15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 13: Underappreciated Classic Everyone Should Read

I am fond of classics literature, and I have been wondering for sometimes, why this particular book has never been quite appreciated as a classic.

Winnetou by Karl May

Karl May is a German writer, and recognized as the most read writer of German tongue. He is good in adventures in the Wild West stories; most of them were written before he actually went to those exotic places he described so vividly in the novel.

Winnetou is a chief of Indian Apache tribe. In the tribe’s struggles from the whites’ invasion, Winnetou met a German wild-westerner with a nickname ‘Old Shatterhand’. Old Shatterhand is believed to be May’s alter ego. The bond of their friendship is so tight, and symbolizes that love and humanity exist beyond races, religion, or other social backgrounds. Against the never ending disputes between the reds and the whites, Winnetou and Old Shatterhand believe that men are all the same, and instead of killing each other, we all should live together in peace.

In Winnetou, we can see the Christian values, although he is not a Christian. It also proves that Christianity doesn’t always mean that we must be Catholics or Christian, the values are the most important thing, because it speaks of LOVE, which is the basic of any other religions in the world.

The book was published as a sequel of four books. It was not widely published at first, but fortunately, Indonesia was in the short list. When I was just leaving my comfort zone of adventure novels, my father introduced me into the first ‘must-read’ book about humanity: Winnetou. And I fell in love with it instantly, the actions were awesome, and the moral values were of great influence to me.

Have you heard about Winnetou? Have you read it?

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Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual
Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks
Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs

Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books
Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next
Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts
Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 12: Blogger Fatigue? Never!

…..because blogging is not a job or an obligation. To me blogging is a need. A Need to express what I think about books. After finishing a book—and sometimes during the reading too—I often feel like a barrel overflowed with water; my brain (and sometimes my heart too) is full of ideas and emotion need to be flowed out. Blogging is like opening the faucet installed on the barrel side, so that the water can flow away to empty the barrel, ready to be filled with more water. :)

So, actually I can’t say about blogging fatigue, because on the contrary, what I often feel is fatigue from my other works, that I never have sufficient time to blog. When I sometimes have a blogger-block, it’s because I have been too hectic at that time to reflect anything to write a proper post. At time like that, I would write down few sentences or words of my ideas about the book, and when I can, I’d put it into a proper post.

How about you? Do you ever have any blogger fatigue?

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:
Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual
Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks
Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs

Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books
Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next
Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts
Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 11: Five of My Best Blog Posts

It’s really hard to pick only five posts of my favorites! There are a lot of posts that I love to reread, because I have had fun when writing them, or the book has moved me such that my emotion involved in the reviews writing. But five is the rule, so here they are in random order…

La Lison In Snow – from La Bête Humaine 

Zola’s La Bête Humaine is depicting lives and struggles of people around the train industry. La Lison is a locomotive driven by Jacques Lantier, the main character. One winter day, La Lison had one of her hardest trips across the heavy snow, and Zola portrayed this scene so beautifully, that inspired me to publish this post.

Quote from Germinal 

Still from Zola, Germinal is my most favorite novel till now. The ending is so beautiful and inspiring, that this post (originally published for a challenge) becomes one of my favorites, and I came quite often here, just to read the quote!

The Victorian London from Sketches by Boz: The Amusments 

Although Sketches by Boz is not the best from Dickens, it’s quite amusing to learn a lot about London at Victorian era. It is particularly very fun to post about it. I have posted in four categories, but I like ‘The Amusements’ the most.

The Portrait of A Lady 

The book might never be my most favorite, but this particular review is somehow special for me. Maybe because I have found a similarity between the main protagonist and myself, so that the review becomes quite personal.

La Bête Humaine  

Still another one from Zola; this time my review of La Bête Humaine. There’s no better excuse to why I like this one, other than….I just like it. I enjoyed the writing, and enjoyed while rereading it.

Do you like them too? :)

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:

Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions

Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual

Day 3 - Blogging BFFs

Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish

Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker

Day 6 - How I Shop for Books

Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks

Day 8 - 15 Things Appeal to Me on Blog

Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books

Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!
Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 10: Choosing Books To Read Next

I have mentioned in my book related confessions that I am an organized person. I don’t like being confused of choosing a book to read next after finishing the last one; I don’t have time to do that either! In the little time I have, I must optimize my reading, right? So, early every year—actually I start it on the end of previous year—I would create a reading schedule for the whole year.

Right now, I have three personal reading projects that run simultaneously: The Classics Club, WEM Self-Project, and 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Not mentioning other reading challenges and reading events I’d be participating or hosting. So, actually it’s not too difficult to create a reading list of what I would read the whole year.

As I already know my average reading speed, I can set average maximum pages I would read in every month. I also arrange to put serious and lighter books together in the same month to make it balanced. I don’t make the schedule too tight, so that, if suddenly I crave to read one new published book, for instance, I can make room for it between the scheduled books.

What if I couldn’t make all of it in the end of year or even in particular month? Well….it’s my own schedule anyway, I am prepared to modify it every now and then to fit my recent pace and schedule.

What about you? Are you a well organized read like me, or are you a moody person who must always choose what book to read next?

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:
Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual
Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks
Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs

Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts
Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 9: Why I Blog About Books

When I was starting my very first blog, I have just returned from years of bookworm-sabbatical. I mean, I still read several books all those years, but then I did it for entertainment only. On around 2008, I had the urge to read more seriously. I also think it would be great to keep the essence of my reading in a safe place, so that I can return to it whenever I want to. And it would be better if others can get benefits from my readings.

I always think that reading books is like having a trip to strange places. When we are on vacation, we use to capture all the happy moments by camera or video so that we would never forget about it. In reading, I capture the happy moments by jotting them down in a blog post (people call it review). And that’s how and why I started blogging about books years ago.

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:

Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions

Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual

Day 3 - Blogging BFFs

Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish

Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker

Day 6 - How I Shop for Books

Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks
Day 8 - 15 Things Appeal to Me on Blog
Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts

Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 8: 15 Things Appeal to Me on Blogs

I like to visit blogs which have these qualities:

• Light and quick to load – complex template, header, and choice of widgets usually determine it.
• Easy navigation – I hate it when I stumble upon a post, then I want to read his/her other posts, but can’t find the “home” nor the way to other posts (except ‘next’ and ‘previous’). Archives and Categories are nice too.
• Simple decoration – I always love simplicity; complex template would distract me from the writings.
• Low contrast background – dark background annoyed me because it depresses my mood and tiring my eyes.
• Readable font – both the style and the size; I hate blogs with tiny and curly fonts.
• Hosted by a “real” person – I know that some bloggers prefer to hide their real identity, but I like it when I can see who is behind the words; I like the idea of visiting and talking to someone real, rather than a “ghost”. For they who don’t want to reveal their real name, they can fake it, but at least provide us your photo, but of course…everyone has their own choice. (For you who are not Indonesian, “Kutubuku” in my profile name isn’t a real name, by the way :) “Kutubuku” means “book worm”. But Fanda is, of course, my real first name).
• No music please! – not only it makes a blog heavier to load, it’s annoying too to open such blog when one doesn’t want to hear music (such as at office); moreover, music distracts me from reading.
• Variable posts – blog that contains only reviews is boring; it’s like opening a bookreview-generating site rather than a personal book blog. Telling a bit about your personal life is OK, especially when it’s related to books.
• Personal touch – in the posts! I like it when a blogger writes from their hearts. Plain reviews with same standard structure bored me; while emotional reviews entertain me.
• Reply to comments – the only way to socialize in blogosphere is through comment box. I like it when a blogger replies my comment; I won’t feel like I’m talking to a robot or as if I’m abandoned.
• Review index – where I can look at a glance, books that a blogger has read and reviewed.
• Writing style – it explains itself, I think…
• Regular posts – it doesn’t have to be very frequent, but consistent in posting, so I won’t be wondering what has happened to you.
• Paragraphs – I hate it when bloggers write without paragraph, or don’t give space between paragraphs!
• Review books of my interest – I’m not wasting my time to read reviews of books I don’t like and won’t read.

Well….what do you like in MY blog? :)

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:

Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions

Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual

Day 3 - Blogging BFFs

Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish

Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker

Day 6 - How I Shop for Books

Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks
Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books

Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts

Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 7: My Blogging Quirks

These are how I do my blogging stuffs:

A good book or book that emotionally moved me usually fills my head as soon as I finish it. For this kind of books I must write the review right away, or else the emotion would evaporate from me, and in the end my review would be flat and plain. So, if you happen to read a very intense and emotional review in my blog, you can bet that I wrote it when the idea is still warm in me, and I liked the book!

I can write a review at home on weekend, but I often do it at the office, when I don’t have any engaging job to do (again…Love you Boss, for ignoring my taking office hours to blog!).

To write a review, I would make sure I have the book around me, in case I forget a name or a place, or want to find a certain passage or quote. If I don’t have the book on hand, I’d better postpone the review, because to write partly would ruin the mood.

As the internet connection is not always good to me, I don’t like to spend too much time in composing new posts on Blogger dashboard. So, I usually prepare my post from MS Word. I would properly arrange every paragraph, check spellings, put certain sentences on italic or bold, prepare images (download or scan, and save). After that I would copy and paste the whole text into the new post board. Then I might add images, set the quotation, and add links. This way, I don’t have to take a long time to re-arrange it while on Blogger dashboard.

I ALWAYS put at least one related image in my posts. Who don’t like images? And I think images attract people more than words :).

In reviewing, I follow my own rule, which is…no rule! I like to call it my free style :). I don’t set myself to always put a short synopsis in review, or things like that. I just open a new document in MS Word, and voila…I just type in what pops up in my head. I follow my intuition, or rather, the flow of my mind. Sometimes I start a review with a beautiful or thought provoking quote; sometimes I write the general outline of the story in two or three sentences; but sometimes I can just go into my thoughts of it, and then explaining the ‘why’. For detective-mystery books, I put spoiler alerts, but other than that—like Ruth put it—I have no qualms about spoiling the plot. Because for me, I don’t write reviews to provide information for others in the first place; I do it to express my thoughts on the book I have read, as if reading is an experience, and making a review is like capturing the moment in photos or videos.

I always include my rating for each book I review, usually at the end of the post.

I treat my blog as my online home; that’s why I spend a lot of time to pick a template and arrange the layout and widgets. I don’t like to change it every other time, because once I have fallen in love with the blog, I’ll treat it like home, and I need to be familiar with it.

I sometimes post my thoughts (outside a review) when I’m reading an interesting book. When I’m in the mood to reproach an annoying character, or I’m inclined to tell a certain character what he/she must have reacted, I would jot it down in a post.

I also like to do memes… :)

To make things neat, I put the book title as one of the tags (labels) in every post (concerning certain books). So, if I (or rather you, the readers) want to find all my thoughts about, for example, The Portrait of A Lady, you can click ‘The Portrait of A Lady’ tag , and everything about that book would appear in your screen. I put the tag URL in ‘The Classics Club Project’ list.

I try to open my blog every day, at least to check new updates from others in my blog roll.

I try to always reply every comment, as I believe blog is as our own home. When you have guests, you’re obliged to offer them warmth and hospitality by reacting when they want to talk to you. Anyway, I always write from my heart, so my blog is actually my own self. My blog is my way of communicating to you of how I think about books! :)

So….do you share any similar blogging quirks?

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:

Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual

Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs
Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books

Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts

Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 6: How I Shop for Books

Before the online shopping era, I used to go frequently to Gramedia—the biggest book store in Indonesia—which we can find in almost every city. Once a month at least, I would be entering any of Gramedia stores with the hunger to scan any interesting book on the “new release” shelf. If there are too many of them for my budget that month, I’ll take note of the title, so I know what to buy (or consider to buy) for next time.

Now, the internet makes shopping for book becomes much easier:

• I don’t have to take notes at the book store (I’ve been once reproved by the staff for taking notes), I can create a personal account in the online store’s website, and keep all my wishlist there.
• I can visit a book store anytime, as long as I’m using internet; it saves time and energy. All I have to do is to open my wishlist and put it into my basket.
• To look for a certain book, I can go from one book store to another in just few clicks; I can even compare the prices, stocks, and editions so easily.

And this is how I shop my books through the internet (because I don’t go to offline book store anymore, unless I need a book very urgently for a birthday gift):

Thanks to Goodreads and social media, I am always updated of new published and good books around. I usually spend much time in reading as much as review of one book that comes to my radar. I like to read both positive (from people who give 4 or 5 stars), and negative comments (from they who dislike the book to give only 2 stars). I’d like to know what makes them love it and hate it; what kind of reader they who love it or hate it; are they have similarity with me or not. For example, if a guy who gives the book 2 stars has the opposite opinion with me about the book’s theme, then perhaps I’d like the book (I’d also check the 5 stars review with the same reason). From that, I can judge whether I would like a book or at least whether the book deserves to be considered later.

For English books (and lately my reading is dominated by English books), my favorite book store is The Book Depository, with Amazon and Better World Books for second choices when the book I want isn’t available in TBD. TBD is so far the cheapest choice for us in Indonesia, thanks to their free delivery shipment. The site navigation is quite simple and fast, which is very comfortable for shopping.

For Indonesian translation books, I rely on Maria who has cooperation with some publishers, and can get a fair discount especially for pre-order books. Maria also lives in Surabaya, and we used to meet every several months with the others book blogger in the city, and so she can keep the book(s) for me, and just hand it me on when we meet (again, free delivery shipment, ha!).

So, I guess, I should say goodbye to offline book store which has loose its attraction to me, thanks to the internet. Now, everytime I enter a book store and take a look at the books (even ones in the ‘new released’ shelf) I would feel like: Ah…I already knew this book. And that book too. And that one is what they talked about in Twitter last week. Oh, that one is what that publisher has been promoting for days. And so….there’s no more excitement left for me to go around traditional book stores….

What about you? How do you shop for books?

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:

Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual

Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks

Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs

Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books
Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts
Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 5: A Tear-Jerker

I must confess. I am not an emotional person, but I am so easily moved when reading books. So, to pick only one tear-jerker is quite difficult. After browsing my reviews of this year, I think this book is very recommendable as a tear-jerker. I mean, a book that might really jerk your tears, not just some books I have (easily) shed mine.

Vivaldi’s Virgins by Barbara Quick

The review is in Bahasa Indonesia, but in short, Vivaldi’s Virgins is a historical fiction about a girl named Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the residents of Ospedale della Pieta (girls convent and music school) in Vienna, Italy. Antonio Vivaldi (the famous musician who was also a priest) was one of the teachers there, and Anna Maria was one of his favorite pupils. This book tells the struggles of the girls to build their future as women in the era of 17^th century of Italy. It is a beautiful story, beautifully crafted by Quick. But what makes me pick this as a tear jerker, is because from the first chapter, this book has forced me to cry! And after that, I cried quite frequently through out the story; particularly, everytime Anna Maria writes her feeling to ‘a mother’ she never knows.

Just try yourself…. But prepare a box of tissues beside you!

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:

Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual

Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks

Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs
Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books

Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts

Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 4: Last Book I Didn’t Finish

Normally I don’t have any habit of flinging books across the room :); not only because I am not a highly emotional person, but also because I always choose with care books that I want to read. I don’t fancy reading ARCs, and even sometimes when I pick newly published books, they are usually from authors I really like (in this case: John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, Laurie R. King—for the Mary Russell series, Jostein Gaarder, and Ken Follett). I have also an intuition of knowing which book I might and might not like (I usually consult Goodreads for this); and therefore my choices are rarely betray me. But on rarely occasions I might stumble upon books I have misjudged; which I can’t even finish.

One of these last cases was a classic, which I already knew from the start that I won’t like, but everybody love it, even recommended me to read, that I doubted my first intuition. Maybe I have misjudged it, maybe I ought to give it a try. And so, I bought the book, and I even hosted a read-along for it, to encourage me to finish it. That book is….

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

…which turned out to be a big failure… :(

I knew almost instantly after going through first chapter; the writing didn’t stir my interest or liking as I usually feel with books I like. But I kept reading, partly because I hosted the read along anyway :) and partly because I was curious why people fancy it so much. Surprisingly I managed to read four of five parts (grudgingly along the way), but I have had enough when reaching part five, and decided not to finish it (yes, despite the fact that I have wasted my time for the four parts!).

The story is not so bad, but I guess Mitchell’s writing doesn’t fit my taste. Perhaps she is too “feminine” for me, and I didn’t feel like reading a literary work then. GWTW felt more like a chicklit to me, with historical background which, fortunately, is quite interesting, that I gave three instead of two stars.

I still have the book now—and never really flung it across the room :)—but I never put it in my shelf either….

What about you? Do you have any book you’ve never finished?

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:

Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual

Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks

Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs
Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books
Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts
Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 3: My Blogging BFFs

The blogging BFFs for me are they with whom I share most time and interest in blogosphere, as well as other social media speaking about what I blog. Let’s jump to the list then, here they are…

Melisa (Surgabukuku)

Melisa is a blogger who shares most similarities with me: she lives in the same city as I do—Surabaya (and that means we often meet offline, and each time we would exchange books to bring home, ha!). She loves classics too, and although our interest is slightly different sometimes, there are quite many books that we share the same interest in (chance of borrowing each other here!). We both even founded an Indonesian community of classics reading last year. Not only in interest, we often share the same idea and opinion towards bookish and blogging things. These similarities used to be the topic of our daily chats and/or tweets! :)

Maan Kawas (@MaanK2)

Maan is not a blogger (I have persuaded him to blog, but with no success!..), but he is (at present) my most frequent blog reader and commentator—thanks Maan! We share similar interest in classics, and Maan confessed that my review posts often persuade him to read the books. :) I first knew him on my Zoladdiction event last April, as we both happen to like Emile Zola.

Listra (Half-Filled Attic) and Dessy (Ngidam Buku)

With these ladies, I share the excitement of hosting Let’s Read Plays reading event. Dessy and I are new in plays before this event, but Listra is a genuine fan of Shakespeare. Beyond Shakespeare, we share same interest in classics, although our choices are sometimes different. Listra and I both love Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers (and sometimes do some fangirling), while Dessy and I prefer to share Oscar Wilde’s wittiness, and sometimes Formula One madness too... OK, this has nothing to do with blog :) I have met Dessy once in Jakarta; and I think it would be cool to meet Listra in person too. Someday, I hope!

Maria (Hobby Buku’s Classic), B-zee (Bacaan B-Zee) and Astrid (Books To Share)

These ladies’ range of reading are quite wide, but sometimes they share the same interest with me too, especially when it comes to classics. Maria lives in Surabaya too, so I meet her quite often. B-Zee has co-hosted the Gone With the Wind read along event (what a memorable event it was, eh, B-zee?), and I hope someday we can meet in person. I have met Astrid during her visit to Surabaya the other day, with her I can talk a lot about Grisham’s novels, as we both love him! And some fangirling moments of Leonardo di Caprio never bore us… :)

Apart from them, of course, there are many of you whom I like to share about books and readings, that I can’t list one by one here. I maybe visit your blogs without your knowing, because I don’t leave a comment, or maybe you are a frequent silent visitor to my blog posts without my knowing either. In short, thanks to all of you, within or out of the list, for your friendship in blogosphere! :)

A special thanks to Helvry who helps me a lot with technical problems in blogging. By the way, we share the same interest in philosophical books, although he is more ‘hardcore’ than I am (my level is still with Jostein Gaarder right now, LOL!).

Want to share your BFFs in blogging too? Please feel free…..

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:

Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks

Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs
Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books
Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts
Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 2: Bedtime Reading Ritual

I must read at least few pages before going to bed at night, because it’s just relaxing. All complicated matters and problems would flow away from my mind with every words of the book—really, I’m not exaggerating! :) So, no matter how tired or sleepy I am, reading at least one or two pages before sleeping is a must. I usually accompany it with a couple of bites of chocolate biscuits. After that, I could certainly sleep well.

What about you? Do you have certain bedtime reading ritual?

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:
Day 1 - 15 Book Related Confessions
Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks

Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs
Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books
Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts
Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!

Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read

15 Day Book Blogger Challenge – Day 1: Confessions

Due to my works lately, I have been delaying to post this cool meme. Many book bloggers have been doing this for weeks, but if you still don’t know about it, this meme is created by this blog. I think I’ll have a try, although I can’t promise to finish all the 15 prompts! It’s a long holiday for us in Indonesia now, so hopefully I can squeeze the posts within my (tight) reading schedule. 

Now, here’s the first one:

My 15 Book Related Confessions

1. I like to read several books simultaneously; my record so far is three books at the same time.
2. As I always love planning and organizing, I make my reading plan yearly, consisting of books in TBR piles, as well as books I have wanted to read, plus books I have challenged myself to read.
3. Related to #2, I am not a moody person, so I am comfortable to follow my own reading schedule, and therefore rarely find myself wondering what book I shall read next. I only have to pick one from the list of the month (I usually put one ‘guilty pleasure’ book after several serious ones, just in case!).
4. I read wherever, whenever I can, that’s why I always bring book(s) when I leave home.
5. Related to #4, I often stop abruptly in the middle of a chapter, or even in the middle of a paragraph (and this could happen more than twice a day, I rarely get chance to non-stop reading). That’s why every book I am reading always has its own bookmark.
6. And because of #5, I become a bookmark collector! I collect bookmarks from books I have read (usually from Indonesian publishers), as well as those cute bookmarks from The Book Depository!
7. I like it everytime my boss leaves the office without leaving me any engaging jobs, so that I can spend some times to read in my sanctuary (pssst…please don’t tell him! LOL..).
8. When I am reading, I always ‘play’ the scenes from the books inside my head, and that’s why it takes longer for me to read, because I don’t just read the words literally, I would also imagine the setting, the sounds, the scenes, as if I am at that scenes myself.
9. My best reviews usually come from books that have moved me during the readings; or books I really love. But all of them must be written as soon as I finish the books, delaying it would reduce the posts’ intensity.
10. The first-few-pages is the most important aspect for me to decide whether I would like a book or not, because it’s almost always accurate!
11. I always try to read books before watching the movie adaptations; and read books which becomes the main topic or is retold in another book before I read the retold version (e.g. I read Dante’s Inferno first before The Dante’s Club).
12. In the past I did not like to scribble notes or highlight passages in a book, until I delve a lot in classics and literary fiction. Then, I found that scribbling notes in book helps me a lot in following my own thoughts during the reading. More than that, I feel more closely related to books which bear my writings; like it’s not just any book, it’s MY book.
13. I have a 25 inch (about 64 cm) high book pile behind my desk at the office, and fortunately my lovely boss never mention about this, although he can clearly see it everytime he enters my room, not mentioning how often the postman sends me packages...Love you for this, boss!! :)
14. I prefer my books without plastic covers, I like them just bare. I don’t like to see them through plastics.
15. My bed is my favorite place to read, but I never read while lying on it. I prefer to set pillows on my favorite spot, and sit comfortably there, and as long as I have sufficient supplies of water and chocolate biscuits, then I can read peacefully.

Do you share some habits of mine?

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The rest 14 days of the challenge:
Day 2 - Bedtime Reading Ritual
Day 3 - Blogging BFFs
Day 4 - Last Book I Didn't Finish
Day 5 - A Tear-Jerker
Day 6 - How I Shop for Books
Day 7 - My Blogging Quirks
Day 8 - 15 Things Appeals to Me on Blogs

Day 9 - Why I Blog About Books
Day 10 - Choosing Books To Read Next

Day 11 - Five of My Best Blog Posts
Day 12 - Blogger Fatigue? Never!
Day 13 - Underappreciated Classis Everyone Should Read