Recent reads #3

The hate U give (9/10)

author: Angie Thomas
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 444
Original language: English
Read in: English

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Though I had a little trouble by reading through all the street language, this book was the one the world needed. I understand why everyone made such a big deal out of it, because it deserved it all.

It only happens in the movie (7/10)

Author: Holly Bourne
Publisher: Usborne publishing
Pages: 410
Original language: English
Read in: English

Audrey is over romance. Since her parents’ relationship imploded her mother’s been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry. Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn’t mean things are easy. Because real love isn’t like the movies…
The greatest love story ever told doesn’t feature kissing in the snow or racing to airports. It features pain and confusion and hope and wonder and a ban on cheesy clichés. Oh, and zombies… YA star Holly Bourne tackles real love in this hugely funny and poignant novel. 

I didn’t expect much of it and it wasn’t one of my favourites. However I did like that this one was more realistic than most comtemporary love stories.

Romeo en Julia – Tiny Fisscher (7/10)

Author: Tiny Fisscher
Publisher: Blossom books
Pages: 146
Original language: Dutch
Read in: Dutch

“Zou een roos minder zoet geuren als ze een andere naam zou dragen? Zelfs als je geen Romeo meer zou heten, zou je nog steeds dezelfde verrukkelijke man zijn.”
Het wereldberoemde verhaal over Romeo & Julia, verteld door Tiny Fisscher in helder en begrijpelijk proza.

I’ve always wanted to read this story by Shakespear, but the language barrier stopped me. I didn’t feel like my English is well enough to read something that old. I didn’t expect to love this books because I never thought the story was that books. So yeah. I didn’t love the story, but it was very well written. Also this book was illustrated by Sophie Pluim and that was an amazing extra!

3pak (6/10)

Author: Nhung Dam, Tim Hofman and Raoul de Jong
Publisher: CPNB
Pages: 68
Original language: Dutch
Read in: Dutch

Drie korte verhalen ter gelegenheid van de Boekenweek voor Jongeren 2018
Uitgave in samenwerking met Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij en Uitgeverij Meulenhoff
Jaguarman / Raoul de Jong.
De auditie (na een vet traumatische gebeurtenis) / Nhung Dam
Een diepgrijze idylle aan de Arendstraat / Tim Hofman

Can be really short about this one. I didn’t care for the first,the second was alright and I totally didn’t understand the last one. Well I understood what happened, just didn’t get it.

More happy than not (8/10)

Author: Adam Silvera
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 300
Original language: English
Read in: English

Life hasn’t been easy for sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto, but with the help of his girlfriend he’s slowly remembering what happiness might feel like. 
Then Thomas shows up …
Thomas is smart and funny, and before long Aaron is spending all his time with him. But as Aaron’s feelings for Thomas intensify, tensions with his other friends start to build.
Soon Aaron is faced with a choice – one that will make him question what it is he wants, and how far he’ll go to get it.
Why does happiness have to be so hard?

At first I was very confused by this whole Leteo thing, because I expected a contemporary story. Once I figured out it was not, the read became a lot better. There were some parts that I thought were rather offending or hurtfull. Though I do get that it’s the way boys that age would talk and think.

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Little job during autumn break

A few weeks ago my friend texted my if I wanted to become a reporter for the company she works for during the Dutch desgin week. It’s an international design “festival” in the city I live.

Right now it’s already a few weeks ago, but if you want to see a few of the other posts I made check my account on Instagram: @ddwmustsee

Like it says, I posted a few pictures with describtions about the exhibition and designer I thought were interesting and the ones more people should know about.

Recent reads #2

I think I want to post these kinda blogposts more often and talk a little more about each book, instead of writing about 10 books at a time. I try to read 10 books each month, so I can reach my goals so with 5 books per posts that would come to 2 posts a month. I don’t think it will really get to that though.

Damn, honey (8/10)

Author: Marie Lotte Hagen & Nydia  van Voorthuizen
Publisher: Blossom books
Pages: 92
Origional language: Dutch

“Mannen en vrouwen zijn hier gelijkwaardig, dat staat in de wet. In Saudi-Arabië, dáár is het pas erg. Wees blij dat je nageroepen wordt. Vrouwen doen het zichzelf ook wel een beetje aan, hè? Zo zit de maatschappij nu eenmaal in elkaar. Het was maar een grapje, daar hoef je niet zo serieus op te reageren, hoor. Mannen hebben het ook zwaar.

This book is only published in Dutch, but every language should have something like this. Marie Lotte and Nydia talk about important aspects of feminism. It’s very lightly written, yet still everything that should be talked about is in it.

We are okay (7/10)

Author: Nina LaCour
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Pages: 256
Original language: English

You go through life thinking there’s so much you need…
Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother.
Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart. 

I feel like I’ve failed this books by reading it at the wrong time and too rushed. We are okay had so many layers and it was beautiful. Only because I didn’t pay enough attention to it, I missed important things to the story. After I had read other reviews I felt like I need to reread it some time in the future, because it will be better.

Catcher (7/10)

Author: Kalyn Nicholson
Publisher: Kalyn Nicholson
Pages: 313
Origional language: English

When a boy with grey eyes tells you it’s not your time to die, do you listen?
Ever since the day her baby brother Axel died, Carson has been dreaming of the same boy — the one who told her it wasn’t her time to go when her family’s lift crashed through a bridge railing and sank to the bottom of a river, shattering her life forever. Trapped by the new divide between her and her parents, and by their drastic measures to shelter the only child they have left, Carson escapes into her dreams every night, floating among the clouds with the grey-eyed boy who saved her. 
Until her eighteenth birthday—when fate sends her family home up in flames, leaving her waking world flipped upside down.
Suddenly, Carson finds herself on the other side of the country in the big city of Terigon, alone for the first time in her life and dropped into the only waking dream she’s ever had: to attend Yorker Specialty School. But sinister forces are at work beneath the surface of her world, and as the grey-eyed boy slips away from her dreams—only to be replaced by nightmares of flame—Carson finds herself engulfed by a world of deathly secrets and haunting shadows . . . one that makes her the key player in the ultimate game of fates.

I got this book because I really love Kalyn on YouTube. In the beginning I was a bit confused. The story didn’t seem to go anywhere and it took me a while to figure out the world wasn’t the world as we know it.  After Carson got to Yorker the book became interesting. For a debute it was definitly not bad, but I’m sure the next books in the serie will be way better.

Wink, Poppy, Midnight (6/10)

Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Publisher: Dial books
Pages: 247
Origional language: English

Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret.
Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.
What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying.

I expected to really love this books, eventhough I heard many mixed reviews.  Poppy was just very annoying and over the top, she could’ve been a little less that. I think she would even be a stronger character if so. During the book I wanted to know what was gonna happen in the end, but when the end came it kept being more confusing. I expected something very different. It was a fun read, but I wouldn’t say it was a really good one.

 

 

 

Passenger, Afas

After the Passenger show earlier this week my best friend,a friend of his and me bought tickets for his bigger show in Afas on September 26th.
Early in the morning I was busy with buying tickets for Dodie in January and getting my tattoo. After that I chilled for a while with my friend and we took off to Amsterdam.

Although we arrived like 30 minute before the doors would open, we could’ve had 3rd row or maybe even better. It definitly is a very different crowd then I’m used to. However we chose to get seats instead. All of us we’re very tired and didn’t want to stand for that long.

After a few songs by Steph Grace, who was amazing by the way, we could enjoy Passenger. He played for a very short time and almost the same setlist as last time, which was too bad. This time I knew more songs than last time, so that was great. I enjoyed my self and that’s the most important. I hate will always be the best song of his live.

 

Recently in the cinema #3

Because of school I didn’t get the chance to see that many films anymore, but I try so see some new ones at least once in a while to enjoy myself and to relax a little.

Searching (4/5)

Release date: 31-08-2018
Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Cast: John Cho, Michelle La, Debra Messing, Sara Sohn
Tagline: He just missed his daughter’s final call.
Genre: Thriller
Age restriction: 12

After David Kim (John Cho)’s 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter’s laptop. In a hyper-modern thriller told via the technology devices we use every day to communicate, David must trace his daughter’s digital footprints before she disappears forever.

Walk in day at a publisher

My favorite Dutch publisher, Blossom books, opened their doors for public a few weeks ago. Blossom books published the Dutch versions like Simon vs. , Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe, The kids of appetite and many more.

School ended early and a friend of mine liked to come along. While searching the enterance we found another girl who was going. We were the only ones there for the majority of the hour.

At first we were greeted by their dog and the neighbour office’s dog, who was adorable. Because the 4 people their were just working we could walk around for a bit. They made tea for us, which was fun because Blossom books sells their own tea. This way we could try it before actually buying it.

The main publisher, Myrthe, told us the day before someone said it looked exactly like it did on Instagram. Makes sense ofcourse, but it really did. It looked very cute and clean.

I didn’t know what books I wanted to buy, there were so many. It took a while to decide. In the end I went home with Renegades with a TLC pin, Wink, Poppy, Midnight and a dutch retelling of Romeo and Juliette which was signed by the illustrator.

 

New tattoo and a piercing

First of all I’m quite impulsive and that doesn’t always turn into great plans. Better said: mostly they are incredible stupid plans. Last summer I decided I wanted to get my nose pierced, which was something I never thought before. It took my ears 8 years to heal after I got them pierced, so I kinda decided to never do that again. Well not till this summer.
The pain scared me, but my best friend wanted to get his nose pierced as well, so we did it together. Lucky for me, the healing process was it about a month being infected and then it started healing for real. I will replace the piercing with a nose ring when the time is right.

I’ve talked about my love for tattoos before and how much I wanted to get one when I turned 18. Guess what?? My  18th birthday was at the end of September, so I’m finally allowed to get tattooed. 2 weeks before my birthday I made an appointment at this shop that a friend recomended for September 26th. Again the pain scared me a little, but it wasn’t so bad after all. Only a tiny part hurt. it wasn’t unbearable though. After all I’m really happy with it.