The Book Buying Tag

I saw this great post at Niina's blog and I couldn't help but steal it from her and do one myself!

Being the booklover that I am I can never resist talking about the object of my desire (aka: the books!). This book buying tag was what I really needed for a new blog entry!

Where do you buy your books? I love to buy my books after accurately browsing bookshelves in the main bookshop of my town, but I must admitt that -to my big disappointment- they're lately getting less and less books and giving space to souvenirs and whatnot (in a bookshop! Yes! Unbelievable!). Also, I must say that I mainly read in English nowadays and in my town books in other languages than italian are not that easy to find. And when you do they are still very expensive (I mean, 13€ for a paperback is a bit too much, ain't it?!). I have recently discovered the amazing virtual "bookshop" that is called Amazon and I would browse my books there and buy the titles that catch my attention either new or used-but-like-new. Amazon is lots cheaper if compared to my local bookshop and, even if it takes the fun of bookshelves browsing off you, it is an amazing shore for those bookworms who love to read in english but have not the luck to live in an english speaking country.

How many books do you buy a month? Buying my books online I don't buy them on a monthly basis. I tend to buy books every second or even third month. I would then buy 3-4 books so that I get to amortise the shipping fees. My last two purchases were of 4 books in October (when I was in America on our honeymoon) that I bought at Barnes & Noble in New York City, and of another 4 books that my husband got me as a Christmas gift on Amazon. I am already craving for the next purchase, but we first need to buy a new bookshelf since the one we have it's already full to the brim with books!

Do you use your local library? I recently moved house and the area where I live now doesn't offer a public library. There's one in the area I've grown up in and where my parents and sister still live. Yet, I don't use it as much as I'd like. I'm mostly put off by the idea of having a date when to hand back them books and my life usually gets hectic around the due date so that it becomes extremely difficult for me to find a spare moment to go to the library to return them books.

What do you think of library books? I love library books! They are books and that's a good enough reason for me to love them! They are travelling books, because they pass from reader to reader and they visit many houses and they carry in their pages the stories they live with the many people that read them. I have a thing for used books! And I think library books are especially fashinating!

How do you feel about second hand/charity shop books? As I stated above, I love used books, because they are special with the travelling history they carry on them. Alas, there's no second hand/charity bookshop here where I live. So they are just a myth for me. When I am in London I take a tour at Skoob and at Black Gull Books, my two favourite second hand bookshops there.

Do you keep your read and to-be-read books separate? When I was still living with my parents and I had an enormous (ok, not as enormous, but a big enough to contain all of my books) bookshelf I would keep my read and to-be-read books separated. Now we've one bookshelf only (so far. Hubby and I have already planned a trip to Ikea to buy our second bookshelf because we have many books to fit in still) and we had to keep our books together, favouring a descending order according to the binding. Yes, I am a bit of a freak and love to keep my books in an accurate order.

Do you plan to read all the books you own? Buying all the books that catch my attention for their topic or plot I want to read all of them, of course, in a (more or less close) future. Still I sometimes receive books for birthday and Easter and Christmas and they sometimes don't perfectly match my likings. Or it sometimes happen that I buy a book thinking I will love to read it so much, but then I am stuck with it either because the writing isn't smooth enough for me to read, or just because the plot isn't as thrilling and interesting as I was wishing for! In that case I am not sure I would really read the book. So, I think I'd better answer this question by saying that yes, I aim to read all the books I have in my bookshelf, but I am aware there are some exceptions that I will find out eventually from time to time.

What do you do with books you own that you know you won't re-read? Well, it depends. If the books is a book I read and liked it ok but not too much and I wouldn't re-read because of that, well I would give it to libraries or free it in a wild release (joined bookcrossing recently). But if the book is a book I loved yet know I won't re-read because it's too long/a story that has a twist and once I found it out wouldn't be as good to read about it again, I keep them books. I keep books I love and want my kids (if any in the future) or friends to read after me, thus I keep them even if I know I won't read them again.

Have you ever donated books? I donated my books sometimes, yes. I love the Random Act of Kindness that Bookcrossing suggests its members to do. I sometimes browsed fellow bookcrossers shelves and if I had a book that was on their wishlist I would send it as a Random Act of Kindness. Lately though the postage cost has increased and I can't do that anymore, to my big regret. Nowadays I donate books to the public library only, when I have an amount of copies I want to get rid of because I didn't like too much.

Do you think you own too many books? Nah, a bookworm can never have too many books! If there's not enough storage space in a house you can still buy a new bookshelf or even start piling books on tables and other shelves! A house without books is like a body without a soul, and I completely agree with this quote.

I tag for this one everyone that read through the pages of my blog.

In which they follow the red bricked-lined route.

We woke up to a new american day after an ok night sleep. I was already fighting against the jet-lag from that first night and would do so for the following three nights, untill melatonin did the trick and I could get used to sleep at night and stay awake with daylight.

After what I define a superb breakfast ( I even got to try peanut butter on my toasted bread! Not to mention jams of various flavours and a hot mug of coffee to wake me up) we stepped out the front door of our B&B and were already staring right and left, amazed: in front of our very eyes we had a farm selling pumpkins. Pumpkins of all sizes and shades of orange! A real beauty for two Italians abroad!!!

You can judge from our expressions that we were already satisfied with what we were seeing! And we'd not moved far from the hotel yet!

According to our taxi driver of the previous night, we had to catch the red line tube (that I soon enough learned it's called subway in America and if you are as ignorant as me and ask for directions to the tube no one will be able to help out) subway to downtown Boston, that we did. Honestly we had been so busy with wedding organization and house refurbishing in the few weeks before leaving, that we hadn't had time enough to plan a sensible tour of Boston. Thankfully we had provided ourselves with a Lonely Planet guide of North America. That saved our holiday because we religiously followed its tips and we felt like we accomplished the best of our journey.

Lonely Planet suggested to let the red bricked-lined route called "Freedom Trail" drive us around the city of Boston. We ensured that it touched the main sights in Boston and we started the 2.5 miles walk along the trail.

After a stop at the Granary Burying Ground, that is the resting place of Boston's most famous people, we walked forward, led by the trail bricks, and stopped -as most tourist did- to take a pic with the bronze donkey in front of the Old City Hall.

By that time we were already craving some hot cappuccino and a Starbuck Coffee right behind the fence of the Old City Hall had to be our next step. God bless Starbuck soy latte! I lived of that during my american stay!!! Tried my luck at some other coffee shop and Dunkin Donuts but they didn't have soy milk and I could have no cappuccino nor latte there! Starbuck was my favourite coffee shop, no doubts!

After a refreshing coffee we went back on the trail and continued along the route. We stopped in front of a bookshop and I had the ritual photo taken with a broad smile on my face in anticipation of what I would find inside: lots of books, old and new prints. I was sensible though and didn't spend there too much time. Actually I was already nodding off (damn jet-lag!) and couldn't much concentrate on anything, not even on books browsing!

R. and I continued walking and walking, but I can't deny we both were starting to feel a bit tired.
We tried some mobile shops for a usim card for our ipad and the third we visited was our lucky one: found a rechargeable one that fit in the European ipad and we'd go with that for the following 15 days. We were real americans: smart people, with their ipad, smartly walking around the city! Yes, we need that little to have fun!

When our stomach began to grumble in an all but polite way we were right in front of the Quincy Market, one of the most amazing places I'd ever stepped foot in! Not only it is a historic building and it has its own charm because of that, but inside you can find any type of food you can think of!
We went for an asian mix (me) and the typical Clam Chowder soup (R. who is so lucky and can eat everything containing dairies). Thank to the mild temperature we sat right outside of the market on a bench and enjoyed our lunch and the free wi-fi Boston city offered its visitors.

With our bellies filled to burst we ventured in the shops around the market place and there we found an amazing shop selling all Christmas related items! Christmas in October you say?! It's never too early for some Christmas shopping! We bought a lovely tree decoration with two cute owls and the slogan "Our first Christmas together" carved in a red heart. It is my favourite Christmas item of course! I think we'll buy a new decoration every year. We'll have a special one every year we spend together! Ain't it exciting?!
Anyway, back on track...

We went back on the freedom trail and passed through the rest of the official trail sites: Paul Revere House, that we chose not to enter saving up some bucks, Old North Church, the USS Constitution that was closed because of the government shutdown and finally went uphill to the Bunker Hill Monument, that was also closed down.

Our Freedom Trail tour ended by 6 pm (mostly due to them closed sites) and we took another walk, following the Harbour Walk this time. We shot some nice photos while walking: the light was especially beautiful.

A memorable day had to end with a memorable dinner and we wanted to taste lobster, that our Lonely Planet guide suggested was a specialty in Boston. We found a nice waterfront seafood restaurant (also quoted good from the Lonely Planet staff) called "Barking Crab". We asked for two lobster and finally had our first taste of it. Well, I won't deny that I was quite disappointed with it. I would have rather spent my dollars on something better tasting than a lobster! Anyway, a small defeat wouldn't ruin a perfect day! And we went back to the hotel still feeling as satisfied and happy with our first day in America.

In which the journey starts...

R. and I always take notes when travelling somewhere. We treasure memories and don't want to forget anything of what we see and do in the place we visit. We did take many notes of our honeymoon in America. So far I had never found the will to sit and write all of those many memories down. Yet, many friends keep asking about our adventures and I admitt we still owe a detailed account of our time overseas to most of them. I think I will keep it going for a while, as a (more or less) regular feature on the blog. Every time I will give account of one/two days worth adventures.

Our honeymoon began in Rome at La Riviera Best Western, just a few minutes ride far from Fiumicino airport.

We woke up to a sunny and mild day and, after a quick (and not too rich, to my disappointment -I am a fan of breakfasts, especially when travelling-) breakfast at the hotel cafeteria, husband and I ventured outside on the way to the seashore (a few minutes walk from the hotel room). We messaged friends and relatives to say thank you again for being with us on our special day while taking a few minutes walk in the neighborood.

The shuttle to the airport collected us in front of our hotel and drove us to the terminal for international flights. I surprisingly started feeling pretty anxious about sitting for as long as 9 and a half hours in a plane, but tried to conceal my feelings to R., in vain. We ate a quick lunch at the airport and went in for check in and security control (that always make me super anxious).

At 2.40 pm our plane took off from Rome and started its long journey all the way to New York City. We had managed to pre-book two comfy seats in the economy class and we enjoyed the first half of our flight, reading and watching one of the movies Alitalia was offering its passengers. R. also managed to take a nap at some point. I couldn't nap instead and the last 1 and a half hours of flight were almost unbearable to me. I would twist in my sit and couldn't find a peace of mind and could no more read or play video-games on the plane computer... I would just stare at the screen that showed the plane flying over the United States of America and slowly approaching the JFK airport.

Finally at 6.30pm local time we landed in New York! I was excited to step foot on the American soil for the very first time in my life! We managed to go through security control and visa check smoothly and collected our luggage that had safely made it to America as well. Now, luggage is a point that worries me big time when flying somewhere: I heard some dreadful stories of lost suitcases and misembarked luggage. Thankfully none of said nightmarish experience happened to us in any of the 5 flights we caught during our honeymoon wander. Call it luck!

We were almost two hours ahead of the scheduled flight to Boston and good luck kissed us again when the lady at the check-in desk offered us an early flight to Boston, that we jumped on at once! The flight to Boston is short, maybe even shorter than simply short! We sat down and had the time to listen to the usual advices in case of plane disaster that the hostess gave to the passengers and there we were already landing in Boston!!! It was 9.35pm and by that time we started to feel quite tired. We swallowed a sandwich from Subway (that is by no means a favourite of mine) that was the only shop opened at that time at Boston airport.

We decided we were too tired to try figure out what was the cheapest mean of transport to reach our B&B in Cambridge from Logan airport and agreed on taking a taxi ride all the way to the hotel. Our taxi driver was a nice lad, who loved to chat and who offered us some explanations of the sights we were seeing from the car on the ride to Cambridge. Finally, we got to "A Cambridge B&B Inn" where the staff welcomed us with a big smile and offered us the biggest room they had to celebrate our first journey abroad as bride and groom. The room was amazing: big, clean and comfy. We loved it there. Our bed was soft and we soon dozed off and slept all the journey tiredness away as soon as we turned the lights off. We finally were in America, our honeymoon had finally begun!

 

Kindness

Mary from Uncostumary Art  is having a link-up on her blog. She holds one every month and decided to start the new year with a link-up on kindness.

Being kind is something I've always aspired to. I have a strong admiration for everyone who's known as capable of act of kindness. And I value kindness as a virtue, especially if it's tightly followed by a good dose of intellect.

You can be kind to people, starting from those who live by your side and developing that kindness to the outer world, in many different ways.

In our society, always in a rush and incapable of being patient with those who proceed at a slower pace, being kind to someone mainly means respecting their time and their attitudes.

I am a social worker by profession and to me being kind is something that I try to achieve everyday, with all the people I get to meet.
Being kind means repeating the same piece of advice for the umptenth time to that person who's sitting in front of you, vomiting a numerous amount of social problems on your face.
Being kind also means producing those documents some people need, even though they were supposed to get them themselves.
Being kind means smiling to people coming in, even though you have a thumping head and you look forward to going home to your family.

I also am a university student and study to become a kindergarten teacher. There at school with young kids kindness is the rule. A teacher can achieve the best from her student when being kind to them.
And at kindergarten being kind means not yelling at your pupils, even if they're doing that very thing you'd previously warned them not to.
Being kind means blowing noses and lacing up shoes many and many times in a day and never getting tired of it.
Being kind means singing to your pupils and telling them stories, even (and mostly) when they're being so naughty you can hardly keep them at their desks.

Last but not least, I am a wife and a daughter and being kind is a quality I want to improve in my everyday life with my loved ones.
Being kind means always smiling to your husband when he comes home after a tiring day of hard work.
Being kind means being there for your spouse when he needs you the most, be it for talking or even for sitting together in silence and unwind.
Being kind means cooking your loved ones' favourite meal for their birthday or for a special occasion, or even for an ordinary day, so as to make it extraordinary.
Being kind means making your house warm and tidy and a real home for those who live with you.
Being kind means running errands for your loved ones when they are tired and need someone to free them of some duties.
Being kind means never going to bed with a heavy heart and always being in peace with those you love.

Being kind it's easy if you live according to your heart. And it would be easy if we kept this teaching in mind: "Do to others as you would have them do to you" Luca 6:31
Unluckily we often forget how to...

Thank you Mary for having brought up this topic for everyone to reflect on it!

Reading through 2014 : The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I have just turned the last page of this book and still feel a bit confused on my actual feeling on it.
My husband (geez, it does still feel really weird to call R. my husband!) gave me this book on Christmas, since it'd been on my amazon wishlist for quite a long time. I was all happy receiving it and spent the first week of 2014 reading it... Yes, it took me a whole week to read it, in spite of it being 231 pages only. This last statement suffices to say that the book didn't win my heart, to my big disappointment. Disappointment is even worse when you'd been looking forward to reading a story you'd thought of as a masterpiece. Anyway...

The back cover of my book (of which you see a photo at the beginning of this post) says:
"Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught in between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.
Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor."

My opinion on the book isn't as enthusiastic as the one written on the cover of my own copy of it, where it's called "a deeply affecting coming-of-age story". I wouldn't really define it affecting, let alone deeply. In spite of it being written in an epistolary form, where letters are sent to an imaginary friend (with whom the reader is supposed to personify) there's nothing in the style of Charlie's letters that brings the reader to really feel some empathy for him. The character of Charlie is just weird, but never become a rounded character, in my opinion. The boy thinks a lot and writes about his thoughts and feelings in the letters to this imaginary friend, but it doesn't go deeper than that. When I first read the synopsis of this book I immediately put it on my wishlist because I was as unpopular in school as Charlie is. But apart for that one thing I couldn't really relate to Charlie. And I am sorry I couldn't feel anything for him. Toward the end though the book gets a bit better. There's a twist at the very end of the story and after that Charlie's character becomes a bit more real. But it is only the epilogue of the whole book, so too little to really improve the whole reading.

Favourite quote from the book: "[...] I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them.But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

I do still recommend this book to anyone who likes epistolary prose. And I am actually pretty sure that a good friend of mine would love to read Chbosky's novel. I'll not fail to recommend this reading to her.

Hobbies.

Whenever I've got a spare moment (and I admitt that a married woman, who also happens to be a part-time university student and a worker, doesn't really have many of said spare moments in her daily life) I can't sit hands in hand and do nothing. It's against all of my principles to be lazy and waste a day away indulging on too much tv or just sleep more than it's strictly necessary to regain energy and start another activity.

I've always spent my time at home by doing something that kept my mind busy, because my mind is a constant whirlwind and it needs to express itself to feel satisfied. 

My favourite hobby is reading. It's always been a dear hobby of mine. I was a kid and constantly asking my older relatives to read me this or that story. I loved my books and my mother always tells me that I was just a toddler and would spend hours leafing through the pages of my children books. Soon my family got fed up of reading to me (I surprisingly come from a family where books aren't appreciated as much as they deserve) and I had to learn my alphabet on my own so as to read my favourite stories to my little self. I was 4 and I remember my granny showing off with her friends that her only (at that time) niece would read a magazine without any help! I think I've never spent a day without reading a single page ever since. 

In the years I met books that made me grow up, that I don't feel ashamed of calling my best friends: "Anne Frank: diary of a young girl" was one of them books. I got my first copy of that book at age 11 and at first I couldn't really fall for it, when I read it again one year later I couldn't put it down and re-read it other tens of times! I would also think of Anne as a friend, because back then she was my age. 

I can't avoid mentioning "A child called it" as a book that made me grow aware of the sad situation of some abused children. And I think it's after reading it that I wanted to be a social worker involved in children advocacy.

But there are many more books that fashinated me and that I still think of with a big affection: the whole Harry Potter series, that I was too sad when it came to an end, "A tree grows in Brooklyn", "A Christmas Carol", "Pride and Prejudice", "Gone with the wind"...

As technology became an essential in our lives I wanted to own a Kindle reader and my beloved husband got me a first generation Kindle. I was touching the sky with one finger! It still was a flash in the pan though... I must have read two or three novels on it before turning back to real paper books. I need to hold a book in my hand to feel really happy with myself, I want to smell the book's parfume, I want to live my books. And a Kindle, as smart and userfriendly as it can be, can't replace the joy a real book can give to a reader. I am not saying that I regret having gotten it as a Christmas gift: it still follows me on my holidays and it's really handy now that we haven't got too much space at home to fit all of our many books in!

Writing is another hobby I love to indulge in my spare time. Mind you, I am all but a talented writer. I write for myself mainly and for my dear pals, who are so patient and lovely to read my letters. 

I began as a penpaller when I was still a teenager. I used to love stationery and had a special inclination for asian stickers. I would write tens of letters every month and had pals spread all over the globe. As years passed by I grew up and so did my pals, our paths in life grew different and with many of them the friendship faded. I am still writing to a few selected people who are so dear to me. My letters are handwritten most of the times and I like to think I am talking to my pals as if they were there with me and not miles away. 

Recently I started blogging. I am still looking for my own blogging style. I have always liked to write about what I like and esepecially about my life and my cooking and reading adventures. I started with a blog that I kept going for a couple years first, but then it grew sterile and I quit writing there. I am now on these pages since March 2013, so it's nearly been a year. I am slowly finding my way on the blogosphere.  For this year I've put "blogging on a regular basis" among my top ten list of resolutions and I am thrilled that my Bloglovin followers number has now grown to 9!

Cooking. I definitely love to cook and especially bake. Again I come from a family that hasn't a big cooking tradition. My grandmothers initially were pretty good at cooking, but as we grew up they grew tired of cooking big meals for the entire family and they soon forgot how to properly cook any decent meal. I live in a country where we have some of the best (in my opinion) meals of the Italian cuisine and I decided it was my task to bring on some traditional cooking in my family. And that's how I grew fond of homemaking pasta or baking traditional pies and cakes. And I love it. My ability to cook decent meals has saved my life when I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. Being able to cook my meals has preserved me from nasty side effects. 

And you, dear reader, how do you like to engage you spare time with?