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Showing posts with label Thursday Thirteen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thursday Thirteen. Show all posts

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Being a reader

In this post: Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen

"I love BEING a reader and simply can’t imagine what it’s like to go through life without being one. Am I the only one who feels this way? That wonders at how other people can simply NOT do something that should be so essential?
Who feels almost sad that so many people seem content to go through their lives without stretching their mental wings at all?
Can you imagine NOT being a Reader? How does it shape your life? Your perception of it? How does being a Reader affect your relationship with all those folks who are looking at it from the other side and simply can’t understand how you can sit and READ all the time?"
When I hit a new age milestone last year I made a review of my life from the time I left college. It was an action-packed life, and somewhere in the last decade I felt something was not quite right. Now I realize it was the time when I was not reading anything other than those I had to because they go with the job.

Sad? I have always tried to do something more than just feel sad. If it's within my power and right to influence others to read - I do it. Family is right on top. A nephew is expected to read before he comes to me for monetary favor. The son has to have something to do with a book if he wants to get new toys. Le Boyfriend. If I ever have one, it will be awesome if he loves to read. If he does not then he has to at least recognize that it's part of me or be tolerant of the fact.  Students come next. They probably must have grown tired of my READ PEOPLE READ sermon already. But it's always a blast every time there's evidence that efforts are working.

Reading helped me survive a personal crisis. Should I face a challenge or deal with some kind of drama in the future, I know a better option than either a pricey shrink, a morphine shot or a gun shot.

Thursday 13: Quotations about reading. The photos are from a site called vi.sualize.us where you can "bookmark your favorite images and share them with everyone." Now it's Pinterest, right? The URL below each photo leads to their sources. I claim no ownership, just inspiration in how they look with the quotations and in sharing them.


1.http://piccsy.com/2011/05/reading-88r2ws7ph/

 2. Untitled / Lauren Treece http://www.google.com/reader/view/#stream/user/12221102..../style

3. http://piccsy.com/2011/05/reading-88r2ws7ph/

4. Beauty of childhood / via ver2go (tumblr) http://ver2go.tumblr.com/

5. Sisters / Mig_R http://flickr.com/photos/fawbs/2819244943/

6. 163 / 365 - Felix Felicis / Noukka Signe http://beautyineverything.com/4518817536

7. http://www.fanpop.com/spots/books-to-read

8. Charles Edward Perugini, World Gallery http://www.worldgallery.co.uk/

9. http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Jean-Honor-Fragonard oung-Girl-Reading-Print-C10032525.jpeg http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://artfiles.....5.jpeg

10. Young Woman Reading By A Window, Delphin Enjolras http://www.oilpaintings-art.com/movement/Young-Woman-Re....ow/162

11. Pietro Magni’s marble statue The Reading Girl http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://curledupwi....ng.jpg

12. Book of Fairy Tales... by *louvre89 on deviantART http://louvre89.deviantart.com/art/Book-of-Fairy-Tales-88905326

13. Reading blurbs @ Dasa Book Cafe, February 2011

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Comfort reading

In this post: Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen


How do storms affect your reading? Do you go for comfort reading?

How do you deal with power outages? Do you read by candlelight? Flashlights? Use a self-lit e-reader or tablet? Skip reading altogether for the duration and instead play games with the family?

Let it pour, let the thunder roll, let the lightning crack by the window. The more furious the storm, the more likely I am to bury myself in a book.  I experienced using a flashlight but only once or twice and very quickly each time. Back home power outages often occurred as soon as the sun set. I would watch my mother read her Bible with a little gas lamp; moths hover around the light and then drop one by one. We would linger in the living room after vespers waiting for electricity to come back. When it didn't the parents would play scrabble by candlelight while I would leaf through a book, end up reading a few pages before falling asleep.

Thursday Thirteen: Books I bought just for the delight of owning themThe first four are coffee table books. The rest are bought for the European countryside in them, ancient architecture, ideas for keeping books, Asperger Syndrome, and so on.  I'm having a great time with them. These are 13 books I recently added to my bookshelf -



1 A guide to photographing landscapes and gardens (2002) Busselle
2 Irish houses and castles (1971) Desmond Guinness and William Ryan
3 Living with books  (1999) Alan Powers
4 Creative Country Decorating  (1996) Ward Lock Book
5 Senryu: poem of the people (1991) J.C. Brown
6 Books that changed the world (1983) Robert B. Downs
7 Dear John (2006) Nicholas Sparks
8 Nights in Rodanthe (2002) Nicholas Sparks
9 The Jane Austen book club (2004) Karen Joy Fowler
10 The house of seven gables (1988 Tom Doherty Asso) Nathaniel Hawthorne
11 The brethren (2000) John Grisham
12 The girl with the dragon tattoo (2008) Stieg Larsson
13 Speeches that changed the world (2010) Simon Sebag Montefiore
HAPPY THURSDAY MY FRIENDS :)

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Branching out

In this post: Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen


Amy asks:
Name a book you love in a genre you normally don’t care for. What made you decide to read it? Did it make you want to try more in that genre?

Harry Potter, and I ended up reading all seven books in the series. Broomsticks and cauldrons, wands and potions, what in the name of Merlin's beard are they?.... I recall my own snigger at these things; look up my book shelf where the books are lovingly piled, and think of telling the sister-in-law how she influenced me to read HP.

Because I'm sure she has no idea what she's done. She was holding a wineglass in one hand and HP2 in the other over a meal during one family get-together. The cover I saw was of Harry dangling from the flying car above the Yorkshire Moors. I wouldn't have been curious if she was a ninth grader, but she's a medical doctor. Okay, she's a globe trotter too so maybe it was a book she did not finish from some trans-atlantic flight, but what business would a decent dermatologist have with petrificus totalus or wingardium leviosa?

That got my nostrils on the magical pages of HP for long, delightful hours and almost tempted me to steal a chapter or two at work. Curiosity could have killed the cat.

Bookish Sarah asks an interesting assortment of questions:
What genre do you avoid reading and why?

Erotica and dark fantasy (some call it a sub-genre) - I don't last long in these genres. I get bored easily and then I go particular with money value.

Thursday Thirteen: I write like...

A haiku poet invited me to join his haiku meme. I went strolling around his site, and found a charmingly interesting widget that says he writes like Charles Dickens. There was a link so I hopped over there, and as I'm no writer, you could imagine what fun I got out of checking

"which famous writer I write like with this statistical analysis tool, which analyzes word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers."

Here we go ---

1. As I’m someone who still loves having traditional books around, I say that’s the spirit! ~ E-books v. printed books, and whether a Kindle loaded with a thousand books would weigh heavier than one with only a hundred books.




 

2 Utmost love most pure / divinely capable of / crimson sacrifice ~ Love at Calvary (an Easter haiku)



I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

3 In Hua Hin Hills visitors can tour vineyards in a way you normally can’t in Burgundy or Tuscany: riding on an elephant. Vineyards of Thailand

I write like
William Gibson

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!





4. Built in world war two / the Spanish house stood / along the road /
Capiz shells made up its windows... / Out came “yakan, yaweh…” ~ Casa Embrujada, a free verse written for Halloween




I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

5 It miffed my mother who was worried it was senility progressing... she sways her hips to imaginary music. ~ Waltzing Rosario, about my waltz-loving Grandma



I write like
Margaret Mitchell

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

6. I’ll pass those up.... My money is getting spent on time-tested quality entertainment – ballet and opera. ~ on Lady Gaga's Bad Bangkok Romance




I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

7 Those nights of Wuthering Heights chain-smoking til 3 a.m.... and as enigmatic as Enigma. ~ reminiscing Mea Culpa



I write like
Stephenie Meyer

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

8 Just when I was about to send it over, I realized that if I were offered a place, the very topic I built a case on would send me back to Thailand for data-gathering. ~ Austenuating Jane Austen



I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

9 “A quality haiku. Just the right amount of zest” says a published UK novelist/poet of my first attempt at a meme called Haiku Heights. ~ Pirouette



I write like
Chuck Palahniuk

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

10 He congratulated her for passing some national exam. They bumped into each other at the luncheon that followed... ~ Christmas without you



I write like
Vladimir Nabokov

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

11 "Austenuating a fire in my head" - an old tagline





I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

12 If it’s made by Shangri-la and no other I’d actually eat it. This one looks like a throat clogger. I won’t take the risk. ~ on being shown a hideous fruit cake and asked if I would eat it



I write like
Margaret Atwood

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

13 It is a truth universally acknowledged that a blogger in possession of a Jane Austen addiction must be in want of more Jane Austen adaptations. Now isn't this obvious?



I write like
Jane Austen

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!




 

HAPPY THURSDAY MY FRIENDS :)


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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Reading in the rain

In this post: Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen

GigiAnn asks:
Do you have a favorite season of the year that you read more? (Example: during snow storms, rainy weather, or sunny and warm weather)

Lisa asks:
Where is your favorite place to read? On the beach? Inside/outside?

During rainy weather! I love the rain, especially when I'm indoors. I love curling up in bed with a fuzzy blanket, a cup of hot chocolate or tea on the side table, and read read read. While traveling on a coach from Windsor Castle back to London, it rained. Hard. The next minute everything was white. That was my first snow experience ever and I was thinking... this would be perfect if there was a charming book in my hands right now!

The beach -- well, every time I'm on a beach I'm doing something else like catching up with family and friends so the bedroom with the rain pitter-pattering on the roof works very well for me.

Thursday 13: Books (on my TBR pile) for the rainy days
See if you might be interested in any of them. Most of them are recent.


1. Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart
murder mystery in Victorian England
2. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
private lives under government surveillance
3. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
a touch of sunny Tuscany
4. Things That Are by Amy Leach
communion with the wild world
5. How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
hair removal, getting fat, tiny pants, expensive handbags
6. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
psychological elements, problem of perception
7. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
wonder of life, animal and human
8. The Last Letter from your Lover by Jojo Moyes
the lost art of letter writing, amnesia
9. Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta
lack of communication in sibling relationships
10. The White Devil by Justin Evans
contemporary horror set in a centuries-old boarding school, Lord Byron look-a-like
11. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
an artist's life, otherworldly beings
12. White Shotgun by April Smith
FBI agent, Italy
13. A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion by Ron Hansen
classic mystery feel

Thursday, May 10, 2012

In or out

In this post: Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen


Heidi asks:
Do you consider yourself an extrovert or an introvert?

Perhaps a combination of both. I have been living alone since my big D in 2006 and I don't seem to mind; rarely wish for company. Seventy five percent of my king size bed is littered with books. I occupy the remaining 25% when I sleep. As for socializing I am happy meeting friends for lunch, dinner or high tea in or outside my nook. I love cozy cafes. Church, concerts, lectures, or family get-togethers  - I welcome them as revitalizing shot to my routine which is being alone.
 

Thursday 13: They are also in and out

Breakfast this morning was spent watching CNN's Pierce Morgan talking with people about President Barack Obama's support for gay marriage. I wonder what would these writers have said if they were the ones interviewed.



1. Sappho (600 B.C.) Greek poetess
2. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) British statesman and writer
3. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
4. Lord Byron (1788-1824) British poet
5. Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) Danish poet and writer
6. Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) Euro-American writer and journalist
7. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) Euro-American poet
8. Herman Melville (18-19-1891 Euro-American writer
9. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish writer and dramatist
10. Marcel Proust (1871-1922) French writer
11. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) British writer and dramatist
12. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) British writer and publisher
13. Truman Capote (1924-1984) Euro-American author

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Q without U

These are words that begin with Q and not followed by U; in random order. Is there anything that's not new to you or have you used some in speech, writing, or word games?

1. qadi - an Islamic judge
2. qat - leaves chewed like tobacco or used to make tea
3. qabala - an esoteric or occult matter
4. qi - circulating life energy in Chinese philosophy 
5. qiang - the Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Sichuan
6. qepig - 100 qupig equal 1 manat
7. qabalistic - having a secret or hidden meaning
8. qibla - direction of the Kaaba toward which Muslims turn for daily prayers
9.  qatari - a native or inhabitant of Qatar
10. qing - the last imperial dynasty of China
11. qaid- Muslim tribal chief
12. qiviut - musk-ox wool
13. qanat - underground tunnel for irrigation

More here and on crosswordsolver.
Thanks to Megan and Janet for hosting Thursday Thirteen

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Editorial cartoons

As Bangkokians brace for "what now?, what next?..." the end of the country's worst flooding in 50 years seem drowned in the depths of either two major bursting dams. Blame, criticism and serious politicking affect flood (mis)management further.  The situation could be Thailand's halloweenish watery scare. I personally just went out yesterday to pick a few items that will somehow ward off starvation should the waters rush in to where I live. If most Thais are at a loss to understand what exactly is the government trying to say, what and how could anyone who does not speak the local language grasp anything at all?  Maybe Friends of the Nation editorial cartoons can help. A quick fact by the way: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is sister of former PM in exile Thaksin Shinawatra.



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Thanks to Megan and Janet for hosting Thursday 13.

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