Hey guys,
I'm really sorry for my continued absence! 2014 was not a good blogging year for me. First I was very busy with my MA thesis, then I spent a few weeks abroad, then I blogged some, then NaNoWriMo came around... I thought I could do better in December but I just moved house last weekend (of course, moving day was when the weather decided that Switzerland finally needed All The Snow) and was busy packing before that (boxing up all those books!) and also flew to Belgium... to go on a roadtrip to the north of England to see the last ever show of a favorite band.
So yes. Busy. Also, I am without internet in the new apartment until at least mid-January (I am sneaking this post in at work, hence the lack of gifs). I just wanted to give you a quick update as to what is going on. I hope I can post a lot more reviews and discussions in 2015! I don't like what the blog looked like these past few months and want to get into a routine again.
On that note, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a happy new year and, as we say here, guete Rutsch!
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Friday, December 5, 2014
So... I have survived NaNoWriMo and I'm back!
Hi there... as I suspected in my post about a month ago, I've been pretty much MIA.
The good part? I'm excited to be blogging again. In fact, once I finish this post I am hitting 'publish' on a review I just finished writing a moment ago. I owe a lot of reviews... *buries head in shame*
The better part? I pulled through NaNo with 52,669 words, which with what I've written before and since currently sets my story at 69k! I'm not finished by a pretty long shot (probably another 30k) and I'll have to cut and revise the hell out of it, but I love the world and the characters and it just feels good to be writing and creating.
I kind of wish I had written more (in 2011, I had 66k) but well...
I got Assassin's Creed: Black Flag in late October and by the end of November, I had also played like 60 hours of that... in addition to writing and working and some reading (but not blogging). Oops? Seriously though, that game sucked me in for like 5 hours straight sometimes (or until 3am) and I didn't even realize the passing of time. I could sail around the Caribbean with Edward Kenway and James Kidd to plunder ships and assassinate templars for forever.
Anyway. During that time, I also had to look for a new apartment for my sister and me, which I am very VERY glad to say we found! It's like a miracle, only took us about two weeks - must be a record in this city! Zurich is notorious about not having enough apartments and charging ridiculous prices. I used to go to viewings ten mins early and still have to wait halfway down the staircase for my turn to quickly do a 30 seconds walk through the place and, if I was lucky, grab an application sheet if there were any left at this point.
We really like the place we're renting at the moment but the building is going to be torn down and rebuilt at the end of February (that's why the rent was so cheap), so we had to get out. The new place has a better kitchen and bigger bathroom though, so that's great, even though the neighborhood isn't as pretty. But it will be my first time living in a place and not having a contract that says 'only until this specified month about 1-2 years from now'. If I move again, it'll be my own choice rather than other circumstances forcing me out of my home.
Now I only have to box up my 400 or so books...
So, that's what's been going on in my life. I really hope I can blog some more before the end of the year, but I'm also flying to Belgium and then getting in a friend's friend's car for a road trip under the Channel (in a car beneath the sea. I am not at all scared, no no) and then up to Derby, England for the final show of a great band (adventure!), plus I have no Christmas presents yet. And we're probably moving between Christmas and Silvester. So, lots of organizing to do. But at least life is happening. Plus, I can buy more book shelves after the move because once more, my blog name is very very accurate...
How has NaNoWriMo gone for those of you who participated? And are there any bookloving frequent-movers with advice on how to best pack up those precious books?
The good part? I'm excited to be blogging again. In fact, once I finish this post I am hitting 'publish' on a review I just finished writing a moment ago. I owe a lot of reviews... *buries head in shame*
The better part? I pulled through NaNo with 52,669 words, which with what I've written before and since currently sets my story at 69k! I'm not finished by a pretty long shot (probably another 30k) and I'll have to cut and revise the hell out of it, but I love the world and the characters and it just feels good to be writing and creating.
I kind of wish I had written more (in 2011, I had 66k) but well...
I got Assassin's Creed: Black Flag in late October and by the end of November, I had also played like 60 hours of that... in addition to writing and working and some reading (but not blogging). Oops? Seriously though, that game sucked me in for like 5 hours straight sometimes (or until 3am) and I didn't even realize the passing of time. I could sail around the Caribbean with Edward Kenway and James Kidd to plunder ships and assassinate templars for forever.
Anyway. During that time, I also had to look for a new apartment for my sister and me, which I am very VERY glad to say we found! It's like a miracle, only took us about two weeks - must be a record in this city! Zurich is notorious about not having enough apartments and charging ridiculous prices. I used to go to viewings ten mins early and still have to wait halfway down the staircase for my turn to quickly do a 30 seconds walk through the place and, if I was lucky, grab an application sheet if there were any left at this point.
We really like the place we're renting at the moment but the building is going to be torn down and rebuilt at the end of February (that's why the rent was so cheap), so we had to get out. The new place has a better kitchen and bigger bathroom though, so that's great, even though the neighborhood isn't as pretty. But it will be my first time living in a place and not having a contract that says 'only until this specified month about 1-2 years from now'. If I move again, it'll be my own choice rather than other circumstances forcing me out of my home.
Now I only have to box up my 400 or so books...
So, that's what's been going on in my life. I really hope I can blog some more before the end of the year, but I'm also flying to Belgium and then getting in a friend's friend's car for a road trip under the Channel (in a car beneath the sea. I am not at all scared, no no) and then up to Derby, England for the final show of a great band (adventure!), plus I have no Christmas presents yet. And we're probably moving between Christmas and Silvester. So, lots of organizing to do. But at least life is happening. Plus, I can buy more book shelves after the move because once more, my blog name is very very accurate...
How has NaNoWriMo gone for those of you who participated? And are there any bookloving frequent-movers with advice on how to best pack up those precious books?
Thursday, September 11, 2014
The Bookish Seven Deadly Sins
I've been tagged to do the Seven Deadly Sins Questionnaire (created by BookishlyMalyza) by the wonderful Micheline from Lunar Rainbows and because I love bookish questions - here are my answers :) Thanks for the tag, hun!
1. Greed. What's your most inexpensive book? What's your most expensive one?
Hm... cheapest are probably my books from the 'Bücherbrocki' which is kind of liked a used books store. Paperbacks are only two bucks there, no matter how big or small they are.
If you count ebooks though, it'd be one of my Amazon freebies or deals for 99 cents.
As for the most expensive book I own, I think I paid most (or, well, my mum gave it to me for graduation) for my hardcover edition of The Lord of the Rings, illustrated by Alan Lee. It's beautiful :) I also have an edition of Swinburne poems from 1917. I bought in cheaply on ebay, but then had to have it restored for over 80 bucks because the front cover fell clean off as soon as I opened it >_<
2. Wrath. What author do you have a love-hate relationship with?
This is so hard! I know there is someone, I just know! I'm looking at my shelves and I just can't figure it out. Hm. Maybe Sarah Rees Brennan, but just a little. I mostly love love love her, but she has a way of ending books that is just plain cruel. Or Jane Austen. I know she's a good writer but god, most of her characters are just so aggravating! It always takes me forever to get into one of her books because I can't find a single person that I like. Which I know is not how I should look at books as an academic reader but it's just infuriating because she writes about the most horrible people and so many of her protagonists are either doormats (Anne, Fanny) or think they know it all (Emma).
3. Gluttony. What book have you devoured over and over again with no shame.
I don't have time to re-read as much as I used to, but I've read Der Kreis der Dämmerung bei Ralf Isau about 3 times when I was a teen. Another frequent re-read were books by Wolfgang Hohlbein (German YA fantasy, mostly from the 80s and 90s): Der Greif, Spiegelzeit, Dreizehn... I think some of them have been translated to English. I've also read many of especially the first few Harry Potter books several times, as well as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
These days though, I'm mostly a re-reader of poetry because you don't spend days on it and I find it calming to come back to my favorites. The ones I've read most are probably The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot and the poems in Stephen Crane's Black Riders and Other Lines (I always mean to re-read just a specific one and end up going through the whole book). I also love Ode to a Nightingale by Keats.
4. Sloth. What book have you neglected reading due to laziness?
Well. About three years ago I bought a huge omnibus of Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy. All three books in one. But it has well over 1000 pages and it's HUGE and basically impossible to transport. And since I tend to read on the bus/train... somehow I just never read it. Even though I've wanted to for 10 years, since I first spotted Lirael at a local book store.
5. Pride. What book do you talk about most in order to sound like an intellectual reader?
Well. If I wanted to show off or maybe purposefully make another person leave I'd talk about Ulysses by James Joyce. Or The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot.
As for Classics I really enjoyed: Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Tristram Shandy, Frankenstein, Mrs Dalloway, and The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (though that one was very disturbing).
6. Lust. What attributes do you find attractive in male or female characters?
Male: I tend to go for the lean types rather than the bulky ones. Dark hair. Green or blue eyes. Snark and mischief mixed with vulnerability and a sense of humor. If he's creative or good with a sword, that's a plus. I can go for both a villainous or a morally upright guy, but no fake bad boys please.
Female: I love fierce girls or women who can stand up for themselves, be it because they are badass fighters or good with words. Loyalty and compassion are also important. I like protagonists that are mostly self-reliant but also not too proud to ask for help when they need it.
7. Envy. What book would you most like to receive as a gift?
Um. Any book on my TBR that I don't own yet? But a 19th century edition of Paradise Lost by Milton or the above-mentioned poetry volume by Stephen Crane would be wonderful. You know, old, rare books. Perhaps with engravings. I also like it when the previous owners have written into them - little notes, their name on the title page, or a dedication if the book has been a gift.
This took me waaaay longer to write than I thought it would! Okay, time to tag some people! If you've already done it then I'm sorry, no time to check. Perhaps leave me a link to your post?
Kelly from Effortlessly Reading
Jen from The Starry-Eyed Revue
Kayce from Fighting Dreamer
Anya from On Starships and Dragon Wings
Jen from Tangled in Books
Caro from The Book Rogue
Sunday, August 31, 2014
On traveling and adjusting to life when you return
So... hi? Is anyone still here? This is me, crawling out from under a rock. A rock I'm sorry I stayed under for so long. It's been almost three months since I last posted here, the night before I left for the US. And to my defense, my sister and I's time in America was amazing, but also exhausting at times and I could just never find the time to finalize my update-from-the-road posts, though I have quite a big draft and might tell you more about my travels in my 'Get to Know Me' posts that I used to do on Sundays.
Dear Americans, your country is HUGE. I travelled about twice the north-to-south length of my country every day, for 3 days, going basically all the way straight through lots of desert. I've never seen so much sand, or flat space without mountains. I can't even begin to count all the new things that I've seen during those 6 weeks I was abroad, but let me give you a short list. I have:
So, coming back was harder than I thought it'd be. It was strange to be in the same place for so long and not live out of a suitcase. Everyone spoke Swiss German, which was weird at first. I had to go back from seeing new, exciting things every day to somehow trying to fit into the everyday-routine of life in Zurich. My city suddenly seems very small, even though it's the biggest one in the country. My life seems small and boring all of a sudden, though there were of course also perks to being back, like meeting friends, eating healthy food, having an Xbox again... Still, I miss being on the road. I kind of envy my sister, who after 3 weeks here is currently in Shanghai.
I haven't quite found my footing again yet, also because I'm in a very in-between kinda situation. I've finished my MA thesis and final exam at the end of may, but I will only get my diploma on September 24, so I can't apply for any jobs or internships yet. Still, after 6 years I'm done with university. I don't know what to do with that. I've been a student of some kind for almost 20 years, and I've never done a gap year or exchange program. And now I'm suddenly not part of the student population anymore, and it's weird.
I'm supposed to be an adult now, right? But what if I don't feel like one? What if I have no idea how to have a career, or if I want one, or what kind I want, or what I want to do and how to go about it?
This type of questions, combined with falling back into the routine of my part-time job, is one reason why I didn't start blogging again at the end of July. I also had a strange kind of fear and writer's block thing going on about blogging because I've been away from it for so long. I have no idea what everyone's been up to. I don't know which books are coming out. I don't know if anyone still remembers me.
But you know what? I missed blogging and the interactions that come with it. I miss talking about books, posting my new book purchases, reading Top Ten Tuesday and WoW posts, interacting with people in comments and reading reviews. And I hope that eventually, I can find my way back in and that there are still people interested in what I have to say.
Have any of you had similar experiences after travelling and/or not posting for a while? Do you ever feel insecure about having something worthwhile to say? What do you do about this strange fear of posting? I'd love to hear from you in the comments :)
Dear Americans, your country is HUGE. I travelled about twice the north-to-south length of my country every day, for 3 days, going basically all the way straight through lots of desert. I've never seen so much sand, or flat space without mountains. I can't even begin to count all the new things that I've seen during those 6 weeks I was abroad, but let me give you a short list. I have:
- met a fellow blogger - shout-out to Kelly from Effortlessly Reading! She is such a wonderful, generous person and you should check out her blog if you don't know it already. She showed us Strands Books and Books of Wonder in New York and contributed to the heaviness of my suitcase(s). Kelly, thank you again for everything, and I hope we can meet at BEA some day!
- ridden the Greyhound bus
- had my fortune told after going on a ghost and vampire tour in New Orleans. Then kept chatting with the fortune teller and her fiancé in Jackson Square until long after midnight. He could do an amazing impression of Jack Sparrow and the Joker from Batman.
- drove from New Orleans to Tucson in 2.5 days
- slept in a tent in the woods at Grand Canyon after stargazing through a telescope and seeing Saturn's rings.
- seen a show in Vegas
- WENT TO ALA IN VEGAS AND MET HOLLY BLACK OMG!!!
Seriously, I had no clue it was in Vegas this year, and during the time we were there! We could only stay for 3 hours but it was awesome, I met Holly and Julie Kagawa and I got a ton of books and I wish we could've stayed longer, though I made a bit of a fool of myself in front of Holly because I was so excited. I've loved that woman's books for ten years and never in a million years thought I'd get the chance to talk to her. - met April White, author of Marking Time, an awesome novel that is currently free on Amazon and that I've reviewed here on the blog a while ago. She is one of the most generous and kindest people I have ever met! April, thank you again for everything you've done for us - you don't know how much it meant to me! Also, I owe you email and a review.
- saw July 4th fireworks at the beach
- went whale-watching and saw a pod of about 1000 dolphins! Dolphins used to be my favorite animals as a kid.
- drove up Highway 1 along the coast from San Diego to San Francisco
- biked across Golden Gate Bridge
- had an amazing hostel-organized tour of China Town during which we visited two temples, a factory where they still make fortune cookies by hand, and had a tea tasting with the best snarky host-lady ever
- was in Japan Town during a festival. Lots of cosplaying people! A store with awesome hats! A store with a whole floor of manga!
So, coming back was harder than I thought it'd be. It was strange to be in the same place for so long and not live out of a suitcase. Everyone spoke Swiss German, which was weird at first. I had to go back from seeing new, exciting things every day to somehow trying to fit into the everyday-routine of life in Zurich. My city suddenly seems very small, even though it's the biggest one in the country. My life seems small and boring all of a sudden, though there were of course also perks to being back, like meeting friends, eating healthy food, having an Xbox again... Still, I miss being on the road. I kind of envy my sister, who after 3 weeks here is currently in Shanghai.
I haven't quite found my footing again yet, also because I'm in a very in-between kinda situation. I've finished my MA thesis and final exam at the end of may, but I will only get my diploma on September 24, so I can't apply for any jobs or internships yet. Still, after 6 years I'm done with university. I don't know what to do with that. I've been a student of some kind for almost 20 years, and I've never done a gap year or exchange program. And now I'm suddenly not part of the student population anymore, and it's weird.
I'm supposed to be an adult now, right? But what if I don't feel like one? What if I have no idea how to have a career, or if I want one, or what kind I want, or what I want to do and how to go about it?
This type of questions, combined with falling back into the routine of my part-time job, is one reason why I didn't start blogging again at the end of July. I also had a strange kind of fear and writer's block thing going on about blogging because I've been away from it for so long. I have no idea what everyone's been up to. I don't know which books are coming out. I don't know if anyone still remembers me.
But you know what? I missed blogging and the interactions that come with it. I miss talking about books, posting my new book purchases, reading Top Ten Tuesday and WoW posts, interacting with people in comments and reading reviews. And I hope that eventually, I can find my way back in and that there are still people interested in what I have to say.
Have any of you had similar experiences after travelling and/or not posting for a while? Do you ever feel insecure about having something worthwhile to say? What do you do about this strange fear of posting? I'd love to hear from you in the comments :)
Saturday, June 7, 2014
I am done with EVERYTHING! And coming to the US! :D
Hey guys!
I know I know... it's been a very long period of silence from me. It wasn't intentional. I just couldn't keep up with everything at the same time, and I had to prioritize writing that MA thesis. But I'm done now. Done with the thesis. Done with the exam. Everything is handed in. My next and last action at university will be getting my diploma in September with everyone else who finished this semester.
It doesn't quite feel real yet. Studying was a huge part of my life for the past six years. It was a part of my identity. To not have that anymore... it feels weird. But also good. Because I was sort of fed up with... everything. I just need something else. I need to see the world. Which is what I'm about to do. In pretty much exactly 12 hours from the moment I'm writing this, my plane takes off. My sister and I are doing a huge, six week trip to the US!! :D
WE ARE SO EXCITED!!
Neither of us has ever been to the US before. And now we're going together. First we'll be in New York for about the week, then we're going to Washington D.C. for a day, then we're boarding a plane in Baltimore and flying to New Orleans. We're staying there for another few days, then it's off in the car. We're driving across Texas and then somehow up to the Grand Canyon, then to Vegas for my sister's birthday. After that, down to L.A. and San Diego and then up the coast until San Francisco.
Yup, we've quite a program. And we hope it'll be awesome. And that we'll have adventures. And meet people along the way.
I'm also a bit scared though, to be honest. I've never been so far from home for so long. (I also haven't driven a car in forever) But I also hope I can sort of figure out or at least get more of an idea what to do with my life post-university on this trip. I hope I can write some stories and have new ideas, see new things, get a new perspective.
What does all of this mean for the blog?
Well, even if I'm traveling, I will still be reading. I have in fact read quite a lot even while writing the thesis. I just didn't get around to/have the energy to blog about it. I am VERY out of touch with everyone and everything, including new releases. I also have quite a bunch of ARCs I never got around to reading, but I hope I can catch up a bit over the summer and I still plan to write and post these reviews, even if it's not around the release date anymore. I really missed blogging!! I feel like so many cool things were going on and I am way out of touch with everyone :/
Also, you can expect this blog to become a kind of travel blog for the next few weeks, with pictures and stuff every few days, also depending on where we can get WiFi.
Lastly and very importantly, if you live in NYC or New Orleans or L.A. or San Francisco or basically anywhere I mentioned above, I would love to meet you! It would be so cool to meet bloggers in real life! I wish I could have come earlier and gone to BEA, but I had my exam on May 27.
I don't mean to come across as a creep with this meeting thing. But we could have coffee or maybe go to your favorite book store or whatever. So if you're a blogger and maybe we've talked before and you live along our route, I'd love to hear from you via email or on Twitter!
So... yeah. I don't really know what else to say. I have to go finish packing and stuff. And freak out some more. And hopefully catch a few hours of sleep. And not do something stupid like forgetting my passport or ESTA thingy. Hopefully you'll hear from me tomorrow or the day after that while I'm sitting in some café in Brooklyn and annoying the natives :P
Have any of you ever gone on a big road trip? Do you have any tips for my sister and me? Places we totally need to see? Things to avoid doing? Bookish places to visit? Let me know in the comments! I've really missed blogging and interacting with you all!
I know I know... it's been a very long period of silence from me. It wasn't intentional. I just couldn't keep up with everything at the same time, and I had to prioritize writing that MA thesis. But I'm done now. Done with the thesis. Done with the exam. Everything is handed in. My next and last action at university will be getting my diploma in September with everyone else who finished this semester.
It doesn't quite feel real yet. Studying was a huge part of my life for the past six years. It was a part of my identity. To not have that anymore... it feels weird. But also good. Because I was sort of fed up with... everything. I just need something else. I need to see the world. Which is what I'm about to do. In pretty much exactly 12 hours from the moment I'm writing this, my plane takes off. My sister and I are doing a huge, six week trip to the US!! :D
WE ARE SO EXCITED!!
Neither of us has ever been to the US before. And now we're going together. First we'll be in New York for about the week, then we're going to Washington D.C. for a day, then we're boarding a plane in Baltimore and flying to New Orleans. We're staying there for another few days, then it's off in the car. We're driving across Texas and then somehow up to the Grand Canyon, then to Vegas for my sister's birthday. After that, down to L.A. and San Diego and then up the coast until San Francisco.
Yup, we've quite a program. And we hope it'll be awesome. And that we'll have adventures. And meet people along the way.
I'm also a bit scared though, to be honest. I've never been so far from home for so long. (I also haven't driven a car in forever) But I also hope I can sort of figure out or at least get more of an idea what to do with my life post-university on this trip. I hope I can write some stories and have new ideas, see new things, get a new perspective.
What does all of this mean for the blog?
Well, even if I'm traveling, I will still be reading. I have in fact read quite a lot even while writing the thesis. I just didn't get around to/have the energy to blog about it. I am VERY out of touch with everyone and everything, including new releases. I also have quite a bunch of ARCs I never got around to reading, but I hope I can catch up a bit over the summer and I still plan to write and post these reviews, even if it's not around the release date anymore. I really missed blogging!! I feel like so many cool things were going on and I am way out of touch with everyone :/
Also, you can expect this blog to become a kind of travel blog for the next few weeks, with pictures and stuff every few days, also depending on where we can get WiFi.
Lastly and very importantly, if you live in NYC or New Orleans or L.A. or San Francisco or basically anywhere I mentioned above, I would love to meet you! It would be so cool to meet bloggers in real life! I wish I could have come earlier and gone to BEA, but I had my exam on May 27.
I don't mean to come across as a creep with this meeting thing. But we could have coffee or maybe go to your favorite book store or whatever. So if you're a blogger and maybe we've talked before and you live along our route, I'd love to hear from you via email or on Twitter!
So... yeah. I don't really know what else to say. I have to go finish packing and stuff. And freak out some more. And hopefully catch a few hours of sleep. And not do something stupid like forgetting my passport or ESTA thingy. Hopefully you'll hear from me tomorrow or the day after that while I'm sitting in some café in Brooklyn and annoying the natives :P
Have any of you ever gone on a big road trip? Do you have any tips for my sister and me? Places we totally need to see? Things to avoid doing? Bookish places to visit? Let me know in the comments! I've really missed blogging and interacting with you all!
Monday, March 3, 2014
It's Alive!
... Or is it?
Remember me? I've been gone for a month without an explanation, and for that I'm very sorry. I owe a lot of people reviews. For some I've actually read the books, for some I just couldn't get around to it.
Why have I been gone? There are a lot of reasons and quite a few excuses. The main reason is that I'm not by nature a very energetic person. Especially lately, I've been fatigued and unmotivated and have a hard time making myself do anything apart from the really necessary, like dragging myself to work. That makes me feel unproductive, which in turn frustrates me and sends me spiralling even more. I just somehow don't... feel real. I'm hiding from the future and denying myself the present.
I'm also very, very worried about my MA thesis. I need to have it written in 2 months so I have another 2 weeks to revise before handing it in, and I haven't written a word yet. I've done a lot of research (reading for that rather than reading YA novels), I have notes, I have ideas... but I'm very scared of sitting down and really starting to write it. I have no idea how and where to start. I don't know how to order things and put them together. It's a big strain on me, obviously. I feel like if I do other things, especially if I write other things, I'm taking time away that could be spent writing on the thesis... even if I don't do it. Even if I play Assassin's Creed instead. Ugh -___-
I also haven't felt like turning on the computer at all. Sometimes I left it alone for almost a week and then had to deal with over 300 emails in the inbox. Yes, something is definitely wrong with me. But I just haven't felt up to dealing with stuff... with life.
Have I missed blogging?
Yes. I miss commenting on each others' posts. I miss learning about new books and checking my favorite blogs. I feel completely out of the loop. Very often in the morning, I'd resolve to write a post that day. Only then it didn't happen. After a while I felt so guilty I couldn't bear to even look at the blog or the stats or anything. I also haven't checked on any other blogs in this entire time - as I said, my computer was mostly off. I do want to return to at least checking out posts and commenting. I also want to start blogging again myself, but I don't know how often that can realistically be because now I REALLY need to crack down on that MA thesis. Really really.
Or else I won't graduate this summer, which I would see as a personal failure which would make me ashamed and just generally feel like shit about myself because I was a lazy bitch who couldn't get off her ass when it counted.
Yeah, as you guys can see I'm sick of myself.
But last night/today I came to point where I know things have to change. I just can't go on this way, hating myself/feeling sorry for myself and doing exactly nothing to change things. I have to stop the slacking. I have to become sharp again. I have to force my brain into the right channel and just get things done. How many of these things are blog-related, I really can't say. It sounds harsh, but I just can't make it a priority at this point. I don't have that luxury anymore. But I also don't want another month-long silence here.
I hope that if I start to reach out to other people again, I will feel better and more energetic and invigorated. I hope that by being in touch with the passion of others, I can rediscover my own.
This post has become rather personal and kinda depressing somehow, perhaps too personal. But I don't know, maybe someone can relate? Somehow it even made me feel a bit better just writing it all down for once. I guess we all go through stressful periods in our lives and I just have to suck it up. But if anyone has coping mechanisms they'd like to share - be my guest, the comment form calls to you! Again, I'm really sorry for the long silence and I hope that I can still write at least some of the reviews for the ARCs I got. Just... bear with me? For better or worse, by May 15th (MA thesis deadline) it will all be over and I'll be a free woman again.
Remember me? I've been gone for a month without an explanation, and for that I'm very sorry. I owe a lot of people reviews. For some I've actually read the books, for some I just couldn't get around to it.
Why have I been gone? There are a lot of reasons and quite a few excuses. The main reason is that I'm not by nature a very energetic person. Especially lately, I've been fatigued and unmotivated and have a hard time making myself do anything apart from the really necessary, like dragging myself to work. That makes me feel unproductive, which in turn frustrates me and sends me spiralling even more. I just somehow don't... feel real. I'm hiding from the future and denying myself the present.
 |
| I kind of feel like this turtle. Lots of efforts with not very promising results. |
I'm also very, very worried about my MA thesis. I need to have it written in 2 months so I have another 2 weeks to revise before handing it in, and I haven't written a word yet. I've done a lot of research (reading for that rather than reading YA novels), I have notes, I have ideas... but I'm very scared of sitting down and really starting to write it. I have no idea how and where to start. I don't know how to order things and put them together. It's a big strain on me, obviously. I feel like if I do other things, especially if I write other things, I'm taking time away that could be spent writing on the thesis... even if I don't do it. Even if I play Assassin's Creed instead. Ugh -___-
I also haven't felt like turning on the computer at all. Sometimes I left it alone for almost a week and then had to deal with over 300 emails in the inbox. Yes, something is definitely wrong with me. But I just haven't felt up to dealing with stuff... with life.
Have I missed blogging?
Yes. I miss commenting on each others' posts. I miss learning about new books and checking my favorite blogs. I feel completely out of the loop. Very often in the morning, I'd resolve to write a post that day. Only then it didn't happen. After a while I felt so guilty I couldn't bear to even look at the blog or the stats or anything. I also haven't checked on any other blogs in this entire time - as I said, my computer was mostly off. I do want to return to at least checking out posts and commenting. I also want to start blogging again myself, but I don't know how often that can realistically be because now I REALLY need to crack down on that MA thesis. Really really.
Or else I won't graduate this summer, which I would see as a personal failure which would make me ashamed and just generally feel like shit about myself because I was a lazy bitch who couldn't get off her ass when it counted.
Yeah, as you guys can see I'm sick of myself.
But last night/today I came to point where I know things have to change. I just can't go on this way, hating myself/feeling sorry for myself and doing exactly nothing to change things. I have to stop the slacking. I have to become sharp again. I have to force my brain into the right channel and just get things done. How many of these things are blog-related, I really can't say. It sounds harsh, but I just can't make it a priority at this point. I don't have that luxury anymore. But I also don't want another month-long silence here.
I hope that if I start to reach out to other people again, I will feel better and more energetic and invigorated. I hope that by being in touch with the passion of others, I can rediscover my own.
This post has become rather personal and kinda depressing somehow, perhaps too personal. But I don't know, maybe someone can relate? Somehow it even made me feel a bit better just writing it all down for once. I guess we all go through stressful periods in our lives and I just have to suck it up. But if anyone has coping mechanisms they'd like to share - be my guest, the comment form calls to you! Again, I'm really sorry for the long silence and I hope that I can still write at least some of the reviews for the ARCs I got. Just... bear with me? For better or worse, by May 15th (MA thesis deadline) it will all be over and I'll be a free woman again.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Blogging resolutions for 2014
I know, I know. Another not really all that bookish, blog related post. But I think it's important to set a few goals for myself, officially, in writing. Even though I am usually not at all a new-years-resolution-y person.
But there are things in 2013 that didn't go all that well, that made me feel guilty, that I didn't like. I didn't write as many reviews as I would have wanted. I wasn't very social. I sometimes didn't comment back, or commented back very late. And even though 2014 will be very busy for me, at least the next 4 months (I'm writing my master thesis (deadline in May) and hopefully graduating in the summer/fall), I do want to try to be a better blogger as well. Even though the thesis must take precedence because I really cannot afford to screw this up.
Anyhow, here are some of my blogging resolutions for 2014:
I feel like I forgot something... if you have any idea what it might be, let me know :P
Anyway, apart from all that I also simply want to have fun blogging. This is a hobby, not a chore. I'm not planning to ever make any money from this, I'm not affiliated with anybody. I can make my own rules. I think it's important to remember that, too.
I hope you guys had a great start into 2014! If you're a blogger, do you have any resolutions for the new year? Link me up to your post if you have one :)
But there are things in 2013 that didn't go all that well, that made me feel guilty, that I didn't like. I didn't write as many reviews as I would have wanted. I wasn't very social. I sometimes didn't comment back, or commented back very late. And even though 2014 will be very busy for me, at least the next 4 months (I'm writing my master thesis (deadline in May) and hopefully graduating in the summer/fall), I do want to try to be a better blogger as well. Even though the thesis must take precedence because I really cannot afford to screw this up.
Anyhow, here are some of my blogging resolutions for 2014:
- Review more books, even if this means reading less.
- Be more social: get back on Twitter or at least find a point that I'm comfortable using it at while it isn't eating all my time.
- Also on the social front: comment more, and return all comments on meme posts (unless they are obviously a copy-paste type of comment)
- Restrain myself on Netgalley and Edelweiss
- More original content, not just memes. I really like the discussion posts and judging from the response, I guess you guys did as well. I'm also brainstorming other types of possible posts that haven't been done a gazillion times over.
- Also, maybe try to finally set up that meme/feature I've been meaning to do for a while.
- General maintenance / updating stuff, like maybe some design tweaks (though I really love my header), reconsidering the ways you can follow the blog (do I really need Networked Blogs and GFC?), plus some stuff I consider doing with the FB page or Pinterest. This doesn't have priority though.
I feel like I forgot something... if you have any idea what it might be, let me know :P
Anyway, apart from all that I also simply want to have fun blogging. This is a hobby, not a chore. I'm not planning to ever make any money from this, I'm not affiliated with anybody. I can make my own rules. I think it's important to remember that, too.
I hope you guys had a great start into 2014! If you're a blogger, do you have any resolutions for the new year? Link me up to your post if you have one :)
Saturday, January 4, 2014
2014 Reading Challenges
After having wrapped-up my challenges for 2014, here are some I'm planning to complete in 2014. I haven't really been around in late December so I might have missed some cool ones. If I spot them, I'll make a post about joining them later.
Apart from themed challenges, I set my Goodreads Reading Challenge to 150 books again, but I might not make it this time.
I had a lot of fun with this challenge in 2013 and found it very motivating! This year, Bookish is hosting it alone. You can sign up here. There will be a wrap-up post every month on the 20th, and there will be prizes!
Rules: only books published 2013 or earlier, no ARCs or new 2014 releases.
Again, there are several levels:
1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - First Kiss
31-40 - Sweet Summer Fling
41-50 - Could this be love?
50+ - Married With Children
Last year, I would have been Married With Children (75 books), but as for now I'm opting for a Sweet Summer Fling with 31-40 because I'm anticipating a busy year.
This one is hosted by Caro from The Book Rogue and you can sign up here. It's about books you actually want to read but just can't bring yourself to for some reason. Something irks you about them. They've been sitting on your shelf forever. There can be various reasons, to be determined by those signing up for themselves.
Again, I'm aiming low here. 1) because there aren't that many books that irk me 2) because I don't know how many I can realistically bring myself to read. So I challenge myself to at least 5. Here are some of them:
Ah, the joys of Re-Reading. I used to know them very well as a teen, but now it's been so long since I've been able to re-read some of my old favorites! I only re-read 1 books in 2013. It's a pity. I was meaning for it to be so many more! So this time around, I've joined the Re-Reading challenge hosted by Lianne from Caffeinatedlife.net. If you're interested, you can sign up here. There are several available levels, but I think Occasional Re-Reader (1-4 books) is most realistic for me.
Here are some possibilities:
I think that's it with the challenges for me, unless I stumble across something really awesome. I'll be back tomorrow with my blogger resolutions for 2014.
Have you joined any challenges? Why / why not?
Apart from themed challenges, I set my Goodreads Reading Challenge to 150 books again, but I might not make it this time.
I had a lot of fun with this challenge in 2013 and found it very motivating! This year, Bookish is hosting it alone. You can sign up here. There will be a wrap-up post every month on the 20th, and there will be prizes!
Rules: only books published 2013 or earlier, no ARCs or new 2014 releases.
Again, there are several levels:
1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - First Kiss
31-40 - Sweet Summer Fling
41-50 - Could this be love?
50+ - Married With Children
Last year, I would have been Married With Children (75 books), but as for now I'm opting for a Sweet Summer Fling with 31-40 because I'm anticipating a busy year.
Again, I'm aiming low here. 1) because there aren't that many books that irk me 2) because I don't know how many I can realistically bring myself to read. So I challenge myself to at least 5. Here are some of them:
- The Abhorsen trilogy, by Garth Nix. Why: I have all three novels collected in one fat tome. It's like 1200 pages and really heavy. But I've wanted to read these books for about 10 years and owned the collection for 2 or 3. So it's time.
- Tintenherz (Ink Heart), by Cornelia Funke. I really want to read this one in the German original, but I'm always so reluctant with German books. Not because the language is a problem (I'm Swiss so I grew up with it) but because the German writing style... I don't know. I'm not used to it anymore and it's not really my thing.
- The Taker, by Alma Katsu. I bought this one really cheap more than a year ago and still haven't read it. I think it will be great, but somehow I keep putting it off.
- Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. It's a classic, and though I'm an English Lit major I actually haven't read that many American classics. I'm more familiar with English ones. Also, I'm a bit afraid that I might hate Scarlett.
Here are some possibilities:
- Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere or American Gods. I've been meaning to re-read both, but I've got the audiobook of Neverwhere so I might read American Gods as a book and listen to the other one.
- The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff. I only read it about a year ago but I'm hearing the call.
- Katzenwinter, by Wolfgang Hohlbein. This is one of the first fantasy books I've ever read and I recently found it at the used books store.
- The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tokien. I've read it 4 times, but the last time was when I was about 14. And I've never read it in English, only German. Even though I have an English hardcover edition illustrated by Alan Lee. Shame on me.
I think that's it with the challenges for me, unless I stumble across something really awesome. I'll be back tomorrow with my blogger resolutions for 2014.
Have you joined any challenges? Why / why not?
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Get To Know Me: some facts and some fiction
Hello there... It's been a long time since I've done one of these posts! July, I think. So this time it'll be a quick update about the goings-on in my life and how they've influenced (and might continue to influence) this blog, followed by a short story I wrote for my creative writing class a couple weeks ago. Read it if you want. Or don't. It's your call. If you have constructive criticism, it's very welcome :)
The facts
The past half year or so, or actually nearly all of 2013, haven't exactly been the 'time of my life'. I knew I'd have to leave my old apartment (a room in a luxury hotel turned abandoned turned asylum-seeker housing turned abandoned and then taken over by squatters who were in turn chased out so it could be turned into cheap apartments for students) because it would, once more, be transformed back into a 5 star hotel (good luck with that, by the way...). It was my first apartment out of my parents' house, and I knew I'd have a hard time finding something similar when it comes to size, location, and prize. The apartment market in Zurich is notoriously terrible, especially if you're on a tight budget. I started looking in February and found something in August that I could have from October 1 onwards (but only until July 2014). Which means that from mid-April to the end of September I had to move back to my parents and commute to the city for work and classes.
As you can probably guess, moving back in with your parents after 2.5 years of independence is... not easy. I felt driven from the city I consider my home back to the 700-people village I grew up in. I lived out of boxes because I never knew whether I'd be moving again 2 weeks later because I found a place. I felt depressed (I've been on meds for about 5 years). I did nothing but work and read and do my university essays at the last second. I gained weight. I learned that I have a food intolerance for wheat and most aspartame, which was responsible for my constant fatigue. I let things slide. I let the blog slide. I let friendships slide. I let my studies slide, meaning I still got the credits needed but I half-assed things.
I'm trying to pick things up again and get moving. I'm at my new apartment which I love and will soon share with my sister. I like my new job. I enjoy the classes I'm taking. I'm trying to drop the weight. I've started on the research for my master thesis in English literature and am meeting with my supervisor next week. I'll have to move very fast if I want to graduate in the summer, but I hope I can make it if I get off my ass. Things aren't perfect, but I'm grateful for what I've got and I hope that with some initiative, I can get my life back on the track I felt it was on 2 years ago.
So... this is part of why this blog has been a lot of memes and not so many reviews. They take long to write (an hour minimum), and sometimes I'm just too tired in the evening, or I just couldn't be bothered, or I'd rather read or write on a story. Because I've been writing quite a lot, which I count as a positive sign.
The work on my MA thesis also means that I need to prioritize. So I can't say yet what will happen to this blog in the next weeks. My current idea is that I will get rid of some memes or only do them every other week, because the TTT posts take me hours to compile and the comment-answering also eats a lot of time. Instead, I hope I can make the blog more about reviews and discussions. Less posts but more quality, hopefully. But first, I'll have to see how things turn out when I really get serious with the thesis and the reading I'll have to do for it, which of course means less time for reading YA books.
I'm sorry if this was a bit mopey. I'm done moping now. I need to be doing things and working on what I really want. And I want to blog, too. So I'll just have to suck it up. And if I get all dark and brooding and languid, I'll have my sister to kick my ass. As soon as she's properly settled and we're done beautifying the place, I also want to do a shelf/house tour, maybe even as a vlog (my first ever). So I hope you guys stay tuned for that.
This is it for the facts. Now for those who made it till here - congrats. Here's your fiction. I hope you like it.
The Fiction
The following story was a task from creative writing class. We had to click 'random article' on wikipedia and write a story inspired by the first thing that turned up. Mine was David Lorrimer, a cricket player from the 1890s.
Glory Days
I have just discovered the sound I hate most in all the world. It’s a hollow thump followed by a quiet, dry trickling. It’s the sound of a shovel of earth hitting the lid of a coffin and slowly sliding down the sides. But it’s more than that, really. It’s also the quiet, dignified sniffling of women in black lace-trimmed dresses and somber hats, accompanied by the men’s suppressed coughing and the vicar’s deep, monotonous voice reciting a litany of words that fall upon my brain one at a time without connection or meaning.
I don’t cry. I feel too numb and uncomfortable for that. That’s my grandfather lying in that coffin down there, eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest. Its chest. The body’s. Because that’s all it really is – a hull. It doesn’t mean anything. None of this ceremonial business does. It’s not for him anyway – he always hated that pomp. It’s supposedly for grandmother, but it’s really more my father’s doing. A grand funeral for a once grand man. Once being the key word. It’s not 1894 anymore. David Lorrimer is no longer a first class cricket player. Hell, that was ten years before I was even born! My nails bite into my palms. I probably shouldn’t swear in front of an open grave, but it’s as if I swallowed liquid fire on an empty stomach.
Thump.
How many shovels of earth does it take to cover a coffin and fill up a grave far enough so the mourners can disperse and leave the rest to the digger?! I’m shaking all over now. The clergyman is reciting a prayer, and I quickly fold my hands to stop their trembling and blend in with the black crowd. I would say it’s a great turnout for a funeral, if even half of them actually had any idea of who grandpa really was. Just because you saw him play on the wicket a couple times and shook his hand to congratulate him thirty years ago doesn’t give you the right to show up here and ‘express your deepest sympathies for my loss’!
“Amen.”
And it begins, the stream of suits and silk and veils passing by my family, the handshaking and shoulder patting. The affectedly grief-stricken looks and empty words. I want to turn on my polished heels and run, but I’m twenty, not twelve, and I ‘should start acting my age’. So I give the required sad smile and send them on their way to pile into the row of black cars waiting on the other side of the cemetery fence.
“Come on, Dave. It’s time to go.” Yes, father. Time for the grand dinner you decided to host in Leicester’s best hotel, in memoriam of David Lorrimer, cricket player.
“I’m staying,” I hear myself say.
“Don’t be difficult now, son.” His voice is meant to cow and threaten, he towers over me even though we are the same height. “You will not embarrass me in this way.” His hand is a claw coming down on my shoulder, holding me in place at his side. I can’t feel my feet as he steers me and mother across the graveyard and through the gate. I duck into the backseat of the car, scooting over to the other door. Mother gets in beside me while father takes the seat next to the driver. The car rumbles to life; my hand tightens on the door handle. Just as we take off, I propel myself through the door and slam it behind me.
I run. I don’t turn at father’s angry shouting. I don’t care about losing my hat to the brisk autumn wind or that my coattails are flapping behind me like black sails as I tear down the street. The fire in my stomach is fanned by every lungful of air rushing in, and the beat of my shoes against the pavement is liberating.
My breath is ragged by the time I reach Braunstone Park, but I keep going until I get to the pond. I sink down on a bench and the glittering water blurs in front of my eyes. I can almost smell the tobacco, hear his humming as he’s stuffing the pipe. Everyone always spoke of and remembered his glory days. No one else seemed to notice how he always got quiet when they mentioned it. They took his silence as a sign that he was humble, when really he was “just sick to the bones of hearing ‘em all gabbing on about it.” He was a batsman for the Leicestershire Foxes for about two years. Two, out of sixty. Like the thirty years since then were just a lengthy epilogue to the story of a life whose main event was over.
When he told me stories, it was always about other parts of his life. His boarding school days, when I was afraid on the evening before my first term there. His time in college when I enrolled at his alma mater. He taught me how to cheat at cards and which pub near campus served the best whiskey. He also told me when to fold at the gambling table, though I didn’t always listen. They didn’t know any of these things. They didn’t know that in return, I’d taken him to the jazz clubs and he’d actually enjoyed the music. They didn’t know he’d occasionally contributed to several local newspapers under a nom de plume. Those who unknowingly read his columns would wonder where they went for a month or two, then shrug and move on.
Thump.
And just like that, he’d slide into obscurity, like a coffin being lowered down into the dark. Apart from those two years of his life that, on the whole, didn’t hold much significance for him.
I probably shouldn’t be so upset about this. It’s the way things go. I won’t be the one to step up and tell them all about the other side of him in an angry tirade.
It’s just that I feel unmoored, like a log that had been anchored to the roots of a gnarly tree and was suddenly cut loose, spinning without direction. Because what I’m really afraid of, the fear that curls at the bottom of my stomach those nights when I lie awake to the sound of my roommate’s snoring, is that when the thump hits my wooden box, there will be no so-called glory days to be remembered at all.
So... as I said at the beginning, some opinions on the story would make my day, no matter whether they're positive or negative - just please tell me why you liked/hated it.
Comments on the 'facts' part are of course also welcome. In case of me having to reduce the posts even more, which ones would you like me to continue and which ones to be less frequent? Is more reviews/discussions and less WoW/TTT/StS okay? Or would you like a TTT every week?
The facts
The past half year or so, or actually nearly all of 2013, haven't exactly been the 'time of my life'. I knew I'd have to leave my old apartment (a room in a luxury hotel turned abandoned turned asylum-seeker housing turned abandoned and then taken over by squatters who were in turn chased out so it could be turned into cheap apartments for students) because it would, once more, be transformed back into a 5 star hotel (good luck with that, by the way...). It was my first apartment out of my parents' house, and I knew I'd have a hard time finding something similar when it comes to size, location, and prize. The apartment market in Zurich is notoriously terrible, especially if you're on a tight budget. I started looking in February and found something in August that I could have from October 1 onwards (but only until July 2014). Which means that from mid-April to the end of September I had to move back to my parents and commute to the city for work and classes.
As you can probably guess, moving back in with your parents after 2.5 years of independence is... not easy. I felt driven from the city I consider my home back to the 700-people village I grew up in. I lived out of boxes because I never knew whether I'd be moving again 2 weeks later because I found a place. I felt depressed (I've been on meds for about 5 years). I did nothing but work and read and do my university essays at the last second. I gained weight. I learned that I have a food intolerance for wheat and most aspartame, which was responsible for my constant fatigue. I let things slide. I let the blog slide. I let friendships slide. I let my studies slide, meaning I still got the credits needed but I half-assed things.
I'm trying to pick things up again and get moving. I'm at my new apartment which I love and will soon share with my sister. I like my new job. I enjoy the classes I'm taking. I'm trying to drop the weight. I've started on the research for my master thesis in English literature and am meeting with my supervisor next week. I'll have to move very fast if I want to graduate in the summer, but I hope I can make it if I get off my ass. Things aren't perfect, but I'm grateful for what I've got and I hope that with some initiative, I can get my life back on the track I felt it was on 2 years ago.
So... this is part of why this blog has been a lot of memes and not so many reviews. They take long to write (an hour minimum), and sometimes I'm just too tired in the evening, or I just couldn't be bothered, or I'd rather read or write on a story. Because I've been writing quite a lot, which I count as a positive sign.
The work on my MA thesis also means that I need to prioritize. So I can't say yet what will happen to this blog in the next weeks. My current idea is that I will get rid of some memes or only do them every other week, because the TTT posts take me hours to compile and the comment-answering also eats a lot of time. Instead, I hope I can make the blog more about reviews and discussions. Less posts but more quality, hopefully. But first, I'll have to see how things turn out when I really get serious with the thesis and the reading I'll have to do for it, which of course means less time for reading YA books.
I'm sorry if this was a bit mopey. I'm done moping now. I need to be doing things and working on what I really want. And I want to blog, too. So I'll just have to suck it up. And if I get all dark and brooding and languid, I'll have my sister to kick my ass. As soon as she's properly settled and we're done beautifying the place, I also want to do a shelf/house tour, maybe even as a vlog (my first ever). So I hope you guys stay tuned for that.
This is it for the facts. Now for those who made it till here - congrats. Here's your fiction. I hope you like it.
The Fiction
The following story was a task from creative writing class. We had to click 'random article' on wikipedia and write a story inspired by the first thing that turned up. Mine was David Lorrimer, a cricket player from the 1890s.
Glory Days
I have just discovered the sound I hate most in all the world. It’s a hollow thump followed by a quiet, dry trickling. It’s the sound of a shovel of earth hitting the lid of a coffin and slowly sliding down the sides. But it’s more than that, really. It’s also the quiet, dignified sniffling of women in black lace-trimmed dresses and somber hats, accompanied by the men’s suppressed coughing and the vicar’s deep, monotonous voice reciting a litany of words that fall upon my brain one at a time without connection or meaning.
I don’t cry. I feel too numb and uncomfortable for that. That’s my grandfather lying in that coffin down there, eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest. Its chest. The body’s. Because that’s all it really is – a hull. It doesn’t mean anything. None of this ceremonial business does. It’s not for him anyway – he always hated that pomp. It’s supposedly for grandmother, but it’s really more my father’s doing. A grand funeral for a once grand man. Once being the key word. It’s not 1894 anymore. David Lorrimer is no longer a first class cricket player. Hell, that was ten years before I was even born! My nails bite into my palms. I probably shouldn’t swear in front of an open grave, but it’s as if I swallowed liquid fire on an empty stomach.
Thump.
How many shovels of earth does it take to cover a coffin and fill up a grave far enough so the mourners can disperse and leave the rest to the digger?! I’m shaking all over now. The clergyman is reciting a prayer, and I quickly fold my hands to stop their trembling and blend in with the black crowd. I would say it’s a great turnout for a funeral, if even half of them actually had any idea of who grandpa really was. Just because you saw him play on the wicket a couple times and shook his hand to congratulate him thirty years ago doesn’t give you the right to show up here and ‘express your deepest sympathies for my loss’!
“Amen.”
And it begins, the stream of suits and silk and veils passing by my family, the handshaking and shoulder patting. The affectedly grief-stricken looks and empty words. I want to turn on my polished heels and run, but I’m twenty, not twelve, and I ‘should start acting my age’. So I give the required sad smile and send them on their way to pile into the row of black cars waiting on the other side of the cemetery fence.
“Come on, Dave. It’s time to go.” Yes, father. Time for the grand dinner you decided to host in Leicester’s best hotel, in memoriam of David Lorrimer, cricket player.
“I’m staying,” I hear myself say.
“Don’t be difficult now, son.” His voice is meant to cow and threaten, he towers over me even though we are the same height. “You will not embarrass me in this way.” His hand is a claw coming down on my shoulder, holding me in place at his side. I can’t feel my feet as he steers me and mother across the graveyard and through the gate. I duck into the backseat of the car, scooting over to the other door. Mother gets in beside me while father takes the seat next to the driver. The car rumbles to life; my hand tightens on the door handle. Just as we take off, I propel myself through the door and slam it behind me.
I run. I don’t turn at father’s angry shouting. I don’t care about losing my hat to the brisk autumn wind or that my coattails are flapping behind me like black sails as I tear down the street. The fire in my stomach is fanned by every lungful of air rushing in, and the beat of my shoes against the pavement is liberating.
My breath is ragged by the time I reach Braunstone Park, but I keep going until I get to the pond. I sink down on a bench and the glittering water blurs in front of my eyes. I can almost smell the tobacco, hear his humming as he’s stuffing the pipe. Everyone always spoke of and remembered his glory days. No one else seemed to notice how he always got quiet when they mentioned it. They took his silence as a sign that he was humble, when really he was “just sick to the bones of hearing ‘em all gabbing on about it.” He was a batsman for the Leicestershire Foxes for about two years. Two, out of sixty. Like the thirty years since then were just a lengthy epilogue to the story of a life whose main event was over.
When he told me stories, it was always about other parts of his life. His boarding school days, when I was afraid on the evening before my first term there. His time in college when I enrolled at his alma mater. He taught me how to cheat at cards and which pub near campus served the best whiskey. He also told me when to fold at the gambling table, though I didn’t always listen. They didn’t know any of these things. They didn’t know that in return, I’d taken him to the jazz clubs and he’d actually enjoyed the music. They didn’t know he’d occasionally contributed to several local newspapers under a nom de plume. Those who unknowingly read his columns would wonder where they went for a month or two, then shrug and move on.
Thump.
And just like that, he’d slide into obscurity, like a coffin being lowered down into the dark. Apart from those two years of his life that, on the whole, didn’t hold much significance for him.
I probably shouldn’t be so upset about this. It’s the way things go. I won’t be the one to step up and tell them all about the other side of him in an angry tirade.
It’s just that I feel unmoored, like a log that had been anchored to the roots of a gnarly tree and was suddenly cut loose, spinning without direction. Because what I’m really afraid of, the fear that curls at the bottom of my stomach those nights when I lie awake to the sound of my roommate’s snoring, is that when the thump hits my wooden box, there will be no so-called glory days to be remembered at all.
So... as I said at the beginning, some opinions on the story would make my day, no matter whether they're positive or negative - just please tell me why you liked/hated it.
Comments on the 'facts' part are of course also welcome. In case of me having to reduce the posts even more, which ones would you like me to continue and which ones to be less frequent? Is more reviews/discussions and less WoW/TTT/StS okay? Or would you like a TTT every week?
Friday, September 27, 2013
I'm moving
... and nope, I do not mean a blog-move from Blogger to Wordpress.
I mean I'm finally, after a 4 month return to my parents' house and living out of half-unpacked boxes, moving into my new apartment :) I am soooo relieved, even if I can only stay there for 10 months!
My sister will very likely follow me a few weeks later and then we'll be room mates, which is great because we get on very well (and it means I don't have to pay the whole rent by myself).
Now why is this relevant for the blog?
I'm busy. I have to pack up all my new books and some of the old ones I unpacked so my sister could read them. I have to move all my furniture and boxes. I have to set up internet etc, clean, decorate...
To make things short: I will be very busy. So I'm taking the week off from blogging. Hopefully I'll be back by next Friday, I might even post a review during the week if I get around to it. But I don't have the time to participate in memes and return comments etc.
I'm really looking forward to returning to blogging in my new home! See you all then :)
I mean I'm finally, after a 4 month return to my parents' house and living out of half-unpacked boxes, moving into my new apartment :) I am soooo relieved, even if I can only stay there for 10 months!
My sister will very likely follow me a few weeks later and then we'll be room mates, which is great because we get on very well (and it means I don't have to pay the whole rent by myself).
Now why is this relevant for the blog?
I'm busy. I have to pack up all my new books and some of the old ones I unpacked so my sister could read them. I have to move all my furniture and boxes. I have to set up internet etc, clean, decorate...
To make things short: I will be very busy. So I'm taking the week off from blogging. Hopefully I'll be back by next Friday, I might even post a review during the week if I get around to it. But I don't have the time to participate in memes and return comments etc.
I'm really looking forward to returning to blogging in my new home! See you all then :)
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
I'm back! Sorta...
Hey guys :)
Just a quick note to let you know I got back from my holiday in London last night! I had a great week and some much-needed time away from my day-to-day life. Thank you for your wonderful comments on my post about going away! I missed not being around for a week but at the same time, I kind of needed to be mostly off the internet as well.
Real life has me again though... after catching up on work and my work-email today, I could then go home and catch up on personal email and only just got done >.<
So no blog post on Thursday. I'm going to look at an apartment (another one...) and maybe maybe this time, after several months of going through Zurich's apartment hell, I'll actually get it. Not sure I believe in it anymore though. Amazing what I'm willing to do to get back into my country's most expensive city o.O It's also my favorite city though and I made it my home, so I want back.
Anyhow, I hope I can write a review tomorrow so I can post in on Friday and get back into the swing of things. Be prepared for my London book haul on Saturday, too ;) And Sunday I should be ready to show you some holiday pics, although to be honest only my sister brought a camera and we were so busy living, we actually didn't take all that many pictures.
Thanks for hanging around, guys! Now that I'm back and I've handed in all my essays and papers, I hope I can be more social again :)
Just a quick note to let you know I got back from my holiday in London last night! I had a great week and some much-needed time away from my day-to-day life. Thank you for your wonderful comments on my post about going away! I missed not being around for a week but at the same time, I kind of needed to be mostly off the internet as well.
Real life has me again though... after catching up on work and my work-email today, I could then go home and catch up on personal email and only just got done >.<
So no blog post on Thursday. I'm going to look at an apartment (another one...) and maybe maybe this time, after several months of going through Zurich's apartment hell, I'll actually get it. Not sure I believe in it anymore though. Amazing what I'm willing to do to get back into my country's most expensive city o.O It's also my favorite city though and I made it my home, so I want back.
Anyhow, I hope I can write a review tomorrow so I can post in on Friday and get back into the swing of things. Be prepared for my London book haul on Saturday, too ;) And Sunday I should be ready to show you some holiday pics, although to be honest only my sister brought a camera and we were so busy living, we actually didn't take all that many pictures.
Thanks for hanging around, guys! Now that I'm back and I've handed in all my essays and papers, I hope I can be more social again :)
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Going on holiday
Hey guys :)
Starting tomorrow, I'll be in London until Tuesday night. I wanted to answer comments and maybe even schedule a post or two, but real life intervened in the form of an essay I had to hand in to a professor before leaving. So now I have to drive to the airport in 5 hours and I haven't slept or even packed yet. We have to leave at 3am because we'll need more time there because of a strike of the security personnel *sigh*
Anyway, I have no time to do other blog-related stuff before leaving and I'm majorly stressed out. The time in London should be great though and I'll probably have a big book haul when I return ^^' I might blog from my kindle fire sometimes but that's a bit annoying usually so I might also just let things rest for a week.
Enough of my rambling, I have to go hunt down loads of stuff and pack and maybe catch like 3 hours of sleep...
Starting tomorrow, I'll be in London until Tuesday night. I wanted to answer comments and maybe even schedule a post or two, but real life intervened in the form of an essay I had to hand in to a professor before leaving. So now I have to drive to the airport in 5 hours and I haven't slept or even packed yet. We have to leave at 3am because we'll need more time there because of a strike of the security personnel *sigh*
Anyway, I have no time to do other blog-related stuff before leaving and I'm majorly stressed out. The time in London should be great though and I'll probably have a big book haul when I return ^^' I might blog from my kindle fire sometimes but that's a bit annoying usually so I might also just let things rest for a week.
Enough of my rambling, I have to go hunt down loads of stuff and pack and maybe catch like 3 hours of sleep...
Friday, July 12, 2013
Discussion: how do you decide in what format to buy a book?
Hey guys :) Time for another discussion!
This topic might be a bit weird, but I've noticed a tendency in my book buying patterns so I wanted to ask what it's like for other people. This mainly concerns people who buy both print and ebooks, but anyone's welcome to join!
So. I used to read only fantasy for about 10 years, but one and a half or so years ago I branched out into YA (with some NA) contemporary novels. I've noticed a peculiar trend though: nearly all my contemporary novels are ebooks!!! I'm not really sure why that is. Maybe it takes more to convince me I want to read the book, so I just put it on the TBR list and buy it when there's a kindle deal? Maybe I'll try to snag it on Netgalley instead? Another reason is that especially NA contemporaries are often self-published, so paperbacks may not be available.
Still, I tend to want fantasy/paranormal in print. I also prefer those covers to the contemporaries quite often, so that might be an additional reason. What can I say, I want the pretty on my shelf where I can look at it and pet it ;P
So what are your buying patterns? How do you decide what you want in print and what you'd rather read as an ebook? Is it totally random or do you tend to buy certain types of books in a particular format?
This topic might be a bit weird, but I've noticed a tendency in my book buying patterns so I wanted to ask what it's like for other people. This mainly concerns people who buy both print and ebooks, but anyone's welcome to join!
So. I used to read only fantasy for about 10 years, but one and a half or so years ago I branched out into YA (with some NA) contemporary novels. I've noticed a peculiar trend though: nearly all my contemporary novels are ebooks!!! I'm not really sure why that is. Maybe it takes more to convince me I want to read the book, so I just put it on the TBR list and buy it when there's a kindle deal? Maybe I'll try to snag it on Netgalley instead? Another reason is that especially NA contemporaries are often self-published, so paperbacks may not be available.
Still, I tend to want fantasy/paranormal in print. I also prefer those covers to the contemporaries quite often, so that might be an additional reason. What can I say, I want the pretty on my shelf where I can look at it and pet it ;P
So what are your buying patterns? How do you decide what you want in print and what you'd rather read as an ebook? Is it totally random or do you tend to buy certain types of books in a particular format?
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Google reader shut-down reminder
Hey guys, as you know Google reader is shutting down tomorrow. I'm still not really sure what this means for GFC and feedburner, but I ask you to please please follow me in an alternative way, preferably via Bloglovin'. It's a great reader for bloggers and you can import all the feeds you follow in Google reader in under a minute. If you don't follow me there yet, you can do so here:
You can also follow me via Feedcat or Networked Blogs, just check out the right sidebar. But bloglovin' is preferred, if I may say so ^^'
I really hope GFC won't be shutting down immediately and I hope to get through this transition losing as few of you guys as possible. I know I've been less active as of late but I really value your comments and support! I've got my good laptop back now so I should be posting more often again :)
I really appreciate your support over the last year and I'm hoping for many more months of fun blogging to come! Tomorrow I'll be part of the Cover Madness Giveaway Hop, and soon after I'll do a belated blogoversary celebration :) There should also be new reviews starting this coming week! I really need to catch up with all those amazing books I've already read.
You can also follow me via Feedcat or Networked Blogs, just check out the right sidebar. But bloglovin' is preferred, if I may say so ^^'
I really hope GFC won't be shutting down immediately and I hope to get through this transition losing as few of you guys as possible. I know I've been less active as of late but I really value your comments and support! I've got my good laptop back now so I should be posting more often again :)
I really appreciate your support over the last year and I'm hoping for many more months of fun blogging to come! Tomorrow I'll be part of the Cover Madness Giveaway Hop, and soon after I'll do a belated blogoversary celebration :) There should also be new reviews starting this coming week! I really need to catch up with all those amazing books I've already read.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Discussion: cheating in giveaways
Hey guys, this time my discussion topic is more related to the everyday stuff of blogging than to actual books.
But it's something that I think all of us bloggers are confronted with again and again:
Giveaway-cheaters: how do you handle them?
I just picked the winner for my Armchair BEA giveaway and was once more forced to delete faulty entries and disqualify people. Saying they follow when they don't, commented when they didn't, people simply writing 'done' into a field instead of copying the tweet-link or even simply putting a dot or a slash in. Seriously?! Do they think I'm stupid? That I don't check, even fleetingly? That if that entry was picked as the winner, I'd turn a blind eye? This is why I always check all the entries before I let random.org pick a winner. If entries like that stay in, they falsify the odds for everyone even if a valid entry is the winner.
But it's not just annoying, it also hurts me and makes me mad, to be honest. I'm not obligated to host giveaways. I pay for them with my own money. I do it because I like to. It's fun, it's a great way to bring awesome books to people (that's why I usually don't do 'book of your choice' giveaways but pre-select a dozen or so), it makes people happy which in turn makes me happy. And since I myself love to enter giveaways, it's a way for me to give back to the community. And yes, I admit it's not bad for the stats. But at the level where I'm at right now, it no longer makes my follower-count shoot up either. I'm familiar with most of the names showing up in the entries by now.
The cheaters won't make me stop hosting giveaways, but they do make me think. In case of the 'done' word in entries, do they maybe not understand the instructions? Is it mean of me to disqualify them? Should I just delete those of their entries that are faulty and leave the rest in? Then again, I don't think the rules are that hard to understand.
Plus, all the entry-checking takes HOURS, especially the GFC-verification. Do you guys have a trick how to do it more quickly? How do you handle this issue? Do you check at all? Do you disqualify? Do you have a 'black list' of notorious cheaters? Do you ever confront them with it if they do it more than once? Do you have a way to prevent cheating in rafflecopter? Do you use a different giveaway/entry form? What's your experience? I'd really like to discuss this with other bloggers, so it'd be great if you could share the link to this post.
And if you're simply a blog-reader and don't have your own blog... have you ever considered this issue? Is what I just said surprising to you or more like 'duh, obvious'? Do the 'hoops' in giveaways annoy you, or do you thik the blogger has a right to ask something of you if they're offering up a free book? I'd like to hear opinions from all sides, so please feel free to comment! State your opinions people, but please do it respectfully.
But it's something that I think all of us bloggers are confronted with again and again:
Giveaway-cheaters: how do you handle them?
I just picked the winner for my Armchair BEA giveaway and was once more forced to delete faulty entries and disqualify people. Saying they follow when they don't, commented when they didn't, people simply writing 'done' into a field instead of copying the tweet-link or even simply putting a dot or a slash in. Seriously?! Do they think I'm stupid? That I don't check, even fleetingly? That if that entry was picked as the winner, I'd turn a blind eye? This is why I always check all the entries before I let random.org pick a winner. If entries like that stay in, they falsify the odds for everyone even if a valid entry is the winner.
But it's not just annoying, it also hurts me and makes me mad, to be honest. I'm not obligated to host giveaways. I pay for them with my own money. I do it because I like to. It's fun, it's a great way to bring awesome books to people (that's why I usually don't do 'book of your choice' giveaways but pre-select a dozen or so), it makes people happy which in turn makes me happy. And since I myself love to enter giveaways, it's a way for me to give back to the community. And yes, I admit it's not bad for the stats. But at the level where I'm at right now, it no longer makes my follower-count shoot up either. I'm familiar with most of the names showing up in the entries by now.
The cheaters won't make me stop hosting giveaways, but they do make me think. In case of the 'done' word in entries, do they maybe not understand the instructions? Is it mean of me to disqualify them? Should I just delete those of their entries that are faulty and leave the rest in? Then again, I don't think the rules are that hard to understand.
Plus, all the entry-checking takes HOURS, especially the GFC-verification. Do you guys have a trick how to do it more quickly? How do you handle this issue? Do you check at all? Do you disqualify? Do you have a 'black list' of notorious cheaters? Do you ever confront them with it if they do it more than once? Do you have a way to prevent cheating in rafflecopter? Do you use a different giveaway/entry form? What's your experience? I'd really like to discuss this with other bloggers, so it'd be great if you could share the link to this post.
And if you're simply a blog-reader and don't have your own blog... have you ever considered this issue? Is what I just said surprising to you or more like 'duh, obvious'? Do the 'hoops' in giveaways annoy you, or do you thik the blogger has a right to ask something of you if they're offering up a free book? I'd like to hear opinions from all sides, so please feel free to comment! State your opinions people, but please do it respectfully.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Armchair BEA: YA Lit and wrap up
The first topic of yesterday was 'keeping it real', and to be honest I'm not quite sure what that's supposed to mean. It's about growing an audience and keeping blogging fun.
I'm not sure I'm really doing that much in terms of marketing my blog. I'm doing this for the books and because I enjoy interacting with other bloggers and authors. Of course the ARCs are a plus, but they also put quite a bit of stress on me. The audience growing kind of happened 'naturally' over time, through participating in memes and, I admit, giveaways, though I didn't actually participate in all that many hops. But after my first one I suddenly had over 200 GFC followers, which kind of creeped me out because I felt like I had to step up my game or I'd embarrass myself in front of 200 potential readers.
I feel like content-wise, I'm currently stagnating a bit. I started having discussion posts, which is something I really enjoy, but I really want to get more reviews up and I'm struggling with that. I want to branch out and be more interactive, but it just takes so much time, time that I could spend with friends or writing my own stories or watching movies or reading my huge pile of books. I feel like I'm just sort of stumbling along at the moment and I need to find a way to catch up with things and be more active on twitter again.
So yeah, ramble end. I hope people enjoy what reviews I manage to put up and won't abandon me when my introvert tendencies show ^^'' I promise that for my blogoversary in 2 weeks, I'll put together something cool!
The second topic I wanted to get to was Children's and YA literature. I can't say much about children's lit because I don't read anything below YA at this point, but YA really is close to my heart. I'm a little above the intended age group at 24, but I see no point to be ashamed of reading what I read, and besides, lots of adults do (it's still weird to think of myself as an adult). I hear a lot of people saying they do it because there wasn't much of a YA market back when they were in their teens, but that's not true for me. Maybe it's a German vs. English/American thing, but there were plenty of great books, both fantasy and contemporary, around for me to read when I grew up. I read adult books too though, mostly borrowed from my mum.
I had a phase when I read a lot of adult fantasy /UF/paranormal, but I can't quite pinpoint when I went back into the this 'new' wave of YA fantasy. It had something to do with when I went from reading German books to reading only English ones, but I can't say which book triggered it. I think it was before Twilight. One reason why I enjoy YA so much is that in adult lit, there aren't all that many topics that interest me unless it's a fantasy book. It's all about careers and getting a guy and marrying and babies whatnot, unless it's a crime novel and those bore me. I don't care about the problems of 30-something people. I hope that once I reach that age, I will have different problems, a different life.
YA is just... fresher. It's more familiar. I remember what it was like to be a teen. There are a lot of great voices, and voice is the aspect of a novel I probably enjoy most. It makes the book feel alive. YA is open to so many different issues and genres (I see MG, YA, NA and adult as categories rather than genres). There are books about social problems (poverty, addiction, illness), there is fantasy/paranormal, there is self-discovery, figuring out who you are and what you want, figuring out relationships. Things are moving, happening. I feel like as an adult, I have started to stagnate (one of my biggest fears as a teen) and reading YA makes me want to shake myself up and be more active (Divergent almost made me run out and do something reckless or get another tattoo. I was so close!).
In this post, we're supposed to list books that we think below on every kid's shelves or otherwise give recommendations, but to be honest I don't feel comfortable telling people what they're supposed to read. That I enjoyed it is no guarantee someone else will. Also, I could list way too many books.
So instead, here's a grid with some of the books I rated 5 stars on goodreads:
So, to wrap things up...
Unfortunately for me, this weeks was so busy that I didn't have as much time to interact with other bloggers as I would have liked, but one of my highlights was meeting another Swiss blogger, Lexxie from (Un)conventional Book Views. I also enjoyed the discussion on Classics, and reading about other bloggers' experiences about blog ethics. Since I was mostly absent from twitter though, I think I missed quite a lot of the action of what was actually going on on the real-life BEA convention, as well as a bunch of awesome giveaways *sigh* Anyhow, I don't regret taking part in Armchair BEA, since it raised a lot of fundamental blogging questions for me that sort of get swept under the carpet in the day-to-day mechanics of keeping up.
Your turn! What do you do to keep blogging real and fun? What's your take on YA literature? Do you have highlights from the week to share, or was there a post of mine that you liked in particular (or one that you thought was a waste of web-paper)?
Friday, May 31, 2013
Armchair BEA: Ethics and Non-Fiction
So today's discussion is about blogger ethics, and though I wasn't super aware of that topic when I first started blogging, after the plagiarism-drama earlier this year that has changed. Giving credit where it is due should be a no-brainer. I've never been plagiarized (to my knowledge) but I've seen what it did to other people and it made me incredibly angry! I'm familiar with it in a more academic setting, I just never thought to extend it to reviews - why would anyone steal another's opinion? It makes no sense to me, and it's not okay in any way! Read the book. Find your own words, your own voice. Sometimes I also avoid reviews of a book I got for review altogether until I've written my own.
Even if you're a new blogger and feel you cannot find the right words yet or that you just have to post tons of reviews to establish yourself... don't go down that road. Someone usually notices the stolen parts, and the fallout isn't pretty. I also can't imagine that you'll feel good about your blog if you know that half the content isn't really yours. If you don't want to put in the work, don't blog.
Also, if you participate in a meme or pick up on someone else's idea, at least give them credit, or even better ask them about it first if it's a more special meme than a link-up such as TTT or WoW. Otherwise it will look like you stole their idea and just went with it, or as if you're trying to pass it off as your own, even though maybe that wasn't what you intended.
Same goes for pictures/graphics. Unless they're stock images or clearly declared as free for the taking, don't just copy and use them. You can get into legal trouble. As far as I know you even have to give sources for pictures of actors or whatever that you're using as examples of how you imagine a particular character in a book. Same goes for elements of another blog's design.
I guess my bottom-line opinion is pretty simple: stay honest, be polite, don't take what isn't yours. I'm by no means an expert and there are people who have been around longer, but those are guidelines I've fared well with. If you have tips to share for those who have been plagiarized and don't know what to do about it, feel free to share them in the comments!
The second topic of today's discussion is non-fiction.
I don't actually own a lot of non-fiction. The only NF I read is for my studies, so it's usually secondary literature or literary theory. Roland Barthes, Terry Eagleton, some Freud, textbooks on Old English, Middle English, poetry, structure. I think these works are interesting but I wouldn't read them in my free time or for something that doesn't relate to my courses. The only thing I can imagine reading just because is maybe history or social theory of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, but it would have to be from a cultural/literary perspective.
I've never read guide/advise books because I tend not to trust them or to find their tips rather obvious, nothing I couldn't have figured out on my own. If I needed the info for research, I'd just go to the library and pick the most reliable sources.
I've never read a biography, though if someone can recommend one of Oscar Wilde I'd be interested in that.
I don't know. It's not like I'm 100% opposed to non-fiction, it's just that I like fiction so much better. I want stories. I don't car if they're 'real' or not, they just have to be good, they have to touch me in some way, and non-fiction rarely does that for me.
How do you feel about non-fiction? Can you maybe recommend something? Sometimes the fiction:non-fiction ratio on my shelves embarrasses me a bit.
How about ethics? Do you disagree with something I said, or can you list something I forgot? I'd love to hear your opinion!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Armchair BEA introduction
Hey guys :) Since BEA is in New York and I'm stuck back here in Switzerland, I've decided to take part in Armchair BEA because it sounds like a fun event!
For those of you who don't know me yet, here's an introduction:
- Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?
I'm 24 year old Swiss student (working on my English Lit MA) and part-time office worker who has always loved to read. I prefer English books to German ones. I've been blogging for close to a year and previously to that I was following various blogs for another year or so, before deciding that I wanted to be a real part of the community instead of just watching from the sidelines :) I've found that I really enjoy discussing with others and obsessing over books on the net! I also enjoy the contact with authors and the privilege to get to read books early. - What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013?
There were sooo many that I enjoyed!! I finally read Brenna Yovanoff's The Replacement, which blew me away. I ached so much while reading it... in the best way. Other highlights were The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay, Divergent by Veronica Roth (yes, I'm late to the party but damn what an awesome book!), Just One Day by Gayle Forman, and In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winter. - Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.
I like a lot of pretty hard music like metalcore, but I also enjoy acoustic bands. Some of my favorites: AFI, Parkway Drive, As I Lay Dying, Funeral For A Friend, Story of the Year, Young Guns, Nightwish, Motionless in White, Asking Alexandria, Paramore, City and Colour, Alkaline Trio, Danko Jones, HIM, Social Distortion, Nine Inch Nails, Placebo... I could go on for a while ^^'' - If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?
*overload of possibilities* errrm... Oscar Wilde? He'd be a witty conversationalist, and he'd make sure the afterparty is unforgettable. But I'd also love to meet Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, or Melissa Marr and lots of others! As for characters, I have a soft spot for Will Herondale. Magnus Bane would also be fun XD There are sooo many others! But with some of them I'm not sure I'd like to meet them, no matter how intriguing they may be (hint: Jerico Barrons). - What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?
Not sure what's meant by literary location. A place famous for its poets/writers? A place/world from inside a book? I think of the former I've been to quite a few - I was lucky enough to visit Oscar Wilde's grave before it was walled in behind glass, I've been to Westminster Abbey, and to Dublin. I'd love to visit New York and San Francisco though! Those are also 'literary' cities to me.
As for book worlds, that's always a double-edged sword because horrible things tend to happen in them ^^' That being said, I'd like to see Wonderland, Hogwarts, or the world from Kim Harrison's The Hollows series. The world in Lia Habel's Dearly, Departed also fascinated me. Or Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus! I remember mourning the fact that I could never experience its wonders for real.
Alright, that's it from me! I hope you have a somewhat better picture of who I am now :) I'd love to get to know you! If you leave a comment and link me back to your post, I'll be sure to check it out! Even more so if we have favorite books (or maybe bands?) in common ;)
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2013
This week is all about bookish goals for 2013, and personally I'm also taking bloggish goals into account.
- Refrain from requesting too many review books. I still have so many Netgalley books on my kindle that I need to read&review, and I will now do that before requesting any new ones. After that, I want to catch up on non-review books, especially ebooks.
- Read a bit more widely again. This year was extremely focused on YA, even though I also got into contemporary after reading nearly only fantasy/paranormal for many many years. In the coming year, I want to read some more adult books again, as well as some more Classic authors I've been meaning to get to for a while.
- Finally read all those New Adult titles on my kindle!!
- Catch up on serieses. The TBR reading challenge I'm participating in should take care of that, I've also been contemplating joining the sequels challenge hosted by Auntie Spinelli Reads.
- Re-read! I love re-reading, and there are so many books on my shelves, especially ones I read in my teens, that I've been itching to re-read. But with all the new books I buy all the time, I just never get around to it. I want to change that.
- Write more reviews, and write them right after finishing the book when it's still fresh on my mind. I'm a quick reader (108 books last year) but I don't review even half of what I read. Like, I'm all pumped for writing that review, but then I'm somehow scared to start or something or the moment is inconvenient and then it just never happens...
- Read more steampunk and dystopian.
- Write more. I don't know if that is necessarily a bookish goal, but there you have it.
- Try to, depite everything, not stress too much about things (haha...). But seriously. This should be fun! I love reading. Once it seems more like a chore, something's wrong. Maybe that's why I'm bad at actually writing those reviews sometimes.
- Interacting more with my fellow bloggers, and reaching out to authors and publishers. I've been at this for half a year now, but I feel like I could be more part of the community. I want to get more original posts on this blog rather than just memes and reviews. I'm just always unsure about whether people actually want to read about the stuff I have ideas for! Or I have an awesome idea and then find out that somebody else is already doing it so my post would be redundant...
What do you think of my goals? Do we have some in common? Do you have any tips/suggestions for me? Oh, and please leave links to your posts, I'm curious about other people's goals! Maybe I can add to my list :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)