Books--what are you reading & recommend

[anneboleyn]

I am almost done work and will need some books to read during my summer break. I'll have to check that one out! 

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Principessa...that's the one!

Anne...It's really out of my normal reading comfort zone, but if you like thrillers, I really recommend it.  I'm STILL thinking about the twist at the end, and how the author really manipulated my thinking!  Usually you can figure out twists in thrillers because you just think of the most outlandish twist, and that's usually it.  But this one really knocked me for a loop!

Edit:  Anne (or anyone!), if you read it, shoot me a PM and let me know what you thought of it! 

[anneboleyn]

Just bought it on my Kindle - can't start to read it. I love books that keep you on your toes. I'll let you know what I think once I'm done it!

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Just bought it on my Kindle - can't start to read it. I love books that keep you on your toes. I'll let you know what I think once I'm done it!

 

[Principessa]

These days I finished the Dutch version of The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett in approximately 2 hours. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed, it couldn't fascinate me as much as I expected and/or thought.





A review from another reader:

https://mariellahunt.com/...ndsor-knot-by-sj-bennett/

[Gemsheal]

I just finished a biography of Wallis Windsor, called The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson, which I enjoyed.  The author (Greg King) was a little more gentle with Wallis than some other authors or historians have been about her, but somehow I didn't mind.  All the known facts seemed to be there, just rather more sympathetically rendered.   I thought the chapters on her youth and her first marriage were especially good.   It was originally published in 1999 but the version I read had updated afterwords.

[onar]

I just read my first Margaret Haddix novel, Double Identity, I totally loved it but there's no other books of her translated in greek.
I really loved the suspense, the whole plot. There were times it reminded me of Dean Koontz - not bad in my book! (pun intended)
Maybe it's time to start ordering books from abroad because I googled her and I read the plot from some of her stand-alone novels and her trilogy on a different point of view on the Cinterela story and despite being "young adult" I found the plots very interesting and intriguing.

[anneboleyn]

Principessa...that's the one!

Anne...It's really out of my normal reading comfort zone, but if you like thrillers, I really recommend it.  I'm STILL thinking about the twist at the end, and how the author really manipulated my thinking!  Usually you can figure out twists in thrillers because you just think of the most outlandish twist, and that's usually it.  But this one really knocked me for a loop!

Edit:  Anne (or anyone!), if you read it, shoot me a PM and let me know what you thought of it! 

Finished the book this week and I really enjoyed it! I agree with the twist - it's not what I was expecting at all. I actually had my money set on a minor character meaning more than they actually did. Great recommendation!

[anneboleyn]

Currently reading “A Court of Thorns and Roses”. If anyone likes fantasy and romance, I recommend it!

[Principessa]

My oh my, when do you know as an avid reader that you have (had) too much tension??

Well, when you would like to read and can't get the sufficiant concentration and attention. I have tried thrillers, romances, comics and magazines. Apparently it wasn't in it for me these past days.

But fortunately I was able to finish 3 books the first week of January 2022. Including one of the always interesting Karin Slaughter.

The piles of books at my little house, both personally owned as borrowed from the local library, are still huge. Even as I got already rid of several books. In 2021 about 4 to 5 banana boxes filled with books went to a 2nd hand store (I had support/help of my coach with that). Over time I have left several books at streetlibraries; other people and general places (holiday home etc.) My current main 'victim' is my boyfriend. He used to be an avid reader, even with his own book review website. Also he tried to sell 2nd hand books at local book fairs. Nowadays his reading is low, and certainly less than my pace. Over the past months I have left many books at his place. For him to read and/or to sell / pass on. Also some books I thought would be interesting for his mother  

[anneboleyn]

I just finished 'Song of Achilles' - achingly beautiful.

[thecrownjewelthief]

I recently read The Rose Code. It's about three women working at Bletchley Park during WWII. It's fiction but based on stories of real women who were there. As a bonus, it's got bits of royalty (both obvious and some Easter eggs!).

[Gemsheal]

I'm re-reading The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler.   It's a novel that I love and have read many times.   

A pretty good movie adaptation of it was made in the late 1980's too.   Lovely soundtrack.

[Principessa]

a recent find in a thrift store, in the Dutch language version:





I am curious, but for now it is on my many and large TBR piles

[Principessa]

These days I read an interesting book by Dutch historian Annejet van der Zijl. It concerns a striking family chronicle, set in both the Netherlands and the USA AND which concerns a mixed family (started in the time of slavery), with Dutch Leon and Juliette born from/in slavery at the origin.

This book follows on from the Boekenweekgift that Van der Zijl wrote for Boekenweek 2018. This small book was about Leon and Juliette, and was already a nice story to read. Through experiences with the couple's descendants and other experiences, the realization came that the story was not over yet. This was followed by the book about various descendants of Leon and Juliette and in particular the branch of their eldest daughter Virginie, who returned to the USA with her Dutch husband and was successful. There are still traces in the USA which can be found. For example: DeFremery House in Oakland, California.

Annejet van der Zijl - Fortuna's kinderen: een trans-Atlantische familiekroniek.


Dutchmen: Leon Herckenrath


His wife Juliette:
Couldn't find a picture of her yet


Their eldest daughter Virginie:




With her husband Ko 'James' de Fremery



Others:

Adele



Emma



Virginia and James' daughter Adele:






Red:
Boekenweek (Booksweek) is an annual recurring time with attention for the (Dutch) book and authors. One of the components is a so-called Boekenweekgeschenk (Booksweek gift). A small book, written by a Dutch author, that is awarded when purchasing books. And for years it has also been a free ticket for the train in the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS) on special days.