I've been a bad blogger lately, truth is I have been planning my coming trip to Asia. Since we won't have much time there we want to make the most out of it so I've been filling my head (and smartphone) with all kinds of information: maps, sights, restaurants, transportation, guides, weather, etc. Thankfully, there are many websites and apps available for us traveling control freaks, some of which I have already written about here, but since they keep them coming, here are the ones I've been using lately when traveling and travel planning:
a blog about my passions: travels, good food, good wine, fashion, books, etc.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
8.11.12
Books, books, books
I was at home sick last week so I had some time to catch up with my reading (OK, and sitcoms). Here are a few titles that made my sickness period less boring:
Where we belong - Emily Giffin
Ever since I read 'Baby Proof' I loved her writing so of course I had to read her last book. It's an easy to read story about a complex theme like adoption.
The Drowning - Camilla Läckberg
I'm a nut for Swedish thrillers (blame the Millennium trilogy for that). This is the 6th book of the Fjallbacka series and although I liked the stories better in the past books, this one ends with a good cliffhanger, unfortunately the English version of the new one, The Lighthouse, will be out only in 2013.
Shantaram - Gregory D. Roberts
I've asked my friends for book suggestions, asking them to think very well before suggesting a werewolves or S&M trilogy, really depressing or sci-fi novels since I hate all these genres so after I got Shantaram from 2 different people then I decided to give it a shot. It is a true story about a guy who escapes to India and his life in the slums. I'm in the middle of it right now and I still can't tell if I love it or if I hate it because it is too descriptive. I love descriptions, especially in travel books and novels about places but in this case it can be too much, let's see how the rest turns out.
Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots - Nicole S. Young
I've discovered a new passion, photographing food, so I thought I should at least find out how to do it properly. It's not a cheap hobby but at least I get to eat my models after the shooting!
Where we belong - Emily Giffin
Ever since I read 'Baby Proof' I loved her writing so of course I had to read her last book. It's an easy to read story about a complex theme like adoption.
The Drowning - Camilla Läckberg
I'm a nut for Swedish thrillers (blame the Millennium trilogy for that). This is the 6th book of the Fjallbacka series and although I liked the stories better in the past books, this one ends with a good cliffhanger, unfortunately the English version of the new one, The Lighthouse, will be out only in 2013.
Shantaram - Gregory D. Roberts
I've asked my friends for book suggestions, asking them to think very well before suggesting a werewolves or S&M trilogy, really depressing or sci-fi novels since I hate all these genres so after I got Shantaram from 2 different people then I decided to give it a shot. It is a true story about a guy who escapes to India and his life in the slums. I'm in the middle of it right now and I still can't tell if I love it or if I hate it because it is too descriptive. I love descriptions, especially in travel books and novels about places but in this case it can be too much, let's see how the rest turns out.
Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots - Nicole S. Young
I've discovered a new passion, photographing food, so I thought I should at least find out how to do it properly. It's not a cheap hobby but at least I get to eat my models after the shooting!
16.6.12
100
We are celebrating the 100th post!
Thanks again for joining, reading and sticking with me!
20.5.12
Literary tourism
As I've mentioned, we'll be heading to Rome next month and I'm so excited! I've been to Rome tons of times but still the magic of the city remains a magnet to me so everytime we can, we jump on a train or plane and spend a weekend having carbonara, tripe, or whatever wonderful dishes Rome has to offer and try to discover a new part of the city. Since we'll be going next month, I started doing some research and while browsing for sights, I bumped into a website offering the Angels & Demons' tour.
Visiting the places where the books you've read took place has become a trend these years. The first one that comes into my mind is Sherlock Holmes' tour in London or Jack the Ripper's.
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| Sherlock Holmes' house and museum, Baker St., London (taken from this website) |
7.5.12
Book: Life from scratch
It's been a long time since the last book post so here's this one.
I have been a bit lazy these past months, and my Galaxy tab is the one to blame! With all the cool apps and games, my spare time has been filled by them and my reading list has kept growing and growing.
But thank God for the Amazon Kindle app! I have been buying some ebooks there since I first got my tablet so Amazon has been suggesting me several other titles based on my past purchases. That's how I got my hands (virtually) on "Life from scratch, a novel" by Melissa Ford.
I have been a bit lazy these past months, and my Galaxy tab is the one to blame! With all the cool apps and games, my spare time has been filled by them and my reading list has kept growing and growing.
But thank God for the Amazon Kindle app! I have been buying some ebooks there since I first got my tablet so Amazon has been suggesting me several other titles based on my past purchases. That's how I got my hands (virtually) on "Life from scratch, a novel" by Melissa Ford.
23.2.12
Pinterest-ED or Pinspire-D?
Who hasn't heard of Pinterest or Pinspire these days??? They're like the new social networks that are actually not social networks, it's like your good old desk board, you know, the one behind the desk in which you used to pin the important papers, photos or images together with post-its, etc. Well, Pinterest and Pinspire are like an image database in which you find that, images, which you categorize in Boards and share with the world. For example, take mine:
As you can see, I divided my boards in 7 interests: the clothes, accessories and hairstyles I like are in "Style", the words of wisdom I often refer to are in "Quotes", the delicious recipes I will one day try are in "Food", the places I've been to or wish I could are in "Places", my favorite books or the ones I want to read are in "Books" and I have also added some images to the database, they're in "My Polyvore Sets".
The board "Ideas" is where I keep some ideas for my drawings (yes, another of my hobbies), right now I'm drawing a mexican-inspired Tree of Life and I've found many bits of different images that I'd like to add to my drawing so, what better way to keep 'em all in one place without printing or filling up the Bookmarks?
You can search for people with your same interests or whose images you like and start "following" them, you can re-pin their images or just "like" them (that's the social approach). Oh, don't forget to follow me!
On Pinterest
Or Pinspire
As you can see, I divided my boards in 7 interests: the clothes, accessories and hairstyles I like are in "Style", the words of wisdom I often refer to are in "Quotes", the delicious recipes I will one day try are in "Food", the places I've been to or wish I could are in "Places", my favorite books or the ones I want to read are in "Books" and I have also added some images to the database, they're in "My Polyvore Sets".
The board "Ideas" is where I keep some ideas for my drawings (yes, another of my hobbies), right now I'm drawing a mexican-inspired Tree of Life and I've found many bits of different images that I'd like to add to my drawing so, what better way to keep 'em all in one place without printing or filling up the Bookmarks?
You can search for people with your same interests or whose images you like and start "following" them, you can re-pin their images or just "like" them (that's the social approach). Oh, don't forget to follow me!
On Pinterest
Or Pinspire
11.8.11
Viva la vida!
Finally! my long-waited holiday week starts now! One full week of relax, enjoying the dolce far niente and eating delicious food, breathing fresh clean air and spending time with my friends, sounds like the perfect holiday, right?
It might also give me some time to enjoy one of my passions: reading. I've been a compulsive reader since I can remember, but in the past year I've just been buying and buying ebooks (yes, I am keeping pace with technology) and I've been avoiding them for some time. I spent the whole last summer working on my thesis (I'll write a post about it soon), I read tons of material, some of it in Danish, which I manage to understand but don't speak, the result was satisfactory but my head was about to explode so I decided to take a break from reading. I enjoy reading in the original language the book was written in, when possible, so these days I'll be reading in Italian about Frida Kahlo, because the book I chose for the summer is called "Viva la Vida" by Pino Cacucci (Italian), a great author who writes mostly about Mexico in a way that not even Mexicans could do it.
If it's true what William Styron said, that "a good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end, you live several lives while reading it" then I know I'll definitely be exhausted after this one. Frida's life is one of the most fascinating I've ever heard of, the tough life of a very talented woman, forced to live with continuous health problems and relapses of extreme pain from a terrible accident in her youth. She married the great painter Diego Rivera, the love of her life and had a troubled relationship with him because of their passionate and irritable temperaments; she had many lovers (like him), men and women, Leon Trotsky among them. In my opinion, her paintings reflect her life: painful but full of bright colors and symbols. I know I'll enjoy my reading as much as I enjoy her art.
"Feet, why do I need them if I have wings to fly?" -Frida Kahlo
It might also give me some time to enjoy one of my passions: reading. I've been a compulsive reader since I can remember, but in the past year I've just been buying and buying ebooks (yes, I am keeping pace with technology) and I've been avoiding them for some time. I spent the whole last summer working on my thesis (I'll write a post about it soon), I read tons of material, some of it in Danish, which I manage to understand but don't speak, the result was satisfactory but my head was about to explode so I decided to take a break from reading. I enjoy reading in the original language the book was written in, when possible, so these days I'll be reading in Italian about Frida Kahlo, because the book I chose for the summer is called "Viva la Vida" by Pino Cacucci (Italian), a great author who writes mostly about Mexico in a way that not even Mexicans could do it.
If it's true what William Styron said, that "a good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end, you live several lives while reading it" then I know I'll definitely be exhausted after this one. Frida's life is one of the most fascinating I've ever heard of, the tough life of a very talented woman, forced to live with continuous health problems and relapses of extreme pain from a terrible accident in her youth. She married the great painter Diego Rivera, the love of her life and had a troubled relationship with him because of their passionate and irritable temperaments; she had many lovers (like him), men and women, Leon Trotsky among them. In my opinion, her paintings reflect her life: painful but full of bright colors and symbols. I know I'll enjoy my reading as much as I enjoy her art.
"Feet, why do I need them if I have wings to fly?" -Frida Kahlo
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