Reading in Reykjavík

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Visit the hosting blog to see lots of other lists. Today's topic is a romance freebie (what else), to celebrate Valentine's Day. Since I love freebies, I decided to participate this week. Please visit the originating blog to see some of the other lists . I posted a list of 10 romance pet peeves of mine in 2011, and decided to revisit that theme in today‘s Top 10 Tuesdays. Some things have changed, while others haven't.    Here is the original for comparison . The list: Weak heroines who need rescuing by the hero or others – All. The. Fucking. Time. Understandable to a point in historical novels, since most of those are about the aristocratic classes, whose women were often quite sheltered, but I prefer to read about women who are strong and capable.   Alpha jerk heroes who remain jerks at the end of the story. If he doesn‘t change, he‘s not inter...

What is your response when somebody tells you “I don’t read.” My first response, of course, is to think „Oh, I feel sorry for you“, but I would never say that out loud. What do I say to them? I guess it depends on their tone. If they are clearly looking for a confrontation I shrug and say „That‘s okay. Everyone has a right to their own preference,“ but if I‘m in the mood for talking I might add „By the way, I don‘t watch TV/play computer games/engage in sports,“ or whatever I judge to be likely to result in a good argu..., excuse me: discussion. If they seem sad about it, I ask if they are looking to do something about it and engage them in a discussion about their interests and then I recommend a book or two. If they are... But this list could go on indefinitely. The thing is this: When someone says something like this to me, it‘s generally in response to finding out that I read a lot. Making such a statement can be so many thing...

I came across this question while going through old posts on Booking Through Thursday : Okay, show of hands … who has read Shakespeare OUTSIDE of school required reading? Do you watch the plays? How about movies? Do you love him? Think he’s overrated? While the subject is now closed, I thought it was a rather good blogging prompt, so here is my reply: I have only read a couple of Shakespeare's plays outside of school: Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream . I suppose that as an English major I should feel ashamed that I didn't read any of his plays at university, but since my focus was linguistic, not literary, I make no excuses. In any case, I prefer to see plays performed, either on stage or as films. I know the stories of most of the comedies and tragedies, thanks to Tales from Shakespeare and a similar, albeit better written, book by Helgi Hálfdanarson, the man who also translated all the plays into Icelandic. I try to see ever...

Today's prompt on Booking Through Thursday concerns summer reading: Do your reading habits change in the summer? Do you take your books outside more? Do you curl up in the air conditioning? Do you read fluff instead of serious books? Are you too busy playing in the sun or gardening or whatever to read much at all? My reading habits do not change all that much during the summer. I don't read more outside - living where I do means that for it to be warm enough for comfortable outside reading it has to be sunny, and I burn easily. I do love to read on my living room sofa with the balcony doors open and a breeze wafting in the sounds and smells of summer. Only yesterday I was reading and the room was filled with the heady scent of newly mown grass - wonderful! Neither do I exchange brain food for brain candy in the summer - my reading is always an eclectic mix of both - but I do tend to read shorter books and to reread more. My summer rea...

 Today's Booking through Thursday is a about somewhat sensitive subject, especially for non-Americans: So, Fourth of July here in the USA … Do you ever read books that could be considered patriotic? Rousing stories of heroes? History? Brave countrymen & women doing bold things? What would you recommend if somebody asked you for something patriotic–no matter what your country? Be as specific or as general as you like? There aren‘t many novels of this kind available in my language (there are some, but they tend to be maudlin and I don‘t like maudlin). There is more available in the non-fiction field, but history books here mostly tend to focus on social aspects rather than on glorifying the country. Icelanders as a tribe are a rather cynical and deprecating lot and on the occasions when it doesn‘t show in our writing it comes out in the reading instead. You will find plenty of stories of individual heroes in Icelandic literature, e.g. in ...

Today's task is to list "Top Ten Books I Thought I'd Like MORE/LESS Than I Did" Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted on The Broke and the Bookish. I recommend heading on over there to see some more answers to today's question when you've finished reading mine. I decided to do 5 of each: 5 books I thought I would like MORE than I (eventually) did: The Alchemist by Paulo Coleho. This is supposed to be a fantastic great revelatory philosophical parable, but I found it to be rater trite. The only reason I got through it was that I listened to the audio book version which was read by Jeremy Irons, who has a soothing and sexy voice that I would   listen to even if he were reading from the phone book. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I love a good thriller and I can overlook a host of writing crimes if the story is good, but his prose defeated me and I gave up reading it after about 50 pages. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. ...

I checked in at the Booking Through Thursday blog, which is the centre for a weekly book meme or blogging prompt. Today's subject proved so tempting that I decided to hop in and join the party. Today's prompt is this:  Does your current mood affect your reading? Affect your choices? I know there are plenty of books I enjoy, but only if I'm in a particular kind of mood–or books that can lift me out of a bad mood without fail. Surely I’m not alone? My moods do affect my reading choices, and, to a lesser extent, my reading speed and the number of books I read, even how well I retain what I have been reading. I have struggled with depression for many years and even before I realised it was depression that made me tired and dispirited, one of my methods of dealing with it was to delve into books. I would choose old, familiar books that I knew would lift my spirits and make me feel better and allow me to escape into another world for ...