The Fall of Númenor
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Fall of Númenor (HarperCollins Publishers 2022) After the Great Battle, in which Melkor, the greatest evil, was defeated, the earth shook and Beleriand sank into the sea, and the lands to the east of it are became known as Middle-Earth. From then on, the elves could return to the West, to Valinor, and the men who were loyal to the elves were richly rewarded by the gods: they received greater wisdom, strength and longer life, as well as a new home between Middle-Earth and Valinor, which was called Andor, the Land of Gift, but the elves called it Númenor. However, in the case of people, the reward is often more dangerous than the punishment… Among the stories about Númenor, the tale of Aldarion and Erendis stands out. Aldarion was born in the age when the kings from the line of Elros ruled the realm in all their…
The Snow Girl
Sophie Anderson: The Snow Girl (Usborne 2023) Tascha moves with her parents up north to live with her grandfather to help him with the chores around the house. For Tascha, it is a relief to move away from the beach, where she was burdened by bad memories and to be near to her beloved grandfather, who always tells interesting stories. Tascha’s favorite tale is about an old couple who build themselves a little girl out of snow, and because they have no children, the snow girl comes to life at their wish. Tascha is also lonely, she has no friends, so she also builds a snow girl who, like in the fairy tale, comes to life. However, all variations of the story end with the girl melting away when spring comes. Will Tascha find a way to get her friend to stay with her after the first snowdrops appear? In…
The great organization
Clea Shearer – Joanna Teplin: The Home Edit Life (Mitchell Beazley 2020) Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin are tidying up our apartment and our lives after their The Home Edit series on Netflix, but this time in the form of a book. January is a time of new beginnings for everyone. This is a good time to tidy up too. This book is for you if you like organizing, if you hate it or if you’re just looking for a good read, but also if you only like beautiful pictures. The authors organize everything with ferocious humor and dynamism, while admitting that even they themselves couldn’t take some of their own advice. What I liked the most about the book (besides the excellent humor!) was that they didn’t tell us to throw everything away and live in a perfect, minimal apartment, but instead showed us that we can have a…
Winter Magic
Abi Elphinstone: Winter Magic (Simon & Schuster 2017) Winter has a special atmosphere. Of course, Christmas also plays a big role in this, but the period that follows it is also special: walks in the cold, snowy landscape, icicles on the eaves, iceflowers on the window. And if it’s really cold outside, we can curl up in a warm armchair with a blanket, a warm drink and a good book. Many books are set in winter or have winter scenes: The Chronicles of Narnia, Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, The Call of the Wild, The Snow Queen and The Nutcracker, and several of Sophie Anderson’s novels. I really like to read wintery books in the winter and I recommend this book of short stories to people like me, in which you can read stories of 11 award-winning authors, all of which are set in the coldest season. In the book, we find…
Winter wonderland
Hans Christian Andersen: The Snow Queen (Hutchinson 2015) M. G. Leonard: The Ice Children (Macmillan Children’s Books 2023) The basis of both tales is that the Snow Queen takes a child with her and brings him to her kingdom. However, a person close to the boy (sibling/friend) finds and saves him with great spiritual power. The Snow Queen’s tale, although written by Andersen, has similarities to a folktale and tells the story of Gerda and Kay in seven stories. (It is interesting to note that, in contrast to classic fairy tales, Gerda is the hero here, who reaches the end of the road and rescues Kay despite many difficulties.) According to the first story (which is not always present in the tale), the devil made a mirror for his own amusement, in which all beautiful things became ugly and worthless, and all bad things became beautiful. The devil thought he…
24 books I want to read in 2024
The ones I already have: Funny Girl by Nick Hornby Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë The Fall of Númenor by J.R.R. Tolkien When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stuart Felix, Net and Nika and the Gang of Invisible People by Rafal Kosik A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Les contes détraqués by Adeline Leroy The Siren* by Maria Surducan Which I currently don’t have / not released yet: Silverborn by Jessica Townsend The Swifts II. by Beth Lincoln Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters II – III. by Karen Foxlee Pages & Co. VI. by Anna James Shadowhall Academy by Phil Hickes Artezans by L.D. Lapinski Autumn and Abigail by Lucy Lapinska Starfell II. in Hungarian by Dominique Valente…
New Year’s resolutions 2024
I managed to read 100 books in 2023, so this is the goal for 2024 as well. However, last year I also wanted to dust off my French knowledge, but I didn’t succeed, so this year one of my resolutions is to read in French as well. I started learning Spanish before, but unfortunately I stopped and now I want to restart / continue it again this year. I want to shorten my TBR list, so I won’t buy books for three months this year to read the ones I already have. (I won’t commit to a book banning for the whole year, because I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to keep it.) There will still be book recommendations on BogiWrites regularly. This year, I want to pay more attention to the graphic novel genre. Like last year, there will be thematic months, readathons and a prize rewards, too. I…
Best Books of 2023
I read a lot of good books in 2023. I have had several favorite books, but now I would like to highlight the first volume of Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters series by Karen Foxlee. The story completely captivated me and I can’t wait to hold the next volume of the series in my hands, since I have already bought it… My new favorite author is Jennifer L. Holm. Three books I read this year from her and I loved them all, but two became my favorites (The Lion of Mars and Turtle in Paradise). I loved them so much that I will definitely read them again and more of the author’ books will follow then in 2024. Simon Farnaby’s series also became my favorite, because the story is very humorous, exciting and nice. Unfortunately, so far, only two stories of Merdyn the Wild have been published (and a…