The Great Book Giveaway Bonanza

It is here at last! 

Hamlette is hosting a collection of book giveaways on her blog, and there are some fine titles to choose between this far.

So if you love books (and even better free books) check out the giveaways at all the blogs. 

Inkling Explorations and Violets

There is a new literary link up starting at Heidi's author blog for lovers of good stories, and especially for those who love finding funny little details in stories.

This month's theme is violets! 

It took me quite some time to think of a book where violets were mentioned (and I may have had to rely on Heidi's hints to possible stories), but I went with an excerpt from " By The Shores of Silver Lake" by Laura Ingalls Wilder:

"There was Grace! There in a great pool of blue sat Grace! the sun shone on her golden hair blowing in the wind. She looked up at Laura with big eyes as blue as violets. Her hands were full of violets. She held them up to Laura and said: "Sweet, sweet". 

 Laura sank down and took Grace in her arms. She held Grace carefully and panted for breath. Grace leaned over her arms to reach for more violets. They were surrounded by masses of violets blossoming above low spreading leaves. Violets covered the flat bottom of the large round hollow. All around this lake of violets, grassy banks rose almost straight up to the prarie level. there and around the low place the wind hardly disturbed the fragance of the violets. 

The sun was warm there the sky was overhead the green walls of grass curved all around and butterflies fluttered over the crowding violet faces"

I always loved this chapter of the book with the wonderful description of a dreamy hollow of violets in the middle of the prarie.

For more scenes of violets check out the link-up at Heidi's blog.

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

As I have probably mentioned before spring is my favourite season and has quite a peculiar effect on me. Something about it just makes me think about all the little things I love about life.

So I decided I would share some of them, but be warned - just like Maria I have quite a few favourite things.

Favourite flowers

Well roses of course




Also Peonies




Ranunculus




And dahlias





Favourite smells

The smell of freshly mowed lawn, is there anything better? Maybe the smell of freshly dried hay.




Also, that special smell when it has just rained.



Ooh..and not to forget the smell of freshly baked bread




Favourite view

Close to my family's summer house is this gorgeous view point called Vejrhøj. It's a great little hike up the hill, so I persuade them to go there every year.

Favourite nature phenomena

A sunset, no doubt



Maybe if I get to see Northern Light someday that would take first place, but that hasn't happened yet.


Favourite outdoors activities

Walking in nature of course, it sets the imagination free.




Reading in the sunshine - a combination of two of my favourite things.




Favourite words

I really love words! Not just the meaning of the words but the words in themselves. There are so many pretty words, and I especially love the old fashioned and seldom used ones.
Most of my favourite words are in English (I think that is because it isn't my first language).

Felicity - a pretty name, and a lovely meaning.

Petrichor - means the smell of dirt after rain.

Bouncy - such a funny word, and it immediately places an image in my mind.

And not to forget the German word Frühling (means spring), it's just such a cute word.




That was only a few of all the things I love.

What are some of your favourite things?

Random Questions Tag

Naomi had created a wonderful random tag, and I have been tagged by both Olivia and Heidi, so prepare for a long post.

The rules for the tag are:

~ Paste the button onto your blog post.

~ Leave a new list of questions (or just pass on the question list you answered) and tag a few people of your random choice (and say why you tagged them, if you have time!) (Be original and nonsensical in your question-creativity - make the blogging world a cheerful place :-) And be disastrously random.)

Now for the fun...

~Write down three facts about you - one of them is WRONG. Let your commenters guess in the comments which one is wrong (and tell them in the comments after a while)
~Answer the questions of the person who tagged you - make it all super random and interesting
:-D

Firstly 3 facts about me (well actually only 2 of them true, but which ones?)

1. My favourite colour is green

2. I wear glasses

3. I am not a morning person

And now onwards to the questions!

Olivia's Questions:

~ Animated movies - what's your opinion?

I love animated movies dearly. I grew up with them and have many happy memories involving them. 

~ Do you prefer earbuds or headphones?

Earbuds.

~ What is one thing it seems like everybody loves but you (could be a book, song, movie, author, actor, 

food, whatevs)?

Almost all my friends are crazy about Downton Abbey, but it just never caught on with me.

~ Do you have flowers in your room (yes, yes, I'm stealing this question from ya, Naomi)?

Not in my bedroom, but in my living room I always have flowers in the spring. Right now I have 2 small roses and some cherry branches.

~ Do you like the sound of keys on a keyboard clicking?

I love that sound. To me it means I am on a writing spree and makes me feel very productive.

~ Who is one fictional character whom you absolutely loathe with a burning passion? *evil grin*

That is actually a really hard question! I had to go through my reading log just to remember which characters I dislike. 

I really hate Milady De Winter from The Three Musketeers. She's just evil!

~ Are you a procrastinator?

Oh, yes! I even procrastinated writing this post for several days.

~ Shoes or no?

Well, they are a requirement most of the time, but I don't wear shoes if I can avoid it.

~ What are three movies that take you back to the dear old days gone forever (look, I quoted Little Dorrit!  Oh, and meaning your childhood)?

Lady and the Tramp - I was crazy about that story when I was little. (Even gave up several months' allowance just to get a Lady plushie)

The Ugly Duckling - an animated movie I could watch on repeat. 

I simply cannot think of a third. Most of the movies from my childhood are old Danish movies which I'm sure no one of you have ever heard of.

~ Pens or pencils?

Pens.

Heidi's questions:

~ Do you love the color pink?

Yes!! 

~ Your favorite book set in ancient times?

I just realise I haven't read that  many books set earlier than the Middle Ages.
One book I love, is The Edge On The Sword by Rebecca Tingle. I takes place in England in the 800s and follows a young noblewoman - it is really exciting.

~ What color is your bedroom?

White. I know, kind of boring but it fits with anything.

~ Do you like traveling?

Yes, very much. To travel is to live (I didn't make it up H.C. Andersen did). Exploring new cities and countries, it is just wonderful.

~ Your favorite animated film?

Frozen.

~ The shortest you’ve ever cut your hair?

When I was very little my hair was as short as a boy's. But that was my parents' choice.

The shortest I have cut it myself is just below the ear.

~ Your thoughts on butterflies?

So pretty!

~ Do you enjoy putting together puzzles?

Funny you should ask that question. It is one of my favourite pastimes. I spend most of my summer vacation doing them, and buy new ones each year.

~ Do you get excited when the daily mail arrives?

Not particularly. Only if I see an envelope that isn't a bill.

~ A favorite spring-ish period drama dress?

This is the part where I'm supposed to tag people but seeing that all the ones I want to tag have already done posts of their own, I'll just leave the questions and you can answer them in a comment if you like (or make a post if you'd rather do that)

~ What is something you love about spring?
~ Favourite colour?
~ Favourite ice cream flavour?
~ A song that makes you happy?
~ Favourite author when you were a child?
~ Do you like fairytales?
~ Favourite flower(s)?
~ Something that makes you nostalgic?

I'm looking forward to your answers!

My Reading Projects

Last year was not a good year for my classic reading, so when 2015 came around nice and fresh, I decided this would be a year for reading a big chunk of my To Read List and for rereading a lot of my old favourites.

Let's just say I got a rough start, and couldn't concentrate on reading anything the entire winter. But with spring comes motivation, and when I am motivated to do something I start making lists. 

Books on my To Read List that I'm actually gonna read this year

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (it's been on my shelf for almost a year now)

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare


It's not that long yet, but I should actually have a chance of finishing it. And when I do I can always pick more from the other (quite ambitious) lists I made. (One is never enough) 

New books added to my To Read List

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (so much Dickens, so little time)

Middlemarch by George Elliot

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stove

Lorna Doone by Richard Doddridge Blackmore

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (just for laughs, and background for
                                                                                      Northanger Abbey)
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

More Works of William Shakespeare

Books I want to reread

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott

Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (I know I just read it, but who says you                                                                                can't reread a book on a regular basis)
North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (the unabridged version this time)

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier


And suddenly my innocent little project evolved into 3 monster lists, with more than enough reading projects for this year. (And probably the next few years too)

(By the way, I do also read modern books but I only blog about the classics)

Couples and Musicals- The Answers

1. Maria and Captain von Trapp

2. Millie and Adam from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

3. Maria and Tony from West Side Story

4. Annie Oakley and Frank Butler from Annie Get Your Gun

5. Marius and Cosette from Les Miserables

6. Penny and Lucky from Swing Time

7. Sandy and Danny from Grease

8. Kathy Selden and Don Lockwood from Singin' In The Rain

Well, I hoped you had fun! Here are the scores:

Olivia                   110 points

Amanda               80 points

Naomi                  80 points

Thank you so much for participating! 

I'm planning on having a lot more games and I just want to hear your opinion. 

Would you like me to continue the musical themed games, or would you rather I mix it up with some literary games?

The Bookshelf Tag

Nathalie from Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens has invented this delightful tag, and never being one to resist a tag I just had to do it.

Here goes!



Describe your bookshelf (or wherever it is you keep your books-it doesn't actually have to be a shelf!) and where you got it from:

My bookshelf is not so much a shelf, more a giant bookcase containing movies, cd's, books and anything else that can fit on the shelves. Apart from that I have a shelf by the window, which was empty when I moved here but is now filled with books too. (I also have 3-4 bags of books in the basement, but they won't feature here)


Do you have any special or different way of organizing your books?

I usually put books by the same author together, but apart from that I organise them after height.


What's the thickest (most amount of pages) book on your shelf?

That title goes to my lovely The Complete Novels Of Jane Austen at 1432 pages

What's the thinnest (least amount of pages) book on your shelf?

That took quite some research but I managed to find it. The thinnest book I own is a Tintin album (62 pages) called Explorers On The Moon (It's technically a cartoon, but it is bound as a book so I count it as a book)


What's the smallest (height and width wise) book on your shelf?

That's a tie between North & South and Cranford, though Cranford is the thinnest one.


What's the biggest (height and width wise) book on your shelf?

A guide to Edinburgh Castle. It looks more like a brochure than a book (hence the size), but it is 65 pages long so it is definitely a book.


Is there a book from a friend on your shelf?

Lots and lots! Half my window shelf consists of books I got from a friend when she cleaned up her own book collection.


Most expensive book?

It's hard to remember, but I think it is The Complete Novels of Jane Austen.


The last book you read on your shelf?

I honestly don't remember. I have been reading library books for so long.


Of all the books on your shelf, which was the first you read?

Probably The Little House In The Big Woods by Laura Ingalls.

Do you have more than one copy of a book?

Yes, I have 2 copies of Anne of Green Gables and These Happy Golden Years.



Do you have the complete series of any book series?

I have the entire Anne of Green Gables series, The Little House series and the Heartland series.

What's the newest addition to your shelf?

I can't pinpoint one book, as I got quite a bunch from my friend last summer.


What book has been on your shelf FOREVER?

Again, The Little House In The Big Woods. I think it was the first book my parents gave to me.


What's the most recently published book on your shelf?

Eleanor Park by Rainbow Rowell (published 2012). Haven't read it yet though.

The oldest book on your shelf (as in, the actual copy is old)?

A collection of Danish poetry I bought in a book sale once. (Published 1965) It contains a lot of the poetry I was required to read in high school. I didn't like it back then, but for some reason, as soon as it wasn't a requirement anymore, I suddenly wanted to read it again.


A book you'd hate to let out of your sight (aka a book you never let someone borrow)?

I consider myself quite generous when it comes to lending out books, but I would loathe to part with my Complete Novels Of Jane Austen.


Most beat up book?

One of my editions of These Happy Golden Years is an old library book, and it is in pretty bad shape with a lot of the pages loose. (Kind of the reason I bought another copy)


Most pristine book?

Most of my books are in pretty good shape, so any of my hardbacks.


A book from your childhood?

Most of my childhood books are at my parents' house. But I do have a Danish children's book that my grandmother always read to me called Kitty With The Blue Eyes (roughly translated).

A book that's not actually your book?

I realise most of my early book collection actually belonged to my mother before I adopted them. For instance my editions of Little Women, Rebecca, Wild Swans and The Collected Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen.


A book with a special/different cover (e.g. leather bound, soft fuzzy cover etc.)?

I have a Jack London book with White Fang and Call of The Wild, that has this pretty green cover decorated with gold patterns, and has a sewn in bookmark.

A book that is your favorite color?

My favourite colour is red... do I have any red books?
I have a german version of Treasure Island that is red. (Why in german? you ask. That is a long story)


Book that's been on your shelf the longest that you STILL haven't read?

That must be Cranford, it's been on my shelf for nearly a year now.

Any signed books?

No.