The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel - Neil Gaiman 20,000 Leagues under the Sea - Jules Verne Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line - Rob Thomas, Jennifer Graham Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher Shadow and Claw - Gene Wolfe

Such a great month bookwise! In the last couple of weeks I read an unbelieveable fairy tale for adults, took a journey under the sea, had a fangirl moment, dived back into the magic part of Chicago and finally finished the first two books of a science fiction classic. To find out which books I read, just click on "more" and continue reading :)

 

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

A middle-aged man returns to his home and remembers the time when his seven year of self met an extraordinary girl. It really is a fairy tale for adults! I loved each and every page of it. I can only recommend it - it surely is one of my highlights this year! ★★★★★

 

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

I think I don't need to say much about the story itself. When I was young and first heard about this book - or in my case about the movie adaptation - I thought that the protagonist is going on a trip that takes him 20,000 leagues deep, so you can imagine that I was quite disappointed when I figured out that I was completely wrong ;-) Now that I finally found the time to read the book too, I have to say, I enjoyed it. But there was a lot of boring stuff - especially all those descriptions (fish, fish and more fish)... But after about 50% the story got a lot better. ★★★

 

The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas

I loved the TV series Veronica Mars and was so happy when they announced the movie. And now it got even better when I had the chance to read a book about Veronica Mars being back in Neptune and solving mysterious crimes. How could I not love it? It was like an episode of the TV series, just in book form. I can't wait for the next book - and I really hope there's going to be one rather sooner than later. ★★★★★ 

 

 Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

Since the newest book of the Dresden Files is available since tuesday, I wanted to finally continue this series aswell. Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a wizard working as a P.I. and as an consultant for the Chicago police and always gets in a lot of trouble while working. The eighth book is once again really good and you have the chance to get to know even more about Harry and the other main characters. ★★★★

 

Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe

Well, those science fiction classics... They aren't that easy to read and enjoy as I hoped they would be. The Book Of The New Sun definitely has an interesting world, but I do have problems to get into the story somehow. Everything seems so ... I don't know how to describe it ... distant maybe. And I have the feeling that I'm missing a lot of things because I just don't understand them - this is one of those books I should have read in German :) But I heard from a few people that they have the same problem even though they are native english speakers. So far I haven't completely decided how many stars I should give the first two books of The Book Of The New Sun series, but I tend to ★★★ Unfortunately I didn't enjoy those books as much as I hoped I would. 

 

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Statistics

books read: 5

genres: fantasy, science fiction and mystery

pages May: 2,401

pages 2014:  10,245

best book: really difficult to choose between The Ocean At The End Of The Lane and The Thousand Dollar Tan Line. Loved both of them!

worst book: no really bad book this month, although Shadow & Claw wasn't an easy read.

coming up next: Watership Down by Richard Adams & Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes