cathepsut

I'm not joining a lot of swaps at the moment, I need a little bit of a break. I'll be back doing more eventually...

I rate everything I get within a day or two. If I sent something and you haven't received it or don't like it, let me know and I will re-send!

I moved back to my native country, Germany, in 2008, after 14 years abroad. It took a while to get used to living in Germany again. I do very much enjoy having a working postal system...

I mostly join postcard and letter swaps. Before I send something out to you, I will always read your profile and try to meet your wishes. Please share!

I mostly listen to Music via Last.fm and simfy. My tastes in music are pretty eclectic. I love traditional Jazz and Blues. I listen to a lot of acoustic rock. I like the Stones and don't like the Beatles. I love Santana and Fleetwood Mack. At any givern time you could catch me listening to Madonna or Metallica...

I got a Kindle a little while ago and like it better than I thought I would...

Currently I am into Urban Fantasy and anything with werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires, witches, dragons, wizards, people that talk to ghosts and related critters..... You get the idea. My favourite authors are Laurell K Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, Charlaine Harris, Carrie Vaughn, Kelly Armstrong....

I also like historical fiction. C.J. Sansom is awesome. I also like Bernard Cornwell. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and The Physician by Noah Gordon are among my most favrourite books of all time.

I like Fantasy -- anything from Tolkien to Anne McCaffrey.

I like hard SF -- Greg Bear, David Brin, John Brunner...

I used to read thrillers and crime a lot and really enjoyed the first two of the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larrson, but I read those genres rarely now. I used to read Martha Grimes and Elizabeth George a lot and I love Dorothy Sayers.

Non-Fiction generally bores me and I do not like anything True Crime at all.

I prefer to read in English, although I am German. I love cookbooks, but I am trying not to get too obsessed about it.

If you want to check out what I read, Goodreads is your best bet at the moment.

LOTR, Star Trek, The Fifth Element, Lawrence of Arabia, anything with John Cusack or Ed Norton in it, anything by Billy Wilder, God Father Trilogy, anything by the Coen brothers or Quentin Tarantino, The Abyss, Gladiator.....

They re-did Hawaii Five-O, that's hilarious! Where's Jack Lord?

Spartacus, Dirty Jobs, Stargarte Atlantis, True Blood (love the books!), Heroes, House M.D., Dexter, Boston Legal, CSI, ER, anything on National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild and Discovery Channel, cooking shows.

I love all kinds of postcards, preferably naked and written on. Handmade is ok, although I prefer store bought.

My favourites are: (no particular order)

• modern art, paintings, expressionism, Pre-Raphaelites

• black and white photography, especially portraits

• photography by Lord Snowdon, Richard Avedon, other celebrity and fashion photographers...

• cards relating to wine, beer, food, recipes

• coral reefs, maritime animals, scuba diving, island retreats

• cats, domestic or wild or in paintings... I recently received two postcards with painted cats on them and think they are great. You could make my day by sending me more of those. Here are the two I have already: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cathepsut/tags/whypaintcats/

• cows, pigs

• anything relating to books, reading, poetry

• from or about museums, I love postcards from museum collections

• interesting architecture, i.e. unusual buildings, modern architecture, LeCorbusier, Bauhaus... even interiors

• depictions of Tarot cards or Tarot symbolism

I am not too keen on cartoons, drawings, ad cards, touristy multi-view cards, cutesy cards with glitter, sparkly things, overyl cute motives, cards with children, babies, kittens or puppies...

If you send something in an envelope, you can always make me happy by including:

• postcards

• bookmarks

• recipe cards

• notecards, notepads, pens

• stationery, letter paper, envelopes -- I love to use hotel stationery and will happily steal it from every hotel I come across, if I can... :-)

Dislikes:

• Kwai, Hello Kitty, Manga

• anything depicting babies or small children or overly sweet things in soft focus...