The Content Reader

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...

This funny, humorous book by Caroline Taggart is a must if you are interested in   A Classical Education . Here you get the most important information on the classical world, described in an easy way and with a lot of humour. I really loved it. We get a look at the classical Gods, the emperors, the philosophers, writers, architectural features, the sciences and much more. Here you find the background to a lot of features in our present world, be it language, characterisations, architecture, mythology and so on. It is divided into chapters covering Languages, Religion and Mythology, Crete (this is a detour!), Ancient Greek History, Roman History, Classical Literature, Architecture and Art, Maths, Science and Inventions, Philosophy and the 'Liberal Arts' and the Games. Here a few teasers. I start with Hercules.

Ever since I read Vanity Fair by Thackeray, I am one of his fans. So, when the Brontë Reading Group in Brussels had his The History of Pendennis on the list, I was happy. Until I realised that it is a book of over 900 pages and I only had four days to read it! A slight misjudgment on my part, you could say! I read the e-book that is. Since the discussions in the Reading group are always very lively and interesting, I don’t like to go there if I have not read the book. A big effort and an eight hour read the same day as the meeting was the cure. I managed to finish it in time to take a shower and get dressed! As usual Jones had prepared us with questions to consider while reading the book. Here are just a few of them with my comments. Does Pendennis qualify as one of the "loose baggy monsters'' that Henry James criticised among nineteenth-century novels? I like this question, and I understand exactly what Henry James meant. There are so many thick books from this ...

An invitation from the Scottish Government EU Office in Brussels came my way. I was very excited when I realised that they host a 'Scottish Writer's Series'. What can be better than to actually meet the writer? So, I ventured into the city from the suburbs, and it has to be something very good for me to go downtown during the day. And it was! Lucy, signing and Lynsey Rogers from the Scottish Book Trust The Scottish Book Trust , represented by Lynsey Rogers, supports young and upcoming Scottish writers, with scholarships, get aways, promotion assistance and other supporting schemes. Lucy Ribchester received the New Writers Award in 2012/2013 which helped her finish her first novel The Hourglass Factory, which was presented today. From the back cover of the book I read:

There has not been to much action here lately. It is all due to a very busy schedule this week. Lots of things going on, so even reading is slow. But I have read some books, so more reviews will follow. In the meantime, I get inspired by your reading, by a book I read, which gives me inclinations to read either the same author again, another book from the same time and so on. I also reflected a little bit on which books are my all time favourites, so that is why I was thinking of which five books I should take to a deserted island. Of course, if you end up on a deserted island, you probably just end up there, and there will not be any time to pack some books. But, we are living in the world of the books, so we can make it happen. So here is my list, in no special order. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (a favourite book and don't we just love to dislike Scarlet?) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (a wonderful piece on a disappearing world order) The Garden of Eve...