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Athena

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Posts posted by Athena

    Dystopian novels

    in General Fiction

    Posted

    I've got a few dystopian novels but I've only read Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games so far (the first book) and Yahtzee Croshaw - Jam, if I remember correctly. Dystopian young-adult novels (which The Hunger Games is, and Jam isn't) are not my favourite genre but I find them to be nice and entertaining every once in a while (science-fiction is one of my favourite genres though). The Hunger Games (book one) was quite good, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. Jam was great, it's an apocalyptic novel with lots of humour (does that count as dystopian?). Jam would have to be my favourite.

    Your Book Activity ~ February 2013

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted

    I've started to read Tom Raabe - Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction. It's quite interesting so far, a sort of a spoof on self help books while talking about biblioholism (the love of buying books). It's entertaining so far, I've done a test to see how bad I am, and it's really not as bad as I thought, according to the test. The help part comes later, I haven't arrived at that yet.

    Athena's Reading List 2013

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I've finally finished Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson - Wheel Of Time #13: Towers Of Midnight. It was a great read, and I'm now even more eager to read the last book.

     

    I don't want to spoil what happens in the first twelve books, so I won't write a detailed review. It's a continuation of the story and I loved it. It's such a great fantasy series. It's weird because when I was a teenager I borrowed the first book in Dutch from the library, and abandoned it halfway through. When I was older, I decided to give it a go again (because I'd heard so many good things about it) and bought the first book in English. I loved it!

     

    I wouldn't recommend it if you can't stand descriptions of people's clothes etc., because there is some of that, in all the books. But I like that (though I wouldn't want it in all my books) in this series. The covers are also very pretty, they all match (they're black with the Wheel Of Time logo on the front, in different colours for each book).

     

    5/5

     

     

    I'm thinking of reading Diane Chamberlain - Breaking The Silence next. As usual, I need a little bit of time after reading a book, before I can read the next one, because the story is still fresh in my head and it needs time to be processed. Depending on how good the book was I just read, this can be more or less time (ie. an hour or a few hours). Towers Of Midnight was very good, so I may need more time rather than less. We'll have to see.

    Diane Chamberlain

    in General Fiction

    Posted

    I've read The Midwife's Confession, The Good Father and Brass Ring. I may start Breaking The Silence soon (mainly because I'm inspired to read one of her novels soon and it's the next one on the shelf XD). I loved all three of the books, though The Midwife's Confession is my favourite. The other two are really good too. The problem I had with The Good Father in the first few pages was that something happens there (I don't think I'd be spoiling it since it's in the synopsis, but still) that can happen in America but not so easily here where I live (I think it could happen in the UK, I'm not sure). So it was a bit tough for me for the first couple of pages to keep telling myself "it's America, those kinds of things can happen there". Once I got over that though and got more into the story, it was really good. I found it to be a bit more action-oriented than The Midwife's Confession. The Midwife's Confession is more about the past and having the truth come to light whereas in The Good Father you want to know what will happen to the characters, rather than what happened in the past. I thought it was a great read though. Brass Ring is more like The Midwife's Confession in that regard, it's also about the past of the main character and what's the truth. It's of course also about the here and now, and what happens to the main character etc. Hmm I hope I made some sense?

    Athena's Reading List 2013

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I haven't read any of Jean M. Auel's novels, I've been meaning to for quite some time. I read She Who Remembers by Linda Lay Shuler as a teenager and I think her novels can be compared to Auel's, have you read any Shuler? If you like that sort of thing, maybe you can giver her a go, too :)

     

    I haven't heard of Shuler before, the synopsis of She Who Remembers sounds really interesting though! Unfortunately the book doesn't seem to be available brandnew much, I'll wishlist it anyway though (could buy it second hand), thanks :).

     

    I'm late with this, but happy anniversary! :smile2:

     

    Thanks!

     

    Have you read any books by Herman Koch? I came across with his novel The Dinner last autumn when I was working at the library and the title's stuck in my mind, the blurb sounded interesting. I thought I'd ask you as he's Dutch. I just borrowed the book from the library this Monday, I'm thinking it might be a great read! :)

     

    I haven't read any of his books yet, though one of them my parents own (they bought it for me I think, to read for school but I didn't get around to it) and I did plan on reading it someday.. I'm not sure where in the house it is atm though (will have to search for it, it might be in my room, you never know XD I just know I haven't seen it in ages). I've heard he's a good writer though my parents haven't read much of his work, that I remember, so I can't give you any recommendation personally. Let me know how you get on though (if you want) :).

    Questions about e-readers (Kindle etc)

    in Audiobooks & eBooks

    Posted

    Hey all,

     

    I'm firmly in the camp of loving physical books (paperbacks mainly), the feel of a book in my hands, the nice covers on my book shelf, the discovering a book in a book shop or online and taking it home / receiving it. However more and more there are books released that are only available on e-readers (ie. being Kindle only). This made me think of whether I should buy an ereader, and I have a few questions about it. There are quite some people here who have an ereader so I presume someone should have some answers :).

     

    - I'm thinking about a Kindle, because most websites other than Amazon, that I've looked at, sell ebooks at really expensive prices here in the Netherlands. Often the price is the same or in fact even higher than a physical book. I don't want to pay more for an ebook than for a physical book, in that case I'd rather have the physical book. Amazon charges me extra because I live in Europe but at first glance, sometimes it's quite a bit cheaper than these other websites that I've tried. There's also the Daily Deals for Kindle. Are there any other websites with cheap (and of course legal) books that people from Europe-but-not-in-the-UK use, or that you know of that might be worth taking a look at?

     

    - I've read that most books you buy from any website may be DRM protected. What happens if your ereader breaks down, are the books tied to an account so you can use them again in your new ereader? Does the Kindle program for the computer (I downloaded it yesterday) store the books on the computer, so you can copy everything easily without having to re-organise folders?

     

    - I've bought a few ebooks previously, through HumbleBundle (Humble eBook Bundle), they are DRM free PDFs. Obviously I want to be able to read these on my ereader. Will any Kindle be able to read them and can I transfer them from my PC to the Kindle easily?

     

    - My eyes generally get a bit sore after reading a back-lit screen for a while. I assume therefore it'd be best to get an ereader with an electronic ink screen? I presume the e-ink screen works best for my eyes (although I'm liking the extra space you get with the more expensive options). There's also the "Paperwhite Built-in light" with the Kindle Paperweight, it says this helps for your eyes, does anyone have any experience with it? Kindle Keyboard 3G is also interesting, since it has more space than the normal Kindle.

     

    - How much GB relates to how many books I can store on the device? ie. 2GB, 4GB, how many books would this mean?

     

    - How do I charge the Kindle? Because I'm not in the UK, I have to order it from Amazon US, so the prices are in dollars. A UK plug I would've had, a US one I don't have. But I think it charges through the computer? I'm wondering then how to charge it through the mains, I do have a USB to power plug for my Ipod, but when my boyfriend tried to use it for his British phone (also USB charged), it wouldn't work. How would I be able to charge it through the mains, would I have to get an USB to US plug and a US to EU power adapter?

     

    - Any specific Kindle you'd recommend, based on your experiences and on what I've written? Price doesn't factor in it that much, I don't mind paying a bit for the device as long as I'm happy with it (I do mind paying lots for the books, since in that case I'd rather buy the paperback if it exists etc). I hope anyone can help me.

     

    I may still change my mind and not get one, but I look forward to hear your advice. I know there is a topic with many pages on e-readers and I read bits of it but couldn't find my answers. I thought it'd be most easy if I explained my thoughts rather than going through all the pages, hope no one minds.

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