... in Australia

In 46 days, which is a little more than 6 weeks, I will fly to Australia for 3 weeks. It was my parent’s gift for my 25^th birthday. Yes, I have really wonderful parents. No, I will not trade with you. 

From Vienna, Austria to Perth, Australia it takes us approximately 29 hours with two stops in Frankfurt, Germany and Singapore. Then we will spend 3 weeks in Australia, touring Western Australia. 

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So I need a lot to read during the evening and then we will fly back from Perth over Bangkok, Thailand to Vienna, which will take around 20 hours. 

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So you see, I will need many many books. So I had three possibilities. 

• The first one was to reduce my pile of things I want to take with me to a minimum and take a whole suitcase of books with me. Was not so popular with my dad – I still don’t know why.

• The second option was to take books with me and leave them in Australia when flying back. This option was not popular with me because I know for sure that I can’t do that. Just leave me books somewhere – are you kidding me? No way!

• So I figured out a perfect third option. Today I bought an Amazon Kindle. It can hold 3,500 books and weighs only 241 grams. Sounds perfect to me! Even I can’t read so many books in 3 weeks. I ordered the Wi-Fi version of the Kindle together with a red cover. I am so excited. For some weeks now I looked for books to read for this trip and I found more than enough.

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I still think that an e-book will not substitute a REAL book but it is definitely a good alternative for special circumstances like this. 

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I am a huge fan of books – real books but I am also really excited to get my Kindle next week. Maybe that’s also because I am so looking forward to this trip. The only downer is that we will leave our dog at my aunt’s for 3 weeks. No, she loves him and he loves her and she will take more than good care of him and everything will be fine but it is kind of hard to leave him. On the other hand, I am so sure that those 3 weeks will rush by and we will be back home in no time and then he will be so excited to see us again. 

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So all in all, I can say that the next 6 weeks will be full of studying, writing papers and exams but I have something really special to look forward to.

... in books

Cultural differences

Some weeks ago my mum and I discussed that classics and “most read books” differ from culture to culture and from country to country.

American most reads are completely different from Austrian and German ones and the Italian ones are certainly different to those.

From time to time you stumble across lists with the ominous title “100 books you have to read”. When this list is published by an English speaking person I have read just five to ten of those. When this list is published by someone speaking German and reading mostly German literature and classics I reach around 30 books.

Some days ago I found such a list which for me contains a mix of English and German most reads. It is in German but it contains many English books as well.

Sadly I only have read 19 of these books so far but some I have at home and I know that I will read them some day.

And now, I want to share this list of “100 books you have to read” with you (I tried to translate all titles, some I haven’t found or wasn’t sure which one were the right ones)

1. The Lord of the rings, JRR Tolkien
2. The Bible
3. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
4. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
5. Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
6. Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann

7. The Physician, Noah Gordon
8. The Alchimist, Paulo Coelho
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, JK Rowling
10. Pope Joan, Donna W. Cross11. Inkheart, Cornelia Funke
12. Feuer und Stein, Diana Gabaldon – no English translation found13. The house of the spirits, Isabel Allende
14. The reader, Bernhard Schlink
15. Faust I, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

16. The Shadow of the wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón
17. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
18. The name of the rose, Umberto Eco
19. Illuminati, Dan Brown
20. Effi Briest, Theodor Fontane

21. Harry Potter the Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling
22. The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann
23. Gone with the wind, Margaret Mitchell
24. Siddharta, Hermann Hesse
25. Die Entdeckung des Himmels, Harry Mulisch – no English translation found26. The neverending story, Michael Ende
27. Das verborgene Wort, Ulla Hahn – no English translation found28. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt
29. Narcissus and Goldmund, Hermann Hesse
30. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
31. German Lesson, Siegfried Lenz
32. Die Glut, Sándor Márai – no English translation found33. Homo faber, Max Frisch
34. Discovery of Slowness, Sten Nadolny
35. The unbearable lightness of being, Milan Kundera
36. One hundred years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Márquez
37. Owen Meany, John Irving
38. Sofie’s world, Jostein Gaarder
39. The Hitchhiker’s Guide trough Galaxy , Douglas Adams
40. The Wall, Marlen Haushofer

41. The Cider House Rules, John Irving
42. Love in the time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Márquez
43. Der Stechlin, Theodor Fontane – no English translation found44. Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse
45. To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee
46. Joseph and his brothers, Thomas Mann
47. Der Laden, Erwin Strittmatter – no English translation found48. The tin drum, Günter Grass
49. All quiet in the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
50. The swarm, Frank Schätzing
51. Wie ein einziger Tag, Nicholas Sparks – not sure which on is the right title in English52. Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban, JK Rowling
53. Momo, Michael Ende
54. Jahrestage, Uwe Johnson – no English translation found55. Mutant Message Down Under, Marlo Morgan
56. The catcher in the rye, Jerome David Salinger
57. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
58. Krabat, Otfried Preußler

59. Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren

60. Desert Flower, Waris Diris 

61. Geh, wohin dein Herz dich trägt, Susanna Tamaro – no English translation found62. Hanna’s daughters, Marianne Fredriksson
63. Mittsommermord, Henning Mankell – not sure which on is the right title in English64. The return of the dancing master, Henning Mankell
65. The hotel New Hampshire, John Irving
66. War and peace, Leo N. Tolstoi
67. The glassbead game, Hermann Hesse
68. The Shell Seaker, Rosamunde Pilcher
69. Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, JK Rowling
70. Diary, Anne Frank
71. Salt on our Skin, Benoite Groult
72. Jauche und Levkojen, Christine Brückner – no English translation found73. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
74. White Massai, Corinne Hofmann
75. What I loved, Siri Hustvedt
76. The 13 ½ lives of Captain Bluebear, Walter Moers
77. Das Lächeln der Fortuna, Rebecca Gablé – no English translation found
78. Monsieur Ibrahim and the flowers of the Qur’an, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
79. Winnetou, Karl May

80. Désirée, Annemarie Selinko
81. Nowhere in Africa, Stefanie Zweig
82. The world according to Garp, John Irving
83. Wuthering heights, Emily Brontë

84. P.S. I love you, Cecilia Ahern

85. 1984, George Orwell
86. Mondscheintarif, Ildiko von Kürthy – no English translation found
87. Paula, Isabel Allende
88. Just like heaven, Marc Levy
89. Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein, Johannes Mario Simmel – no English translation found90. Veronica decides to die, Paulo Coelho
91. Chronicler of the winds, Henning Mankell
92. The Master and Margarita, Michail Bulgakow
93. Chess, Stefan Zweig
94. Tadellöser & Wolff, Walter Kempowski – no English translation found95. Anna Karenina, Leo N. Tolstoi
96. Crime and Punishment, Fjodor Dostojewski
97. Count of Monte Christo, Alexandre Dumas
98. Der Puppenspieler, Tanja Kinkel – no English translation found99. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
100. Rote Sonne, schwarzes Land, Barbara Wood – not sure which on is the right title in English

... in books

It’s the beginning of May and now starts the critical phase at university. Same procedure as every year!

I need to study for exams, write all my papers, try to find time to do my homework and attend my classes. This year there is more to do because I’m attending a course where I need to go to different school and observe some lessons, which is real fun but takes valuable time from my full days. 

And as always when I am a little stressed or when time is precious I read a lot more than usually. So I think I will finish quit a lot of books the following months.So far I finished reading Joanna Harris “Chocolat” and Walter Moers “The Alchemaster’s Apprentice”. 

I got Chocolat in February for my 25^th birthday from my family. Shame on me, but I must confess that I got the film with Juliett Binoche and Johnny Depp for several years now and I never watched all of it. So when I got the book and knew that I had to read the book before watching the film. I finally finished it on Sunday and now I’m really interested how they transferred this book into a film. 

The Alchemaster’s Apprentice is one of Walter Moers’ wonderful novels about Zamonia. It is wonderfully written and sometimes I laughed out loud. All the other Zamonia novels are also worth reading, totally obscure but so much fun. 

Now, I will focus on my study materials again!

... in books

Yesterday was the international day of books.

Many bookaholics took part in a book-read-a-thon organized by Lovely Books. A read-a-thon is a day dedicated to reading - most of the time. I did a little blog hopping today and read all about the experiences bloggers had yesterday but I didn't take part in this.

I was away for the day celebrating a good friend's birthday with a barbecue, chatting, sitting in the sun all afternoon and okay, a little bit of reading - probably 5 pages.

But I think it is a nice idea dedicating an entire day to reading and maybe I will be part of the crowd at the next read-a-thon - who knows.

I found this video on a Swiss page dedicated to the international day of books. It is a wonderful video and the text and the end means: "You can also read books"

... in books

After my vacation in London I had to attent my corses at university for just one more week and now because Easter is just around the corner I have two weeks without university.
Sadly this doesn't mean that I don't have to study or write papers but it is much more relaxed and I finally have enough time to meet my friends and enjoy life a little bit more.
Saturday, Sunday and yesterday were my real holidays which means I didn't do a thing - nothing, nada, niente. Really nice.
I started reading Sophie Kinsella's "The Undomestic Godess" yesterday morning and finished it around midnight.

I read over 400 pages in one day and I didn't read the whole day. I had some major pauses for tutoring one of my students, travelling on public transport with a huge shopping bag - so no way to read, eating and sleeping.
So, now I am almost on my way to work and really looking forward to start reading JoAnna Carl's "The Chocolate Mousetrap" on my trip. One of the best American crime series ever.

After tutoring I will start studying for my next exams but tomorrow I will meet with a friend who is in England as German native speaker this year and is right now at home. I am sooooo looking forward to it.

... in pictures

Today I want to share something completely different with you.

I am a follwer of Sonia's blog Runaway Hippie for quite some time now and there I found a wonderful post called 30 Pictures. The idea behind this post is to share 30 different photos with you, telling you a bit more about me and my life.

So, here are my 30 Picture!

01/someone I spend a lot of time with

02/a picture of myself

03/a picture of someone in my family

04/a picture of something that makes me happy

05/an old picture of myself

06/a picture of my sibling

07/a picture I've never posted on my blog before

08/a picture of someone that I miss

09/a picture of a relative of mine

10/a picture of my favorite place

11/a person I can tell everything

12/a picture of my everyday life

13/a picture of a place that I love

14/a picture that reminds me of old times

15/a picture of a friend since my childhood

16/a picture of myself

17/an unsual picture

18/a picture of my spare time

19/a picture I'm satisfied with

20/a picture of one person close to me

21/a person who is always there for me

22/a picture of a time that I miss

23/a picture from last summer

24/a picture that makes me sad

25/a person who always makes me happy

26/someone I'm always having fun with

27/a picture I always laugh about

28/a crazy picture

29/the latest picture of myself

30/someone I will never let go of

... in travels

I know it's been a while but I really really needed a time-out. Well, not particularly a time-out from this blog but a time-out from university life. I was studying and working on papers without a break since September and began feeling frustrated and writing papers got harder and harder due to lack of concentration.

So I took a vacation!

I went to Prague for three days with my mum. I had a great time. We enjoyed the city, the sun and the bookshops. Before going a good friend of mine told me to enjoy the city as well and not only the bookshops – and that was what I did.

After being home one day to sort out my washing and to unpack my bag I packed it again and took off to London for four days with my best friend Angie. It was so wonderful. We had the most beautiful weather. It was sunny and warm and we did a lot of shopping, gossiping and enjoying some alone-time together. Normally we are part of a huge group of people who we love but sometimes it is great to be alone with Angie to be all girly (at least as much girly as we can be). We hit so many stores it was unbelievable!

We also visited “Waterstone’s” my favorite bookstore partly because I begged Angie to do so and partly because she and her husband gave me a £30.- book coupon for my birthday. Yeah!

Angie followed me all the way through “Waterstone’s” always mumbling that I was so crazy for buying all these books. I though that I didn’t buy so many books but she is such a non-reader that I sometimes, okay always, wonder what she does in her spare time. I don’t know!

Well these are some pictures of my treasures. I strongly believe that they are all really really really good books but I will tell you after I read them, which might take a while due to a really huge pile of unread books. 

Books bought in Prague

Lucy Dillon - lost dogs and lonely hearts and Trisha Ashley - Chocolate wishes

Mordecai Richler - Barney's version and Greogory Maguire - Wicked

Sara Gruen - Water for elephants and Scarlett Thomas - The end of Mr. Y

 Books bought in London

Hummingbird bakery cookbook

Sarah Rayner - One Moment One Morning and Sebastian Faulks - A week in December

Madeleine Wickham - Sleeping Arrangements and Jojo Moyes - The last letter from your lover

Katharine Birbalsingh - To Miss with love and Gervase Phinn - Road to the Dales

Dr. Benjamin Daniels - Confessions of a GP and Mike Pannett - Now then Lad

Helen Hanff - 84 Charing Cross Road and Robert Winder - The final act of Mr. Shakespeare

Michelle Moran - Madame Tussaud

Harriet Evans - Love Always