Monday 13 April 2009

Books books books books books.....

Relaxing holidays are soon over. I should soon get back to ordering books (some interesting ones are being published this fall!) and forget my knittings for a while.

Meteorologists promised sunshine, but I haven't seen any sun. (Hmm, how many suns do we have?). I finished my "Kahdesti haarautuva puu" and that's why I'm still living in different worlds. I can recommend that book for everyone, although I remember enjoying it a bit more in English, maybe because the story was not familiar to me when I read it :) Ursula tells about a woman called Sutty, who explores a world where religion, books, old habits and ancient stories are forbidden. The life of the countryside people is still dependant on those old traditions and the rich culture is something Sutty gets interested in. The story is beautifully written and it really makes you think (which is sadly not so common in books these days).

I also read "Terveyden kiinalainen kirja" by Denis Vinokur this weekend and it was interesting as books about Chinese medicine always is. Chinese medicine (if not using tiger teeth or other ingredients got from rare wild animals) is based on thought about energy called Qi, which should flow around in your body freely. Stress, bad food, weather, too much/too little exercise, so many things can affect the flow of Qi and block it in some places and that causes different diseases. Unlike in Western medicine, diseases are treated by trying to change the way of living, not just taking pills. Food is for example one of the important remedies in Chinese medicine. This book told the basic things I already knew about Chinese medicine, but I guess it would be interesting to read for someone, who doesn't know much about the subject. There were also tips for meditating at home as well as meridian points which can be treated when you have certain illness.
The last book I read this weekend was Tommi Uschanov's Mikä vasemmistoa vaivaa? (What's wrong with the left wing?" and although I'd had that book borrowed from the library for over half a year (!), this weekend I finally grabbed it and started to read. Interesting facts and thought provoking ideas as well as good answers you can use against basic arguments used by politicians these days. Sometimes I really need to find this kind of books, which have something else to say than the normal political jargon where people try to hide the real thoughts inside the thicket of useless words.

I've been one month at the library now and now I know something about the reading habits of people using the library. Most of all, it's good that people read! And boys borrowing Ursula's books and women loaning books about organic gardening make me smile. But the fact is that women read mostly romantic books as well as detective stories, where men are most interested in books about war, both fact and fiction. Children still love Pippi Longstocking (Peppi Pitkätossu in Finnish) and funny Puppe -books by Eric Hill (Spot the Dog in English). Also comics are very popular, especially manga books.

That's all about books!

One thing before going to movies (Visitor!). I don't know if I told about Raw Gaia before, but I've been very satisfied with the products I ordered from there. Jojoba oil makes my flaking skin feel better, when I apply it before going to sleep and MSM Beauty Cream keeps my skin moisturised during the day. Ordering was easy and delivery fast and in addition to these I also bought spirulina powder (the smell is horrible, but it doesn't taste when you mix it with smoothies :D) Too bad there isn't any cure for my rosacea though...And antibiotics are still the last opinion in my mind.

Thank you, goodbye!

3 comments:

  1. How do you decide which books to order, what languages ? How many etc.

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  2. That's the fun and difficult part in my work :) The previous boss taught me what kind of books are popular and I've been in the desk so often so I see what kind of books people really read. I also check how many books other libraries order and have the other books of the writer been popular. But I also go with the feeling ;)

    Of course we order also not-so-popular-non-fiction-books, because we need to have the basic information about everything in the library if someone needs it :) All books are basically in Finnish, especially fiction books, but some non-fiction are also in other languages, mostly in English (like knitting books for example). I guess in Western Finland there are more books in Swedish, we have more in Russian :)

    How many...We have main library, 1 branch library and mobile library, so for example the most popular children books are ordered to all those places.

    And ask more if you want to know something :)

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  3. Thanks :)
    This is pretty hard job as I see but so interesting!

    Good luck to you :)

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