, and saving money! Yes stay away from bookshops if you can, you have a few to be getting on with :readingtwo:

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14 hours ago, vodkafan said:

Happy reading Gaia!  Thanks for looking in on my blog. I have heard of Death Note, how was it?

I like your way of organizing each month into a different post on the first page...sadly the number of books I might read in a year wouldn't justify it ;) 

Looking on your TBR, and knowing how much you read in sheer volume, there were several books I was surprised that you had never yet read.

Good luck with your goals, and saving money! Yes stay away from bookshops if you can, you have a few to be getting on with :readingtwo:

 

I really liked Volume 1 of Death Note :). But then, I have seen 2/3rds of the anime series, so I knew I'd probably like the beginning. The first 2/3rds of the anime series was very good, but then it got really weird, suddenly introducing new characters and making the story about them instead of the characters we've come to love. I'll be interested to find out how it will go in the original manga series that I'm now reading. I'm planning to read one volume each month, there are 12 volumes (my box set also has an extra volume, volume 13, which seems to be sort of an encyclopedia kind of thing). I have seen Death Note movies 1 & 2 (live action Japanese) which I liked a lot (and didn't have that weird element like in the anime), but not yet the Death Note L: Change the World movie. We haven't seen the new American Death Note movie, but I've heard bad things so I don't plan on watching it to be honest.

 

Thank you for stopping by my thread :)! :readingtwo: I hope we both read some great books this year.

 

 

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I've read a couple more books in the past while:

 

Sharon Biggs Waller - Girls on the Verge

This is a YA contemporary fiction book about a girl who accidentally got pregnant and wants an abortion. She and her two friends go on a road trip, because in Texas the laws don't allow it. I thought it was an interesting read. It's not a very long book and it read quickly, which was what I needed at the time. I gave it full marks just after I finished it, but later on lowered it a bit.

 

Jodi Picoult - A Spark of Light

This book is about a shooting in an abortion clinic. The book is different in that the story is told in reverse order. We start with the shooting and then go back in time, an hour at a time, to learn more and more about the characters and what happened with all of them. The book shows multiple sides of the pro-life/anti-abortion vs. pro-choice viewpoints, through the different characters in the story. I've been a fan of Jodi Picoult's books for a long time, and have read I think most of them. I enjoyed this book by her, though it was not a new favourite. At times, particularly in the beginning, I found it difficult to wrap my head around the reverse order telling of the story, getting things mixed up in my head. It's because of that, that I can't give full marks, though it could have something to do with my energy levels and mental state at the time of reading the book.

 

Eva Louise Bakker - Desnoods de hele wereld

This is a Dutch debut novel about an autistic woman (named Anna) who one day checks her bank account (online) and sees she has just been send a lot of money by a person she doesn't know (accompanied by a message saying especially for you). She goes on a quest, to visit all of the people she ever met in her life, to try and figure out who sent her this money and why. This is an OwnVoices book, the author herself is autistic too, and I loved all of autism representation in this book. The quest itself, Anna's journey, was also interesting to read about and added a slight mystery element to the book. This is a pretty short novel, just over 200 pages. It's probably one I'll re-read in the future, there aren't lots novels with good autism representation, so I think it's definitely one I'd like to re-read in the future, even if I couldn't/didn't give it full marks.

 

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Elizabeth Acevedo - With the Fire on High

This is a YA contemporary fiction about a teenage girl. She has a two-year-old daughter and lives with her grandmother. Her father is Puerto Rican and lives on the island, she and her grandmother (the father's mother) do not. She loves to cook and this is connected to her heritage. She is not sure yet what she wants to do after she graduates high school. She has a best friend named Angelica, there is a romance and the school starts a cooking class. I enjoyed reading this book. It's not for everything, the pacing is a bit slow at times, but I enjoyed reading it.


Sayaka Murata - Convenience Store Woman

This book came recommended by multiple people. It's a short book about a woman named Keiko, in Japan who is 36 and has been working at a convenience store since she was 18. Her family and friends wonder why she doesn't get another job that pays more, and why she isn't married. The main character is neurodiverse. I quite enjoyed reading this book. It wasn't a new favourite but it was quite an enjoyable reading experience.

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5 hours ago, vodkafan said:

I see you have got Convenience Store Woman behind you now! Congratulations too on your upcoming new house. Will you have more space for books, or will you be ditching some you have read?

 

Thank you!!

 

Yes, to both! I will be getting rid of some books, ie. some that I read and I didn't like, or some that I read and don't want to re-read. I plan on going through all my books (as well as everything else I own), and see what I want to keep and what I want to donate or gift to someone. A move seems like a good time to do this. The house needs some work so we'll also be busy with that. Thanks for asking :).

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Luc Descamps - Verkeerd moment, verkeerde plaats

This is a book based on a true story. The author interviewed Eva and her family and friends. Eva was hit by a car while she was cycling (she was 18 at the time). The driver stole her bicycle and left her for dead. Her left side became paralysed. The book is about the accident and the 2-ish years following it, about Eva's recovery. I thought it was an interesting read. I did feel that, despite that Eva was 18 in the beginning of the book, the book felt like it was written for younger teenagers. The author wanted to give more attention to traffic victims and safety in traffic.


Lotte van den Noort - Puck

This is a book written by a teeanger (at the time), about a teenager. The author lived near here while she was in high school (not sure where she lives now). The story is about a young teenage girl whose parents are divorced. She experiences something scary and this gives her bad dreams. I liked the book, but I was not a fan of the fatphobia with regards to the main character's sister.

 

Anja Vereijken - Mijn hoofd is even weg

This book is about a teenage girl who keeps experiencing strange moments, when time has passed but she doesn't remember it. It turns out she has epilepsy. The title translates to 'my head is away briefly'. I liked this book a lot. And upon looking up more about the author, after I finished the book, it turns out she lives nearby here and grew up near here (here being where I live). Which I though was nice to know, as I haven't read or even heard of that many books being written by authors who live or used to live near where I live.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Newest video in which I talk about all the books I read in January (plus a life update):

 

 

Timestamps (what book I discuss when) are in the description underneath the video if you view it on YouTube. It became a long video.

 

After my previous post in this topic, these are the books I read after that:

 

Lana Wood Johnson - Technically, You Started It

YA contemporary fiction told solely through text messages between the main character Haley and the second important character Martin Nathaniel Munroe II. Martin starts texting with Haley but at her school there are two Martins and they are cousins and basically she thinks it's one of them but it's the other one.


Emmanuela Düsseldorfer - 1001 Praktische Huishoudtips (Haushaltstipps für alle Fälle)

Disappointing but mostly because of its age. It was published in German in 2000 and in Dutch in 2003 and the book shows its age which makes some of its advices not really relevant any more.


Marja and Liny - Hoe schoon is jouw huis?

A book about cleaning your house, it was nice.


Zamarra Oomes-Kok - Opgeruimd!

An organising book, I liked it.


Tamsin Winter - Jemima Small versus the Universe

A middle-grade book about a girl who gets bullied because of her size (she is fat). She is really smart but at school most other people only see her size. My favourite read in January.


Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar - Zo denken katten (How to Be a Cat)
Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar - Geluk is... (Happiness Is...)
Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar - Vriendschap is... (Friendship Is...)
Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar - Echte liefde is... (Love Is...)

I liked these books to varying degrees.


Stefano Agabio and Studio Ianus - De Geheimen van Geluk (The Search for Happiness)

This was too repetitive unfortunately, the back promised quotes about various forms of happiness, but in the book so many of them were about smiling that it really bothered me.


Haemin Sunim (ill. Youngcheol Lee) - The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down
Haemin Sunim (ill. Lisk Feng) - Love for Imperfect Things

These were nice reads, they made me feel calm and peaceful. Definitely ones to read . dip in and out of, again in a while.

 

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Claire Legrand - Sawkill Girls

I won this YA horror book in a giveaway (I didn't intend to participate but oh well!). It's different from what I usually read but I really enjoyed it! It was creepy and interesting. It's about a place called Sawkill, where girls disappear sometimes. We have 3 main characters, 3 teenage girls.

 

Camryn Garrett - Full Disclosure

This is a YA contemporary fiction novel about a teenage girl who was born with HIV. She lives with her two dads, who adopted her when she was a baby. She has a crush on someone but isn't sure how sex would work with having HIV though she does want to have it. She is black (Own Voices rep), and the book has various LGBT+ characters. I learned more about HIV through the book, which was great. I really enjoyed reading this book, I read it in one day!

 

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