My 2011 reading stats.

In 2011 I read 45 books out of 50 books, which was my set goal for the year. I didn't reach it but I read some great books this year and will attempt to crack those 50 this year again.

I already did a post about my favorite books of 2011, which you can find here.

As my native language is German I certainly read books in German. Out of 45 books I read 21 in German and 24 in English. I hope to keep reading books in both languages in balance for 2012, too.

I read 10 of those books on my e-reader.

13 books were written by men and 32 books I read were written by women.

Only 5 of the books were non-fiction. That is why I hope to read some more non-fiction this year.

Only 10 books I read were from the library and though I am happy to own many books I sure want to support my local library and would be happy to read more books from the library this year.

Of the 45 books I read, 32 books were written by authors new to me.

I am not sure exactly how many pages I managed to read in 2011 but my shelfari account told me that I read more than 15,000 pages and reached my goal for 2011.

All in all I am happy with my reading year 2011. As I already mentioned I'd like to read more non-fiction and more books from the library in 2012. Also I hope to explore some more new great authors this year, but also to revisited some "old friends and favorite auhtors".

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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

I posted a review of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and finished reading The God of Small Things which I will review this week.

I'm going to finish White Oleander by Janet Fitch tonight and will grab Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks or The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall next.

Upcoming reads include Little Bee by Chris Cleave, Room by Emma Donoghue and Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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

I have finished Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. I'm going to review this book this week.

I started reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, which I bought used and got in the mail today.

Upcoming reads include White Oleander by Janet Fitch and The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall. I requested both from the library.

Last week I reviewed Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. You can read my review here.

Friday Book Blogger Hop!

Every Friday, join the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-For-Books, and hop to some new blogs. The Book Blogger Hop gives book bloggers a chance to connect and find out what others are reading. Sign up at Jennifer’s blog so people can find your blog too.

If you visit my blog because of the hop, please leave a comment and link and I will be sure to pay a visit at your blog, too.

This week Jennifer asks which book I would buy myself if she gave me $80. Well, I wish this was real and not just hypothetical. I would go and get:

1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebeca Skloot
2. Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
3. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
4. The Siege by Helen Dunmore
5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

What would you get yourself? Happy reading!

It's Monday!

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






Last week I finished reading:

Ergebenst, euer Schurik by Russian author Ljudmila Ulitzkaja, the title translated into English is something like Sincerely yours, Schurik. It is about a young man who grew up only with his mother and grandmother. This made him sensitive for the needs of women, which he is easily obliged to satisfy. He soon learns that his primary feeling for women is pity. But only the reader knows that he is the one people look at with pity. I will review the book this week.

When Mary Lennox becomes an orphan she is send to live with her uncle in a big manor. The house is surrounded by parks and gardens of which one is locked. Lonely Mary sets out to explore the secret garden. I will review the book this week.


What I am reading now:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and when I have finished this I will either read Lord of the Flies by William Golding or Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

It's Monday!

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

Last week I read two books. I have swallowed Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore which I will review this week. It is Christian Fiction, a genre which I usually don't read. I recognized that this is for a reason. Being an atheist I don't go to church Sunday's and everything that comes with it although I do understand that this builds the fundament of community life in South American small towns like Ringgold, GA. I did get what it means to grow up in a small town like this though, dying to escape this life like heroine Catherine Grace does.
I also read Tell No One by Harlan Coben, which is a thriller, full of suspense and aimiable characters. I did like to spook myself at night a lot. I also learned that the French made it into a movie, which I plan on watching. Maybe I will review both sometime, book and film, this week.

I started to read a book by a Russian author of which I found no translation into English. In German the tilte is: Ergebenst, Euer Shurik. Which is translated something like: Sincerely yours, Schurik. It is about a young Russian who is not able to emancipate from his grandmother and mother, but who is sensitive about the needs of every woman young or old. He aslo does not shy away to satisfy those needs, be they ugly or beautiful.

Next I will read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Have you read any of these?

It's Monday!

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

Last week I have finished one book: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood which I have reviewed here. I loved spending time with this book. Snowman is a great character with all the flaws of a human, guiding us through his dystopian world.

Lately I feel like I have too many books, it's really become hard to choose what to read next. So this week I let my friend decide. I grabbed three books from the tbr shelf and he picked one at random. I'm going to read Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queenby Susan Gregg Gilmore, which I got from Julie at Book Hooked Blog. As it is a short one I might squeeze in something else before the end of this week. Or I will read the given literature for my diploma thesis, which is all about spectra analysis and H2O and CO2 fluxes.

I got one new book last week. It is The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt.

Any thoughts?

It's Monday!

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

Last week I finished Still Alice by Lisa Genova which I will review this week. The story totally hooked me up so I had to read the second half of the book at night in my bed, reading lamp on, cat and my better half already asleep next to me.

Now I'm reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. First I thought I would never get into this book, but it had me when Snowman begins to tell the story of the days which are now long gone.

I also got three new books last week. All of them well known to you readers, I think.


I got The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Distant Hours by Kate Morton and Room by Emma Donoghou.

It's Monday!

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

Congratulations to Sheila for her one year anniversairy. I really appreciate all the work you put into this, Sheila. I have been participating in the Monday meme on and off since June last year. I'm not sure how many blogs I love to follow because of It's Monday!, though.

Last week I read Lost On Planet China by J. Maarten Troost. It is about a man who travels China and tries to understand the Chinese mindset. I will review this book this week.

Now I'm reading Still Alice by Lisa Genova. I'm halfway through this book and so far I think it's briliant. When I have finished it I might start Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I'm really excited to read Atwood as many people whose opinion I value love her.

Cheers to reading and It's Monday!

Time for Book Blogger Hop!

Every Friday, join the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-For-Books, and hop to some new blogs. The Book Blogger Hop gives book bloggers a chance to connect and find out what others are reading. Sign up at Jennifer’s blog so people can find your blog too.

If you visit my blog because of the hop, please leave a comment and link and I will be sure to pay a visit at your blog, too.

This week Jennifer asks which book I am currently reading and why. This is an easy one. I read Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost for the Book Read Round the World event hosted by Carin at A Little Bookish. Last year I signed up for this fun event and now read a book which already has been read by fellow book bloggers from the USA, the Netherlands, Canada and the UK. Now this book is staying with me in Germany and I'm going to send it to Australia soon.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

New books!

I can now count three new books to my posession. I have bought Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood used and since I take part in the Book Read Around the World event, Julie sent me the book Lost on Planet China which we all read and additionally the book Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen for me to keep. That's so awesome. Thanks Julie!

So when I have finished Sense and Sensibility I'm going to read Lost on Planet China. I'm really looking forward to it. And it feels nice to have a book in my hands which some of my fellow bloggers already held in theirs.

Hello Japan! January mini-challenge: Something New

Hello Japan! is a monthly mini-challenge focusing on Japanese literature and culture. Each month there will be a new task which relates to some aspect of life in Japan. Anyone is welcome to join in any time. This meme is hosted by Tanabata at In Spring it is the Dawn

For January the task is to try something new Japanese, which one has never tried before. And I did, twice. I read two books by Banana Yoshimoto, an author I have not tried before.

You can find my review for Kitchen here and my review for Goodbye Tsugumi here.

Rebecca Readalong Post #1

Participating in the Rebecca Readalong, I have read the first half of the book now and want to share my thoughts about it. In the first chapter a preface is given by the unnamed narrator du Maurier has chosen to tell the story. She escaped Manderley with her husband Maxim de Winter as she could not succeed becoming its new Mistress. She is haunted by Maxim's first but dead wife Rebecca. The story sets on describing how the young, orphaned girl became the second Mrs. de Winter and how she was received at Manderley, Maxim's home, where one year ago the beautiful Rebecca has drowned in the bay.

Our narrator is still aware of the former presence of Rebecca, who entertained many visitors at Manderley and with a sure hand had run the house, who was talented and had a good taste. The narrator struggles to follow in Rebecca's steps. But she can only fail. The reason for that is the constant comparison between the idealized Rebecca and the insufficient second wife. She had never had a chance because people who had adored Rebecca had set their minds before even getting to know the new girl. For an example take Mrs. Danvers. She hates the new Mrs. de Winter not for being the person she is but for not being Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers would have hated every new Mrs. de Winter for not being Rebecca as a matter of fact. And all the other people the new wife has to face feel the same way.

"When I go returning these calls, as I did this afternoon, I know people are looking me up and down, wondering what sort of success I'm going to make out of it. I can imagine them saying, "What on earth does Maxim see in her?" And then, Frank, I begin to wonder myself, and I begin to doubt, and I have a fearful haunting feeling that I should never have married Maxim, that we are not going to be happy. You see, I know that all the time, whenever I meet anyone new, they are all thinking the same thing - How different she is to Rebecca."

I have read about this and found a German Wikipedia entry terming it the Rebecca Myth. In a glorifying retrospect people believe that everything had been for the better in the past, Rebecca's past. The myth becomes stronger the more this subjective belief strengthens.

Actually I would have hoped for the narrator that she finds a way in the hearts of the people and frees herself of shyness and fears but for the preface everything points at the narrator not being able to ever meet the expectations of the people at Manderley. Nevertheless I'm looking forward to read on hoping for the new girl.

This readalong is hosted by Allie at The Literary Odyssey.

Bookish Christmas Presents

Among other presents this year I got BOOKS. As you can see in the picture I now am the proud owner of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, Kitchen and Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto and Blindness by José Saramago. Thanks to all the kind givers.

As I missed to post my It's Monday! What are you reading? I would like to catch up with it now. Actually I decided to let the year fade away with some relaxed rereading. I'm reading books in a series of four and try to finish Dracula by Bram Stoker as this is the last book from 2010 which I started reading but did not yet finish. I read other books in between as I wanted to participate in a game. Now I picked it up again.

I hope everybody had a pleasant Christmas. I would also like to know about your presents if you would like to share.

MyTop 10 Reads of 2010

photo credit


1. Madame Curie by Eve Curie - Madame Curie is by far the most excellent biography I ever read, written by Marie Curie's daughter in the most sensitive way.

2. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy - A book about finding one's ways in life and one of the most curious findings: one does not need to live in Paris to get to know real life.

3. To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - What could I possibly add- I just loved it.

4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - Nearly philosophical roamings about life and the love of literature. Already the third book on my list to be set in Paris.

5. In the Woods by Tana French - Suspenseful until the end, with an end not to be expected.

6. The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson - I'm for sure one of the biggest fans of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomquvist. I couldn't get enough of it.

7. A Tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - I love childhood memoirs. They let me see the world with "different" eyes.

8. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - India is one of the mot curious places in the world, harboring very rich but many more poor people and their life's stories.

9. March by Geraldine Brooks - Based on the back of Alcott's Little Women, this book gives an insight in the lives of Mr. March and Marmee. Very interesting and very well done.

10. Her fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - I was surprised by this one, but it seems not negatively surprised.

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:
March by Geraldine Brooks (review to follow soon)
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (review to follow soon)

I have started:
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, which I have planned to read for more than a year now and which started to cover in dust on my bedside table. I decided it was time to pick it up and get another book for my complete booker challenge done.

I have planned to read from my shelf as it is bursting over with books I owned for a long time now and never read.

Literary Blog Hop

This blog hop is hosted by The Blue Bookcase. It is made for bloggers who mainly blog and review about classic literature or literary fiction.

This weeks task is to highlight one of my favorite books and why I think it to be literary. So here it goes:

I think it may be easier to describe why a book is not literary than why I think it is. First of all a literary book is not what everybody enjoys to read but I do. That does not necessarily mean I enjoy every literary book I read. Take Madame Bovary for an example. I did not like it at all. This may be because I read a horrible German translation of it, but that topic would be worth another post. I did like Lolita, The Dud Avocado or The Elegance of a Hedgehog though just to name a few.

Next a literary book has no shallow main characters. That means the character could be an idiot but soon discovers he is one and tries to change it. Characters need to develop during the course of a book. Those who stay the same all along are not interesting. Take Pride and Prejudice for an example the one is pride the other is prejudiced but both overcome that nasty flaws of character and get together.

A literary book is not coming without a social standpoint or other question of morality. It gives the ambitious reader what he or she wants. Something to think about, to get along with or completely disagree.

At last the style of an author who writes literary books is not the same as the one of any other author. The use of language is the channel which affects the reader. Everything like feelings, thoughts, actions and moods are transmitted by it. Take To kill a Mockingbird. I totally connected with the style of Harper Lee so that it was a pure pleasure to read it.

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.

Time for Book Blogger Hop!

Every Friday, join the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and hop to some new blogs. The Book Blogger Hop gives book bloggers a chance to connect and find out what others are reading. Sign up at Jennifer’s blog so people can find your blog too.

If you visit my blog because of the hop please leave a comment and a link and I'm going to pay a visit at your blog too.

Jennifer asks this week how many blogs I follow. Let's see on my blog roll I have 10 blogs I love to read. But I subscribed to 27 blogs which I read from time to time.

It's Monday! What are you reading? & Mailbox Monday

“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:
Valeria's Last Stand by Marc Fitten (soon to be reviewed)

I have started:
Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

I have planned:
The Girl who played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (actually I'm half way into this already)
Tell No One by Harlen Coben
Fool by Christopher Moore (waiting for me to be read for ages)

This weeks Mailbox Monday is hosted by Chick Loves Lit. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Last week I only got the biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera from the library.