Books...

As you all must know by now, I love to read!

My mum and dad had a bookshop when I grew up.

There was a constant supply of books at hand.

So I spend a lot of holidays in my 'camping chair', reading.

Reading in bed the whole night under the duvet with a flashlight was also one of the things I loved doing, especially during holidays.

Of course it made my mum and dad wondering sometimes why I was so tired the next day!

Since I have to travel a lot lately, because of work, my reading has gone up again.

My friends and family know my love for books, so they gave me a few for my birthday last April. You're probably wondering why this is so special to write a blog about it.

Well... with those books was a book about Africa. That probably doesn't sound very exciting, because of course... there are loads of books about Africa.

Well this book is so special, because it's a story about an English woman travelling with her young children and husband to Africa with absolutely no idea where they will end up.

Even this could be nothing special, as I said earlier... loads of books about Africa!

But what was it then that made the book already special without reading it?

Well, that's very simple!

The author herself gave me this book as a present for my birthday!

Of course I let her put a signature in the book, you never know...she probably will be really successful in writing and publishing her books!

This was a great gift!

I had to finish another book I was reading before I could start with the Africa book.

I must say I really really enjoyed it. And I read it in a few days.

I was looking forward to my train journey's.

It's a lovely story about life in Africa.

Stories about daily life in Africa.

The stories are told in such a way it makes you feel like you're there as well.

It made it easier for me to imagine that probably because I have the privilege of knowing the author. So I saw her walking around in her own stories and going through adventures and the normal daily things. It is a bit odd of course, because I know her now and she went to Africa in the eighties, much younger!! I once met one of her daughters, she and her sister were a baby and toddler back then. But even if you don't know the characters in the book personally,

it's a lovely story.

One of my friends has been to Africa and became very curious about the book, so she borrowed it so she can read it herself.

I asked Vallerie Poore (the author) if I could write something about her book on my blog. Because I'd like you all to know about this lovely story.

She said yes, so here it is !

African Ways by Vallerie Poore

If you are interested, you can mail Vally, or find it at bol.com.

She also wrote a book about her first year(s) on a barge in Rotterdam.

That book I will get next time we will see Vally. I can't wait to read it!

This is Vally's blog: http://vereeniging.blogspot.com/

Choices

What to read now??

A while back I wrote a post about the "His dark materials" series.

Three books, great story... the first book filmed.

Maybe you remember me being really enthusiastic about the books?

Well I still am.

The first book was the strongest one, the second one got me thrilled as well...

until the end. It started to become a bit of a drag.

That was still going on in book three...

Still a great story, but difficult to stay focused.

The end was really strong though.

All the story lines come together beautifully. So I have no regrets reading it.

But what shall I read now?

Since it was my birthday last week,

I've more books for my already existing pile of books.

A pile of books always makes me happy, but It's also hard to choose from.

The question is... what kind of book would I like to read now?

I like a lot of different categories.

By choosing one of those first, I'll narrow it down and the choice will be much easier...

So now I'm left with a question, will I choose...

a) Thriller

b) Fantasy

C) Chick flick

d) Novel

e) Literature

I just finished a fantasy series, so b will have to go.

I still have that great thriller my boyfriend gave me for Christmas...

but I don't think I feel for a thriller at the moment. It will be easier to take with me on my journeys to work, because it's not so big and heavy,

but that can't be a reason for me to read it right now.

So I'm left with either a Chick Flick, Novel or Literature...

Mhmmm.... if I read a Chick Flick, I'll finish it probably in a week and then I don't have to decide on the other categories right now....

and maybe I'll feel for a thriller then? Appealing thought, I have to say!

The title of the book also sounds funny enough to give me a legitimated reason for choosing it.

Friends, lovers and other indiscretions by Fiona Neill

I think we got ourselves a winner here!

Oh yes, and the weather is also suitable for these kind of books :P

Pfffhhhiew, that was a difficult thing to decide!

And I did a great job of coming up with arguments to read a Chick Flick *ahum*

Lets see how great it actually is!

Books....

Me being a daughter of two 'book lovers', hasn't stop me from becoming one too. This might not sound strange to you, but an overdose of something can also make a person decide against it. But with THIS 'love' Im rather happy!

My mum and dad decided when I was 6 years old, to start a bookshop. A great place to be, and I certainly have great memories of the place. Unfortunately they had to close the shop down 10 years ago.

The evidence of being 'book lovers' is easily to be found, if you enter the homes of my family.

My mum & dad have books everywhere around the house, and it's a big selection.

My sister is a manager of a bookshop, so imagine how her house will look like....

And my brother is in the book business as well.

Did I mention my house?

The good thing about all of this for me is, that when I need some advice about what I need to read next, I have plenty of people to ask. The fun thing about visiting family members is also that a lot of times we leave each others houses with a pile of books we want to borrow.

A lot of times it can even go like this:

"If you read it, then give it to your brother...ohh and after that your dad wants to read it too, and after that it will probably find it's way back again to me..."

Our family almost looks like a library sometimes!

Then... if my family members don't come up with good ideas... I can always ask my friends!

Many discussions took place in front of our bookshelves, recommending books, talk about books & be philosophical !

So you can probably guess now as well... I started up my own library exchange with friends (that we also do that with dvds...is another story)

At new years some friends stayed over and of course we ended up in front of the bookshelves again... they left with some books... (you must have seen this one coming), and i got some great advice.

We had the "If you liked this book, then you must read that one..." conversation, and she wrote down the books and writer for me. Ten minutes later she calls me and says... "You already have part three on your shelves!!" Well, things like this can happen in this household. I have so many books that I can't always recall what I already have. The strange thing however was, that the subscription she gave to me about the book wasn't familiar. Did I really have this book?? Didn't I read it yet??

This mystery will be solved very quickly...

When my boyfriend moved in, so did his books... So the mysterious book she was talking about belonged to my dear boyfriend.

When we looked closer to it, we found out that I already knew about the first part of the book. Because I have seen the film. I wasn't so keen on the movie, it was OK... but not extraordinary. But my friend still advised me to read it. Me, always in for new book ideas, decided to try this one. My boyfriend being my boyfriend...got the books for me as a surprise. (We love going to the Waterstones!) So i started reading it.

The first book already turned out to be SO much better then the film. And the second part totally got me sucked in... I'm so curious about the third book!

You all probably know about the first book.... the film they made about it in 2007 is "The golden compass" with Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Dakota Blue Richards & Ian McKellen as an amazing bear.

The first book is originally called "The northern light" and is the first book of the "His dark materials" series by Phillip Pullman.

The second book is called "The subtle knife"

And the last book is called "The amber spyglass"

I'm intrigued and almost at the end of part two... can't wait to start reading part three...but I'm also already sad about the fact that I'll finish the books... because that will feel like saying goodbye to a good friend!!