Kylie Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 That's interesting. Thanks for the info! I wish we had such subsidies here to encourage people to go 'green' (although I'm sure I wouldn't be able to afford it even then!) Heh. Well, I'm sure you'll have those remaining spaces filled in no time! ETA: The red colour is gorgeous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 That's interesting. Thanks for the info! I wish we had such subsidies here to encourage people to go 'green' (although I'm sure I wouldn't be able to afford it even then!) Heh. Well, I'm sure you'll have those remaining spaces filled in no time! ETA: The red colour is gorgeous! Yeah, I think they are a good idea . Thanks, probably . Though I've been very good at not ordering any books online this year so far. I have bought quite a few books but the most expensive one was ~3 euros. I didn't go to the book fair. I'm quite proud of myself, I haven't spend that much money on 'fun' stuff so far this year (ie. anything that isn't food, drink, necessary health items etc etc), except for my Game of Thrones season four pre-order, which I ordered last year but they didn't charge me until this month. Other than that though I've been doing relatively well, and I'm proud of that. There's still definitely room for improvement but it's a huge change from last year's expenses (approximately we're now in 2/12 = ~17% through the year and I have spent about ~3% on books, of what I spent in total last year on books, so that's about 75% less, or about 25% spending on books compared to 100% spending last year. Can you still follow it ). Thanks ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 (edited) It is an expensive car. My parents wouldn't have been able to afford it if it hadn't been for the 'subsidy' and the laws of the government in the Netherlands. When they purchased it, there was a law (there still is now but it might change in the future) that the government paid part of any fully electrical car for a company or "ZZP'er" (an independent kind of freelance company?) and it had to do with certain tax rules too. The monthly costs are a lot lower than with a petrol car, saving on road taxes, car taxes and of course fuel (with electricity it costs them only a couple of eurocents per kilometre). Yeah, I wouldn't want to cause any damage to it! My dad would let me drive it again at a quiet place if I wanted to, I'm sure, but I've only just started to drive a bit again in the past few months. (Here is a link to my dad's blog, there are posts in Dutch and in English on there, you should be able to see a photo of the car at the top of the page in the banner . Haha, well, if double stacking isn't allowed then yes! If it is allowed (a lot of my shelves are double stacked), then there are still some empty spaces . Wow, I wish the U.S. had a law to help subsidize the purchase of an electric car. I, for sure, would be the owner of the Tesla S. As it is currently priced, it is many dollars more than I can rationalize. It must have been nice for you to actually drive the car. Edited February 26, 2015 by muggle not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 There's still definitely room for improvement but it's a huge change from last year's expenses (approximately we're now in 2/12 = ~17% through the year and I have spent about ~3% on books, of what I spent in total last year on books, so that's about 75% less, or about 25% spending on books compared to 100% spending last year. Can you still follow it ). That's a huge improvement. Good for you! Even before you posted the stats, I had noticed that you seem to be buying fewer books, and you're making good use of the library as well. You should be proud of yourself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolf woolf Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 (edited) Thanks, probably . Though I've been very good at not ordering any books online this year so far. I have bought quite a few books but the most expensive one was ~3 euros. I didn't go to the book fair. I'm quite proud of myself, I haven't spend that much money on 'fun' stuff so far this year (ie. anything that isn't food, drink, necessary health items etc etc), except for my Game of Thrones season four pre-order, which I ordered last year but they didn't charge me until this month. Other than that though I've been doing relatively well, and I'm proud of that. There's still definitely room for improvement but it's a huge change from last year's expenses (approximately we're now in 2/12 = ~17% through the year and I have spent about ~3% on books, of what I spent in total last year on books, so that's about 75% less, or about 25% spending on books compared to 100% spending last year. Can you still follow it ). You're saving for a Tesla. Splendid idea, I should do the same. The automaton you've mentioned seems like the ones created by the swiss Henri Maillardet (you said so yourself, or something similar). Edited February 25, 2015 by Sousa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Wow, I wish the U.S. had a law to help subsidize the purchase of an electric car. I, for sure, would be the owner of the Tesla S. As it is currently priced, it is about $25,000 more than I can rationalize. It must have been nice for you to actually drive the car. I agree, it would've been a great law. That's nice to hear. I can fully understand it is too much money. I know I will probably never be able to afford one. It was really nice! I quite liked the handling and it accelerates really fast. I love the screen too and all its features. They are adding new features all the time. That's a huge improvement. Good for you! Even before you posted the stats, I had noticed that you seem to be buying fewer books, and you're making good use of the library as well. You should be proud of yourself! Thanks Kylie ! I guess I am a bit proud of it . You're saving for a Tesla. Splendid idea, I should do the same. The automaton you've mentioned seems like the ones created by the swiss Henri Maillardet (you said so yourself, or something similar). Haha! Yep that's what I said, I think on the previous page of this thread. I'm sure I said it somewhere , or did I dream it . The automatons seem very interesting technology . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Amazing book haul, Gaia, as always! I've also got a message from the BookDepository that Brandon Sanderson - The Stormlight Archive 2: Words of Radiance will be posted to me in a few days, so that's exciting too. I've seen that book in the shops - it will probably cause a minor earthquake when it lands on your doormat, if it even fits through your letterbox! Hope you enjoy it (the book, not the earthquake). my Game of Thrones season four pre-order, which I ordered last year but they didn't charge me until this month. Ack, that's the worst thing about pre-orders! I always forget that I've ordered stuff but not paid for it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Amazing book haul, Gaia, as always! Thanks ! I've seen that book in the shops - it will probably cause a minor earthquake when it lands on your doormat, if it even fits through your letterbox! Hope you enjoy it (the book, not the earthquake). Haha ! Thanks . Ack, that's the worst thing about pre-orders! I always forget that I've ordered stuff but not paid for it yet. That's true! It depends which shop I order things from, when they charge me. P.S. A review coming up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Louise Rennison - The Misadventures of Tallulah Casey 1: Withering Tights (note: this isn't the exact right cover for the book, but the ISBN of this book matches this edition on GoodReads and it's the closest cover I can find. It's quite close though.) Genre: Chick-lit Age-range: Young-Adult Format: Hardback (Library Loan) Pages: 367 Date read: 23-02-2015 <-> 25-02-2015 ISBN: 9780007156825 Synopsis (back of the book): You know what it's like when you have your first snog, and it feels like a tiny bat is barging around in your moth? Of course you do. So you will love Tallulah Casey as she careers about in her tights. She's your kind of mate. Synopsis (GoodReads): Hilarious new series from Queen of Teen – laugh your tights off at the (VERY) amateur dramatic antics of Talullah and her bonkers mates. Boys, snogging and bad acting guaranteed! Picture the scene: Dother Hall performing arts college somewhere Up North, surrounded by rolling dales, bearded cheesemaking villagers (male and female) and wildlife of the squirrely-type. On the whole, it’s not quite the showbiz experience Tallulah was expecting… but once her mates turn up and they start their ‘FAME! I’m gonna liiiiive foreeeeeever, I’m gonna fill my tiiiiights’ summer course things are bound to perk up. Especially when the boys arrive. (When DO the boys arrive?) Six weeks of parent-free freedom. BOY freedom. Freedom of expression… cos it’s the THEATRE dahling, the theatre!! My thoughts: I saw this book at the library and thought I'd give it a go. I wasn't sure if it would be nice but I thought I'd give it a try. It says on the cover of the book that it's won an award. This book is about Tallulah, who goes to a summer school for a few weeks. It's a school of art performance and it's in Yorkshire. I enjoyed the school parts, there were some funny bits in it. I didn't like that the book had a lot of British slang and accents that I didn't quite get. There were quite a few words and expressions in the book that I didn't understand. I liked the descriptions of the British countryside. I liked some of the characters but due to my tiredness and the fact that I didn't sleep enough one night, I had trouble remembering who some of them were. I thought maybe there are a bit too many characters in the story. That can be okay if they're all good characters or if a lot of them are meaningful for the plot. But in this case I would've preferred a bit less characters I guess. It could have been my tiredness, though. I wish there was more in the book about the main character's past. Not much was said about it, and it felt a bit weird. It was said she didn't get along much with her parents and they weren't often there for her, but I felt this aspect could've been explored better. I thought there was a bit too much attention on boys, for my liking. I can't really relate personally as when I was fourteen and a half (Tallulah's age in the book) I wasn't interested in boys in a romantic way. I just wanted a friend. Tallulah and her friends talk a lot in the book about boys, dates, kissing. I couldn't really relate because I never talked about these things in that way, with female friends, and I'm not like that (I feel certain things are between the two people involved, only. That's just my point of view, though.). I did like some of the school teachers and side characters. I thought all of the art performance school stuff was somewhat funny and interesting, these parts were my favourite of the book. I liked the rest of the story less though. I liked the mentions of literature. I would've liked a bit more depth in the book, in some ways at least. My tiredness made it hard for me to concentrate on most things, including reading. I liked the book okay enough to want to finish it but to be honest I wasn't too interested in finishing it really. It could've been that my tiredness made it harder for me to understand the book (and the slang and such), but in the end I didn't enjoy the book all that much. Overall then it might be a nice read for certain British teenage girls perhaps, who understand the slang and accents better. I guess some of the humour might've been lost on me because of that. Overall I didn't enjoy the book that much and I doubt I'll be reading any more books in the series (if the library even has them). Rating: (**) (3/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Here's something I thought was interesting. I've calculated the average page count of books I own per genre (excluding genres I only have a few books of). Here are the results: Fantasy: 460 Science-fiction: 419 Contemporary Fiction: 355 Chick-lit: 351 Historical Fiction: 523 Literature: 441 (includes some Kindle omnibusses consisting of all an author's works, ie. several with 2000+ pages) Detective: 272 Thriller: 355 Horror: 292 Paranormal: 373 Biography: 266 Information: 274 Cookbooks: 183 Total average pages of all books in the database: 349 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Wow, you don't often give books such a low rating. It must have been pretty bad! That's interesting info about the page numbers. I can't say I'm really surprised by any of them, except perhaps I would have thought there'd be fewer pages in the literature category (but the 2000+ page omnibuses might have affected that). I'm perhaps a little surprised that there isn't much difference between fantasy and sci-fi, although now that I think about it, there are some pretty hefty sci-fi books out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Yeah I didn't really enjoy it and found it confusing sometimes. I tried to calculate it without the omnibusses, and then it would be about 368, if I didn't make a mistake. I don't know if Excel counts the empty cells, because there are some Kindle books that don't have pages because I can't find anywhere how many pages those books contain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 That is quite the synopsis! I understood about 1/2 of it lol Slang, huh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSchultz19 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I don't know why but that review made me feel like it was a book that a twelve year old girl picks up at the school bookfair because her parents tell her to buy a book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 That is quite the synopsis! I understood about 1/2 of it lol Slang, huh! Ha yes! I don't know why but that review made me feel like it was a book that a twelve year old girl picks up at the school bookfair because her parents tell her to buy a book Lol, well maybe it is a book like that, I don't know. I just didn't really enjoy it, personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 I borrowed a few more books from the library: Geronimo Stilton - De Geheime Tuin (Il Giardino Segreto) Geronimo Stilton - Heidi (Dutch) Thea Stilton - Het Leven op Topford 7: Op Naar De Top (La Strada Del Successo) Thea Stilton - Thea Stilton 3: De Sprekende Berg (La Montagna Parlante) Thea Stilton - Thea Stilton 7: Het Mysterie van de Zwarte Pop (Il Mistro Della Bamboola Nera) Thea Stilton - Thea Stilton 12: Gekrakeel om een Schots Kasteel (Il Segreto Del Castello Scozzese) (all short reads, though since the read-a-thon hasn't gone so well so far, I don't know if I'll get around to reading them before it's over) I handed in the finished reads, and I also handed in one book I hadn't finished (because I couldn't borrow anymore and I'd rather wanted to read the Stilton books than that one). Anna told me about this free short story collection on the Kindle, so I downloaded it: Hugh Howey, Geraldine Evans, Rachel Aukes, Lisa Grace, Andrew Ashling, Daniel R. Marvello, Lindy Moone, J. E. Taylor, Cherise Kelley, R.M. Prioleau, Vincent Trigili, Julie Ann Dawson, Anya Kelly, Jennifer Lewis, Zelah Meyer, P. D. Singer, Raquel Lyon, Jack Lusted, Michael Coorlim, Mark Gardner, Sheryl Fawcett, J. T. Hall, Ruth Nestvold, Caddy Rowland, Philip Harris, Tiffany Cherney, Becca Price, Landon Porter, Monica La Porta, Eric Feka, Stella Wilkinson, Roz Marshall, Rachel Elizabeth Cole, Lanette Curington, Kristy Tate, Jamie Campbell, Sam Kates, Ela Lond, Allan Körbes, Daniel Wallock, Peter J. Michaels, H. S. Stone, Hudson Owen and Livia Harper - Stories on the Go: 101 Very Short Stories by 101 Authors Reviews of reads finished in the past few days, will be written and posted tomorrow or Tuesday or such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Anna told me about this free short story collection on the Kindle, so I downloaded it: Hugh Howey, Geraldine Evans, Rachel Aukes, Lisa Grace, Andrew Ashling, Daniel R. Marvello, Lindy Moone, J. E. Taylor, Cherise Kelley, R.M. Prioleau, Vincent Trigili, Julie Ann Dawson, Anya Kelly, Jennifer Lewis, Zelah Meyer, P. D. Singer, Raquel Lyon, Jack Lusted, Michael Coorlim, Mark Gardner, Sheryl Fawcett, J. T. Hall, Ruth Nestvold, Caddy Rowland, Philip Harris, Tiffany Cherney, Becca Price, Landon Porter, Monica La Porta, Eric Feka, Stella Wilkinson, Roz Marshall, Rachel Elizabeth Cole, Lanette Curington, Kristy Tate, Jamie Campbell, Sam Kates, Ela Lond, Allan Körbes, Daniel Wallock, Peter J. Michaels, H. S. Stone, Hudson Owen and Livia Harper - Stories on the Go: 101 Very Short Stories by 101 Authors There is more on this in my thread, but basically they are about 5 minute short stories and we will be reading them together, in 15-20 story segments. Anyone is welcome to join in, they are supposed to be all encompassing genres and are all by indie writers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 There is more on this in my thread, but basically they are about 5 minute short stories and we will be reading them together, in 15-20 story segments. Anyone is welcome to join in, they are supposed to be all encompassing genres and are all by indie writers. I look forward to it ! I'll be writing a lot of reviews today and depending on when I finish with them, they'll be posted either later today or tomorrow morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Ann M. Martin - The BabySitter's Club 28: Welcome Back Stacey (re-read) (the cover on my Dutch version of the book, which I also own, is similar to the American cover, and I actually prefer the US covers, the images are prettier, but I am also used to them so that probably counts too ) Genre: Chick-lit Age-range: Children, Young-Adult Format: Paperback Pages: 130 Date read: 27-02-2015 ISBN: 9780590550338 Synopsis: (no synopsis because it's part of a series) My thoughts: It was another read-a-thon (or a (semi) read-a-thon at least) so I read another BSC book. It was great to re-read this book. Stacey's viewpoint had been absent from the series since book 13 so it was great to read from her point of view again. It was interesting to read about Stacey's life in New York. In the Dutch translation which I've read many times when I was a child and young teenager (I read the English version now for the first time), 'New York' becomes 'Amsterdam' (and 'Stoneybrook' becomes 'Steendam'), which to me has a different feel to it. It was great to therefore read the original. The book was a nice story about Stacey and her parents and their divorce. I love re-reading these books and I look forward to read more of the BSC. I love the writing and the characters in this series. I'd love to read some other works by the author, too, some time. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 A. C. Baantjer and Simon de Waal - De Waal & Baantjer 10: Een Tien met een Griffel Genre: Detective Age-range: Adult Format: Paperback Pages: 176 Date read: 27-02-2015 ISBN: 9789048819225 Synopsis (me, using the back of the book as a guide):A young woman in found dead in a house in Amsterdam. Not much later the owner of the house, a guard in a prison, is found dead in an abandoned area nearby. At first it looks like he committed suicide, but there are too many questionmarks. My thoughts: Since it was another (semi) read-a-thon, I read the next De Waal & Baantjer book. This was number 10, which as an extra contains a few words by the author at the end and some photographs of the authors and the police station where the series takes place. I really liked this book. It is well written and has great characters. The story was very suspenseful and interesting. There were several plot twists and I quite enjoyed finding out what was going on. I really enjoyed the descriptions of various places in Amsterdam. I really enjoyed reading the book. The book mentioned Baantjer and detective De Cock once, this was a nice little nudge (especially to mention both the book series and the character as if he were a person that one of the characters in this book knew, that's interesting). At the end of the book there were a few pages written by the author (Simon de Waal) on the history of the series and his friendship with Appie Baantjer. It was very interesting and touching to read. After that there are a few pages with photographs on them, of the two of them and of for example the police station where this series takes place. It was nice seeing these photos . Overall then I quite enjoyed reading this book, it was definitely one of the best ones in the series so far. After this I've only got book 11 to read, then I have to wait until more are released! I don't know if there are any plans or not, but I do hope so. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Disney - Donald Duck Dubbel Pocket 3 (re-read) Genre: Disney Age-range: Children Format: Paperback Pages: 510 Date read: 27-02-2015 ISBN: 9789054283270 Synopsis (me): Stories of Donald Duck and other characters. My thoughts: Since it was another (semi) read-a-thon, I re-read the next Donald Duck Dubbel Pocket. Below are some quick thoughts on each story. Oom Dagobert: Hertog van Midilano This was an enjoyable story about Oom Dagobert and a castle he wants to possess. Rating: (****) (8/10) Mickey en Goofy: Het Eiland der "Voedoemde" This was a very suspenseful story about strange things that are going on on an island, when Mickey and Goofy deliver a box there. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Oom Dagobert en de Grote Uitdaging This was an entertaining story about Oom Dagobert and the Zware Jongers trying to steal his money. Rating: (****) (8/10) Boris Boef: De Afvalrace This was a funny story about Boris, I liked it a lot. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Donald Duck en de Duckrover Biturbo This was a very enjoyable story about Donald Duck and a car, a kind of pick up truck / 4 x 4 / terrain vehicle kind of car. I quite liked this story. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Mickey Mouse in Schuld en Boete: Vrije Bewerking van Fjodor Dostojevski This was a very enjoyable and suspenseful story based on the book Schuld en Boete or Crime and Punishment in English, by Fjodor Dostojevski (I'm unsure of the original name of the novel in Russian). I haven't read this book so I don't know how much this story about Mickey Mouse is similar to it or not. Anyway, the story is about Mickey Mouse trying to solve the case of Oma Duck's stolen bag of coins. The story was very enjoyable and suspenseful. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Oom Dagobert en de Luchthandel This was a very enjoyable story about Oom Dagobert wanting to make money from air. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Mickey Mouse: Het Kwam uit de Ruimte This was an itneresting space story, it was very suspenseful. It was nicely drawn, particularly the aliens. I quite enjoyed this story. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Mickey en de Azteekse Legende This was a nice story about Mickey and an Aztec legend. Rating: (****) (8/10) Donald Duck: Zo Dapper Als Duckbond This was a great story about Donald and Katrien and Duckbond and the army. It was very enjoyable. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Superdonald en de Superheldenschool This was a very enjoyable story about Superdonald and a school for superheroes. Rating: (*****) (10/10) Oom Dagobert en de Takken van de Stamboom This was a great story about Oom Dagobert and his ancestors. Time travel is involved. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Overall I enjoyed re-reading this book, but I found there were not as many good stories in it compared to the first two Dubbel Pockets. It was still very enjoyable, though. Overall Rating: (*****) (9/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Susan Hatler - Better Date Than Never 9: Deja Date Genre: Chick-lit Age-range: Adult Format: Kindle Pages: ~113 Date read: 28-02-2015 ISBN: N/A (Kindle) Synopsis: (no synopsis because the book is part of a series). My thoughts: I had pre-ordered this book and it was released about a week ago. I decided to read it the past weekend for the (semi) read-a-thon, because I was really looking forward to it and it's not that long so I thought it'd be good for a read-a-thon. I've read other books in the series for read-a-thons in the past sometimes and that worked out fine. What I loved most about this book was the dog and the scenes with the dog. One in particular is very emotionally written and I found it quite touching. I always like to read about dogs. I quite liked the characters in this book and it was interesting to read Melinda's story (she's the main character). There were a few bits that were predictable because I've read other books in this series but otherwise I thought it was a very enjoyable book, I didn't mind that I could predict a few bits. I wanted to keep on reading this book, however due to tiredness and unforeseen circumstances, I had to put it down for most of the day. Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book. I look forward to book 10, which should be released later in the year. I look forward to re-read all the books in the series (up to then at least) some time, a bit closer together (though I remembered who's who etc. and not all of the other characters made an appearance), I think it would be nice (I wouldn't read them all in the same week, but perhaps one or a few per week or such). I quite enjoyed this story. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Geronimo Stilton - Reis door de Tijd 3 (Viaggio Nel Tempo 3) Genre: Science-fiction, Historical Fiction Age-range: Children Format: Hardback (Library Loan) Pages: 384 Date read: 28-02-2015 ISBN: 9789085921318 Synopsis (me): Geronimo and his friends travel through time to three different locations, to prehistory, to ancient Greece and to the Renaissance. My thoughts: I saw this book at the library. I didn't know there were science-ficion books with Geronimo Stilton. It looked interesting so I borrowed it. I read it for the read-a-thon, because it seemed like a nice, relatively short read (there are a lot of illustrations in the book and the book has big letters and not that big pages). This book was pretty enjoyable. There was educational information about the three time periods. It wasn't that much new to me since I've been taught these things in secondary school, but I can imagine it being very nice for children. The characters have adventures in the three different time periods. The only science-fiction element really was the time travel tunnel. Apparently in the two previous books professor Volt invented two different machines before (one in each book) and in this one it's a time tunnel that makes the time travel possible. I thought the adventure in the prehistory / ice age was a bit shorter and simpler compared with the other two (I guess it makes sense though). It was nice, but not that great. But then the characters went to the other two time periods, and those stories were more complicated and had different elements to them, which was quite nice. I quite liked the illustrations (as I do in all the Stilton books I've read so far). One thing I missed was the lack of mention of influencing history by going there and time paradoxes. I guess though in a children's book maybe that would've been too complicated, but I missed that. I liked all the characters except one, I found him to be a bit annoying (he also is in other Stilton books as it's his cousin, but I found him a bit annoying in this book). I guess that the plot probably wouldn't have happened the way it did if he'd been a different character, but I found him to be a bit annoying. Overall then I quite enjoyed reading this book. I find these Stilton books to be quite entertaining and great for read-a-thons. I like the illustrations and the characters. I'm really glad I can borrow a lot of them from the library. The library has a lot of them I believe, though most are usually loaned out. They're, I think, very popular with children in the Netherlands. They're originally Italian books. I don't know how children can afford the books though, when I've seen the books in bookshops they are massively expensive (compared to most other books). But maybe that's why a lot of children borrow them at the library, I can fully understand that! They read quite quickly but cost a lot, so better to read them from the library. I certainly couldn't afford to buy a lot of them at the pace at which I can read them. But they are very enjoyable books in my opinion. I look forward to borrow more of them from the library in the future. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Geronimo Stilton - Superhelden 2: De Invasie van de Megamonsters (Supereroi 2: L'invasione Dei Mostri Giganti) Genre: Science-fiction Age-range: Children Format: Paperback (Library Loan, one of the very few books in the library with a bit of a thinner cover) Pages: 192 Date read: 01-03-2015 ISBN: 9789085921240 Synopsis (me): The superheroes have to fight mega monsters. My thoughts: I saw this book at the library. I haven't read many books with superheroes, and I like Stilton's books, so I thought I'd borrow it and give it a go. Superheroes seem more common in comics, though my experience with superheroes mostly comes from watching film and TV adaptations (such as films based on Marvel characters or DC characters). In this book there were sometimes a few pages illustrated in colour completely like a comic book, continuing the story in this way. This was quite nice. The story was pretty suspenseful and I found it to be quite enjoyable. I liked the characters and the superpowers / gadgets and such. There was plenty of nice action and there were good plot twists. I haven't read book one in this series but I could follow the story quite well. Overall I quite enjoyed reading this book. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Geronimo Stilton - Het Jungleboek (Il Libro Della Giungla) Genre: Literature Age-range: Children Format: Hardback (Library Loan) Pages: 224 Date read: 01-03-2015 ISBN: 9789085921035 Synopsis (me): The story of The Jungle Book by Joseph Rudyard Kipling retold by Geronimo Stilton. My thoughts: I saw this book at the library and while I haven't yet read the original book (it's on my shelf but I haven't read it yet), I love the Disney film. It was quite nostalgic to read this book, as I've seen the Disney film many times when I was a child. The story reminded me of the film and the fun times watching it (until something happened to the video tape and the sound became very hard to hear). Reading this book really made me want to re-watch the film, which I haven't watched in a long time. So I've borrowed my parents' DVD to watch the film (I haven't done so yet though, as I've been too tired to watch it. Also, I'm busy writing reviews ). The story in this book was very enjoyable. I really liked the characters and the illustrations were beautiful as always in Stilton's books. I want to read the original book some day, and since I already own it this should hopefully happen some time sooner or later (though I've read it's not that easy to read). Overall I quite enjoyed reading the story in this form. I don't know how close it is to the original book or anything, I can only compare it to what I remember of the film, but I quite enjoyed this book. One thing that was interesting, is that in all of Stilton's literary retellings, the people are mice. No that's not what's the most interesting thing is , what it is is that in this book it's funny how the 'humans' are mice and are referred to as mice, it's weird seeing a mouse at an unusual size when compared with the other animals in the story, such as the snakes, monkeys / apes, and the bear etc etc. It was a nice thing, really. Anyway, I quite enjoyed reading the book. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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