Athena

A. C. Baantjer - De Cock 7: De Cock en de Treurende Kater Genre: Detective Format: Paperback Pages: 160 Synopsis (Me):De Cock and his partner Vledder want to solve a murder, but their boss instructs them to solve a robbery of a money transport. My thoughts: By accident I didn't take the second book in the series off my shelf, but the seventh. The books themselves don't have any numbers on them, you really have to look it up to find out (a bit annoying). Anyway, that didn't diminish my enjoyment of the story and generally it doesn't matter a whole lot to read them in order (as far as I know..). This was a great story. There were a lot of characters, it's not a book to read when I'm a bit tired since then it could confuse me. There were a lot of plot twists that I didn't see coming. It was well written and great to read. The book read easily, though there were a few words in there that weren't familiar to me. This book was written in the 1970s and uses some Dutch police jargon of that time. I thought it added some authenticity to the story, though, so it didn't bother me. The technology used is also I think from that time, which is nice. They use a 'telex', which seems to be an old-fashioned way of getting messages to one another. This is where they come across the message of the murder, and if you replace it by the modern day internet then the story would work just as well. I enjoyed this old-fashioned element. By the way, it's only used once in the beginning, the rest of the story it doesn't play any role. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. There is a TV series based on the books, of which I've seen some episodes (made in the 1990s mainly I think?). My sister owns many of them (or maybe all?) on DVD. There are some differences though between the characters of the TV series and the characters at the beginning of the book series. I think the TV series is based on the characters later on in the series. So reading about them in this book stroked a little with my memories of them from the TV series, but it wasn't a big problem. Things might be different later on in the book series. I quite liked the characters as they were in this book, to be honest. I really enjoyed this book. Rating: ***** (9/10)

Ann M. Martin - The BabySitter's Club 4: Mary Anne Saves the Day (re-read) Genre: Chick-lit, Children's/YA Format: Paperback Pages: 156 Synopsis (GoodReads):The Babysitters Club is in big trouble. All four girls are having a huge fight, and Mary Anne feels caught in the middle. She isnt usually the leader of their group, but when the club leaves her to run things, Mary Anne decides it's time to take charge. Can she save the BSC before it falls apart? My thoughts: This was the next one in my English BabySitter's Club collection. It was great reading this book in English and experiencing all the memories that come with it. This was the first BSC book I ever read and it's the one that made me love the series. I loved the many parts of this book, it's fantastic. I love the character of Mary Anne (she's known in Dutch as 'Inge') in particular. I had a little bit of trouble reading the 'written' parts of the story (the introductions to what the club writes in their log book (not sure what it's called in English atm)). In Dutch I didn't have a problem so I don't know, maybe different fonts or something. I enjoyed reading about all the characters, though for some minor characters I found it difficult to think of them with their English names rather than their Dutch names. The story is really well written and quite interesting. I loved reading about what happens with the girls and their friendship, and how Mary Anne handles all the situations in this book. Rating: ***** (10/10)

Roald Dahl - Danny the Champion of the World Genre: Children's Format: Paperback Pages: 214 Synopsis (back of the book):Danny thinks the world of his father, but imagine his surprise when he finds out he's been breaking the law! Even grown-ups bend the rules sometimes, but Danny knows his father is still good, kind and clever and full of exciting ideas. Join them in this thrilling adventure as they hope to pull off the most daring and dangerous plan ever. My thoughts: Another read-a-thon, another Roald Dahl book. I picked this one because it has quite a few pages compared with some of the other ones. I don't think I've read this book before, presumably because my library didn't have it. I liked the BFG reference, this I thought was quite well done. I looked it up and this book was written before The BFG. This story was interesting and fun to read. I loved the friendship between Danny and his father. I would've liked to hear more about Danny's school and his school friends, this part of his life was a bit absent in the story (it probably wasn't so important for the story, though). I liked the car bits, Danny's father owns a petrol station and garage workshop and I enjoyed reading about the tinkering to the cars. The illustrations were beautiful as usual (by Quentin Blake). I thought the plan they cooked up was ingeneous but my main problem with it was that (don't read unless you've read the book): Overall a pretty good Roald Dahl book, if not one of my favourites. Rating: **** (8/10)

Kathy Lette - Love is Blind: But Marriage is a Real Eye Opener (QuickReads) Genre: Chick-lit Format: Paperback Pages: 121 Synopsis (back of the book):When Jane decides to move to the Australian outback in search of a husband, her sister Anthea thinks she's mad. But then again, the sisters have never seen eye-to-eye. Anthea is slim, beautiful and has a perfect life and fiancé. Jane has always felt like the ugly duckling in comparison. But when Anthea follows her sister Down Under to try and save Jane from this latest crazy plan, she ends up taking a walk on the wild side herself. My thoughts: As per usual for the read-a-thon I read a QuickReads, this was on top of the pile (the most recent buy I believe) and I felt like reading something 'chick-littish' after having read the epic story that is IT. I liked this book and in particular I liked the characters. They had interesting viewpoints and were interesting to read about. I could understand and feel for both the main character's viewpoints. There were good elements in both their personalities that I could identify with. I enjoyed the writing style of the author, the book was easy to read. What I liked less about this book are two things. One, there's a lot of arguing. I'm not a big fan of reading arguments, especially not when they're so prominent as here. There were times where some of the characters had trouble having a civilised conversation but instead kept arguing and shouting. I found this a bit stupid. The other thing I liked less was that some plot events (that I won't spoil) were a bit over the top. I felt some things that happened were a bit over the top and overdone. I found this book an entertaining read but it's not something I'll pick up anytime soon to re-read. It was nice and I enjoyed it but it wasn't brilliant. Rating: **** (7/10)

Here are the books I bought recently: At Het Boekenfestijn: Humour Loesje - Wees Jezelf en Geef de Wereld een Slinger: Jaaroverzicht 2009 (free book) Puzzles Conceptis Puzzles - Secret Picture Mazes Igloo Books - Incredible Logic Puzzles Graphic Novels Jules Verne - Graphic Classics: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Alexandre Dumas - Graphic Classics: The Three Musketeers John Malam, Penko Gelev and Jonathan Swift - Graphic Classics: Gulliver's Travels Comics Matt Groening - The Simpsons: Holiday Humdinger Science-fiction Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson - Dune Chronicles 2: The Winds of Dune Science-fiction (YA) Beth Revis - Across the Universe 1: Across the Universe Paranormal (YA) Rachel Caine - The Morganville Vampires 1: Glass Houses Rachel Caine - The Morganville Vampires 6: Carpe Corpus Thriller Jo Nesbo - Harry Hole 5: The Devil's Star Rudy Soetewey - Getuigen (free book) Detectives Mary Ellen Hughes - A Craft Corner Mystery 3: Paper-Thin Alibi Natalie M. Roberts - Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mysteries 2: Tapped Out De Waal and Baantjer - Een Schot in de Roos Literature Ann Herendeen - Pride / Prejudice Historical Fiction Catherine Cookson - The Solace of Sin Sally Worboyes - Valentine Moon Contemporary Fiction Sue Miller - The Senator's Wife Chick-lit Cecilia Ahern - There's No Place Like Here Beth Harbison - Shoe Addict 2: Secrets of a Shoe Addict Astrid Harrewijn - Ja Kun Je Krijgen Gillian King - 60 Dagen: Zestig Dagen Om te Bewijzen Dat Hij Bij Haar Hoort Carlie van Tongeren - Pasta & Passie Chick-lit (YA) Meg Cabot - Princess Diaries 5: Give me Five Fantasy Christie Holden - World of Warcraft 8: The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm Christoph Hardebusch - De Trollen 2: De Slag van de Trollen Fantasy (YA, children's) Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié - Wicked 5: Resurrection Michael Buckley - The Sisters Grimm 4: Once Upon a Crime Michael Buckley - The Sisters Grimm 5: Magic and Other Misdemeanors Michael Buckley - The Sisters Grimm 6: Tales from the Hood Michael Buckley - The Sisters Grimm 7: The Everafter War Stephen R. Lawhead - The Dragon King 3: The Sword and the Flame Information John Scalzi - The Rough Guide to Sci-fi Movies Jørgen Gaare and Øystein Sjaastad - Harry Potter En De School Der Wijzen: Wat Harry Potter Ons Over Filosofie Leert Joe Vitale - Handleiding Voor Het Leven: De Gebruiksaanwijzing Die Je Bij Je Geboorte Had Willen Krijgen Mark Vernon - The Good Life: 30 Steps to Perfecting The Art of Living Richard Wiseman - 59 Seconden: Verbeter Je Leven in Minder Dan Een Minuut Richard Wiseman - Rip It Up: The Radically New Approach To Changing Your Life Terre des Hommes / charity shop: Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot 23: Evil Under The Sun Roald Dahl - Tales of the Unexpected William Styron - Sophie's Choice

x Thanks ! x x I will ! x x x x That all sounds very exciting! I like it when there are connections between books.

Congrats on your new books !

Great reviews, Steve ! x x I'm a bit different, I quite like a lot of science in my science-fiction. Not in all science-fiction books, obviously, but I love science so seeing some science in SF can be very nice imo. I love hearing how for example technology works or how the ships work etc. Likewise I love hearing about magic systems too. I also love the fiction part though, so preferably a bit of both in my ideal book (if there is such a thing).

x This is exciting! I'm hoping to read the whole trilogy once I've bought book three in paperback.

Great reviews, Kay ! I might read A Christmas Carol myself before Christmas, I have to see how I feel (I put it on the TBR-Christmas-pile though). Good luck with all your preparations! Will you be posting photos of your creations when it's that time? I'm curious what it'll all look like. It's still a while off so we don't need to prepare much yet, but in a while we'll have to think about what we'll want to make (we have to discuss with everyone else what kind of dish people feel like making). I'm not sure yet what I want to make, but I want it to be delicious! I'm somewhat looking forward to it actually, it'll be a lot of fun I hope. My problem with poetry is that it usually contains a lot of metaphors and reading between the lines and I'm bad at those things. I take it too literal and don't understand the meaning behind it. This is what my experience was like reading English poetry at secondary school (likewise though I had the same problem with my history course but that seems to have resolved itself in the end, I got nice to good grades for both courses).

Great deal you got, Kylie!! I hope you enjoy your books .

It's a great cover, I fully agree ! @ the little surprise you got when ordering the other book, that's really nice!

I'm glad to hear you liked Paper Towns! It's on my shelf but I haven't read it yet. I loved The Fault in Our Stars though so I have high hopes for this one. Nice review .

x x Same here! Julie, The Reading Promise sounds really interesting !

The Count of Monte Cristo is on my TBR, glad to hear several people enjoyed it ! I have the Wordsworth edition.

I'm glad you liked Under the Dome, great review . It's on my TBR, though I might read The Stand before Under the Dome since many people here like The Stand more.

I've read Magyk, my sister owns a couple of books from this series (I bought most of them for her). I'd like to own all the books as well at some point (I did buy Magyk for the Kindle when it was on sale). I quite liked the first book.

The Wheel of Time series is one of my all time favourite series. The Shannara books are on my TBR. I've read some books in the Sword of Truth series and liked them but I haven't read all of them yet (I'm planning on rebuying them all in English, I've got a lot of them in Dutch but only some in English). Both books by Robin Hobb and by Raymond E. Feist are on my TBR. I'm not sure what to recommend, I'd have to think about it.. though I'm sure there are many great fantasy books that I could recommend to you (I have to admit though, a lot of the ones I own I haven't read yet). I'm going to at least recommend two of my favourite fantasy series, which is The Banned and the Banished series by James Clemens and the Chronicles of Lontobyn trilogy by David B. Coe. I think the latter ones aren't available new anymore unfortunately, so I don't know how easy it is for you to buy those if you're interested. The Banned and the Banished series starts with Wit'ch Fire, it's a fantasy story about a woman with magical powers who goes on a quest with a band of several people. It's really good and I should re-read it sometime soon. The Chronicles of Lontobyn trilogy starts with Children of Amarid and it was the first fantasy adult series I ever read. They aren't that well known but I love them. It's got magic that's done through the connection with birds, which I thought was an interesting take on it. I've read this trilogy several times (both in Dutch and in English) and will be re-reading it in a while, hopefully. I'll have to look at my book shelf or look on GoodReads to figure out what other fantasy books I could recommend.

I love Douglas Adams too! I've read one John Green book which I loved and I love the Harry Potter series too. The Wheel of Time series is one of my favourite series of all time. Some of the other writers you mentioned, Sara, are on my wishlist or on my TBR.

Welcome here !

Welcome here !

Welcome here ! I own quite a few classics but for some reason they intimidate me and so I don't read them as often as I feel I should. Jane Eyre is one of my favourites but I've got many on the TBR still to read.

It's going well! My boyfriend and I and the dog are snuggled up nicely under our blanket. I'd like to request: - A solarpowered fridge (at night's it'll be cold enough not to need it) - Some Christmas ingredients so I can make some nice food - Some cooking utensils such as sharp knives etc.

x Have fun on your holidays ! x x Have fun with working on the family tree . x x Have fun having some time off ! I hope you can enjoy your 30th birthday, even if you don't have a party. The next few days I have to do more chores than usual and my sister will come and visit in the weekend (for my birthday). Resting and relaxing are also important, I've been quite tired so I hope to be doing some fun but not too tiring things too (such as reading).