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Last weekend and this one I tried to read books again instead of online-fic. (I did read fic as well.)
First I chose the most recent book of German TV presenter Sarah Kuttner, called "180° Meer" (There's no English translation (yet?)).
It fits in the following Bingo Squares:
Card 1 - Mix and Match: "Book by an author who's first language isn't English"
[As mentioned above, the author is German and that's the language the book is in. Does that count? Should the book be written in English to fit that square? I don't care.]
Card 2 - Random: "Book written by someone famous for things other than writing"
[Sarah Kuttner was a presenter on German's first music television station. Since then she had done her own talkshows and created as well as moderated other TV shows.]
Card 3 - Serious: "Book not in English"
[Yes, I know, it's almost the same as the square in card 1, but who cares?]
I translated this from goodreads:
"After her father left the family, Jule grew up with her brother and suicidal mother. As an adult now she has created a life where she just endures everything: her job as singer, the countless phonecalls of her mother, the whole hate in herself which almost makes her disappear. When her relationship starts to crumble she flees to England to stay with her brother, searching for quiet and anonymity.
Here she meets her dying father. Jule starts a last attempt of approach the man who she felt has let her down her whole life.
A tragic-comic road-novel about the complicated relationship with one's own parents and the wish to take a break from oneself."
I don't think this is a road-novel. She lives in Berlin and takes a plane to London, then goes by train to Eastbourne. While she writes about her thoughts on train-journeys, everything that happens, happens at her destinations. That said, there's not a lot of plot anyway.
I didn't like the main character at all, but that might be intended as she doesn't like herself much. And even if she decides to go home in the end, I don't feel much change in her.
Two questions at the end:
1) Who stays more than two days in London and buys Tube-tickets? Wouldn't she have an Oyster card? Especially when it's not the first time she has visited her brother?
2) Where at Oxford Street are street musicians trying to drown out each other's acoustic guitars? Not sure if I ever saw one there. Maybe way down near Bond Street? Hmm.
I gave it three stars on Goodreads, but feel closer to two and a half.
Yesterday and today I read "Glück ist eine Gleichung mit 7" ("Counting with 7s") by Holly Goldberg Sloan.
It fits in the following Bingo Squares:
Card 1 - Mix and Match: "Book by an author or protagonist of colour"
[The main character, Willow is a poc. She describes her skin and hair multiple times. In the story though I don't think her skin colour is of matter. She never experiences blatant racism, except maybe when she notes that being adopted would be more difficult for her. But she still blames mostly her age for that.]
Card 2 - Random: "Book heavily featuring kids"
[The main character is 12 years old and most parts of the book are told from her point of view.]
Card 3 - Serious: "Book with protagonist with a mental/social disability"
[That may be debatable. Her soical worker rates her as "genius", but her way of thinking and how she behaves clearly shows that she doesn't fit into the "normal" behaviour pattern of the kids at her school. She knows she's different and doesn't even try to fit in most of the time.]
I liked Willow Chance way better than the main character from the other book above. Even though I have read multiple stories about high intelligent and therefore strange kids and how they change everyone's life to the better, this one did it charmingly and made me chuckle more than once. I also liked that some of the chapters were looks into the minds of the other characters, told in 3rd person.
I agree with some of the critique on goodreads that the end turned out a bit too good and seemed a bit rushed, but I enjoyed reading the book nevertheless.
P.S. Where's the Bingo-square for "Bought the book mainly for the pretty cover"? That would have been fitting here.
[Link to my cards and main Bingo post]
First I chose the most recent book of German TV presenter Sarah Kuttner, called "180° Meer" (There's no English translation (yet?)).
It fits in the following Bingo Squares:
Card 1 - Mix and Match: "Book by an author who's first language isn't English"
[As mentioned above, the author is German and that's the language the book is in. Does that count? Should the book be written in English to fit that square? I don't care.]
Card 2 - Random: "Book written by someone famous for things other than writing"
[Sarah Kuttner was a presenter on German's first music television station. Since then she had done her own talkshows and created as well as moderated other TV shows.]
Card 3 - Serious: "Book not in English"
[Yes, I know, it's almost the same as the square in card 1, but who cares?]
I translated this from goodreads:
"After her father left the family, Jule grew up with her brother and suicidal mother. As an adult now she has created a life where she just endures everything: her job as singer, the countless phonecalls of her mother, the whole hate in herself which almost makes her disappear. When her relationship starts to crumble she flees to England to stay with her brother, searching for quiet and anonymity.
Here she meets her dying father. Jule starts a last attempt of approach the man who she felt has let her down her whole life.
A tragic-comic road-novel about the complicated relationship with one's own parents and the wish to take a break from oneself."
I don't think this is a road-novel. She lives in Berlin and takes a plane to London, then goes by train to Eastbourne. While she writes about her thoughts on train-journeys, everything that happens, happens at her destinations. That said, there's not a lot of plot anyway.
I didn't like the main character at all, but that might be intended as she doesn't like herself much. And even if she decides to go home in the end, I don't feel much change in her.
Two questions at the end:
1) Who stays more than two days in London and buys Tube-tickets? Wouldn't she have an Oyster card? Especially when it's not the first time she has visited her brother?
2) Where at Oxford Street are street musicians trying to drown out each other's acoustic guitars? Not sure if I ever saw one there. Maybe way down near Bond Street? Hmm.
I gave it three stars on Goodreads, but feel closer to two and a half.
Yesterday and today I read "Glück ist eine Gleichung mit 7" ("Counting with 7s") by Holly Goldberg Sloan.
It fits in the following Bingo Squares:
Card 1 - Mix and Match: "Book by an author or protagonist of colour"
[The main character, Willow is a poc. She describes her skin and hair multiple times. In the story though I don't think her skin colour is of matter. She never experiences blatant racism, except maybe when she notes that being adopted would be more difficult for her. But she still blames mostly her age for that.]
Card 2 - Random: "Book heavily featuring kids"
[The main character is 12 years old and most parts of the book are told from her point of view.]
Card 3 - Serious: "Book with protagonist with a mental/social disability"
[That may be debatable. Her soical worker rates her as "genius", but her way of thinking and how she behaves clearly shows that she doesn't fit into the "normal" behaviour pattern of the kids at her school. She knows she's different and doesn't even try to fit in most of the time.]
I liked Willow Chance way better than the main character from the other book above. Even though I have read multiple stories about high intelligent and therefore strange kids and how they change everyone's life to the better, this one did it charmingly and made me chuckle more than once. I also liked that some of the chapters were looks into the minds of the other characters, told in 3rd person.
I agree with some of the critique on goodreads that the end turned out a bit too good and seemed a bit rushed, but I enjoyed reading the book nevertheless.
P.S. Where's the Bingo-square for "Bought the book mainly for the pretty cover"? That would have been fitting here.
[Link to my cards and main Bingo post]
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I sometimes have that thing on GR where I want to give half squares. Sometimes a book just doesn't deserve another full one, or to drop down a full one.