Embracing My Books

dinsdag 23 juli 2024

Should I start this again?

Hi everyone

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here, but I’ve been thinking about reviving this blog. I’ve missed sharing my thoughts on books, connecting with fellow readers, and writing about the stories that move me, frustrate me, or just entertain me.
But before I dive back in, I’d love to hear from you. I’m still a little hesitant, and I have a few questions on my mind.

What do you think?
Are blogs still something you enjoy reading? Or do you prefer shorter, faster content like social media posts or videos?
Should I continue writing in English, or would you prefer Dutch (my native language)? I’m comfortable enough with my English skills to write in English, but speaking English or filming myself is way out of my comfort zone

I’ve always loved writing about books. It helps me process my thoughts, remember what I’ve read, and connect with others who share my passion. But I also know that life gets busy, and I don’t want this to feel like a chore. If I do start again, I want it to be fun, meaningful, and sustainable.

So, what do you think? Should I give it another go? Would you read my posts? Do you have any advice or suggestions for how I could make it work? I’d love to hear your thoughts, whether you’re a long-time reader or just stumbling upon this blog for the first time.

Leave a comment, send me a message, or just let me know if you’d be excited to see more from me. Your feedback will help me decide!

Happy reading!
Helena

woensdag 4 januari 2017

My Favorite Books of 2016

Hi everyone

Last year, I got asked about my favorite books of 2015 so I wanted to come up with a list of my most loved books in 2016 too.
I made it easier on myself by adding star ratings to my reviews and that’s why I made two lists for you.

Here are my all 5-star books I read in 2016.

And here is my top 10 of 2016 (without the rereads) in alphabetical order.

What were your favorite books of 2016?

Happy reading!
Helena

maandag 2 januari 2017

Wrap Up: 2016

Hi everyone

Happy New Year!
I hope 2017 will bring you as much or even more reading pleasure as 2016 did.

Here is the list (with links to the reviews) of all the books I read in 2016.
I had a lot of fun taking the pictures at the end of this post and it was the perfect time to give my shelves a good, thorough clean too. Great way to end the year! Rearranging books and then spending a lovely evening with friends.

In the end, I read a total of 50.433 pages in 126 books last year.
That’s exactly 400 pages per book and 138 pages per day.
I think I can safely say I surpassed my own expectations and I crushed my 2015 Wrap Up.

Here’s some information about the series I read in 2016.

I started reading:

I continued reading:

I finished:

I started and finished:

I’m still waiting on the next one to come out:

Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicles

I won’t continue reading:

Here are the books I read in 2016 in the order I read them. If you click on the title of the book you will automatically open the review.

Happy reading in 2017!
Helena

zondag 1 januari 2017

Wrap Up: December 2016

Hi everyone

Time for another Wrap Up!
December has gone by so incredibly fast I can’t believe it. And January will be even worse with both my husband’s and my birthday.
Enough with the chatter, here are the books I read last month.

I read a total of 3921 pages. That’s 381 pages per book or 160 pages per day.
But I did cheat a bit there. The poetry book was read over the last 6 months.

How was your reading last month? Anything you’d like to recommend?

Happy reading!
Helena

zaterdag 31 december 2016

Randall Munroe: XKCD volume 0

Hi everyone

A couple of years ago my husband (then boyfriend) became of big fan of Randall Munroe’s webcomic XKCD so I gave him the book for his next birthday. It has 120 pages but the only reason I know that is because of Goodreads as the pages skip numbers.

My husband is an engineer so he understands all the sciencejokes and references. I don’t.
The ones I do understand are very clever, sweet and funny.
However, I would recommend this only if you are interested in science and engineering in particular because the comics are targeted towards those of you who are.
I can only rate this as I read and understood this.

Happy reading!
Helena

vrijdag 30 december 2016

Neil Gaiman: Fragile Things

Hi everyone

The last novel I read in 2016 is Neil Gaiman’s short stories collection Fragile Things.
I got it as a gift from my husband and it has 433 pages.
You can find all my Neil Gaiman reviews here.

I didn't really enjoy this collection.

Some of the stories are different and interesting enough and Gaiman does write imaginative stories but there were a lot I just didn’t get or I couldn’t understand what’s so special about them.
The writing was ok but I had a hard time reading more then a few stories a day. That wasn’t a problem because life was very busy but it’s not something I’m used to; I tend to read an hour or two hours at a time in the evening.
Some stories felt like Gaiman was trying too hard to make them different or interesting by adding sexual elements, gratuitous violence or gore and those stories felt wrong to me. He just added those elements and they made the stories less about the plot and more about those aspects.

All in all I had a mixed experience. I liked a few of the stories but I was disappointed one way or another with the majority of them.

Happy reading!
Helena

donderdag 22 december 2016

Arthur C. Clarke: A Fall of Moondust

Hi everyone

This is my review for my first Arthur C. Clarke, A Fall of Moondust.
My copy has 224 pages and I got it at De Slegte.

“Time is running out for the passengers and crew of the tourist cruiser Selene, incarcerated in a sea of choking lunar dust. On the surface, her rescuers find their resources stretched to the limit by the mercilessly unpredictable conditions of a totally alien environment.”

This was a really enjoyable and fast book to read.

The story is obviously very dated at this point in time, but it doesn’t really take away from the enjoyment and thrill you’ll get out of it.
Clarke’s writing style is wonderfully engaging and it really sucks you in. The technical explanations made by a few of the characters went over my head but there weren’t too many of those and as far as I did grasp them, they did seem to be logical and plausible.
I liked the characterization a lot; they all felt true to their words and actions; the characters felt right. The worldbuilding is amazing and I could really imagine myself being there. And the general atmosphere is very claustrophobic and urgent. I liked the switches from the cool, calculating scientists to the more emotional people trapped in the Selene. The story moves rapidly forward and it never gets slowed down by long explanations or touchy/feely type scenes.

There was one thing I disliked though. Clarke has a tendency to end at least two (or so) paragraphs in every chapter with a sort of prediction of what bad things are yet to happen. It felt very childlike and it aggravated me every time. There’s really no need to do that, we all know a lot can go wrong and will go wrong before the end of the novel.

Happy reading!
Helena

dinsdag 20 december 2016

Sebastian Faulks: A Week in December

Hi everyone

This is my review for Sebastian Faulks’ A Week in December.
My copy has 392 pages and I got it as a gift from friends.

“London, the week before Christmas, 2007. Seven wintry days to track the lives of seven characters: a hedge fund manager trying to bring off the biggest trade of his career; a professional footballer recently arrived from Poland; a young lawyer with little work and too much time to speculate; a student who has been led astray by Islamist theory; a hack book-reviewer; a schoolboy hooked on skunk and reality TV; and a Tube driver whose Circle Line train joins these and countless other lives together in a daily loop.”

As the title suggests, this book is about a week in the life of a few lightly connected people. Normally, I’m not a big fan of those kinds of narratives and that has proven to be the case this time too.

The only thing I liked about the story was the tale, woven throughout, of their loneliness. Every character was lonely in a different way. And I enjoyed that a lot (though that is weird to say). It can be very emotional and touching to read how people deal with feeling isolated and alone.

But the book was incredibly boring, long-winded and the characters read like wooden puppets so I can’t say I thought the book worth the time.

2 STARS

Happy reading.
Helena

zondag 18 december 2016

Terry Pratchett: Dodger’s Guide to London

Hi again

This review is about the companion novel to Terry Pratchett’s Dodger.
I got the book as a gift from my mum and dad and it has 135 pages.
You can find all my Terry Pratchett reviews here.

“ROLL UP! ROLL UP! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Ladies and Gents, Sir Jack Dodger brings you a most excellent Guide to London!
Did you know . . . ?
If a Victorian couldn’t afford a sweep, they might drop a goose down their chimney to clean it!
A posh lady’s unmentionables could weigh up to 40lbs!
Parliament had to be suspended during the Great Stink of 1858!
From the wretches of the rookeries to the posh nobs at Buckingham Palace, Dodger will show you every dirty inch of London.
Warning: Includes ’orrible murders, naughty ladies and plenty of geezers!”

This is a nice companion novel to Dodger but I would only recommend it to fans of Pratchett’s work and people interested in fictionalized Victorian London.
It’s sweet, interesting and humorous but it is something you’ll only read once or twice because there’s no real story. It’s a book filled with little tidbits and facts about London at that time.
Still, I am glad I read it if only because it is Pratchett and I love him.

3 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

zaterdag 17 december 2016

Terry Pratchett: Dodger

Hi everyone

This is my review for Terry Pratchett’s Dodger. Dodger is not part of the Discworld series and though there is a companion novel it is a standalone story.
My copy has 403 pages and I got it from Bol.
You can read all my Terry Pratchett reviews here.

“Dodger is a tosher – a sewer scavenger living in the squalor of Dickensian London.
Everyone who is nobody knows Dodger. Anyone who is anybody doesn’t.
But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, suddenly everybody wants to know him.
And Dodger’s tale of skulduggery, dark plans and even darker deeds begins . . .”

I definitely enjoyed this novel but it’s very different from Pratchett’s Discworld novels so keep that in mind. This is a Victorian novel set in London. It’s more or less historically accurate and I really appreciated that fact. I liked the setting a lot.

Charles Dickens is one of the main-characters in this book. How great is that! And he is a really cool character too. Solomon is amazing and such a sweet one. And then Dodger. Well Dodger made me smile, laugh, cringe, sigh and hope.
The story isn’t that special though; it’s rather repetitive and even boring at times.

But it didn’t capture me as much as his other novels. I can’t really say why but I wasn’t as interested in the story as I’d hoped to be. I didn’t love it.

3.5 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

woensdag 14 december 2016

Jim Butcher: Small Favour

Hi everyone

This is my review for Small Favour, the tenth book in The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.
My copy has 433 pages and I got it from Bol.
You can find all my reviews on the series here.

* SPOILERS *

I loved this book. The series is getting better and better and I can’t wait to read the next one.
That also makes it harder and harder to review each new book in the series.
There’s so much going on in this book and it all comes together in the end. By this time the world is incredibly complex but it’s still manageable as a reader to keep track of everything that’s going on because Butcher takes the time to explain to the reader what happened and why.
These books are so much fun to read!
I think Butcher has a lot more in store for us because there are hints throughout the novel about bigger events, a traitor and other overarching plotlines that have yet to come to the surface.
The characterization gets better in every book and I love seeing older characters return every so often and every time they reappear there’s more to them.
The opening scene with the snowfight made my heart melt; it was so, so sweet.
And the scenes at the hospital made me tear up like a child. Too true I’m afraid.

Loved it. Highly recommended series.

5 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

zondag 11 december 2016

Justin Cronin: The Twelve

Hi everyone

This is my review for the second book in The Passage by Justin Cronin.
I read my father’s copy and it has 618 pages.
You can find all my reviews for the books in the series here.

* SPOILERS *

Well, that opening chapter was unnecessary. A complete retelling of everything that happened in the first book but with an added bonus; religious references. Just what we needed. Or not. Big failure in my opinion.

The part set right after the outbreak is rather confusing. There’s a whole host of new characters and the story jumps around, trying to cover all of them. The pacing is off too, especially when changing characters and POV’s.
But I loved reading about those early days; the fear, the confused people, the anger all around. I loved that.

Horace Guilder is a very cliché bad character but most of the others are good. Where the characterization, world building and the general history of this world were amazing in the previous book, they’re just OK in this one. I felt distanced from the characters and the events. I didn’t care as much as before.
I still liked the story and it has it’s suspenseful, horrific, sweet and humorous moments too.
The story and characters don’t go the way you’d expect and I felt my mind wander from time to time, wondering why we spent so much time there.
Alicia’s torture and rape, the clear references to WWII and the general disdain for women made the book less enjoyable then the first one.

I think/hope we’re in for a truly, epic third book if the finale of this one is anything to go by.

3 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

vrijdag 9 december 2016

Matthew Kressel: The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye

Hi everyone

I wanted to write a little review for Matthew Kressel’s short-story The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye.
You can read it for free, or listen to it on the website of Clarkesworld Magazine.

This is a strange story. It’s rather confusing at first but you just have to go with it.
It’s a serious, surreal and sad story, making me tear up at certain scenes but it’s also philosophical and critical of our own society.
It’s a fascinating story and the ending is incredible.

I highly recommend this one.

5 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena