My Summer Wrap Up

Hello there! I can’t believe it’s already the end of August. Where is 2016 going? I feel like the past three months just rushed by. I haven’t been all too active (safe to say not at all, actually) and in this post I’d like to tell you guys why and what I’ve been up to.

So in July I had my 20th birthday (whoop, it’ll all go downhill from here, I already have tons of back aches) and the day after that I flew off to Manchester to start my month of interrailing through the UK and Ireland. I had an absolute blast and I still haven’t sorted through the photos and souvenirs although I’ve been back home for about three weeks now. I’m just a very lazy unpacker.

However, all the new books and comics I bought already have their very own new comfy spaces in my bookshelves, so there’s a bright side to this. Tomorrow I’ll be telling you all about my Harry Potter vacation and maybe even more about interrailing itself, but for today let’s stick to the usual wrap up, alright? (I'll be wrapping up July and August together)

BOOKS READ

   

JULY
1. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson ★★★★★
2. Am I Normal Yet by Holly Bourne ★★★★★
3. You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan 4.5 ★
4. Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella ★★★★

  

AUGUST
5. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes ★★★
6. Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell 4.5 ★
7. The Kill Order by James Dashner ★★

READING NEXT

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling

2016 READING CHALLENGES UPDATE

Goodreads Reading Challenge
Progress 34/30 (113%)

Dystopia Reading Challenge
Progress 7/10 (70%)

Addicted to YA Challenge
Progress 3/3 (100%)

2016 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Progress 4/10 (40%)

Flights of Fantasy
Progress 13/10 (130%)

I can't believe that I've already finished my Goodreads Reading Challenge! I thought it would be so hard for me to read even 30 books in the whole of 2016 because of me starting Uni, but I managed to do that even before Uni started! Who knows, maybe I'll reach 50 books like last year. I'm just so glad that I don't feel any pressure anymore about finishing that one.

Blog Recap

In case you missed it here's a recap of this month's posts and Reviews.
❥ I'm Back & Pokemon Indigo League: My return blog post and sign up post for the #ReadThemAllThon
❥ Me Before You by Jojo Moyes Book Review
❥ Ten Books I Read In School for Top Ten Tuesday

INSTAGRAMMING

 

I'd like to know

How has your summer been? Feel free to catch me up on EVERYTHING because I've missed so much during my hiatus. Any new blog recommendations? New books I should be aware of? Posts that I've missed and should check out? What have you been reading lately? Tell me everything in the comments! Seriously, I'd love to catch up with you guys!

Top Ten Tuesday #4: Ten Books I Read In Class

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.   

This week is Back To School Freebie week and although I'm not returning to school right away (I'll be starting Uni mid September) I wanted to reflect on some great books I read in Class. Now to be honest, although I adore reading I hated reading assignments. I did not at all enjoy reading books as homework because they never were the ones I would have picked in a bookstore for myself. There are a lot of books that I didn't actually read for school and just kept along in class thanks to Sparknotes and my friends. But there were a few books I quite enjoyed so let's have a look at those.

# 10 Holes by Louis Sachar

 

I think I read this in 10th Grade. We could decide between Matilda by Roald Dahl, another book I forgot and Holes. The blurb of this one was the most convincing for me so I decided to join the group who read this book and I quite enjoyed it. Also: we got to watch the movie afterwards and I just love seeing young Shia LaBeouf!

# 9 Au revoir, les enfants by Louis Malle

I also read this book in 10th Grade in French class. It's a movie script about a boarding school that hid jew children in 1944. Very emotional! I read lots and lots of books about that time (which almost always left me crying because of the horrible happenings) and this is definitely my favourite one I read in French. 

# 8 Woyzeck by Georg Büchner

I think the reason this was one of my favourite German books to read was that it only has 20 pages. The author died before finishing it so the ending of the book leaves a lot open to interpret.

# 7 Die Physiker by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Another German Classic and one of my favourites. I read this book about three times and I made a class presentation about it and I even chose it as my Finals book. So there's the proove that I really enjoyed reading it. I think the fact that it plays in a mental hospital and the ending leaves you so confused as to who actually is 'crazy' now made me like it even more. A lot of plot twists and a definitely fun read!

# 6 La petite fille de monsieur Linh by Philippe Claudel

 

I liked this book so much because I basically read it in one sitting the first time through. It's a very cute story and easy to read although the significance of the content is a little darker than it seems at first. 

# 5 Como agua para chocolate by Laura Esquivel

 

Looking back at my review I'm not at all surprised I only gave this one two stars the first time I read it. I've always had a complicated relationship with Spanish books during school. Mostly because they were just weird. Spanish authors had this habit of making up the weirdest of all stories and I just didn't like them. But now I actually quite like this story and I've also seen the movie multiple times (which is even weirder than the book... but oh well). 

# 4 Nichts by Janne Teller

 

Nichts, which means Nothing, was a book I got to read by my own decision in 12th Grade for my German Finals. A friend recommended it to me and I really enjoyed this one. It's actually a pretty new novel released only in 2012.

# 3 Contes by Charles Perrault

 

I've always been fascinated by fairytales and sagas which made reading this book really fun. Charles Perrault was the first person to write down fairytales known today all around the world. Some of these were quite brutal and very different to the versions we know and hear about nowadays. If you ever want to find out what actually happened to Sleeping Beauty or Tom Thumb or other well known characters I recommend you check out these short stories.

# 2 Bodas de sangre by Federico García Lorca

 

My absolute favourite Spanish book ever! I've lost track of how many times I've read this one and I'll probably read it so many more times I don't even want to start counting again. It's short, not so simple and very dramatic. Also: It's not a weird Spanish story so I really enjoyed it for actually being empathizable. 

# 1 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

What else could it be? My Number One book is of course my all time favourite classic! I read this before reading it in class and it was quite hard to keep myself from spoiling my friends the whole time. Once I blurtet out the ending of a certain character in the middle of class, but not too understood what I was actually saying, thank god. I still haven't read Go Set a Watchman, but I've got the book at home so I'll do read it someday (soon, hopefully!).

I'd like to know

Your turn! Let me know what you think of my list. What books did you enjoy reading in school? Have you made your own TTT for today? Link it up in the comments so I can check it out.

Book Review: Me Before You

About the novel

Title: Me Before You

Series: Me Before You #1

Author: Jojo Moyes

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Drama

Published: January 5th 2012

Read: August 2016

My Copy

Publisher: Michael Joseph (UK)

Cover: Paperback

Purchase Location: Hugendubel, Germany

My Rating:

Goodreads Summary

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

I'm Back & Pokemon Indigo League

Hey there! I'm alive! If you've noticed my absence in the blogging community the past three months then I’d like to apologize from the bottom of my heart. I was on a blogging hiatus because I didn’t feel happy about blogging anymore. June/July were two very stressful months for me with work, dance training and organising my life and everything which didn’t leave me with any spare time to write new blog posts. And then I went interrailing for a whole month, which I’ll gladly tell you all about, but more about this in the next few days.

Today I’d like to sign up for a Read-A-Thon created by Aentee @ Read at Midnight. I’m a little late to the party, but I still hope to get the most out of this because it looks like a lot of fun and I’m a huge Pokemon fan so I just couldn’t resist! (If you click on the picture it will lead you to the official sign up post)

So the Read-A-Thon officially runs between Sunday 14th August to Sunday 4th September, which leaves me just a little more than one week to participate so my expectations aren’t that high. Let’s check out my trainer card.

	Trainer Card Trainer: Yasmine Blog: swissbookworm.blogspot.ch Starter: Mareep CP: 10 Type: Electric Evolution: 3 Stage

BADGES AND BOOKS

Again: I don’t have the highest expectations as I’ve only got one week to read all of these lovely books.
...

‣ Pewter City: Boulder Badge - The First Book In A Series: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen #1)

‣ Cerulean City: Cascade Badge - A Book That Might Make You Cry: TBA

‣ Vermillion City: Thunder Badge - A Book With Thunderous Hype: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

‣ Celadon City: Rainbow Badge - A Book That Focuses on Diversity: TBA

‣ Fuschia City: Soul Badge - A Book With A Great Romance: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

‣ Saffron City: Marsh Badge - A Book With Fantasy/Supenatural Elements: TBA

‣ Cinnabar City: Flame Badge - A Book With A Red Cover: Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell

‣ Viridian City: Earth Badge - A Book With Post-Apocalyptic Setting: The Kill Order by James Dashner

...
So this is my list at the moment, but things might change. I don't want to waste too much time on this that I could be spending reading, so I'll just leave it here. Also, I'll count all the points in the end to make sure I don't have too high expectations of myself.

I'd like to know

Are you currently participating in this (or any other) Read-A-Thon? Tell me about the books on your tbr pile or your progress! Also, have you been obsessing over Pokemon Go as much as I have? Let me know in the comments! Oh and if there's anything els you wanna talk about, go ahead just let me know! I've been gone for a while and I wouldn't mind catching up on stuff I've missed.