...in pictures

 This week's topic will be:

  Brunch

Please link you post to mine in time. 

Submission period is between the 6th and the 13th of May

(11:59 pm CET). 

...in music

I usually talk about books on the blog but today I want to talk about something different for a change. 

Music!

Music is something that was always present in my family. My dad plays guitar and mandolin and whenever he's at home (and not working) music is floating through the apartment.

I have many memories of holidays I connect with certain CDs, like one trip to Tuscany and the Greatest Hits album by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones or a trip my mum and I took to Tyrol with Bryan Adams' So far So good where we had the car windows down, the music as loud as possible and we were both singing at the top of our lungs – it was so much fun!

My taste in music is pretty broad because I grew up with Jazz, Blues, The Beatles, Eros Ramazotti, Billy Joel, etc. and I was part of the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls generation. I'm sure you're wondering where this is going, right?

On Wednesday there was something called Pop around the Clock on a German TV channel where they showed 24 hours of different concerts from Queen to Take That and from Paul McCartney to Robbie Williams. I am a huge Robbie Williams fan! 

In 2000 when Sing when you're Winning was released my mum got me concert tickets for my birthday and it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. He is a wonderful entertainer and I love his songs, they always accompanied me from 2000 on. I was too young for the whole Take That hysteria but when Robbie started his solo career I was hooked.

Since then I purchased every album but never again been to one of his concerts. In 2004 he was in Vienna again and I really wanted to go but I was away with my youth group during this week and I would have needed to leave a day earlier and I just couldn't do that to my kids. This year he's coming again with his Take the Crown album but I saw it too late and there were no tickets available and they were so expensive too.

But yesterday evening during Pop around the Clock there were 90 minutes of Robbie Williams' Take the Crown tour live from London's O2 arena and it felt like being at the concert. He still is a wonderful entertainer, enjoyed being on stage again and I rediscovered me love for his songs and that I still know all the lyrics by heart.  

Robbie Williams is on my music auto-buy list and I will definitely buy every album he ever produces and still be singing his songs many years from now.

Especially if he continues writing lyrics like: 

I'm not scared of dying, I just don't want to. If I stop lying, I'll just disappoint you.

- Come Undone (from the album Escapology)

Do you have a musician/band on auto-buy?

Who's your favorite?

Do you have any recommendations?

...in books

Review

Spin the Bottle

by Monica McInerney

First sentences:

“Stop the music please!” Lainey Byrne shouted, waving her arms as though she was fighting off a swarm of bees.

Summary:

Lainey Byrne is a master at controlled chaos, juggling her hectic, demanding job, her chef boyfriend with his crazy hours, and her roiling family with all its daily dramas. But her life truly threatens to spin out of control when her aunt May, who owns a B&B in Ireland, passes away. In order for the Byrnes to collect their inheritance, someone from the family must take over Aunt May's business for a year. And apparently that someone is Lainey.
Between running a run-down, virtually guest-free B&B (without the slightest ability to cook or clean), worrying about her family from afar, adjusting to country life, and dealing with the complications of long-distance love, Lainey is in way over her head. But when a reunion with a (gorgeous) childhood friend sparks unexpected complications, Lainey realizes that fate may have another path for her-a direction she never imagined.

source: Goodreads

My opinion:

I love Monica’s books so much! When I am in a reading slump or do not know which book to read next I will always gravitate towards one of hers because on the one hand they always make me feel good about myself and on the other they force me to think about them after I finished them. Spin the Bottle was her 3^rd book.

Okay, I’ll try my best not to write a complete fan-girly review of this book but it would deserve one.

Lainey, a born Irish girl who grew up in Melbourne, Australia, is forced by her late aunt’s will to come back to her hometown to run the family’s B&B for a year before it can be sold. Having a father who previously had an accident that changed him completely, a boyfriend whom she rarely sees, three brothers who won’t be able to go to Ireland, Lainey has to deal with running a B&B, sorting out her aunt’s will and handling a pretty bad consciousness too.

Lainey is a wonderful character. She is organized, deals with everything from family drama to weird costumer wishes, signals her boyfriend if she’s awake by a pot plant by her front door and she’s bossy. Yes, that doesn’t always make her a lovely person but a real one. She tries so hard to keep everything up and running but even she fails sometimes. When imposed to go to Ireland by her aunt’s will, she is also forced to slow down, face her fears and has to come up with a new concept for an old B&B.

Eva, Lainey’s best friend, who lives in Dublin (not far away from her), is the best friend a girl could wish for. She’s always there for Lainey, lends a helping hand and tries, with a great deal of tact, to bring Lainey back on the right tracks.

The last character I must mention is Hugh, Lainey’s youngest brother and absolutely adorable. He’s such a sweetheart and tries to support Lainey in every decision she has to make and every difficulty she has to face during her time in Ireland. After Lainey herself Hugh was my favourite character.

The story itself is a wonderful fix of travel-/building your life up from scratch-kind of story with the occasional dust of love and a lot of friendship added into the mixture.

If you are looking for a feel-good novel with lovely characters, a wonderful story with depth that leaves you thinking, than try Spin the Bottle. It’s really good!

For more information about Monica McInerney read the interview I did with her, visit her Homepage and her Facebook or Twitter page.

My Life...

Monthly Rewind

April

My Pic of April

If you read my blog regularly, I'm sure that you know this little guy by now. He is the baby boy of a good friend of mine and this semester she and her boyfriend had lectures at the same time so I get to spend some time every Tuesday with him. We usually go to a playground and each week I am amazed how much more he is capable of doing. Since the beginning of March he started walking (on my hand and by himself), got interested in the slide and the swing and his mum bought some a bucket, a shovel and some molds to play in the sand. So now I am so tired and full of sand but super happy every Tuesday.

April in One Word

Spring

In April spring finally arrived in Austria. We had a lot of sunny and warm days and somehow the spring season was really short this year. Last week we had temperatures over 25° Celsius so it was, at least temperaturewise, a summer day. It was such a beautiful month that I spent a lot of time outside, walking the dog, soacking up all the sunshine I could get and finally stop freezing (as I did basically all of winter).

5 Things that Happened in April

1. At the beginning of April we had a Sunday lunch with some of my friends which was really nice and relaxing. 
2. The Puppini Sisters were in Vienna and I saw them at their concert. Those three girls are so talented. 
3. We had an Easter Brunch at my aunt's on Easter Monday (April the 1st).
4. I spent some time at my old school watching my old French and Maths teacher. I had to write a paper about teaching methods for one of my seminars. 
5. In April we had the 30th City Marathon in Vienna and the 33rd City Marathon in London. I watched both and the one in London really reawakened my desire to go to London soon (4 months and counting).  

5 Songs that Were Popular on My I-Pod

It's Time by the Imagine Dragons covered by Luke Conard and Ingrid Nielsen

 

Just Give Me a Reason by Pink fet. Nate Ruess covered by Tyler Ward

I Do by Colbie Cailatt

Millionaire by The Puppini Sisters

 

Once Again by Corey Gray

Book I Read this Month

April was a major reading month:

• Janet Evanovich - To the Nines
• Carole Matthews - The Chocolate Lovers' Club
• Christine Nöstlinger - Gretchen Sackmeier (German book) 
• Christine Nöstlinger - Gretchen hat Hänschen-Kummer (German book) 
• Christine Nöstlinger - Gretchen, mein Mädchen (German book)   
• Monica McInerey - Sweet Charity
• Trenton Lee Stewart - The Mysterious Benedict Society
• H.P. Mallory - To Kill a Warlock 
• Richelle Mead - Frostbite
• Gwendolyn Heasley - Where I Belong 
• Jenn McKinlay - Buttercream Bump Off 
• Stephanie Perkins - Lola and the Boy Next Door 

 12 books

  3082 pages

a TV series I liked this month

This month Hart of Dixie finally started in Austria. I watched the first season of this series at the end of last year and fell in love with it so I was really interested how the actors sound in German. Let me tell you: I was dissapointed. The voices of the actors and the translations were not alike at all (which is okay) but what I really like about Hart of Dixie is this wonderful Southern drawl and this is not present in the German version. So I started watching it again in English and I still like it a lot! If you never watched it and like this Southern US mentality and watching a New Yorker establish herself in a small southern town in Alabama then check it out.

5 Random Things I (Re-)Discovered/Liked this Month

1. I discovered that there is a difference between true friends and acquaintance. It was hard to realize this but it made me think about priorities and about which of my friends are truely important to me. 
2. I needed a new computer, found one at the end of April and am in love with it. 
3. With spring arriving I rediscovered my love for unsweetened iced-tea. I am not a huge tea drinker during the winter months but in spring and summer I love it.
4. I always knew that I had an amazing family but during April I just it was truely amazing. I know that I don't say it enough but I have the best parents in the whole wide world!
5. I rediscovered my need for sunshine. During this long winter I felt drained and my energy level was on a constant low. Since the beginning of this months and those warm and sunny days I feel like my old self again.

Things I'm Looking Forward to in May

May will be a month of studying and taking exams so there are not so many things to look forward to but I found some: 

• From the 13th to the 19th of May it's time for the Bout of Books Readathon!
• In May we have some holidays in Austria. One is today (May 1st) and then there are two more holidays at the end of May. 
• Some great books I am really looking forward to will be published during the month of May. 
• I will, hopefully, enjoy a nice brunch with friends next weekend and one with my family too.

Felix in April

It is not important how warm or cold it is, if there is water then Felix dives straight into it. In April it finally got warm enough so he could be found in every small pond or stream taking a bath and enjoying it tremendously as you can see on the photo above.

...in books

I love participating in Top Ten Tuesday each week because I am a total list junkie and discovered so many great books through this meme. It was the first one I found and started participating in when I started blogging at My Life... about 18 months ago and today I feel honoured that a topic I came up with is the weekly question. 

 

I posted this one on November the 6th 2012 during a freebie week and when I got a comment from Jamie asking me if she could use my topic as a future TTT idea I agreed (of course! who wouldn't?) and did a little happy dance.

 

What I didn't think of was that I wouldn't be able to post a TTT that week. After going over my original post, I came to the conclusion that nothing has changed over the last 5 months but decided to post my original post again for all of you to read. I am so curious what your 

Top Ten words/topics that instantly make you buy a book are. 

Can't wait to browse all the posts. 

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish. 

This week is a freebie week which means we can make up our own TTT topic. I thought about it for quite a while now and the idea hit me this morning. I am one of those readers who automatically buys books that have specific words in the blurb or address specific topics. Those words appeal to me and instantly makes me want to read or at least buy it. 

So my Top Ten list will be:

My Top Ten words/topics that instantly make me buy a book 

1. Shakespeare - for some reasons I am obsessed with the bard. Not that I have read every play or sonnett he wrote, neither have I visited Stratford upon Avon or went to every of his plays. I just love having books dealing with Shakespeare, his life, the Elizabethan area and I don't care if the are fiction or non-fiction. So I own biographies (three, I think), retellings of his works, a paranormal novel dealing with him as a vampire hunter (I think) - I don't care what this book is about as long as it deals with Shakespeare.  
2. Italy or to be more specific Tuscany - as I am living in Europe I spent many holidays as a kid and teenager in Tuscany, a beautiful part of Italy, walking the streets of Florence, eating ice cream in Siena, sitting at the beach in Viareggio, ... Tuscany always felt like a magical place. The landscape, the people, the architecture, the language, etc. So when a book is set in Tuscany I have to have it! 
3. London - I am in love with this city! I would move there instantly if someone would garantie that I would have all the money I need to rent a good place to live because London is so terribly expensive. This city feels like home! When a book is settled there I buy it - doesn't matter what it is about. I usually read blurbs and when I only spot "London" I don't bother reading on I just buy it. This way many books found their way into my house that I love like crazy and I discovered authors I might not have found otherwise. 
4. I will buy a book when it deals with teachers, teaching, school. I always wanted to become a teacher and I am studying to become one soon. This love for books dealing with teachers and schools developed more recently (over the last 4 years) and I discovered some great books through it. 
5. Cooking - I own quite a collection of cookbooks and books about cooking but I am a sucker for books telling the story of someone who wants to cook, learns to cook, owns a restaurant, bar, coffeeshop, etc.
6. Books - do I need to say more? Books about books - amazing!
7. Bookstores - yes, I consider this topic different from the books about books-topic. I love reading about people owning bookstores, working in them, etc. I think that this is my own little dream; owing a small bookstore with a café attached. :)
8. Terry Pratchett's Discworld - I love his style of writing and I am building my Discworld novel collection one book at the time. This series contain books dealing with the witches, the Night Watch in Ankh-Morpork, the wizards at Unseen University, DEATH (capital letters are a must here). I like them all but my favorites are those books dealing with the witches because nobody is as entertaining as Nanny Ogg singing the Hedgehog song and Granny Weatherwax complaining about it. 
9. Road trips - reading about road trips is almost as good as being on them yourself. I love learing about new places through books and reading about places you know and visited through a character's eye is something really special. 
10. Characters with special "powers" - paranormal books are so "in" right now and I love reading them but I gravitate towards books dealing with witches. I don't know why but the concept of witchcraft and magic is something that really fascinates me. 

So those were my top ten things I love to read about in a book. 

 

I would love to know yours, so leave them in the comments.

...in books

Is your TBR-pile higher than Mount Everest? 

Do you have so many unread books that you already feel guilty?

Do you want to spend a week discovering new blogs, talking to like-minded and enjoying as much time as possible with your books (reading them of course)? 

Then join the Bout of Books Readathon!

 

You don't know what the Bout of Books Readathon is? 

I can help you:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

I already cleared my schedule from all the "unnecessary" things like work and meeting friends and am looking forward to splitting my time during this week between studying (which unfortunately I couldn't get rid off) and reading- and tweeting-time with all my fellow bout of books readathon reader friends (what a wonderful word).

Bout of Books is always a wonderful experience and it feels so good dedicating a week to all some of the books you always wanted to read or go on a series binge read. I hope you'll join the fun and for more information visit the Bout of Books blog.

...in pictures

 This week's topic will be:

  Tree / Baum

Please link you post to mine in time. 

Submission period is between the 29th of April and the 6th of May

(11:59 pm CET).