The commander went, as they say in Ankh-Morpork, totally Librarian on them.

Sir Terry Pratchett

1948 - 2015

If you are following my blog for a while now, you might have noticed my love for Terry Pratchett and his Discworld novels. I talked about it here and here and lots of other times too.

On March 12th one of my favorite authors closed his eyes forever and joined DEATH in his domain. We all knew that he was sick and that this day would come sooner rather than later but it still hit me pretty hard when I heard the news. He was the mastermind behind all 40 books in the famous Discworld series (the 41st book which he finished before he died will be published this fall) and many other great books, including Good Omens which he wrote with Neil Gaiman. I own all 40 Discworld novels and I read at least 30 of them - many twice or three times already. I also own my favorite ones mulitple times. I own 4 copies of Wyrd Sisters because the first one I got as a gift and read it so many times that it is almost falling apart, so I had to buy a second copy and I also have the beautiful cloth-bound edition and recently I found it in a bookstore for under 4 Euros and it looked so sad that I had to take it home (great argument, right?).

Terry Pratchett showed me the way into the fantasy genre, created some of my favorite characters ever, made me laugh, made me cry and made me think about life and the things we do without appreciating them. His books are loved by me, my mum, good friends and even my cousin who does not read (and I still love him - Go me!) listens to his books as audio-books and adores them.

a small part of my Terry Pratchett books

His books will always have a special place in my heart and on my bookshelf and since his death I often sat at my bed and stared at my collection of Terry Pratchett books and thought about nothing particular. I know that he will be missed by many readers but I'm glad that he will live on in his great books.

I really hope that DEATH let you ride Binky over to the other side Sir Terry!

"The commander went, as they say in Ankh-Morpork, totally Librarian on them." 

Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam

Change...

 

Wow, you can really forget how to write a blog post after some time...so please excuse any weird rambly bits. As a regular reader of my blog you might have noticed a slight decrease in posts over the last months. I needed a break. A break to think about things, to figure out if I was missing blogging, to realize that I do but that I needed to change my blog because I changed.

Over the last 18 months a big part of my life changed. I encountered some health issues in February 2013 and it took the doctors almost a year to figure out what it was and how to treat it which really wore me down. I became a recluse, which I had never been, and after being on the right medication, I had to start building up my confidence again. I needed to realize that I was able to do all the things I did before and that is still a work in progress. I am still not 100% the old me and I will never again be the old me.

I always was a bit (or a lot, to be completely honest) chubby but I always had a big group of friends and never felt left out or even bullied because of my weight. I know how incredibly lucky I am but still I didn't feel comfortable. I wanted to be able to chase my friend's baby boy around the playground for more than a few minutes and I wanted to feel good about myself. So one day without any intention I stopped eating too much and started to loose weight. It really just happened. The well known switch in my brain just turned.

So all of these personal changes forced me into thinking about my blog as well. I never intended it to become solely a book blog. I always had a wide variety of interests which I wanted to share here but the bookish community is so lovely and welcoming that I immediately felt at home and focused on all things bookish. I don't want to stop book blogging - don't get me wrong, it still is my biggest hobby and the one thing none of my friends is really getting - I just want to incorporate my other interests as well. I love photography, cooking, traveling, going on adventures, exploring new and old places and I want to start sharing bigger parts of my life with you guys. I want to be able to talk to you about my ideas, my worries, my small steps into fitness (maybe, hopefully) and other things that are on my mind. I will, of course, keep talking about books, authors, the pure joy of reading but in the future you will also find other things on here and I can happily say:  

"I changed, so my blog did too!" 

Which brings me to my new layout - what do you guys think about it? Do you like it? The header is one of my photographs taken in Western Australia in July 2011. I just love the colors, the remoteness, these wide open spaces.

I am really glad to be back and getting into the swing of things again. It also felt amazing telling you what has been going on in my life and what has brought these changes. I hope you're all doing well and I cannot wait to start writing blog posts regularly again. I have so many ideas that I want to tell you about, things to try and things to change, so I'm really glad that next week (March 23rd till March 29th) will be Spring Bloggiesta (for more information click here). I am already working on my to do list.

All the books I received for my birthday

Showcase Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea.

It is a possibility for us to show what amazing books we got during the week.
 

Since it was my birthday last Sunday, I got some books to show you all. 

My parents got me

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
 

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Head Over Heel by Chris Harrison

My good friend Kat got me some Amazon vouchers for my birthday and Christmas 2014, so I went on a little shopping spree and some of the goodies already arrived. 

The Chocolate Castle Clue by JoAnna Carl
 

The Chocolate Moose Motive by JoAnna Carl
 

The Skeleton Takes A Bow by Leigh Perry 

I am still waiting for four other books I ordered but I'll show them as soon as they arrive. 

I also got two books for myself since I wasn't allowed to buy them before my birthday and I needed them.

Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Happy Birthday!

Today is my 29th birthday! 

I have an amazing family - my mum is my best friend and my dad is the best! They are always there for me and have my back. I know I can always count on them and knowing that I can even make mistakes (sometimes big ones) and they will always love me unconditionally makes me want to cry out of gratitude every time (even now while writing these lines). I have the best parents in the whole world and I couldn'T be happier to have them as my role-models.

My friends are great. I will see some of them - aka my oldest - tonight for the annual Superbowl Party that collides with my birthday celebrations this year. Some of them are amazing and I can always count on them, some of them are funny and brilliant for goofing around with and one is just my best friend.

I am also extremely thankful for all my online friends from around the world - Kat, Ellice, Judith, Daisy, Lisa, Celine,Vicky and all you other booklovers out there who make me laugh or push books on me.

I love you all!

Wow, this became emotional....so once again Happy Birthday To Me and I am embracing the last year of my twenties - may it be the best I could wish for!

On a grey day in the ancient city of Prague ...

Review

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

by Laini Taylor

First sentence: 

Walking to school over the snow-muffled cobbles, Karou had no sinister premonition about the day.  

Summary: 

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

source: Goodreads 

My opinion:

Since this book came out in 2011 everybody raved about it. I had it on my shelf for quite a while now and I was so glad when we picked it as our book club book for April since I was planning on reading it in April anyway because of my trip to Prague – the city where Karou lives. I thought it would be a great idea to read the book while being there.

I started reading it on the bus journey from Vienna to Prague and was hook from the first sentence. Laini Taylor’s way of writing immediately appealed to me and I fell in love head over heels. I like reading fantasy novels but mixing in a city I like and know well made the book even more interesting. I liked how through Laini’s writing the whole story started playing in my head like a movie.

Karou is also a kick-ass heroine. She lives a weird life in comparison to ours and her shifting between the earth as we know it and Elsewhere adds another dimension to the story (no pun intended). She, who doesn’t know where she really belongs and where she’s originally from, has a family of, let’s call them monsters and loves them unconditionally. They took care of her while she was growing up and became her family even though they kept huge secrets from her – as she later discovers.

The different characters in the book are all special in their own way. Karou as the girl jumping between worlds, Zuzana, Karou’s best friend who is her family in Prague and who stays at her side no matter what, Akiva, who might be Karou’s destiny and all the different monsters living in Brimstone’s shop. I loved them all and would really enjoy seeing how Laini Taylor imagined them and how it differs from the way I think they look like.

All in all I can only recommend you reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone because it not only is a beautifully writing story with a fantastic world and amazing characters but the story also takes some unexpected twists and turns that could lead to you forgetting time and place. Yes, I managed to miss my stop not once but twice and I also arrived almost 45 minutes late for work while reading this book and if that doesn’t convince you that taking a trip into Laini Taylor’s well developed world of Prague and Elsewhere I don’t know what could.

For more information about Laini Taylor visit her Homepage or Twitter page.

My Top Ten Books I already own and really want to read in 2015!

 

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

This week is Freebie-Week for Top Ten Tuesday!

Since I am currently tying to give the books I own a fair chance to get read, 

I decided to tell you
My Top Ten Books I already own and really want to read in 2015!

Timeless by Gail Carriger
which I want to read before Prudence comes out this March

Waistcoats & Weaponry also by Gail Carriger
which I want to read before Manners & Mutiny is published in November 2015

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich
because I need my regular Stephanie Plum fix

A Skeleton in the Family by Leigh Perry
I received this one as a Christmas gift and am soooo interested in it

Seeing Other People by Mike Gayle
which I was so excited to find before its publication date but still haven't read it

The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross

the final books in Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor series

the final books in Shannon Stacey's Kowalski Family series

Demonglass by Rachel Harris
because I've had it for ages and really want to know how the story continues

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
because I've also had it for years and I've enjoyed book 1 and 2

How my TBR pile will accompany me through 2015

 According to Plato my house has a soul but recently I felt a bit overwhelmed by all my unread books!

I have a lot of unread books - a LOT! I'm not talking about 50 to 80 but more like 200. I either bought them or got them as a gift and I am rather ruthless in sorting through them on a regular basis and donating books I'm no longer interested in or have read and don't feel the need to keep. So currently there are many unread books on my shelves, I would love to read and am interested in. So I decided to make 2015 - as so many others do too - my year of diminishing my TBR pile. I want to give the books I own a fair chance. I also am in the middle of many series and wanted to finish some. I'm not saying, I won't be buying books this year - hell, no! - I just want to be sure I need this book before buying it. I'm not setting myself a goal like read them all by 2016 (way too unrealistic) or diminish it by half (I don't even know howmany unread books I own - so not the best idea). I just want to read what I own.

For the last 2 weeks, I started quite some books and put them back because they didn't feel right. Some might call it a reading slump. Maybe it was but I embraced it. I watched a lot of movies on Netflix or DVD, watched some YouTube videos and during January I'm usually pretty busy with university - taking exams or studying like a crazy person.

Yesterday I picked up the first book in a cozy mystery series which I love but haven't finished. I started and finished it in just over two hours and enjoyed every second. I found my reading mojo due to an old favorite and this time I decided to keep up with this series. Let's see how this goes.

So thanks to JoAnna Carl's The Chocolate Cat Caper for helping find my reading mojo again!