The Olympic games of authors

I have always like a challenge and I read on Bookcrossing.com that one of the members had decided to read at least one author from all the countries sending a delegation to the Olympic Games in London 2012, before the games begins. Surrounded by London 2012 preparations, it feels right to take up the challenge. Who’s with me?
My rule to be able to count the author/book is that I have read or re-read it after December 1, 2009 (when I started). Firstly I will look to the country the author was born in then I have to see how strictly I will stick to it (it can be complicated when it comes to ex. Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union). Currently I can tick off Peru (Allende) and Australia (Brooks), I will keep you updated on my quest.

And if I don’t get to the computer again this year, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Josefine

Ps. To further increase my knowledge of the authors I will also compile a short bio of each of them as I finish their book.

My recommendations: The house of the spirits by Isabel Allende

Moving books

It is when you're moving, you realise how many books you actually own. I am in the process of doing just that. Even though I only lived here for a year I have collected numerous books which all now have to go into boxes and be transported to my new apartment. Some of them I have released through bookcrossing.com, but the majority will follow me. This is mostly because I haven’t read them yet and the others I like to save and at one point re-read.
It is nice to always have a vast selection of books to my disposal, just not when I am moving!
Josefine

My recommendations: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

More books released

I have released two more books through Bookcrossing.com. As I am cleaning out my bookshelf, (See why in coming posts) I have released two more books today. One in Swedish (Anyone but Him, Sheila O’Flanagan), which no one might pick up, but I didn’t want to keep it and then Adriana Trigiani’s trilogy about Big Stone Gap. Both were released on the London Underground, hopefully someone will pick them up and enjoy them as much as I do. If you found it give me a note on the website or leave me a comment here what you think in general about these books.
Josefine

My recommendations: Anyone but him, by Sheila O’Flanagan

Bookcrossing – released book

I have just released my first book with bookcrossing . I left Jane Sigaloff’s book Name and Address Withheld on the westbound District Line train towards Wimbledon yesterday (Saturday). It is the first book I have released into the wild and I am excited to see what is going to happen to it. I will follow its tracks around the world very closely on the website and I hope who ever picks it up will have as much pleasure of it as I had.
Now go catch it!
Josefine

My recommendations: Sweetland stories by E.L. Doctorow

Bookcrossing

I am now on a three-week vacation from one of my jobs. Wonderful. I hope this I will give me some time to go through the pile of books laying on my nightstand waiting to be read.

I am always interested in finding out what other people read. This is where you often get the best suggestions. I often ask family and friends. Another thing I do is to look at the return shelf at my local library. There are usually a lot of crime novels, which is not really my favourite genre to read, but during the school year there is always a lot of great nonfiction.

Another great concept is bookcrossing, which is a way to find and send out books into the world. The word even has its own entry in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. “the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise," Concise Oxford English Dictionary. At Bookcrossing.com you can even track the books you find or the books you released.
When I backpacked trough Europe last summer, my friend and I did our own bookcrossing. We both started with several books. On the road, we left the ones we had and picked up new at hostels, cafés and at other places. I once picked up a paperback from a trashcan at a train station in Spain. I was desperate for something to read and my friend spotted it. Without thinking twice I reached into the trashcan and grabbed it. People at the station starred at me like I was crazy but I didn’t care much. I was desperate for some new reading material and I thought it was a waste to throw away a perfectly good book. No worries, the trashcan was empty except for the book and an empty pizza box.
Josefine

My recommendations: The return of the dancing master by Henning Mankell.