Introduce yourself

[B&b ex libris]

Hi! I am Bethany and I love reading around the world....even when reading other books, that is what I would rather be doing!
I grew up in Spain, and graduated from University with a major in Spanish Lit. I have a minor in English Lit and History. My love of the nations of the world and better understanding them through reading books is something I never hope is put on the back burner.
I currently live in the the Pacific Northwest of the US...but my dreams are constantly moving. We'll see where I get to next!

Happy to be here, sorry it took me so long to post this intro!!!

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by B&b ex libris

I grew up in Spain, and graduated from University with a major in Spanish Lit.

Hi Bethany, welcome in finally, properly.

On the subject of Spanish Lit, I think this is as good a reason as we need to get a Spanish Literature thread started, to go with all the others we currently have.

[B&b ex libris]

Originally Posted by Stewart

Hi Bethany, welcome in finally, properly.

On the subject of Spanish Lit, I think this is as good a reason as we need to get a Spanish Literature thread started, to go with all the others we currently have.

Yah! We sure do...my constant question is where will the flag be from, since so many different nations speak Spanish...

Let me know if I can help in any way.
You are doing such a great job with this, glad to be here to watch it take off!

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by B&b ex libris

Yah! We sure do...my constant question is where will the flag be from, since so many different nations speak Spanish...

Spain. All the other nations will get their own thread in time.

[humanoyd]

Hello all,

My name is Ricardo and I'm from Lisbon, Portugal.

I'm a fairly new reader, started a few years ago, and some of the books that 'boosted' my appetite for literature were '1984', 'Brave New World'.
I also recently finished a very long 'died' of Tolstoy, with 'War and Peace', which was by far the most inspiring works I have ever read.

Its great to be part of a community where we can learn so much, and more important, see things from more than one perspective.

[Stewart]

Hi, Ricardo. If you liked Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, you may like We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. I suppose that brings together neatly the mix of Russian literature and dystopias.

[humanoyd]

Thanks for your suggestion Stewart By the time I've completed Brave New World I tried reading 'We' also.

'We' is one of those books that were extremely difficult for me to understand.
Mainly because it was very hard for me to render solid images from the society described in 'We'.

Dystopias presented, at least for me, very pertinent opinions from a future society, which fitted extremely well in our nowadays society.
For example I remember the Brave New World definition for 'Soma' and how it compares so well with smoking, and also other types of drugs, that in some way influence society.
It was really inspiring to read well structured books that helped me organize my thoughts.

[Kingbee]

Hi

My name is Tom, from Wales in the UK. Am glad to have found this place! My favourites are

Jorge Luis Borges (everything by this guy- I find his stories mindblowing!)

James Joyce (Ulysses was brilliant- I have never read Finnegans Wake but I love reading about it if that makes any sense!)

Albert Camus- The Outsider and The Fall,

Flann O'Brien- At Swim Two Birds and am currently reading the Third Policeman.

Last, but not least, I think one of the greatest works of literature is Pessoa's Book of Disquiet.

Am sure I'll enjoy it here!

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by Kingbee

My name is Tom, from Wales in the UK. Am glad to have found this place!

Hi, Tom. It's good that people can find the place, too.

My favourites are...Jorge Luis Borges...James Joyce...Albert Camus...Flann O'Brien...Pessoa's Book of Disquiet.

Well, we have threads on a few of them so far: Jorge Luis Borges, Albert Camus, and Fernando Pessoa. Have fun.

[Subhashree Naman]

Hello,

I am Subhashree and I am from India. I chanced upon this site today and I am glad I did. Needless to say I enjoy reading but I also enjoy listening to how different people perceive a book. I look forward to some meaningful exchange of thoughts and ideas...

[Stewart]

The more the merrier. Welcome, Subhashree. Out of interest, how did you chance upon it?

[Ya3rub]

My name is Ahmed , I'm 23 years old
I'm from Saudia Arabia .
I'm glad to be here , hope to enjoy ourselves .

[Subhashree Naman]

I was browsing for some good book reviews and must thank Google for guiding me here!

[saliotthomas]

Originally Posted by Subhashree Naman

I was browsing for some good book reviews and must thank Google for guiding me here!

welcomz Subhashree,
and Stewart that sound like a good news...music to your hears,Champagne!(the drink of course)

[Anna van Gelderen]

I am a Dutch reader with a completely useless degree in Eng Lit and a law degree as well, so that I am at least able to earn my own living. Reading has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I am pathetically possessive about my books; I never lend, I never borrow and I keep having to journey to Ikea to buy new bookcases. About three-quarters of the books I read are English/American/Irish/Canadian, etc, but about every fourth book is from the rest of the world. I am presently reading Hesse and other "world literature" I have recently read include Light by Torgny Lindgren, The Swan by Gudbergur Berggson, The Year Is '42 by Nella Bielski, I Am a Cat by Suseki Natsume (or Natsume Suseki?) and Balzac's Eugénie Grandet. Somehow I don't much care for most of Dutch literature.

[kukumaluphoon]

Not so well recently, so I buried myself in the literature world and want to seek some places of quiet, now I found it's fantastic, I'm feeling so good. the first novel I read is 'Jane Eyre', I have to say, I love it, I'm a big fan of Jane now, we have so much in common.

anyway, I'm not a good talker in my life, I'm the kind of person autistic, most of the time, I think but not talk, which sometimes makes me hate myself. but that's ok, hope have fun here!(pardon me about my poor English, correct me anytime u think necessary, which would be very helpful for me, thanx

[metin]

Hello. My name is Metin, from Istanbul. 29 years old. I love literature, yet am not so into poetry. I love the elegant tone of the old poems though. I like collecting old books, especially the ones in the Ottoman form (Turkish printed in Arabic script). I'm learning Russian and Italian by myself.

I am happy to find this forum. Sounds like it's not like any of those millions of literature forums in the www. Actually I dont think I have much to offer here. I'm rather willing to read comments and recommendations from other members.

Kind Regards,
Metin

[Heteronym]

Hello, Metin, welcome!

I'm sure you'll be able to offer a lot to our community.

Right now I call tell you yours is the best avatar I've seen on this forum

[metin]

Originally Posted by Heteronym

Right now I call tell you yours is the best avatar I've seen on this forum

Thank you very much. By the way, he is Nasreddin, FYI.

[Eric]

Metin brings up something rather interesting in his introductory posting here: the fact that Turkish literature was once written in the Arabic alphabet.

Does this not, in effect, cut modern Turkish people off from everything written before 1928 (the year that our alphabet was introduced for Turkish with a few added diacritical marks), unless they have learnt to read the Arabic alphabet, or the books have been transliterated into the Roman alphabet? This surely means that a kind of filtering takes place, because not all books from before 1928 will automatically be transliterated and republished in the modern alphabet.

The question of Atatürk's attitude to Arabic loanwords is also interesting. This is discussed at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rds_in_Turkish