drachenbraut23 (Bianca) - Halloween is on it's way

Hello everyone, looks like it is time for a new thread again. Please feel welcome to lurk, discuss and just have fun :) Everyone is welcome!
Matching to the mood of this month I found this.



Happy Creepy Halloween to everyone :)

Read this year

#001 The Magician King - Lev Grossman
#002 The Bone Palace - Amanda Downum
#003 Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs
#004 Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs
#005 On the Prowl - Patricia Briggs and others - Short Stories
#006 Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey
#007 Glimpses - Lynn Flewelling - Nightrunner Short Stories
#008 American Gods - Neil Gaiman
#009 The Left Hand of God - Paul Hoffman
#010 The Last four Things - Paul Hoffman
#011 Heir to Sevenwaters - Juliet Marillier
#012 Seer of Sevenwaters - Juliet Marillier
#013 Archangel's Blade - Nalini Singh
#014 Heart's Blood - Juliet Marillier
#015 Shalador's Lady - Anne Bishop
#016 Magician - Raymond E. Feist
#017 Eon: Dragoneye Reborn - Alison Goodman
#018 Silverthorn - Raymond E. Feist
#019 Darkness at Sethanon - Raymond E. Feist
#020 Bloodchild and other Stories - Octavia E. Butler - Short Stories
#021 Fledgling - Octavia E. Butler
#022 A green Guide to natural Beauty - Karen Gilbert
#023 Dog Blood - David Moody
#024 Darker After Midnight - Lara Adrian
#025 Feed - Mira Grant
#026 Der verwaiste Thron 01. Sturm - Claudia Kern
#027 Der verwaiste Thron 02. Verrat - Claudia Kern
#028 Der verwaiste Thron 03. Rache - Claudia Kern
#029 The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
#030 33 A.D. - David McAfee
#031 The Coming of the Wolf - A. E. McCullough
#032 Jekka's Complete Herb Book - Jekka McVicar
#033 Kiss of Snow - Nalini Singh
#034 Pleasure of a Dark Prince - Kresley Cole
#035 Demon from the Dark - Kresley Cole
#036 Dreams of a Dark Warrior - Kresley Cole
#037 Lothaire - Kresley Cole
#038 The Summoner - Gail Z. Martin
#039 Kraken - China Mieville
#040 Embassytown - China Mieville
#041 Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
#042 Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
#043 Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
#044 Dragon Bound - Thea Harrison
#045 Storm's Heart - Thea Harrison
#046 Serpent's Kiss - Thea Harrison
#047 True Colour's - Thea Harrison
#048 Oracle's Moon - Thea Harrison
#049 Natural Evil - Thea Harrison
#050 Phoenix Chronicles - Lori Handeland - Abandoned
#051 Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
#052 Magic Burns - Ilona Andrews
#053 Magic Strikes - Ilona Andrews
#054 Magic Bleeds - Ilona Andrews
#055 Magic Slays - Ilona Andrews
#056 When Darkness comes - Alexandra Ivy
#057 Embrace the Darkness - Alexandra Ivy
#058 Darkness Everlasting - Alexandra Ivy
#059 Darkness Revealed - Alexandra Ivy
#060 Darkness Unleashed - Alexandra Ivy
#061 Beyond the Darkness - Alexandra Ivy
#062 Devoured by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy
#063 Bound by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy
#064 Das erste Horn. Das Geheimnis von Askir - Richard Schwartz
#065 The Blood King - Gail Z. Martin
#066 Dark Haven - Gail Z. Martin
#067 Dark Lady's Chosen - Gail Z. Martin
#068 The Sworn - Gail Z. Martin
#069 The Dread - Gail Z. Martin
#070 Ätherische Öle selbst herstellen - Brigitte Malle
#071 Lexikon der kosmetischen Rohstoffe - Brigitte Bräutigam
#072 Hater - David Moody
#073 Green for life - Victoria Boutenko
#074 Green Smoothie Revolution - Victoria Boutenko
#075 Scar Night - Alan Campbell - Deepgate Codex 01
#076 Stardust - Neil Gaiman
#077 Nocturnes and Preludes - Neil Gaiman
#078 Third Sight - Ian Woodhead
#079 Die zweite Legion - Richard Schwartz
#080 Das Auge der Wüste - Richard Schwartz
#081 Der Herr der Puppen - Richard Schwartz
#082 Never let me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
#083 Hounded - Kevin Hearne
#084 Hexed - Kevin Hearne
#085 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami
#086 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
#087 The Book of Human Skin - Michelle Lovric
#088 Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
#089 The Cry of the Dove - Fadia Faquir
#090 When She Woke - Hillary Jordan
#091 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
#092 Man Eating Bugs: Art and Science of Eating Insects - Peter Menzel
#093 Tales from Outer Suburbia - Shaun Tan
#094 Going Raw - Judita Wignall
#095 Instructions - Neil Gaiman
#096 Soap - Tatyana Hill
#097 The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
#098 500 Formulas for Aromatherapy: Mixing Essential Oils for Every Use - Carol Schiller, David Schiller
#099 The Dovekeepers - Alice Hoffman
#100 Household Stories. From the collection of the Brothers Grimm. Translated from the German by Lucy Crane
#101 The Aromatherapy Bible: The Definitive Guide to Using Essential Oils - Gill Farrer-Halls
#102 The City & The City - China Mieville
#103 Naked Chocolate - David Wolfe
#104 The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
#105 Alice Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
#106 Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
#107 Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay
#108 The Cry of the Icemark - Stuart Hill
#109 Dracula - Bram Stoker
#110 Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
#111 Zombie Fallout - Mark Tufo
#112 A Plague Upon Your Family - Mark Tufo
#113 The End .... - Mark Tufo
#114 The End Has Come and Gone - Mark Tufo
#115 Alive In A Dead World - Mark Tufo
#116 Slated - Teri Terry
#117 Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver
#118 Among Others - Jo Walton
#119 The Island of Dr Moreau - H.G. Wells
#120 The World of William Clissold - H.G. Wells
#121 The Country of the Blind - H.G. Wells
#122 The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells
#123 Blade of Fire - Stuart Hill
#124 A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
#125 Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
#126 Before I go to Sleep - SJ Watson
#127 The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
#128 Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
#129 The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
#130 Who Fears Death - Nnedi Okorafor
#131 The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
#132 Gourmet Soaps Made Easy - Melinda Coss
#133 The Lost Thing - Shaun Tan
#134 The Natural Soap Chef - Heidi Corley Barto
#135 Making Handmade Soap - Tatyana Hill
#136 Birthmarked - Caragh M. O'Brien
#137 Tortured: A bridge story between Birthmarked and Prized - Caragh M. O'Brien
#138 Prized - Caragh M. O'Brien
#139 Gaudi 150 Photographs - George R. Collins
#140 The Walking Dead Volume 1 - Robert Kirkman
#141 The Walking Dead Volume 2 - Robert Kirkman
#142 Atemschaukel - Herta Müller
#143 The Hunger Angel - Herta Müller
#144 Neonatology at a Glance - Tom Lissauer

Only 6 more books to go and I have finished my second 75 for this year

Hm, now I can't remember anymore what I wanted to put here. So you all have to suffer with another bat picture. :)



This is the picture of a giant fruit bat from the Phillipines, and I think they just look stunning.

Oooh, that is creepy!
The early bird catches the worm, I hope I havent interrupted your reserved spots, but couldnt wait to jump in and say hi!

Hi Megan,
Nope, nothing interrupted welcome to my new thread :)

Awesome thread to kick off a creepy October thread. :)

Wow, your second 75?? That's impressive, Bianca! One day, I hope I can brag about reading at that boast worthy speed.

Yay! Bats! I've always thought they were kind of cute. Like little flying mice with sharp pointy teeth!

Great picture - I like bats too!

A gross of books already this year Bianca. Congratulations on quickly making it to another thread. I have had a non-functioning PC at home for a few days so struggling to catch up but I'll get there.

Nice creepy picture!

I just started The Book of Human Skin btw, I thought it might fit best into the Halloween mood.

Ugh, creepy indeed, especially after our recent, *ahem* houseguests. *shudders*

Otherwise, happy new thread!

>7 The_Hibernator:: er.... very cute.

*just lurking*

Very atmospheric picture to open the new thread, Bianca:)

Hope you are having a good day.

I like bats because they eat mosquitoes. We had one in the house a few years ago which made for an exciting time. My grandkids happened to be visiting and they thought it was the coolest thing ever.

I am so impressed that you have read 144 books this year. Go, Bianca!

Thank you Valerie, Rachel, Rhian, Paul, Nathalie, Amber, Nina, calm and Donna for visiting my new thread.
I think bats are cute :) We have got lots of them in the garden. Some of these really tiny ones.

Nina here a really cute pic of a baby bat. :)

Work this week was very busy again, which didn't give me that much reading time. Actually, I wanted to start this week on Vivisector by Patrick White for the group read, but I was too tired to for it.
I am also preparing to move rooms on Sunday. Since I have been commuting between the UK and Germany, I stayed with my sister in her bedsit, when I am here in the UK (over four years already). However, my sister finally found a lovely room for me to rent - with an affordable rent - you don't believe how expensive it is to rent rooms in London. The place I am moving to is much nearer to my workplace and therefore I don't need to use the public transport anymore, now I can walk to work - which is absolutely great. Her friend I am going to live with (a librarian as well) loves reading and has the most beautiful book porn in her front room. Aside from the beautiful book porn she is really lovely and fun and I do believe that we will be getting on well.

"you don't believe how expensive it is to rent rooms in London." I might do, but only because I lived there briefly (the company I work for paid though). :-)

I used to look at prices in the loca estate agents and think 'well, that doesn't seem too bad' until I realised that was the rent per week rather than per month! I live and grew up in commuter-belt land which is still expensive but not completely ridiculous - London prices are generally beyond ridiculous. It sounds like you'll be moving into a really nice place (a librarian who owns book - perfect!). I hope the move goes smoothly.

I always assumed living in London was about as expensive as living in New York City or in the metropolitan areas of CA. Is it worse? I had a friend who lived near Columbia (because she was a student) and her rent for a 1 bedroom was $1500. They had five people in that apartment. One was sleeping on the floor in the kitchen and another on the floor in the hall! hahahaha And such a bad neighborhood, too!

I wasn't joking when I said I find bats cute. I think it's pretty cool the way they swoop around at night so silently, too. :) Not so fun when they're in your house, though! And, of course, they carry rabies, so you need to be careful of them!

#17 London prices are beyond ridicilous and as I stay only about 5-6 month a year here I needed something which is nice, convenient and unexpensive, which was indeed a very difficult task.

#18 Rachel, I think London isn't quite as bad, looking at the prices you are mentioning. My sisters bedsit which is 16 m2 (including kitchenarea) cost approximately $ 850 a month - bathroom and toiletts are shared in the house. The room I am going to have is a single bedroom in a lovely 3 bedroom house and will cost me $ 370 a month. However, considering that the average income lies around $ 2000 dollar before tax that's a lot. Most people here, go for flat shares or rooms as flats are to expensive.
Yes, I know you have to be careful when you handle them, nevertheless they are cute :).

Congratulations on finding an affordable apartment in London, Bianca!

Bats are OK (it was the sharp, pointy teeth that got me)(not literally!). Actually, we have fruit bats in our garden periodically (which makes us worry for the finish on the cars, because apparently their droppings are acidic). Depending on how you look at them, they can look cute, or eerie. Once, when we had a dinner party and had the doors and windows all open, for air, one of the silly creatures flew in; but we did manage to get it out again.

Best of luck with your move, Bianca. I assume that whenever you come back to London, you'll still be able to stay there? You'll have to convince her to join LT, and send us pictures of her books.

Lovely new thread!

Bats may be amazing to watch on summer evenings, but I'll take mine from a distance, please.

And now a naive question for you. I guess I have always assumed that Halloween is a goofy American/Canadian thing. How much is it celebrated in Germany and the UK?

Oh, wow, a roommate with book porn. Lucky you! You must have the longest commute of anyone I know, Bianca. My husband drives almost an hour (each way) to and from work every day. I think he's crazy especially since I offered to move closer to our business. He likes the commute now that he has satellite radio. I would be listening to books!

#22 I don't think Halloween is anything like as big in the UK as in the US, but it has grown hugely over the last twenty or thirty years. When I was growing up in the 60's and 70's, Halloween just wasn't celebrated at all - the big event at that time of hear was Guy Fawkes Night on 5 November. I remember going to only one Halloween party in my entire childhood, one which had old British Halloween traditions which had pretty much died out: not a pumpkin in site. Certainly we never went trick or treating, although we may have carved a turnip once! The first time I came across children going trick or treating in the UK must have be in the 1990's. Now it's an accepted practice but quite a lot of people don't particularly like it.

#20 Thank you Darryl - but it's NOT an apartment, just a room. ;)

#21 HI Nina - I am usually between 5-6 month per year in London, so yes, whenever I am here I will stay there. It was lovely with my sister, but as you can imagine very tight and if we wouldn't love each other so much, it wouldn't worked out for such a long time. Well, I am not sure if I can convince her to join LT, but I will try. :)

#22 Hi Janet, for the UK I second that what Rhian said. Although, I always got the impression that the people in London actually enjoy Halloween. In Germany it started to become more and more fashion to celebrate Halloween *mmh* I think for the last 8 maybe 9 years. However, it is becoming rapidly more and more popular. I luv Halloween. :):)

#23 Donna I just couldn't believe my eyes (they almost popped out) when I came into her front room and I saw this taylor made book shelve covering one complete wall with thousands? of books in it!
Just Heaven :) *giggle* my commute is 650 km and takes me between 8 and 10 hours by car - door to door, including the ferry - however, I am not the only one who commutes between countries at my hospital. We have got one male adult ITU nurse who commutes Canada/UK and a few other nurses who are doing Continent/UK.

#24 Rhian I never got the impression, in London, that people don't like Halloween. When I went with Alex from door to door people usually had some nice sweets for the kids.

Bianca / Rhian - Regarding halloween and Guy Fawkes night in UK on November 5; the preceding day is traditionally Mischief night in the Uk in enactment of the plotter getting ready to blow up parliament in 1605 being caught on the eve of the 5th. I understand in the US this date is normally 30 October preceding halloween. Mischief night in UK the children normally get up to all sorts of pranks and I remember some of ours fondly.

Hi Paul,
I have never heard that before. I mean I know Guy Fawkes night and I have been to some of the bonfires, but I didn't know that it is preceded by a Mischief night. Have to check that out.
Ha, so you enjoyed playing pranks - nice to know *very wide grin*

#24 While most people seem to like Halloween I've certainly met quite a few who didn't - even some of those who have the sweets. My husband for instance doesn't like it at all!

#26 Is Mischief night a particular Yorkshire thing? I've never heard of it before, and we certainly didn't have that tradition in South Wales.

Mischief night is also a pre-Halloween tradition here in the US although unfortunately the mischief often crosses a line into vandalism.

Hi Bianca- I'm not sure I've been by here before, but I've seen you posting around. Nice thread and I see you have a fondness for bats. I like them too because they eat lots and lots of bugs.

Bianca / Rhian - Well Rhian can ask her Halifaxian Mr. Dune! I wasn't sure whether the tradition was peculiar to my Yorkshire childhood or not so I checked on good old wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mischief_Night
Have a lovely weekend.

#31 Well Rhian can ask her Halifaxian Mr. Dune! No luck, I'm afraid Paul - Mr SandDune hadn't heard of Mischief Night either!

Quite a while ago I went on a study day about bats. The man running the course brought some bats in to show us - pipistrelle bats are so tiny that I could hold one in the palm of my hand and close my fingers around it quite comfortably (as long as it had its wings folded up of course). I could feel its heart beating like a little engine. I've loved bats ever since.

>32 SandDune:: Oh, how cute - when you put it that way.

ETA - and now I'm half in love with them, myself. Fickle? Who, me?

Wow, 850 for a room is mighty expensive. For that equivalent price in Canadian dollars, you could probably rent an entire basement suite, if not a whole house in some areas!

#28 Hi Rhian, I luv Halloween. My new flatmate told me that there are going to be hordes of little kids on the 31st and she prepared already pumpkins for the windows to invite them to the house. She showed me already the large bowl, she uses for the sweets and asked me if I will help her :) Well, why not.

#29 Laura, that sounds awful. However, that seems to be a general problem with a lot of festivities today. Eg. we celebrate "Fasching" or "Karneval" in Germany which has nothing to do with mischief, but a lot of teenager still use it as an excuse for vandalism. My verdict for any teenage vandal? - workcamp for 6 month *giggle*.

#30 Hello Mark, welcome to my thread. I am actually a great lurker on your thread. I also love bats, because they eat bugs and other nasties :) and they are cute or scary.

#31 Paul thank you soo much for the link, very interesting :)

#32 That study day must have been so interesting Rhian. How did you find out about this kind of study day?

#33 Haha Nina - don't worry we will get you there and then it will be a "full" love.

# 34 Hi Valerie, maybe I should consider relocating to Canada. I am sure that they also have a demand for highly qualified neonatal nurses, also I don't speak french :(.

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

Work has been incredible busy over the last few weeks and everyone at work is starting to get very tired. We are overbooked with babies and presently there doesn't seem to be a light on the end of the tunnel. Staffing has been very difficult as well, we usually run on 14/15 nurses per shift and had to run our shifts for the past two weeks on 16/17 nurses which is very difficult to maintain in our area of nursing.

My move into my new home on Sunday went well and my sister's friend Rossella is just lovely. Settling in always takes me a little while, but I think I will be fine. I am not really a cat person, so I was really surprised at how affectionate Rossella's tomcat is. I don't think I have ever seen a cat who enjoys cuddles that much. His name is Justin and he just loves to be cuddled and actually demands it. Last night he jumped onto my legs and purred really loudly, which made me giggle and him climb up with his front paws to my shoulders and then he actually licked my face. I was so startled that I had to laugh.

Because I have been so busy, I have done some light reading which I hope to review over the next couple of days, or maybe even today. :)

#70 Allegra Skye - Saved

Genre: YA, Paranormal Romance - 123 pages
Rating: 2/5

Sorry, this book was just not for me. The first book in a trilogy (The Shadow Vampires), which sounded very interesting but turned out to be quite boring. It started of quite interesting with the story of Keira who moved with her family to a new place. Keira is a twin, but her family prefers her twin sister and doesn't understand her. So far, so good. However, she then meets a boy at her new highschool who is very different from the other students. She only exchanges about a few sentences with him and that's it - the all encompassing love, can't live without him, taking up all of her thinking. Cooper (her love) behaves quite childish and reminded me with his behaviour a little bit of Edward in Twillight, also Twillight was definately better flashed out as a story. Keira realizes after a short time in this new town that she is even more different that she thought and after she had a car accident with her twin sister she finds herself with some strange powers. Some of the concepts I found quite interesting and as the book was very short I finished it. However, the story is not descriptive enough and the characters are not deeply enough depicted.

Sorry to hear things have been so busy at work Bianca - I hope the pressure eases up soon.

Hi Bianca - love your bat pictures. We don't celebrate Halloween here in New Zealand, there are attempts at trick n' treating but not a lot, we've had only one or two knocks on the door these past five years or so. My son's birthday is on 1 November so he's had Halloween themed birthday cakes a few times over the years.
Good to hear that your move went well and sorry that the latest book wasn't that great. Have you read Erebos? It's a bit of a page turner and was originally published in German and is set in London.

#71 Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead Volume 3

Genre: Graphic Novel, Horror
Rating: 3/5

The next installment in the Walking Dead series. Not as good as the first two, but still good. We still follow our group of survivors with Rick in the lead. They find a prison where they try to make a home for themselves as it is obviously very well fenced and therefore offers a good protection against the zombies. In the prison they find aside from four survivors lots of food which could last for the whole group for many years. Rick goes back to the farm to get Hershel and his family which have been very hard pressed in fighting off large groups of zombies, since the others left. Initially they are able to make themselves quite comfortable in the prison, until two of the teenagers commit suicide and they find out that they all carry the virus and that you don't need to be bitten to turn into a zombie. Realizing that, Rick takes off - which I thought was really silly and over the top - to go back to the initial camp site, outside of Atlanta, where they burried Shane. And see, what a surprise - Rick actually summons Shane out of his grave to give him his final death haha. In the meantime one of the inmates kills Hershels twin daughters and it comes to a lot of aggrevation between the group and the inmates - surprise, surprise. Well, and that's sort of where the third installment ends. Rick seems to be loosing it and showes first signs of strain and ?madness?. I started already on the 4th Volume, let's see how it continous.

Bianca - Your latest read will not make it onto my hitlist as I have promised myself never to read "Vampire love stories" the premise being preposterous. Horror should be scary and romance has no place in it other than as a spoof! Hope you are having a great week, the poor book notwithstanding.

#72 Shaun Tan - The Red Tree

Genre: Children - 32 pages
Rating: 5/5

Another great children's book by Shaun Tan - I can see that I am becoming addictive to his picture books *smile*. The story is about a little girl who gets up in the morning and who dreads the day. She feels misunderstood and doesn't know how to fit in. We follow her journey throughout the day where we observe her reflections on how she perceives everything which happens around her, which is very gloomy. When she returns in the evenning she is still depressed - but - when she opens the door to her bedroom we get a great smile, because she finds a red tree and HOPE. Again beautiful illustrations and again Mr. Tan was able to convince with minimal language to convey a deeper meaning. Well, I am sure that this was not my last one by him. Definately a delightful story for anyone who has got days where they don't feel so great.

#73 Nicola Streeten - Billy, Me & You

Genre: Non-Fiction, Graphic Novel - 216 pages
Rating: 4/5

This was a very interesting book as it deals with the way how differently we deal with grief. Especially interesting for me, because of my job I am involved on a regular basis in palliative care and end-of-life care. This is the story of Nicola and John who lost their firstborn child in 1995. Billy was at the time two years old and was only diagnosed a few weeks earlier with a complicated heart disease and didn't survive the heart surgery. The book is presented as a graphic novel and shows the different stages of grief and finally the acceptance, Nicola and her husband John, went through. The author created the book together with her teenage daughter to finally? come to terms with Billy's death. It shows very clearly the different stages they went through as a couple, and the difficulties they encountered to finally find a way back into a normal life and the steps they took to actually build a new life. Nicola shows how scared she was when she found out about her new pregnancy and how she felt when she went to antenatal classes and later, after her daughter Sally was born, the difficulties she encountered (in regards to her own emotions) when she went to the playground and toddler groups. Beautifully written and the author shows very clearly that the process of grieving "can't" be put that easily into stages.

Morning Bianca- I love shaun Tan but have not read this one. Sounds good.

Hi Bianca, the bat course we did was with the Field Studies Council - they do a lot of courses on natural history, crafts and arts topics for adults, young people and families. We did a Family Wildlife Weekend with them as well when J was about six or seven which was really good fun. Here is their website

http://www.field-studies-council.org/individuals-and-families.aspx

I find it amazing how many people on LT love Shaun Tan's work. Until this year I would never have thought of looking at a picture book in my own right, and now several of my 5* reads have been picture books. I can't make up my mind if I would like to read Billy, Me & You or not. It doesn't sound an easy read.

#37 Thank you Heather, I hope so as well. It has been very hard, especially the last week but hopefully things will ease up the coming weeks. :)

#38 Hi Kerry, I didn't realize that you don't celebrate Halloween in NZ. That is very interesting to know. I haven't read Erebos yet, but heard from many sources that it is supposed to be very good. Another one of those books which has gone onto my wishlist.

# 40 *giggle* that's why they are called "paranormal romaces" Paul - no spoof there, they are designed to be like that. You see some women like myself do need this kind of entertainment from time to time LOL. They are easy reads and "usually" fun. However, this kind of romance definately doesn't belong in a proper horror novel and I think I would be quite put off by it, if I would find this kind of swooning love in them. LOL.

#44 Hello Mark, a good morning to you as well. Yes, I think Shaun Tan is an incredible children's book author and a very convincing one at that. :)

#45 Hi Rhian thank you for the link, I will check that one out later. I love stuff like that and Alex always enjoyes taking part in activities like that.

I came across Shaun Tan here on LT and I am also surprised how many adults enjoy his children books. Well, when I got this last one I only received a snicker from my sister - and a more less pitying look *grin*.

I very much can recommend Billy, Me & You it's not a daunting book at all. The author even uses some humor to portrait all the experiences they had and how other people dealt with the death of their child. She also shows that it was very difficult for them, that so many people avoided the topic when they actually would have appreciated the opportunity to talk about it.

#74 Tom Lloyd - The Stormcaller

♬ audiobook unabridged narrated by David Rintoul

Genre: Fantasy - 512 pages
Rating: 5/5

This was a reread, I read this book two years ago loved it, got the other books in the series as well and never got round to read them.
I still think that this is a fabulous fantasy story which is very difficult to put down, once you got caught up in the story. Lloyd is an eloquent story teller who managed to create a dark, vivid and enthralling world with fascinating characters and creatures - known and unknown :) - in it, which made the story a very engaging read. When I read it the first time the story exceeded my expectations by far and I was not dissapointed, this still holds now. I very much enjoyed the idea of the "white eyes" which are stronger, bigger, more violent and definately meaner than "ordinary humans". These "white eyes" were created by the gods to rule the lands and the people. The characters in the story are depicted in great detail and well developed which resulted in a bunch of characters with strong personalities. The main character the "white eye" Isak is a fascinating personality with lots of flaws and fears and that's excactly what I like so much about the story. He is made into a hero against his will - and at a very young age - who actually fears all kind of things, suffers from uncertanties and on top of that has a violent temper which he finds difficult to control at times. Compared to a lot of the "shining - we know it all" heros, Isak is just refreshing and entertaining. His complex nature made him a very intriguing and charismatic character.
The action in the book was well paced, politics were complex at times but by no means overpowering the story. The magic was interesting, nothing to fancy and it was easy to follow the story line.
Tom Lloyed managed to create a vivid world, with great characters, a rich history, with a sense for descriptive details and originality. Again, I very much enjoyed this book and can recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy.

Another Shaun Tan book that I'm not aware of. Really, really, need to read some of his other works!

I don't think French is that huge of a requirement unless you work in Quebec. No where else do I think that it is remotely a requirement to speak a second language, although of course it doesn't hurt to have that as a skill. :)

Hi Valerie,
yep The Red Tree was a stunning picture book.

Oh well, good to know about the French. I just started to study French myself as Alex has got it in school now - what you don't do as a mom to keep up with your child's learning *sigh*

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

I am settling in well, into my new home and my new flatmate Rossella is just lovely. She made me very welcome into her house and therefore it is quite easy to settle in.
It also appears I am falling in love with her tomcat - AND that's me saying it, who is not a cat person at all - however, I have never come across such an affectionate, gentle and cuddly cat. I am sure he must be a dog in a cat's costume, at least he behaves like a dog. As I mentioned already above, he seriously demands his cuddles and he constantly tries to lick my face, sometimes he licks my hands and he sort of hugs me, he follows me around. Last night I woke up, because something was swishing through my face - surprise, surprise I heard some very noisy purring and he snuggled on. Well *scratch head* at least I think that's not the way cat's are supposed to behave?
Oh, and I forgot he can smile and tries to hypnotise me constantly. *big smile*

Hi!
I love the bat photos. Bats are my favorite animal, next to naked mole rats. Perfect pictures for Halloween.

I am feeling slightly competitive for some reason... want to catch up in books... I'm at 65 of the second 75. Stop reading for a minute, OK? :)

Funny story about the cat. It sounds like a very personable cat. I am more of a dog person, probably because I am allergic to cats. Have you ever noticed that cats seem to know who doesn't want to pet them and they come and rub themselves all over that person? Yeah.

Hi Bianca, stopping by to visit your thread. Very happy to learn that you have settled in to your new abode in London. Your flatmate sounds lovely. As for the cat, we had very personable and affectionate cats like the one you mention, probably in part because of the way we would interact with them. Sounds like the cat is very happy to have you living with him and Rossella!

Hi Bianca, we've had a bat in the house on three separate occasions and I can say that I'm not fond of them at all. I do like the fact that they take care of mosquitos. So we can sit outside and not worry about getting bit by mosquitos but then at dusk we have to go inside as the bats start swooping and scaring the living daylights out of everyone.

Your new London home sounds just lovely! And keep telling us about the tomcat. I'd love to have a cuddly cat that behaves like a dog.

Great that you are settling in so well, and that's funny about the cat (coming from another not-cat person, mainly because they make me a bit sneezy and wheezy).

Jenny, Lori, brenzi, Nathalie and cushla thanks for the visit. In future you will definately hear more about this interesting cat and the next time I come to London I will bring my camera and try to take some photos of him.

Jenny you might be right, maybe because I don't pay to much attention to him - well what I mean is I don't go to him, like I would do with our dogs - maybe that is the reason why he comes to me. He actually woke me up this morning, BECAUSE he wanted a cuddle, I tried to shoo him away - I wasn't ready yet to wake up - but that bugger completely ignored me and started to climb (purring) onto my head and batting me with his head *sigh*.

Lori, actually I am very glad that he seems to like me. I had some very unpleasant experiences with cats in the past and therefore I am usually very cautious around them.

Cushla - that's the reason why we never had cats, my mom and my dad are both allergic to them and my dad even more so. Although, we never would deny them entrance into our home. There are quite a few cats who tend to visit us - they usually come through the open kitchen door, take a stroll through the house, look around and then "off they are" again.

Yep brenzi, I agree when bats come swooping through your house that can be quite scary. :)

Jenny - "naked mole rats"? Do you mean this ones?



Well, I found this one as well, and indeed they aren't beauties *laugh*, but sort of cute. I can see why someone would like them. We have seen them in the zoo in Budapest last year and .... my first reaction LOL, my second reaction was - mmh actually they are quite cute, maybe a little different cute.


Oh well, Jenny you are only 10 books behind, I am sure you will catch up shortly. I don't have much reading time the rest of the week anyway. *grin* and when I am tired I tend to read quite a lot of junk - just for the sake of reading - nothing to stressful for already stressed brain cells.

LOL about your naked mole rat. :)

Every so often we have a cat like the one you are describing -- very often I've noticed they have a smidge (a little bit) of siamese too -- I've never had a full siamese or even a half, but I've had several cats that have some and they have all tended to be incredibly 'doggy' - even to following on walks, bringing toys to play, etc. Very interactive. Of course, any cat can probably turn out that way, but I suspect some breeds are particularly apt. We have one right now in fact. He can also open doors, drawers, cabinets and he likes to knock cups over and likes to drag things like socks around the house.

#57 very often I've noticed they have a smidge of siamese too We had a rescue cat (Edward) from a medium-sized kitten who certainly looked as if he had a bit of Siamese in him. He was exactly the sort of cat that you are describing - he frequently tried to follow me when I went out. But what is it with cats, I wonder, that they insist on trying to sleep on your head when you are in bed?

>57 sibylline:: Interesting! We always suspected our doggiest cat was a bit Siamese too. Very interactive, gave kisses, followed us around and would climb up to dizzying heights (like the rooftop). I miss her.

Yes! Naked Mole Rats! I think they are so cool! Did you know they are the only mammal to live by the same social structure as ants and bees? Fascinating little things. They are an under-appreciated segment of the animal world. :)

There is a great picture book that my kids love called Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems. Your son is probably too old for it, but it's a fun one.

OK - got to get off the computer and go do something else. Like read a book! Something about the 4 inches of snow we got last night, I just can't really get going on anything today. Just want to sit in a cozy corner.

#60 I've always had a bit of a thing about naked mole rats as well!

>55 drachenbraut23: bah!
*runs screaming from thread*

*pops head back in for final word...*
That naked mole rat scares me!! More than it should considering my worldliness and, ahem, maturity.

Okay, I saw something similar to the small mole rat at the zoo one time, but it was the size of a mouse and I'm sorry if people think that kind of creature is cute, because what I saw at the zoo was one of, if not, the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life.... I was thoroughly disturbed. :/

Bianca - I'm not so sure about the naked mole rat but I am almost certain that someone closely fitting such description chaired one of my project meetings this week!

>49 drachenbraut23:: Bianca, I think you're falling in love!

This thread made me smile - naked mole rats (and everyone's reaction) and head-sleeping cats.

Hi Rachel, Lucy, Rhian, Laura, Jenn, Megan, Valerie, Paul and Nina thank you for visiting my thread. *big smile*

Very interesting discussion about affectionate cats containing Siamese - Nope, not in this case. Just ordinary black, grey, brown and white tiger.

And yes Nina, looks I have fallen in love with a cat - how much unlike me.

Jenn I actually googled the naked mole rats and they are indeed very interesting animals and I love the cover of that kiddie book :)

Haha Paul - just trying to imagine the person chairing the project meeting LOL.

#75 TC Southwell - Children of Another God

Genre: Fantasy - 259 pages
Rating: 3.5/5

I had this on my kindle for a long time, and if I am not mistaken I got it for free on amazon. The book did not dissapoint and was a good one to complete my second 75 this year :) .
The story was interesting and centered around Chanter, a Mujar and native to his planet, despised by the humans, because they don't use their powers to their bidding. Mujar's are hunted and thrown into pits, because they can't be killed, in the pits they rott until they die when the reach the age of 100. Mujar's don't harm other living beings and are very oblivious to human emotions and their needs. At times they form some kind of clan bonds in exchange for work and protection and they get food and shelter in return, although they actually don't need it.
Chanter meets Talsy, an eighteen year old "Trueman" girl who rescues him from her father. In return he grants her the wish of "clan bond". Together they embark on a mission, as Chanter still has to fullfil another wish, during this time both, Chanter and Talsy, learn a lot about each other and they start to form a very caring relationship. They have to overcome lots of obsticles on their journey and even find themselves confronted with "The Black Riders" some kind of not quite mortal beings who are trying to extinguish all human life on the planet. Over time Talsy recognises that the human race is doomed, because all they live for is power, greed and to destroy. I thought this was a great little fantasy story which I enjoyed very much and I definately will look out for the other books in this series.

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

Currently I am still reading The Gift of Rain which is just lovely - don't forget the tissues when reading it - and my new flatmate Rossella gave me I, Lucifer and The last Werewolf by Glen Duncan, and Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila which she said are must reads. :) So, I will try to read them before I go home next Saturday and will then carry on with The Gift of Rain.
I started I, Lucifer last night and so far, it appears to be really funny. Very fast paced writing, which I find a bit difficult a times.

Bianca- Good review of The Stormcaller. I've not heard of this one or of the author. I don't read a lot of fantasy but I'm always on the look-out for something above average.
ETA- I loved the Last Werewolf and it's sequel.

Wow--congrats on your second 75!

Another interesting review!

Thank you Mark :) definately a book I can recommend, it may not be as fast paced and action packed as most of the fantasy books, but I did enjoy the flawed character of Isak very much and I liked the other characters as well.

Hi Janet, thank you very much *wave*

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

I have registered with the 13 category challenge next year. My aim: to read 10 books in each category :)
I didn't think that it would be so hard to create 13, but here they are:

# 01 Let's be creative and broaden our horizon - non-fiction
# 02 Neverending stories - books from a series
# 03 Misfits - books which don't fit any of the categories
# 04 Let's see if we can make it - post-apocalyptic, disaster, horror, science fiction
# 05 Don't break my heart - paranormal romances
# 06 I think I am special! - short-, longlisted, winners of Booker, Orange, Nobel etc.
# 07 I love to play! - children and ya
# 08 Who is trying to sneak into my home? - thriller and mysteries
# 09 Return to the classics - selfexplanatory
# 10 Once upon a time - fantasy
# 11 Across time - historical fiction
# 12 Books of my shelves - If you see a book in my tbr collection and you think I should read it, you are welcome to point it out :)
# 13 Anything goes - Whatever catches my eye

Sounds like a good list! I kind of gave up on my 12 in 12 challenge after a while because I didn't make it challenging enough for me. On the other hand, I didn't want to make a challenging list because I hate to feel pressured to meet it and get less enjoyment out of the books I'm reading (that happens to me when I feel like I HAVE to read a book). I'm wavering on whether I should try again next year with a slightly more challenging list.

Hi Rachel, I tried to create the list so that I will challenge myself in categories 6, 8 and 9 slightly more, but at the same time it was important to me that I will have a chance to complete the challenge thus only 10 books in each challenge :)
Would be nice to see you in that challenge as well :)
BTW: Looking forward to your thoughts on Paradise Lost as I got myself the Norton Critical Edition to be able to follow you on your thread :P

I'm thinking of doing the 13 Category Challenge as well but need to give a lot more thought to what my categories will be.

Nice categories Bianca.

Not posting in the 13 Category Challenge until I've completed the 12 in 12 though - managing 2 threads (and groups) is as much as I can do:)

:) It was difficult making any progress on Paradise Lost while taking that coursera course. I don't have any such excuse anymore, so I should start making progress again very soon! In fact, I HAVE been working on it, I just haven't posted anything yet. I'm glad to know others are interested in it too.

Wahooo for reaching number 75!! :)
You 13 in 13 people are all so organized. My plan for reading is just to read...haha! No categories, no numbers, just read and try to take the number of unread books just lounging on my shelves, DOWN!

Hi Bianca - I found your thread over on the 2013 challenge. So happy to see you joining us for next year! I hope you had a enjoyable weekend - as it is almost over know - and sending you wishes for a great week!

Wow, there's already a 2013 challenge group? You guys are so organized!

> 78 - Hi Rachel, the category challenge does tend to start early compared to the 75 group. It's to let people take the time to figure out their categories, chat about their categories and reading candidates and in some cases to start the challenge on their timelines. The 11 in 11 challenge had some start their challenge on November 11 to make it an 11 in 11 start date, others want to read the full allotment of books and want to start reading before January 1st, or they want to stop on a date that works with the year's challenge numbers. It is all about flexibility!

Bianca - interesting list of 13 in 13 challenges,

For my part, I am going to try a Morphy Pyramid first:

13 books in Short story collections
12 books in 2012 Booker Longlist
11 books in Sleuths
10 books in Asia Pacific Literature
9 books in Fiction between the wars 1918-1939
8 books in Modern American Literature
7 books in French Literature
6 books in Biography
5 books in Scandi
4 books in travel
3 books in world history
2 books in economic and politics
1 book entirely free choice off the shelves but on the shelves since 1 January 2012.

If I manage that, I will then see how many per category I can make.

Ah, well; since I've not yet read my first 50 books for my 75 challenge this year, I think I'd only be good for the 7 in 7 challenge. So I may join you next century, then.

Good luck with your 13s, y'all.

Congrats on finishing off your second set of 75 by the way!

# Hi Rhian, I kept them broad. I didn't want to restrict myself too much.

# Agreed calm - I think 2 threads will be hard work and I have to see how I will be able to keep up. Would be nice to see you in the 13 category challenge *big smile*

# Rachel I am back home next week, where I left the book, so I am looking forward to your thoughts and comments and may will even be able to comment on some things myself :).

# Hi Valerie, thank you! Actually, I am not that organized. I kept my categories very broad and open for lots of possibilities.

# Lori, thank you. Found you already as well. Luv your categories, but I found so many people there were so imaginative in creating their categories. Really amazing :)

# Hi Paul, very interesting list and I am looking forward to what you choose to read next year. And thank you for the congrats on reaching my second 75.

# Nina, you could do a pyramid challenge like Paul or Madeline to suit your reading. You don't need to read as many books. I only thought to do 10 books in each category, because I read between a 150 and 200 books a year. Well, if I wouldn't spend so much time on LT to see what everyone else is doing. :) And reading is about fun and not to reach a particular number. It just happens that I am a quite fast reader.

Bianca, belated congratulations both on your move and on approaching your second 75! Wow!
I've enjoyed the cat and bat conversations. I am immune to the appeal of naked mole rats. I think that it's the ears that do me in.
HAPPY CREEPY HALLOWEEN to you too!!

Thank you Lizzie!

HAPPY CREEPY HALLOWEEN to everyone *smile*

Books read in October

#57 Melinda Coss - Gourmet Soaps Made Easy
#58 Shaun Tan - The Lost Thing
#59 Heidi Corley Barto - The Natural Soap Chef
#60 Tatyana Hill - Making Handmade Soap: A Practical Guide to Making Natural Soaps
#61 Caragh M. O'Brien - Birthmarked
#62 Caragh M. O'Brien - Tortured: A bridge story between Birthmarked and Prized
#63 Caragh M. O'Brien - Prized
#64 George R. Collins - Gaudi 150 Photographs
#65 Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead Volume 1
#66 Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead Volume 2
#67 Herta Müller - Atemschaukel
#68 Herta Müller - The Hunger Angel
#69 Tom Lissauer - Neonatology at a Glance
#70 Allegra Skye - Saved
#71 Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead Volume 3
#72 Shaun Tan - The Red Tree
#73 Nicola Streeten - Billy, Me & You
#74 Tom Lloyd - The Stormcaller
#75 TC Southwell - Children of Another God

Best reads this month definately were The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller and The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd.

Currently I am still reading I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan and postponed The Gift of Rain until I am back in Germany. And I am still listening to The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint

Only two more shifts to go and Saturday night I will travel back to Germany. This time was very hard in regards to work and I am completely knackered. Looking very much forward to cuddle my little fellow on Sunday and that I will spend some nice weeks together with him. Hooray!

Hopefully Saturday comes soon for you Bianca! Cuddles with the little guy will go a long ways to helping you de-stress. :)

Looks as if you had a great reading October, Bianca, only one two star book too - I find I simply put those down now, can't be bothered.

Have a good journey back to Germany!

Hi, Bianca. I finally found you. (Looking around) Hey, this place is pretty nice. I think I'll stick around and lurk for a while.

Have a safe journey back to Germany and your little fella, Bianca!

Gute Reise Bianca!

Oh, yay for near-future cuddles! I've been wondering whether your little man travels with you - it must be hard to be separated from him for days at a time.

Cute bat:

Oops, sorry:


Took the kids to see the film today. Safe journey & enjoy your cuddles with your little one (although he sounds rather bigger than my little ones, and they - unfortunately - are already growing out of cuddles. *sniff*)

Hi Bianca, I'm enjoying learning about your very prolific reading and I love the categories for your 13/13 for next year. I tried that once in 2010 and did a lousy job of completing it. As a matter of fact it all fell apart fairly early in the year and then I just sort of ignored it haha. I guess I'm not a very good candidate for that kind of long range planning. TIOLI works for me, for the most part, because it's only one month to plan for.

I'm not much for rats. And since we spent the better part of three years trying to get the moles out of our lawn, I'm pretty much opposed to moles too. The naked part doesn't seem to add much appeal;-)

Bianca - I trust that your weekend is going well.
Nina - I saw the film too last weekend with my gang - well most of it as I did manage 20 minutes sleep during part of it!

Hi Bianca, how long will you be in Germany with your son? I hope it's long enough to get destressed. I'm pretty sure that's not a real word, but you know what I mean. Please don't confuse it with "distressed"!

Those are some interesting and open categories for your 13-in-13 Challenge. I did a pyramid for 12-in-12 and have only five more books to read to complete it. I sort of forget about it, though, because I spend so much time in this group. I think I'll be a one-group LTer next year.

How is The Gift of Rain going? I have my sights set on it ever since I finished the wonderful Garden of Evening Mists. Oh yeah, tissues are a good thing to have handy with that book as well.

Safe drive home.

Hi Bianca. Sorry for freaking people out with the naked mole rats. I guess in the course of my Zoology studies I came across so many creepier animals... the hagfish, for example. I never want to meet one of those, ever.

Safe trip home!

I see i have a lot of catching up to do.

#100 in the course of my Zoology studies I came across so many creepier animals. Someone else who studied Zoology!

I thought the mole rats were cute. :p

>103 The_Hibernator: Yeah! They were nekkid. :O

Getting old: I'm having difficulty distinguishing between expectations and expectorations. Maybe I should read Tully's de Senectute.

Or does it show my age when I call the author "Tully"?

Just checking in and seeing how you are doing, Bianca. :)

Hi, Bianca. I've just started John Mahama's My First Coup d'Etat. Not as good as Chinhua Achebe's Things Fall Apart but it's looking good.

Bianca it has gone quiet over here. Look forward to catching up on your news and trust that you will have a splendid weekend.

Hi Bianca - hope you have recovered from your latest work in England and are enjoying your time with your son. Looking forward to seeing what you have been reading:)

Hi everyone :) after one week tied up and NO computer or reading time, I am finally able to catch up with my own thread. I didn't think I would miss the community of this group so much, but I did.

Thank you Valerie, Lucy, Rhian, Kirconell, Lori, cushla, Amber, Nina, brenzi, Paul, Donna, Jenn, patito and Rachel for stopping by at my thread and for all your wishes to my safe return to Germany :) *waves to everyone* :).

My journey back to Germany was uneventful, but when I finally arrived Sunday morning I felt I just wanted to go in hibernation for a few month, because I was so exhausted. Unfortunately no luck there. On Monday and Tuesday I helped my brother painting his new flat and then I had lots of appointments with Alex.

On Wednesday I went with my mum to the funeral of a lovely neighbour. He was 81 years old and got diagnosed with lung cancer at the beginning of this year, he still went through a couple of chemos but eventually they found that he was full of metastasis. What schocked me completely was that they still put him through a radiation therapy three days before he died.
This was also the first time that I went to a catholic funeral service and after TWO hours of service I felt mentally utterly exhausted and horrified. I just felt it was so horrible, I had goose pimples throughout the whole service and couldn't believe that anyone could feel comforted by such a depressing service. I didn't realize that everything would be about mercy, forgiveness, the fragility of life. And this was what the whole service was about, nothing beautiful, funny or lovely to remember Bernhard, the deceased.

One funny and positive event was that my younger brother, who loves gadgets, tried to convince me for a very long time that I need an ipad. Sorry, I don't need one. So he decided now, if I don't want an ipad then at least I have to get a kindle fire *grin*. So, when I came home I had this lovely present waiting for me and IMO it't very similiar to an ipad just smaller. I am still playing around with it to familirise myself with all the possible functions and again I felt, yes it is fun, but actually it is only a gadget. What I do have to say, the kindle fire has got a great sound system, is very easy to use and is definately great for reading at night time. LOL - Well, at least I have got a happy brother now *big smile*.

> Kirconnell thank you for stopping by and you are welcome anytime, I found your thread as well and will carry on to follow you :)

> Yes, Amber it is horrible to be seperated from Alex for weeks at times, but more so for myself than for him. He loves my parents very much and so for him it isn't that bad, something I am very happy for. The problem was, when I moved back to Germany 4 1/2 years ago (my son needed special schooling for dyscalculia which isn't available in the UK), I couldn't get any jobs :(. I was very lucky that my employer didn't want me to leave and that they offered me this "annual hours" contract, so that I would be able to commute between countries. So far this is working well, aside from me usually being utterly exhausted by the time I go back to Germany :).

> Nina *giggle* yes, he is rather bigger then your little ones - 13 years old - but still, he loves his cuddles. I love the pics from Hotel Transilvania, I think I have to check that movie out.

> Hi brenzi, even so that I created the categories, I definately will not plan all my reading ahaed as I am very much a mood reader. As you said they are very broad, so I will be able to fit most of my reading in. I do the same with the TIOLI challenge, I fit the books in as I go along. :)

> Hi Donna, I am able to spend four weeks with my son this time, then I have to go back to London for four weeks, but after that I am off for TWO month *large grin*. As mentioned above, I do have an "annual hours" contract, due to a severe spinal problem I only work 24 hours a week - if I would do normal hours :) - When I am in London I squeeze all my shifts together - we do 13 hours shifts and I work every week a minimum of 4 and up to 6 shifts (which explains why I am usually so tired) and because I do that I can have these long stretches off.

I hope I will restart The Gift of Rain next week, as I am still working my way through I Lucifer which my new flatmate gave to me.

> Hi Jenn, I definately agree with you on the mole rats and after researching them a bit, I think they are very interesting creatures. *grin*

> *wave* at patito, nice to see you around again *smile* I saw that you started already some interesting discussions over on Rachels thread :) In regards to The Hunger Angel it's not as much as slow going, but the detached language is something you have to get your head around. However, I felt that it suited the story very well. Definately one of my best reads this year.
My First Coup d'Etat sounds very interesting and already gone onto my wishlist :)

> Paul *smile* QUIET TIME is over. Hopefully!

I have only managed to finish one audiobook over the past two weeks, but one I very much enjoyed. The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint review will come later. Still would like to do some catching up on the other threads :)

And I have been a very good girl, because I only bought ONE book so far. Cain by Jose Saramago an author I have never read before, but which has been recommended to me by one of my collegues.

I wish everyone a very happy weekend!

Hi calm :), only managed to finish ONE book over the last two weeks - sad I know - I hope that I will be able to pick up on my reading next week.

I finished The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint which I saw you enjoyed very much as well. I definately will look out for his other books as well. Any you can recommend?

Wish you a lovely weekend calm :)

Great that you enjoyed The Onion Girl:) There is a second Jilly book - Widdershins if you want to see what happens to her next.

To be honest I like most of de Lint's work and it is hard to narrow things down to any particular recommendations. The Newford stories run in a more or less chronological order as published but they normally focus on different characters though as you read more of them the stories build up and you learn about everyone.

My first de Lint was Moonheart - a blend of Celtic and Native American mythology set in Ottawa. I also loved Memory and Dream which was the first Newford book that I read. He also has a number of short story collections and some more traditional and YA fantasy. So it depends on what you fancy reading:)

Hope you find something of his to read, Kath (mckait) is another fan of his work and might be able to give some more suggestions.

>109 drachenbraut23: That's an interesting comment you've made about Catholic funeral. Of course, since you've only been to one, I guess it might be that THAT particular service was more depressing than others. In contrast, I've ONLY been to Catholic funerals. I've always thought funerals were rather dreary. Never been to a cheerful one. But they're usually not 2 hours long!

Personally, I think funerals are for the living, not for the dead. So they should be catered to help the family / friends cope...and if the family are helped to cope by a service about mercy and forgiveness (and they very well might be if they're Catholic), then it's all good in the long run. :)

Interesting comments about the iPad and your new Kindle Fire. I visited my best friend from medical school in Wisconsin in early January last year, and he bought his wife a Kindle as a birthday present, after she bought him a Nook. She is very opinionated, and she grumbled to me after he went off to work that she didn't need it, didn't want it, and that Dave should have bought it for her. At the time I was largely in agreement with Murielle, as I also didn't like the idea of e-readers. She did start to use it, and by the following day she was absolutely in love with it! She let me try it, and by the following month I bought one too.

# Thank you calm, I will have a peek at mckaits thread and see if she can recommend something :) Although, the ones you mentioned sound pretty good, especially the second one about Jilly.

# Hi Rachel, I agree with you that funeral are for the living to give them comfort and whatever someone needs. Edith, the wife of the deceased, is deeply religious and she felt that the service was absolutely beautiful and I could see how she was able to draw strength from it. However, my mum and I felt deeply depressed after the service. I have been to many funerals in my life and the last two I went to, were Martin Luther Protestant services and they were very, very different. I wouldn't say they were cheerful - to loose someone you love, or cared for never is - but somehow they were more positive and comforting. My nan's funeral service was beautiful, she would have hated it to be dark and dreary - and when the pastor talked about her, he even made us laugh at times, which helped us to hold on to the good memories and not to break down, because we lost and missed her.

# Hehe, you are probably right. After having the kindle fire now for a week, I actually started to enjoy all the things you can do with it. Although, my son is still using it more than myself. :)

I am still very busy, and still have hardly any time for reading *sniff loudly* I have tried to finish I Lucifer by Glen Duncan which my flatmate gave to me. I am about half way through and for some reason his writing style started to annoy me. At the beginning of the book, I felt very much entertained and now I get mixed feelings ob annoyance, boredom and that I think "Come on, just get on with it". Did anyone of you read the book already? And what did you think about it?

Herewith, I would like to introduce Paul - the hedgehog - who is going to hibernate with us :)
Paul, was brought to my mum about two weeks back. He was severly injured - cat - and consequently the wounds were infected and full of maggotts. On top of that he was very small - just around 400g, not enough to go into hibernation outside - cold and full of parasites. The vet wanted to put him down, but my mum asked for a couple of days. So the vet injected him antibiotics, something for the parasites, a painkiller and gave him an infusion. My mum said he didn't move for two days and she had to hand feed him. This is how he looked, after the first 24 hours under my mums care. *big smile* There is a small hot water bottle under the pink towl.



Two weeks under the TLC of my mum, he has grown considerable and developed a healthy and good appetite. He moved now into a huge rabbit cage with lots of space. He - also I believe it's a SHE - is the first house clean hedgehog I have ever seen. He doesn't pee or poo on his towels, and he still needs the hot water bottle which he keeps clean as well. It's hilarious to see him in the evening getting his little house (an old shoe box, with a cut opening) ready, he usually pushes and pulls the hot water bottle into the house, then he makes himself with his fluffy red towel a nest on top and finally he used the daily paper to close the doorway into his house. I only can say, seriously gorgeous and I will post some more pics, to show you how cute he looks now. I am so glad, that my mum managed to get him through.

Yah, for Paul! He's adorable and is starting to look plump.

haha, that's an adorable hedgehog. One of my aunts tend to rescue wild animals, too. I generally stick to stray cats.

> hehe Mark, indeed he is. Thanks to my mum's TLC magic :)

> Yes, he is Rachel. Although, as I said before I actually think HE is a girl. He is really funny and all his wounds healed nicely. My mum takes hedgehogs for years now and so far she only lost one. :)

Absolutely cute description of Paul/a's behaviour!

Good for your mum.

Looking forward to reading and seeing more of Paul the hedgehog! I like how fastidious the little guy/girl is with the evening routine. ;-)

Thank goodness your mom stepped in to save Paul's life. Looks like (s)he is doing well. Are you going to keep Paul's name now that you think she's a gal?

I love hedgehogs. We raised a "litter" of them once when their mum disappeared.

Bianca/Mark: Yah, for Paul! He's adorable and is starting to look plump. That has been said in part at least (the plump part anyways) about the hedgehog's namesake.

What a wonderful story of rescuing Paul. How very delightful!

Bianca, I've never seen a hedgehog in real life. I have a male and female Steiff couple that I've kept since my childhood. I must say they look exactly alike except for their clothes. ;-)
Sending my best wishes for a happy life to dear little Paul or Pauline.

Paul (#123)- ROFL! Thanks for the best laugh of the day sir!

Cute hedgehog story, can just imagine him/her nestling in for the night. I haven't read anything by Glen Duncan yet, I have his werewolf book but only read a couple of pages before putting it down.

OH! I love hedgehogs! He/she sounds like a perfect visitor. I'd love to have one for a pet, but nobody else in my family can see why. Maybe I should tell them it's either the hedgehog or a nekkid mole rat?

>102 SandDune: - Hey Rhian! Yes! You too then?

>123 PaulCranswick: LOL!

Nina - Thank you! My mum actually deceided that for now, we will stick to Paul - to not confuse the hedgehog *grin* - So, Paul it is!

Lori - I am hoping to take some more pics tonight, and will definately update on him. Last night he was really cross with us and actually started hissing, which made me LOL.

Valerie - Yes, he/she is going to stay Paul for the time being. Yes, and my mum is really fab, she is well known for looking after injured and poor animals and I have to say - she is pretty good at that.

Laura - that sounds so lovely to raise a whole litter. How many were there?

Paul - I only say LOL and thanks for almost making me spill my coffee :)

Linda - Thank you!

Donna - LOL - maybe I could try to get some clothe on that little fellow to resemble the Steiff animals. Although, the Steiff animals are beautiful. I have seen a huge collection of them a few years back in the Toy Museum in Munich, which was very impressive. Such quality work.

Mark - LOL agreed!

Kerry - He does that every evening :) The best part is always when he pulls the hot water bottle into his house and places his "bedding" on top *grin*
Didn't you like The Last Werewolf or why did you put it down again? I know that Mark said that he enjoyed that one very much. However, I am still struggling with the other one.

Jenn - hehe they are definately not pets, but indeed they are beautiful. Maybe, your family hasn't seen enough of them? Or has not yet seen, how funny they can be? However, nekeed mole rat sounds rather fascinating. Maybe I should show some of the pics to my mum and MAYBE she feels really, really sorry for the way they look - pathetic - and voila, there is the new pet. *grin*

Darryl - LOL

#151 Charles de Lint - The Onion Girl - Newford series book 11

♬ audiobook unabridged narrated by Kate Reading

Genre: Urban Fantasy - 512 pages
Rating: 4.5/5

First of all, Kate Reading is a great narrator and always manages to bring stories brilliantly alive. This was the first book by Charles de Lint, but I definately will read more by him.

Book blurb from amazon

Newford: where magic lights dark streets, where myths walk in modern shapes, where humans and older beings must work to keep the whole world turning. At the centre of the entwined lives of all the Newford tales stands a young artist named Jilly Coppercorn, whose paintings capture the hidden beings that dwell in Newford's shadows. With her tangled hair, her paint-splattered jeans, a smile perpetually on her lips, she's darted in and out of the Newford tales. Now, at last, we have Jilly's own story. Behind the painter's fey charm there's a dark secret, and a past she's laboured to forget. That past is coming to claim her now, threatening all she loves. "I'm the onion girl," Jilly Coppercorn says. "Pull back the layers of my life, and you won't find anything at the core. Just a broken child. A hollow girl." She's run from the past and the truth for so long. She's very, very good at running. But life has just forced Jilly to stop.

What I think

The faerie represent the beauty we don't see, or even choose to ignore. That's why I'll paint them in junkyards, or fluttering around a sleeping wino. No place or person is immune to spirit. Look hard enough, and everything has a story. Everybody is important.

“There is no plan, no future laid out for any of us beyond what we make for ourselves.”

The story starts with Jilly having an accident, when she wakes up she is paralysed and completely dependent on others. Whilst initially in a coma, she manages to slip into "dreamland" where she tries to heal her innerself in order to be healed physically in the "real world".Once woken up from the coma, she easily slips in and out of "dreamland" during her sleep, where she meets lots of interesting creatures. Most of the story is set within this "dreamland" and we follow the adventures of Jilly, her sister Raylene and her friends. Raylene plays a large part in the story with her own haunting past, all the horrors she experienced after Jilly left her behind as a child. Both, Jilly and Raylene are very powerful characters in their own way. De Lint managed to create a very vivid and enthralling story, which is very descriptive and detailed. I loved all the different characters I met in the "dreamlands" and definately like to find out more about some of them. The story is about Jilly and Raylene - their past, their horrors they experienced as children and the dangers they encountered by living at the edge of society. It's about how each of them choose a different path in life, what made them do it. And finally it's about their attempts at redemption. I only found that towards the end of the book it started to get a little bit cheesy and, perhaps, a little bit too preachy for my taste. However, this was a great read which I can recommend to anyone, who doesn't mind to be confronted with the cruelty done to children and who loves magic.

Hi Bianca, I almost didn't find your thread today - it has moved so far upwards since yesterday (when I didn't have the time yet to catch up), I thought it had disappeared.

Good luck with hedgehog Paul!

And congratulations on reading 2 x 75 books in 2012 and on finding such great challenges for 2013!

I haven't made up my mind yet whether I want to do the 13 in 13 challenge or not. I gave up this year (or was it 2011?), because I couldn't keep up with big threads in 2 groups and with synchronizing them re. the reviews. But now seeing your categories and the Morphy/Paul pyramid approach I feel very tempted.

I have been to some Catholic funeral services in my life, as half of my family is Catholic (the other half is Lutheran Protestant), and I didn't notice any great differences. I've never been to a service that was longer than an hour and while they were all sad, none of them was depressing or concentrated on guilt and forgiveness.

Cheers to your mum for rescuing the hedgehog!

Bianca, that's a beautiful story about Paul the hedgehog. I particularly like your description of the way he gets into his little house in the evening.

>130 drachenbraut23:: Bianca, there were 3-4 baby hedgehogs if I remember correctly. They were adorable. Our greatest concern was they were a late litter, too young to survive winter on their own. As they grew they became more ... erm ... odoriferous ... so eventually my husband took them to a wildlife rescue. They were very sweet though.

Nathalie - Thank you! Maybe we just were unlucky with this particular service. However, I swear to you I have never felt so sick and depressed after a funeral before. My mum insisted that I was getting paler and paler the longer the service went.

Darryl - *smile* Thank you! Conveyed that to my mum.

Heather - he is seriously funny, when my mum cleaned the cage last night he even relocated his house. We think it was to warm with hot water bottle - he recovered quite well, so he maybe doesn't need it anymore - so, instead of moving the hot water bottle he just relocated his house and his bedding *giggle*. Hopefully, I will be able to take some photos tonight and maybe post them tomorrow. :)

Laura - wow so many? How cute! odoriferous Well, LOL that's understatement, especially with so many hehe

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

I start to get really frustrated. I had hardly any reading time in the past three weeks and now I am struggling. I don't get any further with I, Lucifer , because the book starts to annoy me. I tried to get back in The Gift of Rain - nope, I tried to carry on with The Perfect Heresy: The Life and Death of the Cathars - nope, started on The Vivisector, Purple Hibiscus and Twilight's Dawn - nope.

However, at least my ability to listen didn't vanish. Currently I am listening to Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. The audiobook is read by John Lee who is just great in reading the Mieville books.

Hi Bianca! I've often felt that way about reading too. That's generally when I just sit about listening to audiobooks when I'd normally be reading...or I pick up a nice fluffy YA book.

Oh, and I'm going to start reading The Rape of Nanking in the next few days. :)

Bianca, I love John Lee as a narrator too. He reads Alastair Reynolds and Peter F Hamilton really really well. I'll have to check out what else he's read by Mieville.
I hope you can get back into a good book sometime soon.

Bianca, I saw this photo on Facebook and just had to share it:

Hi Rachel - yep, I agree on the audiobooks and thanks for reminding me at The Rape of Nanking.

Hi Kerry - great to see that someone besides myself enjoys John Lee as a narrator. He also narrated most of the Ken Follett books and a lot of the classics, such as the Count of Monte Christo which was brilliantly read.

Laura - this is sooooooooo beautiful and cute, they are just lovely. If they wouldn't have them spikes I would say "come on you little cuties for a cuddle" The one on the bottom right just looks like he is laughing. *big smile* Thank you soooo much for posting it here :)

I think I found my way back into reading last night. I had a peak into The Twelve by Justin Cronin and - well - got hooked. I am 1/2 way through the book now and think it has much more flow to it then the first one. Although, it doesn't pick up where the serious cliffhanger of the last book left us. We actually go back to the beginning of the virals and follow several groups on their journey, inbetween we are thrown back to a few years AFTER what happened in the last book. I felt that the first book had already some strong religious undertones and in this one it is even more. Although, I am not quite sure about that as yet, as there are mentionings of "The shining ship is waiting for you". However, so far it is a very engaging read.

Bianca- I love your reading choices! I have a spanking new copy of The Twelve waiting nearby. I plan to start it early next month. I'm glad you are enjoying Perdido street. I had some mixed feelings on that one but there was still much to enjoy.
How is Plump Paul?

I try not to start a series until it's finished unless it's an accident (i.e. I don't realize it's part of a series) or I just can't wait to read the book. Therefore, I've not picked up The Passage yet...but my strength is waiting. MUST. WAIT. LONGER.

Your father might have a sit-down-and-talk coming up. ;)

What a fun thread, Bianca! I'm glad that you're settling in, and that hedgehog is one cute little animal. I just had a look at hagfish - yeeks! - and slime!!!!
I'm still waiting for PBS to send me a copy of The Passage. I think I can wait until my name comes up on the list.

>140 lauralkeet:: Oh; they are so CUTE!

#140 i love those hedgehog pictures!

I guess I never really knew what a hedgehog looked like but they are adorable Bianca. And please keep plumping up Paul;-)

Hi Mark - Thank you! So far I love Perdido Street Station and what were your issues with it? The Twelve is coming along nicely as well, although I am amazed at the strong religious undertone in this sequel.

Hi Rachel - The Passage is definately worth a read, also be prepared that some parts of the book are a bit dragging. Thank you for the cat post *grin*. I showed to my parents last night and they were howling with laughter and thought it was very fitting - Now, my dad is waiting for upcoming talk with our neighbours cat *giggle*.

Lizzie - I hope you will enjoy The Passage once you get to it, but be prepared it is a chunkster of a book :)

Nina, Rhian and brenzi - I think they are so cute as well. Although, I have never seen such tiny ones.

And finally here comes a new photo of Paul (not that brilliant) - Due to my mums TLC he is doing really great, actually getting a bit frisky now *smile*. Continues to be extremely clean (so unusual) with his two fluffy towels and is gaining weight rapidly. I should think, once we will release him in spring we probably will end up with another giant (2kg) hedgehog *grin*



The white lines in his face are the areas where his skin was splitt open and which were covered in maggotts - all gone now - and the skin looks very healthy now. My mum is the only one who is allowed to take him, if anyone else tries to hold him, he just rolls himself up into a spiky ball. Since he recovered from his illness he is just fun. Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough last night, otherwise I could have shown you a photo of Paul nose to nose with our German Shepard dog Ayke. Ayke just loves him and tried to lick his head last night LOL.

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

I definately have to try to find a home for some of my book piles today. When I woke Alex for school this morning, I found him lying in and covered with a whole pile of books. My reaction: "Oh my god, my books" and immediatly I felt guilty because it should have been "poor boy". I had a couple of book towers behind his bed and he pushed somehow his pillows into them during the night making the tower collapse and about 10 books ended up in his bed. When I asked him if it wasn't uncomfortable, he just shrugged. So much for being a deep sleeper *smile*.
*Sigh* so finally, I have to do something about this towers.

>140 lauralkeet:, 149 Great hedgehog photos!

>149 drachenbraut23:: Nice to see Paul looking healthy.

I suppose, re Alex and your book towers: like mother, like son! (I have to confess, my reaction would probably also have been "My books!". Especially knowing the way my boys sleep)

Paul is adorable! I'm glad he's doing so well.

omg, how cute are those hedgehog babies??!!?

And Paul looks all healthy now. He was so lucky to to be brought to your mum.
So Ayke has hedgehog experience and knows to lick the head only?

I had to laugh about Alex sleeping covered in books and not even noticing. :)

LOLOL about the books falling on Alex and not waking him up. Must be a characteristic of the age. My son is impossible to wake.

Loved the porcupine update.

Falling book towers.... uh oh.

Bianca, don't be surprised if Paul doesn't want to be released in the spring. It looks like his life is pretty peachy these days! Your mother might miss him, too. I had a chipmunk for a pet when I was a kid and he/she didn't seem to mind being in "captivity" as it had the run of the house most of the time.

I'm so glad you found a book to get lost in. I rarely have a book funk, and when I do, I usually read a short story or two until I can get back to the full-length books.

>156 Donna828:: "I'm so glad you found a book to get lost in"; it looks like Alex found quite a few books to get lost in!

Darryl - *smile* they are cute, indeed!

Nina - hehe, I am glad I am not the only one who has got such a deep sleeper! Yes, he found quite a few books to get lost in.
We are glad that Paul is looking so healthy now as well. Espescially my mom.

Laura - Thank you! BTW My parents loved the hedgehog photos *smile*.

Nathalie - Yes, Ayke has indeed hedgehog experience *grin*. He found "Spike" in February and injured his nose, when he tried to figure out what the moving ball was hehe. Thanks to him, another hedgehog was safed. Spike must have been already too small when he went into hibernation and that was probably the reason why he came out that early. He was missing half of his spikes on one side and was so full of parasites that he couldn't even open his eyes. When I took him to the vet they wanted to put him down, but I asked them as well to give him a few days. And again my mum managed to get him through. When we released him by the end of April (he run off like lightening) he was almost 2kg and when we found him he was not quite 500g. He is still in our garden and we sometimes see him in the evenings. Unfortunately, his spikes never grew back which makes him very easy reconizable.

Yep, Alex covered in my books was a side to behold *grin*

Jenn - LOLOL exactly. It's a shame that I didn't take a photo, because "they" Alex and Paula (the dog) looked so hilarious covered with - and lying on the books.

Donna - I love your story about the chipmunk, we used to have a chipmunk as a pet as well. They used to be quite popular pets in the 90's in Germany. We got ours in exchange for two kittens. Friends of my parents didn't want him (he was called Puschel) anymore :(. He got really, really old with us and we loved him to pieces. However, hedgehogs are a different matter. It doesn't matter how well you care for them, once it is time to release them they just run for their lives, because they are so happy to be outside again :). My mom has been taking hedgehogs for soo many years now, I even can't remember how many we had.
I hope I will be able to get back to The Gift of Rain soon.

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

Actually, I wanted to sort my books out on Friday. However, around lunchtime my dad asked me if I could "briefly" - yes, the emphasis is on briefly - check some CD's with/for him online. Well, the "briefly" turned out to take almost 4 hours. My dad is a complete music geek - Jazz, Blues, Jazz Fusion, Funk etc. so after that internet spree he spend 400 Euro on CD's he really, really needed for his collection. I've tried to show him AGAIN how to do the searches and also bookmarked some sites with more detailed information about his favourite musicians, but somehow I feel that he didn't really bother. He told me it's much easier IF I DO the searching and he just tells me what he wants *sigh*.

Oh dear - I hope no books were damaged by having Alex and Paula sleeping on them!

Loving the hedgehog progress - your mum is doing a great job rescuing and returning them to the wild.

Hope you are having a great weekend and manage to get some book sorting time.

I, Lucifer - Glen Duncan

Genre: Humor, Satire - 272 pages
Rating: 1.5/5 - Abandoned (or as learned from Richard :) Pearl ruled)

Book blurb from amazon
A brilliantly written portrait of Lucifer encountering the world of the senses, telling his version of the Bible, and discovering what it's like to be human - in Clerkenwell. 'Now, Your million questions. All, in the end, resolvable into one: What's it like being me? What, for heaven's sake, is it like being me? In a nutshell (which, thanks to me, is the way you like it in these hurrying and fragmented times), it's hard.' Finally, the other side of the story. The Prince of Darkness has been given one last chance: he will be readmitted to the company of his fellow angels if he agrees to live out a human life. Highly sceptical (naturally), the Old Deal-maker negotiates a trial period - a summer holiday in a human body, with all the delights of the flesh. The body, though, turns out to be that of Declan Gunn, a depressed writer living in Clerkenwell, interrupted mid-suicide. Making the best of a bad situation, Luce himself takes to writing - to explain, to strip back the Biblical spin, to help us see the whole thing from his point of view. And to knock that Jesus off his perch. Beset by distractions, miscalculations and all the natural shocks that flesh is heir to, Lucifer slowly begins to learn what it's like to be us. Glen Duncan's brilliantly written new novel is an investigation of the world of the senses - the seductiveness of evil, and the affection which keeps us human.

What I think

“The question 'What was there before creation?' is meaningless. Time is a property of creation, therefore before creation there was no before creation.”

“How to describe hell? Disembowelled landscape busy with suffering, incessant heat, permanent scarlet twilight, a swirling snowfall of ash, the stink of pain and the din of...if only, hell is two things: the absence of God and the presence of time. Infinite variations on that theme. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? Well, trust me.”

I really, really wanted to like this book and when I initially started it, I thought "what a great book", but then it changed and I started to get annoyed and bored.
I managed 150 pages - WOW - The blurb sounded promising and I thought the concept of the book was great, but IMO it just didn't deliver. I liked the parts where he was talking about his fall from heaven and his ruthless efforts in Paradise to corrupt Adam and Eve. I also enjoyed the parts of him enjoying the smells, the colours and how he percived the world around him, once he was in Declan's body.
However, I got already annoyed on the first few pages when Lucifer tempts a padre to sexually abuse a little boy. HAHAHA HOW FUNNY. Sorry, I didn't think this was funny. Then he carries on with lots of philosophical religious ramblings, using lots of "interesting" words and once he finished a ramble, you didn't have a clue anymore what the ramble was about. After some time, I just felt that Lucifer was a boring, arrogant gump which had nothing to offer aside from drugs, sex, violence and other weird things. Even half way through, I didn't have a clue what the author wanted to convey with this book, aside from all the things we know already and eventually, I didn't think his ramblings were funny at all - and that was what the book was ment to be - FUNNY!
I know my flatmate will be dissapointed, because she highly recommended this book to me, but this was just not for me.

Hi calm,
thank you very much :) *big smile*.
No books were damaged *happy sigh* and my book sorting is progressing well. I will still take a few days to finish, as I am using the opportunity to sort the books out which I will give away.

Wish you a great weekend as well!

Bianca (see, I got it right!)- Sorry the Duncan book didn't work for you. I have only read his 2 werewolf books, which I loved. Now, you can move onto something better.

Happy Sunday to you:

>163 Whisper1:: Oh, gorgeous *melts*

Mark - *big smile* yep, now you got it right. Even so, that THIS Duncan book didn't work for me, I still will read the Werewolf books.

Linda - Thank you! Absolutely adorable *melt* as Nina does :)

Nina - Agreed!

#160 Shame that the I, Lucifer book was so disappointing. I've got that one on my bookshelf but based on your review I won't be in a hurry to pick it up any time soon.

#163 Cute picture! There's no way my cat would do that. She'd be hissing and spitting at the intruder that dared to share her floor!

mrsdrneutron just loves the pic!

Found and starred your thread just in time to catch Linda's wonderful post - too cute! Now I'm off to catch up over here.

>163 Whisper1:: oh. My. God. That is the sweetest thing ever.

Sorry to see that I, Lucifer was that bad... a good reason to Pearl rule it! Joining everyone else in awing over the cute pic at #163! The little guy is just so darn tiny compared to the cat........

LOL! Oh Bianca, yes, when the books threaten to squash our loved ones, it is usually a good time for us to find a rather less threatening home for them. :)

Paul looks like he's grown so much since the last time we saw her. Bless your mom for taking such good care of her.

Hi Bianca, I, too, have only read Duncan's The Last Werewolf, but I really liked it and I am looking forward to getting to the next one. I've picked up a book bullet while wandering through your thread. The Onion Girl is going on the wishlist.

>163 Whisper1: oooh, that is so sweet.

Hi Bianca,
Just a fly by hello today as I dont seem to have much else to say!
Bye.

Rhian - yes, it was horrible *sniff* and as I said in my review I really wanted to like it, because my new flatmate so highly recommended it to me :(

Hello Jim :) Thank you for visiting and I can imagine that your wife likes that pic :) It's sooo cute.

Hi Mamie - thank you for stopping at my thread *smile*

Laura - yes it is, as sweet as the one you posted :)

Hi Lori - yes, it was awful, horrible, boring and I Pear ruled it (nice to learn new phrases) *grin*

Valerie - heheh I emptied all my shelves, resorted them and found a place for all three book towers (approximately 60 books) - so it was good that the tower almost squashed Alex and Paula :)

Judy - thanks for visiting :) - I still will read The Last Werewolf and you will not be dissapointed with The Onion Girl that was a really good read. I actually ordered another story about Jilly which is called Promises to Keep and I am looking forward to that one.

Megan - Thank you for flying bye *grin*

#152 The Twelve - Justin Cronin

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Horror - 592 pages
Rating: 3/5

“As long as we remember a person, they're not really gone. Their thoughts, their feelings, their memories, they become a part of us.”

I was very much looking forward to this book, because I loved The Passage. However, this was still a good read and I definately will still read the last installment once it will be released.

There are parts in the book which are absolutely brilliant and where I just couldn't put the book down. In The Passage it all starts with a government experiment (NOAH) gone wrong, where a virus used on death row prisoners leads to the creation of Twelve bloodsucking creatures called "virals". The Passage went quite soon a 100 years forward to show us how small bands of survivors straggle to live in this new world. The Colony where Amy met her band of friends was described in such great detail, that it was a joy to read.

Here in this sequel we start with year Zero and go back to the beginnings and meet people and groups which have been mentioned briefly in the previous book. The stories were very interesting and finally we find out what happened in the beginning. Then we go back into the present and meet lots of new and some of the old characters Peter, Alicia, Michael, Sarah and Hollis. Some of the events are filled with too many coincidences and the mysteries are not as gripping and convincing as those in The Passage. Going back into the present I thought we would carry on where we left in the last book. Sorry, that didn't happen. I was very much looking forward to find out more about the original Twelve and how Amy and her band wanted to achieve the destruction of them bad guys. However, the way the events come to a conclusion were soooo boring and uninteresting and just not always believable. I just felt that the present part deviated too much from the original story line. The Passage presented us already with the concept of a higher power at work, in this second installment this is much more pronounced and appeared ridicilous at times and I felt it just didn't fit the story.
Well, as you can see I have very mixed feelings in regards to this second book.

Oh dear sorry to hear that The Twelve was a disappointment - I wasn't that impressed by The Passage but still wanted to know what happened to the characters as it finished on a major cliffhanger. Maybe I will wait until all the books are published and can read a complete story.

Hope you are having a great day and thanks for bumping my thread to the top:)

Hi calm :) As I said it was still a sort of good read and I still want to know what's going to happen to the crew, but this installment was not that well excecuted and what I found very irritating were this additions of a "higher power" which just didn't do anything to the story -aside from irritate.

#153 World War Z - Max Brooks

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian, Zombies - 353 pages
Rating: 3.5/5

“Most people don't believe something can happen until it already has. That's not stupidity or weakness, that's just human nature.”

“The monsters that rose from the dead, they are nothing compared to the ones we carry in our hearts”

“But isn't the human factor what connects us so deeply to our past? Will future generations care as much for chronologies and casualty statistics as they would for personal accounts of individuals not so different from themselves? By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kinds of personal detachment from a history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it?”

What an interesting book this was, absolutely not what I expected. What did I expect? Well, a good flashed out Zombie novel, with lots of fights, destruction, panic and a world going into pieces. What did I get? A series of retrospective interviews in form of a documentry from the beginning of the zombie outbreak/war, up to 10 years after the zombie wars. This was definately a very interesting take on viewing a post-apocalyptic world. What scared me most were not the zombies, but what decisions were made - or not made - by governments around the world in how to deal with these outbreaks. I felt that the zombies themselves actually, didn't play such a major role as they were more less an invisible presence. It was more about political and military decisions and their actions, as well as what decisions people in general made. As I am not a great fan of in depth military narratives, I found that I skim read some of the stories :) Some stories were brilliant and others less so. What I did miss was a character, or a bunch of characters I could care about and some more descriptive details about the world I was facing. All in all a different but interesting read on a Zombie-Apocalypse.

And here a small Paul update, he is doing so well now that he's tried a few times to escape.


Paul, snuggled in his towel and newspaper, waking up :)


Paul trying to escape


Paul sulking, because his mission to escape failed hehehe!

I wish everyone here on LT who is celebrating Thanksgiving a beautiful time with your families and friends :) *Big smile*

Very nice review of World War Z, Bianca.

LOL at sulking Paul!

Thank you for your lovely Thanksgiving wishes!

Every time I click on this thread I hope for pix of Paul, and today I was rewarded! Hurrah! Thanks also for the lovely Thanksgiving greetings.

Two lovely reviews, Bianca. I have been hearing a lot about The Passage, which I have not yet read - thinking about adding that one to my stacks. Sorry to hear that the sequel is not as good. I really liked the review of World War Z because it gives me a good feel for what that one is like - thinking about that one as well because the premise sounds so intriguing. However, I am not sure about the military narratives. Thinking...

And thank you for the wonderful Thanksgiving wishes!

Bianca- Love the Paul the hedgehog photos and the updates. He's a cutie. I only skimmed your review of the Twelve, since I'll be starting it soon.

What marvelous photos - so glad to see Paul thriving.

Happy Thanksgiving, Biana! I'm thankful that you're sharing Paul with us, and I'll get back to your reviews later.

Paul sulking, because his mission to escape failed

Too funny! I really enjoy the Paul the hedgehog updates and pictures, Bianca. They are such an enjoyment to see!

I have both The Passage and World War Z on my TBR mountain, not threatening to squash any children, I may add. ;)
I don't typically like zombie books, but Mark totally twisted my arm on that one. I will have to try it and give him a hug if I like it or give him heck, if I don't..haha!

I've just caught up on 75 messages - right from when you rescued Paul! What a gorgeous wee hedgehog.

Happy vicarious Thanksgiving to you Bianca! I liked World War Z. Listened to it as an audiobook, which was really well done. In fact, it won the Audie award. You may have enjoyed it more as an audiobook perhaps? Oh well! We'll never know, will we? :)

>175 drachenbraut23: the cover of this book looks so much like Ian McEwan's Solar, dont you think?
I saw it at the book shop this morning and thought the same thing.

Not one to buy though as costs $35 for a start!

All this talk of Paul....of course I am confusing a hedgehog with our lovely Malaysian-dwelling variety of LTers!

Yay, new Paul pics! Thanks for sharing them, Bianca. Wish you a happy rest of the week.

Wow, I can't believe all the visitors since yesterday. Thank you very much Darryl, Laura, Mamie, Mark, Lucy, Lizzie, Lori, Valerie, Cushla, Rachel, Megan and Nathalie for all your lovely wishes and your interest in Paul. I am glad I could kindle your interest in our cutie. I will probably post one more set of photos, before he will go into proper hibernation for the next few month. He is almost 1kg now and currently we are weaning him off the warm environment, before he goes into the shed next week. After that I will not be able to show you anymore pics before end of April next year. That's when we are going to release him back into the wild. However, my mum is so happy that he made it. So, yeahh for my mum!

Hi Mamie glad that I could give you an idea how the books are. I know I was dissapointed in The Twelve, but looking at the few reviews here on LT, it appears I am the only one who had something to moan *shrugg*. However, I definately enjoyed World War Z, despite the view flaws I mentioned at the end of my review :)

heheh Valerie, no more squashing of unaware teenagers. Books are all removed from danger zone *grin* found a new home for all of them.

Rachel I would have loved to get World War Z as audiobook, unfortunately not available on audible UK or Germany :(. That's sometimes a serious problem. YOU got the books already on audible.com and we either get them much later or not at all *stamping feet in frustration*.

He Megan you are so right, the covers look very much alike :) Well, I wouldn't buy a book for 35 $ unless it is a book which I do need for work. All this talk of Paul....of course I am confusing a hedgehog with our lovely Malaysian-dwelling variety of LTers! LOLOL

Oh, this is so annoying I just spend about 40 minutes on my review of The Giver and then everything vanished into thin air. Hm, I can't understand how this happened, but I think I just have to try it again. :(

> 194 - I hate when that happens! I now write my reviews using Notepad and then cut and paste it into the message window when it is finished.... I had a couple of posts disappear on me in the past so I decided I wouldn't go through that frustration anymore.

#154 The Giver - Lois Lowry - Giver Quartet Book 01

Genre: YA, Dystopian - 189 pages
Rating: 4.5/5

“The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Or inconvenient. Or unusual. The life without colour, pain or past.”

“They were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on. And he was angry at himself, that he could not change that for them.”

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”

Imagine you live in a world without poverty, without violence, without pain, sorrow, suffering or love, without inequality, without choice, without individuality, without colours, where everything is "sameness" and planned from the time you are born until the day you die. Life is safe and predictable but without any real purpose.

This is the world where 11 year old Jonas is born into. Where a Comittee of Elders decides who your life mate will be. Children are born anonymously, by women whose job it is to produce them and then the Elders determine whether you are allowed to have any at all. They also decide who will get "released" from the community, because they are old, they don't fit or sometimes for other reasons. People have to follow strict rules in order to eliminate potential conflicts. Everyone is brainwashed, from an extremely early age, to apologize for anything which is considered offensive or could cause irritation, and in return they have to accept apologies. To ensure that everyone stays unruffled, all emotions are discussed on a daily basis. Everyone is calm and tranquil, and no one desires anything, apart from being able to serve the community.

When Jonas turns 12 years old, him and his friends are going to be assigned their future positions within the community. However, Jonas doesn't get assigned, but selected to become the new "Receiver" of memories for the community which is a position of considerable honor. The Receiver of memory is the custodian of the past, which he is not allowed to share until he can prepare a new Receiver. His task is to protect the people from all emotions that the memories bring.

Once Jonas starts his training, and he receives more and more of the past memories his view of his world starts to crumble rapidly. He discovers joy, pain, sorrow and love. He finds colours, diversity and finds out about choice. The more he learns, the more he feels horrified that the world he is living in is not what it seems to be. He starts to believe that the people of his community are deprived of emotions and that they have no idea what true feelings are. Jonas discovers what it means for a human being to be "released" and because of the memories he sees that life could be remarkably different, even if that would mean to make wrong choices.

Such a tiny little book, but so much to think about. Lois Lowry makes us think about birth control, euthanasia and issues relating to values, choices, purpose and risks in life. Truly, as others said already before me "What a little gem!"

Hi Lori, hehe. That's what I just did and for a change I did send the review through my grammar checker as well.

Thumbs up for your review of The Giver, Bianca. I thought it was a excellent book and I am looking forward to continuing on with the trilogy.

Lovely review of The Giver.

Love seeing the progress Paul is making Bianca. And terrific review of The Giver. I read it eons ago but a reread might be in my future.

I like the sound of The Giver - onto the WL it goes. I've lost so many posts - mainly because I usually do them on the iPad and I accidentally navigate away from them when looking something up or because someone (naming no names but usually J) has forgotten to put it back on to charge and it has run out of batteries). Now, if I'm writing a review I usually write in on Evernote and copy it in to LT to stop that happening.

Bianca - a happy weekend to you and that other Paul who has so successfully supplanted me as the most prickly character carrying that name in the group! Physically anyway.

Excellent review of The Giver, Bianca. I read it several years ago and loved it -- reading your review brought it all back.

Hi Judy Thank you! I have finished the whole quartet and I thought they were pretty good. She addresses in each book different issues, which makes them all quite interesting books.

Thank you Kerry!

Thank you to you as well brenzi, we are all very happy about Paul's progress as well :)

Hi Rhian I very much can recommend the Giver quartet, I am sure that's something you probably would enjoy as well. This being YA literature the books aren't so long, so they are a very quick read.

A very happy weekend to you as well Paul I will give your greetings to your namesake. However, shortly I will introduce you to your female namesake *grin*. Paula my brothers dog, who usually stays with us during the times he is working abroad, such as now. He is currently, again in Japan, which he absolutely hates.

Thank you Laura!

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Today is a very special day for us as a family. Today, one year ago my youngest sister (she is 23 years old now) was awakened from her artificial coma, after a very serious illness, which almost took her life. Today we celebrate her second birthday this year to remember the day she was given back to us.
On the 8th of October last year she collapsed at home and was acutely paralysed from the waist down. She was brought into hospital with blue lights and within 12 hours she was completely paralysed (including her cranial nerves) and needed to go on a ventilator. At that time they diagnosed her already with Guillain–Barré syndrome and one of the most serious forms at that. At the same time she was put into an artifical coma to spare her the pain. Unfortunately, she initially didn't respond to the therapy and had lots of complications, such as several pneumothoraxes, one cardiac arrest - where she needed a pacemaker afterwards for several weeks, to support her heart. She also had lots of other complications, to name them all would take up too much space. However, on the 24th November last year they started to wake her up, until a few days before that the doctors weren't to sure at all if she would be able to pull through this devastating illness. Once she started to wake up all she could do was blink with her eyes. From that time on it was still a very, very long way for her (and for us). Alltogether she spend 6 month in hospital, including the rehabilitation hospital. Today she is walking and laughing again and therefore this is a very special day for us :) *big smile* However, the good thing is that even so she is not fully recovered yet (that apparently can still take several years), she has got a life again. And we still have got her around !

That sounds like a horrific thing to go through. So pleased your sister is on the road to recovery.

Hope you and your family have a great day.

#204 Bianca, so pleased to hear that your sister is making good progress - but that must have been such a shock for all your family. Have a lovely second birthday celebration!

Bianca, thanks for sharing your sister's story. Her life is one more thing I can be thankful for this weekend!

That is an amazing story, Bianca. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Oh wow, your family sure do have a reason to celebrate today. Thanks for sharing.

What a moving story, I wish your sister a very happy birthday!

Thank you for sharing that amazing story about your sister. Truly a reason to celebrate today and everyday!

Bianca that's an amazing story. Hope you have a lovely day celebrating her recovery.

Bianca- Thanks for sharing the wonderful story! Wow! No wonder this is such a special day. Enjoy the weekend.

Wow. That is a powerful story, Bianca. I'm glad that your sister has regained her life after such a devastating course, and I thank you for sharing her story with us.

Bianca, what a wonderful event to be able to celebrate. I hope your family has a very special day and I thank you for sharing such a moving story.

That's a wonderful story, Bianca; I'm so happy everything worked out well. Wishing your sister a very happy birthday.

What a heart rending and ultimately heart lifting story Bianca - give your brave and blessed sister a gentle hug from me. x

Hi Bianca!

That's a very moving story about your sister. I'm so glad she has recovered so much and I hope that she will continue to recover. Happy Birthday to her! :)

Excellent review of The Giver, that's one of my favorite books (though I haven't found time to pick up the fourth book in the quartet yet).

I am so glad you are able to celebrate your sister's amazing second birthday. That's an amazing story that will give hope to many people.

I'm loving the pics of Paul. Since they aren't native in the US, the only ones I've seen are pets either in stores or my DD's gradeschool class had one one year. So cute! Although I can't look at them without thinking of the pics of Martin Freeman/ John Watson being compared to them.

Wow, good morning to everyone. Thank you sooooo much for your kind words pertaining my sisters recovery. A *big smile* to all of you! Thank you calm, Rhian, Laura, Mamie, Kerry, Lucy, Lori, cushla, Mark, Darryl, Judy, Nina, Paul, Rachel and Janet I will convey all your nice messages to her :) I hope, I didn't forget anyone. We had a very quiet and relaxing weekend as my sister asked for. Unfortunately, not all of our close family could be around. My two brothers and my sister couldn't be there, so it was just my parents, my sisters boyfriend, myself and Alex. In the evening we started to play board games and ended up playing The Settler's of Catan to the early morning hours of Sunday. *grin* So, we all slept quite long yesterday and consequently we just had a very lazy day.

Rachel Son ist quite good as well and brings the quartet more less to a satisfying end. All in all I thought that was a very thought provoking little story collection.

Hi Janet I didn't realize that hedgehogs aren't native to the US. I think I have to google that later.

My sister would probably try to chop my head off if she knew I am going to post a photo of her here. However, as she never even has a look at LT I even don't feel guilty :)
This photo was taken 4 1/2 month after she came home, on a party she gave for all her friends and family who stood by her during her long illness. I just like it so much, because she looks so well and so happy on it, also a bit serious. However, since her illness she has become more serious anyway, but at the same time she enjoys life much more and views it very different. So I thought I will share that with you as well.

# 155 Gathering Blue - Lois Lowry - The Giver Quartet book 02

Genre: YA, Dystopian - 224 pages
Rating: 4/5

“Take pride in your pain; you are stronger than those who have none”

We are still in the same dystopian world, but get introduced to a different society then the one we met in The Giver.

This time we are shown a community with poverty, injustice, violence and very low tolerance levels, which is lead by a council of guardians. According to this community anyone with disabilities, or after injuries is deemed worthless, as they are thought to be unable to contribute effectively to their daily lives.
Here we meet Kira, who was born with a twisted leg. However, this alone would have ment her death sentence if her mother would not have fought for her. Now Kira is in great peril, because her mother died recently of a severe illness. The villagers want her to leave, even if it would mean her death and soon she finds herself on trial with the council of guardians. Kira is lucky, because the council recognised in her a very rare talent which makes her very valuable to them, they rescue her. Kira is from now on housed within the council quarters and assigned a very honoured role within the village. Her work is it to repair the "Singers Robe" something only she can do. We also meet Matt who is Kira's only friend and a street urchin, they both discover very soon that not everything in the village and with the council is as it should be and try to solve the secrets surraunding them.

Again, a very good read. Although, we didn't pick up where we left in the last book we are still in the same world. Maybe not as good as the first one, but still very thought provoking.

#156 The Messenger - Lois Lowry - The Giver Quartet book 03

Genre: YA, Dystopian - 169 pages
Rating: 4/5

“He wept, and it felt as if the tears were cleansing him, as if his body needed to empty itself.”

In this third installment Matt, Kira's friend from Gathering Blue is the main character. We also meet Jonas and Gabe again and find out a little bit more what happened to them.
Shortly, after Kira was moved into the council Matt found "Village" beyond the big forrest and he moved there. Village is haven for anyone who had to flee their communities for varied reasons. Here, in village each person is important and everyone is acknowledged for their varies gifts they come with. People are polite, friendly and care for each other. Matt's job in this new and different community is that of a messanger, because he knows the surrounding forest like no one else in the community, he hopes that messenger will also become his true name once he reaches adult hood. However, since a "Trade master" gained influence in the village, life is changing for everyone. People become short-tempered, unkind and selfish and for some reason the forest is changing as well. Matt, Jonas and Seer are not sure what the force behind these changes are. Matt is send off with messages to warn other communities about the developments in "Village" and to bring Kira to the village before things escalate. Matt and Kira's journey through the forest is haunting and Jonas has to come to their aid.

Actually, I enjoyed this one even more than Gathering Blue. Although, some of the questions from the first book are answered in this installment, others are still left open. Again, I thought this little story delivered well.

Hi Bianca! That's a nice picture of your sister. Thanks for sharing. She certainly looks very serious! She's lucky to have so many good friends and family who will stand by her. I think that's the first step to recovery--having something and someone to recover for. :)

I didn't think Gathering Blue or The Messenger were as good as The Giver, but I liked them well enough. I sort of felt that they detracted from The Giver because I liked the ending of The Giver. I'm always happy with books where I can come to multiple interpretations and choose the one that I like best. (I know some people hate that!) When she wrote a sequel, she had to settle for one interpretation, and that was a little disappointing to me. So I just think of The Giver as a stand-alone book and consider the rest of the now-quartet as an interesting afterthought that adopts one interpretation of the story.

Bianca, I was incredibly moved by the story of your beautiful sister's illness and recovery. Thank you for sharing it with us. What a wonderful event to celebrate. Also many thanks for those Thanksgiving wishes, pictures of Paul, and the reviews of The Giver trilogy. I've only read (and loved) the first one. I think the trilogy would make a wonderful Christmas gift for someone...maybe me? Lol.

Thank you Rachel :) I didn't think that Gathering Blue or The Messenger were as good as The Giver, but I still thought there were good reads. I actually few them all as individual books with loose ties with each other. As you said when she wrote the sequel(s) she settled for one interpretation, that's true. However, when I thought about it once I finished the Quartet I thought I understood why she did it. The books are aimed at quite a young audience, I guess 12-14 year old, maybe even younger. Each book deals with another way of forming a society in a dystopian world and each of the book deals with different issues. I do think it makes it easier to discuss them with the children and actually analyse the different actions which take place in the stories. The last book actually deals less with society but with the feelings of a mother to her child.

Hi Donna thank you for your kind words as well. *smile* Actually it is a Quartet and not a trilogy. Yes, and I think it would make a nice Christmas gift for someone LOL .

Hi Bianca! Just passing by to say hello. You've got such an interesting thread and there's so much going on. Loved your pictures of Paul the Hedgehog and was very touched by your sister's story.
Have a nice week!

oh my goodness, how amazing that your sister has come right after such a serious scare! That must have been terrifying. Im very happy for you that you get to celebrate her wellness anniversaries form now on.

Hi Kathy thank you for visiting my thread. I wish you a nice week as well.

Yes Megan it was quite a terrifien experience for us and we are all so happy that my little sister pulled through :)

#157 Son - Lois Lowry - Giver Quartet book 04

Genre: YA, Dystopian - 393 pages
Rating: 3/5

This is the fourth installment in the Giver Quartet and also it was still a good read, I felt that this book compared to the others was definately lacking. This book is also the longest and divided into three parts: Before, Between, and Beyond.

The main character in this book is Claire who was born into the same society as Jonas. She was choosen to become a birthmother, a "vessel" to produce the children for the community. Giving birth to her first child something goes wrong and gets reassigned to work in the fish- hatchery. Like Jonas she is able to experience true feelings and tries to find "her" baby as she is tormented by her seperation from her son. Finally, she finds him and gets the change to bond with him in some ways. However, something terrible happens and she leaves the colony, only to find herself later shipwrecked (with no memories) and rescued by yet another community.

This is where the second part of the book starts. She manages to make herself at home in this new settlement and gradually her memories come back and again she is driven by the need to find her son. Finally, she also leaves this settlement as well to carry on the search of her son. The last part brings her and us back to the "Village" where we meet our old friends Jonas, Kira and Gabe (who is now a teenager).

Obviously, I don't want to give too much away. But let's say it this way I thought the Beginning of the story was fascinating, because we got another glimpse into Jonas society. The second part was sort of soothing, but it didn't really leave a great impact on me. The last part, well, was actually a bit dissapointing. Although, we do meet Jonas and Gabe again, I felt her message in this book was somewhat lacking. In the first three books she was able to capture the different aspects of humanity and the consequences of different pathways in forming a community. Here, her emphasis is that love can overcome all evil and especially the end was really rushed.

#158 Autumn - David Moody - Autumn series book 01

Genre:Post-Apocalyptic, Zombies - 308 pages
Rating:3/5

“Surviving is one thing," he said quietly, his voice suddenly calmer, "but you've got to have a reason to do it. There's no point in living if you don't have anything worth living for.”

Well, for some reason I felt like another zombie novel and this was actually a good read. The story is set in the UK and starts off quite dramatically with people just starting to drop dead and whoops around 95% of humanity is wiped out within a very short time. Initially there are 27 survivors who meet in a church community center where they feel safe to start off with. Whilst still trying to get accustomed to the change of the world they have known before, the dead begin to get up. Everyone is horrified and tries to figure out what is happening. In the beginning, the dead just get up, they are disoriented and harmless when they stumble around the streets. However, I found that part especially creepy and was waiting the whole time for something terrible to happen. But nothing happens for some time. The people in the group start very quickly to disagree with each other and as a consequence three survivors Michael, Emma and Carl break up from the group to find a safer place. Now we follow these three and their struggle for survival in this new and hostile world.
I thought the build up from the very harmless and unaware dead to the truly dangerous pack of zombies was quite well done, because it gave the survivors a false sense of safety. What I also found quite fascinating was that David Moody did not use one single time the term "zombie" thoughout the whole story. All in all this was an enjoyable read. However, the only critique I have to make is that I was a little bit dissapointed in the character development and some of the conversations and arguments Michael, Emma and Carl had were just tidious. Nevertheless, as I am intrigued now, I will definately look out for the other books of this series in the future.

Prodigious reading and pretty pictures here Bianca. Your sister looks sweet and my heart goes out to her. From what I can see you don't say so - what is your sister's name?

I only read your post #204 today. What a story! How fortunate your sister got the right treatment in time and obviously was in very good hands throughout her illness. You all must have been through so much, November 24th really must feel a 2nd birthday. Sending you hugs and wishing all the best for your sister and the family!!

Hi Paul, my sisters name is Jana and she is our baby. Actually, we are five with me being the oldest :).

Hi Nathalie, vielen lieben Dank für Deine lieben Grüsse.

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New thread is up, everyone welcome to visit :)