Athena's Reading List 2013

[frankie]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were plotting together, Frankie. We should make some sort of a rule that people HAVE to post their new book immediately. 

 

I like this idea very much!! Brilliant! Maybe we could secretly organize some sort of 'new book purchases detecting device' system, plant some microchip in everyone's cell phone, which would alert us to new books acquired, and then we could immediately go and demand titles and pics

 

[Athena]

I love the pic of the books that you posted. I especially love the pile of 'books about books' on the right. What are the books in the third pile that have kind of pastel-coloured spines?

 

Would it help motivate you to post a pic and a list of your new books if I begged you to do it? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

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

Great review! And I'm happy you enjoyed the book so much It's really great. (Not to mention that Zusak is a hottie )

x

Thanks . He is!

x

I love pics of books! Beautiful!

 

By the way: I don't remember, do you ever go to charityshops to buy books? If so, do the secondhand bookshops over there have a lot of English copies?

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 

I wouldn't be surprised if they were plotting together, Frankie. We should make some sort of a rule that people HAVE to post their new book immediately. 

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

I like this idea very much!! Brilliant! Maybe we could secretly organize some sort of 'new book purchases detecting device' system, plant some microchip in everyone's cell phone, which would alert us to new books acquired, and then we could immediately go and demand titles and pics

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 .

[Athena]

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)

[Athena]

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)

[Athena]

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)

[Little Pixie]

Ooh, lovely new books.   Always fun to drool over other people`s book pics.

[Athena]

@ 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)

[Athena]

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)

[Athena]

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)

[dex]

Some people don't do Irony, I love Your Readathon.

[pontalba]

Susan Hill - Howards End is on the Landing

 

 

 

 

Penny Vincenzi - Love in the Afternoon and Other Delights

 

 

Great reviews, Athena.  These are going on my wish list. 

[Athena]

Some people don't do Irony, I love Your Readathon.

x

Thanks .

x 

Great reviews, Athena.  These are going on my wish list. 

x

Thanks! I hope you enjoy the books if/when you get them .

[Athena]

Here's a list of all the books I bought at Het Boekenfestijn recently (see the photos earlier in this thread). Most of the books were really cheap. The most expensive one was €5,95, a Dutch book (it's somewhat cheap for a Dutch book), and the cheapest one was €1,50. Most of the books were between €1,95 - €2,95. There were a lot of really cheap ones. Like, "I can't believe it's only €1,95!"

 

(note: I've organised the genres and grouped them together based on which genres are more alike, it doesn't mean that I like Young-Adult Paranormal the best (I like it but love other genres more)).

 

Some of these books I don't know a lot about, just that the blurb sounded good, the cover looked attractive and it was cheap.. So far though, I've liked nearly all of the books I've bought at Het Boekenfestijn in the past (I mean, out of those I've read ). I seem to be able to estimate nicely what I think I'll like. I've discovered some really great books and authors at Het Boekenfestijn (by purchasing and reading the books). I probably wouldn't have started to read classic non-Dutch literature (ie. Jane Eyre) or chick-lit (ie. Confessions of a Shopaholic), for example, if it wasn't for books I bought at Het Boekenfestijn.

 

I'm happy with my new books . I still need to put them away onto their proper shelves, but I have mostly finished with making space for them by moving things around and organising it better etc. I always find it a lot of fun to arrange my shelves, hold my books, look at them.. (you can't get these things with an e-reader). It cheers me up to have it look nicer and more organised than it did before I started.

 

Young-Adult Paranormal

Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse 10: Dead in the Family

Maggie Stiefvater - Books of Faerie 1: Lament (I had this on the Kindle but I prefer paperback)

L. J. Smith - The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries 3: The Craving

Rachel Caine - Weather Warden 3: Chill Factor

Rachel Caine - Weather Warden 4: Windfall

Rachel Caine - Weather Warden 5: Firestorm

Rachel Caine - The Morganville Vampires 2: The Dead Girls' Dance

Rachel Caine - The Morganville Vampires 3-4: Volume 2: Midnight Alley and Feast of Fools

Kelley Armstrong - The Darkest Powers Trilogy 3: The Reckoning

Michael Grant - BZRK 1: Bzrk

 

Young-Adult Contemporary Fiction and Chick-lit

Carry Slee - Afblijven (I read this when I was a child and thought it'd be nice to own it)

Lisa Greenwald - Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes

Sarra Manning - Adorkable

Lauren Oliver - Before I Fall

Sophie Dahl - Playing with the Grown-Ups

Vanessa Curtis - Zelah Green 2: Zelah Green: One More Little Problem

 

Horror

Stephen King - Bag of Bones

 

Thrillers

Jo Nesbø - Harry Hole 6: The Redeemer

Jo Nesbø - Harry Hole 7: The Snowman

 

Detectives

Krista Davis - A Domestic Diva Mystery 2: The Diva Takes the Cake

Krista Davis - A Domestic Diva Mystery 3: The Diva Paints the Town

 

Graphic Novels

Oscar Wilde, Roy Thomas & Sebastian Fiumara - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Emily Brontë, Jim Pipe & Nick Spender - Wuthering Heights

Charlotte Brontë, Fiona Macdonald & Penko Gelev - Jane Eyre

 

Science-fiction

Jack McDevitt - Moonfall

Arthur C. Clarke - Profiles of the Future

Steve Alten - The Domain Trilogy 1: The Mayan Prophecy

Stephen Baxter - Northland 2: Bronze Summer

Neal Stephenson - Reamde

 

Fantasy

Julia Gray - The Guardian Cycle 4: The Red Glacier

Ken Scholes - The Psalms of Isaak 2: Canticle

Jenny Nimmo - Chronicles of the Red King 1: The Secret Kingdom (Children's)

Jenny Nimmo - Chronicles of the Red King 2: The Secret Kingdom: The Stones of Ravenglass (Children's)

Lemony Snickett - A Series Of Unfortunate Events 2: The Reptile Room (Children's)

Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Dragonships of Vindras 1: Bones Of The Dragon

Diana Gabaldon - Outlander 7: An Echo in the Bone

 

Literature

Aylmer Maude - The Life of Tolstoy

Sir Walter Scott - Rob Roy

Sir Walter Scott - Ivanhoe

Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man

Sharon Lathan - The Darcy Saga 7: Miss Darcy Falls In Love

Sharon Lathan - The Darcy Saga 2: Loving Mr. Darcy

 

Historical Fiction

Catherine Cookson - The Obsession

Catherine Cookson - The Tinker's Girl

Maggie Bennett - The Carpenter's Children

 

Contemporary Fiction

Leslie Lokko - An Absolute Deception

Maggie O'Farrell - The Distance Between Us

Maeve Binchy - Minding Frankie

Guillaume Musso - Where Would I Be Without You?

Douglas Coupland - Generation A

Douglas Coupland - The Gum Thief

Sophie Hannah - Spilling CID 3: The Point of Rescue

Sophie Hannah - Spilling CID 6: Lasting Damage

Sophie Hannah - Spilling CID 7: Kind of Cruel

Lisa Genova - Left Neglected

David Baldacci - One Summer

James Morrow - The Philosopher's Apprentice

Anna McPartlin - As Sure as the Sun

Danielle Steel - Mirror Image

Danielle Steel - Dating Game

 

Chick-lit

Emily Giffin - Darcy & Rachel 1: Something Borrowed

Molly Harper - And One Last Thing...

Veronica Henry - The Beach Hut

Holly McQueen - Isabel Bookbinder 3: Confetti Confidential

Adriana Trigiani - Valentine 1: Very Valentine

Adriana Trigiani - Big Stone Gap 2: Big Cherry Holler

Rebecca Chance - Divas

Jennifer Weiner - Cannie Shapiro 2: Certain Girls

Mia March - The Meryl Streep Movie Club

 

Biography

Julie Powell - Julie & Julia

Anne Mreijen & Marco Pauw - Unlimited

 

Information

G. Leistra - Standplaats Nederland: De Wereld van de Misdaad (free book)

G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville - The Book of the Kings & Queens of Britain

Octavius Black - The Mindgym 1: Denk buiten de kaders

Octavius Black - The Mindgym 2: Tijd maken

Octavius Black - The Mindgym 3: Relaties

John Lloyd & John Mitchinson - QI: The Book Of General Ignorance

John Brockman - What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty

Darolyn E. Jones - Painless Reading Comprehension

 

Puzzle

Ivan Moscovich - Brainmatics Logic Puzzles

 

Art

Stephen Huneck - My Dog's Brain

 

I also purchased some Kindle books a few days ago:

 

Jude Bijou - Attitude Reconstruction: A Blueprint for Building a Better Life (free)

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special 5: California Girls

Ann M. Martin - The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special 6: New York, New York!

[dex]

Nice pictures of your books, Athena. 

[Athena]

Thanks, dex !
 
Yesterday we went into town briefly, I visited the charity shop and bought some more books (I know.. I wasn't really planning on doing this, but they had some nice ones for a cheap price.. , two of which were on my wishlist. I can't believe for how cheap I got these books, and they're in quite good condition too).

 

 
Chris Manby - Girl Meets Ape
Mike Gayle - Dinner for Two
Rosie Milne - How to Change Your Life
Elisabeth Robinson - The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hurd Sisters
Amy Jenkins - Honeymoon
Sarah Ball - Nine Months
Faith Bleasdale - Rubber Gloves or Jimmy Choos?
Faith Blaesdale - Deranged Marriage

I plan to start reading Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time 0: New Spring soon. On the Kindle I'm still reading Temple Grandin - Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals. In the past few days I haven't done much reading, I think it's because I read a lot in the read-a-thon and so I needed a break from reading. Or something. Where's my mojo?? (in its defense though, I've been busy with book-related things, such as making a list of the books I recently bought and reorganising my shelves).

 

Edited September 12, 2013 by Athena

[dex]

I'm sure at the rate you read, you'll be reviewing them soon. Charity Shops are the main source of new authors for me, unless I am recommended People.

[Ooshie]

Wow, lots of nice books, Athena!  It was good to read your review of Howard's End Is On The Landing; I have wanted this book for ages but hated The Polysyllabic Spree so that put me off getting it.  But now I'm swinging back to really wanting it again...

[Athena]

I'm sure at the rate you read, you'll be reviewing them soon. Charity Shops are the main source of new authors for me, unless I am recommended People.

x

Thanks ! Yeah, it's great that these books can be given a new home, in my opinion.

x 

Wow, lots of nice books, Athena!  It was good to read your review of Howard's End Is On The Landing; I have wanted this book for ages but hated The Polysyllabic Spree so that put me off getting it.  But now I'm swinging back to really wanting it again...

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If you get the book, I hope you like it . I liked Howards End is on the Landing a lot more than The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, so I hope you do too.

[Kylie]

Wow, great book haul. Are all of those books in English? Or are they Dutch but still with English titles (excuse the silly question)?

Yay for Babysitter's Club books! Have you read those ones before? Oddly enough, I can't remember much about the California one, although I must have read half a dozen times. I still remember some of the New York one. In fact, I learnt a lot of what I know about New York from that book. One of these days I'll start re-reading my BSC books. I'm still missing a fair few books from later in the series, but I've been slowly tracking them down (my main source is a book fair in Canberra that I'll be going to in just a few weeks).

I was also happy to see a Julia Gray book. Have you read the rest in the series? I have them all but I haven't read them yet. Did you know that the name 'Julia Gray' is a pseudonym for a husband and wife who wrote the books? They have also written under the name of Jonathan Wylie. I have everything they've ever written (just looked it up - they've written 22 books: 14 as JW and 8 as JG) and I've read 8 of them (all JW). I've always had a special place in my heart for JW's fantasy trilogy called The Unbalanced Earth. It's probably not brilliant compared to other fantasy novels, but it was some of the earliest fantasy I read and I really enjoyed it. I've read that trilogy at least 4–5 times, I reckon.
 

If you get the book, I hope you like it . I liked Howards End is on the Landing a lot more than The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, so I hope you do too.

 

That sounds promising! I read and enjoyed TCPS, and I have Howard on my TBR pile.

[Athena]

Thanks ! All of the books are in English, except Unlimited (it's a Dutch book about twelve teenagers telling about their life with their chronic illness) and the Mind Gym ones (these are translated but I couldn't resist, I find with self-help type books it's not as big of a deal if it's in Dutch, though if the English ones had been there I would've bought them instead). I much prefer reading in English, unless the original author is Dutch. These days I mainly read English books rather than Dutch ones. I plan to eventually get rid of all my translated adult books (especially fiction) and replace them with English ones.

 

I haven't read these two Babysitter's Club books before, I've read a lot of the books but unfortunately only half of all of them were translated into Dutch, so I've read what I could at the time and have been trying to buy them in English so I can read the full story (they only translated 1-66 of the normal series, some mystery, two specials and some super specials if I remember correctly). If I can find them at all though in English to be shipped here, it's often expensive to get them delivered so I'm not sure if I'll ever have everything (I'd really like that). I hope they'll release everything for Kindle so I can at least read it that way (even if I prefer paperbacks). It's confusing sometimes because they changed most of the names of all the characters and places for the Dutch translation, so I can't just start off in the middle or it might get confusing. I read the very first book in English (Kirsty's Great Idea) recently and could follow it fine (because I know how the story is supposed to go, I've reread the Dutch one so many times). The Dutch translators did a great job with the books overall. I hope I can keep my Dutch collection of BSC books always!

 

I hope you have fun at the book fair! I don't know if it's like the Dutch one but it sounds fun .

 

I haven't read the rest of Julia Gray's series I'm afraid, I liked the blurb and cover of the book and it was cheap. If I like it, I'll have to see if I can find the other books in the series (or if I come across them cheaply..). I didn't know it was a pseudonym, thanks for telling me about the authors . I've put The Unbalanced Earth on my wishlist.

 

I hope you enjoy Howards End is on the Landing when you read it .

[willoyd]

Wow, lots of nice books, Athena!  It was good to read your review of Howard's End Is On The Landing; I have wanted this book for ages but hated The Polysyllabic Spree so that put me off getting it.  But now I'm swinging back to really wanting it again...

 

I didn't enjoy Polysyllabic Spree either.  Indeed, I didn't even finish it.  I can't remember why (it was before i started writing reviews), but I did really enjoy Howard's End is on the Landing: Susan Hill is very much a reader after my own heart, with a lovely, down to earth style of writing about them!  I can also recommend Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris, a slim volume of essays more about the experiences of being an avid reader (with avid readers for parents and husband too; it's subtitled Confessions of a Common Reader) than about the books themselves, but including some commentary (I've got Rereadings, a book where various writers revisit books they loved, on my shelf, but am yet to read it).

Edited September 15, 2013 by willoyd

[Athena]

Ex Libris and Rereadings are going on the wishlist, thanks willoyd .

[Athena]

Temple Grandin - Animals Make Us Human: Creating a Better Life for Animals

 

 

Genre: Information

Format: Kindle

Pages: 342

Synopsis (GoodReads): The best-selling animal advocate Temple Grandin offers the most exciting exploration of how animals feel since The Hidden Life of Dogs. In her groundbreaking and best-selling book Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin drew on her own experience with autism as well as her distinguished career as an animal scientist to deliver extraordinary insights into

how animals think, act, and feel.Now she builds on those insights to show us how to give our animals the best and happiest life—on their terms, not ours.

 

It's usually easy to pinpoint the cause of physical pain in animals, but to know what is causing them emotional distress is much harder. Drawing on the latest research and her own work, Grandin identifies the core emotional needs of animals.Then she explains how to fulfill them for dogs and cats, horses, farm animals, and zoo animals. Whether it's how to make the healthiest environment for the dog you must leave alone most of the day, how to keep pigs from being bored, or how to know if the lion pacing in the zoo is miserable or just exercising, Grandin teaches us to challenge our assumptions about animal contentment and honor our bond with our fellow creatures. Animals Make Us Human is the culmination of almost thirty years of research, experimentation, and experience. This is essential reading for anyone who's ever owned, cared for, or simply cared about an animal

 

My thoughts: If I remember correctly, this is one of the first few Kindle books I bought. It was on a Daily Deal so I thought I'd give it a go.

 

The book consists of nine chapters. The first one is titled Introduction and talks about the different research that's happened, of many different animals. It also talks about the four systems in animals, FEAR, RAGE, PANIC and SEEKING (along with a few minor systems). I thought this chapter was quite interesting. The other chapters are about a variety of animals: dogs, cats, cows, horses, pigs, and chicken and other poultry. The last two chapters are about wildlife, and about zoos. I thought it was quite interesting to read. Some chapters I got more out of than others, for example I already know a lot of things about dogs, so I learned more from ie. the chapter about cows because I didn't know much about taking care of cows. It wasn't not a fast read for me due to the information you have to digest, but it reads relatively allright. One thing I had problems with were a few of the words used (in relation to animal caretaking) that the Kindle British dictionary seemed to not know. I think they are American (slang?) words, such as stockperson (unknown in the dictionary) or poachers (the dictionary only mentioned a pan to make eggs with). Generally I could work out the meaning from the text, though. All in all I think it was an interesting book to read.

 

Since I have my Kindle, I've been reading more information books and really am quite enjoying doing so (even if a lot of them are relatively easy to read for me and they're not full of technical language). I used to read a lot of information books when I was a child but then stopped doing so as I felt I knew a lot of things already (among other reasons). Or perhaps school was too much information already so I didn't have any energy leftover for fun books.

 

Rating: **** (8/10)

[Athena]

As per frankie's suggestion I've now set aside some (old) notebooks for book lists.

 

- One for my wishlist

- One for books I own

- One for my reading dates

 

I've only written a few pages in the wishlist' one, I haven't yet written anything yet in the other ones. It might take a while and I don't know if I'll keep it up but when I'm in the mood and have the energy it can be nice to do something like this, book related but not reading (I might look into other bookish sites and decide to update my profile as I'm writing down the books I own, or something. Will have to see..).

 

EDIT: For anyone who's confused, I have all the information digitally (on GoodReads or Book Collector) but not on paper.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Athena

[poppyshake]

I've often wanted to do this but somehow not quite got around to it. Are you organising them in any specific way Athena? .. like alphabetically or anything? It's a bit difficult to do that with a notebook that you're adding to all the time though I guess. I like the idea of it because I'm sure it would make things feel tidier .. if I had some sort of catalogue. I have one on-line of course but nothing otherwise. It's all in my head along with all the other fluff and stuff