Kindle

As a present I got the kindle 4 last week. As "The mysterious Island" from Jules Verne is one of my alltime favorites, and I haven't read it in english so far, I downloaded it, and I am now at 15% -> this will be the next book reviewed!

So far I like the system, and I like the reader itself. What I don't like is, that there are no pagenumbers, but only the percentage you have read so far. I understand why that is, because you can change the font size and the font itself, but all the same, I would like it better if I could see the page number!

The loading works with an micro-USB plug, either via PC or via power socket. The first time load via power socket took about an hour, this has been 3 days ago and although I read very much and played around with the kindle even more the battery is still full.

The "picture" is refreshed around every 7th page, during the other pages only the lines are refreshed, what leads to "ghost letters", but is not really a problem, apart from when you sit under direct light.

So far I am really happy with the kindle, but I don't think, that I will read everything now only on my ebookreader (I still have about 50 unread books in my "unread" shelve). But there are so many classics one can read for free... I really will exhaust the possibility of downloading and reading them for free! [I don't have to much space left for new books, so I will focus on books I really have to have in the physical edition, when buying new books]

Arkadien fällt

Kai Meyer's "Arkadien fällt" is the third an final volume of the Arkadien-trilogy. Rosa and Alessandro continue to fight for their love, as all shapeshifter clans have a problem with their relationship. As they find out after a lot of research and livethreatening situations, the real bad guy is the hungry man, who wants them to marry (and then kill each other) in order to regain the power the shapeshifters had in former times.

Well, I keep this so short, because I think, one word much spoils everything. The book itself is well written, as usual, but I think there is a little too much action. What the first two volumes lacked on action, this volume likes to pick up. There is very much plot for a book of only 340 pages, so you have to keep track.
But all in all, Arkadien fällt is a good ending for the trilogy, every riddle has a solution and one has a good feeling for the future of the main characters.

I award 7 out of 10 for this book due to the mentioned hurry in the plot (perhaps the book should have had 500 pages, so all would have been well :-)).

I have not yet decided what to read next, as I have not read my current volumes of 2012 and Vampira.

The Lover

This book by Marguerite Duras tells the autobiographic story of a 15 year old girl, living in South East Asia, who becomes some kind of mistress for the son of a Chinese business man, who fells in love with her when he first meets her on a ferry. At first, they only meet on a social basis, going for dinner, for a walk... One day he takes her into a flat somewhere in the busy streets of the town, and makes love to her. She more or less becomes addicted to him, firstly because of experiencing an immense sensation of lust, secondly because he can provide her with the money her family no longer has.
But the "love" story is not the only part of the book (contrary to the movie), instead the main focus is on her family, with her crazy mother, her younger and her older brother, the problems they face due to the depression her mother suffers from, the problems that occur because all the money is gone.
She also is confronted with racial problems, her being white, him being a Chinese.

The story is told in a very strange way... Sometimes it is a first person narrative, sometimes Duras speaks about herself in the third person, the plot is not told in a linear way, but jumps from here to there, from this time to that time. Hardly any names are told (apart from a school friend), she only refers to "him", "his father", "her younger brother", "her older brother" All that made the book a rather hard one to read.
I had high expectations but they where not met. I am actually quite disappointed by the book, which can be reasoned because I like the movie very much, and well, the movie focusses on the love story, the book focusses on her family, which characters are strange, and not really like-able.

All in all... I am not going to rate this book. Please feel free to post your opinion!

Coming up next "Kai Meyer: Arkadien fällt"

No et moi

After a few dime novels I started  "No et moi". I read it in German, as my French is not good enough.

No and me... Me, that is 13 year old Lou, living in Paris with her parents who suffer from the loss of Lous baby sister a few years ago. She is very intelligent and skipped therefore two classes. As a result, she is the youngest in her class, but being as bright as she is, she is still the best. Feeling quite isolated (not one of her classmates, wants to be friends with her) she goes to the trainstation after school in order to watch people. One day, No, a 18 year old homeless starts to speak to Lou. She just needs a person, who talks to her, so Lou gets to the trainstation each daym, gets to know Lou, and even holds a speech at school about homeless women in France, Paris in particular.
Lou`s only "friend" is Lucas, who repeats the class, does not pay attention to what the teachers say, and is a rebel in each and every way.
Lou starts to think, that when each person took one homeless person and took care of them, therefore she wants to convince her parents to take No to live with them. No, being as down as down can be, is being washed and newly dressed at Lucas flat, and then starts her new life with Lou and her parents.
At first everything is perfect, No takes her time to recover, becomes a valueable member of the family and even gets herself a job. When Lou and her parents have to leave Paris for a few days to meet Lous aunt things turn into a different direction...

I have to say, that book is really a pageturner! One always wants to know what happens next and one feels the drama rising... Despite knowing, that there cannot be a happy ending, one cannot stop reading, one is happy when Lou is, one is sad, when Lou is. I started crying in the train again.... So, I think No et Moi is the perfect book for everyone who really likes to be "inside" a book.
I award 10 out of 10 for an outstanding reading experience!

Next one to come is Marguerite Duras` "the Lover"

Anthem for Doomed Youth

I just finished the 19th Daisy Dalrymple mystery, Anthem for Doomed Youth, and I am delighted.
This time, 3 burried bodies, in various states of decay, are found in Epping forrest.
Due to his investigation, Daisy`s husband Alec has no time to take part on his daughters school sports day. But as Daisy loves Belinda very much, she, together with her friends Sakari and Melanie - mothers of Lizzi and Deva, close friends of Belinda - drive over to Saffron Walden where the girls boarding school is situated.
On the day after the sport event, the six of them go to a local garden and the three girls go off into a maze... when Daisy hears a piercing scream her heart misgives her... surely enough, one of the girls has found the body of one of their teachers. With the help of a tight-lipped local gardener Daisy goes into the maze and discoveres both the girls and the body...
Alec, in the meanwhile, is busy solving his case. He has 2 possible links between the 3 Epping forrest bodies and tries to find out which one of the theories will hold. When he finally finds out who committed the crimes, it is to late - as the person commits suicide when he finds himself surrounded by the police.
Daisy and her friends are questionned by an incapable officer... that`s why they give him a pretty hard time, resulting in him accusing the harmless gardener. Well, as usually Daisy can prevent unguilty persons to be charged and things turn out a little different as one would expect (but don`t tell Alec!).

I am now reading the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries for more than 10 years. I was delighted, when Daisy and Alec became a couple and married, but was devided when they got the twins and to be honest, I did not like the last books. But in this book, Daisy is her cheery old self again, Sakari being a very good side kick, and the children being involved being rather funny.
Therefore I award a full 10 out of 10.

As I have 2 more dime novels to read I have not yet decided which book comes next. Perhaps "Arkadien fällt" by Kai Meyer

Good Omens

Finally I have some time to blog about Good Omens, a Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett Cooperation.

The book is about the nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter, who was a witch, and wrote a book about the things happening in the future. She happened to be quite good in forward-looking statements but nobody wanted to buy her book, as most prophecies were not really spectacular, so the only copy left is the one she kept for herself.
A couple of hundred years later... Crowley (a demon) and Aziraphale (an angel), who are good friends and quite used to living on earth come to know of the nearing apocalypse. They decide to work together in order to postpone the end of the world.
So Satan's son is born, and Crowley and his friend decide to have an eye on the Antichrist. They want him to rise in a very normal way, so he will not be in favor for each side.
Due to some misshandling of various children in the hospital, the child everyone believes to be Satan's son (Warlock - named because on of the nurses wanted the Antichrist to have a proper name) is a very normal boy.
The real Antichrist is Adam Young. He lived a perfectly normal live so far, and has no idea about his true powers. When he starts thinking about the perfect world, his ideas become true, and so the nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter become true...

I really liked the book! It was something completely different from the stuff I usually read. It was fun, trying to find out, which author wrote which part, and I am sure, I did not always succeed. I had to laugh a lot, sometimes very hard (very embarassing, sitting in the train...), but I think, the end came a little to fast. All in all, I award 6 out of 10.

Coming up next is Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple: Anthem for Doomed Youth!

Club Dead

Well, I am back from my hols, and I am a little mad at British Airways, as they lost my luggage, and the book is is my bag... However I finished the book, and I must say it really is different from the series.

I liked the book, and it is in my opinion a lot different from the other two.
Bill, who was working on a kind of facebook for vampires, is missing, and Sookie tries everything to get him back, despite her thinking that he is being unfaithful in one sense or the other. She becomes friends with a werewolf, Alcide, and the two of them begin their search for Bill in Jackson. Sookie is nearly stabbed to death at a local supernatural-being-bar, and gets known to the local Vampireking, who helps her getting well again. She finds out, that Bill is being tortured at the Vampirekings house, frees him and stakes his maker, Lorena.
Several werewolfes wait for Sookie, Bill and Eric back at her house, they are all being killed by the two vampires, Sookie breaks up with Bill and takes back her invitation for all vampires into her house. She realizes, that Bills facebook is still hidden in her house, and no vampire will be able to retract it from its hiding place.

I award 8 out of 10, and coming up next is a Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett Coproduction: Good Omens!

Holidays

Hi!

It's just to hot to read, I cannot get my brain to work, and the pages are sticking on my fingers whenever I turn a page, that's why I did not yet finish "Club Dead".

As my holidays are coming closer and closer (4 days to go), I wont write my resumees until about 20th of September.

Have a great time!
Nadine

Living Dead in Dallas

Living Dead in Dallas is the second book of the Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie, still in love with Vampire Bill is being sent to Dallas, in order to find the missing companion of the local Vampire leader. She gets involved with the fellowship of the sun, a religious association against Vampires and gets to know another mind reader, so she finally knows she is not unique.
In her hometown Bon Temps things are getting a sexual touch as a maenad is getting into town. Sam, Sookies boss, sort of falls in love with the maenad. When Sookie returns from Dallas she does her best to get the maenad out of town which she only manages with the help of her Vampire friends.

As I liked the first season of the series I already watched season 2 & 3 before reading the second book. The plot of the second season follows very loosely the plot of the second book (more or less, a maenad makes her appearance in Bon Temps and Sookie goes to Dallas). My personal opinion is, that the books are written really good, and the producers of the series take the best parts of the books and make an even better (if a little more controversial) story of it.

I give Living Dead in Dallas 7 out of 10 and started already reading Club Dead (Part 3 of the Sookie Stackhouse novels).

Rufus, der Katzenphilosoph

Rufus, der kastrierte Kater des Autors, fängt am Weihnachtsabend auf einmal zum Reden an. Er erzählt dem Autor Weisheiten aus seinen 7 Leben, und der Autor schreibt mit.

Ich liebe Katzen, und hab mich daher sehr auf dieses Buch gefreut. Schade fand ich, dass Rufus zumeist doch recht überheblich rüberkommt, auch hat mir nicht so gut gefallen, dass sämtliche Gelehrten, die zitiert werden, "Katzennamen" erhalten... --> Katzmann von Fallersleben, nur ein Beispiel.

Na, jedenfalls weiß ich jetzt, wie man als Katze sein Leben verbringt, nämlich ruhig und gelassen, man lässt alles auf sich zukommen, weil man ja ohnehin nichts an der Situation ändern kann...

Ich gebe Rufus 5 von 10 möglichen, und beginne nun mit dem 2. Teil der Sookie Stackhouse Romane: Living Dead in Dallas

The Color Purple

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker tells the story of two sisters, Celie and Nettie. The book is mostly written in Celies uneducated english and is in letter form.
They are raised lacking a loving mother, having an unloving father who fatheres Celie two times. When Albert turns up, he falls in love with Nettie, but gets to marry Celie. She moves into his house, and Nettie comes for a short visit. After she is more or less thrown out by Albert nothing is heard of Nettie.
Celie lives her live, tries to raise Alberts nasty children and tries to come through her kismet.
Albert brings home his former love, a singer, Shug Avery, she is very sick with a not more specified womens disease. Celie falls in love with her, despite of her being awfully unfriendly. When Shug recovers, she restarts singing, starts being friendly to Celie and makes sure, that Albert wont hit Celie anymore.
The years pass, and when Shug comes for a visit she and Celie find a bunch of letters from Nettie in a box of Albert. They remove the letters from the envelopes so Albert wont find out, and Celie happily finds out, that Nettie is still alive, living in Africa. And more, Nettie found out, that her father is not their father but only their stepfather.

I don't want to spoiler... the ending is heartbreaking. I really loved the book, in spite of really having problems in the beginning with the language.

I give the color purple 10 out of 10.

Coming up next (german): Rufus, der Katzenphilosoph

Wesley (2)

Stacey O'Brien tells the wonderful story of Wesley the barn owl. She gets him, a few days old, takes him everywhere until he is grown enough to stay alone at home during the day. She becomes his mate (or rather her arm...) and Wesley builds nests everywhere for her. When Wesley starts showing his affection to Stacey by embracing her with his wing, my eyes filled with tears.

After many happy years, Stacey gets very ill, only surviving because she knows, that Wesley will die with her due to grieving, when she would. As Wesley gets older, he gets more or less blind, he gets nervous about having enough to eat (mice) around him, and when Wesley - a now real old barn owl - dies, my eyes got wet again.

I really like stories, where someone gets a small animal and they stay together for all of their lives. Such stories are always funny in exactly the right amount, and you always feel more attached to nature after reading them. With Wesley, it was the same. Most of these books have a sad ending, but Wesley touched me the most, I think, because Stacey can describe in a very lovely way, how Wesley "talks" about everything ("don't eat that, I have a mouse for you", "no no, not for owls"), how he reacts to everyone else but Stacey, how they cuddle together... I really loved that book, and I even think about reading it again (after those app. 50 left in my "unread books" shelf).

Wesley gets the full 10 out of 10!


NEXT ONE TO COME: Alice Walker: The Color Purple

Wesley

By Stacey O'Brien

Wesley tells "the story of a remarkable owl". 5 day old Wesley, having a problem with the nervs in one wing, gets a new mom, Stacey. She rises him with all her love, watches him learning to fly (never laugh at an owl who learns to fly, it will turn away embarrased), and helps him becoming an adolescent.

Vampira (Folge 6)

Wenn ich mich schon mal wieder mit Vampiren beschäftige, kann ich auch gleich den aktuellen Band von Vampira (BasteiLübbe) lesen :-)

Vampira - die Blutspur, ist mein erster Groschenroman gewesen, und hat mich einen halben Schwimmbadnachmittag begleitet. Die Handlung ist überraschend komplex, es gibt überraschend wenig Sex (nur 2 mal im ganzen Heft), und leider gibt es genau so viele Rechtschreibfehler wie erwartet.

Lilith ist halb Vampirin, halb Mensch, hat einen Symbionten, der ihr als Kleidung dient, und ist aus irgendeinem Grund auf der Suche nach Landru. Sie bringt dabei nicht nur sich selbst in Gefahr, sondern auch ihre menschlichen Freunde...
Am Ende kann Landru nach Indien entkommen...

Viel mehr Handlung habe ich ohne der Kenntnis der ersten 5 Romanhefte nicht entnehmen können, fand das Ganze aber durchaus unterhaltsam, und werde mir die nächsten Hefte auch besorgen!

Auch wenn ich mich zum Teil nicht wirklich ausgekannt hab, geb ich Vampira (Folge 6) 5 Punkte von 10 möglichen.

Dead until dark (2)

Sookie Stackhouse, a 25 year old mindreader lives in Bon Temps (Louisiana) in a world, where two years ago the Vampires had their coming out. They are no longer dependend from human blood but can live on a substance called "true blood" (hence the title of the series...). Sookie works in a bar, and when the first ever vampire comes in, she is more than thrilled. First she saves Vampire Bills live, then he saves hers... A vampire love story, refreshingly different from twilight!


After seeing the first season of TrueBlood I have to say, I like the book better (in spite of loving the series). Jason (Sookies brother) is not such a big asshole and not such a sexmaniac as in the series, Tara (Sookies friend in the series) is completely missing (I am not sure if that is good or not), the other vampires (as Eric) are not as bad as in the series.
All in all, the book is not as dramatic as the series which might be the reason why I like it a little better.

Dead Until Dark gets 7 out of 10

Dead until dark

Today I started "Dead Until Dark", the first of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.

Not that I am a big reader of Vampire Stories, but I like to read a book before I see the movie (sometimes the other way round), and as we have the first season of TrueBlood at home...

 I heard, that the first season goes relatively conform with the first book, I am going to find out the truth! :-)

The Left Hand Of God

As I don't want my blog to be that empty....

Currently I am reading "The Left Hand Of God" by Paul Hoffman. So far (page 270 of 500 (Penguin Books Paperback)) it is a real great fantasy book.

Thomas Cale a teenage acolyte of the Redeemers learns how to fight and how to survive on a meal called dead mans feet while being in their sanctum. As the sanctuary is not the most pleasant place to be he and 2 of his friends decide to flee from that place of gruelty, but only as something very disturbing happens within the walls. A girl, Riba, is saved by the 3 boys and the 4 of them manage to get away from the Redeemers and to escape into the next city - Memphis.
Here Cale falls into love, saves lives and learns how to eat real food. He and his friends become bodyguards of Arbelle Swan-Neck, a bewitching beauty, after saving her life. Arbelle, being afraid of Cale in the beginning, and therefore being rather unfriendly and cool, starts thinking differently about him after seeing his body, well trained but full of scars.

Review:
All in all I think, "the left hand of god" is an "ok" phantasy-book. For me, the battlescenes are a little to short, you can hardly follow what's happening. The lovestory comes to an abrupt end, seems like the author did not know what to make of the couple. Frankly, the whole ending is a drop of bitterness in an otherwise real good book.
I found some spelling and kommamistakes which make it sometimes a little difficult to read (some sentences I needed to read several times until I got the meaning) at least for me (not being a native speaker).

All things considered I give "the left hand of god" a 6 (out of 10).

Getting started

Thinking for years and years if I should create a blog I finally made a decision.

My blog will be mostly about the books I read, I will try to give a short description as well as a short review of the book.