Athena

I read this book a few years ago too and I really liked it as well. Happy (re)reading !

Hmm.. I'm not sure what kind of specific recipes you would be looking for. What kind of things do you like to eat or do you not eat (ie. do you eat meat, fish, eggs, carbs?)? Are you looking for something for dinner? Or ie. something not for a meal, such as cake? I'm also not sure what kind of things are available over there in the US vs the Netherlands. I often find with American recipes they name an ingredient I've not seen here. But anyway.. if you want something typically Dutch 'hutspot' comes to my mind. It's not really a summer food though, it is a winter food (it's mashed potatoes with sometimes mashed carrots, sometimes sauerkraut, a 'rookworst' (a type of Dutch sausage) and gravy; I know there are varients with 'boerenkool' as well instead of the carrots or sauerkraut but I don't like that. Not sure what boerenkool is in English, sorry). My partner and I make pasta a lot (usually with tomato sauce, sometimes with carbonara sauce, bell peppers and/or mushrooms, and a type of meat), we sometimes have chicken tandoori with rice and vegetables but it requires a pack that I don't know is sold in other countries. We sometimes make bami but again that requires herbs that I don't think you can find in the US, but I could be wrong (it's pork, noodles, specific vegetables and bami herbs). On occasion we make a 'vegetable tart' with 'puff pastry', eggs, creme fraice, certain vegetables (for example, leek), a type of proteine (such as bacon bits / lardons, or tuna), and on occasion grated cheese on top (note: Dutch cheese is very different from the standard American cheese.. just fyi). Well.. just throwing some random ideas out there.. I'd have to think about what meals we often have that could be interesting.

I kind of forgot about the read-a-thon this month! I mean.. the move has been more in my mind than anything else. I'm currently reading Fablehaven (book 1 in the Fablehaven series) by Brandon Mull together with a friend from BookTube, we're reading 3 chapters a day and should have it finished in a few days. I started re-reading Maar je ziet er helemaal niet autistisch uit by Bianca Toeps. Had I realised it was the read-a-thon this weekend, maybe I would've hold off until after. I would've liked to re-read Elise Cordaro's memoir after, Anders kan ook. But not sure now what I will do. I would like to read some graphic novels and manga for the read-a-thon. Happy reading Hayley!

carry

Whoops for not posting in my reading log for.. over a month . So.. here are really short bookish thoughts. Natalie C. Anderson - Let's Go Swimming on Doomsday This was an excellent YA thriller / contemporary fiction about a teenage boy named Abdi whose family is kidnapped. He is forced to become a child soldier for the jihadi group Al Shabaab and in order to save the lives of his family he has to figure out their plans and send information on them to the Americans. Abdi's brother is a soldier for Al Shabaab, he was taken from his family a few years prior to the story. I really liked this book. Mirjam Mous - Boy 7 This is a Dutch YA thriller, which takes place in the US. It's about a boy who wakes up in a field but can't remember much, including his name and how he got there. It was a really suspenseful read. Laura Kate Dale - Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman This is a memoir about, as the title says, Laura who is a gay autistic trans woman. I liked it. Isabel Greenberg - Early Earth 2: The One Hundred Nights of Hero A graphic novel that takes place in the same world as the author's graphic novel The Encyclopia of Early Earth. I liked it. Tillie Walden - The End of Summer The author's debut work. I've previously read her graphic memoir Spinning, which I really liked (which is about her growing up and her passion for figure skating and figuring out her sexuality). The End of Summer is a graphic novel about a boy who is ill and lives in this big house/castle. I found the story confusing tbh. Tillie Walden - I Love This Part This is a YA graphic novel about two teenage girls and it's about love. It was a nice read, quite short though. Tillie Walden - A City Inside Another short graphic novel, I liked it at the time but struggle to remember things of it several weeks later. Tillie Walden - On A Sunbeam This is my favourite work by this author. This is a science-fiction graphic novel about a restoration crew and two girls at a boarding school and it was excellent. If anyone is interested, it can be read for free at the On a Sunbeam Website: https://www.onasunbeam.com/ I read the paperback version but you can read it online as well, the author originally published this story as a webcomic first (Link to Tillie Walden's website: https://www.tilliewalden.com/). Tillie Walden - Are You Listening? This is the author's newest graphic novel. It's about Bea who runs away and meets Lou, then the two of them go on a sort of road trip together. I liked it a lot. E. J. Copperman - Haunted Guesthouse Mystery 5: The Thrill of the Haunt The next installment in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series. I really liked it. It's a cozy mystery series with ghosts. Peter F. Hamilton - Chronicle of the Fallers 2: Night Without Stars This is adult science-fiction, book 2 in the Chronicle of the Fallers duology. I enjoyed this conclusion to the duology. Melinda Grace - Meet Me in Outer Space YA contemporary fiction about a teenage girl who's at college. She has a learning disability and loves fashion. She lives in the United States and wants to spend some time in Paris, so she has to take an extra French course at college. But the professor of the course isn't really willing to help her out regarding her learning disability. I really liked this book. Heide Boonen - Duivelshanden This is a Dutch contemporary fiction book about a younger teenage girl who in school suddenly gets angry and attacks a classmate. She locks herself in her room. Her father gives her a blank notepad/notebook and she starts writing down what has happened. I liked this book for the most part. It is just over 100 pages and was published in 2001. Shaylynn Hayes - Full of Sound and Fury A memoir written by someone who suffers with misophonia. She also interviews other people who have the same condition. I liked this memoir. Amy Reed - The Nowhere Girls YA contemporary about rape culture and feminism. It centres 3 teenage girls. A while earlier, a teenage girl at their school, was raped by several boys from the school, but was forced to leave because no one believed her. The 3 teenage girls decide to do something. I loved this book. Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl 4: Het bedrog van Opal (The Opal Deception) The 4th book in the Artemis Fowl series, it was really enjoyable. Disney, Jasmine Jones - Lizzie McGuire 5: Op de foto (Picture This) Disney, Terri Minsky - Lizzie McGuire Cine-Manga 4: Volume 4: I Do, I Don't & Come Fly With Me Disney, Terri Minsky - Lizzie McGuire Cine-Manga 13: Volume 13: Obsession & Gordo's Video These were nostalgic reads for me. Would not suggest them if you're not familiar with the TV show they are based on. Juno Dawson - This Book Is Gay A YA information book about being LGBT. It was a nice read and I liked the illustration. I would've preferred more content on asexuality and the ace spectrum. Juno Dawson - The Gender Games The author's memoir about how she realised she's a (trans) woman rather than a gay man. I really liked it. Esther Verhoef - De Debutante A short story that came with a free magazine I got. I didn't like most of the magazine that much, but I liked finding this short story in it! It was nice . Francien Regelink - Druks A Dutch AD(H)D memoir that recently came out. I loved it and recognised quite a few things.

It's been really hot here, it was the hottest 31rst July ever measured in the Netherlands. Gladly today it's a bit cooler, so I've got the windows open so the house can cool down a bit. By the end of the week though it'll be warmer again unfortunately.

beans

I can see the circles too! It took a little while but then I saw them . How unusual!

painting

reason

I liked Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 more than The Reason I Jump, though neither one is a particular favourite among the autism memoirs I've read. I loved The War of the Worlds too!

Welcome here !

I'm glad to see the forum back! Thank you for all your efforts . It must have been a stressful time for you . I haven't browsed the forum much yet other than the main index and this topic. The only thing I've noticed, is that when I hover over your, or anyone else's, name, it used to show bits of the member's profile, but now it says: There was a problem loading this content.

Yeah, it has been quiet here, that is true. I'm not currently reading any book, but I plan to pick one to read in a while. A lot of my books are packed in boxes and a lot of them are already at the new house. I have some left here in my old house unpacked. So, a more limited selection to pick from. I'm taking a break from packing today but will be back at it soon.

Agreed! Good to know, thanks Marie ! I'll add it to my wishlist as well. Robert Thorogood - Death in Paradise 4: Murder in the Caribbean The fourth mystery novel based on the Death in Paradise TV series. I loved the first three, I loved this one as well. I read it in one afternoon/evening, which is pretty unusual for me. I just wanted to know whodunnit! I don't know if this novel will be quite as enjoyable, if you are not familiar with the TV series. I really liked it though, I love the TV series as well as this book series.

Thank you Madeleine !

Chair

The forum seemed to be offline this morning.. but it seems up again now so that's great .

Update time! The official move is happening in the second half of August. I've been busy packing my books (as well as other things). Some of my books are in my room at the new house, other boxes with books are still at home awaiting transportation. We've been taking boxes there, emptying them, then taking the empty boxes back to refill them again. I have a few book cases already in the new room, and some book cases empty at home that can be transported. So, progress is being made. I will eventually post pictures, or maybe a video, or both, but I'm not comfortable posting work-in-progress pictures in public atm, as things are quite messy (piles of books all over the floor and such). I'm hoping to get as much of our stuff to the house as possible, before the move and also during. Things left to do DIY-wise on the house: - woodwork living room - the wooden floor of the ground floor (living room, kitchen, hallway, toilet) - all internet cabling & WiFi - check all electricity / sockets - various things in the garden - various things in the garage And we still need to buy certain things, such as a washing machine, freezer, certain furniture, lots of small things, etc (I plan to get lots of things through online orders because of the pandemic). Our new bed should be delivered in a few weeks. Okay, that's it for now.

Some thoughts on recent reads. Peter F. Hamilton - Chronicle of the Fallers 1: The Abyss Beyond Dreams I started reading this book sometime in May, and finished it partway through June. I mostly really enjoyed this book. It was a new-to-me read, and I look forward to read book 2 to finish off the duology, later this year. Now I love Hamilton's book and he is one of my favourite science-fiction authors. I really enjoyed the plot twists in this book, and those times when something just clicked and I was like.. oooh now things make sense! One thing that I noticed though, is something that I noticed with Hamilton's earlier books as well. This one was published in 2014. With his earlier works, say from the 1980s and 1990s, I found it more excusable, but I would hope the author would start to do better soon. The thing is that the author uses the white-is-default trope. A character's skin colour is usually only mentioned in his books, if it is non-white. With a lot of the characters the skin colour is not mentioned, and then on occasion it is and it turns out it's white. We need this 'othering' of people of colour to stop. Also most of his main characters in his books (that I've read) are usually white, not all of them (for example, Ozzie is Black, Paula has some Asian features, etc). But if you go out of your way to describe the skin colour or features of (side) characters who are darker-skinned, then you should, in my opinion, also mention the skin colour of the main characters who are white. I don't know if the author is aware of it (if not, I hope he becomes aware of it soon, but maybe he already has since I haven't read anything newer than his 2014 book..), but I hope the author would change this aspect of his stories soon.. because I couldn't help but find it a bit grating/painful every time it happened in this book (and it stood out to me more so, because of the current times in the world, with the Black Lives Matter movement being much more spoken about and on social media and in the news. I'm educating myself and trying to understand things more and more). Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl 3: De eeuwige code (The Eternity Code) This was book 3 in the Artemis Fowl series, and I buddy read it with my friend again. We both really liked this book. I'm glad the reading experience was much better for me, than the one I had with book 2 (with the book I had called the 'cat book', because it made me super allergic). Renée Watson - Some Places More Than Others This is a middle-grade contemporary fiction book about a Black 11-year-old girl who lives in Oregon (in the United States). She wants to visit New York (City), to learn more about her family and her ancestors. I loved this book, it was such a good read. Claire Kann - If It Makes You Happy This is a YA contemporary fiction about a queer fat Black teenage girl named Winnie. The book is about friendship, love, family, food. Winnie's granny runs a diner with a '50s theme. During summers Winnie likes to work there. I really liked this book. I also really liked the author's debut novel, which is Let's Talk About Love (I read it a while ago), which is what made me pick up her second book. John F. Taylor (ill. Tad Herr) - De AD(H)D Survivalgids (The Survival Guide for Kids with ADD or ADHD) I felt in the mood to read something in Dutch, with illustrations, for children. I picked up this book off my shelves. I bought it in a library sale a few years ago. As someone with ADD, I'm interested in books about it. I didn't think beforehand I'd learn a lot of tips from this, as I am no longer a kid who goes to school (because I've graduated, and all that), and as such am not the target audience. It was still a nice read though. What I was not expecting, was that the book was humourous. I really liked that, it was funny! I also really liked the illustrations, and that the characters in the illustrations were a variety of people. There were quite a few characters who are non-white (which I've realised even more in these current times, is so important, that non-white kids see themselves represented too). There was also a Black/brown girl in a wheelchair. The illustrations in the book are printed in a greyscale.

Friend

Just got this message trying to load: It's working now though. It's the same message I got a while ago, but then it was loading okay just when I was finishing off writing you an email about it. But, I thought I'd post it here when it happened just now, in case it helps .

I had noticed the loading problem but several times I was almost done writing an email to you, the forum then loaded fine so I was like.. well okay never mind! it seems to work a lot better today than last week!

There were no books in that book case, the book case held our video games. Gladly they seemed okay . It's been very warm here the past few days. They predict it will be warm for a couple more days, then hopefully in the weekend it will cool down. I'll be glad when it cools down a bit. The warmth isn't too bad when I'm sitting still not doing much, but I've been busy doing packing for the move, and packing books in boxes and carrying them around, while it's quite hot, isn't the best combination .

Person