drachenbraut's Reading Challenge 2012

Again hello to everyone,
I've introduced myself already in the welcome thread and my aim of this challenge is to get rid of some of my TBR books. I usually read across genres, with major interests in Fantasy, which has been my main focus for the past 3 years. I also discovered 2 years ago Paranormal Romances, which I usually read in batches especially when my brain cells need a bit chilling out, they are easy reads with cute plots and extremely entertaining. So far I have read 87 Books this year.

I hope to read to the end of the year another 30 books from my TBR pile in the genres of Contemporary, Alternate Reality, Classics/Modern Classics, 1001 Books, Historical Fiction and Non-Fiction.

My second 75 this year :)




1# The Book of Human Skin - Michelle Lovric Historical Fiction completed 26.06.
2# Money: A Suicide Note - Martin Amis - 1001 Books, Classics/Modern Classics
3# Naked Chocolate - David Wolfe - Non-Fiction
4# The Stranger - Albert Camus - 1001 Books, Classics/Modern Classics, reread
5# Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen - Lesley Hazleton - Non-Fiction
6# Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey - 1001 Books, Contemporary, reread
7# The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - Contemporary
8# Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami - 1001 Books, Contemporary
9# Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - Contemporary?, Alternate Reality?
10# The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry - Historical Fiction
11# Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi - Historical Fiction - Group Read for July completed 02.07.

So, these are my plans so far. Suggestions for further reading are welcome. Yak, I am not allowed to let my TBR pile shrink to much :)

Starred you - welcome to the group! :-)

So far I have read 87 Books this year
Okay, I know you say they don't count for this challenge, but basically you are already done and can be all relaxed about the remaining books.

I learned the cover posting from this useful thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/129158
But it's not really quick, I am always doing copy/paste from an older review and then substitute the address of the cover pic. I also needed many tries to get the size right.
There are some useful threads on the group site and the group wiki. You'll sure have fun here.

Welcome!

2# Hi, didn't realize what "starred" you means. Great Function. Starred you as well, so it's much easier to follow your thread. Thanks for the link. Have been practicing yesterday evening. Check my Reading Journal out. I noticed there are still a few things I can try out, which is going to be even more fun then before.

3# Thank you :) :) - Looking very much forward to be part of this group :)

Just dropping by to say hello. Looks like we read quite similar books - I have a 12 year old son who loves reading as well. I've starred your thread.

Hi Drachenbraut - I just went and found your German thread. Welcome to the group!

#5 Hallo SandDune, thanks for saying hello. Just, went on your profile and saw that you are only 30 miles from London. London has been my home for approximately 5 month a year, for the past 4 years and before that my permanent home for 12 year. My son was born in London and went to school there until he was nine. :) :) Nice to meet someone from an area I am familiar with.

6# Hi, Cushla. Thank you for the welcome and I dropped you a message in german - so you can practice. :)

Stopping in to welcome you to the the 75!

Michelle Lovric - The Book of Human Skin - 512 pages
Genre - Historical Fiction
Rating - 4/5

This was an excellent read and this book should definately not been left on the shelf to collect dust for that long.

Set in the late 18th early 19th Century it follows the life of Marcella Farsan who suffers under her brother Minguello Farsan deprivations, humiliations and torture. The story is beautifully woven with 5 different voices which added a perfect twist to the gruesome and at times even humorous build up of the story. The book is very discriptive and very well executed. Also in my opinion nothing for the faint hearted.
You will find my full review here

I must admit I cannot imagine reading Lovric's novel, but you've done a tremendous job describing and reviewing it.

Great review of The Book of Human Skin! I found it very difficult to put down when I read it. I also agree with your assessment that the different narrative voices added perfectly to the build up of the story.

Oh..... and before I forget, welcome to the group!

10# Hi Lucy, thank you for the correction :) Marked it. Even so that the book is quite gruesome in parts, Michelle Lovric also managed to integrate a very interesting amount of humor into all that misery. And a fact is the things she described so detailed at times were actually nothing unusually for that time in history.

11# Hello Ikernagh, thank you very much for the welcome :). Yes, I agree with you I found it very difficult to put it down at times as well. What did you think about the phonetic speech of Gianni? I think because I am not a native english speaker it took me some time to get a hang of it. Although I felt it was a very good choice to choose this kind of speech as it underlined the fact that there were vast differences in the way people used language.
Edited to add : I just read your review. Yes :) we understand each other and I saw that you had similiar difficulties with Gianni's speech to start off with. ***pfh*** I am glad I am not the only one.

Great review - I loved that book:)

Hi drachenbraut! Looks like we appreciate the same types of books. I'll keep an eye on your thread. :)

13# Calm thank you.

14# Hibernator. :) I think so as well. I actually bought already 3 I found on "your" list for my kindle and I starred you as well, because I like your reviews.

You got me on my first visit, 23. Not only do I have a copy of *Human Skin* headed my way, but I found a copy of The Floating Book at PBS and ordered that too. Michelle Lovric is not a name I'm familiar with, but I will be! You have also inspired me to put Embassytown nearer the top of Mt. Bookpile. I put it on my Kindle at about the same time as Kraken and then was more in the mood for the giant squid-thing. I'm always up for Language!
So, welcome to the 75, and know that you have another star out there.

> 12 - I didn't find Gianni's phonetic speech too much of a problem to adapt to but then I am a native English speaker and a fan of historical fiction and have encountered that style of writing in some other books, usually used to try and emphasize the limited linguistic range of a character.

Adding your last read to my wishlist - thanks for the great review!

16# Lizzie - Thank you for your welcome. I can very much recommend Embassytown, but as I said already it is not an action read.

17# Ikernagh - try and emphasize the limited linguistic range of a character. yes, that is what I actually ment but did not have the words for.

18# scafiea - Thank you :). If I look at my wishlist here at home ein only can say "LT bad place", my wishlist has already extended to almost 500 Books, and I am constantly adding new ones, because there are so many good reviews out here. I fear I do not have enough years in my life for all the books I still want to read.

Quoting from your review: The book starts with the words - "This is going to be a little uncomfortable".
What a great and promising first sentence! I fear I must read this book... Thumbed your review.

#19: I've already decided that I can't die until I've read all the books I want to, which will work out well for my longevity, I think... ;)

21#

Well, I only can say that's the best idea I heard in a while. I think I will follow your advice. :)

:)

Looking at all your lovely photos of your pets, I decided I have to show off with our one as well. As you all can see he is a German Shephard dog - His name is Ayke - he is a rescue dog which was given to us 2 years ago. When we got him he was a scared, skinny an very poorly boy - but with lots of love we made a trusting, loving, caring and above else a cuddely couch potato of him ***grin***

He's precious. :)

Oh, such a handsome guy Ayke is! I've always loved German Shephards, having had one as a kid. Thanks for sharing!

What a handsome fellow Ayke is! You can see how loved and how happy he is too.

Welcome to our well-read, friendly and chatty group.

I love the photo of your dog.

awww... a cuddly couch potatoe? He looks so happy and relaxed on the picture! You just want to touch one of those paws!

Great review of The Book of Human Skin! I'll look for it later this week.

25# + 26# Thank you to you two. He is indeed very handsome and very precious to us. :) My dad always had German Shephards and before Ayke we had no dogs for almost 2 years. We all suffered greatly when within five years all of our three dogs died - of old age - and we just felt we could not bury any anymore. Tja, and then they were knocking on our front door and were asking if we would consider taking another rescue dog. I remember when they came with him, my dad and I only looked at him and fell in love on first sight and my Mum was a bit hesitant, because he was not house trained - used to live outside - and just felt it would be to much work. Yes, it was a lot of work, but we don't regret it. :)

***Aargh*** As I am maintaining a Reading Journal in the German LT Group and set myself another goal for my reading in this group - I am getting all muddled up now -

So I just will carry over all my books and will try to complete my second 75 for this year. Here a list of my first 75 and the other books I have read so far :) ****large grin**** the first half of this year was paved with romances. :) Stucks and stucks of them.

#01 The Magician King - Lev Grossman - The Magicians 02 - Urban Fantasy
#02 The Bone Palace - Amanda Downum - The Necromancer Chronicles 02 - Fantasy
#03 Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs - Mercy Thompsen 04 - Urban Fantasy
#04 Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs - Mercy Thompsen 05 - Urban Fantasy
#05 On the Prowl - Patricia Briggs and others - Short Stories - Urban Fantasy
#06 Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel 09/Moirin 03 Alternate History/Romance
#07 Glimpses - Lynn Flewelling - Nightrunner Short Stories - Fantasy
#08 American Gods - Neil Gaiman - Urban Fantasy
#09 The Left Hand of God - Paul Hoffman - The Left Hand of God 01 - Fantasy
#10 The Last four Things - Paul Hoffman - The Left Hand of God 02 - Fantasy
#11 Heir to Sevenwaters - Juliet Marillier - Sevenwater Series 05 - Fantasy
#12 Seer of Sevenwaters - Juliet Marillier - Sevenwater Series 06 - Fantasy
#13 Archangel's Blade - Nalini Singh - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#14 Heart's Blood - Juliet Marillier - Fantasy
#15 Shalador's Lady - Anne Bishop - Black Jewels 08 - Fantasy/Romance
#16 Magician - Raymond E. Feist - Riftwar Saga 01 - Fantasy
#17 Eon: Dragoneye Reborn - Alison Goodman - Dragoneye 01 - Fantasy
#18 Silverthorn - Raymond E. Feist - Riftwar Saga 02 - Fantasy
#19 Darkness at Sethanon - Raymond E. Feist - Riftwar Saga 03 - Fantasy
#20 Bloodchild and other Stories - Octavia E. Butler - Short Stories - Science Fiction
#21 Fledgling - Octavia E. Butler - Science Fiction
#22 A green Guide to natural Beauty - Karen Gilbert - Non-Fiction
#23 Dog Blood - David Moody - Hater Trilogy 02 - Post-Apocalyptic/Horror
#24 Darker After Midnight - Lara Adrian - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#25 Feed - Mira Grant - Newsflash Trilogy 01 - Abandoned read
#26 Der verwaiste Thron 01. Sturm - Claudia Kern - 01/03 - Fantasy
#27 Der verwaiste Thron 02. Verrat - Claudia Kern - 02/03 - Fantasy
#28 Der verwaiste Thron 03. Rache - Claudia Kern - 03/03 - Fantasy
#29 The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch - 01/03 - Fantasy
#30 33 A.D. - David McAfee - Horror
#31 The Coming of the Wolf - A. E. McCullough - Fantasy
#32 Jekka's Complete Herb Book - Jekka McVicar - Non-Fiction
#33 Kiss of Snow - Nalini Singh - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#34 Pleasure of a Dark Prince - Kresley Cole - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#35 Demon from the Dark - Kresley Cole - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#36 Dreams of a Dark Warrior - Kresley Cole - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#37 Lothaire - Kresley Cole - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#38 The Summoner - Gail Z. Martin - 01/04 - Fantasy
#39 Kraken - China Mieville - Urban Fantasy
#40 Embassytown - China Mieville - Science Fiction
#41 Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka - Classics/Modern Classics
#42 Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman - Urban Fantasy
#43 Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman - Urban Fantasy
#44 Dragon Bound - Thea Harrison - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#45 Storm's Heart - Thea Harrison - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#46 Serpent's Kiss - Thea Harrison - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#47 True Colour's - Thea Harrison - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#48 Oracle's Moon - Thea Harrison - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#49 Natural Evil - Thea Harrison - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#50 Phoenix Chronicles - Lori Handeland - Abandoned
#51 Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews - Urban Fantasy 01/05
#52 Magic Burns - Ilona Andrews - Urban Fantasy 02/05
#53 Magic Strikes - Ilona Andrews - Urban Fantasy 03/05
#54 Magic Bleeds - Ilona Andrews - Urban Fantasy 04/05
#55 Magic Slays - Ilona Andrews - Urban Fantasy 05/05
#56 When Darkness comes - Alexandra Ivy - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#57 Embrace the Darkness - Alexandra Ivy - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#58 Darkness Everlasting - Alexandra Ivy - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#59 Darkness Revealed - Alexandra Ivy - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#60 Darkness Unleashed - Alexandra Ivy - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#61 Beyond the Darkness - Alexandra Ivy - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#62 Devoured by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#63 Bound by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy - Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
#64 Das erste Horn. Das Geheimnis von Askir - Richard Schwartz - Fantasy
#65 The Blood King - Gail Z. Martin - Fantasy 02/04
#66 Dark Haven - Gail Z. Martin - Fantasy 03/04
#67 Dark Lady's Chosen - Gail Z. Martin - Fantasy 04/04
#68 The Sworn - Gail Z. Martin - Fantasy 01/02
#69 The Dread - Gail Z. Martin - Fantasy 02/02
#70 Ätherische Öle selbst herstellen - Brigitte Malle - Non-Fiction
#71 Lexikon der kosmetischen Rohstoffe - Brigitte Bräutigam - Non-Fiction
#72 Hater - David Moody - Hater Trilogy 01 - Horror
#73 Green for life - Victoria Boutenko - Non-Fiction
#74 Green Smoothie Revolution - Victoria Boutenko - Non-Fiction
#75 Scar Night - Alan Campbell - Deepgate Codex 01 - Fantasy

# Lucy and Nathalie :) you must have posted whilst I was compiling my list

# 28 Whisper - Thank you

# 30 ***seufz*** Thank you - I am sure you will enjoy the book of Human Skin, it goes a little bit into the various skin diseases and treatments of that time period. :)

And now I will carry on with my second set of 75 -

#01 Stardust - Neil Gaiman - YA, Fantasy
#02 Nocturnes and Preludes - Neil Gaiman - Comic/Graphic Novel
#03 Third Sight - Ian Woodhead - Horror
#04 Die zweite Legion - Richard Schwartz - Fantasy
#05 Das Auge der Wüste - Richard Schwartz - Fantasy
#06 Der Herr der Puppen - Richard Schwartz - Fantasy
#07 Never let me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro - Contemporary, 1001 Books
#08 Hounded - Kevin Hearne - Urban Fantasy
#09 Hexed - Kevin Hearne - Urban Fantasy
#10 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami - Alternate Reality, Contemporary
#11 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami - Alternate Reality, Contemporary
#12 The Book of Human Skin - Michelle Lovric - Historical Fiction

Oooh, a fellow Gaiman fan, I see. I'll take this opportunity to brag about the fact that I live a mere 20 miles from the House on the Rock, featured in American Gods... :)

Really, Amber???!!!??? Unlike some people, I really enjoyed *AGs*!
Wow, DB, you are really plowing through them. I came by to say that my copy of The Floating Book just arrived from Paperback Swap. I can't jump into it right this minute, but with 15th century Venice and Catullus and decent writing, it looks very, very good!
Have you said what you thought of 1Q84? It's my least favorite of the 3 Murakamis that I've read - entertaining but not all that much to it unless somebody educates me: that's what I thought.
And your Ayke is a handsome fellow. I'm sure that he appreciates his good home!

We are a friendly, well-read bunch and many of us do love our animals.

Here is a photo of my newly acquired Sheltie puppy -- Lilly.



The Book of Human Skin sounds very interesting....

33# Scaifea - Brag ahead - so, when can I see some lovely pics of that ROCK? I love Neil Gaiman (I mean the books of course) - I saw that you were not to fond of Neverwhere, I actually liked that one a lot and even started to watch the BBC Mini Series (very much in Dr. Who style) which is quite funny.

34# LizzieD let me know when you finished the other book of Michelle Lovric - I wonder if it is a good as the Book of Human Skin.
I loved 1Q84, I like weird, I like abstract, I like ilogical - so that was my book :) You can find my review here

#35 Thank you whisper to put up that lovely photo of your puppy - Lilly looks gorgeous - my son and I were really taken with her. Don't you all agree, pets just make our lifes - this tini weeny little bit - more interesting and fun. Aside from reading of course.

Peggy: I would love to host a meet-up there - wouldn't that be great?!

drachenbraut: I haven't actually been yet; we've lived here nearly exactly a year, and I'm waiting until my best friend can come visit so we can go together - he's a big Gaiman fan, too. To be clear: I would have loved Neverwhere, but I was pregnant at the time and extremely nauseous 24 hours a day, so when I think of Neverwhere, I think of feeling sick, to the point that if I think about it long enough, I could indeed make myself sick all over again. It's tragic, really. Shouldn't have read it when I did.

Scaifea - Yes, I can understand that feeling and it is tragic, because it is really a great book.



#13 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun - 448 pages
Genre - Historical Fiction
Rating - 5/5

This is the book I read for the July Group Read. So I will not say that much here. I only say - It was beautiful, it was daunting, but it also had it's funny moments.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
This is where you can find my Review

I'll read your review as soon as I finish the book. :)

Wonderful review, thumbed it! I loved this book, too. One of my memorable reads in 2010.

Thumbed your review as well.

I'm not looking at your review till I've finished, but with luck that should be by tomorrow some time - I am loving it and can't imagine giving it less than 5 stars. (I have 170 pages to go.)

And Ayke is beautiful!!

# Hibernator - I am very much looking forward what you guys think about the book :)

# Nathalie and Sand Dune - Thank you

# Cushla - enjoy :)



#14 Fadia Faquir - The Cry of the Dove - 279 pages

Genre: Contemporary, honor killing, oppression
Rating: 4/5

At the beginning of the book I was not sure if I wanted to finish it. Not because of the context of the story, but the structure. It was such a hard read, to start off with, but I am glad I carried on, because it turned out to be a deeply moving story.
The book is written in snatches of memories in seemingly disjointed order and at times it was very hard to follow the story, but once I overcame these obsticles I could enjoy the beautiful prose of Fadia Faquir.

Here you find my Review

:) Here are my planned reads for July and beyond - obviously list is subject to change

# Money: A Suicide Note - Martin Amis - 1001 Books, Classics/Modern Classics
# Naked Chocolate - David Wolfe - Non-Fiction
# The Stranger - Albert Camus - 1001 Books, Classics/Modern Classics, reread
# Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen - Lesley Hazleton - Non-Fiction
# Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey - 1001 Books, Contemporary, reread
# The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - Contemporary TIOLI completed 09.07
# Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami - 1001 Books, Contemporary
# Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs - Contemporary?, Alternate Reality? - TIOLI
# The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry - Historical Fiction
# Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi - Historical Fiction - Group Read for July/TIOLI completed 02.07.
# The Cry of the Dove - Fadia Faquir - Contemporary - TIOLI completed 03.07
# When She Woke - Hillary Jordan - YA, Science Fiction - TIOLI completed 04.07
# The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
# The House of the Mosque - Kader Abdolah - Historical Fiction - TIOLI
# The Rock and the River - Kekla Magoon - Historical Fiction - TIOLI
# The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman - Historical Fiction - TIOLI

#15 Hillary Jordan - When She Woke - 344 pages
Genre: YA, Science Fiction
Rating 4/5

All in all the themes in the book are nothing new. The story explores the themes of feminism and therefore the women’s right over her body, looks at the different angles of beliefs and how society and oppressive beliefs influence the choices you make in life. The focus of the book is not whether you belief in god or not, but how. I am not sure about the rating yet, but for now I have given it the higher:)

Here you find my Review

Finally, they arrived - Summer Hollidays in Germany - 6 weeks no school. No getting up early in the morning anymore ( I am a terrible grump) and especially going to have some fun - once I am off work myself. :)

Excellent reviews of Half a Yellow Sun and The Cry of the Dove! I own the former, and I'll add the latter to my wish list.

Great July list, and I see you have discovered the TIOLI. It's highly addictive!
Happy holidays to your son! When are you taking yours?

#47 Thank you kidzdoc. I really can say - Half of the Yellow Sun is a must read.

# Nathalie - yes, I discovered TIOLI and I agree with you. I fear it could become highly addictive ;)
We go back to London on the 12th for 3 weeks and Alex is staying with his english family whilst I am working, after that I am off for 5 weeks. This summer no holliday :( :( because his special tutoring was so expensive. I am planning to do some day trips and maybe a few nights in YHostels in Germany. Go and visit some Museum's with him, swimming, hiking, whatever comes up which is not too expensive and fun. Planning on a holliday during the Christmas hollidays instead, would like to go to Morocco :) Friends of mine were there and recommended some nice YHostels. I would like to stay 1 week in Marakesh and 1 week in a Berber Village in the Atlas Mountains :)

Yay for summer holidays - am looking forward to reading your trip reports.

I have both Oscar and Lucinda and House of the Mosque here...somewhere. I've owned Oscar and Lucinda for over 20 years - I think I bought it when it was just out. If you like it I might even read it!

16# Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner - 324 pages

Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 4.5/5

Well, there has been said already so much about this book that I will try to keep it brief. This is definitely again one of those books which should not have been collecting that much dust on my shelf.

“There is a way to be good again...”

“It's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.”

And that is what the story is about: love, friendship, betrayal, guilt, redemption and self-discovery. We meet Amir and Hassan two boys growing up in Kabul in the 1970’s. Amir is the son of a wealthy unconventional businessman and belongs to the Sunni branch of the Islam, and Hassan the son of their household servant who belongs to the Shi’a branch and to the ethnic minority of the Hazara. Born one year apart, both boys lost their mothers for different reasons, nursed by the same wet nurse they are brought up like brothers. The story focusses on the relationship of Amir and Hassan. However, due to their differences in social rank and the problematic status of the Hazara their friendship finds itself very often on shaky ground. On top of that we find that Amir secretly envies Hassan’s athletic abilities and his courage. Amir is a bookish and selfish boy who constantly tries to please his father, but finds it hard to stand up for himself. Hassan is incredible loyal and devoted to Amir and defends him many times from Assef and his cronies. One day after a major kite running event, these bullies take revenge and Amir is too much of a coward to defend Hassan. This has dire consequences on future events. Again Amir can’t stand up to his feelings of guilt and betrays his friendship even further by pushing Hassan and his father out of their lives. Even, when Amir and his father flee in the 1980’s to America he can’t shake off these feelings. Years later he goes to Pakistan to meet his dying friend who reveals a long harbored secret to him and asks him to rescue Hassan’s son in his native Afghanistan. This rescue mission becomes Amir’s road to self-discovery and eventually the redemption he was seeking for so many years.

This story is just beautifully written in very simple and straightforward prose.

I have only given 4.5 stars, because I found it very hard to develop any nice feelings for Amir. I hated it how he constantly wallowed in self-pitty and that it took him so many decades to finally do the right moves. Although it was interesting to see how he actually recognised his spiteful behavior, but was most of the time unable to do something about it.

The Kite Runner was a very touching piece, wasn't it? I also had trouble relating to Amir. But, then, kids make mistakes and if those mistakes are big--well, I can see how it would influence the rest of his life like that.

Yes, I agree with you. All his anxieties - not to be able to come up to his dads standards. I could relate to that and sort of see how all this influenced his behaviour and how it resulted in the mistakes he made --- still, he just was a little tiny bit to spiteful at times. I just could not believe it towards the end when he rescued Sohrab - or actually they rescued each other - and he still wanted to give him into an orphanage. That it took Amir so long to do the right thing. Well. Still, I thought this book was very touching and very well written. Although, I have to say I liked A Thousand Splendid Suns more. :)

I haven't read A Thousand Splendid Suns yet.

You may should - but for that one - you definately will need a box of tissues on standby

Enjoy vacation time!

I have The Kite Runner on deck for July as well and your generous rating makes me itchy to crack it open. Have you read A Thousand Splendid Suns by the same author yet?

Hope you have a great vacation!

# Lucy - Thank you ! I am very much looking forward to do some nice things together with my son. :P

# Jolerie - Yes, I have read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" as well, and I have to say I liked it even more than the kite runner. As I said in my review, although I loved the book, I found it hard to like Amir even so I could understand why he was the way he was.

2 more days and I am off to London. Made already plans to go to my favourite vegetarian Indian Restaurant and my favourite Italien Restaurant **laugh***. I also hope I will not have to many problems to get to work, once the Olympic Games crowd comes.

Good luck in London -- somehow I suspect the crowds will be awful, but also contained in certain areas????

Yes, they are contained to certain areas - and some of my collegues had to look for alternative routes to get to work as their areas will be quite congested. I am not too sure about my area as yet, we are not part of where the games are being held - but our park (Clapham Common) , which is huge, will serve as a camping area. Our area is already crowded enough as it is *sigh*, so I will see and wait. The other good thing is that I will not be here for the whole time of the games. :)

#17 Peter Menzel - Man Eating Bugs: Art and Science of Eating Insects - 192 pages

Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: 5/5

Why did I read this? Not because I am interested in eating bugs or insects - but because this topic came up during our groug read of Half of a Yellow Sun and this made me curious. I knew already about the fact that bugs are a very good protein source and I have heard about roasted grasshoppers and have seen scorpions in a candy (Aargh, my son ate that). I love food and although I can be quite picky, in general I am quite open in trying different foods, but where something slimy or hairy is involved my openess stops.
In this book Peter Menzel and his wife Faith introduce us to the different cultures in the world where eating bugs and insects are part of their life style. In the way of journal entries alternating between him and his wife, they show us through their eyes and lots of stunning photos, the diversity of people's lives and their cultures. They also highlight that largely due to the western influence and the availabillity of ready meals the traditional diets are more and more abandoned, and because it can be very difficult and time consuming to hunt for some of the "delicacies".
I thought it was very entertaining and laced with lots of humor, especially that "Peter" was always very enthusiastic about each new bug meal and very detailed in his descriptions - even giving us some receipes from time to time. And his wife "Faith" more apprehensive, more aware about her western upbringing and more hesitant to try these meals. All in all a brilliant read, which I can recommend to anyone in wanting to find out a little bit more about entomophagy around the world.
At the end of the day it is not that much of a step from eating snails, shrimps and oysters to eating grasshoppers.

Great review! The image on the cover makes me shudder though and I don't think I can bring myself to eat bugs...
I realize too it has a lot to do with what you are used to and what is considered "normal". There are a lot of dishes that we eat in Asian cuisine that the rest of the world would retch at the thought of tasting, but it's something so very normal to us. I saw an episode of Fear Factor where they were forced to eat "thousand year" eggs. All I could say was, Hey! We eat that all the time!

# Jolerie - I fully agree with your assessment - and that's why I liked this book so much, as it explores excactely some of those issues. What's normal for one is not normal for another one. :)



#18 Shaun Tan - Tales from Outer Suburbia - 96 pages

Genre: Children
Rating: 5/5

15 stories - surreal, abstract, beautiful. Actually ment for children, although I thought it would have to be quite mature children to understand these stories, as the stories are many layered with deeper meanings that go beyond a simple tale. Stunning art work. Shaun Tan just knows how to weave his mesmerizing stories. My favourite story was about "Eric" the unusual exchange student who leaves a wonderful present at the end. Eric makes you smile and leaves you with happy thoughts. Shaun Tan takes you into a magical and wonderful suburbia invinting you to examine simple things with different eyes. This is the book for you if you can enjoy Shaun Tan's idiosyncratic art which is just surreal, magical and humorous at the same time, and for everyone who can appreciate skewed (yet poetic) observations. The unusual presentation of the stunning art work and the bizzare stories are just incredible in helping children to stretch their imagination and to expand on conventional thoughts. Well, I only can repeat - beautiful, stunning, magical, thought provoking, just lovely.

I loved Shaun Tan from the moment I read his GN, The Arrival. This one looks like another great one so I'm putting this on my to borrow from the the library list. Thanks for a great review! :)

Thank you Jolerie - This was my first one and I absolutely loved it. I have looked already for some more - so that I can add them to my collection of children books.

My Dad has been complaining lately about my book hording :) and insists that - in a near future - I will find myself in the basement, because even a ceiling can only cope with a certain amount of weight. *grin*

I can tell I have a strong gag-reflex against eating bugs - I could barely even look at the cover.
But I did enjoy your review, which I read, sort of squinting so as not to take in too much of it at a time.

Hahaha, your dad may be right. But you are in good company. We all suffer from the too many books, not enough space problem... :)

Lucy - *Soooooory* for making you gag *giggle*

Jolerie - if you like Shaun Tan here a recommendation The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone - Timothy Basil Ering. Again absolutely stunning art work, a must read book. Set in a Suburb full of Cement it tells the story of a little boy who tries to find a treasure. The boy finds a box with a note saying "Put these wondrous riches in the earth and enjoy." To protect his treasure he builds out of junk a kind of scarecrow which comes to live. The story shows in a very unusual presentation to respect the environment and that even in an apparent ugly suburb you still can find beauty. :)

The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone sounds delightful!

#19 Judita Wignall - Going Raw - 192 pages + DVD Rom

Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: 4/5

Well, I love food. I think I have mentioned that already a few times. I am not a Vegetarian, but I eat a lot of Vegetarian food because I think it's just yummie, and if I am to lazy to cook I love to eat Raw. This book is absolutely brilliant, especially for people who like to try eating Raw. Judita Wignall gives as a small introduction into the Raw food diet without being patronizing - like some others like to be - very down to earth. She makes it with her brilliant explanations, beautiful photos and recipes easy for people to "want" to try Raw. In step by step photos people can see how specific Raw food preparations are made, such as how to make nutmilk, how to prepare raw chocolate, or how to make fermented foods - Sauerkraut and other cabages. You will find great tips and tricks to introduce more Raw into your daily diet and how to bring that in tune with a busy lifestyle. There are also Suggestions on how to plan your meals, stocking up your pantry, and for people who are not kitchen wizards she explains basic knife skills. I have read already read quite a few books on Raw food and this one is so far the best. Although, someone who wants to know more about the nutritional value and how Raw food works will not find it here. This book is an introduction to Raw food with lots of brilliant and tasty recipes for beginner Raw Foodists. :)

I am completely on the same page as you. I am not a vegetarian but there are some days where I totally feel like I could be one. I love vegetarian pizza much better than the meat loaded ones. In general I err on the side of more veggies and less of the meat on any dish. :)

My friend is currently doing a raw food cleanse. Sounds intense, but I can imagine how good it is for your body if you are doing it right.

Huh. I never thought of Sauerkraut as raw, but, yeah, I guess it is, eh? Interesting...

# Scaifea - Yes, Sauerkraut is raw - it's fermented white gabage. One of my elderly neighbours still makes it every year herself and it's just so wicked yummy. She promised me to do it together with me next month, so I *finally* will know how to make it myself.

I was thinking that raw meant unadulterated in any way (including fermentation) and not just simply uncooked. That's what surprised me about it. I'm a bit fan of the stuff myself.

#20 Neil Gaiman - Instructions - 40 pages
Genre: Children
Rating: 3.5/5

Actually, I was a slightly - but only slightly - dissapointed. Being a Neil Gaiman Fan, of his books as well as his Graphic Novels, I sort of expected something more? different? Maybe the point is that I am not a great poetry fan. I got this book because 1. I collect children books and 2. this book has been praised for his exceptional art work,beautiful prose and the abillity to challenge any childs imagination. Exceptional art work - No - It's lovely art work, but definately not exceptional. Exceptional I find the art work of Shaun Tan and others. Beautiful prose - Probably a matter of taste. Challenging a child's imagination - definately. There is quite a lot to see and find in the pictures which leads to a lot of questions and indeed helps to roam into the fantasy world. What I did like very much is "Trust your dreams" "Trust your heart, and trust your story". Daring children to be brave enough to follow their dreams and heart wishes, that nothing is impossible as long as you believe in it. :)

#21 Tatyana Hill - Soap - 64 pages

Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: 4/5

A nice little book for anyone who loves meddling in natural cosmetics. The book has beautiful pictures with a short introduction into the history of soap making, precise instructions on how to safely make soap, some detailed short introduction on milled soap and beautiful soap recipes. Although, the instructions on how to make soap are very detailed I would not recommend it to a beginner soap maker. There is not much information on the different types of fats, oils and essential oils and their effects on the skin, which is in my opinion an essential and necessary needed knowledge before starting to meddle in natural cosmetics.

My sister in law probably love the last book. Both her children have severe food allergies and sometimes it flares up as eczema. She has discovered that a lot of the reactions are also atopic due to the residue that is left behind from the soaps and detergents we use. She has a biology degree so a lot of the stuff is over my head. Anyways, she is now into making her own soap and getting rid of any kind of chemical residue left in her house. Now that is dedication and not to mention the hours upon hours she has spent cleaning and doing laundry...yikes!

jolerie - I very much agree with your sister in law. I bought my first hand crafted soap on Camden market (London) in '97 and have been hooked since. I first started to look into making my own natural cosmetics and soaps about 10 years ago, because my Mum has got severe allergies and lives 3/4 of the year on histamins and other medications, then my son started having allergies and skin problems and I changed everything to organic. It involved a lot of trial and error, because natural or organic does not nessecary mean it's good for you - as these products can also cause allergies. However, after I have done some extensive reading on the topic for a few years, I finally started to make my own creams and soaps 8 years ago - which is first of all *tremendous* fun, challenging and good for your skin.
At that time a friend of mine just started her degree in Homeopathy and Herbalism and her daughter suffered greatly under eczema :(. So, we spent hours looking at oil/butter and essential oil combination to reduce the problems - AND we were really successful.
Unfortunately, aside from making the odd cream and bath ingredients nothing is happening on the soap front anymore. Since I moved back to Germany 4 years ago, I don't have the space anymore to indulge properly in my hobby. Although, *grin* this does not stop me from stocking up on my library.
If your sister in law is already into soap making I guess this little book will be a nice addition to her library :)

#63 I agree with you about Shaun Tan. Both The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia are just marvellous.

Finally found my way to your thread! :) Quite a few excellent reviews, my TBR heap will most likely topple over after this latest assault. ;)

I've been to The House on the Rock several times, didn't know it featured in American Gods - it's quite the place. For a while there, we went to visit every summer for a quick vacation and because there was so much to see everyone was pleased. Maybe I'll read the book and go back for another visit? It's only 2 1/2 hours away, a nice day trip.

Hope you're enjoying London too, despite gathering Olympic crowds. All of that Indian food sounds so yummy it's making my mouth water.

#79 SandDune - I just ordered two more books by him for my children's book collection :).

# 80 Laura - Thank you for visiting my thread. Maybe, one day - I will visit the House on the Rock too.

I have to say London is not as crowded as I expected, maybe it's because they are all day in the stadium?

No Indian this time, but we tried a new Moroccan Restaurant which was absolutely faboulos. Lovely Tangines, Salads, Falaffel - Yummy.

>81 drachenbraut23: but we tried a new Moroccan Restaurant which was absolutely fabulous

Where is it? I've seen several Middle Eastern restaurants on Edgware Road north of Oxford Street, but I haven't tried any of them.

Which Indian restaurants in central London do you like best?

Hi Drachenbraut! Just hopping in to say hi, I hadn't read your thread yet... That being said, your thread is slightly hazardous, since I seem to want to read all the books you list :/ Now my tbr-pile is even bigger than it already was :(

# 82 kidzdoc - :D Not in Central London. You find the best Restaurants in other London areas.

My favourite Indien Restaurant is called "Indien Mischief", a small, very modern vegetarian Restaurant in London - East Dulwich.

My favourite Italian Restaurant is called "Eco" again very modern, stylish and this one you can find in London - Clapham Common.

That's where the Moroccon Restaurant is as well, but they also serve other Middle Eastern food.

Clapham Common is quite cool anyway, we have lots of lovely cafe's, a beautiful park, nice restaurants and a very vivid night life.

# 83 Hi Britt, thanks for hopping in on my thread :), I got your pm. I know it's not good for our tbr - piles to actually check out each other's threads.

# 22 Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl - 544 pages

Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 3/5

Set in the 23rd Century, after major environmental disaster all over the world, the story unfolds in Thailand. Calorie companies control the food production through “genehacked seeds” and try through private armies and bioterrorism to rule the world market. Power Resources have run out, and bioengineered mammoths and humans are used for manual labor to produce electricity. Hand-cranked radios and windup lanterns are used as alternatives and everything is recycled. Actually, I thought the concept of the story with people still struggling to survive and to adapt to the new rules of the world is great Sci-fi stuff, but moreover Bacigalupi did not quite fulfill my expectations.

However, I found it hard at first to get engaged with this story. The story is told from the viewpoint of four different characters. First we have Anderson Lake, a calorie man “Farang”, who comes to Bangkok undercover to find the secret location of the Thai seed bank and to discover new blight-resisting food. Second we have Emiko a bioengineered genetically modified human “Windup Girl”, fashioned by the Japanese to function as Geisha and pleasure girl - she gets abandoned in Bangkok and ends up in a Thai brothel. The focus on her story lies in her being constantly sexually victimized, until she snaps. How her genetically altered genes make it almost impossible for her to survive the Thai heat and how her doglike genes make her subservient to anyone who commands her. Third we have Tan Hock Seng an aging Chinese “Yellow Card” who tries to find a way back again into his former secure life style. Last and fourth we have Jaidee an environmental officer “White Shirt” of the ministry, who is also a revolutionary, trying to free his country from the grip of the foreigners.

This all sounds so exciting, and it should have been brilliant, but unfortunately that was not the case. Too many plots and sub plots, sometimes crossing each other, but never reaching their full potential. The first ½ of the book was quite dragging, but eventually the story picked up to a more engaging pace, although I did not care for the brutal and victimising rape scenes done to Emiko.

#23 Carol Schiller, David Schiller - 500 Formulas for Aromatherapy: Mixing Essential Oils for Every Use

Genre: Non-Fiction
Rating: 2/5

Well, not much to say. One of those books I wanted to have as an addition for my natural cosmetics book collection. Unfortunately, this book is indeed only a collection of Aromatherapy formulas. There is very little information to find in the book and that which is in there is very basic and dictatorial. I would not recommend it to anyone new to Aromatherapy, as it does not discuss in depth the use and properties of essential oils.

Thanks for your review of Windup Girl...I'll still read it eventually, but the rape scenes that everyone keeps mentioning kind of turn me off a little. I'm sure I'll get to it this year, though. I want to form my own opinion.

Small world! I just flipped through that same Aromatherapy book this morning as I'm working on a few different scents for my best friend! It is all recipes, which is fine if you kind of know what's-what. But yeah, not the best title for a beginner or anything.

And, Darryl, I just read an article in the July/August issue of "Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel" magazine highlighting great international restaurants in London. It covers (briefly, I'm assuming) Chinatown, Brixton, Little Cairo, Brick Lane and Green Lanes neighborhoods. Made my mouth water just reading about them!

#87 Hibernator - I usually like to form my own opinion as well. I just thought the concepts were absolutely great, only as I said in my review he pursued quite a few plots at the same time - which then left me wondering what happened - and did not follow them up to their full potentials.
I have read that some people thought that his use of language is not as great as advertised and that he tried desperately to include foreign words, without further explanations.
I usually don't like to comment on someone's use of the language, because for myself it is not always that obvious. He did use a lot of "foreign" words, which made sense enough once you carried on reading.

#88 Laura - HA - Now, you made me curious. Are you working on scent combinations especially for Aromatherapy? - Something I don't do - or for other natural cosmetic purposes? - Yes, this book is only suitable for people who know the properties and uses of essential oils. However, I found that different Aromatherapy books discuss different essential oils, I usually don't care that much about the massage instructions and other esotherical stuff, as I purely want to know about the properties, uses and get some ideas on combinations. :)

Edited to add - I fullfilled my curiosity myself. Actually, I remembered that I saw in your thread something about massage studio and just checked it out.
....................................

One more week, and I am off home again - which means - enough time to read - I will able to catch up on the rest of my reviews.

Today it's my son's birthday - Big 13 - I am going to take him to the Natural History Museum into the Body World Exhibition about animals. We wanted to go to that one already in April, but could not get any tickets. This time I was clever and booked online - the only disatvantage with this was, that you get a time slot. If you are not there on time you don't get in.
And tonight I will take him out for something to eat. He would like to go to an Italian Restaurant in Leicester Square.

Oh, does it have a bunch of slang from Mandarin or something similar? Like Burgess did with Russian in A Clockwork Orange?

#90 Hibernator - Well, it could be some Mandarin slang - but to be honest it did not bother me as much as long it made eventually some sense. Yes, it is similiar to what Burgess did in A Clockwork Orange.

.................................................................

Just came back from my day out with my son, which was absolutely great. What I also would like to remark on is : I was very impressed how well London manages the crowds especially on the Underground. It was full, but much easier to travel than it usually is. *sigh* I wish they would always organize such could crowd control.

First we went to the Natural History Museum to see the Body World Exhibiton "Inside Out" for animals, because I booked the tickets online - We could jump the queue - the exhibition was great, after the exhibition we strolled another 3 hours through some other halls, including the obligatory "dinosaurs". Actually, I hoped we could avoid the shop - but that was not to be *cry* - spend another hour in there, until my son decided to spend some of his birthday money on two documentries he *really, really, really* needed for his *endless* documentation movie collection.
Well, when we met his father tonight and I complained about it, he just looked at me like I am complete mad and said : "What do you expect? YOU, always need only one more book for your collection". I sighed and - agreed.
For dinner my son decided he rather would like to go for Sushi then Italian, and so we did. For me it was the first time at that place, for my son the second. Very interesting experience so - the food came via conveyer belts and you could pick what you wanted. In order to pay they checked the colours of your bowls and counted them, there were 5 or 6 different clours to have and all had different prices. The sushi was okay - more less fast food - and it was fun.

And now, I am tired and exhausted *grin*

We might go to the Natural History Museum tomorrow as well, as we've got Olympic Tickets for volleyball at Earls Court tomorrow afternoon, and we need something to do nearby in the morning. I've spent hours and hours in there in the past as well as J went through a very long dinosaur phase.

I do like sushi - I used to work in the City and I had sushi for lunch about twice a week then. It's the main thing I miss! In my hometown we can only get supermarket sushi which just isn't the same, so I only have it rarely nowadays.

I can't keep up, but I am interested in your very helpful review of The Windup Girl, which I have on top of Mt. Bookpile for this month. Oh dear. I may have to wait for a bit although I do want to find out for myself........forearmed! So, thank you!!!

Hi SandDune actually a great Idea to go to the Natural History Museum tomorrow, due to the Olympic Games it was not quite as crowded as usual and we had a really great time.
My son and his father are going tomorrow as well to the Olympics. They have tickets for the handball games and I think for one of the waterball games.

Where abouts did you work in the City? I never could imagine to work in the City itself, too many people, I probably would get mad at one point.

I do like Sushi as well - and in the small town in Germany where we live, we can't even get Sushi at the supermarket. That was one of the reasons why Alex wanted to go for a Sushi :)

I used to work at Schroders on Gresham Street, quite near St Paul's tube station, but was made redundant right at the end of 2008 when the financial crisis really kicked in. Since then I've been working part-time as my husband has been more focussing on his career. (Up until the time that J was 6 he worked very part-time to look after him). I have to admit that i did enjoy working in the City - sort of a feeling of being in the middle of things - but I wouldn't want to return to a City company now.

> Sand Dune - Oh, I can imagine that you enjoyed it around that area. It's quite interesting at St. Pauls. That' where my boy took me to the Sushi Restaurant and afterwards we had a little stroll in the crypt.

*Pfweh* finally made it home again this morning. So, now I will chill out for a few days, catching up on some of the threads, adding my books I read etc, etc, just going to enjoy myself for sometime :)

.........................

Although, I was really upset to see that my garden really suffered under this weather. All the rain, then the couple of days of heat, it just looks horrible.

My daughter and husband loved the Body World exhibit when it was in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute - they went twice.

It does sound as though GB/City of London are managing the Olympics beautifully. Bravo. We have cable on the Cape and I plan to indulge quite a bit to the end of the week!

# Lucy - I am glad to hear that your daughter and husband enjoyed the exhibition as well. My son utterly loved both of the exhibitions and he was mightily impressed on how everything looks, close up, on the inside in our (and the animals) bodies. :)

#24 Alice Hoffman - The Dovekeepers

Genre: Historical Fiction - 514 pages
Rating: 5/5

The Dovekeepers was utterly beautiful and haunting at the same time. I found myself so captured by the book that it was difficult for me to put it down at times. Based on true events, Alice Hoffman managed to create a stunning, heartbreaking, magical story. Here, we find ancient magic, mythology blended with religious beliefs.

Set in 70 CE, we follow the path of four bold, fascinating and resourceful women, leading up towards the events of the horrific Masada massacre. Masada was a stronghold situated on a mountain and the last refuge for the Jewish zealots, where they tried to maintain their freedom and to withstand the slaughter and the power of the Roman army. However, after a long siege these rebels committed mass suicide, rather than surrender to the Romans. According to the historian, Josephus, two women and five children survived these horrendous events and were able to tell their tale.

Here, we meet Yael, the lioness, born out of the body of her dead mother, with a father who never forgave her for the death of her mother. Revka, a village baker’s wife, and revenging mother, who had to watch her daughter being brutally violated and murdered by Roman soldiers. Aziza, the girl-warrior, raised by her mother as a boy to protect her, and an excellent rider and brilliant warrior. Shirah, the Witch of Moab, mother to Aziza, a wise-woman trained in ancient magic and a healer.

The story is told from the perspective of these four women each telling the tale of their own life, the events prior and during their time in Masada. We follow, told through their eyes, their journeys through the desert to reach the stronghold, in a last attempt to build a new life for themselves and their loved ones. All of them are heartbroken and burdened by the weight of their traumatized past and their secrets. Their four lives intersect during their time in Masada and the desperate days of the siege, all of them working together as the dovekeepers. Here, we can watch how they manage to rise from their past, and their secrets, to discover friendship, renewed faith, and love in the midst of these horrible events. Each of these women find strength, through their friendship, they did not realize they had.

#25 Grimm (Jacob & Wilhelm) - Household Stories. From the collection of the Brothers Grimm. Translated from the German by Lucy Crane and Done into Pictures by Walter Crane -

Genre: Fairy Tales
Rating: 3.5/5

I have read this in preparation for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

It was a small collection of fairy tales by the Brother's Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane. I thought they could have choosen a much more appealing collection of stories, but still it was nice to read the English translation :). I found one story, where they translated part of the text wrong, which changed the meaning and ending of the story significantly. Whether this was on purpose? Obviously, no one can find out. I also noticed that they altered one story completely: The story of "The wolf and the seven goats" got transformed into the story "The wolf and the seven goslings" - there they did alter the characters but not the content of the story which I found very odd. When the little goslings asked the wolf to show his "paws" - I could not help but LOL. Especially, when I tried to imagine a goose with "paws", and this was only one of the things which made me laugh in this story.

Great reviews, drachenbraut!

Hi there; returning your visit. I like your reviews, and I'm tempted to read some of the books, though normally those wouldn't be on my list.

I grew up in Greater London, and am enjoying watching the Olympics and seeing parts of London. Makes me a bit homesick! I haven't been back for a few years, but when I do, I make sure Forbidden Planet is on my to do list.

Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed The Dovekeepers as well! I read it earlier this year and was really drawn into the story as well. Each of the women were captivating and the whole historical context was fascinating. Happy belated birthday to your son as well. He is officially in his teens, so I'm sure lots of fun adventures ahead for him! :)

#99: I will have to add The Dovekeepers to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation!

Great review of the Grimm - I bet somewhere someone HAS written about the Crane transgressions made in translating the folk tales. Sometimes they have the stupidest reasons - goslings being 'cuter' or what have you.

Haven't been here for a while and am now trying to catch up. Interesting about the Grimm fairytales. I thought about reading a translation of them before and now I feel even more intrigued...

Sushi - oh how I miss it! When I was living in Frankfurt I had a Sushi Circle right there in my street. Where I live now there's just one decent Sushi place and the food costs a fortune.

Hello everyone, have not been around for some time because I was ill and although needed some time to recover. So, today I find myself swamped with "too many" posts to read - that will probably take me a few days :).

> kidzdoc - thank you.

> humouress - thanks for visiting my thread :). Oh, yes - I love the 'Forbidden Planet' as well. Especially a must go when my son is in London with me.

> Jolerie - I really loved the dovekeepers. Thank you very much for the belated birthday wishes for my son - I will let him know this afternoon. Yes officially he is a teen now and displays the very typical signs of this transition phase now. He just can't decide what he would like to be *grin*. At home he still behaves like a little boy, who wants to be spoiled and when he goes out with his friends he sort of tries to be really really cool.

>alcoctarre - thanks as well for visiting my thread. The dovekeepers is definately worth reading.

> Hi Lucy - *grin* I am sure someone, somewhere must have written about their transgressions. I just thought it was so hilarious. I read them to my son as well and we both just could not stop to LOL.

> Hi, Nathalie - I am so glad to see you around again and hope that you are feeling better now. I still have to catch up on your thread (and lots of others). With the Sushi it is really odd, you can't get any Sushi around where I live in Germany and in London you get swamped with Sushi places and on top of that - it' s very cheap. By the way, I think Frankfurt is beautiful :). I like to go back there with my son sometimes to explore it a bit further.

Hopefully, I have finished catching up on all the threads over the next couple of days and I still have to enter quite a few books I read. But for now, I wish everyone a lovely day.

Welcome back!

Well, here some updates on my reading. I will not be able to catch up on all the reviews, but I will say a line or two on the books I read :)



#26 Gill Farrer-Halls - The Aromatherapy Bible: The Definitive Guide to Using Essential Oils

Genre: Non-Fiction - 400 pages
Rating: 3/5

A nice little book for anyone who is interested in Aromatherapy and the different uses of essential oils, Although very small and compact, the 400 pages contain a lot of interesting advice and some nice suggestions on receipes.

#27 China Mieville - The City & TheCity

Genre Science Fiction - 373 pages
your text here 4/5

Brilliant crime story in an alternate reality setting. The story is set in a country similiar to the Soviet Union and starts off with a murder investigation of a young woman. Our main protagonist is Inspector Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad and assigned Officer to the case who lives in Beszel. Very soon it becomes clear that the dead women comes from Ul Quoma which makes everything much more difficult. The two cities, Beszel and Ul Quoma not only exist side by side, but also share some of the same space as well. Roads of both cities cross and overlapp, people go down the road and may see the people of the other city, or a house in Beszel can be next or in the same space as a house in Ul Quoma. However, the people are not allowed to see each other or notice this pecularities, they are trained from childhood to ignore these sightings. If, for whatever reason they do notice and act on it it is against law, against "Breach" and you get punished - you can disappear and have your memory wiped and none are any wiser.
To find the murder of the young woman Inspector Borlu has to cross into Ul Quoma and work together with the crime squad over there. He is very determined and does not give up to solve this murder.

Brilliantly written, with an easy flow to it. I found this story very engaging and can only recommend it to anyone who likes it a bit "weird".

#28 David Wolfe - Naked Chocolate

Genre: Non-Fiction - 248 pages
Rating: 3.5/5

Actually, I was slightly dissapointed. I love raw chocolate and tried already many different nice receipes and especially this book has been lots of times recommended to me. The book has got a great history on chocolate, which was really interesting.
I just was dissapointed about the receipes. Quite a few of these ingredients are either very difficult to obtain, or very expensive, although the pics of the dishes just looked fab. However, out of these 60+ receipes only 1/3 would be okay to make. The other thing I have to say about this book is that, both, David Wolfe and Shazzie come along as very preachy and "Oh yeah, we live on cloud 7". But then again, they are both "Food Rawists" and these people very often appear to live on another planet. :)

I loved your review of The City and The City. It's in my 'soon' pile.

Hi Lucy, I am sure this is a book you would like. Until I started reading it I did not realize that it is some kind of SF/Fantasy murder mystery. The plots and character's are very straight forward, nothing complicated there. Definately a good read.

Glad you enjoyed The City and the City - one of my favourites.

29# John Wyndham - The Chrysalids

Genre: Science Fiction - 208 pages
Rating: 4.5/5

What a great book. This was a re-read after many many years. I read most of Wyndham's books in my late teens and enjoyed them quite a bit. Reading it again, now and in English - makes a difference.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world somewhere in ? North America - in a country called Labrador. Although, never mentioned in the book it appears that this world survived a nuclear holocaust. The people in Labrador are extremely religious and live after very strict rules. They call whatever happenend Centuries before "The Triangulation" and believe that it was God's punishment for their sins. Their world is shaped by mutations and deviations in all living things (humans, animals and plants). Any kind of deviation is perceived as "Blasphemy" and people say these deviations are send by the devil. Humans found with any kind of deviation are either killed or sterilized and send to the "Fringes". These are the areas which have not yet been cultivated and which are full of mutated humans, animals and plant life. The way people live can easily be compared to the lifestile of the late 18th or 19th Century.
The story starts of with David Storm, a 10 year old boy. He and some other children have a hidden mutation - they are all telepathic. As David and his friends grow older they realize, that they also would be considered a "Blasphemy" if people found out about their abilities, so they do everything to hide it. Unfortunately, one day they get found out and they all have to flee. David's youngest sister Petra is an extremely strong telepath and manages to get help from a very advanced telepathic society. It is very interesting to see the journey of these young people into adulthood, trying to adapt within a society which considers them to be a "Blasphemy" and to observe how this shapes their opinions.

Hi Sand Dune - yes, I noticed that you like Mieville as well. I am still waiting for a good deal on Railsea. It's already on my wishlist with Amazon. :)

30# Lewis Carroll - Alice Adventures in Wonderland

Read for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: Children - 256 pages
Rating: 4/5

Again a Classic, lovely little book about growing up and finding one's feet in an adult world. The inventive language - with all their nonsense poems and riddles - and charming fantasy make this a book which ,both, adult and children can enjoy.

31# Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking Glass

Read for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: Children - 121 pages
Rating: 3/5

The second book in the Alice series. Again, a nice little book but for some reason I felt slightly bored in this second book and was unable to engage with the characters as much. The first book is definately my favourite and much more interesting.

#115 I read all of John Wyndham's books as a teenager and in my early twenties - The Chrysalids was my favourite. I've been meaning to go back and reread them for some time.

#32 Guy Gavriel Kaye - Tigana

Genre: Fantasy - 816 pages
Rating: 4/5

What a brilliant book. I was hooked from the first page and got pulled so easily into this story about loss, love and memory.
I just have to say Kaye is such a brilliant storyteller. I have read the The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, and The Darkest Road books a couple of years ago and enjoyed them very much as well.

What can a flame remember? If it remembers a little less than is necessary, it goes out; if it remembers a little more than is necessary, it goes out. If only it could teach us, while it burns, to remember correctly.
George Seferis, “Stratis the Sailor Describes a Man

The story is about a country in the Palm called Tigana. Some 20 years ago a powerful and evil wizard wanted to gain some lands for his eldest son. What he did not bargained with was that the gentle and artistic people of this country would fight back so fiercely, to maintain their freedom. In the course of this war he lost his son, which outraged him so much that he used a powerful spell to wipe the memory of Tigana from everyone's mind not born there. Not one single person within the Palm was able to remember that there was ever such a country as Tigana, even when the name was spoken aloud they were unable to understand anything. Those people native to Tigana became homeless in their own contry and everywhere else, in the truest sense of the word. All of them lost their identity. However, now throw into this mix another tyrannt who conquered the other half of the Palm around the same time and you do have a complex, but political very intruiging story.
Initially we are shown how the people managed to come to terms with these two oppressive rulers. Nevertheless, 20 years later a band of survivors from Tigana and people from the different countries in the Palm rise to the challenge of overcoming this two great evils and regain their freedom and for Tigana the memory.

A great, compelling and heartbreaking book which is not easily put down.

#33 Stuart Hill - The Cry of the Icemark Book one of the Icemark Chronicles

Genre: YA, Fantasy - 512 pages
Rating: 4/5

Another one of my re-reads, and another excellent book. It's more less a military fantasy adventure with lots of different interesting cultures. First we have the people of the Icemark. The majority of these people are like the old-fashioned Vikings and a small part of them are the Hypollitan's which appear to be like the Amazons. We also find Witches, Warlock's and the spring and winter king's of the forrests. Then we meet the Werewolf clans who can speak the human language. In the Ghostlands we meet Vampire's, Ghost's, Ghouls, Trolls and other interesting creatures. Far in the north we have the intelligent, gentle and fierce huge leopard warriors. Then there are the bad guys who appear to be modelled after the Roman Empire - called the Polipontans.

The story starts off with the Polipontans a nasty Empire who invades the Icemark. During the first battle dies the King of the Icemark and leaves his, 14 year old, daughter Thirrin as Queen. She and her, 15 year old, friend Oskan a warlock, go on a quest to recruit all the allies they can find to defeat this massive armie. Although, both are very young they have to mature very quick in order to defend their country and all they love. Again, a beautifully written book, which was very engaging.

Gosh, I have to read The Chrysalids. Tigana is my favorite GGKay so far. And The Cry of the Icemark looks like a good one.

# 119 Sand Dune - Yes, I am planning to re-read all of them as well. I have been able to get my hands on most of them in a Charity Shop. My other planned reads are some of the Kurt Vonnegut which I also read in my late teens and liked very much. I ordered myself now Cat's Craddle, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions.

# 122 Lucy - Tigana was definately better than his Finovar - Tapestry Trilogy and I have been looking already at some of his other books.

# 34 Bram Stoker - Dracula

Read for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: Modern Classics/Classics - 352 pages
Rating: 5/5

Dracula was one of my first "Horror" books I ever read as a teenager, since then I have re-read it several times and I still think it is a great book. Although, doing this above mentioned cours, gave me quite a few new perspectives on this book. It was very interesting to see how many different things people interpreted out of this novel. It definately was very enlightening to read this book with a different focus and this time around I noticed lots of things which were not so obvious to me before. Such as - the fear of foreign influences due to colonialism, the scientific innovations, and I had a closer look at the meaning of sexuality and the changes of the role of women in society in that particular time period.
Again, a great read.

#35 Mary Shelley - Frankenstein

Read for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: Modern Classics/Classics - 236 pages
Rating: 5/5

Another re-read and another one of my earliest "Horror" books I read. Such a great book. I can't help it every time I read this book I feel again so sorry for the "monster". I always feel if Frankenstein would not have abandoned his monster things could have looked slightly different.

Well, this was my first attempt ever at reading some Zombie Novels. Whilst I was recovering from my illness my son managed to convince me to watch with him the first two seasons of the "Walkind Dead". I have to admit I was extremely apprehensive about it. Although, I do like some Horror - Zombies was always sort of *iggh* and I don't need that. Surprisingly I really enjoyed the series and foremost my son surprised me. He figured quite early on that the series is much more than the intended Horror.
However, as I was still recovering and did not want to think too much I thought I try these *grin*



#36 - 40 Mark Tufo - Zombie Fallout

Genre: Horror - all five books together 1686 pages
Rating: Book 01 - 4/5, Book 02 - 4/5, Book 03 - 3.5/5, Book 04 - 3/5, Book 05 2.5/5

Actually, this series had a very promising start and the first two books were really good. The concept of the Zombie-Apocalypse was very good. The author took the swine-flu epidemic from 2010 as a starting point. The jist was that the CDC was under too much pressure and produced "untested" live vaccinations and send them out around the world. However, after the first shots were given they realised their mistake - but unfortunately that was too late. Within 24 hours after the shot 95% of the people died violently with swine-flu, but oh mei, they did not stay dead. We follow a group of survivors on their journey which was in the first two books very interesting, and the author managed to lace a lot of black humor through the stories, especially with the Zombies having some kind of rudemantary intelligence. Unfortunately, the Zombie thrill was not enough for him and so he added an evil female vampire who go infected with the virus and was able to control the Zombie hordes, we also met her immortal (but not vampire) and good brother who travelled with the survivors and was able to know what to do (he had someone telling him in his mind what to do). Well, not enough there within a few weeks the newly? infected Zombies adapted to the necessary requirements to be better than the surviving humans - they changed from the slow moving shuffling Zombies to "sprinters" and in the last book they developed such thick skulls that it was even more difficult to kill them. On top of that the main protaganist became in book four also immortal and acquired more skills? Well, I think this sort of summs it all up and I am sure that you can see how each book got worse and worse, although I finished the last book I was really dissapointed, because the series started off really promising.

# 41 Teri Terry - Slated

Genre: YA, Science Fiction - 448 pages
Rating: 4/5

The reason why I bought this was the blurb and the cover. This book definately did not dissapoint, it was a great read from the beginning to the end, although the ending suggests that there could be another one.
Set in England sometimes in the 2030 Century the society is completely under the thumb of the government. After a economical and financial crash in the 2020 the government had to form a special police force to get on top of all the gang violence and lots of Teenagers got killed in the process. To stop the killing they started a programme which "slated" all young offenders under the age of 16 to give them second chances. "Slating" means their brains get wiped clean of all their memories, but also of their abillities motor skills, speech and any kind of knowledge. So once these kids are "slated" they have to learn everything again, like a small child. Once they are ready to go back into the community, suitable families are found for them. To keep a tight grip on the children all of them become a "Levo" which can't be removed without causing death. This "Levo" reads their happiness levels and once the level's get to low they can pass out and then die.
This story is about Kyla a young teenager who apparently was part of a terrorist group. When she gets re-homed with a new family she adapts easily to her new environment, but also recognises quite early that she is different. She experiences regular flashbacks from her former life and her "Levo" does not work the way it is supposed to work, so she has to hide her puzzlements and her emotions.

This book has a great and scary concept and has a lot of ethical views open to discussion. I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to ? (I am sure) to the next installment.

#42 - Lauren Oliver - Before I Fall

Genre: YA
Rating: 3.5/5

"Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it.
But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know.”

“The last laugh, the last cup of coffee, the last sunset, the last time you jump through a sprinkler, or eat an ice-cream cone, or stick your tongue out to catch a snowflake. You just don't know.”

When I started to read this book I was not quite sure whether I liked it or not, sometimes I just got so frustrated with this book that I wanted to walk away from it. However, despite these mixed feelings the book started to grow on me with each new chapter. This book is about a lot of things. Well, the whole book is like groundhog day - Sam dies during a car crash, and re-lives the same day again and again. We are shown that she belongs to a very cruel group of High School girls who are absolutely and sometimes disgustingly mean. For me this was a very schocking experience, although I am very much aware that school life in higher education schools can be like that. However, to wake up every single day on the same day, Sam eventual reflects on her life, her behaviour and examines her group of friends much more closely. She experiments with different things and observes the results. On one side I found the book very frustrating and annoying and at other times I needed to ensure that I had a tissue handy.
Maybe, not my most favourite read, but definately a good one.

You've got a stronger stomach than me if you can watch Waking Dead. I lasted about three or four episodes and then had to give up. I've always been really squeamish about that sort of thing.

I wasn't a big fan of Before I Fall. It was frustrating, like you said. Also, I felt that Oliver borrowed a lot of her incidents from 80's teen movies, which made it very predictable to me.

> 129 SandDune - *grin* as I said, I surprised myself that I actually liked the series because I can be quite squeamish. However, I don't want my son to watch anything like that by himself and I like to talk with him about these things and he started watching this series whilst he was in London at his nan's house.

> 130 Hibernator - I felt the same about the book, it reminded me a lot of the movies they made in the 80's. Very often I just felt annoyed at their behavior. And at the end of the day, did the decisions she made really change anything for Lindsay? I don't think so. It was her who relived every single day and not her friends, so why should change anything for anyone else. Although, by the end of the book I felt that it was not the purpose anymore, that the purpose was that she had to change.

#43 Jo Walton - Among Others

Genre: YA, Fantasy - 304 pages
Rating: 4/5

A brilliant book for anyone who loves SF and Fantasy. When I finished this book I felt that this book was more less a homage for anyone who loves to read and to librarians. It's written for people who love books and get stuck in the world of stories, and try to inhale them like myself.
For anyone who likes the epostilary writing style - that's the book for you. The story is set in 1970's to 1980 in Wales and England and evolves around Mor a surviving twin. The story is more less about life itself and not about a plot. We meet Morwenna (Mor), a 15 year old girl, after she survived a car accident which crippled her, and took her twin sister away from her. The tragic event was ment to stop her insane and ?"evil" mother. It's about fairies and magic, the longing for someone like yourself. The book is written in the form of a diary, where we can see how Mor views the life around her. Her shaky alliances with the girls on the bording school and with her father she just met. Her father's sisters, she believes to be witches. Her nightmares about her mother who is insane and dabbles in magic far to big for her. Woven throughout this story we find all the great science fiction classics and fantasy books of that time. Such as Tolkien, Le Guin, Vonnegut, Heinlein, Delany, Clarke, Asimov, McCaffery and many many more. However, as I read quite a few of these authors I felt how this book resonated with me more and more. Books are the most important thing in Mor's life. For her the books are a way to explain and understand the world around her. Once she discovers that there are much more people like herself, it becomes like a revelation to her. She finally finds her feet in life and learns to deal with her traumas.

I thought this was a great book. However, even so that this is a YA book I can't quite see how this will appeal to the younger generation as the whole book is centered around all the science fiction and fantasy classics. There are not many teenagers out there who are familiar with the authors. There were even quite a view references on books I had to look up myself.

*SIGH* finally I caught up with all my reading.




July

#13 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun
#14 Fadia Faqir - The Cry of the Dove
#15 Hillary Jordan - When She Woke
#16 Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner
#17 Peter Menzel - Man Eating Bugs: Art and Science of Eating Insects
#18 Shaun Tan - Tales from Outer Suburbia
#19 Judita Wignall - Going Raw
#20 Neil Gaiman - Instructions
#21 Tatyana Hill - Soap
#22 Paolo Bacigalupi - The Windup Girl
#23 Carol Schiller, David Schiller - 500 Formulas for Aromatherapy: Mixing Essential Oils for Every Use
#24 Alice Hoffman - The Dovekeepers
#25 Grimm (Jacob & Wilhelm) - Household Stories. From the collection of the Brothers Grimm. Translated from the German by Lucy Crane
#26 Gill Farrer-Halls - The Aromatherapy Bible: The Definitive Guide to Using Essential Oils
#27 China Mieville - The City & The City
#28 David Wolfe - Naked Chocolate
#29 John Wyndham - The Chrysalids

August

#30 Lewis Carroll - Alice Adventures in Wonderland
#31 Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking Glass
#32 Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana
#33 Stuart Hill - The Cry of the Icemark Book one of the Icemark Chronicles
#34 Bram Stoker - Dracula
#35 Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
#36 - 40 Mark Tufo - Zombie Fallout - five books in the series
#41 Teri Terry - Slated
#42 Lauren Oliver - Before I Fall
#43 Jo Walton - Among Others

>131 drachenbraut23: I'm glad you agree. I said that to someone else about this book and she told me she wasn't alive in the 80's. Makes me feel old. ;)

I found this article in the "Green Dragon" group and thought it was really good. The article probably has got already dust all over but I thought some people might not have seen it.

Why finish Books?

A very good question. I stopped finishing each book several years ago, because I felt there are too many good books I still like to read. *Sigh* I only need to look at my TBR pile here and all the other books at home not catalogued yet. However, I remember that I always used to finish a book however boring, flat or even horrible.

You're reading some really good books at the moment. I've seem Among Others strongly recommended on a few threads now so I went to order it at my local bookshop yesterday.

> Thanks SandDune - You're reading some really good books at the moment - I am glad to hear there are some books which appeal to you.

I know my taste in books is very eclectic and depends very much on how I feel. Usually, I go through patches of particular types of books. :)

I read in Hibernator's thread that you are doing Dracula in your next literature class as well and I am curious on your thoughts on him :D , I hope you enjoy this next part of your literature class.

#44 H.G. Wells - The Island of Dr Moreau

Read for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: 1001 Books, Classic Literature, Science Fiction - 176 pages
Ratin: 3.5/5

Another reread for me, as I read quite a lot of Wells in my late teens and early twenties. Still an enjoyable classic which explores science, surgery, morality and the nature of god. The topic reminds me a lot of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. We follow Pendrick who is rescued after a ship wreck, and then finds himself on an isolated island with two scientists in a medical compound. The story is told through Pendrick eyes, and you can feel all the fear, disgust and horror in his voice. Dr. Moreau practices vivisection to transform animals into humans, by modifying both, their physical appearance and improved mental workings, which in turn gives them the ability of speech and some mental reasoning. His justification is that there is a need to perfect his surgical skills, to ? ultimately improve the suffering of human beings with deformities. Once, he finished the vivisection and these human/animal hybrids don't fulfil his expectations, they are cast aside. The hybrids he cast aside are kept in check by way of an instilled law he achieved through some kind of ? hypnosis. This law has the purpose that the hybrids don't go back to their animal ways, and that they accept Dr. Moreau as their creator. In the end the animal side of these hybrids win's, and they manage to take revenge at their creator and his assistant. Pendrick survives and is still stuck on the island for several months, before he can flee himself.

All in all a complex and thought provoking story.

I think Among Others is for those of us who have never bothered growing up entirely...... but I agree with you, I can't imagine a YA reader being interested unless they've read and appreciate some of these older books.

I've never liked zombie stuff at all. The occasional vampire book can work, but v. rarely.

You are probably right about that: those of us who have never bothered growing up entirely
*grin*. I definately belong STILL in this catecory.

I have never ever liked Zombie stuff at all. If it would not have been for my son, I would not have bothered, but I feel terrible obliged to watch and read stuff with him. Especially if it is aimed at a slightly older population. Recently, I found it a bit more difficult to be in control of what he is watching - and sometimes I am seriously shocked - a lot of his friends (some even younger) are allowed to watch whatever they want. I always used to be very strict about stuff like that - well maybe it's just me - but a lot of the mums here in Germany are not bothered at all.

I'm sure your son is a lot older than my kids, but if I don't monitor what mine watch, they get nightmares. Several years ago, my then-5 year old used to get nightmares after watching 'Scooby Doo', which he loved, and which seems fairly innocuous. I think it was all the 'ghosts' and 'monsters'. So I limit it to G- and PG-rated shows, but now my younger one (who wants to do all the same things) has started having nightmares.

My son is 13 now. I used to do the same as you, I remember he was absolutely scared of Mathilda by Roald Dahl and E.T. until he was about 8 years old. Therefore I always checked what is suitable for him and tried to discuss the things he was scared of. However, now that he is more independent he spends a lot of time round his friends houses. I stopped him going to one of his friends (he is 12), because his mum allows him to watch movies, and play games which are 18. When I challenged her about that she got all cross with me and asked me if I would live on planet pink. Well, that was the end of my son's visits there, and actually he was quite relieved, because he felt pressured into watching particular movies he did not want to watch. I mean - why would you let young children watch "Saw" and other horrible movies like that. I can't even watch that - *blush* I am far to squimish.

Actually he is quite a "sissy" at present. He had an accident in school last Thursday and injured his right leg (nothing major). The Dr. told him to rest his leg for 2-3 days and use crutches. Well, today is Monday and he refuses to walk and is still hopping around with his crutches.

ET was scary...that part where he turned all white! Yikes!

*giggle* we never came that far. His Dad tried the movie once a year with him, and each single time at no more then 5 min. into the movie my son started to scream - and I mean scream.

It's sometimes hard to predict what the wee ones will be afraid of - I try to screen stuff before I let Charlie watch it, and I know that I'm quite a bit over-protective in this area because when I was little I had lots of trouble sleeping at night because of nightmares and such and I want to shield him from that as much as possible. But sometimes he'll be scared of something that really surprises me, and the few times that has happened I've tried to do what you do - talk it through with him - and it seems to make things better. I hope.

> scaifea - Agreed - sometimes it is very hard to predict what they are aftraid of and I had the same experience with Alex and some of his friends when they were little. I always felt, even now, that it does help a lot to talk about what makes them scared. To be honest, sometimes I was so surprised by his answers. Yes, and I do believe that talking helps and I always had/have the impression that it makes things better.

Did Darryl encourage you to join in reading the Wellcome Trust Prize? He made a thread over in the Medicine group (as well as making a comment on his own thread, as you may have seen). http://www.librarything.com/topic/141796

Thought I'd let you know in case you're interested.

*wink* thank you for the link. I saw the list on his thread, but did not look to closely at it yet. I have been watching this group awhile, and thought it was quite interesting.

*AAAh* finally, I was able to convince my son today to just walk with one crutch. There were a lot of "Mum, I can't - can you not see - I will fall and it hurts - I don't want to walk without crutches they are comfortable - they are cool - COOL? - I am still injured - finally, this evening he decided he actual CAN do without crutches, with his comments - Mmh, yes it looks like my leg works again, actually it does not hurt that much anymore.

*Sigh - and bigger sigh*

haha

141 - I had EXACTLY the same problem with my daughter -- she seemed to be enjoying it, it seemed innocuous enough and then she started being afraid of windows at night and other things and we figured out it was Scooby.

It's so hard to keep any kind of control over what teens read and watch -- there's always some know-it-all who knows about the worst stuff and encourages others. Our daughter (16) now knows how to stream just about anything and we really can't supervise her every minute. She knows our values, she also knows how frightened she can get if something is weird or scary, so I think (hope) she self-regulates and that is all I can do - we controlled it for as long as we could. In two years she'll be off at college, so I'd like now, to see how she regulates herself at home, I guess. We actually turn off the internet at night usually, so that takes care of that.

>149 drachenbraut23:, 151: KIDS!! We've not had any crutches yet, but the least scrape, however forgotten in all the rumpus, suddenly becomes a debilitating injury at bath time. My youngest scraped his knee a couple of days ago, so he asked me to be careful bathing him that night. The next day, I'd forgotten about it, and he certainly didn't look injured, but come bath time ... there it was again.

As for streaming, it's only because he doesn't know how to spell yet that my 3 year old doesn't surf You Tube at will. My 8 year old certainly can; in fact he's the one who introduced his brother to the concept, before which my computer was very rarely used for it. Even I still don't use You Tube as much as either of them.

> 150 INDEED - we are back to ONE crutch this morning - apparently he re-injured his leg yesterday evening, BECAUSE I made him do without.

> 151 My son is great at regulating himself at home, it is just that with the peer pressure he sometimes feels, he has to watch something with them. I am still working on that problem, as it looks at present he started to gain more confidence in saying "NO" to his mates, if he doesn't want to watch anything. I think beeing a teenager nowadays can be really hard.

> 152 *laugh* YES, that are kids for you. Even at 13 my son can be like that. My son is a great you Tube fan as well. I am aware that there can be some useful things on it. However, I don't really use it either.

We seem to have gone through a difficult phase in deciding what J can watch or not watch. Until this year I was trying to keep films to a 12, but that was giving us a real problem in terms of what we could actually watch, as most of the films that I thought would appeal to all of us were actually a 15. Then I realised that several TV programmes which we has been watching for some time were rated 15 as well, so I've relaxed a bit now. I'll usually look at the reason that a film was rated 15 first, but I've realised that often it's just because of the language used, which doesn't really worry me.

When J was small I was quite relaxed about the sort of fantasy scariness that a lot of parents worried about. What I didn't like him watching were soaps: they just seem to present such a depressing view of life.

Something that I try to do with Charlie when we talk about what scares him is *not* to say, "Oh, there's nothing to be scared of." My parents did that to me and it's Not Helpful! Clearly I did think there was something to be scared of or I wouldn't have been scared! So I try to acknowledge that, yes, I can see how you might think that's scary, now let's talk about how to make it better. I still feel like I'm failing him sometimes when he's scared, but it's hard sometimes to figure out how to help them not be.

Hi--just popped in to check out your thread.

I really enjoyed your review of Among Others. I saw on another thread that it was just announced as the 2012 Hugo winner.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/sample-the-best-science-fiction-of-the-year...

And your review of The Windup Girl has tipped the scale for me in finally putting that one on my wishlist.

I was in a bit of a rush, but I meant to add : the talking thing isn't working for us. When my 3 year old wakes up with bad dreams, he keeps calling for me until I go to their room, and then he tells me he's had a bad dream. So then I try to talk about it, but all he really wants to do is go back to sleep, poor baby. Well, he doesn't always remember them in the morning. I think, once he's awake, he just wants me to be in the room for the comfort factor. :-)

And, to get back on topic, I'm seeing Among Others a lot; I'll keep an eye out for it.

So, so, many good books that I can't even comment on all of them! Many of them I've read and loved, like The Chrysalids and Tigana. The latter quite possibly making it on my all time favourite book list. A number of the books are on my WL or already shamefully just sitting on my shelves waiting their turn. Thanks for all the great reviews!

> 154 I can understand the difficulty you had with J. Actually, I hardly ever watch television, but my son loves to watch. I agree, a lot of movies or series are 15 because of bad language, something I am not to bothered about either. My son loves to watch comedies and a fair amount of them are 15, but that's fine with me and not necessary anything I would watch together with him.

> 156 hi streamsong, thank you for visiting my thread. I had a look at the Hugo nominations, and also Among Others is a great book, I am really suprised that Embassytown by China Mieville did not make it. That was one my favourite reads this year. However, maybe some people felt that it was to dense, as it is not as action ladden.

> 157 I agree, with such a little one as you have "the talking thing" does not work at the time they are scared - all they want then is a big hug, cuddles, kisses and go back to sleep. And if he does not remember his dreams in the morning - nothing to talk about.

I thought this poem is so lovely - and describes exactely how most of us feel about our little ones.

There are tiny little fingers pressed against my cheek, and the palm of the hand that holds all my dreams.

There is a careful little grimace directed right at me, and the expression of innocence that grabs me every time.

There is a pair of big brown eyes that light up in the dark, and the window to a soul that knows only truth.

There are clumsy little legs dancing to a tune, and a chubby little bottom to break their every fall.

There is a babble and some laughter coming from my room, and the sounds of heaven right here in my home.

There is chaos in the kitchen, and toys all down the hall, a reminder to us all that time is so precious.

There are cookie crumbs on the table, and milk spilled on the carpet, but an image of simplicity and joy came with the mess.

There are car keys in the toilet and the unmistakable sense my life is full.

There are two boys fast asleep, just in the other room, and a mother who's convinced that wonders never cease.

When I read this - I just felt this is so cute.

>159 jolerie: Well, thanks - I had earlier a look at your books and was mightily impressed, again. :)

Aw, that very nearly made me sob right out loud! Lovely.

>160 drachenbraut23: : That's beautiful, thank you. And so absolutely accurate, down to the mess and the two boys fast asleep.

>161 scaifea: : ditto

>160 drachenbraut23: What a beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Is that what happened to my car keys?

Seriously, thank you.

Nice one drachenbraut:)

Hope you have a great weekend.

scaifea, humouress, Lucy, kidzdoc - glad to see you enjoyed the poem *grin*. Usually I am not a great fan of poems - but this one is really really cute.

calm - Thank you for the nice weekend wishes. :)

#45 H.G. Wells - I only read the "The Star"

Read for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 2/5

I have read this story for the Coursera cours. This is an apocalyptic short story written in 1897. Although, the topic is quite upsetting this story didn't really do it for me.

>167 drachenbraut23: Although I was impressed with "The Star" for the ending, I was surprised at the great amount of praise people heaped upon it on the forum. I guess I'm sort of ambivalent about the story. I didn't enjoy reading it, but I enjoyed having read it. :D

#46 H.G. Wells - The Country of the Blind - In only read the Country of the Blind

Read for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 4/5

This is a short story, I very much enjoyed. Although written in 1904 the overall topic of the story remains very modern.
The story is about a man who survives a climbing accident and finds himself then in a mountain valley where the whole population is congenital blind. He feels he is superior as he has the abillity of sight. The valley people feel they are superior, because he does not fit their community. As they don't have a concept of "blindness" and "sight" they think he is mad. I thought this story explains nicely the intolerance and difficulties in regards to cultural diversities and in general about expectations in society.

.....................................................................................
Here, my essay for the cours, it is not brilliant but I think it is okay. I find it very hard to put my thoughts in JUST 320 word.

"The Country of the Blind" contains a variety of deeper meanings on different levels. However, I would like to explore some of the aspects of social cultural anthropology, a dominant topic within this story.

Nunez, who survives a climbing accident, finds himself in a valley, which is entirely isolated from the rest of the world. In this story, he is pictured as blatant opposite of the valley inhabitants that are all congenital blind.

Recognizing their blindness and isolation he is particularly taken with his supposed superiority, and continually repeats the proverb: "In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King". He fails miserably to convince the valley people of their "Blindness" and his superior "Sight". Nunez has nothing valuable to offer to this people, despite his ability to "see". With his attitude, Nunez demonstrates the arrogance of people who think they know (are) better than people from a different background. In this context, it is Nunez who is the BLIND one, and who has the audacity not to appreciate how much is known by others in their own terms.

Notwithstanding, one could certainly read this story as a narrative about the parochialism and bigotry of a closed community, which refuses to acknowledge anything which they don't already know. Considering that they have no concept of blindness or sight, they simply feel that Nunez is "mad". Especially, because he does not "see" things as they do. Their response to this madness is to assign him the lowest place in their society. To become an acknowledged member of this society, Nunez is required to undergo surgery and sacrifice his sight, after some consideration he abjures that option and decides to flee.

Looking at Nunez and the valley people's viewpoints it show's although we "see" (perhaps), while other don't see, does not mean automatically, that we also SEE what they lack and what needs others have. This story shows how the powers of culture can disable.

#47 H.G.Wells - The invisible Man

Read for the Coursera cours - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: 1001 Books, Science Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

Another reread for me. Again one of those books I read in my late teens. Being more mature now. I can see and understand the story much better. Wells created a dark story, which has a nice creepy build up.
The story shows how the single- minded pursuit of science, can become someone's downfall. The main protagonist the scientist Griffin is, throughout the book, potrait as completely amoral and slides more and more into madness. However, because of that it is very difficult to even feel pitty or any kind of sympathy towards Griffin. Definately a good read and it was worth reading it again.

Good essay! :) I don't know if you were reading the forums but SPOILERS for The Country of the Blind one person pointed out that in 1939 Wells revised the ending of the story so that Nunez noticed a crack in the mountain which meant that the mountain was about to collapse and destroy the village. He warned and warned, but no one listened because they thought he was crazy. So the mountain collapsed and he and his girl escaped into the real world with his girl. For me that changed the meaning of the story.

When I read the story as it was in the assignment, it seemed that Nunez and the village were equally "wrong" because Nunez was trying to force concepts on the villagers that they didn't need and were unhelpful (except as an exercise in imagination), and the village refused to have any imagination and accused Nunez as being crazy. In the second version, Nunez was a visionary who was warning a blind culture that if they continued to ignore the world's warnings disaster would occur. I don't know if that was Wells' intention to begin with. But I sort of like the first version better, because I think they're both wrong. :) Or maybe I like it better because I read it first! :)

Yes, I read about the other versions as well, but have not read them. However, I really enjoyed this one, because it showed so clearly that both were wrong and intolerant.
Although, the second version sounds quite interesting as well, especially as I got the impression that they were very fond of each other, despite their differences.

However, one of the students reviewing my essay stated that he felt that my idea of accusing both parties of intolerance is "quite far fetched". I still got a four for this essay, but people again complained that my sentences are too long winded.
In general, I have to say that I have been very lucky so far, because I received a lot of very constructive feedback.

Hahaha, it's NOT quite far-fetched! Quite far-fetched would be something like...oh...interpreting Nunez as having an Oedipal complex. ;) Our peer reviewers are rather funny sometimes.

>169 drachenbraut23: : Nice review. I've never read that story, so it tells me quite a bit about it. I usually read things at face value, so I might not have seen those points (once I read it) without your review. Maybe the other student is like that?

Bianca - i have noticed you kicking up a storm across the threads in the last few months and, looking at the extent of your impressive reading, I can understand why!
Trust that you are having a lovely weekend.
btw I am so pleased that you loved Half of a Yellow Sun as I had it down as my favourite read of last year.

Nice review of The Country of the Blind, Bianca. I'm downloading the free version of The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories onto my Kindle now.

> Hibernator - Yes, that's true. The peer reviews can be a bit funny at times. Last night I noticed that you actually ment 'course', that I forgot to put the 'e' on the end. *grin*

> humouress - thank you. I don't always see what's behind a story. If a meaning doesn't slap me straight into the face, I am usually very ignorant. However, I am not always that critical in what I am reading anyway, as long as I enjoy the story and achieve the entertainment effect I desire. :) That was one of the reasons that I signed up for the course - to get a different perspective on reading - so far, so good. I have to say that I appreciate the course very much.

> Hello Paul - thank you for visiting my thread. Yes, I love Half of a Yellow Sun and it is definately one of my favourite reads this year. Some but not all of my other favourites this year so far are:

American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Heart's Blood - Juliette Marrillier
Embassytown - China Mieville
Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka, one of my regular rereads
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
Never let me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami
1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
The Book of Human Skin - Michelle Lovric
The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffmann

> kidzdoc - I am sure you will enjoy The Country of the Blind, I am still planning to read the other short stories as well.

My son will go on his first class trip next year in May, since starting secondary school. They are going to go to the "Sauerland" for a week, for hiking, climbing and other activities. The teacher told us that it is going to be half-board and always five children will share an apartment. Lunch, they have to cook by themselves, so he suggested to start cooking with our kids. *laugh*
So, yesterday my son prepared his first meal himself. He loves "Arme Ritter" at weekends, so I explained to him which ingredients and what equipment he needs, and how to prepare it. I have to say it was really fun. Especially, his clumsy attempts at cracking the eggs LOL. However, he managed well - and didn't burn them - or himself - whilst frying them, and he was extremely proud of himself.

This is what "Arme Ritter" usually looks like.

Okay, high time to catch up again. So many great reviews!
I am impressed you made it through Zombie books!

Classics: Actually last weekend when I was going through the small selection of childrens' books on my shelves I considered rereading Alice in Wonderland, your review encouraged me further.

And Dracula... another book I should revisit some time, it's about 20 years since I read it.
I had my issues with Frankenstein though.
I read The Island of Dr Moreau and I should get to some of Wells' other works, some are on the 1,001 list and they are quite quick reads.

I don't remember anything scary about Mathilda (book/movie), but I just read The BFG and I am sure there are some scenes in the book small children might find terribly scary. E.T. bored me to death when I first saw it aged 10. I guess I was the only kid not crying in the movie theater. And I had brought so many tissues.

The mother of your son's friend let them watch "Saw"? That's horrible. I wouldn't watch it if you paid me.

Edit: I never made Arme Ritter. And now I want some! :-)

Arme Ritter looks like French toast; yum!

I second Darryl's "yum"!

I was about to ask if it's the same as French toast, too.

The other day I let my oldest fry an egg with no interference (only supervision) from me, and he did a good job. Then I wondered what I'd opened the door to; so I hastily put in all the rules and regulations, a bit in hindsight.

He's been interested in cooking for a long time. When I was expecting my second baby, he (the older one!) would 'cook'; he'd crack an egg or two in a bowl, and then add all kinds of interesting ingredients, like tomato sauce and sugar. They were weird mixtures, and the only thing we could do with them was make omelettes. We make things together like basic pasta, where I put the pan on the fire and manage that part, but he (and now the younger one wants to stick his oar in, too ^-^) cuts up baby tomatoes with a butter knife and mixes it with olive oil and herbs. Once I've drained the pasta, he can mix it all up. I haven't let him use sharp knives or cook on the fire (before) - but looking at Australian Junior Masterchef, I'm a long way behind the curve! Mind you, I can't cook as well as those kids.

I like it over here. I'm starring you. Lots of H.G. Wells! I haven't ready any for ages, but my son recently read War of the Worlds and liked it.

My son loves to cook, and he's pretty good at it. It's just that he makes an enormous mess. :)

I made the mistake of reading your whole thread and added several books to my pile. Sigh. There is no end to the TBR pile.

Hi Nathalie - Oh yes, the Zombie books - as you probably noticed already I read a large variety of books - and now it was time to give it a go at Zombies.

The BFG is a wonderful book - you may even would like to watch the cartoon. Lovely.
Alex was never scared of the BFG, but terrified of Mathilda (apparently the nasty teacher scared him to bits).
I never was a great fan of E.T. either, and I didn't need any tissues. Although, I remember a lot of my friends did.
I wouldn't watch "Saw" even if you paid me. I do enjoy some horror, but something like Saw? I only say "horrible". You would be surprised what some of Alex friends are allowed to watch and play and when they come round our house, they seriously try to discuss that either with myself or with my mum. LOL :-).

"Arme Ritter" are extremely easy - and delicious.

Hello Daryll, Amber - Thank you. I actually think that "Arme Ritter" is the same as French toast.

Huhu humouress - "Australian Junior Masterchef" I think I have to check that out. Kids are better at cooking than us? *laugh*
When, I still lived in London I used to cook much more with my son, but somehow he wasn't that interested anymore. But now, his interest is rekindled and I will take advantage of it. And to be honest, it's so much fun to cook with kids.

Hello nittnut - thank you for visiting my thread. I think I saw in the other thread that your son is 14? So, just a year older than mine. I hope that my son will start to enjoy cooking as well (but hopefully not with too much mess). *grin*
Oh yeah - mentioning TBR piles. Before I joined LT three years ago my TBR pile was never larger than 60 books (and that would have been already a huge pile), now - I got a Kindle two years ago + all the reviews here :( my TBR pile has grown to 468 books. Which would mean I am not allowed to buy any more books for at least 3 years.

In view of that I deceided to join the BOMBS group.

#48 Stuart Hill - Blade of Fire

Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating: 4/5

This is the second installment in the Icemark Chronicles and it was as good as the first one. Set 20 years after the first book, Queen Thirrin and the Warlock Oskan are happily married and have five children.
Again the Icemark is threatened by the Polypontian Empire and again all the allies ralley their armies to fight, to maintain their freedom. Shaley the youngest of the five children is send into exile with the refugees of the Icemark, because due to Polio in childhood he could not become an Icemark warrior.Where Shaley is cute, his older sister Madea is evil and mad. She is the only one who inherited Oskan's magic, but unfortunately decides to go the dark pathway, this development gives the story another extra twist. Again Stuart Hill manages to introduce new cultures into the picture and manages to create a vivid and engaging story. Despite his mild disabillity, Shaley manages to win new and unexpected allies whilst in exile, and even fulfills his dream in becoming a warrior. Eventually he leads the allies back to the Icemark to help to defend his homeland.
This was another brilliant read and I am looking forward to read the third installment.

#49 Edgar Rice Burroughs - A Princess of Mars

Read for the Coursera course - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: Classics, Science Fiction
Rating: 2.5/5

This is what another reviewer wrote:

Old-school pulpy goodness. Fun classic full of manly adventures and good cheesy romance between an awesomely manly man John Carter (did I mention manly?) and a scantily-clad beautiful (and at necessary times appropriately helpless) princess Dejah Thoris among the red landscapes of Mars Barsoom.

I wholeheartedly agree with that statement, and there is not much I would like to add to. The book was definately worth the read and the concept was interesting. Although, I did not care much for the princess and I just thought there wasn't very much to her. However, I did like his "dog" Woola and I liked the Character of Sola - I thought she could have had a bigger part, as she was by far, more interesting than the princess - and quite enjoyed the parts with the other green Martians. All in all it was about endless battles, small and large and John Carter always being the hero. Sort off, him showing the cruel Martians the meaning of friendship, kindness, loyalty, and love. I felt the story was very much in the style of Robert E. Howard's Conan. Although, I enjoyed the Conan series far more :-).

>186 drachenbraut23: : So now I know the origins of green Martians, John Carter (I wondered where Disney had got him from) and dejah thoris's screen name. Obviously worth a read.

As for Junior Masterchef, those kids are amazing! I suspect they get more leeway than the adult Masterchef contenders, but I think they could give them a run for their money. I only watched the first series, and the kids (towards the end, anyway) were aged 8 - 13 years.

Hi Bianca, just delurking:) That Coursera course does look interesting maybe I'll have a look and see what else they have coming up.

Hope you had a great weekend and that everything is well with you and yours.

Finally got a chance to catch up with you Bianca!
Love your list of favourite reads up there! I notice you are a fan of Gaiman. :) I read American Gods and Neverwhere. The former was unimpressive to me, but the latter blew me away so I'm definitely game for trying out more of his books.

Your reviews remind me that I need to try out some of H. G. Wells books since SF is one of my favourite genres.

Bianca, I see you and speak so often on other threads that I thought I had been visiting yours regularly. I guess not!
You have a lot of good things going on over here and a number of interesting books! (I really enjoyed The Floating Book and think that you would love it too!) Good reviews!!!
And I've quite enjoyed the discussion of dealing with children's fears from the perspective of the childless. I'll be back!

Argh. Added another series to my wish list - appropriate for September, I suppose. I really like the look of the Icemark Chronicles. Great review.

My son is nearly 14. He will be 14 in December. Even though I know how old he is, I sometimes absentmindedly up his age a little. It's actually a bit of a family joke. He's just over 6 ft tall and about 160 lbs. so more the size of a 17 year old. LOL. Eats like there's no tomorrow, so it's good he cooks for himself now and then.

My son recently watched John Carter and said it was "Just OK." My brother in law is a huge Burroughs fan and he said the Disney version was a huge disappointment. While I enjoy fantasy and don't mind some sci-fi thrown in, I am less fond of Science Fiction overall, so I've never attempted to read any Burroughs.

Another new visitor here! Lurking and enjoying the discussion.

We watched (or rather tried to watch) 'John Carter' last week. Even the 12 year old only lasted about 40 minutes before suggesting that we watched something else instead!

I've realised that I need to do some more cooking lessons for J as well. When I was at work the other day he attempted to make cheese on toast. Rather than toasting the bread and then grilling the cheese on top, it seemed that he had tried to fry cheese on ryvita crackers in a frying pan. It didn't go according to plan apparently!

>187 humouress: - hi humouress The Princess of Mars definately worth a read, also I have not interest in reading the rest of the series. Considering that it was written in 1917, I think he's concepts and the description of the Martian society were interesting.
AND I definately have to check out this "Junior Masterchefs".

> 188 - hi Calm - the Coursera offers are definately worth checking out. The courses all for free. This course in particular is very interesting, also the peer review system is somewhat lacking. Nevertheless, it's fun to follow the discussions in the forum and the video instructions are very interesting.

>189 jolerie: - hi jolerie - yes, I got hooked on Neil Gaiman - I had his books for ages on my TBR pile and finally came around reading them this year Anansi Boys the book after American Gods is even better. I also used to read his Sandman Graphic Novels years and years back, and just got myself the first few volumes and started to reread them.

> 190 - *waving* at LizzieD - thank you for visiting me. I very much enjoyed your review on the book and it is still on the top of my want to read books.

>191 nittnut: - hello nittnut - *big round eyes* your son is THAT tall at 14? Wow, did you need to get a second fridge to be able to feed him? *laugh*, one of my younger brothers is 198 cm tall, skinny and always hungry - when we eat one portion, he eats three. My son is alway's hungry as well, until he was eight years old, he was skinny and a faddy eater - and than he discovered that food is absolutely great - now at thirteen he almost looks like a little Buddha and we have to pace his eating desires.

The reviews of "John Carter" were not good, so I have not bothered watching the movie.

The Icemark Chronicles are definately worth reading. The stories are well excecuted and especially the different kind of people are well described, I am already looking forward to the 3rd installment. Which is waiting for me already, when I go back to London by end of this month.

> 192 - hello lindsacl, you are welcome to lurk :) and thank you for visiting here.

>193 SandDune: - Hello SandDune - LOL and LOL - yes, I suggest you may start to introduce some cooking lessons. THAT this approach did not go to plan, well - one more lesson learned - but to try to fry "Ryvita". I am sitting here now, trying to picture J at his attempt. Sooory, but I have to *giggle*.

You know, I watched John Carter yesterday, and I didn't think it was too bad. I was primed by a guy on my blog who told me that the movie kept the spirit of pulp and that he really liked the movie. I suppose having that in mind helped me to enjoy it. If I hadn't read the book, though, I think the movie would have been really stupid. There are certain things that are explained in the book and taken for granted in the movie--like the fact that in the movie he goes to Mars and suddenly learns how to speak Martian. All he says is "I can understand you now!" hahaha In the book he was TAUGHT the language. :)

I suppose I think most movies are a little silly, though. I prefer reading. I don't even own a TV. :)

Haha. It is challenging to keep his tummy full. He eats all the time. We stock up on pasta, peanut butter and chocolate milk, especially when he is in the competitive swimming season. Sometimes he will eat 1 pound of pasta a day. You can see a photo of him here - if you scroll down - http://www.librarything.com/topic/136534. In fact, you will find photos of all my kids eventually over there. :)
I don't know where he puts all the food.

Hi There

Back up to post #99, I believe The Dove Keepers is a book Kath highly recommended and liked.

Happy Day to you!

That sounds like fun -- the first cooking lesson with your son. I find these school trips do cause the kids to leap forward in small ways, if that makes sense.

> 196 - hi Hibernator, exactly what I watched with my son last night. We had such an exhausting day yesterday - hours at the hospital, because his knee is still not ok, so he required an MRI, afterwards we visited his great grandmother who has been in hospital for a week now (at least it was the same hospital) - so he felt that I needed to watch a movie with him as a treat :)
And what a surprise (after all the negative reviews) - we both loved the movie, I watched it differently, always keeping in mind that this is supposed to be a Pulp movie. I actually thought that the adaptation of the book was even better, because the princess had more "umpf", Sola played a bigger part and we just loved Woola. And we both couldn't stop giggling after he said "I understand you" after he was forced to drink the "voice of Barsoon" and how he was treated like the other little "green little fellows" we were only waiting for the nappy and the pacifier. Although, Alex was very surprised that this is actually a Disney movie, he said it is untypical to make movies which contain so much violence and blood. I couldn't comment on that, I don't think I watched as many Disney movies.

Like yourself I hardly ever watch tv. I didn't own one for several years.

And here a pic from the adorable Woola



>197 nittnut: - hello nittnut, your boy looks so georgeous and sooo tall. Well, if he is that tall and so sporty, he probably will need even more food. *grin*

> 198 - Hallo Linda, so nice to see that you are better and able to get proper back into reading again. I hope things will carry on nicely for you. I carry on sending lots of positive thoughts all the way across the ocean. :)

The Dovekeepers was a wonderful book, which I can only recommend.

>199 sibylline: - Hello Lucy - yes, the cooking was really fun, something what we will repeat more often, from now on - I agree with you, I really think school trips and other trips (without us parents) help children definately to become more independant and helps them to build differently on their social skills.

Apparently, Disney decided that if they use blue blood it's not as violent. I think if it were the same movie, but they were all bleeding dark red instead of pastel blue, it would have seemed a lot more violent. It's funny how our minds are hardwired to think that way, isn't it?

Yes, I agree with you - I think if it would have been red blood it probably would have been more violent - and I indeed didn't think too much about the violence - I mean there are no physical fights which aren't violent. So, I was quite surprised when Alex mused about it.

Sorry to hear about your son, Bianca! Did the hours at the hospital at least yield an answer to what possibly is bothering his knee?

I've only seen the trailer for John Carter and thought it was weird.......but not weird enough that I wouldn't consider watching it at some point in the future. :)

Thank you jolerie - yes, at least we know now, why he still has got problems two weeks after the accident. He overstretched his anterior cruciate ligament (needed to stabilize the knee) and still has got some oedema and a large hematoma inside his knee. We have to see on Monday the surgeon again and then I know what the plans are. He doesn't need any crutches anymore, but his knee is still wobbely and he is still limping and in some pain.

"John Carter" - you may want to consider reading the book beforehand, and than some of the things shown make slightly more sense. However, Alex and I had a jolly good laugh.

#50 Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Herland

Read for the Coursera course - Fantasy and Science Fiction - The Human Mind, Our Modern World

Genre: Classics, Science Fiction - 124 pages
Rating: 3.5/5

When I read the book I tried to keep in mind that this book was written by a radical feminist , at a time where women still were considered something like "second class". She saw that if society was to allow women the right of full "humanity", that the changes had to start at the root of society. These wishes (demands) have been, IMO, well reflected in Herland.

The story starts with three man trying to discover a society run entirely by woman. The first one is Terry, a rich womanizer, macho who truly believes women have to be subservient to man, and definately would never accept a woman as his equal. Still, a very strong general opinion of men during that time period. The second man is Jeff, the dreamer, very poetic, who idolizes women to the point, that he thinks women should not perform any physical or mental labor, and require to be sheltered at all times. The last guy in the lot is Vandyck a sociologist only interested in human activities.
Arriving in Herland they find nothing the way they expect it, they thought they will find a society of women who need to be civilized - in their opinion women can't be civilized without men showing them how to do it. But what do they find? A highly civilized world, run by well educated women, who managed to achieve a thriving all-female society through parthenogenic birth. A perfect world, where everyone is happy, everyone is educated at the same standard, no disease, a community with equal opportunies. Terry finds it impossible to adjust to this world and tries at every turn to dominate the women, he feels they are not women, they are to masculine, they have no right to be as they are, views them as objects without any substance to them, and that the Herland women are abnormal. Jeff settles in well and adores the women and sort of views them like prized goddesses. Vandyck is the only one of the three who enjoys this world and tries to learn as much as he can.
All in all, this was a very interesting read which explores the differences between a patriarchal and matriarchal society, trying to show the need for a balanced gender performance, demonstrating the importance of accepting women as equals. Considering that this is a very short book Perkins managed to get quite a few points across, aside from it being about feminism, it also discusses religion, the importance of democracy and socialism.
What I didn't like in the book was that some parts were very racist, for example the Herlander women developed a breeding programme to further the purity of their race. So, what does that say - was that her opinion? Or just something, she wanted to address racism with? I have to say that this reminded me very much of the ideals of the Nazi Germany and I felt very repulsed by it.

#51 SJ Watson - Before I go to Sleep

Genre: Thriller - 384 pages
Rating: 4/5

My first thriller in a very long time. This one was already collecting dust on my Kindle (if that is possible).

“We’re constantly changing facts, rewriting history to make things easier, to make them fit in with our preferred version of events. We do it automatically. We invent memories. Without thinking. If we tell ourselves something happened often enough we start to believe it, and then we can actually remember it.”

“What are we, if not an accumulation of our memories?”

I felt this was a very daunting book, which made me shiver all the way through. The book is written in an epistolary style and narrated by Chrissy who suffers due to an accident almost 20 years earlier under a combination from anterograde and retrograde amnesia. Every morning she wakes up, doesn't know who she is and who the man lying beside her is.
The novel opens with a phone call she receives from a Dr. Nash who tells her that he has been secretely working with her for weeks, to help her to regain her memory. He encouraged her to start a daily journal to write down the daily events and whatever snatches of memory she gets. This is what the book is about, every day she reads the journal to find her past and present, trying to build a new life with that. By reading the journal every day, she finds some unsettling things and starts to query events in her past. Ben, her husband, whom she is supposed to trust, lies to her, and she finds herself in a scary and upsetting position. She doesn't know who she can turn to, and what to believe, as everyday of her life starts the same - with no yesterday - and only her journal to go by.

The story was excecutated brilliantly and the tension in the book was built nicely, also 1/2 through I started to guess the outcome. A brilliant read, I can recommend very much.

>204 drachenbraut23:: Kids! You never know when they're pulling a fast one or when they are genuinely ill. I'm going through a patch with my eldest; he loves school, but he seems to have an issue getting there, and very often says he's feeling sick. I'm fairly sure he's alright, but I can only judge by the faces he makes.

>205 drachenbraut23:: I'm being too lazy to look it up, but what time period was Herland written in?

A perfect world - I'm not sure it would be a perfect world; I'm sure there'd be some dissension. :)

Hmmm, those are interesting comments about Herland. I hadn't interpreted their breeding program to be a racist issue....more of a way to get rid of social outliers (people who don't obey their rules). Another issue that struck me is that the women seemed perfect--except for their thoughts on sex. I don't know a lot about Gilman, but I got the impression I had from the little I read is that she believed sexuality was healthy. If that's the case, then the men had something to teach the women after all. Of course, it's difficult for her to get any point on sexuality across in the early 1900's literature. :)

Ha! You're right about the race issue! From Wikipedia:

"Gilman also believed old stock Americans of British colonial descent were giving up their country to immigrants who, she said, were diluting the nation's reproductive purity."

Hi humouress - kids are kids as you say, I found with my son if he was feeling "sick", that he had issues in school which he didn't want to confront. At 13 he is much better at communicating issues, so that has become less of a problem.

Herland was written in 1915.

Hello Hibernator - Maybe I am a bit predispositioned there, I saw that it was ment to get rid of social outliners, but at the same time they wanted to purify their society (whether that was ment for social outliners or other reasons) and that still comes down to some racial selection, and that is where I struggled with. She also called the native people in the jungle "savages" without knowing anything about them. And our three chaps got studied by them, like an onion skin under the microscope, to determine whether they should bother with them at all.
With their thoughts on sex, I do believe that the man could have taught them something after all. However, I felt that she exaggerated that aspect to demonstrate what is amiss, and to show that to have a healthy society that there needs to be a balance between genders. And I MEAN she exaggerated - a society which survives on parthenogenic birth and only produces females to keep it an all-female society, well that's something to think about. What I did like how they educated their children (maybe not the idea of a general ownership) and how they and the mothers socialised with each other. Something which was not common in that time period. At the beginning of the 20th Century mothers and their children lived at home and were fairly isolated. Maybe Perkins wanted to show with that, that it would be nice for women and their children to socialize more within society? I can imagine by reading something so abstract and so far off what real life was like, maybe people got much more aware about what is "amiss" within their society?

Edited: you must send your next post, while I was still musing about what to write. *grin* Going to check the wiki. I have read some of her on wiki, but did not see that.

That's the second good review I've seen of Before I Go to Sleep, so I might just be tempted. I'm not usually into thrillers, but this seems like one perhaps I could enjoy.

Hello lunacat, I haven't read a thriller in almost three years, but this one is great. I very much can recommend that one.

Interesting review of Herland - I read The Yellow Wallpaper a couple of years ago and was really impressed with it but I've never read anything else by Charlotte Perkins Gilman so I might give Herland a go. I'm like you in that I rarely read thrillers but I'm trying to widen my reading horizons and I've picked up Before I Go to Sleep a couple of times and thought it looked interesting so I've added that to the wishlist as well.

I am going to have to add Before I Go to Sleep to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation!

Great reviews and discussions. I haven't read Herland but clearly I should.

It is disappointing, isn't it, when someone appears to be so insightful, so enlightened, and then reveals an area of total lack of illumination.

Nobody is enlightened on EVERYTHING. Even I have a moment of dimness sometimes. ;) (It's very rare, though!)

Yup, another nudge for me to bump up Before I Go To Sleep on the list to read sooner rather than later. Thanks for the review, Bianca!

> Hi SandDune - I am sure you will not be dissapointed with Before I go to Sleep, also I read some reviews, where they said they felt everything in the book was repetative - it may be, but it was part of the story and to underline the effects of the amnesia. The Yellow Wallpaper is on top of my reading list, since I read Hibernator/Rachel's brilliant review.

> alcottacre - You are welcome!

> Lucy - as Hibernator said in her review Herland is neither plot or character driven, but concept driven. And she seriously managed to cram all her ideas in this tiny, little book. When I read it I felt like I am reading a thesis on sociology, feminism, religion and democracy disguised in a dystopian fantasy so exaggerated that people can't do anything different, then to compare it to the actual society. *hmpf* well, at least that's what I thought.

> Hibernator - LOL

> Jolerie - After reading the book don't be scared if you wake up next to a cro-magnon in the morning, believe me I am sure it's your husband. LOL

Re: Herland - 1915 was an era when groups of intellectuals in many countries were experimenting with the idea of racial purity, euthenasia and sterilization, etc. It was not a pretty time for anyone in terms of human rights. I think the book reflects that, as well as the issue of sexuality that is inherent to those discussions. And that's about as analytical as I ever get. :)

Disney movies - Call me crazy but think they've been doing violence forever. Snow White was scary and violent, so was Pinnochio and Bambi. How about Fox and the Hound? Forget the newer stuff like Pirates of the Caribbean and John Carter. Bambi scarred me for life!

Bambi scarred me for life, too.

Hi, Bianca; I keep bumping into you everywhere, but now I'm visiting you.

I've never watched 'Bambi', though I've seen bits of it. My mum got the video for my (then) 5 year old - and he kept asking me questions about Bambi's mother. I don't think my family will be watching it anytime soon.

#219: Snow White was the first movie I ever remember seeing in the theatre - I was about 6 - and I have vivid memories of how terrified I was when the wicked witch/queen went over the cliff. Maybe that is why I am afraid of heights?

Bianca I am really enjoying seeing your thread take wings so to speak as the discussions are always interesting and the books varied. I have Before I Go To Sleep on the shelves and your review promises me that I am sure to enjoy it.
Have a wonderful weekend.

So glad I'm not the only one terrified by a Disney movie. :P

I was traumatised by Bambi and The Lion King. I refuse to watch either now.

> 219 - Thank you for that bit of information nittnut, it does make some aspects of the book clearer. I completely forgot about that , of course they were doing all that nasty stuff during that time period. That was also the time when they developed the first KZ in the UK.

> humouress, Hibernator, alcottacre and nittnut - Soooory, but I was never scared of Disney movies. I absolutely loved them and especially Bambi was one of my favourites and later than the Fox and the Hound.
When I was a child I was scared of Frankenstein. One of my cousins took me to a Sunday children matinee, at the cinema, and they showed the Frankenstein movie with Boris Karloff. At that time we lived in a flat of a four storey house, and I was so scared for several month that my mum had to bring me downstairs when I left, and everytime I wanted to come in again - she had to come down again to get me upstairs. However, I just was so scared that Frankenstein could turn up.

> Hello Paul, I am sure you will enjoy the book, and I still hope you will get around to read ANY Murakami.

Come and visit my new thread :)