Since most of the month I was busy travelling Spain, it's only two books this time.

I had some gift code credits at Amazon.com and decided to give the Kindle store a try. I found it hard to find something interesting by just browsing, especially since all my previous buying history is at Amazon Germany…

Reading with the Kindle App on my Android is okay, even though the App isn't as good as my default book reader. I especially miss a sans-serif font. What I like is the automatic syncing of my current reading position to other registered Kindle apps. This way I can continue reading in bed where my old iPhone is now working as an alarm clock .

Prices for Kindle books are ridiculous though. They are often on par with the paperback and sometimes even more expensive. If it wouldn't have been for the gift codes that I can't redeem at Amazon Germany, I wouldn't have bought the books there.

This Terry Pratchett book is not a Discworld novel, instead it plays on Earth as we know it during the English Empire. Well, almost earth as we know it. A plague wiped out a lot of people and the English Crown needs a new king. But that's not the main story arc at all.

Instead everything focuses on a small island in the pacific where a Tsunami wipes out an entire island tribe except Mau, a boy of thirteen who's now chief of the new nation to form. Together with Daphne, the future king's daughter who is shipwrecked at Mau's island, he has to rediscover his tribe's past, manage and protect the life of the arriving survivors and struggle with his own beliefs.

The book is almost philosophical but never boring – on the contrary, I found it very intense and hard to stop reading. Highly recommended.

In preparation for my vacation I was looking for books related to Spain and this book came up. Set up in Barcelona during the Franco regime, it follows the growing up of Daniel, son of a bookshop owner. It all starts when Daniel finds a book – “The Shadow of the Wind” by Julian Carax. When he starts looking for other works by the same author, Daniel finds nothing but mysteries. He soon learns that he's not the only one looking for Carax and his books…

It's a dark, gripping novel which I enjoyed reading.

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