Athena
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Posts posted by Athena
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Getting quite excited about my impending new bookcase, now (due Wednesday) - I've even vac'd the spot it'll fit into(!) and am having fun deciding which of my treasures will go into it.
Theres's something so calming about planning the inside of a bookcase, isn't there?
I agree! It's so nice to do that. I'm hoping to get another book case too in a while, it'll be fun!
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Booked an eye appointment for Saturday. This will be my last year for free glasses!
Good luck risingdawn! Eye tests can be a pain, not necessarily looking at the pictures, but some other tests are (I don't know if they test for that where you live, it's ie. a test to do with the pressure on your eye balls).
So, the university are keeping me for another 9 months. This is a massive relief, as it means I'm not going back on jobseekers on, well, Friday! Still waiting to actually get the details of the contract laid out, but it's all good I think!
Congrats, Noll!
Off for a day in London tomorrow with my Wife, probably go to the natural history museum and/or Science museum.
Have fun Tim!
Off to Prague in a few days and it looks like I will be blessed with some half decent weather during my visit.
Have fun!
We have had another beautiful day here, with temperatures in double digits - it's supposed to rain tomorrow though and then turn cold again.
Coran and I celebrated our 15th anniversary today - she met me from work which was a nice surprise, and we went out for tea and cake. We will probably go out again for lunch at the weekend.Happy Anniversary!
I've been ill, so I haven't been on the forums much. I'm going through a bit of a tough time lately. I'm stuck with my project at the university, I'm very stressed (about my project, among other things), some other things in life. I heard last week that most likely I won't make the graduation in June, I'm really hoping I'll make the August one though. It took me some days to adjust to it, tbh I'll be really glad once it's all over, once I have my diploma I can stop worrying about uni. I did go to a book fair a few days ago which really cheered me up, I haven't catalogued all the books yet (I felt too ill), but once I feel a bit better I'll probably do so (and then put them with my other books). It's not all bad in my life, my dad got some good news yesterday to do with his job, so that's quite nice. There was also bad news yesterday, the government has decided, despite our protests, to run a cycle path through our garden. So we're not happy with that.
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pontalba, that's a great picture
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I'm glad to hear Reuben is feeling a bit better, bobblybear
.risingdawn, sorry to hear about your cat
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I like Top Gear too! Some segments more than others, I especially like the challenges, where funny stuff happens. Unfortunately the Dutch channel that normally shows Top Gear, hasn't broadcast any in the past hmm.. 6+ months (maybe 1 year +). I did see some Top Gear while I was on my holidays in the UK last year, that was great.
I've just seen that our Dutch channel is going to show new Top Gear episodes in a few weeks (new to us, at least)!
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Good luck bobblybear, I hope Reuben will feel better soon
. Hopefully the vet can tell you what's wrong and help him get better. -
Finished Shaman's Crossing and now started The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton as an in between book before I read the rest of the Soldier Son trilogy. So far I am 23 pages in and confused by all the scientific words and the world-building. My Mum read it before me and said it was a slow start.
How did you like Shaman's Crossing?
Sorry to hear you're confused by The Reality Dysfunction. I don't remember that much from the beginning, it kind of gripped me from the start (I love all the sciency talk). So I'm not sure if I could help you there, though if you have any specific question, I'd be happy to try and answer it.
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Today we have rollade, chips/potatoes in the oven and some yet-to-be-determined vegetables (presumably I'll have salad, as I don't like most cooked vegetables, without a sauce). According to a translation page, rollade is: collared beef, rolled rost. Except that ours is not beef, it's pork. It's basically pork cooked in the oven, with some herbs.
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Awwww
I'm so sorry to hear he passed away, he sounds (and looks) like an amazing cat 
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Hmm this sounds interesting but you didn't think the book was brilliant, I might buy one of his other novels, first. Any particular one you recommend? Nicely written review, btw
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Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
I've heard good things about this one, so I look forward to hear what you think.
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I like Top Gear too! Some segments more than others, I especially like the challenges, where funny stuff happens. Unfortunately the Dutch channel that normally shows Top Gear, hasn't broadcast any in the past hmm.. 6+ months (maybe 1 year +). I did see some Top Gear while I was on my holidays in the UK last year, that was great.
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That looks great!
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I always stick a fork in in the middle of the cake and check if it comes out clean.
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Cool that there is some Dutch in your family!
My dad's parents have spent some time figuring out their history. Apparently we're (far) descendants of a knight! There was also one child which was born out of wedlock, I don't know much about it though. We're part Indonesian, a few generations ago, I think my granddad's dad or granddad, married a woman from Indonesia (they met in Indonesia, where he was stationed). This was at that time when Indonesia was one of our colonies.. I can't remember which person in the family it was, but I'm sure I could look it up, times wise, when this was. Also my dad's granddad wrote a famous book about cars (and my dad is pretty famous in that area too). I think originally we come from Switzerland, seeing our last name.
That's all I can remember atm, I haven't talked about it with my grandparents for ages. My mum's parents, I don't think they ever looked it up, or at least, they've never told us about it.
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I'm 5'4", I calculated that once and it matches Pontalba's chart too. To my knowledge an inch is 2.54 cm, that's what I always use. I do agree that it's an unhandy way of measuring things (the imperial system), to me. Not all Brits use the imperial system, my boyfriend's British and he often uses the metric system (not always, but often). It might depend on age though, he's my age so not that old (imo XD, we're both 27 atm). And of course, he might use the metric system more easily when he talks with me, as opposed to other British people.
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I think the Wheel of Time series is a series that needs to be paced out. So many books all with roughly the same amount. It can be quite overwhelming to read the whole lot. I'd recommend reading other books in between just to give you a break. I read them all consecutively and felt drained and couldn't be bothered sometimes it was so long.
I agree, I read them all with some time in between. It's like that for long(er) series, for me, I prefer to space it out rather than reading it all in one go (unless it's a duology or perhaps trilogy).
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Most of my books are in my room/rooms, in several book cases and shelves. Some of my books, particularly my children's books and some YA, are upstairs, at the attic in boxes.
When I have my own house, in some years, I hope to have one room with all my books nicely displayed in book cases, but I don't know if that'll be possible tbh.
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I can't explain it, but I giggled
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We also just got the first of the Daylight War books.
I hope you like it
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Just in case you don't know, If At First is actually a short story (about 11 pages in the paperback) that is included in his Manhattan in Reverse collection, so I hope you got it as a freebie
I did
. And that's good to know, I have Manhattan in Reverse in paperback.ETA: Don't know if this applies to the version you have, Athena, but people on goodreads are saying the ebook is the short story, If At First, plus a promotional extract from one of his novels, which takes up about 75% of the file.
Yeah I just figured this out XD, I've finished it now.
It was an interesting short story but I would've liked more (as with most short stories). It's not completely clear to me what happened near the end, what exactly is going on.
Rating: *** (3/5)
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I read some great books in February, but I feel I didn't spend as much time reading as I perhaps could've been. In February I spent quite some time doing other things, related to books, such as updating my LibraryThing (excluding ebooks), adding my wishlist to GoodReads, browsing this forum.February wasn't an amazing month for me, but I did read 6 books. I'm hoping to hit at least 9 in February - which will be aided by the fact that I won't be reading 500+ page monstrosities like I was in February!
Hmm I just looked it up, I read 7 books and finished an 8th one (at the first of Feb). I read half of another one which I finished today (March 1rst). That's actually not bad at all! The Wheel of Time book (read in January/February) took a lot of time, it's quite big.
I finished Leaving Home: Short Pieces by Jodi Picoult. I started to read If At First... by Peter F. Hamilton and Marley & Me by John Grogan.
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Thanks!It is used as slang for 'energy' and 'motivation' and 'willingness' But only by the coolest of us
but it is usually for something more physical such as running or dancing. Can also be a euphemism for libido. -
Awwww, that's cute! And quite rare.
How to enjoy reading books?
in General Book Discussions
Posted
The rest of the posters have already given some nice advice, I'm not sure I have a lot to add. I enjoy gaming too, though due to my disability I can't play video games that much. I especially love the story in video games, that's why I mainly like to play games with a nice story (ie. RPGs). I've loved reading for a long time, my love for video games didn't start until a little bit later, when I was about 8-9 I think, and we got a console and a computer (I can't remember which one we got first, probably the console). There are many great books but you have to find one that you'll like. If possible you could read excerpts from the first bit of books, before you buy them (ie. on Amazon or on the author's site they sometimes give you the opportunity to read some pages of the book). Books based on video games, would be one idea to start with. What kind of stories do you like, in video games? Ie. if you like fantasy stories, you'll know to look for books in that genre (and likewise for science-fiction, contemporary, historical, thrillers, etc).