Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Roald Dahl - The Enormous Crocodile (re-read) Genre: Children's Format: Paperback Pages: 60 Synopsis (GoodReads):With his "secret plans and clever tricks," the Enormous Crocodile desires to lunch not with but on a nice, juicy child. His croc companion, the Notsobig One, is the first to try to talk him out of his scheme, claiming children are no good to eat. "'Tough and chewy!' cried the Enormous Crocodile. 'Nasty and bitter! What awful tommyrot you talk! They are juicy and yummy!'" One jungle critter after another--from Trunky the elephant to Muggle-Wump the monkey to the Roly-Poly Bird--tries to prevent the Enormous Crocodile from carrying out his dastardly deed, but on he waddles toward the village. Unfortunately for him, the animals have a few secret plans and clever tricks up their furry sleeves, too! My thoughts: It was time for another Roald Dahl book. The only fictional ones I have left are small ones. I did doubt to read a non-fictional autobiography but felt more like reading a smaller fictional story. I read this story when I was a child, at the library. I didn't remember much from it before I started reading, but oh the nostalgia once I read the story! The illustrations and the words I recognise from when I read it when I was a child. Nostalgia aside, this is a great story with beautiful illustrations (made by Quentin Blake). The tricks of the crocodile were very clever. It's an entertaining story, well told and well illustrated. For me part of this rating is for my nostalgia. I simply had a lot of fun re-reading this. Rating: ***** (9/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Ann M. Martin - The BabySitter's Club 9: The Ghost at Dawn's House (re-read) Genre: Chick-lit, YA Format: Paperback Pages: 138 Synopsis (GoodReads):The members of the Baby-sitters Club split their time between babysitting and investigating the spooky noises behind Dawn's bedroom wall. My thoughts: Another read-a-thon, another BSC book. The next one of the English ones to read was book nine. I really liked re-reading this book. It was never one of my favourites really, but it was a lot of fun to re-read it. I hadn't yet read from Dawn's perspective in English, missing the English book five, and it was nice to do so. I like that this series shows the different perspectives in the different books. I loved to hear about Dawn's house, it's an old farm. Now that I'm living in an old farm I can imagine it a lot better than when I was a child living in a more modern house. I love this series and this story was pretty good! The names of side characters are becoming familiar more and more, to the point where I don't always remember the Dutch names. Overall I enjoyed re-reading this book and look forward to read more of the series and have childhood nostalgia. Rating: ***** (10/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Alan Bennett - The Uncommon Reader Genre: Contemporary Fiction Format: Paperback Pages: 121 Synopsis (GoodReads):When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large. My thoughts: I recently bought this book and because it's quite short I thought it'd be good to read during the read-a-thon. This book is about the Queen reading books and how it affects her life. I thought it was great to hear both about the Queen's reading as well as about her life and duties etc. I liked the writing style of the author though on occasion the language use was a bit awkward. I liked the Queen's dialogue and how she refers to herself as 'one'. I thought the book was inspiring. There were some surprising plot twists I didn't see coming. I thought the ending was great. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. Rating: ***** (9/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Lilian Jackson Braun - Cat Who... 29: De Kat Die 60 Snorharen Had Genre: Detective Format: Paperback Pages: 142 (120 read) Synopsis (GoodReads):Polly Duncan is off to Paris, temporarily leaving Jim Qwilleran without his lady companion. Good thing there's lots to keep Jim busy. Like a mysterious death from a bee sting that leaves everyone but Koko the Siamese in a state of confusion. If only the kitty with sixty whiskers would stop pussyfooting around and let Jim in on the deadly secret.. My thoughts: I recently bought this book and usually read a detective / mystery / crime story for the read-a-thon and picked this one. I remember reading some of this series when I was a teenager, at the library, but I don't remember much else. This book wasn't what I expected from it. I expected a murder mystery, instead most of the book (the 120 out of 142 pages I read) was about the main character's life and the many, many people he knew. I realise it's usually not good to start a series with the 29th book. This being, what I could see from the synopsis, a murder mystery, I thought it'd be okay since usually murder mystery series books can be read as standalones. While a few things were explained I found the whole of it very confusing. There were so many different side characters, present but also gossiped about, and I had trouble keeping them apart. I kept waiting for a murder mystery to happen but instead the main character, a journalist, just seemed to do a lot of random things, that for me, seemed kind of to drop out of nowhere. I didn't get many of the references to characters or things that had happened in the past. There was too much information in the book, I couldn't keep the character's names apart. The thing I loved about the book were the bits about the cats. I liked reading about them. Overall then I abandoned this book at 120 pages in out of 142, I found it very confusing and couldn't really follow the plot anymore (was there one?). Maybe if I had started at book one things would make sense, but for me the book wasn't at all what I expected it to me. There was hardly a murder mystery present and instead there were too many side characters and too much waffle about the main character's life (which is fine if that's what you're going for, but then don't advertise it as a murder mystery on the back). Rating: ** (3/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Saskia Noort - Afgunst Genre: Literature, Thriller Format: Paperback Pages: 95 Synopsis (me):A woman gets kidnapped by someone from her past. My thoughts: I recently bought some small Dutch books at the charity shop. This was the first one I picked up, the one that interested me the most, so I decided to read it for the read-a-thon (where I tend to read mostly smaller / thinner books). This book was pretty tense. I constantly wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen. I liked the main characters (particularly the female character), they were pretty good. The book isn't just a thriller, it's also about what happened between the characters. I liked how these two elements, the tension and the background, were used. The story never got dull, it kept being interesting. The story is described from the point of view of the two main characters, letting us see the mind of the kidnapper. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book and am glad I picked it up. Rating: ***** (9/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Charlotte Brontë, Penko Gelev and Fiona Macdonald - Graphic Classics: Jane Eyre Genre: Graphic Novel, Literature Format: Paperback Pages: 48 Synopsis (GoodReads):A classic English novel is retold here in graphic novel format. Set in nineteenth-century England is this story of Jane Eyre, the governess at Thornfield Manor, and Rochester, lord of the manor. They haven fallen in love, but Rochester harbors a tragic secret that threatens to keep them apart. My thoughts: Seeing as I've read all my manga (though not all of my boyfriends') I thought I'd read a graphic novel instead. I love the story of Jane Eyre so I thought this would be a good one to start with. One thing I noticed about the illustrations straight away was that all the characters' noses were very pronounced. Some of them were okay but a lot of them were too big and stood out too much, in my opinion. Other than that, the illustrations were pretty good. I love the story of Jane Eyre and while of course some scenes are not portrayed in this book, the retelling touches upon a lot of the original book. Sometimes words were explained in footnotes. Sometimes this helped with my understanding of the text (as in the original book), at other times I didn't quite get why they made it a footnote since the original was clear enough for me. It makes me think perhaps the book is meant for teenagers, but I don't know. Most of the dialogue looked like it came from the book, albeit perhaps in shorter form. I found certain pictures could've been added, that would've been nicer. I can't tell you which ones in case you haven't read the original book Jane Eyre. Near the end there are two pages of biography of Charlotte Brontë, there is a timeline of events in Great Britain and a time line of the Brontë family and a page on the adaptations of Jane Eyre. Overall I liked reading this book though I like the original book more. The story is here in shorter form. I liked the illustrations other than the noses. Rating: **** (8/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) Anke de Vries - Kladwerk (re-read) Genre: Contemporary Fiction, children's Format: Paperback Pages: 128 Synopsis (me):A group of friends is shocked when they arrive at school, vandals have made a huge mess and on the walls there are racist comments. My thoughts: I recently bought some older children's / YA books at the charity shop. I've read this one before at the library (with a different cover) so I thought I'd re-read it after what's been many years, for the read-a-thon. This book is well written and it has great characters. It was a tense book though you can tell it's written for children / young-adults. One of the characters uses difficult words (for those ages) so these words he explains to his classmates. I quite enjoyed re-reading the book. I didn't remember a lot from it, because it's been so long and I might've only read it once or twice back then. It is interesting how the book was written in 1990 and takes place in the society of back then, and how things are nowadays in society. The book was written in a time where there was hatred for people who weren't caucasian, but back then you didn't really hear a lot about it in the real society, to my ears as a child. Nowadays there's a whole political party who wants all foreigners out and all that, and they've been getting quite a few votes too. Anyway, not to drag a discussion about a children's book into something too political, I quite enjoyed re-reading this book. Rating: ***** (9/10) Edited February 11, 2014 by Athena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Mark Vernon - The Good Life: 30 Steps of Perfecting the Art of Living Genre: Information Format: Paperback Pages: 248 Synopsis (GoodReads):With everyday examples making philosophy entertaining and relevant, this books cracks the secret to attaining "the good life" in just 30 steps Life is complicated and few people have time to think about how to get the best out of it—luckily there are plenty of people who have already done that thinking. Mark Vernon has collected the wisdom of the greatest minds in history and made their thinking on the things that matter most in life accessible and practical. Drawing on the work of the world's greatest philosophers, this book explains in 30 easy steps how philosophy can make people happier, healthier, and better lovers! My thoughts: After reading David Niven - De 100 Regels voor een Gelukkig Leven (The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It) and having a good experience with reading an information book again, I decided to read another one with a similar theme. This book consists of 30 chapters, each chapter explaining about one particular aspect of living. It is about what older philosophers had to say on the issue and how it ties in with the nowdays life. Some concepts were discussed a bit too abstract for me. While it was interesting I had some trouble seeing how certain chapters would help me in my life. I liked reading about it all though nonetheless, even if it wasn't as much of a self-help book as I thought it was (from the synopsis on the back of the book, Goodreads' one is more accurate). Overall I enjoyed reading this book. Rating: **** (8/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Allright, now that the reviews (for now ) are out of the way I can soon start cataloguing my new books . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Wow, congratulations on your big read! Some great reviews here. The cover for Kladwerk is a bit creepy, though . . . the child looks like an evil imp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Thanks, Laura ! I've never thought of the child as creepy but I see what you mean . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 (edited) Here's a list of the books I bought at Het Boekenfestijn (one was free): Detective/Crime: A.C. Baantjer and Peter Römer - De Cock 72: De Cock en de Moord in het Circus Simon de Waal and A.C. Baantjer - De Waal & Baantjer 6: Een Mes in de Rug Simon de Waal and A.C. Baantjer - De Waal & Baantjer 7: Een Licht in de Duisternis Simon de Waal and A.C. Baantjer - De Waal & Baantjer 8: Een Wolf in Schaapskleren Ed van Eeden - Baantjer Inc. 2: Moord in een Café YA Paranormal: Maite Carranza - De Heksenoorlog 1: De Clan van de Wolvin Maite Carranza - De Heksenoorlog 2: De Ijswoestijn Maite Carranza - De Heksenoorlog 3: De Vloek van Odi Children's: Francine Oomen - Lena Lijstje 1-4: De Dikke Lena Lijstje Chick-lit, YA: Cathy Hopkins - Million Dollar Mates 1: Million Dollar Mates Chick-lit: Anna-Lou Weatherley - Chelsea Wives Contemporary Fiction: Emily Giffin - Heart of the Matter Emily Barr - Stranded Harriet Evans - The Love of Her Life Tessa de Loo - De Meisjes van de Suikerwerkfabriek Joanna Trollope - The Book Boy Nicholas Evans - The Divide Catherine Alliott - A Crowded Marriage Sandra Howard - Ex-Wives Kate Long - Before She Was Mine Amanda Brooke - Yesterday's Sun Joanna Briscoe - You Jonathan Franzen - Freedom Historical Fiction: Sally Worboyes - Handbags & Gladrags Martin Davies - De Verloren Vogel (The Conjuror's Bird) (free) Science-fiction: Alastair Reynolds - Poseidon's Children 1: Blue Remembered Earth Science-fiction, YA: Scott Westerfeld - Leviathan 3: Goliath Fantasy, YA: Michael Buckley - The Sisters Grimm 3: The Problem Child David Whitley - The Agora Trilogy 2: The Children of the Lost Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising 2: The Dark is Rising Fantasy: K. J. Parker - The Fencer Trilogy 2: The Belly of the Bow Maggie Furey - Chronicles of the Xandim 1: Heritage Of The Xandim Kevin J. Anderson - Terra Incognita 3: - The Key To Creation Guy Gavriel Kay - Under Heaven 1: Under Heaven Kay Kenyon - The Entire and the Rose 4: Prince of Storms Margaret Weis - Drakenvald 2: Drakenzoon (The Dragon's Son) Margaret Weis - Drakenvald 3: Drakenmeester (Master of Dragons) Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - De Verheven Steen 2: Wachters van de Leegte Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Dragonships of Vindras 2: Secret Of The Dragon Biographies: Dave Nasser and Lynne Barrett-Lee - Giant George: Life with the World's Biggest Dog Jill Price and Bart Davis - Jill, De Vrouw Die Niets Kan Vergeten (The Woman Who Can't Forget) Femke Talitha - Borderline van Binnen Laura van Bouchout - Job Shopper: 1 meisje > 1 jaar > 30 jobs Information: Barbara Ann Kipfer - 1001 Manieren Om Te Genieten Van Het Leven: Vind de Kracht van het Moment Steven Jay Schneider - 101 Cult Movies You Must See Before You Die Mark Palmer and Scott Solder - Dit Boek Moet Je Hebben Om Te Bereiken Wat Je Wilt (You Need This Book to Get What You Want) Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer - Hoe Word Ik Een Beroemd Schrijver?: Een Literair Zelfhulpboek Rinze Terluin - Happy Habits: Feelgood- en Inspiratieboek Bob Greene, Kearney-Cooke Ann Ph.D and M.S. Janis Jibrin - The Life You Want Brooks Palmer - Opgeruimd!: Vind Nieuwe Energie (Clutter Busting) Stefan Klein - De Zin van het Geven (Der Sinn des Gebens) Ivan Wolffers - Gezond: De Mens, Zijn Gezondheid En De Gezondheidszorg Richard Béliveau and Dr. Denis Gingras - Eet Gezond, Leef Gezond: De Invloed Van Voeding En Dagelijkse Leefstijl Op Onze Gezondheid (La Santé par le Plaisir de Bien Manger) Zamarra Oomes-Kok - Opgeruimd!: Hét Ultieme Organizingboek Here's a photo: Some books were very cheap, some were quite cheap and others were a bit more expensive (mainly the Dutch books, the English ones are usually pretty cheap). I look forward to reading my books. I've just ran out of space a bit . The next book fair I'll go to is in May so I should hopefully be okay for a while. I might buy some books in the charity shop but I'll try and not buy lots of books online etc. Anyway, I had a lot of fun at the book fair. I've updated my collection statistics (see page 2 of this thread) Edited February 12, 2014 by Athena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devi Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Amazing haul athena! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Thanks, Devi ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Great books ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 The graphic novel of 'Jane Eyre' sounds great, fantastic review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Thanks, both ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (re-read) Genre: Fantasy, YA Format: Paperback Pages: 766 Synopsis: (no synopsis since it's part of a series) My thoughts: It was another read-a-thon, so I started the next Harry Potter book, which was book five. This one is the biggest of them all so it took me a few days to read it. This was another great book in the series. It starts tense pretty much straight away. I loved reading about Harry and the magical world. It's been thought up so creatively. I loved a lot of things about the book. Half-way through though I was feeling sorry for Harry as certain events happened to his life. It's hard to talk about this book without spoiling things. There were so many good plot twists! This book introduces several new characters. I really liked Luna Lovegood. I also liked the characters that were also in the previous books, Harry, Ron and his family, Hermione (I like her in particular), Neville, Dumbledore, McGonigal, and much more. The book talks about both school stuff (yay) as well as the evil threat of Lord Voldemort. I loved both aspects. I missed one thing at the end, that wasn't referred to any more but perhaps it is in the next book (I would think so). The last quarter of the book in particular is really tense, I constantly wanted to keep on reading. Unfortunately I was too sleepy to continue so I had to put off reading the last part of the book yesterday evening and continued it today. Overall I enjoyed this book more than I remembered I did, which so far has been the case with most of the Harry Potter books. It could also be that the Dutch translation I read years ago simply wasn't as good as the original English, but I don't know. Maybe I'm just in a different place now than I was back then. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this book and am really looking forward to reading the last two books. I don't remember if I've read them or not, I have seen the films though so I do know bits of the story (even if I can't remember it all). I rated them on GoodReads based on what I thought of the films but am really looking forward to reading the books and maybe see if anything comes back to me as I'm reading them. All the books contain so many interesting magical details and I can't wait to read how the series is going to come to an end. Rating: ***** (10/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I haven't read the Harry Potter series for ages but plan to this year, so I am glad that you think they still read well. If you haven't read the last two you, they will give all the nitty-gritty details that the films couldn't include. They are a few minor changes made in the films, but I thought they did a great job of catching the spirit of the books, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Athena It sounds as though you're still going strong on your reading and you got lots of good books at your book fair ! I'm glad things are going so much better for you now . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 You're going great, Gaia! Interesting reviews, one of these days I'll get to Harry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Great books and great review of Harry Potter - Order of the Phoenix is my favourite one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 I haven't read the Harry Potter series for ages but plan to this year, so I am glad that you think they still read well. If you haven't read the last two you, they will give all the nitty-gritty details that the films couldn't include. They are a few minor changes made in the films, but I thought they did a great job of catching the spirit of the books,x Thanks! I look forward to find out these details . x Athena It sounds as though you're still going strong on your reading and you got lots of good books at your book fair ! I'm glad things are going so much better for you now . x Thank you, Julie . x You're going great, Gaia! Interesting reviews, one of these days I'll get to Harry! x Thanks! I hope you enjoy the book(s) when you get to it/them. x Great books and great review of Harry Potter - Order of the Phoenix is my favourite one. x Thanks! I haven't yet started a new book and have been reading some magazines instead. I have written a bit for my book about books, I hope to be doing more of that soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Great haul, Gaia! Have you read the first two Scott Westerfeld books in that trilogy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Thanks, Kylie ! No, I don't have them yet. I've heard great things about the trilogy and couldn't resist when I saw book three for a cheap price (as a bonus, it has great illustrations too). I've updated the photos of my book collection, you can see them on the first page of this thread (or click this link to go to the posts). Almost everything is double stacked, I look forward to buying more book cases in a while . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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