RDP Wednesday: Book

Posted in Ragtag Daily Prompt by angloswiss

Kindle

This is my book(s) (known as Kindle), well just part of it. It does not smell like a book, does not feel like a book and is not heavy like book. It is light weight, electronic and does what I tell it to do. I can upload my book from somewhere in the cyber bookworld and within a few seconds I have the full version (sometimes 3-400 pages) at my fingertips to read. It contains approximately 500 books at the moment, but always increasing and the languages are all there, according to whether you understand and can read them. Mr. Swiss also has such a Kindle, the advantage being that his and my Kindle books are available on all our electronic apparatus. This means whilst he reads a book on his Kindle that appeals to me, I can also read it on his iPad.

I like to take my book(s) with me wherever I go and upload a new one when I am finished with the book in progress. This is possible thanks to 3g, 4g or whatever you have on your Kindle as an electronic connection, even when I am not at home..

A book is not longer a book, but has become a comfortable connection laying in my hands. And so Mr. Swiss and I are in our armchairs in the evening, both holding our Kindles in our hands and are comfortable with them, unless we are watching the TV or are busy with our respective computers.

It is an online cyber life we lead. Who needs a library, do they still exist?

RDP Wednesday: Book

22Mar2019

RDP Friday: Book

Posted in Ragtag Daily Prompt by angloswiss

Bookcase

When two people get together that are both bookworms then you have to get the books somehow organised. This is just one example of a bookcase in the living room, the rest are distributed in six other book cases in our hobby room. When you read in two languages, German and English, the problem gets more complicated.

However there is one book that I always wanted to read and my dad (born 1915) had it in his possession and passed it onto me. It was “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, one of the first horror stories I had read and it impressed me. Written in the form of letters and diary entries it began with the visit of a Jonathon Harker to a mysterious castle in Transylvannia where count Dracula lived to organise the sale of property in England. It is absolutely nothing very much to do with the various films that have made about this Dracula. It seems that Bram Stoker based the story on a dream he once had, but who knows. I still have the book but it seems to have disappeared as many objects do as the years go past. It is a very old edition and lost a few parts of the bindings over the years, but can still be read.

It is one of the books that the anti Kindle people make examples of the preference of real books over electronic. It smells like a book (a little musty) and feels like a book. The book lovers forget to say that it is also falling apart like a book does with the years. I had read it many times.

Old Books

We have many such old books in our collection, mostly from my dad’s family. I see Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allen Poe in the row of old books: another favourite I shared with my dad. And on the end a bible. I think in the olden days everyone had a bible somewhere in the collection.

I have become a Kindle reader, do not bother so much with books as they are often too heavy for me to hold. Perhaps one day books will no longer exist, replaced by the electronic word. The main thing is that we can still read them and treasure them. Give me a book any time over a film.

RDP Friday: Book

14Apr2016

One Word Photo Challenge: Book

Posted in challenge, One Word Photo Challenge by angloswiss

Book

Just a cookery book on the bookshelf, but if you open it, you get a surprise.

Book

It was given to my dad’s sister as a prize at school in 1915, for her success in the cookery class. She was about 15 years younger than my dad. They are the memories you treasure at home.

I just cast a glance into it and found a recipe for Hodge Podge, the main ingredient being a neck of mutton, or shin of beef, cooked with various vegtables and barley, for at least 3 hours. Enjoy your meal I suppose and no, I have never cooked it.

One Word Photo Challenge: Book

1Jan2016

Daily Prompt: Stroke of Midnight – 3 years later, repeat prompt

Posted in challenge, daily prompt by angloswiss

Where were you last night at midnight? Would you have wanted to be somewhere else?

What an original question to ask on 1.1.2016, at least it would be if it had not already been asked on 1.1.2013 by the same Daily Prompt people. Yes it was another deja vue, one of many we have been suffering for the past year, at least I have.

Was I in bed, was I taking a walk in the crisp New Year air, was I at a rip-roaring party for golden oldies perhaps? No, I was at home in my armchair watching the TV.

“You don’t have to wait up if you don’t want to” said Mr. Swiss, noticing my eyes having a sort of far away sleepy look. It was 11.30 and so I decided what difference will 30 minutes make. I will do it, stay up until midnight. I was even too tired to read my new book.

I had finished my Swedish crime book, in german, “Die Menschen die es nicht verdienen” (the people that do not deserve it), by Horth and Rosenfeldt, the fifth in a row of stories concerning a police department in Sweden, particularly their criminal psychologist Sebastien Bergman. I have now read all five and enjoyed them. As far as I can see these books have not yet been translated from Swedish into English and so I have read them all in german and they are good.

I now have the choice to read something new. My decision had been made in a reading group I belong to online, Bestsellers and Literature. They are having a group read on the book “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline. Not really my sort of thing but it has been highly recommended. We are in the future world of gaming in 2041 when our world has nothing left because it is all disintegrating. I like a bit of sic fi, and so decided to try this. Mr. Swiss is absolutely not interested, not his sort of thing. I am still trying to encourage him to read something else, but he is a crime fan.

Anyhow I decided to download this book to my Kindle. My Amazon is the German group, .de, but no problem they have it all in english if you find it. Unfortunately now and again I do not find it and by error download the german version. I can read german with no problem, but if the book is originally written in English, then of course I prefer the english. I dowloaded the wrong copy, the german edition, and only discovered this error on the first page. There is no way to return, or undownload, the book and so I was forced to download the english version as well. Now I have it in two languages and am still trying to persuade Mr. Swiss to read it on my iPad in the original german. Anyhow I have read the first 30 pages and am convinced, this is going to be a good read.

I started the book yesterday evening, but as it was now near to midnight I shifted my concentration to the TV. One of this New Year German music parties was being shown, actors and people celebrating in the studio which was probably already filmed in Summer. I often wonder how people can dance a polonaise with heatwave temperatures and the sun shining all dressed in their New Year party clothes showing laughing and happy faces and toasting with their glass of champagne.

The scene changed on the TV and we were in a Swiss town where the bells were ringing. I looked at Mr. Swiss and said

“Isn’t that Solothurn?”, which is our local town.

“Yes it is, they are bringing the New Year from Solothurn this year.”

At last something worth watching, and so we saw our local cathedral, the streets of the town live at midnight, but almost completely empty, and everything in a pink tinged mist. They took us up to the belfry in the tower of the cathedral, which was very familiar to me as I once did the death defying climb up the stairs and of course took a few photos on the way. Happy New Year everyone, and WordPress please, please do not bring this prompt again next year. After 4 years of writing daily prompts I would like to see something different and original.

Belfry, St. Urs Cathedral, Solothurn

Daily Prompt: Stroke of Midnight – 3 years later, repeat prompt

11Jun2014

Writing 101 Day Seven Give and Take – A Question of reading

Posted in Challenges by angloswiss

Write a post based on the contrast between two things — whether people, objects, emotions, places, or something else.

Today’s twist: write your post in the form of a dialogue. You can create a strong opposition between the two speakers

“Have you finished that book you were reading last week?”

“Which book?”

“The one about the murder in the swamp .”

“Sorry no book.”

“But you was telling me how exciting it was, and you could not wait to find out who did it.”

“Yes, I know, but no book, I downloaded it on my Kindle.”

“Oh, then perhaps you can lend me your Kindle.”

“Definitely not, I am now reading the sequel, “Murder in the River” and that is also on my Kindle. I only have one Kindle. You will have to buy the book or your own Kindle.”

“The book is no longer available in the store and I do not have a Kindle. I prefer a solid book in my hands where I can turn the pages. The smell of the cover and paper appeals to me more than a neutral smell of plastic.”

“That’s your problem. Books for the Kindle are generally cheaper, sometimes I can even download a free book. I just flip the page over, no problem. I can also read my Kindle in the evening outside on the porch when it is night. I have built in illumination, no problem.”

“I don’t have problems in the evening, although I prefer to sit indoors and read my book. I can also take it to bed with me and read. The bedside light gives me enough light.”

“Same here, but I do not need a bedside light.”

“But your Kindle is full of finger marks on the plastic where you turn the pages.”

“And your book has coffee stains and even breadcrumbs between the pages.”

“So who did the murder in the swamp, was it the butler or the gamekeeper?”

“Read it yourself and no I am not going to lend you my Kindle.”

“Yes, but I do not want a Kindle. What is wrong with a good old fashioned book?”

“Nothing really, but you do not have the good old fashioned book about the Swamp Murder and I have it on my Kindle. You know what, read something else. I have David Copperfield by Charles Dickens on my bookshelf in the cellar, where my other books are, the ones I no longer need because I have a Kindle.”

She slammed the door when she left.

Writing 101 Day Seven: Give and Take – A Question of Reading

16May2014

Daily Prompt: Wordly Encounters from planet Flum

Posted in Challenges by angloswiss

The friendly, English-speaking extraterrestrial you run into outside your house is asking you to recommend the one book, movie, or song that explains what humans are all about. What do you pick?

Dandelion Seed Heads

“Aaaahchoo! Aaahchoo!”

“What is that noise? Sounds like someone has a cold coming on. Who are you?” and there he was, complete with three eyes and an arm ending in a large something that looked like a finger and thumb, he opened his mouth. I think it was a mouth, just a slit beneath the eyes.”

“I do not have a cold, but my beaming device was geared to living organisms and I have landed in the middle of these feather balls which definitely have a negative effect on my breathing system. First of all, I will introduce myself. I am Bog, citizen of planet Flum and have been assigned to inform my folk of the cultural atmosphere on the planet Earth.”

“Yesterday I received a dead ancestor as a surprise from WordPress and today an extra-terrestrial. WordPress have their fingers everywhere. First of all I do not like extra-terrestrials landing in my garden. You have large flat feet that have left footprints in my lawn, so perhaps you could move over to the porch.”

He looked at me with all three eyes and a scrutinizing stare. He then hopped onto the porch with all three feet.

“That is better, so how can I help you?”

“Please to advise a good book, film or song that would characterise the complete atmosphere of this planet Earth. On our planet Flum we can only receive the television programmes, and it is difficult to decide which is the most typical of planet Earth. Is it perhaps The Simpsons, Sponge Bob or even Star Trek that show scenes of life on Earth? My personal favourite is The Simpsons, but the children on our illustrious planet Flum prefer Star Trek and sometimes watch an interesting programme called “News”, but I warned my sweet little kiddies that this “News” programme was not really for unformed minds: too much action and strange men all having different opinions. Personally I prefer the Simpsons, more similar to a normal family life. “

“Yes well Bog, I would perhaps not recommend to believe everything on the television, especially “News”. I think a book might be better so that you can form your own opinion of the Earth Culture.”

“Who are you talking to Mrs. Angloswiss?” and Mr. Swiss appeared on the porch. “Now he is sweet, I am sure the felines would love to play with him, or is he a food supplement? They love variety.”

“He is a sort of ET type sent by WordPress to gather some worldly culture.”

“WordPress again. But yesterday they sent your dead grandfather. I think you should stop doing that daily prompt, it is becoming quite weird.”

“All our ET wants is a book recommendation, film or song to take back to his planet, a souvenir of earthly culture.”

“No problem, I would recommend “Milestones” by Miles Davis as a record. That is one of the best by the master.”

“But perhaps they are not into jazz on planet Flum. I am sure something more soothing like a Paolo Conte song selection would be more appropriate.”

“But that is Italian. No, give him a recording of Miles Davis.”

“Mrs. Earthwoman, Mr. Earthman, I am confused, could you perhaps just let me have a book.”

“I know, what about 50 shades of Grey. It is quite a hit on Earth and would give a good idea on planet Flum how things work here.” In the meanwhile Mr. Swiss was listening to some music on his iPod.

“No, definitely not Mrs. Earthwoman. We have read that book on our planet and it is very confusing. Life on planet Flum is more colourful and it is too complicated for us: too much him and her and not enough cultural atmosphere. And think of our children.”

I decided to go into a more religious direction. “What about our bible?”

“We have our own bible. A second bible would only complicate things. Actually there is a reason why I arrived in your garden, and not because of the allergy causing flower heads, and he sneezed again. No, word has spread on Flum that you are a writer, your daily blogs show us what life on earth is really about and we have seen that you have written a book which has been published. Unfortunately we have not been able to organise a copy on Flum and I was wondering, if you would have a copy for me.”

Of course I had a copy for our little Flumeronian. I had been wating for this chance to spread the word, to make my book a success throughout the world, and even throughout the Universe. I dug into the book shelves and found one copy. I removed the dust from its covers and wiped away the coffee stains. He clamped it between his finger and thumb. Did I see tears appear in his three eyes?

“Mrs. Earthwoman, may I ask for a dedication written on the first page of the book. “Wise words from the greatest Earth author” and perhaps your web site address from WordPress. You have a great community on planet Flum that follow your blogs daily. That was the main reason why my beamer was tuned into your garden as a landing platform and of course WordPress did promise a free makeover on our computer system. They said it would be a great new look with a grid and ……”

I had to interrupt him. I did not want to disillusion this sweet little ET who was one of my faithful followers. We hugged each other, he touched my finger with his and said “ET Going Home” or something like that. I seemed to hear music in the background and he was gone.

Daily Prompt: Wordly Encounters from Planet Flum

16Jun2013

Daily Prompt: Bookworm

Posted in Challenges by angloswiss

Tell us about the last book you read (Why did you choose it? Would you recommend it?). To go further, write a post based on its subject matter.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us WORDS.

My friend's Alsatian

The Alsatian in the photo belonged to a late friend of mine. It was her guard dog as she was handicapped, a dog to be proud of.

So what does the dog have to do with my daily prompt blog. To start at the beginning, I have a very good colleague on another blogger site, Mitch. He comments on my work, I comment on his and we once had a small discussion about the late James Herbert, a British author. James Herbert writes normally so-called “horror fiction” and often centres his stories in the east End of London, where my origins are. This is not surprising as he also grew up in this area, his parents having a stall in the local market. He was only a couple of years older than me, but I never met him although probably knew his parents from local visits to the Bethnal Green Road market.

I have not yet read all of his books, but am on my way. Mitch recommended reading the book “Fluke” telling the story of a dog that was once a human. Generally I do not like reading books about animals. I just get too emotional if anything negative happens to the animal. I am an animal lover and one of the reasons I would never want to work at a vets is because I would be too much involved with the animal feelings. I have three felines, my trio infernal, but no dogs. I like dogs, but my felines have a sort of thing about dogs. They run away when they are near, I wonder why?

So I decided to read “Fluke” by James Herbert and found it one of his best books. Just two hundred pages, but packed with stories and emotions, both human and doggy. Fluke was born in an animal home where he was up for adoption. At the beginning he tells of his life snuggled up to other furry creatures like himself. He is eventually adopted but did doggy things his new family did not like (he was a bit careless about where his toilet was) and returned to the home where it was decided he was unadoptable and was on the death list. Fluke ran off and then the adventure starts. He is “adopted” by a large street dog who lived and was a watchdog on a site where cars are dumped. This is somewhere in the South of London and the man in charge appears a dubious character. Fluke’s settles in with his new friend Rumbo. Rumbo is a perfectly trained street dog and always seems to know where his next meal is. Needless to say Fluke learns a lot of doggy tricks from Rambo.

All good things come to an end and one day Fluke finds himself again on the road, but now a fully grown dog and no longer a puppy. He finds a few humans that take him in, for better or worse, wanders off again, and spends life living rough in forests and where he finds shelter. In the meanwhile he realises that he was once a human and finds his way to his human origins. I do not want to make this blog one big spoiler, so read it all for yourself. I can only say that Fluke’s human life does not turn out as he thought it was.

There are a few sentimental moments in the story, but I could live with them. It does not have a happy end or a sad end, but just the life of a roaming dog that wanders on his way. Fluke I grew to love you and your story.

Daily Prompt: Bookworm

24Sep2009

The Trucker and his Book

Posted in Poems by angloswiss

Trucker and his book

In a world of his own he sat there
Turning the pages one at a time
Unaware of surrounding disturbance
Through the words he started to climb
He was reading his book

He had forgotten his truck outside
the bookshop, it was snowing
he did not want to drive further
a cold wind it was blowing
While he was reading his book

The shop was full of people
Some were staring his way
But he was lost in another world
Somewhere he wanted to stay
Because he was reading his book

Not dressed as the usual customer
I suppose this made him stand out
But he was not really caring
The others they can doubt
He just wanted to read his book

But then he looked at the window
The snow had come to a stop
He reluctantly put the book down
and walked out to the cold, so what
He thought as he stopped reading the book

He mounted the cabin of his truck
but part of him was left behind
He remembered the name of the book
He had kept it in his mind
He was already missing his book

The roads were icy it was a bad day
for bringing his load to afar
He needed a drink, he wanted to stop
Because he saw a bar
But he knew there would be no book

He wanted to pull over away from the road
but in front a car made a turn
The tyres had lost their hold on the ice
He stopped, but the truck started to burn
If only he had his book

The lorry was soon aflame with heat
The trucker could no longer leave
He had saved the lives of the people in front
But his book he wanted to retrieve
His only thought was his book

There is a bookshop on the highway
it is always closed at night
But if you look through the window
You might see a tiny light
The trucker was reading his book

Being honest the title is based on a remark made on one of my blogs by a supporter.
"You always turn a topic inside out and on its head" were words also applied by a visitor to one of my blogs. I think she hit the nail on the head.

Prompts are there to act on, not just tell everyone what you had for lunch or your likes and dislikes. I trust that on my blog you find something spiced with humour. Mr. Swiss, my other half, has been known to say that not everyone always understands my humour (I do not always understand his).

Blogging is for me coupled with having fun. I do what I want to and not what I have to.

Disclaimer: Not reponsible for any spelling or grammatical mistakes. I do my best, but having two langugages revolving in my brain (yes, I have one), sometimes the result is more bi- than unilingual.