Athena's Reading List 2013

[Athena]

You mean speculaas? Sorry, the index of the book doesn't seem to mention it. The book contains more lunch and dinner recipes rather than cookie recipes. If you like though, I can look one up for you? A quick search reveals you need several ingredients, but I don't know if you can get "speculaaskruiden" (speculaas herbs) where you live. I've never seen them here personally, but that doesn't have to mean anything. Something quite similar is "kruidcake", which is a cake with herbs that taste a bit like that. You can buy a pack that has the flour and herbs included, here. Some other ingredients include self raising flour, creamy butter, salt, milk and "bruine basterdsuiker" (this is a certain type of sugar that's sold here (it's lovely), I'm not sure if it's sold overseas or what it's called). This is from one recipe I found. Here is the Dutch recipe site I usually use when I use the internet to find a Dutch recipe, I ran a query for speculaas in that link (the original website is Smulweb.nl). If you find a recipe that sounds or looks interesting I'd be happy to translate it for you . Not all of the recipes are as nice, some sound overly complicated for example so I always pick something that sounds nice. (I can also look at my Dutch cookbooks and see if any one of them have a recipe in it, if you want, but I don't have any specifically about sweet stuff I think.).

 

P.S. I'm not a big fan of speculaas myself to be honest , but I know lots of people who really like it (for example, my boyfriend and my mum).

Edited September 29, 2013 by Athena

[Athena]

Melanie Rose - Could it be Magic? (re-read)

 

 

Genre: Chick-lit

Format: Paperback

Pages: 343

Synopsis (GoodReads): What if you had the chance to live someone else’s life? Full of heart and soul, here is a captivating novel about the choices we make for family and love—and how sometimes a total stranger is the person we really need to be.

 

Jessica Taylor is walking her dog in the rain when she meets the man of her dreams — only to be struck by lightning moments later. When she wakes up in the hospital, the doctors insist she’s someone else: Lauren Richardson, wife and mother of four.

 

Lauren’s husband wants nothing more than for life to get back to normal — complete with a well-organized house and very properly behaved children. But Lauren’s kids haven’t been allowed to have much fun, and one of them has special needs. Can Jessica embrace this family of strangers and become the wife and mother they need? As she struggles to find her way in this new life — and the way back to her old life — she reconnects with Lauren’s estranged sister and discovers a secret that could rip the family apart.

 

Now, torn between Lauren’s responsibilities to her family and Jessica’s chance at love, one woman is about to find out whether the road not taken leads to happiness—or to heartbreak.

 

My thoughts: I picked this book up a few years ago. The synopsis sounded good and the book was cheap. I read it a couple of years ago and loved it, and recently felt like re-reading it.

 

It's an interesting story, about a woman who gets hit by lightning. From then on, she lives in two bodies, her own and the body of Lauren, a mother of four. I really liked this book. It's easy to read and I quite liked the writing style. I don't know much about this author and don't know anyone else who's read this book, but I loved it. I own one other book by the author (which I bought after loving this one), which I love too (though I slightly prefer this one, I think because I read it first). It's really interesting to hear how things go for Jessica / Lauren and how she deals with it all. It sounds pretty difficult to me! It's a great story. There are some unexpected plot twists, and I didn't expect the ending the first time I read it (I think it's a great ending, though). I like the characters, in particular I liked the main character, Karen (Lauren's sister) and one of the children. I don't think this book is very well known, and I think it's a shame. I really liked it. It was nice reading it again for a second time around. Because I read it a couple of years ago I remembered some things but others I didn't remember until they happened or until they were about to happen. It was a lot of fun to read this book again. A keeper .

 

Rating: ***** (10/10)

[Little Pixie]

You mean speculaas? Sorry, the index of the book doesn't seem to mention it. The book contains more lunch and dinner recipes rather than cookie recipes. If you like though, I can look one up for you? A quick search reveals you need several ingredients, but I don't know if you can get "speculaaskruiden" (speculaas herbs) where you live. I've never seen them here personally, but that doesn't have to mean anything. Something quite similar is "kruidcake", which is a cake with herbs that taste a bit like that. You can buy a pack that has the flour and herbs included, here. Some other ingredients include self raising flour, creamy butter, salt, milk and "bruine basterdsuiker" (this is a certain type of sugar that's sold here (it's lovely), I'm not sure if it's sold overseas or what it's called). This is from one recipe I found. Here is the Dutch recipe site I usually use when I use the internet to find a Dutch recipe, I ran a query for speculaas in that link (the original website is Smulweb.nl). If you find a recipe that sounds or looks interesting I'd be happy to translate it for you . Not all of the recipes are as nice, some sound overly complicated for example so I always pick something that sounds nice. (I can also look at my Dutch cookbooks and see if any one of them have a recipe in it, if you want, but I don't have any specifically about sweet stuff I think.).

 

P.S. I'm not a big fan of speculaas myself to be honest , but I know lots of people who really like it (for example, my boyfriend and my mum).

 

Thank you Athena.   Now that I know how to spell it and about the special flavouring, I`m able to look it up. Here`s some info in English which I found . Thanks for your help.   

 

I`ve never seen/heard of donkerbruine basterdsuiker, but apparently I can use demerara sugar instead.

 

I make lebkuchen at Christmas and fancied making some other biscuits as well.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Little Pixie

[Signor Finzione]

I don't really read much chick-lit, but 'Could it be Magic' sounds kind of interesting. Chick-lit novels usually put me off with the cheesy blurbs, and the front covers that all look the same (I swear they all use the exact same font!)

 

Nice review.

[Little Pixie]

I don't really read much chick-lit, but 'Could it be Magic' sounds kind of interesting. Chick-lit novels usually put me off with the cheesy blurbs, and the front covers that all look the same (I swear they all use the exact same font!)

 

Nice review.

 

I`m very taken by the story too.

[Athena]

Thank you Athena.   Now that I know how to spell it and about the special flavouring, I`m able to look it up. Here`s some info in English which I found . Thanks for your help.   

 

I`ve never seen/heard of donkerbruine basterdsuiker, but apparently I can use demerara sugar instead.

 

I make lebkuchen at Christmas and fancied making some other biscuits as well.

x

Those cookies look delicious! The English info looks nice. Nice to hear you can use the other sugar instead, I've never heard of demerara sugar . 

x 

I don't really read much chick-lit, but 'Could it be Magic' sounds kind of interesting. Chick-lit novels usually put me off with the cheesy blurbs, and the front covers that all look the same (I swear they all use the exact same font!)

 

Nice review.

x

I`m very taken by the story too.

x

I'm glad to hear you both think it's interesting . I think this story is different from most chick-lit books. Yes, I classified it as chick-lit and the cover does make it seem so. But if you look on GoodReads, it's also published under "Life as I Know It" with a different cover. I don't know why publishers do this, it'd confuse me if I was in a shop, unless I read the synopsis of the book and then recognised it. Anyway, the book it could partially be a contemporary fiction book with some light fantasy elements (the being in the two bodies), I'm not so good as classifying books but think it's best in the chick-lit section of my book shelves.

 

What is it about chick-lit books that you (Laura) don't like so much? I might be able to help you more to see if this book is for you, if you could pinpoint specific elements you don't like about this book. I feel this book is a bit like a romantic comedy film, not too cheesy but sometimes funny, nice to watch, not too difficult (I mean, there weren't many words in the book that I didn't know). It's not a literary work by any means, but it did make me think about my own life and how to best live it.

[Little Pixie]

x

Those cookies look delicious! The English info looks nice. Nice to hear you can use the other sugar instead, I've never heard of demerara sugar . 

x xx

 

Well, I`ve never heard of that Dutch sugar, so we`ve both learnt something.    Apparently, demerara comes from an old Dutch colony.

 

BTW, I can really recommend those lebkuchen - I make a huge batch and give them to neighbours at Christmas - and none of them have complained.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Little Pixie

[Athena]

That'll be my one thing I learned today, then . I have to admit, I've really never heard of it . We were taught a lot of history but maybe not this specific part, or something.

 

Sounds good! I'm not eating any cookies atm though because I'm trying to lose weight. It doesn't mean I can't have a cookie now and then but making a big batch of something not so healthy at the moment would be a mistake I think . It might be something to try out when I'm more rested and feel up for baking cookies, and have the mental resistance to not eat too many at any one time.

[Little Pixie]

That'll be my one thing I learned today, then . I have to admit, I've really never heard of it . We were taught a lot of history but maybe not this specific part, or something.

 

Sounds good! I'm not eating any cookies atm though because I'm trying to lose weight. It doesn't mean I can't have a cookie now and then but making a big batch of something not so healthy at the moment would be a mistake I think . It might be something to try out when I'm more rested and feel up for baking cookies, and have the mental resistance to not eat too many at any one time.

 

 

Good luck with the eating plan ! And remember - cookies make good gifts, you don`t have to eat them all.

[Athena]

Thanks That's true! But because of my disability I don't have many people living nearby that I could give them to, especially not without spending quite a bit of time with them first. My brother might like the cookies, but my sister lives further away and so do all my grandparents and other, further away, relatives. I'm not the kind of person who easily pops over to the neighbours, spends an hour talking with them, giving them the cookies and then go back. I have little contact with the neighbours. When we just moved here I was really upset about moving so I wasn't interested in the neighbours at all (I wanted our old neighbours back on one side, they were really nice). I have trouble remembering their faces (I'm bad with faces and names) and see them not often at all. Most of them are older people. There are three teenagers or twenty-ies living there, children of the parents (not sure how old they are atm, I don't see them much), but they once bullied me just after we moved here so I'm not too interested in them (I'll say hi though if they do so). They probably don't remember it at all, which might be for the best.

 

Anyway, I could always split some of the ingredients in ie. half and just make half as much, as well. That's what I've done sometimes in the past with recipes, just make less of it.

[Signor Finzione]

x

What is it about chick-lit books that you (Laura) don't like so much? I might be able to help you more to see if this book is for you, if you could pinpoint specific elements you don't like about this book. I feel this book is a bit like a romantic comedy film, not too cheesy but sometimes funny, nice to watch, not too difficult (I mean, there weren't many words in the book that I didn't know). It's not a literary work by any means, but it did make me think about my own life and how to best live it.

 

I think it's that I mostly read fantasy and don't generally like books set in the "real world", which is the same reasons I don't really read any contemporary crime novels or anything either. Anything that resembles real life makes me bored.   It's the same with films: there are a few romantic comedies I like (Love Actually, The Holiday, Bridesmaids), but generally it's not what I'd choose to watch. Also, most chick-lit I've read has all revolved around shopping and romance, which are really not my thing. But, I can see how the book you just reviewed has some different elements to it, which makes it seem more interesting than most chick-lit you see on the shelves.

 

Funny what you said about changing the title/cover - maybe I'll accidentally buy it somewhere under the name "Curse of the Body Snatcher".

 

BTW, I can really recommend those lebkuchen - I make a huge batch and give them to neighbours at Christmas - and none of them have complained.

 

Please become my neighbour?

 

I'm not the kind of person who easily pops over to the neighbours, spends an hour talking with them, giving them the cookies and then go back.

 

I'm the same. Where we live it sort of seems to be an unwritten rule that you don't talk to your neighbours (I thought it might have been a "reserved English" thing).

 

By the way, thanks both of you for making me really hungry!

[Little Pixie]

Thanks That's true! But because of my disability I don't have many people living nearby that I could give them to, especially not without spending quite a bit of time with them first. My brother might like the cookies, but my sister lives further away and so do all my grandparents and other, further away, relatives. I'm not the kind of person who easily pops over to the neighbours, spends an hour talking with them, giving them the cookies and then go back. I have little contact with the neighbours. When we just moved here I was really upset about moving so I wasn't interested in the neighbours at all (I wanted our old neighbours back on one side, they were really nice). I have trouble remembering their faces (I'm bad with faces and names) and see them not often at all. Most of them are older people. There are three teenagers or twenty-ies living there, children of the parents (not sure how old they are atm, I don't see them much), but they once bullied me just after we moved here so I'm not too interested in them (I'll say hi though if they do so). They probably don't remember it at all, which might be for the best.

 

 

 Such meanies.

[Little Pixie]

Please become my neighbour?

 

 

Hee, can I point out that my neighbours also come over with cake and sometimes soup ?

[Signor Finzione]

 

Hee, can I point out that my neighbours also come over with cake and sometimes soup ?

 

Well, I do make a pretty amazing home-made chicken soup . . . and usually make enough of it to feed 5,000 . . .

[Athena]

I think it's that I mostly read fantasy and don't generally like books set in the "real world", which is the same reasons I don't really read any contemporary crime novels or anything either. Anything that resembles real life makes me bored.   It's the same with films: there are a few romantic comedies I like (Love Actually, The Holiday, Bridesmaids), but generally it's not what I'd choose to watch. Also, most chick-lit I've read has all revolved around shopping and romance, which are really not my thing. But, I can see how the book you just reviewed has some different elements to it, which makes it seem more interesting than most chick-lit you see on the shelves.

x

That makes sense . I like to read a mixture of both made up worlds and books based in the "real world". This book is set in this world but as you said it has some elements to it that make it different from most chick-lit type books.

x 

 Such meanies.

x

Thanks .

[Devi]

I don't really read much chick-lit, but 'Could it be Magic' sounds kind of interesting. Chick-lit novels usually put me off with the cheesy blurbs, and the front covers that all look the same (I swear they all use the exact same font!)

 

Nice review.

  

I`m very taken by the story too.

Me too!

[Athena]

Veronica Henry - A Sea Change (QuickReads)

 

 

Genre: Chick-lit

Format: Paperback

Pages: 90

Synopsis (GoodReads): Jenna is known as The Ice Cream Girl. She doesn't mind the name one bit. After all, it's a happy name, and there are far worse jobs than selling ice creams on Everdene beach.

 

Craig spends as much time as he can at the beach hut in Everdene he rents with a few of his mates. As a policeman, it is a restful change from his daily life, and he's surfing mad. One weekend he's down there on his own when he notices a girl on the beach. He's young, free and single and she catches his eye.

 

But on this particular summer weekend, both Jenna and Craig's lives are about to change...

 

My thoughts: I own a few books by Veronica Henry, but this was my first book by her. So far I've always picked a QuickReads book for the read-a-thon, and I did so again for this one.

 

This book was really good. It had a lot more depth than I had expected. While reading, it felt more like a contemporary fiction than a chick-lit read to be honest (so maybe I haven't classified it properly? The cover's chick-littish though). The characters were very interesting. I would've liked to see what happened past the ending, would've liked to see more of the characters and how the story would progress after the ending. It's a good ending and a good moment in the story to end it, I just loved the characters and the writing style so I wanted to read more. As with all QuickReads books I've read so far, the letters are big and the writing style is slightly more simplistic. The book was easy to read.

 

Rating: ***** (9/10)

[Athena]

Roald Dahl - The BFG (re-read)

 

 

Genre: Children's

Format: Paperback

Pages: 198

Synopsis (GoodReads): Captured by a giant! The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It's lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, the Fleshlumpeater, the Bonecruncher, or any of the other giants-rather than the BFG-she would have soon become breakfast.

When Sophie hears that they are flush-bunking off in England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!

 

My thoughts: For the read-a-thon I again picked a Roald Dahl read, this was one of the few bigger books left to read. I remember liking it when I read it when I was a child. I didn't read it as often as some of Roald Dahl's other books (I read The Witches, Matilda and Charlie Bucket 1: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the most). This could have been because I liked the story a bit less than those three, and/or because it wasn't as much in stock in the library and book shops.

 

It's a great story, I really enjoyed it. I liked the characters and Roald Dahl's writing style. I also loved the illustrations (as with all Roald Dahl books that have Quentin Blake's illustrations).

 

One thing I noticed while reading it, was that the BFG's grammar and word use was a bit confusing to me at first. He uses words that don't exist as well as 'wrong' grammar. This bothered me a bit at first, because I always like it when things are right in the language used (spelling errors in books annoy me). After a while I got more into the story and it bothered me less, but it did however slow down my reading a bit as I have to think more about what he just said and what it means. Sometimes the non-existant words were funny, sometimes they bothered me a bit. I wasn't always 100% sure what was meant (and this always bothers me in a book).

 

I'm giving it an 8 out of 10, knocking down one point for the language used by the BFG. It does make sense in the story, it just made reading the book a bit more difficult for me. I think in Dutch it would've bothered me less since I'm more familiar with ie. the phonetics of words, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, I quite liked this Roald Dahl book, but it's not one of my favourite Roald Dahl books.

 

Rating: **** (8/10)

[Athena]

Ann M. Martin - The Babysitter's Club 3: The Truth About Stacey (re-read)

 

 

Genre: Young-Adult, Chick-lit

Format: Paperback

Pages: 155

Synopsis (GoodReads): The truth about Stacey is she has diabetes. Nobody knows... except her friends in the Baby-Sitters Club. But even they don't know the real truth about Stacey. Stacey's problem is her parents. They won't admit she has the disease, and they drag her to practically every doctor in America! Seeing so many doctors made Stacey lose one friend, and she won't let it happen again. Especially now - when the Baby-Sitters Club needs her more than ever!

 

My thoughts: I wanted to pick another short book for the read-a-thon. A while ago I read book one on the Kindle. I own some books of the series in English, some on my Kindle and some in paperback. I thought I'd read book 3, as I don't own book 2 in English. I do own it in Dutch but the names are different and I do roughly remember what happened in it so I could follow this one easily.

 

This was the second BSC book I ever read (in Dutch), and I've always liked it (though I have slightly fonder memories of the first BSC book I ever read, I think partially because that was the first one).

 

The book kind of has two story lines going on, one about Stacey's illness and one about the rival babysitters. I enjoyed reading about both of them. In the beginning it took me a little bit of time to get into the story. The storyline about the rival babysitters I particularly enjoyed.

 

It was great nostalgia to read this book again. The different names make things slightly different, in the sense that I keep trying to remember what the Dutch names were, so I can relate the characters more to what I remember. I know the names of the main characters, but it's the side characters that are trickier. I do love this series and have many fond memories of it (I hope one day to have read them all in English, in Dutch only some of them were translated).

 

One thing that struck me while reading it, is that I loved reading this series when I was a lot younger, but the strange thing is that I've never been that interested in children. Most children are way too tiring for me to be around for a bit of time. It's always been that way though when I was young I didn't realise it. I've never particularly felt connected to children. It struck me as I was reading this, I'm not quite sure why I do enjoy reading about children and babysitting. I also enjoy reading about pregnancies, raising children and about families (ie. in other books). I guess maybe reading is a way for me to slightly experience these things even if they aren't what I would ever be able to do in real life or what I would want to do in real life.

 

Rating: ***** (10/10)

[Athena]

Michelle Stewart: Declutter Your Life: Reduce Stress, Increase Productivity, and Enjoy Your Clutter-Free Life

 

 

Genre: Information

Format: Kindle

Pages: ~45

Synopsis (Amazon.com): Michelle Stewart, author of Declutter Your Life, draws on her professional and personal experiences to craft an easy-to-follow book on reducing clutter in all aspects of your life. She shares personal success stories regarding home, office, and mental clutter and talks about how living in a modern culture can lead to anxiety and depression. Declutter Your Life is full of tips for decluttering physically and mentally, and Stewart provides advice that can be implemented with minimal time and money.

 

Whether the piles of stuff in your dining and bedroom areas are beginning to drive you crazy, or you need to make some changes to your office space, this book can help. If you are tired all the time because you never have a minute to yourself, or racing thoughts about what you need to do the next day are keeping you awake at night, this book can help. From dealing with social situations and managing your calendar, to learning to relax and reduce mental stress, Michelle Stewart walks the reader through actionable steps toward a more organized, low-stress life. With information on how to get the entire family involved in decluttering, this is the perfect manual for living a clutter-free life.

 

My thoughts: I wanted to read a short Kindle information book, ie. about clutter. This was a free book if I remember it correctly and I downloaded it because I'm interested in reducing some of my clutter.

 

This book contained some nice tips considering it's only a small ebook. There weren't a lot of new tips compared with two other declutter books I've read, most of the tips I already read in one or two of the other books (of course, if I'd read this one first, it'd be the other way around). They are good tips though and I enjoyed the writing style of this book. It's well written and easy to read. Because of its length I'd personally say one shouldn't pay more for it than a couple of dollars (or whichever currency you buy ebooks in where you live), but since I got it for free, that's not a problem at all. Some of the free books on the Kindle aren't good, ie. often there are spelling mistakes or it looks like it could've done with some editing. Not so here, this book looked very professional. If there were any spelling mistakes at all, there certainly weren't enough for me to make a note of it. As far as free ebooks go, I'm glad I got this one while it was free.

 

In regards to my clutter, sentimental value is a problem for me. This book (like another one I've read) recommends to take photos of the items, which I think I'll do at some point. I may've written it down before in a review of another clutter book. I also find it difficult to resist a bargain for things even if I don't use them that much (ie. I still have some office supplies leftovers from university that I bought while I was studying but that I didn't need to use much.)

 

All in all it was a good book, I'm glad I read it. I have one book left about clutter on my Kindle, so will be reading that in a while I think.

 

Rating: **** (8/10)

[Athena]

R. L. Stine - Fear Street 49: Verblind (Into the Dark)

 

(cover is for the English version, though the picture is the same)

 

Genre: Young-Adult, Horror

Format: Paperback

Pages: 159

Synopsis (GoodReads): Being blind doesn't stop Paulette from falling in love with Brad Jones. But after her friends see Brad commit a horrible crime, Paulette insists that he would never hurt anyone. Is Paulette right about Brad? Or has love put her in terrible danger?

 

My thoughts: I read this book several times when I was a lot younger. I loved all the R. L. Stine books I owned and I picked this one to re-read for two reasons. One is that it's a standalone story (the series are usually better, but I wanted a standalone book) and the second is that I was intrigued by the disability and how it's portrayed. I thought I'd re-read one of these horror books because I liked them a lot as a child and teenager, but am not so much anymore into horror these days.

 

This was a good horror book. It's a shame the main character didn't talk more with her parents, I felt some of the issues could've been solved by having a more open conversation with the parents, however I guess in that case there would've been less story so I guess it makes sense. It just grated on me a little bit, I don't like it when a character lies to people. The characters were good and interesting (minus what I've just mentioned). I particularly liked the aspect of the main character being blind (since birth), this gave an extra edge to the story. I did think Pauline was a bit quick with trusting Brad, she liked him a bit too quickly in my opinion. Each chapter ends on a cliffhanger, which is good because it makes you want to keep on reading and provides certain times in the story where things are more and less tense, but the downside is of course that if you're one of those people who must finish a chapter before they stop reading, it might be a bit difficult. Personally I don't mind stopping to read in the middle of a chapter, though if I can finish a bit I'll do so (although in this case I wouldn't as much, because of the cliffhanger). I quite liked this book, the horror was good but it was never 'too much' or too scary for me. I think maybe because it's a children's/YA book, I'm not sure, or perhaps more so because I've read it before and remembered what would happen (this helps me a lot normally).

 

Rating: **** (8/10)

[Athena]

J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (re-read)

 

 

Genre: Young-Adult, Fantasy

Format: Paperback

Pages: 223

Synopsis (GoodReads): Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He's never worn a cloak of invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years. But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him...if Harry can survive the encounter. Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

 

My thoughts: I read this book for English class in secondary school. I read it in Dutch a while later (we weren't allowed to keep the English editions I think). I recently bought the whole series in paperback and so thought it was time to start reading it. The first book isn't very big so it's good for a read-a-thon with short(er) books.

 

I knew I liked this book the times when I read it before, but I really enjoyed reading this again. I didn't think I'd enjoy it quite this much. I had lots of memories while I read it, of my English class, the book and the film, mainly. It's such a great magical story. The characters are really good. It's amazing how someone can think up this magical world (well, I think that's the case of more fantasy books), it takes quite a bit of imagination.

 

The writing style was good, easy to read but not too simplified. The one thing that bothered me was Hagrid's accent. It was sometimes a little bit difficult to understand what he was saying. For me it's the easiest if things are just written down in correct English, that's the easiest way for me to read it to be honest.

 

Rating: ***** (10/10)

[Athena]

Thomas R. Hart and Sean Lam - It Takes a Wizard (Complete Saga)

 

 

Genre: Manga

Format: Paperback

Pages: ~494

Synopsis (GoodReads): No outsider has set foot on the island of Manhattan for the past three years, and with good reason. It’s become a place of wild, dark magic, where technology and the laws of science do not work. The dark kingdom of Manhattan is at war with the United States, seeking to spread across the river to the rest of the world. Its armies of trolls, goblins, imps, ghouls and harpies are under the command of a dark sorceror: Everett Winterthorn, the Midnight King.

 

Isaac Silverberg is Winterthorn’s former apprentice, plucked from Death Row and given a final chance to redeem himself. The US Army makes him an offer he can’t refuse: his life, in exchange for rescuing the daughter of the governor of New Jersey. She’s been kidnapped by Winterthorn’s minions and taken into the depths of the Magic Kingdom.

 

It’s a mission that can only be accomplished by a mage powerful enough to face down Winterthorn. Unfortunately for Isaac Silverberg, the government believes that he is that man. In fact, they are quite sure of it.

 

Isaac himself isn’t so sure...

 

My thoughts: I picked this book up at the book fair, for cheap. I didn't know a lot about it, the synopsis sounded interesting. I chose it for the read-a-thon because it's one of the two manga left on my shelf that I haven't read yet. I don't have a lot of manga, though my boyfriend does so when he moves in in a while I could read some more of his manga.

 

This story has beautiful illustrations. Most of the manga I've read are all contemporary stories, some of them do have some magical elements but not as many as this book has. In the manga I've read, I usually like the illustrations. But I hadn't seen before illustrations of monster-like creatures etc., so this was new for me. Sometimes a 'scene-change' was a bit confusing. In a book there's a new paragraph, white lines, or the text is divided by a '*' or '~' or something. In a manga it's not so (I don't know about all manga, but in the ones I've read it's like this). From one image to the next, you're in a different scene, with different characters in a different location. This confused me a bit in this book. It wasn't always 100% clear what was going on in the pictures. I think this has to do with how I perceive things, I have this problem with more manga but my boyfriend doesn't have it as much as I do. Sometimes I could look at an illustration but wasn't sure what it was supposed to be. It has to do with how I perceive things (in details rather than the full picture) so don't let it put you off reading any manga if you're interested. This manga is a great fantasy story, I really enjoyed reading it and am glad I bought it. One element I didn't like so much was religion. I didn't quite get the purpose of this element in the story. It bothered me for some reason, maybe because I believe it's a more private matter and don't believe in the way that some people do. There isn't a lot of this element in the story but I don't quite get its purpose, it seemed to me that if the element wasn't there as much, the story wouldn't have lost much of its strength, but that's just my point of view.

 

 

Rating: **** (8/10)

[Athena]

A. C. Baantjer - De Cock 65: De Cock en de Dartelende Weduwe

 

 

Genre: Detective

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 137

Synopsis (me): Detective De Cock and his assistant Vledder are investigating the murder of a man, who recently became intimate with a young widow. Just before the murder, she comes to the police station and warns that her ex might murder her new lover.

 

My thoughts: I picked it up because I wanted to read a short detective for the read-a-thon. However, somehow my Baantjer books weren't on my shelf in order and so I ended up reading this one. I own four Baantjer books, but this one is the last one in the series that I have (I have numbers 1, 2, 7 and 65). So I was really supposed to read #2, and this would've been better. I could still follow the story fine, but it was a big change to go from #1 (that didn't involve De Cock very much) to #65.

 

This was a great book. It was tense and I wanted to keep on reading. I loved reading about De Cock and Vledder again, sometimes thinking about the TV series as I read it. I haven't seen the TV series in years, but my sister owns many of them on DVD (I'm not sure if she has all of them) and so back then we watched it sometimes together (on DVD or on TV), not that often maybe but enough that I remember it. The book is well written and reads easily. Sometimes I found the characters a bit confusing, I had to think about which character is which. I usually have that problem with detectives and while I read it it went allright this time. It's now that I'm writing the review that I don't quite remember who's who , but that's okay. I could re-read the book sometime. It was clear while I was reading it. I think me being tired while I read it didn't help either.

 

I hope to have more Baantjer books, the thing is, with them being Dutch books they're usually not so cheap. I bought three at the book fair and one at the library (library sale), but I don't tend to browse the Dutch section of the book fair much and I've only been to one library sale in the past ten years or something. I did see a few for sale on ie. Ebay or at Queen's Day market (which will be King's Day next year), but they weren't very cheap so I didn't go for it. Maybe one day though, it'd be nice .

 

Rating: ***** (9/10)

[Athena]

Arthur C. Clarke - The Other Side of the Sky (re-read)

 

 

Genre: Science-fiction

Format: Paperback

Pages: 245

Synopsis (GoodReads): The Other Side of the Sky presents a glimpse of our future: a future where reality is no longer contained in earthly dimensions, where man has learned to exist with the knowledge that he is not alone in the universe. These stories of other planets and galactic adventures show Arthur C. Clarke at the peak of his powers: sometimes disturbing, always intriguing.

 

My thoughts: I first read this book when I had just started my medication. My short term memory wasn't working properly and I tried to read a full length book but after 10-20 minutes of reading I couldn't remember what I'd just read or who the characters were. So I decided to try short stories and this was the short story collection I picked up. I own a few other books by Arthur C. Clarke but I've only read this one so far (now twice).

 

It was great reading this again. I did remember some things of some stories, so that was nice. Most of the stories have one or multiple unexpected plot twists. The writing is very good and most of the stories were quite interesting. I liked the mixture of some stories taking place in the near future, the past future or the far future. Below I'll briefly detail each story and my thoughts, however I can't say too much due to spoilers. One thing that I noticed was that all except one story, had a male main character. What I thought was interesting, was how the stories were written before the 1960s (the original book was published in 1958). There is a lot of imagination going into the stories. He'd have had to imagine the future, when in 1958. I think it's amazing how he thought it up (different depending on which story). I noticed "goodbye" is spelled "good-by".

 

The Nine Billion Names of God, 11 pages

This story is about a monastery that asks to borrow a computer so they can calculate all the names of God. This story was pretty good, quite interesting. The religion didn't bother me so much because it's integral to the plot.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

Refugee, 16 pages

This story is about the captain of an American starship who meets with Prince Henry IX of Britain. This was a good story, very interesting. I liked the characters.

Rating: **** (8/10)

 

The Other Side of the Sky

This is a short story collection, below follow the individual stories' thoughts. These stories are all about the same person. He talks about his time aboard a space station, with satellites ensuring communication. The stories are written in first person.

 

Special Delivery, 5 pages

This story is about a cargo delivery. It's nice but not a whole lot happens. Half of the story is spent setting the scene (space station, satellites). I liked reading it, definitely, but there wasn't a lot of moving the plot.

Rating: **** (7/10)

 

Feathered Friend, 5 pages

This story is about pets aboard the space station. I thought it was quite good and interesting.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

Take a Deep Breath, 5 pages

This story is about the space cabin (with people inside) floating away from the rest of the space station. This was tense and quite interesting.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

Freedom of Space, 9 pages

This story is about the first (live?) TV broadcast over the whole world, with footage from cameras all over the world. It's interesting to read how the technology would work.

Rating: **** (8/10)

 

Passer-by, 5 pages

This story is about the main character's relationship with a person on another station (well, observitory but ok..). He discovers a strange object while travelling from his station to hers.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

The Call of the Stars, 5 pages

This story is about the main character growing up and how his father didn't agree with him travelling in space.

Rating: **** (8/10)

 

The Wall of Darkness, 24 pages

This story is about a planet with a huge wall. Behind the wall is "Shadow Land". No one knows what's behind the wall, our main character wants to find out. I really enjoyed this one, it's very good.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

Security Check, 6 pages

This is a story about a man who owns a workshop. He's given a TV set as a reward for something and ends up working for a TV show. This is a great story, but I would've liked it to continue past the ending.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

No Morning After, 4 pages

This story is about a man who's contacted by aliens, telepathically. They have a message for the people of Earth. This was very good, very interesting.

Rating: ***** (10/10)

 

Venture to the Moon

This is a set of stories about a group of people who explore the moon. Keeping in mind that when this was written, the moon wasn't explored yet, I think it's quite nice how the writer wrote these stories. The stories are written in first person from the perspective of the Commander of the British space ship. There are three ships who go and explore the moon, an American one, a British one and a Russian one.

 

The Starting Line, 6 pages

It took me a bit of trouble to get to grips with the premise, since as long as I've been born, the moon has been explored. However, this story was interesting and I think shows human nature. This story is about the journey to the moon.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

Robin Hood, F. R. S., 7 pages

I don't know what F. R. S. stands for (I found several meanings but none seem applicable), but this was a good story. It's about what happens when one of the supply drones lands on a cliff. It was only a little bit weird, as as far as I know there aren't many cliffs on the moon, I'm not sure though. I've just not seen a big cliff in any moon photos. Otherwise though I liked this story, it's nice to read how they resolve the situation.

Rating: **** (8/10)

 

Green Fingers, 7 pages

This story is about a botanist who's from the Russian ship. I quite liked this one.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

All That Glitters, 6 pages

This story is about a geophysicist from the American ship and what he finds in a crater. It was interesting.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

Watch This Space, 5 pages

This story is about an experiment with sodium. I quite liked it, I thought it reflected human nature well. The plot twist was interesting.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

A Question of Residence, 3 pages

This is a story about the ships going back to Earth and why the British one is going back later than the others. I liked it, but I didn't fully understand the benefit of going back later. I felt this could've been explained better.

Rating: ***** (8/10)

 

Publicity Campaign, 7 pages

This is a story about a science-fiction film premiering in the cinemas. I liked the plot twist at the end.

Rating: **** (8/10)

 

All The Time in the World, 15 pages

This is a story about a man who gets visited by a woman, she asks him to steal some objects from a museum (the man, businesswise, does things like this more often). This was quite interesting, really enjoyed this story.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

Cosmic Casanova, 9 pages

This story is told in first person. The main character is alone in a scout ship, scouting out planets and areas. I didn't really like the main character, because he talked about how he went out with lots of different women. I would've liked a bit more detail of things. The second half of the story was more interesting, and I quite liked the ending.

Rating: **** (8/10)

 

The Star, 9 pages

This story is told in the first person. It's about a nebula cloud and a sun that's gone supernova, this wiped out a planet. The ending is very interesting, the rest is kind of leading up to it. Religion is an element but it has a function here.

Rating: **** (8/10)

 

Out of the Sun, 10 pages

This story is told in the first person and is about an observatory observing the sun. There's a cloud coming and they're working out what it could mean. It's an interesting story and makes you think.

Rating: **** (8/10)

 

Transcience, 8 pages

This story is, in a sense, about evolution. I found it a bit confusing and didn't like it so much.

Rating: *** (6/10)

 

The Songs of Distant Earth, 39 pages

This story is about a female on a colony of Earth, who's married. A space ship arrives from Earth and needs to be repaired. She becomes interested in one of the crew. This was very interesting, I quite enjoyed this one.

Rating: ***** (9/10)

 

Overall it was great to re-read this book, I really enjoyed reading it.

 

Overall Rating: ***** (9/10)

Edited October 8, 2013 by Athena