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All about Athena


Athena

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The Basics:

 

Full Name

Gaia Steinbuch

 

Age

Currently 28, almost 29

 

Location

Helmond, the Netherlands

 

Marital Status/Children

I'm in a relationship, no children.

 

Date You Joined The Book Club Forum

9 January 2013

 

Favourites:

 

- Favourite bands/singers?

I like lots of different music, though I usually listen to gothic metal and power metal because they fade away other sounds so nicely. I don't listen to music very often, though.

 

- Favourite movies?

I couldn't really pick just a few, but favourite genres are romantic comedies and animation films. I also like some science-fiction films and superhero films, and more.

 

- Favourite books?

I couldn't possibly answer that. Even my list of favourite books contains quite a lot. I'll just say that my favourite genres are fantasy, science-fiction, contemporary fiction and chick-lit, but I also read other genres such as detectives, horror, historical fiction and literature, for example.

 

- Favourite authors?

Again, there are too many nice ones. Very briefly though, I'll say Robert Jordan, Terry Pratchett, Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, Peter F. Hamilton, Sophie Kinsella and Penny Vincenzi, but really there are quite a few more I could add to this list.

 

The Book Club Forum's Rise and Future...

 

- Why did you join The Book Club Forum?

I wanted to find some new friends, and my biggest hobby is books. So I searched for a book forum and after trying and not really liking two other forums, I ended up here. I've never regretted it!

 

- How did you become a member of the Mod Squad?

I was very honoured to be asked by Michelle in July 2014.

 

- What is the most gratifying part of being staff at The Book Club Forum?

I love being able to help the forum that is so friendly and fun to be on.

 

- What makes you happiest about the site?

The lovely friends I've made here and discussions about books as well as other things. I love that we all have our own book blog where we can detail our reading experiences. I love the community here, everyone's so friendly and kind.

 

- What is your favourite section of the Book Club Forum and why?

The book blogs are my favourite section, I love to read these. It's also quite unique, I haven't seen this feature before on other forums. I love that we can post about our reading experiences. I read so fast, I find it handy that I can post reviews in my own thread. On other forums, I think it would look quite weird if I were to post lots of reviews in lots of different topics about the books I read. I also love we can share our purchases or anything bookish related or personal.

 

A little more about Athena:

 

We all know you love reading, but what kind of books do you most enjoy and why?

My favourite genres are fantasy, science-fiction, contemporary fiction and chick-lit. I also like historical fiction, detectives, horror, literature and thrillers but I don't read them as often as the aforementioned. Non-fiction wise I like biographies about interesting people and I also like a variety of information books about subjects that interest me.

 

I prefer reading 'text'books but sometimes I will read some manga or a graphic novel. I enjoy these but prefer to read books with mainly words for the most part of my reading.

 

I read mainly adult books but also quite a bit of young-adult and children's books. Most of the children's books are childhood favourites or books by a favourite childhood author, not all of them though. As an adult, I also quite enjoy reading good young-adult books. I also like reading adult books.

 

Books I'm not really interested in, are books that feature a lot of unnecessary nudity or violence. I also don't like it when a book gets too preachy (in the religion sense) and spiritual, those kinds of books I usually avoid. I prefer it if a book isn't too difficult to read, the language should be allright to understand.

 

I read mainly paperbacks as these are my preferred format. I do have some hardcovers and hardbacks and occasionally I read on my Kindle (usually information books, short stories or freebies).

 

I read books of varying lengths, I like long as well as shorter books. I read both series and standalone books.

 

I read books mainly in English, if their original language is English. If the book is originally Dutch I will usually read the Dutch version. For information books and biographies I sometimes read them in English and sometimes in Dutch. I prefer English if the original is English, but if the Dutch one is being sold for a low price point I tend to go for that.

 

English is my second language but due to reading a lot of English books and talking a lot with my British boyfriend, it has become quite easy for me to speak, write and read English.

 

Which book do you most often recommend to others and why?

I don't think there's any one in particular I recommend more often. It would depend on the genre the person prefers. For fantasy I would recommend The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. For science-fiction I would recommend The Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton. For contemporary it would be Jodi Picoult - My Sister's Keeper or Diane Chamberlain - The Midwife's Confession and for chick-lit it would be the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.

 

What other interests do you have and what drew you to them?

I also like watching TV shows and movies from time to time and on occasion I play a video game. I also like spending time with our animals, we have dogs, chicken and goats. I also like to write.

 

Tell us three unusual and interesting things about yourself?

1. I have HFA, High Functioning Autism. This means I have difficulty processing input, difficulty in social situations, difficulty with changes, and more. It means I get tired a lot from input, particularly noise is a problem.

2. I also have ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder. I've been diagnosed with it a few months ago. It means I have trouble concentrating and processing input. My thoughts often go all over the place, they feel like butterflies I can never really catch.

3. I'm living together with my boyfriend in what we call 'the bakery', next to my parents' farm. People used to bake bread here in earlier centuries. Our farm is almost 400 years old.

 

I hope this was all interesting to read. If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to post :).

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  • 2 months later...

Gaia,all this time I thought you lived above/behind an actual bakery that your family ran. How funny!

 

ETA: Funny that I thought that, not funny where you live. I think where you live sounds amazing! It's funny how my mind interpreted what you've been writing.

Edited by dtrpath27
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Gaia,all this time I thought you lived above/behind an actual bakery that your family ran. How funny!

 

ETA: Funny that I thought that, not funny where you live. I think where you live sounds amazing! It's funny how my mind interpreted what you've been writing.

I can see the confusion :giggle2:, I'm sorry if I didn't explain it properly at an earlier time :blush2:

 

Lovely to read all about you Gaia. :) What sort of farm do your parents have? How amazing for it to be over 400 years old.....so much history.  Are the buildings that old?

 

The farm is that old, I think the bakery is very old too. The other small buildings, like the bigger shed and the tiny shed, they are newer (though I don't know exactly when they were built). We don't run a farm in the farm sense, it's a farm house but we don't have cows or anything (our neighbour two doors down has cows, though) (we wouldn't have enough land for cows really, even if we wanted to). I'm not sure if the farm has a specific name in terms of style, I'm sure it does but I don't know it on top off my head :blush2:. I can say that it's a style you see more often in this local area.

 

Interesting information. Michelle certainly hit the jackpot when she asked you to be a member of the "Mod Squad".

Awww, thanks Muggle :blush2::).

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 The farm is that old, I think the bakery is very old too. The other small buildings, like the bigger shed and the tiny shed, they are newer (though I don't know exactly when they were built). We don't run a farm in the farm sense, it's a farm house but we don't have cows or anything (our neighbour two doors down has cows, though) (we wouldn't have enough land for cows really, even if we wanted to). I'm not sure if the farm has a specific name in terms of style, I'm sure it does but I don't know it on top off my head :blush2:. I can say that it's a style you see more often in this local area.

 

 

Here it would be called a life-style block or a hobby farm. We live on one too :)

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  • 1 month later...

Well fellow Dutchy, I see we do have a lot in common! Book taste (you read more varied things than I do), music taste, some sci fi in films.. ;) And heck, I even have an English ex-boyfriend (he still lives in Southampton though).

 

You being a fantasy lover, have you ever been to a Fantasy Fair, or Castlefest? Maybe the Fantasy Fair in september in Arcen, Limburg? That's not fair, there's quite a lot to do about fantasy books etc as well there..

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I think you will be able to edit your posts once you have made more of them. I'm not sure how many you need though, but I know most of our regular members can edit their posts so I think you should be able to, soon, as well. If you like though I can ask the admins about it (ie. Michelle or Janet).

 

I have autism and ADD and have real trouble being in noisy environments with a lot of people. So I don't think it would be my thing :blush2:. I get tired enough just going shopping for an hour. Input tires me ('prikkels' in Dutch, which is a better term to be honest), so any time there is more than one conversation going on in the room I'm in, that's difficult for me. This is because I hear everything, and things further away don't necessarily sound further away to me. The noise curls up into a giant ball and it gets hard for me to make anything out, like what the person next to me is saying. It's like all the people in the room are talking to me and I have to hear them all. I can't "fade out" sound the way most other people can.

 

Other senses, such as sight, smell, touch and taste are also problematic though sound is my worst one. Social interactions greatly tire me, because human bodies and faces give a lot of input and signals (body language, eye contact), and in the mean time I also have to think about what to say to them, whether it's appropriate and good timing and interesting etc. Particularly the less well I know someone, the most energy it costs me to talk with them. It's slightly easier in a shop because there is a set pattern the conversation normally follows, which helps me.

 

Feel free to ask me if the above confuses you and I'll try to explain it better!

 

P.S. Also, I'm an introvert.

Edited by Athena
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  • 8 years later...

Hi,

 

Thank you for letting us all into your world, do you prefer physical books/ebooks/audiobooks?

 

I’m new to the forum as of today and so far loving the forum, the admin and mods have done a fab job!

 

It’s lovely to read more about you and your bookish interests 😃. I look forward to chatting some more and getting to know everyone here 🤗 📚 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/28/2023 at 2:16 PM, NikkiJayne said:

Hi,

 

Thank you for letting us all into your world, do you prefer physical books/ebooks/audiobooks?

 

I’m new to the forum as of today and so far loving the forum, the admin and mods have done a fab job!

 

It’s lovely to read more about you and your bookish interests 😃. I look forward to chatting some more and getting to know everyone here 🤗 📚 

I like real books. I don't hold with them electronic reading devices.

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