Thursday, July 4, 2013
End of term exams
Im right now in the middle of my end of term exams, which means that the summer break starts in just a few weeks, so I have been in Japan for over three months. That is crazy! It feels like I came here two weeks ago, but also like Japan has been my home for forever.
The exchange students that came here last autumn are all going home next week. The other exchange student in my school went home a few weeks ago. It is not fun at all to see these people go home, both because they are all amazing people and because it makes me realize that I have to go home sometime too. I know that I have almost eight months left, but thinking about how fast the time has gone since I came here, I know that eight months will go pretty quickly as well.
Right now I'm making a presentation about me and my life in Japan to show the junior high school students who are coming to the open house on Saturday. Putting together slides about what I've done here made me realize that I have had time to do so many awesome things. I'm not going to talk about them all again, since I did that in my last post, but I've made so many amazing memories. Even though eitght months will probably go very quickly, I'll have time to make it aweomse.
I'm going to make sure to use my time wisely here and not have to stand at the airport feeling that I left things undone. I miss all of you who are left back home, but I'm not ready to come home yet. Eight months left, bitches!
Love,
Olivia
:)
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Life is awesome
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
東京にいます!
Just wanted to throw in an update and tell you guys that I'm okay! See you later!
Monday, March 18, 2013
I'm going to Japan!
To my new readers, welcome! As you might see, this is not my first posts here on this blog. I used to have a book blog (which actually was a lot of fun.) I've left all my old posts for your enjoyment and possibly my embarrassment.
To my old readers (not meaning in age), welcome back! I've changed the layout and name of the blog, so you might be a bit confused about where you are. But it's still me, still my blog. Even though I won't write as much about books, I hope that you guys will stay around!
For both new and old readers, I'm going to write about my life in Japan and how it is to do an exchange year. I'm not promising that I'll be updating regularly, but I hope that I'll have time to throw in a few posts every now and then!
I'm really, really excited for going. Studying a year abroad has been my dream for so long and I'm finally doing it!!!
Hope you'll enjoy my blog!
さようなら!(sayonara - goodbye)
Monday, January 16, 2012
One of the best books you'll ever read
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Goals for 2012
So why am I still doing this? Well .. Eh, I'm not really sure. I like keeping track of how many books I read during a year. So maybe I can throw in some goals for this year's reading?
- Read 100 books. Yes, I'm trying to do this. It's going to be hard, I'm in my last year of secondary school and will begin upper secondary school this fall, so school will be a bigger part of my life that it has been before. But I can do this, right?
- Read more books in Finnish. I've spoken Finnish for as long as I've spoken Swedish (so, my whole life) but don't really read anything in Finnish. I don't really know much about Finnish books (I prefer reading books in their original language) and read slower in Finnish than in Swedish and English, but I want to change that.
- Write a review (or at least a draft of it) within a few hours of finishing a book. Otherwise I'll just not do it for many weeks, and maybe never write a review.
- Read more classics.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Essential books for Potter nerds
by J.K. Rowling
Goodreads Quidditch ⎪ Goodreads Beasts ⎪ Author Website
In these sort of non fiction books you get to read about all the very real beasts and quidditch related things from the Harry Potter universe. They are the same books that the characters read in school with a short foreword by no other than Albus Dumbledore, which he wrote since these books were going to be released for muggles.
I liked getting a little insight to the worlds and learn more about the things we hear about in the series. It is something you enjoy a lot when you love a series as much as I love the Harry Potter books. You just want to learn everything there is to learn and feel like a part of the world.
The books were nice and short and gave you some information. Some of it was already told in the Harry Potter books, but most of it was new things that you've never hear of. It was pretty straight forwards with the facts, which made the books pretty short. I would have enjoyed longer books with more illustrations and maybe some funnier texts.
I especially liked the Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them book, because throughout the whole book Harry and Ron had written small notes and comments to the texts. It makes it a lot more fun to read than a book which just throws a bunch of facts onto you.
These were two nice little short books, that every Potterhead probably would enjoy a lot. And let's cross our fingers and hope that J.K. Rowling soon releases a huge Hogwarts: A History. A book we hear a lot about in the Harry Potter series and I think would have Potter fan around the world excited as hell.
Monday, January 2, 2012
A lovely love story
by Andrew Davidson
Rating: 5 / 5
Goodreads ⎪ Wikipedia
“You are mine, I am yours; you may be sure of this. You've been locked inside my heart, the key has been thrown away; within it, you must always stay. ”
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Top 10 best books of 2011
Of those 70 books, I've tried to make a list of the 10 best books. The books that were the most special, beautiful and just awesome. The ones that instantly pop to my head when I think about the books I've read this year.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
2011 End of Year Book Survey
1. Best Book You Read In 2011?
Oh God. If the first question is this hard, I'm scared of doing the rest of this survey. I won't pick a book now, come back for when I do a blogpost about my top 10 favorites of the year!
2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I had too many expectations and was prepared to read a really emotional book, which I didn't.
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
Angel by L.A. Weatherly. I'm not the biggest fan of paranormal romances, it feels like I read the same story over and over again. But this book was simply amazing.
4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
Probably Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.
5. Best series you discovered in 2011?
I don't even have to think twice. The Gone series by Michael Grant of course!
6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?
I have known about John Green for a while, but didn't read any of his books before this year. And isn't he just one of the best authors ever? I can't believe I've been waiting this long to read his books!
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I've never read manga before, but read Sailor Moon vol 1 this year and loved it!
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?
All the books in the Gone series! Seriously, they're the best.
9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?
11. Most memorable character in 2011?
Tiny from Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I love his personality!
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?
This is a hard one .. Probably the Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (review coming soon!)
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?
Between Shades of Gray, so sad and yet so beautiful.
14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?
All books by John Green and the Mortal Instruments.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
“Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (...) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.” Looking for Alaska by John Green
16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
Oh god, now I'm going on and on about John Green. But probably Looking for Alaska or Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.)
I went to two singings, one with Holly Black and one with two Swedish authors, Sarah Bergman Elfgren and Mats Strandberg. Both of them were AMAZING. it was really fun meeting some of your favorite authors. A virtual event I liked a lot was Armchair BEA.
2. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
4. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
The same post as above, it has a ton of views, but where are the comments people? ;)
5. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
I can't live without Goodreads.
6. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
There's a lot of them. I have many classics that I want to read (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre). Also the John Green books I haven't read.
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2012?
The Fault in Our Start by John Green! Only a few days left :D
3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading In 2012?
I am going to try to read 100 books, read more classics and read books instead of buying/collecting them, haha. I have a problem with buying more books than I read ..
Monday, December 26, 2011
Some words on books I haven't reviewed
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Taylor Swift on the Hunger Games soundtrack
I still haven't got any idea about which part of the movie the song would fit the best, I think it could be played in a lot of different scenes. I'm really excited to hear more of the songs on the soundtrack. What do you think of the song?
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Christmas reading
For me christmas means reading. Of course it also means family, gifts, santa and all those other things as well. But during christmas I read a lot. It is just that amazing feeling of sitting with a book in a house decorated for christmas, everyone happily running around and you are just filled with the whole christmas spirit. There is no better time to read a good book, especially now when you're on your christmas break and don't have to think about school! This is my list of some books that I'm hoping to read this christmas:Paper Towns by John Green
I recently read Looking for Alaska and am in love with John Green's writing. It feel horrible for not having read all of his books, so I'm trying to read through them all.
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
I got this book at a book blogger meet up and instantly fell in love with the amazing cover. When I then read the synopsis of it, I got even more eager to read it. Because I have no idea of what it is about. It feels like a mix of fantasy, romance, historical and some wonderful writing, so I'm really excited to see what it brings.
1984 by George Orwell
I love dystopians and I've heard that this is one of the best (and first!) dystopians out there. So of course I have been dying to read it. And when I found a nice copy at a second-hand market for only 10kr (about 1,5 dollars or 1 pound) and didn't even think twice about buying it.
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
I still need to read two more books to finish the Debut Author Challenge, and this is one of the two I'm hoping to read. I'm usually not a big fan of paranormal romances, but I've heard that this one is supposed to be really good.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Debut Author Challenge 2012
Saturday, December 10, 2011
I'm back!
On Wednesday our teachers have to officially decide our grades, so after that there won't be any time-consuming exams or homework! Although during the first three days of next week we will have two tests, one oral presentation and two papers due .. School ends in not even two weeks and I just can't wait!
I hope to get back into my blogging routine and not let my blog get this quiet, I have really missed blogging! I have a few reviews to post and will also do a bookshelf tour! I have a lot of time for blogging and reading now during the winter break, I am exited!
I have missed you guys!
Friday, November 4, 2011
NaNoWriMo
Okay, I’ve been neglecting my blog for a while. That is stuff that happens, sometimes you just have to take a break and take care of other things instead. And I am not here to tell you that I am so sorry and promise to start blogging more often. Nope, I am here to tell you that I won’t blog much during November.
Why? I am doing NaNoWriMo baby!
Yes, I have thrown myself into this whole crazy thing. I hope that everything will go fine, and that I get to 50 000 words by November 30th. But as they say, even if I don’t get that far, I have written several thousen words that I wouldn’t have written otherwise.

It’s the beginning of day four, and as off the end of yeasterday I had 8000 fricking words! It is crazy! I have never attempted to write a big thing like this (not seriously anyway) and it has been a dream of mine for a long time to write a book. Ever since I was eight I have wanted to be an author (although now I have started to think about more likely carreers).
You probably won’t hear much from me here on my blog. So if you want to hear things from me, follow me on twitter! I am magical_books and I tweet a lot about my NaNo word count. You can also add me as a writingbuddy on NaNo’s website. My name there is oliviaherber.
Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Do you have any tips for a newbie NaNo:er like myself?
Happy writing!
Monday, October 24, 2011
24 hour read-a-thon: What happened?
And if you follow me on Twitter, you know that I went to bed at 2am (12 hours into the read-a-thon). I'd just finished Looking for Alaska, which was just so brilliant and mindblowing, that I couldn't concentrate on starting a new book. Some books you just have to process for a bit before reading something fresh. So I slept for about seven hours and started reading again at 9am.
I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid in about one hour, and then I started reading Room by Jenna Donoghue. During the last 4 hours of the read-a-thon I read about 250 pages of the book, which was pretty good. The first thing I finished was City of Glass, which was amazing.
So, all in all I read three and a half books. Concidering some breaks and that I slept during the night, I see that as a successful read-a-thon! I had a lot of fun and am hoping to do this sometime again - with a working computer.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
24 hour read-a-thon update #1
1)Where are you reading from today?
2)Three random facts about me…
3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
1. Stockholm, Sweden!
2. I'm part Finnish, I currently don't have any bookshelves and I love the UK tv series Skins!
3. I've picked 10 books that I'm looking forward to read, but I might choose something else from my other tbr list.
4. Just to have fun and read a lot!
5. This is my first 24 hour read-a-thon, so I'm a newbie in this. But my advise is just to read, read and read!
I'm starting with finishing City of Glass, I've read about 200 pages of it. I'll hopefully be tweeting a lot during this read-a-thon you can follow me at @Magical_books
Now to reading!
Dewney's 24 hour read-a-thon
Hey y'all! (Read with Texas accent)
I'm going to participate in Dewney's 24 hour read-a-thon tomorrow, and I think you should too! It starts tomorrow at noon GMT (2pm here in Sweden) and we're practically just going to read books during 24 hours.
You can find more information about this here.
I'll do some update posts during the read-a-thon, so you'll see how much I read. I will try to stay up the full 24 hours, so you might find some weird tweets and blog posts from a super tired Olivia. I get crazy when I'm tired. Just so you know.
I'll see you later. And I'll try to blog more often, it's just that school is kind of eating my whole cake of time. (... I'm tired)
Bye.


















