My Reading list for the Helmet- Reading Challenge:

My List:

P.S. I have not finished planning all the books... :)

Helmet Reading Challenge 2019

1. The book cover has a human face on it

Anne på Grönkulla: READ

2. Someone is looking for a missing person or an item in the book 
3. A book from a genre you don’t usually read
4. The only book written by the author
5. The book has been a nominee for a book prize in your homeland
6. A romance novel
7. A book about a place you have visited
8. A book whose reading belongs to general knowledge in your opinion
9. A book recommended by someone under 18 years old
10. A book written by a person of colour
11. A book about women’s role  in society

Orange is the new black: READ

12. A book connected to Great Britain
13. A book for children or youth from your homeland
14. The authors last name starts with the same letter as yours
15. A taboo is dealt within the book A book about a taboo
16. A story that shifts between reality and unreality
17. There are twins in the book
18. A book written by a European writer
19. You don’t like the title of the book
20. The book deals with a culture that you are not familiar with
21. A book written by a celebrity
22. A book about climate change
23. The book title has a name of a country in it
24. Book chosen from a bookshelf with your eyes closed
25. A book from an author you have never read before
26. A book that you see someone you don’t know reading
27. The book is some way based on Nordic mythology
28. There is a moon on the book cover
29. Someone is dreaming in the book

A Monster Calls: currently reading

30. The book cover has a city landscape on it
31. Someone travels by metro in the book
32. The book title has a profession in it
33. You have seen a movie based on the book
34. The book has writings by several writers in it
35. There is an entrepreneur or company in the book
36. Someone is alone in the book
37. A book published by a small publisher
38. A banned book
39. A book about the relationship between humans and animals
40. A book about mental health problems
41. A book about a time period you would like to live in
42. You like the name of the author
43. A book that follows the growth of a child to adulthood
44. A book about Berlin
45. The book title has a negative in it
46. The book has a trans or non-binary character in it

GuRu by RuPaul: Listened to on Audible

47. The book has less than 100 pages
48. The book has a hearing-impaired or visually impaired character in it
49. A book published in 2019
50. A book recommended by library personnel

Currently reading: Herra Darwinin Puutarhuri

There it is: BAM! :) I have a lot more reading ahead and a lot of planning :)

So it begins...

Hello there peeps!

I am back... Sooner than expected but it is all good. I have started to think and ponder what I should read this year. I kid you not, I have over 100 unread books in my library. I am really happy and grateful that I do have a room in my home, that I can call a library. Now I am re-organizing my shelves. There are books everywhere. lol I have also a "new" hobby, collecting toys from my childhood... The toys are soon overtaking my library lol... So, I am considering purchasing a new shelf, which I would put in my living-room. That is the only solution, because I will not get rid of all there books, or toys lol.

There are some changes is my TBR-list. My TBR-list is an ever-changing thing. I always read many books at the same time, because darn it, I can not choose just one to stick to. I need variation, freedom of choice, the ability and possibility to change and switch my "currently reading" -list. Sooo, I have tried to choose the best, the most important, the most uplifting books...

One of the challenges in the Helmet-reading challenge is "A book recommended to you by a librarian. I visited my favorite library "METSO" on Saturday. I went for it, I asked bravely the nearest librarian... for a recommendation. She found a good one within 3-5 minutes:

herra-darwinin-puutarhuri

I just started it yesterday. It is really nice. It is short, too. Only like 176 pages! It should be a quick and pleasant read. I also started:

-a-monster-calls

That one is waaayyy cool. It is a page-turner, easy to read and with big text, I do not have to squint at the pages to make out the text, old eyes, you know. lol It is also short, maybe 270 pages or something. I love it so far. I do admit, I am soon getting tired of middle-grade books, YA literature etc. So, after this I am going to try to dive into some classics and/or really high fantasy or something, maybe something I have not earlier tried. It is also one of the challenges in Helmet: Read a book that represents a genre you do not usually read... Hmm... What could that be? No idea. Yet.

I love big books and I cannot lie, they just take a longer time to finish... Which is a bummer, when you are trying to read as much as possible. I am sometimes "bullied" because I love to read many books at the same time, many books, thick books etc. Even because I read in English and Swedish! I mean, how petty can you be? Maybe some people do not understand me. Well, I do not mind. It is my library, after all lol. They may say what they want. My goal is to read for fun, for pleasure, to learn, to grow and to read as many of my own books as possible, before I die. Grim, I know, but what else can I say? lol

More later!

Hugs from Cindyrelly :)

HELMET READING CHALLENGE 2019

Hi guys and gals!

Last year I tried to participate in the Helmet Reading Challenge. Needless to say, not only did I not succeed, I gave up way too early. lol I am a slow reader... I have started reading more lately. This year I have already finished 3 books (though I did start them last year...) and I am currently reading a few very short books and a few are on "the finish line" lol I just love books. Well, Here is a link to the Helmet Reading Challenge, just in case you want to join:

HELMET

It is lovely. There are not so many rules and people do tend to interpret the different challenges in different ways. In the few next days, weeks, months (who knows) I will be telling you about the books I have chosen to each challenge. The main idea is to diversify your reading. I will try to read al 50 books for the challenge and not combine two challenges. I mean, if the book I read for challenge number one, also fits challenge (insert random number here), I could maybe combine them, and say: there, it is done! Although I have only read ONE book... Well, there are not such hard set rules in this challenge, thank goodness...

The books I have read so far this year (i.e. finished)

Anne på Grönkulla

Orange is the new black

GuRu (audiobook)

They were all rereads/listens. I have lost count of how many times I have read Anne på Grönkulla, I have now read OITNB three times and I have listened to GuRu now TWICE :) I looove RuPaul...

I have a journal where I focus on books, it is my so-called Bookish Bullet Journal. It is filled with stats etc. Now I have today written all the challenges in the HELMET challenge and I am sooo stoked, ready and happy to start and continue this challenge.

By the way, my goal is to read 99 books (at least) this year. Goodreads says I am on track lol

Reader, I finished the book(s)...

Hello everyone!

Happy Bookish New Year!!!

I joined as per usual, my Goodreads challenge for 2019... My goal is to read as much as possible. My official number is 104, that is two books/week. That is quite unrealistic, so I hope I will still read AT LEAST 39 books. My ultimate low goal is to read "more books than last year". With an almost all time low of 19 books read, my reading last year went really not so well. lol It was awful. BUT! Happy to say: I have already finished two books this year! I started them last year, but it's allowed for me, in my challenge. lol... Today I finished for the third time: Orange is the New Black. This time I listened and read it at the same time. On Wednesday I finished Anne på Grönkulla. It was also a re-read, I have read it at least five-ten times during my life... Now I'm reading many short books and some thicker ones that I have 100 pages or less or a little more left in. So, I will be soon finishing many more books... It's the blessings of reading many books at the same time lol.

More Later!

C

My TBR list for 2019

Dear reader,

This year I have been busy, lazy -something, because I only read 19 books (there's still time for one more, maybe... lol Without further ado, I present the first plan of books I intend to read in 2019... I aim to read 39 :)

Re-read every year (try to)

Kitty får en utmaning by Carolyn Keene

Sweet Valley Twins 1-4 in one volume, by Francine Pascal

Anne på Grönkulla by LM Montgomery -the entire series in Swedish

Harry Potter #5 --> as many as possible

Twilight #3 --> as many as possible

The Book of Mormon at least once

Narnia #2 --> as many as possible

...

Those are the re-reads I can think of right now...

New reads:

Possessed by Niki Valentine

Freddie Marcury

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Little Women

Jane Eyre

Wuthering Heights

Hmmm... I will update this list in a later post, I have probably forgotten something vital lol

TA! ;)

Cindy

Svenska böcker... :)

Hello!

Good morning everybody! Today we will talk about Swedish books <3

I moved to Sweden 2001 in January. I lived there until December 2012. In the capitol of Sweden: Stockholm. Well, the first year I lived in the suburbs. Then, in April/May 2002 I moved to Kungsholmen, in the center of Stockholm. My closest bookstore was 2,5 blocks away, what a luxury! It is called Akademibokhandeln. It is awesome! My two favorite bookstores in Sweden are NK Bokhandel and Akademibokhandeln on Mäster Samuelsgatan, both in the very heart of Stocholm, near Sergels torg... I studied English and Finnish at the University of Stockholm on/off for 11 years. The University became my second home in Sweden. Too bad I didn't study Literature too... That is, in Sweden if you study literature, it is of course Swedish literature. LOL. Instead I studied English and Finnish... Well, I love those languages of course a lot too. Swedish just happens to be my first native tongue lol. Sooo... I never got to dig deep into Swedish literature, except in Finnish when we read a few Finland-Swedish authors. I read "Den amerikanska flickan" by Monica Fagerholm and "Drakarna över Helsingfors", they were of course written in a bit different Swedish... And it all happened in Finland. In the Helsinki are too... It is no big mystery but I really do not like the Swedish they speak in Helsinki... I don't like Helsinki that much, just a little. IF I would write a book, it would take place here in Tampere and in Stockholm and in Jakobstad <3 Like my life has taken place lol... That I why I'm re.considering writing a book about my life... BUT!!!! Those things are completely off point sorry!!!

SWEDISH LITERATURE!!!

Back to the point. When I moved to Sweden, I was not so into Swedish literature. Not so much into literature, period. Which is strange, since I started studying English and later on Finnish, which studies required a lot of reading... lol... My old English teacher once said: "Yeah, you can study English but you gotta love reading!" I was like: "Of course! I do love reading!" Now in hindsight I realize what he meant lol. When you study any language, READING IN FUNDAMENTAL. lol Sooo, not just a little, a LOT! Really really really much! I am kinda sad that I wasn't such a huge reader before my time in Sweden... But now I have mended my ways... lol

Swedish literature that I like are mostly in three categories:

Swedish crime/horror
Swedish children's literature
Swedish "religious, old fiction"

Let me explain... My favorite authors from Sweden are all crime, children's and religious fiction writers. I would say that my most favorite books from Sweden are "Låt den rätte komma in" by John Ajvide Lindqvist, "Tordyveln flyger i skymmningen" by Maria Gripe and one I'm still woring on: "Utvarndrarna" by Wilhelm Moberg. Okay, so I just realized I have read mostly crime novels from Sweden... It was years since I read "Tordyveln..." and I have been stuck on page 100-something in "Utvandrarna" for ages. I have seen the musical "Kristina från Duvemåla" and listened to the music a million times, that is based on the novels about the Swedish immigrants going to the Americas, so I know the story well and the musical is pretty true to the books... It's four parts. Thick books. Well, I just also realized that I need to widen my horizons... I need to read other books in Sweidsh, other than Crime, horror, Childern's books and Religious epic fiction stories. One other Religious book is "Jerusalem". It is still on my TBR... :)

So, if you are a Swede or know a lot about good Swedish books, let me know what I should read :)

Hey! :)

Hello there!

This past month I have been finding more ways on overcoming reading slumps. :) FINALLY! 

I have listened to audiobooks, re-read old favorites, started some books that have been YEARS on my shelves etc. Now I'm completely hooked! :) Can't stop reading. So many on my TBR that I have decided to only buy books if they are the next one in the series and I have read the previous part and if they are on my TBR, no more "surprise"-bookshopping lol... NEVER AGAIN! I have ended up with sooo many wierd and "bad" books... I used to be so impulsive as a bookbuyer. It was crazy... I went to Gran Canaria a few weeks ago. I found a great book in the hotel's library: "Just in Case" by Meg Rosoff <3 It is such a gem. I really liked it. It completely sucked me in. Thank goodness for books like that! Now I have started a book that I have owned a few years: "Possessed" by Niki Valentine. First of all, I play the piano, as does the main character. And second: I love stories with twins in them... :)

Today it's Black Friday. I'm not going to buy a new book or many new books, I'm going to "shop" on my own shelf lol. There are probably over 100 unread books in my library... I know CRAZY!!! :( I have been an impulsive shopper and a lazy reader... What can I say? I'm bad... lol

More later! :)