It is a
possibility for us to show what amazing books we got during the week.
I had a great week - book-wise!
I have a good friend who reads almost as much as I do and each year we hit the bookshops after my birthday and buy each other books. This year we took time to finally hit the shops but this week we finally took some time to go get some coffee and browse the bookshelves. These books went home wih me:
A German author who already wrote two books set in Rome and he and his family now moved to Paris for his job. I am really looking forward to reading this because I like Stefan Ulrich's writing and his books are always hilarious.
For quite a while now I'm looking at this book each thime I'm at a bookstore. I'm still not sure how easy it will be to read but it just looks amazing and it also smells like an old book (which is important to the story) and I couldn't pass it up this time.
Hurray! My bookstore finally had it! Now I just have to read book three to six in the Mortal Instruments series and boy, this one is a monster - page-wise.
Once a century, one person is chosen
for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.
But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done
anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome
and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the
chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark
magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be
his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked
at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at
stake.
Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is
fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die
young.
Most of the chosen do.
The Girl of
Fire and Thorns was recommended to me by my good friend Daisy from Between the
Pages. She raved about this book and since we have quite similar taste in books
and after Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Judith from Paper Riot decided to
start a readalong for the series, I decided to pick it up and start reading.
I know that
this series is beloved by many but I had some difficulties with the first book.
It started really slow and unfortunately it did not really pick up – pace wise.
Since it is set in an imaginary world there was a lot of world building in this
first book and many descriptions of the land and cities. What I loved and what
appealed to the Geography teacher in me was the lovely map at the beginning of
the book. I am a sucker for these kind of features in books.
I also
really liked some of the characters. At the beginning it was hard to
distinguish between the many different and unfamiliar sounding names but after
about 60 pages you had all the main characters in your head and it went more
smoothly. What made reading a bit hard for me was that I couldn’t relate or
really liked any of the characters in the book. Elisa felt like the spoilt
princess who was always complaining while others had to take care of her. To be
honest, I couldn’t stand her at the beginning of the book. What also irritated
me was that she was always telling the reader how chubby she was. Yes, this is
kind of relevant later in the story but still….
The minute
she isn’t in Joya d'Arena anymore the story picked up a bit. It still wasn’t a fast
paced book but we start to discover some of the things Elisa was wondering
about all her life and the pacing of the story felt faster due to that.
In the end I thought the story was good and the whole world Rae Carson
built was incredible but unfortunately I had some difficulties with it. I am
still not sure how long it will take me to pick up the second book but I am
pretty sure I will do in the future.
My good friend Judith got married at the end of April and this bouquet was the centerpiece of the table and was a smaller version of her wedding bouquet. I got one as a gift on the day after the wedding and it surived over a week at home. Whenever the rain got to me during May I looked at this picture and it instantly made me feel better.
May in One
Word Finally
I spent some days in Amsterdam at the beginning of May and finally metsomemy favorite bookish people. After waiting for over a year since my last failed attempt to travel to the Netherlands I made it this time and had some great days there and it was so much fun meeting Kat, Judith, Lisa, Daisy and Celine in person. I really hope we'll see each other again soon.
5 Things that Happened in May
A good friend of mine got married on the 31st and had a lovely wedding ceremony. I spent the afternoon with my friends - talking, laughing and enjoying each other's company. Once again I discovered how lucky I am to have friends like that.
The adorable baby boy I'm looking after every second week finally managed to say my name, according to his mum. I'll check on Tuesday when we will all visit the zoo together.
It rained a lot!
I finally got my reading mojo back. I spent more time reading and picked up some good books this month. So glad to be "back on track".
My internet was pretty slow during May - damn you, internet providor, so I had more time to read, take my dog on walks and watch some movies.
3 Songs that
Were Popular on My I-Pod
The Common Linnets - Calm after the storm
Song Contest Entry from the Netherlands
This version from Blame it on the Boogie
sung by contestants from The Voice of Germany
A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera - Say Something
Book I Read this Month
Jill Shalvis - It Had To Be You
Kristin Rae -Wish You Were Italian
Hera Lind - Das Superweib (German book)
Cassandra Clare - City of Ashes
Chris Ewan - The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam
Sarah Dessen - The Truth About Forever
Katie Cotugno - How to Love
7 books 2548 pages
a TV series I
liked this month
Alex and Claudia
Mein Leben und ich is a German TV-series and the title can be translated into My Life and I.
It's bascially the only German comedy series I really like and it's about Alex, who's 15 or 16 at the beginning of the series and who is almost unbearbaly sarcastic. She lives in Cologne with her hippie parents and her younger brother and is happy being an outsider until a new girl, Claudia, moves to the city and decides to befriend her. From this moment on Alex's life is turned upside down.
3 Random Things I (Re-)Discovered/Liked this Month
Me and my fellow book club members should try to find an older book to read for June because all the newer hyped up books are difficult for at least one of us.
The annual Twitter song contest bashing is a lot of fun but when Austria is winning the only thing that came to my mind was how much this will cost us. I'm still a bit shocked that we actually won.
Colorful pens and markers are my best friends during exam season.
Things I'm
Looking Forward to in June
A massive family birthday party - my mum, one of my aunts, both my unclesand my older cousin will celebrate their birthdays next weekend. Hopefullythe weather will be fine and we can spend some time sitting in my aunt's garden, enjoying the sunshine.
my exams - don't get me wrong....I'm not looking forward to taking them but to finally have summer holidays (at the end of June).
Planning my summer.
Sunshine and warm weather!
Three good friends of mine celebrate their 30th birthday between June 1st and July 7th. So I'm pretty sure there will be some parties.
It is a
possibility for us to show what amazing books we got during the week.
It was one of those weeks were you finally get a package full of books that you pre-ordered a while ago and forgot about completely. My package included:
