Reading in Reykjavík

Let's begin with an interesting article about my own profession: translation. Zack Davisson translates manga - Japanese comic books - and the process is considerably more creative than you might think: Confessions of a Manga Translator . The process he describes is similar to the process I have been able to deduct from reading the European Tintin , Lucky Luke and Asterix comics in different languages, so it doesn't just apply to manga. To many, it comes naturally; to some, it happens when it's taught to them at school; while others might need help: How to Read a Book . This article comes courtesy of The Art of Manliness website, but don't let that fool you: this particular content applies to everyone who loves to read. Note: I actually think there are more than four stages of reading - there is one that falls between inspectional and analytical reading - we could call it pleasurable reading . It's where you delve into the book to the extent that you become e...

Today's Friday links are a mixed bag, but all of them pertain to books and reading: The brain and reading: Learning to Read as an Adult Changes Deep Regions of the Brain . Mobile libraries captured on film: Vintage Photos of Traveling Libraries . Libraries and why they are important: Libraries Are the Real Punk Rock . 8 authors try to answer this question: What the F**k Is a Beach Read, Anyway? Today's list: 50 Fictional Adventure Books . This list comes from the Art of Manliness website, so the stress is on male protagonists, but I have read 18 of these books and loved them.

Ugh! I am trying to finish the What's in a Name challenge by reading a book with a number in numbers in the title, and decided Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury would be a fine ending to the challenge. I have an anthology containing 5 Bradbury novels that I bought second hand and have been intending to read for a while, so I dug it out from the back of my TBR bookcase and started reading, only to be met with a musty stench so strong that it's making me sneeze every time I turn a page and it is wafted in my direction. This can't be healthy. I may have to find another book to finish the challenge.

 What's in a Name challenge category : The letter X in the title. Author : Nick Bantock. Full title : Alexandria: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Unfolds . Genre : Fantasy. Published :2002 Have you read this book? Why not leave a comment to tell me your thoughts about it? This is going to be somewhat of an unusual review, as the book is the middle volume of a trilogy that tells a single story (and links to another trilogy), and I have not read the previous book. However, I enjoyed it anyway and it fits into the What's in a Name challenge category of a book with the letter X in the title. The Griffin and Sabine trilogy garnered critical acclaim and praise for originality of presentation, as well as bestseller status when it first came out, and the author went on to write The Morning Star trilogy, which continued the story with new protagonists, followed by a final, 7th book that was published last year. I got my hands on the first ...

Although the What's in a Name reading challenge places no restriction on whether or not you own the books you read, I decided to try to use only books I already owned - preferably ones I had not already read - in fulfilling the challenge. This proved somewhat difficult, as it turned out that among my 700+ TBR books I only owned one book that had an item of cutlery in the title, and in the rest of my library there was just one other book with such a title. Its funny, considering I own over 200 cookbooks and you would think that I might own at least one with either spoon , fork , knife or chopsticks in the title.  As luck would have it, at first I could only find the book I had already read ( The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean), but when I began hunting for the book with the number in the title I had decided to read, I instead found the TBR cutlery book, which is a good thing because I hadn't planned to reread the other for another couple of years.  Have you r...

Have you read this book? Why not leave a comment to tell me how you liked it 😊 What's in a name challenge category: Compass direction. Author : Beryl Markham. Genre: Memoir. Originally published: 1942. Beryl Markham was a remarkable woman. She grew up on a farm in Kenya and learnt to train racehorses from her father, working at that profession intermittently throughout her life and becoming a respected trainer. She also learnt to fly and worked as a bush pilot in Africa and was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic ocean by airplane from east to west. West With the Night is a memoir about her life from childhood until after her record-setting flight, but could not be called a biography, because she only touches down here and there in her life and leaves much unsaid and unexplained. The writing is lovely, flowing, graceful and poetic, with a strong sense of nostalgia. The text gives an interesting insight into the lives of white expatriates in Kenya in the f...

I haven't done one of these in months, but I have some links stored up, so it's time for another round of Friday links. I also though I needed a label for it. I love to see how other people keep track of their reading, and this article lays out one method and links to two more: The ultimate reading spreadsheet . BTW, I also use a spreadsheet, and it's considerably more detailed than the one referenced here, so "ultimate" is perhaps not the right word for this, but it's a good start and will suit many people down to the ground.  An interesting article about the benefits of setting up little free libraries in one's front yard . (Someone put up one near my place of work. It was quickly vandalised and the books either stolen or destroyed). Here's an article that fans of Doctor Who and little free libraries should appreciate. The book list: 40 Trashy Novels You Must Read Before You Die . I've read 8 of these, but the actual number of t...