Of course I expected something else, and of course it is somehow an intermezzo between two The city of the Dreaming Books and the to be expected The caste of Dreaming books (which I didn‘t know when I started it; sure the author is making the most of it), but in the end it is a beautiful and creative story about the inhabitants of Buchhaim and how they recovered after the fire Mythenmetz accidently started 200 years with the Schattenkönig. And it

I just love the accompanying drawings of Walter Moers. He is so talented.

I listened to the next one (No. 6) in the Amelia Peabody series and liked it very much. The change of the setting and storyline, which were the quite similar in the first four, definitely made No. 5 and this one more interesting. The notion of finding a society hidden from our modern day world reminded me very much of Balck Panther and Wakanda. 😊

And of course I bought the Schellen-Ursli book while spending my holiday at his village. This is a sweet Swiss children‘s story written in easy prose. Ursli (the diminutive for the typical Swiss mal first name Urs) wants to lead a dance with Schellen (Swiss name for bell). Unfortunately he gets the smallest bell and now tries to get a bigger one.

Of course I had to check out some literary place this holiday as well. We spent three nights in Guarda, the home of the Schellen-Ursli. The Schellen-Ursli is a famous children‘s story in Switzerland, it is as known as Heidi.

When you end your holiday with more books in your suitcase than you started with. ???
This is the little free library in Guarda (Canton Graubünden) in Switzerland. The language spoken here is Romansh.

Currently I‘m travelling in Switzerland and came across this nice reading bench in Davos with a view over Lake Davos. The rest of Davos was rather disappointing except for the hiking.

Dr Watson is missing! Can Enola find him? And she is the only one being able to read the first clue because she can understand the language of flowers. What does asparagis mean again? 😂 And she can add spidermonkey to her skills as well.

Somehow Enola stumbles into her cases which seem to attract hee brother Sherlock as well. 🤣 I like the idea that she as a woman is able to go her way in Victorian society using this „stigma“ as an advantage and getting inspiration of that fact. And as a left-handed person (who fortunately was not forced to wrote with the right) I found the whole topic of Lady Cecily‘s character very interesting.

Definitely worth a zillion rereads! I love the Walter Moers Zamonia books, they are so full of fantasy and crestive ideas. The City of Dreaming Books is a novel for us booklovers for sure. 😍😍😍

Schreib niemals einen Roman aus der Perspektive eines Türknaufs!

Started to reread the The City of the Dreaming Books again because I want to read the second part soon and habe to refresh my memory.

Even though Enola stumbles more into her first case and gets lucky solving it, it liked the beginning of the series very much. It shows the struggles of girls and women in the Victorian Age very well and already the use of the word Perditorian makes it interesting.

Even though the summary of my ebook was far off the murder mystery itself was not. This one is definitely more fast paced than the Poirot ones, it had some features of a thriller. Anthony‘s jolly behaviour made up up for the doubled secret identities and the,politics which I thought were a bit much. Overall a successful mystery thriller. 😊

Somehow there is a mistake in the summary at the beginning of my ebook. Can you spot it?

I‘m not sure what to think. Even though I liked the part with Nancy nosing around in the factory and trying to get hold onto a stolen chemical formula, I get more and more annoyed by the same structure of all the ND novels. I understand that they were written for teenagers, but wouldn‘t they realize that at some point as well. I will stick to reading the next 7 novels because I already bought the ebooks, but after that I will probably bail.

Last to time it was a recipe for super exclusive porcellain, this time it is a formula for a unique silk-making progress. what‘s next? The elixier of the Fountain of Youth or the experiment to transform lead into gold? 🧪🧪🧪

The second murder mystery solved by sheep is as good as the first one. Definitely an unconventional idea and for sure a funny one. It seems to me that the abrupt solution of the first case was used on purpose because in Big Bad Wool it just happens the same - I had to turn back a page and reread it otherwise it would have slipped my attention.

Reading with a view 😍

When the Dramatis Personae are a minority 🤣🤣🤣

After the last two novels which have been rather disappointing, this one was a new start. For the first time the mystery is not placed in Egypt, but London. It is still situated in surrounding of Egyptology and Archaelogy and plays well with the media‘s frenzy regarding everything that did have to do with Old Egypt. And of course there is Ramses…

Ramses at his best! 🤣🤣🤣

This one does have a similar plot to the first of the Amelia Peabody novels. A lot of assumed personae, one or two murders and the Master Criminal. The only satisfying point is that the MC won‘t be part of the following novels. And of course Ramses is lighting up the the wholw story with his stoic comments and creative ways to notoriously have his way around the rules and bans of his mother.

Starts well… 🤣🤣🤣

The third Amelia Peabody adventure follows the structure of first two murder mysteries which is fine for me. But I have to say that at this point Amelia becomes a bit annoying being very self-opionionated, constantly interrupting her son, even though he is very intelligent and brings important insights. Also the notion of a „master criminal“ in Egypt of that time makes me shake my head. The funny comments of Ramses make up for it for some part.

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Even though there have been a lot of characters with more than one personality/soul and a lot of new names for known characters, part three was soemhow easier to follow than part 2. I am glad I started Nona even though I didn‘t like Harrow. What I especially liked was the narration of John in form of psalms because it was the perfect transition to our modern world. It is definitely a possible dystopian future for all of us.

Finished this one last weekend while reading at my favourite summer place - a bench with a beautiful of the river Aare. This murder mystery was nothing I‘ve read before. I passd by this book so many times over the years and was always prevented to buy it by the sheep on the cover and in story. Then I came across a review by @Aims42 of book two and got intrigued. Of course I had to start with book 1 first and got swept off my feet because I was …

I am telling you, those are NO NORMAL SHEEP! Look at them, how they‘re putting their heads together! They‘re PLOTTING how TO FINISH YOU OFF! 🤣🤣🤣

I liked the idea that a staged murder could be used for a real one and I completely understood that Ariadne Oliver got freaked out of that thought and called her buddy Poirot to come over and find out about it. Writing murder mysteries and ending up being in one is another pair of shoes. 😂😂😂

The second Amelia Peabody adventure was as funny as the first one - even though Amelia‘s appraisal of herself is sometimes a bit much and annoying. But the interesting background story (the unexplainable curse of the pharaoh) of the murder mystery made up for that. And of course Radcliffe helps to tone it down as well.

Can‘t wait for Ramses to be part of the team! 😂

You have to like the writing style of Edgar Wallace which is very simple without any gloss-overs. I especially like his crime novels because tgey are that dry. This one follows episodically the life of master criminal Arthur Milton who purges the crimes of others by doing the work of Scotland Yard.

Is was rereading this collection of Poirot short stories for the #christiescrapers. Even though I remember reading most of them, I came across some stories that I didn‘t, e.g. A phone call from a dying man. It was definitely worth rereading and I enjoyed it very much.

After reading 20 ND novels now, I certainly have to put myself up with the fact that there are always two mysteries that are inexplicably connected to each other and a lot of weird accidents/incidents. Now I am not shaking my head and rolling my eyes anymore, I just enjoyed the read. 🤣

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Of course there is a huge boat accident in the second chapter. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

My plan this evening… A murder mystery musical about the missing days of Agatha Christie. I am really looking forward to it. 🫶🫶🫶

While listening to the first book of the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank, I realized that the characters felt somewhat familiar, so I went through my library and found a German version of the second book and an “old” audiobook of book no. 14 on TAPES!!! 🙈🤣🙈🤣🙈 I must have read/listened to them years ago and never realized they are part of a series. 🤦‍♀️ I am starting it now!!! 💪
@Ruthiella

Even though the cover is the least appealing I have seen so far, I enjoyed this mystery very much. Especially because it‘s set in Egypt and the surrounding of an archeological site. Amelia is a likeable character, witty and very assertive. 💪💪💪

The mummy would have no chance!!! 🤣🤣🤣

This was very interesting- I never knew that Cicero‘s life was that remarkable and went through significant ups and downs. He survived more than Roman dictator and tried to save the Republic. This is definitely a very detailed book. To listen to the audiobook while driving proved difficult sometimes because it was easy to miss information, so I had to listen to some chapters more than once. But it was worth it.

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Save the Pharao! I listed to this children‘s mystery because I was looking for something to play in the background while my students are working on their papyrusses in our project week. There is a conspiracy against the Pharao going on and two kids are the only ones knowing about it. Of course they are trying to save him. And the kids listening have solve quizzes along with them in a enclosed booklet. It‘s definetely entertaining.

It‘s nine years now - some on, some off - recently I am more on. 😂

So far, I think this one is the best of the series. The paladin Galen and doctor Pioer (known from Paladin‘s Grace) try to solve the mystery sorrounding a deadly maze of ancient machines - with the help of their gnole friend Earstripe who adds some fun to the deadly adventure. It was somewhat shorter than the first two because this time Kingfisher tones the whole “He likes me, he doesn‘t like me” down a lot.

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Even though interviews are definitely not my favouritw kind of text type I enjoyed the interviews with Judi Dench very much. She is a very witty person and her insight on the different characters were very interesting. I‘m going to use excerpts of this book in my English lessons for sure. 💪💪💪

A hunt for a treasure island - Nancy has to piece together two parts of a map and two Parts of a family. Of course dark forces are hunting for the treasure island as well and Nancy has to keep her head above water. Definitely better than the last one.

I love that Judi Dench‘s own drawings were used. 😍😍😍