Snail mail

I recently started exchanging letters with some of my friends - real, pen and paper letters. With a stamp on an envelope. It is actually quite a different experience from communicating over the internet, via chat or e-mail. And definitely different from skype or telephone. When you don't send it just by clicking a button (or enter), you think more about what you write. And you can add other cool things, like illustrations and drawings, not only emoticons. When I sit down to write a letter, I find I am so used to using emoticons to express myself using the written word that they sometimes sneak in. I think this is a testament to how much more (and more often) I write on computers than on paper when communicating with someone else through writing.

Writing a letter is a bit more challenging than just writing a note or a short e-mail. It is a relatively slow process, and you have to think about what you are writing and form it into a coherent structure with sentences, paragraphs, beginnings, and ends. At the same time, I like to write informal letters - letters where you just write down whatever you think about at that time and answer the questions from the letter you receive. That way, you become closer friends, by getting a piece of that person's mind at many different points in time.

It is lovely receiving letters, and you get more letters if you send more letters - that's my understanding of things, anyway. Actually, exchanging letters is kind of magical. Suddenly, collecting the post becomes exciting - has he or she written today? So, if you want some more excitement, awesome and lovely things in your life - start exchanging letters with a friend! Don't just hope you'll happen to be online at the same time on facebook, do something about it! Or get a pen pal, maybe from an exotic country or another culture. That way, you will learn about a new culture at the same time as making new friends! The postage does cost some money, but personally, I think it's worth it.

The Fault in Our Stars (arrived today)

Happy Julie is happy (and tired).

So The Fault in Our Stars arrived today - it was signed with a BLUE J scribble! Happy Julie is happy. I unboxed it - realised there was indeed a J scribble in my book (and in my favourite colour!) - quickly made dinner (for the next four to five days), ate it fast (only one portion, of course), and settled down to read. I read (almost) continuously for nearly five hours, sitting on my bed. I laughed, I cried, I read lines out loud to myself, I cried some more, I laughed, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In my case, I believe John Green has achieved his goal, to make the reader feel ALL OF THE THINGS!

It's perfect - and BLUE!

Reading this book was a wonderful, exhilarating experience, probably helped along by my anticipation and long period of waiting for it. I loved this book, and for me, right now (less than an hour after finishing reading the book), it stands as the best book John has written. This book grabbed me, took me on a wild roller coaster ride, and let me get off panting for my breath with a huge grin on my face. It did this better than any of John's other books have done. The characters captured me, I cared (a lot), I loved them, cried with them, and I laughed with them.

I want to thank John Green, not only for writing this wonderful piece of literature, but for taking us, the Nerdfighers, with you on the ride. Thank you for descending into signing psychosis to sign the whole first printing, thank you for making hilariously bad videos with barbaric yawps and horrible fashion sense. Thank you for building and maintaining a wonderful community together with your brother, Hank. Thank you for ALL OF THE THINGS! (Like you said when you had that eye problem back in 2007 - you say thank you a lot when you're in hospital. Well now it's my turn to say thank you back.)

In conclusion, this was a great book, and I loved it. I am really thankful to John Green for writing it, and to John and Hank Green for building Nerdfighteria. The Fault in Our Stars is just a wonderful book. But don't listen to me, I'm biased. Read it yourself!

I buy books like some women buy shoes

Call me crazy, but this is the truth about me: I buy books like some women buy shoes. When I saw the graphic on the right on tumblr, I began thinking. Yes, I realised that this statement is true, but to what extent? At first I thought that it was only a superficial, humorous connection. But then I started thinking - what if there is something more? What if women who buy a lot of shoes have the same experience buying them as I do buying books? What if the same mechanisms are at work?

Christmas haul - and only four of them gifts...

So I asked some women who buy shoes on impulse - and I also asked google - why do you go out of the shoe shop with exactly that pair of shoes? And I think I have the answer - well, at least a simile - it's like the shoes are speaking to you, saying: "Take me home! Don't leave me here!" I realised that this is exactly how I feel about books. Sometimes there's one (or more than one) book in the shop that makes you feel that your fates have just been intertwined. You feel that something is wrong if you don't leave the shop with that book. So, take today. I went out to buy three books, and I came home with six. They call to me. I, as many other women, shop with my emotions, I guess. And then you end up with more than you bargained for.

And then, when the books are in my shelf at home, well read, and maybe firmly placed among my favourite few books, it still speaks to me. And what it says is something like what the book on the right is saying. My books are sort of my friends. They are faithful, and with them on my shelf, there is always the possibility of entertainment. And if the real world is difficult, I can always escape into a good book. There is nothing like the feeling of the world disappearing when I get into a good book. I love my books, and I am very reluctant to throw or give books away. They are like my friends, especially if I like the book, and you don't throw friends away.

Shades of Grey

Here is a book review for those of you who want something to read in the new year, or something to spend your Christmas money on. I have recently (last year (haha)) finished a book called Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, and I absolutely loved it, so be warned.

This is a book set in the future (hundreds of years), when social hierarchy is decided by people's perception of colour and The Rulebook decides how they live their lives. The main character, Eddie Russett, is a likeable Red who is sent to the Outer Fringes and discovers that the world he lives in is very different from what he thought. Of course, he meets a girl - who repeatedly threatens to kill him, and of course he falls head over heels for her (I promise, this is not a spoiler - it's from the summary on the back of the book).

This book is a gem - mostly because of the language and the puns. I was chuckling as I was reading and I loved how "old-fashioned" words (that is, longer words from our time that has gone obsolete) were noticed when they were used, and there were plenty of colour-related puns. The characters were also really colourful (excuse the pun) and interesting.

This book was slow paced, but I felt that enough things happened to keep me captivated. I read this book at the end of my examination period, when I was revising for my exams. I just wanted to go back to Shades of Grey all the time, because it was so interesting and funny. And above all, this book was extremely entertaining. I am already waiting impatiently for the sequel, which does not come out until 2013. As someone said on Goodreads: "...this dystopian kicks ass."

I hope you had a merry Christmas and I wish you a happy New Year!

PS: What should I count here this year? 50 books is on again, but should I count something else?