For those who visit my blog quite often, this is not a surprise - I am a bookworm. I cannot imagine my life without books and while having hard times I always find my escape and peace while reading. This year I have started a challenge on Goodreads, namely to read 50 books in 2014. I have managed 23 books, which is quite a lot now that I ponder on the topic. I have actually managed to fall in love again with the process of reading and it gives me much joy to be able to say at the end of a book - what a story!

And I think I might plan this for my new flat, what do you think?

And I will leave with a quote from the last book, The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy:

“We all crave latitude in life, yet simultaneously dig ourselves deeper into domestic entrapment. We may dream of traveling light but accumulate as much as we can to keep us burdened and rooted to one spot. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. Because-though we all muse on the theme of escape-we stil find the notion of responsibility irresistible. The career, the house, the dependents, the debt-it grounds us. Provides us with a necessary security, a reason to get upin the morning. It narrows choice and ergo, gives us certainty. And though just about every man I know rails against being so cul-de-saced by domesic burden, we all embrace it. Embrace it with a vengeance.”

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 This must be paradise for me, read a lovely book, enjoy the music, relax in my favourite armchair and simply let your mind wonder.

   

 Come and join me, now I am in the mood of a good book, any ideas?

Picture from here

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“Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.”

Mark Twain

“A book is a gift you can open again and again.”

 Garrison Keillor

“We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.”

 B. F. Skinner

“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all”

 Abraham Lincoln

“The books that help you the most are those which make you think the most.”

 Theodore Parker

“Books open your mind, broaden your mind, and strengthen you as nothing else can”

 William Feather

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A good book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a friend. ~Author Unknown

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy. ~Edward P. Morgan

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James Bryce

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown

A good book has no ending. ~R.D. Cumming

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. Eliot

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb

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Motto

“You never answered my question, about what you want to do with your life.
Maybe my dreams aren't that complicated. Maybe I think that a job is just a job.
What does that mean?
Maybe I don't want to be defined by what I do. Maybe I'd like to be defined by what I am.”
― Nicholas Sparks, from Safe Haven

What am I? A reader, someone who considers books like small treasures. For me each book creates a wonderful escape, a special world from you feel safe and protected.

Today I spend 6 hours in one amazing place, the biggest book fair in the world, where I had the pleasure of discovering some great titles:



Agatha Raisin There goes the bride by M.C. Beaton
The last one missing from my collection, this wil be my tonight's delight!



The Provence cure for the brokenhearted by Bridget Asher
A chick lit but you need this as well!



Arise Sir Jamie Oliver by Stafford Hildred and Tim Ewbank
Most likely at the end of this read I will find many new things about my favourite chef



Cat flaps and mousetraps by Harry Oliver
The origins of objects in our daily lives, why not? Most likely very funny!



Where's my dinner by Moyra Fraser
Recipes for busy people, should be handy!



Sacre Cordon Bleu vy Michael Booth
How to become a French chef, it was described as very entertaining.



Handmade holiday crafts by Martha Stewart
Already did take a look and there are so many ideas for Christmas!



From mother to daughter, traditional housekeeping for the modern home by Vivienne Bolton
I already started it and it so lovely!

What about you, which is your safe haven?

P.S. This is dedicated to this weekly theme under the GBE2, Safe Haven!

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Each year in October (and sometimes on my birthday!!!), Frankfurt is the host of the biggest bookfair in the world, it is truly amazing! Since I love books I could not miss such an opportunity and on each Sunday (at the end of a long week of trading), they open the fair for the public and I am present for at least 6 hours.

My first time I bought so many books that I had issues moving :) Then as the years went by I realised that I need the help of my friends to cool my purchases down and to helo carrying. So this year 2 girlfriends are joining in and I wonder how many books I will manage to find!

Plus a bonus: the books are actually low priced, and I can find so many English books, can't wait! And not to forget this year's special country is Iceland and I heard they have prepared something special!

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Since books are so present in my life, I dedicate my Monday's special to this item as well!

A room without books is like a body without a soul.
Cicero

Nothing can do what a book can do. Lifts you out of your life... to a whole new world, whole new perspective. A book is like a dream you're borrowing from a friend.
Dave Kellett

Books...are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with 'em, then we grow out of 'em and leave 'em behind, as evidence of our earlier stages of development.
Dorothy L. Sayers

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.
Ernest Hemingway

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
G. K. Chesterton

The books that help you the most are those which make you think the most.
Theodore Parker

You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.
Paul Sweeney

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Isn't it funny that after writing so much about books, latest in this post, today was under the sign of written word again?

I am so cheerful and grateful! Somehow I even have troubles concentrating on writing, I am so excited to tell you all about it!

Hubby went this morning to check out the post and I noticed that he is slower than normal on the stairs. He came into the living room with an intrigued face and said: 'Who do you know in Australia and USA?' Well, I thought many people! 'Why?' I asked. 'Cos you got some books!'

I grabbed the packages and true enough, I got at the same time, the wonderful book written by Karen, at Following the Whispers and 2 books send by Luan at Green Tea and Cupcakes (after a swap post on which I was the single respondent, and we agreed to go on with it anyway!). By the way Luan, my books are on their way too, wondering when they will arrive.

Here are my goodies, my companions for the next travels and since I am off on Monday (again Estonia!), they will much appreciated!

From Karen



From Luan



with a lovely postcard



Thank you Karen, thank you Luan! You both made my day.

Happy ...

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I guess that it is not easy to get your first thought out your head, therefore I will not resist.

The Empty Chair is a crime novel from renowned crime author Jeffery Deaver. It is the third novel in Deavers series featuring Lincoln Rhyme; the first of which was made into a movie, The Bone Collector.

For more details here

My whole life I had books around me. As a small child, my grandmother (from my mother side) used to read my bed-time stories. I was taken into the world of Brother Grimms, of the 1001 Nights. I was travelling in magic, my creativity was bursting, I was full of questions. My inquisitive side draw me into crime stories, I think I was 12 year old when I read my firts Agatha Christie. I simply loved her writing and by the time I was 18, I went through her work in Romanian and in English.

I love books, they are with me at all times (now in the new format, electronic, via the Kindle which never leavesmy bag while travelling), our house if full of them. When I moved to Germany I took my Agatha Christies with me, the George Simenons and many more. But still my old room at mom's is full with books (I counted them once, 6 years ago, and I had around 3.000 titles, now I am not sure!).

That is why, the Empty Chair, will trigger in my mind, the presence of a book. But this is me, I am sure my other co-members of the Writers' Post group will come up with other great ideas!

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Alice Munro is the lady who accompanies me lately on my travels. She has a wonderful way of writing and I wanted to share with you some of her thoughts.

"The conversation of kisses. Subtle, engrossing, fearless, transforming."
from Runaway: Stories

"Love removes the world for you, and just as surely when it's going well as when it's going badly."
from The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose

"In your life there are a few places, or maybe only the one place, where something happened, and then there are all the other places."
from Too Much Happiness (a great story!)

... for me one of these places is the world wide web

This is what I consider as a possible motto for my blog, what do you think?

"A story is not like a road to follow … it's more like a house. You go inside and stay there for a while, wandering back and forth and settling where you like and discovering how the room and corridors relate to each other, how the world outside is altered by being viewed from these windows. And you, the visitor, the reader, are altered as well by being in this enclosed space, whether it is ample and easy or full of crooked turns, or sparsely or opulently furnished. You can go back again and again, and the house, the story, always contains more than you saw the last time. It also has a sturdy sense of itself of being built out of its own necessity, not just to shelter or beguile you."

and this is what I wish for all of you

"He never wanted to be away from her. She had the spark of life. "
from Away from Her

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