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bestfriends Jalhay, Liège / Luik Belgium not provided Saturday, August 06, 2005 not provided |
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Welcome to my bookshelf and profile(last update: 7th January 2012) You can also find me on Facebook. 
also on:  and as BestFriends on  In a hurry and here for a specific reason? Here's a list to Click if you want to skip other info, to jump directly to: CONTACT info (Including dates I'm away from home) RINGS AND RAYS I JOINED RINGS and RAYS I STARTED Conditions for JOINING my rings/rays KEEP THEM MOVING 2008/2009/2010/2011 MORE ABOUT ME BOOKS READ Hope you can spare a minute to visit: my GUESTMAP! Please note: In case of allergies: My books are NOT from a smoke and pet-free home and besides: most of them have been bought in second hand stores, so no guarantees whatsoever they don't smell! Waarschuwing: Mijn boeken komen NIET uit een rookvrije omgeving en ik heb een hond (tot voor kort ook een kat). Dit in verband met evt. allergieën of extreme intolerantie van geuren! About Bookcrossing & me:
I first heard about Bookcrossing when in about 2003 one of my daughters had found a travelling book in Amsterdam. She wasn't too keen to join BC herself, but she let me know 'This is absolutely something for you to join' . It took a while before I became a member, because at the time I was too busy running a B&B in France and besides, I had a slow and very expensive dial-up internet connection, so I avoided on-line activities like that. It took until August 2005 to actually join and I never regretted it. I'm Dutch, but I left the Netherlands in 2002. I first spent 5 years in Northern France, then 4 years in the French speaking part of Belgium. At the moment (starting October 2011) I live temporarily in the South of France, probably all winter and longer if I like it here. That has made wild-releasing a little difficult for me; practically all my books are in English or in Dutch. In the beginning I used to send a lot of books abroad by mail, fulfilling wishes etc. I still do sometimes (especially books not registered by me, see my "Keep them Moving" stats), but not as often as I used to while in France, where they were having a special low postal rate for books. In Belgium postage is very expensive. The last book I mailed overseas (Canada) cost me € 11.50. You might as well buy a book on-line and have it send there directly! This is the reason why I recently started to give them to OBCZs or refrain to Europe only. My books in Dutch I can release in the wild in Maastricht or in Flanders. Oh and by the way: I'm a freelance transcriptionist/proofreader/editor. I also do all kinds of word-processing work including translations. I'm working from home. Looking for new opportunities including 'regular' jobs! "Boeken zijn je beste vrienden" (A book is like a Best Friend) I did not like the way I had to spell it though (in one word) but there was no other possibility as the correct spelling (like with capitals and a hyphen) was already taken or would not be accepted. I would have needed to add a number and I wanted to avoid that. My profile used to be a lot longer with all kinds of information and pictures etc. until one day it got all screwed up due to some HTML error. I removed a lot and could only restore things with the help of chich (thanks!). Ever since I don't dare to add too much fun stuff any more. It's boring and simple now, I know! :-( After the beta-site was launched some parts got a bit screwed up again, without me having changed anything myself (strange under-linings). I hope they will disappear again all by itself too. Currently reading:The Map of Love - Ahdaf Soueif back to top Books I've Read in 2012Books I've Read in 2011 (71)Books I've Read in 2010 (85)Books I've Read in 2009 (68)Books I've Read in 2008 (76)Books I've Read in 2007 (84)Books I've Read in 2006 (62) Books moved on in 2008 (48)back to top Books moved on in 2009 (22)Books moved on in 2010Books moved on in 2011Contact info  You can find my email and snailmail address at RABCK.com If you are not a member please leave a message in one of the forums if I don't answer your PMs. I normally answer them within say 48 hrs. so it could be I have not received it or that I'm away from home without internet access if you don't get an answer. Please note: dates that I'm away from home without internet excess will be mentioned here: I will be moving house end of October 2011 and may not be able to answer PMs for some time back to top |
RINGS I STARTED: For more details and a mailinglists click: Invisible - Paul Auster CLOSED (the book is considered lost or stalled). bookmaniac70 will replace the book with this copy and continue the ring. Succesfully COMPLETED The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett Closed The Gathering - Anne Enright The Grandmothers - Doris Lessing Until Death Do Us Part - Ingrid Betancourt The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult Never let me go - Kazuo Ishiguro A Heart of Stone - Renate Dorrestein Sixty Million Frenchmen can't be wrong In a Dark Wood Wandering - Hella S. Haasse STALLED OR LOST: Valse Salie - Roos Boum (Dutch) MISSING IN THE MAIL. Now on "Lost Book Island". Me talk pretty one day - David Sedaris STALLED with lmjsmum. Now on "Lost Book Island".  COMPLETED RAYS: Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman Bitter Herbs - Marga Minco The Piano Shop on the Left Bank - Thad Carhart (INT) STALLED: The Piano Shop on the Left Bank - Thad Carhart (EUROPE) LOST IN MAIL (or stuck with andthings?) Now on "Lost Book Island". Some rules and guidelines: Sorry if this sounds strict, but after a few less nice experiences, I felt obliged to have: General conditions for joining my rings or rays: PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING: I reserve the right to decide who will take part in my rings and rays. While I'm not obsessive about my books, I care very much about the people who sign up for my rings/rays and I really hate to see them end up disappointed, when after having been waiting for months, the book just does not arrive as it has disappeared in some black hole. I don't have a blacklist, but if your screenname is unfamiliar to me (not talking about newbies here, see below), I do a little search of my own concerning your "history" as to rings and rays. I have a look at: *your forum posts: I look for "Yes, me please" posts in the bookring forum. If you join so many that it seems almost humanly impossible you can read them all in a reasonable time frame, I will have a question mark. *history of bookrings you joined in the past: I have a look on your shelf looking for books with a high journal count or marked *bookring*, to see if you moved them on according to the the rules. *ISO's messages: People can't get in touch for your address or PM's are being ignored when asking to move the book along. *stats: books found versus releases caught. Newbies don't yet have such a "history" or stats, so I do encourage them to contact me, as we have all been a newbie once. I was not denied to join my first ring either. I may decide though, to add newbies at the end of a shippinglist, to give them a chance to meanwhile get familiar with the ring/ray phenomenon and BC itself. Please think twice before you join, if you think you will fail the test. I had some awfully unpleasant discussions when I rejected people. Even so, that I may choose to ignore your application to avoid just that and give no explanation at all. Sorry. Order of participants: The order will be juggled between geography, date of request, shipping limitations and preferences such as "not too high on the list". Late additions may be added to the end of the list, if logistics permit. If during the journey of the ring/ray you let me (or the reader before you) know that you want to be skipped and moved further down the list, please check if this will have consequenses for you or others as to shippingpreferences!! Please: • make a journal entry when the book arrives • try to read it within a month. If RL gets in the way at least LET ME KNOW! • PM the next on the list* to ask for his/her address • make a journal entry when finished to let us know what you thing about the book (short review) • wrap it up well and send** it to the next on the list. Mention the date in your last entry or make a release note. • PM me in case of any problems/unforeseen delay. * You will find the mailing list in a JE of the book. You might want to do that well before you have finished reading. Some people are difficult to contact. Don't skip anyone without letting me know. ** surface/economy mail is fine Thanks and happy reading! back to top Thank you for visiting my bookshelf & profilesince 6th May 2006 your were visitor # free web counter 6th November '06 I installed a new hitcounter, that counts unique visits only. Up to that date there had been 2114 visits in 6 months (including my own!). I added those to the new unique visits (as I liked the high number ;-) (installed 4 Dec. 2006)  |
I joined the Kiva Bookcrossing team
