top ten tuesday

Books That Take Place In Another Country | Top Ten Tuesday

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week. 

TTT

Most of the books I read are from another country, since I’m norwegian. But I’ll include more books that aren’t placed in the US/America, since that’s where most of the authors I read are from.

Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

  • Japan
  • Absoloutly worth reading, the writing, the characters, the plot all amazing

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

  • Kabul, Afghanistan
  • Haven’t read the whole book, only long excerpts for class, but it’s heartwrenching and I have to pick up the whole book soon

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

  • Alaskan wilderness, USA
  • Okay book, based on a better story

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

  • Pacific Ocean, with a Tamil boy

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

  • Germany
  • Historial fiction from nazi germany with a girl who steals books, her parents taken away to concentration camp.

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

  • Japan
  • A fantasy book I read as a child and loved, but I can’t vouch for how good it is since it was so long ago

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

  • Barcelona, Spain
  • Gothic mystery

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

  • Pakistan
  • Non-fiction and biographical book of Malala’s life in Swat Valley in Pakistan and how she got shot in the head fighting for her education

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

  • Venice, Italy

 

 

Books On My Spring TBR | Top Ten Tueday

aquapages // eline1 Comment

TTT

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week. 

You might take on look on this list and think it’s just a TBR list, it doesn’t have anything to do with spring at all.

Let me explain a little; spring is the season of new hope (no longer dark outside 20/7), of motivation and exhaustion (exams). So hopefully I’ll give books I’ve forgotten about a new chance, along with reading more sports books, especially with fighting. I miss being healthy enough to exercise (I’m chronically ill and currently not feeling so good). Also I’m going to a university visit/science workshops, so I want to read a bit more science and non-fiction on the travel there. Fighting, forgotten books, science – here we go

The F- It List by Julie Halpern

Why I want to read it: mostly because I’m trying to clear out my to be read list, tbh.

 

 

Bruised by Sarah Skilton

Why I want to read it: young adult book with taekwon-do, no more research needed.

 

Fighting for Flight by J. B. Salsbury

Why I want to read it: martial arts, romance. I hope it’s good, I’m not quite certain about this one.

 

 

Letters to a Young Scientist by Edward O. Wilson

Why I want to read it: a famous book of advice by the scientist Edward O. Wilson, which hopefully will give me some inspo for choosing uni.

 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Why I want to read it: it’s a classic and I want to give it a try before the movie comes out, starring Lilly Singh. I think it will be hard to avoid spoilers afterwards.

 

New and Selected Poems Vol. 2 by Mary Oliver

Why I want to read it: I love Mary Oliver’s poems and I need them at all times in my life. It’s good she’s published so many.

 

(Don’t you) forget about me

Why I want to read it: This book has been on my tbr list for many years, and while many books have been read or crossed out, this one persists.

It’s an interesting plot – a town where no one ever gets sick or dies from illness, but of course it comes with a catch. Every fourth year the teens in the town is infected with something that makes them do weird shit, like kill their friends. Skylar’s sister was locked up for killing sixteen of her classmates in such a incident, and she’s haunted by it four years later. She needs to stop the murder sprees from happening and she doesn’t have much time left. 

 

Words of Radiance by Brandon Saderson

Why I want to read it: It’s the second book of the Stormlight Archive. The only reason I haven’t read it yet is that it’s 1000 pages and I need time, because it’s so hard to lay down when you first start. I love Sanderson’s books. I don’t know if I’ll get the time before summer, but I’ll certainly try.

Books That Surprised Me | Top Ten Tuesday

aquapages // eline8 Comments

The best feeling is picking up a book you don’t know much about, with low expectations and finding out how amazing it is. And then there’s a book with a lot of hype, or that you’ve got hope for, but it was a let down. I’ve linked book reviews I’ve written.

TTT

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week. 

– positive surprises –

Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen

  • I didn’t have expectations going into this book, and it turned out to be good, young adult fantasy. Enjoyed it a lot.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

  • First book I read by Haruki Murakami, which probably wasn’t the best idea, but I loved this journal/running diary. I don’t even run.

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

  • First book by Brandon Sanderson I ever read and I was blown away. His writing and world-building is excellent, the ideas so complex for how many and varied books he produces. I can’t keep up with all the releases.

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Liu Ken

  • I’ve never loved short stories like I do with these. So much creativity, orginality and important topics within immigration and asian culture

 

– negative surprises – 

Reckless by Cornelia Funke

  • The other Cornelia Funke books are great, this is very below average

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

  • The perfect example of the last book ruining a trilogy

Cress and Winter by Marissa Meyer

  • I liked the first two books, but these weren’t as good.

Ash by Malinda Lo

  • Boring and dull, but with a cute f/f relationship

Half Bad by Sally Green

  • Below average, very cliche witch-book

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Quotes

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week. 

Here’s at least some of my favourite book quotes. Enjoy.

 

“I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.” 

― Katja Millay, The Sea of Tranquility

 

“Dawn was coming. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.”

– Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

 

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

– J. K. Rowling, The Prisoner of Azkaban  

 

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

– Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

 

“I swear, my dear. Sometimes our conversations remind me of a broken sword.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Sharp as hell,” Lightsong said, “but lacking a point.” 
― Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker

 

“I liked the idea of living in a city — any city, especially a strange one — liked the thought of traffic and crowds, of working in a bookstore, waiting tables in a coffee shop, who knew what kind of solitary life I might slip into? Meals alone, walking the dogs in the evenings; and nobody knowing who I was.”

– Donna Tartt, The Secret History

 

“Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones that I did not.”

– Donna Tartt, The Secret History

 

“I need to stop fantasizing about running away to some other life and start figure out the one I have.”

– Holly Black, The Darkest Part of the Forest

 

“She laughed and broke into a run, racing out to grab handfuls of raindrops from the air, all alone in a world of diamonds.” 

― Scott Westerfeld, The Secret Hour

 

“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.” 

― Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch