Although perhaps not quite at the level of the end of this quote from metaphysical poet Thomas Traherne: ‘… inexpressibly rare and delightful and beautiful’.
Yes, I am pushing out my little sailing-boat to new, unexplored shores. New job, new timetable, new way of presenting my book haul and a meeting with one of my living heroines: Herta Müller.
I thought I might save some time if I present my book haul in a one-take video and upload that on You Tube. I’m not quite convinced yet that it will be a time-saver, but perhaps this will get faster as I become more familiar with the settings. I rather cringe, though, when I see and hear myself speaking. Plus, my anonymity is gone now!
Here is the link to the video. Let me know if you have any problems viewing it.
I’m off to catch the train to see Herta Müller at the British Library and will write more about it when I get back.
findingtimetowrite 
Congratulations on the new job. I recall your recent posts about applying, so well done. Hope it turns out well for you.
Thank you for your good wishes. Yes, I might have moaned and bitched my way through the application processes over the past many months. I am shocked at the shoddy recruitment practices of many organisations and recruitment agencies, but that’s another story!
Great haul Marina Sofia, and its nice to ‘see’ you!
I especially like your kitchen justification for book buying, which I’m going to steal because I’m currently getting plastering quotes for one room which make me faint (I’m sure I’d be better off training as a plasterer) 😀
Hope you have a lovely time with Herta!
(A superficial and non-bookish PS: I have hair envy. We have exactly the same style but mine will never be as lovely and thick as yours *sigh*)
That hair comment was just too funny, because my hairdresser was relieved when I started to lose my hair! It was so horribly thick and long in my 20s that no one wanted to cut it. And, yes, please feel free to use my kitchen/home decoration justification. Unfortunately, I had to unblock a drain yesterday, which was at a weekend call out charge. I could have afforded many, many Kafkas with that money!
Oh, Marina Sofia, this is great! What a wonderful idea for sharing your book haul! I really hope you’ll do this again. And you’ve got some interesting-sounding books, too. I’ll bet that biography of Kafka is interesting. And I am tempted by those Argentinian authors….
One day, when I get nonchalant about the whole process, it might actually take less time. It’s not ideal for book reviews, but quite a useful way to show off multiple book purchases.
Oh well done Marina Sofia. Mind you, I shivered and quivered and whimpered, as I imagined doing similar. The blessed anonymity of blogging behind a pseudonym and a picture of a blue flower is a must-have for me. Not even my nears and dears know my reviewing name – though they probably do, if chancing on a book review and recognising maybe written phrases which they heard as spoken phrases. I like to hide!
I kept my corporate and writing life well apart, with no pictures, pseudonym and so on. But I’ve stopped caring what my clients or employers think about my writing/blogging sideline…
Yay! Wonderful to see you – you’re so much braver than me! Like the others, I prefer to hide behind the image of someone/something else! And some wonderful finds – books are so much more important and essential than kitchens! 🙂 Good luck this week!
I’m not sure that I can live without kitchen drawers and a dying fridge for very long… unless my motto for feeding the boys becomes: ‘let them eat books!’
Well done on taking the video plunge! Hope you enjoy the Herta Muller event.
It was brilliant – she is so modest, passionate about language and writing, and much funnier in person than you’d expect from reading her books!
Well done. I don’t think I’ll be doing anything similar though. 🙂
I don’t think I’ll be doing it too often, but I need to find ways to save time in the future.
Thanks for the mention. Fay Weldon’s latest The Death of a She Devil is taking some flak depending on whose review you read. I ordered it so I’ve yet to form my opinion, but I expect some controversy.
I have a real estate friend who regales me with stories of people and their kitchen remods. My favourite take is her observation that people order up 50-100K kitchens when all they do is use the microwave.
I enjoyed the vlog post. Not my thing but I enjoyed yours. Buying books is better than boozing, shooting up or going on various other binges.
Yes, they had that one at the library, but I thought I’d reread the older one first. My problem is I actually like cooking and use the kitchen a lot, so I have quite specific demands for my kitchen, i.e. champagne taste on a lemonade budget.
Will you write a post when you reread it?
Congratulations on taking the plunge! Once again you’re ahead of me – I have considered adding videos to my blog and have even filmed a personal pilot before procrastinating and heading back to my comfort zone.
I’ll be following your multimedia appearances with admiration 🙂
Thank you! I’ve been hesitating for a year now, so plenty of time, no rush! Funnily enough, I do webinars and video conferences regularly for my work. But there it’s talking about a professional topic, not my personal opinions, so it’s much easier.
It’s lovely to be able to put a face to one of my favourite bloggers, Marina. Wishing you all the best in your new job x
You are too kind! Not quite as photogenic as my avatar, but it gives me something to aspire to.
How lovely to “see” you! Have been mulling on bookhauling via video for a while, but …. Maybe one day … maybe ,..
Mulled it over for ages. I do it all the time for work (although it tends to be livestreaming rather than recorded and edited), but that feels very different. Less personal.
Hello! Nice to see you—great haircut (I know it’s technically visible on your avatar, but it looks brilliant from the front!)
(Also, video is excellent and I am well impressed—I’m far too scaredy, and hate my own speaking voice too much, to try it.)
Ooh, how brave! Excellent work – and nice to “meet” you. Of course, I never hide behind an avatar or a fake name – my mother just had strange tastes, as my brother ForeignFilmFan can attest… 😉
Good luck with the new job tomorrow!
Lovely video (I hope you do others next time)! Good luck with the new job! C’est la rentrée also for you then 😉
how lovely to see and hear the person behind this blog. I admire you for taking the plunge with video. I turned that function off my phone when it was introduced in work because I frequently did conference calls early morning and it was much nicer to do them in my pyjamas. If I did video I would have had to get dressed and be in full make up….
Excellent! I’ve been thinking about doing a video of me talking about books . I’d like to do it in a pub while I’m drinking a pint of beer. Keep up the good work!!!
This was great very nice to ‘meet’ you!