Top Ten Tuesday (2)

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme to share your top ten bookish things. It is especially funny for people who like to make lists.

This week's theme is Top Ten Books for Halloween. Here are mine:


1. Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann - It's a sheepish detective story and I have the urgent need to recommend it to all you people because nobody seems to know this fabulous author.

2. In the Woods by Tana French - I just read this book, I think it's my favorite read this year.

3. Out by Natsuo Kirino - Murdering women is all I have to say.

4. Her fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - Again a great novel or better say ghost story by Niffenegger.

5. The Perfume by Patrick Süßkind - Again the urgent need to step in for German language authors. What a horrifying read!

6. Dracula by Bram Stoker - I'm currently reading this book but as I grabbed it as Halloween read on the list it goes.

7. The Woods by Harlan Coben - There is something about creepy woods.

8. Coraline by Neil Gaiman - I so loved watching the film in this case! Often I hate the film when I already read the book.

It seems like I can't think of two more right now. And I'm not going to force me.

Fool by Chris Moore

I'm still wondering about what I just read and it is hard to find words to describe it to you. I read about a fool obviously. But I also read about King Lear's court in the medieval Britain. And very much obviously they were a little bored at that time. So what did they do all day long? Yes, right! They had sex or they thought about it. They had war or at least tried to initiate one. They intrigued against each other or they tried to keep their had off the loop.

Pocket is the fool at King Lear's court. His duty is to cheer up Lear's youngest daughter Cordelia. He does well until the king asks his three daughters to tell him how much they love him and soon the intrigues unwind.

Moore's style is unique. He mastered word acrobatics and he is funny. But I also often felt like: What the heck... did he really wrote things like that? What about morality and what about values? And did I really laugh about it? Yes, I did! But I don't know if other people would, so I'm certainly not going to recommend it to anyone.

I think it deserves ★ ★ ★ and a half!

Top Ten Tuesday (1)

Hosted by

The Broke and the Bookish Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme to share your top ten bookish things. It is especially funny for people who like to make lists.

This week's topic: Top Ten Fictional Crushes

1. Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice): He is pride and he is a gentleman. What else does a girl need?

2. Kalle Blomqvist (Millennium Trilogy): He is a loyal friend. Somebody to visit a bar and have a lot of beer with.

3. Kakuro Ozu (The Elegance of the Hedgehog): He is a literate and cosmopolitan man with whom you could have a game of chess or watch a Japanese film.

4. Henry DeTamble (The Time Traveler's Wife): He is a mysterious man who comes and goes as his time traveling makes him. Life with him must be adventurous somehow but also a little scary as one always waits for his safe return.

5. The Mad Hatter (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland): I'd love to have a tea party with this guy.

6. Pi Patel (The Life of Pi): He survived a trip on a safety boat with a tiger!

7. Harry Potter (Harry Potter obviously): I guess we would have made good friends at Hogwards.

8. Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre): There is something about this 19th century guys.

9. Franck Lestafier (Hunting and Gathering): He is a French cook. And he's got a motor bike.

10. Will Freeman (About a Boy): A careless bachelor who is not into kids. But he is all into music and one could spend some carefree time with him listening to music.

In the Woods by Tana French

The back-cover says: "Three children leave their small Dublin neighborhood to play in the surrounding woods. Hours later, their mothers' calls go unanswered. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children, gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a sinlge detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, Detective Rob Ryan - the found boy, who has kept his past a secret - and his partner Cassie Maddox investigate the murder of a twelve-year old girl in the same woods. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him, and that of his own shadowy past."

I picked this first novel of Tana French up because of a review of her second book The Likeness by the Book Whisperer. This one made me want to read both and as I'm a lucky child which was born on a Sunday I found both books in the used book store I raved about in my London posts.

It is said to be part psychological thriller and part murder detective story, both genres I don't pick up very often. But I got surprised by characters already deep and mysterious but still developing during the process of the story. Rob Ryan tells us the story from his point of view and he is honest with the reader. Not only about the things happening but also about his person. He is the boy who lost his best friends in the wood and he can't remember any detail of his past which lay before that day. But he tries and he is going to take us with him on this often unsatisfying trip. Cassie Maddox is his female counterpart. I took her in my heart immediately. She is brave and she has the ability to assert herself, but she is also tender somehow.

Nothing was given away which could have led the reader to an earlier solution of the murder investigation than detective Ryan himself. I liked that, one really felt the pain of an investigation which can also get stuck at a certain time and one feels the uproar too when important clues come in.

I've got the second one already lined up and can't wait to read it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ for my possibly favorite read this year!

Like Water for Choclates by Laura Esquivel

The Mexican author Laura Esquivel sets up a story of love spiced with a typical Mexican recipe in each chapter. Tita is only fifteen when she falls in love with Pedro. Unfortunately Tita is the youngest child of Mama Elena. Thus she is prohibited by family tradition from marrying as she has to take care for her mother when latter gets old. Pedro decides to marry one of the other sister to be near Tita. But his mother in law has now a rigorous eye on the lovers and knows how to withhold them from getting close with each other. The only chance for Tita to beguile Pedro is with her cooking and this is an art she soon masters perfectly.

Actually I wasn't really intrigued by this book. I started twice as I forgot what I already read in a time span of three days, which of course does not speak for it. Tita though is a likable character and one easily feels her passion and her pain. The Mexican setting makes it different from many other books I read lately. But one nice character and one nice setting do not necessarily make a nice book. I did not get something special out of the story as of which I have read in so many reviews. Actually I did like the love story and magical chocolates in Joane Harris' Chocolat better.

★ ★ and a half for this book!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

“It’s Monday! What are you reading?” is a weekly event hosted by Sheila to share with others what you've read the past week and planning to read next.

I have finished:
Like Water for Chocolates by Laura Esquivel (soon to be reviewed)

I have started:
In the Woods by Tana French which I like very much so far. I bought in a used book store in London for only £ 3. I bought The Likeness as well because sometime ago I read a great review of it at The Book Whisperer.

I have planned:
many other spooky books for October including Dracula by Bram Stoker.