My favourite books so far

This week's writing prompts had to wait a bit because I was away in heavenly Portugal. (I am currently working my way through the photos while listening to Yoga music trying to keep the memories as close to my heart as possible and soon I'll blog about it)

I chose prompt #3: October is National Book Month, tell us about the best book you’ve read so far this year.

I already read a lot this year, I am currently reading my 56th book. I don't always take notes for my books, so sometimes it's hard to remember what I actually like about the books I gave 4 or 5 stars to. But these books stayed with me:

Time and Time Again by Ben Elton

I liked it because it has such an interesting concept. The main idea of the book is that if you could change one little fact of the past the whole future could have been so much better. But then it turns out it's not that easy and that when you change it it starts to go wrong somewhere else. Definitely a book that I couldn't put down and it made me think a lot.

Hello From the Gillespies by Monica McInverney

This is a book about family and telling the truth. After 30 years of writing letters that nobody ever reads Angela Gillespie can't really remember her life because she hurts her head and has temporary amnesia. So she writes what she sees and it's not that good. 

I really liked looking into the dynamics of this family and to discover together with Angela that even though it wasn't all good it never was all bad either.

The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe

This is the first book of a series about a remote group of people living in the mountains of Tennessee. They are all quite mystical and I enjoyed the descriptions of their music and of the nature surrounding them. When I read this book I got totally lost in it, something that I really love.

I have read all four of the series in the meantime and they were all worth it. I can't wait for more books about the Tufa to come out.

Leave Me by Gayle Forman

I read this book on my holidays in Portugal. It is about a mother of twins who has a heart attack at the age of 44 years and who comes close to death. When she realises that she can't really recover while around her family she just leaves without telling anybody where she's going to. She takes her time to get better and tries to find her own mother who gave her up for adoption after she was born. 

I liked the story because I could really relate to M.B.'s struggles to get out of her hamster wheel and find a calmer life without as much stress for herself.

Sound waves

It's Thursday afternoon and I just listened intensely for 5 minutes. I set the timer on my iPhone and I'll explain the reason for it at the end of this post...

Here's what happened:

Closest to me I heard Antonia's breathing and the light touch of her blue pencil while she was highlighting her history book. I think she is reading about Athens. I am amazed by how well she has adapted to her new school, she has been so good with all this learning and doing her homework. I am pretty sure I wasn't half as organised at her age. At 13 I was quite unstructured and often lost important stuff but she is just so determined to do well and seems to have found the perfect place to for her. At one point I took a photo of her concentrated work. She heard me and asked what I was doing but then she dove right back in.

Pretty close to me I heard the ticking of the clock next to the sofa, something that is only audible when it's really quiet.

Next to the flat I heard the elevator at least once, it makes a lot of noise and I can always tell on what floor it is and often who uses it. Somehow everybody who lives in this appartement building has a sound of their own (there are 9 flats in the building). I also heard the front door close, which is quite far away but kind of makes the whole building shake a little.

Outside I heard the wind flow through the leaves on the trees next to the balcony. The trees are full of these maple thingies that will fall down soon. They make a rustling sound and together with the lovely fall sun light it is really beautiful.

Even further away I heard the construction site close by. There was a deeper constant noise and then there was a higher drilling sound a couple of times.

Furthest away I think I heard the tram. Usually I only hear it first time in the morning, around 5am when the world is still mostly sleeping and when it's wet on the ground. Otherwise it's too soft to be heard.

...

I just found this blog (actually I've seen people using it before but have never actually gone there myself) which apparently posts 5 writing prompts for each week. I decided that I wanted to try it and here I am ;-)

The prompt I chose:

2. Listen to the sounds in your house for 5 or 10 minutes. Write about what you hear.