I wish I could have given the book a better rating due to its content but it just didn’t measure up to anything higher than 3 out of 5 stars. It wasn’t incredibly well written, it was extremely repetitive and the “stuck in the 90s” design of the cover, as well as of some randomly…
Category: Read in 2017
Wonder – R. J. Palacio
There are few words that can describe the impression “Wonder” left after reading it and I think you would see best by making your own opinion of it. It was sweet, enchanting, heart warming, extremely emotionally touching (leaving you laughing out loud or even getting teary-eyed at times) and besides all that, so so well…
À propos d’un gamin (About a Boy) – Nick Hornby
Out of the 3 Nick Hornby books that I’ve read, this was definitely the one that I hated the least 😁 The characters were better developed, in my opinion, than the ones in “A Long Way Down” or “High Fidelity”. Nevertheless, what seemed to have mainly elevated the rating, was the fact of imagining Hugh…
Couchsurfing in Russland – Stephan Orth
Ein Buch, das ich jedem weiterempfehlen würde, der/die Lust hat, einen Einblick in die echte russische Kultur zu bekommen. Ohne Vorurteile, abseits der Klischees und der Stereotypen, unbeeinflusst von den aktuellsten politischen Ereignissen. Für jemanden der mit der Art der russischen Menschen vertraut ist, kann ich mit Sicherheit sagen, dass mit dem Buch ein absolut…
Underground – Haruki Murakami
Murakami’s “Underground” has definitely nothing to do with the author’s other works of fiction. Nevertheless I mostly reached out for the book because of Murakami – I didn’t end up being completely disappointed but it also wasn’t a groundbreaking book in my opinion, therefore the 3 out of 5 stars rating. What I read out…
Couchsurfing im Iran – Stephan Orth
Nach dem Fertiglesen des “Couchsurfing in Russland” Buches, bin ich von der iranischen Version sogar mehr begeistert! Der Unterschied zwischen den beiden ist, dass in der Iran-Ausführung mehr Zeit genommen wurde, über die Personen und die Interaktionen mit den Leuten zu schildern, anstatt den Fokus auf das Land im Allgemeinen zu setzen. Der Erzählfluss war…
Vous descendez? (A Long Way Down) – Nick Hornby
The only reason why I keep on reaching out to Nick Hornby’s books is the fact that I’ve got them standing around in French on my bookshelf. In my opinion, that’s also the only plausible reason to read them – translated from English into other languages to learn those foreign language, since the style and…
Chernobyl Prayer – Svetlana Alexievich
“Chernobyl Prayer” was one of those books that simply took you on an emotional roller-coaster ride while reading it. The collected stories would probably be the most authentic ones you’ll get to read when trying to find the real background stories of people affected by the Chernobyl disaster. With tears of sadness, feeling touched by…
Confessions of a Sociopath – M. E. Thomas
I would have given the book a 4 out of 5 rating, but unfortunately it was too noticeable that the author absolutely isn’t a professional writer. I just started reading “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer and the difference couldn’t have been bigger, the 2 books seem like 2 absolutely different worlds judging by the…
The Dark Road – Ma Jian
Ma Jian’s story definitely gave an absolutely different perspective on China’s “one child policy” than what you would expect. The narrative proceeded in a way that felt a bit like a roller-coaster ride, which could be perceived from both a positive and a negative side. It didn’t manage to captivate your attention completely but nevertheless…
The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
I started with “The Girl on the Train” longing for a similar read to “Gone Girl” but it simply ended up being TOO similar. I even checked the publication years, whether Hawkins might have gotten some inspiration from Flynn, which might very well be possible. The way both stories developed were very much alike, the…
VK READS 