Athena Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 (edited) I agree, we have a lot of similar feelings about the book. I just almost never give a bad review about a book because I like them all so much even if there are some things I didn't like. All books are great!! Not saying that you don't feel that way, but I'm just very hesitant to give a bad rating. That makes sense ! I'm usually hesistant too unless I didn't really enjoy the book at all. Usually though, I enjoy most of the books I read, so most of the books I read get good ratings because I enjoyed them (my average rating is about 8.7 out of 10 at the moment I think). Out of the books I've read so far this year, less than 10% of them got a 6 / 10 or a lower rating. Here's my rating summary for this year so far (dated 24-03-2015, see first page of this thread): My rating 1: 0 2: 0 3: 2 4: 1 5: 3 6: 2 7: 6 8: 15 9: 33 10: 32 Not Rated: 1 (Brandon Sanderson's Extra Material from his website) Average rating: 8.7 I haven't abandoned any books yet this year. Last year though I did abandon a couple but I didn't rate them because I didn't finish them (they were too terrible to do so). Last year's ratings: 1 (0 books) (0% of books read), 2 (0) (0%), 3 (3) (~1%), 4 (1) (< 1%), 5 (3) (~1%), 6 (8) (~3%), 7 (16) (~6%), 8 (50) (~20%), 9 (77) (~30%), 10 (96) (~38%); Average rating: 8.8 (so these ~5 abandoned books would have been rated 1 / 10 but aren't included in the statistics) EDIT: Wow, I'm such a geek / nerd. Edited March 26, 2015 by Athena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Good on you for borrowing so many more books than you bought. Have you seen a new comedy show called The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt? I thought of you the other day while watching it because it referenced The Baby-Sitters Club! How cool. If you haven't heard of the show, Kimmy Schmidt is a character who was kept in an underground bunker for around 15 years by a guy who told her (and others) that the world had ended. The show is about her being found and then adjusting to life again. I think the only book she had down there to read was BSC Mystery #12: Dawn and the Surfer Ghost, and she uses the plot of the book to work out something about someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 Good on you for borrowing so many more books than you bought. Thanks, Kylie ! Have you seen a new comedy show called The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt? I thought of you the other day while watching it because it referenced The Baby-Sitters Club! How cool. If you haven't heard of the show, Kimmy Schmidt is a character who was kept in an underground bunker for around 15 years by a guy who told her (and others) that the world had ended. The show is about her being found and then adjusting to life again. I think the only book she had down there to read was BSC Mystery #12: Dawn and the Surfer Ghost, and she uses the plot of the book to work out something about someone. No, I haven't heard of it, thanks for telling me this. That is so cool !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 EDIT: Wow, I'm such a geek / nerd. We're all geeks! You should be proud. I wish I had your capacity for organisation. Have you seen a new comedy show called The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt? I thought of you the other day while watching it because it referenced The Baby-Sitters Club! How cool. If you haven't heard of the show, Kimmy Schmidt is a character who was kept in an underground bunker for around 15 years by a guy who told her (and others) that the world had ended. The show is about her being found and then adjusting to life again. I think the only book she had down there to read was BSC Mystery #12: Dawn and the Surfer Ghost, and she uses the plot of the book to work out something about someone. I only heard of this very recently and haven't watched it yet, but my sister absolutely RAVES about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 We're all geeks! You should be proud. I wish I had your capacity for organisation. Thanks ! I feel honoured you say that. I do like to be organised about my books. I've been working on my post of my reading reflection of the first three months of 2015 (which I will post on I think April 1rst or March 31rst), and I do love doing these kinds of book-related number things. I only heard of this very recently and haven't watched it yet, but my sister absolutely RAVES about it. Sounds good ! I hope you enjoy it too if / when you watch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSchultz19 Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 That makes sense ! I'm usually hesistant too unless I didn't really enjoy the book at all. Usually though, I enjoy most of the books I read, so most of the books I read get good ratings because I enjoyed them (my average rating is about 8.7 out of 10 at the moment I think). Out of the books I've read so far this year, less than 10% of them got a 6 / 10 or a lower rating. Here's my rating summary for this year so far (dated 24-03-2015, see first page of this thread):My rating1: 02: 03: 24: 15: 36: 27: 68: 159: 3310: 32Not Rated: 1 (Brandon Sanderson's Extra Material from his website)Average rating: 8.7I haven't abandoned any books yet this year. Last year though I did abandon a couple but I didn't rate them because I didn't finish them (they were too terrible to do so). Last year's ratings: 1 (0 books) (0% of books read), 2 (0) (0%), 3 (3) (~1%), 4 (1) (< 1%), 5 (3) (~1%), 6 (8) (~3%), 7 (16) (~6%), 8 (50) (~20%), 9 (77) (~30%), 10 (96) (~38%); Average rating: 8.8 (so these ~5 abandoned books would have been rated 1 / 10 but aren't included in the statistics)EDIT: Wow, I'm such a geek / nerd. You are not a need! Or if you are then I am too because I think your stats are so cool and I wish I could keep track so well and do stats on the books I read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 You are not a need! Or if you are then I am too because I think your stats are so cool and I wish I could keep track so well and do stats on the books I read Thank you !! I was never organised with my books when I was a teenager, but at some point I started to keep a list of the books I owned (because I didn't want to buy double copies of things). I've been keeping more track of statistics since I found Book Collector and joined this forum, both since the beginning of 2013. I've been adding to it since then, thinking of the different things to analyse. I find it interesting, all the numbers and what they mean. I never liked the statistics we had to do for my chemistry study (very different from book statistics though), but I love doing my book and reading statistics. Yesterday a local cookbook was released. My dad is in it, along with quite a few other people from this city (they interviewed him and took photos, I met the interviewer and photographer too.). My dad received some copies of the book and he gave me one of them: Josseline de Gruijter-Bos - Heerlijk Helmond: Recepten voor Buitengewoon Tafelen, Gefotografeerd in Eigen Keuken Obviously the first thing I did was go to his pages . It's pretty cool to have a book with my dad in it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Yesterday a local cookbook was released. My dad is in it, along with quite a few other people from this city (they interviewed him and took photos, I met the interviewer and photographer too.). Very cool! You should get him to autograph it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Very cool! You should get him to autograph it. Thanks! I've been thinking about it, but I'm not sure yet . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 Anne Frank - Het Achterhuis: Dagboekbrieven 12 juni 1942 - 1 augustus 1944 Genre: Biography, Literature Age-range: Adult Format: Hardback (Library Loan) Pages: 303 + 24 pages with photos = 327 Date read: 25-03-2015 <-> 28-03-2015 ISBN: 9789044616170 Synopsis (GoodReads, for the English translation): Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annexe" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short. My thoughts: I've been meaning to read this book for a long time. I've read fragments of it for school, for Dutch literature or history classes, but I had never read the full book. Now that I'm a member of the library, I thought I'd see if the library had a copy. I presumed so since it's such a famous Dutch book. They actually had multiple copies and multiple editions. Before I was a member of the library I did try to find my own copy, but I couldn't find any that were affordable to me at the time. It took me a little bit of time to get used to the older / 'old-fashioned' Dutch language in the book. Once I was reading the book for a little while though, I didn't notice it as much anymore and I quite enjoyed reading some of these older words and expressions. It did cost me a bit of effort, compared with me reading contemporary Dutch language, but it was definitely worth it. I shold point out that reading older Dutch is much easier for me than reading older English, I think. I really liked the writing style of the book. Anne writes so heartfelt and honest about things, what is going on and how she feels and what she thinks. I found it very interesting to read about what her situation was like and how she felt and thought. I feel it would be wrong to say the book was enjoyable for me, I feel the wrod shouldn't be used in this context, because the dire situation of the war was so terrible. I did however find the book interesting and well written and I'm glad I read it (and in the original Dutch too, which is something only Dutch-speaking people can do (or Flemish)). The situation back then was so terrible and it was emotional to read about that. The book reminded me a bit of the diary of my great-grandfather, which I read and typed on the computer from its handwritings. They are of course quite different (being written by two different unrelated people), but they are both diaries of war accounts. I feel so sorry for what happened to Anne, her family and friends and all those who fell during the war and those who suffered. It was difficult sometimes, reading in this book, Anne writing certain things about the future and life after the war, and about what she wants with her life. Knowing that she died and never got to do any of these things she wanted to do, was emotionally difficult for me. I'm so glad that things are different nowadays, in most parts of the world. (There is fighting going on in some countries), and I can only hope that such terrible things as those that happened in the past, will never happen again. I can in conclusion then say, that I think a lto of people should read this book and see how terrible a war can be. Overall then I found the book very interesting to read and I'm glad I did. It was a harrowing situation and at times the book was difficult to read because of the heartfelt emotions (I think the Dutch word I would use is "aangrijpend", but I am unsure how to translate its meaning exactly into English). I am happy that in a way Anne did get to have one of her dreams, she became a famous author after she died, whose diary has been translated and published in many different languages all over the world. P.S. The title of the book is the name of the house that they hid in, and the name Anne would have wanted for her book (it's in the diary). Rating: (*****) (10/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I was just going to ask you what Het Achterhuis meant, although I could kind of tell it meant something like "attic house"? It is very eerie and... well there are no words in the experience of going to the Anne Frank "house" on Prinsengracht and then seeing pictures displayed of Jewish people, being herded down the same stretch of Prinsengracht that you can see from the window. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 I was just going to ask you what Het Achterhuis meant, although I could kind of tell it meant something like "attic house"? It is very eerie and... well there are no words in the experience of going to the Anne Frank "house" on Prinsengracht and then seeing pictures displayed of Jewish people, being herded down the same stretch of Prinsengracht that you can see from the window. It means "the back house" or "the house behind" . They called it that because it was at the back of the offices and such of the company that was there. The book is still in my head, I think it will be for some time. It was very impressive. I have seen the house from the outside, but I've never been inside as there has always been a HUGE queue and it would be way too tiring for me to queue up for that long. My pre-order arrived !! Sophie Kinsella - Shopaholic 7: Shopaholic to the Stars I think it shall be my next read! Though according to the text in the front, the story ends on a cliffhanger (which I don't like), but I really do want to read the book, so I will, but it'll be agony having to wait another.. year or a few years? before the next one is released and I find out what happens next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Great review Gaia. I can see why you'd be hesitant to describe the book as 'enjoyable', even if you did enjoy reading it! Yay for the pre-order! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 (edited) It means "the back house" or "the house behind" . They called it that because it was at the back of the offices and such of the company that was there. The book is still in my head, I think it will be for some time. It was very impressive. I have seen the house from the outside, but I've never been inside as there has always been a HUGE queue and it would be way too tiring for me to queue up for that long. I was lucky the day we went, it was during the week, in mid- late September As I remember it, there was hardly no cue and you could really take your time looking at stuff and go about on your own pace. It was sort of like the experience in The Fault in Our Stars. Edited March 28, 2015 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 Great review Gaia. I can see why you'd be hesitant to describe the book as 'enjoyable', even if you did enjoy reading it! Yay for the pre-order! Thanks ! I was lucky the day we went, it was during the week, in mid- late September As I remember it, there was hardly no cue and you could really take your time looking at stuff and go about on your own pace. It was sort of like the experience in The Fault in Our Stars. That is pretty lucky ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 That is pretty lucky ! Well, you can imagine the weather lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 Well, you can imagine the weather lol lol yeah that's true . (I'll be posting a review next). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 Stichting CPNB, Just Enschedé, Myrthe van der Meer, Ronald Snijders, Christine Otten, Arend Jan Heerma van Voss, Heleen van Royen, Inez Weski, Onno Blom, J. M. A. Biesheuvel, Marly van der Velden, Ronald Giphart and Peter de Wit - Te Gek Voor Woorden Genre: Biography, Literature Age-range: Adult Format: Paperback Pages: 64 Date read: 29-03-2015 ISBN: 9789059652811 Synopsis (me): A free gift for library members from libraries, in honour of the 80th Book Week in the Netherlands, in 2015 (Boekenweek). It contains mainly autobiographical pieces written by authors with as a theme 'too odd for words', about psychiatric disorders and other things people don't normally talk about. My thoughts: I received this book for free from the library because it was the 80th Book Week (they give out a free booklet every year during this week, specifically written for this occasion). I forgot about it for a little while but this afternoon I was cleaning my desk and found it under a stack of papers. I felt like reading it and I did so. It's not that long so I was able to finish it on the same day. The book contains first a few pages with little snippets on the authors. Then the pieces follow, and in between each piece there are one or two pages with book recommendations. Usually these recommendations contain one book written by the author of the piece that was just before it in the book, and several other books with a similar theme. The books are literary works, they are mostly Dutch books but there were also some recommendations of translated works. I recognise a few books, others are new to me. These pages are nicely written and I like that there are pictures of the covers of the books recommended, too. The pieces are mainly about psychiatric problems and I will talk about each of them briefly below. Myrthe van der Meer - Beste Humberto Tan... Interesting article on that the author lied about something on TV and that this really bothered her. It talks about two books (PAAZ and PAAZ: Up) she's written, that are autobiographical. They are about her stay at a psychiatric hospital, and about her manic-depressiveness (bipolar?) and her autism. I found it an interesting piece and I want to read her two autobiographical books. I'll have to see if the library perhaps has them, some time. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Ronald Snijders - Bericht voor Kleine Mensen A story about a police officer, a bank robbery and little people. It was two pages long and I don't really get what happened. Rating: (**) (3/10) Christine Otten - Ultieme Troost The author's father has a severe anxiety disorder (severe hypochrondria). She wrote a book about it and in this piece she talks about her father and her book. It was touching and emotional to read. Rating: (*****) (9/10) Arend Jan Heerma van Voss - Karakter This is a short article about psychiatry and its image. It was okay. Rating: (***) (5/10) Peter de Wit - Sigmund (1) A short comic with the character Sigmund. I liked it. Rating: (****) (8/10) Heleen van Royen - Tussenstand An article about a woman with bipolar disorder. She describes her psychotic episodes and the time she had to be in isolation in a psychiatric clinic. She is doing relatively well lately. Rating: (****) (8/10) Inez Weski - Schuld en Recht A piece about crime and justice and psychiatric disorders (the author is a 'strafpleiter'). It was two pages long. It was nice to read, but not much more than that. Rating: (***) (6/10) Onno Blom (with J. M. A. Biesheuvel) - Interview in een Vuilnisback Gevonden A piece about an interview of Biesheuvel (an author) by Blom ('literair publisist'), they can't find it and eventually find the papers in a bin. Then follows the actual interview, which is about Biesheuvel's psychiatric problems and his family history. It was interesting to read. Rating: (****) (8/10) Marly van der Velden - Kiezen Voor Herstel The author suffered from an eating disorder when she was a teenager. This piece talks a little bit about it, her life back then and her life now. It was interesting to read. Rating: (****) (8/10) Peter de Wit - Sigmund (2) Another Sigmund comic. Rating: (****) (8/10) Ronald Giphart - Liefdesgekte An article about how love can drive people crazy, it mainly discusses an old Icelandic saga. It was interesting to read. Rating: (****) (8/10) Book Recommendations Pages It might be weird to rate these, but since they are a part of the book, I felt it would be odd not to. I enjoyed reading them. Rating: (****) (8/10) Overall then I quite enjoyed most of the pieces in this free booklet. Overall rating: (****) (8/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Wow, that cover is enough to give anyone psychiatric problems! Or at least make them go cross-eyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 (edited) Wow, that cover is enough to give anyone psychiatric problems! Or at least make them go cross-eyed. Haha yeah ! (P.S. A review will be posted next and probably tomorrow I'll post my summary of the first three months of reading in 2015.) Edited March 31, 2015 by Athena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 Sophie Kinsella - Shopaholic 7: Shopaholic to the Stars Genre: Chick-lit Age-range: Adult Format: Paperback Pages: 507 Date read: 28-03-2015 <-> 30-03-2015 ISBN: 9780552778534 Synopsis: (no synopsis because the book is part of a series) My thoughts: I've read and loved the first six books in this series, as well as other books by the author. So I pre-ordered the seventh book in medium paperback format and when it arrived a few days ago, I made it my next read. This book starts off with a note that the story won't end here. This straight away annoyed me as I didn't know about this when I bought it and I really don't like cliffhangers. However I had so been looking forward to reading the book, I didn't want to change my plan and not read it until I also own the next book. So I read it anyway. I enjoyed the book but not as much as the previous ones in the series. The story jumped around a bit in places and it was a bit chaotic. Some bits seem to go on a bit too long and others too short. I really liked most of the characters, though I found that while Becky's character developes throughout each of the books in the series, she always seems to fall back in the beginning of the next book. This annoyed me a little bit in the beginning. There are some funny moments in the book and this was nice. I also really liked some of the side characters. The story had some good plot twists that I didn't see coming. However I was a bit annoyed that the story didn't end. It does have a conclusion as to one storyline, but not in another and I really want to know what happens next with that. A few things were a little bit predictable, but other things I didn't see coming, a couple of twists in particular and these were really good. I liked the writing style of the book. There were a few words and references I didn't know, but it wasn't a big problem for the story. Well, when you read all this it makes it seem as if I didn't enjoy the book, but that isn't true! I read about ~40 pages in it on Saturday evening, up to page ~200 on Sunday and today (Monday) I read the rest of the book (507 pages). It took me a bit of time to get into it in the beginning, because I was upset at the cliffhanger thing so I looked for a lot of faults in the book (I don't know if this makes sense to anyone) so I wouldn't feel too much agony that it doesn't fully end. But once I got more into the book, on Sunday and today, Monday, I found I was really enjoying it and I finished it pretty quickly. Overall then I enjoyed the book, just not as much as I did the previous books. It is nice though that the author is creating a storyline that spans multiple books, I guess I would've just preferred to have known about it earlier, so I would've been more prepared. I find it difficult to deal with cliffhangers and usually wait until I have for example, all three books in a trilogy before I read them (and then I read all three not too far apart in time.). I did enjoy the book though and if you enjoyed the previous six books, I think you will enjoy this one too (though I don't know if you'll enjoy it as much as the other ones, or not). Rating: (****) (8/10) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Good review, I am glad it pulled you in at the end! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Good review, I am glad it pulled you in at the end! Thanks, me too ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I read Anne Frank's diary a couple of years ago and was similarly moved. It must be great to read it in the original language though! I would love to go to the house as well but I have heard about the queues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 I read Anne Frank's diary a couple of years ago and was similarly moved. It must be great to read it in the original language though! I would love to go to the house as well but I have heard about the queues. I'm glad you "liked" the book as well. It was! Yeah, every time I've been in Amsterdam so far there were huge queues, so every time I decided not to go in there (in fact, I'm pretty sure I have some older photos of the queue at the time ). Maybe there are lesser queues in winter times or such. It would be great to see the house (well, the inside at least, you can see the outside without standing in the queue). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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