Wrap-Up

At the beginning of August I thought I’d spend the whole month reading. After handing in my term paper, I was supposed to have lots and lots of free time. Hahaha. Nope.

First, there was the internship report that finally had to be written – because it had been ten months since I finished work. However, that’s not the reason I finally caved and got off my backside. There was the deadline looming ahead and for some reason, I only get myself together when there’s a deadline. As always, it took me much longer to get it done than I anticipated. After all, the deadline was only looming on the horizon, not staring me down from a couple of days ahead.

Then, I spend a week at home. I’d planned on having a lovely vacation reading on our sofa out on the terrace, hoping to get some colour other than white or red. Not happened either, although I did get some reading time in the sun. However, I ended up horse-sitting my friend’s lovely three Lipizzans, which meant three hours a day at the stable plus another hour commute (this sounds really fancy, in fact, I walked there. 15mins one way. The perks of living in a tiny town). It was exhausting, very very hot, and kind of scary to have the sole responsibility for three rather large beings that were totally and utterly at my mercy.

So I got back to Munich and started my new 10 hours a week temp job in the press department of a couple of imprints at a rather prestigeous publishing group with book discounts to die for – which will probably happen to my bank account. The imprints are not quite my usual stuff but it’s good to see for once beyond my own nose and the team is lovely. Who knows where this is going to go! Besides, hell yeah, I’m in!

Aditionally, Eva came to visit Steffi and me and we had lots and lots of fun book shopping, watching half the first season of Heroes, having a lovely day at a lake, trying to shoot some vids which ended up being 90% outtakes, general fangirling and book pushing, and having a great evening out with Andrea and Alex.

And then the rest of the month happened and I have no idea what I actually did. Well, besides working and still writing that internship report.

1. Tipps und Tricks fürs Springreiten (Tipps und Tricks, #1) by Tiina Vainikainen
   [LT: Tips and Tricks for Show Jumping (Tips and Tricks, #1)]
   

   I guess it was alright. Since I have no experience whatsoever in jumping, I can’t quite judge whether the tips were practical and useful. 3/5

2. Freunde & Feinde (Ina, #1) by Eli B. Toresen
   [LT: Friends & Enemies (Ina, #1)]

   This series has been on my TBR far too long. Since the books are rather slim and illustrated with lots of pictures, I decided it was about time to get to them. Unfortunately, this one was rather boring. 2/5
   

3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
   [dt. Der Nachtzirkus]

   ALL THE FUCKING STARS IN THE WORLD! When I first read the novel in 2012, I really enjoyed it but was also confused by the way of story telling. Besides, I had expected something different and that influenced my reading experience. I ended up giving it 4/5, but it haunted me. So much, I chose to make an animated book trailer as the final project in one of my uni classes. I wanted to reread for ages but never got to it. Now I finally did, and I loved every single page, every single word, every single letter. Because I knew exactly what was awaiting me, I could really lose myself between the pages, in the magic of the Cirque des Rêves. It is perfection and speaks to my soul. I think this might be my favourite book ever. 5/5
   

4. The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin
   [dt. Das Lied des Eisdrachen / Adara und der Eisdrache]

   A nice little read with gorgeous illustrations. Apparently, it’s supposed to be set in the World of Ice and Fire but I just can’t bring the worlds down to a common denominator. The season stuff just doesn’t add up. Anyways, I really enjoyed it. I guess this would be a tale Old Nan told to the Stark children. 4/5

5. Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

   I really enjoyed this one. The story was pretty great, the magic really cool, and it has the best secondary character I came across in a very very very long time. Eleanor is comedy gold. Her witty banter was so much fun to read and had me constantly giggling. Unfortunately, it was rather short. I’m just not used to seeing a fantasy concept developed and executed on under 300 pages. A little more depth would have been nice. 4/5

Stats

Including pages of books I haven’t finished yet.

Newbies

This is the beginning of the end. The end of my being a good girl that has a firm grip on her book buying addiction. I was doing soooo well. Never mind. My bank account is already screaming bloody murder at me. But who am I kidding, getting books in the mail is just a moment of pure happiness.

1. Les Ombres d’Ellynrie by Drew C. Bowling
   [OT: The Tower of Shadows]

   My Mum bought this one for me in a second hand bookshop in France. By now, my French is almost non-existent but I was surprised that I actually did understand something when skimming through the first pages. This will probably end up on my TBR for forever.

2. Kopfüber ins Abenteuer (Zoe: Das Glück hat vier Hufe, #1) by Angela Waidmann
   [LT: Headfirst into Adventure (Zoe: Fortune Has Four Hooves, #1)]

3. Ada: Im Anfang war die Finsternis by Angela Mohr
   [LT: Ada: In the Beginning was Darkness]

   The first one is the first in a new horse novel series (I just can’t keep my fingers off of horse novels), the other a recommendation from my former boss during my internship. She was so lovely to send both of them my way.

4. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (Fairyland, #2) by Catherynne M. Valente
   [dt. Die wundersame Geschichte von September, die unter das Feenland fiel und mit den Schatten tanzte (Feenland, #2)]
   

5. Every Day (Every Day, #1) by David Levithan
   [dt. Letztendlich sind wir dem Universum egal]

6. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

7. Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

8. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
   [dt. Das Lied des Achill]

9. A Memory of Light (The Wheel of Time, #14) by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
   [dt. Das Vermächtnis des Lichts (Das Rad der Zeit, #14) bzw. Die Schlacht der Schatten (Das Rad der Zeit, #36) & Das Gedächtnis des Lichts (Das Rad der Zeit, #37)]
   

10. Legacy (Night School, #2) by C.J. Daugherty
    [dt. Der den Zweifel sät (Night School #2)]

11. Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher (Zamonien, #4) by Walter Moers
    [ET: The City of Dreaming Books (Zamonia, #4)]

    What do you do when you have a bookish friend visiting? Exactly, taking them to your favourite book shop. Normally, we leave with about 2-4 books. This time, however, they had a huuuuge box full of English remaindered books and we left with an enormeous pile each. I was the first to pay and the seller actually asked me whether I’d pay for all three of us. Hahaha, my sweet summer child.

12. The Assassin’s Blade (Throne of Glass, #0) by Sarah J. Maas
    

    I caved and got this although I haven’t even read Throne of Glass yet. However, I prefer reading my series in chronological order, so now I actually could

13. Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals, #1) by Eleanor Herman

    I’d preordered this one. I was really looking forward to it and read the first 80 pages already. However, I just wasn’t in the mood to continue although I did like what I’d read. The characters are all great and I’ve no idea whom to root for, considering they have all clashing agendas.

Stats