Athena Posted February 13, 2015 Author Posted February 13, 2015 Francine Oomen and Annet Schaap - Hoe Overleef Ik... 10: Hoe Overleef Ik Met / Zonder Vrienden? (note: the actual colours of the library book are darker, the blue for example is more medium dark blue rather than light blue) Genre: Contemporary Fiction Age-range: Young-Adult Format: Hardback (Library Loan) Pages: 203 Date read: 11-02-2015 <-> 12-02-2015 ISBN: 9789045113142 Synopsis: (no synopsis because it's part of a series) My thoughts: After reading book 8 in the series, I went on to book 10 (library loan). After book 10 I have book 11 to read, also from the library. Skipping book 9 (which the library didn't have in stock) made me miss a few things. I was still able to follow the book though. I liked this book but less than the other ones. I think that's because some of the things were getting a bit samey, and other things seemed a bit dumb or obvious that certain things would happen. I did enjoy reading this one but reading them all in a row makes things feel a bit samey. I've got book 11 left to read and then I'm going to concentrate on my other library loans. Overall though I did like the book and some suspenseful things happened and some good tips were discussed, I just didn't like it as much as the previous ones, I guess. Rating: (****) (7/10) Quote
Athena Posted February 13, 2015 Author Posted February 13, 2015 Francine Oomen and Annet Schaap - Hoe Overleef Ik... 11: Hoe Overleef Ik Mijn Vriendje? (En Hij Mij!) Genre: Contemporary Fiction Age-range: Young-Adult Format: Hardback (Library Loan) Pages: 196 pages Date read: 12-02-2015 ISBN: 9789045106441 Synopsis: (no synopsis because it's part of a series) My thoughts: By the end of reading book 10, I wasn't really feeling like reading this series anymore (or maybe anything else for that matter). However, since book 11 was the last one I borrowed from the library, I felt like I should give it a go so that I could give them all back to the library, at the same time. So I thought I'd try and if I didn't feel like it I might do something else (but it's difficult, as reading is one of the few activities that cost me not so much energy). However, after reading a bit in this book, I noticed I was enjoying it. It was better than book 10 and less samey and stupid. So I decided to persist, because I was really enjoying it. I'm not quite sure if I can explain exactly why I liked book 10 so much less than the other books I've read of the series. Book 11 though I enjoyed more than book 10, there were several good plot twists for example. There were good characters and good tips. I liked the writing style. Overall then I'm glad I tried this book and found that it was better than book 10. There were better plot twists and less sameyness and stupidness going on. There were several themes / problems that appeared in the story and I guess they maybe appealed to me more or such. I quite enjoyed this book and I would like to read the books I haven't read yet, in this series. I guess particularly books 12 and 13, because then I can find out how it ends (though each book does have an ending). And of course books 1-4 because then I know how it starts. And I do want to read book 9 at some point so I can find out what I missed. All that said, I'm glad I finished these books now and I'm looking forward to read something else. When I read a lot of the same series or author I tend to after that want a different author and writing style. So after reading a lot of Dutch I've now started to read something English. I was worried book 10 of this series was going to put me into a reading slump / low mojo, but gladly once I finished that one and read book 11 (that this review is about) I found I quite enjoyed book 11 more than book 10. I've started Brandon Sanderson - Alcatraz 2: Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones which is another library loan and so far I'm quite enjoying it. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Quote
Athena Posted February 13, 2015 Author Posted February 13, 2015 Today I handed in some books at the library that I've finished, and my mum wanted to look for a book on pools / ponds. So naturally I had a look too (because, well what else do you do ) and I came home with: Geronimo Stilton - Reis door de Tijd 3 (Viaggio Nel Tempo 3) Geronimo Stilton - Superhelden 2: De Invasie van de Megamonsters (L'invasione Dei Mostri Giganti) Geronimo Stilton - Het Jungleboek (Il Libro Della Giungla) Oscar Tortuga - Er Valt Niets te Lachen, Stilton! (C'è Poco Da Ridere, Stilton) Brian Selznick - De Uitvinding van Hugo Cabret (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) Jacqueline Wilson - Little Darlings Jacqueline Wilson - Kiss Louise Rennison - The Misadventures of Tallulah Casey 1: Withering Tights I didn't really plan on borrowing much, so I tried to stick to shorter children's and Young-Adult reads. I do want to read some of my own books too, sometime.. But I couldn't help borrowing these books when I saw them. And I still have several library loans that are due sooner than these, too . What can I say, I like books . Quote
Anna Begins Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 he he he do they know you at the library yet? Quote
Marie H Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 I didn't really plan on borrowing much, so I tried to stick to shorter children's and Young-Adult reads. I do want to read some of my own books too, sometime.. But I couldn't help borrowing these books when I saw them. And I still have several library loans that are due sooner than these, too . What can I say, I like books . We know exactly what you mean, books are irresistible! Quote
woolf woolf Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Withering Tights, Thyme and Nourishment, Warren Please, Price and Pledge of Niece, Drapes of Bath. Quote
Athena Posted February 15, 2015 Author Posted February 15, 2015 he he he do they know you at the library yet? I'm not sure, it's not always the same people there. To hand in and borrow books, you don't need to talk to a person, you can just use the computer / machines (it's quite handy). But maybe with time . We know exactly what you mean, books are irresistible! Yes! Withering Tights, Thyme and Nourishment, Warren Please, Price and Pledge of Niece, Drapes of Bath. I am a bit unsure what you mean with your post, I get you're using spoofs of some famous titles, but I'm not sure what the point was you're trying to make. I received another pre-order in the post : Penny Vincenzi - A Perfect Heritage I'll be posting a review now. Quote
Athena Posted February 15, 2015 Author Posted February 15, 2015 Brandon Sanderson - Alcatraz 2: Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones Genre: Fantasy Age-range: Young-Adult Format: Hardback (Library Loan) Pages: 231 Date read: 12-02-2015 <-> 13-02-2015 ISBN: 9781444006698 Synopsis: (no synopsis because it's part of a series) My thoughts: After reading books 1, 4 and 3 from the library, I jumped at the chance when I saw they had book 2 in stock. After finishing off some other library loans that were due sooner, I started to read this book. I was getting a bit tired after reading several of the Hoe Overleef Ik... books (most of which were really good, except one). After reading quite a few Dutch books, I wanted to read something different, so I chose for one of my English library loans. This one is fantasy, too, so very different from contemporary fiction. I'd been looking forward to reading this book so I thought it would be a good thing to read while my reading slump / mojo / whatever you want to call it, wasn't feeling too great. This book was really enjoyable, like the other ones. I was able to follow the story pretty well. I knew of course that a few bits were going to happen, because I read books 3 and 4, but I didn't know exactly how they would happen. The book was pretty suspenseful throughout. I really liked the characters and the writing style. The book is very funny and there were many good plot twists. I loved the fourth wall breaking stuff too. I really enjoyed reading the four books in this series and I'm really looking forward to the release of book 5 (and then hopefully my library will have it at some point). I would love to own these books so I can have them on my shelves, as they are so funny and have become some of my favourite fantasy books. I would also like to re-read the series some time, in order. Overall then I really enjoyed this book. There were many good plot twists, great characters and the book was very funny. I loved it. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Quote
woolf woolf Posted February 15, 2015 Posted February 15, 2015 I am a bit unsure what you mean with your post, I get you're using spoofs of some famous titles, but I'm not sure what the point was you're trying to make. It was just a wordplay, it has no meaning. Quote
Athena Posted February 15, 2015 Author Posted February 15, 2015 It was just a wordplay, it has no meaning. Ah okay, nice . Quote
Anna Begins Posted February 15, 2015 Posted February 15, 2015 Brandon Sanderson - Alcatraz 2: Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones I loved the fourth wall breaking stuff too. Oooh- that sounds neat! I hope I can get to Firefight soon! Quote
Athena Posted February 15, 2015 Author Posted February 15, 2015 Oooh- that sounds neat! I hope I can get to Firefight soon! Let me know what you think once you read it! I hope it will be good too . I haven't seen the first book of that series in the library (they don't have that many fantasy and science-fiction books, unfortunately), but I hope to read it some time. Quote
Athena Posted February 17, 2015 Author Posted February 17, 2015 David Nobbs - Sex and Other Changes Genre: Contemporary Fiction Age-range: Adult Format: Hardback (Library Loan) Pages: 357 Date read: 13-02-2015 <-> 16-02-2015 ISBN: 9780434009077 Synopsis (me):A husband and wife are both unsatisfied with their gender and get themselves changed. The story is meant to be a bit humourous. My thoughts: I saw this book at the library, the colours on the cover made me pick it up. I'd never read a book before about sex changes and transsexualism and all that. This was an interesting book. I liked the two main characters and I thought it was well described how they felt and what they thought about things. I thought it was interesting to learn about their feelings toward their gender and all that. I also liked most of the side characters, though there were a few I didn't like. In the beginning I had a bit of trouble remembering who was who. There were a couple of side characters that I liked a lot (Em and Gray, the couple's children). I wasn't too keen on the writing style of the book. Sometimes it seemed drawn out, sometimes I didn't get the references mentioned or some of the words (maybe you have to be British for that?). I did like the descriptions of the two main character's thoughts, the forebodings at times, the few fourth wall breaking instances, the instances where the author spoke to the reader, and the descriptions of the food and the village of Throdnall. The book was somewhat suspenseful as I wanted to find out what would happen with the two main characters but at times I felt a bit less like reading it. There were sections of the book that were more interesting or seemed to move the plot along quicker, than others. Sometimes a lot of time passed in between chapters and sometimes it didn't. It is always announced so I was never lost, but the book had a few pacing problems. The book had humour in some places, but I felt it also handled the subject matter in a good, usually serious and respectful way. I would find the book more serious than humouristic, myself, but perhaps it's just not entirely my kind of humour. Exceptions were a few of the 'jokes' and puns made by a particular side character, those I thought were humourous. The book had some unexpected plot twists (and a few twists I saw coming), which I quite enjoyed. For me it wasn't a book to read solely for the plot twists, but I think also to gradually learn about the characters and their feelings and thoughts. One thing I did have an issue with was that sometimes there were some stereotypes about men and women. Overall I think this is an interesting subject to have read about. This might not be the best book about it (in fact I'm pretty sure of that), but I found the book to be interesting and enjoyable. I had some problems with the writing style, the pacing of the book and the stereotypes, but overall I'm glad I read it as it gave me a bit more insight as to how these things work and what the people might feel like. I didn't know much about the subject beforehand, I had only seen something on TV once about a father who gets a sex change and how that made his children feel. I'm glad then that I read the book. Rating: (****) (7/10) Quote
woolf woolf Posted February 17, 2015 Posted February 17, 2015 Do you have an opinion about sex change? Quote
Athena Posted February 17, 2015 Author Posted February 17, 2015 Do you have an opinion about sex change? Well, I have nothing against people having one if they feel they were born in the wrong gender and have been checked out by a psychiatrist / expert etc, if they think it will make them happy then by all means they should be able to do so if they so desire. I would find it difficult to deal with if someone I know would have a sex change, especially if it would be someone in my family or someone I know well (I guess I would be shocked that they never said anything about their feelings on gender). Personally I find the concept of gender to be a difficult one. I am a woman and have female body parts, and I am happy with those body parts and wouldn't want a man's body parts. But I feel I have both some female and some male 'traits' (as in, the genders are more known for those traits). I have autism, people with autism are said to have a more male brain (there are more men with autism than women, that we know of). I'm not a stereotypical woman, and I have some traits that are seen as more male (such as that I prefer beta over alpha, I think in certain ways, I'm good with computers and technology, I'm not that good at social situations, I don't like shopping for clothes for hours on end). I think there are a lot of stereotypes but I prefer to see people as 'people' as not as 'men' and 'women', if that makes sense? So I'm not entirely sure how transsexuals would feel, seeing as I think genders are 'overrated' in a sense and not as important as people think they are (ie. what matters to me is the individual person, regardless of their gender). Not to mention how it works with love, lust, heterosexuality and homosexuality. I can't explain any of those things. I also don't understand how people can love someone they don't know well, or how they can have huge crushes on celebrities. For me whether someone is beautiful or good-looking or not, is very much connected to who they are, their personality and such. If someone's a jerk, I couldn't like them in any way. I don't know if the above made any sense. Feel free to ask if it was not clear. I have to go to bed now, so I'll stop here. Feel free to tell me your viewpoints (or anyone else if they want to join in). Quote
woolf woolf Posted February 17, 2015 Posted February 17, 2015 You were open and honest, thank you. I agree with your viewpoints. I think everyone is free to change their gender, if they want to or feel they need it. However, I think a part of those who change their gender aren't really certain of it, given that they only do it based on what a man or woman should do and eventually face a crisis of identity, or regret. I think we should have the sense to discern how to act according to our gender, by accepting and doing what we should do regarding our own sex. This means the different ways we maintain our health and hygiene, dress and act in public, and assuming our gender's set of rules. After this, we must understand that many of the things a man or a woman are supposed to do are mere social conventions, and that we have the freedom to ignore them. We should also note and discuss which rules for different genders are sexist and which ones have a true needed purpose. What a man should and shouldn't do, as well as a woman, is what ignites many of the desired sex changes; only when people pass through this change and live some years in their new role is that they're able to understand if what they've done was right or a mistake. However, many people see transsexuals as inferior, and treat them as such. I can only imagine the public shaming, discriminations and exclusion that a gender change brings, especially considering it's an expensive, slow, difficult, character-changing and ugly process. I believe everyone is free to do as they please as long as it doesn't hurt others, and shouldn't be excluded or discriminated by their feelings and choices. Quote
Athena Posted February 18, 2015 Author Posted February 18, 2015 I fully agree with you, that was a well written post . Quote
Athena Posted February 19, 2015 Author Posted February 19, 2015 My pre-order has arrived, yay: Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - The Long Earth 3: The Long Mars It's strange because the release date said April 25th or something like that, but I'm not complaining ! Also, there's a library sale this weekend where they sell ex-library copies of books and perhaps DVDs, so I hope to find some nice things (but not too many as I'm allowed to spend some money but not too much). I'm excited for this sale . Quote
Signor Finzione Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 My pre-order has arrived, yay: Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter - The Long Earth 3: The Long Mars It's strange because the release date said April 25th or something like that, but I'm not complaining ! Also, there's a library sale this weekend where they sell ex-library copies of books and perhaps DVDs, so I hope to find some nice things (but not too many as I'm allowed to spend some money but not too much). I'm excited for this sale . Yay for the library sale ( ) and yay for the early pre-order! I've always been intrigued by this Long Earth series - what's it like? Quote
Athena Posted February 19, 2015 Author Posted February 19, 2015 Yay for the library sale ( ) and yay for the early pre-order! I've always been intrigued by this Long Earth series - what's it like? Thanks . I haven't actually started the series yet (I prefer to wait until they're all out. I thought they would be a trilogy but it seems they're not.. I'm not sure how many there will be), but it's a science-fiction series based on Earth, there's one character in World War One that I think you follow and there's the "nowadays" characters that you follow. Time travel is involved. I love Terry Pratchett's books (though I should really read one again since it's been a while) so that's why I bought these books as I kind of buy all his books. I have some books by Stephen Baxter on my shelves too but I haven't read them yet (we can see a theme here.. too many books and too little time / energy / money / space / etc ). I'll be sure though to let you know what I think of the books once I read them . It's one of my aims this year to read at least one Terry Pratchett book, though I haven't completely decided yet which book by him I'll read first. Quote
Signor Finzione Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 I haven't actually started the series yet (I prefer to wait until they're all out. I thought they would be a trilogy but it seems they're not.. I'm not sure how many there will be), but it's a science-fiction series based on Earth, there's one character in World War One that I think you follow and there's the "nowadays" characters that you follow. Time travel is involved. Ah, possibly not quite for me, then. Time travel makes my head ache. I have some books by Stephen Baxter on my shelves too but I haven't read them yet (we can see a theme here.. too many books and too little time / energy / money / space / etc ). Haha, much like me with my expanding Terry Brooks collection? I look forward to hearing what you (eventually!) make of the series. Quote
Athena Posted February 19, 2015 Author Posted February 19, 2015 Ah, possibly not quite for me, then. Time travel makes my head ache. Ah okay, that makes sense . Haha, much like me with my expanding Terry Brooks collection? I look forward to hearing what you (eventually!) make of the series. Probably, yes ! I'll be sure to let you know . Quote
Athena Posted February 19, 2015 Author Posted February 19, 2015 Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones: The Story of a Life and Everything that Came After... Genre: Thriller, Paranormal Age-range: Adult Format: Paperback Pages: 372 (excluding excerpt) Date read: 16-02-2015 <-> 19-02-2015 ISBN: 9780316044400 Synopsis (GoodReads):"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her -- her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, THE LOVELY BONES succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy. My thoughts: My friend Anna said she was going to read this book. Since I owned the book but hadn't read it yet, I figured I'd read it now also, so we can talk about the book together. I bought the book when I came across it in I believe the charity shop. I had heard some good things about the book so I thought I might as well give it a go, and I'm glad I did. This was an impressive book. It starts off in a dark way, when Susie is murdered. There were a few bits that made me cringe but I wanted to keep on reading because the book is suspenseful. I quite liked the characters in the book. We see Suzie watching her family as they try to deal with losing Suzie. We also follow the murderer. I didn't like the character of the killer, I found him such a creep (he was well written, though!). But I liked Suzie and her family and friends a lot, they were great characters. I had a few issues with the writing style now and then, mainly because now and then some words and expressions were used that were not familiar to me. Whether they were American slang or just words I hadn't heard of before, I don't know. Other than that though the story was nicely written. I particularly liked the characters. I did feel the story had a few pacing issues, there seemed to be parts of the book where more happened, compared with other parts. I liked most of the plot twists a lot. There was one I didn't like as much, but most were good. I found the story and the characters to be interesting. It's a nice story about life and death and grief. In some ways I feel I wanted a little bit more from the book, but I'm not sure how to put into words exactly what I would have wanted differently. Overall then I quite enjoyed this book, it's an impressive story. I had a few issues with some of the expressions and words used and there were some pacing issues. I also had wanted something more from the book, but I'm not sure what exactly that would be. I did really like most of the characters and plot twists and thought the book was well written overall. Rating: (****) (8/10) Quote
Signor Finzione Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 Great review Gaia. I enjoyed this book too, though I found some of it a bit creepy, such as Susie spying on her sister during some, erm, intimate moments. Quote
Athena Posted February 20, 2015 Author Posted February 20, 2015 Great review Gaia. I enjoyed this book too, though I found some of it a bit creepy, such as Susie spying on her sister during some, erm, intimate moments. Thanks ! I agree, the book has some creepy moments like that. Quote
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