Who´s afraid of Beatie Bow? by Ruth Park

As strange as it might sound I would describe this book as adorable! I read it in 7th grade and I still have it as one of the favourites.
Its about Abigail, 14years old living her mother, who often babysits for her neighbours´ children. One day when the children were playing Who´s afraid of Beatie Bow, in the park Abigail noticed a girl who never played along, she just sat there watching the other kids. When the girl walked away, Abigail followed her to out of curiousity because she felt the girl was a bit strange. After a while Abigail ended up in a neigbhourhood she had never seen before, everything was completely different and strange. She had actually time traveled, a hundred years back in time.
This story is really easy to read and captivating that I believe anyone who reads it finishes it at once, never taking a break until the story is all done.

Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Love this book! Another we read in IB and another I recommend to everyone! Its filled with many different kinds of emotions. Its about the difference in two generations, mother-daughter-relationshops, culture differences and misunderastandings, happiness, sorrow and lots of humour! A definite favourite!

Oprah, A biography by Kitty Kelley

Wow what an interesting view of the woman behind the name Oprah this book gave me. I absolutely love her show, and the picture I had of the woman Oprah. But after reading this book it gave me a more realistic view of her. Even though of course, like with all biographies written by others than the person whose life story it really is, the sources must be carefully looked through before believing any of it. Most of what was written here just made sense, it was simply logical and believeable. Oprah was just toooo good to be all true, or at least for the picture I and most others have of her to be true. Nobody is perfect, duh. Still love the woman, she is an inspiration to me no matter what because this book really throws a lot of trash on her but still, nobody is perfect and it kind of just made me like her even more because this book made her more...well, normal? It makes you think, once again, if she can, anyone can.

Barack Obama, Dreams from my father by Barack Obama

The U.S President Barack Obama is an amazing person according to me. I have been following his work ever since the news that he would be running for presidency came out. I love to hear his speeches, such an intelligent man, even though of course, he is not the one writing all his speeches, nothing could help Bush for example. I still cant believe that man is for real...
Anyway, this is an interesting book by Barack Obama which was published in 1995 for the first time, as he was preparing to launch his political career five years after being elected the first African-American president of the Harvard-Review.

Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer

Saw the movies first...never a good thing but nevertheless, I really, really, really enjoyed reading these books. I like the movies, adore the soundtrack and love the books. It always amazes me how the same story can feel like two different, the movie and the book.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

The magical story about Harry Potter and his friends is really something spectacular. It has everything children want to read about and imagine to be themselves. This is the kind of writer I would love to be, to truly be able to give life to the amazing characters. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling are my very favourite authors, probably of all time, even though Austen, Bronte and others are very close to the heart.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Dissapointed. As captivated as I was by The Historian and couldnt wait to read more of Kostovas´ work, I ended up very dissapointed when I was finished with The Swan Thieves.
At first the story seemed to follow a bit in the ghostly Historian atmosphere, but than it somehow changed somewhere in the befinning and it became harder and harder to read through the (what felt to be) incredibly long and many pages. I disliked all the characters, they just felt irritating and just...blah!
I really tried to like the story and gave it an honest chance by reading (with a struggle) to the very last word but I suppose I had to great expectations on this book and was let down.

The historian by Elizabeth Kostova

This book captured me, to say the least. I was so captivated that I read the books´ filled and heavy 641 pages in 3 nights, and that is a very short time for this kind of book. I surely wouldn´t have finished it in 3 nights if it wasnt as captivating as it was to read. It felt like I was in the story, traveling through Europe, searching for the truth with the fear that I might find it soon. Kostovas´ way of writing is so fascinating to me that she has become one of my best liked authors. This book is a must read, after of course first finishing Bram Stokers´ classic, Dracula.

Singoalla by Victor Rydberg

Another great work of art I read while in IB. Published 1857. Rydberg describes a medieval world, at least it is exacly the way I always imagine the medieavl world to look like, full of castles, munks and kings. Well, thats the fairytale medieval world I like to imagine anyway.
Singoalla is a gypsie girl who falls in love with the fair prince, which of course leads the novel to be a very sad love story. Its full of darkness and sorrow, unjustice and prejudices. Its not an easy novel to read because its quite dark in itself, the story and the events that occur. It gives a clear understanding that the church, the munks and christianity represent the bright side, the goodness and the unfaithful, the gypsies etc are the darkness.
I always recommed this book to people who like to read this genre because its truly one of my favourites and Ive read it a couple of times now.

Miss Julie by August Strindberg (Fröken Julie)

I was introduced to (according to me crazy) Mr Strindberg´s work Miss Julie during my years at IB <3
I absolutely loved it! It really is a classic and a work of art.
Essentially a morality play, classic repartee between the main characters in a subtle rendering of gender versus class in a rigidly moral society.