Athena

I love Jane Eyre! It's one of my favourite classic books. I didn't know Dracula was like that, I'll have to keep it in mind when I get around to reading it. It should be interesting, at least.

I have a GoodReads favourites list, but I'm going to sort it into genres and such. I'm going to have to think about this! Great idea for a thread, I look forward to check out some of all your recommendations.

W.J. Burley - Wycliffe 13: Wycliffe and the Quiet Virgin Genre: Detective Format: Paperback Pages: 206 Synopsis (GoodReads): Chief Superintendent Wycliffe is not looking forward to Christmas. With his wife away in Kenya, he rashly accepts an invitation from Penzance lawyer Ernest Bishop to spend a few days at the Bishops’ cliff-top home. When Wycliffe arrives, the weather is bleak, the house is remote, and the welcome from the family no more than polite. Then, on Christmas Eve, a young girl goes missing after playing the part of the Virgin in the local nativity play. It’s left to Wycliffe to initiate a search—but what begins as a missing person case soon turns into a major criminal investigation. My thoughts: I don't often read detectives (I don't have that many of them either), so I thought it'd be nice and read one for the read-a-thon. This was the next Wycliffe in the series of those I own (I own a few of them). I enjoyed this one more than the other Wycliffe detective I read (Wycliffe and the Scapegoat, 8/10). It was really good and well written. It was tense, I wanted to find out what would happen and what had happened. The characters were interesting, though at the beginning of the story I was a bit confused by all the names. It took me a little while to wrap my head around who's who. It would've been better to introduce the characters more gradually I think, though the story might lose some of its pacing then. The pacing was pretty good and I liked the plot twists. There were some references to Christmas but not enough to bother me that I'm reading it in the summer / end of summer. I could very well imagine the atmosphere and so on. It's a really good detective, in my opinion. I like that it's really a detective, not a thriller. The book consists mainly of detectiving and giving background to the characters etc., it's not about long chase-scenes and action. I quite liked that, to be honest. There is space for both types of books, in my opinion. Rating: ***** (9/10)

Banana Yoshimoto - Hardboiled & Hard Luck Genre: Contemporary Fiction Format: Paperback Pages: 149 Synopsis (GoodReads): In cherished novels such as Kitchen and Goodbye Tsugumi, Banana Yoshimoto’s warm, witty, and heartfelt depictions of the lives of young Japanese have earned her international acclaim and best-seller status. Her insightful, spare vision returns in two novellas possessed by the ghosts of love found and lost. In Hardboiled, the unnamed narrator is hiking in the mountains on an anniversary she has forgotten about, the anniversary of her ex-lover’s death. As she nears her hotel—stopping on the way at a hillside shrine and a strange soba shop—a sense of haunting falls over her. Perhaps these eerie events will help her make peace with her loss. Hard Luck is about another young woman, whose sister is dying and lies in a coma. Kuni’s fiancé left her after the accident, but his brother Sakai continues to visit, and the two of them gradually grow closer as they make peace with the impending loss of their loved one. Yoshimoto’s voice is clear, assured, and deeply moving, displaying again why she is one of Japan’s, and the world’s, most beloved writers. My thoughts: I will review the two stories seperately, and then follow with an overall rating at the end. I picked this up at a book fair a while ago. I don't know the author but it sounded intriguing and I don't read a lot of books by Japanese authors so I thought it'd be nice (I'm interested in Japan, though). Hardboiled This is a story about a woman making a journey, remembering her past. She's walking up a mountain near a village getting an eerie feeling. The characters were interesting. I liked Japanese elements. The narrative style took a bit of getting used to (written in the first person), but after a while I was very much used to it. It could be due to the fact it's a translation, perhaps the Japanese doesn't translate fluently or something, I don't know. I didn't have this problem with the second story, which is written in third person. Rating: **** (8/10) Hard Luck This is a story about a woman whose sister is in the hostital after a cerebral hemorrhage. It's a story about love and grief. The characters were interesting and I really enjoyed this story. It's quite well written. Rating: ***** (9/10) Overall I really enjoyed these two stories and I'm glad I picked up this book. Since I can't give an 8.5 out of 10, or at least, I could here but not on GoodReads (limited to 1-5 stars) or in my database program (limited to 1-10), I have to round up and make it a: Rating: ***** (9/10)

@ LittlePixie Thanks ! Penny Vincenzi - Love in the Afternoon and Other Delights Genre: Contemporary Fiction Format: Paperback Pages: 177 (I'm not counting the excerpt from her new book since I didn't read that. I'll buy the new book anyway when it's out on paperback so I prefer not to get too much into the story now otherwise it'll be really hard to wait for it to come out.) Synopsis (GoodReads): From her sweeping novels to her searing journalism, Penny Vincenzi has been writing all her life, and this is a collection of her work brought together in a single edition for the first time. As well as ten stunning short stories, Penny also shares some of her thoughts on a huge range of subjects from love and relationships to work and families, and gives us a peek at the tantalising first chapter of her new novel - making LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON AND OTHER DELIGHTS a must-have for any Vincenzi fan. My thoughts: I recently bought this short story + articles and interviews collection and decided to read it. I haven't read anything by Penny Vincenzi in a while so I thought it'd be nice to do so (and it was). It's also not a big book and I like to read short stories for the read-a-thon. Below follows a bit about each short story or piece along with some thoughts on it. Short Stories Love in the Afternoon (**** 7/10) This story is about a woman who visits an older woman (a friend of her grandfather). The old woman tells the younger woman her life and love story. It was a bit shorter than I would've liked but it was nice. I would've liked more of it, I feel like it could be expanded into something bigger. I thought the ending was fitting and interesting. Rating: **** (7/10) The Glimpses (**** 8/10) This is a story about a married man who falls in love with another woman who lives a more expensive lifestyle than he does and he's very much intrigued by this lifestyle. This was a nice story, with quite a bit of detail. I didn't totally understand what the appeal of the expensive lifestyle was for the man, I felt this could've been explained better. It was an interesting story, nicely written. Rating: **** (8/10) The Best Table This is a story about a woman visiting New York. It's quite well written and has interesting characters. I really enjoyed it and wish it was longer with more detail. Rating: ***** (10/10) The Mermaid This is a story about a boy. He has a dad but his mum is gone. His dad has a new girlfriend but the boy doesn't like this. This was really nice to read. Most of the story is told from the boy's point of view, which I thought was quite different. I've read more stories / books about something like this but not before from the child's point of view. I really enjoyed this one and thought it was well written. I liked the characters. Rating: ***** (10/10) Knowing Best This is a story about a relationship between two people, told from the viewpoints of her grandmother and his great-uncle who tell each other about the relationship. I thought this was a different way of telling a story and the characters were interesting. It could've been longer with more detail but it works well as a short story as well. It's well written. Rating: ***** (9/10) Glass Slipper This is a story about a woman who stars in a case against her ex. You read about their past. I liked this story but felt it was a bit similar to some of her full-length novels. I liked the ending, though. Rating: **** (8/10) The Beach Hut This is a story about a husband and a wife who have material problems. This was a nice story but it annoyed me slightly that, instead of talking with him about their problems or being nice to him, the wife thinks about having an affair (I'll not say what happens). I didn't like the character of the wife because of this. The story is well written, though. Rating: **** (7/10) The Brooch This story is about two sisters who argue over a brooch. It creates a rift between them. This is different than most of her books and stories. I really liked the main characters, both had traits I could identify with. It's well written. Rating: ***** (10/10) Baby Knows Best This is a story about two babies, their parents and the mothers' mothers (the babies' grandmothers). This was a nice story, different than the usual. The characters were interesting. Not quite sure the title fits. Rating: ***** (9/10) Fair Exchange This is a story about a husband and a wife. This was different, I don't read a lot of stories or books that go like this one. I thought the ending was a bit weird. It's well written though and I enjoyed reading particularly the first half. Rating: **** (8/10) Interviews and Articles Getting Older Piece about aging and how you can have freedom and do nice things. Examples, stories of people who found her (the author) older or younger. Interesting. Rating: **** (8/10) My Schooldays Piece about her days at three different schools. It's iteresting to read what school was like for her (and in those days). Rating: **** (8/10) Being a Mother Piece about what it means for her to be a mother, she's always there for her children. Interesting. Rating: **** (8/10) My Hero Marje Proops Piece about Penny Vincenzi working for Marjo Proops and what she and it meant to her. Interesting to learn more about Penny Vincenzi. Rating: **** (8/10) The Eighties The author liked the 1980s. Plus a bit about the idea for An Absolute Scandal (which is the first book I read by her, I really liked it) Rating: **** (8/10) Having It All Piece about having a husband and children, for a mother, being a good mother and a good wife. It sounds very tiring. Rating: **** (7/10) My Career In A Nutshell Quick piece about Penny Vincenzi's career, where she worked etc. Quite interesting. Rating: **** (8/10) Q & A A number of questions with the answers the author gives. Very interesting. Rating: ***** (10/10) A Day in My Life An article about a day in the writing life of Penny Vincenzi. It was very interesting to read. Rating: ***** (10/10) My Favourite Books A piece from Penny Vincenzi about her favourite books. Most were either on my wishlist, TBR, or I loved them myself. Very interesting to read. ***** (10/10) Overall I really enjoyed this book. Most of the stories were really good and the articles and interviews were interesting. It was nice to learn more about the author. Rating: ***** (9/10)

I will read the third book in a little while . I've seen season one of the TV series, season two we'll watch in a while (I bought the Blu-ray but we're still watching some other things first). I liked it a lot though I wish the violence and nudity was a bit less. They added certain things that weren't in the first book, to make the series seem more appealing (I think) to a certain audience. I feel it could've done without some of those scenes and bits. Overall I like the TV show but I prefer the books (so far, at least). The books add a lot more detail to it. Anyway, I look forward to seeing season two sometime (and season three, when they release the Blu-ray of that and once I've read all the books).

Graphic design sounds quite difficult to me, I studied Chemistry. Good luck! Thanks Sabry . Have fun on your vacation, muggle!

Wow, she did really well! Congrats to her and you .

Roald Dahl - Fantastic Mr. Fox Genre: Children's Format: Paperback Pages: 82 Synopsis (GoodReads): The formidable adventures of Mr. Fox and his family as they try to outrun three farmers determined to catch them. My thoughts: As with QuickReads, I try to read a Roald Dahl book too for each read-a-thon (and yes in a while I'll have read them all and have run out XD. I don't know if I own them all, I own a boxset with them, but I haven't looked up if that's all of them). This book was well written and it has great illustrations (by Quentin Blake). I didn't remember much of this book beforehand but as I was reading it things came back to me and so I think I read it when I was a child. So technically seen it's a re-read. I gave the book an 8 out of 10. I would've given it a 9, but because of the fox that was in our garden a while ago (and killed a lot of our chicken), my enjoyment of the book wasn't as much as it otherwise could've been. If it wasn't for that, my mark would have been higher. I did enjoy reading the book, though, but it was hard not to think about what happened here a while ago. Anyway, it's a good children's story, though the plot twists weren't that unexpected to me. Perhaps that is because I've read it before, though I couldn't remember it, but certain things happened that I thought would happen. It's enjoyable but doesn't belong to my favourite Roald Dahl books. Rating: **** (8/10)

Maeve Binchy - Star Sullivan (QuickReads) Genre: Contemporary Fiction Format: Paperback Pages: 106 Synopsis (GoodReads): Molly Sullivan said that the new baby was a little star. She was no trouble at all and she was always smiling... so she became known as Star and no one remembered that her name was Oona. Star Sullivan just wanted everyone to be happy - her father to stop gambling, her mother not to work so hard, her brother to stay out of trouble, her sister to stop worrying about every little thing she ate. Then the Hale family moved in next door, and from the moment Star saw 23-year-old Laddy Hale, everything began to change - until Star was no longer the sweet, thoughtful girl everyone loved and no one worried about... My thoughts: I try to read a QuickReads book for each read-a-thon and this was at the top of the QuickReads pile. (If I participate in a few more read-a-thons I'll run out of QuickReads books . There are a few on my wishlist but they weren't available new). This was a nice story. I really liked the amount of detail that was provided about each of the characters. They were well developed for a novella. The language used was relatively easy (QuickReads) but the story had quite some depth. I quite enjoyed this one. At the beginning of the book, Star worries about everyone and wants to please everyone, I can be like that too sometimes. There were plot twists that I didn't see coming, there is more depth to the story than the blurb / summary makes it seem there is. Rating: ***** (9/10)

Susan Hill - Howards End is on the Landing Genre: Autobiography Format: Paperback Pages: 236 Synopsis (GoodReads): Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, forsaking new purchases in order to get to know her own collection again. A book which is left on a shelf for a decade is a dead thing, but it is also a chrysalis, packed with the potential to burst into new life. Wandering through her house that day, Hill's eyes were opened to how much of that life was stored in her home, neglected for years. Howard's End is on the Landing charts the journey of one of the nation's most accomplished authors as she revisits the conversations, libraries and bookshelves of the past that have informed a lifetime of reading and writing. My thoughts: I enjoyed this book more than I enjoyed The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, and it's just good as Nina Sankovitch - Tolstoy and the Purple Chair. It's very well written. I really liked the layout of the chapters, divided by subject rather than time passed (as with the other two). This made the book more unique. There were a lot of parts about her history (with books and authors) and about the various aspects of reading. It was really interesting to read. I didn't agree with everything, for example I do think ereaders and paperbacks have a place, and that it's a good thing to be organised about your books. But it was very interesting to read her opinion about these things (and others). There are hopefully quite a few nice recommendations gained, I put some books on the wishlist because of the way she wrote about them. She didn't talk too long about each book. I appreciated this, she didn't talk so long that it would become boring if the book itself didn't interest you for some reason. So even for the ones I didn't think were for me, it was still allright to read about them. I found the book inspirational. It's made me think if I should write down how I feel about reading, perhaps as part of the book I might write one day. Overall, it's a really good book and I recommend it. Rating: ***** (10/10)

x Thanks ! The pastel coloured books are books 1-5 of the Mother Daughter Book Club. Unfortunately the spine design seemed to have changed after book 1 so it looks different from the rest, and books 4 and 5 are made from a glossier material so they feel different. But at least they're all the same size and they look very similar. I love the cover design, with a character holding up a stack of books. Btw, I've added a few more books to the TBR-soon . I'll post a list soon! I've already made photos (see below), but I haven't added them to GoodReads or my database yet. I think there are 83 books but I'll have to count to make sure (the lady at the till said we had 92 items and I think my boyfriend bought 9 books). Currently, in order to make space for the new books, I'm reorganising my shelves. I love doing that so yay for fun! x x Thanks . He is! x x Thank you!! Yes, I do (both in the UK and here). Here in Helmond there's a charity shop called Terre des Hommes that I go to quite a bit. I don't know of any other ones nearby. They have more Dutch than English stuff, but they have one shelf where the English copies go, and sometimes they have some really nice things. I'm not sure who the people are who bring in the books, there must be quite a few people around who also like to read English books. I plan to take some books there myself sometime (Dutch and English). The shop also sells old games, toys and clothes (and a variety of other things). My mum went in there for the first time, because I wanted a mug for my birthday with a cat or something cute on it. She couldn't find what I wanted anywhere, but then she tried the charity shop (she saw it in the window display) and they had it! It's got some blue colour on it too which is great since that's my favourite colour. Anyway, she told me about the shop and ever since, whenever I'm in the city I usually go and see if they have any nice English books. I've bought 40 books there, and 6 in UK charity shops. x x That would be a good rule! I try to do it very soon after I've bought / received the books (if online). Normally I'm pretty punctual with it but I wanted to concentrate on the read-a-thon the past few days and not lose several hours looking at my new books (I still look at them sometimes ). Now I'm catching up with forum posts and soon my reviews. I do plan on doing it soon, but I do need the computer for it to put the books into a database program. I could do that later but then I kind of have to do everything twice (ie. typing in ISBN). I'll post some photos below. x x Haha! sounds interesting! Here are some photos of my new books! A list will come later (though if you have any question about what you're seeing feel free to ask!) Here's a photo of the suitcase we took, my bag and a plastic bag. It's all filled with my new books! Here are the piles of new books (the last row is books I already had, they're the same ones as in the previous photo of my TBR-soon I posted). You can't see some of them unfortunately, so what those are you'll have to wait for the list. I bought books from various genres: contemporary fiction, chick-lit, information, literature, historical fiction, horror, science-fiction, fantasy, paranormal (not in that order in the photo). Most of the books are adult books, some are Young-Adult books. The Young-Adult books are clearly visible, but the non-fiction and information pile, the chick-lit pile, the contemporary fiction pile and the science-fiction and fantasy pile are all a bit hidden. So I'm sorry if those were the things you were most interested in .

Thanks karen! You've made some nice progress, too . Kylie, I hope you can join in some day .

Awww sorry to hear that frankie . I hope you enjoy your time there nonetheless, and hopefully it's a good experience for maybe a job later in your life.

Great progress for most people ! My progress this time: Friday 06-09-2013: 1 h, 12%, ~ 43 pages, Temple Grandin - Animals Make Us Human 1 h 40 mins, pg 123-236, Susan Hill - Howards End is on the Landing 45 min, 106 pages, Maeve Binchy - Star Sullivan 20 mins, 82 pages, Roald Dahl - Fantasic Mr. Fox 45 mins, 53 pages, Penny Vincenzi - Love in the Afternoon and Other Delights Saturday 07-09-2013: 50 mins, 10%, ~ 36 pages, Temple Grandin - Animals Make Us Human 60 mins, 94 pages, Penny Vincenzi - Love in the Afternoon and Other Delights Sunday 08-09-2013: 30 mins, 29 pages, Penny Vincenzi - Love in the Afternoon and Other Delights (I didn't read the preview of her next book, I'll buy it anyway) 50 mins, 149 pages, Banana Yoshimoto - Hardboiled & Hard Luck 2 h 15 mins, 205 pages, W.J. Burley - Wycliffe 13: Wycliffe and the Quiet Virgin Overall statistics: Amount of Books finished: 6 (1 started before the read-a-thon) Amount of Books unfinished: 1 (started before the read-a-thon) Total Reading Time: 9 h 55 mins Total Amount of Pages: ~705 Not as good as my first read-a-thon, though time-wise it comes close. I have to admit, I lost quite a bit of time taking lots of notes, for example books recommended that I wanted to check out later or writing down what I thought of a book or short story. I was quite tired from input before I started and reading is input too (albeit not nearly as tiring as sounds or watching ie. a TV show). I think it might've been better if I'd read less short stories and more novels but I kind of like reading the short stories or novellas for the read-a-thon. It's something I don't normally read a lot of, the read-a-thon inspires me in that sense. Also when a book is quite epic, I need more time to process plot twists, so it'd make it harder to read more in a shorter amount of time. Overall I had a lot of fun !

I recently saw this book for sale, however it was in Dutch. I probably would've bought it if it was in English. I hope you enjoy it !

x I fully understand this! I have my wishlist in several places but they're not in paper.. maybe I should do that.. but it would take a while to write it all down. Still, it'd be great with a nice notepad or booklet to write things down in.. I have a few nice ones . x Frankie, I'm glad your first week at work went well! It's really great to read about your experience. I hope you'll make some friends at work . I feel like I'm terrible with that, so I can understand if you feel a bit nervous or something. x x If you do go to the UK, in the not too near future from now, I might be able to come to the UK too (that is, if you don't mind). We always fly to London, my boyfriend lives in Portsmouth, though I could travel elsewhere (perhaps thinking about accommodation), I've been to Bath before, really nice place, but meeting lots of people will be tiring for me so I'd have to think about that. It'd be so nice to meet you and others, though! Let me know if you make any plans (and are interested in meeting me of course). Anywhere that's easy to get to with public transport and doesn't take too long to get to from either London or Portsmouth, may be a possibility. Technically seen I could, for example, be in a hotel somewhere, but the journey should be possible to make. It is also possible to fly somewhere that's not London, ie. Southhampton or Manchester perhaps, but it would cost more money since I have to fly with a different company and travel to a further away airport here. The UK is great for book shopping! I always try to go to WHSmith, The Works, charity shops (ie. The British Heartfoundation), Waterstone's. It can be great just to have a look around in a book shop and be inspired. Well, let me know about your plans if you want. I'd love to meet you. x x I'll have to go through this list, sometime ! x x It's always difficult to narrow down your list of favourite, recommended books ! I'm glad you three have a good relationship and know each other well. It's important to have good / close friends (for most people, at least)!

x Great review ! It's going on my wishlist. x x It's really sad, quite a lot of them passed away .

x That's pretty interesting to know! I didn't know you could see pages stats. I didn't begin recording my progress until June last year. So far (January - August) I've read twice the amount of books as last year June-December). I've also read a lot more pages but the difference is less. I've also read more short(er) books.

This sounds interesting, it's going on my wishlist! Nice review .

You've read quite a lot this year, nice list .

Nice list !

I hope you enjoy The Hunger Games trilogy! I look forward to hear what you think of them . Sorry to hear you haven't made as much progress as you'd have liked, with your series plan. It looks like an interesting plan though, I may have to do something like it next year but then with authors rather than series.. (if you don't mind, that is).

x Wow, I didn't know that! Here you can vote if you want to (if you're over 18 and a Dutch citizen etc.), but you don't have to. For government elections generally about 60-80% of the people vote (if I remember correctly). For local council and provincial generally less people show up. x x Awesome haul ! I hope you enjoy your new books! I have several of them on my TBR. I recently read The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, hope you enjoy the full book! x x I've seen her on British TV, I hope it's good! I think she's quite funny when I saw her on QI.

You've read a lot during the read-a-thon!