January Wrap-up // Lena

Tuesday 31 January 2017


The first month of 2017 went by so fast and it's time to reflect on what I read.
I have to say that January was quite a good reading month for me. I did not only read a lot of books this month, but also some pretty good ones. And btw, I read some of them in German.
In total I read 15 books. 
Let's see which ones...
_______________________________

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Marie Kondo: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing   
✭✭✭✭✩

I'm super motivated to live a more minimalistic life. This book was fun to read and I'm looking forward to trying the KonMari method soon. 







Rita Falk: Schweinskopf al dente (german) 
✭✭✭✭✩
I probably wouldn't have bought the book for myself but since it was a birthday gift I felt pretty motivated to read it asap. It's a detective novel, hilarious and the story is set in Bavaria. I guess, that's about all I can say about this book.

Beatrix Potter: Das große Beatrix Potter Geschichtenbuch (german edition) / The Complete Tales
✭✭✭✩✩
I really wanted to read a book from my childhood and I never forgot about Peter Rabbit. It was great to read the tales but unfortunately some of them were quite boring.


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Patrick Ness: A Monster Calls  
✭✭✭✭✩

Totally read this book in one sitting and I did my best not to cry at the end. I'm definitely ready for the movie!







Sara Eckel: Es liegt nicht an dir! 27 (falsche) Gründe, warum du noch Single bist (german edition) / It's Not You: 27 (Wrong) Reasons You're Single   
✭✭✭✭✩

Rainer Maria Rilke: Liebesgedichte (german) " love poems" 
✭✭✭✭✩ 

Kurt Tucholsky: Dürfen darf man alles - Lebensweisheiten (german)  
✭✭✭✭✩
This is just a book full quotes by a German author. 




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Hot Dudes Reading  
✭✭✭✭✭

This book is pretty self-explanatory. It's just a bunch of photos of dudes reading. I found a photo of my future husband inside this book and I'm currently working on getting his number. Okay... just kidding.







Kelly Choi: 7 Tage Tea Cleanse (german) 
✭✭✭✭✩ 
I thought this book was only about the tea cleanse itself but it contained so much more. It made my love for tea grow even bigger.


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Ransom Riggs: Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #3) 
✭✭✭✩✩
I had no motivation whatsoever to finish the series. I'm glad I did it, but I have to admit it wasn't a very enjoyable read for me.






Shirley Seul: Das Leben ist keine To-do-Liste (german) 
✭✭✭✩✩
I got this one from the library because lately I feel pretty interested in those kind of self-help books. Since I always tend to write too many to-do-lists, this book was somewhat helpful.

Thomas Hohensee: Gelassenheit beginnt im Kopf (german) 
✭✭✭✩✩


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Mona Kasten: Begin Again (Again #1) (german) 
✭✭✭✭✭
Begin Again is a new adult romance novel by a German booktuber. I read the whole book in one day (btw it's 480 pages long) and it was exactly what I needed. 


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Everyday Tidiness - 365 ways to a decluttered life 
✭✭✭✭✩
I borrowed this beauty from Ella. I loved the inspirational quotes. I do have to say that I'm already a pretty tidied person so I mostly read it just for fun.







John P. Strelecky: Das Café am Rande der Welt (german edition) / The Why Are You Here Cafe 
✭✭✭✭✩

_____________________________

That's it. I hope you all had a great reading month! 
What did you read?

Love, Lena 



January Wrap-up // Ella

Monday 30 January 2017

Hi there, it's Ella!
It's my turn for my first post on Passion and Pages and I will start off with my January Wrap-up.



24120519 Ransom Riggs: Library of Souls (Peculiar Children #3)

✭✭✭✭✭

The first book I read was Library of Souls. I have to admit, I shortly finished it after midnight (yup, I just spends new years eve part-time reading).
I just loved that one! I was a big fan of the first book, not so pleased by the second, but I guess the third one was just my favorite out of the series. I loved the atmosphere and it was so exciting. Couldn't put it down.
A nice end of the series.


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Christopher A. Weidner: Enzyklopädie der Mythologie (german)

✭✭✭✩                                           "encyclopedia of mythology"

Next one was a book about mythology, including greek, germanic and keltic mythology. It was an interesting read though I enjoyed the greek part most and really had to push through the keltic one, cause I just wasn't that interested in it. 


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Alan Bradley: The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches ( Flavia de Luce #6)

✭✭✭✭

I really enjoyed this one! It's been some time since I read the first five books, but I had no problem getting back into the story. It was a fun read as usual and a very quick one too.

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Alan Bradley: As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust  (Flavia de Luce #7)

✭✭✭✩ 

Though having the usual Flavia de Luce tone, I couldn't enjoy this one as much as the rest of the series since it's set in a girls school overseas and I missed Buckshaw and Flavias family. That just felt different to me. 
But all in all it was okay.


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Janice Kaplan: The Gratitude Diaries

✭✭✭✭

The Gratitude Diaries was an awesome read, not espacially by the reading itself, but by the effect it had on me. But I don't want to say too much since there is an upcoming post on this next week.

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Meik Wiking: The Little Book of Hygge

✭✭✭✭

I bought this one last november when I was in Amsterdam and I finally read it. It was quite enjoyable, though some parts felt a bit to streched. Very informative, giving graphics and trying to cover a wide range of topics, know I feel like having a good understanding of the meaning of "hygge".


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Marie Tourell Søderberg: Hygge- The Danish Art of Happiness

✭✭✭✭✭

I was happy, I had read the other book first and this felt like a very nice complement to it. Having a more chatty tone, it was super enjoyable and I really liked the mixture in it.

There will be more in an upcoming post about both books too.


22318578

Marie Kondo: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

✭✭✭

Triggered by my favorite youtuber and sympathizing with the idea of minimalism AND hearing so muc about it, I wanted to read it.
Thanks to the lovely Lena borowing it to me, btw. ;*
Sooo, I like the main idea of making a radical change be decluttering all in one, sorting be category and deciding, wheter something sparks joy. Altough I enjoyed reading it, I thinks, it could have been much shorter, giving the same information. Furthermore, some ideas are just senseless to me. My socks will stay balled up, whatever Kondo says.


Since I am working towards finals, I'm pretty content with my january reading. 
Did you read any of mine? 
How was your reading this month?

See you on friday for my february-tbr!
Ella

Thoughts on Collateral Beauty

Friday 27 January 2017


I’m usually not that interested in movies. I mean, I love watching a movie from time to time but I’m never informed what comes out next and which actor is super good.

I love reading. That’s because I’m usually only excited for a movie if it’s a book to movie adaptation.
In this case I haven't even read the book the movie was based on (shame on me, I know...)
But I read all of Anna Todd’s books and I follow her on wattpad. You probably wonder why I’m telling you this.
Anna Todd wrote her own ‚Dear Love’ letter and that’s when I first heard about ‚Collateral Beauty‘. And then I forgot about it again because like I said I’m not a movie person.
But last week my friend surprised me and invited me to the movies and I got to see this beautiful movie.

I guess I don't have to tell you what ‚Collateral Beauty‘ is about. But if you’ve never heard of it, I’m trying my best here. Although, I have to admit its pretty hard to put everything into words.

So the movie is about a guy named Howard who has to deal with a real tragedy that leaves him in deep depressions. He starts writing letters to Love, Death and Time, who then, suddenly visit him.



I know. Sounds kind of crazy. And I do have to admit that the movie in some way is weird. But it’s a beautiful weirdness.
‚Collateral Beauty‘ is a sad movie and I had to hold back tears most of the time. But I also cried some happy tears, because it made me realize that there is so much in life to love and be content about. I am thankful and happy that ‚Collateral Beauty‘ let me feel all those beautiful things at once.

Again, I’m not a movie expert at all and I don't know to properly judge this piece of art. But what counts for me is that the movie I’m watching makes me feel something and that it touches my heart. That's exactly what happened with ‚Collateral Beauty‘. And that’s why I’m telling you:

Go see that movie. Or at least think about Love, Death and Time. 

A new chapter begins...

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Welcome to Passion & Pages ♥
We're Ella and Lena, two booklovers from  Germany. 
You guessed it - we gonna write about books - but more than that - simply about all the things we love in live. So we're lifestyle-bloggers too.
Expect monthly tbrs, wrap-ups and reviews - swell as favorites, chit-chat posts and things that inspire us.



Lena will start of with a post on friday, continued by Ellas first post next week.
Be prepared! :)

Read on,
Lena & Ella ♥