April - A Summary

I'm not going to start this post again with stating the fact, that April ran by way too fast! Instead I'll instantly start with my summary. Here we go!

LIFE:
We received the first offers for the changes we want to make at our house. The price meet our expectations, so we didn't suffer any negative surprises there. As soon as my husband has a day off, we will visit the construction site. The outside of the house is finished (they just need to finish the facade) and they already started to work on the inside. My husband thinks that we will move this year, I think that we will be able to live in our own house by next spring. Be that as it may - we are more than excited!
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Die ersten Angebote für unsere Änderungswünsche sind so eingetrudelt und sind nicht höher, als von uns geschätzt. Also hier gibts schon mal keine bösen Überraschungen - zum Glück! Sobald der Liebste mal wieder frei hat, werden wir eine Baustellenbesichtigung machen. Der Rohbau steht, der Innenausbau ist bereits in vollem Gange und man kann jede Woche eine Veränderung sehen. Der Mann denkt, dass wir noch heuer umziehen werden - ich rechne eher erst nächsten Frühling damit. So oder so - wir freuen uns!

We visited my sister in law for a short weekend as our oldest nephew turned nine. NINE YEARS! He's so big already and right now in the middle of a defiance phase and a little difficult. But I still enjoyed the two days off and the fact, that we sat together till way after midnight and just talked and laughed and had fun.
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Wir waren wieder zu Besuch bei meiner Schwägerin in Salzburg, weil unser großer Neffe NEUN wurde. Unglaublich, wie groß der schon ist. Und momentan befindet er sich in einer vorpubertären Phase und ist dezent schwierig. Trotzdem war's toll mal alle wiederzusehen und bis weit in die Nacht zu quatschen und zu lachen!

CRAFT:
My crochet mojo is slowly coming back after being absent for quite a while. I finally finished the little lamb that just needed eyes stitched on and two ears. I immediately started a new project and have a million ideas inside my head!
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Meine Häkelmotivation ist wieder da! Endlich. Nach einer gefühlten Ewigkeit hab ich endlich mein Lämmchen fertig gemacht (haben ja nur noch die Augen und Ohren gefehlt) und gleich sofort mit einem neuen Projekt angefangen. Ich arbeite gerade an einem Sommerpulli!

a new Lupo!

SPORT:
It's reaaaally hard for me to motivate me to go for a run, although I'm still making progress. I managed to run for 6.5 kms last week and I never managed to run that far!
I bought new sport shoes this weekend, maybe this will help. I'm still ahead of my running goal for this year, let's see if that motivation's coming back soon. At least I can force myself to go for at least one run a week.
//
Momentan fehlt's mir echt an Motivation und das, obwohl ich mich mit jedem Lauf steigern kann. Letzte Woche hab ich 6.5 Kilometer geschafft, so viel wie noch nie! Ich hab mir letzte Woche neue Sportschuhe zugelegt, vielleicht helfen die ja. Immerhin bin ich meinem Jahreslaufziel immer noch voraus. 

slightly ahead of my running goal!

BOOKS:
I finished Game of Thrones. Finally. Though I love the books and the plot and the characters, the fourth and the fifth volume were a little tiresome to read.
I managed to read 4 books since and I'm currently in the middle of the fifth one.

After not buying any books for a few months now, I got myself this baking book: It's called Sugar Orgasm and it is written by three women, who opened the "Guerilla bakery" in Vienna. They started with "pop up bakeries" - every two month they opened a little bakery for one afternoon in a abandoned building or an empty appartment in Vienna. That concept proved to be so successful that they opened a real bakery a few months ago and published this book. A colleague of mine ordered it and as I flipped through it I knew, that I HAD to have this book. Can't wait to try out my first recipe from it, I'll keep you posted!
//
Ich bin endlich mit Game of Thrones fertig. Obwohl ich die Geschichte und Personen liebe haben sich die letzten beiden Bände dann doch seeeeehr gezogen. Seither hab ich gleich vier Bücher gelesen und bin grad mitten im Fünften. 

Nachdem ich seit Mitte Dezember keine neuen Bücher mehr gekauft habe, bin ich jetzt wieder schwach geworden. "Zucker Orgasmus" von der Guerilla Bakery ist's geworden. Drei Schwestern haben in Wien "Pop Up Bakeries" eröffnet, das Konzept kam so gut an, dass sie jetzt eine Bäckerei/Caféhaus eröffnet haben und dazu ein Backbuch veröffentlicht. Eine Kollegin hat sich das Buch bestellt und nach kurzem Durchblättern wusste ich - das muss ich haben! Ich freu mich schon auf's Ausprobieren und werde dann berichten!

sugar orgasm! That's the prettiest cook book I own!

How was your April? Got any exciting news or experiences?
//
Wie war euer April? Gab's gute Nachrichten oder tolle Erfahrungen?

February: A Summary

Another month has passed and again it's time for a little summary. Although this year is only a mere two months old there has been as many ups and downs as in the last 3 years combined. I'm glad to say that right now we're in the middle of a big, big UP!
//
Wieder ein Monat vorbei und somit wird es auch wieder Zeit für eine kleine Zusammenfassung. Ich muss schon sagen, dafür, dass das Jahr so jung ist, hab ich wirklich schon einige Höhen und Tiefen erlebt. Umso schöner, dass ich mich gerade in einem richtig tollen HOCH befinde!

LIFE:
Remember January, when I told you in my last summary that we didn't get the house we thought we would definitely get? Well, we were extremely lucky as due to many many coincidences we were able to get a house in that particular complex. It's not our first choice but the longer we think about it, the more we get to see that it's the better choice. We're in the middle of signing all kinds of contracts and we should be able to move in next year, when all the work is finished. As the house is currently being build we're able to make all kind of changes. We spent the weekend hunched over the plans to see what we want to change and it's exhausting but really a lot of fun!
This also means that we're trying to save up as much money as possible until we finally move in. Of course we will have more costs as in our little, small flat, but we're happy to spend more money on our own home with a GARDEN! I can't wait to plant my first tomatoes and carrots and strawberries! This will be so much fun!
We also did some holiday planning last week. Of course, going on holidays and saving money isn't the best combination. We still have some vouchers for wellness weekends from our wedding. My sister in law and my mother in law both live in the West of Austria, surrounded by mountains and the alps whereas we live in the flat East. So we will visit them both in summer. Low budget holidays and family time. Win win. And we will probably be able to spend some days in Barcelona for my man's 30th birthday. I found a really great offer and since we both visited Barcelona already (though not together) we don't feel pressured to visit all the tourist sightseeing spots. We haven't booked this yet, but we will do so by the end of the week.
//
Im Jänner hab ich ja noch erzählt, dass wir unser Reihenhaus NICHT bekommen haben. Durch ein paar glückliche Zufälle hat es sich jetzt ergeben, dass doch noch ein Haus in der Anlage frei geworden ist - da haben wir natürlich gleich zugegriffen. Das Haus befindet sich noch in Bau und wir sitzen grad an allerhand Papierkram um das ganze abzuwickeln. Ist zwar anstrengend, macht aber natürlich total viel Spaß und die Aussicht auf ein eigenes Haus mit Garten macht jede Anstrengung natürlich wieder wett.
Parallel dazu haben wir uns diese Woche an die Urlaubsplanung gemacht. Die muss jetzt natürlich total Low Budget sein. Wir haben zum Glück noch ein paar Wellness Gutscheine von unserer Hochzeit übrig. Da meine Schwägerin in Salzburg und meine Schwiegermutter in Tirol wohnt und wir uns im flachen Osten des Landes aufhalten, haben wir uns zum Sommerurlaub mal bei beiden in die Berge eingeladen. Und weil die Urlaubskasse dann doch noch ein bisschen was hergibt, planen wir gerade einen Kurztrip nach Barcelona zum 30er meines Herzmannes. 

CRAFT:
I nearly finished little Josephine and can't wait to visit her new little owner, my niece Lea, to give her this little cute dragon. We will probably visit them over the Easter holidays.
I also made good progress on my Sunburst Flower Granny Baby Blanket that I made from the leftovers from the baby blanket for my niece. It's coming along quite nicely and I love the look of the squares, when they are crocheted together. I'm thinking about making this a long-term project and adding little squares whenever I have some yarn from other projects left to turn this little baby blanket into a big one for myself. Of course, this would take years, but I kind of like the idea of working on a blanket for a longer time and to use up all the little bits of yarn that are lying around everywhere.
I also started another Lupo the Lamb. A friend of mine will become auntie and she asked me to make it for her new nephew. I ordered some cotton Merino yarn from Drops and I absolutely love it! The colors are amazing and the quality is really good! As you might know, I prefer working with natural fibers. I really can't stand the touch and feeling of Acrylic yarn.
I have some new orders for little dolls already so I'm trying to squeeze in one or two hours of crochet everyday to get them finished rather quick. As I'm able to sell these, the profits will wander straight into our holiday funds to enable us our short trip to Spain! Now that's a great motivation to sit down after a long day at work and crochet a few rows!

//
Puh, was war ich fleißig! Der Lalylala Drache für meine kleine Nichte ist fertig und ich hab die letzten Tage eifrig an meiner Babydecke gehäkelt. Nun bin ich mir aber gar nicht sicher, ob ich die dann als Babydecke hergebe, ober ob ich mir das Teil nicht doch behalten soll um immer mal wieder mit Resten ein paar Grannies dranzuhängen und die Decke sozusagen als Langzeitprojekt für mich selber behalte.
Und gestern hab ich auch noch mit einem neuen Lupo für eine Freundin angefangen, die im Mai wieder Tante wird. Ich hab zum ersten Mal mit Cotton Merino von Drops gearbeitet und bin ganz verliebt. 

SPORT:
I have to admit, I was a little lazy this last month. I went running once (haha), I went for one veeeery big walk two weeks ago and I did a few blogilates workouts at home. Since my husband has joined a gym now and is working out regularly, my motivation has come back. I don't want him to be fitter as me.
I hope the weather will soon get better (where is spring? When I look out the window right now I see SNOW!!) which will give me more opportunities to work out outside. Let's see was March has to offer!
//
Naja, sportmäßig war ich im Feber ziemlich faul. Ich war einmal laufen, einmal lang spazieren und hab ansonsten nur ein paar blogilates Workouts zuhause eingelegt. Weil der Mann jetzt aber regelmäßig ins Fitnessstudio geht, ist auch meine Motivation wieder da. Kann ja nicht sein, dass der plötzlich sportlicher ist als ich! 

BOOKS:
I'm really into the Game of Thrones Series right now. I started the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire at the beginning of this month and I'm currently 150 pages into the third one. I have to admit, the books are as addictive as the TV series and I enjoy diving into this fictional world and let go of everyday for a little while!
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Bei mir dreht sich grad alles nur um die Game of Thrones Bücher. Die ersten beiden hab ich im Feber fertiggelesen, beim dritten Band hab ich immerhin schon 150 Seiten. Machen genauso süchtig wie die Serie und werden mich auch noch im März gut beschäftigen!  

So how was your February? Did you get any good news as well? Did you also had a lot of bad and cold and rainy weather? What do you do to keep your mood up? Tell me in the comments, I'd really love to know!
//
Wie war euer Feber? Gabs bei euch auch gute Nachrichten und leider auch so schlechtes Wetter? Vielleicht habt ihr ja Tipps für mich, wie man trotzdem bei Laune halten kann. Bei allem dem Regen und grau werd ich immer ganz antriebslos und faul!

And now - Have a wonderful and Happy March and may spring come soon for all of us!
//
Ansonsten wünsch ich euch natürlich allen einen ganz tollen März und hoffe, dass der Frühling jetzt mal wirklich vor der Tür steht. Zeit wird's!

Seven Things Sunday // Sieben Sachen Sonntag

Well, let's say that today is not my lucky day. I managed to burn a cake, fail my breakfast eggs and screw up a cup of tea (!), so I've retreated to my couch and will move as little as possible for the rest of the day. Just to be sure. 

Here are the weven things that I used my hands for today that I DIDN'T screw up. Enjoy. 

//

Na heute ist mal alles andere als mein Glückstag. Ich hab einen Schokokuchen verbrannt, die Frühstückseier versemmelt und es doch tatsächlich geschafft, dass mir mein Tee-Ei in der Tasse aufgeht und überall loser Tee herumschwirrt. 

Trotzdem hab ich es geschafft, sieben Dinge mit meinen Händen zu machen, ohne dabei die Bude abzufackeln oder mir weh zu tun. Ich werd mich aber dennoch nur noch so wenig wie möglich von der Couch wegbewegen. Sicher ist sicher. 

Reading in bed after waking up. Something I enjoy every weekend! 

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Nach dem Aufwachen noch im Bett liegen bleiben und lesen. Genieß ich jedes Wochenende. 

I made Zucchini Risotto today. 

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Heute gabs nach langer Zeit endlich mal wieder Risotto. Diesmal mit Zucchini. 

After burning the chocolate cake I had to male something else to fulfill my chocolate craving. Nothing can go wrong with muffins. 

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Nachdem ich meinen Schokokuchen ja versaut hatte, musste Schoko-Ersatz her. Und Muffins gehen ja immer. 

Yes. They taste great! 

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Gleich mal mit einer Tassee Kaffee verkosten. Yummy. 

Started a new crochet project. As it gets a little colder again, I decided to make myself a new beanie. 

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Neues Häkelprojekt. Nachdems grad wieder kälter wird, hab ich eine neue Beanie angefangen. 

Back to the couch with a steaming mug of tea. I bought this one when I spent five weeks in Peru, three years ago!

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Ab auf die Couch mit einer Tasse Tee. Die Tasse hab ich gekauft, als ich vor drei Jahren für fünf Wochen in Peru war! 

Painting my nails!

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Neue Farbe auf die Nägel! 

How was your weekend? Did you had a few failures yourself? Or did everyhing run smoothly? Have a lovely sunday evening! 

//

Wie war euer Wochenende? Auch ein wenig Pech gehabt? Oder lief alles glatt? Habt noch einen schönen Sonntag abrnd! 

the glass is half full

Hello, lovely people!

This is the third time that I'm starting this post. Three different titles, three different texts. Everytime that I read it through after finishing typing it I deleted it again. So here's my third try. Let's see if this version get's published.

We got bad news last week. We didn't get the house. Long story short: We were promised we would get it, then the lady at the office said, that there has been a mistake and someone else got it.
That was the essential message in my two previous posts. But then I started whining and complaining. I told you about the tears that I cried, the fit that I got, the anger, the yelling, the cursing. And that's when I started to delete. I don't want to whine and nag and feel sorry for myself.

So I'm being optimistic and grateful. We are toying with several ideas right now and we will see which one will prove best. We're still saving up money, because we will need it, even if we don't know which solution we'll be the best in the end.

But we're also planning a holiday. We visited the Vienna holiday fair last week and we're now thinking about making a roadtrip through Scotland or Ireland in the summer, for my mans 30th birthday. He doesn't want to celebrate at home.

And I'm still working on being more optimistic and thinking positive. I'm sure, there's a reason somewhere, why we hadn't gotten that house. It wasn't meant to be. That's what I'm saying to myself.

And then I met my best friend for dinner today and we exchanged our christmas gifts and talked and talked and talked and now the world is a happy place. And the best thing was her gift for me. A special, personalised bookmark. And chocolate. You can always make me happy with chocolate.

It's the little things in life. 

Hello 2016

Das Hey Guys!

Long time, no blog. I've been really bad with blogging these past few weeks. And I want to change that. I've been sick with a really bad cold these past few days, which gave me a lot of time on the couch and a lot of time to think. I thought about this blog place. I've been following blogs for a few years, before I decided to start my own. I loved the idea to share my crafts and crochet makings and my love for books with people all over the world who like the same stuff as I do. I loved that I got some reactions after a few posts and that I have FOLLOWERS! It still feels amazing to write that, even if there are just a few.
So when I was lying on the couch, desperately trying to breathe through my clogged nose, I decided that I want to make a new start with this blog. I want to take it serious, to spend more time here in blogland, to visit your blogs more regularly and to comment a lot more. Because that's how you get communication started. And chatting with you lot is what it's all about!

So I start my new blogging adventure by telling you what I've been up to these past few days and what I want to do in 2016.

Shortly before Christmas, my man and I found out, that there are new houses built in the town that we currently live in. We love it here. My man grew up here. It's a lovely little town (more like a village), with a lot of lovely people, its situated at a lake and a national park, and it's just a 30 minute ride from Austrias capital Vienna, where we both work. For these type of houses, you have to pay a certain amount at the beginning, then you can rent the house for 10 years and after those ten years you are able to buy it. It's a town house (or terraced house) in a very nice location, just behind a grocery store, a little outside the city centre. We would have more than double the space that we have now, 3 bedrooms and even a small basement and a garden! We are currently waiting for the confirmation that we can have this house and if we get that, we can move in spring 2017! I know, it's still a year to wait, but that gives us time to save up some extra money and we would be living in a brand new home! So cross your fingers, that we will get this house. We should know it by the end of the week.

My next plan for the coming year is to spend more focus on my crochet works. I was able to sell some of my amigurumi animals last year. It was nice to get some money for the things that I love to do! So I'm planning to work on a little range of crochet things. Like a portfolio. Thanks to my cold (being sick kind of has a positive side) I was able to start a crochet blanket. I have a lot of Drops Baby Merino Yarn left over from when I made the baby blanket for my little niece (that girl is nearly 7 months old already!!) so I decided to start a granny square blanket. I chose the Sunburst Flower Square as I love its texture and how colorful it can be. I have nearly half the blanket finished. It's a good sitting-next-to-the-TV-watching-a-movie-crochet-work, as it doesn't involve any counting and once you mastered the pattern (it's really not difficult) you can easily concentrate on something else. I bought some new yarn (with the money I made from selling my stuff) and will start a new lalylala doll for my little niece today. It's gonna be the cutest, pink and purple dragon. Watch this space, I will post an update here soon!

one of the two Kiras that I made this year. I love the lalylala dolls!

that's why I made little Lupo immediately afterwards.

the beginning of the new baby blanket

and this is my favourite cotton yarn - I will use it to make a cute little pink dragon

I still want to record my readings here. As often before, I forbade myself to buy new books for a while. I have a ton of unread books in my bookshelf. As we live in a very small appartment, there isn't really a place to put up new shelves and there isn't a free space left in the old ones. And moving house with hundreds of books isn't a fun thing as well. So I borrowed a lot of books from friends and family and will try to finish all unread books in my shelf, before I allow myself to buy new ones. I will post my reading summaries here as well - again on a regular basis. I managed to read 57 books last year. Not bad, isn't it?

one of the best books that I read this year! And part of my bookshelves in the background.

And last but not least I made a classical new year resolution - I want to exercise more often. In the last three months of 2015 I managed to go for a run at least twice a week and discovered blogilates. I know that I won't make sport EVERY day, but I want to exercise 3 times a week at least. My man gave me a fitbit-fitness tracker for christmas. One of its features is a step counter. Apparently, you should make at least 10.000 steps per day. As I work in an office and tend to sit in front of the computer for 8 hours a day, this could be a little difficult. But I want to make it a least 3 times a week. Even going for a little walk for 30 minutes must be better than sitting at home, doing nothing.
So this is what I'll be doing when I finish typing these up. Going for a walk. Tomorrow I'll be back at the office, back at work, after more than two weeks at home. The time at home was lovely and I enjoyed spending so much time with my man (we had our 4 year anniversary, by the way!) but I'm keen to having a structured day and to go back to work again. 

So, be prepared to hear (or read) from me more often. I can't wait to see what this year will bring for all of us!

So I wish you (a little belated) HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope it will bring you joy and happiness and sunshine and laughter and hundreds and thousands of memorable moments!

Yours,
Michaela

The year in books. September

Another month has passed (how can it be October already???) and as I always I'm a little late with my list of books to link up with Laura. I've gotten through a lot of books again. I'm currently reading the 47th book this year, so I'm definitely going to make my goodreads reading challenge of 50 books in 2015. I'm pretty certain that I will top it and read more than 50 books. I really need more money and more shelf space for my ever growing reading habit, it's getting slightly out of hand.
Anyway: Here are my books.

Dolores Schmidinger - Im Bett mit dem Teufel
An Austrian comedian who wrote her first crime novel. I'm always falling for crime fiction as it's perfect reading material for train journeys to and from work. I was positively surprised. The book has two timelines: one in the 80s and one in the present. It tells the love story of a woman who falls in love with a man who is a member of a catholic cult group and the second timeline tells the story of her daughter who, after 20 years, gets in contact with said man. It was funny and thrilling and although you knew, who the murderer was, right from the beginning, it was interesting to read until the last page.

picture from google

T.C. Boyle - Wassermusik (Water Music)
I bought this book on a flea market when I was still back at university. I totally fell for it (as I fall for all books of T.C. Boyle) and then I forgot it on the train went I went to visit my parents. On the next flea market, I bought it again and this time I finished it. Boyle tells the story of an 18th century explorer who travels to Africa to explore the Niger. He fails on the first exploration but it never lets him go and so he travels again. I love the style of T.C. Boyle. As I read the first half of the book now three times but the end just twice, I forgot some things that happened at the second half of the book so it was still fresh and interesting. If you love looong books and perfectly detailed drawn characters - Boyle is the perfect author for you.

picture from google

Davig Lagercrantz - Verschwörung (The girl in the spiders web)
Did you read the Millenium trilogy from Stieg Larsson? I absolutely adored it. Even my husband, who barely ever reads, didn't stop reading those books until he finished them in absolutely short time. Unfortunately, Stieg Larsson died after the third book and wasn't able to finish the fourth. After a long struggle with Larssons wife and his family, David Lagercrantz published the girl in the spiders web, which is kind of a continuation of the Millenium trilogy. Of course I was very curios and couldn't wait for that book to come out. I made the mistake to read a lot of article and reviews before I read the book myself. Not a good idea, as my mind was heavy with a lot of different opinions which of course, affected my own. Let's just say this: If you loved Stieg Larsson, you will like David Lagercrantz. Just try to ignore the fact that someone else is writing the book and you won't really notice a difference.

T.C. Boyle - San Miguel
I think I made it clear, how much I love T.C. Boyle. I already read San Miguel, but as I forbade myself to buy new books until the Christmas Holidays, I have to read books again. San Miguel tells the life of two different families who try to live on San Miguel Island, a little Island off the West Coast of North America. When the book first came out, critics said, that nothing happened, that the book is boring, that it only tells of the ordinary, everyday life that people lived on the island. Duh. Of course it only tells that. There are four people, living on an island, away from the main land, in the 19th century. What did they think will happen there? But things happen. And as always, Boyle describes the protagonists so well, that you feel, that you really know the people in the books. You know about their past, you get inside their head to know what they think, feel, smell, talk, you know, what they dream of and if they're disappointed or happy or sad. And that's what I love about Boyles books - his characters.

Robert Schneider - Schlafes Bruder (Brother of sleep)
An Austrian classic. Again a book that I've read before, though it's been some years since I first had a go at it. It's about a boy, who grows up in a little village in the Austrian alps. He's a little strange, doesn't look normal and has an enormous musical talent! He falls in love with his neighbour and thinks, that no one can really love, when he's sleeping. True love never sleeps because when you sleep, you don't think about the woman you love, you can't spend time with her, you can't make her happy. Thus, he stops sleeping.
Rather creepy and disturbing story but it left me thinking about it for some days after finishing it and that's what a good book should do to you - stay in your mind, even if it's back on the shelf!

picture from google

Jo Nesbo - Kakerlaken (Cockroaches)
I've written about my love for Jo Nesbo and his Harry Hole series a few times now. Again a gripping thriller, the definition of a pageturner. The Swedish embassador is found dead in a Motel Room in Bangkok and Harry Hole is send to Thailand to investigate in the case. I won't tell more, Nesbos thrillers are awesome and everyone should read them.

picture from google

Now that Autumn has definitely arrived, I tend to read even more as I love to curl up under a warm blanket, with a cup of hot chocolate in one and a good book in the other hand. We'll see what October has to offer, book-wise.

Happy reading, everyone!

The Year in Books: June

FINALLY I find time to contribute my June reading list. Time hasn't been really stressed or hectic in the last few days, but it was HOT and when I came home from work all I did was jump into the shower and go straight to bed. Way too warm for anything else. Austria has survived a heatwave and the next one is about to begin. I don't mint 38 degrees, as long as I'm not supposed to work. Thank got the next hot day is a Saturday. Hello lake.

I did a lot of reading in June (pagewise) as my man was away a lot, spending time to tune his Harley. He dreamed of owning a Harley Davidson ever since he started riding motorcycles and so I can understand, that he wants to make it perfect now. I'm happy for him and to be honest - I enjoyed to have a few evenings for myself! ;)

So here's my list of what I've read these past weeks: (linkin up with Laura from Circle of Pine Trees

Ken Follet - Kinder der Freiheit (Edge of Eternity)

is there anything better than reading in bed?

The third and last book of the Century Trilogy. I wrote about Ken Follet books here. In this book he wrote about the racist problems in 1960's USA and the Berlin Wall. Again you met the families, whose lives you accompanied since the first book. It was great to read, lots of historical facts and lots of learning without noticing it.

Jo Nesbo - Der Fledermausmann (The Bat)
I read the 10th case of Harry Hole first and ever since I wanted to start from the beginning. So I bough the first case of Harry Hole. Like the two Jo Nesbo thrillers that I've read before,it was a very good thriller, the plot interesting, the killings disgusting and shocking and the end surprising. I want to buy them all over the next weeks, months or years.

T.C. Boyle - The Women

my much used and battered Paris second hand book find. You can still see the price tag. Just 4 euros.

I wrote about it here and my opinion about it hasn't changed. I bought it on holiday in Paris, 4 years ago and I've read it at least once a year ever since. Still fascinates me.

Paula Hawkins - Girl on the Train

After seeing and hearing about it everywhere (and getting it recommended) I gave in and bought it myself. I am commuting by train every day to work so I thought it would be interesting, to read a book about a commuting girl. I really liked the beginng. The story was fascinating and I wanted to know what happens next. In the end I just finished it because I wanted to know who the killer was. I had a clue about halfway in and that turned out to be true. Very good beginning - very weak end. I didn't like the ending at all and for me this destroys the whole book. The ending was very flat and predictable and really, really unrealistic. Sad, because it started really good. 

The Year in Books: May

Oh boy, another month has passed? How did that happen? Where did May go? What did I do in the past 30 days? 
I read a lot, that's for sure. Though this time I have "only" three books to show you. "Only" because two of these three books are more about thousand pages thick. Each. So page-wise I read a lot. Book wise...well let's get started:

(As always, linking up with Laure from Circle of Pine Trees and her wonderful idea of The Year in Books)

Ken Follet - Sturz der Titanen (Fall of the Titans)

I read this book once before I went on my big journey around the world. I always had a big interest in history. As some of you might know I studied German literature some years ago. And literature is always deeply connected with history. So whenever I learned about an epoche, a time, a genre, I also learned about the historical circumstances regarding that certain period. 
Ken Follet manages to combine fiction with historical facts. I love that kind of writing! You have these stories about people that are fictional - but you know that stories like these might have happened in the past. And while you read this page turning story about a small number of people, Follet provides you with the historical facts about the first World War. 

If you haven't heard about Ken Follet and his century trilogy here are some words about it:
Fall of the Titans tells the reader about the circumstances and the historical and political events that eventually lead to the outbreak of World War 1. The story is told via several positions: Families and protagonists in England, Germany and Russia have to deal with the oncoming crisis that eventually draaws in the whole world in one cruel and bloody war. The protagnoists always cross each other during the 1000 pages that seem to fly by rather quickly. While the people in the book are fictional, the historical circumstances are real and so you learn about history while reading an interesting novel full of love and hate and life and death.

Vea Kaiser - Makarionissi oder Die Insel der Seligen

Vea Kaiser is an Austrian author. She's my age and she also studied German in Vienna. I don't personally know her but I'm sure that we had to come across each other at the University. Anyway, Makarionissi is Vea's second book. I talked about her first one, Blasmusikpop here. I loved her first novel and so of course I was really curios about her second one!
Makarionissi tells the tale of a Greek family throughout several generations. Kaiser writes beautifully and funny about the mistake a grandmother made and how here grandchildren had to live with the consequences. I won't tell you more about it as it's a complex story which starts in Greece, switches over to Austria only to come back to Greece in the end.
It wasn't quite as good as her first one but then it's said that the second book for an author is the hardest. Blasmusikpop was such a huge success here in Austria, that Makarionissi is a really, really, really good book as it has to live up such high expectations. If I know about translations, I let you know!

Ken Follet - Winter der Welt (Winter of the World)

This is the second book of the Trilogy and it deals now with the Second World War. The main protagonists from the first book now make place for their children. Still, the maintaining connections between the countries remain and so a lot of familiar people appear here.


Now you can guess which book I'm reading right now! ;)

What did you read in the last month? Do you have any good summer book recommendations? I really need a vacation novel! :)

The year in books - April

Long time no blog... hello to all of you. I'm so happy to be back in blogland, it's been some crazy few weeks. First things first - I AM MARRIED! He said yes, I'm so reliefed! ;) More on that topic in another post which I'm already preparing. Don't miss it because I'm not only going to show you my dress (which is what you all want to see - let's be honest!) but also MY FACE! Yes, I will finally reveal myself to all of you. So watch out for the wedding post. It will appear here in the next few days, I promise!

I did a surprisingly high amount of reading in April! So let's start with my list!

Emily Bronte - Stürmische Höhen (Wuthering Heights)

I can't for the life of me remember where on earth I gotten this book from. It's a very nice edition, and if my research is correct it was published sometime in the 1960's. But it's NOT second hand, that book was unread and brand new. I probably bought it in some antique book store but as I said - I don't remember buying this book which is very weird as I usually remember the purchase of EVERY SINGLE BOOK in my collection.
About the book: It was my first time reading Emily Bronte. As usual with older books, it takes some pages to get used to the style and the writing. But I managed that rather quickly and then really enjoyed this classic. The description of various scene was sometimes a liiiiittle too long and elaborate for my taste but that was the writing of that time. It took me rather a while to finish it, but it was worth every minute. A really nice and thrilling story and a fantastic read.

Victor Hugo - Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

A classic. And I have to confess that I've NEVER seen the Disney Movie so I really had no idea, what that book actually was about. I bought it in an antique book store that I stumbled across accidentially in Hamburg. A beautiful edition and in a very good condition as well.
Anyway, even if I had watched the Disney movie before it wouldn't be the same as reading the book. I couldn't believe how cruel and disgusting it was. And thrilling. I couldn't stop reading it although it's a little exhausting to read that old writing. Such a tiny little font...but again an amazing story!

Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

When we travelled around the world 2 years ago we had to live through many many 10+ hour flights. And on one of those flights I watched the movie. To be honest - I never heard about it, I only watched the movie because Emma Watson played a role in it and as I am a huge Harry Potter fan I was curios how it would be to see Emma in another role other than Hermione. I didn't like the movie very much and as it was an overnight flight I feel asleep during the movie and didn't really understand the end because I missed a chunk of the middle. Nevertheless - when I was looking for a new book (and bought three because I couldn't decide which one I should leave behind) I stumbled about this one. I have seen it in some posts around the internet and most of the times it got positive reviews. So I tried and I liked it! It's the story about a teenage boy. He's writing letters to an unknown receiver and tells this "friend" about his live. He's making new friedns who introduce him to other people, to cigarettes, drugs and parties. It's a great coming-of-age story with a very, very unexpected ending and I will definitely read it again in the near future because I'm sure you read the whole thing differently if you have the ending in mind! Though it's a book for teenager and young adults I would recommend it to readers of any age. Great book!

Emma Healy - Elizabeth is Missing

Probably the best book that I've read this year so far. In this book the protagonist, an older lady named Maud is telling the story. Maud has Alzheimer and the reader gets an inside of her head and her thoughts and the difficulties she has to face due to her illness. It's amazing how this story is build. Maud remembers from time to time that it's been a while since she last heard from her friend Elizabeth. And so she tells her daughter, who takes care of her, that Elizabeth is missing. But no matter how often she tells people that her friend hasn't called in a while, nobody seems to care. Meanwhile, there are always snippets in Maud's present life that trigger a memory to an incident, that happened 70 years earlier to Maud's sister.
The author jumps between the past and the present and both times mingle more and more in the head of Maud until she can't differentiate anymore between what's happening now and what happened all that time ago.
I don't want to reveal too much but the book has a very, very good ending and is one of the most interesting and unusual crime stories that I've ever read!

Ransom Riggs - Miss Peregrins Home of Peculiar Children

Good start - dissapointing end. This book is the last of the three books that I bought spontaniously in the book store when I had to wait for my train. It starts really good, with a kind of horror story but very soon it get's tooo fictional and fantasy-like for my taste. Also the end was a little weak. But I really liked the concept of the author who links the story with old photographs, which are real and which he discovered over the years on various flea markets and second hand shops.

John Grisham - The Client

I love John Grisham. Although his books are often alike he always manages to write gripping stories that are real pageturners. A colleague of mine gave me the book once so it's a rather old version in rather bad condition. But like every John Grisham I read through that one pretty fast and couldn't put it down until I finished it.

Stephen King - Mr. Mercedes

I forgot the books that I prepared for our honeymoon in the hotel so I had to buy a new one at the airport. I didn't really know what Mr. MErcedes was about. The only thing I knew about it was that a man drove a Mercedes into a crowd of people, thus killing some of them.
What I found out while reading it was, that "Mr. Mercedes", as the killer was called by the police who investigated the case, contacted the retired Detective who couldn't solve the crime before he retired. The officer started to investigate again and a very thrilling cat and mouse game began. The end is rather open and I thought, that Stephen King might have left the opportunity to write a sequel when I found out, that it's the first part of a trilogy. A very promising start and I will definitely buy the second book as soon as it's published.

Jo Nesbo - The Son

As I finished Mr. Mercedes before we flew back home, I had to buy another book at the airport in Mallorca. I chose The Son because it appeared in the Austrian bestseller lists for a while and because I really liked "The police", another Jo Nesbo thriller that I read as first book in this year.
The Son is about a prisoner, who escapes to revenge his father, who allegedly commited suicide but (as the son finds out before he breaks out of prison) was actually killed. But who was the killer?
600 pages of thrill and suspension. Definitely not my last Jo Nesbo book, I want to read all 10 books that have the police officer Harry Hole as protagonist. Ambitious, isn't it?

So apart from "Miss Peregrines home of Peculiar children" every single one of the books that I read in April was truly amazing, unique and totally interesting. I would recommend you EVERY SINGLE ONE of it! Go and read them and tell me what you think about it. And please read "Elizabeth is Missing" as it is the best of all my April reads. What an amazing book! I lend it to a friend of mine and as soon as I get it back I will probably read it again.

Linking up with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees and her wonderful and fantastic the year in books. I love Love LOVE telling you about my reads every month! It's such a great idea. Thank you Laura for organizing this! :)

The year in books: March

It seems like the "year in books" posts and the "taking stocks" posts are the only semi-regular things that I am able to blog about lately. The wedding is only two weeks away and I'm in the middle of the last preparations. There hasn't been a lot else going on. I finished the shawl for my dress (just need to darn in the ends) and I made progress on the baby blanket. But this is for another post. Here are the books that I read in March, linking up with Laura from circle of pine trees:

Joseph O' Connor - Die wilde Ballade vom lauten Leben (The Thrill of it All)

picture from google

I found this book at the office. We sometimes get free books from different publishers and we put them all in the kitchen and if someone likes them, he/she can take them home and  read it. The story sounded really good. It's a bout two friends who start a band which gets really successful until something very bad happens and it all falls apart. That was the text on the cover. So of course I was curious. Let me just say that much: I've read the whole book and I have still no idea what that very bad thing was that happened. 
I was really bored with that book and only finished it, because I hate to stop reading a book, even if I don't like it. The dialogues were just chit-chat, sometimes the single scenes were waaaay too long and too detailed and all in all - I didn't like it. So it won't be wandering into my bookshelf but I brought it back to put it in the kitchen for someone else to read.

John Williams - Stoner

picture from google

I heard so much about that book. I make bestseller lists every week and I found "Stoner" in those lists over and over again. So I bought it. It's the story of a man named Stoner. He grows up on a farm with his parents. They decide to let him go to college so he can study agriculture. He decides to study English instead and becomes a professor. It's the story of his life, his marriage, his carreer, his ups and downs. It was nice to read and an interesting story. I liked it and will probably read it again.


T.C. Boyle - The Harder They Come

picture from google

What can I say - I simply love T.C. Boyle. In this new book he's writing about two outlaws, two people, who are different, who won't adapt to the rules of our society, they meet each other and a strange and scary love story begins.
It only took me a few days to finish this book. Like every other book of Boyle, it's beautifully written, and it grabs the reader and drags him so deep into his story, that it always takes me a moment to find back to reality when I stop reading. Love it.

Martin Suter - Montecristo

picture from google

Again a book that I got from work. A nice crime fiction story. Nothing special. Was number 1 of the bestseller list a few weeks ago. A typical beach-book in my opinion. 

Emily Bronte - Stürmische Höhen (Wuthering Heights)

There's no picture of this book as I forgot to take one when I read it and now I've lent it to my mother in law. I will post one another time. Sorry.

When I cleaned out my bookcase some days ago, I found this book. It's an old edition, I guess from the 1960's, a German translation and still unused. To be honest - I really can't remember when or where I bought this. And this is strange, because I normally remember every book that I ever bought. Must have been in some second hand shop. I guess.
Nevertheless - it was the first time reading it! The story seemed sometimes a little long - but that's the style of books of that era. But it was a nice book (and beautiful! Must have been the reason why I bought it in the first place. This is going to bug me forever!) and I will definitely read it again sometime! 

Happy reading, everyone!