[nicked from KateF]

Italics: started but not finished. Bold: finished reading.

Download my list here : 20090222_100bookstohaveread-list.pdf

(simply because I did not feel like redoing all the bold and italics after discovering c/p did not work properly)

[sneak peak below]

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[via Bart]

One book you're currently reading: The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
One book that changed your life: The Gift of Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
One book you'd want on a deserted island: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
One book you've read more than once: The Villa by Nora Roberts
One book you've never been able to finish: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
One book that made you laugh: Lucy Talk by Fiona Walker
One book that made you cry: The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
One book you keep rereading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
One book you've been meaning to read: Candide by Voltaire
One book you believe everyone should read: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Finally,
Grab the nearest book. Open it to page 56. Find the fifth sentence
Lord Augustus: Well, what is it? What is it? [Rising and going over to Cecil Graham.]
From: Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

If anyone wants to play along, feel free!

Some beauties, it seems, are destined for the semantic scrap heap. The editors at Collins have decided that they can dispense with [-] 24 rarely-used words [...]

http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/09/vote-to-save-a.html

As you might know, I am an avid reader of basically anything. There are enough posts on this blog in the category Reading Material. When I was younger, my parents would not allow me to read while eating breakfast/lunch/dinner, so I frequently resorted to reading the packages of milk, cereal or whatever was handy. Just to be able to keep reading.

I think one of the greatest things I ever learned from my parents is reading and a love for reading. I can remember numerous hours where all four of us (mom, dad, sister and I) would sit around the living room, each with our own book.

This love of reading has of course never left me. Perhaps during my university years I read a little less, mainly because for my English Lit courses, I had to read a mandatory list of books that I otherwise would not have read. But all this time, whenever I found a new book, I would read. And read. And read.

I cannot imagine nor fathom how many books I have read over the years. At some point during these years, I stopped reading Dutch books, because I found that the English books were more suited to my taste (as always, whenever there are more books written, you tend to find more books you actually enjoy).

Some time in 1998, when I was in Edinburgh, a friend of mine suggested I start reading the Harry Potter books. Book Two had just been published, I believe. Bookstores didn't spend too much attention to them, but I had seen them lying around. As I knew these were children's books, I told her I wasn't interested. It is not as if I never read children's books anymore, but I only read the ones I had grown up reading, I never read any new ones, and certainly not new English ones. She insisted I read them, but I never got around to borrowing her copies, or buying any for myself.

Fast forward to April 5, 2000 (good policy, always add dates/places/events/etc to the french title page of your book, including your name) when I bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I must not have found any other books to my liking, and I remebered my friends positive review of the book.


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The Order of the Phoenix - Simspons style

(and my character)

As this entry will contain spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7), I have decided that - even after 2 weeks - I should put my thoughts on the book behind the read more section.

Without further ado:

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Waiting for phonecall from sister that she has arrived at train station, where she will take a tram to the bookstore, and I will follow by bike.

Can't wait to start reading!

Please know, I will not be posting any spoilers for at least a week (or until I will burst from telling them to someone).

[UPDATE]

Sister and I bought our books and we raced back to my house. We started reading immediately around 1:30PM. We finished around 9:30PM. I will post a review once I have been able to straighten all the ideas and opinions running through my mind right now. I might even reread some bits and pieces before I do. I can say this: loved the book, good ending, but there is one scene/action that I totally do not agree with!

Book Meme [via Jennifer]

A book that made you cry
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

A book that scared you
The Plot Against America - Philip Roth

A book that made you laugh
Lucy Talk - Fiona Walker

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Be Aware!

Please, everyone, spread this far and wide.

The Admin Team of PhoenixSong.net have recently learned that there is a “leaked” file of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows floating around the internet, specifically in bit torrent form. While people obviously have different opinions on “spoilers” in general, this one is especially troublesome because it is actually a plagiarized version of our own Melindaleo’s fan fic, “The Seventh Horcrux”, available legitimately at PhoenixSong: http://www.phoenixsong.net/fanfiction/story/3517/
Please be aware that Melindaleo was in no way involved in re-titling her fan fic as the seventh book or in trying to pass it off as a leaked copy of the seventh book. Someone else did this without her knowledge or permission, and she has been quite upset and worried, especially about the fact that people may be being duped by this situation.

Plagiarism (stealing someone’s work and passing off as belonging to someone else) is a serious crime and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you encounter posts about this story elsewhere, please share this information in any way you feel you can — private blogs, posts, whatever. Because this is being shared in a bit torrent format, it is especially difficult to get it removed from sites as a stolen work, but perhaps we can at least all help get the *real* author/title information to people instead. Thanks, all!

[from Bartsspace]

Which is your favorite Penguin book/title?

Penguin Parade @ Museum Meermanno

Penguin Official Website

Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources (Penguin Classics)