Currently reading
Dick Francis's Bloodline
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)
De Beproeving
The Walking Dead, Book One
The Rose of Fire
You can read my review on: http://dekleineboekendief.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-rose-of-fire-english.html
Het geheim van Penumbra's boekwinkel
Je kan mijn review lezen op: http://dekleineboekendief.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-het-geheim-van-penumbras.html
De oversteek
Je kan mijn review lezen op: http://dekleineboekendief.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-de-oversteek.html
Norwegian Wood
bekijk mijn review op: http://dekleineboekendief.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-norwegian-wood.html
Gelukkige slaven
bekijk mijn review op: http://dekleineboekendief.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-gelukkige-slaven.html
7 dagen, 7 nachten
mijn review is te lezen via: http://dekleineboekendief.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-7-dagen-7-nachten.html
Stormnacht (Een zaak uit de Dresden Dossiers, #1)
Bekijk mijn review op: http://dekleineboekendief.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-stormnacht.html
The Magicians
This book by Lev Grossman centers Quentin Coldwater who is going to apply for Princeton and has an interview together with his best friend James. When they arrive at the place of the interview, they find the man dead. An ambulance employee hands him a mysterious letter and before he knows it, he is in an entirely different world: Brakebills, where he apparently is going to do an exam to get it. It is a secret university where they teach magic. Here he learn everything about magic, but also love, alcohol and all other things normal people of his age do.After 4 years, they graduate and go back to the “normal” world. They live in New York and do nothing but partying, using drugs and alcohol. One day they get the chance to go to Fillory, a magical world from books that Quentin and his friends read as children. In Fillory they have to get a crown to help the people of Fillory. During this adventure, where he gets hurt badly and he loses some friends, he learns that he had to be happy with what he had.
This is a book about magic and has a nice story and a good pace. But it is hard to identify with the main characters. And also so many things happen in one book, with a lot of different characters, that it is sometimes hard to follow. It is divided into different parts, with each part being a different period in the life of Quentin.
It is a nice book if you like fantasy, but I think it would be nicer it there was not so much going on in one book.
This review is published on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/index.html
De Magiërs
This book by Lev Grossman centers Quentin Coldwater who is going to apply for Princeton and has an interview together with his best friend James. When they arrive at the place of the interview, they find the man dead. An ambulance employee hands him a mysterious letter and before he knows it, he is in an entirely different world: Brakebills, where he apparently is going to do an exam to get it. It is a secret university where they teach magic. Here he learn everything about magic, but also love, alcohol and all other things normal people of his age do.After 4 years, they graduate and go back to the “normal” world. They live in New York and do nothing but partying, using drugs and alcohol. One day they get the chance to go to Fillory, a magical world from books that Quentin and his friends read as children. In Fillory they have to get a crown to help the people of Fillory. During this adventure, where he gets hurt badly and he loses some friends, he learns that he had to be happy with what he had.
This is a book about magic and has a nice story and a good pace. But it is hard to identify with the main characters. And also so many things happen in one book, with a lot of different characters, that it is sometimes hard to follow. It is divided into different parts, with each part being a different period in the life of Quentin.
It is a nice book if you like fantasy, but I think it would be nicer it there was not so much going on in one book.
This review was published on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/1/post/2013/03/the-magicians-lev-grossman.html
De weg
This novel by Cormac McCarthy is also a movie made by John Hillcoat in 2009 with Viggo Mortensen.It is an apocalyptic novel about a man and his son that try to survive in a cold world with almost no food, shelter, and in constant fear. They want to go south before they freeze to death and start walking with all their belonging in a trolley.
At one point, they have no food left, but discover an underground bunker filled with food. The relief and joy they feel is enormous and shows gratitude for something that we find normal. When they are eating the food, the boy is wondering if this is stealing or not and he thanks the people of the house/bunker for the food. They cannot stay long because they can be found by other people, “Bad People” who survive because of the death of other people. So they stack up as much as possible in their trolley and go back on the road. This scene for me reflects the setting of the book. The search for food and shelter together with the fear to come across people with bad intentions.
It is also a book of trust, family, believe. The father wants to protect his son from all the terrible things and wants to nourish him, give him food and water. And when he is not able to give this, he feels guilty.
This is the first book I read written by Cormac McCarthy, and probably not the last. I read the book in Dutch, so I think some of the original English writing style will be lost. In the beginning I didn’t know what to expect from it, but as the story evolved, I couldn’t stop reading. It is such a specific writing style and setting that it is a book that you love or hate, there is nothing in between. You share a lot of different feelings throughout the book: fear, joy, sorrow, … . It is a rollercoaster of emotions, but you don’t know where it is going.
It is a very good book that gives you insight in the different paths that are possible in time of need. You can choose to survive the “good” way by never giving up, have hope and stay human. Or the “bad” way and leave humanity, take advantage and live from the dead of other people.
In the end, the light will survive the evil.
This review is published on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/index.html
Waarheen je ook vlucht
This is the debut of Elizabeth Haynes, which is a big surprise. It caught me from the beginning and I couldn’t stop reading. The story is about Catherine in the present and Catherine (or Cathy) 4 years later. The story switches between the two time periods. In the past, Catherina was a young single woman who loved to go out with her friends and have fun. Then she meets Lee and they start a casual and very sexual relationship. The relationship changes over time and Lee starts to get more obsessive, controlling, violent, and isolates her from her friends.
Cathy in the present is moved to another city and you see the effect of the abuse: she has OCD and PTSD that make her for example control the doors and windows over and over again, hang the curtains a certain way, do groceries on certain days, etc. Then Stuart, a young psychologist, moves into the apartment above her. With his help she starts to work on her recovery.
Towards the end of the book, the story stays in the present as Lee is released from prison. And then you are wondering what is going to happen, is Lee going to find her or not.
Step by step you learn the horrifying details about the abuse and start to understand the base of Cathy’s OCD and PTSD. You see Catherine evolve during the relationship when Lee starts to change from a charming man to someone manipulative and violent.
This book gives some insight in the reason why it is so hard for women in an abusive relationship to get out.
It is one of the most life like books I read in a very long time. It is well written, with a lot of detail and I love the switches in time. The pieces per time period are not long, which makes it easy to follow.
A very good book that makes me want to read more books written by Elizabeth Haynes.
This review was originally posted on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/
Op klaarlichte dag
The two main characters in this book are Nathalie and Julia. Julia is a young police detective who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by her grandmother.Nathalia is a woman on the run with a baby from her abusive boyfriend after she hit him with a lamp and left him for dead.
She tries everything to stay ahead of him, after she knows he survived, during a chase in different countries. When looking for his girlfriend, he shoots her best friend and her husband. Julia is one of the detectives that have to investigate the murder.
During an accidental meeting between Julia and Nathalie, Julia decides to help her without knowing who she really is.
The plot is not what you would expect and ingeniously written.
It is a complex story but there is still enough attention for the feelings and thoughts of the different characters. One minor point of criticism is het chase during different countries, which is a little bit unbelievable.
This review was originally posted on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/
Dinsdagland - Schetsen van België
This book by Dimitri Verhulst (a Belgian writer) hasn’t been translated to English yet, which is a pity because this book reflects little things of Belgium. In each of the chapters, he tells something about 1 particular thing typical for Belgium but what is not normally associated with of known about Belgium. Some things he addresses are cycling and Eddy Merckx, pigeons, trains, Spa, …Some parts are so recognizable which makes it funny to read. Particular things are also tragic if you think about it, similar to a previous book of him ‘The Misfortunates’. It is written in a style that is so typical Verhulst: long sentences with a lot of words. For this reason you have to read some sentences a few times before you understand them.
This is a very good book by Dimitri Verhulst, written in his typical style. It feel sorry that it hasn’t been translated into English, but even if it would be translated, I think a lot of the typical writing style will be lost then.
This review was originally posted on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/index.html
Nemesis / druk 2
The book starts with a bank robbery where the robber holds a gun to the head of a female employee. When the bank manager gives the money 2 minutes to late, the woman is shot. The robber escapes with the money. Harry Hole is one of the police detectives that have to investigate the robbery and murder. His new partner, Beate Lonn, has the talent to remember every face she has ever seen.During the investigation, he gets back into contact with his ex-girlfriend Anna and they have drinks together. The next morning, Harry doesn’t remember a thing of the night before. Then he finds out Anna was killed, apparently committed suicide. He was the last person to see her alive and he has no idea if he killed her or not. Together with the apparent suicide, he receives emails from someone who knows that he was with Anna that night.
Harry has to find the killer of Anna to prove his innocence and solve the robberies.
It was a well written book, with a lot of descriptions, details and facts and sometimes I got lost. The first part of the book was maybe a little bit too long and it started to get a nice pace towards the end of the book.
It contained a lot of characters and names with all their thoughts and feelings that were described in detail sometimes.
Over all, a nice book, well written, only about 100 pages too long.
This review was originally posted on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/index.html
Suikerspin
This book by the Belgian writer Erik Vlaminck has no English translation yet.Suikerspin tells the story of 3 generations of a family that live and work on fairs. The main story is about Siamese twins, Joséphine and Anastasia who were used as an exhibition, freaks of nature, on different fairs by Jean-Baptist van Hooylandt. He is the grandfather of Arthur, who still works at fairs with a carousel. He was robbed and lost every attribute on his carousel but that doesn’t stop him from keeping it going in an empty building, all alone. He then pretends there are children on it, he collects the tickets, plays music, … . One day a writer wants to talk to him about his grandfather and his contribution to the dead of the Siamese twins.
This book gives a nice view into the world of fairs in Belgium over the years and generations. Throughout the book you learn how Joséphine and Anastasia were treated and what really happened to them. The switches between the different generations were very nice, only the part of Arthur was sometimes to negative, depressive, and repetitive.
I read this book because someone recommended it to me and I was surprised about it. It is written in a very nice style and with a good pace and it reads very easy. You want to know what really happened to the twins, and the end is very surprising.
This review was published on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/
Rode schoenen
This book is the sequel of Chocolat, the novel that was used for a movie with Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche. Each chapter in the book is told from a different perspective: Zozie, Vianne or Anouk. It starts with Zozie who ‘borrows’ identities from other people, and uses special symbols and tricks to get what she wants. She decides to help Vianne to put up a ‘chocolaterie’ in Montmartre, Paris. While doing that, she uses Anouk to get deeper and deeper into their lives. Anouk is growing up, tries to fit in, has troubles with knowing what she is, what her “powers” are. She is pulling away from her mother Vianne and gets closer to Zozie, who is flamboyant and more interesting she thinks.
Vianne meets a nice man who can give her certainty, financially, but she doesn’t love him like she loved Roux. And he doesn’t care about her other daughter Rosette who is a little bit special. When Roux is coming back, everything changes and decisions have to be made.
Because you read from different perspectives, you soon learn the true intentions of Zozie and you see how she tries to get what she wants. You also see the effect of her actions on Anouk and Vianne. You keep reading because you want to know what will happen and if she will succeed.
The first part of the book reads slowly and it is hard to keep reading. As more things happen, it is the other opposite; it is hard to stop reading.
I did not read chocolat, only saw the movie, so I cannot say anything about the evolution of the characters. But as a standalone book, it is a very nice book to read, about magic, dreams, hope, and desire.
This review was published on my website: http://booksforthoughts.weebly.com/