I'm back (?) and 2018 challenges

As mentioned before, I'm trying to get back to book blogging. I thought I was going to make a comeback last year, back to writing reviews (I started writing one, I swear) - but it didn't pan out. But this year, this is it!

So, what has happened in the last 5.5 years?

Well, I'm still at same job that lead me to read less. The job changed location one time (and will do again soon), I changed house twice, both times to be in walking distance to work, so no reading on commutes (this will change when job changes address). This means that my reading rate skydived to almost nothing.

Look at this! Look at 2013. I don't know what happened in 2013. 

So that's what happened in 2013.
55 Hobbits happened

I also (re-)started to read more fanfiction. So my reading kind of shifted from books to fanfic. Maybe it should count as books? There are some really lengthy fics out there.

Tumblr started to take more of my time, because it's easier to just reblog stuff instead of creating new material, right?

Got my eyes fixed (Yay!) and couldn't read for awhile. I tried audiobooks, and while I liked it, I still prefer reading.

Google Reader died (and I'm still not over it), and it meant that keeping tabs with blogs was harder. Question [to the void, maybe]: How do you guys now keep track of new posts?

Another new hobby is podcasts, which some can count as stories, but I don't really track as such. Ditto for the BBC dramatisations.

Knitting is also a new hobby, but I can't multitask it with reading (maybe I can with audiobooks, provided it is not a very complicated pattern)

So the result: A huge TBR list. Huge. Books to last me till 2035, assuming no more books are acquired, which is a very unrealistic assumption (trust me, I did the math. I have a spreadsheet).

Despite not updating the blog, I've participated on the Goodreads reading challenge every year (because you pledge early in the year, when you're motivated, and that's what new year's resolutions are for - stuff you end up not accomplishing).

Look at all these failed resolutions

So, this year I'll be participating in even more challenges, now with fancy names, because I really can't help myself. Here they are

• Pace yourself: Read 15 books
• Keep things balanced: 50% of books by female authors
• Polyglot: 1/8 of books read in Portuguese, at least 1 in Spanish, and 1 in Galician
• Orgulho Nacional [National Pride]: 15% of books read from Portuguese speaking authors
• Tame that pile: Reduce the TBR list by at least 1 book
• Out of my comfort zone: Read 1 non-fic book
• Read our own tomes (ROOT, a LibraryThing Challenge): Read 12 books acquired in 2012 or before (with a Fibonacci twist: 1 from 2012, 1 from 2011, 2 from 2010, 3 from 2009 and 5 from before)

Tracking will be semi-live on this page (and live on my spreadsheet).

So, yay to being back. Let's see if I can keep up.

Everything is tied in a neat Excel file that grew in complexity while I was not reading.

An update, or, "I'm not dead yet! Stop poking!"

By popular demand (and by popular I mean one person, with whom I talk almost everyday via Twitter or Messenger), I shall post a brief update. I've been meaning to do so for some time, specially because it seems there will be a lot less reviews this year.

First, I arrived well in Spain, and I am already working. Of course this wasn't without some bumps, and I still don't have everything settled.

The place I'm living is only temporary (Thank God!), and I still haven't heard from the people who live on one of the flats I've gone to see. Fingers crossed for a positive reply. Where I am right now there is no internet, which explains my absence from the online world. And it's amazing to think that 15 years ago, I had no problem living without internet, and 10 years ago with having only limited access to it. And now, I spend 3 days without it and I'm going nuts!

Of course, after the initial shock of not having internet, and then of only having a very slow internet connection in my mobile (praise to smartphones!), I went to all the phone carriers and phonehouse shops I could find until I got a mobile connection. It's not fast, or cheap, but it will do fine for the next week.

Work was another bumpy road. There I was, Monday (last week), all pretty and smart, looking very nice and formal, ready to work. But the place I work only opens at 9:30. I was supposed to be in the offices at 9:30. I tried to explain it (in my rudimentary Spanish) to the security guard. He wouldn't let me in until 9:30.

He turned out to be actually very nice, he just couldn't leave the doors so close to opening hours. After he had done all that, he took me to where I needed to be, and explained me how to get in when the Mall is still closed.

And of course 9:30 doesn't really mean 9:30 because the bosses (I have more than one - thinking about it, and the work I've done, pretty much everyone is my boss there) hadn't arrived, and they still had to prepare my desk. Meaning moving the guy that was sitting there to a desk where he remains hidden from everyone, and setting up my computer.

And here is another funny story. They start taking the components from the boxes. Keyboard. Check. Mouse. Check. Computer tower. Check. Computer Screen. ermmm... Did they send a screen? Where is the screen? Not in the box. So I had everything set up, except for the screen, which makes everything else pretty much useless.

So my work the last week was mostly dealing with shops (delivering magazines from last December and June, and asking them to sign for December, June, August and October, and explain why so even though I didn't understand it myself), archiving transport records from last year because they don't do that (even though they must), checking and archiving all kinds of records (at least they are environment related), and on the afternoons working on small things on Excel files, on the computer of a girl that only works mornings. Interesting, hum?

But between work and looking for a definite place to live I managed to do some sightseeing, mostly during my lunch hours (they give me 2 hours for lunch!). I've been to Sagrada Familia (only to take a picture), to Passeig de Gracia and Casa Batlló (not pictures there, I was looking for a shop in which to buy a mobile phone card), to Port Vell, to the Ramblas and Plaza Catalunya and most of the center walking around.

And I've been to a few bookshops. So many bookshops, so many books! I managed to buy only one (meaning I had to stop myself from bring the entire shop home), but I'm sure my collection will increase a lot in these next 6 months.

Continuing with the news on this after-all-not-so-brief-update, I've set up a new blog, Spoilers, Nueces y otras cosas, where I've proposed myself to review books in Spanish and post updates of my stay in Barcelona. Of course it is suffering from the same problem as this one. Lack of internet (and time).

I still need to post the reviews for last year's challenge, but I've seemed to lost my mojo on writing them :( I'll try to write two proper reviews (for Seer of Sevenwaters and A Sabedoria dos Mortos), and 3 small ones for the books that are missing.

This year I've read very little so far. One book and one graphic novel. I'm reading 2 at the moment, although I haven't picked one of them in ages. I hope that one I get settled and into rhythm with this city I might pick up my reading pace.

An update on Life, the Universe and Everything

Hello all! After a 4 days stay in the south, with no computer and limited internet access, I'm back to blogging.

And I finally know where I'll be in the next 6 to 9 months. Well, kind of. So far I know the country and the company.

These past 4 days were a mix of fun and stress. The Course in International Practises that I was forced to attend was tiring, starting at 8:30 am and only finishing at 6:30 or 7:00 pm. With little time for lunch and coffee breaks. And we had homework on the first day that kept us all awake till 2:30 am.

But I've met a lot of new people, from different places of the country, which was fun. I also re-encountered some people that I hadn't seen in years!

Some of the talks were really good - mostly the ones dealing with adapting to different countries and people telling their stories - others were completely dull and mind-numbing - the ones dealing with management of international corporation and globalization and imports and exports and *snore*.... But all the talks were just keeping us all (us 563 interns that didn't know where we would go) in a severe state of anxiety. Some talks made us want to go to that country (China! USA! Japan!), others made us dread it (China, Angola.). And the time for the big reveal seemed to never come.

But when it did come, we where all on our toes, keeping silent and praying, wishing for some places and dreading others. And they revealed the destinations alphabetically. By the name of the country.

So we started with Germany (Alemanha in Portuguese), Angola, Austria, Brazil... and my name never appeared. Each new country that showed on screen made me instantly think whether I would like to go there or not.

My destination was a country that I was both wishing and dreading. On one hand it was close to home, I could come here any time I wanted to, and I knew what it would be like. On the other hand it was close to home and I knew what it would be like, so no surprise there. As you might have guessed, the destination is Spain.

I don't know yet where in Spain I'll be, but it all points to Madrid. I'll need to train my Spanish, because right now I can understand it most of the times, but I am crap at speaking - I foresee that I'll be reading a lot of Spanish books, in Spanish.

The company is Sierra, which is part of a big Portuguese group. It is responsible for shopping centres, so I'm a bit of a loss on what I'll be doing.

I'll try to keep on posting book reviews (and maybe some recipes) in the next year.

And this is also a good time to wish everyone:

Happy Holidays!

Back from Holidays and New Books in

I'm back from my holidays in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, and finally I had time to stop. Yesterday I had to go to Lisbon (3-hour train trip) just to do an English test for a job interview. That was done in 30 minutes. Finally a day to rest! (I usually need holidays to recover from the holidays :S) 

I was waiting for some books to arrive, and today, finally, came the last one. A jibe from the mailman as well. He says I need a bigger mailbox, industrial size. I have to agree.

Sunny Beach, view from the Swimming Pool

So, first the holidays. I went to a resort in the Black Sea, where there is not much to do besides beach, sun, pool and reading. So I read a lot.

I finished Perdido Street Station (reviewed), and started on the books that won the What should I take with me in Holiday Poll. I started with Brother Grimm, which was fast (440 pages is 2 days :D). Then came Watership Down, that took me awhile (or at least felt like it - it was just 3 days). I started The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on the day of my return, and finished it on the plane (still with another 3 hours of flight ahead of me - and no paper to write a review in). When I got the chance to go to my cabin luggage I picked up Across the Nightingale Floor, and finished it yesterday, on my trip to Lisbon.

I still have reviews to write for the last three books, though. The only book left from that poll to read is The Beginning Place, which I started today!


And today I received the book I won on the Book Lovers Inc. 450 followers Giveaway. Thanks so much for this book!

This week I also received 3 books that I bought (no mooched books, those came all before I went on holiday). And with 2 of the books came bookmarks (I love bookmarks, although I rarely used them)

Sojourn by R. A. Salvatore, the Graphic Novel - I already have books 1, 2 and 4 on the Legend of Drizzt Graphic Novel series. This one seemed to be out of stock everywhere, so I got it second hand.

The City & The City by China Miéville - I bought it while I was still reading Perdido Street Station (and realised that I still had one Bookdepository voucher to use and I had to so before going on holidays - so I bought this one and Palimpsest while waiting for the plane in the airport). It has been nominated (and won) a lot of prizes this year, including the Hugo, Arthur C. Clarke and Locus awards.

Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente - This one had been stalking me for a while, popping up everywhere, and it was nominated to a few awards (losing the Hugo and Locus to China Miéville), so I decided to give it a try.

Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch - The book I won! It has a great cover and the blurb says:

Katherine "Kitty" Katt joins forces with gorgeous aliens to protect the Earth, kick evil enemy butt, and save the day...

Looks like a fast and fun read.