books

After not being able to decide for a very long time, I have finally bought a kindle Paperwhite back in January. I've wanted one for a while, but I wasn't so sure if I'd actually like it. The book itself is simply such a huge part of the reading experience. 

I've had if for a while now and I have to say it's super convenient. I mainly thought about buying an e-reader because my bus ride home take quite some time. Always carrying around books on top of the stuff I actually need is just way too heavy. The kindle is really light and still contains dozens of books. I also have access to the Internet and can access my cloud anywhere and at any moment or just buy new books online.

The thing I was worried most before buying the kindle was its effect on my eyes. Reading on my macbook just gives me headaches after a while. The kindle, however, is really easy on the eyes. Light intensity, font and font size are easily adjustable and the screen is kinda dull. I've spend hours reading on my kindle and still felt fine afterwards.

Many of you might also know that reading a lot can turn out quite expensive. Of course, I could just borrow books in a library. I really like having books at home, however, and the library probably wouldn't have half of what I want to read. So a kindle is actually a relatively cheap alternative. E-books are cheaper in general. Also, if you are a member of Amazon Prime you can borrow ebooks over amazon for free. 

A kindle is also really convenient if you want to read in a language other than your mother tongue. Firstly, there is a bigger range of foreign books than in local book stores. Of course, there are foreign books available in bookstores. The selection of languages and books is quite limited, however. It might not be that hard to find a book in English, French or Spanish in Austria. If you wanted a book in Portuguese, you would definitely have to order it online, which usually takes up to a few weeks.Secondly, foreign books are quite expensive in local book stores. I once payed over 20€ for a book that would have cost nine in Italy. E-book are always relatively cheap – no matter in which language. Lastly, there are dictionaries installed on the e-reader. By tapping a word either a definition or translation of that word will show up. A feat especially convenient when you're not that familiar with a language yet.

I'm also really happy with the service. My kindle froze a while ago. It just didn't react anymore. So I went to the store where I had bought it and they just exchanged it for a new one. I was really impressed by how quickly and without inconvenience it all worked out.

Naturally, there are a few downsides as well. My main complaint is the "lack of book". You can't really estimate how thick an e-book would be in reality. This also affects your perception of your reading progress. Usually, you can see and feel how many pages you have read. On the kindle, there are usually no page indications. They wouldn't make sense as you can change the font size. There is a indicator in percent, but obviously that isn't the same. Personally I also prefer it when I can put a book in my bookshelf. I could put my there but it's most likely tucked away inside my bag. My third and last complaint is that you don't see any signs of use. There's a certain charm to books that look used and read. Even though it's such a sappy though, it always makes me think about where they have already been.

My last advice: If you don't want to buy a kindle but still use Onebooks, you could just download the kindle app or any other e-reader app for your phone. Since my kindle broke down in the middle of Stardust, I've been using the app to finish it. It actually works quite well. The only downside is that you spend a lot of battery. 

So, that's all I had to say about my experience with e-readers. If you think about buying one, I can definitely recommend it. See you!

The Lover's Dictionary

As promised, I'm back and this time with a book recommendation/review. I stumbled across one of my old books while cleaning up and decided to reread it. So, let's talk about The Lover's Dictionary.

Source: www.goodreads.com

The Book

The Lover's dictionary is the first novel aimed at adults by David Levithan. It is a love story told entirely through dictionary entries. The entries are arranged alphabetically and therefore in no chronological order. They are, however, linked and tell a quite realistic modern age love story. Each of the entries contains a short comment or scene told from the narrator's point of view.

The Lover's Dictionary is written in the second person. The reader gets adressed with "you", which makes it a lot easier to get absorbed in the story. It also makes it easier for the author to keep the novel gender neutral. Neither the gender of the narrator nor of his/her beloved gets revealed. In the whole book, there is no clear indication for their names, genders, appearances or sexual preferences. It could tell the story of a straight couple as well as two men or women. Which leads me to my next point: Levithan's works usually deal with the topic of sexual identity and homosexuality. He himself admitted to being gay and he is a strong advocate of gay right.

As the books only consists of short, loosely connected entries there are many parts of the story left open. This still leaves a lot for the reader's own imagination. Not to mention that almost everybody can picture themselves as part of the book as there is so little given away about the characters backgrounds.

Source: randombookishramblings.blogspot.co.at

The Author

David Levithan is a popular American author of young-adult fiction. His most famous work must be Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which was also made into a film, although his other works are mostly well known as well. His books usually revolve around one or more gay characters or he simply does not give away their gender at all.

Most of his books deal with the topic of homosexuality as it concerns him directly. As already stated above, he himself is gay and strongly advocates gay rights. In his books, he usually wants to show the reader that love is just love without regard to anybody's gender. In Every Day for example, the main character is a bodiless being that borrows other peoples' bodies for a day. One day, he/she falls in love with the girlfriend of one of the borrowed bodies. So, he/she tries to find her again every day in that day's body: be it a girl or a boy or anything in between. The message of that book is obviously that true love has no boundaries and knowns no gender, age or appearance.

My Opinion on the Book

I only picked up The Lover's Dictionary because I saw it on a pile of books for sale while browsing a store a while ago. I had already heard of the book before but I hadn't really had the intention to read it. I bought it anyways and was surprised by how good it was. David Levithan actually manages to tell the story of a relationship with many ups and downs while only giving away minimal information about the couple. 

I was a bit skeptical in the beginning because telling a story while basically having the reader read between the lines throughout the whole books seems like a really hard task to archive. I can't even be content with what I'm writing and that's just normal prose. So naturally, I had my doubts. It turned out as a positive surprise though. Now, it's one of my favourite books. 

The only thing that fools you is the thickness of the book. The Lover's Dictionary is actually a pretty quick read. Sure, it does have over 200 pages, but there is hardly ever more than of the page filled. Sometimes, it's even just a few words.

Source: djamesauthor.blogspot.co.at

If you want to find out more about David Levithan or his work, I'll put some links below.
Click here to get to his website.
This link will lead you to his twitter.


So, I hope you enjoyed today's post. I'm off to bed. Bye!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Now that I've finished all of my exams for 2014 and managed to get all of my christmas shopping done, I'm back again. Even though it's a bit late to still put it on your christmas wish list, I'm going to tell you something about a great book today. It's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I've wanted to read that book for years now, but only actually did, after one of the people I live with had told me about how good it is. And it actually is! 

What is the book about?

The book tells the story of 15-year-old Christopher Booth, who suffers from Asperger Syndrom. He finds his neighbour's dog stabbed with a garden fork one night and decides to find the murderer. The only problem is that his father does not like him investigating. But there's got to be a way for Christopher to figure out who committed the murder anyways, hasn't there? I'm not going to tell you more about the plot. If you want to find out who killed the dog and what big family secret Christopher is going to unveil, you'll have to read it yourself!

What is Asperger Syndrome?

Asperger syndrome is a form of an autism spectrum disorder. It is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive of behaviours and interests. Affected people have trouble understanding other people's emotions and feelings. They show limited empathy for their peers and often are clumsy – not only physically but also with their choice of words. In contrast to other autism spectrum disorders, people affected by Asperger's have a relative high level of linguistic and cognitive development. They do not have as much trouble with speaking and their ability to think is basically on the same level as the one of any other person. They cannot comprehend their own or other other people's feelings whatsoever. 

Why did I like the book?

I absolutely enjoyed reading the book. It's been a while since I last finished a book that quickly. The story is told from Christopher's perspective, which makes it really engaging and refreshing to read. Mark Haddon also has a genuinely pleasant writing style and the whole story just flows nicely.

The only thing that put me a bit off in the beginning was the numbering of chapters. The first chapter is named "2" and I only was sure I didn't skip a chapter after I saw that the following chapters were 3, 5, 7 and 11. They're all named after prim numbers and that really confused me at first.

Another benefit of the book is the authors description of Christopher. I just feel like he paints a good picture of a person suffering from Asperger's. His description seemed really fitting, even though honestly, I can't really judge anything about it. My experience with people on the spectrum is next to nil. Nonetheless, there was nothing that made me think: "That's not likely at all!"

All in all, the book is worth reading and every minute and euro you spend on it is well invested. If you're looking for a detective novel with a twist or just a new and refreshing story The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is the right choice for you.

Lastly, for all the people living in Graz: In January 2015 there are going to be several performances of "Supergute Tage oder Die Wunderbare Welt Des Christopher Boone" in the Next Liberty. Just in case you are interested!