Friday Book Questions

I need to start blogging more, and what better way to do that than to answer a bunch of questions shamelessly stolen from this blog and freely re-translated into English?

1. If you could travel to a place you've read about in a book, what place would it be?
You have to ask? I'd go to Hogwarts. Besides, by the time I would start there, in 2002, Voldemort and all that craziness would be long over. Too bad I'd just miss Teddy Lupin starting - I'd graduate in summer 2009, and he'd start in September 2009.

2. If you could be best friends with an author, who would you pick and why?
I've answered a similar question before, I think. It's still my firm belief that we never get to see the real people behind the work face, but if I were to go after what I knew of my favourite authors from their social media output - I'd say that Neil Gaiman seems to be a badass awesome dude, and if nothing else our taste in music would definitely match.

3. Is there a quote from any book that has inspired you or changed the way you see things? If so, what's the quote?
I remember crying when I read this for the first time, but I'm not sure if it was because the book was almost over or because I loved it so much, but it has definitely inspired me:

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

4. If you could marry a fictitious character, who would it be?
I always had a thing for Silk in The Belgariad... But I did have a childhood crush on Charlie Weasley as well for some reason. And I think I'm gonna stick with Charlie :)

5. If you could delete a character from a book, who would you like to get rid of? Remember that it might change the whole story.
This is a very hard question, because I can't think of any character that's obsolete. But possibly Sam from American Gods. The book had so many sub-plots that I couldn't keep track of them all, but I don't think Sam was all that important...

6. Have you ever read a book where you wanted more answers and almost wanted to kill the author for leaving the book so very open? If so, what book?
Not really, no. The only times I've felt even remotely close to that is when I finish a book that's in the middle of the series and I'll have to wait months, if not years for the next installment. Otherwise, not that I can remember.

7. What is the coolest name you've encountered in a book? Would you name your kid after a fictitious character?
Jimena. For the longest time that was the coolest name teenage me had ever seen. It's from the Daughters of the Moon series. As for naming a kid after a fictitious character - yes, I'd do that. At the top of the list is Luna.

8. Which is your favourite among classic novels?
The Picture of Dorian Gray.

9. Which was your favourite picture book as a child?
I was a series person already as a child and I absolutely adored a Swedish children's book series about a boy named Alfons. I also loved the classic Elsa Beskow books.

10. Do you buy your own books, borrow from friends or from the library?
I buy them. I always want to keep them after I've read them, so nowadays I just buy books xD

11. Have you ever stolen an insult from a book and used it in real life? If so, how did it go?
Can't say that I have. Except mentally.

12. Which is your favourite insult from a book?
Hah! I'm sure there are some great ones that have made me laugh from time to time, but it's nothing I put to memory.

13. Have you ever tried to send an email or a letter to an author? How did it go?
If I remember correctly I think I sent a letter to JK Rowling when I was about 12-13. I didn't get an answer.

14. Do you have a pile of books you want to read? How many is in it?
A large portion of my book case is in that pile. When I started uni I sadly read a lot less, but I kept buying books. Now that I'm out of uni I'm working hard to catch up on my book case.

15. How many books do you own?
Not as many as I would like ;)

16. Are there any songs that make you think of certain books or scenes from them?
This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars always makes me think of Harry Potter. But that's completely due to this video:

17. Can you name 5 characters whose names startes with an H without looking them up?
I bet you I can name 5 from the same series: Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, Hedwig, Horace, Hepsibah. Done. Oh, that was 6....

18. Do you like the smell of new books? Or old books? Or both?
Old books *_*

19. Do you mark quotes and paragraphs in books with stickies?
Not ordinarily. Sometimes, though.

20. Have you ever destroyed a book by mistake? Or have you actually destroyed a book on purpose?
No, and no :)

21. Have you had a friend who've ruined a book you loaned him/her? How did you react?
Nope, I haven't!

22. Have you ever read a book that affected you so deeply you couldn't start a new one until days later?
The Casual Vacancy, surprisingly had that effect on me. Also American Gods.

I'm back in love with Elder Scrolls Online!

Sorry for the inactivity here, but I've been keeping very busy. Mostly with work stuff, interviews to go on, part time jobs to go to... But for the past month Elder Scrolls Online has been taking up all of my free time (again)!

When ESO became free to play on March 17th I decided to pick it up again. I played some on my old character, but I soon realised that I felt completely lost with that character, and so I decided to create a new one that will start to serve as my main.

I was seriously worried about F2P and when it was first announced I was angry. I was worried that F2P would ruin the game, that all the little 12 y/o would come rushing in and destroy the game, I was worried that the game would lose its dedicated fans and start to attract people who only play to play and not because they love the series. But I'm so happy to admit that I was wrong. It seems like F2P saved the game. It's amazing to see areas populated again, there are players everywhere and the zone chat is always busy (which wasn't the case when I stopped playing in October last year). Instead of having to wait ages for groups and help with public world bosses, there are always players who respond (though Healers still seem to be in short supply), and that was not the case in October. I'm in love with this game again!

There's something, though. I think they may have made the game easier. It's either that or I have become an impressively better player without playing the game for 5 months. I've encountered quest bosses that I had major problems with on my last character, which I know manage to kill on my first try. It's actually fun that there are so many brand new players now. I used to be the one without any clue how anything worked, now I'm the one giving advice, I'm the one helping people out in the zone chat. That's progress from my side!

It's my goal to have one max level character in each alliance. I still love Aldmeri Dominion, but I created my first new character in Ebonheart Pact, because of the nostalgia value. Running around in Morrowind and Skyrim is wonderful.

My new character is a dark elf templar dps with some support healing skills named Secchan, and she's also a vampire :)

The game has improved a lot. Battle is more alive. No bugs, no gold miners, People are nice and the game is so alive again. And there's more endgame content coming after the game has been released to console. I know that last autumn they talked about adding more single player based content for endgame, so that people would have more to do than just group based Craglorn or PvP in Cyrodiil. Based on the name of the area I'm guessing they will place it in Skyrim. And with ESO Plus they are promising a lot more content. I'm looking forward to it!