#5books7days Readathon

Hi guys! How are you doing? If you’ll ask me, I’m doing pretty great. I had a lovely weekend because of the Love-A-Thon event. It was my first time participating and I totally enjoyed it. I want to thank all the hosts for creating this wonderful event and for sharing it not only with bloggers but also with bookstagramers and youtubers. I’ll definitely join again next year.

5books7daysSo, today is the start of #5Books7Days Readathon hosted by Lotte and I am participating. I joined last time but I only read 3 books so this time i’ll try my best to read 5.

The rules are simple as always: try to read 5 books in 7 days! That’s it. This time I also decided to go for an optional rainbow theme. So if you want to you can try reading books according to the colours of the rainbow – yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue and green. I’ll definitely try it, but like I said it’s completely optional! – Lotte

My TBR

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY by Agatha Christi
THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Simsion
I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN by Jandy Nelson
EVEN THE MOON HAS SCARS by Steph Campbell

Have you read any from these books? Feel free to join the readathon. ♥

2016 Love-A-Thon : Bookshelf Colors Challenge

loveathon

The Love-a-Thon is an event dedicated to spreading positivity and love. It’s time dedicated to visiting other bloggers/Instagrammers/BookTubers, leaving a comment or two, making new friends and fostering positivity among the members of our amazing community. Hosted by Alexa of Alexa Loves Books, Cee of The Novel Hermit, Hazel of Stay Bookish, Mel of The Daily Prophecy.

This challenge is specifically for BookTubers but it looks fun so why not try it with a normal blog post. Also, Cee at The Novel Hermit posted one too. All you have to do is to pick books based on their spine colors and then follow the prompts. Let’s do this.

RED
Flip to page 119, and find the first line of the third paragraph.
This line is the first sentence of a book about you.

„She put her hands on Yael’s shoulders.“
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

I had a crush before named Yael. He’s the vocalist of Spongecola. I haven’t read this book yet but it’s on my 2016 TBR.

ORANGE
Flip to page 3. The first name you see when you
crack open the book is your book BFF.

Fudge
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling

Ugh. No. Haha!

Continue reading „2016 Love-A-Thon : Bookshelf Colors Challenge“

2016 Love-a-Thon Mini-Challenge #2 : Book Bingo

loveathon

The Love-a-Thon is an event dedicated to spreading positivity and love. It’s time dedicated to visiting other bloggers/Instagrammers/BookTubers, leaving a comment or two, making new friends and fostering positivity among the members of our amazing community. Hosted by Alexa of Alexa Loves Books, Cee of The Novel Hermit, Hazel of Stay Bookish, Mel of The Daily Prophecy.

The second mini-challenge is Love-A-Thon Book Bingo. The rules are simple:
• Make a post to sign-up for this challenge.
• Showcase the bingo card and keep track of your progress.
• Add your link to the Linky to enter the giveaway.
• Cross AT LEAST 3 squares off to have a shot at the giveaway. (And yes, we will check) It is up to you how many you aim for in the end.

Continue reading „2016 Love-a-Thon Mini-Challenge #2 : Book Bingo“

2016 Love-A-Thon Introduction

loveathon

I saw Mara’s Love-A-Thon post and signed up immediately. It’s my first time participating this awesome event and I’m excited about it. I think I’ll focus more with the bookstagram challenge.

The Love-a-Thon is an event dedicated to spreading positivity and love. It’s time dedicated to visiting other bloggers/Instagrammers/BookTubers, leaving a comment or two, making new friends and fostering positivity among the members of our amazing community. As in the previous years, the event will include mini challenges, Twitter chats and giveaways galore!

Hosted by: Alexa of Alexa Loves Books, Cee of The Novel Hermit, Hazel of Stay Bookish, Mel of The Daily Prophecy.

QUESTIONNAIRE

IMG_18911. What’s your name? I’m Kathleen but I prefer Kath.

2. Where in the world are you blogging from? I’m currently living here in Hannover, Germany.

3. How did you get into blogging/bookstagraming in the first place? I’ve been blogging since 2009 (i think) but it’s more of a personal blog/online diary. My book blogging started 2 years ago when I noticed that most of my posts were book-related. I created a personal account on Instagram in 2012 then I saw Lotte’s account and in September 2014, I’ve decided to create my own bookstagram account.

4. How did you come up with your blog name? I have to admit that I had a hard time choosing my blog name. I chose „The Last Reader“ because I feel like I’m always the last one to read a certain book that everyone else has already read. I also read slow.

5. What genre do you read and review the most on your blog? Mostly Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Thriller.

Continue reading „2016 Love-A-Thon Introduction“

WWW Wednesday – February 17th

A weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Worlds. Everyone can join. Just simply answer the three questions and share the link of your post in the comment section of Sam’s blog. This is also a great way to share your weekly reading updates.

The Three Ws are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m Currently Reading…

The 52nd by Dela

„Fear gets you killed. It waxes over your instincts and paralyzes your decision-making abilities, maing you inefficient and useless, leaving you for dead.“

I like the first line of this book (I even highlighted it) and i think it’s still early for me to say that I love the writing style but I do. Also, I’ve read the words immortality, sacrifices and fear. Sounds interesting, right?

Continue reading „WWW Wednesday – February 17th“

Book Review : Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin

please look after mom

Please Look After Mom
by Kyung-sook Shin
Original Title : Omma rul put’akhae (Korean)
Edition : Paperback (272 pages)
Publisher : Vintage (2012)
Genre : Fiction, Contemporary
Date Read : June 14, 2012

My Thoughts

How much do you know your mother? Are you often mad at her because she’s irritating? Does she always ask you to do some household chores? Or are you considering her as the witch in your own fairytale?

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin is about the disappearance of an illiterate and elderly mom in a crowded Seoul train station without his husband’s knowledge. Her family, including her four adult children, is desperately trying to do everything to find her and as they continue searching, they realize how little they know about their mother, like they don’t even have a recent photo of her, and they starts to blame themselves for giving her less attention.

The novel is divided into different parts and each one was narrated by the family members including Chi-hon (the eldest daughter and a novelist), Hyong-chol (the eldest son and the favorite one), the neglectful husband and mom herself. Mom’s background reveals through flashbacks as the novel continues. All her sacrifices for her children, how she handles her unfaithful husband and her generosity not only towards her family but also to other people.

„Mom was the kitchen and the kitchen was Mom. You never wondered, Did Mom like being in the kitchen?“ – p. 60

The participation of the reader is present by the author’s way of using „you“ (second person) in this novel and though it’s quite perplexing in some parts, it still works well. It demands us to ponder and ask ourselves if we are also like one of mom’s children or the husband. Shin has done a great job on reminding us the importance of honouring not only our mother, but also the people who have done a lot of selfless things for us. The changes of the woman’s role are also present by showing how different mom’s life before compared to her children who are living in the present time. (On the last page of the book, I wrote a short letter for my mom.)

A certified Korean tear-jerker. I had a hard time to finish reading this novel because it’s hard to read when your eyes are filled with tears. From what I’ve read, Shin has won countless awards in her homeland for her works and Please Look After Mom won the Shadow MAN Asian Literary Prize 2011. This book is also her first novel to be translated into English. And I personally would like to thank Chi-Young Kim for expertly translating this amazing novel so it can be appreciated by readers, including me, from different countries.

I recommend this to those who are into deep emotional stories (like me) and also if you are interested in learning about some Korean cultures like The Full Moon Harvest.

My Rating5stars

Book Review : Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

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.x

Continue reading „Book Review : Me Before You by Jojo Moyes“

The 2016 Bookish Bingo Challenge

2016bbchallengeheaderLast year, I joined quite a lot of reading challenges but ended up completing just one. I’ve been looking for interesting book challenges since January this year and I’m trying to be a little picky. My buddy, Joyce, informed me about the Bookish Bingo Challenge and she didn’t have to force me to participate because it is the kind of challenge I was looking for.

2016 Bookish Bingo Challenge is hosted by Maddie of The Girly Geek. It works pretty simple. There are 35 squares and each features a different task. Once you’re done with the task, you just have to cross it out. There are also 5 boxes on the bingo card called „mystery missions“ and every two months, one mission will be announced on the blog. It’s so exciting. Check out Maddie’s post if you’re interested to participate.

Continue reading „The 2016 Bookish Bingo Challenge“

Friday Finds : Mystery / Thriller Edition

It’s Friday again! I love reading Thriller/Mystery books so I’ve decided to share some of my new found books. They’re all on my To-Buy list. Let me know if you’ve read any from these.

25644437FIND HER
by Lisa Gardner
Edition : Hardcover (416 pages)
Publisher : Dutton (February 9, 2016)

Flora Dane is a victim.

Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure.

Flora Dane is a survivor.

Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life, working with her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. She has a mother who’s never stopped loving her, a brother who is scared of the person she’s become, and a bedroom wall covered with photos of other girls who’ve never made it home.

Flora Dane is reckless.

. . . or is she? When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime—a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him—she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante? And with her firsthand knowledge of criminal behavior, could she hold the key to rescuing a missing college student whose abduction has rocked Boston? When Flora herself disappears, D.D. realizes a far more sinister predator is out there. One who’s determined that this time, Flora Dane will never escape. And now it is all up to D. D. Warren to find her.

23289469THE GIRL IN THE RED COAT
by Kate Hamer
Edition : Hardcover (304 pages)
Publsiher : Faber & Faber (March 2015)

Kate Hamer’s stand-out debut thriller is the hugely moving story of an abduction that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Carmel has always been different. Carmel’s mother, Beth, newly single, worries about her daughter’s strangeness, especially as she is trying to rebuild a life for the two of them on her own. When she takes eight year-old Carmel to a local children’s festival, her worst fear is realised: Carmel disappears. Unable to accept the possibility that her daughter might be gone for good, Beth embarks on a mission to find her. Meanwhile, Carmel begins an extraordinary and terrifying journey of her own, with a man who believes she is a saviour.

24875394THE GATES OF EVANGELINE
by Hester Young
Edition : Hardcover (416 pages)
Publisher : G.P. Putnam’s Sons (September 2015)

When New York journalist and recently bereaved mother Charlotte “Charlie” Cates begins to experience vivid dreams about children she’s sure that she’s lost her mind. Yet these are not the nightmares of a grieving parent, she soon realizes. They are messages and warnings that will help Charlie and the children she sees, if only she can make sense of them.

After a little boy in a boat appears in Charlie’s dreams asking for her help, Charlie finds herself entangled in a thirty-year-old missing-child case that has never ceased to haunt Louisiana’s prestigious Deveau family. Armed with an invitation to Evangeline, the family’s sprawling estate, Charlie heads south, where new friendships and an unlikely romance bring healing. But as she uncovers long-buried secrets of love, money, betrayal, and murder, the facts begin to implicate those she most wants to trust—and her visions reveal an evil closer than she could’ve imagined.A Southern Gothic mystery debut that combines literary suspense and romance with a mystical twist.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend ahead! ♥


Friday Finds is hosted by the awesome Jenn of Books and a Beat. It showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… Whether you found them online, or in a  bookstore, or in the library – wherever! (They aren’t necessarily booky you purchased)

WWW Wednesday – February 10th

A weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Worlds. Everyone can join. Just simply answer the three questions and share the link of your post in the comment section of Sam’s blog. This is also a great way to share your weekly reading updates.

The Three Ws are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m Currently Reading…

12649718Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I’m currently on page 311 and I’m totally enjoying it. I don’t know if it’s okay to use the word „enjoying“. It’s my first Jojo Moyes book and I like her style of writing. I still have mixed feelings about Will but I totally love Lou. I am aware that something big (and painful) will happen soon so I’m preparing myself.

Continue reading „WWW Wednesday – February 10th“