Day 5

I really hoped that these questions will get easier one day…well today is definitely not this day.  

Day 05 - A book or series you hate

Let me think…a book or series I hate. I am not sure if there is such a book. I know that there are some I started reading and didn’t finish but I cannot say that I hated these books. Sometimes they were not right at the moment or I didn’t like the style they were written in but hate….I don’t think so.

Well, I can’t say I hate this book but I am no big fan of Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”. This is one of these books I cannot warm up to. I find it extremely long-winded. There are long passages were nothing happens; page long anecdotes were Robinson describes how he makes clay pots or something.

I had to read it for university and I couldn’t finish it which is not typical for me because normally I finish books; at least because I want to be prepared for a possible exam question about this book. But “Robinson Crusoe” broke me. Maybe I will give it another try in some years time but I really don’t know.

Day 4

Why are these questions so hard to answer? Why do I have to decide on the best ever? How unfair!

Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever

Today is a though one. I can’t just name one book and I definitely can’t name a series. I love all my series that I read, so I will tell you about my favorite book.

I live in Austria, so I am a non-native to English but due to my father who works at the university and is in charge for the university exchange program with some American universities in North Carolina we have a lot of friends in the US or from the US. Many of them are living in Europe right now; some in England and some in Vienna.

So I first got in contact with English when I was around two years old. It was wonderful. I got the chance to grow up with English children and youth books. When I was a child I knew my most favorite books by heart and “read” them to my parents. I knew where to turn over the page and I knew all the right words. And I did this not only with German books but with English ones as well. I knew most of my Berenstain Bears books by heart and was super proud of my English skills.

Learning or better hearing English from an early age onwards was wonderful. In school I had no problems at all with writing texts because I wrote what sounded right to me and most of the time it was right. My problem was grammar. We learned all the English grammar and I had huge difficulties. I knew what to fill in but I could never explain why.

So, when I have to answer what my favorite book ever is, I have to choose a German one. It is also hard for me to decide which one to pick.

So I will tell you about my two favorite books, both of them children or youth books.

The first one is definitely a children’s book. It is called “Die Kinder aus Bullerbü” and is by Astrid Lindgren, a Swedish author. It tells the story of Lisa who lives with her two older brothers and her family in a small town called Bullerbü. This town consists of three houses all in all. The two other houses are inhabited by Britta and Inga with their parents and Ole with his family and his dog Swift.

It is a wonderful book. Definitely written for kids but I really like and I read at least every two years for old time’s sake.

My other favorite book is by an Austria author called Christine Nöstlinger and is called “Gretchen Sackmeier”. It is about a young girl and her problems growing up. All the members of her family are overweight and the story starts the day after her mother attended her high school reunion meeting and realizes that she is the thickest of all so she starts loosing weight. Through this the fragile family structures start to crumble. Her mother moves out and Gretchen and her younger sister with her while her brother lives with the father. During all this Gretchen faces typical teenage problems, like her first relationship, school problems, problems with her brother and her father who wants his happy family back.

This is such a good book. I really really like it and read it regularly once a year in summer. Don’t know why but it is part of my summer routine.

Day 3

Today is a though one. I have to decide on the best book I’ve read in the last 12 months. The BEST. Can you believe it? Well, I’ll try.

Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months:

Hmmmmm…I can’t think of just one good book...oh my god, that’s so hard for a crazy book person like me…just one?

Okay, I can’t do it. I will settle on the best book I read this year. So, the best book I read since January.

Okay, that’s a bit easier. Let’s see….I read a lot since January but I really liked the last book I read and I didn’t pick it because it was the last I read and so the one I remember best. It is just such a nice book and so wonderful to read. It is more of an easy read and according to the blurb a rom-com. Cool name by the way. Much better than “chick-lit” which I personally find a little offending. 

It is a book by Ali McNamara and is called “From Notting Hill with love…actually” and tells the story of Scarlett who is going to marry her fiancée David in just two month but does not seem that content with her life. So her friends and family (which is only just her father who brought her up as a single parent) encourage her to go to London, Notting Hill to housesit for friends. Scarlett is, appropriate to her name a film freak and she wants to prove them all that film scenes can really happen in real life. With the help of Oscar and Ursula and Ursula’s brother Sean she experiences many different movie scenes but when Scarlett tries to enforce some she usually fails. For her that proves that movies can happen in real life.

During the whole story there are many references to different movies mostly from the 90s and the new millennium like “Notting Hill”, “Bridget Jones’ Diary”, “Four weddings and a funeral” and many more.

While reading I often came to the point where I tried to remember those specific scenes in the various movies and came to the conclusion that I need to watch “Sleepless in Seattle” and also “Notting Hill” once more because some scenes I couldn’t recollect.

I really loved this book. It was easy to read but I could see the story unfold before my inner eye which I think is a marker for a well written book. Thankfully I experience this lots of times when I read.

Day 2

As announced yesterday, Day 2 was a lot more challenging. I thought really long about which book or series to choose. Really really long. Here is what I came up with.

Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about

Some years ago when visiting London with my mum, I found a book called “Teacher Teacher” by Jack Sheffield. It is the beginning of a series about Jack Sheffield when he was head teacher in a small rural school in North Yorkshire. It is fantastically written and really inspiring because while reading, you can see all the wonderful and charming characters before your inner eye and I had the feeling that Jack Sheffield really loves his job and the kids he is teaching.

The other books of this series are called “Mister Teacher”, “Dear Teacher”, “Village Teacher” and this month the fifth novel “Please Sir!” was published.

I am excited that there finally is a new book to this series and I am so sure that I am not going to wait till I’m in London in April to purchase this one.

Day 1

Yesterday while surfing the internet I found something that is called a “Book Meme”. Strange name for a non-native in English but the idea behind I find really nice.

It is kind of a questionnaire about your favorite books segmented into 30 different parts. Yeah, I know it resembles 30 days, equals one month but I discovered it yesterday and I am so keen on starting it. So my personal book meme will start today.

So, here’s it.

Day 01 - A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)

A book series I wish had gone on longer is clearly Anne Georges “A Southern Sisters Mystery”.

This series is so well written, entertaining and the characters are so wonderfully constructed. Sadly, Anne George passed away in 2001 so there will definitely be no more books to that series. 

The Southern Sisters Mysteries contain eight books all but one taking place in Birmingham, Alabama and all featuring Patricia Ann Holloway and her older sister Mary Alice Tate Sullivan Nachman Crane. These two women are so completely different that their parents were happy that they both were born at home so that they could be sure that they were not swapped in hospital.

I have to admit that I never read the eighth book of this series. I know this might sound crazy but I don’t want to read the final book. I do this with lots of things. I haven’t watched the final episode of “Friends”, my all time favorite TV series. I haven’t read the last book of the “Inkheart” series because I really really loved the first two and I find it difficult to cope with the end of it. It is like my little spleen when it comes to ends.

Tomorrow’s question will be more difficult to answer. Looking forward to it!

I know it’s been a while!

My last weeks were just so crazy. There was so much to do - papers to write, exams to study for, and books to read. Unfortunately I had to read books for university and I am not a huge fan of being told what to read. But I finished them anyway.

Some weeks ago I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine. He is not really one who reads a lot – realistically he doesn’t read at all. Can’t understand that but that is another story!

We started talking about my crazy reading habits and why I have a huge pile of unread books and always complain that I have nothing to read.

During this conversation he looked at me and told me that he needs to ask me something. A question only I can answer because I am the only person he knows who is that crazy about reading.

He told me the following story:

I am riding the tube to work and there is this woman getting on. She remains standing and starts reading in her book. At the next station she leaves the train. Why on earth did she start reading? There is hardly enough time to fish the book out of the bag, look for the right page and then for the right line, start reading, put the bookmark back in and the book back in the bag. Why does somebody do such a thing?

I found this so funny because it didn’t sound crazy for me. He looked at me blankly and really wanted an explanation from me.

So I answered like a bibliophile.

Think about this situation again. Did she look for the book in her bag? No? I thought so. I suspect that she got on the train book in hand. This was because she waited for the train to arrive and while waiting she started reading. Then the train came and she boarded it still reading and rode just one station. Did she put the book in her bag before she left the train? No? Well, then she must have changed lines and the story starts at the beginning. Reading while waiting, while riding the train and then before she finally arrived at her stop she put the book in her bag and left the train.

He was so stunned.

The next day I went to a bookshop because a friend of mine was celebrating his birthday and I was looking for a present. Yeah a book! I left the story 15 minutes later with 5 books in my bag and not so much money in my purse. I wrote my friend a message and told him about these special 15 minutes I just had.

His answer was: Yes, you’re a freak but everybody has to have a spleen and we all love you!

I am so very fortunate to have such loving friends!

By the way:

Today I finished a wonderful book

Hands Up!

A Year in the Life of an Inner City School Teacher

I really recommend reading it! 

But I recommend all books I know!

Eat Pray Love

 

I know, you read a lot of reviews about “Eat Pray Love” everywhere and I really tried hard for some time not to read this book. Then I read it and tried not to like it but that is even harder. It is an amazing novel!

I find this story so fascinating because not only I read it but my mum and her cousin read it as well and my mum and me really could identify with the Italian section and liked the Bali one and my mum’s cousin just loved the part in India and could not identify as well with the other two.

This kind of proofs that everyone reads this book differently but I think everyone takes a certain message out of it.

So, as you can read, I really liked it. I liked it so much that I went and bought “Committed” as well but did not have the time to read it. Now I think I will wait until the Christmas holidays – or not.

The book tells part of Elizabeth Gilbert’s life after her 30^th birthday. She is married, has a house and she and her husband are trying to get a baby but one night she realizes that she just don’t want that. So she struggles through a nasty divorce and some really terrible months and another bad relationship until she decides to give up her life in the States for a year and travels to Italy, India and Bali.

I don’t want to spoil the story for you so I won’t tell you the whole story – just read the book. It is worth it. Maybe you have to struggle through the first few pages but when Elizabeth finally arrives in Italy the book is just so wonderful.

I also saw the Hollywood film with Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert. Kind of free interpretation in some parts and I would have appreciated if the part where she is in India would have been shorter but the film is also very good.

I highly recommend reading this novel even if it is so in right now.