The Content Reader

Being in Mallorca my reading habits is slightly different. More like; you take what you have. I do have a small library here, but most of the books I have already read, but there are of course still some. It would not be me if there wasn’t a TBR shelf or two! Then there is the iPad where I save books for a day when no actual paper books are appealing. Being on a holiday it is nice with some easy going novels to spend the days in the sun. I subscribe to some newsletters who offers free or very cheap books. Most of the time they are not appealing to me, but from time to time there is a gem. Like this one! I hadn’t heard of neither the book of the author, but the summary sounded interesting. A detective story set in Boston in the latter half of the 19th century. With a bold and intelligent woman as the heorine and the black sheep of one of the old families as the hero, and, taking place in a historical setting… was too much for me to resist. And what a wonderful, very thrilling story,...

This book was read by many during the Paris in July 2015 challenge, and with raving reviews. I had put it on my to-read list and was therefore happy when I found it recently at the  Book festival in Brussels. On Tuesday, on my way to Mallorca, I finished it during the two hour flight. An easy read and very entertaining. Wonderful story of the president’s hat, that is President Francois Mitterand. He forgets his hat in a brasserie in Paris, and Daniel Mercier, who dines at the table next to the President, finds it and takes it with him. Very soon he notices that the hat seems to have hidden powers. He acts totally out of character and achieves things he only dreamed of before. He realises it is the hat that makes him make decisions that changes his life in a positive way. One day he forgets the hat on the train and is devastated. The hat is taken by someone else and her life is also changed. And so it goes…the hat makes stop overs with persons who are at cross roads in their l...

Just back from two days at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It was amazing! Imaging going around a huge area with books everywhere. Well, we were not the only ones, and from time to time you really had to squeeze through people. That was, naturally, where the German speaking books were. When you entered into the international areas it was more space to move around. We covered most of what we wanted to see on Saturday and the rest we looked at today. I will write a few more posts about some of the interesting features, but here a small summary. On Saturday we were early! Not so many people at this time Lots of Halls - 1 - 11, we only visited some of them! We started out at Hall no 3 where the German speaking books were. The Hall held a variety of fiction, and being Germany a lot, and I mean a lot of thrillers. They seem to be very popular. Other fiction both German and translations, books about travels, nature, cooking, gardening and much more. A German stand There were several...

From today and until Sunday, the annual book festival takes place in the exhibition area, north of Brussels. I went there today to have a look at what they are offering this year. I spent two and a half hours there, and managed to buy 14 books and a lot of scrapbooking material. I really tried to control myself as regards the number of books. In reality I bough nine books to read. The other five goes under the category "junk journals". Yes, this is my latest obsession. By chance I came into some videos on Youtube and once having looked at some of them, and the tutorials, I am stuck. So, five of the books will be made into journaling books. Here is a list of the books I bought (for reading) with a summary.  Quite wonderful book and I am excited to have found them. Four of them are non-fiction: The Disinherited - The Exiles Who Created Spanish Culture  by Henry Kamen: Henry Kamen's The Disinherited  is the most significant and enjoyable book on Spain to appear for m...

The East side of the Cemetery is less pretentious, but not less beautiful. Since you are allowed to walk around by yourself, you can take your time, enjoy the greenery and the old grave stones and tombs, hear the birds sing and get into a contemplative mood! I had already looked out a few graves to visit, but we started just behind the entrance and walked south and then back up north again. I hope the photos will give you an idea of the peaceful surroundings. While checking the map I spotted two Austrians buried here (my husband is Austrian so it seemed a good idea, no Swedes there unfortunately) Carl Mayer, author, mostly known for co-writing the screen script to the 1920s classic, silent movie The Cabinet of   Dr Caligari's . According to Wikipedia:

Some years ago I read an interview with Audrey Niffenegger in connection with her latest book Her Fearful Symmetry   (all quotes below from the book).   The novel takes place in and around the Highgate Cemetery in London. Reading this book made me very curious on this burial ground, of which I was not aware of before. It was therefore high on my list during my last visit to London. And it does not disappoint. The entrance to the West Cemetery There were a lack of burial ground in and around London in the mid-19th century. Stephen Geary, architect and entrepreneur bought the land and established the cemetery in 1839. However, it is not one ordinary cemetery; he constructed tombs and buildings where people could buy burial grounds for their whole family. The area, today very lush and at places overtaken by vegetation, is a fantastic, wonderful place to walk around in. In 1854, the west side of the cemetery became too small so an eastern part was bought and added to it. To ...

I have finished another book from my TBR shelves. It is from 1986, so has been there for some time! It is a mystery how some books stays so long on the shelves without being read. This one especially, since it is a historical novel, which I love. This novel tells the story of Alexander Pushkin, considered by many to be Russia's greatest poet (I actually have a book with his poems, so now seems the time to read them as well) and his marriage to one of the most beautiful women of the time, Nataliya Nikolaevna Goncharova. The novel starts with a Pushkin in exile. It seems he was at odds with the Tsar, Nicholas I, during most of his life. However, he is invited to come back to St Petersburg and meets for the first time Nataliya. She is only 13 years old, but he is fascinated and lost. They marry four years later. The novel mostly lingers on their married years. Pushkin is a man of the world, had many love interests and was a very experienced man. Nataliya is an innocent girl, having ...

Over at BuzzFeed Books  they asked subscribers to their newsletter which books they could not stop talking about. The answers resulted in a list of 43 books, which really cover the whole range of genre books from Classics to modern YA fantasy. Head over to Buzz Feed Books (link above) to get a summary of each book. For us with a huge number of TBR books it is difficult to look at such a list, because it is so tempting to read all the books. I guess they have to go on the To Read list instead. A book that seems very popular, considering the many and raving reviews from other bloggers, have ended up as No. 1;   A Little Life  by Hanya Yanigahara. This is a must it seems. From the list I find four books that I have read; Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, 1984  by George Orwell,  The Secret History  by Donna Tartt and Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese. L.P. Hartley's classic The Go-Between  is waiting on my TBR shelves. 1. A Little Life by Hanya ...

Me on the Cutty Sark I have been to London this weekend. It is always such a treat. Lucky with the weather for two days at least, blue sky and sunshine, you could even sit outside to eat. Monday came with grey skies but we managed more or less to avoid more than a drip of rain. My visits to London always comes with a well prepared list of things to see. My husband joined me this time and his wish was for Greenwich, which we visited on the grey Monday. We arrived Saturday afternoon, so just went for a walk down-town for some shopping. I wanted to buy the new iPhone, but alas, you had to order and wait for right one. That means I have to wait until it comes to Belgium, which will not be until around Christmas time. I managed to find a new calendar for my filofax and some stickers, and that was all. Walked back to our friend Richard's flat where we are luckily invited when in London. He lives in the Barbican, which is a terribly ugly building, today a protected one with very spe...

Just finished this amazing book which I bought during my last sejour in Sweden. When checking the original title I realised that the original book is in German. Jan-Philipp Sendker was a foreign correspondent for German magazine Stern in the nineties (from 95-99 in Asia). In 2002 he wrote this book entitled  Das Herzenhören. It such a beautifully written book about the most important thing in life, love. In our busy world we tend to forget that, and we are stressing through the 'squirrel wheel' to achieve more and more. If you want to stop for a moment and reflect, you just have to read this book. It is difficult to make a summary of the story without spoiling it for new readers.  It is developing in a way that surprises you all the time. Just a few hints of the story. Tin Win (originally from Burma) is a very successful Wall Street lawyer. One day, he is retired by this time, he leaves the flat in the morning not to return. Investigations show that he flew to Bangkok, bu...