Author: Hanna

Incoming – The Last Banquet – +Offer

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Hey it’s me again 🙂

I started reading The Last Banquet by Jonathan Grimwood. This book was really an impulse buy. Book Depository suggested it to me and said they had signed copies, I liked the synopsis, and I bought it. Sometimes it’s as easy as this. I really enjoy reading it.

And I think you should know that there is an OFFER for the Kindle version on Amazon right now. I can see it for € 3.69 on Amazon.de and for $ 4.82 on Amazon.com (though this last price could be even cheaper if you are in the US because they usually charge Europeans more). There might be a bargain price for other e-readers too. Just have a look.

Image provided by Canongate
Image provided by Canongate
Summary quoted from Canongate¹:
Jean-Marie Charles d’Aumout is many things.
Orphan, soldier, diplomat, spy, lover.
And chef.This is his story.We meet Jean-Marie d’Aumout as a penniless orphan eating beetles by the side of a road. His fate is changed after an unlikely encounter finds him patronage and he is sent to military academy. Despite his frugal roots, and thanks to wit and courage in great measure, he grows up to become a diplomat and spy.Rising through the ranks of eighteenth-century French society, he feasts with lords, ladies and eventually kings, at the Palace of Versailles itself.

Passion, political intrigue and international adventure abound in Jean-Marie’s life, yet his drive stems from a single obsession: the pursuit of the perfect taste. Three-Snake Bouillabaisse, Pickled Wolf’s Heart and Flamingo Tongue are just some of the delicacies he devours on his journey toward the ultimate feast.

But beyond the palace walls, revolution is in the air and the country is clamouring with hunger of a different kind. – See more at: http://www.canongate.tv/the-last-banquet.html#sthash.CGzKnrAu.dpuf

Jean-Marie Charles d’Aumout is many things.
Orphan, soldier, diplomat, spy, lover.
And chef.This is his story.We meet Jean-Marie d’Aumout as a penniless orphan eating beetles by the side of a road. His fate is changed after an unlikely encounter finds him patronage and he is sent to military academy. Despite his frugal roots, and thanks to wit and courage in great measure, he grows up to become a diplomat and spy.Rising through the ranks of eighteenth-century French society, he feasts with lords, ladies and eventually kings, at the Palace of Versailles itself.

Passion, political intrigue and international adventure abound in Jean-Marie’s life, yet his drive stems from a single obsession: the pursuit of the perfect taste. Three-Snake Bouillabaisse, Pickled Wolf’s Heart and Flamingo Tongue are just some of the delicacies he devours on his journey toward the ultimate feast.

But beyond the palace walls, revolution is in the air and the country is clamouring with hunger of a different kind.

Review – The Ocean at the End of the Lane

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

It’s review time again 🙂

I finally got around to reading the pre-release copy of Neil Gaiman‘s The Ocean at the End of the Lane that I won from The Independent.

(If my writing sounds a little strange today, blame it on too many watermelons 😀 )

DSCN3840

Summary quoted from Headline¹:

It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed – within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.
His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.

My Thoughts:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is set in a rural town, probably in the 20th century. Although there are lots of scenes that take place during daytime, there is a certain darkness that I felt spanning these scenes. This gave the setting quite a creepy atmosphere. Sometimes everything about the narrator’s house seemed so shabby and rotten. I think this was brilliant.

The main characters we meet in Ocean are the narrator (sometimes in the form of a grown up man, more often as a little boy) and his family, the narrator’s friend Lettie and her family and then there is a woman called Ursula Monkton. All characters are very believable, some friendly, some scary, some a little blurry. The blurriness of these characters might be because they are of lesser importance to the story. But as we are experiencing the story through the little boy, I think his mother shouldn’t be that blurry even though she only plays a minor role.

The story itself is interesting and I’m still not that sure what to think of it. I don’t know if Mr. Gaiman wants it to be interpreted or not. I’m not sure if it should simply stay a fantastic tale, or if there is supposed to be more depth to it. If there is, I think it’s clever. (I can’t tell much more without putting spoilers in here). If it’s just a tale, I think it’s a nice tale but it’s not very special at all. It reads quickly, it’s NOT for children, of that I’m sure, but it didn’t surprise me. The Ocean at the End of the Lane a very dark and scary tale of a boy who is unfortunate enough to be involved in something he doesn’t understand and fortunate enough to find good friends.

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¹ http://www.headline.co.uk/Books/detail.page?isbn=9781472200310

My Summer Santa Was Here

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

I’m back from a short trip to Cavallino, Italy and as summer is in full swing, I’m gonna tell you a little secret!

Santa was here last week. Yep… you read right. Summer Santa came to my house and brought me presents. You remember that post about the Summer Book Exchange organized by Ruby’s Reads? Well the time has finally come, Santa sneaked in and left something for me 🙂

And here are the two books I got (and I have to say, that Hitchhiker has got really cute stickers inside. You can put them on the cover and create a new cover every time!):

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Summary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy quoted from panmacmillan¹:

On 12 October 1979 the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor (and Earth) was made available to humanity– The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace bypass and his best friend has just announced that he’s an alien. At this moment, they’re hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and an innocuous-looking book inscribed with the big, friendly words: DON’T PANIC. The weekend has only just begun… Volume one in the trilogy of five

The second book is Treasured Tales from Beatrix Potter:

This book includes Ms. Potter’s stories

  • The Tale of Tom Kitten
  • The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
  • The Tale of Benjamin Bunny
  • The Tale of Pigling Bland
Thank you Santa!!

¹ http://www.panmacmillan.com/series/hitchhikersguidetothegalaxy

DIY Postcard – Summer, Sun, Far Off Places

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Hello dear reader chum (okay I stole that from Miranda Hart),

As you all know, in June, I participated in a reading challenge. One of the tasks we had to do was to mail something to Karla of the Lovelybooks team that had to do with Summer, Sun and Far Off Places. We were instructed not to send valuable items (no bribes) and the item/s should fit into an envelope or similar.

So I decided to craft a postcard that had to do with the book the challenge was about. (At that point, I hadn’t even received the book)

Card1

 

This is the front of the card. The palm tree on the left is made of a map of Montevideo (the book is called Die Rosen von Montevideo). If you unroll the palm tree’s trunk, there is a message that tells you (in an elaborated way) that you should find out what secret the sun holds and that you will find out about wonders which only the sun is able to perform. It also tells you to let the wind blow through the bay, over to the other shore and that there, in the shade, you will find yet another message. 🙂

Well, as you can see, that palm tree is not the only interesting thing on that first page of my card. There is the sun. And it is supposed to hold a secret. Now you probably peeked while reading and found out what wonders the sun is able to perform. 🙂

I remember these changing pictures from a children’s book I had (and recently bought in a used book shop) and thought “I wanna try making one of those!”. And so I did. I found an easy tutorial on Extreme Cards and tried it. As you can see, it worked 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Card2

Now on to the inside of my card. Here you can see the sea (with a few fish and a shell) and a map of Montevideo in the 19th century (we gotta stay true to the book haha). As I wrote in my little palm tree note, the reader now has to let the wind blow through the bay, and if they do so, the little pin wheel will turn (cute eh?).

Then we’ll travel on with the wind to the other shore (where it’s quite hot and sunny I’m afraid). But what’s that? A dotted umbrella that promises shade. And didn’t that note say something about shade too? Well let’s go over there. I’m hot!

Something seems to be loose on that umbrella. I’ll pull. Haaaa… Look there! A message!

Actually, the original message was a little different but this one is for you!

Review – A Thousand Perfect Things

~ Hanna ~ 2 Comments

Hi there,

I hope you’re all having a great weekend. Last week, I finished Kay Kenyon‘s A Thousand Perfect Things (thanks again to Premier Digital Publishing for the ARC). So here’s my review. Enjoy. 🙂

Image linked from Kay Kenyon¹
Summary quoted from Kay Kenyon¹:

In an alternate 19th century, there are two warring continents on an reimagined earth: the scientific Anglica (England) and magical Bharata (India). Emboldened by her grandfather’s final whispered secret of a magical lotus, Tori Harding, a young Victorian woman and aspiring botanist, must journey to Bharata, with its magics, intrigues and ghosts, to claim her fate. There she will face a choice between two suitors and two irreconcilable realms.

My Thoughts:

A Thousand Perfect Things is set in the 19th century on two fictional continents called Anglica and Bharata. I really enjoyed Kay Kenyon’s descriptions of the setting, especially of exotic Bharata. She managed to make me feel enchanted by this distant place. It seemed to me that her descriptions got more vivid in the last third of the book.

As to the characters, this novel mainly focuses on Tori Harding, a young woman who unlike other women her age is not interested in marriage, but wants to become a botanist. I had no problems empathizing with Tori. I also enjoyed the variety of other characters in A Thousand Perfect Things, yet there were no big surprises.

I really enjoyed this special story Ms. Kenyon created. It has history, magic and far off places. All the things I like. Still, the story had its lengths and that was the downside of this book. I read it on my Kindle, so I can’t say how many pages the book really had. But it felt like 600 and it shouldn’t have. Still, I strongly recommend to finish A Thousand Perfect Things. This book feels magical!

bohnen4s (actually 3.5 beans)

¹ http://www.kaykenyon.com/novels/

Movie – Monsters University – The Theory of Flight

~ Hanna ~ 5 Comments

Today, I’d like to show you two movie trailers. One new, one old. One for the fun-loving and one for the thinkers. Or if you like both (like me), go for it and enjoy both of them!

The first one is an animated movie. It’s Monsters University by Disney Pixar. I really enjoyed this movie. It has everything a good Disney Pixar movie needs. But also nothing particularly special.

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The second movie is The Theory of Flight (1998) and it stars Helena Bonham Carter and Kenneth Branagh. This movie was truly heartbreaking and Ms. Bonham Carter’s performance was great. Still, the movie sometimes felt a little lengthy.

You can find a trailer here: http://www.artistdirect.com/video/the-theory-of-flight/58058 (Embedding a decent quality video didn’t work out this time. Sorry folks)

bohnen4s

The Winner of the Canada Day Blog Hop

~ Hanna ~ 2 Comments

Hi all!

Thank you for entering my Canada Day Giveaway and welcome to all my new followers! I hope you’ll enjoy my blog!

The winner of the Canada Day Giveaway is Ileana A. (I just sent her an e-mail) Congratulations!!

As soon as she has her book, I’ll tell you all what she got 🙂

Thank you Chrystal of Snowdrop Dreams of Books, Aislynn of Stitch Read Cook & Carmel of Rabid Reads for organizing this great blog hop!

canada

Review – Die Rosen von Montevideo (Deutsche Version)

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Wie bereits angekündigt, gibt es zwei Blog Posts zu diesem Buch. Das ist nun der Zweite in Deutscher Sprache. Es geht in dieser Review um das Buch Die Rosen von Montevideo von Carla Federico welches ich bei Lovelybooks gewonnen habe.

Bild von Droemer Knaur¹
Inhalt übernommen von Droemer Knaur¹:

Montevideo 1843. Der Frankfurter Bankierssohn Albert Gothmann verliebt sich Hals über Kopf in die lebenslustige Rosa, Tochter einer der ältesten spanischen Familien Uruguays. Doch ihre Liebe zwingt sie zum Verzicht auf ihre Heimat, ein Schicksal, das fortan alle Nachfahrinnen ihrer Familie teilen. Sind die Frauen stark genug, um für ihre Leidenschaft zu kämpfen?

Meine Gedanken zum Buch:

Die Rosen von Montevideo spielt hauptsächlich im Uruguay und Deutschland des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die Autorin Carla Federico beschreibt die historischen Vorgänge dieser Zeit sehr umfassend und gibt so einen guten Einblick in die Zeit in der das Buch spielt. Auch die Landschaft in Südamerika ist meiner Meinung nach gut beschrieben. Sobald es um kleinere räumliche Einheiten geht, werden die Beschreibungen der Handlungsorte etwas karger.

Da Die Rosen von Montevideo eine Familiensaga ist die sich über mehrere Generationen spannt, gibt es mehrere Hauptfiguren. Anfangs konnte ich mich noch gut in die Lage der ersten Hauptfigur Rosa hinein versetzen, aber je weiter die Geschichte voranschritt und je mehr Figuren dazukamen, desto schwerer fiel es mir mich mit den Figuren zu identifizieren. Außerdem fällt auf, dass die Figuren sich sehr ähnlich (wenn nicht schon stereotyp) sind. Das lässt sich allerdings nicht nur durch Verwandtschaft erklären. So sind sich zum Beispiel Albert, Luis und Antonio von ihren Eigenschaften her wirklich sehr ähnlich, obwohl nur Luis und Antonio miteinander verwandt sind. Ähnliche Parallelen lassen sich auch bei den Frauen ziehen.

Was die Parallelen betrifft, so gab es von diesen in der Handlung mehr als genug. Anfangs war die Verwendung von Parallelen wirklich ein gelungenes Stilmittel, das ich sehr zu schätzen wusste. Mit der Zeit wurden diese Parallelen jedoch zur Qual und eigentlich nur noch langweilig. Hier ist weniger oft mehr.

Generell muss ich sagen, dass mit Die Rosen von Montevideo für meinen Geschmack wohl zu viel auf einmal versucht wurde. Die Mischung aus Liebesgeschichte, Drama, Historienroman und Familiensaga hat mich einfach überwältigt. Hier wäre locker Stoff für drei Bücher vorhanden gewesen. Ich will damit nicht sagen, dass mir das Buch gar nicht gefallen hat. Es hat mich vor allem im ersten Drittel gut unterhalten und auch die historischen Hintergrundinformationen waren sicher gut recherchiert.

Mein Fazit: Ein Roman für historisch Interessierte die drei Generationen junger Frauen auf ihrem holprigen und und von Parallelen geprägten Kampf ums Glück begleiten wollen.

bohnen3s
¹ http://www.droemer-knaur.de/buch/7768688/die-rosen-von-montevideo

Giveaway – Canada Day Blog Hop 2013

~ Hanna ~ 11 Comments

Welcome to the 3rd Annual Canada Day Blog Hop which runs from June 27th to July 1st 2013
and is Co-hosted by Chrystal of Snowdrop Dreams of Books, Aislynn of Stitch Read Cook & Carmel of Rabid Reads!

canada

In honour of Canada‘s birthday we are having a Canada Day Blog Hop extravaganza!
Each blog will host their own giveaway – Canada themed of course!
Giveaway’s will run from June 27th to July 1st

This is my first giveaway and I am very excited about it. I love Canada and when I read about this blog hop, I thought “This is it!”

In honour of my Canadian family (Hi Grandma, Grandpa, aunties, uncles and cousins! *wave*) I’m giving away one of my favourite books about Canada and which one will be a surprise 🙂 I will tell you about it as soon as the winner has it!

Rules:

  • You have to be 16 or older to participate
  • You can participate as long as The Book Depository ships to your country for free
  • I am not responsible for lost or damaged items
  • There will be one winner who will receive an English language book of my choosing
  • You you have to enter through the Rafflecopter
  • The winner will be notified via e-mail. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, another winner will be drawn.

If you understand and agree to these rules please click this link: a Rafflecopter giveaway

And now head over to all the other sites offering more great giveaways (I cannot get this code to work so just head over to Rabid Reads to see all the other participating pages): http://rabidreads.ca/2013/06/canada-day-blog-hop-3.html

Review – Die Rosen von Montevideo (English Version)

~ Hanna ~ 1 Comment

Okay, it’s decided. I’m doing two separate blog posts on this book. This one in English and a second one in German. They are basically the same (content wise). I’m doing this because I need to post an all-German blog post for this reading challenge I’m in which is all about this book I am reviewing: Die Rosen von Montevideo by Carla Federico. 🙂 I won this book at Lovelybooks.

Image linked from Droemer Knaur¹
Summary (freely translated – original: Droemer Knaur¹):

Montevideo 1843. Albert Gothmann, a banker’s son from Frankfurt, falls in love with cheerful Rosa, daughter of one of the oldest Spanish families in Uruguay. This love forces Rosa to part with her native land – a fate that her descendants will share with her. Will these women be strong enough to fight for their happiness?

My Thoughts:

The book Die Rosen von Montevideo is mainly set in 19th century Uruguay and Germany. Carla Federico manages to give good insight into the time the book is set in by describing various historical happenings. I also liked how she depicted the South American landscape. As soon as Ms. Federico starts to write about smaller spacial entities, the descriptions are getting a little more vague.

As Die Rosen von Montevideo is a family saga that spans several generations, there is more than one main character. In the beginning, it was easy to empathize with the first main character Rosa but the farther I read, the harder it got to identify with all those characters. The characters are very similar to one another (some are very stereotypical). This is something that cannot only be explained by the characters being relatives because Albert, Luis and Antonio have very similar character traits but only Luis and Antonio are related. Similar parallels can also be drawn among the female characters in the novel.

Concerning parallels: There were more than enough of them in this novel. What started out as a great stylistic device, soon turned into something that pained me and in the end even bored me. Sometimes, less is more…

It seems to me, that with Die Rosen von Montevideo Ms. Federico tried too much at once. The mix of love story, drama, historical fiction and family saga was too much for me. In my opinion, this book contains ideas that could have filled 3 books. I wouldn’t say that I didn’t like the book. I particularly enjoyed the first third and I also liked the historical background information.

My conclusion: A book for readers who are interested in history and who want to follow 3 generations of young women on their long and hard fight for happiness.

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¹ http://www.droemer-knaur.de/buch/7768688/die-rosen-von-montevideo