Jassanja

❢ Books may fulfill various resolutions/challenges at once

• 5 Special Events in 2013 [book reading options are all ideas/inspirations of either/or]

1. Eiger-Nordwand – was first successfully climbed 75 years ago [read a book that: is set Eiger, or a surrounding mountain // deals with climbing ]
➡ Book:

2. The Comet C/2012 S1 will be (very brightly) visible from mid-November until the end of the year [read a book that: deals with comets or the star system]
➡ Book:

3. The London Tube became the first underground railway 150 years ago [read a book about the tube or railways // read a book where the London tube plays an important plot point]
➡ Book:

4. Jaeger-LeCoultre celebrates it’s 180th anniversary.[read a book about watches, the Swiss Watch industry// that features some kind of manipulation of time// about the canton of Jura]
➡ Book:

5. The movie "Die Hard" celebrates its 25th birthday [read a book that deals with terrorists/terrorism // features a prominent character named "John" or "McClane" // was made into a movie starring Bruce Willis]
➡ Book:


• 4 Recurring Events in 2013

1. The Oscar Nominees will be announced on 10 January 2013 [read a book that’s in some way connected to the nominated movies, actors or directors]
➡ Book: Life of Pi

2. Goodreads Choice Awards 2012 [read 3 books that were nominated or won]
1:
2:
3:

3. International Mother Language Day (February 21) [read 3 books that deal with endangered languages // are written in Swiss German // read a book in a language other than German or English]
1:
2:
3:

4. The European Song Contest - will be held in Malmö, Sweden this year [read 3 books that deal with the ESC or another music contest // that take place in Sweden // are written by a Swedish Author]
1.
2.
3.

• Read 10 books published in 2013
1. Blood Red Butterfly
2.
3.
[…]

• Big is Beautiful: Read 5 "big" books (more than 700 pages)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

• Serial: Read at least three books from three series (or complete trilogies)

Series 1: Provinzkrimis
1. Book: Winterkartoffelknödel
2. Book: Dampfnudelblues
3. Book: Schweinskopf al dente

Series 2 :
1. Book
2. Book
3. Book

Series 3 :
1. Book
2. Book
3. Book

• Back in the Day: 5 books of Historical (non)fiction
1. Snowball in Hell (WW II)
2.
3.
4.
5.

• Classic Material: Read 5 “classics”
1. Life of Pi
2.
3.
4.
5.

• ...and your name was?: A-Z character challenge ( first or last names of main and side characters, fictuous and real - but only one character per book!)
A -
B -
C -
D -
E -
F -
G -
H -
I - Ignaz-Flynn Flötzinger - Winterkartoffelknödel
J -
K -
L -
M -
N -
O -
P -
Q -
R - Richard Parker - Life of Pi
S -
T -
U -
V -
W -
X -
Y -
Z -

• Too true to be fiction Read 20 non fiction books
1. Olympia der Reiter - London 2012
2. Bewusstsein für faires Reiten
3. Inside the Giant Machine
4.
5.
6.
7.
[...]

• Out of the Box: Read 5 books from a genre I usually shy away from (chick-lit, sci-fi, traditional whodunit mysteries, etc.)
1. Die Haarteppichknüpfer(sci-fi)
2. Winterkartoffelknödel (Cozy Crime)
3.
4.
5.

• A long time coming Read at least 20 books that are on my "to read" shelf or e-reader for over a year (books added until 31 December 2011)
1. Mortal Fear (added April 2011) (not finished)
2. Deadly Nightshade (added Mai 2011) (not finished)
3. Die Haarteppichknüpfer (added February 2011)
4.
5.
6.
7.
[...]

So, is anybody else surprised that J.K. Rowling is indeed publishing another book?

After all, she didn't seem too much into writing once she was happily married off to her second husband and had more children. (Remember the "doing dishes is more important than writing the fifth Harry Potter book" quote? Nevermind that by then she already had more than enough money to buy a dishwasher)

Well, in that documentary they made about the release of DH, she mentioned writing a book for children even younger than the HP crowd, so the big surprise should be that her new book is actually for adults.

I think this could go either way.
On one hand there is the lackluster way of the last three Potter books, on the other there is the hope that without the pressure of having to finish something so big as HP, she might have produced an enjoyable book again, that didn't go to the presses as soon as the last word was typed down...

Guess we have to wait and read

Anyone with a Goodreads Account that hasn't gotten the info yet:

All Metadata that comes from Amazon will be pulled on Monday, so be prepared for having ratings and reviews on your shelves that show no book title, author name, cover image or description. (and the more non-US books/editions you have shelved, the bigger the problem)

You may want to export a lost of all your books before then: http://www.goodreads.com/review/import

Corinne Hoffmann hat ein neues Buch geschrieben

... über ihre letzte Reise nach Kenia.

Diese kuh wird jetzt seit 15 Jahren gemolken, und kein Ende ist in Sicht, schliesslich gibt es da ja auch noch eine Tocher, die wohl irgendwann ihren Vater wiedertreffen wird. Begleitet von Kamerateams und ihrer Mutter die ein Buch darüber schreiben wird!

Quote:

I really wanted to read the Stieg Larsson books, but after 70 pages I realized that they only take place in Sweden. Why would I read books about Sweden?

So I got myself a Goodreads account
and spent 2 hours adding my 2011 books

so only 5 years and about 800 books of backlog to go ....

So damn much Money (Robert. G. Kaiser) - (audio) stopped after 2 hours 19 minutes - 1/10
Test of Faith (Voinov/Gray) - 78 pages - 7/10
Die Magier von Montparnasse (Oliver Plaschka) - 427 pages - 4/10
John Rain Series - Book 01 - Rain Fall (Barry Eisler) - (audio) 9 hours 26 minutes - 5/10
John Rain Series - Book 02 - Hard Rain (Barry Eisler) - (audio) 11 hours - 5/10
John Rain Series - Book 03 - Rain Storm (Barry Eisler) - (audio) 10 hours 26 minutes - 6/10

2011:
Books: 063
Cover to back: 054
Not read to end: 9
Non fiction: 023
Audio Books: 21
Rereads: 2
Pages: 9 836 pages
Audio time: 135 hours 40 minutes

The Coke Machine (Michael Blanding) - (audio) 19 hours 27 minutes - 5/10
Artemis Fowl - Book 07 - The Atlantis Complex (Eoin Colfer) - (audio) 7 hours 38 minutes - 4/10
The Song of the Lioness - Book 01 - Alanna: The First Adventure (Tamora Pierce) - (audio) stopped after 2 hours 38 minutes - 3/10
Bitter is the new Black (Jen Lancaste) - (audio) stopped after 1 hour 21 minutes - 1/10
The Greek Seaman (Jaqueline Howett) - stopped after 37 pages - 1/10

2011:
Books: 540
Cover to back: 046
Not read to end: 8
Non fiction: 019
Audio Books: 16
Rereads: 2
Pages: 8 611 pages
Audio time: 90 hours 56 minutes

The Hunger Games - Book 1 - The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) - 414 pages

Send children into an arena to kill each other for a TV reality show - and to demonstrate political power.
I have no real words for this, just .. it's one hell of a page-turner

10/10


The Hunger Games - Book 2 - Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins) - 431 pages

I admit the book starts out slow as the whole political stuff isn't really the strong suit of the series. But once it becomes clear that there will be a return into the arena the stories picks up and the book becomes a page turner again.

10/10


The Hunger Games - Book 3 - Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins) - 430 pages

As already said, the political parts are the weak point of the series, and unfortunately the final book is all about the politics. Aside from that the story falls short in a couple of other things as well.

I'm also pretty tired of books where the - usually female - main character falls unconscious just before the big show down, and wakes up to have someone else explain to them how the world got saved off page.

And then the final four or so chapters ... they were really bad because a) the resolution of the love triangle was handled with a very bad deus-ex-machina solution, and b) the characters developed in an illogical way that made them unrecognisable.

7/10


You know when the men are gone (Siobhan Fallon) - (audio) 5 hours 51 minutes

At first it looks like a original view of the life in the military, but as the book progresses, I just failed to feel for those wives waiting for their men to return. What did they expect when they got married to a soldier?

Another annoying part was, that the deployed "heroes" were always male, and the waiting spouse who holds their life at pause to worry and raise the children are always women.

The only female soldier mentioned in the book is an evil, blonde, home-wrecking bitch who may or may not had an affair with a husband, while his good wife was waiting at home, baking cookies and handing out yellow ribbons.

4/10

2011:
Books: 045
Cover to back: 040
Not read to end: 5
Non fiction: 016
Audio Books: 12
Rereads: 0
Pages: 7 836 pages
Audio time: 59 hours 52 minutes

Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen) - 350 pages

A wonderful and moving tale of the travelling circuses of the past.
And the author really managed to give the story a surprising and really moving end.

(Let's just hope that the movie does not damage the experience of this too much - but than, can everything good ever come from a movie that has Robert Pattinson in a leading role?)

10/10


Divorced from the Mob (Andrea Giovino) - (audio) 9 hours 36 minutes

A few interesting moments, but in I expected more from it

4/10


Gut gegen Nordwind (Daniel Glattauer) - 224 pages

I guess I read just too many books about people falling in lover over Email over the years. (Those books were quite the fashion in the late 90s after all)
This one was only special in annoying ways: the avoiding of meetings, the match-making with a friend, and the totally disappointing end

3/10

2011:
Books: 037
Cover to back: 032
Not read to end: 5
Non fiction: 015
Audio Books: 10
Rereads: 0
Pages: 5 948 pages
Audio time: 43 hours 00 minutes