Nollaig

Noah's Ark? Ark Of Debatable Truth-Values.

I quite liked Continuum. I haven't seen the Ark one. Can't remember it's name as a result.

I used to, but then, I also used to write rambles/reviews on my own blog. Now I just do actual reviews for BCF and that's it.

I tend to pick up new genres rather than unknown authors. Something I have in no way explored before, but yeah I'd pick up unknown authors too.

Another fact about me: I'm not into religion in any way, and not really even spirituality. However, I love churches architecturally, though they freak me out a bit, and I LOVED singing in the choir when I was young. If it wouldn't be completely hypocritical, I'd love to still sing in choirs.

You, too, rock my cotton based foot garments <3

Yeah I don't blame you at ALL. Every third page states some sort of scientific proof or theory - no way could I read that comfortably in another language! It definitely requires close attention.

I believe it was Andy and Frankie (probably among others) who commented on it being a great read, which is why the name stuck with me and I picked it up when I saw it. It's a very intelligently written book, that's for sure, and I'm quite enjoying it.

Stop posting help in the homework threads. (Pretty please.)

1.It's my birthday. 2. I woke up and found a Playstation 2 outside my door. 3. The only person who could have gotten it is my brother, but he's never gotten me anything. 4. All I got him was a card (we usually don't even do cards) and now I feel awful. 5. This is the first present that's made me cry in years.

I'm 62 pages into Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow. It's quite interesting.

Must be nice. I hate my skin tone. It's pale and freckled, blushes, bruises and burns very easily. Extremely unattractive. Also, in case there was any sarcasm in that statement (it's hard to tell in text) - no I'm not racist but we all have our likes and dislikes. Blue eyes, brown eyes, blonde hair, black hair, white skin, dark skin. I like snow white skin, jet black hair and bright blue eyes. Having said that, I wouldn't say no to Will Smith, LeVar Burton (when he was younger) or Kel Mitchell either, so it's a generalization with exceptions. ***** Five new facts: 1. I love hats, but they don't suit me. The only hats I don't look stupid in and subsequently wear regularly are berets. Fortunately, they're also my favourite. Non-stretchy, knitted wool, tight fitting ones. I have about five in different colours. 2. I can't stand croissants. When I went to Paris on an art trip, that's all we got for breakfast and I ended up going out everyday on an empty stomach. I also hate crepes, so I didn't get to snack when the others did either. Clearly, I would not survive in Paris. The only thing I did eat and enjoy, were snails. 3. I adore Christmas and there's an inverse relationship between the temperature outside and my mood (one goes up, the other has or will go down), and a converse one between my mood and the presence of sparkly lights. Therefore, at Christmas, I am at my happiest, most bubbly, sociable etc. but my favourite Christmas songs are actually the political ones like War Is Over, Do They Know It's Christmas? and cynical songs like I Believe In Father Christmas by Greg Lake. 4. I love Japanese songs. Not the crazy pop stuff, the slower, mellow stuff sung by girls with pretty voices, mostly commonly found in video games and at the end of animes. Probably my favourite is Getsurenka by Mio Isayama in the game Shadow Hearts: Covenant. I also love Suteki Da Ne by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy X. 5. I laugh like Mutley due to issues with my breathing which my doctor swears is not asthma. Either way, once I've laughed normally and start to run out of air (something has to be pretty damn funny for this to happen) I actually sound exactly like Mutley; or like I've been smoking since I was about 4. It's a tad hilarious.

Good book. One of the few by him I actually like.

Finished Light On Snow, my sixth book in nine days, and my fiftieth this year. Also read one and a half of BookJumper's chapters, so I'll be finishing those and re-reading today and tomorrow. Next up: Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow by Peter H

Tee hee! 220 pages in now, I'll have finished it before the afternoon is out. I had no idea what to expect from it, but certainly wouldn't have guessed anything along the lines of what it's offering - it's such a compelling read. Are her other books as good at this??

I'm 155 pages into Light On Snow by Anita Shreve - it's great! It's really much much better than I was expecting. I thought it would be mediocre (but it was only €1.50, so I got it) and I'm very pleasantly surprised.

Well that's the thing - I buy secondhand coz I can't afford new books all the time. Which is why when I dish out for good condition, I'm very strict about what I get.

If a book is clean, tight, without pen or marker and without tears, that's usually enough to keep me happy. Slightly yellow pages, the occasional bend in the spine, even slight curling or stickers or maybe a name, I can live with it. Unless it's something I really really want, as my preferred condition is of course STRAIGHT OUT OF THE FACTORY, or as good as. If it's a hardback, it'd better be in good shape because I'm buying it hardback for a reason.

If it's a book I particularly want, or a hardback, I will not be impressed with an inscription in it, unless it's from the author, and even then if it's not directed at me I won't be happy. But if it's purely a basic reading copy, I don't really care.

I've read The Blackwater Lightship, it was an optional read in my third year English course on Irish literature and I thought it was a really interesting book. I'm usually not too fond of books I study as reading books unless I've read them beforehand, but the lecturer, who I suspect is an expert on homosexuality and sociological change regarding gay men/AIDS etc, and quite probably gay himself, made it into something of a highly informative and very cultural book group. The book is about a schoolteacher whose brother only tells her he is gay when he's imminantly dying of AIDS - and he asks her to tell their mother and grandmother who she has had minimal contact. So it explores three generations of Irish women trying to reconcile their differences in an attempt to come to terms with something that Ireland was still barely coming to to terms with as a whole. It's a very good book. I haven't read anything else by Toibin, but I can easily recommend his books. He's openly gay himself so it's a recurring theme in his work, inside Ireland or out (out being where gays tend to live more happily, marrying and so on.)

Finished The Winters Ghosts by Kate Mosse - a short, easy read, quite nice and a good Winter/Christmas read. Also re-read The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo and all I can say to anyone who didn't take Inver's offer of it is - BIG MISTAKE. It's better than I remember - it's SUCH a lovely little book, and I'd forgotten that the illustrations are arguably the most beautiful in any book I read as a child.

This happened to me the other day with Girl With A Pearl Earring. I've had it on my shelf for months, without any interest in reading it, and then suddenly I just wanted to read it, and I did, overnight.

Oh oh oh! Can't wait to hear your thoughts! I loved that book.