The Content Reader

This last day of January is a very nice, slightly cold, sunny day here in Belgium. A lovely day for a walk in the forrest. But...yesterday I was a little bit eager and too fast stepping out of the car and something snapped at the back of my right leg, below the back of the knee. Could not walk so had to head to the doctor. A rapture in the muscle (a name reminding me of the names in 'Bones' but can't remember it!) but similar to the biceps in the arm. Just to be sure that it was not totally broken I had to spend a couple of hours in the Leuven hospital's emergency unit just to be told that it was only a rapture and will heal with rest. Good news indeed. However, it has left me somewhat crippled. I have to jump around on the toes only on my right foot so stumbling around the house in this way. Going out I use the crutches I rented from a pharmacy. Well, if this is not a good excuse to tend to your blog and read a little bit more I don't know any! Since I am still r

These two much acclaimed books and both winners of the Man Booker Prize in 2009 and 2012 respectively, do not disappoint you. They are masterly written in a very solemn, quiet sort of way. It is told from the part of Thomas Cromwell, the secretary to first cardinal Wolsey and then to Henry VIII. We follow Cromwell from his humble background, during his young years while travelling, fighting in wars and working in Europe before he returned to England to study law. He was acknowledged at the time as an 'administrative genius' and his able work took him to the top of the society. The books are a work of fiction and one can only know as much as there are written evidence. Although based on historical events, Hilary Mantel herself says that for some events there are vague evidence of what really happened. For a skilled writer as Hilary Mantel this is maybe a fantastic situation. She creates out of known facts additions that are now known, but could be, and makes them believable.

Rose City Reader hosted this challenge during 2013. This is the first challenge I have finalised so I think it will take a little bit of celebration. I chose the challenge Five Star (Deluxe Entourage): To read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. My five books are: 1. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris (UK). One of my favourite authors. She never disappoint you. 2. Spöksonaten (Ghost Sonata) by August Strindberg (Sweden). One of our most famous writers and dramatists. This is not his easiest play and I remember seeing it on the theatre in Sweden many years ago. I was not any wiser after reading the book! Miss Julie is more to recommend if you want to try Strindberg. 3. Min önskelista (La liste de mes envies - My Wish List) by Grégoire Delacourt (France). A very nice book easy to read. It is about a lady who wins the highest price on the lottery and what happens to you in such situations. 4. All Quiet on the Western Fr

It is lovely to have a lot of books. However, the big disadvantage is that they tend to collect a lot of dust. Therefore I had - for some time I must admit (tend to postpone!) - the notion to clean my book cases again. For this purpose I bought a small handy vacuum cleaner which turned out to be perfect. You can just dust them where they stand but this time I took them all out to clean also the shelves. To Be Read! To my big distress I realise that I have a lot of books on my TBR shelves. Maybe they are even more than the books on the shelves that I have read? When I looked at them I also realise that some of them I bought many, many years ago. But I have promised to read one or two every month so I can move them up to the proper shelves where there still is some space. There are all kinds of books in this pile; classics, fiction, thrillers, mystery, non-fiction and more. I should be able to find something suiting all my moods. Let's see where I am in the end of the year.

This is the first time that I divide the books I have read into categories. My last post showed statistics on how many books could be related to each category. One can of course divide the books into another 5 categories, although I think it would make the numbers too small. So, which were my favourite books within each category? It is difficult to choose just one book but I must say that for all categories except maybe for Series there was always one that raised above the rest. In the Series category three of them were better than the rest. Here is the list: Classics - Wuthering Height by Emily Brontë (one of my favourite books and although I have read it many times I always discover new things and I am always weak for eternal love, however devastating!) Historical Fiction - The Duchess of Milan by Michael Ennis (a totally fascinating story of one of the many strong and fascinating female characters in history. Just make you want to read something else of Michael Ennis)

Long time no see! I have been away for the holidays and no access to Internet. So, a little bit late I want to wish you all a wonderful 2014. Hopefully it will bring a lot of reading. 2013 was my first year of active reading. I had an idea that I would like to read at least 100 books. I managed with 108! Hopefully I will manage to read a slightly higher number this year so maybe I should go for at least 120 books! I said it so now there is no way back. I have made statistics on the kind of books I have read through the year. I have divided them into Non-fiction (22) (easy enough) and under Fiction I have made the following sub-titles; Series (30), Mystery/Thriller (7), Classics (14), Historical fiction (6) and Other fiction (29) visualised in two charts below: Read in 2013 by category Read in 2013 by percentage I am mostly proud over the number of classics that I have read. Will continue this trend in 2014.