Summer Reading List

Dag bloggers,

De zomer is aangebroken. Dat betekent: een nieuwe reading list! Mijn Spring Reading List is bijna helemaal uitgelezen. Enkel ”The Book of Tomorrow’ van Cecilia Ahern staat nog op het lijstje. Vanmorgen heb ik ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ van Jonathan Safran Foer uitgelezen. Die stond nog op de Winter Reading List. Ondertussen heb ik al een hele nieuwe lijst boeken uitgekozen. Wat denken jullie van deze?

Thyme Out – Katie Fforde

When Perdita Dylan delivers her baby vegetables to a local hotel and finds that her unpredictable ex-husband, Lucas, has taken over the kitchen, she is horrified – particularly when she discovers he’s being groomed as the latest celebrity chef and needs her picturesque, if primitive cottage, and her, in supporting roles.

Her life is further complicated when Kitty, her 87-year-old friend, has a stroke. Perdita needs someone to lean on – and Lucas seems so keen to help that she starts to wonder if he’s really such a villain. Can she cope with all this alone? Or should she face up to the fact that ‘You can’t cuddle lettuces’?

Paris, My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate) – Amy Thomas

Part love letter to New York, part love letter to Paris, and total devotion to all things sweet. Paris, My Sweet is a personal and moveable feast that’s a treasure map for anyone who loves fresh cupcakes and fine chocolate, New York and Paris, and life in general. It’s about how the search for happiness can be as fleeting as a sliver of cheesecake and about how the life you’re meant to live doesn’t always taste like the one you envisioned. Organized into a baker’s dozen of delicacies (and the adventures they inspired) that will tempt readers’ appetites, Paris, My Sweet is something to savor.

Chocolate Wishes – Trisha Ashley

Life is sweet for chocolate maker Chloe Lyon! In the picture-perfect Lancashire village of Sticklepond, Confectioner Chloe dispenses inspirational sweet treats containing a prediction for each customer. If only her own life was as easy to forecast – perhaps Chloe could have foreseen being jilted at the altar! But when a new Vicar arrives in the village, the rumour mill goes into overdrive. Not only is Raffy Sinclair the charismatic ex-front man of rock band ‘Mortal Ruin’, he’s also the Chloe’s first love and the man who broke her heart. Try as she might, Chloe can’t ignore this blast from her past. Could now be the time for her to make a wish – and dare to believe it can come true? A charming novel for chocoholics everywhere, perfect for fans of Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell and Carole Matthews.

Can You Keep a Secret? – Sophie Kinsella

Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: ” Secrets from her boyfriend: “I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.” Secrets from her mother: ” I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching “Ben-Hur. Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world: “I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger….Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her…

XOXO

Janne

Winter Reading List

Dag bloggers,

Als cadeautje onder de kerstboom is een boek nooit een slecht idee. Zeker voor mij niet! Met de examens die eraan komen, zullen veel boeken blijven liggen tot de lente. Toch geef ik je hier mijn Winter Reading List.

What’s your number – Sophie Kinsella

I’ve lost it. The only thing in the world I wasn’t supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. And now the very same day his parents are coming, I’ve lost it. The very same day! Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive  !!

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies. When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father’s closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.

One Hundred Names – Cecelia Ahern

Kitty Logan has lost her way.. As a journalist, she’s spent the past few years chasing the big scoops – no matter the consequences. When she makes a terrible mistake, she finds herself mired in scandal, her career implodes and even her personal relationships are tested to the limits.

At a loss, Kitty finds distraction in a list of one hundred names her late mentor and boss, Constance, has left her. Kitty’s been given one final chance, the most important assignment of her life – to write the story behind the one hundred names as a tribute piece to Constance. As she tracks down the people on the list and tries to work out what connects them, Kitty meets some extraordinary people.

Can these strangers’ stories help her finally understand her own?

Chanel Chic – Lauren Weisberger

Drie New Yorkse vriendinnen, Emmy, Leigh en Adriana, zien de gevreesde dertigste verjaardag met rasse schreden naderen. Tijd voor spijkers met koppen. De romantische Emmy is net haar verloofde kwijtgeraakt aan de 23-jarige personal trainer die zij nota bene voor hem betaalde. Tijd om alle remmen los te gooien zeggen haar vriendinnen. De lastige, ambitieuze Leigh heeft de perfecte vriend maar helaas geen tijd voor hem, wel voor de getrouwde, lastige bestsellerauteur wiens werk ze moet redigeren. De Braziliaanse sexy Adriana kan krijgen wie en wat ze wil, maar wat wil ze eigenlijk? De drie vriendinnen spreken af binnen een jaar wat te doen aan wat hen het meest dwarszit…

At First Sight – Nicholas Sparks
How far can you run from your past? Jeremy Marsh once vowed he would never do three things: leave New York City, give his heart away again after barely surviving one failed marriage, and, most of all, become a parent. Now Jeremy is living in the small town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, married to Lexie, the woman he loves, and anticipating the birth of their daughter. Life seems to be settling down – until a disturbing and mysterious message appears from the past. Wounds he thought had healed are re-opened, and Jeremy realises his old life is closer to him than he thinks.

XOXO

Janne

Organised Adulthood Starting Now

Dag bloggers,

Georganiseerd was ik altijd al. Tegenwoordig kan ik zelfs niet meer zonder kaften, tabladen en to-dolijstjes. Volwassen worden ís een stuk organisatie. Een persoonlijke agenda, schoolagenda, werkagenda, begin er maar aan! Deze boeken zullen me zeker helpen. Vanaf nu word ik volwassen!

XOXO

Janne

Fall Reading List

Dag bloggers,

Een paar maanden na mijn Summer Reading List, ben ik de boeken weer gaan opzoeken. De liefde voor lezen verdwijnt niet en – ook al heb ik weinig tijd – ik wil weer beginnen lezen! Het lijkt alweer zo lang geleden, hoewel ik vorige maand nog twee boeken in m’n handen had. Mijn lijstje werd wat uitgebreider toen ik op vakantie vertrok. Uiteindelijk las ik: “Safe Haven” van Nicholas Sparks, “Girls in White Dresses” van Jennifer Close, “Twenties Girl” van Sophie Kinsella en “Don’t want to miss a thing” van Jill Mansell. Vooral “Twenties Girl” en “Safe Haven” vond ik echt de moeite waard! Deze boeken moet je gelezen hebben.

Wat staat er op mijn lijstje voor deze herfst?

 A WALK IN THE PARK – JILL MANSELL

It’s been a while, but Lara Carson’s back in Bath and lives are set to change as a result. Because Lara left her family and boyfriend Flynn eighteen years ago without a word to anyone. Why has no one heard from her since?

Her childhood best friend Evie is thrilled Lara’s back and able to share her happiness. Evie’s about to walk down the aisle with her dream man, Joel. Or so she thinks…

Then there’s Flynn Erskine, even more attractive now and stunned to see Lara again. The spark between them is as strong as ever, but how’s Flynn going to react when he discovers the secret she’s been keeping from him?

Oh yes, there’s a lot of catching up to be done…

THE BEST OF ME – NICHOLAS SPARKS

“Everyone wanted to believe that endless love was possible. She’d believed in it once, too, back when she was eighteen.”

In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths.

Now, twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are summoned back to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their high school romance. Neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives. As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew—about Tuck, about themselves, and about the dreams they held dear—was not as it seemed. Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made. And in the course of a single, searing weekend, they will ask of the living, and the dead: Can love truly rewrite the past?

 WHAT ALICE FORGOT – LIANE MORIARTY

Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child.

So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, , she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…

XOXO

Janne

One down, a lot more to go …

Dag bloggers,

Vandaag legde ik mijn eerste examen af, en met succes! Op naar het volgende. De drie – ja, je leest het goed, DRIE – examens van morgen zijn allemaal voorbereid en grondig gestudeerd. Er is enkel nog wat herhaling nodig. Keep going everyone!

XOXO

Janne

Study Time … Again

Dag bloggers,

De herexamens komen er aan en ik word dit jaar ook niet gespaard. Omdat ik mijn examenreeks heb moeten stopzetten, heb ik nu m’n handen vol. We zijn deze week begonnen en begin september zijn we ervan af. Dat valt best mee, vind ik. Succes aan alle studenten! We can do it!

XOXO

Janne

Little Free Library

Dag bloggers,

Wat een prachtige uitvinding. “Het idee van de Amerikanen Tod Boll en Rick Brooks is even simpel als geniaal,” aldus ELLE. Ze bouwen een kastje en laten mensen de oude boeken uit hun collecties doneren. Iedereen kan deze boeken lenen en hun oude boeken erin stoppen. Een kleine gratis bibliotheek, gebaseerd op geven en nemen, op delen. Dit zouden ze overal moeten maken. Wat zeg ik? Dit zouden WE overal moeten maken.

XOXO

Janne

Pride and Prejudice

Dag bloggers,

Zoals sommige van jullie al weten, ben ik een grote fan van Jane Austen en Shakespeare. Het wat oudere Engels is prachtig en ik hou van al de drama en romantiek. Deze zomer was ik begonnen in Pride and Prejudice, maar helaas is het boek nooit uitgeraakt. Ik lees enorm traag en de vakantie was dan ook te snel voorbij. Mijn boek ligt nu op mijn kamer, onbelezen en moederziel alleen. Eenzaam tussen de andere reeds gelezen boeken, wachtend op de dag dat ik het terug vastneem in mijn handen en het verhaal met liefde doorblader.

Voornemen #5 Lees Pride and Prejudice uit en minstens één ander boek.

XOXO

Janne