When I was younger, my grandpa read lots and lots of books to me: Erich Kästner, Otfried Preußler, Wilhelm Busch, Janosch, Paul Maar (basically all German children’s classics except for Michael Ende – I’ve never read a single one of his books), and Astrid Lindgren. Although there’s one or two I’d enjoy reading again, I’ve forgotten all about them. Seriously, I just had to consult Goodreads to come up with a list of children’s books that were read to me. I’m sure I loved them all very much – after all, they made me fall in love with the written word, – but they just don’t feel like “my” books, because I never read them myself …

My first newbie post since May 2014. That’s probably a good thing since this means you didn’t really get to see how crazy I went last year. This year also started … well, it was my birthday in January, so what did you expect?! Since I’m lazy, I’m not going to talk about all the books I got in January but jump right into February …

I did it! I really did it! I finished all the books that I’d started back in 2014. I’m still not used to seeing only two to three books in my currently reading section on Goodreads. It’s so weird. I can’t even remember the last time I’d read no more than three books. It must have been at least over 18 months ago. Shocking since I used to read one book after the other when I was younger …

Little readingrat, have you forgotten you didn’t want to put pressure onto yourself via reading lists? Well, I can still write lists, right? Doesn’t mean I have to stick to them. Looking back, I actually never have. Those quarter lists always ended up to be largely ignored. So, just for the fun of it, here are the books I might read this spring, if I happen to be in the right mood …

Oh, your eyes are just fine! It really is “fantastical horse novels”. I could have gone with YA high fantasy, or strong female characters, or blue covers. But come one, that would have been boring! Why not talk about something out of the ordinary? …

Choosing 10 all-time favourites from the past three years (2012-2014) wasn’t as hard as I thought. The more books I read, the more choosy I become. I’m not as easily impressed as I once was which is indicated by the dwindling number of 5-star books. However, a novel doesn’t neccessarily have to be a 5-star read to become a favourite …

I really enjoyed Mistborn: The Final Empire. It made me smile, laugh out loud, scream, tear out my hair, and cry rivers of tears – and yes, these are all good attributes in a novel. And yet, I’m not as crazy about it as everyone else I know. Maybe my expectations were a little too high with all the buzz around me. Maybe I was too wary about becoming yet again the odd one out. And as much as I tried to love it, somehow I felt distant. I wasn’t able to completely immerse myself in this fantastic world and really connect with the characters. I see the beauty of the novel, I see why everyone else loves it. I can write a raving review – as an onlooker. Unfortunately, for me personally, it just didn’t click (which isn’t as bad as it sounds. It just means that it didn’t have that certain something for me).