Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore

Love is subjective, and I am 30 years old, of course there will be books I once loved but no longer don’t. There are books that I loved because they spoke to the 5 year old me, or the 15 year old me, that don’t speak to me in the same way now. I might still love them to a certain degree but I think that love is mostly nostalgia. A love that exist because I on a level yearn for that time in my life (not so much for 15 but certainly for 5).

There were books I loved at 15 that spoke to me because they were slightly forbidden (I am sure you can all guess the type of books ).

The books I loved at 5 are books I now love giving to the little children in my life and that I might pick up for a few minutes escapism.

Both these categories of books are in their own way to precious for me to say that I don’t like them anymore. In their own way they shaped who I am today and I want to cherish them in my heart as such. They are dog eared, chewed on (by me, my siblings and now my niece), they have lost their covers from to much reading. All these books bear the unmistakable signs of being well loved, and despite not being loved now I do on some level still love them.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Book Review: A Room of One’s Own

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Publisher: Vintage Classics

Category: Classic

Challenges: A Year of Feminist Classics, GLBT Challenge

My Thoughts: I have so many little post-its stuck in this book. There were so many thought provoking quotes in this book.

The books title comes from the idea that in order for women to be able to write great literature they must have a space of their own to write and the funds available to them to be able to do so. It is an intriguing notion, that the great male authors had their own space and chance to write. She also comments on the historic difference between the space given to men and women to educate themselves and to have space. She shows how women like Jane Austen would write in the family room, without the chance to think in her own space. She claims that this impacts on the type of subject that women write about.

Placing this book in its historical context it is easy to see how this has become such an iconic text in the feminist debate. It manages to show the history of women and writing and how the cultural norms of the different times in certain ways prevented women from writing. I also found her observation that the preoccupation with the inferiority of women was perhaps not so much about believing that women were inferior but a need for men to feel superior. That in order to be superior someone has to be inferior, and thus the inferior “other” is created (fair warning I will probably be talking a lot about the creation of “the other” when we read The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir in July, as the creation of “the other” was a large feature of my Masters thesis, and de Beauvoir was one of my sources).

I loved most of the book but I will admit she lost me in the last chapter when she starts talking about the androgynous. I would consider myself a feminist in that I believe that women should have the same opportunities as men, at the same time I recognize that there are certain biological differences that make us, well different. I am also of the opinion that we are what we are and that society shouldn’t constrict our identity creation. I don’t think we have traits that are male or female. I do think that there are certain biological traits that have been overemphasised to the detriment of us all.

Despite the heaviness of the topic Woolf is quite funny in places, especially in the early parts of the essay, and this really increases the readability of the book. In addition she sets the early parts of the narrative in the Oxbridge Collages and having read Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers last year the setting feels familiar and easy to relate to (if you read my review of Gaudy Night you will see that I felt transported to the college).

I think this is a book that is important to read if you are interested in feminism and feminist literary criticism. It touches upon many of the issues I often have with books (I am a product of my education ). It isn’t a long book, once I started reading it didn’t take me long to read. This is my second Woolf, I’ve previously read and enjoyed Mrs Dalloway. I plan on reading more of Woolf.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Day 11 – A book you hated

I can’t really think of a book I hated. I’m not a hating kind of person (except for liver). Most of the time I don’t read books that I don’t like. As I said on twitter the other day “Life’s to short for bad books”. This means that I have usually stopped reading a book before I got to the hating part.

I know that there are books out there that I would hate, mainly because I find the ideas in them repulsive, but I am not going to read them, and I certainly won’t give them the opportunity to spread their vile ideas through my blog.

So no book I hate. Sorry.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Day 10 – Favourite classic book

I’m going to cheat again and feature two classics, one Swedish and one English. I read mostly in English but I want to read more Swedish so I feel justified

My English classic was quite easy to choose: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. This was quite an easy choice, I mean I have written two MAJOR papers on this book (my senior project in high school and my Masters Thesis). It is a book that had a profound impact on me as a teenager in that it really impacted on the way I saw the world, especially the way I view the consumerist society in which we live. It was also my first real introduction into feminist theory (although I didn’t realise that until much later). Through its presentation of a futuristic society it debated many of the big ethical issues in our time. Issues that were big when Huxley wrote the book and that are perhaps even bigger now.

My second book is also a book I read in high school and loved (I know I said yesterday that I don’t normally like assigned books but these two are the exceptions that prove the rule (there are others but them I mostly loved after analysis, these I loved on reading them)). The book is Mina drömmars stad (Stockholm: City of My Dreams) by Per Anders Fogelström (the first two books are translated in English by Jennifer Brown Baverstam). This is the first book in the City series, a historical fiction series, which tells the story of a family in Stockholm during a 100+ year period (the book takes place from 1860-1968). Like the books about Lina that I featured on Day 7, these books helped me become more aware of Swedish history in the form of fiction. The books can be pretty depressing at time but at the same time they are at times filled with love and care. They are very well written both the language and the historical parts. You really feel like you are in the poorer parts of Stockholm during these times. I like these books because they focus on “regular people” in a historical context. When we study history these people often become statistics and faceless entities. Although this is fiction you feel like it could have been reality.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

Most of the books I thought I would dislike but ended up loving are books that I have been assigned in school. If you have been reading my blog for awhile you know that I don’t do well with assigned reading. But there are some books that I have been assigned that I really liked. One such book is The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was assigned to me in one of my popular lit classes when I was getting my MEd. So it had that against it. It also had another strike towards it. A few years earlier I had read Never Let Me Go and HATED it. Something which surprised me because I usually like dystopian novels. So to say that I was sceptical was an understatement. All that said, I really liked the book.

The main character, for all his faults, was likeable. The story told was compelling. And the quiet storytelling both surprised and appealed to me. There was something sad and quiet about the old man that I could strangely relate to. To me it felt odd but in a good way.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Armchair BEA: Blogging About Blogging

As with yesterday’s topic I am not sure I a qualified to blog about blogging but I will anyway . I thought I would use some of the questions from the Armchair BEA blog to get me started.

How do you utilize social networking in relation to your blog? What may be the pros and cons of doing so?

As I said in yesterday’s post I have been very bad of late at leaving comments on blogs and most of my contact with other book bloggers is through twitter so I would say that to me social networks is very important to me. I don’t use facebook for blogging because to me facebook is private. I mainly keep it to people I have met in real life and I have it locked down pretty tight (I don’t want my students finding me) but on twitter I don’t feel the same need for privacy.

For me the negative aspects of social networking sites is deciding which ones to be on. I have decided to, for blogging purposes to limit myself to twitter and my blog. I do have profiles on several other sites but I don’t maintain a communicative presence there. I just don’t have the time. With work, family, reading, the blog and other interests I just don’t have time to check them regularly and then I forget about them. It just isn’t worth the timesuck they represent.

What are your tips for balance life and blogging?

Oh I am so so so not the right person to ask this! I have not been able to maintain any sort of balance of late and the blog has definitely suffered for it. I am slowly starting to find what works for me right now and that is to schedule posts in advance. I usually set aside time on Saturday or Sunday and write a bunch of posts (this post is being written on Sunday and so far today this is my 12th post). The problem with this is the weekends when I am insanely busy or suffering from one of my all to frequent writers blocks. When that happens nothing gets written. There is also the fact that some posts take a lot of time to write. A typical review can take me most of the day to write because I tend to have to walk away from the text in order to remember everything I want to write about a particular book (most of the posts I have written today have been for the 30 day challenge).  If I am suffering from writers block I find that sometimes it helps to do blog maintenance such putting in the facts of future review books (title, publisher, book cover etc.) I think the most important thing is to find what works for you.

There are quite a few book blogging events out there. Which are your favourites and why? How do they affect your blog directly?

Well I obviously love Armchair BEA! I would love to one day go to the real BEA but since it always seems to be at the end of May I don’t think that will ever happen (as I work as a teacher it would be difficult for me to get time off this time of year with the school year wrapping up). I think it is a great idea to have an event that highlights and unites book bloggers.

In this vein I also love Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) as it also brings book bloggers together and highlights what I feel is excellence in blogging. I refocused my blog from a general knowledge seeking blog to a blog about books primarily due to what I saw in BBAW in 2009. I also like that it doesn’t just highlight different blogs but also the thing we blog ABOUT books.  It is an event I will always try to participate in (and I hope that in the future I can get some students involved in).

Banned Book Week is another event that is dear to my heart. I know it isn’t exclusively book blogging event but it is an event that many book bloggers promote and participate in. To me the banning of books is an abomination. Yes I understand that there are some books that should not necessarily be read by everyone, for example, all though I enjoyed the Twilight series, I have some reservations about recommending it to certain teenagers as I feel that it can promote an unhealthy view of relationships. If I ever have children of my own it is a book that I would discuss with them, but certainly not ban.

Last but certainly not least the bi-annual Bloggiesta hosted by Maw Books Blog. This event never fails to help me get organized. It is always filled with great blogging tips as well as a way of being kept accountable for blog housekeeping.

 

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Day 08 – Most overrated book

Well here is a topic where I am sure I will piss people off. Also one of the few topics where I knew which book I would talk about straight off the bat: The Catcher in the Rye. I know it is a classic. I know just about everyone reads it in high school. I know people love it (my brother included). But I just. couldn’t. get. into. it.

Holden struck me as a whiny brat.

In no way did the book engage me. I was bored and annoyed.

I should say that I was not a teen when I read this book. I also never finished it. Life is to short for bad books. And this is a book I felt was highly overrated. And I really have nothing else to say on the subject

 

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Armchair BEA: Nurturing Relationships

I am probably very very bad at blogging relationships. I’m not around that much and of late I have been appalling at leaving comments, I read blogs but I don’t leave comments like I would like. I also don’t answer comments like I should. I really must get better at that. Most of my bookish relationships take place on twitter, where, since I got my beloved iPhone, I’ve been on a lot more. If you want to talk there you can reach me at @Zommie. I find that twitter is one of the best places to have relationships because it allows you to jump into conversations, make connections and see what is being talked about in the book blogging world, especially when you are on the go and your google reader goes to +1000.

Some of the bloggers I posted about yesterday are bloggers whom I talk to almost exclusively on twitter. They will tweet about their blog posts and I don’t lose them in the black hole that is my google reader at times. They also offer reassurance when I feel bad about my long spells of reading slumps or writers block and general busyness and I hope I manage to offer them the same.

I don’t have a lot of publisher relationships, mainly I think because I am in Sweden but I don’t blog in Swedish. Most publishers won’t send ARCs or review copies to other countries than the one where they are based (which I completely understand) and this makes it hard for me to have a real relationship with them. That said there is a lovely small publisher with whom I really hope to continue nurturing a relationship:  Peirene Press. Here is what they say they do:

Peirene specializes in contemporary European literature in English translation. We only publish books of less than 200 pages that can be read in the same time it takes to watch a DVD. We curate our books according to annual themes. 2010 was Peirene’s year of female narratives – three books with female protagonists and strong female voices (although not all are written by women.) 2011 is Peirene’s Year of the Man – male authors, male protagonists, male views of the world- from Germany, Holland, Austria. And 2012 will be Peirene’s Year of the Short Epic – novella length stories of more than 30 short chapters, from Finland, Denmark and Switzerland.

Meike and Maddy who tweet under @PeirenePress are always nice and positive and up for a good conversation. They also have frequent bookish events that I really hope I can go to one day (durn not living in England any more).

Peirene Press recently sent me their latest novella Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan Van Mersbergen which I hope that by the time you read this I will be reading (I have another book I need to finish to review first). The ladies at Peirene Press are easy to have a relationship with because they are open and personable and generally appreciate book bloggers and connections. And perhaps I should learn from them .

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Day 07 – Most underrated book

Most underrated? Difficult. There are definitely books that I wish that more people would read but I don’t know if this is because they are underrated or because they have been under marketed. I want to highlight a book today that I wish that the publisher was still selling these books. There are some books in some libraries but I want to own them. It is a Swedish series about girl in the late 19th century (the last book covers the changing of the century). The first book is called Bergsmansgårdens Lina. In it we meet five year old Lina who lives on a farm with her parents. Her maternal grandparents live close by as does several other family members. She also has aunts in America. In the final book Lina i Brytningstid Lina is grown up, engaged (sort of) and about to start school again. The books are historical fiction and shows the changes in Sweden at the turn of the last century. I read them (repeatedly) in my early teens. I also give the books a great deal of credit for my being able to pas the educational history course that I took as part of my MEd. I think that these books are what some educational philosophers would call living books. They tell a fantastic story and happen to be very educational.

I really really want my own copies of these books so if anyone wants to sell them to me, please give me a holler!

 

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Day 06 – A book that makes you sad

A book that makes me sad? That’s hard. I tend to not read books that make me sad for the simple reason that I have have suffered from depression in the past and I tend to dwell on sad things. I have never been good with sad books or sad tv shows/movies. As a small child there was a children’s show about a dog who got separated from its family. I think it was supposed to be an adventure show but I focused on the fact that he wasn’t with his family. It got so bad that my parents couldn’t let me hear the theme tune because I would start crying and wail “why doesn’t he find his family! Why can’t he be with his mummy!?” I still feel this way as an adult. That said, I do read books that have sad parts. Books were I sob my guts out: take when Matthew dies in Anne of Green Gables is one such incident. There is also Beth’s death in Little Women and the Masterharper’s death in the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey. But the book I want to talk about today is Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian.

The reason I have chosen this book is because although it has a hopeful message and a happy ending most of the book is sad and somewhat depressing. The book tells the story of William Beech a small abused boy who is evacuated from London during the Second World War. William’s mother abuses him both physically and mentally and just when things look like they will get better for William through the kind treatment of the title character Mr. Tom that is snatched away from him.

I don’t want to give away to much of the plot but there is an event in the book that has me sobbing like I do in the previous mentioned books. Always have and probably always will.

Despite the fact that this book makes me sad I would highly recommend it. It is marketed as Young Adult, as is all of Magorian’s books but I would definitely recommend it as an adult book. As I would her other books, I’ve read Back Home and A Little Love Song by her as well. Good Night, Mr Tom has also been made into a movie, I haven’t seen that however.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Armchair BEA: Work the Network

I have no interview partner this year, I wasn’t sure if I would have time to do the interview in a timely manner and I didn’t want to be a total flake. So instead I thought I would point you to some previous done interviews and features of book bloggers I’ve done as well as point you towards some of my favourite bloggers out there.

First my two “recycled” posts:

My interview from last years BBAW with Fiction Vixen.

And I featured one of my favourite book bloggers in the New To Me category at BBAW, Carin from A Little Bookish.

Now to some other of my favourite book bloggers:

Iris on Books is the only book blogger that I have met in person and she is just as nice in person as she is online. In June she is running a month of Dutch literature so if you are interested in literature from non-English speaking countries I highly recommend heading off to her blog.

Leeswammes’ Blog is another Dutch book blogger who always has something interesting to say. She also often runs competitions.

Beth Fish Reads always seems to feature books I want to read right now! Plus she runs the fabulous feature Weekend Cooking which I need to take part in more often.

Eva from A Striped Armchair seems to have been plagued with some bad technical and health luck lately but the books she features always seem to be added to Lake TBR.

Zoe from Playing by the Book blogs about children’s books and she has been running a fabulous feature about children’s books from around Europe. It has been a treasure for me with regards to the Nordic Challenge and a place I go to for ideas for book gifts for the little people in my life.

If you are looking for discussions about classics (and other bookish thoughts) I recommend Jillian at A Room of One’s Own. I discovered Jillian through the War & Peace read-a-long movement that seems to have swept the book blogging world the past year. I think I am now behind in the schedule but I will get caught up again. Jillian writes about all manner of classics.

These are just a cross section of the many fabulous book bloggers out there. Do you have any favourites you would like to share with me?

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Armchair BEA: Favourites So Far/Favourites to Be

Today Armchair BEA asks us to talk about our favourite new books of the year or books out later this year we hope to add to that list. I have a few books that fit these categories.

First: Favourites already out.

I have only read one book so far this year that was published this year, and that was One Was A Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur Books), and boy was that a favourite. I’ve said it before (and I am sure I will say it again) I love Spencer-Fleming’s mix of romance, mystery, relationships and social issues.

Second: Favourites to be?

Out today! The Greater Journey by David McCullough (Simon & Shuster). I loved but 1776 and John Adams and the lives of these intellectuals seems very very interesting. I mean who wouldn’t want to read about Hawthorn, Fenimore Cooper and Emerson.

Out June 6th: Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan van Mersbergen (Peirene Press). I’ll be talking more about Peirene Press on Thursday when I discuss Blogger/Publisher relationships. This will be my first Peirene title but I do own Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman by Friedrich Christian Delius which I also hope to read later this year.

I’ve got an ARC of Tolstoy by Rosamund Bartlett (Houghton Mifflin Harcour, out November 9th) sitting in my Kindle waiting for me to get a little further in War & Peace. I saw this book on NetGalley a few months ago and it seemed perfect considering my year long read of War & Peace. I really wanted to know more about the author who wrote the book. In addition I have a love for biographies. Perfect match.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Book Reviews: Lyon’s Pride & The Tower and The Hive

Lyon’s Pride by Anne McCaffrey

Publisher: Corgi

Category: Sci-fi

Synopsis: The Lyon children continue to grow and aid in the fight against the hivers as well as the growing alliance between Mridini and humans.

 

The Tower and The Hive by Anne McCaffrey

Publisher: Corgi

Category: Sci-fi

Synopsis: In this concluding book of the Tower and the Hive series McCaffrey sews together many of the storylines and the children are fully grown up.

My Thoughts: I feel that these book focuses more on the Lyon boys. Laria and Zara do get their own sections but the biggest focus is on the boys. This isn’t necessarily negative but it is a point worth noting. Lyon’s Pride also introduces a couple of new characters, primarily Clancy, Flavia and Kincaid. I like these characters but I feel at times that this makes the books more complicated and at times to fractured.

That said, as with Damia’s Children, I really enjoy the ethical and philosophical debates that the books raise. As the search for Hiver infected worlds continue the characters are faced with issues surrounding using alien species to experiment on. There is also debate around the destruction of an entire species. The books also very deftly deals with the topic of racism in the guise of specieism (is that a word? well it is now). In these books Earth has been united under one rule and race is no longer an issue, the issues are now on a planet wide and with the introduction of the Mridin between species. Who gets preference to new planets? How should we integrate the different cultural and biological needs of the difference species? How does one understand different education systems and validate them?  All very important integration questions that we battle with in society today.

I think part of my love for these books come from the fact that I first read them as a teenager when I was becoming more politically aware. Big philosophical and political issues were very interesting to me at the time and these books gave me a “safe” place to consider them.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Day 05 – A book that makes you happy

A book that makes me happy? Books in general make me happy. I once described bookstores and libraries as my happy place. For me, walking along the shelves in a library, my hand gliding along the spines, makes me happy and calm at the same time. Picking up a book and escaping into the world that the author has created is for me the best feeling in the world. Because of this I have decided to feature a book about bookstores as my book that makes me happy. I got The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee from a friend for Christmas two years ago and once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down.

This book perfectly encapsulates what I love about bookshops. I could see myself within the pages. The book, for all it is a memoir, was also about me. It was about books and it was about love. When I read it I felt that same warm glow that I get in a bookstore spread through me. It is a book I think everyone who loves books should read.

It is about a love of books and the independent bookshops that work hard to find the perfect book for each customer. In today’s world with big box shops and internet bookselling the independent bookshop needs a book like this one. I do buy my books from big box stores. I love going to Barnes & Noble when I am in the states. Or to sit in Waterstone’s on Princes Street in Edinburgh with a latte looking out at the Castle and leafing through a book. But I also miss James Thin. The family owned bookstore where I bough my text books my first few years at Uni. I am also so very happy that the town I’ll be moving to in the fall has an independent bookshop. It is the small, tightly packed bookshop I love.

So any book that promotes this is a book that makes me happy.

Copyright ©2011 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.