Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

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A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...
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Kondo-Marie Method continuing, podcasts and reading!

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I have just recovered from the worst stomach flu I ever had. Was totally knocked out for two days. Recovering is just like coming back to life! The good thing is that I could not do much, hardly read, so I finally started to listen to the podcasts by Simon at "Stuck in a Book" and Rachel at "Book Snob" called "Tea or Books". It is wonderful to listen to, and a lot of views on various books and writers. Very interesting indeed. I am now on podcast no 7. They can be downloaded from iTunes or podcast app of your choice. A real treat!

I have finished a couple of books since last time and there will be a review next on "The Almost Nearly Perfect People - Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia by Michael Booth. I have also started a book for the challenge "What's in a Name" hosted by 'Wormhole', namely the first on the list; a title with a country in it. I will choose all the books for this challenge from my TBR shelves (my biggest challenge this year is to reduce a lot from there!) and the first is "The Knights Templar in Britain" by Evelyn Lord. Review will come. Being me, I also started on Tracy Chevallier's "The Lady and the Unicorn". I don't know yet if it fits into any challenge except reducing my TBR shelves.

Before - mix of read and non-read
 (sorry for the sunshine, must have been the
only time it was shining lately!)
After. Fiction three left columns and
non-fiction right column.
I just wanted to share with you my continuation of practising the Kondo-Marie Method, this time on my books (see earlier post). I have four bookcases in our study/guest room/library, two was partly overfilled with TBR books and the other two had files and other things in them. After putting everything out of the book shelves, I re-organised things a bit, and back into the book cases came; two with books I have read, where I separated fiction and non-fiction, and the other two with books to read. I might not have to tell you that the latter two book cases are now filled out, but there is space in the book cases of books read! Partly because I have given away around 100 books! Yes, it is difficult, but I must say I felt a certain relief afterwords. Counting books from the TV-room, which were more art books and other thematic, big books with pictures and text, I probably sorted out another 100! As Marie says; take the book in your hand and be honest to yourself. Will you read this book again? I even gave away some books that I have not read, but realised I never will read! That is a huge confession from my side!

Before!
After!
What do you feel about podcasts? I have never listened to any before, but after this first try I think I will become a fan. Especially if you are out walking and want to listen to something. Or even cleaning at home, it seems a perfect thing for multi tasking! I will certainly look for other interesting podcasts, and if you have something to recommend, please drop a line in the comment box or send me an e-mail.


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