(Originally posted on MySpace)
It's been a while since I posted about books. And that was because I've been reading some Dutch books which many of you haven't heard about. I have not made a list so I won't name them all, because I can't be bothered to remember  ;-)
But lately I've been reading the popular First Ladies Detective series by Alexander McCall Smith, and enjoying them. It's light reading, funny, feel-good stuff. A bit on the predictable side, and a bit too goody-goody for my liking; but nevertheless nice for a change.
Here are the books in the series that I've read so far, and excuse the images from Amazon with the ugly 'Look inside!' lettering on them:


There are more, and I'm sure I'll get my hands on them and read them sooner or later. For now I'll just say that I recommend them as a pleasant, light read.

Just yesterday I finished something very different: the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. It's a story as seen by an autistic 15-year  old, which makes it very different from most other books, and that's interesting. The book is well written which makes it believeable and captivating. This is not a very pleasant or light read, but I liked it very much even though it's hard to explain why. Just try it and see for yourself.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Even though I love my work and the job at hand is great, I'm so looking forward to going on vacation. That's because it promises to be a lot of fun!
Not only are we going to this international hacker's convention (remember?), we're going to have a Temporary BookCrossing Zone there, we'll be setting up a BookCrossing Village, and some of my favourite BookCrossers are coming: Rubberchicken, Raffizack and Phoenix-Flight (you may know her as Phoenix).
Phoenix will even travel with us, which is going to be quite an adventure since we'll be traveling by motorcycle, not our newer bikes but the ancient two-strokes: my Jawa and my boyfriend's MZ. Both the Jawa's trailer and the MZ's sidecar will be stuffed with books, camping gear and more books!
Here's a pic of me on the MZ, even though I won't be the one riding it:

(Click makes very big)

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Because it blows up in your face!

Ever since our postal service (that we lovingly used to call 'tante Pos', auntie Mail) has been renamed to TNT, things haven't been the same.

First it was the mailboxes. They replaced the mailboxes we have all known and used all of our lives by a new and spiffier model. Neat! But... where does the book go?
You see, I'm into BookCrossing, so I leave books in public places for random people to find.
Our old mailboxes had this little sign or display thingie on top, perfect for propping up a book against. I have actually hooked new members this way, by leaving books on top of mailboxes. But the newer models don't have this feature, and the top is much too slanted to put anything on top; it'll slide right off. Take it from one who's tried!

Secondly, everything turned orange. The mailboxes, the vans, the mail carrier's uniform, they all went orange. It spread like a rash. A rather unsightly rash. I happen not to like orange one bit!

Then, of course, the prices went up. Stamps for letters got more expensive, packages too. Another 'neat' improvement: some stamps have advertising on them! Usually, with advertising, stuff gets cheaper. Not so here! See this picture of a stamp with a sausage on? It even says the brand name. But you still pay full price, and it isn't even scratch'n'sniff! (Not that I enjoy sniffing sausages, but the idea in itself would be, well... kind of fun.)

We don't have media mail here, so there is no special fee for books. We just have to bite the bullet and send them the normal way.

And we wouldn't mind so much if only they would arrive! I just found out I lost another book to TNT. And a very nice book it was: 'Not just for Christmas' by Roddy Doyle. I sent it out as a bookring. It was a cute looking little book, hardcover, with a nice foil printed dust jacket. It looked like this:

(Originally posted on MySpace.)
 As some of you may remember, I was in Bremen last november, to meet the delightful antof9 . Read all about it here.
We 'released' eight books that day, and two of them were caught within a few days.
Now the third one has been reported as found, too! Three out of eight, that's wonderful. And the journal entry is quite elaborate, too.
Seems the book has done a bit of travelling on its own since I left it, it's gained a new member, and it has been read and will eventually travel on! What more can an old, battered hardcover sans dust jacket hope for?

Those of you who can read German will probably enjoy reading the journal entry.
Others can at least click the picture for a bigger version... it shows where I left the book.

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Not all that much, really.
I just finished a rather weird and fragmentaric book by Charlotte Mutsaers, called De Markiezin. It was a bit vague, but the fragments in themselves were all interesting and/or funny, so I did finish it.

Other than that, I haven't really been reading. Just some BC and Wizard of Id comic pocket books.
I released one of them (yes, I'm talking about BookCrossing again, check it out if you haven't by now!) here in Arnhem, and it was found two weeks later in Alkmaar, by someone from Hilversum who's going to release it there. Way to go, brave little book!

(Originally posted on MySpace)
One of the books I've left in Bremen has been 'caught'!
Do check out the journal entry, it's here.
BookCrossing is such fun!


Added a day later:
Another one!
*does the Happy Dance*

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Yesterday we met a fellow BookCrosser from the States!
I know her as Antof9 but over here she's Margeaux. She told me she was in Bremen for a few days, and of course I decided to go and see her!
We've 'known' each other for years and never met, or even talked on the phone. She has, however, heard my voice once, when I made her a recording of a Dutch children's song because she wanted to know what 'Klap 'es in je handjes' should sound like.

On the way to Bremen the exhaust pipe of my car broke. We stopped at a gas station, bought steel wire and a can of beer, emptied the can into the gutter and used it to fix the exhaust, sort of. Our arrival in Bremen was rather late and quite noisy. But we got there.

It was so great to see her! And she had her husband with her. What a cutie he is... Actually, what a cute couple they are! And they had brought us some really wonderful gifts. I had asked her to bring me a Sharpie, or maybe two, but she brought me a whole rainbow of them, and put them in a real BookCrossing shoulder bag! I hardly had the nerve to accept all of it. I wanted to say 'Oh no, you shouldn't have!' but my mother taught me not to lie. I did blush, though.

We went into town for a lunch (those Germans know how to bake bread and serve it fresh) and we walked around and planted BookCrossing books all over the city center for the rest of the afternoon. In fact, we found one that someone else had left. It was such fun.
Antof9's hubby bravely put up with all of this, although he sometimes had a look on his face that seemed to say: 'I always knew my wife was crazy, and now I know there are people all around the world who are just as crazy as she is! And I can't decide whether this makes it better or worse.'
We strolled around for hours and saw most of the Old City, and had tea in a Konditorei full of old ladies.
Here is a pic of three of us on one of the spots where we left books. Click to enlarge...


If you'd like to see more pics and read about the books and where we left them, here's the link to each of the books.

one <== a 'catch'! two three <== a 'catch'! four five six seven <== a 'catch'! eight

(Originally posted on MySpace)
Apart from motorcycle riding, playing pinball and lots of other stuff, I like Bookcrossing. It's a worldwide movement of readers, who share the aim of making the whole world a free library. I'm rather active myself: at the time I'm posting this I have sent over 1900 books out into the world. Released, we call that.
Apart from reading, registering and releasing books, we do other fun things, too. We chat on the Forums, and we have meetings.

If you like books, and if you like the idea of sharing them with the rest of the world, why don't you check out the site?



See my personal virtual bookshelf here .