Tag: book

Bullet Journal · Everyday things

Let’s talk about Bullet Journaling

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One of my other hobby’s besides books is Bullet Journaling. For those who do not know what it is, it is kind of an flexible planning system. You have an notebook, any kind, a pen and then write what ever you need to remember and to do and so on in that notebook. Ryder Carroll, the man behind the system, explains it really well on their webpage. There is also a ton of videos about it on Youtube. Everyone uses the system different. Some are also really artsy and paint more than write. That’s the thing with the system. There is no wrong way to do it, you just do what works for you. And I use it to track a lot of stuff, write lists in it, diary, planing, drawing and much more.

Anyway, I have been Bullet Journaling for about a year now. I have used 2017 to try some different systems within the Bullet Journaling genre and think I have found what works for me. This is an huge community and there is a ton of different books, journals, pens, tapes, stickers and what not that you can use. I want to go as easy and simple as I can, without it being boring. So I draw a lot in my bujo (short for bullet journal). I also use it as an diary where i put in pictures and write about stuff that has happen. One of my goals for 2018 is to be better and put in more pictures and write more about happenings than I was this year.

I also use my bujo for my love of books. I record books I have read, want to read, buy, bought and much more and I though I should show you a couple of pages from one of my journals that I used this year. This is a spread that makes me really happy.

Picture to the left: Every square represent one read book. There is 133 squares on that page.
Picture to the right: I also wrote down which book it was that i had read. I also use Goodreads to track my books, but this is so much more fun and visual.

The reason I write about this today is because since this year is almost over, I have spent a lot of time with my new Bullet Journal for 2018. I have drawn all of my yearly spreads and collections so that my Bujo is ready for the new year. That means, I have not had the time to read as much as I would like to. There has been a lot at work and a lot at home with the incoming Christmas and such, so the time has not been enough for all that I want to do. But I only has 4 more days, then I take the rest of the year of work and hope that I will get some downtime to read then.

Do you want to know more about Bullet Journaling? Maybe see more spreads in how I use it to track book related stuff? Leave a comment and let me know. 🙂

Classic/Historical · Fiction/Science Fiction

To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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2657| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior – to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature. 

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My thoughts: This is an hard review to write. Trying not to step on any toes here. I dont really know how I should put my thoughts and feelings in understandably words. This is one of those classic books that “you just have to read before you die”. Well I haven’t read it before and the story intrigued me so why not? However I dont think it made the same impact on me like on the other millions of people. I have grown up with the learning that every human being, no mater skin color or sex, should not be treated different. We should treat all humans and living things, like for an example animals, such as we want our self to be treated by others. That is such an obvious thing for me that it is hard to think that this is not an reality all over the world. I have seen racism and I have friends who have experienced it. And quite frankly it is hard for me to imagine that people have been and still are, that mean, selfish and disgusting.

In that time period when this book was published (1960’s) the story takes on an really important topic that, at the time was highly discussed and Martin Luther King was on the way up. I know the books was banned from several states in the US and that really shows how close minded some people are and I wish to believe that this book did some great things with lifting some of the problems. Today I think it’s more used as an history novel and classic that shows us how it was and still are at some places. To not forget and to learn and understand and not do the same mistakes again. Do you understand what I mean?

To make a point with this review, the book is really great. Not an full five star rating from me because in this day and time, I do not perceives it as any greater than many other books about the similar theme I have read. I like the story, the characters and Lee has done a wonderful work with describing both the story line and surroundings so that me as an reader gets a feeling that I’m really there. I would totally recommend it to anyone who would listen and feel that no mater where in the world you are from, you should read it.

Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

The Nightmare – Lars Kepler

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13722526| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A drowned young woman is discovered on an abandoned pleasure boat drifting by the Stockholm archipelago—strangely, her clothes are dry. The next day in Stockholm, a man turns up dead, hanging from a lamp hook inside his completely bare apartment—but how could he have hung himself with no furniture to climb upon? As Detective Inspector Joona Linna begins to piece together the two mysteries, he discovers that they are a mere prelude to a dizzying and dangerous course of events.

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My thoughts: For you who do not know it, Lars Kepler is actually a pseudonym name for the married couple Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril. They are both published authors but together they write the series about Joona Linna under the name Lars Kepler. This is the second book in the series and even though I’m not much for “local” litterateur, I really like this book.

I listened on the first book about Joona Linna, back in 2012. I know that I also started the second book but could not remember if I actually finished it. There where parts that i recognized but i dont remember it all so I just listened on the whole thing again to be sure.

This one is the continuing book about Joona. The first book did not end on a cliffhanger but you as an reader should know that there is a lot of details about Joona that you dont really get to know. Also in this book. But i recon that later on in the series, all my questions will be answered.

I like the book even though I think the story about weapon export is a little dry and there is some parts in the book that really do not make sense for the books plot. I do like that I have gotten to know Joona a little bit more but still do not know all of his “secrets”. It is a book I can recommend but be advised that this is a slow burner in 500+ pages. Not as fast pacing (in my opinion) as the first book, but sometime it is nice withe those to.

Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

No one left to tell – Karen Rose

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11264393| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A car crashes in front of rookie PI Paige Holden’s home. And suddenly, she finds one of her pro bono clients dying in her arms—from a gunshot wound. With her last breath, the woman whispers cryptic words into her ear and hands her a blood-smeared flash drive.

Five years ago, State’s Attorney Grayson Smith put a murderer behind bars. But when Paige Holden shares the flash drive with him, its contents cast doubts on the conviction—and lead him and Paige into a world of blackmail, dark secrets, and a decades-long string of murders. An investigation they’ll survive only by trusting each other—and the truth.

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My thoughts: This is an extremely complicated story. And then a really nasty story to. Not in the way of blood and gore but in a way of politics, dark secrets and people taking the law in there own hands. There is a lot for characters to keep track on, a lot of information from different ways and it sometime gets confusing about which character knows what and do not know what. And it is not that easy for you as an reader to keep track on it. That is my biggest complain for this book.

However I do love the characters even though i do feel they are a little to superficial. Specially Paige. I love the backstory to Paige and it actually feels like it is another earlier book. I have however not found any evidence for it. I have however found that several people she is mentioning in this books have there one book in another series. Just so for your information.

Even though I feel that there is way to many characters to keep track of and that information could have been somewhat simplified and the ending is a little anticlimactic I still really liked it. It is a long book with over 500 pages but perfect for those cold winter nights. 😀

Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

The Darkest Corner – Liliana Hart

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32620320| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: The Gravediggers aren’t exactly what they seem. They’re the most elite of the world’s fighting forces—and all they have in common is that they’ve been betrayed by the countries they’ve died for. Because they are dead. To their country, their military, and their families.

Sometimes the dead do rise…

Deacon Tucker is a dead man walking. A former black ops agent, he was disavowed and stripped of all honor before being recruited as a Gravedigger. But his honor and good name no longer matter, because no one knows he’s alive, and he’ll never get the recognition he deserves. His mission is simple: save the world or die trying. And for God’s sake, don’t ever fall in love. That’s a rule punishable by death. The kind of death a man can’t be brought back from.

Tess Sherman is the only mortician in Last Stop, Texas. She has no idea how Deacon Tucker ended up in her funeral home, but she’ll eat her hat if he’s only a funeral home assistant. Deacon is dangerous, deadly, and gorgeous. And she knows her attraction to him can only end in heartache.

Deacon is on a mission to stop the most fatal terror attack the world has ever known—what’s known as The Day of Destiny—a terrorist’s dream. But when he discovers Tess has skills he can use to stop them, he has to decide if he can trust her with secrets worth dying for. And, most important, he has to decide if he can trust her with his heart.

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My thoughts: Okay book. I liked bits and pieces of it. But it was not an great book and frankly , i’m a bit disappointed. I have read like 13 books by Liliana Hart and for the most part I have really liked them. She writes characters who are fun, quirky and really lovable and you cant not love the male heroes. They are awesome. But there is nothing of that in this one.

Somewhat repeatable. Specially about Tess’s temper, read hair and white skin. About Deacons “undead” life and past. There is no real explanations to WHY Deacon is where he is and they all is a little boring. The only character that actually did anything for me was Eve and I completely loath her. So yeah.

I’m not even sure if I will bother to read the next book in the series. Since I have read so many books by Hart and know what she is capable to do, I feel thorn. Should I risk wasting time on another mediocre book or should I risk missing one great story?

Contemporary · Romance

Wait for it – Mariana Zapata

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33288638.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis:If anyone ever said being an adult was easy, they hadn’t been one long enough.

Diana Casillas can admit it: she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing half the time. How she’s made it through the last two years of her life without killing anyone is nothing short of a miracle. Being a grown-up wasn’t supposed to be so hard.
With a new house, two little boys she inherited the most painful possible way, a giant dog, a job she usually loves, more than enough family, and friends, she has almost everything she could ever ask for.

Except for a boyfriend.
Or a husband.
But who needs either one of those?

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My thoughts: I read “The wall of Winnipeg and me” (twowam) earlier this year and back then I did not know Zapatas books or writing style. I have had this book in my Kindle long before I even read “twowam” but there is always been something there who have stopped me from actually starting the book. But now I have read it and i’m so happy I finally did because O MY GOSH this book is good. It is even greater than “twowam” and I freaking loved that book.

This one is also an slow burn and wordy book but I feel I was a lot more prepared for it this time. There is also a lot more characters in the story and even two kids. And I freaking loved the youngest one.

The story is great and really believable. The characters is warm, funny and feels real. The only thing I feel that I need to comment on is that Dallas mood and personality do not quite match his backstory but that is okay. He is freaking great and I totally love Diana to. The relationship develops in a natural pace and I was not bored for one second. I can see how some readers can feel this book boring because it is not that much going on. But Zapata has an great ability to write an day to day story without at least boring me out and that is a valuable thing for me to like an author. Because I get easily bored.

This book gave me major hangover but it is so good and so worth it and you just have to read it. If you want. 😉

Contemporary · Romance

Eli – Jessica Gadziala

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35905878| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Six years on the inside gave a man a lot of time to think. And a lot of time to plan. When I got out, I was determined for things to go a different way. I never wanted to lose control and rage out again.

The only way to accomplish that, though, was to shut it all down.
Complete disconnect.

That meant no family, no friends, no links to anything attached to the man I was before.

Of course the problem was, I never factored HER into my plans. And try as I might, I couldn’t find a way to shut it down, to disconnect from her.

I had a sneaking suspicion she was going to take all my carefully constructed plans and toss them out the window, was going to force me to face up the demons inside and confront the ghosts from my past.

Those ghosts?
They wore the faces of my family.

And a confrontation with them, yeah, I had a feeling it was going to show me that I had spent six years taking action on beliefs about the demons inside. Demons that had never actually existed in the first place…

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My thoughts: Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful book. And finally I got Eli’s story. He has been an character through out the series you just see but not really hear anything from. He is an tortured soul with the whole world and family on his shoulders. I was absolutely shocked when the ending in book three came and you got to learn that Eli is going to prison. My heart hurt for him and his family. And it certainly was no easier now reading the full story.

The really funny thing with this book is that it is somewhat different from what Jessica Gadziala usually writes. There is no real suspense. No Heroin who needs saving or Hero to do the saving. No bad blood, wars or fights. It is just clean, emotional, humanly raw stuff that the most of us has at some point in our life experienced. The pressure from family or society. The need for love and connection and finding you place in the world. And here it is really the Heroin who does the saving by just being there.

And the book is just that. Raw with a hint of humor. And I cried my heart out and it was so good. Loved the characters but I have to say that Peyton totally stole the show and it is not even her book. And I really looking forward to be reading hers.

I cant do anything else than recommend it to you. It is so good.

Contemporary · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Ashes, ashes, they all fall dead – Lena Diaz

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18274980| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: What she doesn’t remember … will kill her.

One by one the letters arrive at the FBI office in Savannah, Georgia. Inside, each bears a name—a victim of a twisted crime—and the singsong phrase Ashes, ashes, they all fall dead. Special Agent Tessa James becomes obsessed with finding the killer whose victims are crying out to her for justice.

When sexy, brilliant consultant Matt Buchanan is paired with Tessa to discover who’s sending the “Ashes” letters, he discovers a serial arsonist who is leaving nothing but murder in his wake. Inexplicably, the clues point to Tessa herself, forcing her to realize that if she can’t remember the forgotten years of her past, the name on the next letter will be hers.

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My thoughts: This book has seriously everything an romantic suspense geek like me can wish for. You get scorching hot characters, a mystery story you think you can foresee but really dont and romantic in the way that it feels like you are actually reading a book. Not an erotic novella where the goal is the sex and everything around it is just a story leading up to the sex. No, here it is so much more. More feelings and relationships that just makes the whole story complete.

This book is an great example of what I search for when choosing an romantic suspense book. There is one more book in the series. This one is book number three. I dont know if Lena Diaz will writhe anymore in this series but I hope so. The last book is about Devlin but I would have loved to read a book about Austin and see how his life turns out. He haven’t had it easy but always been one of those side characters you dont see much off.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

Postmortem – Patricia Cornwell

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9780751544398.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralyzed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman. But this investigation will test Kay like no other, because it’s being sabotaged from within—and someone wants her dead.

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My thoughts: This is one of those slow cooking, crime novels that are famous for a great story, strong characters and an explosive ending. And it is pretty much what I expected but was not entirely what i got.

The characters are great. You notice that this is an older book where the world was more of a mans world and as an woman you had to fight with teethes and nails. At first I did not like Kay that much. Didn’t like Marino either but Lucy, my god I hated her. Until I started to get to know all the characters and see more besides the shell them put out. In the end I still didn’t like Lucy but that is for other reasons. Really started to like Marino and Kay seams more human to me now. So in the next book I probably will not dislike them as much. And I feel it is a good thing. The author has succeeded to write characters that makes my nerves frassel and this time I liked it.

The story is slow cooking but it is exciting. You as an reader do not get much clues to who the killer might be so when that is revealed, there is no gasps or wonders about how me as an reader could miss it. The clues are just not there. The ending is pretty much predictable and as I had expected and that is quite sad. And it went by way to fast. 98% of the book was slow and interesting but the last 2% was like a blur of moments and story. To bad really. I think the book could be a 5 star if the ending had been a little more. Not faster but at least feel like it belonged to the rest of the book. Hard to explain with out giving out spoilers.

Really liked it though so will definitely look in to the other books in the series.

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Young, New adult/College

The Magician’s Nephew – C.S Lewis

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65605.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis:When Digory and Polly are tricked by Digory’s peculiar Uncle Andrew into becoming part of an experiment, they set off on the adventure of a lifetime. What happens to the children when they touch Uncle Andrew’s magic rings is far beyond anything even the old magician could have imagined.

Hurtled into the Wood between the Worlds, the children soon find that they can enter many worlds through the mysterious pools there. In one world they encounter the evil Queen Jadis, who wreaks havoc in the streets of London when she is accidentally brought back with them. When they finally manage to pull her out of London, unintentionally taking along Uncle Andrew and a coachman with his horse, they find themselves in what will come to be known as the land of Narnia.

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My thoughts: I cant believe that I never have read any of the books in the Narnia series and when my mind finally discovered this, I thought that I should listening on them. They all do exist in my languish in the app Storytel that I pay for. I do prefer to listening on books in my own languish even though I prefer to read on English.

I did not know that there is two orders to read the books on. Either you could read in the publish order or in the order they are suppose to be. I decided for the later and that makes this book number One in chronological order, but really is book number 6 in publication order. Confusing right?

It is a good book and it is really funny to read about the beginning of Narnia. I have, as most people, seen the newest movies but cant remember that you get to know how Narnia first is discovered and how it came to be. Where the witch started and so on. This book is about the beginning. And it was great.

Torsten Wahlund, who is reading the book, is doing a great job with the characters. Specially Andrew Ketterley, who you really dislike from the very beginning.

I cant however give the book a full five star rating. This because I did not feel the magic. My heart did not pump any faster or my mind only thinking on what will happen next. I can see the good for what it is, but it is not great. Not in my opinion.