We were doing Secret Santa last month and I wanted to get something else for a change, so I asked the giver's favorite book, which landed me with A Visit From The Goon Squad. Not something I'd actively seek out or had come across before, but all the better for broadening my view. Definitely a successful experiment and something I will use for further Secret Santas.

Every chapter tells a part of the story from a different POV, and while all characters are somehow connected to either music producer Bennie or his kleptomaniac assistant Sasha the extent to how much they are connected is very different from chapter to chapter. I for one was looking forward at the beginning of each chapter to find out this connection. The changing of characters, time, place and narrative voice between each chapter did make it harder to get into the story, but I think I enjoyed it more than it bothered me.

One chapter is presented in the form of a Powerpoint presentation and this chapter resonated with me most, because I spend my fair share of time preparing Powerpoints myself. I also thought it was refreshing, even if the schemes and wordart were overused on the slides, and it didn't feel like it was made by a 12yo.

When reading I had a very strong feeling this was one of those books for the awards, and seeing it won the 2011 Pulitzer. It also reminded me of Cloud Atlas and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler.

Intriguing read.

Chelsea didn't mean to teleport. But did she mean to be such an annoying character?

Atlantis and Lemuria. Both sunken continents and at war with each other. In this mess Chelsea teleports, to a very secret navy base in the middle of the ocean. But don't worry, only Chelsea is special enough to succeed.

Chelsea annoyed me. If there ever was a character that was so special and had such powers and didn't question anything. She immediately leaves her family and former life behind in order to be with Trevor, her insta-love. The only other thing she finds important is her career in archeology.

I still believe the premise was promising, but since it is one of those blurbs that gives away at least half of the book, it never got really exciting. I've been reading some reviews and they are all very positive so it would seem I was the odd one out, because at times I really was struggling. I never felt the drive to continue and it was fine for me to put it down (even for days at a time). It was not what I expected and frankly, I was a bit disappointed with Gyre.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

You, The Reader, are standing in a huge Waterstones in London. You're not planning to buy more books, because you still have to take a plane home, and you have limited space in you're luggage left. You're waiting for some one, and as you wait, your eyes go over a table filled with books. One of them has a title that attracts you, so you pick it up, get a seat and start reading the first few pages, just to pass the time. By the time your friend shows up, you know you won't be able to leave without the book. You end up buying it, so you can discover the tale for yourself.

Original Title: Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore

This book is special in many ways. First, there are many different stories we get a look at, but we never get to see how they end, as the stories are always interrupted in one way or the other. Still, they leave you thinking you wanted to now how they continued, some more than others of course. This was the level I really liked, all the different stories and how they were connected somehow.

Then there is the story about The Reader & The Other Reader. Like I said before, I was impulsively bought this book, just because I thought the first few were so special and intriguing. But I have to say that at a certain point, as the story turns out to be less and less realistic, I lost a bit of interest. At that point I felt like the post-modernism was just taken one step too far. But overall, it's a very special read, I'm quite sure you won't find another book just like it.

I'm so glad I've finished this trilogy!

I don't know what to say about this book. It is the same as the first two books. The same themes, the same kind of story, and for me the same kind of disappointments. I'm glad I've finished the trilogy now, so I can move on to a book that doesn't loose sight of the story in order to write stylistic books (which is fine by me, but not when it also implicates that there won't be a story...)

The locked room is the third and final novel in The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster.

'A ghost!'

'Where?'

Never mind, because as the reader will have already noticed, this is just some post modern plot device.

You just have to love it.

With Ghosts, Paul Auster's second book in The New York Trilogy, I once again really liked the beginning. OK, I wasn't sure about all people having colours for names, but still, I really liked the story. And then, after that, it just kind of stopped for me. I found the end very unsatisfactory, and I'm still wondering if and how the three parts of this trilogy will fit together.

Ghosts is the second book in the New York Trilogy by Paul Auster