Athena's Reading List 2015

[Athena]

Some emoticons are removed.

 

Wow, so many book reviews. I quite like the sound of the De Waal & Baantje books, it doesn't look like they are available in English though.

 

Thanks ! I don't think the De Waal & Baantjer books have been translated, but some of the Baantjer books have (see Little Pixie's link).

 

I`ve ordered one of them in English - click for more.

Woohoo I hope you enjoy it !

 

That's a lot of books!  I'm glad you had such a successful read a thon!  Wow!  And here I think I'm doing good if I finish 3 or more

 

Thanks ! Well to be honest it does really depend for me on which books I choose to read. Some books take me a lot longer to read than others, I prefer to pick short children's reads with a lot of pictures for the read-a-thon (or for example some books that I've read before, then it goes quicker too).

 

Once again I'm gobsmacked by how many books you manage to read!

 

Glad you found the Simon's Cat book entertaining, even though you're more of a dog person! I have a Simon's Cat wall calendar that my mum bought me for Christmas (since I'm a crazy cat lady), and I LOVE the videos on Youtube - they're so accurate and funny.

 

 

I hate it when this happens! Whenever it happens to me, I save the image onto my computer, then upload it to my Facebook and copy & paste it into the blog. It normally works then.

Thanks !

 

I used to be a cat person, but then I found out I was allergic to cats. I've been a dog person since. But I do like looking at cats or cat pictures. I'm going to check out the YouTube channel, I think I would like it .

 

That does sound clever. I did think about doing something like that, but I don't want to get into any trouble copyright wise. I guess I could take my own photos but.. heh oh well.

 

I never really noticed this until now, but do you tend to read more books in your native language during read-a-thons because you can read easier? Or is it just a coincidence? How different is it to read in your native language compared to English?

 

Sorry for all the questions....I'm just really curious because my first language is English so I don't really have that problem. I can barely speak another language.

That's an interesting point. It is true I read more Dutch books during the read-a-thon than outside of the read-a-thon. Well one problem I have is that I don't get on well sometimes with bad translations. It seems less of a problem with children's books, and I tend to read those during read-a-thons and less so outside them. With adult books sometimes you get bad translations (and for example, in fantasy books, I find it really difficult to read a Dutch translation, because all the fantasy words sound much more rubbish in Dutch heh), ie. sometimes an expression is translated too literally and this really takes me out of the story. Most of the Dutch books I read, are mainly children's or young-adult books, sometimes ones I've read before when I was a child and sometimes new ones. I usually read more children's books during the read-a-thon and more adult books outside of the read-a-thon (because of processing limits).

 

It might be true I can read Dutch quicker, I'm not really sure as I haven't thought about it. I do read re-reads quicker, such as for example some of my childhood favourites that I've read many times before (in Dutch). I can read those really quickly, because all the words are familiar to me. I've never really compared my timing of English vs. Dutch. I did read though two BSC books the past read-a-thon, one in Dutch and one in English, and I read the Dutch one faster. I don't know if this is because I can read Dutch faster, or because I've read the Dutch edition many times before and I hadn't read the English edition before, so the exact sentences used are familiar in the Dutch one but not in the English one (if that makes sense?).

 

I can read both languages easily (if it is contemporary language, I'm not so good with things written before ~1880). Flemish isn't that hard either, it's very similar to Dutch (it is harder to hear it I think, because it sounds more different than it is written, if you get what I mean). I'm pretty lucky that I can read these languages like this, I think. My English was never that great in secondary school (well, it was fine, I had a good grade, but it wasn't fluent). I really improved though through the use of the internet and forums and by talking with my boyfriend (and his family) a lot.

 

On occasion nowadays there are some words or expressions that Dutch has, and then I have trouble explaining it to my boyfriend. But on other occasions we use an English expression, and I have trouble thinking of a Dutch translation (ie. for my family)!

 

I have always read a lot of books, even to the point where I'd sometimes see spelling mistakes in books. By reading so much, I've become good at spelling (better than average), at school (with my protographic / eidetic memory too). I used to read only Dutch books (and Flemish) until I was an older teenager. Then I read a lot of fantasy books and only those, and sometimes they were really hard to find in Dutch, and the English editions were often cheaper as well. So I started to read mainly English books. Since I'm a member of the library since last year December and they mainly have Dutch books (though gladly also a lot of nice English ones), I've been reading more Dutch.

 

I like to read originally Dutch books in Dutch (and Flemish in Flemish), and originally English books usually in English (if available). For children's books I don't mind a translation as much as long as it's a nice one, for adult books I'm a bit more picky (ie. particularly of my favourite authors, I really want to read the original book as I've read their other books in the original form).

 

I hope the answer to your question is in my rambling here somewhere . Sorry if it sounded a bit chaotic.. my brain is a bit all over the place this morning .

 

I know, right?  She can read Flemish as well!

Thanks !

 

In the Netherlands we are taught at least Dutch and English, because we are such a small country it is deemed necessary that people can speak more than one language. While I picked Chemistry to study at university, and I chose more 'beta' courses in secondary school, I have always found languages interesting and I'm really glad I was given this education. Nowadays I couldn't learn a whole new language as quickly any more, but I'm glad for what I've learnt in school.

[BSchultz19]

That was actually a great and very interesting answer! Sometimes I wish that in America we had to learn one language the whole way through school like European schools do with English just so that we could be fluent in reading, speaking, and writing another language. I guess to some extent Spanish is like that for us, but it's honestly not taken grammatically seriously until high school so the years spent in Spanish before that are wasted. I only took it for a few years before I went to private school and I learned basically nothing other than counting, some simple phrases, and the months. 

 

I'm currently taking German for the second year, but I still probably couldn't read a book in German. I might be able to read and somewhat understand a paragraph or two if I had a dictionary for some of the words I don't know. So basically, I just wish we had one language to learn besides our native one because I think it is an important skill to have. 

 

I think it is so cool that you can read in three different languages. So many more options for reading because as you mentioned one translation might defer from another. 

[Signor Finzione]

That was actually a great and very interesting answer! Sometimes I wish that in America we had to learn one language the whole way through school like European schools do with English just so that we could be fluent in reading, speaking, and writing another language. 

 

I dunno, it all depends how seriously the school takes it. I learned French in school for 7 years straight, and was never really taught to speak or understand anything more than a few basic words and sentences.

 

I'm in awe of those on this forum who can read entire books in their second, or even third, language, and who post on here in absolutely flawless English. Hats off to you, guys.

[Anna Begins]

I dunno, it all depends how seriously the school takes it. I learned French in school for 7 years straight, and was never really taught to speak or understand anything more than a few basic words and sentences.

 

I'm in awe of those on this forum who can read entire books in their second, or even third, language, and who post on here in absolutely flawless English. Hats off to you, guys.

Ya ditto and ditto.  I took Russian for 4 years straight and learned really basic things, words and sentences like Laura.  I also think it is awesome the way the posts on here are flawless English, a lot of times Gaia and I have to laugh at our expressions/ slang.

 

In California, though, Spanish is a serious deal.  Not only is our state (and others like Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) inundated with the Spanish language, there are more Mexicans in CA than any other nationality.  My daughter has a bilingual class, for the most part.  Most of the children in her school speak Spanish and English, they even have a book bag that gets exchanged every Wednesday, all 3 books included are with a Spanish translation on the opposing page.

[BSchultz19]

Ya ditto and ditto.  I took Russian for 4 years straight and learned really basic things, words and sentences like Laura.  I also think it is awesome the way the posts on here are flawless English, a lot of times Gaia and I have to laugh at our expressions/ slang.

 

In California, though, Spanish is a serious deal.  Not only is our state (and others like Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) inundated with the Spanish language, there are more Mexicans in CA than any other nationality.  My daughter has a bilingual class, for the most part.  Most of the children in her school speak Spanish and English, they even have a book bag that gets exchanged every Wednesday, all 3 books included are with a Spanish translation on the opposing page.

 

Wow! That's really interesting that they have books with both languages. I live in the midwest so other than Chicago there aren't that many immigrants in my region. Learning spanish could be helpful or could not. I took German because I liked the German teacher better. 

[Anna Begins]

I took German because I liked the German teacher better. 

I took Russian because I loved the alphabet

[Athena]

That was actually a great and very interesting answer! Sometimes I wish that in America we had to learn one language the whole way through school like European schools do with English just so that we could be fluent in reading, speaking, and writing another language. I guess to some extent Spanish is like that for us, but it's honestly not taken grammatically seriously until high school so the years spent in Spanish before that are wasted. I only took it for a few years before I went to private school and I learned basically nothing other than counting, some simple phrases, and the months. 

 

I'm currently taking German for the second year, but I still probably couldn't read a book in German. I might be able to read and somewhat understand a paragraph or two if I had a dictionary for some of the words I don't know. So basically, I just wish we had one language to learn besides our native one because I think it is an important skill to have. 

 

I think it is so cool that you can read in three different languages. So many more options for reading because as you mentioned one translation might defer from another.

Thanks ! It's nice you were taught some German. I agree, it is an important skill to have, though not everyone is as lucky that they are able to have such an education which is a shame (children and teenagers learn a new language much more easily). 

 

I dunno, it all depends how seriously the school takes it. I learned French in school for 7 years straight, and was never really taught to speak or understand anything more than a few basic words and sentences.

 

I'm in awe of those on this forum who can read entire books in their second, or even third, language, and who post on here in absolutely flawless English. Hats off to you, guys.

Wow.. that's a lot of years! I had French for 5 years, and while I could speak and understand quite some of it at the time, I don't remember much of it nowadays (the same with German, though that was 4 years). But I am more easily able to understand German, ie. I could probably understand a large part of ie. a German TV show (particularly my favourite one, the older seasons of Kommissar Rex ). I've helped my dad translating some German documents (for something work related). I don't think I could read a complicated book in German, but I think I would be able to read a less complicated children's book (it would take a little while though!).

 

Thanks !

 

Ya ditto and ditto.  I took Russian for 4 years straight and learned really basic things, words and sentences like Laura.  I also think it is awesome the way the posts on here are flawless English, a lot of times Gaia and I have to laugh at our expressions/ slang.

 

In California, though, Spanish is a serious deal.  Not only is our state (and others like Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) inundated with the Spanish language, there are more Mexicans in CA than any other nationality.  My daughter has a bilingual class, for the most part.  Most of the children in her school speak Spanish and English, they even have a book bag that gets exchanged every Wednesday, all 3 books included are with a Spanish translation on the opposing page.

 

Russian sounds very difficult to learn.

 

Yes !

 

Yeah it's amazing Spanish is such a big deal there, even though you live in the US. It does make sense, but I don't like that some people there look down on your for not speaking it much!

 

Wow! That's really interesting that they have books with both languages. I live in the midwest so other than Chicago there aren't that many immigrants in my region. Learning spanish could be helpful or could not. I took German because I liked the German teacher better.

Haha, that's a nice reason ! 

 

I took Russian because I loved the alphabet

Also an interesting reason !

[Athena]

Penny Vincenzi - A Perfect Heritage

 

 

Genre: Chick-lit, Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

Age-range: Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages: 753

Date read: 09-04-2015 <-> 14-04-2015

ISBN: 9780755377596

Synopsis (GoodReads): The House of Farrell - home of The Cream, an iconic face product that has seen women flocking to its bijoux flagship store in the Berkeley Arcade since 1953.

 

At Farrell, you can rely on the personal touch. The legendary Athina Farrell remains the company's figurehead and in her kingdom at the Berkeley Arcade, Florence Hamilton plies their cosmetics with the utmost discretion. She is sales advisor - and holder of secrets - extraordinaire.

 

But of course the world of cosmetics is changing and the once glorious House of Farrell is now in decline, its customers tempted away by more fashionable brands.

 

Enter Bianca Bailey, formidable business woman, mother of three, and someone who always gets her way. Athina and Bianca lock horns over the future of the House of Farrell but it is the past that tells its devastating tale of ambition and ego, passion and wonder.

 

Here is a tale of survival ... and a perfect heritage.

 

My thoughts:

 

I pre-ordered this book and received it near the beginning of March. After reading some library loans and some other books, I finally felt like reading it this month (April). I've previously enjoyed books by the author, I think I have five left to read, two standalones and her trilogy.

 

I liked that the story took place mainly in a couple of years around 2011, but the story also had a lot of flash backs to earlier time periods. It mainly took place in the 'now' though, which I liked. Quite a few of the other books by the author are more historical, and I liked reading a more contemporary story too (I prefer contemporary over historical).

 

The book is about this beauty company and the lives of some of the people involved (mostly quite rich and posh people). I really liked the business side of things, the parts of the story that were about the company and how to try to keep it from failing. I don't wear make-up, personally, nor do I use perfume. Anyway, I won't go into detail of the whys of this, but I'm just mentioning it to say that despite this, I still enjoyed reading about the company.

 

I really liked the writing style of the book (similar to the writing style in the author's other books). I did have a few problems sometimes while reading, sometimes I'd wish the book would hurry up a bit. I've been ill the past few days so that doesn't really help and might mean I'm less patient than I otherwise would have been. I liked the descriptions of for example London and Paris, and people's clothing.

 

I felt sometimes that the book was a bit similar in some aspects to some of the other books by the author, in the sense that I could see some plot twists coming, sometimes.

 

I liked the characters, but I didn't like some of their actions. There was one character I really didn't like, but he's more of a 'villain' so that makes sense, I don't think you're supposed to like him. I liked most of the other characters a lot though, and I quite liked that in this book, there were some strong female characters. Most of the author's other books have that too, but in some of them, some of the male characters are a bit old-fashioned (though for a few books it makes sense according to the time they take place in), in the sense that they want their wives to be staying at home, non-intelligent kind of people (and I like if the woman rises against this, but I don't like it if she is weak and gives it to the husband every time). Anyway, it was nice to read about business women. The book tells the story from multiple points of view, most of them being women (though definitely not all of them). I do wish the book had had Athina's point of view a bit more often, I would have been interested to read more about her thoughts and her experiences from her viewpoint.

 

As I said, I had some problems with the book, particularly in the middle (ie. with some plot twists I found predictable, not by itself but because I've read other books by the author I thought this and that would happen). Gladly though it picked up again, I am recovering from my illness, and the last part of the book was very good. Someone British, or who is more familiar with some specific events in Britain might get a little bit more out of the book.

 

It annoyed me a little bit, that sometimes when a chapter started, the one or two characters in the first bit, were described as 'she' and / or 'he', so sometimes I had to read on a bit before finding out whose thoughts I was reading. Sometimes it's obvious, but a few other times this was less obvious and then it annoyed me. Sometimes I was tempted to skim ahead on the page to see where a name would pop up so I would know which viewpoint I was reading.

 

Gladly this book had no cringy sex scenes, like a few other books by the author do have. There was none of that here. It doesn't mean sex isn't mentioned, it is but only using a few lines, there are no long sex scenes and I appreciated that (I am not keen on reading them, in some of the author's other books I'd skim those pages).

 

Overall then I liked this book but I was disappointed on a few levels. I used to really enjoy this author's books, but the past few years I've enjoyed the ones I've read since then, less so. I don't know if maybe I'm just not liking the genre as much anymore, or whether the ones I've read since then, I just liked less for some reason or another. It could be that I just don't like this type of book as much anymore, I don't know. Anyway, I did like the book, I mainly just had some 'mojo' / reading problems, possibly to due with my illness. My head has been a bit fuzzy, and sometimes I had a bit of trouble remembering who was who or what was going on. However, once I started to recover from my illness, I found it to be much easier and was able to read more of the book and understand it more easily. I did like the book, it just wasn't without its flaws.

 

I have two standalones from the author left to read, and her trilogy (I own all of the author's books, as far as I know). According to some, her trilogy is actually the best of her books. But because they are three long books, I've always just read the standalones first. I thought then that I'd read it when I was half way through the standalones, but now it seems I'm leaving it for last, or almost last perhaps. I do look forward to the trilogy, because many people say it's the author's best work.

 

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

[Signor Finzione]

Hmm, sounds like it may be a problem with the author rather than you/the genre, especially given what you said about this one being quite predictable. Maybe try the trilogy next - if it's as good as people say, then maybe it will help reignite your interest in the author.

 

I'm sorry you haven't been feeling well and that this has affected your reading mojo. Glad to hear you're recovering now though! 

[Athena]

Well, the middle was a bit predictable in terms of a few plot twists. The end was not.. but I forgot to mention it when I wrote the review and once I posted it I felt too lazy to edit it (not just here, but also in several documents on my PC), I probably should have edited it though, I didn't see the end twists coming. I might do that, read the trilogy next, in a while .

 

Thanks !

[Little Pixie]

 Anyway, I did like the book, I mainly just had some 'mojo' / reading problems, possibly to due with my illness. My head has been a bit fuzzy, and sometimes I had a bit of trouble remembering who was who or what was going on. However, once I started to recover from my illness, I found it to be much easier and was able to read more of the book and understand it more easily.

 

 

Is there anything you can do when you`re feeling rough which cheers you up, like being with your animals ? 

[BSchultz19]

Sounds like a very interesting book, but I think I would probably be more interested in her other books because I enjoy that historical aspect. I also get what you mean about being able to guess the plot twists after reading enough of the author's work because they follow some of the same patterns. 

[Athena]

Is there anything you can do when you`re feeling rough which cheers you up, like being with your animals ? 

I sometimes spend some time with the dogs . It really depends on how I feel, whether it's being ill or my mental tiredness (or both), etc. What do you do?

 

Sounds like a very interesting book, but I think I would probably be more interested in her other books because I enjoy that historical aspect. I also get what you mean about being able to guess the plot twists after reading enough of the author's work because they follow some of the same patterns.

That makes sense, if you like I can look up which ones I enjoyed the most, though if people are correct and the trilogy, which is historical, is the best, that might be a good place to start too, however since I haven't read those yet myself, I couldn't give my own opinion. Yes, thanks .

 

P.S. I'll be posting a review now.

[Athena]

Philip K. Dick - A Scanner Darkly

 

 

Genre: Science-fiction

Age-range: Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages: 220

Date read: 12-04-2015 <->15-04-2015

ISBN: 9781857988475

Synopsis (back of the book): Substance D - otherwise known as Death - is the most dangerous drug ever to find its way on to the black market. It destroys the links between the brain's two hemispheres, leading first to disorientation and then to complete and irreversible brain damage. Bob Arctor, undercover narcotics agent, is trying to find a lead to the source of supply, but to pass as an addict he must first become a user...

 

My thoughts:

 

I have previously read another book by this author, called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and I enjoyed this book. A Scanner Darkly was on my wishlist and was gifted to me by my friend Devi. When my friend Anna recently said she was interested in reading this book, I said I owned it and that I'd be up for reading it together, so that's what we did.

 

The book starts off a bit in a strange way, you don't quite know yet what's going on. The book was originally published in 1977 and it takes place in ~1994. The writing style was interesting, different from most books (a bit more older fashioned I guess). Some of the language had evolved in this science-fiction world, such as calling girls and women 'chicks' for example. It took me a little bit of time to get used to this. It did make for interesting reading though at times it was a little bit annoying too. For example, a few of the 'new' / different words used, I wasn't always sure at first what they meant (of one thing I'm still not sure).

 

I liked most of the characters and the book was pretty suspenseful. It could be my recent 'mojo' problems but I had a bit of trouble in the middle of the book were I wasn't sure anymore how much I was enjoying it. That said, I had the same thing with A Perfect Heritage, the book I was reading at the same time as this one (I don't often do that these days, but okay), and I was ill so it could've been that my mind just wasn't feeling it.

 

That all said, the last part of the book was really good, and it had some really good twists near the end.

 

Overall then I enjoyed reading this book, though I had a few problems with it too (mainly because of my illness). I wasn't sure also first where the book was going. I really liked the twists at the end though and the book has some interesting thoughts on drug (as in, the not-medical kind, English is a bit ambiguous here) usage. At the end of the book there are two pages titled "Author's Note" and they were interesting to read as well.

 

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

[Little Pixie]

I sometimes spend some time with the dogs . It really depends on how I feel, whether it's being ill or my mental tiredness (or both), etc. What do you do?

 

Chocolate. And coffee.  Also, being with my cat, meditating, doing some Tai Chi. 

[Athena]

Chocolate. And coffee.  Also, being with my cat, meditating, doing some Tai Chi. 

I'm eating some chocolate right now ! I really like chocolate. I don't drink coffee though, nor tea. I'm glad these things help for you .

[BSchultz19]

I sometimes spend some time with the dogs . It really depends on how I feel, whether it's being ill or my mental tiredness (or both), etc. What do you do?

 

 

That makes sense, if you like I can look up which ones I enjoyed the most, though if people are correct and the trilogy, which is historical, is the best, that might be a good place to start too, however since I haven't read those yet myself, I couldn't give my own opinion. Yes, thanks .

 

P.S. I'll be posting a review now.

 

I suppose I could start with the trilogy if that's what others recommend as the best. But if you want to look up and list some of your favorites that would be great too  

[Athena]

I suppose I could start with the trilogy if that's what others recommend as the best. But if you want to look up and list some of your favorites that would be great too

Here are my ratings:

 

Penny Vincenzi - An Absolute Scandal: 10 (mostly contemporary)

Penny Vincenzi - The Best Of Times: 10 (mostly contemporary)

Penny Vincenzi - The Decision (also known as More Than You Know in some countries, historical and contemporary): 9

Penny Vincenzi - Windfall (historical): 9

Penny Vincenzi - Another Woman (historical, on retrospect though I might rate this one 8 instead of 9): 9

Penny Vincenzi - Love In The Afternoon And Other Delights (short story collection, nice but some stories were better than others, I would recommend a full length novel instead): 9

Penny Vincenzi - Wicked Pleasures (historical): 8

Penny Vincenzi - An Outrageous Affair (historical): 8

Penny Vincenzi - Forbidden Places (historical): 8

Penny Vincenzi - A Perfect Heritage (mostly contemporary): 8

Penny Vincenzi - Old Sins (historical): 7

Penny Vincenzi - The Dilemma (historical): 7

 

Unread:

Penny Vincenzi - The Spoils Of Time 1: No Angel

Penny Vincenzi - The Spoils Of Time 2: Something Dangerous

Penny Vincenzi - The Spoils Of Time 3: Into Temptation

Penny Vincenzi - Almost A Crime

Penny Vincenzi - Sheer Abandon

 

But other than my ratings, I would recommend also that you read the synopses of a few and see which one appeals the most as you might be more interested in certain time periods over others etc. If you do try one of Penny Vincenzi's books I hope you enjoy it .

 

P.S. Two reviews coming up.

[Athena]

Carien Karsten and Klazien Laansma - Shoppen!: De Lust, Het Lijden en de Lol

 

 

Genre: Information

Age-range: Adult

Format: Hardback (Ex-library copy)

Pages: 160

Date read: 16-04-2015

ISBN: 9789038913582

Synopsis (me): A (n originally) Dutch book about shopping, consumerism and shopping addiction. The book also contains the experiences of people interviewed by the authors.

 

My thoughts:

 

I bought this book at a library sale last year, when, ironically, I was having big problems with my spending too much money on less necessary things. For some reason I felt in the mood today for something Dutch, short and informative and I've been meaning to read this book, so I did so today. I plan to read Stephen Howe - Overcoming your Shopping Addiction: The Guide to Beating your Addiction to Shopping and Ending the Shopping Addiction Cycle (a at the time free short Kindle book) after this, so that I can compare the two.

 

This book was published in 2003, and the book does show its age. For example, there is a section on it on the transition of gulden to euro, which in 2003 was of course still a problem for some people (I believe the transition happened around 2000), but of course now in 2015 this isn't an issue anymore (or at least, I hope it isn't an issue anymore for anyone..). It was interesting to read, though. Another thing was that while the book does contain some information regarding online shopping, most of the book was geared towards shopping in actual shops. Of course, in 2003 online shopping wasn't as prominent and popular as it is nowadays. Back in 2003, there was also less known about shopping and shopping addiction (the authors do mention this), so that's one reason why I decided to read this older book first, as the Kindle book was published in 2014 so it might contain some more up-to-date information. It is I think a self-published one though, so I don't know how good it will be. Shoppen! says it's the first (originally) Dutch book on this subject.

 

Anyway, I found it a bit of a shame that the book seemed to be mainly geared towards shopping for clothes. There is also attention for shopping for other items, but some of the advice did seem to be about the clothes and that's not what my main problem is / was. Yes, a couple of times I have bought too many clothes or clothes I didn't end up wearing much. So it was still quite interesting to read about it, but I wish there had been more attention also to other items. The book was also more geared towards women, and it said there are much more women who are addicted to shopping than men (related to the whole 'clothes' thing of course). I don't know if this is true or not, and we're more than 10 years later compared when the book was written.

 

What I really liked about the book, was that the authors included experiences of people that they interviewed, many of whom were addicted to shopping in various degrees. I really liked reading about these people and their experiences and thoughts on certain subjects. This really made the book come alive and seem less clinical and such.

 

The book contains some nice information on the subject as well as some nice tips. I would've liked more tips from it, I feel at the moment it's more information and explanation than that it offers tips (which is okay though if that's what you are looking for).

 

One thing I noticed was that twice the book mentioned 'wiet' or cannabis as the English translation is. It's interesting, because I don't often see that word in books. Then I realised, in the Netherlands this is legal and so it is fine to talk about it. It's merely mentioned in passing, along with alcohol and cigarettes, so it's not important as such to the whole book, but I thought it was interesting and I think the Netherlands' policy on what we call 'soft-drugs' (I don't know how to translate this, but basically the ones that don't cause an addiction and that are not that harmful), makes us a unique country. Anyway, I just wanted to mention I found it interesting to see this word 'wiet' mentioned in a book, as I don't often see this used in such a legal manner. It only occured about twice in the whole book, so it wasn't at all that related, so I'm sorry for rambling on about it.

 

I enjoyed reading this book, though it does show its age a bit in some ways. I found it a bit of a shame it seemed to be mainly geared towards women who shop for clothes, and I would've liked to see more tips related to other items or indeed tips in general (ie. going to the library instead of buying books, courtesy of my boyfriend). The book reads easily and I liked the writing style. I really liked to read the experiences and opinions of the people interviewed, I found this very interesting. One of them was quite a snob though, looking down upon people who don't care as much for clothes or who wear more 'average' looking stuff instead of the expensive brands. Since I don't care about clothing brands, and particularly not about expensive ones (I'm just interested in whether it feels comfortable and looks good, and that it doesn't cost too much), this irked me but at the same time I found it funny that apparently such people do exist. Overall then I enjoyed reading this book and found it interesting, but I wish there had been more tips and less focus on clothes shopping.

 

As a side note, I will mention some of my personal experiences, since December 2014 (last year), I have turned my life around in regards to my own shopping, and it is now April 2015 and it's still going relatively well. I'm not saying I couldn't improve even more, but overall I have spent a lot less money on 'fun' things than I did in earlier times, and I'm very proud of this. My main problems were books, DVDs / Blu-rays and video games. I started off with limiting myself in video game buying. I wasn't playing video games as often anymore and have managed to hardly buy any video games since I decided to tackle this issue. Unfortunately though this did lead me to keep buying the other two things, though I don't know if the overall money spent became more or less (I didn't keep track of my money as well as I do now). I then limited the DVDs and then was left with books.

 

This past summer (August 2014) I moved in together with my boyfriend in the bakery. I was already contributing to my parents household, by buying our own food some of the time (when my boyfriend was around). Now though we're paying a lot more things, since we're living together. We are on my parents' property, but aside from the weekly and monthly costs like food and health insurance, we also needed to buy of course things we needed for the move (such as fridge) and such. So last November, when I had yet again overspent by buying too many books (online and at book fairs), I decided that this couldn't continue any longer. In December I became a member of my local library and this has really helped for my book buying. I do buy books by authors that I love, that I really want to have the book on my shelf and will want to read it and re-read it lots of times, within a limited budget (so far, I have bought one book online this year, and books in library sales and the charity shop). I do on occasion though buy a book when I see it cheap, like at the library sale and this could use some work. But so far I've been doing really well, and I intend to keep going like this. I do own a lot of unread books, and there are a lot of nice books at the library I want to borrow and read. I do love coming home or receiving new books every once in a while, and borrowing books from the library nicely fulfills this need for me. I also love going into the library and seeing all those books, knowing that I can borrow them and read them for free (aside from my library card fee of course).

 

Anyway, in that sense I didn't really "need" this book as much anymore, having figured a lot of things out of my own and with the help of my boyfriend, family and my therapists / nurses / etc. Of course, by no means does that mean I don't have any more urges to shop or that I don't need to watch myself, but I am more conscious about things and I do try hard to work at this issue. I'm proud of myself (at how I'm doing, my self-confidence still needs work).

 

The book then didn't have a lot of tips that were useful to me, that I didn't already hear from these other people that I mentioned before, but I found it really enjoyable to read the experiences of the people interviewed, they made me feel like I was less alone with this problem.

 

I own another bok by Carien Karsten, co-written with Gerard Smit (who is quoted in Shoppen!), called Antistress in 366 Dagen. I haven't read it yet but I plan to do so soon.

 

Rating: (****) (7/10)

[Athena]

Stephen Howe - Overcoming Your Shopping Addiction: The Guide to Beating your Addiction to Shopping and Ending the Shopping Addiction Cycle

 

 

Genre: Information

Age-range: Adult

Format: Kindle

Pages: ~25

Date read: 16-04-2015

ISBN: N/A

Synopsis (GoodReads): You’re about to discover proven steps and strategies to help you better understand the underlying causes of compulsive spending and develop the right approach needed to effectively combat shopping addiction.

 

Addiction to shopping is arguably the most socially reinforced among all the known forms of behavioral disorders. In a highly consumerist society, spending is seen as a key exercise in validating your worth, so it is not surprising to see the act of shopping being equated with personal happiness.

 

But therein lies the biggest challenge: when left unchecked, excessive shopping has the potential of spawning serious emotional, financial, and even physical problems. In fact, similar to other forms of addiction, getting hooked to shopping can also extend beyond the self and pose significant challenges to your relationships with other people.

 

It goes without saying, therefore, that anyone keen on getting rid of this disorder should be equipped with the proper mindset, motivation, and attitude needed to keep it from wreaking further havoc into his life.

 

 

My thoughts:

 

This book, a self-published short guide written by someone from the United States, was free for a limited time on Kindle, so I downloaded it then because I'm interested in this subject (because of my own problems). I just finished reading Carien Karsten and Klazien Laansma - Shoppen!: De Lust, Het Lijden en de Lol and I had agreed with myself that if I felt like it, it might be good to read this book (Overcoming Your Shopping Addiction) after it, so that I could compare the two more easily and get more knowledge on the subject.

 

This book is only 25 pages according to Amazon and that seems about right. The book offers some nice tips on how to deal with shopping addiction. I liked the writing style but I was the book contained more details and had been longer. It seemed a bit too brief. Howver it does contain some nice information, also a bit about online shoppin. Some of the information is different than in Shoppen!, such as some of the reasons this book gives for shopping, that were not in Shoppen! but also vice versa, things mentioned in Shoppen! were not mentioned here.

 

For the price of free I can't really complain much personally, about the length of the book. Overall I nejoyed reading the book but because it was brief I would reocmmend to people wanting to read a lot about this subject or who need a lot of help and tips, to read more than just this book. I liked though that there wasn't a focus on particular items (like in Shoppen! there was a bit of a focus on clothes shopping) and that online shopping was mentioned several times. The book contains some nice tips, but I wish it had had more detail and was longer.

 

Rating: (***) (6/10)

[BSchultz19]

Thank you for the list Athena, I will probably start with ones that you gave a 10 even if they are more contemporary because that must mean they were pretty good

[Athena]

Thank you for the list Athena, I will probably start with ones that you gave a 10 even if they are more contemporary because that must mean they were pretty good

You're welcome . I hope you enjoy them!

 

I downloaded two free Kindle ebooks:

 

Jennifer O'Neill - The Pursuit of Happiness: 21 Spiritual Rules to Success

S. M. Reine - The Descent Series 1-3: Death's Hand, The Darkest Gate, and Dark Union

 

And I'll be posting a review now.

[Athena]

Carien Karsten and Gerard Smit (with Sigmund, Peter de Wit) - Antistress in 366 Dagen

 

 

Genre: Information

Age-range: Adult

Format: Hardback (ex-library copy)

Pages: 384

Date read: 16-04-2015 <-> 18-04-2015

ISBN: 9789038913575

Synopsis (me): A book containing tips and information about stress, with 366 'days' sections.

 

My thoughts:

 

I bought this book in a library sale, it seemed like an interesting and nice book, about a subject I'm interested in. A few days ago I read another book by one of the authors, called Carien Karsten and Klazien Laansma - Shoppen!: De Lust, het Lijden en de Lol, and enjoyed that one, so it seemed nice to read this one shortly after (somehow I'm in a Dutch non-fiction / information / self-help kind of mood).

 

This book contains 52 chapters, with 7 sections each, one for each day in the week. The last chapter contains an 8th section, to make it a total of 366 days for a leap year. The book is not really meant to be read in a few days like I did, according to the authors, but I enjoyed reading it that way so .

 

There was a bit of a focus on working. A lot of sections dealed with various things related to stress and working (in an office), These sections were usually nice to read, though of course on occasion not useful for me as I don't have some of the problems described. There were also chapters on stress in 'personal / private' situations (I am not sure of the correct translation of the Dutch word) and stress in general. One chapter dealt with shopping and stress and shopping addiction, which I had just read about in Shoppen!, both books by the author published in 2003. Sometimes rules and laws were mentioned regarding work situations. With the book published in 2003 I don't know if all of them still ar ethe same today, most likely some things might have changed.

 

I really liked reading about the experiences of the other people interviewed for the book (well, rather people could submit comments on one of the author's website). They were usually very interesting to read. I liked the writing style and thought the book contained some interesting ideas. A lot of things of course I have read about in other books, most likely newer books. I've made some notes of some things I might want to try out or such.

 

Sometimes the text in the book is accompanied by comics or illustrations of Sigmund or other characters, by Peter de Wit. I've read three Sigmund books before and I liked those. There were a few comics I recognised from those books, the others were new to me. Usually the comics were funny and the other illustrations (of dog like characters) were nice too.

 

Overall then I enjoyed reading this book (even if it wasn't meant to be read in a few days like I did). I found most sections interesting and I liked the people's commments and the authors' reactions to them. I would hav eliked less focus on work situations but that's only because it's less relatable to me personally.

 

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

[Little Pixie]

Congrats on making all those changes as regards your shopping - well done ! 

[Athena]

Congrats on making all those changes as regards your shopping - well done ! 

Thanks, Sarah !