Sunday, April 22, 2012

Me, myself and my books

I have long term love affair with books. It started before I even went to school. I never went to daycare and my Mom taught me to read before I went to kindergarten. I don't recall my very first years, but I bet I was reading board books back then :) I wasn't allowed to watch television before I went to school (we had a tv, but parents had principles), so I had plenty of time to read. I remember starting first grade and being super-bored when everyone was learning how to read. My teacher let me go sit in the back of the class and read my own books occasionally. 

I loved homework, since I got to read more and there were these fun assignments to do. When I was four I started asking for activities books for my birthday. I even made some myself and I made several for my grandpa to do too haha. My love for books made elementary school very easy for me and I often did all the assignments in the chapter in advance, that's how much I loved homework :) I think I was in second grade when one of my fellow students ratted me out to the teacher, telling her I had done all the assignments in our book. My teacher called my Mom, Mom smiled and bought me more activities books to fill. I never stopped loving school, that's probably why I'm still studying ;)

My Ex libris

I own hundreds of books. Some are at my parents' home, some are in Nebraska and some are here at our home. Nowadays I don't get to read as much as I'd like, since little man takes up my time. But if I have any extra time, I pick up a book. I'm usually reading several books at a time; a couple of novels and several academic books. For light reading I like murder mysteries, some romantic fiction, young adult fiction and whatever I get my hands on :) My favorite authors include Jane Austen, Lilian Jackson Braun, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.D James, Anne Perry, Elizabeth Peters, Kathy Reichs, Dorothy L. Sayers, Andrew Taylor and many many more. If I had to choose a favorite book, it would have to be Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I never get tired of it!

Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Winsey is one my all time favorite literary characters :) I really like early to mid-1900s detective fiction. Hercule Poirot is just amazing and I also like the earlier investigators like Sherlock Holmes. I suppose I have a thing for "British gentleman detectives" :D


I also read young adult fiction and confessed somewhere earlier in this blog that I really liked the Twilight series :) I didn't like the movies as much, and the first two books were definitely more interesting than the two last. I wrote an academic paper on the books about how they portrayed the Native American characters.

Some more books from our bookshelf :) The Keith Richards-book is my husband's, he likes to read autobiographic books, especially those written by musicians. Comanche Empire is an academic book written by a Finn, Professor Pekka Hämäläinen, and Hippie is a book I read for a class. As for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I absolutely love the book :) I'm not a big fan of science fiction in the literary form, although I do like to watch some Sci-Fi movies and series. 

Some of the academic books related to my studies. My bachelor's thesis was about paleopathology, my new master's thesis is related to legal history. This is my second attempt at a master's thesis, the first one was supposed to be about archaeological law, but someone else published a similar research paper first, so I had to give up on mine.

What I'm currently reading, in addition to the several academic books of course :) I've never read a Mrs. Jeffries-book before, but I do like Victorian murder mysteries and this one seems okay so far. I just saw it on the discount pile at the bookstore and bought it. If it turns out to be a good one, I might read some more Mrs. Jeffries :) As for The Hunger Games, I went to see the movie and found myself liking it, so I thought I'd give the trilogy a try. So far I'm liking it, a lot.

What do you think of these books? Who are your favorite authors? Any reading suggestions/recommendations you'd like to share? I'm always open to new authors :)

3 comments:

Eveliina said...

Munkin on pakko varmaan sanoa että Pride and Prejudice on voittamaton ;)

Kiva kuulla että tykkäät Hunger Gamesista, ehkä mä nyt sitten käyn hankkimassa nekin itselleni :D

Mielelläni suosittelisin jotain, mutta sä oot varmasti lukenut jo kaiken mitä mä oon lukenut.. hahah. Teininä luin hirmuisesti, mutta nykyään mun lukemiseni on vaan just näitä mitä kaikki muutkin sillä hetkellä lukee... :/
Ootkos sä kattonut True Bloodia tai lukenut Sookie Stackhouseja? Ne nyt on aika hömppiä, mutta tosi koukuttavaa kamaa!! :)

Pilvi said...

Pride and Prejudice, ehdottomasti! Taisin nähdä ensin 1995 BBC-minisarjan, mutta kirja vie jopa siitä voiton. Viime kesänä Bordersin loppuunmyynneistä ostin pikkurahalla kaikki Austenin teokset yksissä kansissa, ja hävettää tunnustaa etten ole sen jälkeen PP:tä lukenut.

Samoin olen Hercule Poirotin suuri ihailija. :) Siihenkin kyllä tutustuin ensin tv:n kautta, minunkin vanhemmillani oli periaatteita joten nyt vähän pistää hämmästyttämään miten saatiinkin lapsena katsoa jotain niin jännittävää. Luin kaikki Rauman kaupunginkirjaston Agatha Christiet seitsemännellä ja kahdeksannella luokalla, mutta niihin en ole palannut sen jälkeen.

Aika vähän tulee nykyisellään luettua ammatillisen ulkopuolelta, mutta menneenä talvena viimein luin Isomäen Sarasvatin hiekkaa. Oletko lukenut?

Sugar said...

Eveliina: Juu, Hunger Games on kylla ollut yllattavan hyva! Yleensa luen vaan yhden tai kaksi lukua kerrallaan ja nyt meni heti kuusi :) Olen muuten katsonut True Bloodia (fiksaatio vampyyrielokuviin/sarjoihin hih), mutta Stackhouset on viela lukematta. Taytyykin katsastaa, kiitoksia :)

Pilvi: Oih, tuo BBC sarja kylla niin ihana ja legendaarinen. Se on minulla kovalevylla tallakin hetkella :) Ja Poirot on kylla the man!
Nyt taytyy myontaa, etta piti googlettaa tuo Sarasvatin hiekkaa :), mutta lupaavalta vaikuttaa! Kiitoksia vinkista!