April Overview

In April, I read 14 books and abandoned another one. Most of the books got 4-5 stars, so this was a good month. I took part in the 24 hour readathon, which was good fun (I read 2 and-a-bit books). I didn’t go on my holiday, which was bad.

This month was also my 3-year blogoversary! I celebrated with a giveaway. Oh, that reminds me… I asked people for books to add to my list of dystopian books for adults. I will update this list very soon and republish it.

Books that stood out:

I had three 5-stars books and two 4.5 stars. That is really good. I loved My Soul to Take, a mystery taking place in Iceland. Schroder, about a father abducting his daughter was good as well, and Amity & Sorrow, was – in a way – about a mother abducting her daughters. A very special read, too.

This is what I read

Click on the blue links to go to the review (as you can see, I still need to post a few reviews!).

My Soul to Take by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. Murder in Iceland. Brilliantly told. 5 stars

Schroder by Amity Gaige. A divorced man wants to see more of his little daughter and takes her on an unscheduled holiday, after which he is wanted for kidnapping. 5 stars

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley. A mother and her two daughters escape from a cult and end up at the farm of a man who does not want them there. 5 stars

The Wish List by Jane Costello. A woman who is about to turn 30 rediscovers a wishlist she made at 15. She tries to tick off the items on the list. Chick-lit. 4,5 stars

The Travel Auction by Mark Green. When a man and his girlfriend split up, he advertises for someone with her name to take her place in a trip to South America (as he already got the tickets). Chick-lit/Lad-lit. 4,5 stars.

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway. Time travel story in which time plays an important role. Most of the story takes place in 1815. Great ideas, but the ending was a little sudden. 4 stars

The Pearl Savage by Tamara Rose Blodgett. Post-apocalyptic novel about a princess living in a dome who is targeted by savages living outside. 3.5 stars

Pieces of Light by Charles Fernyhough. Non-fiction about new research into how memory works. Interesting, but too many personal details for me. Did not finish.

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Dutch blog:

Dieptepunt [Low Point] by Maria Rijk. Thriller about a woman who is attacked by another woman and then tries to find out why. 4.5 stars

De lijst van al mijn wensen [My Wishlist] by Grégoire Delacourt. A French middle-aged woman wins a lot of money in the lottery. But she doesn’t really know what she wants to do with it. 4.5 stars

IJsland [Iceland] by Ronald Giphart. A comedian is making a trip to Iceland with his theatre group, leaving his wife and son at home. He thinks about them a lot. 4.5 stars

Broer [Brother] by Maurits de Bruijn. Fictional account of real-life story. The brother of a young man has been missing for 10 years. The man travels to different countries to find him, but really himself. 4 stars

Nacht in Noorwegen [Norwegian by Night] by Derek B. Miller. An 82-year old American man has moved in with his granddaughter in Norway and becomes the witness of a crime. He escapes with a little boy. 4 stars

Een goed excuus [A Thousand Pardons]by Jonathan Dee. A couple divorces and the woman, who hasn’t worked for years, unexpectedly finds herself successful at a job, while the husband gets into real trouble. 4 stars

Vrij spel [Free Game] by Carlijn Vis. Historical novel about a woman who fled the Netherlands in WWII and her adventures in order to get to England. 4 stars

Reviews of books I read before April

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Flamenco Baby by Cherry Radford (DNF). An English woman takes flamenco lessons in Spain and falls in love. DNF

Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge. A woman loses her memory and her fiancé picks her up from the hospital. Not a thriller but a good story on how they try to get their relationship started again. 4.5 stars

There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron. Thriller about an old woman who is let to believe she has to go into a care home. 4,5 stars

Harlequin’s Costume by Leonid Yuzefovich. Harlequin’s Costume by Leonid Yozefovich. A Russian detective in the 1870s has to find the murderer of a Austrian diplomat. 4 stars.

The Lens and the Looker by Lory S. Kaufman. YA Science fiction, time travel. 4 stars.

Starters by Lissa Price. YA Science fiction. After a virus attack, only young and very old people are left. The elders want to use the young bodies for themselves via a mechanism that let them live in the body. Of course, this has to be stopped. 4 stars.

 

Dutch Blog:

Het diner [The Dinner] by Herman Koch. I’ll post an English review of this book on my blog in the next few weeks. 5 stars

De wezenlozen [The Vacant Ones] by Wytske Versteeg [Dutch]. Contemporary fiction about a family in which one of the twin girls hasn’t talked since she was six years old. 3.5 stars

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What was YOUR favorite book in April?

March Overview

Another month in which I gave up on two books. I don’t do this lightly, but if a book bores me at page 80 or 100, and I read another 30 pages, and it still bores me, I give up! It’s sad, but I’d rather be reading a book I’m enjoying.

I also read some really nice books this month. And somehow a higher than average number of thrillers. I must have been in thriller mood when I asked for them. Also, I read some YA books, which I don’t read very often. Because of the Easter weekend read-a-thon, I got to a rather high number of books for this month!

Books that stood out:

The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz. I loved this book. I had no idea what to expect and even as I was reading it I didn’t know what kind of story this was going to be. But it was very well-written and very surprising.

The Dinner by Herman Koch, which I read in Dutch. It was a re-read for me. I’ve seen so many reviews on the blogs since the book is out in English that I wanted to read it again myself. Well, I loved it. I think it’s a great book. Only the ending is a bit… much.

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This is what I read

Click on the blue links to go to the review

The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz. Brilliant but strange story about a girl who lives in a kind of farm with her 12 “sisters”. Outside the wall are injuns and demonmales. It takes a long time before you know what’s going on. And is this historical or modern fiction, fantasy or post-apocalyptic SF? 5 stars.

There was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron. Thriller about an old woman who is let to believe she has to go into a care home. 4,5 stars

Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge. A woman loses her memory and her fiancé picks her up from the hospital. Not a thriller but a good story on how they try to get their relationship started again. 4.5 stars

The Double by Jose Saramago. A fun story about a man who discovers that there is someone in his home town who looks (and talks) identical to himself. 4 stars

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. Non-fiction psychology about how people tend to be consistently irrational. With examples from his own research and real-life examples. 4 stars

Dark Tide by Elizabeth Haynes. Thriller about a woman whose past as a pole dancer in a shady club comes back to haunt her. 4 stars

MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche. Non-fiction (memoir) about a woman who moves to a new town and tries to make new friends by “dating” someone new every week for a year. 4 stars

Harlequin’s Costume by Leonid Yuzefovich. Harlequin’s Costume by Leonid Yozefovich. A Russian detective in the 1870s has to find the murderer of a Austrian diplomat. 4 stars.

Gone: Fear  by Michael Grant. Fifth book in the Gone series. Finally some action! 4 stars

The Lens and the Looker by Lory Kaufman. YA Science fiction, time travel. 4 stars.

Starters by Lissa Price. YA Science fiction. After an attack, only young and very old people are left. The elders want to use the young bodies for themselves via a mechanism that let them live in the body. Of course, this has to be stopped. 4 stars.

The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver. Historical fiction. Started really good, but after changing view points (and time setting) twice I lost interest. Did not finish.

Flamenco Baby by Cherry Radford. An English woman takes flamenco lessons in Spain and falls in love. DNF

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Dutch blog:

Het Diner [The Dinner] by Herman Koch. A re-read because of the interest in other countries for this book. Loved it even more than last time. 5 stars

De toeschouwer [The Observer] by Charlotte Link [Dutch, originally German]. Thriller about a man who observes people in his street. When one of them is the victim of a crime, he is immediately suspect. 5 stars

De wake [The Wake] by Ronald Giphart [Dutch]. Three long short stories with three impossible narrators: a dead man, a boy in a coma and the heart of a young woman. 4.5 stars.

Zoet als zure kersen [Sweet as Morello Cherries] by Claudia Schreiber [Dutch, originally German]. An over-protected girl and a girl left to her own devices meet by accident. Their meeting has great consequences. 4.5 stars

Een stil vertrek [A Quiet Departure] by Annette Zeelenberg [Dutch]. A Dutch woman suddenly leaves her home in the Netherlands and moves to a job in the USA. But she can’t shake off her past. 4 stars

Maar buiten is het feest [But Outside It's Party-Time] by Arthur Japin. [Dutch] A woman recalls how she was abused by her stepfather and now tries to stop the same fate from happening to her niece. 4 stars

De vergelding [The Retalliation] by Jan Brokken. [Dutch] Non-fiction about a small Dutch town in WWII where seven men where killed by the Germans after one soldier is lethally wounded through what may have been sabotage. 4 stars

De leeuw en zijn hemd [The Lion and its undershirt] by Nelleke Noordervliet [Dutch]. Non-fiction historical essay about Dutch history and being Dutch. 3.5 stars.

De wezenlozen [The Vacant Ones] by Wytske Versteeg [Dutch]. Contemporary fiction about a family in which one of the twin girls hasn’t talked since she was six years old. 3.4 stars

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Reviews of books I read before March

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Various Pets Alive and Dead by Marina Lewycka. With strongly left-wing parents, a man is scared to tell his parents of his banker’s job with fat bonuses. 4.5 stars

A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde. 4 stars

Dutch Blog:

Gone: Plague by Michael Grant [review in Dutch]. Fourth book in the Gone series. Continuing much like the third book. 4 stars

And furthermore…

I took part in Bloggiesta, the 3-day event working on our blogs. I got a lot of items done on my to-do list. The weekend after, this Easter weekend, I’m taking part in a read-a-thon.

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What was YOUR favorite book in March?

February Overview

Another month in which I gave up on two books. I don’t do this lightly, but if a book bores me, and I read another 30 pages, and it still bores me, I give up! I read 150 pages in both books, and they just didn’t grab me. What’s a reader to do?

In happier news, I read some good books this month. And I organised the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, which was happily hopped by all.

Books that stood out:

I really enjoyed Lost and Found by Tom Winter, a story that feels a bit like The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry as well as A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash, a small-community, southern-USA read. I was also impressed by the Dutch book Hotel Linda about an old man who start to confuse past and present.

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This is what I read

Click on the blue links to go to the review

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Lost & Found by Tom Winter.  5 stars.

A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash. 5 stars

The Truth About Love & Lightning by Susan McBride. 4.5 stars

The House Girl by Tara Conklin. 4.5 stars

Norse Greenland by Jared Diamond. 4.5 stars

Untold Story by Monica Ali. 4 stars

Still by Roelof Bakker. 4 stars

Stay Close to Me by Helen Warner. 4 stars

A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde. 4 stars

Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell (DNF)

 

Dutch blog:

Hotel Linda by Arjan Visser. 4.5 stars

Ik was Amerika by Gustaaf Peek. 4 stars

Kruisverhoor by Peter Delpeut. 4 stars

Gone: Plague by Michael Grant. 4 stars

De scheidingsclub [The Divorce Club] by Sophie King (DNF)

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Reviews of books I read before January

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Vanity Fare by Megan Caldwell. Chick-lit, chick-lit, 4 stars

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke. Science fiction, did not finish

Dutch Blog:

De zoetheid van perziken / Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris. Contemporary fiction, 4 stars

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What was YOUR favorite book in February?

January Overview

The first month of the year, I read a lot of good books, but I also abandoned two.

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Books that stood out:

Definitely Rubbernecker, a great new thriller by Belinda Bauer. I very much enjoyed reading this story of a young man with Asperger’s who dissects a body and finds a secret.

But just as good was the Dutch book Alles wat er was, All There Was, by Hanna Bervoets, a post-apocalyptic literary story about a group of people being locked into a school building after something apocalyptic happened outside.

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This is what I read

Click on the blue links to go to the review

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Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer. Thriller, 5 stars

Star of the Sea by Joseph O’ Connor. Historical fiction, 4.5 stars

Various Pets Alive and Dead by Marina Lewycka. Contemporary fiction, 4.5 stars

The Book of Why by Nicholas Montemarano. Contemporary fiction, 4 stars

The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont. Contemporary fiction, 4 stars

The Power of Habit by Charles Dugitt. Non-fiction, 4 stars

Vanity Fare by Megan Caldwell. Chick-lit, chick-lit, 4 stars

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson. Contemporary fiction, 3 stars

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Classic, children’s fiction, 3 stars

Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman. Thriller, did not finish

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke. Science fiction, did not finish

Dutch blog:

Alles wat er was / All There Was by Hanna Bervoets. Science fiction, 5 stars.

Ik en jij / I and You by Niccolò Ammaniti. Contemporary fiction, 4.5 stars

Een liefde in oorlogstijd / The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy. Historical fiction, 4 stars.

Alleen maar mijn moeder / Only My Mother by Trees Roose. Memoir, 4 stars.

Wissel / Change by Sabine van den Berg. Contemporary fiction, 4 stars

Game by Anders de la Motte. Thriller, 4 stars

De zoetheid van perziken / Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris. Contemporary fiction, 4 stars

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Reviews of books I read before January

The Uninvited by Liz Jensen. Science fiction (apocalyptic), 5 stars.

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern. Chick-lit, 4.5 stars.

May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes. Contemporary fiction, 4.5 stars.

Reach for a Different Sun by Jenni O’Connor. Mystery, 4 stars.

Dutch Blog:

Incognito [Dutch] by Henk Rijks. Contemporary fiction (Dutch), 5 stars

Last to Die [Dutch] by Tess Gerritsen. Thriller, 4 stars.

Uit naam van de aartsengel [In the Name of the Archangel] by Olaf J. de Landell [Dutch] Historical fiction, 4 stars

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Other events

Here are what I think are The Best Books of 2012.

—> Announcement: Literary Giveaway Blog Hop (February 9-13) <—

 

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What was YOUR favorite book in January?

The Best Books of 2012

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I’ve read 203 books in 2012. I had a great year with some wonderful books. How to choose the best ones? I made a list of all 5 star books I reviewed in 2012 and then crossed off books until I ended up with a number of books that I all found equally good, in their own way.

So, here are the books I consider my best fiction reads for 2012, in no particular order – except for the first one: Ready Player One is standing out for me as a book I lived rather than loved. In the days that I was reading the book, even when I was doing other things, the characters in the book stayed alive for me in a sort-of alternate universe. Only when I’d finished the book I could shake off this feeling. In other words, it totally got under my skin. That, for me, is a great book.

Click on the titles to see my reviews

Overall favorite of 2012:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Science fiction.

This book is about a world in which most people use an online system, OASIS, for their daily living. Wade Watts is 18 years old and spends all his time there. He’s looking for a treasure that has been left behind by the inventor of OASIS.

Through playing old-fashioned computer games and movies, he gets closer to the treasure, but the powerful Sixes, who work in a large team, are on his tail. They will stop at nothing to get to the treasure.

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Other favorites in no particular order:

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. Historical fiction. Laura moves from the city to an isolated farm in the 1940s, that her husband wants to run. But Laura is culture-shocked. Their tenants are black sharecroppers, and things turn sour when the son comes back from the war in Europe, where he was treated as an equal.

Waterline by Ross Raisin. Literary fiction. A newly widowed man can’t stand staying in the house where he lived with his wife. When he also loses his job he decides to leave. His circumstances deteriorate rapidly.

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell. Contemporary fiction. Two teenage girls bury their parents in the back garden and try to get on with life. With the death of their neglective parents, it seems the girls’ lives are improving, but what will happen when the bodies are found, as they inevitably will?

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones. Historical fiction. Early 1900s and the impoverished occupants of a country manor aren’t happy to find a group of stranded rail travellers on their doorstep.

Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson.  Historical fiction, literary fiction. A beautiful story about a twenty-year old boy who loses his best friend when they are out at sea finishing in the dark, freezing, sea near Iceland

The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling. Contemporary fiction. A death in the parish council leaves a small town in search for a new candidate. Many people get involved.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. Contemporary fiction. A woman lives in small-town Appalachia where nothing much happens, until she finds a large colony of butterflies in the woods. The whole world comes to her small town.

Room by Emma Donoghue. Contemporary fiction. A little boy and his mother have been spending years in a room, kidnapped by a man. Will they ever escape?

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Mystery/Thriller

Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen. A well-known female politician was captured five years ago and put in a concrete prison. Detective Carl Mork and his Syrian cleaner are solving cold cases and end up on the trail of the kidnappers.

Before I Go to Sleep by S. L. Watson. (re-read) A woman wakes up every morning not remembering who she is and who the man next to her in bed is.

Nonfiction:

The Discovery of Jeanne Baret by Glynis Ridley. History. In the 1760s, a young French peasant woman sails around the world dressed as a man. Jeanne Baret travels as the assistant of the botanist Philibert Commerson, with whom she has had a relationship that started when they worked together in France.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. When the hurricane Katrina hits, a man stays behind in New Orleans to look after people, animals and houses.

Between a Rock and a Hot Place by Tracey Jackson. Fifty is not the new thirty and Tracey Jackson tells you why.

Are any of these books your favorites too?

2013 Overview – The Stats

In 2012 I read more than ever! I read a total of 203 books, 65,500 pages which makes an average of 323 pages per book. In 2011 I read 178 books so this year I read 10% more.

Here are the stats: what kind of books did I read, and where did I get them from. If you don’t like charts, look away now.

I read almost equal numbers of male and female writers. I don’t choose my books on the basis of author gender. For a while in my 20s and 30s I had a preference for female writers.

I happily read in either Dutch or English, but I have a preference for English books, it seems. This is mainly because I get offered more books from American and UK publishers than from Dutch publishers. Also, I tend to win quite a few books, and they are often English books. The last few months of 2012, I’ve got into contact with several Dutch publishers and I hope that during the new year the amount of Dutch books I get for review will increase.

I read more paper books than ebooks. I prefer paper books, but sometimes I get a book via Netgalley or a free download. I don’t mind ebooks for thrillers and other books that I read for the story. A literary book I prefer in paper version. I like to be able to browse the book and I find that harder on my ereader.

In Contemporary Fiction I also included Literary Fiction as I can’t always tell the difference.

I’m surprised about the Historical Fiction (13%) and Chicklit (5%) as I would say I’m more likely to pick up a Chicklit than a Historical Fiction book. The Speculative Fiction (SF, Dystopia) is not high at 8%, but I much prefer the rarer adult dystopia over the ubiquitous YA dystopia and so I don’t come across quite so many of those.

An extremely boring graph: I tend to read mainly the latest books. Are these all ARCs from publishers, then? Not all, but I do get a lot of books that way, and they are always from the current year.

So this is where my books came from:

So, yes, almost half of the books I read came from publishers. I also made use of the library (32 books) and bought some (more than I should, obviously, although some were second-hand).

And so, what did I think of the books? I always aim for a 4 or 5 star rating. If I don’t think in advance that the book will be worthy of such a rating, I won’t read it.

Yes, the majority of my books are 4 stars or higher. In fact, lately I haven’t finished books that I think are 2,5 stars or lower and I don’t rate those anymore. 7 books suffered that fate this year. (Here’s why my ratings tend to be high).

Well, now you know all about my reading habits. But what did I consider the best books of the year? That’s for a later post…

What are your reading stats like?

Are they very different from mine?

December Overview

I read 16 books this last month. It was a good month in which I was able to read all the books I planned plus some extra.

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Books that stood out:

The Casual Vacancy was unexpectedly good. I knew not to compare it at all with Harry P., so I didn’t. I read it as if she was a new author and found the book a very good read, very British and (therefore) very recognisable. Loved it! A Christmas Carol is always fun to read, and Liz Jensen hasn’t disappointed me yet, so The Uninvited was a very good apocalyptic read.

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This is what I read

Click on the blue links to go to the review

The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling. Contemporary fiction, 5 stars.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Classic, 5 stars.

The Uninvited by Liz Jensen. Apocalyptic fiction, 5 stars.

Fingerprints by Marcia Leonard. Mystery, 4.5 stars.

Miracle on Regent Street by Ali Harris. Contemporary fiction, 4.5 stars.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Walker Thompson. Dystopian fiction, 4.5 stars.

May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes. Contemporary fiction, 4.5 stars.

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern. Contemporary fiction, 4.5 stars.

Reach for a Different Sun by Jenni O’Connor. Mystery, 4 stars.

The Ghost of Neil Diamond by David Milnes. Contemporary fiction, 3 stars.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Classic, did not finish.

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Dutch blog:

De rode loper [The Red Carpet] by Thomas Rosenboom. Contemporary fiction, 5 stars.

Incognito by Henk Rijks. Contemporary fiction, 5 stars.

Het bamischandaal [The Noodle Scandal] by P. F. Thomése. Contemporary fiction, 4 stars.

Uit naam van de aartsengel [In the Name of the Arch Angel] by Olaf J. de Landell. Contemporary fiction, 4 stars.

PAAZ by Myrthe van der Meer. True story, 4 stars.

Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen. Thriller, 4 stars.

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Reviews of books I read before December

Heft by Liz Moore. Contemporary fiction. 5 stars

Without Mercy by Renate Dorrestein. Contemporary fiction. 4.5 stars

Dutch Blog:

Eerst een huis [First a House]by Cathelijn Schilder. Contemporary fiction. 4.5 stars

Nacht over Westwoud [Night over Westwoud] by Wanda Reisel. Contemporary fiction. 4.5 stars

De verzegelde brief [The Sealed Letter] by Emma Donoghue. Historical fiction. 4 stars

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Other events

Secret Santa visited and left me two books and lots of other great goodies. I still don’t know who she is. Please, Francesca, let me know who you are!!

The Book Blogger Holiday Card Exchange was fun and lots of people got lots of great cards.

Challenges… You want to see how I did in 2012? Look HERE.

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What was YOUR favorite book in November?