Monday without Moaning

I spent most of the day lying in the sun, just heavenly. Vacation is the best!
I finally passed my car theory exam, so double the happiness.

I started reading Anna and the French Kiss today which is the perfect summer book. You're just sitting in the sun and daydreaming about Paris. There aren't a lot of beter combinations possible unless the involve ice cream.

Reading Shadow of Night Will be continued but I'm still considering what to read next...
I got a giftcard for my birthday so I can buy a book. Any suggestions? Tell me in the comments!

Stacking the Shelves #3

Rules

• Create your own Stacking The Shelves post. You can use my official graphic or your own, but please link back to Tynga’s Reviews so more people can join the fun!
• You can set your post any way you want, simple book list, covers, pictures, vlog, sky is the limit!
• I am posting Stacking The Shelves on Saturdays, but feel free to post yours any day that fits you.
• Visit Tynga’s Reviews on Saturday and add your link so others can visit you!

• Visit other participants link to find out what they added to their shelves!

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (Bought) 



















I was so happy that I found this one in my bookstore. This a perfect vacation book, thick, full of magic and rich history interwoven with an exciting plot. I devoured the first book in the series: A Discovery of Witches, last summer vacation and I've already started this one.

Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Bought)

I've been looking for this book for years and found it recently in a thrift shop. I may have let out a little scream and my day couldn't be ruined afterwards ;)

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Bought)


Classic that has been recommended to me a lot, so when I found a hardcover edition in the thrift shop I  couldn't stop myself from buying it.


Salome and other Plays by Oscar Wilde (Bought)


Oscar Wilde is awesome, and this was a cute bound edition of some of his plays.


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (Bought)


We already own the entire series in Dutch and English, but when I leave the house I want them in English for my own. So far I've got one, two, seven and now three. Harry Potter books are forever <3


Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (Birthday gift)

My boyfriend (who loves everything fantasy) gave me the Dutch edition of Wizard's first rule for my birthday. It's a big one and I think I'm saving this one until


Before I Die by Jenny Downham (Bought)

Bought the Dutch version of Before I Die. It's about a girl who knows she is going to die in four months and makes a to-do before I die list. I've had my fill of cancer books for a while but the reviews are good and the premise sounds interesting.

Stacking the Shelves #2

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. This way I can show all the new awesome books I bought and received :D I didn't expect to do this meme this week since I had very little money. But it turned out to be not such a bad week at all. Actually it was a really good book week!

I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith
Got this for only two euros ($2,50) in a pretty hardcover edition. Many people love it and the movie is apparently good too. That doesn't happen often..

White Hot by Sandra Brown
Sandra Brown writes great Romantic Suspense. Read this one a year ago and I really liked it. Found it on the market also for 2 euros.

The giver by Lois Lowry
I was at the American Book Center tuesday. I had never been there before and it was love at first sight.
I was walking around with a huge smile on my face and I screamed a little bit (inside my head) every time I saw a book that I'd been wanting forever (which was an awful lot :P).

Ironically I was broke

So luckily in the bargains section I could buy the Giver with my very limited money (3,99 in euros). It has won a bunch of prizes and it's one of the early dystopian books marketed to teens. I'm a huge fan of the genre so I'm curious :)

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
The only Marchetta book I didn't own yet. My aunt gave it to me for my birthday but it only arrived weeks ago. If I didn't have any homework I would have finished it already but for now it's stalled until next week :(

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Got this from my aunt for my upcoming birthday (in two months). I love the shit out of Vonnegut and his books are kind of my bible. I own about 9 books of his and I can't wait to read this one and be amazed by his wisdom.

That was Stacking the Shelves for this week. Have you read any of the books I received? And did you get any books you really wanted? Tell me in the comments! :)

Stacking the Shelves #1 part 2

Now for part 2 of Stacking the Shelves hosted over at Tynga's Reviews. I posted Part 1 yesterday. Clicking on the book name will lead you to the bookpage on Goodreads.

So here we go. :)

Bought in Vienna, Going Bovine by Libba Bray (YA)

It has won Printz Award in 2010. It's supposed to have absurd humor and is recommended for fans of Dounglas Adams (who wrote Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). I love both so I think this will be a book for me.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (YA)

I love Rick Riordan. He writes books suitable for many ages with lots of humor. This is the book in his  new Heroes of Olympic series that came out in 2010. It's set in the same world as the Percy Jackson books but now with different Protagonists, Jason, Piper and Leo. I read this book a while ago and it's just as good as Percy Jackson, glad to finally own it in print.

Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning (Urban Fantasy, PNR)

Found this at the airport at a ridiculous high price for a mass market paperback but still couldn't resist. The Fever series written by Karen Marie Moning is one of the most addicting series out there. Although there are five books, it should be seen as one continuing story. This is the last book(5th) and it's awesome. Once you start the first book Darkfever you'll be sucked in and won't be able to sleep until you finished the last book. Highly recommended!


Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (YA)

I read this in February and it was a revelation. I've been wanting to write a review of it but I haven't found the words yet.. I adore it and I see many re-reading in my bookfuture. Jessica is like my book soulmate.

Monday "not so" Moaning from Vienna

Like Garfield I hate Monday and I love lasagna. But since I have my vacation this week the title of my post is slightly changed. I'm sure many more Mondays will come along to hate.

Each Monday I want to give an overview of what I reviewed in the past week and what I'll be reading in the upcoming one. I usually read a lot of books at the same time. Clicking on the title will bring you to the book page in Goodreads where you can read more about it. The pictures match the covers I own.

 Reviews

On saturday I posted my first review on the blog. The book is one of my all time favorites called Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta and you can check it out here.

Currently reading:

-Room by Emma Donoghue. I started this on the plane and I was absorbed. I hope to finish it today.


-Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. First book in the epic fantasy series named "A song in Fire & Ice", I'm addicted to the tv series on HBO and the book is also great but very long. I will finish it this week though.


-Tomorrow I'm starting The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. I was ecstatic when I found this in a second hand shop and I can't wait to start. It doesn't seem like your ordinary YA book.

-Continue Persuasion. My second Austen book after Pride and Prejudice which I think is great. So far the story has been set-up mostly and I can't wait for Anne Elliot (the protagonist) to talk to Wentworth (her love interest from 10 years ago which she dumped under pressure of her family because he was poor, now he is rich and a naval hero). Jane Austen has such a lovely way with words and she's very funny.

-Bought Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb at the airport and I'm reading that too.


-Later this week I'll start Delirium by Lauren Oliver, already bought the second one in the series. 

Note: not my own photo from Vienna. Found it on Google images but can't find the photographer.

Review of Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

This is one of those books you keep returning to like an old friend. I've re-read Saving Francesca countless times and I hope this review won't turn into an all round Melina Marchetta adoration fest (I'll save that for later when you've been properly seduced by my tragic English).

What it's about: 
Saving Francesca is about a 16-year old girl who fights all the time with her mom, Mia. Her mom is a communications lecturer at the university and challenges her family daily, much to Francesca's annoyance. She wishes that her mother would just let her be and not constantly tell her who she is. She hates the co-ed school, St. Sebastian, her mother picked out and describes it as follows.

"St. Sebastian's pretends it's co-ed by giving us our own toilet. The rest of the place is all male and I know what you're thinking if you're a girl. What a dream come true, right? Seven hundred and fifty boys and thirty girls? But the reality is that it's either like living in a fishbowl or like you don't exist."


Since going to the new school she hasn't made any new friends and misses her old ones. One of the girls, Tara Finke, who is an ultra feminist and activist tries to make a change and forces Francesca to make the girls' case to the House leader, William Trombal. Will is a smug strait-laced A-student with big ambitions who happens to look really interesting.

But then her mother doesn't come out of her bed one morning. Francesca doesn't know what to do and her father pretends there's nothing wrong. She doesn't know what to do and feels lost. Will Francesca be able to save herself?

Review:

What I love about this book are the characters. They feel so as if though they really exist. Even the secondary ones are well drawn and Marchetta never resorts to stereo types. They all have their own problems and are far from perfect but that's what makes them real. The central theme is family and the importance of having people who care about you. Mia is essential and without her the entire family is in crisis. While Francesca and her mother fight a lot you also feel how much they love each other and how close their bond is. In the course of the book she slowly starts opening up to the people around her and starts making friends with the people she previously put in a box and made fun of. They seem like real friends who are even there during the good and the bad times. They are relatable and fun. Did I mention that? This book is very funny. Francesca's sarcastic and makes really funny observations of the people around her. Her love interest isn't perfect either and while he makes bad choices, you really feel for him (although sometimes you want to smack him for being slightly clueless). In the end this book just feels exactly right and I hope you'll love her too. I think Marchetta puts the bar for Young-Adult writers very high and Saving Francesca is a prime example of that.


Short:
You should read this book because it's honest, funny, sometimes painful. In the end it's all about love and the family that binds us together.

5 stars!

Favourite quotes:

 "I think we're made up of all these different pieces and every time someone goes, you're left with less of yourself.” 


“Comfort zones are overrated. They make you lazy.” 

“Memory is a funny thing. It tricks you into believing that you've forgotten important moments, and then when you're raking your brain for a bit of information that might make sens of something else, it taps you on the head an says, "Remember when you told me to put that memory in the green rubbish bin? Well, I didn't, I put it in the black recycling tub, and it's coming your way again.” 

This made my week

After blackmailing my mother, she let me borrow her credit card to buy a book (or two ;).

Hours of consideration later I finally decided on these two.

Sloppy Firsts is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s like McCafferty can read my mind. Highest possible recommendation!

And this just came out. I’ve never read any of her books but Hannah Moskowitz’s blogposts are great. 

A lot of awesome reviewers at Goodreads recommended this. So I can’t wait!

I love the cover. “Sometimes you have a great tag line. Sometimes you don’t”

Blurb on goodreads:

It’s a year after 9/11. Sniper shootings throughout the D.C. area have everyone on edge and trying to make sense of these random acts of violence. Meanwhile, Craig and Lio are just trying to make sense of their lives. Craig’s crushing on quiet, distant Lio, and preoccupied with what it meant when Lio kissed him…and if he’ll do it again…and if kissing Lio will help him finally get over his ex-boyfriend, Cody.Lio feels most alive when he’s with Craig. He forgets about his broken family, his dead brother, and the messed up world. But being with Craig means being vulnerable…and Lio will have to decide whether love is worth the risk.

If everything goes alright they’ll be delivered next week ^^