MY SHOPPING BASKET | I

Hi everybody!

Today I thought of a new blog feature. I am going to show you which books are in my shopping basket on BookDepository. These are books, that I at the moment would like the most to order.

Unfortunately I cannot allow myself to buy 100 euro's of new books at the moment.. :( But I will slowly but steadily in the near future have all of these babies on my shelves ;)

MID-YEAR BOOK FREAK OUT | TAG

Hi everyone! 

Since we've surpassed June I thought it's the perfect time to do the book freak out tag. Let's kick it of with some basic facts. When writing this post I have currently read 40 books. The oldest book I read is 'Leaves of Grass' which was published in 1855. 20 books have been written by female authors, 19 books by male authors and 1 book has been written under an anonymous pseudonym. 15 books have been written by an author from The United States. 

Best book you’ve read so far. 

I think the book I enjoyed the best so far is 'The Vegetarian' by Han Kang. I really enjoyed reading this story and especially the fact that the plot turned out to be a lot different than I expected.

Best sequel you've read so far.

Definitely 'Blood of Wonderland' by Colleen Oakes. This book has been on my shelf ever since it's been republished and I don't know why but I postponed picking it up ever since. When I finally did pick it up I absolutely loved it. Most of the times I don't really like the second book in a trilogy because it just feels like an unnecessary bridge between the first and last book but I highly enjoyed this one. 

New release you haven't read yet, but want to.

I am very excited to read 'The Good Immigrant'. I have it on my shelf already and can't wait to pick it up very soon!

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

I am super excited for the last book in the 'Queen of Hearts' saga. The last book 'War of the Cards' will be published on 7 November.

Biggest disappointment.

'Makkelijk Leven' a short story by Herman Koch was probably my biggest disappointment. I was very excited to pick up a book by this high praised Dutch author but was quite let down. This book was just nothing special or outstanding. I have another novel of him on my shelf so I'm very curious to see if that book will be my cup of tea.

Biggest surprise.

- 

Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Hands down. I read three books by her so far this year and absolutely loved all of them. I plan to finish her other three books as well this year. With 'Americanah' already waiting on my shelf. 

Newest fictional crush.

I don't have fictional crushes.

Newest favourite character.

I adored the character August in 'The Secret Life of Bees'. I can't explain much about her character without spoiling anything but she is one of the Calendar Sisters and I love her!

Book that made you cry.

'Achtste Groepers Huilen Niet' by Jacques Vriens. This title literary translated is ' 6th graders don't cry' and it's the story of a girl who gets leukemia. Jacques Vriens used to be a teacher before he was an author and this story actually is based on true facts when he was a teacher of the 6th grade and one of this students got leukemia. 

Book that made you happy.

'Het Paradijs' (The Paradise) Suzanne Vermeer. Not necessarily because of it's theme because it is a thriller. But because it is set in Greece, which sets me in this amazing holiday mood. 

Favourite book to film adaptation you saw this year. 

I only have seen one book to movie adaptation this year which was 'A Monster Calls' and I really loved it!

Favourite blog post you've written this year. 

Probably the blog post on '100 female writers' because it has made me motivated to write on this blog again.

Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received).

Probably 'Tales of the Peculiar'. I have this in the hardcover edition and it's clothbound and has beautiful gold lettering. It's absolutely gorgeous. 

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

I want to finish all the books on my TBR but mostly the underlined ones.

Mannen die vrouwen haten (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) - Stieg Larsson

De vrouw die met vuur speelde (The Girl Who Played with Fire) - Stieg Larsson

Gerechtigheid (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest) - Stieg Larsson

The Trees - Ali Shaw

The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

De Greppel - Herman Koch

Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I Heart Christmas - Lindsey Kelk

The Light Between Oceans - M.L. Stedman

The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton

The Arabian Nights - Translated by Sir Richard Burton

Madness - Roald Dahl

Cruelty - Roald Dahl

Ten Thousand Skies Above You - Claudia Gray

We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families - Philip Gourevitch

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

The Power - Noami Alderman

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

The Good Immigrant - Nikesh Shukla

The Song Rising - Samantha Shannon

The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt

Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari

Emma - Jane Austen

A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James

Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff

100 WOMER WRITES | CHALLENGE

Hi everyone! 

Long time no see... I'm very sorry and hope this is the last time that I am going to apologise for my absence in a long time. Since I have finished school for this years (technically I still have two days left but oh well) I decided that it is the perfect moment for me to pick up blogging again. 

Although I had quite the hiatus myself for blogging, I never stopped reading. As well as I did also not stop reading book  blogs or watching booktube. I am following Jean (JeanBookishThoughts) for a while now and she is the creator of '100 Women Writers'. This is a list she put together with 100 must read women writers. For more information what this list is about click here. I find this to be an amazing concept and decided that I want to participate to this as well. 

I discovered that a lot of the authors on this list, I know and really want to read books of but I haven't. Now that I have a visual list I'm very excited to see how fast I will discover new books by amazing female authors. 

1. A. L. Kennedy

2. Agatha Christie
3. Ali Smith 
4. Alice Walker 
5. Angela Carter 
6. Angela Davis 
7. Anne Bronte
8. A. S. Byatt
9. Anne McCaffrey
10. Anne Radcliffe
11. Anne Tyler
12. Arundhati Roy
13. Audre Lorde 
14. Audrey Niffeneger
15. Azar Nafisi
16. Bell Hooks
17. Betty Smith
18. Carol Ann Duffy 
19. Charlotte Bronte 
20. Charlotte Perkins Gilman
21. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 
22. Christina Rossetti
23. Daphne Du Maurier 
24. Donna Tartt
25. Dorothy Sayers
26. E. Nesbit
27. Edith Wharton
28. Edna O’Briean
29. Ellen Feldman
30. Emily Bronte
31. Emily Dickinson
32. Emma Donaghue 
33. Elena Ferrante
34. Elizabeth Gaskell
35. Elizabeth Goudge 
36. Erica Jong
37. Fanny Burney
38. George Elliot 
39. Han Kang 
40. Harper Lee 
41. Hilary Wainwright
42. Helen Oyeyemi 
43. Hilary Mantel
44. Ida B. Wells
45. Isabel Allende 
46. Lynne Segal
47. J. K. Rowling 
48. Jackie Kay
49. Jane Austen 
50. Jaqueline Wilson 
51. Jean Rhys
52. Jeanette Winterson 
53. Jhumpa Lahiri
54. Jacqueline Susann
55. Joanna Russ
56. Judith Butler
57. Kate Atkinson
58. Kate Chopin
59. Alexandra Kollontai
60. Liz Lochhead
61. Louisa May Alcott
62. Louise O’Neill 
63. Madeleine L’engle
64. Murasaki Shikibu
65. Margaret Atwood 
66. Margaret Cavendish
67. Malorie Blackman
68. Marjane Satrapi 
69. Mary Beard 
70. Mary Shelley
71. Mary Wollstonecraft
72. Maya Angelou 
73. Maxine Hong Kingston 
74. Monica Ali
75. Muriel Spark 
76. Naomi Mitchison
77. Naomi Wolf
78. Nnedi Okorafor
79. Octavia E. Butler
80. Pat Barker
81. Robin Hobb 
82. Rokheya Shekhawat Hossein 
83. Roxanne Gay
84. Ruth Ozeki
85. Sappho 
86. Sarah B. Pomeroy 
87. Sarah Waters
88. Sheila Rowbotham
89. Shirley Jackson 
90. Simone De Beauvoir
91. Stella Gibbons
92. Sylvia Pankhurst
93. Sylvia Plath
94. Toni Morrison
95. Ursula K. Le Guin
96. Virginia Woolf 
97. Vita Sackville-West
98. Willa Cather
99. Zadie Smith
100. Zoe Fairbairns

Which authors do you recommend most for me to start with? Have you read any of these authors? 

THE READING SLUMP | BOOK DISCUSSION

Hello, everybody, it has been a while!

Recently, I have been in the worst reading slump ever. School and work got the best of me and whenever I had a moment just to do something I like, I would pick sleeping over reading. It now had gotten to the point where I kept buying new books but did not read any of them to which my TBR-shelf now has grown to 29 unread books. Where first I only had 12 unread books on my shelf.

Since reading and book blogging come hand in hand, you understand where the lack of blog posts is coming from. I'm really disappointed that I did not keep up with my blog but really want to pick it up again. 

I still am not sure how to actually get out of the reading slump. My only motivation, besides the fact that I of course like reading, is probably the fact that I'm behind on my reading goal. 

I hope you will hear more from me soon because that will mean I am over my reading slump! If you have any tips or tricks to get over one, please let me know in the comments!

Thanks, guys! 

BOOK REVIEW | ON THE OTHER SIDE BY CARRIE HOPE FLETCHER

Title: On The Other Side
Author: Carrie Hope Fletcher
Published: 2016
Pages: 345
Rating: 3/5

"Evie's soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it's too late. As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow , some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love... Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It's the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she's become her twenty-seven-year-old self and the door won't open." 

I was really curious to read this book because Carrie was the person who got me back in to reading. I used to watch every book video of her multiple times. I was so excited to find out that she had written her own novel.

I really, really like the story and the fact that this is not you average love story. It was super cute and whimsical. I really enjoyed the story, it was nothing special just adorable.

The characters were all very likeable and all characters that I would love to be friends with if I would knew them. If you are looking for a cute contemporary which you can fly through I would highly recommend this read.