I have NOT proposed :-)

But... February has been a rather hectic month anyway, and that shows here on my blog for sure. I have had a couple of weeks travelling because of my job, and the last two weeks I have been on a winter holiday in Whistler, Canada. Business and pleasure evenly distributed for once :-)

March can come, with only a couple of short trips out of the country. I have read a couple of books in February, no more, but they were both very good. Reviews of both B.V Larson's "Rebellion" and Michael R. Hicks' "From Chaos Born" will follow shortly.

For now, a few memories from Whistler the last two weeks...

Lots of powder coming down

Powder Princess - my daugther in the air...

POW and SUN - Yeyyyhhh...!!!

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Today I'm a frontpage girl !!

A nice surprise awaited me this morning. I was one of BLOGGERS.com's featured bloggers of today! So now I am on the frontpage of their blog and have my five minutes of fame ;-) Yeyyhh! And here I am:

If you don't know bloggers.com - this is a site which connects thousands of bloggers all over the world. Here you'll find blogs in every thinkable category. To check out the great community, click on my button below. Welcome!

A fantastic old woman selling her items at Bangkok's floating market

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Great skins and covers for all Kindle's!

I own a Kindle Keyboard and have got a replacement for the one which died on me just before Christmas. But it has lacked something, my own little finish so to speak. There are so many beautiful skins out there to choose between. This time I didn't go for a colorful variant, but a more discreet one which matches both of my covers. My Kindle Keyboard looks like this for the moment:

A pretty skin from DecalGirl for just $15! This design is called WindMill.

 In addition to a skin I have already invested in no less than two different handmade leather covers from Oberon Design.  As a skin is more like a personal touch to the Kindle, a cover however protects both the screen and the keyboard from scratches, dust and moist. In addition is it very convenient visually - it prevents me from grabbing my boyfriends Kindle when I'm in a hurry...

I have chosen two covers which I alter between. It's kind of boring to have only one.. because then all my books look the same :-) I am extremely satisfied with these covers which have a 100% wool felt screen protector inside and the attachment system provides excellent shake and drop security. The custom leather cover easily folds in half & stays open or you can read your Kindle as a book. The cover is also stiff enough for a reading light attachment. These are my two chosen ones:

Check out Oberon Design for a variety of both colors and patterns. They cost $67 each.

And - yes, I have also invested in a cover which I bring to the beach. Electronics and sand is a bad mix, and I would hate to destroy my beloved gadget. I found a very good, water repellant and sandproof cover with a transparent front. The cover is soft enough to enable you to change pages without a problem. In addition you have easy access to the sleep/off button at the bottom. You just choose where you put the zippers. I chose this one from M-Edge:

You can get the M-Edge cover from Amazon's Kindle Store

The M-Edge cover is not totally waterproof, so I wouldn't take it with me into the pool, but it has covered all my needs both on the beach and by the pool several times already.

There is also other extra's which can be nice to have, but a skin and a cover I find both pretty, practical and smart. I have to admit that I have invested in a little led light which I can attach to the top part of my Kindle or Oberon covers. The thought was to bring it to our next photo safari, but that camping trip has for some reason been delayed. When our next Africa-trip is planned however, I am already prepared :-)

A Vervet Monkey from our last trip to Botswana

Is it necessary with reading challenges?

 2012

Yes, I do think so! Am I organized enough to keep up with them? Weeell, that is another matter... When it comes to ebooks and reading I had one goal in 2011. To read 60 books during the year. I just about did it, with a few days to spare. To reach my goal was a great satisfaction to me, specially since I started in April.

For 2012 I have, however, a plan of being somewhat more detailed when it comes to my reading challenges for the year. I want to push myself a little further. 

In addition to the hope of reading 100 books in one year I have decided the following:

1. To read at least 10 debutants!
2. To read 5 different, Norwegian authors! (Coming from a Norwegian this may sound a little strange, but 99,9% of my books are foreign authors.. so it is actually a challenge :-)
3. To read at least 3 classics! (2011 I read one...)
4. To read at least 10 fiction books
5. Try and review EVERY book i read!
6. Stay more active in the book blogging community on the net (eg. prioritize more time ;-)
7. To read 52 novellas during the year

I challenge YOU :-)

GREAT Amazon customer service !!!

I am extremely impressed by Amazon! After my Kindle died Sunday (the screen just froze on me) I called their customer service for help. "No worries - we'll send you a new one today, expected delivery date December 16 at the latest!" Right... I didn't quite believe what I heard... I'm not the only one getting packages delivered in December...

But - yesterday, 5 days after my telephone call - December 16 - I got my new Kindle Keyboard!! And bear in mind, I do NOT live in Norway's capital with the main post office next door. I live deep in a fjord in western Norway..!

This is great service !!!

Christmas can come :-) The only job I have to do is a simple copy/paste between my PC and my new Kindle, and I'm good to go!

You hear a lot of bad customer service everywhere, so I thought it was just right to praise Amazon. This has been a very pleasant experience for sure!

Rating?

of 5, and a BIG smile :-)

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A sad day - my Kindle died..

Panic attack this morning. The screen on my Kindle 3 (Keyboard) started dying - or, more correct - freezing up. Now 3/4 of the screen is not usable for reading... in other words, my Kindle isn't usable at all. With Christmas just around the corner (favourite reading holiday) and the fact that I live not very centrally in Norway, to put it mildly, I was on the phone with Amazon customer service at once! H - E - L - P !!!

What a fantastic service !!!

In 15 minutes I got confirmation to get another Kindle 3 for free, I got a pre-paid shipping label for the return of the non-functional one, the new Kindle was sent as we spoke on the phone and I got a confirmation on 5 - FIVE - days delivery time. In December! To "outback" Norway! If this really works, I will ble thoroughly impressed! Even my panic faded (somewhat.. :-) 

And no - I wasn't tempted to swap my Kindle Keyboard with any of the new gadgets! That said, it's only the Kindle 4 Mini which is available for us Europeans. My boyfriend has an American Amazon account, but touch screens are not for me even if I can get one. A new Kindle Keyboard is what I want! And that is what I get! Next week. Hopefully....

My Kindle isn't a matter of life or death - it's much more important than that !!!

My non-working Kindle Keyboard - Rest In Peace...

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Blog Hop - Follow Friday

A great way to get to know other fellow book bloggers and find new and interesting blogs to follow. Join the blog hop Follow Friday!

If you could pick one character in a book, movie or television show to swap places with, who would it be?

Today that is an easy question to answer! Right now I could do anything to swap with the Norwegian snowboarder Terje Haakonsen in "First Descent". They are snowboarding the wilderness of Alaska! *sigh*

Yes, today I am eager to jump a couple of months into the future. I have been drooling over the very good offers from Whistler, Canada. I am more than ready to bring the family back the following winter. All four of us snowboard, and we had a great winter holiday in Whistler earlier this year. 

Need some help choosing Vampire Series!

I have to admit - I haven't read one single vampire series - but, that is now going to change! Problem is 

I do not know which one to choose!

I don't want to make a wrong decision here, so I would really like an advice on which one to start. Which one do you prefer? And why?

As you understand, I am in desperate need of some experienced help :-)

Pic of the day: Another garden flower...

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Guess what - I am a winner!!!

Today I won my first books ever on a blog giveway, and I am SO happy :-)

Sharons Garden of Book Reviews is celebrating her 3 years blog anniversary with great prices, and you can still win the BIG one - a NOOK Simple Touch e-reader, donated by Avon Books!  

Join Sharons Garden of Book Reviews HERE :-)

Pic of the day: My lovely Kudu from Botswana - another happy moment!

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Travelling and Blog Hopping :-)

 

This is an attempt to connect to fellow book bloggers reading the same genres as myself. Being new to this, I am quite curious. Will this work for me? You never know if you never try, that's why I have joined  the Book Blogger hop at "Crazy for Books ...

This Week's Question:

What are you most looking forward to this fall/autumn season - a particular book release? Halloween? The leaves changing color? Cooler temperatures? A vacation? (If your next season is other than fall/autumn, tell us about it and what you are most looking forward to in your part of the world!)

This fall/autumn season I really look forward to travel a lot! On my plan is a girlie trip to Copenhagen next weekend, a 4-days trip with my daughters 10th grade class to Poland early October and - at last but not least - a possible 2 weeks getaway with my boyfriend to Indonesia and Australia !!! Do I look forward to this? Yeyyyhhh..!!!

I will bring my laptop and Kindle with me. Nowhere without!

A nice Friday evening to you all :-)

Pic of the day: Looking forward to this!

AND I have joined Parajunkee's Follow my Book Blog Friday coming up here:

The question of the week is - "If you could change the ending of any book (or series), which book would you choose? Why and to what?

Well - I have two series that I didn't like the ending to. Firstly - The Harry Potter Series! The ending I found just lame... I would entirely drop the last bit with Potter and his son...

Second was The Hunger Games! I just SO loved the series, and was definitely ready for Katniss to end up with... not Peeta! (...almost, but not quite a spoiler there... :-D



http://crazy-for-books.com/2011/09/book-blogger-hop-92-95.html

"Official" release date of this blog - Sept 1, 2011

Yeyyhhh...!!! Finally finished my project - an English book blog in addition to the Norwegian one I have had for some time!

Hopefully I'll find active book blogging communities out there. Help with discovering these is most wanted :-)

The blog will be updated on a daily basis, and to begin with I will add some of the reviews from the books I read this summer. 

My favourite genre is Sci-Fi/Fantasy (80%). I also read Adventure/Action, YA and Mystery/Crime. Inbetween you'll find the occational Romance and Classic reviewed.

All the pictures in the blog are taken by me. My other time consuming hobby...

And now - ready to start :-)

Pic of the day: A tiny one visiting our veranda early this spring