In 2017, I read 60,224 pages across 200 books. A lot. You can check my adventures here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2017/21610643 This year I intend to read 300 books… it will be an adventure of kind I haven’t had in a long time :)
What were your best reads in 2017? What were your favorite places? Did you make any new friends?
“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.”
― Mark Twain
Yesterday I visited Kansalliskirjasto, The Nationa Library of Finland for the first time in my life. There I sat for many hours absorbing the wisdom of these gorgeous books. I just love libraries, don’t you?
“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.” ― Neil Gaiman
Welcome to 2017! I wish you all the best in whatever you do this year. Thank you for reading & following me last year and for liking and commenting on my posts.
2016 was a weird year. But I got back to my usual reading speed and managed to read 240 books. You can check out my Goodreads Year in Books here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2016/21610643 I read a lot of classics. I’m really happy about that because since my studies begun I didn’t have the time to concentrate on reading them and on appreciating them. I read (to mention few): On the Road, The Bell Jar, Catch-22, The Great Gatsby, Burning Daylight, Of Mice and Men, Kurgast, Martin Eden, The Man Who Laughs, Of Human Bondage, East from Eden, The Scarlet Letter and! The Pride and Prejudice! Oh how I hated it. Hated. Let me quote Mark Twain:
“I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”
― Mark Twain
Never have I read something so utterly boring as Pride and Prejudice. No wonder I avoided reading it for years…
I read comics, manga, historical novels…Also managed to read some poetry. Not much because I find it hard to grasp. I read some Paul Valéry, Pablo Neruda, W.B.Yeats & Saul Williams. And I read some books I didn’t mention here because I think this post is long enough as it is.
I plan to read the same amount as last year…or at least that’s what I promised to Goodreads reading challenge. However, I’ll be taking a break from blogging. I have some kind of a bloggers block and kind of lost my interest for writing a blog. I don’t know what are my future plans for this blog but I’ll figure it out so stay tuned.
Meet the blogger :) I kind of like this picture. Cover of a Finnish feminist fantasy called Naondel.
Anyways, happy 2017! What were your best reads in 2016? What are your reading plans for 2017? :)
Loot Crate is a monthly subscription club for geeks and gamersand they are on the hunt for what fans and Looters would do if given the chance to design their own personal Dream Crate. Here’s what my personal dream crate would include:
Star-Lord Wacky Wobbler Bobble-Head Figure
Groot Character Art Mouse Pad
Hidden Universe Travel Guides: The Complete Marvel Cosmos: With Notes by the Guardians of the Galaxy
Rocket Pattern Tote Bag
Guardians of the Galaxy DVD
Guardians of the Galaxy Group in Space Hoodie
& Sony Walkman Headphones…they’re so epic.
Star-Lord Wacky Wobbler Bobble-Head Figure (because it would look great on my book shelf)
Guardians of the Galaxy DVD
Hidden Universe Travel Guides: The Complete Marvel Cosmos: With Notes by the Guardians of the Galaxy (basically a Lonely Planet of Marvel Cosmos. Includes a lot of tips for a fun trip by Star-Lord, Drax, Rocket, Gamora & Groot.
Groot Character Art Mouse Pad …because who doesn’t love Groot.
Guardians of the Galaxy Group in Space Hoodie
Rocket Pattern Tote Bag
Sony Walkman Headphones
If you could design your own Loot Crate, what would it look like & what items would you include in it?
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
September 22nd is the Birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, two characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular Middle Earth books (The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings). In the books both Bilbo and Frodo were said to be born on September 22, but of different years. (And yes, of course you know it’s Shire Calendar but let’s not mind the details.) Bilbo was born in the year of 2890 and Frodo in the year of 2968 in the Third Age.
“Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea -any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
How-To Celebrate Hobbit Day
1.Go on a quest. Preferably barefoot. 2. Throw a feast! Make sure there’s good amount of food! & Before the actual feast, don’t forget to have a second breakfast (and elevenses)! 3. Visit Middle Earth! (= Read Hobbit or Lord of the Rings trilogy. Or both!) 4. Watch some movies. There’s six of them… 1171 minutes… you don’t want to know how many hours that is. You can forget about sleeping though. (Don’t worry, this week is called Tolkien Week so you’ll have plenty of time) 5. Tell rhymes. 6. Talk in Sindarin or Quenya. 7. Music. THIS. Sountracks: Lotr, Hobbit. My favorite ones are: Song of the Lonely Mountain, The Misty Mountains Cold & I See Fire. 8. Book a holiday to New Zealand! Now! & To get you in the right mood watch this and this. Isn’t Air New Zealand just wonderful? 9. The Hobbits give other Hobbits presents on their birthdays. So be nice, give your fellow Hobbits gifts. 10. Fireworks!! …Or sparklers!
