Arja Mäkinen: Oikeesti aikuiset

Free translation of the title could be  Real adults. 

Little bit background: I've apparently started to reach that agepoint where most of my friends have already have children, are either pregrnant, dream of having children or are trying to have them. Some how i do kind of feel like left out. Not because i would want to be in their situation, 'cause honestly i don't even want to. But to be that only person who doesn't dream about the same dreams and doesn't really want to live life like that - it's sometimes quite hard in a society where living life without children is kind of a thing where you get judged on easily. 

The book is a thesis of women who live alone and don't have any children/ don't want any children or cannot have any children. There hasn't really been that much of studies on the subject and specially not within Finland, so i was really pleased i found this one (and actually couple others from the same writer). 

Of course when this is a thesis, it's not really any kind of self-help book, but anyways at least for me, it really helped out to see that there are really others like me. Others that kind of maybe would like to be in a relationship but it hasn't really ever happened - but are satisfied in their lives anyhow, but seem to get this judgement from the people and the whole society that gives out the norm that it's almost obligatory to get into a relationship, get married and have kids. 

It's really releaving that eventhough majority of the people don't understand this kind of way of living and probably assume it's either being some crazy manhunter or gay, there are other people out there who has to fight against these same assumptions and has to justify their way of living. In the perfect world you wouldn't have to justify it, but in rhe real world i don't see that happening in anytime soon..

Jennifer Lee Carrell: Interred with their bones

 

Kate Stanley is directing Hamlet in London where her old colleague wants to meet her and let her in to a secret that she is carrying. The secret is about William Shakespear but before Kate is let on into it her  colleague Roz gets killed and the theathre where Hamlet was supposed to be playd gets burned. 

From there starts the adventure that takes Kate to question was Shakespear really someone a lot of us assume he was, or was he a conspiracy that others made up. Whatever he/it is, it takes Kate to a place that is extremely dangerous and it'll make her doubt who she can trust. 

The book studies a lot of the written word that Shakespear has written - i found it at times a bit annoying because i've never been interested in the plays he has written. But overall the writer managed to include somewhat similar storyline of DaVinci Code into the book so that the story carried through and you really wanted to know what is really going on.

Natascha Kampusch: 3,096 Days

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In the beginning the storyline portraits young Natascha struggling between her mother and father and their broken marriage. She is portrated as a sheltered child who doesn't really care of other childrens company. 

For the first time she is let to walk to school all by herself. She is ten years old and is somehow aware of some national sexual abuse cases that other children of her age has encountered with. Little does she know that she is about to get kidnapped during her walk to the school. 

The kidnapper was a disturbed and extremely violent 35-year old man who, during these eight years that she was captived by him, made sure to her that no-one cared about her and her family were actually releaved that they have gotten rid of her. 

She had to spend almost all of her time in a tiny room with no window or other source of natural lighting.  Instead of those there was a "god" who controlled the time and her daily routines. It is almost unbeliavable that she truly got away and is able to live a normal life afterwards.

I'm very interested in these missing children-cases. I just wish all of the Amy Fitzpatricks and suchs would somehow, sometime have the same opporturnity to escape if they are put in these kind of similar situations.

John Verdon: Think of a number

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Dave Gurneys old friend asks him to help him in an odd case. The friend, Mark Mellery, had received some letters and the first one suggests him to think of a certain number and the closed envelope tells him the exact number he was thinking of. There starts a story that definitely has similarities with the likes of Agatha Christie.

I really enjoyed this book, it's one of those detectivenovels that you can't really put down before you've read it all. Unfortunately i've read so many crimenovels in the past that i kind of knew pretty early who the suspect was. It didn't really spoil the end though, so four stars because of it!

Elbie Lötter: It's me, Anna

I think it's really hard to write a book review of this one because the story is so tragic and i kind of feel like i'm not allowed to say really anything about it. Overall the book is a true story about Anna, a young girl who gets both physically and sexually abused by her stepfather Danie while her mother just looks away and doesn't really believe in her. Maybe that part is the most grossing ever when a mother doesn't believe her own daughter and is willing to risk the life of their younger daughter as well.

I would have given 5 stars if the story wasn't coloured with a different ending.

Sophie Kinsella: Mini-shopaholic

Classic Kinsella and very enjoyable story of Rebecca and Luke. Unfortunately at least i believe that the title of the book is little off. Yes, they already have a kid and yes she has a minor role in the book. But overall the story is about everything else than the kid, so little dissapointing there...

Suzanne Collins: Mockingjay

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This is the last book of the Hunger Game-trilogy.

The game from the second book ended a little differently as before and Katniss finds herself staying at the sector 13, the one that she didn't believe existed.

All the other sectors have started to rebel and she, wanted it or not, is the leading figure of the fighting against the Capitol. Because of that a little different "Hunger Game" begins and she will fight along Gale, Peeta and others against the cruel President Snow and his ruling over the 12 sectors.

Overall the book was good, but in my opinion weakest of the three. But what i really did like about it that the story wasn't stretched into even more books. Trilogy is definitely enough for this story eventhough i do think i'll miss Katniss and would kind of like to know what their future holds..

Suzanne Collins: The hunger games

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Northern America is divided into 12 sectors and the Capitol rules over every sector. Some of the sectors are richer than others and some - poorer.

Katniss lives in the sector 12. She is the older daugher of two from a family where the father has died in a miningexplosing. Her mother has been quite devastated because of that and that has made Katniss the "head of the family".

Sector 12 is very poor and Capitol doesn't really believe in feeding them, so they have to provide food to themselves. Katniss, for example, is quite good hunter and therefore her family survives little better than maybe some of the other families.

For the Capitols entertainment (and to let everyone from the sectors know their place in the world) the Capitol organizes the Hunger Game in every year. It means that from every sector a girl and a boy gets to chosen to take a part in a competition. Winning of the competition means that the Capitol will provide food for the whole section and they'll have the chance to live in luxury for a while. The downside is that in order to win the competition all the other competitors must be killed.

Katniss's little sister gets to be one of the chosen ones but Katniss offers herself instead and then the game begins...

Gwen Cooper: Homer's Odyssey

When I was younger I used to read a lot of James Herriot-stories about cats and I seriously was in love and in awe although lot of the stories were sad in the beginning.

This story about Gwen and adopted blind cat Homer brought back all those memories and stories and makes me want to find all those other cat books as soon as possible again.

So anyone who looks for a good story about living with cats in general and living with disabled cat should most definitely read this one!

Tom Knox: The Genesis secret

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Rob Luttrell is a journalist who travels around the world to dangerous places when chasing a story for the Times-magazine. His editor wants him to go Kurdistan because some German archeologist has found a buried temple Göbekli Tepe and thinks there is a story behind it. There really is a story and it will bring whole Robs life, including her dotter in London, into danger.

At the same time when all this is happening to Rob, Scotland Yard is battling with mysterious murders that in the end might have something to do with the temple and a cult that's believed it's satanistic.

After you finish each chapter you just feel to urge to keep it going. The murders are disgusting and vile but overall the story is very interesting that you kind of look over the evil things and just keep reading.

Mervi Koski: Hirviökäsikirja

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This is a Finnish guidebook to monsters and other creatures. The monsters are divided into spesific groups such as snakes, horses, birds etc. Each of the creatures are presented with information about their livinghabits, appearance, size and other details.

The book also lists dangerous levels on each creature and how to possible to survive their attack. For example dangerous level for zombies is high but you might escape from them if you feed them something salty. Running also helps. The information is quite funny usually but it makes me wonder why they had to write into the introduction that monsters doesn't really exist. If they don't exist, why would you need to know ways to escape from them?!

Overall the book is very good and the illustrations are amazing. The reason why i'm not giving it the full five stars is my little doubts on if i can really trust this one. The book says that for example the Basilisk has a head of a rooster and body of a snake. In Harry Potter the basilisk most definitely not had a head of a rooster! So which one to trust?! Also another creature from Astrid Lindgrens books doesn't seem really that correct. It totally can be that these other books are wrong, but they are the versions i'm and a lot of people are used to, so it's really hard to think otherwise and therefore i cannot support this book with the five stars.

Sophie Kinsella: The undomestic goddess

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The book tells a story of Samantha, a lawyer who is ruled by the busy worklife. She messes up one contract and ends from a getaway-trip to a family who seeks for a new housekeeper. She doesn't correct them that she is definitely not a housekeeper but stays there and starts to take care of their house eventhough she doesn't have ANY cookingskills or she really doesn't even know how to wash laundry.

Book was easy to read and the story was funny. I recommend it to anyone who has a soft spot for Kinsellas books.

Minna Kiistala: Minä en sitten muutu

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The book is telling a true story of a woman who becomes pregnant and finds it hard to adjust to the "most precious time you can ever have". The book is filled with witty comments about mothers and their children and how people kind of get lost in the family after having a child (ie. forgetting everything else). The book questions the motherly love and passion as well as supports it while her pregnancy goes further.

I really enjoyed the writers attitude, i'm not sure though that would a person with kids appreciate it as much as me - a person who doesn't have kids. The only minus (and withdrawal of one star) is that the last chapter kind of sums up all the feelings - and you are kind of left to wonder that is she really going to be one of those onlineforum-mothers whose only purpos in life is to live through her own child and put down upon people who don't believe in that. I hope she doesn't turn into that and i'll hope she'll have a good head on her shoulder even after her child is born. Maybe she should write a sequel?! ;)

Sophie Kinsella: Can you keep a secret?

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I've been really enjoying the Shopaholic-series but all the other books i've read so far from Kinsella hasn't been that good. Until now. So for anyone who likes the Shopaholic, this is definitely written with the same kind of attitude and style and therefore it surprised me totally.

The story is funny and hilarious. Sometimes you'll be embarrased behalf of the character but you'll also share her joy, laughter and tears.

Mikkel Birkegaard: Libri di luca

This book contains such mystery that i was very interested for the whole book and i read it in one night. The only thing i had problem with was the (kind of) forced lovestory. Without it i would have given 5 stars for the book.

Joe Hill: Heart-shaped box

The first time i started to read this book i had to drop it because i thought it was too scary. I remember reading this one in bed and seriously i was too scared to turn the lights off... So at that time i didn't finish it. But because i work in a library and we have this book, it kind of mocked me from the shelves.. So finally i thought i had enough courage to pick it up again. And there i was, in the broad daylight ( ;) ) and - i read it. After you got passed about the dead people with black "holes" in their eyes, it actually wasn't as scary as i first thought it was.

One of the other reasons i dropped this book earlier was because the main character was kind of an awful person. Very rude and kind of disgusting and for a really long time i was quite happy that a person like that got a ghost to mess up his life.. But as the story goes it's not all that easy anymore and there was the actual surprisement of this book... I don't want to give too much away.. so.. i'd just say that if you have any similar doubts as i had in the beginning, overlook them and still read it!

Lauren Conrad: Sugar and spice

I believe that most of the people who read these books of Conrads are intrigued with them because of her personal past. This third book of hers was the first book for me where i didn't all the time think about her past. This was maybe the first book out of the seriers where i just enjoyed the book and it's writing - of course the storyline but not with thinking every second that did that really happen to her in real life. Very good indeed.

Lauren Conrad: Sweet little lies

I'd say this book was a little bit better than the first one. You already had an idea of what the book is about and because of that you kind of didn't wonder "who is who in real-life" all the time - ie. you got to enjoy the book a lot more.

I also liked the fact that this book had an ending. Yes, i know that there's a third book coming, but in a way you could stop your reading into this one. I really am not a fan of continuing stories. Most of them are just to make the story longer and "make money out of it". Of course all things didn't get closed with this book, so there's some mysteries waiting still ahead...

Lauren Conrad: LA Candy

Those of you who are not aware of the reality tv-life, the author is a star of couple of them (Laguna Beach and The Hills). The book is as well situated into a reality tv-world and therefore the only problem i had with it was the constant speculation happening in my head that "did this really happen?", "was all that made up in the show as well", "who is who in this book", "Jane doesn't really seem like Lauren, but neither does Scarlett", "what is real?!".

Other than that i kind of believe that the second and the third book will get my mindset in more relaxing mood. To read them just as novels is something that i hope i could do...

Audrey Niffenegger: Her fearful symmetry

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I think the book is a very good combination of sisterhood and loneliness. These two twins are very adorable and the story behind their mother and her twinsister is very surprising. Magical story that makes you mad.