Saar - All about books! - 2017

[Saar The Book owl]

1. What is your name? (First, Last, Middle, Nickname – you only need to pick one if you prefer. Feel free to list them all.) Saar
2. What is your favourite sport? Horse back riding
3. What colour are your eyes? Brown
4. Have you ever had a broken bone? no
5. What is your favourite movie? Love Actually
6. What is your favourite book? The Horse Whisperer
7. Pick a number between 1 and 10. 8
8. What is your favourite holiday? Christmas
9. What is your relationship status? boyfriend
10. Are you right or left handed? right handed
11. What is your birthday month? June
12. Do you have a pet? What is it? Don’t have a pet? Adopt a pet that someone in your immediate circle has (mother, brother, sister, friend, etc.) Cat and horse
13. What is your favourite type of food? (Chinese, Italian, Mexican, etc) Japanese
14. What is something you use daily? (brush, computer, car, get creative) bike
15. What is your shoe size? (No halves; roll up to next number) 4
16. What is your favourite Ice cream flavour? lemon
17. What is your country of birth? Belgium
18. What is your favourite season? Winter
19. What is your current desk top picture? landscape
20. What is your preferred mode of transport? bike
21. How many candles were on your last birthday cake? 1
22. Have you been in an accident? yes
23. Do you prefer a shower or bath? both, depending on my mood and time
24. Name a place you’d like to visit. Berlin
25. What is your favourite genre? History and fantasy
26. Do you prefer a car or truck? a car
27. Do you have a tattoo? no
28. Do you prefer Classic or Contemporary? Classic
29. What is your favourite flower? Orchid
30. Have you been to Europe? Where? (If you live in Europe, specify country other than your own.) I live in Europe and I have been to London, Amsterdam, Paris and Barçelona.
31. If you could meet anyone famous, infamous, notorious, who would it be? Stephen King
32. What is the feature on you are most often complimented? hair
33. Would you rather encounter a ghost, an alien, or neither? a ghost
34. What is your favourite animal (other than domestic pets)? owl and fox
35. What type of holiday do you prefer? (Beach, Mountain, Camping, exotic, etc) hiking
36. If you had to lose one of the 5 senses, which would you prefer it to be? speech
37. Who is your favourite author? Stephen King
38. Do you prefer tea, coffee, or water? tea and coffee
39. What is your birthstone using the US 2016 listing: Pearl and Alexandrite
40. What is your favourite fruit? advocado
41. Issue you are passionate about (abortion, euthanasia, animal rights… etc) Animal rights and children rights
42. Would you rather explore in space or undersea? undersea
43. To what time period would you like to time travel? prehistoric culture
44. Do you prefer shoes or barefeet? shoes
45. Do you prefer green or black olives? Neither? green olives
46. What is your Zodiac sign? Gemini
47. What is your height in inches? 62, 22
48. Who is someone you miss? no one
49. What is your hobby? reading and writing
50. What language would you like to learn to speak? Norwegian

[Peggy]

Fun to read your answers Saar!

Is there a special reason why you want to learn Norwegian?

[Sarah]

Great to see you joining us. Look forward to sering what you will be reading for your answers.

[Almeta]

Hello and welcome to the challenge. Look forward to seeing your book choices.

[Janice, Moderator]

Great answers. For the shoe size, you'll want to convert to US size. I think there was a link in the challenge thread somewhere.

[Saar The Book owl]

@Peggy: yes, the country is on my top 5 to travel to, so it would be helpful to learn the language.
@Janice: thank you. I've converted it.

Now searching for book to read!

[Saar The Book owl]

Part 1:

1/12: Question 1: The Beautiful Indifference: Stories by Sarah Hall

2/12: Question 2: The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son by Rupert Isaacson

3/12: Question 6: The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans

4/12: Question 12: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

5/12: Question 13: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

6/12: Question 18: Caribou Island by David Vann

7/12: Question 21: Blankets by Craig Thompson

8/12: Question 24: My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (with Recipes) by Luisa Weiss

9/12: Question 25: The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman

10/12: Quesiotn 34: Pax by Sara Pennypacker

11/12: Question 35: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

12/12: Question 37: Cujo by Stephen King

[Cherie]

Nice list of books for your question answers, Saar.

I wish that I had seen Pax when I was looking for a "fox" book. I added it to my TBR list.

I love "foodie" books, so I have added The Berlin Kitchen to my TBR too.

I read Cheryl Strayed's book several years ago. You are in for an adventure! I hope you like it!

[Saar The Book owl]

I hope you'll enjoy the books you added. I think I will read the most of my books in English. English is not my native language, so I can exercise it.

But I have a question for question 42: I want to choose a non - fiction book, but it's not translated in English. It's original language is Dutch and it's about the beginning and evolution of the sea, it's creatures, it's influence on earth...Is this okay or must it be in English? I can look for another book, that's no problem. It's called De zee: verhalen van een onbekend universum by Frank Schätzing If I translate the title right, it would be 'The sea: stories from an unknown universe.'

[Janice, Moderator]

Your books do not need to be in English, or translated into English. The only requirement is that they meet the criteria.

[Annerlee]

The book sounds really interesting Saar. I see it's translated from the German, so I could read it too - if I can get hold of a copy.

[Saar The Book owl]

I've started reading a couple of years ago, but I stopped because of not enough time. But it's good written. You don't get slammed with facts or numbers. It's written in fiction, but it's non - fiction. He talks about trilobites, like if you're on of them, for example.

[Annerlee]

Saar wrote: "I've started reading a couple of years ago, but I stopped because of not enough time. But it's good written. You don't get slammed with facts or numbers...."

Sounds promising. Funny - I've never even considered being a trilobite before!

[Sarah]

The book sounds intriguing. A shame it's not also translated in to English.

[Almeta]

Sarah wrote: "The book sounds intriguing. A shame it's not also translated in to English."

Yeah! I saw an English titled paperback, but it is not available. Does sound like an interesting book.

[Saar The Book owl]

Part 1:

1/12: 1. What is your name? (First, Last, Middle, Nickname – you only need to pick one if you prefer. Feel free to list them all.) Saar

I've chosen . This choice was based on the author's name. My name is Sarah ('Saar' for friends), so the choice was obvious. But I've got a strange but beautiful written book that left me with my mouth open. The red line in the seven stories are the women who are having monstrous events, but the autor gives the stories also a physicial power and in every story there is separation. Every story has it's own moment in life where women has to make difficult choices or having difficult moments/periodes in life.

[Janice, Moderator]

That book sounds really interesting, Saar. I've added it to my wishlist.

[Saar The Book owl]

Part 1:

4/12: 12. Do you have a pet? What is it?

I have a cat called Spike and a horse called Lambic.


I've read Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron. The choice to read this book wasn't difficult. I had that book for quiet a long time and never read it. Now was the time to do so. It was such a heartwarming story about a little cat changing so many lives in a small town: Spencer, Iowa.
I have a soft spot for cats and many times I had tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. The story was written by Vicki Myron. She used to be the librarian of the Spencer pulbic library and she found the little kitten on a cold morning, nearly freezing to death. She called him Dewey, like the decimal system that libraries use. Vicki gave also a good insight in how the town growed and how the library was evolving. I worked for a couple of years in public libraries and I found it interesting how other libraries in other countries evolved. The story was sometimes very sentimental, but not over the top and was well written. I've visited the website of the Spencer library and found old pictures of Dewey and the adress of Vicki. Maybe I'll write to her to let her know how her story moved me.

[Sarah]

I love how you have shortened your name. I went to college with someone who was actually called Sar, not shortened from Sarah, and I really liked it. No one has ever shortened my name as there isn't much (i thought) that could be done with it. I remember someone at primary school calling me Sazza and Saz which I very quickly vetoed.

[Saar The Book owl]

The few friends I have started calling me 'Saar' or 'Saartje', so I've started to get used to it. 'Sazza' or 'Saz' sounds good as an alternative.

[Saar The Book owl]

Part 1:

3/12: Question 6. What is your favourite book? The Horse Whisperer


I've read The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans.



This book means a lot for me for to many reasons. It was the first book that I bought as a teenager with my own money. I've heard that this book would be published and I saved until I could buy it. I've read it several times and I still have this in my library at home.
Horses have always ment a lot for me and in the book the author showed a different approach towards a horses: a kind, healing and loving approach. The personage Tom Booker was inspired on Monty Roberts. Monty used the method of Natural Horsemanship and Nicholas Evans used that to write his book. Evans did a lot of research and put it together in a good way. As a reader you learn a lot about relationships, especially between mother and daughter. I can't count the amount of times that I cried reading the book.

The movie was dissapointing, because of the end they have changed, but Robert Redford was wonderful and the only man that I see as a perect actor to play Tom Booker.

Last but not least, this book showed me how I can interact with my own horse and it learned me a lot in general.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Hah this was a teenage read for me, too. It was the first sex scene I read in a book too, lol.

[Cherie]

Way beyond my teenage years, but I read the book after I saw the movie. I still cried. I thought Robert Redford was wonderful too!

My sister was always the horse crazy person in our family. I loved them too, but I just wanted to be able to wear jeans and cowboy boots.

[Saar The Book owl]

@Rusalka: for me too :p

@Cherie: that's a good reason to be around horses too ;)