frankie

Thanks! I honestly had no idea there'd be that many. I thought there might be 15 libraries, tops! Thanks! Yes, she seems friendly and nice. And what's more, she seems to have a sense of humor, too, so that bodes well! Oh and she has been an avid reader in the past. Nowadays she told me she doesn't have the concentration for it, but she does love reading poetry Thanks, I'm sure I will! It'll be interesting to see how many are more modern, more tech-savvy and tech-invested, and how many libraries are 'good old book libraries' Thanks! Still very happy about it Hell to the yeah! I know absolutely nothing about Spain and have never studied the language, so it's very much a foreign country and culture to me, but I wouldn't mind the sun and the warmth Thanks!

I had no idea they've been made into a TV series! I wouldn't mind seeing a few episodes of that So there's five of us who'd be up for reading the Just William series (at least the first book...). So should we get to it then? I went and got a copy of the first book in the series today. If we shall read the book together, I'll wait for you guys of course

Thanks Brian! I've been really, really stressed about not having been able to find work (or, rather, get work) before, and now I'm just so thrilled that I have a job!! And now that I will be working in Helsinki, I will have more of a connection with Helsinki and that means it's about time I started working out what the city's about and where everything is Thanks Ian! I'm really thrilled. Thrilled to bits! I've felt so bad being unemployed so long (just doing 4h clubs on an on-and-off basis and a temp job), that this is just brilliant news for me .smile2: The job is a full time job, only it's for 6 hours a day, not the 'full' 8 hours. I was a bit disappointed when I heard it was only 6 hours, but when I figured out my pay check and the bills and all that stuff, etc etc., I figured out how much I'm left with each month and it's totally manageable. I mean I will live and be just fine. I'm used to having very little, not having had a full time job in ages etc. The woman I'll be working for lives about a 35 minute bus ride away. This is probably an average commute time in Helsinki for some people. I'm lucky in that the bus that takes me to the place where I'll take another bus is just a block away from me, and the bus I'll be arriving at work is only 5 minutes away from the woman's apartment. Also, she seemed very flexible in that if I should be late because I missed a bus or something, she wouldn't be mad about it She's actually the neighbor of a friend of mine, and I got word of the job through that friend. Not nepotism as we're not related, but it's about connections. A good thing is that when I come home from work, I will stop at Itis (which is like the third biggest shopping mall in Helsinki and Finland, in general), where I can go shopping for food and go to the pharmacy and there's also a library and all I could need, and I'll be able to do errands there and then take a bus home. It's so great! Also, it's in the eastern part of Helsinki, and so I can take a bus to my aunt and visit her more often if she's okay with that Oh and guess what!!! The woman, S, for whom I'll be working, asked me if I was possibly okay with one thing: she loves Spain and has been there on a few occasions, and she asked me that if she and her hubby would want to go and live there for a few months, would I be okay to go with them? Oh yeah, hell yeah!!! Helsinki is small in that there's not that much square footage, but it's very well populated. I'm not going to wiki, but I'd say about half a million people live in Helsinki, which is a lot, bearing in mind that there are a bit over 5 million people living in Finland. My home town Nurmes is sooooo much bigger than Helsinki, according to the actual size when it comes to geometry, but there are way more people living in Helsinki

I went to a job interview on Wednesday and long story short, I got the job! I will start work as a care worker / personal assistant on 1.2. This means that I will need to buy a monthly travel card, and it also means that I can afford one. And this will mean that on my free-time, I'm able to travel as much as I like in the city of Helsinki. As the monthly travel card costs a pretty penny, I haven't afforded it before and I've really had no need for it before, and it's always a struggle to remember how much money I have loaded on my card, and if I can afford to use that money for a single ticket. In the future I don't have to worry about that! As soon as I realized this, I thought of a great book-related challenge for the year: I'll try to visit all the libraries in Helsinki!! I love libraries, and visiting all the different ones in Helsinki means that I will take a tram or subway or bus to different parts of Helsinki, where I would normally have no business in. I'll visit places I've never been to before and which I might never visit otherwise! I'm really excited about it Edit: There are a lot more libraries in Helsinki than I thought! 1. Arabianranta 2. Etelä-Haaga 3. Herttoniemi 4. Itäkeskus 5. Jakomäki 6. Jätkänsaari 7. Kallio 8. Kannelmäki 9. Kirjasto 10 10. Kontula 11. Käpylä 12. Laajasalo 13. Lauttasaari 14. Malmi 15. Malminkartano 16. Maunula 17. Munkkiniemi 18. Myllypuro (media library) 19. Oulunkylä 20. Paloheinä 21. Pasila 22. Pikku Huopalahti (children's library) 23. Pitäjänmäki 24. Pohjois-Haaga 25. Puistola 26. Pukinmäki 27. Rikhardinkatu 28. Roihuvuori 29. Sakarinmäki (children's library) 30. Suomenlinna 31. Suutarila 32. Tapanila 33. Tapulikaupunki 34. Töölö 35. Vallila 36. Viikki 37. Vuosaari

Coincidentally a friend of mine just told me about this the other day We were talking about true crime documents and he recommended this very same series to me. He said he'd binge watched it and thought it was a really good documentary.

I will just leave this right here.... Humph. I won't hold my breath.

That's awesome! I can't say for sure when I'll get to it, let's hope that the book calls out to me from amidst all the other library loans What a coinky dinky! Because I'm currently reading a book that's on your personal best of the best book list...

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, such exciting news!!! She's so cute! Keep us updated

I hope you have a wonderful reading year in 2016, Janet!

And don't forget about Lemmy Kilmister! This was such sad new I missed my tram stop when I read the news, that's how shocked I was.

The Office, season 2, with a friend who's a first timer when it comes to the show

One book series that came to mind is the Just William series by Richmal Crompton, but I don't know if anyone else is interested in that? (I couldn't remember what the series is called in English, just what it's called in Finnish, and landed at the wiki website for Crompton. Looked at his picture and snorted and thought, he looks like a she! And then read the bio and turned out Crompton was a woman!! I always, always thought she was a man )

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Cool beans! I hope the enjoyment will continue! I almost picked it up myself the other day, but something else had to be read first...

Awww, Happy belated Anniversary Claire! Seven is a great number (but a scary movie! )! I can't believe it's 'only' seven years for you, as I feel you've been here as long as I have. It's like you're part of the 'furniture'. And now that I'm writing this down, it sounds so wrong But I meant it all in the best way possible! Here's to many more!

I've just thought of Linda Gillard! She's a self-published author I'll definitely read books by. I've read her Emotional Geology which I absolutely loved, but that one was published by Transita, it was her debut novel I believe. Later on, however, she's self-published at least House of Silence. I really ought to get to reading the two novels by her that I have on my TBR pile!

Ah, that one. No, I haven't read it, and truthfully I'm not interested in it at all I consider myself having quite a broad taste in literature and different themes and such, but one thing I don't enjoy reading about is diseases and illnesses that will inevitably lead to the death of the character. Too depressing. Not for me!

Thanks for the link! I think I've seen it before, but when I saw that the first few titles were Harry Potter and a few other books to do with magic and stuff, I didn't fancy taking a closer look at the rest... I loved the HP books but in general I'm not that interested in magic! But now I was ready to check out the rest of the books There are a few that will go on my wishlist for sure

"These two are oddly synchronized in their reading... Soul sisters!"

^ That made me confused this morning: I panicked that it was Wednesday already, and there I was in bed, thinking it was Tuesday! I don't know if I've ever read a self-published book...

Okay, cool! Let us know if you think of any series we might like to read together!

Hello Sylvia and welcome to the forum!

Well done on reading 113 books last year! That is no mean feat!! I'm cheerily witnessing another triumph for female authors over male authors My head is exploding... I mean my brain is. You bought 47 books, of which you read 42! That's awesome! And what's similarly awesome is that your TBR went down by so many titles! But what's hurting my brain is you saying somewhere else that you didn't read as many books off the TBR list as you acquired new books... Which I understand, because buying and acquiring are two different things, but then you managed to go down in your TBR pile! This to me is like a Lincoln Rhyme novel: so many twists I can hardly keep up I'm so slow... I'm not meaning to nit-pick, I'm just confused! Imagine if it were to spit out CBtB at your feet the very first time this year you went for the Jar? Yes, sounds about right I like those odds!! I've still yet to read TMoU, too, as well as The Monk. I've started the Udolpho book a few times but it's so bloody slow going and descriptive, I don't know if I'll ever read it! I might if it was shorter, but it's a bloody slog, too! The book is on the Rory Gilmore list so as least I've got that incentive going for me, but you... You don't have that to fall back on! But it might be a relief for you... It might be a sign you don't ever have to read it!! Lucky barstard... Haha I'd forgotten about the black veil CBtD behind it? Nooooo (That reminded me... someone posted Bowie's list of 100 favorite books in the thread (RIP), and do you know what. He'd listed Madame Bovary. !!!!)

I'm really happy you enjoyed the novel (even though you didn't agree with or like the ending). I'm looking forward to seeing which Picoult you read next, as I want to read more books by her, too, and would like to see which one might be best to continue with.