Athena's Reading List 2013

[Kidsmum]

Nice pile Athena  I love being able to come home with a bag full of books it's much more satisfying than buying them on the net when you have to wait for them to be delivered..... Yay for instant gratification 

[Brian.]

Great second hand haul.

[Athena]

Hurray for your new books !

x

Great books

x

Nice pile Athena  I love being able to come home with a bag full of books it's much more satisfying than buying them on the net when you have to wait for them to be delivered..... Yay for instant gratification 

x

Great second hand haul.

x

Thanks, all of you !

 

I actually bought one more second hand book yesterday, in the charity shop.

 

Rowan Coleman - The Accidental Mother.

[Athena]

Eowyn Ivey - The Snow Child

 

 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: Paperback

Pages: 438

Synopsis (back of the book): Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding - is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her?

 

My thoughts: I bought this book a while ago after Amazon recommended it to me. It's getting colder outside so I thought it'd be a great wintery read (and it was!).

 

The book starts off a bit slow, introducing the reader to the characters and their life. I really enjoyed reading about them though, so it didn't bother me so much.

 

The characters are interesting. The book is a great wintery read, reading about the cold and the snow, and the characters' life there in Alaska. I can imagine it probably won't have the exact same impact if one reads it in the summer. The book is very atmospheric, I could really imagine it. I particularly liked the second part of the book, where more things happen and things got more interesting.

 

The book didn't end the way I thought it would, but I like this ending even more so it's all good .

 

I'm really glad I bought this book and read it, it was really good. Reading it in the winter time, or at least when it's cold where you live, is really nice.

 

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

[shelley.s]

Fab review 

 

Ive had this one on my tbr pile for a while so i'll defiantly move it up the list!

[Athena]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy it when you read it .

[Signor Finzione]

This sounds like a pretty book. I love the snow.

[shelley.s]

Yes defiantly one for christmas 

[Ruth]

Eowyn Ivey - The Snow Child

 

 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: Paperback

Pages: 438

Synopsis (back of the book): Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding - is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her?

 

My thoughts: I bought this book a while ago after Amazon recommended it to me. It's getting colder outside so I thought it'd be a great wintery read (and it was!).

 

The book starts off a bit slow, introducing the reader to the characters and their life. I really enjoyed reading about them though, so it didn't bother me so much.

 

The characters are interesting. The book is a great wintery read, reading about the cold and the snow, and the characters' life there in Alaska. I can imagine it probably won't have the exact same impact if one reads it in the summer. The book is very atmospheric, I could really imagine it. I particularly liked the second part of the book, where more things happen and things got more interesting.

 

The book didn't end the way I thought it would, but I like this ending even more so it's all good .

 

I'm really glad I bought this book and read it, it was really good. Reading it in the winter time, or at least when it's cold where you live, is really nice.

 

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

 

What a great review  I read this book early this year, and I wasn't over-keen, but looking back, I feel that it may have been that I wasn't in the right mood for it.  (It was picked by our book group for our January meeting, so I read it because I felt I had to, rather than because it was something I fancied at the time.)  Your review has reminded me of the things that I did like about it, and I'm glad I held onto my copy, because I think I shall probably read it again at some point.

[Athena]

Thank you! I hope you enjoy the book better the second time around .

[Athena]

Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones 2: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

 

 

Genre: Chick-lit

Format: Paperback

Pages: 422

Synopsis: (not given since second book in series)

 

My thoughts: After reading and really liking the first book, I got the second book as a birthday gift. I wasn't getting on well with the other book I was reading (George R. R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire 3: A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow), so I thought I'd pick something a bit less complicated and less epic to read while still very enjoyable (I've been looking forward to reading this book).

 

I really liked this book. The story continues after the first book. And really, if you liked the first book, you'll also like the second book, I think. I really liked it. I'd seen the film before, and there are significant differences between the film and the book, but also similarities.

 

I particularly liked the bit where:

 

 

Bridget has to interview Colin Firth. In the film Colin Firth plays Mark Darcy. I thought this was excellent and possibly why he was picked to play Mark Darcy. It makes sense they couldn't put the interview in the film.

 

 

I quite enjoyed Bridget's little tidbit statistics at the beginning of each day.

 

The book, like the previous one, is quite funny. I laughed out loud on occasion (which doesn't happen to me often when reading a book).

 

The only downside really is that now and then there's a reference to something (or perhaps someone?) I don't know. But this probably has more to do with me than the book.

 

Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book. Its style, bothering me a little bit in the beginning last time, didn't bother me this time around. I really liked reading about Bridget and the other characters. Recommended!

 

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

Edited December 4, 2013 by Athena

[lauraloves]

Yay glad you enjoyed Bridget Jones Are you going to read the new one?

[Athena]

I'm quite excited to be reading the new one! The read-a-thon is coming up, I'm thinking I'll start it after that .

[Athena]

Ian Rankin - A Cool Head (QuickReads)

 

 

Genre: Thriller

Format: Paperback

Pages: 107

Synopsis (GoodReads):"My dad used to say to me, 'Try to keep a cool head and a warm heart'. At least I think it was my dad. I don't really remember him." Gravy worked in the graveyard - hence the name. He was having a normal day until his friend Benjy turned up in a car Gravy didn't recognise. Benjy had a bullet hole in his chest, but lived just long enough to ask Gravy to hide him and look after his gun. Gravy had looked after things for Benjy before, but never a gun. When Gravy looked in the car he found blood, a balaclava and a bag stuffed with money. Gravy's not too bright but he wants to help his friend. So Gravy finds himself caught up in the middle of a robbery gone wrong, a woman who witnessed a murder, and some very unpleasant men who will do anything to get back the money Benjy stole...

 

My thoughts: Since it was the read-a-thon I decided to read another QuickReads book (not many left now that I own).

 

This book was pretty tense. I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen.

 

What I liked less was that it was a bit confusing. It felt as if the author had tried to cram too much into too few pages. There were a lot of characters involved in the story, and they weren't well introduced or described. I got confused with the names and who was who. A few times I didn't really get what was going on.

 

The story kind of just ends, I felt it could've been wrapped up nicer. I mean, yes it is an ending but I would've liked the book to go on a bit longer.

 

Rating: **** (7/10)

[Athena]

Roald Dahl - Charlie Bucket 2: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

 

 

Genre: Children's

Format: Paperback

Pages: 190

Synopsis: (omitted because it's part of a series)

 

My thoughts: Since there was a read-a-thon, I read another Roald Dahl book. I hadn't read this one before.

 

First off, this book reminded me of a Dutch children's book (Abeltje by Annie M. G. Schmidt), where a boy and a couple of people also take off in an elevator (otherwise there aren't any similarities, though). I looked it up and it turns out that Abeltje is actually older than Roald Dahl's book (1953 vs. 1973), which isn't what I was expecting. Anyway..

 

The story continues on from book one and features Charlie and his family and Mr. Willy Wonka. I thought the story was quite nice. I did find it a bit far-fetched, what happens. You need a lot of imagination to think this up (which I suppose is a great to the writer). I liked the illustrations too, though I felt there weren't as many as in some other Roald Dahl books (but maybe I was just greedy ).

 

Rating: **** (8/10)

[Athena]

Ann M. Martin - The BabySitter's Club 7: Claudia and Mean Janine (re-read)

 

 

Genre: Chick-lit, Children's/YA

Format: Paperback

Pages: 136

Synopsis (GoodReads): Janine is mean! Claudia had been looking forward to running the summer play group with the rest of the Babysitters Club but everything changes when her grandmother, Mimi, is taken ill. Now instead of helping her friends, Claudia has to spend the summer Mimi-sitting. Things wouldnt be so bad if Claudia could only get some help from her sister, Janine.

 

My thoughts: Since there was a read-a-thon, I read another English BSC book. Because I only have certain ones, I'm missing out on some. I have a lot of them in Dutch though so I know the story and can fill in the missing bits. Most can be read as standalones anyway, though there is an overall overarching story.

 

This was another great BSC book. I particularly liked reading about the friendship of Claudia and her grandmother. It was also great to read Janine's remarks in English, especially the language bits made a bit more sense to me than in Dutch.

 

I realise I'm perhaps a bit old to be reading children's books, but this series will always have great memories for me.

 

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

[Athena]

A. C. Baantjer - De Cock 2: De Cock en de Wurger op Zondag

 

 

Genre: Detective

Format: Paperback

Pages: 95

Synopsis (me): De Cock is being called back from his holiday to try and help with an unsolved murder of a prostitute.

 

My thoughts: Since there was a read-a-thon, I read another thin detective book.

 

Like the other Baantjers I've read, this one was also quite enjoyable. One of my complaints with a few of the other books was the amount of characters. Here I was able to follow the story well and didn't struggle with the amount of characters, perhaps there were less of them or they were better explained or more memorable, I don't know. I quite enjoyed reading this story. It was interesting to hear bits about the world of prostitution back in the 70s in Amsterdam (the book was written in 1975). There were a few old-fashioned words but they didn't bother me, I could usually understand the meaning by looking at the whole sentence. I quite liked this book.

 

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

[Athena]

Dirk van Weelden - Literair Overleven

 

 

Genre: Information

Format: Paperback

Pages: 79

Synopsis (me): This book, written by an author, is an essay of what it takes for literature to survive in the modern day and age (the book was published in 2008).

 

My thoughts: I recently bought this book pretty cheaply and decided to read it for the read-a-thon because it was thin and about books.

 

I particularly enjoyed the introduction of this book, in which the process of writing is described, using a Donald Duck story (from the magazine) as an example. The story is described with quite a bit of detail, which I quite enjoyed since I loved reading the Donald Duck magazine when I was a child.

 

The book talks about various aspects of literature, economy being a very prominent one. The book says more and more publishers are only selling the books that sell the most.

 

There is a piece in it about the author's writing life and how it works, also money wise. I don't know anything about the author or his other books, I should say, but it was interesting to read. You don't get a lot of money for a book, unless you're really famous and selling lots of books.

 

There's also a chapter in the book about what's called de 'langestaarttheorie', the long tail theory. I don't know much about economics, but the book states (citing a source) that with this theory a lot of books are being sold of very few authors and of many authors very few books are being cold (like a head with a long tail?). I thought it was interesting to read about. It's true that there are a lot of books out there but in the 'mainsteam' community only some get attention. On this forum I wouldn't call us mainstream exactly, I should point out!

 

There's also a bit in it about how less and less people are reading books. And a bit about literary magazines.

 

I should point out that this book was published in 2008 and while it lightly hints upon ebooks, it doesn't go into much detail about them. I think it was published before ebooks really took off in the Netherlands. Back then there wasn't anybody self publishing etc.

 

I did skip a few paragraphs of this book, particularly towards the end. I wasn't interested in what they were about, didn't understand it exactly.

 

Sometimes the wording was a bit difficult to follow.

 

Rating: **** (7/10)

Edited December 9, 2013 by Athena

[Athena]

Matt Groening and Others - The Simpsons Holiday Humdinger

 

 

Genre: Information

Format: Paperback

Pages: 142

Synopsis (GoodReads): Season's Greetings from the Simpsons and creator Matt Groening with an all new collection of Christmas curiosities and winter wonders that'll warm your heart and tickle your fancy.

 

If you? yearning for yuletide yarns for young and old, Matt Groening, the Kris Kringle of comics and the creator of The Simpsons, has the perfect stocking stuffer for you. What winter holiday celebration would be complete without: sleigh rides, jingle bells, reindeer games, happy little elves, fruit cakes, radioactive Christmas trees, snow mums, defective toys, grimacing Grinches, secretive Santas, miserly Scrooges, and New Year's resolutions you will never keep? So, deck the halls with The Simpsons and be of good cheer with glad tidings of joy that will last through the year!

 

My thoughts: Since it'll be Christmas in a few weeks I thought this would be a good time to read this book. I recently bought it at a book fair.

 

This book is a collection of stories. I quite liked most of the stories. There were a lot of references to things like geek culture (ie. Star Trek) but also to the Simpsons themselves. I quite liked the former. Because I don't know the Simpsons all that well I feel I didn't get as much out of the book, as someone who loves the Simpsons and has seen most episodes of the TV show. If I was a big Simpsons fan I'd probably give the book a higher rating.

 

A lot of the stories reference famous Christmas stories, which was nice in my opinion. The illustrations were beautiful and colourful. I liked less the pages that seemed to have advertisements in them for things in the Simpsons world, these were a bit lost on me often. I did rate all the individual stories but I don't really feel like typing it all out, so I won't. Most stories got an 8/10 from me, a few got lower and a few higher.

 

I thought the book was very Christmassy (I particularly loved the illustrations where Marge has Christmas decorations in her hair, it was only like that in one story, but I thought that was funny) and enjoyable. My only problem was really my lack of Simpson knowledge, I probably would've understood certain character cameos etc. better if I knew the Simpsons better.

 

Rating: **** (8/10)

[Signor Finzione]

I see you've been having your own read-a-thon, Gaia!

 

Ian Rankin - A Cool Head (QuickReads)

What I liked less was that it was a bit confusing. It felt as if the author had tried to cram too much into too few pages. There were a lot of characters involved in the story, and they weren't well introduced or described. I got confused with the names and who was who. A few times I didn't really get what was going on.

The story kind of just ends, I felt it could've been wrapped up nicer. I mean, yes it is an ending but I would've liked the book to go on a bit longer.

 

There isn't a follow-up book, is there? A shame it wasn't as good as it could have been. My mum reads a lot of Ian Rankin, but I've never tried him. Have you ever read anything by Kate Atkinson? Perhaps you'd like her Jackson Brodie series.

[Athena]

There isn't a follow-up book, is there? A shame it wasn't as good as it could have been. My mum reads a lot of Ian Rankin, but I've never tried him. Have you ever read anything by Kate Atkinson? Perhaps you'd like her Jackson Brodie series.

x

No, as far as I know, there isn't. I have two other books by him on my shelf but I hadn't read one of his before. I haven't read anything by Kate Atkinson, I have the first book in the Jackson Brodie series on my wishlist. Thanks for the recommendation, I might have to look into it more soon !

[Athena]

J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

 

 

Genre: Fantasy, Children's/YA

Format: Paperback

Pages: 317

Synopsis (GoodReads): Harry Potter, along with his best friends, Ron and Hermione, is about to start his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry can't wait to get back to school after summer holidays (who wouldn't if they lived with the horrible Dursleys?). But when Harry arrives at Hogwarts, the atmosphere is tense. There's an escaped mass murderer on the loose, and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school . . .

 

My thoughts: Since it was the read-a-thon I thought I'd re-read another Harry Pottter book. The last four though are quite big, so not really suitable for a quick read during the read-a-thon. I'll have to see what to do later.

 

This book was better than I remembered it to be. I really enjoyed reading about all the school stuff, the lessons in particular and the things that happened in Hogwarts.

 

The rivalry with Malfoy is starting to get a bit old, yes he's mean, we know it, don't rise to his bait, etc.

 

I felt the book didn't really ramp up the tension a lot until in the last bit, but that was fine by me. As I said, I enjoyed reading about the school stuff very much so I really didn't mind this at all! But it felt the pacing was different than in some of the other books (it suited me just fine though).

 

I loved the description of all things magical and different in the Harry Potter world, ie. the candies they eat etc.

 

I read this book before in Dutch, now I read it in English. I think it's even better in English, though some of the Dutch translations have been pretty well done.

 

I look forward to continuing re-reading the series. In my memory book four was the one I liked the least, so I look forward to see if it'll be that way or whether I'll appreciate it more this time around, and it was more because when I read it in the past I wasn't in the mood or anything like that. I've read it before in Dutch and not English, this may make a slight difference as well.

 

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

[Athena]

Apparently I've read 139 books this year so far. I should be able to make it to 140 at least! I exceeded my target by far. To be fair though, I read a lot more shorter books and I've re-read more books, too (most noticably during the read-a-thons). I suppose there is one upside to being too tired to watch DVDs or play video games, reading is a lot less tiring for me so I've been doing more reading (although lately I'm sometimes too tired for that too..). I'll be compiling a list of favourite reads per genre near the end of this year and I'll be making a post with my reading statistics for the year.

[Athena]

Someone has given me some Dutch books , mainly books by Stephen King that she wasn't going to read anymore. I haven't yet sorted them out (I already have some in English but don't have others). To be honest, they smell a bit like smoke and I don't like that smell at all . I hope to sort them in a while though.

[Signor Finzione]

Wow, 139 books! Congratulations.

 

I don't think I'd like the books smelling of smoke either. A friend who smokes lent me a book once and I hated holding it as it made my hands feel dirty. If I buy from a charity shop I'll always have a quick sniff to make sure the pages don't smell bad.