I love pre-loved books

Some people would never consider buying a used book but I have to say that I am just the opposite. Call the what you like - used books, vintage books, second-hand books, I call them pre-loved! And I love trawling the thrift shops for books that need a new home and to donate books so that others can read them and enjoy them. Especially the ones that I didn't like - I feel like they deserve a second chance. The other day I was going from second-hand shop to second-hand shop looking for books to buy and this is what I came home with:









Happy reading!

GIVEAWAY: "Wetlands" by Charlotte Roche

Time for another give-away - this time it is my own hardback copy of "Wetlands" by Charlotte Roche. It cause quite a stir when it came out and you can read my review of the novel here.

Rules to participate in the give-away:
- The competition is open globally
- Winner will be selected on August 1st in a random draw
- Leave a comment recommending a book that you think I will like and remember to write you email address so I can contact you if your name is drawn
- Book will be sent to the winner in the middle of August

:-)

Review: "After The Party"

Five or six years ago I stumbled over a novel called "Ralph's Party" by an author named Lisa Jewell. I found it in a thrift store for next to nothing, I was a poor student and picked it up hoping for a fun, light read and that's exactly what I got. At the time I was going through a chick lit phase where that was more or less all I read - maybe because I spent so much time reading boring ol' study books? :-)
Anyway since then I have read "Ralph's Party" several times, it is one of those comfy books that always make me smile, especially the eating-raw-chilli-competition. Then a few weeks ago I was on a London tube station and I spotted a large poster for a books called "After the Party" by Lisa Jewell. Turns out now there is a sequel to the wonderful "Ralph's Party" and of course I had to get it.

It has been eleven years since Jem and Ralph went home from Ralph's party together. Back then they were sharing a flat with Jem's devious, deceiving boyfriend Smith who was using Jem to make Cheri jealous and now they have a house in South London as well as two kids and lots of issues. Ralph is feeling detached from his small family and Jem is entirely consumed by her wonderful kids, the bright Scarlett with the fierce personality and the little baby Blake who is growing every day. Ralph is struggling to find his painter mojo and though he is making a living as a painter, a good living, he feels that he has lost the love for his art. So in a desperate attempt to find his passion for art, for Jem, for the family, he goes to visit Smith in Los Angeles leaving Jem alone in grey, rainy London with two screaming kids... Alone to go to the playground and meet a nice dad whose daughter is the same age as Scarlett. So while Ralph goes to a Christian concert with the gorgeous Rosey, Jem goes to have tea with soft single dad Joel. And from there it all goes wrong, more than wrong.

I liked it. Not as much as I like "Ralph's Party" but it was a decent sequel. Great to catch up with Jem and Ralph again and to reminisce about that chilli fight. Also I found the discussions about spirituality and Christianity very interesting. Religion is a topic that is rarely dealt with in chick lit but I think that Lisa Jewell did a really good job of showing how Christianity can make a difference in the rushed, modern lives we life.

Read it if: You've read "Ralph's Party" and wondered what happened next or if you want to read a strong chick lit novel about the difficulty of being a modern family striving to have it all and lead the perfect life.

Review: "Special Topics in Calamity Physics"

Let me be honest with you from the very beginning and tell you that "Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl's debut novel, is one of my favourite books. It came recommended from my father whose opinions - on books as well as in general - I have a lot of respect for. So when he handed me his copy of this long book with the beautiful girly cover and the strange title, I knew that I had to read it - the dichotomy of title and cover alone was enough to intrigue me. This was a few years ago and now I re-read it recently and it was just as great as I remembered.

What is this novel about, you ask yourself? The title doesn't really give anything it away - and then maybe it does. But not in the way you expect. Blue van Meer is a motherless American teenager living a life less normal with her professor father who is specialized in development politics and social sciences and who takes up guest positions at three or four different universities a year. Together they travel the country, living as nomads while Gareth, Blue's father, tells her story of her beautiful late mother and fills her head with as much academical knowledge as he can force in there.
Blue is quite a child prodigy or a teenage prodigy, clever for her age, intellectual, with outstanding academic records and few friends. She is the narrator of the story where we follow her and her father as they settle in a new town where Blue is befriended by the mysterious high school teacher Hannah Schneider who has collected a group of talented students around her in a group referred to as The Bluebloods. From the very beginning she is eager for Blue to join their little merry group and though reluctant to do so at first, Blue suddenly has a group of friends though she doesn't exactly fit in with them. She is somewhat scared by the bohemian Leulah, the handsome Charles and the other Bluebloods who all have twisted, strange pasts. Then one day Hannah dies (this is not a spoiler - it is mentioned at the very beginning of the book) and then it all comes tumbling down. It is a story that wants us to reflect on what we actually know about the people that we know, it is about identities and narratives that twist and turn and make it impossible to find the truth.

When it came out "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" it received a lot of really great reviews and some critical ones. Overall though, it was quite popular and I have to say that I love it though it is probably not for everyone. There is not clearcut definition of what this book is in terms of genre - a coming-of-age novel, a crime novel, a mystery. A literary gem if you ask me! There is so much about this book that I love. The fact that the chapters are named after literary milestones such as Othello, the fact that Blue has an enormous knowledge about and love for books and quotes the all the time. The story is amazing and has one of the best and most well-thought-out endings ever.
Most of all, however, I love the characters. The pretentious Gareth who is not really a nice guy and who is definitely selfish and has a huge, inflated ego - his bad sides only remedied by the fact that he has unconditional love for Blue. Blue is, however, easy to love. She is a pretty honest narrator and her voice and story is full of the teenage worries that I think we all know. The "am I good enough?"s, the worry about the future, about boys. She is so clever, intellectually and academically, yet so socially awkward, and I found myself wondering what became of her after the book ended. For me that is one of the best indicators of a successful literary character.

All in all I can only recommend this book - but be aware that it is long and that the last part is unputdownable so reading it in bed when you really should be sleeping is dangerous to your beauty sleep.

Read it if: You love books and like your heroines clever and full of reflections on life. If love conspiracy theories, mysteriousness and a good story.

Review: "Repeat It Today With Tears"

When this one arrived in my mailbox, I was surprised by how slim it was. I am not sure why but I had expected it to be longer. Maybe because the topic is so controversial?

Let me tell you straight away that this book is not for all because it deals with the subject of what is essentially incest in a really strange, really different way. In a sense it takes the same approach to taboo as "Tiger, Tiger" by Margaux Fragoso, as it focuses on the love story aspect, not the abuse aspect, but in my opinion it handles the topic much better than "Tiger, Tiger" does. You can read my "Tiger, Tiger" review here by the way.

The story in "Repeat It Today With Tears" set in the 1970s and it is about a young girl who desperately lacks a father figure in her life. Susanna is a beautiful girl and a clever girl with a real academical flair - it looks like she will be going to a top university and break the social inheritance even though she has to work as well as go to school. She has grown up on a South London estate among drunkards, criminals and teenage mothers and her mother and sister are both very different from her. Her mother has had a tough life and her sister Lin seems to get pregnant a little too easily... For Susanna this is life as she knows it but something very substantial is missing. Susanna misses her father - her mother's boyfriend is no replacement - and though she has never known him, she goes searching for him. And then the drama starts because it is more or less love at first sight. For Susanna, it is an obsession, nothing is as important as the relationship with her new-found father and for her father it seems like he gets a second shot at youth when this young, beautiful girl gives herself to him. He has no idea that it is his daughter.
As their love grows and grows and grows, Susanna at no point feels that it is wrong. All she can feel is the love for the man that she is incredibly aware is her father. As a reader I found it disturbing but at the same time Anne Peile's beautiful writing makes the story come to life in a way so that it is impossible not to care for Susanna.
The second part of the story is strong, incredibly strong. Tears in my eyes strong. But I won't give anything away.

The strength if this book is Anne Peile's beautiful, delicate prose. The words flow from her, giving Susanna a voice and coating the story in a golden light of times gone by. London in the 70's come to life and the love story part is beautiful - so well-written that I kept forgetting the awfulness of the story. The girl who is so starved for fatherly love that when she has the chance to get to know her father, she takes over the role which her mother has once played maybe in a bid to create the happy family life that she has always been denied and create a right where her mother was wrong. It is a deeply disturbing story but beautiful nonetheless.

Read it if you like: London in the 1970's - or if you were disappointed by "Tiger, tiger".

Pride and Prejudice. Love and Hate.

Can't fall asleep so have given myself a fun little challenge - finding Pride and Prejudice covers and reviewing them in one word and one sentence.

CLASSIC
A hardback edition for those of us who read this classic again and again and again.



ENCHANTING
A beautiful cover for a beautiful book


MISUNDERSTOOD
For those who think that Edward Cullen is the modern girl's Mr. Darcy (he is not!)



UNNECESSARY
Wrapping up a classic in a modern jacket to attract a new audience - kind of like if The Rolling Stones had botox in order to perform at the MTV Movie Awards



SACCHARINE
Designed by somebody who has seen the movie but not read the book...




GIRLY
Special edition for girls who closets full of shoes




STRANGE
A great British romance set in a Japanese garden?


Which one is your favourite? I would love the second one but in a hardback edition!

Too many books at once - does it happen to you?

When I visit a bookshop, I am like a kid in a candy store. I want to grab everything and limiting myself to buying just one book - or buying none! - seems impossible. Luckily, I manage though, otherwise my home would be like a library... Lately though, I have been starting to read a lot of books, then losing focus and starting on another one. This really is a terrible habit and cannot be recommended. I will use this post to try and get an overview of which books I am currently reading and hopefully this will stop me from starting on more until I have finished these.
Here we go:

Schooling by Heather McGowan
I have been wanting this book for a long time and now finally got my hands on it. It is the story of 13-year old American girl Catrine who is sent to an English boarding school and it is written in a stream-of-consciousness style that is quite powerful.



Repeat It Today With Tears by Anne Peile
A stunning debut novel set in London in the 1970's where a young girl becomes obsessed with finding the father she has never known. So obsessed that she seduces him.



The Enchantment of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt
A coming of age story about Lily Dahl, a Minnesota waitress and aspiring actress.



Horns by Joe Hill
This one was featured on Amazon's Best Books of March 2010 list and I have heard a lot of good stuff about it. Ignatius William Perrish (love the name!) wakes up after a night that he hardly remembers and have grown horns. And that is not all that has changed about him, people are now telling him those things that they are normally too embarrassed to share with others.



Now that I have summed it up, it doesn't seem so bad. I was sure that there were more on this list. Wonder if I have left any out...
What are you reading at the moment?

Review: "Passion"

So now the time has come to review "Passion", the third book in the series about the eternal love of Daniel and Luce which is written by Lauren Kate (btw. such a cool name for an author!). The first books "Fallen" and "Torment" had something. I loved the black school uniform in book one and the graveyard and the firsts meetings between Cam and Luce. "Torment" was good as well, it had something. The last scenes were powerful and that leads me nicely to "Passion" which starts where "Torment" began. However, the plot of this one is quite different and if you are a huge Lauren Kate fan, then please forgive me for this review. I am going to be honest (because otherwise what's the point?) and it is not really going to be nice...

The plot is ridiculous. At best. The idea is actually good but the actual story is not only unimpressive, it is downright awful. In order to understand the eternal love of Daniel and Luce and the curse that means that Luce dies whenever their love becomes to passionate, Luce travels through time. Literally. She uses the announcers to travel through her past lives and observe or even take part in her past lives and what lives, she has led... And boy has she led some interesting lives. She seems to have been in all the right places on the right times, at least in a historical context. Thinking about this in a reasonable way, one would assume that she had had maybe one exciting life and a lot of normal lives outside of the main historical events. Not so Luce. She was lady of the manor in Victorian England, a friend of Shakespeare and the reason for the fire of the Globe Theater, a slave at the court of Pharaoh, a Chinese king's fiancee, a Princess of Savoy at the court of the Sun King... She has experienced quite a bit! And I can see why otherwise this plot may have become boring quite fast because Kate doesn't take the time to really explore any of these lives, instead she seems to try to fit as many past lives into one book as possible. And feature the devil as well plus a strange dialogue featuring God... Have to say I don't like it. At all.

If you loved "Fallen" and "Torment" please don't get your expectations up... If you loved films such as "Shakespeare in Love", "Mulan" and "The English Patient" then you might like it because the author seems to have borrowed a bit from these and other movies. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, except that she has not done it in a very elegant way and that rather annoys me. Honestly, this book seemed to me as if it had been written in a hurry and that's really too bad. I hope that the next book, "Rapture", will be better because even though I was less than impressed with "Passion", I still have to find out what happens to Luce and Daniel.

I wish it was a book!

Right so I've written a couple of posts about books that have been made into films - but there are also a bunch of films that I really really wish was based on books. And maybe they are and I just haven't noticed. Anyway. There are quite a few films that I would love to read:



Juno. Script written by the cool, clever, imaginative and brave Diablo Cody who is never afraid of tackling difficult issues (teenage pregnancy in Juno, mental illness in United States of Tara). Would love to have her over for dinner and talk to her about screenwriting.



Adventureland Starring a rather cute guy and Twilight-girl Kristen Stewart this is a far cry from sparkling, moody vampires. This is all about a rich kid whose parents go bankrupt forcing him to work at the local adventureland (read: freak show) during his summer vacation. It would work really well as a coming-of-age book, I think.



Easy Virtue with Colin Flirt and Jessica Biel. I've mentioned this one before. It is set in the thirties and full of bright young things and fantastic music. The story of an English aristocrat who marries an American nobody to the extreme displeasure of his mother. It would be a classic - reminds me of "The Edwardians" by Vita Sackville-West.

Pictures from a day in the garden

Time has flown and I have been busy - and that is my absolutely only excuse for not having blogged for a looooong time.

What have I been doing you ask? Well a whole lot really. Lots of traveling - a few days here, a few days there. Reading in airports, on planes and at night. But now I'm back and ready to review and write and read all of you wonderful blogs.

However, this post will be a short one but I will share some pictures with you. A month ago I had an absolutely wonderful time lying in my parents' garden for an entire day reading, talking to my cat and enjoying the sunshine and just being perfectly happy (apart from my leg being all busted up and my mind being slowed by painkillers). Have a sunshiny day people :-)

Review: "Notting Hell"

Normally I don't read a lot of chick lit but since I have been spending a lot of time lying around eating pain killers and trying not to use my newly operated foot, I have had plenty of time to read but not having the energy to read anything too heavy. So I settled down with Rachel Johnson's "Notting Hell", a comedy about the self-obsessed, vain people living on a communal garden in Notting Hill. Rachel Johnson is the editor of the "Lady" magazine and from her bio on Wikipedia and articles in various media, she sounds like a lady who knows about the people that she is writing about in this novel.

The real main character in "Notting Hell" is actually the Notting Hill neighborhood. Now I've never lived here myself but according to this book, the neighborhood is defined by bankers and other professionals that leave early in the morning and return home to sleep and their high-maintenance wives who spend their days lunching (on something fat-free), exercising and shopping - and of course on raising their accomplished children. Sounds horrible doesn't it? Well, just wait till you read this book, I was so repulse by the people in it... especially the narrators of which there are two.

Meet Mimi. Mother of three, wife of Ralph (who btw. sounds pretty amazing) and dumber than a box-full-of-rocks. Living in Notting Hill defines her identity and justifies her entire life even though she and her sweet husband are living way beyond their means to stay in the attractive post code. Mimi is friends with Clare, her neighbor and the other narrator of this story. Clare is a neat-freak who loves gardening and who really wants a child but apparently cannot become pregnant. She is married to a successful ecotect (i.e. a fancy and expensive architect) and spends her days in the communal garden taking care of the flowers. Clare is a lot easier to like than Mimi even though she is a bit snobbish.

Mimi and Clare tell the story of life on a communal garden where everyone sleeps with everyone else's wife/husband and where a race to ensare the new millionaire in the garden means that the women all get their claws out. Charming. Or maybe not.

Now the people in this book are really not likeable. Mimi made me cringe and at times I wish she wasn't a narrator because it was impossible for me to like her. Clare is okay though and Mimi's husband is a sweetheart but most of the other characters range from slightly annoying to outright idiots. The plot and the descriptions of the neighborhood is hilarious though. It is the details that make it so funny, the try-hard attitude of minor characters and the constant greed that all of the characters represent. It is actually a really funny book and if you like chick lit where the characters are not very likeable, you will probably like this on.

Read it if: you subscribe to "Tatler", "Vanity Fair" or you enjoy reading the Times Rich List and imagining what goes on behind closed doors.

Review: "The Passage"

I am not really sure what made me pick up "The Passage" by Justin Cronin - but to be honest I was probably giving in the to hype and thought I would give it a go just to see... And how here comes the review which is full of SPOILERS. I don't think I would be able to writing anything meaningful about this book if I didn't include SPOILERS so consider yourself warned.

What initially struck me about this book was two things: 1) It's size. It is really long. 2) The cover which I find absolutely beautiful.
Then I opened the book and started reading and those two initial impressions faded into the background.
The story opens a year or two from now and at first we follow several strands. The young mother who has to become a prostitute to be able to provide a meal and a roof for her little daughter Amy. The death row prisoner who gets an offer he can't refuse from an FBI agent who may have a hidden agenda. The FBI agent who is on a mission that he doesn't really understand but who is so emotionally messed up by losing his child that he doesn't care what the mission is about. Until the mission suddenly includes handing over Amy to an unknown fate and his paternal feelings come crashing over him.
This first part of the story, I really enjoyed. I loved the thrill of not knowing what is going on but having that ominous feeling that there is more to the story... The FBI agent Wolgast is a really good character with lots of depth and I really felt for him and looked forward to following his ride through the book - that was not to be however... Because really, this is all about Amy.

After about 200 pages the plot turns from a mystery thriller about taking responsibility for your actions to a whole different kettle of fish. From one page to the next - and this is where the SPOILER comes - the entire population of America (and possibly of the earth) has been wiped out by an attack of vampire zombies. I kid you not. Vampire zombies... As if the sparkling variety wasn't bad enough, now we have the superpowered, crazy zombie variety as well.
At this point I seriously considered closing the book and leaving it at that but I was in the garden at my parents place and still trying to get back on both feet after my operation so I had nothing else to do.
The story is impossible to really summarize from here but in a few words, this is what happens: A group of about 100 survivors has made a colony in the Californian mountains and there they have lived since the first epidemic. A hundred years have passed and a new world order is prevalent. The story follows a group of these people who set up to get a better understanding of what happen to the world of their forefathers and whether there are other humans out there who have managed to survive. All why they try and understand who the girl Amy is - a strange tween/teen who has suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

I don't know what to say. I am really really not into sci-fi, doomsday, end-of-the-world stories and suddenly I found myself reading one, rather unwillingly. Being honest, I would have put this book down if it wasn't because it is actually rather well-written. Great characters that you really empathize with and that come alive. Great descriptions of a world where all life as we know it has disappeared. Very Stephen King-ish. Will I read the next two books in what is planned to be a trilogy? Well, never say never but I really don't think so.

Read it if: You love Stephen King and think that "28 Days Later" is a great movie. Or if you would read anything featuring a vampire.

Review: "Cousin Kate"

Georgette Heyer is where I go to look for comforting reads that allow me to escape into a regency world full of bustling gowns, silver snuff boxes and really delicious gentlemen... You know what I mean girls ;-)
So when I had to spend two weeks doing nothing due to an operation in my left leg (almost at the end of the two weeks now), I turned to Georgette Heyer for a bit of a regency romp. Usually I have very clear expectations of what I will get from a Heyer book and they always live up to my expectation. Always until this time that is... Because Georgette Heyer's "Cousin Kate" certainly did not.

The story line is this: young Kate is all alone in the world and has not a penny to her name. So she goes to stay with her old nanny Sarah who is now married to a tradesmen. Sarah contacts Kate's family and soon Kate is swept away to live in the imposing and impressive country home of her aunt Lady Minerva. It is by no means a homey place - more of a museum - and the family is as dysfuntional as they get. Kate spends her time with her cousin Torquil who is more than a little strange, and Phillip, who doesn't seem to like her at all. And all the time Lady Minerva is acting strangely.

This is actually more of a mystery than a romance which I didn't particularly appreciate. I prefer the London balls and Bath tangles to a country house who-did-it. Also what I so adore about Georgette Heyer is her strong heroines. They are normally really strong with lots of common sense and little romantic notions but Kate doesn't really have that. Yes she is practical and no-nonsense but she is also naive and not particularly bright and she annoyed me at times.

Read it if: You are on a quest to read everything Georgette Heyer ever wrote. If you are looking for a regency romance of great quality, go for Georgette Heyer's "Frederica".

Top Ten Tuesday: Superb Settings

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish and I love participating in it!!
This week's theme is favorite book settings - something that is not appreciate as much as it should be, if you ask me. So here we go:

10) Avalon - from "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Enchanting and full of magic

9) Italy - as portrayed in "Jamie Oliver's Italy". I know featuring a cook book is a bit different but the Italy Jamie Oliver's describes using words and pictures is so yummy that I had to :-)

8) Bon Temps and the rest of Sookie's Louisiana - from the True Blood series by Charlaine Harris. I have never been but it is on my list of places to see.

7) Brick Lane - from "Salaam Brick Lane" by Tarquin Hall. Brick Lane is one of the best streets in London. So full of life and adventures. And "Salaam Brick Lane" tells the story in a way that leaves you wanting more Brick Lane.

6) Avonlea - from "Anne of Green Gables" by L. M. Montgomery. When I was a kid I really wanted to go there on vacation and I still do actually. The descriptions from the books make it sounds like the most idyllic, beautiful little village, I so want to visit to Prince Edward Island.

5) Forks - from "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. I have actually been to Forks and holidayed at La Push and let me tell you, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Not Forks - La Push is. The nature is so raw and strong. Also I think the setting is one of the redeeming features of the book.

4) The underbelly of London - from "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. I love it that the area names are actually used. An earl lives in the Earl's Court etc. It is such an imaginative way of using geography.

3) Andalucia - from "Driving over Lemons" by Chris Stewart. I've read this book four times just to enjoy imagining the Andalucia described by the author.

2) Siena - from "Love Falls" by Esther Freud. Siena is such a beautiful place. I have been there and in the surrounding area on vacation and you have to see it if you go to Italy. It is amazing. Really amazing. And "Love Falls" is a great book by the way.

1) Hogwarts - magical!!! I wish that I had created the world of Hogwarts. It is the most astonishing, wonderful fictional setting ever.

Review: "My Last Duchess"

Now I haven't watched the much raved about series Downton Abbey but according to several reviews "My Last Duchess" by Daisy Goodwin resembles the tone and topics of the series - and having just devoured the book, I have now ordered the tv series and am looking forward to feasting on upstairs and below-stairs drama. Just as in "My Last Duchess". If you enjoy books set in England back when it was still an empire and when a woman was a lady and a man was a gentleman then you really must read this one. It is a literary edition of a Georgette Heyer story, a romantic historical novel and very much reminded me of films like "Gosford Park" and "Easy Virtue".

Cora Cash (what an appropriate last name...) is one the richest heiresses in the United States and the daughter of what must be one of the most fiercely ambitious mothers in the world. Not content with being just a society lady, she has her eyes set on being the mother of a titled lady. Which means that she is ready to sell her daughter to the highest bidder in terms of social capital. So with this objective in mind, Cora and her mother travels to England in the hope of being able to buy there way into the choicest social circles. Preferably royal connections - or at least a duke. It is hard to say more without revealing too much and as I really do not like spoilers in my reviews.
Let me say though that Cora and her mother probably get more than they bargained for because the English society is by no means ready to be bought by what they perceive as vulgar, brassy americans... Cora, a spirited young woman, has to watch her every step and even then she sometimes stumble in the undergrowth of unsaid and unwritten rules. At the same time, the reader also follows the life of Cora's loyal and loving maid as she follows her mistress to a country very far away from the Southern state that she grew up in and where the rules below stairs are as difficult as the rules in the drawing and ball rooms.

I loved the fact that Cora is so spirited. Yes she is somewhat naive and yes she does let her mother push her around a bit but in general, she is a strong young woman. She is determined not to be bullied by what she perceives as antiquated English manners and opinions and she carries her American heritage with pride. Warming to her was easy for me - just I felt the same degree of loath for her mother (and mother-in-law) as I feel for Lady Catherine de Bourgh... if you know what I mean.

This is a lovely book, it is a great escape into a different time and as a romance it works really well without becoming too much.

Read it if: You like historical romances where the Old World meets the New World - where old families meet new money. Read if if you were enchanted by the fairy tale of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Downton Abbey, Gosford Park.

I am Elizabeth Bennett!

I need to share!! :-) Just took the "Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You?" Quiz.
And I am Lizzy Bennett! Very happy with the results, was rather sure I would end up as one of the Dashwoods, though not sure why. And I really like both the Dashwood girls but I LOVE Lizzy. Made my evening.

Take the Quiz here!

Willa wants to Read... The book behind the film

So I've seen the film (not knowing that there was a book behind it) and now I want to read the book because as we all know: usually the book is much better than the film :-)

Which books-made-into-films can you recommend?

"Whip It" by Shauna Cross
The film starring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore (who is also the director) is full of great girlpower girls who rollerskates in derbys that are something of a rollerskating meets fight club thing. Full of cool clothes, great music and fun moments! I have already seen it twice and I absolutely have to read the book.
From amazon.com: Meet Bliss Cavendar, an indie-rock-loving misfit stuck in the tiny town of Bodeen, Texas. Her pageant-addicted mother expects her to compete for the coveted Miss Bluebonnet crown, but Bliss would rather feast on roaches than be subjected to such rhinestone tyranny. Bliss’s escape? Roller Derby. When she discovers a league in nearby Austin, Bliss embarks on an epic journey full of hilarious tattooed girls, delicious boys in bands, and a few not-so-awesome realities even the most hard-core derby chick has to learn.

"The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis
I know, I know... I really should have read this one before watching the movie. Sorry.
From amazon.com: Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are evacuated to a house during the war wherein lives a vague professor. Left much to their own devices, they find a way into another world - Narnia - and discover Aslan, the lion king in hiding.

"Thank You for Smoking" by Christopher Buckley
Great movie - heard the book is fun. From amazon.com: "Nick Naylor had been called most things since becoming chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, but until now no one had actually compared him to Satan." So begins the adventures of this protagonist, a shamelessly slimy yuppie and PR flack par excellence for the tobacco industry. The story, such as it is, consists of Naylor's attempts to prop up his failing corporate star by expanding his defense of the evil weed. Working the airwaves, he engineers successful, hysterical appearances on Oprah and Larry King , after which he's kidnapped by anti-tobacco terrorists who attempt to murder him by plastering his body with nicotine patches.

Review: "Old Friends and New Fancies"

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when in need of a trusty comfort read of good quality, one should always go for Jane Austen. There is nothing like a trip to Austen-land when you need to let yourself escape into a good book. Which is why I went through the Austen section of my shelves a few days ago when I had to go to the hospital for a small operation. And today - with my leg still looking like it has been beat up bad and my head being completely untrustworthy from morphine - I finished "Old Friends and New Fancies" by Sybil G. Brinton.
This book is branded as the first ever Jane Austen sequel as it was written in 1913 and of all of the many (!) sequels I have read, this one is one of my favourites. It is not a sequel to a specific book but to all of the popular Jane Austen books. Most of it takes place on the grounds of Pemberley but Elinor Ferrars née Dashwood from "Sense and Sensibility" is now a close friend of Elizabeth Darcy as is Anne Wentworth. On a visit to Bath, Mrs. Darcy also makes friends with miss Mary Crawford who soon attracts the attention of Colonel Fitzwilliam and then it all starts taking off. Romantic entanglements, a furious Lady Catherine, a silly Kitty Bennett and a thoughtful Georgiana Darcy meet and mingle with Tom Bertram, William Price and Mrs. Jennings and true to the Jane Austen style, there is of course a happy ending. Beautifuly written, this is the tale of what happened with all the unmarried characters that were left single at the end of the Austen's most beloved novels and I found it a joy to re-read.

Read it if you like: "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility" and the other Austen novels and don't mind that someone other than Austen have guessed at what happened next...

Top Ten Tuesday: Little White Lies

If you haven't visited The Broke and Bookish - www.brokeandbookish.blogspot.com - hosts of this fun meme, then you absolutely need to do so as it is a really great blog.

Today's Top Ten subject is telling lies about books and reading...

Now being honest ;-) I don't think I can think of ten separate lies that I've told in relation to reading, though I am sure that I have plenty. Just can't remember them. It must be something about forgetting the things that I would rather not remember, I think. But let's give it a go anyway:

1) Lying about liking a book to please somebody - this would usually be because the book was a present from this somebody or maybe their favourite book. I hate hurting peoples feelings so sometimes a little white lie goes a long way

2) Lying about choosing a book NOT just because of the cover... because it sounds like such a ditzy thing to do... but I do sometimes do it...

3) Lying about having read a classic that I haven't read. I swear it doesn't happen often but it has happened a couple of times out of sheer embarrassment.

4) Lying about liking a perceived classic that I really didn't like/see the point of... I know you know what I mean :-)

5) Pretending that it is not a new book but really one that I have had for quite a while to stop my boyfriend from accusing me of being a compulsive book-buyer (I really am not babe!)

What I never lie about is books that I like. If I have genuinely liked a book, I will stand by it. I have made that promise to myself and it is one that I intend to keep. I will even admit to liking Twilight because even though it has soooo many flaws, it makes for wonderful entertainment. So I stand by my books.

What about you - what do you lie about?

Don't forget to join the give-away for "A Gate at the Stairs"

Just scroll down a little bit and you are there :-)

Review: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Have you watched the film "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee"? Otherwise please please please don't watch it until you have read the book "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" by Rebecca Miller" because as so it is so often the case, the book is much better than the film. Which is intriguing in this case because the film actually follows the book to the letter but somehow the film doesn't have the same soul as the book even though the visuals are great and it is somehow very pretty. But the emotions and the pain of the book has not translated well into film - at least I don't think so.

Pippa Lee is the perfect wife. She has devoted her life, her entire being to the role as best supporting act in the life of her much older husband Herb. She cooks, she decorates, she looks stunning at the age of 50 and she has raised two successful children. But now that Herb has turned 80, they have moved to Marigold Village, a last stop for the elderly and retired where Pippa is among the youngest. And maybe that is why she is so restless and why she finds herself thinking about her past lives. Not in a reincarnation sense but in the sense that Pippa is a woman who has led many different lives in her lifetime. Pastor's daughter and adored child, bohemian artist-groupie in New York and the other woman... She carries with her a sense of guilt for her past and it seems to fill the present.
This book is beautiful. The language is simple, in no way cluttered or dramatic but it captures everything so well. I liked the movie but I fell in love with the book. It made me think a lot about growing up and growing older and about the choices we make in life.
A stunning tale about living life to the fullest or paying the prize of wasting a precious gift.

Read it if: You are tired of the cliches and lack of food for thought in chick lit.

GIVEAWAY: A Gate At the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

I am cleaning out my bookshelves and therefore giving away my copies of some of the books that I have read over the last few years. So if you would like my once-read copy of "A Gate at the Stairs" by Lorrie Moore, please leave a comment with a recommendation of one of your favourite books. Genre and topic doesn't matter as long as it is a book that you love :-)
I will pick a winner of the give-away at random on Tuesday May 24th.

Here is a description of the book from amazon.com:
Tassie Keltjin, 20, a smalltown girl weathering a clumsy college year in the Athens of the Midwest, is taken on as prospective nanny by brittle Sarah Brink, the proprietor of a pricey restaurant who is desperate to adopt a baby despite her dodgy past. Subsequent adventures in prospective motherhood involve a pregnant girl with scarcely a tooth in her head and a white birth mother abandoned by her African-American boyfriend—both encounters expose class and racial prejudice to an increasingly less naïve Tassie. In a parallel tale, Tassie lands a lover, enigmatic Reynaldo, who tries to keep certain parts of his life a secret from Tassie. Moore's graceful prose considers serious emotional and political issues with low-key clarity and poignancy, while generous flashes of wit—Tessie the sexual innocent using her roommate's vibrator to stir her chocolate milk—endow this stellar novel with great heart.

Penguins in my bag

I love the Penguin books for their classic, graphical style where all the focus is on the title and the author's name - lit up by bright colours. And now you can enjoy this great design on-the-go with these cute accessories in the classic Penguin style. The perfect present for a book lover! I saw the thermos when I was shopping in central Copenhagen with my sister yesterday and I just found that and other great little thins on Gifted Penguin - http://www.giftedpenguin.co.uk/
I have a bit of a crush on the Pride and Prejudice notebook. Normally I use Moleskine notebooks for my diaries but I think that I will try this one next time!

Willa wants to Read... Great American Literature!

I am sure you know the feeling that there are books that we really should have read but that we haven't managed to read yet. Those ones that are on the top of the TBR... My TBR seems to have quite a lot of those Great American Novels on it. Not sure why but they seem to pile up on the TBR without ever getting read by me... So here is a little list to remind myself that I need to set time aside to read them.
If you have read any of them and can recommend them, please leave a comment and tell me what you think of the book in question.

"A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
From amazon.com: In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the 'war to end all wars'. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated. Out of his experiences came A Farewell to Arms. In an unforgettable depiction of war, Hemingway recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteers and the men and women he encounters along the way with conviction and brutal honesty. A love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion, A Farewell to Arms is a testament to Hemingway's unique and unflinching view of the world and the people around him.

"To The Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf
From Wikipedia: A landmark novel of high modernism, the text, centring on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920, skilfully manipulates temporality and psychological exploration.



"Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates
From amazon.com: Frank is mired in a well-paying but boring office job and April is a housewife still mourning the demise of her hoped-for acting career. Determined to identify themselves as superior to the mediocre sprawl of suburbanites who surround them, they decide to move to France where they will be better able to develop their true artistic sensibilities, free of the consumerist demands of capitalist America. As their relationship deteriorates into an endless cycle of squabbling, jealousy and recriminations, their trip and their dreams of self-fulfillment are thrown into jeopardy.

Review: "The Monster of Florence"

Another book with a lame title... Sorry to authors Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi but this title (even though it is very describing and fits the subject well) is just not good... It hints at something sordid, it is a tabloid title. The headline of one of those newspapers that you'd never read in the bus for fear of being seen with it... You know what I mean?

This book, "The Monster of Florence", deserves a better title because it is very far from the tabloid style. In order to explain, let me first give you a quick summary of the plot of this non-fiction tale where truth is so strange that it has inspired the novel (and movie) Hannibal by Thomas Harris.
The case of the monster of Florence takes its beginning in Florence (obviously...) in the 1970's and 1980's where a serial killer targets young couples making love in cars in the hills around the beautiful renaissance city. The crimes are ruthless and barbaric, the victims young and the motives unclear. And the murderer turns out to hide his tracks very very well.
Mario Spezi is the journalist who becomes known as the monstrologer, the man who follows the case and investigation closely and who knows as much if not more about the case than the police. In 2000 the case is still unsolved as thriller author Douglas Preston moves to Florence to write a novel about something completely different but ends up becoming fascinated with the monster and friends with Mario Spezi.



As the police struggles to explain the unsolved case and as the possible theories become more and more impossible and unreal, Preston and Spezi get dragged further and further into the investigation until one day, they are under suspiscion.

You shouldn't read this book if you main interest is the gory details of the murder because that is not what this book is about. This is a book about the importance of the freedom of the press and about the power of false accusations. As the people of Florence become more and more scared, they also begin to suspect each other of being the monster and innocent lives are ruined by false accusations. The authors cling to the importance of the principle of innocent until proven guilty and sometimes they seem to be the only sane persons in the entire city...
The most scary part of this book is not the murders though they are gruesome, it is the fact that the police are seemingly willing to ignore all facts if they can get someone, anyone, convicted as the monster of Florence.

Read this if: you liked "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" by Kate Summerscale