Friday, June 27, 2014

...in books



Review
Unseen Academicals
by Terry Pratchett

First sentences:
It was midnight in Ankh-Morpork’s Royal Art Museum.

Summary:
The wizards at Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University are renowned for many things: wisdom, magic, and their love of teatime but athletics is most assuredly not on the list. And so when Lord Ventinari, the city's benevolent tyrant, strongly suggests to Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully that the university revive an erstwhile tradition and once again put forth a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff, the wizards of UU find themselves in a quandary. To begin with, they have to figure out just what it is that makes this sport – soccer with a bit of rugby thrown in – so popular with Ankh-Morporkians of all ages and social strata. Then they have to learn how to play it. Oh, and on top of that, they must win a football match without using magic.
Meanwhile, Trev (a handsome street urchin and a right good kicker) falls hard for kitchen maid Juliet (beautiful, dim, and perhaps the greatest fashion model there ever was), and Juliet's best pal, UU night cook Glenda (homely, sensible, and a baker of jolly good pies) befriends the mysterious Mr. Nutt (about whom no one knows very much, including Mr. Nutt, which is worrisome . . .). As the big match approaches, these four lives are entangled and changed forever. Because the thing about football – the most important thing about football – is that it is never just about football.
source: Goodreads

My opinion:
The wizards of Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork are forced by their patrician Lord Ventinari to for a team to compete in a game of football – a sport for poor people. Will the wizards find time in their busy days – eating many meals a day and taking naps takes a lot of time – to form a team, train and win a game?

Unseen Academicals is another masterpiece in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and starring in it are the wizards and the staff of UU in Ankh-Morpork. Since the town is inhabited by all kinds of “people” the diversity of characters is amazing. We come across wizards, trolls, dwarfs (rather stylish one, I have to say) and Mr. Nutt. Mr. Nutt is new at Unseen University and it is not sure what he is and why he’s in the city. The only known fact is that he works hard as a candle dribbler at UU and that he tries really to please people to gain worth.

Once again Terry Pratchett wrote a fabulous novel set in a magical and fantastical world and I cannot recommend his Discworld series enough. You don’t have to start from Book One (The Color of Magic). Just start with the one that appeals to you most. The variety of characters and their own little (or huge) quirks makes each book a perfect introduction into the Discworld and if you like reading fantasy novels and haven’t read one of these – go get one!

Unseen Academicals is the 37th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett (for a full list of title click here).

For more information about Terry Pratchett visit his Homepage, Facebook and Twitter page.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

...in books

Showcase Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea which was inspired by In My Mailbox from Kristie at The Story Siren.
It is a possibility for us to show what amazing books we got during the week.
This week I bought the latest two books in my favorite series ever:

both by Janet Evanovich

and the lovely Celine sent me 
Splintered by A.G. Howard 
all the way from the Netherlands
Thank you so much!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

My Life...

If you follow me on Instagram (which you can do here) you might have seen that I'm currently in the middle of studying for my exams that are coming up next week. I'm trying really hard not to let it have any consequences for the blog but I am not 100% sure if I can keep this promise.

My day is usually spent studying and seeing lots of neon colors - thanks to the markers I use constantly :) 
I just wanted to let you all know what's going on if there are some quieter days till the beginning of July but tomorrow you can come back for this week's Showcase Sunday. I got some goodies this week.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

...in books



Review
The Land of Stories
The Enchantress Returns
by Chris Colfer
 
First sentences:
The East was in a period of great celebration.

Summary:
After decades of hiding, the evil Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty is back with a vengeance.

Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress has kidnapped their mother! Against the will of their grandmother, the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from the greatest threat it's ever faced.
 
source: Goodreads

My opinion:
The Enchantress Returns is the second book in the Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer and starts not too long after the first book ended. The twins’ mother is kidnapped by the Enchantress and Alex and Connor need to find a way back into the Land of Stories to rescue her. Using their wit they soon arrive back and with the help of their friend they try to rescue their mother and help bring the Enchantress down to save the Land of Stories.

Once again we encounter many different and altered fairy tale characters and get to know a bit more about their background stories and why they became the way they are now. Alex and Connor are two really strong characters and try everything they can to save the different kingdoms in the Land of Stories but sometimes even clever kids are not enough to save a country.

The Enchantress Returns is a well written Middle Grade novel with lovely and quirky characters and a well-developed storyline. The novel is entertaining and the book itself is beautiful. There are illustrations at the beginning of each chapter and a map of the Land of Stories at the beginning and end of the book. It is a rather quick and entertaining read and a new way of looking at fairy tale characters.
 
The books in the Land of Stories series are:
  • The Wishing Spell (read my review here)
  • The Enchantress Returns
  • The Grimm Warning (expected publication: July 2014)

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

...in books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.
This week the girls want to know my 
Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR

The motto for my summer is:
Series
I have a lot of series on my shelf and I started a lot of them but haven't finished many. This summer I would like to change that and set myself a goal to conquer some of them. Let's hope that I'll make it!
 
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
 
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
 
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
aka the whole Most von Lipwick books in his Discworld series
 
 
 aka the two remaining books in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series
 
Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini 
 
Dreamless by Josephine Angelini
 
Goddess by Josephine Angelini
 aka the whole Starcrossed trilogy
 
Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
 
The Help by Katherine Stockett