Favorites of 2015

On Goodreads I set myself the challenge to read 45 books in 2015 and I ended up reading 68 books, which I'm super happy with! Today I'm sharing my favorite 10 books I read throughout the year.

1. Saga Comics by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
I read the first volume of Saga and I was immediately hooked! This sci-fi series has beautiful artwork, great characters and really made me want to read more comics! I read the next three volumes and love them all just as much as the first one, or maybe even more. I can't wait to read volume five!

2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
I already loved the world Tolkien created in The Hobbit, but in the Fellowship of the Ring the world is so much more fleshed out. It truely feels like it is a real place and I can really imagine things happening before and after the story that is described in this book. I think Tolkien's world is truely fascinating!

3. The Lily Pond by Annika Thor
This historical middle grade book was a reread from when I was younger. I usually don't read a lot of books about the second world war because I have a hard time connecting to the story, but Thor manages to describe life during that time very well, while still making the main character relatable.

4. Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
In 2014 I read The Arrival by Shaun Tan and immediately fell in love with his artwork. Though it is still my favorite book of him, Tales from Outer Suburbia again shows how creative Tan is. The stories are all very inventive and the artwork is amazing.

5. Wild Magic by Cat Weatherill
I don't generally read a lot of fairy tale retellings, but this was one I absolutely loved! The story revolves around the legend of the Pied Piper. Eventhough there are a familiar elements to the story I loved how Weatherill used the story to create her own.

6. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
When I first started this book I felt like it was very serious, but as I read on I absolutely grew to love this book. There where just so many beautiful descriptions! A lot of times I reread a passage because the writing was so beautiful...

7. The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer
This book was also a childhood reread. While I enjoyed it when I read it as a kid, I think I love it even more now that I am older. There are a lot of subtle details that I did not even realise where there when I was younger. Kuijer creates a very likeable main character and his story deals with faith in a beautiful way.

8. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did I loved the unique fantasy world that Sanderson created. The book also contained a mystery and I am a huge fan of fantasy combined with mystery. I can't wait to read the sequel!

9. Amulet Volume 1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
This middle grade graphic novel was a really good introduction to the series. It is adventurous and full of fantastical elements and the main characters Emily and Navin are wonderful. The artwork is very different from other graphic novels I have read, but I loved it!

10. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
This is one of the very few non fiction books I read in 2015. The story of Chris McCandless is a tragic but fascinating one. Eversince seeing the movie I have been curious to know more about his life. The book definitely goes into a lot more dept than the movie does. Whereas the movie portraits his parents a little bit as 'the bad guys' the book is much more nuanced. Krakauer really tried to look at the story from all points of view.


Dit you manage to reach your reading goal for 2015? What was your favorite book you read?

Top 10 - Classics

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I have attempted to read this book many times. It took me a very long time to get into it. Every time I got stuck somewhere, put the book down and stopped reading it for a very long while. When I picked up the book again I would start over, and everytime I got a little further into the book. Eventhough the book was sometimes a struggle to read it was also very rewarding. I love how immensely detailed the world is that J.R.R. Tolkien created. Because of this it truely feels like Middle Earth has existed long before the book begins and continues long after the story has finished.


2. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

One of my favorite childhood books, this book will always be amongst my favorite classics as well. This book has a special place in my heart because it truely made me fall in love with reading. Also I gained an appreciation of the outdoors because of this book.

3. The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt

Another childhood favorite. This Dutch classic was translated into English about two years ago which made me very happy. This book really made me fall in love with the fantasy genre. The setting is sort of medieval and the main character gets an assignment from a knight which has him traveling to another country.

4. Emma by Jane Austen

I always have a hard time picking my favorite Jane Austen novel. I love Pride and Prejudice and Emma almost equally, but at the moment I love Emma just a little more. Eventhough Emma Woodhouse has many flaws she still is a very likeable character and it was hard not to root for her.

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Elizabeth Bennet is one of my favorite literary characters. She is smart and not afraid to say what she is thinking. She is very honest and she is also not afraid to admit that she is wrong. Eventhough the book was written long ago it still succeeds at being witty.


6. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Since The Hobbit was written before The Lord of the Rings and it is a childrens book it does not yet contain such a detailed world as in the later books, but the story already introduces you to an interesting world that is very promising and the story itself is very adventurous. I read this one when I already was a little older, but I am sure that I would also have loved it if I had read it when I was younger.







7. The Tintin graphic novels by Hergé

When I was younger I loved reading the Tintin graphic novels and recently I have sort of rediscovered them. They are very adventurous and those are precisely the kind of stories I like. My favorite Tintin novels are probably Explorers on the Moon and The Secret of the Unicorn.

8. Krabat & the Sorcerer's Mill by Otfried Preußler

I have read this book many times and everytime this book managed to creep me out. The story is scary in its simplicity. The fact that the boys cannot leave the mill always made me feel very uncomfortable.

9. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

When I was younger I probably wouldn't have loved this book, but thanks to the Tim Burton movie adaptation (which is very different from the book though), I can appreciate this book in al its crazyness. If you want a coherent story this book is probably not for you, but I find it a weird but enjoyable read.

10. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Rovert Louis Stevenson

When I picked up this novella at the library I wasn't really expecting all that much from it, and maybe that's the reason why I ended up enjoying it so much. The story felt sort of 'comfortable creepy', the idea of the book is creepy, but it was never really scary.







The next classics I hope to read are The Catcher in the Rye, The Time Machine and stories by Jules Verne. They have been on my shelves for ages. I also have to admit that I never read any Narnia stories, so I also need to do something about that...

Do you like reading classics? What are your favorites?

Review - Saga Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

Read my review for volume 1 here

Genre: comics, fantasy, science fiction
Pages: 144
Rating: 5/5
Goodreads

Summary
Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and horrific monsters, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters her strangest adventure yet... grandparents.

My thoughts
I enjoyed this volume just as much as I enjoyed the first one! There was a little bit less action, but more background story. I personally really liked seeing Marko as a child and even more seeing how Marko and Alana met. Marko's parents have shown up and that has resulted in some interesting dynamics. Marko and his father Barr seem very alike and I really enjoyed the interactions Barr and Alana had. Marko's mother looks like she and Alana have a lot in common and it will be interesting to see them interact more. Hopefully in the future volumes we also get to know a little more about Alana's background.
In this volume the storyline of The Will trying to rescue a slave girl continues. The Will is probably my favorite perspective to read from after Alana & Marko's. We didn't get to see Prince Robot IV a lot, but I don't find him the most interesting character yet, so I didn't mind.
I loved how Alana read a book that hugely influenced her view of the war between Wreath & Landfall; as a booklover it is always nice to see the power of a book being acknowledged!

Review - Saga Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

Genre: comics, fantasy, science fiction
Pages:
Rating: 5/5
Goodreads

Summary
Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old world. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in the first volume of this sexy, subversive ongoing epic.

My thoughts
I've been wanting to read more comics for a while now, but I never really had an idea where to start. I heard many great things about Saga so I decided to give it a go and I am glad I did because I absolutely loved it! The artwork is beautiful. I love the colors, they fit all the different planets and places very well. I also really liked the unique clothes one of the main characters Alana is wearing.
Alana and Marko are both great characters. Alana is a very strong woman who doesn't take no for an answer. She is willing to do anything for her daughter Hazel. Marko seems to be more sensitive, but he really sees it as his duty to protect his family and to be there for them. I like Alana and Marko as a couple because they are both very strong people and in their relationship they really seem to be equals.
We also experience some parts of the story from the viewpoint of the people chasing Alana, Marko and Hazel. I mostly enjoyed reading about the freelancer The Will. The author did a great job of not making him just another villain but also giving some insight into why he does the things he does.
I don't read a lot of books about parents, so this was a pretty unique read for me. Also the different cultures Alana and Marko are from where an interesting aspect.
I'm already hooked on this series and hopefully I'll get to the next volume soon!

Review - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone by J.K. Rowling

Genre: fantasy, middle grade
Pages: 332
Rating: 5/5
Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads
When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him that apparently he's the last to know. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord's curse when Harry was just a baby, and which he somehow survived. Leaving his unsympathetic aunt and uncle for Hogwarts, a wizarding school brimming with ghosts and enchantments, Harry stumbles upon a sinister mystery when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. Then he hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers which could be valuable, dangerous - or both. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

My thoughts
I felt like starting to reread the Harry Potter series and when this beautiful edition arrived I started right away. I first read this book when I was quite a bit younger. I again really enjoyed it and this time around I noticed some things that I was not aware of at the time. Especially how Rowling's writing style is reminiscent of Roald Dahl's writing. I loved how ridiculous some of the descriptions of the Dursleys were.
It was wonderful to once again enter the magical world that Rowling created. It is so detailed and interesting and I think almost anyone would love to go to Hogwarts.
It had been a while since I had read the books, but I have seen the movies not too long ago. While reading I was reminded of how different some of the characters in the book are compared to the movies. Ron Weasley was in the movies never one of my favorites but I really like him in the book. He was funny and smarter than the movie made him seem. Hermione Granger went through a quite wonderful transformation in the book. From an annoying know-it-all she changes into a loyal friend. All the characters are so complex and I can't wait to continue rereading the series to again get to know them all a little better. What I liked about the characters is that they all had something interesting, but they were also not that extraordinary. They all had both good character traits and bad character traits. Harry himself is very brave, but he is also a little bit egoistic. In the wizard world Harry is quite famous, but I love how Rowling gave him a quite common name. Very often authors think their character needs an extremely exotic name that makes no sense at all when you realize their heritage, only to sound interesting.
Although the book is not extremely long Rowling manages to tell a great story while also introducing the magical world Harry enters. 

Review - The fellowship of the ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Genre: fantasy, classics, adventure
Pages: 495
Rating: 5/5 stars
Goodreads


Summary

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.
In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

My thoughts
I have read this book two times before when I was a lot younger. In my memory the story was very slow paced and at the time it took me very long to read. It might just not have been the right time to read it, because now that I read it again I went through it really fast. I love the world that Tolkien has created. The Hobbit was a nice introduction to this world, but in The lord of the Rings the world seems so much more fleshed out. In the book there are a lot of references to things that happened in the history of Middle Earth which made me feel like it was really a world that once existed.
The main character Frodo is quite interesting and not a typical hero. He is definitely a brave person, but he is also spoiled and a little naive and cannot always manage on his own. He does have a bit of a black & white view of the world, but it didn't bother me, because the other characters in the book didn't all share that view. All the characters in this book were very different and it was easy to distinguish between who was saying what.
One of the guys that follows Frodo on his quest, Sam, transforms quite wonderfully throughout the book. Or maybe it has more to do with the way he is described and you slowly find that there is more to him than meets the eye. In the beginning he just seems like a very loyal person who wants to follow Frodo everywhere and who is mostly excited to see the elves, as though he isn't really aware of the real danger the hobbits are in. Throughout the book he proves himself to be the most sceptic of all the characters, and very often this sceptism proves to be just.
The book starts out quit light, but slowly builds up and gets darker as Frodo and his companions come to realise more and more what it is they are dealing with. Pippin is one of Frodo's friends who seems very naive at times, but the manages to lighten up the story in times when it gets dark. Tom Bombadil is one of my favorite characters. He is a little strange, but that is exactly what I liked about him. It would have liked to see him in the movie of the book as well, but sadly he is not.
Tolkien's  writing style might not be the most accesible, but I really enjoyed this book and I can't really think of anything I did not like about it. I can't wait to read some of Tolkien's other stories!

Judge me by my cover - Favorites in green

I am definitely one of those persons who picks up a book because of its beautiful cover. This hasn't always worked out, but I'm fine with that. I love having pretty books on my shelves! I am going to do a feature of covers that I do like and also some that I don't like. Judge me by my cover will solely be about the covers of the books. If I like a cover that doesn't automatically mean I enjoyed the book and vice versa. Today I'm showing you:

Favorites in Green



What are your favorite green bookcovers?

Top 10 - Books from childhood

I'll admit: I love making list. I make lists of things I need to do, books I still want to read, movies I still want to see, themed parties I still want to plan... But most of all I love making lists of the books that I've read. Top 10 Tuesday/Top 10 Thursday/ Similar memes with  different names have always been one of my favorite features on blogs of others, and they are the posts that I am most likely to read. I think it's just a great way to be introduced to new books because very often I will add one of the books mentioned to my to read list. I don't really want to have to plan a post for a certain day every week but I do want to make booklists, so what I'll be doing will be more of a Top 10 Every Now and Then.

Today I'm making a list of my top 10 books from childhood. Since I'm Dutch I obviously read books that where in Dutch when I was young. Therefore a lot of titles are by Dutch authors and might not even have been translated, but there are also some books that will be familiar to almost everyone. Narrowing it down was hard because I read so many amazing books during my childhood!

1. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

Just at many others I have the Harry Potter series on my list of favorite childhood books. There have never been books that made me want to live in the book's fictional world more. I don't easily cry over books, but this series defenitely has made me cry a couple of times. The characters are so vivid and although they live in a fictitious world it feels very real.





2. How to become king (Koning van Katoren) by Jan Terlouw

This is a book by a Dutch author. My mom used to read it to me when I was young and later on I read it myself many times. Apparently it has been translated into English quite some years ago. The story is about a boy who was born on the same day the king of his country died. The country is from then on ruled by 6 not-so-nice ministers who claim they are searching for a new king. Nothing seems to happen, and when the maincharacter is 17 years old he asks the ministers how he can become king. The ministers then give him seven almost impossible tasks which he will need to fullfill in order to become king.

3. The Letter for the king (De brief voor de koning) by Tonke Dragt

This book was translated from Dutch to English last year, which makes me so happy! Although this story was first published many years ago (my mom already read it whe she was young) it is one of those stories that will remain to appeal to kids. It is a fantasy story about knights and it is very much about finding out yourself what is the right thing to do.



4. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This one is a classic. I think many people have read this books as a child. This is probably the one book from my childhood that I read the most. All the charachters where very intriguing and I always love how the story focused on nature. This books definitely made me go outside a lot more.







5. De macht van het zwaard (The power of the sword) by Anne West

This fantasy book is by a Dutch author and has not been translated as far as I know. The version of the story I have is split up in two seperate books. I remember that I was so impatient to get the next book when I finished the first. I absolutely loved this book because there where so many different creatures and so many different countries the maincharacter travelled through.





6. The children of Noisy Village (Barnen i Bullerbyn) by Astrid Lindgren


I read this book at school for the first time and was so happy when I got a copy myself! I read this one many times. It is about 6 children who are all neighbours on the Swedish countryside and the things they experience. It was a great introduction to Swedish life and it's probably what caused me to have such a love for the country.





7. Achtste groepers huilen niet ('6th-graders don't cry') by Jacques Vriens

This book is another one by a Dutch author and also as far as I know not translated into English, which I think is really sad because it's beautiful. The book follows the story of a young girl named Akkie, who has leukemia. What I loved so much about this book, was that it did not only deal with the struggles Akkie had fighting cancer but it also focused on her classmates and how they all dealt with the fact that one of their classmates was terminally ill. This book made me cry every time I read it.

 

8. Malory Towers series

I actually only read the 3th and 4th book of this series, but I absolutely loved them. The books were my mom's and I never came across the other books in the series, so I just read those. What these books have in common with the Harry Potter series is the fact that the setting is a boarding school in England. Stories about boarding schools somehow always appealed to me.





9. Ruiters van Glaas (De Riders of Glaas) by Rom Molemaker

This book is the first of a Dutch fantsy trilogy of which the books can be read seperately. The book is not translated into English. The main character finds a door in the forest and once he goes through it he enters an entirely different country. The book is very adventurous and I'm surprised that even in the Netherlands there are very few people who know it. A classmate of mine did a presentation about it in 5th grade. It sounded so good that immediately afterwards I bought the book and it has been one of my favorites eversince.



10. Inkheart (Tintenherz) by Cornelia Funke

This is a book for booklovers. The maincharacter loves books, her father repairs them and they go and stay with her aunt who has an amazing library. Then it turns out characters from a certain book have come to life!
Each chapter of this book starts with a quote from another book and every time I read Inkheart I promised myself that one day I would read all the books mentioned. There are 2 sequels to this book but somehow I never ended up reading those although I read the first book many times.



What books were your favorites when you were a child?

My best reads of 2013

In the beginning of this year I didn't really have time to read a lot of books due to school, but later I managed to read some more. I read a total of 22 books this year according to goodreads.

The books I enjoyed the most this year:

1. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (novella)
3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
4. The Giver by Lois Lowry
5. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

What where your most enjoyable reads this year?