hi my readers,

I've decided that I'll continue with my blog about books. I started the blog because it was an assignment for my english class. I've enjoyed writing it so there will be more books! Unfortunately I will not only write about books I read because I like them but also books I have to read for school. Nonetheless I look forward to write about the books.

this time I'm going to write about Citadel from Kate Moss. She has written other historical novels, which I pan to read sometime. 

The book is about Sandrine  Vidal, a young woman who is 18 years old and lives in a village in the south of France called Carcasonne. The story starts in 1942 when the war hasn't reached the village yet. On a certain day she finds a man lying unconsciously in the river and she tries to rescue him but before she can make clear he is save, she gets knocked out as well. Later she has no idea by whom and why she gets knocked, where the fellow she tried to rescue has gone, and who the guy was that saved her. Thanks to this incident she slowly gets pulled into the underground war between the ones against and the ones for the germans. She finds out that the guy who rescued her was Raoul and together the start an underground network called Citadel. The people in the network are woman who are willing to fight. Together the try to save Carcasonne and the south of France.

I liked this book, although I haven't read a lot of historical novels. It is very nicely written, not to easy and not to hard. In the beginning the book is light and sweet but how further you come how darker and more serious it gets, just like the war itself. This book is partly based on true stories but partly and is a fantasy story. This is another reason why I like the book a lot.

I'm planning to read more books from Kate Moss but tomorrow I will write about The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (another Kate :)

Hi again,

This time the book which I will be talking about is Summerhouse with Swimming pool, a dutch book by Herman Koch. It is quite a large book, but not huge. Herman Koch is a famous Dutch literature writer, but not that that means anything. It was not very difficult to read it but it was sometimes a little bit confusing

This book is about a doctor called Marc Schlosser. He has a wife and two daughters, and he has a practice where famous people come. The story begins with a man who commits euthanasia. Marc had made a medical mistake, so badly that the patient can't be ill. The question in the beginning was if it was a mistake or on purpose. Relatively quick you find out it was not an accident to what happened. This patient is an actor and he invites Marc and his family to come over to their vacation house in the summer. Marc caught that patient looking at his wife, in a way he didn't like. Later in the book it becomes clear that Marc and the wife of the patient had an affaire (if there is not an affaire in Dutch  literature it is not Dutch literature). At the summerhouse Marc sees the patient watch at his eldest daughter in the same way as he did at his wife. Marc lets this go, but he is not happy about it. A few days later they all go to the beach and the kids of both couples run of onto the beach. Marc's eldest daughter goes to another tent with the eldest son of the patient, because she wants to dance. The three men go to another bar where two of them try to seduce some young girls. The patient gets slapped in his face by one of the girls and a little while later another one almost dies but the heroic doctor saves her. Marc walks to the beach and there he finds his daughter lying unconsciously. Very quickly he sees what has happened to her; she was raped.

I didn't like this book very well, because the characters are a bit superficial and I can't wrap my head around why the doctor has an affaire with the wife of the patient. I think the main reason why I didn't like the book was because I didn't like his writing style. The whole book was about punishing the one who he thought had raped his daughter, but when he finds out who the real rapist is, he does nothing about it. That was just the strangest part of it all. I guess I will have to read this kind of books to graduate but it doesn't mean I like it.

This was it for today and I don't know what the next book is going to be, but I don't think it will be over a long time.

Ike

Good afternoon again,

The next I book I will write about is Revenge wears Prada. This book isn't as famous as its predecessor, but just as fun to read. There is no film about this book because the film of The Devil wears Prada has a closed end, and that end is not compatible with this book.

The book is about Andrea Sachs (surprise surprise) ten years after she quit het job at Runway. After a few years working at a wedding blog, where she could write all she wanted and when she wanted. But suddenly during a cooking class she walks Emily again. The become best friends and together the start a wedding magazine. Not about how to make a cheap wedding nice, but a high fashion magazine. When they look for investors Andrea finds love with Max. Max is the biggest investor of the magazine and together they succeed to make it very big within three years. Max and Andrea get married and she gets pregnant. But then she comes again. Miranda sees how successful the magazine is and wants to buy it. So there comes the trouble again,of scheduling an appointment with her and than she cancels. Andrea refuses to work under Miranda again, but Max and even worse Emily think it's a great opportunity. When they sell the magazine without Andrea's permission, she is furious and quits her job instantly.

Just like The Devil wears Prada, this book is very funny and you feel the dilemma's Andrea is in. But the difference is that this book is more about her private life and through the book you get flashbacks about what happened in the ten years in between the books. I didn't expect that this book would end so bitter. It is like your shirt gets an enormous rip in it and it gets sewed together; you can see the rip but the shirt is still nice and wearable. I expected that she would be happily married and Andrea did overreact a bit, but that was the way to get her back with her old boyfriend Alex, who fits way better with Andrea. The overall conclusion for me is that it is a fun book to read and just as easy as the first one and it has a very interesting end.

The next book will be Summerhouse withSwimming pool.

Ike

For the second time today: hello!

This time it is The Devil wears Prada. If you haven't heard of the book or the film, you are living under a rock. This book has been immensely popular, not to mention the success of the film.
Nonetheless I will explain where the book is about.

Andrea Sachs just graduated from Brown college, and wants to be a writer. She just has to find the job that will be her gateway to the publisher world. And so she roles into the job where 'A million girls would die for'. She is the second assistant of the famous Miranda Priestly, the head editor of the fashion magazine Runway and the devil herself. And then there is Andrea's coworker, the first assistant Emily. Andrea has to do all kind of stupid chores, like getting her laundry from the dry cleaner and make reservations for restaurants with other people, to cancel them ten minutes later. She hadn't got any time left for her boyfriend, best friend, sister or parents. How long will she keep coping with this insane woman, that you have to find out yourself.

It was a very funny book to read, and easy too. This is such a book you can't stop reading until you finished it. You feel how stressed out and pissed of Andrea gets and she tries to stand up against Miranda, by spending as much as she possibly can on account of the company. It is sad to see her lose a lot and see her finally make the right choice. Before I read this book, I had watched the film several times. I always like it to make the comparison between the book and the film, but most of the time the book is way better than the film. I also think that the film has to be made as much likely as possible to the book. The film of The Devil wears Prada isn't better nor worse than the book; its just different. There are a few character traits of Miranda that are different from the book. And that is why I think the book is slightly better.

The next book Is going to be Revenge wears Prada

Ike

Hi again,

I've read a few books in the pas two months, but I couldn't find the time to write about them. So I will speake about the books one by one, and in this post it is going to be ... The mythologie Guide.

Just al little note for everyone who reads my book blog execpt my teacher (not that there are so many) : I will try to continue to write about the books I've read. The summer vacation is not very far away and I will try to read as much as possible in any language I can read.

Well back to The mythology Guide. Since I was little I've loved mythology of all kinds of cultures and religions. At first it was just the Romans, later the Greeks and now all of them. I was at the libary and I saw this little book, and it looked very compact.

I loved to read this little book. It gave a good overview over all the different cultures. Of course there are the most famous cultures in that book like of course the Romans, Greeks and Egypians but also less known mythologie like those of the Japanse, Aztecs and even some African tribes. The book has two parts, the mythologie of different parts in the world and themes in the mythologie, and each part is divided into several chapters. The parts of the world are of course obvious, but the themes not so much. Different themes are love stories, death and the underworld and monsters.

From the different parts of the world I liked Asia the best because it was totally new for me, the pictures look very nice and I liked the names of the gods. Although I must say,that the buddism is very complicated and when you want to get how it works you have to get a very expanded  encyclopedia. About the classic area I knew almost everything already so that part wasn't so revaeling for me. Mesopotamia was amazing because that culture is from thousends of years ago and they had very good stories. The only part in didn't like so much, was tribal Africa. I don't know why I don't like that part, I guess that I just don't like those cultures very much.

Of the themes I liked the love theme the most (I'm girl, you know) and espcially the Celtic story about Etain and Midir. Midir was the son of  the upper god and he fell in love with the beautiful Etain. Midirs wife was jealous and Etain became born as a human and rememberd nothing of her marriage with Midir. The king of Ireland was seeking for a wife and decided to merry Etain, but the kings brother fell in love with her. Midir came to get her, and took het to the world of the gods, but the king wanted his bride back. So the king and Midir came to an understanding: Etain would live her mortal live out with the king and after that she would live with Midir.

All the other themes were very good as well, but I liked the love stories the best.
This book is a very nice book, but it is meant to give you an insight in all different kinds of mythologie, so if you want to learn more about the mythologie of a specific culture, you have to find a book for that.

The next book will be the debil wears prada.

Ike

the latest book I read: And then there were none...

from Agatha Cristie:
ten people get an invitation to come to an island, called indian island. On the island is a big house and everyone gets a room. They get treapped together on the island and on the first night suddenly a gramaphone plate starts to play. A voice accuses al of the people of murder and the adventure begins. Later than evening one of the ten dies of asficiation. In al of the rooms there is a little nursery ryhme about indians and on the dining table stand ten china indians and as soon as the first person dies, on of the indians is gone...

The book was fun to read and very exciting, but a little bit easy and very predictable, because if you hold the nursery ryhme next to you, you know how the people are killed but not who and where. I finished the book very quickly because I wanted to know who the murderer was. I dn't think I'm going to read much more about Agatha Cristie because I find them a bit to predictable.

ike

hello,

I've read another book; the diary of Anne Frank! I finished it in a week. I loved reading it, Anne was a very good writer. The book isn't so much about the war as I thought it would be. I mean of course there scenes where she talks about to war, and they were very afraid, but even those times are writen just splendidly. Also you notice the change she had been undergoing while she was writing the diary. altough there were lots of boring stuff in the house  but still she succeded in writing it down so interesting. The down side on the book is that it stops so abruptly and the her change isn't done yet. And I know it isn't fiction but it is so sad. The epilogue was the most depressing to read, the were al just killed a month or even days before to would have been gotten freed. This is probably the only book in Dutch literature I will ever like...
(That says something about how I think about Dutch literature)