Athena
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Posts posted by Athena
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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 - PuckThis 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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What We Believe But Cannot Prove by John Brockman
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Bang Bang ~ Chipz
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I'm reading Puck by Lotte van den Noort, written/published in 2010 and written by someone who was a teenager at the time and who lived (lives?) in the same area I live in. I found it at a library sale. The book is a short book for young teenagers, about a 12-year-old girl named Puck and her life. It's nice so far.
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A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
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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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To be honest I can't remember much of the last book, so I can't really answer your question. It's been so long since I (re)read the books.. I definitely recognised several parts of your reviews, Ged, Sparrowhawk, the tombs, but I never thought about the 4th book being more female or anything. I'll have to re-read the books some time and see how I feel about it.
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For whoever is interested, on my YouTube channel I created some videos regarding my statistics of my 2019 reading.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4 will up be in 2 hours from when I'm writing this post.
Part 5 will be up in 1 day and 2 hours, from when I'm writing this post.
EDIT:
Part 4:
Part 5:
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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 WomanThis 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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11 hours ago, Kazloumy said:
Yes, I did like My Not So Perfect Life. Sophie Kinsella always tends to write about the female protagonist with career goals, many obstacles in her way and with a heart of gold. Some bits were laugh out loud funny. It’s a nice break from the thrillers and dense fantasies I love to read. It’s a little bit tongue in cheek and predictable, but I have to say, It’s a feel good book at its best.
I'm glad you liked it! I'm a fan of Sophie Kinsella's books and have read a lot of her earlier releases. I think I will enjoy My Not So Perfect Life, based on your description
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2 hours ago, willoyd said:I think the reality is a bit more positive! Apologies if the following is a bit long-winded, but I hope it's of some interest, and helps explain.
I belong to two book groups, the selections for which are done in different ways. Even without considering the detail of those selections, it's probably inevitable that a higher fraction of the books I don't like are group selections, simply because I don't have any say in most of them - I'm not likely to select books for my own reading that I'm likely to dislike after all!
Then, there's the method of selection. One group (A) is an independent group which I joined a few years ago that meets in members' homes. Selections go in cycles: at the start of a cycle, each member nominates two books to the book co-ordinator (which happens to be me at present), who makes sure there aren't any duplicates, repeats etc. I then allocate a book to each month (mainly out of a hat!) and circulate a reading programme to the end of the next cycle (about 15 months at present). The other group (B) is a more recently formed one based in my local library, and using the library system's stock of reading group books. Every cycle we each select one book off a list of these. Each month, central services sends out a set of one of these for us to read next month. A highlight of each meeting is opening the box and discovering which book we're reading next month (only the group co-ordinator - not me in this case! - has the list of our choices). Both groups have fun trying to guess who selected that month's book!
The result is that Group A has more control over the books being read, and there is distinctly more variety in the genres and authors too (the list for the second group is dominated by fiction, of which most is literary fiction). The result of that is that I find I enjoy a higher proportion of Group A's books - more consideration is given by each nominator too. Having said that, there's been a fair amount of 'good' reads from both groups. In the last year the distribution has been:
Group A: read 10, ****** 1, ***** 2, **** 2, *** 2, ** 3, * 0, average = 3.6
Group B: read 11, ****** 0, ***** 1, **** 3, *** 3, ** 1, * 3, average = 2.8
Having said all that (!), the fact that All the Pretty Horses provided a good score, may partly be down to the fact that it was my nomination (Group A)! Of the books above, my nominations scored a 6 and a 5 in Group A, and the 5 in group B, undelrining the biases outlined above (I am glad to say they proved popular with other members as well).
I ought to emphasise that I absolutely don't mind there being a higher proportion of books I don't like - half the point to a reading group for me is to be introduced to a wider range of authors and books (which is why I do find the Group B list a bit frustrating at times I have to admit). And every year there's at least one major discovery for me: this year it was George Mackay Brown, whose book for the group (A) I loved - I'm exploring more of his writing this year - and who more than compensated for some of the 'dross'!
I loved reading this detailed explanation, thank you so much!!
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On 18/01/2020 at 9:08 AM, karen.d said:
Wow, the month has gone so quickly! I'll be taking part in the read-a-thon as much as I can. I'm not sure what I will be reading. It's my birthday next Wednesday, so I suspect that I might be receiving a few new books! So we will see
I hope you get some new books for your birthday
!!
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I loved reading your reviews! Yes, there are two more Earthsea books. One is a short story collection, the other a novel. I haven't read either one yet so I'm really not sure if they'll be as good as the first four. I really enjoyed reading your reviews, I'm glad you enjoyed these books and that your daughter inspired you to read them
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8 hours ago, Kazloumy said:
So far this year I’ve read The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams, My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella and today I finished A Not Quite Perfect Family by Claire Sandy. Tomorrow I start The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien as a group read with my daughters. I feel like I need some fantasy after all of the contemporary reads.
I have My Not So Perfect Life on my TBR. Did you like it? I liked The Hobbit. I too feel like I need to switch up genres.
7 hours ago, willoyd said:Completed my second book of the year, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy,a book group choice. Outstanding: 5/6.
I'm glad this was a book club read that was really good (as opposed to usually when you don't like the book group choice books)!
I finished reading With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo yesterday (which was a nice read). I'm not sure yet what I feel like reading next, but I have a lot of chores and things to do today, so I might not pick another book just yet, until I'm further done with those tasks.
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Personal update:
The weekend for the next read-a-thon (7, 8, 9 February) and a lot of the weekends after that, for the next few months, my family and I will be busy working on our new house. So.. I'm honestly not sure how much reading I'll be able to do. Maybe further down the line, sure, but the upcoming weekend in February (7, 8, 9 Feb), will be the first weekend that we have the keys to the house (I'm super excited!), so I'll probably not be getting much reading done. The weekend of 14-15-16 February I may have more time, as my parents will not be available then, but I'm not sure yet. I still want to read the books I usually read for the read-a-thons, the Fruits Basket series I'm reading and the Death Note series I just started. But I may do it during another time in the month, or maybe I'll read on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday prior to the read-a-thons (however, like I said, we're only just getting the key in the beginning of February, so the first week of Feb I'll be busy with the house for sure and I doubt there'll be much reading going on for me).
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It's been grey and sometimes rainy here, the past few days. We've had a few small bits of sunshine. It's not been that cold, but they predict after the weekend it'll get quite a bit colder.
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5 hours ago, Raven said:
Banks, Iain. The Bridge
Banks, Iain M. The Algebraist
Banks Iain M. Excession
Banks Iain M. Feersum Endjinn
Banks Iain M. Inversions
Banks, Iain M. Look to Windward
Banks Iain M. Matter
Banks Iain M. The Player of Games
Banks Iain M. Use of Weapons
I have all of them with the exception of the The Bridge, which isn't one of his science fiction novels (you can tell the difference because his sci-fi novels have an 'M' in the middle of his name).
The ones I have highlighted in bold above are the ones I have read. Of the ones I have read The Player of Games is by far my favourite, and I would go as far as to say it is one of the best contemporary science fiction novels I have read. Use of Weapons is also very good, but in a very different way!
I've read (out of those on your list) The Player of Games and The Use of Weapons and I really liked both. The Player of Games is my favourite of his books also. Highly recommend!
5 hours ago, Raven said:Oh, and by the way, if you have never read The War of the Worlds, you are in for another treat! (it is far, far better than the dreadful adaptation the BBC foisted upon us last year).
Agreed, I really liked The War of the Worlds (the book, that is).
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8 hours ago, vodkafan said:
Convenience Store Woman 5/5
Sayaka Murata
Another Christmas gift book from my daughter. This was a quick read, about 3 hours, I couldn't put it down. It is weird, wacky and hilarious and slightly disturbing, I can't say any more!
Except to urge everyone to go out and buy, borrow or steal this and read it!
Oooh excellent! I bought this book recently. I'm glad you liked it!
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21 hours ago, Onion Budgie said:
I'd be in Hayley's 'chaotic' tribe! I try to organise by author, although not alphabetically, and roughly by order of publication date, but not always. My Agatha Christies are all together, but they're hopelessly out of order; ditto my William S. Burroughs shelf. (They're the two authors I own the most books by.) Most of my books are upright, but there are sections where they're on their sides due to height restrictions. My non-fiction books are shelved more or less by genre, but they're scattered in different areas. Colour organisation is for lunatics.
Within an author's work, it really differs for me per author how I organise. Some are organised chronologically, others in the order I read them in, some by/per series (ie. in the case of some fantasy authors), some based on the height of the books, etc.
20 hours ago, Madeleine said:Tribe Hayley as well, I have some on the shelves and back then I used to try to keep books by the same author together, but now it's just piles on the floor!
I have to admit I have a few piles on the floor as well. In some cases, it's because it doesn't fit where I want it to. In a couple of other cases, it's a pile of books by authors of whom I know I have another book (so they should be together on the shelf) but I haven't been able to find said book.
Just wanted to give these two things as an addendum to my earlier post in this thread.
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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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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
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
! I hope we both read some great books this year.
Karen.d's Reading List 2020
in Past Book Logs
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Happy Birthday Karen!!
I hope you have a wonderful day!