Ketutar

I liked this book. Because I read it in Finnish with this cover. Then I found it in a used books store, the English pocket version with the cheesy romance novel cover, and bought it, because I liked the book, and I wanted my non-Finnish speaking husband to read it, and his experience of the book was heavily influenced by the cheesy romance cover, and he found it really cheesy and nasty.
I think many YA readers would love it.

I love Rudy. The Second Jungle Book is like the first, with stories about Mowgli, and then about other things. Not all stories are from India. There's a lovely Inuit story, too. (In the first one we had the White Seal).There's also [b:The Day's Work 6450053 The Day's Work Rudyard Kipling https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421733532s/6450053.jpg 1817848]

OH PUKE!

This is one of the worst Sci-Fi books I've ever read! The idea is interesting, but the story is pure crap. I read it because my husband recommended it, but it turned out that he hasn't really read it, he uses the audiobook as sleeping aid, because Mark Nelson, who reads the book, has such a nice, warm, soothing voice.

It's incredibly sexist. I know it was written (published) 1950, so the values were different, but if Edgar Allan Burroughs can write less sexist books, you understand that this was sexist even for 50s. I reacted already at “nice ankles”, but “the inability of the female mind to grapple with the essentials of a situation” couldn't be ignored. It didn't get any better after that.

The people are all a-holes. Bigoted, belligerent, narrow minded, hysterical idiots. Even the children are nasty. They come to this brilliant white futuristic town, and what do the children do? Make noise and start vandalizing the city. And that's all right by the adults.
Now, this description of people supports all my preconceived notions about USonians, so I can imagine it was kind of realistic, but the author doesn't seem to have written it as a social critique... he seems to think that's how people are, and it's all right, and there's nothing one can do to change it. In fact, a couple of times the aliens admire how “brave” the people are for fighting against the Star Council's decision to evacuate them.

I somewhat liked the aliens, and Varn Allan, and Carol, too. Everyone else was crap.
And even these people were cheapened by Gary Stew, because OF COURSE they all liked him, the girls swooned over him, and everyone thought he was the bee's knees (even though I have to giggle at “your primitive scientist brain cannot understand how this thing works, so I won't even try to explain it to you”. With other words, Edmond didn't have the slightest idea of how his idea would work.)
OK, so the story is that they are on this planet going around a dying sun. The Star Council finds them and decides to evacuate them, because the Earth is dying, but they won't have any of that, so they vehemently resist being evacuated. The hero learns the new language in a couple of days, well enough to speak for Earth and its inhabitant in front of the star council (what ever it was called, can't be bothered to go back and find out.) and he has a passionate speech about how horrible it is to force people leave their homes. Still no reflections about how some people might not have wanted to leave their home town to move under the dome. Earth is your home! Home, God, Fatherland! Then the villain speaks against letting the humans stay on Earth. They are violent, warring people. They can't be allowed to interact with the modern peaceful people, they would corrupt all the peace loving people. The logic of this is really weird, because if they shouldn't be let to interact with others, and they want to live on their godforsaken dying planet, then why the heck not let them? Just forget them, and they will die and no-one will ever know about them. But, no, the star council decides that they just have to waste a lot of resources, time, and a new planet to evacuate these evil people to some other godforsaken planet out of the way of good people... The heroes put the planet renewal bomb in Earth anyway, and everyone is saved, the villains don't need to evacuate the people any longer, because Earth is inhabitable again. Yay. It would all be good, if the author didn't start the book by making the hero and his friends evacuate their home town and move everyone in a new city under a dome, to save them. While they were doing this, all the people who didn't want to move were described as stubborn, old-fashioned and stupid. For some reason Edmond Hamilton doesn't see the obvious parallels between forcing people to leave their homes, and forcing people to leave their home planet. Also, they would have been evacuated because the decision was to evacuate them. That they put this thing in action shouldn't have changed anything.Also, they should have been punished for breaking the law. The MC was emotionally unstable, but called every woman he met hysterical. At one point his girlfriend - totally calmly and correctly - states her feelings about the catastrophe she's living, and he calls her hysterical and bitter. She breaks - like the good girl she is - and cries to his shoulder and he gets to be the Big Man, but when he leaves the situation he thinks that there was "some truth" in what she said, and that's why he reacted so negatively. Yeah, sure... but don't let the hysterical female know she wasn't the hysterical one, or that she was right. Can't have that.The first time he sees the new female love interest, he resents her, because even though she is friendly, she has an air of authority and she walks as if she was the boss of the group. Which she was. He resents her for knowing more than he does, being at ease with this time, for making decisions (totally correct - according to his own values and decisions in the book), and doesn't relent until she shows she's "just a girl" and cries in front of him. That's when he falls in love with her. A lot of puppy eyes and brooding and such. *sigh*Luckily his girlfriend decides he has changed (which he vehemently objects to, of course, because no f-ing female is going to tell him anything), and tells him to get lost - in a very feminine, demure, submissive, kind, gentle way that sets him free without any bad conscience, and lets him think it's her, not him. *rolling eyes*

Third time reading...It is wonderful how differently one reads stories different times...I am still fascinated by the 100 rooms, and Mary's relationship with the garden and the robin.I had forgotten the “magic” part. [b:The Secret 52529 The Secret (The Secret, #1) Rhonda Byrne https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1591728338l/52529.SX50.jpg 2001660] :-DI had also forgotten what an ass Colin was. “This is MY garden”. Not “our”. Not “Mary's”. And just expecting everyone to support him in all his endeavors and ideas. I had forgotten how witchy Mrs. Sowerby was. And Dickon... he looked probably more like Sean Astin than all those handsome guys imagined by fan artists who ship Mary and Dickon (I do, too, BTW) :-D Nothing wrong with Sean Astin, just not your typical hot guy. (About Mary+Dickon... the book was published 1910, so one might assume they were about 10 at that time, so they would be 20 at 20s, and then, maybe, be able to actually have a romantic relationship. But, but, no-one knows.)

I think this was awful.
I think Tormod Haugen fails the reader. It doesn't have a happy ending. At least not as I see it. Very unsatisfying. :-( The main character is basically totally uninteresting, and has no role in the story. He just believes to be the Chosen One, and he isn't. He just watches the Chosen One waltz in and save the world, and does nothing. Well... he was a distraction.
I read something else by him, and it was the same crap.
So I won't ever read anything by him again, and I will tell everyone who cares to listen not to read his books either, but - I suppose some people like his books. Norwegians are weird.

Turms, Immortal, is a story of Turms, The Etruscan. It's set in what is today Italy and Greece in about 500-450 bce. I don't know enough of that time to know how historically accurate this is, but it sounds good enough to me. It starts with Turms deciding to die, and while preparing for it, he thinks about his life. He was struck by lightning, and forgot his life, became a soldier and a pirate and having several other adventures. He is magical, loved by Gods. I was slightly upset about Hanna, but she gets a happy ending, too. Not going to say more about that. It's just revealed on the last 10 pages, and there's some 500 pages to be read before that, so... :-DI liked this story. And Arsinoë is an a-hole. sigh Like Nefer Nefer Nefer. Might not be quite as bad, I haven't read [b:Sinuhe egyptiläinen 131080 Sinuhe egyptiläinen Mika Waltari https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459547047l/131080.SX50.jpg 2072467], just heard stories about it. I haven't dared to read it because of those stories. “...koska ei ole parempaa kielenopettajaa kuin nainen miehelle ja mies naiselle heidän eläessään yhdessä. Myös avioliitossa tapahtuu näin koska miehen ja vaimon on osattava toistensa kieltä voidakseen riidellä keskenään” Haha! Ja minä kun luulin että olin hoksannut sen aivan itse :-DMenin naimisiin 1999 ja olen siitä lähtien sanonut että paras tapa oppia kieltä on riidellä jonkun kanssa, varsinkin kun tämä joku on tarkka kielestä. Puolet riitelyistä olivat hänen moittiessaan jotain kielivirhettäni! Että ärsytti!

Unfortunately, I read it.
I hated it. It's stupid. Well... I suppose it's OK artwork, and if one really, really, really loves Disney princesses, one would think it's wonderful.
But why I hate it?

Aurora and Philip are married, and Philip goes away, so Aurora has a slumber party with her “friends”, the three fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.
Firstly, I have NEVER heard married people having slumberparties, especially not like this. Aurora invites the fairies, and when they arrive, she tells them it's a slumberparty and forces them to change to their nightgowns. Then they dance a little, have a pillow fight, and eat, and then they go to bed. Aurora lives in a castle, but they have mattresses on the floor in Aurora's bedroom for the fairies. This is a slumberparty for... five years olds?

Secondly, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather were not Aurora's friends, they were her guardians and caretakers. Why doesn't Aurora has any friends of her own age?
And would the old fairies really enjoy the same things Aurora enjoys? How old is she supposed to be in this story? Slumberparties? Seriously?

Aurora gets a splash of cream on her face, and they make a big thing about her not getting angry about it, because it's a slumberparty and they are supposed to be fun. So... if it was not a slumberparty, she would get mad?

And the fairies argue about blue and pink all the time. sigh

I know it's written for small kids, but... that doesn't mean one can push any crap. For some reason people seem to think that because something is a kid's movie or book or story, one shouldn't have any critique on it.

This is sort of Sylvi Kekkonen's diary, though it's all fictional. It's based on true events, though, and feels real. There is also some Essi Renvall's thoughts put in the story.
Sylvi was the wife of the President Urho Kekkonen, Finland's Mostest President. :-D He was the President for almost 30 years. I was 13 when I lived in Finland with some other President than Kekkonen :-D It felt weird, wrong, somehow.

I love this. Made me want to know more about Sylvi Kekkonen, looks like a fascinating woman. Though, one has to be pretty amazing to catch and keep Urho. I suppose.
Johanna writes well, it was very easy to read, she kept me hooked through the whole book. I wish there was more :-D

It is so fascinating how H.P.Lovecraft with so little manages to tell these rather complicated stories and weave the horror... I'm sitting here listening to audiobook with a twist in my stomach, and I'm slightly at unease about what might be under my bed - there can't be any ancient horrors there, I live in a high rise, 3rd floor and the bed is closed, there are storage boxes under the bed. Not even cats get there without opening the boxes. But, nevertheless, I would be surprised if the floor was slimy :-D
I feel bad for Wilbur Whateley, though I don't think I should. X-D Oh, us humans with our empathy, sympathy, compassion...

What a horrible little girl!

She has five other dolls, and “I am very fond of them all; but they can't expect to be treated like Angelina Seraphine, any more than Mary and Nurse can be expected to be treated as mamma treats her own children”
They ARE her children. Before she got the French bebé, they were the only dolls she had. Why can't they expect to be treated as her children?

She pushes her china doll in the cage with the mocking bird. And considering that the author says the bird was scared, and then the bird plucked a lot of the dolls hair out, I think the author is describing something that actually happened... and I'm just thinking about the fact that bird cages were already too small as they were at that time, and having that huge beast in it with the bird, and bird poop and all that... why the heck would anyone do that? Couldn't they just have left the doll outside the cage if they wanted the bird to keep company to the doll?
She ties the doll on the back of the cat “to ride”.
And there's more stories of animal abuse of this kind.
And then on top of this there's a story of a “wicked” boy who took a bird's nest, and the MC was so angry with him.

There are things that make me roll my eyes, but there's also a lot of interesting things.

And then it ends. Just like that.

Well... it starts badly enough... full of praise to womenly women, self-sacrificing, codependent, always “happy”, relentlessly working for everyone else. Brrr...We have a 60-years old parson marrying a 45 years old woman who looked like a 25 years oldOr perhaps he was 60 at the time of the story... I don't remember, and can't be bothered to go back and check. He has a not yet 30 years old son, who has a best friend 4 or 5 years junior, and he's in love with the friend's sister, who is 3 years older than her brother. The brother married a girl when he was 21, and had twins, the girl died at child birth, and the brother left the village, and left his 24 years old sister alone to care for the twins. The son proposed to the sister, who said “no”, for some weird reason, because she didn't know yet that she was to be the fostermother to her brother's twins, and she loved the parson's son... but - I suppose it's for the story. Anyway, the boys - or young men - leave the village and return at the time of the book's events, four years after the birth of the twins. Or three years, Kate Douglas Wiggin is a bit undecided about that. And the brother has found a good woman who sacrificed herself to make a man out of him, and he's now changed into a good man, because of a woman's love, and the parson's son is somewhat economically successful businessman now, so assumable the brother takes his kids to live with his new wife, and the sister is free to marry her love, who is now assumable worthy of her love and hand...A lot of sentimental drivel with questionable Victorian values, but... it does get me. I cried. And it's rather inspiring. I would like to write about these people, but without Kate Douglas Wiggin's... hmmm... what to call it... attitude? It bothered me with [b:Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm 17529 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Kate Douglas Wiggin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348026765l/17529.SY75.jpg 1063767] as well.

A fake marriage, misunderstandings... not so fond of that stuff.
But I love Eva Ibbotson's descriptions of Viennese culture, I love her heroines and heroes, I love her inserting jokes in the stories, and always the animals. There are always animals in her stories.
P.S. The pup has a “hero contract” - it is not harmed.

I stopped reading on page 55. It's pretty clear the rest of the book is akin to what it began with, and I just can't with that style. Maybe I'll finish it one day in the future, maybe not. I have no need for this book, I'm totally OK with my fascinating womanhood :-D

It's not bad, it's very old-fashioned, but if you think of it as a Victorian curiosity, it's quite readable. If you think of it as a guidebook for a modern woman... it's pretty horrible.

I would like to say that the advice is pretty solid. I'm sure it would work. It's pretty much the same advice given in the infamous British TV show, “How To Train Your Husband”. :-D Manipulate him with honey, subjugate through praise, train him well, and he'll do everything you want him to do.

But I'm not happy about how the book puts all the responsibility and blame on the woman and excuses everything he does with “boys will be boys”. “Don't expect him to behave like a woman, he isn't a woman”. So it's OK for him to yell at you, not thank you for the favors you do for him, or anything, just go on with his life as he chooses and wishes.

I also suspect there might be attacks on feminism later in the book. I don't know, because I haven't read it, but today's FW women are very loud against feminism and blame feminism for everything wrong in modern society. I wish these women would stop voting and using the other privileges feminism and suffragettes have made available for women. Anything else would be hypocritical. It's like people being against animal testing, but using insulin in spite of it being brought forth through animal testing. No vegans should be taking insulin. And no woman against feminism should be voting or getting higher education.

“The mock epic The Rape of the Lock made Pope known to a general audience. Based on an actual incident in 1711, when Robert Lord Petre (“The Baron”) publicly cut a lock of hair from the head of Arabella Fermor (“Belinda”), and said to have been written at the request of a friend to encourage a rapprochement between the families, the poem nimbly depicts the foibles of high society. At once light-hearted and serious, addressing both the flimsiness of social status and the repercussions of public behavior, the poem is an in-depth study of contemporary social mores and the reasons for their existence. “

Well... there's this girl, very pretty, everyone admires and loves her. Then there's this incel who collects trophies... Considering how he gets Belinda's lock, I assume that he has stolen the other trophies he has as well. Anyway, he steals one of Belinda's locks. He waits until she is busy playing cards, and then just cuts off half her hair. No wonder the girl was irate!
The interesting thing here is that her reputation was spoiled because of that. He did it among people, so there were witnesses to say that he “raped” her hair, against her will, knowledge, and approval. Yet - her reputation was spoiled.

Wow! Talk about Marysue :-D
Agnes de Chastillon, Agnes de la Fére... did Robert choose the name deliberately to attach Agnes to Athos? :-D
This is a wonderful swashbuckling adventure with the sword woman, worth 10 men with her sword. It starts with her killing her fiance on the altar and running away from her village and dastardly father. Then she meets Etienne Villiers (Alexandre Dumas' George Villiers was the Duke of Buckingham :-D), and they start traveling together, but Etienne then sells her to another guy, and we have a fantastic scene of Agnes storming the room, throwing a knife at the buyer killing him instantly, and then beating Etienne up so badly he almost dies.
I imagine she's like 16 or so, because she mentions she wasn't yet a woman, and she was forced to be married :-D I don't think her age was ever mentioned. Or time. They throw around invented names and things like that, but I think it's kind of Three Musketeers fan fiction, so probably somewhere there in time :-D
And it continues like that :-D The first time she holds a sword, she kills half a dozen seasoned villains. :-D

I mean, I am totally giddy about this book - or collection of short stories, what it really is. It's 3 or 4 short stories, 3 written by Howard, and 1-2 (I'm not quite sure how many those are, because they are just continuation of the 3rd story), about 100 pages, so it's really not a book, but anyway, I just want to laugh all the time.

Absolutely fabulous :-D

I just love to read books written by men describing how men feel about women they love...

“I say Doll,” replied Jeremy, whose general appearance was that of a man plunged into the depths of misery, “don't laugh at a fellow; if you only knew what I feel–inside, you know–you wouldn't–”
“What! are you not well? have some brandy?” suggested his sister, in genuine alarm.
“Don't be an idiot, Doll; it isn't my stomach, it's here”; and he knocked his right lung, under the impression that he was indicating the position of his heart.
“And what do you feel, Jeremy?”
“Feel!” he answered with a groan; “what don't I feel? When I am away from her I feel a sort of sinking, just like one does when one has to go without one's dinner, only it's always there. When she looks at me I go hot and cold all over, and when she smiles it's just as though one had killed a couple of woodcocks right and left.”
“Good gracious, Jeremy!” interposed his sister, who was beginning to think he had gone off his head; “and what happens if she doesn't smile?”
“Ah, then,” he replied, sadly, “it's as though one had missed them both.”

Interesting story.
This is a medieval murder mystery, where the town's apothecary solves crimes. He lives in his apothecary with his wife, and listens to people, and sees things.
The book starts with a murder, and while people are trying to solve this murder, another murder happens, more people die. Suicide? Murder? What?
They have this scene where the apothecary Melchior collects all involved in a room and explains the crime, reveals the murderer, and all that.

I like apothecary Melchior. I like his wife. I like most of the other characters as well.
I don't like the author's way of keeping secrets. We are told that Melchior finds out something, but not what. Also, the crime explanation scene was a bit too longwinded. Like Cyrano de Bergerac's death scene. Bla bla bla, and the murderer is... but before I tell that, let us look at this point. Bla bla bla, yackity schmackity, and that's why I know who the murderer is. But before I tell you, I have to point out bla bla bla yada yada
That's why only 4 stars :-D

I got really interested in Tallinn and the old buildings, and went to Google maps to walk around Tallinn. I really want to visit the city now :-D

I want to continue reading these books :-)

Ok, so I read this little... er... er...
Well...
My sisters and I have a tradition: I'll make crepes and one of them reads a Harlequin book, making it as ridiculous as possible, with heaving bosoms and all that. It's hilarious. Except that this time we didn't have time to make crepes, and I ended up reading this book for myself.
It's horrible. I know the 70s and 80s Harlequins are notoriously awful, but this one could possibly be the worst of them all.

We have this really beautiful young woman who has always wanted to be a barrister, but couldn't afford the education, so she was just a juridic clerk or something. She got a job with this old judge and was basically adopted by his family. The family considered her a very close family friend, almost like their child. They recommend to her to seek a job with their family friend, a crown barrister, who just happens to be Selena's father. He cheated on his wife with his secretary, who got herself pregnant with him to get him to leave his wife and marry her instead, but that didn't happen. She died when Selena was 11 and she was adopted or put in a surrogate family or something. Anyway, Selena goes to a job interview and is employed. She meets her employer's... hmm... what to call him... next in line? Anyway, he's the employer's sister's son, and - of course - the hero of the story. His name is Piers. He is very cold, hostile, suspicious, and downright nasty to Selena. Because she looks like her mother, and Piers met the woman when her uncle was cheating on his wife with her. He took his mistress to see his sister's son at his school! WTF?
Piers assumes Selena is there just to seduce his uncle, “others have tried”. (Apparently just Selena's mother.)
Selena keeps telling him that she isn't interested in her employer that way, that she wants to work in the area but couldn't afford the education (this is repeated at least three times in the book), but for some reason, he doesn't believe her. Anyway, he sexually harasses and even assaults her, and she - of course - falls in love with him because of this. She also behaves guiltily all the time, because she does have a secret, she knows the guy is her father. Why she doesn't tell Piers that of course, she has secrets, everyone does, but they are not going to influence her work, she is not after his uncle, so Piers has no right to know anything about that. Nope. She just blushes and avoids and behaves like a deer in the headlights, and he pushes and digs... but doesn't find out the truth. I seriously don't know why, because the press was following her until her mother died, and she didn't hide her name either, she just used her mother's boyfriend's last name. I don't think it would have been hard for Piers to find out who Selena's mother was and that this is his uncle's bastard daughter, but - alas - he didn't find out.
We have a scene where he tears a 16yo girl into pieces because he was defending the man the girl claimed had raped her. He dug up and interviewed every boy who claimed to have had sex with her and painted her practically a whore. The heroine protests his cruel behavior, and he just says “she admitted 10 minutes ago that she's pregnant with her classmate, and she was afraid of her parents, so she made up the rape story”. And the heroine is ashamed for not having trusted Piers' amazing ability to figure out people's secrets.
Anyway, the first moment they are alone, he gropes her breasts and kisses her, and when she slaps him he laughs and says “In my experience women slapping men is more a sign of sexual frustration than being genuinely offended”.
He speaks about her sex life.
When the girl is out with the judge's family celebrating his 60th birthday or something, Piers is at the same restaurant with a woman. He comes to the table and asks Selena to dance with him. She politely refuses and says that in her experience it's best to keep the work life and social life separate. He gets furious, and the judge and his wife berate Selena for having been so rude and humiliating Piers in public.
This goes on and on.
Then her employer gets a heart attack. She was on her way to bring him some folders, was in casual outfits, like jeans and a t-shirt (and of course, they looked very sexy on her) and her uncle wasn't there, there was Piers, and Piers is asking what she was doing there, and why she is being so sexy and all, and more sex talk, and she tries to defend herself, and then Piers say “it tells all about how you see my uncle, you haven't even asked how he is”, or something like that. Like she had any time with your f-ing p-ssiness.
She gets invited to the uncle's country home because he needs to take it easy, and Piers is there hanging on her to see she doesn't have sex with his uncle. More sexual harassment.
She meets her half sisters and her father's wife (she met her father's sister, Piers' mother, earlier), and they are all very nice.
Then they end up in bed and it's all very hot, but Piers realizes she's a virgin and then he yells at her because of that. And then he wants to marry her.
But she cannot marry her, because he'll hate her when he finds out who her mother is, so she tells him in the most horrible way she can come up with, and his father's wife happens to hear who she is, and tells her her father has always been worried about her and wondering what is happening to her, but he promised Selena's mother to stay away from her life, but he'll be so happy to finally meet her, and they are all so happy and welcoming, and there's tears and joy and happiness and celebration, except for Piers, who had to travel somewhere. And the whole family tells her she should definitely marry her cousin, Piers, who is so obviously in love with her.
So she goes to his apartment and waits for him there, and tells him she loves him, and she was just lying about trying to get her father's money, and he tells her he loves her, and how could she be so stupid to believe anyone would think anything bad of her because of her mother. And blah blah blah.

Oh, and he's 8 years older than she is, she was about 24 or something, so he was 32.

I hate these stories where sexual harassment and assault are nothing to care about, on the contrary, people tell the heroine she shouldn't make noise about it. Where the hero is cold and cruel and mean and nasty and horrible, and the heroine still “falls in love” with him. Where there's nothing but the sexual attraction between the two, and we are supposed to believe it's LUUUUUUVVV!!!!