frankie

I hope you have a wonderful reading year! Great to see a new reading log

I had a package waiting for me at the post office and today I was able to get it. I knew it was from poppyshake, for Christmas / Birthday. I got Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley and Plumdog by Emma Chichester Clark! The former has been on my wishlist for some months now, and I was eyeing a copy at the local bookstore in December, but thought I'd better be boring and sensible and borrow the book from the library... Now I don't have to! Plumdog is a doggy book I've not heard of before, but oh my lord it's gorgeous! It's a diary by Plum, a whippet, Jack Russell and poodle mix. (He - or is it a she! I've not yet sussed it out - says 'I especially like swimming, leaping, and croissants, and my favorite fragrance is fox poop.' at the back.) I've already read a few pages and I know I'm going to love Plum!! I have a few pictures: Thank you poppyshake for my new books! They are brilliant!!

Oooh, I really liked that one!

Hello and welcome!

Jamie Cullum.

I'm really keen on watching the movie on her now I'll let you know, should the book be translated into Finnish, by any chance in the miracle that is life Edit: Or even into English.

I wish I had a compass... But one can use different round objects instead, too.

Did she do it free hand or did she use a compass?

Thank you pontalba! It's really twice too much in my opinion I'm 88 pages in and I'm liking it so far!

Ooh yay, I'm a mere baby! Mine's Cujo by Stephen King. A doggy book, how appropriate Yes, I've read it (and re-read it) and it's on my personal 1001 Books list

I want to share a few pictures. I was on Pinterest and there was a 'how to draw a Christmas penguin' there and I had to try it (did it on the 'doodle spread' on my BuJo) And the other picture's the yearly on BuJo. I really like it how it turned out I'm not great at drawing at all, so I thought the penguin was a huge success One thing I like about BuJo is that having looked at other people's BuJo's, I got the idea that one can illustrate things on the pages, and it's made me draw a few things and it's fun! Like I said, I'm not a great drawer and I think that's kept me from trying to draw anything in years and years. I drew a cassette player for my BuJo recently and that was fun! So I've actually got a doodle spread in my BuJo, which is so unlike me. This BuJo is making me do things I thought I (never) would! Oooh and that reminds me! While on Pinterest looking for hand lettering and BuJo stuff, I started seeing all these mandalas and oh boy they look beautiful! So I did a little research and found out about how one can make one, and I now want to try making one in my BuJo I also want to draw a dreamcatcher! They are so beautiful. I don't like the real-life ones because all I can think about is dust when I look at them ( I'm allergic!!), but I love the drawn ones

Okay, the Pigma Micron markers are great! I now have what I need! I'm a bit sad that I can't use my colored Stabilo markers (I can use them but I don't want to in case of a sudden flood or whatever and BuJo gets wet!), but I've now actually realized that maybe I would prefer writing in black, and not writing in every color under the sky... Writing in black and keeping the colors to the embellisments might be a much nicer look in the long run. I do love the colorrrific pages people make in their BuJos, but I really also like the minimalistic, chic look of plain black colors... Luckily one can do both in one's BuJo I love my Pigma Microns and also the two Zig Calligraphy markers I got (teal and baby blue). I love it that I now have what I need and I know where to get more!! I'm well happy!!! (Also, the previous permanent markers that I got and was disappointed with might actually be okay... The thing is, as soon as I wrote something down and then tried to smudge it with water, it did smudge. But maybe it's a case of not having given the ink enough time to dry? So maybe they can be permanent. I'll have to test them Yes, I'm impatient sometimes!!) Oh yayyyy Care to show any pictures? I may have said this before, but I never understood what the grid notebooks were for, but now it all makes sense Love it! I've heard of Staedtler the brand and maybe of the pens, too. They're pens and not markers, right? A silly question but I'm just making sure. The word 'marker' is really new to me, I would've earlier just used the word pen for markers, too. Or maybe a felt tip pen. This is a whole new jargon for me. Have you looked at the different colors? Or have I already asked you this. Which color Leuchtturm would you prefer? No, I won't get you one because I'd hate to get the wrong color, but I'm just curious! I hope you do get one for your Birthday if you still want one!! Oh yes I did! I've not had much chance of posting about it. For some reason I thought it would be an A5 book but it's actually a bit wider than an A4. I was personally interested in learning hand lettering and so I was looking forward to possibly seeing all different types of alphabets and styles and such. There is of course some of that, but there's also other things that I'm not personally interested at least for now (i.e. converting hand lettering to a digital format). (When I first leafed through the book, it seemed there was more of the stuff I wasn't interested in, but on a second glance, there is not. There's more of the stuff I wanted. And even with the stuff I'm not interested in, I can still steal some ideas of handlettering from there Even though they are working with a different medium, you know? ) Don't they?

Nope, I've not read much other stuff... My mojo's not been that great in the past year. Life changes and work and whatnot. I wish I could say it's quality over quantity, anyway, but I don't think I had a very quality-rich reading year, either Oh well... 2017 will be better! I'll try and get inspired by you lot who read so much!

I've started reading How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry.

Thanks, Little Pixie! I hope so, too! I'm going cuckoo in the head, staying inside the apartment and having no human contact

'Would you like it boiled, steamed or fried, and how about garlic?' Don't be afraid of the quote system, though, because it can't erase anything off your computer or smash the hard drive or anything: the worst you can do is end up with a funny looking post! The rest, well, I won't say more in case you do something completely whack and fudge up the whole computer S/he seemed normal weight enough and from what I saw in such short period of time, her/his fur was fine, so at least that's good. I'll keep an eye out for him. But like you said, I don't like to approach the dogs of people who drink, because I know their dogs may be overprotective. I love it that you bring extra doggie biccies in your pockets in case you see dogs who need one. That would be amazing... Oh boy! I'm so happy for you! And it would be wonderful if I could visit! I'll need to start saving money I started to get interested in this, while reading the synopsis, but then read your thoughts on it I think I won't add this to my wishlist... The reading challenge that you're doing looks really interesting! I hope you have a lot of fun with it

Dude. That's 1 book per day, if you don't read any other books this month! Next month you'll have read more books than I read last year altogether.

Yay for you finally having a reading log again! Don't you dare start your new beautiful thread with such a load of horse bollokks Looking forward to hearing about all the books you read this year! Even though I have a lot of books myself, I do like your sort of minimalistic and functional way of owing books and reading them. A huge TBR can feel daunting at times. I loved this book! How did you like it? But more importantly: congratulations on your new house!! It looks absolutely gorgeous I'm so jealous!! I love the look of it from outside, but it looks so beautiful on the inside, too. So spacious! And I love love love the porch!! I'm so happy for you!!

I was just asking poppy about Janet Frame....! I'd never heard of the author, but then I came by a book called Kirkkaus by a Finnish author, Riitta Jalonen. If my memory serves me right, she'd read a few novels by Frame and loved them, and she was sad that none of them have been translated into Finnish. She became fascinated in Frame's life, and then she wrote a fictionalized account of it, and thus Kirkkaus was published. I've heard great reviews of the book and my Boss, for instance, has read it and recommends it. I've done a little digging and now know that one of Frame's novels is also on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die -book challenge, so all the more incentive to read it The Faces in the Water is the one in question.

The book is called Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness, it's this one by Gillian Butler. I don't suppose you've heard of it? Thanks Athena! It's getting really annoying and boring, being sick all the time. Well not literally, but I was sick for a week and then had one good week and now I'm sick again. Oh bother! (Well at least I went on a really fun cruise in between so I'll have some nice memories of January 2017 ) But I'll just have to deal with it. At least I have Netflix and books to read Thanks! I've started reading How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry. I think I've talked about this book very briefly with you? Or at least I think I've read that you either have a copy or have borrowed it from the library or have it on your wishlist? I hope it will be a good one

"He would never have believed it if you'd told him a year ago." How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry

I wish you a fabulous reading year, voddy Jasper Fforde is great, although I've only read The Eyre Affair so far. But that was simply amazing!

This looks like a lot of fun, Diane! Looking forward to seeing which books you will pick for the challenge!

3. Kohtalokas merimatka by Lone Theils This is the first novel in a Danish crime series by Lone Theils, and this is actually her debut novel as well. It's 1985 and two Danish girls disappear without a trace on a cruise to England. Years later a Danish reporter finds an old bag at an antique store, and in that bag she finds pictures of several teenage girls. One of the pictures shows the two missing girls. Danish reporter is off to investigate. Thoughts: This book was recommended in some magazine or something, and I had high hopes for it. I like how the author has used a real serial killer as the prime suspect in the novel, but that's pretty much all the things I like in the book. The storyline wasn't that innovative in my opinion, and I certainly didn't warm to the main character, reporter Nora Sands. I actually found her really annoing and flippant. Which is really a big enough reason to dislike the book, as I've read a big number of crime novels and the thing that strikes me the most in them is how so many authors are able to create such interesting and original detectives, ones who I really want to get to know. One of the reviews I read of this book said that they couldn't wait to get to know Sands better... I thought, I'm happy to have finished the novel so I don't have to deal with her again. I'm sorry that I didn't like it but it can't be helped. (I don't know if the book has been translated into English yet. Edit: The English translation is called Fatal Crossing and will come out in May, 2017, if anyone's interested.)) 2/5

I remember you loving it, and I know it's on your personal 1001 Books list I have a feeling I will enjoy it greatly, but it's a long book so it'll need a very specific sort of time (with no distractions!) and the fitting mood. In related news, I've read another book off the library loans list, and I've not borrowed any new books, so I'm getting closer to finally moving on to my TBR list! I actually have only 3 novels to read, the rest are non-fictional items, some of which might be better to just skim-read (without adding to read books list), as they may not be the sort of thing one has to / needs to read from cover to cover. Actually, I might as well tell you that I've borrowed a few books on things like social anxiety and shyness, and the neuroscience of happines and such like. Self-improvement stuff. I want to be a braver person. I've also got Off the Road by Carolyn Cassady which I really, really want to read! Where was I... I drift off, I have my second flu of the year and this one's worse than the previous one, so my brain's a bit fluffy.