Books I've finished since last time I mentioned reading:
Brent Weeks - Beyond the Shadows
Brent Weeks - Shadow's Edge
Rick Riordan - The Lightning Thief
Rodman Philbrick - Freak the Mighty
Deborah Ellis - The Heaven Shop
Erik van Lustbader - The Miko
Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Ill-made Mute
Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Lady of the Sorrows
I've done quite a bit of reading, which brings my total for this year to 41 books (goal was to read at least 30).
While on the topic of reading, I'd like to mention one of my new favourite websites: Shelfari (http://www.shelfari.com/ and my profile: http://www.shelfari.com/misssavara ).
Shelfari is a place to keep an online version of your 'shelf' (hence "Shelf-ari" (haha, Safari for books!)). You can make friends you actually know, or friends that have a similar taste in reading as you do. It's a wonderful place to review books, discover new authors and just show off how much you read ;)
The books of this list that have made the best impression/were the most interesting are: Freak the Mighty & The Heaven Shop.
'Freak the Mighty' is a book I picked up in a second-hand store for a mere 10 Rand (about a Euro). It's tiny book with a quirky story. It's about two 'special' boys. Freak is huge, but not very smart... The other boy is very smart, but tiny (and has lots of problems with his body). Once they make friends they're always together and live through wonderful adventures (that Freak never really understands, but enjoys all the same). Eventually the smaller boy dies, and it's all very emotional.
It's a powerful story in an unlikely package. I really enjoyed it.
'The Heaven Shop' is a Southern African story (not South African, I think it's set in one of the other countries here). It's about Binti, a girl who plays on a radio soap in her native language. After her father dies (presumably of aids) she gets schlept around the country to ungrateful family and eventually to some other family member. It's about how HIV/aids affects a community and how people deal with the misconceptions surrounding the disease. Once again a powerful tale. It's fiction, but it could just as easily have been based on a true story.
I actually got 'The Heaven Shop' to read for my lesson series on South(ern) African literature.
Posts tonen met het label books. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label books. Alle posts tonen
zondag 24 oktober 2010
zondag 19 september 2010
Yom Kippur and another week gone by
12 weeks left, time is starting to move faster for me now!
Saturday was Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and praying for forgiveness for the Jewish people. As I'm not Jewish myself I fasted for only part of the day (Friday night until around 11 on Saturday) but I did stay away from coffee and I didn't eat as much as I normally would during the day. My aunt and uncle went to the synagogue, I decided to have a little reading marathon myself. Books I've finished since last updating my booklist:
- The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
- The Way of Shadows (Brent Weeks)
- Specials (Scott Westerfeld)
And a compilation of 3 short 'war stories for girls' (didn't have anything to read and my cousin had this book).
The Book Thief was amazing, and I can certainly recommend this to anyone. In fact, I'm hoping they'll make a movie out of it, because I'd love to see it.
I'm now reading the second book in the Night Angel trilogy (Brent Weeks) and "The Lightning Thief" (I have to confess I have this exciting affair with young adult novels - easy to read, lots of adventure... I love it!).
On Saturday night we visited my uncle's parents to break the fast. We had a wonderful meal of fried fish, different salads (pasta, rice, cabbage) and cakes, kichel (sweet crackers they usually eat with fish - I like them plain) and lemon meringue etc. etc. Very nice!
Oh and have some pictures of our Sukkah! The festival of Sukkot (plural of Sukkah) is coming up, it's a time when the Jewish people remember the time they spent in the desert before being allowed to enter the lands of Israel. You eat in the Sukkah (a hut with palm leafs - you have to be able to see the stars through the roof, but it also has to provide shade) and invite people over for meals... It lasts a week!
My aunt painted the scene
Completed:
On Thursday I had the best experience I've had so far. I went with my aunt to collect some money at a client and we chatted to this lady for about 5 minutes. After a short while my aunt decided to introduce me, saying "Oh, this is my niece from Holland!" and you know what the lady said?
"Oh really? Your English is amazing! I didn't hear any accent!" (I know that 'no accent' doesn't exist, but still!). I've heard all sorts of things "You're German aren't you?" (At Japari) and even "Are you Scottish?" (well... no!) but this is the first time that I've heard the 'no accent' comment so I'm insanely happy with that!
That said... I think that while I'm finally starting to get the hang of this bat/bet problem and my th's are starting to feel more natural to me... I still have a long way to go. The 'oo' in 'book' is still hard to get right...
When we're on language related things, could you explain "He had his daughter kidnapped." in two ways? I said this, meaning that 'He' had it happen to him (someone else kidnapped his daughter) my aunt keeps telling me I can't say it like that, because it would mean (and could ONLY mean) that he arranged to have his daughter kidnapped, himself. In my opinion this sentence isn't different from "He had his car stolen" (i.e. it happened to him) but... well, just double checking. I'd say in the kidnapping one it's pretty ambiguous who arranged what, if anything.
Back to South African life...
Summer is still a while away, but the weather has been improving. Yesterday I took a dive and did 21 lengths in our pool. The water is still a bit chilly, but once you're in it it's wonderful! I just need to swim more often, because after 21 lengths I had some trouble lifting myself out of the water at the deep end! Haha... Well, at least it's something that's nicer here than in the Netherlands. Maybe I'll swim again today, I think I should. The South African lifestyle is kind of lazy, because you have to drive everywhere... I need the swimming!
And finally... We managed to get our internet connection sorted out! I'm online using my own laptop (Sephiroth) at the moment and it's such a wonderful feeling to know that whenever I need it, or just want it, the internet is there for me. Even at a max of 376 kb/s. (But hey, we have a pool in our garden! Bet you you can't say that! Even with your super fast internet!) So while I'm waiting for my downloads to finish (at about 10-20 kb/s) I'll just have a cup of rooibos and take a swim.
Saturday was Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and praying for forgiveness for the Jewish people. As I'm not Jewish myself I fasted for only part of the day (Friday night until around 11 on Saturday) but I did stay away from coffee and I didn't eat as much as I normally would during the day. My aunt and uncle went to the synagogue, I decided to have a little reading marathon myself. Books I've finished since last updating my booklist:
- The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
- The Way of Shadows (Brent Weeks)
- Specials (Scott Westerfeld)
And a compilation of 3 short 'war stories for girls' (didn't have anything to read and my cousin had this book).
The Book Thief was amazing, and I can certainly recommend this to anyone. In fact, I'm hoping they'll make a movie out of it, because I'd love to see it.
I'm now reading the second book in the Night Angel trilogy (Brent Weeks) and "The Lightning Thief" (I have to confess I have this exciting affair with young adult novels - easy to read, lots of adventure... I love it!).
On Saturday night we visited my uncle's parents to break the fast. We had a wonderful meal of fried fish, different salads (pasta, rice, cabbage) and cakes, kichel (sweet crackers they usually eat with fish - I like them plain) and lemon meringue etc. etc. Very nice!
Oh and have some pictures of our Sukkah! The festival of Sukkot (plural of Sukkah) is coming up, it's a time when the Jewish people remember the time they spent in the desert before being allowed to enter the lands of Israel. You eat in the Sukkah (a hut with palm leafs - you have to be able to see the stars through the roof, but it also has to provide shade) and invite people over for meals... It lasts a week!
My aunt painted the scene
Completed:
On Thursday I had the best experience I've had so far. I went with my aunt to collect some money at a client and we chatted to this lady for about 5 minutes. After a short while my aunt decided to introduce me, saying "Oh, this is my niece from Holland!" and you know what the lady said?
"Oh really? Your English is amazing! I didn't hear any accent!" (I know that 'no accent' doesn't exist, but still!). I've heard all sorts of things "You're German aren't you?" (At Japari) and even "Are you Scottish?" (well... no!) but this is the first time that I've heard the 'no accent' comment so I'm insanely happy with that!
That said... I think that while I'm finally starting to get the hang of this bat/bet problem and my th's are starting to feel more natural to me... I still have a long way to go. The 'oo' in 'book' is still hard to get right...
When we're on language related things, could you explain "He had his daughter kidnapped." in two ways? I said this, meaning that 'He' had it happen to him (someone else kidnapped his daughter) my aunt keeps telling me I can't say it like that, because it would mean (and could ONLY mean) that he arranged to have his daughter kidnapped, himself. In my opinion this sentence isn't different from "He had his car stolen" (i.e. it happened to him) but... well, just double checking. I'd say in the kidnapping one it's pretty ambiguous who arranged what, if anything.
Back to South African life...
Summer is still a while away, but the weather has been improving. Yesterday I took a dive and did 21 lengths in our pool. The water is still a bit chilly, but once you're in it it's wonderful! I just need to swim more often, because after 21 lengths I had some trouble lifting myself out of the water at the deep end! Haha... Well, at least it's something that's nicer here than in the Netherlands. Maybe I'll swim again today, I think I should. The South African lifestyle is kind of lazy, because you have to drive everywhere... I need the swimming!
And finally... We managed to get our internet connection sorted out! I'm online using my own laptop (Sephiroth) at the moment and it's such a wonderful feeling to know that whenever I need it, or just want it, the internet is there for me. Even at a max of 376 kb/s. (But hey, we have a pool in our garden! Bet you you can't say that! Even with your super fast internet!) So while I'm waiting for my downloads to finish (at about 10-20 kb/s) I'll just have a cup of rooibos and take a swim.
woensdag 28 juli 2010
Book list and reading
I just finished reading 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier. I liked it better than either Sense and Sensibility or Wuthering Heights - so that's good news! In case anyone (read: My SLBer) is interested, my book list of everything I've read in 2010 is located over here.
I usually write a short review (sometimes long, sometimes just a few sentences) about any books I finish, and I figured I might post those here, too.
Rebecca
So, yes ... Rebecca. This novel was recommended to me by a few people over at a forum for a certain fantasy series. I made a topic about exploring other (sub-)genres and several members said they liked 'Rebecca', so I decided to give it a try.
One of the first things that I noticed was that du Maurier tends to overuse the word 'rhododendron'. (It's one of my favourite words, I mean... just look at it, it's almost perfect. Aesthetically pleasing and it sounds good, too. Overexposure can make you immune to the loveliness of some things, so this is definitely not a good thing.) I really liked the imaginary she uses throughout the book. The writing style is not as dry as some other classics tend to be, and after a few chapters it was quite a relaxing read.
One of my favourite quotes:
Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.
Favell must be my favourite character. He's annoying and rather strange, the way he's obsessed with Rebecca (I suppose every character was just that, obsessed - in their own way.). It all makes him a rather interesting character, although not very likeable. Beatrice was also a good character.
I gave 'Rebecca' 3 out of 5 stars on Shelfari, but in reality it deserves at least 3 1/2. It's not really 'my genre' so that's why I didn't rate it higher than that... But on a second read-through I might enjoy it even more. Maybe in a few years...
I usually write a short review (sometimes long, sometimes just a few sentences) about any books I finish, and I figured I might post those here, too.
Rebecca
So, yes ... Rebecca. This novel was recommended to me by a few people over at a forum for a certain fantasy series. I made a topic about exploring other (sub-)genres and several members said they liked 'Rebecca', so I decided to give it a try.
One of the first things that I noticed was that du Maurier tends to overuse the word 'rhododendron'. (It's one of my favourite words, I mean... just look at it, it's almost perfect. Aesthetically pleasing and it sounds good, too. Overexposure can make you immune to the loveliness of some things, so this is definitely not a good thing.) I really liked the imaginary she uses throughout the book. The writing style is not as dry as some other classics tend to be, and after a few chapters it was quite a relaxing read.
One of my favourite quotes:
Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.
Favell must be my favourite character. He's annoying and rather strange, the way he's obsessed with Rebecca (I suppose every character was just that, obsessed - in their own way.). It all makes him a rather interesting character, although not very likeable. Beatrice was also a good character.
I gave 'Rebecca' 3 out of 5 stars on Shelfari, but in reality it deserves at least 3 1/2. It's not really 'my genre' so that's why I didn't rate it higher than that... But on a second read-through I might enjoy it even more. Maybe in a few years...
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