Alexander the Great

Reading your description of "How to Find Love in a Book Shop", it sounds really familiar. I think I probably saw the book somewhere and then didn't end up taking it with me. The only reason I can imagine for that is that it must have been in Dutch. The story sounds really lovely. Reading your review has made me want to find it!

Those sound awesome, especially "The Book of English Magic". What's it about?

@athena, bobblybear and Chrissy: Thank you, hope you have a great reading year too! @Little Pixie: I'd expect a Dutch translation to be slower than an English one! October's a long time from now - wonder why it takes so long - but it'll be worth the wait (at least, it would be for me). @frankie: Have a great reading year yourself. I did give my best friend the tree book. I love giving books - in November, I stayed at someone's house for a couple of days and since this was free of charge, I went and bought the parents each a book to express my thanks. The book for the mom was a bit later, so my friend ended up handing it to her and even before she'd opened it, she'd said "This is from Alexander? It's going to be a book." De ondergang van het oude Europa review So far, 2017 is shaping up to be very different as a reading year from 2016. I read in English so often that the first book I read in Dutch in 2016 was in July. I usually read fiction and the first non fiction book I read in 2016 was in November. This books is non fiction and a Dutch translation - and this is only January! The original title of this book is "The Three Emperors: Three Cousins, Three Empires and the Road to World War One". I picked this up because I love history and have a special interest in the Long Nineteenth Century and the First and Second World Wars. I've been very interested in the Romanovs for a few years now and even though - or maybe precisely because of it - this book sheds light on the English king, the German emperor and the Russian czar, this feels like the most completely portrayal of Nicholas II I've read so far. The book begins with the childhoods of the three protagonists and further elaborates on how they all interacted, how they reigned, how they felt about each other. It describes how much they were shaped by their upbringing and how that affected their decisions, or lack thereof, and how that would eventually change the course of history. This is non fiction, but especially in the beginning it almost reads as a novel. As it goes on, however, it becomes more complicated. The monarchies are very entwined, which makes it difficult enough. It doesn't help that the author uses the birth names, royal names and pet names of people seemingly at random. This is further complicated by the fact that the same names tend to be used over and over. The author could have done a better job of specifying who's she's talking about. I've studied history (and read A Song of Ice and Fire) and I don't usually have trouble remembering names or keeping people apart. But honestly, if it's been 200 pages since you've mentioned her and so many people pass in between, I don't remember who Minny was again. I'm not sure if the translation is to blame, but the family tree at the beginning wasn't nearly sufficient or elaborate enough. This book is presented as an explanation for how World War One could happen. It was actually much more than that - we really get a detailed look at the private lives of the monarchs. That was interesting enough, but because of the structure gradually unravelling, it became quite messy. The author did a really good job of portraying these people completely, though. You see their strengths and their flaws - and those flaws in turn are put in a context where we can understand why someone would turn out to be that way. This causes Carter to offer explanations I've never read anywhere else. I really appreciated the psychological insights as well as the insight into the political inner workings. Carter clearly knows a lot on the subject and it must have been monstrous to put this together in a narrative. But what a great one it is. I have my criticism, but those might fade on a re-read, and overall I would really recommend this to any history fan.

Looks like you've got your work cut out for you, but luckily reading is the best kind of work there is! Happy reading

I'll have a more detailed look at your TBR list later, but let me tell you - Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth is amazing and its sequel, World Without End is simply astounding.

I hope you have a fabulous reading year, Athena!

I just had a look at your TBR list and here are my thoughts on some of the titles: Stephen King's Under The Dome was the first book I read in 2016. I really enjoyed it! I've read some of Harlan Coben's books on holiday in Santorini - the hotel had a free mini-library. Really liked those as well. I see there are two titles there by P.J. Tracy, from the Monkeewrench series. Really loved those! In the same hotel, they also had Dean Koontz' Velocity, which I enjoyed. My favourite Koontz novel, however, is Odd Thomas. I read Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising cycle when I was about 14 and loved it. These kids are kids in the 1970s and I like how uncomplicated their lives are before the story really kicks off. I re-read the books in 2012 (when I was 21) and didn't enjoy them as much, but I think over the years I had really built it up in my head too much. This has happened with over books I've read and loved as a teenager as well. I hope you'll enjoy reading Cooper's books as much as I did the first time around! My best friend absolutely loves House of Leaves and I got it for him as a Christmas present (he'd read it as an e-book, I got him a paper copy). I haven't read it myself, though. Emma Donoghue's Room was one of my favourite reads of 2012. Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex is one of my all-time favourite novels, so when you get to it, I look forward to reading what you think about it. Same for the Cormoran Strike novels by J.K. Rowling as Robert Galbraith - crime books I want to re-read are rare and I absolutely love these. Also on my list of favourites: Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I liked Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and hope you will too I've read Zadie Smith's White Teeth, The Autograph Man, NW and On Beauty. I bought Swing Time, but haven't read it yet. I liked White Teeth most, followed by NW, then The Autograph Man and then On Beauty. I had a bit of a hard time with the last one. I will always, always recommend Virginia Woolf. I also saw a lot of books I want to read myself

I hope you enjoy your reading this year!

I finished The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão today - I read the Dutch translation. I was hoping to finish it in 2016, but some things came up yesterday and I went out to dinner with my sister and some others last night to celebrate New Year's Eve. I was only 30 pages away from the end, but it's on the 2017 list now I've now started reading The Three Emperors: Three Cousins, Three Empires And The Roald To World War One by Miranda Carter. I'm reading it in Dutch as the original wasn't available in the library. This is non fiction and I usually read fiction, but because of my interest in history and particularly this era, I couldn't leave it there!

100 books two years in a row - that's great! Do you read a lot of different genres? That TBR list is huge, looks like you've got your work carved out for you Good luck with it!

Het verborgen leven van Eurídice Gusmão review Published in English as The Inisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, this is the debut of Martha Batalha. After reading Allende's The House with the Spirits earlier in 2016, I took a liking to the style of South American novels. I liked the different stories of different people, meandering descriptions of their lives and the peek into everyone's background. All these elements are to be found in Batalha's novel as well. Eurídice Gusmão is the protagonist, but we also learn more about her sister Guida, her mean neighbour Zélia (and why she is so mean) and many other characters. It was a very enjoyable read and it kept me hooked on its pages. Eurídice is a very interesting character to be reading about and my only complaint is that this novel could have gone much further. It's a lovely read, but not an epic one - and I do feel the characters had that greatness in them. The novel doesn't keep to the surface, but it could have delved deeper into these people and into the setting. I do look forward to reading more by this author and to seeing if she will grow in this. A short read (with an admittedly somewhat abrupt ending), to be recommended to anyone who wants to disappear into another world for a little while.

Currently Reading Twilight of the Romanovs, by Philipp Blom & Veronica Buckley Read in 2017 Het verborgen leven van Eurídice Gusmão, by Martha Batalha De ondergang van het oude Europa, by Miranda Carter Met de deur in huis, by Kristina Vindevogel & Hendrik De Clerck The Cider House Rules, by John Irving In het gezelschap van de courtisane, by Sarah Dunant Oorlog en Terpentijn, by Stefan Hertmans Pure, by Andrew Miller Blood & Beauty, by Sarah Dunant Het kraaienmeisje, by Eriksson & Sundquist Het hongervuur, by Eriksson & Sundquist De laatste aanwijzingen, by Eriksson & Sundquist Wat Alleen Wij Horen, by Saskia De Coster Until I Find You, by John Irving Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs Library of Souls, by Ransom Riggs Sickened, by Julie Gregory The Dark Room, by Rachel Seiffert We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, by George R. R. Martin The Sherlockian, by Graham Moore Vele hemels boven de zevende, by Griet op de Beeck Gij nu, by Griet op de Beeck The Fourth Hand, by John Irving Joe Speedboot, by Tommy Wieringa Matilda, by Roald Dahl Before I Go To Sleep, by S.J. Watson It, by Stephen King The Returned, by Seth Patrick The Woman Upstairs, by Claire Messud Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner The Shock of the Fall, by Nathan Filer Last Night in Twisted River, by John Irving Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie Cards on the Table, by Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot's Christmas, by Agatha Christie Five Little Pigs, by Agatha Christie The Labours of Hercules, by Agatha Christie The Blood Detective, by Dan Waddell The Quickening Maze, by Adam Foulds

The books were calling out to you, Frankie! I prefer to wait for the right size as well. Last year, I didn't wait for the right size because I wanted to read it so badly and then this year I saw the right size and bought it a second time, just to have the right size! Happy belated birthday! Any reading plans for the rest of the year?

@Athena I have that too with some series. There's so much time in between that you have to re-read from the start. There is one series of books in particular, the Stravaganza books by Mary Hoffman, which I really liked but at some point had to decide to wait until they were all published because I kept having to re-read them all. I went to the library yesterday. I've been binge-watching The Crown and I wanted to see what books the library had on the British monarchy. Sadly, nearly all of them were in Dutch and I wanted to read an English one. I did end up taking two books home, which I didn't mean to. The first one is Miranda Carter's The Three Emperors: Three cousins, Three Empires and the Road to World War One. It's in Dutch, but it seemed so interesting I couldn't leave it there. The other one's John Irving's The Cider House Rules. I really enjoyed his novel In One Person and this one seemed very interesting as well. I also hope to read The World According to Garp, but the libraries I'm a member of seem to only have it in Dutch. I might order it through the library so they can have it sent over from a different one, or become member of another library where they do have it.

Congratulations on hitting your target! I've been reading your reviews and I like that you describe the stories so well without giving too much away! That's a difficult thing to do, but you're excellent at it.

@Madeleine Reading your reply, something else occurs to me. Like Frodo and Sam's journey is separated entirely from that of the rest of the Fellowship in The Two Towers, in Game of Thrones the story in the South is separated from the North and Essos in the last two books. I feel this worked better for me in LotR because I was interested in both sides of that story. For Game of Thrones, that made A Dance with Dragons very hard for me to read - because it was basically all about the North, which I don't care for enough to have the entire book set there. The parts in Essos didn't make it much better, because Daenerys' story drags by that point. @frankie Ratings are always tricky for me, which is why I only provide them when asked. I'll rate books on Goodreads, but not on here (unless someone asks) because it's so hard. I have the Dutch and the English copy of LotR. I think there were mainly songs and endless meandering in The Fellowship of the Ring. For me, getting through that was the key, but I've read others who've had more trouble with The Return of the King so it's very personal. I very much wanted to read this because it's a classic. Maybe it's a good idea to read it when you have some time off, because this was not the way to relax for me after long days at work, the way reading usually is. The Great Gatsby review This is truly a riveting story. Fitzgerald has a very unique style, which I enjoyed immensely. The writing style and the story itself match, turning this into a one-of-a-kind reading experience. The descriptions are florid, the characters out of this world, but because everything bears significance and nothing is drawn out too long, it's just right. The only reason I gave it three stars is because many characters felt quite one-dimensional. I'm sure there was much more to them than we gathered from this. Maybe that's part of the appeal, but I'd have liked to see more sides of them.

@bobblybear: It's obviously very subjective, but to me the books really did get better as I went a long. I think it's getting used to the style and the manner of story-telling, combined with the story becoming more concise, to the point and thrilling. @frankie: It's hard to rate the overall reading experience, because I really did struggle with The Fellowship of the Ring and liked especially The Return of the King considerably more. I feel that if I give a rating, it might be clouded by that more positive view on the latest instalment. The entire trilogy could do with an edit, but LOTR is sacred so that will never happen and anyway it wouldn't feel right without the author's input. I had this feeling with the Millennium trilogy in reverse - the first book being the best one and then the books published after the author passed away declining in quality, and being truly in need of some editing. But to honestly answer the question - I'd go for 2.5. The parts I enjoyed, I did enjoy a lot. It's also a very unique world that Tolkien created and I can't just ignore the legacy. It helped for me to set myself goals - to reach a certain page number that day or before a certain time. If you're the sort of reader who can get through hard parts, at times even boring, I'd say it's worth it. But if you're the kind of reader who doesn't want to invest reading time in something they're not enjoying, don't force yourself on my behalf @Madeleine: I didn't mind the Ents so much, actually! As for the battles - the Battle at Helm's Deep was hard to get through, but the Siege of Gondor was okay. I saw the films years ago and I seem to remember there being more battles in the films than in the books - which I probably just misremember. Your mention of Game of Thrones is interesting - because I love those books, but in that series the same goes - the chapters set in the North are often harder to get through for me because there's so much Nature involved, and Bran's chapters are the absolute worst for me because he does so much traveling. @Ben: I agree that LOTR is something you need time to read for. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I often found myself thinking that going to work all day and then coming home to reading LOTR, it felt like more working at times and wasn't relaxing it all. So maybe I need to re-read these when I have some time off. I don't mind descriptions an sich, I'm just not a big Nature guy. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child review Reading this has been a delight. Now I will tell you honestly that I can't say whether it's reading a Harry Potter story again and going back to that familiar world, but in a new story - or if it's really the merit of the story itself. Of course it's not perfect and I would have preferred a regular novel over a script, but it's not so bad. I liked the characters - liked their flaws and how they're no copies of their parents. I'd love to see the play and I will be reading it again.

You guys are making me curious about The Office! I hope I'll have a chance to see it soon. The Return of the King review The Fellowship of the Ring took me two months to read. The Two Towers took me one month to read. The Return of the King took me one week to read. I think that sums up my experience with The Lord of the Rings. It takes a while to get used to this kind of story-telling. As I read on, it does get easier to follow. But overall, I think the lengthy descriptions tended to take me out of the story so often that I would lose track. This was especially the case when describing the landscapes or long journeys. Those could have done with less detail. The insane amount of detail tends to drown the story. I loved reading about the histories, the different species and their tales and I think Tolkien did really well with the battles. I'm usually not a fan of battle scenes - mainly because I'm not an action fan when it comes to films or books. But here, I could get through them. I'm not entirely convinced of The Lord of the Rings, but The Return of the King made me see what all the fuss is about. The Return of the King is definitely my favourite part. I think I'll be re-reading them all again, but not for the first few years. My reading plans for the rest of 2016: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, followed by The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and then The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão by Martha Batalha.

I stand corrected. Reading The Return of the King - I totally get it. I totally get why people love LOTR. Not all of it, but at least this part. I've only been through Helm's Deep and the Siege of Gondor so far, so the battles are okay for now. I do prefer those to the descriptions of the landscapes and mountain ranges and passages and such. There's so much information in those that it becomes hard to see in my mind's eye. I do feel with LOTR that these are books I have to drag myself through the hard parts, because if I put it down to come back to it later, it's even worse. Follet is indeed a great writer, judging by the two works by him that I've read. I didn't know there were Midsomer Murders books!

After reading The Pillars of the Earth (a little over 1,000 pages) and World Without End (a little over 1,200 pages) and each in two to three weeks, I reckoned I'd be done with The Lord of the Rings before I knew it. Boy, was I wrong... I've been at this since September, though to be fair the first part took me two months. I usually never interrupt a series if I can avoid it, but after The Fellowship of the Ring, I needed a different book more than I needed air or coffee. I'm on The Return of the King now and it's a bit better, but a lot of it probably has to do with knowing I'm almost through! I hope I'll re-read these books in a few years' time and find out what so many people love about it. As has been discussed before in this topic, LOTR is one of those classics that you have to have read and loved to be seen as a "true" reader by many people -- unfortunately. In other news, I ordered Zadie Smith's Swing Time on November 27th and today, it finally arrived! I look forward to reading it, as I've enjoyed White Teeth immensely and liked NW. On Beauty was the one I've least enjoyed by Smith. I also received an e-mail from the library that The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão by Martha Batalha arrived. I'd ordered it months ago and had actually forgotten all about it!

@Athena It is indeed nice to be on the library council! We only meet about three or four times a year, but it's nice to know the inner workings. @frankie We could! It was the main reason I'd have studied that. The different options were basically the Scandinavian languages. Sadly, I haven't watched either version of The Office yet, but I hear I should! The Two Towers review After spending two months on The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers took me a month. This part of The Lord of the Rings is a bit shorter than its predecessor, but also reads a bit more fluently. There are still pages and pages of descriptions of every rock and mountain, every blade of grass, and at times it still became too much. I believe it takes a bit getting used to the writing style and the narrative style of LOTR, which is why this one was an easier read for me. I'm one of the seemingly few who didn't mind that the journey of of the remaining companions of the Fellowship and that of Frodo and Sam was cut in two, as it were. Both were an interesting read and I honestly think that this choice made the journeys easier to follow. At this point, though, I feel like the many descriptive pages kill the story so that you doze off a bit mentally and when something huge is actually happening, you almost miss it. The action doesn't stand out very much. In short - The Two Towers was better for me than The Fellowship of the Ring. However, I will still be relieved once I've finished The Return of the King. I really want to like LOTR, so I will probably re-reading it in a few years.

I've wanted to read Agatha Christie for so long - you just hear so much about it. Does it live up to its reputation for you? Did you read in Dutch or in English?

@Athena: I've seen the films in cinema and then I saw them again a few years later, but that must have been nearly ten years ago now. So I remember the rough plot, but not the details. I, too, have trouble watching long films - I can't seem to maintain my focus, a problem I don't encounter when reading books. @bobblybear: I was determined to get past Tom Bombadil this time around. I have to admit, if you keep reading, you do get used to it. It just feels like you have to put an effort into reading this, which of course has its merits - but isn't so nice after a long day at work. I think if I do re-read these, it'll be when I have a few days off. @ian: Thanks! I am always a bit conscious about my reviews because it's so hard to convey what a book meant to me. It also tends to change as my mind keeps digesting. @MrCat: I don't mind descriptions in general. I also don't dislike all descriptions in this book - sometimes it just goes on a bit too long for me. I'm reading it as a classic too! De truc review After two months on The Fellowship of the Ring, I got through this novel in three days. The library in my hometown moved to a brand new building on October 1st. Being on the library council, I was invited to officially help move the last books and open the new library. This was symbolic, of course. I had to randomly choose a book from a small pile and chose this one without any good reason. While walking to the new library, I read the blurb and was interested in the story. I loved it. The characters were atypical and heart-warming. The plot moved along nicely and even though parts of the novel took place in the past and others in the present, it never became confusing. It was interesting to see how the strange old man from the present became the way he is. There were some clichés, but it didn't become cheesy. Everything was tied up very nicely, but I don't mind that. I like a clear ending every now and then. Hersenspinsels review This was the first non fiction book I read this year. The full title is Figments of the imagination: why we see, hear and think things that aren't there. This book was written by a professor in cognitive neuropsychiatry. It was an interesting read, but the structure was off. Often, I felt like the author was building up to something, but he didn't deliver. There's a lot of information here, but it's not always clear what the point is or how things are connected. An interesting read, but not one of those must-reads. I've started reading The Two Towers. Wish me luck!

The Fellowship of the Ring I tried to read this in Dutch about ten years ago and gave up around the time Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin met Tom Bombadil. Ever since I was a little boy, I've loved reading books. The Lord of the Rings is such a classic I felt that I had to like it. However, I just didn't feel that enchantment, that hunger to keep reading, that deep wish for the story to never end. I resolved to try again later. This year, I bought the books in English while I was in London. The first instalment took me 1.5 months to finish - I've finished books over twice as long in two or three weeks. Especially the first part of the journey was rather dull to me. I'm not a huge fan of nature and as a result, I lack the vocabulary to really paint a picture in my mind going by descriptions of nature. The Fellowship of the Ring is full of descriptions of nature and the journey. This novel is also quite heavy and sometimes, I wouldn't read in it for days at a time because it just wasn't relaxing the way reading usually is to me. I have to say that it did get better. I was probably getting used to the language and the writing style and while I still didn't thoroughly enjoy it, it got easier to read. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, because this is such a classic, but I'm just not a fan. I've read the first novel now and I was actually relieved it was over. My original plan was to read the three novels, but I've started a completely different book because I needed the break. It's possible I might try these novels again years from now and enjoy them better. I don't regret spending time on them, but my heart's not lost to Middle Earth. I wish it were different.

@athena and bobblybear: I greatly enjoyed The Pillars of the Earth as well and I'm sure I'll buy it if I come across it. It's one of those novels I know I will love re-reading in a few years. World Without End review World Without End is a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, but set two centuries later. The characters are descendants from the characters in The Pillars of the Earth. Throughout the novel, I felt as if these characters were the same or at least very similar to the ones I already knew, and the family connection was not always an excuse because surely, not everyone has the personality of their ancestors, and because often the characters they resembled weren't even their ancestor. I think for almost every character in World Without End, I could point out a character in The Pillars of the Earth that they resemble. Keeping that in mind, it was an unexpected surprise that I enjoyed World Without End even more than The Pillars of the Earth. I can't exactly say why, I'm not even sure if there were more characters or not, but this novel felt like it encompassed a more diverse look at Middle Age life. There were so many more angles. The pace was improved as well, compared to The Pillars of the Earth. I will definitely be buying this one as well. Enchantments review World Without End was so good, I felt I needed a rebound. I have mixed feelings about Enchantments, though. I'm fascinated by Russian history and the Romanovs are such an interesting part of that, but in Enchantments, the line between historical fact and imagination was so blurry I found it hard to really appreciate. The reader never quite knows whether something described is a dream, a story, or a memory. Sometimes, something could go on for pages and pages and you wouldn't know how much was in Masha's head. I'm sure loads of people like that, but it's not my cup of tea. The sexual scenes were also quite disturbing, since Alexei was only 13 years old. The fact that Masha was 18 made it worse. The novel could definitely have done without that. On to the The Lord of the Rings!