1 November 2011

About me...

Hello readers out there! The woman behind this 'Blythes & Books' Blog goes by the name of Mandy.

I'm a 30-something woman living with her husband (for over 6 years) in their humble home, which is situated in the eastern part of The Netherlands. This house of ours is filled to the brim with my hobbies: I have a scrapbooking room and a room where my Blythe dolls (9 of them) are sort of living in their still-not-finished homes surrounded with tiny shoes, outfits and vintage Skipper clothing.
As of lately I have seriously started collecting books as well. By that I don't mean special books or editions, simply great amounts of books I need to have ;) Real books, that is, not e-books. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I love the weighty feel of a book in my hands! I love the way books smell, I love the sometimes beautifully embellished pages, the endlessness of the print on the pages. I don't like E-books because books shouldn't be 'lit up' and read from a desk chair. Books should be enjoyed in a comfortable manner, preferably in silence, but always with a cup of tea and some chocolates. Always ;)


For as long as I can remember, I've been in love with books. I used to move around the house with my eyes glued to the pages, to many people's annoyance. Unfortunately, the high-school-reading-list killed my passion for reading. There were too many of them to read in too short a time, they went too deep with their messages, sometimes they were too smutty  -even though they were supposedly 'literature' one could learn from.
When the movies 'Harry Potter' and 'Twilight' came along, I became interested in reading again. (Sort of embarrassing to admit with all the controversy surrounding the franchise, LOL.) Carefully I re-entered the world that had patiently waited for me, the world of fantasy. I love how you can be curled up on the couch when it's cold outside, accompanied by a book, tea and chocolates and be in another world all at once. I love how you can bask in the sunlight while reading about a place the exact opposite and feel chilly somehow. I love how you become someone else without having to face the consequences. Anything and everything is possible. That's why sometimes I actually DREAD beginning a new book, when the one I just finished was so good I'm still living in it. It really feels like betraying a friend when I leave, or betraying myself even.

Yes, the power of words. I envy those who posses the talent to enchant readers, to create new worlds, to write with poetic beauty. Like many others I aspire to write my own book someday. Until then I'll read to find out what I like, to separate the right from the wrong. My favorite genres are: fantasy, paranormal romance, supernatural stories, steampunk, sci-fi, historic, dystopian; YA in general.

Like so many others out there, I decided to start a blog about books (and maybe some Blythe stuff as well). It'll mostly be about the ones I've read and reviewed, but I intend to extend my blog to cover reveals, books I'm anxiously awaiting and maybe some book trailers as well. My goal is to keep readers informed by writing well-argumented reviews. Someday I hope to be able to review ARCs as well. It would be a great honour to read and review a book before it has hit the shelves. Consider this an invitation if you have anything to offer ;)


I joined 'Goodreads' (http://www.goodreads.com/) this year and I love keeping track of my books there, reviewing them, being on the prowl for interesting new reads, discussing books and finding more reviews on a book if I'm not sure about it. I read in English, mostly because I find the atmosphere is somehow lost once the book is translated into Dutch. Also because there aren't many great Dutch YA books.


In my next post I'll leave you with one of the first reviews I did since I joined Goodreads. It's not much, but I started doing more extensive reviews after a while, so bare with me. I will re-write these reviews some day, but for now they will have to do. Whilst reading I already keep track of many things now, and some of the early reviews on Goodreads were done some time after reading.

If you want to contact me, you can email me at: blythesandbooks at hotmail dot com  (Hopefully you understand what I mean and the link still works, I adjusted the text a bit in hope of avoiding spam...)


Have a nice day and leave me a comment here, it's much appreciated!

Hugs!

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You're amazing, thanx for your input! :)