I keep track of my reading here.

**********

ABOUT ME

I've read voraciously ever since I learned to read at the age of four. I read everywhere, in bed, on the couch, in cafés, in the bus/metro/car (I don't drive), in the toilet... As a child, I even brought a book along to the sauna :)

I read everything from cozy mysteries to the classics. I also like to read non-fiction: travel books, memoirs, social history, etc. And I love poetry. The only two genres/themes I'm really not into are science fiction and war/military. Oh, and I don't much care for Danielle Steel, Debbie Macomber and their ilk.

I like to read books in the original language, which in my case means Finnish, Swedish, Estonian and English. I've read some books in Russian as well, but that's a bit of a struggle (I really should practice my Russian some more).

As for bookcrossing, it's a bit of a struggle as well. I really like books as objects, too, and it's very difficult for me to let them go. I'm trying to be better in releasing books though because I think this is such a neat idea (and because I'm constantly running out of shelf space). I have no objection to finders keeping books I've released in their permanent collections.

My bookshelf does reflect my taste to a great extent, that is to say my taste is very eclectic :) Some of the books I release (and even some in my permanent collection), however, originate from the bookshelves of my husband, my son (who has a profile of his own, too), my parents, my grandparents or my hubby's parents. My bookshelf is getting quite hefty because I want to register all our books so that I have a record of them all (I don't want to use a different system for that).

I'm always ready for swaps so please feel free to contact me if you find something of interest in my available books (or even if you'd like to borrow something from my permanent collection). And I'd be of course overjoyed to receive books from my wishlist – just please let me know if you object to me keeping a book you've passed on in my permanent collection.

**********

THEMES, SUBJECTS, LOCATIONS, SETTINGS I HAVE A PARTICULAR INTEREST IN:
-- London (and Britain and the British in general), New York, Virginia (and the US in general), Estonia, France;
-- books and reading; creative writing, poetry therapy, creativity in general; language; translation; literacy; children's literature & culture

**********

I'VE WILD RELEASED BOOKS IN:
Finland, India, Estonia, USA, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Turkey, Thailand, Denmark, Vietnam, France, Armenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Greece, Malaysia

I'VE CAUGHT WILD RELEASES IN:
Finland

**********

CHALLENGES I'VE STARTED:

Äidit ja lapset -vapautushaaste
27 January 2009 - 2 April 2009

ON-GOING CHALLENGES I'M PARTICIPATING IN:

Maantieteellinen haaste (Geographical challenge)
Starting 12 March 2008, I intend to read a book from each country of the world. I've borrowed the idea from fellow Finnish bookcrossers and am using Wikipedia's list of countries as my guideline. In addition to independent states (both those that are internationally recognized and generally unrecognized), the list includes inhabited dependent territories and areas of special sovereignty. And, just for the record, this is a lifetime challenge :D
Book must be either set in the country, tell about the country or be written by a citizen/resident/native of the country.
I keep track of my progress here.

1001 books you must read before you die challenge
I intend to read all the books mentioned in this book. This is the 2008 international edition. So far I have read 32 books or a measly 3.2 percent but hey, it's another lifetime challenge :).

The 1000 years - 100 books challenge
Because "1001 books you must read before you die" is very anglo-centric, I've set myself the additional challenge of reading through this list assembled in Finland (and its shadow list comprising readers' suggestions), which, in addition to Finnish classics, contains a much wider selection of Russian literature than the 1001 list. So far, I have read 20 books from the main list and 46 books from the shadow list.