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I'm certainly not in the target group of this book - I am not an actual child and not a parent either. I do, however, have opinions on the cute but very crude drawings, and the absolutely disappointing ending of this (very short) book, that really make me wonder how anyone of any age can apprectiate it. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
What If It's Us meets Life as We Knew It in this postapocalyptic, queer YA …
Writing reviews of books I loved is the hardest thing for me. How am I to summarize and explain how this novel gripped my attention, and my heart, from the first pages to the last? How I was at the edge of my seat during the adventurous and romantic parts, while the characters experienced violence and tenderness? How I yelled at the pages and pleaded with the author (strictly telepathically) to let something happen, or prevent something else? How I felt the weather, the emotions, and everyting else that was described in this book as if with my own body?
Impossible, really.
Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins …
Huh, yeah, really not what I expected. A highly subjective narration about the history of a peculiar family with a plot twist at the 33% mark that may give some people whiplash, it was mildly interesting to follow the narrator's journey as a young adult about hwo to relay her childhood to the reader. It's definitely a funny novel - I chuckled a few times at particularly unexpected one-liners and non-sequiturs. At the end, however, I kept wondering: What was this all about? I couldn't find an answer, so was left rather helpless.
A large part of my discontent with this book came from the fact that the big twist is SPOILED by the German blurb of this book. I don't know why the publisher thought this was a good idea, and frankly, it literally spoiled my reading pleasure.
As insightful as the first volume of the graphic adaptation of this non-fiction bestseller, this second volume deals mostly with the development of human civilization(s).
Is it interesting? Absolutely. The graphic style is identical to the first cvolume for obvious reasons - I liked it, but didn't love it.
Several pieces of information were repeated over and over, which I found unnecessary and irritating. Was it to drive home a message or to remind forgetful readers that this bit is important? I do not know, but it made me like the book considerably less.
Nevertheless a good book for those who enjoyed the first volume, or who are really interested in how earlier humans built their societies.
This rather short novel started out abit on the slow side of things, and certainly did not turn into a sensationalist page-turner. Instead, we follow our very young protagonist through a small part of his life in war-time Liguria, from a sort of regular kid to a member of a partisan group fighting fascists and Nazis.
Easy reading? Nope - the topic is dark and heavy, and there are quite a few characters to remember.
Rewarding reading? Yes! An underrepresented chapter of European history, told through the eyes of quite an innocent narrator (at first), with insights I did not expect. The beginning and above all the ending are what I enjoyed the most.
My second Calvino book after [b:If on a Winter's Night a Traveller|143004|If on a Winter's Night a Traveller|Italo Calvino|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328210872l/143004.SY75.jpg|1116802] was not my last!
Great premise, some interesting characters (some less than others), a plot that left me wainting to know what would happen next - a pleasant SciFi reading experience.
Yes, there's a LOT of info dumping. And the fact that the whole book is written in the form of interviews and reports doesn't make it more accessible. Some of the characters are two-dimensional. Parts of the plot are so far-fetched, they probably come from outer space (ha!).
But here I was, turning the pages to see what's up with that enormous statue. Definitely a purpose fulfilled: I wanted more, and will probably pick up the next book in this series at some point.
Also contained in:
This book left me bewildered as to why so many readers have loved it: I found the plot surprisingly uninteresting, the narration did not grab my interest, the sudden time jumps that seemed to lead... nowhere. I have to conclude that this auhtor's books may just not be for me: I found reading even this short novel tedious, and can only ask for your understanding, GGM.
Deutscher Buchpreis 2023
«Ein Roman, der grundsätzlich den richtigen Ton trifft, zwischen spöttischer Distanz, Analyse …
Ein bisschen mäandert die Handlung dieses Buchs durch Wien und das Leben des Protagonisten - ich hatte großen Spaß, dabei zu sein. Es fällt mir schwer, die Handlung zusammenzufassen: Es passiert ziemlich viel im Leben des Protagonisten an der Schule und drumherum; vor allem habe ich aber genossen, wie Till mit den unterschiedlichsten Herausforderungen umgeht.
Ist er weise? Eigentlich nicht, aber ich bin seinen Gedanken trotzdem gern gefolgt. Ist er ein typischer Österreicher? Vermutlich nicht, aber der Einblick in diesen kleinen Teil des Landes fand ich hervorragend. Ist seine Erzählweise besonders stringent? Äh, nein. Authentisch? Vermutlich, aber ich bin schon länger selbst kein Schüler mehr.
Zwischendurch wusste ich nicht genau (genug), wohin das Buch mit mir möchte. Oft hätte ich mir eine etwas raffiniertere Erzählweise gewünscht: Till sagt uns alles direkt, deutet wenig an und "Show, don't tell" ist offenbar nicht zu ihm durchgedrungen.
Allerdings: "Echtzeitalter" hat mich für eine …
Ein bisschen mäandert die Handlung dieses Buchs durch Wien und das Leben des Protagonisten - ich hatte großen Spaß, dabei zu sein. Es fällt mir schwer, die Handlung zusammenzufassen: Es passiert ziemlich viel im Leben des Protagonisten an der Schule und drumherum; vor allem habe ich aber genossen, wie Till mit den unterschiedlichsten Herausforderungen umgeht.
Ist er weise? Eigentlich nicht, aber ich bin seinen Gedanken trotzdem gern gefolgt. Ist er ein typischer Österreicher? Vermutlich nicht, aber der Einblick in diesen kleinen Teil des Landes fand ich hervorragend. Ist seine Erzählweise besonders stringent? Äh, nein. Authentisch? Vermutlich, aber ich bin schon länger selbst kein Schüler mehr.
Zwischendurch wusste ich nicht genau (genug), wohin das Buch mit mir möchte. Oft hätte ich mir eine etwas raffiniertere Erzählweise gewünscht: Till sagt uns alles direkt, deutet wenig an und "Show, don't tell" ist offenbar nicht zu ihm durchgedrungen.
Allerdings: "Echtzeitalter" hat mich für eine Weile in eine andere Welt entführt und mich gepackt - eine tolle Leseerfahrung.
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs. It all waits …
An exciting and sometimes scary book that contains creepy old photos of children, certainly not the most appropriate reading material for this sunny early spring. The first half of the story deals with the discovery of this strange kids' home (and serves as the introduction to the entire series), the second half is a proper mystery adventure with a high-tension showdown at the end.
The plot moves along fairly quickly and there's enough going on to hold my interest. That being said, it is a YA novel that seems to be aimed at younger readers and at times it didn't catch me the way I expected it to. The overall vibe reminded me of adventure novels I read as a child, think the "Five" by [a:Enid Blyton|10657|Enid Blyton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1298204474p2/10657.jpg], where groups of kids solve some sort of crime or mystery. The tone of "Miss Peregrine's..." is certainly darker and more violent, …
An exciting and sometimes scary book that contains creepy old photos of children, certainly not the most appropriate reading material for this sunny early spring. The first half of the story deals with the discovery of this strange kids' home (and serves as the introduction to the entire series), the second half is a proper mystery adventure with a high-tension showdown at the end.
The plot moves along fairly quickly and there's enough going on to hold my interest. That being said, it is a YA novel that seems to be aimed at younger readers and at times it didn't catch me the way I expected it to. The overall vibe reminded me of adventure novels I read as a child, think the "Five" by [a:Enid Blyton|10657|Enid Blyton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1298204474p2/10657.jpg], where groups of kids solve some sort of crime or mystery. The tone of "Miss Peregrine's..." is certainly darker and more violent, but overall I was slightly underwhelmed. The showdown felt a bit rushed to me and is clearly meant to entice readers to the subsequent novel(s).
This book is/was marketed as being "innovative" and "multimedia" because it contains actual vintage photos, and yeah, I don't know about that. I think, to me the book would have worked just as well without the photos, it would just have been less scary. These photos were actually the starting point for the author to write this in the first place, which I find intriguing.
My edition contained an interesting interview with the author and the first chapter of the second part of the series, which was nice to read. I don't think I will follow the series, but if creepy stories about children with peculiar skills that save the world are your thing (and the X-Men are too mainstream), you will enjoy this book!
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at …
Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in North America and some other countries) is a young-adult fantasy novel by Philip …
In the astonishing finale to the His Dark Materials trilogy, Lyra and Will are in unspeakable danger. With help from …
Disclaimer: I am unreasonably fond of this series because part 1 ([b:Ninth House|43263680|Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553102141l/43263680.SY75.jpg|53348200]) pulled me out of a years-long reading slump, and holds a special place in my heart. Do not expect rational criticism.
The plot moves at a breathtaking speed, every chapter turned out to be a page-turner for me. Characters and plot lines are interwoven just the way I like it with seemingly negligible events popping up later, turning out to be relevant. It made the whole novel feel pleasantly dense, like perceiving a whole world, while we actually only follow a small handful of characters for some time.
Were some bits of "Hell Bent" slightly predictable? Did I not understand every aspect of the magic system at every point of the plot? Maybe. Do I care enough to subtract a star from my rating of this book? Definitely not.
There …
Disclaimer: I am unreasonably fond of this series because part 1 ([b:Ninth House|43263680|Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553102141l/43263680.SY75.jpg|53348200]) pulled me out of a years-long reading slump, and holds a special place in my heart. Do not expect rational criticism.
The plot moves at a breathtaking speed, every chapter turned out to be a page-turner for me. Characters and plot lines are interwoven just the way I like it with seemingly negligible events popping up later, turning out to be relevant. It made the whole novel feel pleasantly dense, like perceiving a whole world, while we actually only follow a small handful of characters for some time.
Were some bits of "Hell Bent" slightly predictable? Did I not understand every aspect of the magic system at every point of the plot? Maybe. Do I care enough to subtract a star from my rating of this book? Definitely not.
There is a lot going on, and much of it builds on the first book of the series, which you should absolutely read before starting "Hell Bent". For me it had been a while since I read "Ninth House", so I found a summary of it before I started this book... I recommend it, because there was a lot going on in that first book, too.
