Omnifarious

Comprising all kinds or varieties

Blog Birthday – One Year Of All That Magic

~ Hanna ~ 5 Comments

Hello there,

It’s our birthday today!

A year ago I started this little blog and I had no idea what it would turn out to be. And here it is, ready for toddler’s group 😀

I’m reading a lot more than I used to read which is time well spent I think. I’m also spending way too much time reading tweets. Something I didn’t do before I started blogging. So this is something that I probably shouldn’t do. I’m still not writing as many culinary blog posts as I want to, simply because they are very time-consuming, just like university is right now. (kudos to all those food bloggers out there) So I try to combine things that easily match: Reading and writing for pleasure and reading and writing for university. 😉

birthday balloons

I have two birthday presents for you, my loyal readers!

The first one is the book-related questionnaire down below. (I got tagged by Sandra a couple of weeks ago).

The second present is actually more than one. On World Book Day (April 23), you’ll get the chance to win one of three books. This is part of a huge blogger giveaway called Blogger Schenken Lesefreude (unofficial translation: Bloggers Give Books) and is organized by Christina and Dagmar. But more about that at a later date.

And now, let’s be merry 😀 I hope you enjoy this little tag. I won’t tag anyone. If you, however, insist to be tagged, I can do that. Just drop me a line.

Either – Or
Slim book or weighty tome?

I love books with lots of pages to get lost in. 🙂

Second-hand or new?

That depends. Of course, who doesn’t love a new book, fresh out of the press? I do! But I don’t mind a clean second-hand copy if I know I’ll just read it once and bring it back to the open book exchange.

Historical fiction or fantasy?

Can I please have a mix of both genres?

Hardback or paperback?

Paperbacks are so convenient if you have a low-budget (like I do) and if you want to take them with you everywhere you go! I love them. But I also don’t say no to beautiful and special hardcover editions of great books I’ve read.

Funny or sad?

I love drama. I love to read books that hurt. So if I have to choose, I’ll choose sad. Nevertheless, books with the right amount of humor are great!

Summer or winter reader?

I think I read as much in winter as I read in summer. I don’t have any preferences concerning the right reading temperature or weather. Imagine that: “Oh it’s way too hot outside. I don’t read when it’s hot,” or “Did you hear the news? They issued a storm warning. You can’t read during a storm!”

Classics or contemporary fiction?

It all depends on how you define classics…

Self-help books or novels?

If I’m in a situation that requires a self-help book, I’ll go for that. They can come in very handy sometimes! Other than that, I prefer novels.

Crime fiction or thrillers?

Neither! I’m easily scared.

Ebook or print book?

Same answer as for paperbacks vs hardbacks.

Hoarding or throwing out?

Hoarding. I admit it. I’m a book hoarder. And so is my dad. There is no denying who I got that from. Although he started putting some of his read books into the open book exchange.

Online bookshops or traditional bookstores?

I love to browse traditional bookstores. Unfortunately, over here many of them have hardly any English books for sale. Forget browsing. And the few books they have are irrationally expensive. This is why I have to buy most of the books I read from online stores.

Bestseller or shelf warmer?

I read what I like. No matter if it’s a bestseller or not.

Cook book or baking book?

As many cook books include baking recipes, I’ll choose the cook book. Clever, eh?

 
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Review – A Positive Experience Of Having Your Wisdom Tooth Removed

~ Hanna ~ 8 Comments

Hi,

This week comes with a review of something completely different, something quite personal actually. But I had the feeling that I have to share this with you.

There are many wisdom teeth removal horror stories out there, so you can imagine that I wasn’t actually thrilled when I found out that I had to part with my one and only wisdom tooth. Questions like “Will it hurt?”, “Will I bleed to death?”, “Will I lose my neighboring tooth by accident?” and “Will I turn stupid?” were high on my radar.

I did do some research though, so I found out that teeth in the lower jaw are often harder to remove than teeth in the upper jaw. (Phew, my tooth was indeed in my upper jaw 🙂 ) Another bonus, as I thought, was that my dentist probably wouldn’t have to cut because my tooth had already fully erupted years ago. And finally, it just had to go because I wasn’t able to clean it properly due to its position and not because it hurt.

So the big day finally came and my dentist gave me a local anesthetic (yup that injection). You feel three little pricks that really don’t hurt that much. It hurts more to bite your tongue! And then the region around my tooth got numb. My dentist took some pliers (or whatever that was 😀 ) and wiggled my tooth. I heard a faint cracking sound (like crisp bread). Now he took other pliers and pulled a bit and out it was. Wiggling and pulling didn’t even take two minutes. I didn’t feel a thing. As a final step, he stitched up the hole and I had to bite on a piece of gauze for 20 minutes (but I could do that while riding the bus home).

At home, I waited for the pain to come when the anesthetic stopped having effect. Well, the pain never came. No pain at all. All I did was put cold packs on my cheek for 20 minutes, with 20 minutes breaks, for 48 hours. I was able to chew after about 20 hours, so I ate solid food again (nothing too hard or crumbly!).

The last step I had to take, was to get my stitches removed. Well, this wasn’t bad either. I only noticed that my dentist cut the suture but I didn’t feel him pulling it out. So don’t be afraid. It’s not even comparable to gingivitis 😀

So why did I tell you all this? Because I think that someone needs to step up and say that getting your wisdom teeth removed doesn’t have to end in unbearable pain. I know it can, but not always!

What about you? Did you have a fairly good experience getting one of your wisdom teeth removed?

Happy New Year

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year 2014!

NewYearThank you for staying with me through these first nine months that I’ve been writing All That Magic! You are the people who keep me reading and reading is what makes me happy. I really hope that I made you buy one or two books (or 20, or 30,… I know how it is. You enter a book store, online or real, because you want to buy a book and you come out with four additional books.). Maybe you also read one of my reviews and thought “Nah, I don’t like this one.” and bought three other books instead. (Or a box of really expensive chocolates, or you just saved the money.) That’s also great 😀 What I’m trying to say is, I hope you are enjoying yourself on here. Most people do by having a look at that book stack cake I made for my late grandpa.

In 2014, I could do a few more food posts. My time is limited, but from time to time, I do take pictures of the things I cook and bake. I will, of course, continue to read and write reviews about the books I read. My TBR pile isn’t that small, so don’t be afraid. And I’ll definitely do something crafty. There might be a bit of an interruption in spring when I’m supposed to do my university finals, but I’ll warn you in time 😉 I think that’s all for now.

Thank You! And Happy New Year!

All Lemons Right Now

~ Hanna ~ 2 Comments

Hi everyone,

I’m sorry I have been quiet the last few days. Life is giving me lemons and this is why I haven’t been able to write. I hope to resolve these issues in the upcoming one or two weeks and then I’ll be back with reviews, the promised Frankfurt stories and interviews and all that magic. 😉

We’re going to Frankfurt Book Fair

~ Hanna ~ 2 Comments

Hey,

I hope you’re having a relaxing weekend. Miss Treegarden and I have great news for you! In a few days, we’ll head north to attend the largest book fair in the world – Frankfurt Book Fair!

Image provided by Frankfurter Buchmesse

Miss Treegarden and I are both book fair first-timers and we are pretty excited by now. We’ve got months of preparation lying behind us and we hope we can bring back lots of pictures and stories. Of course, we will look out for new and upcoming books that could be of interest to you (and us 😀 ) and we hope to get to meet and talk to many interesting people!

Miss Treegarden found out that one of her favorite authors will be at the book fair and I already found my Mecca in Hall 8.0 which is the International Hall. That’s where most of the English-language publishers are. It will be a pretty intense trip with only two days time to explore hundreds of booths and thousands of books.

Image provided by Frankfurter Buchmesse / Peter Hirth

We still got a few days left and we want to know: Is there anything you’d like to know about Frankfurt Book Fair that we can find out while we are there? Please tell us. We’ll try to help!

Musical – Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

~ Miss Treegarden ~ Leave a comment

When was the last time you thought, “Wow. That was absolutely breath-taking?” Well, the last time I had to sit back and could literally feel my jaw dropping was not too long ago, one month to be exact. During my New York trip I treated myself to a Broadway show and decided to see the musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. If you want to know why I think so highly of the production read on and find out yourselves.

Now in its third year, the spectacular Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has turned out to be the most expensive and technically elaborate theatrical production of all times. The story is based on the Marvel comic-strip superhero and the Hollywood film of 2002. The Broadway show lasts for two and a half hours, including one intermission, and tells the story of the teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life takes a sudden turn when he learns about his astonishing powers. He soon has to take great responsibility over the people and the city of New York.

The flying sequences and aerial stunts are jaw-dropping! The actors move around the stage in mystifying speed and make it a superbly dynamic show. The splendour stage design contributes to a breath-taking atmosphere and extravagancy. An 18-piece orchestra in two rooms backstage perform marvellous live music written by U2’s Bono and The Edge, and all eighteen songs are performed live on stage.

Go ahead and watch the trailer and decide yourselves whether or not you would want to see the show. Lately, more and more negative reviews about the show have been published, referring to the musical as one of the bigger flops in Broadway history. I can assure you that I found the musical overwhelming and think of actors, musicians, producers, and everyone who put their hands on the project very highly and would like to conclude with praise for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark: a flabbergasting show!

5 Star Rating: Recommended

Liebster Award

~ Miss Treegarden ~ 8 Comments
liebsteraward1
Joana from Joana in the Sky with Books nominated us for the Liebster Award. Thanks Joana 🙂 We really feel honored!
And to the creators of this award: Thanks for this wonderful award. 🙂 But do you have any idea how hard it is to find 10 blogs with less than 200 followers? We found 4 among those we were already following and then we spent about 2 hours to find another 6 that fulfilled the criteria and that we liked. Of course we only wanted to give the award to blogs that we really liked. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any search engine out there to look for recently created blogs. How awful is that? (not that you, dear award creators, are responsible for that) Rant over 😀 Still, we feel very honored and are very happy to have received this award 🙂
The Liebster Award is a way to help new blogs with less than 200 followers to gain new followers. By awarding the Liebster award, we can show our followers that there are other great blogs out there to explore.
 
Rules:
  • Link back the blogger that tagged you;
  • Nominate 10 others and answer the questions of the one who tagged you;
  • Ask 10 questions for the bloggers you nominate;
  • Let your nominees know of their award.

Joana has prepared 10 questions for us to answer:

1. What are you currently reading?

Darklittle: The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen and Provence,1970 by Luke Barr

Miss Treegarden: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

2. Do you have any weird bookish habits?

Miss Treegarden: Not that I can think of.

Darklittle: I like to smell and stroke books, but I think that’s something most book lovers do, right?

3. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, which one would it be?

Darklittle: That’s a though one. I could be biased here, but right now that would be Life After Life by Kate Atkinson 😀

Miss Treegarden: Tricky question, but I guess I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on Night Train to Lisbon by Peter Bieri alias Pascal Mercier.

4. Which is your favourite secondary character?

Miss Treegarden: Difficult to decide on. I really like Ben’s grandmother from Gangsta Granny by David Walliams. She’s hilarious!

Darklittle: Oh dear… I don’t like these decisions. I think it’s Eeyore from A. A. Milne’s Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh.

5. What is your main blogging goal at the moment?

To make us and our readers happy 🙂

6. Do you prefer series or stand-alones?

Darklittle: Until about a year ago, I really liked series, but I became tired of them. Now I really prefer stand-alones!

Miss Treegarden: Usually I decide on stand-alones, because I’m eager to experience a great variety of stories. But should I get hold of book which is part of a series and I like it, I am happy to read the sequels and often can’t wait for the latest books to be released. Sometimes, there are books with an open ending and I really wish for a sequel, which might, however, never be published.

7. What made you decide to create a blog?

Darklittle: I wanted to share my thoughts on English-language literature.

8. If you could meet any author, who would you choose?

Miss Treegarden: This one I know for sure: Roald Dahl.

Darklittle: Hmm… another tough one. J. M. Barrie, or Michael Bond perhaps 🙂

9. What has been your happiest moment as a blogger?

Darklittle: I think the day I realized that there were a bunch of people following my blog and that some of them were actually reading what I wrote 😉

Miss Treegarden: Reading my first post and getting three likes in a row 🙂 I thought, wow, someone is actually reading this and they seem to like it 🙂

10. What made you want to start a blog?

Darklittle: Didn’t I already answer this question? 😀

And this are our 10 questions:

  1. What is the first book that you can remember “reading”?
  2. Do you have a book recommendation for Halloween?
  3. What is your opinion on memes like “Waiting on Wednesday”? Do you like them? Do you use them?
  4. What do you like most about blogging?
  5. How do you prefer to read? / Where is your favorite place to read?
  6. What is your favorite genre?
  7. Which three adjectives would choose to describe your favorite character.
  8. Do you think the names of the characters in novels are important?
  9. Which place would you set up as a meeting point (fact of fictional), if you got the chance to meet your favorite character.
  10. Which book would you like to see turned into a movie?

We nominate the following 10 blogs:

English-language blogs

zeteticat from Bookish Habits

Ciska from Ciska’s Book Chest

Rose from i LIVE LITERARY

holliekins from Much Ado About Books

Scentfragrance from Scentfragrance

Helois from Stain On The Page

Melanie from the coffee club (and me) (We can’t see how many followers you have, but we like your blog, so we nominated you)

German-language blogs:

Donata Bichler from Donatas Bücher

RoteZora from Dreams about Books

Ina_Kzeptabel from Ina_Kzeptabel(t)

Meet Miss Treegarden

~ Hanna ~ 4 Comments

Hi everybody 🙂

I’ve got news for you. From now on, I won’t be writing on my own, because my good friend Miss Treegarden will join me here on All That Magic. We’ve been studying at the same university for five years now and Miss Treegarden shares my love for English and history, so she studies both like I do.

Miss Treegarden is new to blogging and she wants to see what it’s like. She’ll write reviews of books she read and other things she cares about. Today, Miss Treegarden will start with a travel review of New York City. She just returned from a holiday and wanted to share her impressions with you. If Miss Treegarden really loves blogging, she might even take the big step and write her own blog some day.

Until then, we’ll do the magic together 🙂 Welcome Miss Treegarden!

Bloglovin’ Blog Hop

~ Hanna ~ 15 Comments

Bloglovin Blog Hop: find new blogs and get new followers. Inspired by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read hosted by Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog

Rules:
1. Make your own post, grab the icon if you want
2. Link back to this post
3. Hop around. Visit as many or as few blogs as you’d like, but make sure if someone leaves a comment saying they followed you, visit and follow them back.
4. This is a once a week event for now, on Sundays at 1pm she may make it once a month down the road. You are only making a commitment to participate for one week. She would love to see you back next week, but that is your choice. You can make your post on whatever day you wish, and if you chose to host a giveaway, run that as long as you’d like.
5. Make sure to add the link to your post not your homepage so people can find it easily in the link tool below.
6. This isn’t a giveaway hop, although you are free to host one. This is a follower hop.
Thank you so much for participating!

If you want me to follow you as well, please let me know in a comment that you followed me via Bloglovin. If there is another way you want to follow me, feel free to follow me there, just make sure you let me know in my comments! I’m looking forward to seeing your blog and following you as well!

Click the Image to Follow Me

Follow on Bloglovin

Click here for a list of the other participating blogs and a giveaway 🙂

 

Rating System – Magic Beans

~ Hanna ~ Leave a comment

Let me introduce…. my rating system: MAGIC BEANS 😀

Here they are:

bohnen1s

bohnen2s

bohnen3s

bohnen4s

bohnen5s

The more, the better the rating 🙂