Armchair BEA - Introductions

It's my first time taking part in Armchair BEA. Unfortunately living in Nottingham means that New York City and the amazingness that the BEA seems to be is very far away from me. But thankfully the internet is amazing and we can all connect anyway! About a week ago they posted a list of introductory questions, of which they recommended to pick five, so that's what I have done. Find the list here, in case you haven't found it yet.


Perhaps the most obvious one:
Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? Where in the world are you blogging from? 

I'm Juliane, Juli for short, and I'm half-Dutch, half-German and currently living in the UK. I've been seriously blogging for almost 3.5 years now. I always loved the idea of blogging but somehow didn't seem to have enough motivation for it. Then an English Lit teacher suggested to the class we start a book blog and rather than following the assignments she set I fell absolutely in love with the book blogosphere and I haven't left since. I'm currently blogging from Nottingham, where I'm studying English Literature which makes for great blogging stuff every once in a while!

What genre do you read the most? I love to read because ___________________ . 

Perhaps this doesn't really count as a genre but I spend most of my time reading Classics. It's partially because I am studying English Lit at the moment and most of the reading lists include a lot of classics, but I also simply love reading books that have survived the years. Because of this I'm also a part of The Classics Club. There is something really special about most of them, although there's also a lot of them (such as most of Dickens' novels) which I simply don't enjoy. 


I also tend to read a lot of Fantasy. I blame my childhood, which I largely spent making up stories and then acting them out. I am a sucker for some good world building and if there's dragons and magic I'm bound to fall in love with your book! It goes without saying I absolutely The Lord of the Rings. 

Share your favorite book or reading related quote. 

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” - Charles William Eliot

Although it might seem a slightly stuffy quote, and I'm not quite sure it's my favourite since there are so many amazing quotes out there, I love the idea of it. Books really are the best way to learn about all the things in the world you might never see. Books are always there for you and you can always revisit them.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 3 books would you bring? Why? What 3 non-book items would you bring? Why?

I feel like saying I would bring How To Get of a Deserted Island would be cheating, so I think I would bring Pride & Prejudice, Shakespeare's Collected Plays (is that cheating as well?) and The Lord of the Rings. It feels like a good mix of books to me and then when I go crazy because I'm alone on an island I could stage Shakespeare plays, all characters played by me. 


Next to that I would bring matches, a tent and maybe seeds so I could plant my own vegetable garden? The only thing preventing this scenario from being ideal is the restriction to three books. If I could have unlimited access to books then I'd love to be alone on a deserted island with a tent, vegetables and never ending time to read to my heart's content.

and finally:
What book would you love to see as a movie?

I think the question should be what movie wouldn't I want to see as a movie. Although, there are definitely instances where the director and script writer just completely lost the message and feel of a book. I remember seeing The Neverending Story and being incredibly upset because they had changed the luck dragon into something that looked like a massive wet Dachshund! I would really like to see The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon being made into movies. Zafon himself once wrote scripts so who knows, maybe we will!

I also just posted by thoughts on today's second theme, literature and how I personally define it.

That's it for my five introductory questions! Leave a link to your questions in the comments, can't wait to meet everyone! :)