Author: Hanna

I won – Beautiful Lies

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Welcome back,

Here’s another book I got a few weeks back – Beautiful Lies by Clare Clark. I got this book in a little competition on Vintage’s Twitter Page, where we had to find three differences between the original book cover and an altered book cover. I like games like that. Thank you for the book!

A few updates:

  • My TBR (To Be Read) pile is growing and growing and I’m looking forward to the time after those exams are over 🙂
  • I’ve also recently finished reading Carla Frederico’s Die Rosen von Montevideo and I’m thinking about how I’m gonna solve the problem of writing about a German-language book in an English-language blog. I’ll probably make the blog post bilingual or I’ll make two posts.
  • And I’m still reading A Thousand Perfect Things by Kay Kenyon and I’m still enjoying it. I’m halfway through but there’s always things that keep me from reading. I hope to finish it after my exams. 🙂

Now on to the book:

DSCN3836

Summary quoted from Random House UK¹:

It is 1887, and an unsettled London prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Maribel, beautiful bohemian wife of maverick political Edward Campbell Lowe and self-proclaimed Chilean heiress educated in Paris, debates how to make her own mark on the world, while experimenting with the new art of photography. However, the wife of an outspoken member of parliament, whose views inspire enmity and admiration in equal measure, should not be hiding the kind of secrets Maribel has buried in her past.

When a notorious newspaper editor beings to take an uncommon interest in her, Maribel fears he will destroy not only Edward’s career but both of their reputations.

¹ http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/beautiful-lies/9780099570462

Offer – Neil Gaiman Kindle Books

~ Hanna ~ 1 Comment

You haven’t read all Neil Gaiman books? Me neither. Well, now seems to be the perfect time. As Neil Gaiman’s new book The Ocean at the End of the Lane is out since yesterday (June 18th), it seems Amazon decided to lower the price on many Neil Gaiman Kindle books. You can get books like The Graveyard Book, Coraline or Stardust for under 5 Euros (I think they also are under $5 for US customers, I only see the price they charge for European customers and that’s usually higher and they are still under $5. Unfortunately, I cannot see the price information for the UK, but I think the same applies here. Just check.).

Just head over to your country’s Amazon site and search for Neil Gaiman Kindle books 🙂 Happy Shopping!

(It could be that other e-book platforms also lowered their price for the books. Go check!)

Trailer – Frozen

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Hi,

Right now, I have to study a lot. I’ve got three exams coming up. But I’m also reading, so you’ll get some new reviews soon.

Here’s the first trailer of Disney’s Frozen. I’m waiting for this movie to come out and I hope it will be great. I already like the trailer, although it doesn’t tell anything about the story.

I Won – The Ocean at the End of the Lane

~ Hanna ~ 2 Comments

Happy Friday everyone,

It’s a busy time for me right now. I’ve got lots of exams coming up at the end of June and the beginning of July. Nevertheless, I have good news:

I won a pre-release copy of Neil Gaiman‘s The Ocean at the End of the Lane from The Independent. YAY 🙂

Here it is:

DSCN3840

I can’t guarantee that I’ll get to read it before the official release on Tuesday, as I’ve got lots of studying to do and I also joined a reading challenge where I have to read a 774-page book and do lots of tasks until the end of June (and that book also arrived today – whoa). I’ll still try though. Maybe I’ll have to pull an all-nighter.

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.

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

Recipe – Chocolate Chip Cookies

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Hi there,

For the past week, I’ve been munching away more than 20 Chocolate Chip Cookies. When a friend of mine told me she’ll make some, I felt instantly inspired and had to make some too. I knew that my dad wouldn’t want to eat them, so I only made half the recipe. But still… I had 20+ cookies to eat and I only gave away about three I think. You think that’s selfish? Nah… There aren’t that many people around me to feed. So it took me about a week to finish them all. And they were yummy.

Here you can see pictures of the last cookie vanishing:

cookie

 

While you watch, I’ll tell you something about the recipe. Because you’ll probably get hungry on the way down…

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe is the one from my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. You can find the recipe here.

This time however, I wanted to have an even more crisper cookie (I love them crispy) and so I decided to alter the original recipe a little bit. I made no changes to the process, only to the ingredients (and I only made half of the recipe). So here are the ingredients exactly as I used them:

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
  • 1 cup chopped almonds

For instructions, follow the link to the original recipe.

What’s your favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe? Please share it with me. I love baking! Thanks 🙂

Review – Inferno

~ Hanna ~ 1 Comment

Thanks to Lovelybooks and Random House UK (Bantam Press), I won a copy of Dan Brown’s Inferno.

Inferno
Image provided by Random House UK¹
Summary quoted from Random House UK¹:

“Seek and ye shall find.”

With these words echoing in his head, eminent Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed with no recollection of where he is or how he got there. Nor can he explain the origin of the macabre object that is found hidden in his belongings.

A threat to his life will propel him and a young doctor, Sienna Brooks, into a breakneck chase across the city of Florence. Only Langdon’s knowledge of hidden passageways and ancient secrets that lie behind its historic facade can save them from the clutches of their unknown pursuers.

My thoughts:

– This review might contain light spoilers –

I cannot write too much about where Inferno is set because that would give away too much of the plot. Inferno’s plot starts in Florence and Mr. Brown made the Florentine atmosphere believable for me. I have been to Florence and one other city he describes in greater detail before, so I don’t know if that could also play a role.

Robert Langdon is a very nice character. I could easily relate to him. I also had no problems with Sienna, who is his companion for most of the book. After about three-quarters of the book there were some problems with the characters that also had to do with the plot. There was a plot twist and, in my opinion, that plot twist made a lot of characters lose all credibility.

Overall, the plot is full of suspense and the first 200-300 pages are so full of action that I always thought I needed some breathing space. Nevertheless, these first 300 pages also seemed somehow lengthy. Unfortunately, I can’t really grasp what made me think that. I can only say that the remaining ~200 pages went by much quicker and were a more relaxing read with a lower heart rate involved.

This was my first book by Dan Brown and it was definitely not boring. (Although there were some lengthy parts that were less interesting.) Still, Inferno has its weaknesses. I had many issues with character credibility. (It’s also embarrassing when readers find the answer to a letter riddle much faster than Langdon and a very intelligent person) Overall, Inferno is a book for people who are already fans of the series, or who are interested in a thrill ride that involves art, literature, history and a secret I’m not going to tell.

bohnen3s

¹ http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/inferno/9780593072493

Incoming ARC – Crafty Creatures

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to DK Books, I got an ARC of Jane Bull’s Crafty Creatures, which includes many tutorials for all sorts of cute and easy animal crafts. I’ll tell you more about this book in a separate post where I will also try one or two crafts myself 🙂

Image linked from DK Books¹
Summary quoted from DK Books¹:

Packed with more than 30 inspiring ideas, from fat felt cats, to dangly octopuses and zany pom-pom pals, Crafty Creatures and author Jane Bull help you create your own world of colorful, cuddly animals, as well as phone pouches, purses, jewelry, and more!

With helpful templates and patterns alongside basic sewing techniques, Crafty Creatures includes simple step-by-step instructions with detailed photographs to make sure everyone can accomplish any project in the book.

¹ http://us.dk.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781465409140,00.html?strSrchSql=crafty+creatures/Crafty_Creatures_Jane_Bull#

Movie – The Great Gatsby

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Have you read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby? I’ve read it a few years ago and I really enjoyed it. It is a smooth read and I would really recommend it to those who are scared of reading classics because they think that classics are long and boring. The Great Gatsby is anything but long and boring 🙂

But now on to the movie.

When I first saw this trailer, I was excited. This excitement turned into horror, when I found out that the music in the movie would be modern music instead of 20s music. Now that I’ve seen the movie, I have to say that the music was okay. It wasn’t as disturbing as I’d expected it to be and it was quite pleasant sometimes. There was something else that bothered me: The computer animation.

At some points in the film, the computer animation becomes obvious. Waaaay too obvious. I haven’t seen the movie in 3D, so I have no idea if it’s the same for people who have seen it in 3D. But the water for example, or the star-filled sky, they were really ugly to look at. This wouldn’t be a problem, if the whole movie was a computer animated Disney movie but it wasn’t. I don’t know why the movie’s creator did this.

Other than that, I really enjoyed The Great Gatsby. Great costumes (!!), beautiful houses and, of course, the actors 🙂 Tobey Maguire did a wonderful job. Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan were also very good. And Mr. DiCaprio is a great Gatsby. Don’t you think?

bohnen3s

Reading – Inferno

~ Hanna ~ 1 Comment

As I’ve already promised, I’ll tell you about the other book I’m reading right now. The best seller 🙂 It’s Inferno by Dan Brown and I won it at Lovelybooks. It is the English version of the book and it was sponsored by Random House UK. I am so happy about this cooperation between Lovelybooks and Random House UK and I hope it wasn’t the last one.

This is the first book by Dan Brown that I’m reading and I’m enjoying it. I only knew the movie The DaVinci Code, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this book. So far, Inferno is a smooth read and quite exciting. We’ll see if it stays like that.

Image linked from Random House UK¹
Summary quoted from Random House UK¹:

‘Seek and ye shall find.’
With these words echoing in his head, eminent Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed with no recollection of where he is or how he got there. Nor can he explain the origin of the macabre object that is found hidden in his belongings.
A threat to his life will propel him and a young doctor, Sienna Brooks, into a breakneck chase across the city of Florence. Only Langdon’s knowledge of hidden passageways and ancient secrets that lie behind its historic facade can save them from the clutches of their unknown pursuers.

¹ http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/editions/inferno/9780593072493

Book Stack Cake

~ Hanna ~ 8 Comments

As I’ve already told you, I have made a Book Stack Cake for my grandpa’s 80th birthday last weekend.

It took me two days to make and I think it looked great for a first try. It also was my first time working with fondant and it was really fun. In the end, my auntie helped me do the decorating (she did most of the writing on the cake 🙂 )

Here it is:

grandpa cake

My grandpa has always been an admirer of Lenin and Marx, so I included these two books. And his first name is Hans, so the book on top is his book 🙂

 

To make the cakes, I followed these two tutorials:

Tutorial No. 1

Tutorial No. 2

I made three different cakes. Among them was an Earl Grey Tea Cake which was very, very yummy. You can find the recipe over at Visual Heart.

What I learned is:

  • Take your time – you’ll need it
  • Fondant tastes ugly – it’s way too sweet
  • Working with fondant is like working with modeling clay (childhood memories galore)
  • Only do this if you have strong nerves
  • Only do this for a person you really love 🙂

 

I’m glad I made this cake!