Bookreview: The Three Musketeers

Author: Alexandre Dumas
Genre: Adventure, Historical
Published: 1993 (the edition I read)
Personal rating: 4/5
Yearly count: 26


The Three musketeers tells the adventures of the hot-headed young Gascon, d'Artagnan, and his three companions Athos, Porthos and Aramis. In their gallant defense of the Queen of France, Anne of Austria, they pit their wits and swords against the machinations and men of Cardinal Richelieu, as he schemes to hold on to his political influence over King Louis XII.

This book is indeed a work of art, and very exciting. You want to keep reading to know what will happen next, and there is a lot going on. However some parts slowed down quite a bit, and I think the book could have been better if those parts had been edited a bit so they were shorter. But, all in all, this was a classic I highly enjoyed reading!

Mailbox Monday & What Are You Reading?

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

The first book that came into my house is To Romance a Charming Rogue, the fourth book in the Courtship Wars series. The fifth one will be coming out at the end of Januari 2010.

Two years ago, lively beauty Eleanor Pierce spied her dashing betrothed, Damon Stafford, Viscount Wrexham, with his former mistress and furiously ended their engagement. Now the charming rake is back in London, meddling in Eleanor's affairs, bent on thwarting her new suitor. And when Damon's intoxicating kisses rekindle her deepest longing, Eleanor loses her heart . . . again. But as she has no intention of allowing history to repeat itself, she embarks on a plan of tantalizing seduction, vowing to tame the rogue before she surrenders to his wicked, willful desires . . .

Determined to stop another man from wooing and winning the woman he loves, Damon knows that claiming Eleanor's heart is all that matters. But this scandalously bold beauty means to beat him at his own game of romance – a game he is ready and willing to lose.



The second book that came into my house is Dancing at Midnight, the second book Julia Quinn ever wrote, and I'm also very happy about this one.

Lady Arabella Blydon is determined to discover Lord John Blackwood's darkest secrets, even if that means ignoring all of his warnings to stay away. Scarred by war, both in body and soul, John knows he can never be good enough for this beautiful bluestocking — but Belle is will not rest until she returns joy and light to his life... and wins a place in his shuttered heart forever.





It's Monday! What are you reading?

Books I completed this week:

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, finally. The review will be up later today.

Books to read this week:

Five Go Off to Camp by Enid Blyton is the book I'm reading now. When I've finished that, I'll go and read The Diaper Diaries by Abby Gaines, and after that I'll start on Splendid by Julia Quinn.

Sunday Salon: blog changes in 2010

As a new decade is beginning and my blog has been in existence for a little over two years, I’ve taken a long hard look at what it has become and what I want it to be. This blog began as a little bit of everything, but became exclusively about books in April of 2008. It has had some periods of frequent posting and some periods of almost no posts. So, for 2010, I’ve made some goals and thought of ways to accomplish them.

I want to post more frequently, and in order to do this I’m going to have weekly posts, one for each day, and they can then be supplemented by review posts when I finish books. This way I will post every day even if I have a period of slow reading. Some of these events will also help me with other goals I’ve set. I want to review books I’ve already read, especially the ones in series I’m currently reading, but I have so much new books that I can’t see myself making time for a lot of re-reads. So, on Fridays I will be doing a book discussion post, where I will shortly review a book and then answer some discussion questions about the book. I will try to keep it without spoilers, so everyone can enjoy it. At the very least, I will make a separate part for the questions that contain spoilers.

There will be more changes, but all will become clear in 2010. I hope these changes will make my blog better than it is now, and I think it will give me a fresh wind when writing!

Bookreview: Agatha Christie: An Autobiography

Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography
Published: 1977
Personal rating: 5/5
Yearly count: 25

This autobiography by Agatha Christie is a work of art. She tells her life's story in her own unique way. It's like you're sitting at the kitchen table with her, just talking. I loved reading it, not only because Agatha Christie's life has been a very interesting one, but also because of the rich historical details such a book as this contains. I greatly recommend this book, even to those who don't like Agatha Christie's detectives.

Sunday Salon: 2010 Challenges

Just a quick Sunday Salon post this time to let you know which challenges I'll be undertaking in 2010. No more challenges will be added (unless there is an Agatha Christie challenge in 2010). I'll be discussing these challenges in detail during the following weeks, along with my (possible) reading list.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!



My teaser this week is from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

"Is your emminence not afraid that the fate of Ravaillae would deter those who might be for an instant tempted to imitate his example?"
"In all times and all countries, especially in those countries which are devided within by religious faith, there are always fanatics who would be well contented to be regarded as martyrs."

Mailbox Monday & What Are You Reading?

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

The first book that came into my home this week is a non-fiction book in Dutch about the Netherlands. It details the history of the Netherlands from prehistoric times until April 2009, when Queens Day ended in a drama with the Royal Family being attacked. Very up to date, and a great body for my historical studies when it comes to the Netherlands.


The second book to come into my house this week is Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder. It's the second book of the Studies Trilogy, and I loved the first book. I can't wait to read this one!


The third book to come into my house this week is Splendid, the first novel written by Julia Quinn. I'm most excited by this, because I'm planning to read all of Julia Quinn's novels after loving her Bridgerton's series, and this is the first one she wrote, and where I'll start my journey through her books.




It's Monday! What are you reading?

Books I completed this week:

An Autobiography by Agatha Christie

Books to read this week:

I want to finsih The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, and then I'll start Five Go Off to Camp by Enid Blyton.




Pictures taken from Julia Quinn's site, bol.com, and Maria V. Snyder's site.

Sunday Salon: Oops, I Did It Again!

I knew I said I wasn't going to do any more reading challenges besides the Book Around the World Challenge, but I couldn't help myself. I'm joining the Year of the Historical: A 2010 Challenge.

Now why would I do that? Well, most of you might not know it, but I'm following a history study, and part of that is that I read historical fiction set in the times that I'm studying at that moment. Unfortunately, my history studies have fallen by the wayside this year, and I'm going to pick it up again, which also means reading historical fiction. As such, this challenge is going to help me keep up my studies, and my studies will make sure I can manage this challenge. Win-win all around!

I'm also hosting my own challenge again in 2010, but it's not going to be the Genre Challenge. That was fun for once, but I don't think I'd like it again. However, I am going to hist the Reading Western Europe Challenge, which is a challenge to help people get started/continue their Book Around the World Challenge. So that's not, in fact, a new challenge for me, just a challenge to do a challenge, more or less. Of course, you could just join without doing Book Around the World. Everyone is welcome! Sign up can be done in this post.

How many challenges have you signed up for for 2010 already?