'born free' by joy adamson

1956 kenya, senior game warden george adamson and his wife joy take three lione cubs into their home because the three became orphans. after several months the two stronger girls leave for the zoo of rotterdam and the smallest one, elsa, stays behind with the adamson couple. she stays with them for three years after which she goes back into the wilderness. elsa is a loving companion and so having to let her go back to where she belongs is not that easy, but it is the way is should be done. elsa keeps in touch with her foster parents for many years after their separation.

have read this book many times, and still get  happy reading it and seeing the photo's. my copy is from 1962, with yellowed pages and and old book smell, lovely. will read it again.

'highland fling' by katie fforde

jenny porter has to go to scotland to have a look at a wool mill which is not making profit anymore, it is just loosing money. the mill is on the verge of shutting down. jenny has to make the decision for an investor to close the business. but gripped by the necessity of this industry in a small town, she gets together with kristy, the right hand of the owner, to keep the mill running. turning the business into a profitable one. during tis process the looses a boyfriend and gains a fiance. she stays in a very dramatic old and cold house with the owners of the mill. helps out in a  mobile coffeebar.

such a nice book.  a pity it finished!

'red letter day' by colette caddle

celine is looking foward to a nice life being just married and a hot new designer in ireland. but her faith changes dramatically. 5 years after being married she needs to move to another part of dublin. to get a clean start. she takes a job in a secondhand shop, with a flat above the store. she enjoyes her new life. she find a new love. a ghost from the past turns up. but all ends well.

finally a nice book, finished in one day sitting outside in the sun at my place. the book has been on my bookshelf for ages. it was written in 2004. i cannot recall i read it, maybe i did. lotsof times one recognizes pieces from the book whilst rereading it. it did not happen to me. i was a haapy camper finally finishing a book after loads of disasters.

'lovers and liars' by sally beauman

another no go. a book from 1994. to me books form that era are already old fashioned. written differently then now in 2010.

my dutch book exchange friend told me:" i was a bit in a hurry and threw some books into a bag for you." i can tell the books she gave me 7 out of 10 are pure crap. have to go over to her house when i am back home to choose something for myself.

'faking it' by jenny cruise

another shitty book. luckily i did not buy it. on the quest of finding a good book.

(not part of my library)

'44 scotland street' by alexander mccall smith

a total no go. the writer has written some nice books, but htis one will turn one away from getting another book by him. no particular storyline it seemes to me.

(not part of my library)

'those faraday girls' by monica mcinerney

five faraday sisters, their father and a little niece/daughter of one of the 5 living in tasmania. unconventional household. grandfather leo aways praising his dead wife tessa. one of the sisters taking care of her little niece fulltime. that escalates and the who family dynamics change. twenty years later we see how the family still keeps together in one way or another. one sister has no longer contact with the family due to what happened 20 year ago. was grandmother tessa the angel leo tries to picture. little niece maggie has grown up and is taking a break from life in new york city. she meets a nice man who she takes to the annualy family get together in ireland. the diaries of tessa are read by maggie and give her  a totally different view on what has happened in the family and why aunt sadie did what she did. is this family so perfect as it seems.

very good book. read book by the same writter before and also enjoyed those. started to read like a maniac and then with the last couple of chapters i got a bit fed up. lots happening in the end. but i kept on going. a bit of a strange end between maggie and her lover.

'picture perfect' by jodi picoult

cassie(dr. cassandra barett), a brilliant antropologist, is found in a cemetry in the city where she lives by an half indian/ half white man. she has a cut on her face and does not recall who she is and where she is from. the man, will flying horse, takes her home since it is late at night. he is a cop just starting in l.a. and takes her to the police station the following day. she finds out she is the wife of famous actor alex rivers. going home with alex slowly everything comes back to her. he is not the nice husband he seems. cassie runs away pregnant and goes to live at the reservation where will comes from. after giving birth she goes back to alex. has he finally changed?

as all of picoult's books to me this is another brillant one. love the way she can write about problematic living situations. good book for a bookclub.

'pillow talk' by freya north

petra flint, a london based jeweller with a tanzanite (gem), who sleepwalks. she breaks up with her boyfriend. to get a bit out of the situation a friend loans her his country cottage. here she walks into her sweetheart from teenage years. they have no time to exchange a big conversation, he is in a hurry. she goes after him in a second moment. they fall in love again. each has secrets. will it work out or not. it is not that easy.

i have read a couple of books by freya north, and i did not enjoy most of them. this one i really liked. i even stayed up past bedtime hours to finish it. i just could not wait until the next day. a pity the book did not continue.

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'front row' by lisa armstrong

a terrible book, too many caracters, a shitty story. about the fashio industry. barf, barf. i am sure people have realized by now there are things more important and impressive than theat business, especially in books. on the cover of the book is written "l. armstrong has done for frocks what j. cooper did for polo". exactly! two books not worth the paper it is written on.

'at home, a short history of private life' by bill bryson

the bryson family moved into an old rectory in norfolk, the former house of mr. thomas marsham. this gave the author an idea to write a book. bill bryson leads us thru the house, it's rooms and grounds and the history behind everything that sits in a house with annexed tales of how and when. from housekeeping to building, to health and living conditions of the rich and poor.

a very interesting book. loads of information about things we know very well but of which we might not know the beginnings. a brief story thru history on the european continent mostly , the usa and travels of expeditions into the unknown of the world of great discoveries in the era of sea travelling around the globe. an book easy to read, giving one loads of knowledge without being to theoretically. a must i would say.

'family album' by penelope lively

the story of a family made up of a father, a mother, six children and an au-pair who never left. the life on a big estate named allersmead, a perfect place to grow up. children fly out and come back on different occasions. how come an au-pair is still around after 20 years or so? the family has a secret. who knows about it? all of the 9 members of this family give their view of where they were and are in this big tribe. one goes from the present to the past.

a really nice book. good read for a bookclub. nice to have the view of a family life seen from different eyes.

'girl missing' by tess gerritsen

i heard a lot about t. gerritsen. 'you have to read her if you like crime'. well, i got to the end, but with difficulty. too many things going on next to each other. medical examiner kate novak has to examin a corpse of a young girl holding a matchbook in her hand. to much talking, too much doing, but in the end the story takes a nice turn when kate falls in love with the suspect in the crime, the father of the murdered girl who is not at all entangled in the case.

'what came before he shot her' by elizabeth george

someone loaned me this book. this lady said she loved the books of e. george. i got to page 236 and the story was still nothing to me. a story about 3 children left to their aunt kendra after their mother died. living in a grim neighborhood of england, surrounded by crime. the boy joel takes care of his little brother toby, who is a bit slow. their older sister ness is getting into lots of trouble becoming the lover of a very mafia like guy. i just gave up, either a book gets to me or it does not.

not part of my library.

'last night in twisted river' by john irving

i am a total john irving fan. i have read all and reread most of his books. 'until i find you', the novel he wrote before this, was one of the best to me. a climax in his writing up to now. i was very anxious to get my hands on his latest work. i got to page 261 and put it way. it does not have the suspense of a strange story which i know of him. i personally think something is wrong with the guy, since his first book. totally fixed on wrestling, sexual hang ups, strange family relations. he kills me and i love him for that. but his books disappoints me. i am very sorry to find that his latest novel is not as engaging to me as the other ones were. he has been writing for a long time, and it is also very difficult to keep writing something exciting. 'chapeau' to john irving, he is a great writer. i will be awaiting a next novel of him, if he is still up to it. i can write a short piece on whatever subject, but writing a book is way out for me. i appreciate writers who are able to get a story or another for us on paper, to keep us excited about what the next page will bring us.

so, with these last two entries, i will also write down which books i lay aside because they can't get me interested enough to get thru till the end.

'commited' by elizabeth gilbert

i loved 'eat, pray, love'. so i really looked forward to reading her new book, to see what happened between her and felipe. what a delusion. nothing like what she wrote before. it is just a research about love and marriage.  i put the book away after 150 pages. i might read the rest of it when i do not have anything left. if she writes another book, i will first browse it! ofcourse it is written very well, and gives a good insight in the way marriage is seen in different cultures. but it was not as i suspected. i read the other novel in a day and night or 2.

'what alice forgot' by liane moriarty

alice falls during a step class, hits her head and cannot recall the last 10 years of her life. she has to get back into 'her' life without knowing what it is like. she encounters lots of people, but does not know their relationship and if they get along. alice does not understand she is divorcing her nick, she thinks they just got married and expecting their first child.

a very nice book. a long time since i read a book by an 'aussie' writer. have to get my hands on some more books from downunder. (strange, i usually read books by writers from the states or england. ireland is a no go for me). the book was a nice one. a pity it was over. the story of alice, and around that, the one of her sister elisabeth and her 'adopted' grandmother frannie.

'light as a feather' by helen dunne

orla is asked to be a bridesmaid at her best friends wedding. but orla thinks she is to fat to fit into a nice dress. she is fed up with the zillion diets she has followed, which had little or no succes. her friend liz suggest she start a chatroom for people who have the same problem. orla does not only start the chatroom but starts to sell undergarments for the overweight thru the internet. it is not going all that easy, she has to work for her succes.

very enjoyable. chicklit ofcourse, but who cares?

(not part of my library)

'the dream catcher' by maria barrett

three friends want to get something more out of life. and on suggestion of a family member they get involved in investing. but the investing seems to be foul play. everyone up to their heads in problems because they gave their life savings.

a different kind of women's book. look before you leap is not out of the question of saying.

(not part of my library)

'my fabulous divorce' by clare dowling

jackie has met the love of her life, the man she wants to marry. but there is one small hickup, she is still married to harry. the man she left without any notice. so she has something to do, get a divirce. but harry doesn't want to give that to her very easily.

a great womens' book. it is a bit more than chicklit. the story has a nice turning at the end which i did not expect. enjoyed reading this book. makes me want to read something more by this writer.

(not part of my library)

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'chasing harry winston' by lauren weisberger

the three friends emmy, leigh and adriana make a pact. each one of them has to change lifestyle and in a year's time they will see where each of them has ended up.

waited ages to get to read this book. my dutch bookfriend bought it "for us" and finally she let me borrowed it eventhough she hasn't read it yet. a nyc-girlfriendsbook. a nice book. a bit less then other books by ms weisberger. i expected it to be a bit more intens, but i finished it, it sure was not boring.

(not part of my library)

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'on mystic lake' by kristin hannah

annie colwater goes back home to mystic when her husband has an affair. staying with her dad, she gets involved in the life of a former male friend who married her best friend. taking care of his little daughter the two geet close again. it this heading for romance or does the husband ruine everything by dropping back into annie's life again.

very romantic book. nice read.

(not part of my library)

'leaving the world' by douglas kennedy

the story of jane. starting as a child, ending as a grown up. falling in love, birthing a daughter, going thru separation, losing a child, moving on in her life meaning moving from the usa to canada, and then back.

douglas kennedy, the way he is able to write about a woman's life, i would thing this name is an alias for a female writer. most of the novels by him i enjoed very much. it is a story with 4 different stories in it's self. all about jane, but every part goes into a totally different direction. it seems you start a new book over and over again. that is what i liked best about this book, it just never ended, took lots of turns and twists. will read it again. hard to lay away. good bookclub material.

'girl missing'by tess gerritsen

kat novak, medical examiner, gettng a corpse of a dead woman holding a matchbook in her hand with a phonenumber inside. two more deaths come in under the same suspicious circumstances. is it a serial killer. can kat trust adam q. who's name is scrawled in the matchbook. the police and mayor are not working along to find the killer drug the victims used.

good. suspence and romance. not too much brutality, but i sat on the edge of the chair to get along the story. not easy to put aside.

'saving grace'by ciara geraghty

not being able to forgive herself for the death of her brother. he drowned saving her drunken butt out of the sea. having a relationship with her best friends' brother who is alsway criticising her. a one night stand with an office member. where does this all bring grace?

a funny chick lit. once i read it, i could not recall the name of the leading lady! it is a read just to do something. not a book to remember.

(library book)

'jupiter's bones' by faye kellerman

murder in a sect. and after that another murder. pete decker is on a roll trying to figure out what is going on. a large sect with adults and children. and once it gets very hot, he and his squad want to get the children out of there. help comes from a woman who vanished inside the sect.

rereading the book after years, and still very good. in the end, while reading it, getting claustrofobic.

(my library)

'the burnt house' by faye kellerman

lieutenant peter decker is at it again, with his crew. this time he has two deal with a disappeared woman and a decades old homicide which comes to light searching for the missing woman. the mistery of the two victims have one and the same person involved even though the crimes happened 30 years apart.

a great book again. if you like crime, you have to read faye, and her hubby jonathan. some books are easy going, some won't let you sleep at night. this was not a tough one, i slept. but i think the story has to much coincidence to be possible. 2 crimes in l.a. with the same person involved, 30 years apart. a plane crash on a building which leads to the finding of a body and on the plane the missing woman could have been. a bit far searched. in the book there is talk of the adopted daughter of policewoman marge, vega, who was the daughter of jupiter in 'jupiter's bones'. that was a scary one which i got out to reread.

'blind site' by catherine coulter

FBI crime. a little boy gets kidnapped and math teachers are being killed. two stories intertwined. the kidnapper does not give up. everytime it seems the boy is save, there is a twist and a turn. and the mass murderer of math teachers gets only stopped at nr 4.

flew thru this book. keeps the attention.

(library book)

'angel' by marian keyes

the story of a woman who leaves ireland after separating from her husband. going to l.a to stay with an old friend who is trying to become a screenwriter. maggie walsh pullying an old story behind her, now getting lost in a lifestyle she is not used to.

it started out like a usual chick lit, but in the end it was a bit special.

(library book)

'daisy sisters' by henning mankell

a story about the life of a mother and daughter in sweden, starting during the 2nd world war. how each of them copes with what life gives them to digest and to choose.

i could never have imagined that a man, who also writes crime stories, can write such a lovely story. mankell can put himself into the mind of a woman, can write the feelings the way women percieve them. for sure great bookclub material. i can totally recommend this book. i think it is a 'must be read' novel in the 21st century.

(library book, originally written in swedish, by me read in german)

'some like it haute' by julie k. l. dam

fashionista/journalist is in paris for the big fashion week. walks into her french teacher from texas. gets involved with a nice guy, but he is something different than she expected.

beach book. no literature.

(library book)

'lost in translation' by eva hoffman

the life of eva, a polish girl and jewish, who moves to canada in the '60's. leaving behind the known, moving into the unknown. getting tolearn a new language and ways of living.

a great autobiografie. moving.

(library book)

'sympathy between humans' by jodi compton

a nice police woman book. detective pribek is working on two cases: a missing young boy and a doctor who works without a license. and at the same moment she is accused of homicide herself.

a comfortable book to read. no scary scenes, just easy going.

(library book)

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'missing you' by louise douglas

a man has to leave his house because his wife has fallen in love with another man. he find a roof over his head as a lodger with a young woman and her little son. a relationship evolves but there are some tricky things about.

just a nice book to get away from sorrows.

(library book)

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'daughters of fire' by barbara erskine

another 'past-time, now-time' story by the author, past and present intertwined. a celtic queen named cartimandua and her life come to professor vivianne and her colleagues. and it is all about a brooch.

i have started about 6 books in the last couple of weeks, and i discarted them one by one after a few chapters. i obliged myself to finish this book. it took some courage. it was not as good as some of the books i have read from this author. with some i had sleepless night from the suspense. this one was just to soft for my taste.

(library book)

comments to: dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

'the queen's fool' by philippa gregory

a lovely historical novel about a girl coming to court thru sir robert dudley as being his vassal. the girl hannah, dressed as a boy, has the gift of seeing into the future. then being assigned to become the queen's fool, to mary the first. being pushed around as a spy for different people in a politically difficult time. moving between mary I and elizabeth I is not easy for her, since she has feelings of friendship for both women. the girl has an origin that she has to hide.

a great book. learning history and enjoying oneself in the same time.

'last dance, last chance' by anne rule

anne rule, crime writer, describes the story of a doctor who killed a patient because of negligence and who tires to kill his wife by poisoning her with arsenic.

very good, detailed description of the life and crimes of this guy.

'the echo maker' by richard powers

a sister takes care of her brother after a car accident. he does not recognise her. trying to get two lives back on the road. what is the scientific reason behind the problem of not being able to recognise people close to yourself.

a tremendous story of fighting to get someone to get to recognise your existence in their lifetime.

'homecoming' by bernhard schlink

a young boy finds part of a story at his grandparents' house. a story about a man during the second world war. he is so intrigued by the story, that part of his live evolves about getting to know the author. and in the same time he gets to know who his father, whom he has never met, is.

good story. the end is not what you expect.

'the widow's season' by laura brodie

during a kajak trip a man gets lost in a flood. his body not found there is anyway a funeral. after this the wife sees her husband a couple of times. she goes back to their cabin in the woods where he had stayed one night before the incident. and she sees him alive. they keep seeing eachother regularly, and plan to make a new life.

a very different story. what can love do for two people.

'the glass castle' by jeannette walls

a moving autobiografie about a girl, her siblings and her parents, who definitely are brilliant and intelligent persons, but most of the time not capable of taking care of their family. a start in life in poverty, always on the move, living from one day to the next. the children are strong, and three out of four are determined to get a better life and succeed. an insight to living with parents who do not how to act like adults, who have no sence of responsibility, living in another dimension of recognision and thinking.

could not lay the book away, so moving. incredible the strenght of these youngsters who out of nothing have the insight and the spirit of creating a life of themselves, leaving misery behind. still seeing the further degradation of their parents, and the one of the siblings.

'the 19th wife' by david ebershoff

novel about the first latter day saints a.k.a. first's a.k.a. mormons who practice polygamie. (latter day saints are those who are monogamous). history and today intertwined. the base of the story is true, but it is not a biography of for example one of the important caracters ann eliza young or any other historical person mentioned in the book. swapping from today to yesterday and back. the main story is about an excommunicated boy who's mother is accused of murdering her husband. this mother is wife no. 19 like ann eliza. the boy wants to find out the truth.

very interesting book. it was a joy to read and got a history lesson along the reading trip. had heard of polygamie of the first's, had seen the tv show 'big love' which gave me a better insight into the different way these people live in a regular city and in compounds, hiding away from the world. the day of buying this book was quite odd by the way. i bought it at the airport of atlanta before the flight back to switzerland. and who are travelling on the same aircraft? a group of ten young missionaries of the LDS. we got talking. and by the way, my mother lives 100 meters away of 'the temple' of holland, for baptizing. no.,no, i am not converting, which is not even possible since i am nothing, i am just very curious about all religions like the amish, LDS, ecc.

'the other hand' by chris cleave

a nigerian girl wants immigrate to england. her only way out of a nightmare. someone rescued her once, will this person rescue her again.

this book had a big impact on me, again. having seeing films like 'hotel ruanda', in this book the story repeats itself again. terrible how people will be not acknowledged by a government the status of refugee, when going back means getting killed. there are a lot of wrongs in this world, and then i think how darn fortunate i am to live in a country with stability and peace. we have to pray, eventhough i am not a believer of god, but i do believe in a higher power, we have to pray for people who live in less fortunate circumstances.

(not part of my library)

'sundays at tiffany's' by james patterson

little girls have imaginary friends, but by the age of nine the imaginary friends a obbliged move on to help another child. but jane's friend comes back, and gets real.

a lovely romantic book, eventhough it could not be real.

'handle with care' by jodi picoult

little willow is sick, she has OI III(osteogenesis imperfecta type 3). could anything have been done before the was born? a mother seeking justice and ways to pays for the needs of her disabled daughter.

as always, jodi picoult writes a tear jerker which i could not lay away. beautifully written, real sentiment. difficult decisions to make, seen from different angles. a destiny which could happen to anyone of us. very good bookclub read.

'92 pacific boulevard' by debbie macomber

sheriff in a small town has to find out about the dead body found in a cave.

not a murder novel. the book is part of a whole series about the town of cedar cove. enjoyed the book, full with real life trouble and happiness. will surely buy other books to see what happens in peoples lives.

'jumping to conclusions' by christina jones

shy girl moving to the country side to open bookshop in the middle of horse riding people. do horse people read? what about her landlady have lots of money, where does it come from?

nice read for a holiday, not too super exciting.

(not part of my library)