Notes from the North

In Memoriam: Astrid Lindgren

2012-01-28T07:14:00.000+01:00

Today marks the ten year anniversary of the death of one of my favourite authors of all time: Astrid Lindgren. She left behind a rich and wonderful legacy of books that generations have loved and continue to love, in fact one of her characters, Pippi Långstrump is my 17 month old niece’s current favourite. I could think of no better way to honour this fantastic lady than to share with you two favourite songs to which she has written the lyrics. One is my niece’s and one is mine.

The lyrics were written by Astrid Lindgren and music by Jan Johansson. This is my niece’s favourite. She adores Pippi, has a Pippi doll house, a large Pippi doll, shirts etc. And despite not being old enough to see the movie or read the book knows the characters already. I am incredibly happy about that.

One of my favourite songs is “Fattig bonddräng” from one of the moives about Emil. The lyrics are written by Astrid Lindgren and the music by Georg Riedel. The song is often played at funerals and glorifies the hard work of the farm labourer. It is an incredibly sad song in some ways but also an empowering one. In the end, although Alfred has had his faults he is welcomed in to heaven because God has seen his hard work. It shows Astrid’s compassion with those in life who do not have an easy time.

TSS: Bookish Connections 1

2012-01-22T21:13:00.001+01:00

Some months ago I spoke about changing the directions of this blog. Still focusing on books, but more on the connections between books and the things I learned. This post is about the connections between the books I have recently finished and am currently reading.

I started the year finishing off my re-read of Julia Spencer-Fleming’s books I Shall Not Want and One Was a Soldier. Those books are like a big steaming mug of tea for me…total comfort. I’ve also started a new crime series, the White House Chef series by Julie Hyzy. So far I have managed the first two books (State of the Onion and Hail to the Chef) and I have the third (Eggsecutive Orders) on my Kindle. I’ve also read Mästerdetektiven Blomqvist by Astrid Lindgren which is a cozy mystery for children. In it a character from my final fiction book, Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayer, makes a brief cameo as the young detective ponders what Lord Peter Wimsey would do in the situation.

So far my book choices have been connected by a common genre, mysteries, cozies even. None of the sleuths are professional sleuths. They all rather meddle in things that are none of their business. Or possibly only their business tangentially.

There are however connections to some of the non-fiction books I have read and am currently reading. The first two connections are quite easy to see, I’ve read a biography about Astrid Lindgren by Margareta Strömsted. Lindgren was of course the author of Mästerdetektiven Blomqvist* and the biography showed how Lindgren’s childhood environments influenced her writing, so one could see parts of her childhood in the books.. My second non-fiction book was a book titled Astrid Lindgren and Christianity by Werner Fischer-Nielsen. Again the connection here is obvious. Although I didn’t quite buy the thesis in this book it did give me some interesting thoughts, and I did like that Fischer-Nielsen focused on one of my favourite characters, Madicken. My final non-fiction book is the one I am currently finishing and it a way it has a connection to several of the books mentioned. The book is Hatar Gud bögar? (Does God Hate Gays?) by Lars Gårdfeldt, and is a book highlighting how, primarily, churches have treated the GLBT community, and how this community is trying to find a place within the church. It is a very interesting book and I hope to review it in the next week or so. You can of course see how it is connected to the previous mentioned non-fiction book, however it also has a connection to one of the specific works of fiction as well as the whole series of books. That book is I Shall Not Want. At one point in the book the following exchange takes place:

The boy pushed his overgrown bangs away from his face. “Under protest. Organized religion is a tool of the capitalist machine.”

“He’s taking a summer AP course in Marxism-Leninism,” Dr. Anne said. “God help us all.”

Clare handed the teen her overloaded key ring and Thermos of coffee. “Would you open up for me, Colin? And drop this in my office?”

He took the jangle of keys. “Why not? I’m only a member of the proletariat, crushed by the oppressive boot heels of history. Want me to light the candles, too?”

“Thanks.” Clare turned to his mother. “Remind me to give him some books on liberation theology.” (250-251)

It is the last sentence that connects the two books, as Gårdfeldt bases much of his argument on liberation theology. I had not heard about this movement prior to reading I Shall Not Want and I was geekily excited when I realized how the two were connected. Gårdfeldt’s book is also connected to a previous book in the series in that, as A Fountain Filled with Blood is in a large part about gay bashing and the rights of GLBT individuals to marry and live their life free of fear.

Most of the books also have a common theme of acceptance and helping those less fortunate in them. All the books manage to make this point without banging you over the head with it. Yes some of them are more obvious in this theme but they aren’t annoying about it.

I’m very happy with the books I’ve read so far this year, and I love the fact that there are so many interesting and thought provoking connections. Although I’ve always seen connections between what I am reading and what I have read before, by highlighting the connections through the blog I feel that I am getting deeper into the books. I am seeing them in a new light.

Book Review: Astrid Lindgren och kristendomen

2012-01-16T07:07:00.000+01:00

Astrid Lindgren och kristendomen – utifrån Pippi, Emil och Madicken (Astrid Lindgren and Christianity – from Pippi, Emil and Madicken) by Werner Fischer-Nielsen

Category: Literary Criticism

Language: Swedish

This book rather disappointed me. It seemed way to contrived. The author had decided that Lindgren’s books had biblical parallels and by golly he was going to make them fit.

I definitely agree that the books have moral and ethical themes but I think that this is rather typical for children’s books. Last year I read but didn’t review another book of literary criticism with regards to Astrid Lindgren’s books. This book dealt with her folk tale/fairy tale books and the author there discussed the fact that the children’s stories that Lindgren grew up with often had a moral to them. I am not disputing the fact that Lindgren grew up with biblical tales but I do find it hard to see that she has consciously included biblical themes into her stories. Instead this book has made me more convinced that many of these stories are universal in their appeal, no matter what religion you confess.

This book further deepens my belief that we humans create belief systems in order to make sense of the world. These systems and stories change little over the centuries, however their familiarity isn’t a bad thing.

I do like that Fischer-Nielsen highlights one of my favourite Lindgren characters, Madicken. As he points out this is a character that is often forgotten when one analyses Lindgren’s work and I think this is a shame. Madicken and Lisabeth have much to offer girls who live in stable families. I also, as Fischer-Nielsen points out, think these stories have a good discussions on class systems in society. Although these systems are seemingly gone from Swedish society, I think that they are still there in some respects. I think that one of the stories that is highlighted in this book could lead to some very good discussions with children.

Overall I think this is a book that although it is a quick read one could give a miss if one is studying Lindgren’s body of work.

Book Review: Astrid Lindgren–En levnadsteckning

2012-01-06T17:16:00.001+01:00

Astrid Lindgren – En levnadsteckning (Astrid Lindgren-A portrait of a life) by Margareta Strömstedt

Category: Biography

Language: English

Astrid Lindgren’s books have a special place in the heart of most Swedes. As Strömstedt in this book points out the phrases from the books have entered the general vocabulary of most Swedes (373). To use her figures as examples means that everyone will understand the reference. This book explores where these figures come from.

The book is divided into three parts with a post script. The first part tells of Lindgren’s family and childhood. Strömstedt maintains that her childhood was her biggest inspiration for her books, and makes a very compelling case for this. She shows how events in Lindgren’s own childhood, as well as in the life of her parents and grandparents have been incorporated into the different books. The regular, old-fashioned life is one of the things I absolutely adore about one of Lindgren’s series, the one in called “Bullerbyn” in Swedish or “Noisy Village” in English. Although I grew up in a cul-de-sac in a big city I had some similar experiences. And boy did I dream of the exact experiences that Lisa and her friends had. My friends and I often played games that were based on the different adventures in Lindgren’s books (our imaginary horses bore a striking resemblance to those of Mio and Jumjum and there is a game based on that played by Mästerdektektiven Blomkvist). I found it fascinating to read about how Lindgren’s own childhood informed her writing.

The second section in the book deals with Lindgren’s adulthood, when her books were published. Although little of the information in this part was new to me, I loved to read Lindgren’s own comments on events and issues. For example I was gratified to see that she had made a conscious decision to make the teachers in her books nice people. As a teacher myself I am all to aware of the fact that teachers are often portrayed as either not very nice people or as pretty absent characters with little understanding of the children placed in their care. In addition I was glad to see her view on women both through her books and through some writing she had done. Amongst other things she severely criticized the priests in the Diocese of Lindköping when none of them voted to allow female priests. In a rather snarky (yay) letter she pointed out that although Paul had written about women in church we now lived in a completely different world and perhaps we should not listen so much to him.

The third part of the book deals with Lindgren’s old age and her political activism. Lindgren became involved in several political debates during the later years of her life. These debates were primarily concerned with the rights of children and animals (although she is also well known here for a contribution to the debate around taxes). Her work for children’s rights and environmental issues is something for which she continues to be admired for here, as well as something that you can see had a clear connection to her early life where she lived close to nature.

I really enjoyed this book and learning more about one of my favourite authors. I highly recommend this book to others.

Thursday Tea: One Was A Soldier

2012-01-05T13:57:00.001+01:00

The Book: My current fiction read is a re-read for me: One Was A Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming. This book is such a mixture of bitter and sweet, with Clare “not doing well, not doing well at all” at the same time as the romance between her and the Chief having a high point.

The Tea: Raspberry Honey from Tea Hugger. I spent two summers with my friends in Greensboro, NC and on Saturdays we would go to the farmers market and buy fruit and veggies and other locally produced items. While walking around we would sip ice tea from the ladies at Tea Huggers and eat samples. I miss my friends every single day. For Christmas they sent me a care package with different things from the farmers market and one of the items was a tin of my favourite tea, Raspberry Honey. Thanks again Curls!

Do They Go Together? Yes they do, very well. Like the book the tea has a somewhat bitter taste at first, then a smooth sweetness that reminds me of Clare and Russ’s love.

Library Loot: December 28 to January 4

2012-01-01T07:38:00.000+01:00

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

I’ve never done a Library Loot before but with my goal of reading more from my local library I thought I would give it a try. I went into the library the other day with the goal to just browse and came home with quite a few books. And the books I came home with do rather point to my eclectic taste in reading. All the books are in Swedish so the English titles are my own translations.

First two books are books of lists (of sorts), because who amongst us can ignore a good list?

1001 Böcker du måste läsa innan du dör: i urval av Göran Hägg (1001 books you must read before you die: picked by Göran Hägg) I have the English version of this (although it is currently at my cousins, long story), and I wanted to see which books had been included in the Swedish version.

The next book is 52 kvinnliga författare: från 1700-tal till 2000-tal (52 female writers: from the 18th Century to the 21st Century) by Lena Kjersén Edman. This book has short portraits of female authors as well as lists of books they have written and suggestions for other books about them. With my interest in feminism I couldn’t resist this book.

I recently read (but didn’t review) a book titled Astrid Lindgren och sagans makt (Astrid Lindgren and the power of the fairy/folk tale) by Vivi Edström so when I saw the following two books on the library shelves I had to bring them home: first we have Astrid Lindgren: en levnadsteckning (Astrid Lindgren: A portrait) by Margareta Strömstedt which is a biography of one of my favourite authors.

The second book is Astrid Lindgren och kristendomen- utifrån Pippi, Emil och Madicken (Astrid Lindgren and Christianity- from Pippi, Emil and Madicken) by Werner Fischer-Nielsen. This book dovetails nicely with my desire to read books that are connected in different ways, as it is connected to my reading on religion.

The next book is also on the topic of religion and is actually the publication of a thesis. It is titled Hatar Gud bögar? Does God hate gays? Lars Gårdfeldt. Gårdfeldt is a priest in the Swedish church and a campaigner for gay rights. I think this will be a very interesting read.

Kulla-Gulla i slukaråldern by Ulla Lundqvist (I can’t actually find an appropriate translation for this books title, sorry). This is a book written by a woman who has a doctorate in literature and it is about middle grade “girls” fiction. The books about Kulla-Gulla which are mentioned in the title were some of my favourite when I was growing up and I love books about books so I couldn’t pass this one up.

My final book is called Yoga för alla (Yoga for everyone) by Rosamund Bell. I love yoga but can only make class once a week. I know I should do more at home but I never get to it. I was leafing through the different yoga books at the library and this one was the only one that promoted the type of yoga I practice (Iyengar). It has great photos that shows the different asanas as well as (and here was the kicker for me) having different programs for you to follow. I hope this will help me to get into a routine.

2012 Reading and Blogging Goals

2011-12-31T14:47:00.001+01:00

New Years always seems to bring out the “Best of” lists and the “Goals for Nest Year”, and I thought I would join the fray. I’m not doing a “Best of…” post as most of you know I don’t like rating books but I do want to talk a bit about my plans for 2012.

Although I love challenges because they do just that I have decided to let at least the first 6 months be challenge free. I need a break from pressurized reading, work has been insane in the fall and I doubt it will be less so in the spring. I do however want to challenge myself in my reading so that I don’t fall into my pattern of re-reading and reading new releases from the same authors. Because of this I have decided to make 2012 my year of non-fiction. I will of course be reading fiction as well, I usually read some form of fiction right before bed. But I also want to focus on non-fiction reading. I will be reading on different topics until a topic bores me, and then switch. I will be starting with religion as my first topic. In 2010 I took part in the World Religion Challenge and it wet my appetite so that is what I will start with. My goal is to make my reading 60% non-fiction 40% fiction during the year.

My other reading goal is to utilize my local library more. I have a lovely library in the center of town that has a lot of books and nice staff. It is also easy for me to get to so I really have no excuse. Here I am aiming for a 50/50 split between books on my own shelves and books from the library. This also connects with my next goal: reading more books from my own shelves. I have a lot of books on my shelves that I have never read and I need to remedy that.

My final goal has to do with blogging. As you may notice the blog has been VERY quiet the last few months. With work being crazy and some health problems I was often to tired to write anything coherent. And, although work probably won’t slow down, I do have a handle on the health problems now. I have so much more energy now and I hope that this will contribute to more writing motivation.

Although I am not taking part in any challenges myself, I am continuing the Nordic Challenge. I have turned this into a more perpetual challenge and anyone is invited to join in. I will primarily be reading books from the library for this challenge so it should fall into the 50/50 split as well.

In Memoriam: Anne McCaffrey

2011-11-24T20:39:00.001+01:00

Occasionally you come across a book that speaks to you. A book that contains a character that in the words of the Anne girl, is a kindred spirit. For me that character was Menolly in Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey. I was in my early teens when my mother handed me Dragonsong and, although Menolly and I are radically different in certain respects (I can’t hold a tune to save my life and my family are my greatest supporters), I still felt like we were the same.

Like Menolly I felt like an outsider my whole life. Not necessarily a round peg trying to fit into a square hole, more of a hexagon peg trying to fit into a round hole. Almost but not quite there. At the time I hadn’t quite found my place in the world, like Menolly finally does at the Harper Hall, but the books gave me hope. Maybe I could find my place.

This was my first introduction to the wonderful world of Pern. It would not be my last visit. Over the years I have read and re-read all the Pern books written by Anne McCaffrey (I tried the ones by Todd McCaffrey but they just didn’t capture me in quite the same way). The books about Menolly have stayed a firm favourite for me, but I do love them all. Ms. McCaffrey was not only responsible for helping me see that I wasn’t alone in the world. She also, rather sneakily, introduced me to Science Fiction. Because I loved the Pern series (where some of the books have sci-fi elements) I was willing to give the Talent and the Tower and the Hive series a go.

The news that Anne McCaffrey had passed away reached me last night through this NPR piece. I was stunned. I had just finished re-reading Dragonsinger, something I do at least once a year, usually when, like now, I am super stressed. I still take a great deal of comfort in reading about Menolly’s finding of her place in the world. The idea that no new books will come from the hand of Ms. McCaffrey is sad. I’m honestly still reeling a bit. The Pern books are a series of books I always feel comfortable recommending, and a series I reach for when life feels overwhelming and I need to escape into a world where dragons are real and dreams come true (although not free).

TSS: I’ve been thinking

2011-11-06T17:58:00.001+01:00

I’ve been thinking…and that is always dangerous. My blog has been very quiet of late, but not because I’ve been reading less…in fact October was my best reading month by far, coming in at 18 books read. Most of those were in a series of middle grade (?) classics that I loved when I was 11-14. They are out of print and I have finally managed to get all of them (when I read them as a child I always got them from the library). But there were also a couple of non-fiction books and quite a few (for me) audiobooks (I plowed through The Hunger Games trilogy in a week, whilst working). However I have only posted a few reviews. I am just to tired most days to write reviews, and to tell the truth, my reviews are beginning to bore me. So I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction I want to take the blog. Do I want to continue with it at all? Do I want to do it in a different format? I don’t feel part of the community right now, because I am also not reading other people’s blogs, again time is a problem for me. But I don’t really want to abandon ship. I like keeping a record of what I’ve read. I like noting down my thoughts. I like the community feel of the book blogging world.

So what are my thoughts on solving this conundrum? Well, lately I have also been reading, or drawn to books that seem to fit together in subject matter. So I don’t think I will be writing reviews but rather collecting a bunch of books on the same, or similar topics and discuss how they relate to each other and my thoughts on them in general.

In addition to this I have some thoughts on some things I might like to do at work when it comes to reading and getting my students to read more, and I might write about those efforts here.

Although I have always maintained that this blog is for me, it is public and I do know I have readers so I wanted to know what you, my readers thought about these ideas. Would you still read the blog if this is the direction I took it in? How often would you expect to see posts? Please come share.

Also, thank you Eva, for encouraging me to “just ramble”

Book Review: Karin Larsson och blommorna i Sundborn (Karin Larsson and the flowers at Sundborn)

2011-10-25T07:55:00.000+02:00

Karin Larsson och blommorna i Sundborn (Karin Larsson and the flowers at Sundborn) by Christina Högardh-Ihr

Publisher: Prisma

Category: Non-fiction

Challenges: Nordic Challenge

My Thoughts: Growing up I had two favourite painters: Claud Monet (thanks to Linnea in Monet’s Garden by Christina Björk) and Carl Larsson (thanks to the book Spadarvet by Carl Larsson himself). I remember the first time I saw some original Carl Larssons, and not the reproductions that every house in Sweden has. It was in 1992 and I was 11 years old. The art museum in Gothenburgh were having a big exhibit and my parents took me. We got to see a very controversial painting called “Midvinterblot”. At the time it was owned by a private Japanese collector, now however it is hanging where it was commissioned to hang, at the National Gallery in Stockholm. Back in ‘92 I was awestruck. However the book I am going to review today isn’t about Carl, but rather his wife, Karin, who was also a very talented artist. Once she met and married Carl she changed her artistic focus towards the home. Karin became a talented textile designer, as well as an interior decorator. The home she created in Sundborn village is intimately connected to the Scandinavian design. As a matter of fact, some of Karin’s designs can be found in that temple of Swedish design, IKEA (or at least they look very much alike)

The picture to the right here is one, if not the, most famous of Carl Larsson’s paintings. It shows one of the rooms at Lilla Hyttnäs, the name of the house that the Larssons made into their home. The painting also features the thing that the book I’ve read is about: Karin’s flowers. I enjoy flowers, but I really don’t have a green molecule in my body. I love looking at them but I can’t make them grow and I don’t know all that many different types. But the story is also very much about Karin. And Karin loved her flowers. This is evident both from how Lilla Hyttnäs looks now, from her own textiles and from Carl’s paintings. Paintings that , as Högardh-Ihr points out, often feature different flowers and plants.

This book does full justice to the life at the Larsson family home. The book is peppered with pictures, reproductions and extracts from letters to and from Karin. I don’t live that far from Sundborn village and have been there a couple of times over the last few years (and am always happy to go back) and I really enjoyed learning even more about this place and the woman who built it. The guides at the house are always really knowledgeable and happy to answer questions, and I know I will have some next time I go. The house itself is somewhat of a rabbit warren, where the Larssons built on more space as the family grew. And every single room has unique decorations, paintings by Carl and textiles by Karin. Karin also designed furniture, amongst other things a rocking chair that is very like one that you could buy at IKEA. Although to us today it might seem like Karin gave up on her own dreams of becoming an artist, but I really don’t think she did. She put her artist soul into the home. This home was always open to friends and family. Karin worked hard to decorate the house, make it warm and welcoming, and functional. And in doing so she broadened her artistic talents. Through the home she came into contact with weaving and textiles, something she hadn’t touched before. She grew up in a well to do home and had before marriage not been involved in cooking, now she became an adventurous cook who tried ingredients that wouldn’t make it into most Swedish kitchens for another 50 or 60 years.

The book is a very nice introduction to Karin, it isn’t that meaty in itself, but it gives some really excellent starting points for further study of both Karin and Carl.

Book Review: The Hunger Games [audiobook]

2011-10-21T07:21:00.000+02:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Narrated by Carolyn McCormick

Publisher: Scholastic Audio

Category: Dystopian YA

Challenges: R.I.P. VI Challenge

Synopsis: 16 year old Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, Panem. Every year each of the 12 districts have to send two tributes to the Capital to take part in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are a fight to death for the entertainment of the inhabitants of Capital. At the annual Reaping Katniss younger sister’s name is called. Katniss, who has done everything in her power to limit Prim’s chance of being called, volunteers to go in her stead. The other Tribute from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a young boy who has loved Katniss for many years. And so begins the 74th Hunger Games.

My Thoughts: Oh. My. God. Why did I wait so bloody long to “read” this book?????!!!!!!! It is awesome!!! I’ve been listening to it every chance I’ve gotten over the last few days. Stupid work coming between me and my listening!

This book is so perfectly balanced between the scary-monsters, scary-psychological, scary-being-a-teen-is-just-plain-scary. Katniss for all she is the primary breadwinner in her family, is so very much a teenager.

I finally got around to listening to this book because it came up in a discussion at work the other week. We were talking about ordering books for English and some of my colleagues wanted suggestions for books. I suggested The Giver and this lead to a discussion if our students could handle the themes (don’t let me get into this discussion ever again, I might actually pop a vein). The discussion climaxed in me pointing out that “kids these days” WANT to read dystopian novel. They LIKE dystopian novels. They can HANDLE dystopian novels. And I presented The Hunger Games as exhibit A. Since I hadn’t read it myself my colleague took over the baton at this point, and I realized that I had to read it. I am now even more convinced that this is a book we need to buy in for the school. A book we can definitely discuss in class (and since the first movie is out later this year we can actually also in years to come watch it, which was one of my colleagues requirements).

I think that our students will be able to identify with Katniss. Although we don’t have any Hunger Games here I think they can identify with her lack of power. Although our students have a choice in what they study in school, it is limited. We expect them to make choices but we don’t really give them any choices in their choices. They can definitely identify with the general level of powerlessness that Katniss feels. I think they can also identify with the theme of trust in the book. Who can you trust? Our students aren’t required to kill each other, but I’m sure some days, for them, high school feels much like the Arena. In addition Katniss has no idea who she is or who she wants to be. We are now two months into the term and I still have kids changing programs/classes almost daily. They just don’t know.

I have a love/hate relationship with Katniss. On the one hand she strikes me as incredibly admirable. She takes care of not just her sister but also others in the Seam. She is resourceful. At the same time she is a whinny teenager, and I spend my days with them . Yes there are some mitigating circumstances. I would probably also whine a bit if I was sent to die. However, I also don’t like the way she treats Peeta. She is sooooo suspicious. She cannot believe that someone would love her. And that is sad. And it makes me wonder what life would be like in that society. Or actually in any society where you cannot trust anyone. And perhaps that is the scariest part of the book. The total lack of trust that the citizens of Panem have for one and another.

From a suspense perspective this book was very well written. I don’t know how many times I thought “just one more chapter” and “BUT YOU CAN’T END IT THERE I REALLY REALLY NEED TO SLEEP NOW!” Collins seems to leave every single chapter on an incredible cliffhanger.

I think the “just one more chapter” feel was enhanced by listening to it in audio. Carolyn McCormick captures Katniss fear and frustration very well and she manages to leave the cliffhangers with an audible cue that keeps causing me to hold my breath. And disregard my bedtime. The voice takes some getting used to, but I think this is true for any book you read. However the voice was believable.

I highly highly highly recommend this book.

Book Review: Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand [audiobook]

2011-10-14T07:47:00.000+02:00

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Narrated by Peter Altschuler

Publisher: Random House Audio

Category: Lit

Synopsis: The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition? (Synopsis from www.helensimonson.com)

My Thoughts: Every review I’ve read of this book has been glowing. Everyone seems to love it. Maybe I had my hopes up to much but I was a bit disappointed. I was bored. I figured out the twists and turns long before they happened. That said, towards the end of the book I did like it.

Ultimately for me this book is about people. Meeting people. Moving on. And that despite the fact that we may be from different cultures we aren’t necessarily that different. It is also about life in a small town (something I am ALL to familiar with).

I’m not one who needs a whole lot of action in my books, to tell the truth I often skim the actual ACTION scenes in the In Death books. Or at least they don’t stick with me. But this book was just a little bit slow for me. To much of Major Pettigrew thinking and not enough of him actually acting on his thoughts. And I think this is what was frustrating for me. I get that he is a “stiff upper lip British gentleman” one who might not want to or be used to acting on feelings. But sometimes I just wanted to shake him. I don’t like having to shake my main characters.

I also thought that the actions of many of the characters were far to stereotypical to actually be believable. The fact that the golf club dance went the way it did wasn’t exactly a surprise and that was frustrating for me. Why didn’t they see it?! Why didn’t they prevent it long before it went the way it went? Yeah frustrated is the way I felt.

All that said, I felt that the characterization of the main characters was spot on. Although I worked with elderly Swedish gentlemen, and not British ones, I still recognized him. He felt very familiar, not because he was a stereotype, but because he was real. And so was Mrs Ali. They felt like real people, which is why I continued to listen to the book, even when I felt frustrated. In addition there were some instances where I laughed out loud. Absolute belly laughs, it was a good thing that I listened to most of this book in the car driving so that no one else could hear me.

I also enjoyed the narration of this story. Altschuler had the voice down pat. It was as if he was Pettigrew. And the secondary characters were also well done (no annoying accents, my pet peeve). Despite this not being a favourite of mine, I can’t exactly say I wouldn’t recommend it, just to someone who has a slightly different taste to mine.

Book Review: New York to Dallas

2011-10-10T07:17:00.000+02:00

New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb

Publisher: Putnam (Penguin)

Category: Crime

Challenges: Mystery and Suspense Challenge, R.I.P. VI Challenge

Synopsis: One of Eve’s first collars manages to escape prison and he fixates on Eve and one of his last victims. Eve must face her past in order to put the criminal back behind bars.

My Thoughts: Eve faces a great deal in this book, she is forced to face a lot of very horrible memories, but as a result I think we see a growth in her that I have missed a bit in the past few books. Yes she has come to accept certain things in the last few books but in this one I think she finally has to face part of her past that she has managed to block out before.

This book definitely focuses on Eve and Roark. The Perp draws the two of them away from New York and they leave their team behind to tie up the investigation there. This does add a certain new dynamic to the book. Personally I really missed Peabody, Feeney, McNabb and the other characters that always add a bit of humanity to the books. Although the secondary characters that are included in this book are interesting I don’t have the same relationship to them as I do to the regular cast. And after having recently read Loyalty in Death where one of the secondary characters I started caring about gets killed off I‘m a bit vary of liking secondary characters in these books right now.

This book deals with how we move on from when something horrible has happened to us, and although I have never been trough anything truly horrible I can understand the victims in this book (Eve included) and how they choose to move on. Even though they choose very different paths. I think many of us choose to hide from things that happen to us in the past, but this book shows us that we cannot always hide, and sometimes it is infinitely more healthy to face what happened to us and then make the best of it all.

Overall this book make me very curious as to where Robb intends to take us in the next few books. There are certain things in this book that make me very curious.

TSS: Tomas Tranströmer wins the Noble Prize

2011-10-09T15:37:00.001+02:00

I’m sure no one in the bookworld has missed that the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature was announced on Thursday. Here in Sweden the fact that the winner is Tomas Tranströmer has been greeted with a great deal of joy. The last Swedish winners, Harry Martinson and Eyvind Johnson were seen as controversial as they were members of the Swedish Academy and were at the time fairly unknown outside of Sweden. Tranströmer on the other hand is well known* and much loved across the world. Although we admittedly have a lot of Nobel Laureates in literature if one sees to our population, it has been a while since we had one and people here are comparing it to Sweden winning a gold medal in football (soccer) one of our “national sports”. It is THAT big here.

I have to admit that I don’t know him well. I know I’ve read some of his poetry at one time or another but I don’t read a whole lot of Swedish poetry and it has been over 10 years since I studied it at school. That said what I have read in the papers over the past few days has had me go out and order his collected works of poetry and the latest biography, which came out earlier this year. I tried buying them in my local indie book shop but by the time I made it there at about 3:30 (on my way back to work from the bus station after a trip with my seniors) they had sold out of pretty much everything they had by him, plus nothing was orderable. The collected works is being reprinted as it is gone at the publishers. This means that the poems I have read over the last few days have really captured me. My favourite so far is one called “Ensamheten” (Loneliness). In the first part it talks about a car accident on a cold February night. As someone who has been in car accidents in winter (although not in February and not at night) I could definitely see and feel the poem. And I am looking forward to reading more of him once I get my new books.

Have you read any of Tranströmers poetry?

(*within the world of poetry lovers at least)

Book Review: Judgment in Death

2011-10-04T07:53:00.000+02:00

Judgment in Death by J.D. Robb

Publisher: Berkley Books

Category: Crime

Challenges: Mystery and Suspense Challenge, R.I.P. VI Challenge

Synopsis: The body of a dead cop is found in one of Roark’s clubs. Eve must work out if the victim died because he was a cop or because someone is after Roark. All while the waters are muddied by IAB.

My Thoughts: Judgment in Death is actually a very sad story about grief and betrayal and what it can do to people. The victim in the story is ultimately an innocent pawn in a much bigger game, a game with multiple players and not all of them aware of each other.This is a story of corruption and love.

Because of these themes this book leaves me feeling a bit sad. Both for the characters in the book and for the idea that this could happen in our society as well. One of the major Swedish papers has recently been running a series of articles regarding issues within the police in Sweden. Not corruption in the way it is portrayed in Judgment in Death with criminals paying off police officers, but rather systemic issues. But I have to ask myself, can the two not be connected? If we accept that the police count inactive cases as solved, where will it lead?

As far as this book is concerned I have to hope that we have more police officers like Eve and her team.

Book Review: Witness in Death

2011-10-03T07:54:00.000+02:00

Witness in Death by J.D. Robb

Publisher: Berkley Books

Category: Crime

Challenges: Mystery and Suspense Challenge, R.I.P. VI

Synopsis: A man is killed on stage during a performance with hundreds of witnesses, Lieutenant Eve Dallas included. Yet the question of guilt is not so clear cut.

My Thoughts: Despite the dangers of using a cliché I will say that this book is a delicious romp in the world of theatre. No one is quite what they seem. Actors take any chance to try out a role. No one liked the deceased and everyone has some previous connection to others in the cast.

The play being produced is Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution and, while I’m not a fan of Christie, this book has that cozy murder mystery that her books evoke. No one particularly likes the deceased. And although there is the element of sexual crimes we have come to expect from a murder where Dallas is primary, somehow it fails to have quite the SVU feel that I normally get from the books.

On the whole this is one of the In Death books that I feel you can really cozy up with when the weather outside is frightful and just enjoy.

TSS: 3rd Quarter Winner of the Nordic Challenge and 3rd Quarter Reading Round-Up

2011-10-02T15:04:00.001+02:00

First lets have a drum roll please!!!

The winner of the 3rd Quarter Nordic Challenge is:

CSI: Librarian

With her review of Mind’s Eye by Håkan Nesser.

Congratulations and please get in touch with me to let me know which bundle you want.

3rd Quarter Reading Round-Up

So the 3rd Quarter of 2011 saw a lot of changes for me. I am now working full-time and I have finally moved out of my parents house. At times these changes interfered with my reading, but on the whole I am pretty pleased with my reading, even if it has mostly been re-reading.

Icon by Magic_Art

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (audiobook reviewed in 2010)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (audiobook reviewed in 2009)

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson [audiobook]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (audiobook reviewed in 2009)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (audiobook reviewed in 2009)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Quidditch Through the Ages by J.K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

Icon by Magic_Art

Mina drömmars stad (City of My Dreams) by Per Anders Fogelström

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough [audiobook]

Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb

Conspiracy in Death by J.D. Robb

Icon by Magic_Art

Loyalty in Death by J.D. Robb

New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb (review forthcoming)

Witness in Death by J.D. Robb (review forthcoming)

Maybe This Time by Alois Hotchnig

Judgment in Death by J.D. Robb (review forthcoming)

Betrayal in Death by J.D. Robb (review forthcoming)

Nordic Challenge 4th Quarter Reviews (October-December)

2011-10-02T14:01:00.003+02:00

Here is the post to link your reviews for the fourth quarter of 2011 (October-December). Please provide a link to the review not just your blog. Entries that just link to the blog will be deleted.
Since I know people who will be joining this challenge read a wide variety of books I have decided to offer 4 different bundles for the winner to choose from:

Classics bundle; Children’s bundle; Mystery bundle; Fiction bundle.

Please note that you can pick ONE of the above bundles. The books included in the bundle depends on availability at the time (and if you have read the books before )

I will draw the winner using Random.org one of the first days in January 2012. Please check back in January 2012 to see if you have won. I will attempt to contact you directly if you have contact information on your blog. If the winner has not replied back to me by January 30th, 2012 I will pick a new winner.

Book Review: Loyalty in Death

2011-09-26T07:55:00.000+02:00

Loyalty in Death by J.D. Robb

Publisher: Berkley Books

Category: Crime

Challenges: Mystery and Suspense Challenge, R.I.P. VI

Synopsis: A man is killed by his lover. Should be a fairly easy case to solve, except it becomes clear very soon that it isn’t. There is conspiracy abound and Eve and her gang need to use their smarts to solve this case before thousands more die.

My Thoughts: Not one of my favourite Robbs, despite the fact that we get to meet a family member of one of the major characters, Peabody’s brother Zeke.

Eve is supposed to be a homicide cop, and although this book starts with a murder the investigation is never about the victim. It becomes about the terrorists and the bombing and what I love about Eve is that she stands for the victim and I don’t feel like she does in this book. I also have another problem with one event in this book. I hate it when authors make me care about a character and then kill them off. It really puts me off.

There are of course some highlights in this book, especially the Peabody, McNabb, Eve scenes make me giggle quite a bit. And that is probably one of the saving graces of the book. The mysteries are often formulaic but the interpersonal relationships are very real and very funny. None of the characters are perfect but they are real.

Book Review: Conspiracy in Death

2011-09-20T07:58:00.000+02:00

Conspiracy in Death by J.D. Robb

Publisher: Berkley Books

Category: Crime

Challenges: Mystery and Suspense Challenge, R.I.P. VI Challenge

Synopsis: Someone killed a homeless man. And then took his heart. To top it all of the police officer who first secures the scene seems to have it out for Eve.

My Thoughts: This book really explores how our job can become central to our identity, and what happens when that identity is taken away from us. Because of the unfounded accusations of an individual Eve is taken off the job as a police officer. For her this is devastating as being a police officer is central to, not only who she is, but also to her sense of security. For many years she had no control over her own life, being a member of the NYPD gave her this sense of control.

I find it interesting how often we tie our identity to something, when actually our identity is made up of very many different identities. Eve has a hard time seeing herself as anything but a police officer. She fails to see that apart from being a kick ass police officer she is also a wife, friend, lover. She is valued for things other than her ability to solve murder cases. Of course she is fantastic at this but I think she learns a valuable lesson in that she can be so much more.

Other favourite parts of this book? We meet Troy Trueheart for the first time. I do love Trueheart. Those who read this blog have probably noted my love for the series about Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne, and Trueheart reminds me so much of one of the characters in that series, Kevin Flynn. Both are young, eager police officers who want to learn. Who want to move forward. And who are honest and caring. The world needs more guys like that.

Book Review: Maybe This Time

2011-09-19T07:46:00.000+02:00

Maybe This Time by Alois Hotchnig

Publisher: Peirene Press

Category: Short story

Challenges: R.I.P. VI

Synopsis: A Series of dreamlike short stories.

My Thoughts: This book freaked me out so much that I had to stop reading it at bedtime. In fact, I had to finish it in broad daylight on a buss surrounded by people it was so braintwisty and nightmareish. Not those nightmares that have you waking up in the middle of the night in a sweat but rather the kind where you wake up in the morning with an uncomfortable feeling that stays with you the whole day. Where you ask yourself multiple times “what was that”. You can’t quite remember, but you know you felt very uncomfortable.

This was another beautifully written book from the ladies at Peirene Press. Despite being a translation the English flowed seamlessly, and as somewhat of a translation snob I have to applaud them for their continuously high standards when it comes to translations.

As I said before this book is seriously braintwisty. It makes you question everything you see. At the start of each story you think you know what is going on, but by the time you get to the end you no longer have a clue, and somehow I can’t seem to shake the feeling that this is a metaphor for life. We can never quite know what it is we are doing or what it is we are seeing.

Apart from the creepy feeling this book gave me I am having a hard time articulating my feelings on it. I think I need some distance to it, to work out what it was it was trying to tell me. And I think I need to read it again. Read it more carefully. Or perhaps less carefully. Let it speak to me in a way that maybe I didn’t this time.

I do recommend it for anyone who likes books that leave you with a creepy feeling. For me the creepiest story was probably “Then a Door Opens and Swings Shut”. I find the morphing of Karl and the doll to be particularly disturbing.

I would like to thank Peirene Press for sending me a review copy of this book. It was a very interesting read.

R.I.P. VI Challenge Sign-Up

2011-09-04T21:18:00.001+02:00

Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings is once again running the very popular Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) Challenge and I am all in! I’ve been saving up some spooky reads for this particular challenge, plus I started reading a new book the other day that fits the bill perfectly. So what are my initial picks (you don’t have to pick a list but you know me, I like lists).

Maybe This Time by Alois Hotschnig is the latest book from one of my favourite publishers Peirene Press. It is out later this month and I can’t read it before bed, too creepy.
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly I read/had my students read an easy reader version of this (don’t shoot me getting those students to read ANYTHING was a victory) and I could tell that there was a good story under the “easy” version.
Dracula by Bram Stoker with all the vampire books/tv shows/movies around these days it seems like a good idea to read this classic.
No Name and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Last year for R.I.P. V last year I read The Woman in White and I was recommended The Moonstone, I figured I might do No Name as well.
I am also going to make another attempt at The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. I didn’t get to it last year and this year I am determined.
I’ m also currently on an In Death kick so I might throw some of them into the mix as well. There is a new one (New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb) out in two weeks so that will be read no matter what.

I’m doing

and

Maybe This Time is a collection of short stories as is The Fall of the House of Usher so in addition to Peril the First I will also do Peril of the Short Story.

By the way, I adore the banners for this year, having seen the Doctor Who episode Blink, stone statues are amongst the most frightening things I know.

Book Review: Mina Drömmars Stad (City of My Dreams)

2011-08-30T07:50:00.000+02:00

Mina drömmars stad (City of My Dreams) by Per Anders Fogelström

Publisher: Albert Bonniers Förlag

Challenges: Nordic Challenge

Synopsis: Fifteen year old Henning is walking into Stockholm. The city lies before him with all its possibilities. The city however doesn’t quite live up to its promises.

My Thoughts: If you read this blog regularly you probably know by this time that I don’t do to well with assigned reading. I tend to resent them. This was one of my exceptions. I was assigned this book the summer between my junior and senior year in high school and I am pretty sure I read it from cover to cover, and then went out and bought the rest of the books in the series. It is that good.

It has one of the most compelling opening chapters I have ever read. I read this in Swedish, but it is translated into English by Jennifer Brown Baverstam. Fogelström in the opening of the book makes the city into a character in its own right. He paints a picture of the city as both a protector and an enemy. These are the last few lines of the opening chapter (my translation):

The City waited. For the fifteen year old boy who had yet not seen any of its glory – and for everyone else who sought it out.

It existed in their dreams and invited all possibilities.

But a young boy neither could nor wanted to see that most were dark, that joy and the possibilities of life were much fewer than those of sorrow and death.

The boy dreamed. The City waited.

Isn’t it evocative and foreboding? The story of young Henning and his family also tells the story of the growth of Stockholm. This is the first book in a series of five books that follow the family from 186o until 1968. This first book covers the period from 1860 until 1880 and is very much the story of the horrors of the industrial revolution. How the poor were used. And how this impacts on the individual. Young Henning has no family and at first no friends. He also has no education and no contacts. This means that he ends up with the hardest jobs there are. However the book also shows the love and friendship that grows even in the at first bleak life of the rented bed and work in the harbour. Somehow it is incredibly beautiful. And the end makes me cry every time.

Although this is a work of historical fiction there is a certain amount of realism. Fogelström presents a well researched book where actual events are incorporated into the book. One of the things I appreciate about this series is that the characters are never given an important part in the historical events of the time. Rather we see them through their eyes, the eyes of the normal person. That makes the books more real to me. One criticism of sorts is that the main characters are incredibly good. It can get a bit grating at times but at the same time makes an important point of not giving into your circumstances.

Book Review: Holiday in Death

2011-08-29T07:36:00.000+02:00

Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb

Publisher: Piatkus

Category: Crime fiction

Challenges: Mystery and Suspense Challenge

My Thoughts: This is probably the wrong time of year to read this book. It is set around Christmas, in New York, in the year 2058. A happy, young woman is found strangled by a Christmas garland. Eve Dallas and her crack team (which now includes McNabb (yay)) are faced with a killer who has a time limit and very few concrete leads. Add to that the fact that Eve is just not quite back to full fitness after the last book and you have another romp through the In Death world.

Eve continues the growth that she started in the earlier books in this one. Although she is still not ready to admit that she needs to slow down until she drops, she is now willing to admit after she dropped that Roark taking care of her might not be the worst thing. In addition she realises that she needs some of the people who have somehow manage to worm their way into her life.

This isn’t one of my favourite In Death books but it is another solid addition to the series. If you like L&O: SVU then you will enjoy this book.

Book Review: The Greater Journey [audiobook]

2011-08-26T18:08:00.001+02:00

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough

Narrated by: Edward Hermann

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Category: Narrative Non-fiction

Synopsis: A chronicle of Americans in Paris from 1930 until 1900, touching on both the political, the medical and the artists. These individuals were inspired by what they saw and in turn inspired others in both the US and Paris.

My Thoughts: I didn’t love this book as much as I wanted to. I had many of the same problems as Colleen at My Love of Books. I did persist and finish the book because by the time I had the thought to quit there were some stories I was hoping that McCullough would tie up, which he did in a way.

My biggest problem was the fact that he tried too focus on to many people. The story thus becomes fractured, especially when he refers back to people he has already talked about. This is especially tricky when you are listening to it in audio because you can’t go back and refresh your memory about whose who the same way you can in print. I also found the jumping from art, to medicine, to politics, and back to art to be very jarring.

I did have parts I really enjoyed, I especially liked the part about Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. The impressionists have been some of my favourite painters ever since I was a little girl and for me hearing these peoples stories gave me some great insights. I would have preferred a focus on these two and perhaps some others of their contemporaries. The contrast between the private of Cassatt and the public of Singer Sargent was fascinating to me.

I did like that there was a fairly even balance between men and women who were featured. I’ve already mentioned Mary Cassatt but McCullough also featured a female medical student, Elizabeth Blackwell, which I really appreciated. I also liked how this book tied with the book I had listened to before: At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson.

Overall I wouldn’t recommend this book as a “go out and buy right now”, but rather borrow it from the library to see if you enjoy it first. And perhaps only read portions as they interest you.

Audio production: Edward Hermann does a fantastic job with this book. He has a great reading voice. I would listen to more books narrated by him.

I am not sure if I should comment on this here or not…but I will. I listened to the book on my iPhone using the Audible.com app and I am a bit sceptical. If I looked at the chapter list in the app there were a lot more chapters than there actually was in the book and this really bugged me. I wanted to know the chapters so that I could jump back. But this way it was difficult to get a grip over what was going on.

Book Review: The Tales of Beedle the Bard

2011-08-25T07:03:00.000+02:00

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Synopsis: “The Tales of Beedle the Bard contains five richly diverse fairy tales, eachi with its own magical character, that will variously bring delight, laughter and the thrill of mortal peril.

Additional notes for each story penned by Professor Albus Dumbledore will be enjoyed by Muggles and wizards alike, as the Professor muses on the morals illuminated by the tales, and reveals snippets of information about life at Hogwarts” (taken from the back of the book because it was too good not to)

My Thoughts: This is the only Harry Potter book after Prisoner of Azkaban that I didn’t stalk the post box or wait in line at midnight for. I think that when it came out I was glutted for Potter. It was just to much to soon without being the real thing. But with the release of the final film where the book does play a large part I felt that I had to read it.

It was a very easy read, but I really appreciated the commentary around the different stories. Especially the part where Dumbledore comments on the banning of books. My current students are of the generation that grew up with Harry Potter (they were born in 1995) and I was already planning on talking about Banned Books Week and this book will provide me with an excellent introduction to the idea of book banning.

As far as the Potterverse this book doesn’t add anything earth shattering but it goes some way to rounding out both the final book and the life that wizards live. As with Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages this book donates parts of its profits to charity.

Book Reviews: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them & Quidditch Through the Ages

2011-08-22T07:17:00.000+02:00

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and J. K. Rowling

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Synopsis: Fantastic Beasts & Where to find them is written as if it was Harry Potter’s school book. It talks, as the name says, about the different beasts that exist in the magical world of J.K. Rowling.

Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp and J. K. Rowling

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Synopsis: Quidditch Through the Ages describes the Wizarding game of Quidditch.

My Thoughts: These are Harry Potter books that I rarely read but always make me laugh when I do. They were perfect for the charity they were written for: Comic Relief, because they offer just that, some comic relief. I read them during what was a very tough summer workwise (psychological warfare was mentioned several times) and for the two or so hours it took me to read they helped keep that at bay.

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them is written as Harry’s school book and has humoristic comments in the margin, like many school books do (I teach high school, I see many comments in the margin). The book itself is funny at times but it is really the comments that are the highlight of the book.

Quidditch Through the Ages is less funny (although I giggle at times) but it does provide an insight into the wizarding game that one does not get from the “regular” Potter books. It also clearly shows that Rowling had thought through her universe very thoroughly.

These books are not necessary to understand the Potterverse but they certainly add a bit of flavour to them, and while us Potterphiles sit around waiting for our Pottermore e-mails these books can provide a nice fix.

Book Review: At Home: A Short History of Private Life [Audiobook]

2011-08-19T07:07:00.000+02:00

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

Narrated By: Bill Bryson

Publisher: AudioGO Ltd.

Category: Narrative Non-Fiction

Synopsis: Bill Bryson takes the reader on a journey through the house and the history of our homes.

My Thoughts: I am a bit of a history nerd. I prefer social history to military (my high school history teacher would have a FIT if she heard that) so this book hit all the right buttons for me on the surface.

And for the most part I really liked it. Like most Bryson books it is hysterically funny in places, and there is certainly a lot of interesting historical nuggets. However, the book also had some problems. The focus of the book is most definitely on the UK and the US. This might not be a problem for some but for me it became a bit repetitive and boring. In addition the idea of using Bryson’s own house as a starting point is at first a smart one, but after a while it becomes clear that there are certain limitations to this approach. The layout of the house is somewhat strange and there are rooms that either don’t exist in other houses or look very different in some houses. This means that some chapters feel somewhat disjointed and not very interesting. The chapter on the basement becomes not so much about the basement as it is a chapter on architecture, and while this is interesting I would have liked to hear what people actually USED their basement for, and this was only sparsely commented on.

All this said, at no point did I want to put the book down. I think that for a history buff it is definitely a must add to the home library. It touches on some of the most important people in history, such as Tomas Jefferson and George Washington as well as famous architects and engineers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel as well as events that shaped how we live today.

Overall the book seems factually quite accurate and I did learn quite a bit from it. It is a book I will probably add in hardcopy to my history library. I would like to read it and take notes. I listened to large portions of it while driving at it is hard then to make notes to remember both for reviews and for future information.

Audio production: Bill Bryson narrates his own book and does so very well. It really feels like he is sitting there telling the story himself, to me. I don’t recall having any real issues with any part of the audio production. I thought it was well done and easy to listen to.

Unexpected break!

2011-08-12T20:02:00.001+02:00

I’m sorry the blog has been so INCREDIBLY quiet lately. My poor laptop has been feeling poorly for a while now and one day a few weeks ago it finally went and died on me. Thankfully I have an awesome IT-guy (aka Dad) who hooked the laptop up to some sort of life support and managed to extract the content of my hard drive and then install it in a new laptop. Therefore all I have lost is time, and I haven’t actually lost that either, as I have managed to read/listen to quite a few books in the the computer was at the Spa. So look for some reviews after the weekend.

In other news I have started back at my teaching job and it has been a drama filled week and I am exhausted. Hopefully things will settle down now that the students come back (my new motto in life is: “it will all work out in the end”).

I am aiming for a book filled, quiet autumn….yeah I believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny too . I am excited about BBAW and I am hoping to get into some serious blogging, with Banned Book Week hopefully featuring in my teaching as well as in my blogging. As well as some stuff for the Nordic Challenge (with a fun announcement coming there). I’m really looking forward to it all now.

Norway

2011-07-24T12:45:00.001+02:00

Today as yesterday and the day before, and tomorrow we are all Norwegian.

I am watching the beauty and dignity of the Norwegian people and I am proud to call them my brothers and sisters. And my heart breaks for them.

Image credit

Harry Potter Re-Read: Translation Edition (Translation Thursday)

2011-07-07T07:39:00.000+02:00

As many of you probably know by now I speak and read both English and Swedish fluently. I’ve always spoken Swedish fluently and understood English fluently but didn’t start speaking English regularly until I was in my teens, the same goes for reading in English. What does this have to do with Harry Potter? Well, one might think that I would be able to comment on the translation of the books into Swedish. I can’t. I’ve only read one short passage out of a Harry Potter book in Swedish and that was for a translation module in grad school.

Anymore I actively avoid reading books that are originally published in English in Swedish translation. Translation is great. It is an art in itself. But things can change in translation. There is a reason why we have the expression “lost in translation”. I fully agree with Laura Watkinson in the interview I posted on June 27th, words can have many meanings and unless you know what the author intended then translation can be tricky. My classmates and I could have pitched battles regarding our interpretations of words and translations. I occasionally take on some translation work. It. Is. Hard.

However, despite knowing that it is hard, poor translations annoy the living daylights out of me. Often when watching American tv shows the character will say one thing, and the translation will be the opposite. And this is my fear about reading the translated Harry Potter books. I love these books so very much. What if the translator has done a poor job?! (Absolutely not saying they have. I’ve read two pages and they were fine, I have no rational basis for my fear…but you know ). One day maybe I will be brave enough

Happy Birthday USA!!!

2011-07-04T17:34:00.001+02:00

_{Image: Vietnam Veterans Memorial}

My recommendations for 4th of July reads:

1776 and John Adams both by David McCullough. Both books tell the story of the beginning of the USA. They are engaging and interesting reads and I really can’t recommend them enough.

TSS: Winners and 2nd Quarter Round-Up

2011-07-03T19:36:00.001+02:00

In today’s Sunday Salon I’ve got a mixture of items.

First off, drumroll please! The winner of the 2nd quarter Nordic Challenge is:

Jo V @ Bibliojunkie for her review of The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder

Congratulations!!

Jo V can you please contact me to let me know which of the bundles (classic; children’s; fiction or mystery) you would like. I’ll let you know which books are available for you to choose from. My contact details can be found in the About tab above

Now on to my 2nd Quarter wrap-up:

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April was a very good reading month for me, I managed 11 books. Most of them on my Kindle. A lot of the books were re-reads though.

A Fountain Filled With Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming (reviewed in 2010)

One Was A Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming (reviewed in 2010)

To Darkness and To Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming (reviewed in 2010)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (audiobook)

All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming (reviewed in 2010)

I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (reviewed in 2010)

Ett UFO gör entre (A UFO Makes an Entrance) by Jonas Gardell

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal

Damia’s Children by Anne McCaffrey

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May wasn’t quite as good as April, I read 7 books, but considering the fact that May is one of the busier months at work I’m still very happy with my tally.

Lyon’s Pride by Anne McCaffrey

The Tower and The Hive by Anne McCaffrey

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (Audiobook)

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan Van Mersbergen

Tales from Suburbia by Shaun Tan

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In June my reading numbers went down and since I was off a lot I have no real excuse. My speed is picking up in July so I am feeling better about that though.

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (audiobook)

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett

God Dies by the Nile by Nawal El Saadawi

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (Audiobook Reviewed in 2010)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (Not reviewed at this time.

With so many re-reads this quarter I have a hard time picking a favourite, but I will say that I HIGHLY recommend Water for Elephants in audio. It rocked my socks!

May and June were also busy months here at Notes from the North with a 30 Day Bookish Challenge to celebrate me turning 30, ArmchairBEA and Audiobook Week. In addition to that I hosted the Peirene Press’s Tomorrow Pamplona Blog Tour with an interview with the books translator Laura Watkinson. I’ve also started to re-read all the Harry Potter books (as you can see above) before the release of the next movie. I have a bunch of posts that will hopefully go up in the next few days (this has been a hectic week here as my sister got married yesterday and I’m working almost full time at my summer job). With the 30 Day feature I really got up my blogging steam but I seem to have lost it in the last week, I would like to write more so I hope to find my mojo once things slow down here a bit. Looking forward to the next quarter (which will mean a lot of changes for me personally but hopefully not disturb the blog to much).

Nordic Challenge 3rd Quarter Reviews (July-September)

2011-07-03T18:04:00.003+02:00

Here is the post to link your reviews for the third quarter of 2011 (July-September). Please provide a link to the review not just your blog. Entries that just link to the blog will be deleted.

Since I know people who will be joining this challenge read a wide variety of books I have decided to offer 4 different bundles for the winner to choose from:

Classics bundle; Children's bundle; Mystery bundle; Fiction bundle

Please note that you can pick ONE of the above bundles. Books included in bundle depends on availability at the time.

I will draw the winner using Random.org one of the first days in October. Please check back in October to see if you have won. I will attempt to contact you directly if you have contact information on your blog. If the winner has not replied back to me by October 30th I will pick a new winner.

Tomorrow Pamplona Blog Tour 2011, Gig 10

2011-06-27T07:04:00.000+02:00

As part of the launch for Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan Van Mersbergen the ladies at Peirene Press asked me to take part in an interview tour with Jan and the translator Laura Watkinson, and I agreed without a second thought. In a twist to the normal interview tours where many interviewers ask the same questions the ladies have decided that the interviewers could submit one question each to either Jan or Laura or both. If you want to read the rest of the answers check out the tour page at Peirene Press

My question for Laura was: “Translations can be tricky because of the many different meanings that words have in different languages. How did you solve these issues in your translations?”

I translate from European languages, so perhaps I’m less exposed to such issues than translators who deal with cultures that are very different from the English-speaking world. Generally, I feel that European cultures have far more similarities than differences and that our literary and linguistic expressions reflect this similarity. Perhaps this makes life easier for someone who translates from Dutch, for example.

However, I have come across a few tricky expressions during my time as a translator: words or expressions that you can translate into English literally, but which just don’t sound right, or words that can be rendered in more than one way in English. Usually, the context makes the meaning clear, so it’s not a problem, but occasionally you just have to make a decision or, of course, ask the author. I can’t think of any examples from Tomorrow Pamplona, but another piece I worked on included the Dutch word ‘bank’, which can mean ‘bench’ or ‘sofa’ (or, indeed, ‘bank’, as in Lloyds and TSB). Given the context, I’d pictured a sofa, but when the author read the translation, he explained why this particular ‘bank’ was actually a bench.

One famous example of an ‘untranslatable’ Dutch word is ‘gezellig’, which can be used to talk about all sorts of situations and people when you’re together and having fun. The Van Dale Dutch-English dictionary suggests: enjoyable, pleasant, entertaining, sociable, companionable, convivial... So there are plenty of options, but sometimes it’s tricky to find the right one. If the word were actually untranslatable, however, that would imply that we’re unable to describe such situations in English, which clearly isn’t the case. It’s not untranslatable – it just has many, many different translations, all depending on the context and the translator.

Thank you Laura for visiting Notes from the North! I found your answer to be very interesting, especially regarding the issue with words with several meanings, and the issues regarding similar cultures making it easier to translate.

If you haven’t already make sure you check out Iris on Books’ Month of Dutch Literature.

Harry Potter Re-Read: Cover Art from Around the World

2011-06-24T11:11:00.001+02:00

Because it is interesting to consider what went into the different cover art choices here is a random selection from around the world. Keep an eye out for a post in a few days where I discuss the different covers from a selection of publishers

Bookish Days Out: Millennium Books from around the World

2011-06-23T19:10:00.001+02:00

I spent the day in Stockholm. First a visit to Fotografiska then the Stockholm City Museum where they have a small Millennium (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) exhibit. Part of the exhibit was a display of the books from different countries. Picture was taken with my iPhone so I apologise for the quality.

Book Review: God Dies by the Nile

2011-06-22T07:13:00.000+02:00

God Dies by the Nile by Nawal El Saadawi

Publisher: Zed Books

Category: Translated literature

Challenges: A Year of Feminist Classics

Synopsis: From Amazon.com: Kafr El Teen is a beautiful, sleepy village on the banks of the Nile. Yet at its heart it is tyrannical and corrupt. The Mayor, Sheikh Hamzawi of the mosque, and the Chief of the Village Guard are obsessed by wealth and use and abuse the women of the village, taking them as slaves, marrying them and beating them. Resistance, it seems, is futile. Zakeya, an ordinary villager, works in the fields by the Nile and watches the world, squatting in the dusty entrance to her house, quietly accepting her fate. It is only when her nieces fall prey to the Mayor that Zakeya becomes enraged by the injustice of her society and possessed by demons. Where is the loving and peaceful God in whom Zakeya believes?

My Thoughts: I wanted to love this book, I really did. But somehow it didn’t capture me. I felt very confused as to what was going on, there seemed to be things happening on the surface and I got those okay, but it also seemed like there were things deep below the surface and I just did not get where El Saadawi was taking me. The different stories seemed connected but I just didn’t see how, except on the surface.

So the surface issues I did get: there was definitely a theme about the treatment of women and poor. The creation of the Other was clear here. The poor girls were doubly victimised through the sexual violence perpetrated against them and through the doing of this under the guise of it being a good Muslim. The power structures in the town were clear where the rich were more worth than the poor and women were the worst off of all.

If one looks at the book through the eyes of the challenge that caused me to read this book, A Year of Feminist Classics, it is clear that this book continues the theme of relative power between the sexes, and women are at a disadvantage. What this book does to take that theme further is to show how women, because of childbearing, are left even more vulnerable. Their “sin” is even more visible in that they can become pregnant. Here the importance of the woman as a virgin becomes clear through the checking of blood on the sheets after the wedding night. The book also shows how the perceived sin of bastards can damage people.

I am currently reading Words Not Swords: Iranian Women Writers and the Freedom of Movement (Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East) by Farzaneh Milani and it deals with some of the issues regarding women in this culture and the need for the virgin bride. These two books are excellent companion reads.

Weekly Geeks 2011 - 20: Tech & Reading – Same as or a change in output

2011-06-21T07:02:00.000+02:00

I haven’t done a a Weekly Geek in forever but this weeks topic really caught my attention. It is all about technology and reading. Here are the criteria:

Did you have a hard and fast mindset in regards to your reading a year ago? (paperback, ebooks etc)
Are you still true to that format?
If you have tried another format (ebook, audio) – Share your experience?
What was it that made you tried something out of your comfort zone?
If you have not tried another format – Why?
Give a brief over view of where you are at with your reading now, eg, load of paperback lying round, or the out of sight out of mind e-reader putting your mind at each or life as you know it have toss you a curve ball and forced you to think outside of the box?
How do you feel about different output method now?

In order to write this post I went over my spread sheet of last years reading to see what I had read how. I read a total of 72 books and only 2.5 of those were e-books (one was for school and I didn’t get the paperback copy in time so I bought it in e-format and read it on my computer). 7 were audiobooks. That means that a majority of the books I read in 2010 were either paperback or hardback. However, I didn’t have an e-reader at that point. I was reading my e-books on my laptop and that was not ideal. Therefore my non-reading of e-books was a practical one, not an ideological one. So far this year my reading looks like this:

As you can see my reading habits have changed dramatically in the last year. These % are based on 37 books read (one book is counted in two categories because I switched format half way through for practical reasons). The reason for this rather dramatic change can be attributed to this:

My much adored Kindle (a few weeks later it was joined by my equally adored iPhone although that is more of an emergency reading device). It didn’t arrive until February and the numbers then start to add up. In March and April I read far more e-books (5 and 7 respectively) than traditional “paper” books (0 and 2 respectively) (I also managed one audiobook each month). One major reason was the Kindle. Without the Kindle I don’t think I would have read anywhere near as many books as I was also suffering from severe pain in my hands at this time. The Kindle is both lighter than a normal paperback and easier to hold. A large part of my problem is actually holding a paperback open.

The past two months however I have read far more paperback books (In May I only read half an e-book). So I guess I’m somewhat changeable in my reading patterns.

This month I’m back to reading quite a bit on my e-reader, partially because of the wonder that is NetGalley. Although I am becoming bolder in my relationships with publishers, I still don’t get that many review copies from traditional publishers. NetGalley and the Kindle however have enabled me to request more titles that way, and feel comfortable reading them (I’ve currently got three different books on the go that way).

Part of the reason why I am also reading more paperbacks this month and last is that I’ve been home more in May and June. There have been several bank holidays, plus one job finished and I chose not to start my summer job until this week so I also had regular days off (still worked at one of my teaching jobs the first two weeks in June but that was only a total of 3 days ). Being home meant that I could read more paperbacks. I’ve always been the kind of girl who has a paperback in her bag, but the past 6 months I’ve had to curtail that because of shoulder pain (linked to the hand pain). Again the Kindle and its light weight has enabled me to read without the pain. This means that rather than throw a paperback in my bag, I threw my e-reader in it, thus more e-reading.

Another advantage of e-books (and for me audiobooks) is the immediacy of purchase-reading. I currently don’t live very close to a bookstore or library (that will change in September, YAY!) so I buy a lot of my books online. And since I buy most of those books from BookDepository.co.uk it can take up to two weeks for me to get a book once I bought it (I rather famously got a package from them earlier this year and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what book it was ). E-books allow me to have the book on my reader within minutes of clicking that (dangerous) purchase button. Or as in the case with One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming rather frenetically pushing the refresh button on my iPhone waiting for my pre-order to load . Now I can have a book when I want to read it. I love that.

I’m hoping to create a balance between my e-reading and my paperback/hardback reading. What has changed in the past year or so is the way I consider my paperback book purchasing. I am now more likely to purchase a particular edition/print of a book. Where I had previously purchased the cheapest copy. Now I’m more likely to buy a more expensive, higher quality copy in order to display it. Books that I do not wish to display, or where a good quality copy does not necessarily exist, are more likely to be purchased in e-format. I also read a lot of the free classics on my reader. In addition I’ve actually purchased books I already own in paperback on my e-reader. These are books that I know I will be reading time and again (the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne books are examples of this) and that I know that I will read to pieces. By buying them for the Kindle I will be able to read them without them breaking apart.

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As you can see from my writing above I don’t just read books on my Kindle or in paperback form but I also listen to books (although not as much as I would like). I’ve written extensively on this topic under the tag “audiobooks”.

Overall e-books and audiobooks have given me an opportunity to enjoy books where and when I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to either because of time and/or space or because of physical limitations. However, I don’t think either of them will ever completely replace the feeling of a physical copy of the book on my shelf. An e-book doesn’t allow you to wander around a bookstore with a coffee cup in hand, picking up books that strike you as interesting. They don’t allow you to fall in love with a book because you saw a stranger reading it on the subway and the congruity between the reader and book made you pick it up (link in Swedish, use Google translate, it is a great story). An e-book will never replace the joy I feel at finding that hard to get book at the used bookstore (I really must write a post about my beloved used bookstore). An e-book will however make reading easier for me as I highly doubt this will be the only winter where holding a book will bring tears to my eyes. It makes reading while travelling easier since I will no longer have to contort myself to get to that other book in my bag or have to lug a tonne of books with me on holiday (more room for shopping ).

As with everything, balance is key.

Book Review: I Shall Wear Midnight

2011-06-20T07:46:00.000+02:00

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett

Publisher: HarperCollins e-books

Category: YA Fantasy

Synopsis: Tiffany is back in the Chalk working as a witch but something is going on and the there are whisperings about witches. Also her old friend Roland is getting married and acting strange.

My Thoughts: Now this one I LOVED! The age old story about evil walking amongst us spreading rumour and discord. Not to mention the confusing feelings when someone we loved moves on, and how to stay friends when this happens. Also quite a bit of Feegles.

The book starts out in pastoral setting with the annual fair, but then quickly lurches into a much more serious topic of domestic violence (side note, Jungle Red Writers have a great post on this topic) where Tiffany has to intervene in several ways. I thought this theme was very well done, with Tiffany’s bewilderment over why the wife stayed mirroring my own at times. It was also interesting to see her reaction to the Rough Music that follows the revengeful hoard. By putting a name to the frenzied activity Pratchett managed to make it more physically real somehow.

The Feegles Kelda Jennie plays a much bigger role in this book than she has in the past and it was nice to see yet another strong female character in addition to the Witches.

Perhaps the biggest theme in this book is the existence of a menacing evil force, in this book in the guise of the Cunning Man. The Cunning Man comes to embody the concept of witch hunts (both figurative and literal). The Cunning Man causes the people of the Chalk in general, and Roland in particular, to turn against Tiffany. At first this confuses her but with the help of assorted other witches she comes to realise that she has caused the Cunning Man to come after her, and now she must defeat him. I thought this was a perfect metaphor for taking responsibility for your own actions, a theme that has run through several of the Tiffany Aching stories.

Another theme of this book is living up to expectations. Not necessarily the expectations placed on us by those who see us most closely but rather the expectations put on us by society by virtue of our looks. Both Tiffany and Letitia, Rolands wife to be, are to a certain degree, victims of societies ideas of what one should be based on looks. This makes for an interesting discussion regarding physical appearances and actions, as well as our own prejudices.

As always the Feegles (and Horace and the Toad) are around to provide both support and comic relief, the cheese rolling incident had me rolling with laughter. In this book Tiffany is also joined by a new friend, Preston, of the Barons Guards, who is clever but poor. The addition of Preston was a perfect one I think. Tiffany and he are great together, he is smart but somehow very grounded in his way of thinking.

I also thought the change of necklace to be a genius one. Somehow the horse didn’t quite feel like Tiffany, it was more Roland, to high borne, whereas the hare, seems more earthy and witchy somehow.

TSS: Harry Potter Re-read: Part 1

2011-06-19T17:10:00.001+02:00

As I mentioned yesterday one of my favourite series of all time is Harry Potter, both for the great story they provide and for the friendships they have provided me with. I had written that post before the excitement caused by the Pottermore website earlier this week and I am going to be featuring all things Potter over the next few weeks as I re-read all the books before the release of the final movie. Today I will be talking about the first book (which I just finished) but first I wanted to point you to a series of posts done by Matt Bird at Cockeyed Caravan on the Harry Potter books. Matt outlines what was good and what could/should have been done differently in the books if he had had a chance. It is a highly interesting read. Here are the links:

Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Now on to my thoughts on the first book, the book that started it all (you can read my review of the audio version here).

Overall I love the innocence of this book and generally I have few issues with it. It is a strong opening to the story. There is however one thing that has bothered me for AGES and that is the scene at Kings Cross Station when Harry meets the Weasley’s for the first time. Let’s take a look at the part that bothers me:

At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.

“—packed with Muggles, of course—“

Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry’s in front of him—and they had an owl.

Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.

“Now, what’s the platform number?” said the boys’ mother.

“Nine and three quarters!” piped a small girl (91-92)

Now we know, from further on in the book, that the boys have two older brothers who have already graduated so Mrs. Weasley should have already done this drop off several times (10 to be exact as Bill was at Hogwarts 1982-1990 and this first book takes place in 1991-1992 (source HP Lexicon)). Plus she herself was a student at Hogwarts, why would she have to ask which platform the train was leaving from? I just. don’t. get. it.!

One thing I really love about this book is the description of the food at the opening feast. I recall reading somewhere that Rowling always felt that descriptions of food was left out of books and that is why she includes it, and as a foodie I have to say, I approve. Although it always makes me super hungry

Reading Up-date

Well, as I mentioned, I’ve finished the first book today. My reading speed isn’t great, mostly because I have a couple of other books I need to finish as well. I am going to need to start reading a bit faster if I want to finish in time for the final movie so the goal for this week is to get through The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban as well as making some headway in The Goble of Fire. I have two days off work mid week, plus I’m working evening two days so I am hoping to get some good reading in.

Day 30 – Your favourite book of all time

2011-06-18T07:53:00.000+02:00

Really? You thought I would choose ONE book? I didn’t think so

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I will never be able to choose ONE favourite book. I can rarely choose one book at a particular time, so choosing one of all time…ain’t gonna happen.

I will however feature a series that has meant a great deal to me:

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I fell in love with this series at first read and over the years the books have provided me with comfort, laughs and above all a group of friends that I love. A group of friends with whom I went on holiday TWICE. First a general meet-up in Chicago where I laughed so hard I had a stomach ache for days afterward (Pot meet Kettle anyone). And then, in conjunction with the release of the last book (although when we first started planning we had no idea that it would be out then) a trip to London, the Scottish Highlands and Edinburgh, where we stood in line for hours to get our hands on the coveted final book. Without these friends I wouldn’t be who I am today. And they have stuck with me when I have been less than a friend (I have another group of friends that are the same and for those I am eternally grateful as well).

Although these books are far from perfect they will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart. Which brings me to the next project on this blog. My friend Roni challenged me (and herself and others) to read all 7 books before the release date of the next movie. Since I have already reviewed some of the books on here I won’t be doing reviews of them (I’ll save the rest of the books I have left to review in audiobook form). Instead I thought I would talk a bit generally every few days on how I am doing on reading them and my thoughts, with spoilers, on the books and what happens in them. So watch out for that in the next few weeks (I’ll also post some pictures from the above mentioned trip).

Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked

2011-06-17T07:15:00.000+02:00

I honestly can’t think of a title that I liked and no one else did. I have such an eclectic taste in books that it is hard to imagine no one else liking the books I like. I know I was one of the few in my class that LOVED Brave New World back in the day.

And I LOVE Per Anders Fogelström’s City series and my dad HATES it. But at the same time I know plenty of people really love that series too.

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Conversely I’m no big fan of most of Jane Austen’s books and, well…they are wildly popular.

As I said earlier in the series I have issues with the concept of hate. It is such a strong word.

Book Review: Wintersmith

2011-06-16T13:31:00.000+02:00

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

Publisher: HarperCollins e-books

Category: YA Fantasy

Synopsis: Tiffany Aching is back, and this time she makes a mistake. Despite being told not to she joins in the dance at the changing of the seasons causing the Wintersmith to fall in love with her.

My Thoughts: This was probably my least favourite in the series. It was good, but it didn’t capture me quite the way the other books did. I felt confused at times, not quite sure where things were coming from or where they were going. Often the book felt a bit fractured, was he trying to focus on the Wintersmith storyline or the Annagramma storyline? I think this is what confused me the most.

I will say this though, Tiffany was still the same capable, intelligent and sensible girl from the previous books, just with a hint of teenager. She helps her “friend” even though she knows that she is sceptical to the motivations and scheming that necessitates the helping.

And as always the Nac Mac Feegles were hilarious, even if there wasn’t enough of them. Also Horace the cheese, I mean how can you not love a cheese in a tartan who joins in with the Feegles?

As always with Pratchett’s books there is a great deal of commentary on the human condition, often disguised as humour, as well as just humour. There was enough of what I love of Pratchett in this book for me to recommend it even though I didn’t love her.

Day 28 – Favourite title

2011-06-16T07:23:00.000+02:00

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

It is just such a wonderful play of words considering the subject matter of the book. It makes me really happy just thinking about it.

Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending

2011-06-15T07:10:00.000+02:00

I am rarely surprised by book endings or plot twists (mostly because I have a bad habit of reading the last few pages, I’m working on not doing it though). But I was super surprised by the plot twist in Tomorrow Pamplona by Jan Van Mersbergen just recently. I totally did not see it coming, and for once I’m not sure I should have. I just don’t know. I knew something wasn’t right but THAT! No I couldn’t believe it! (I won’t write more because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else) It was such a punch in the gut!

Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something

2011-06-14T17:04:00.001+02:00

I can’t think of any book I’ve read that has made be change my opinion from black to white. But there are plenty of books that have made me see the world in shades of gray. Two such books are The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose and Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymakers by Stephanie Levine.

Both books look at religious people from an immersive sociological perspective. Levine lives within the Hasidic community, and they are fully aware of the fact that she is writing a book about them. Roose on the other hand enters Liberty University under the guise of a newly born again Christian transfer student. Both books present their subjects in a very sympathetic way, that made the very secular me, appreciate and perhaps begin to understand their viewpoints. I don’t think we will ever agree with each other on a few key aspects but the two books gave me a better understanding of what makes these people who they are and why what they believe is so important to them.

Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most

2011-06-13T07:02:00.000+02:00

Officer/Detective Delia “Dee” Peabody in J.D. Robb’s In Death series is probably the character that I relate to the most right now. She is unsure about herself, her weight but at the same time she is independent, knowledgeable, resourceful, loyal and kind. Those last things I hope I am. She makes me feel better about myself. To have someone in a book have some of the same fears that I have (my weight is a particular thorn in my side right now) validates those feelings some and therefore it is easy to relate to Peabody. She makes mistakes but she always learns from them. She is just easy to relate to. I just hope that there is someone like McNabb out there for me

Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read

2011-06-12T06:53:00.000+02:00

I was thinking about talking about the books about Lina but I’ve already covered them. And I’ve talked about Per Anders Fogelström’s City series which I wish was completely translated. So coming up with a book for this topic has been hard. Then I realised that one of my favourite books growing up hasn’t been translated to English (to my knowledge) it is called Minus och stora världen (Minus and the Big World) by Sven Nordqvist. I’ve previously talked about my love for Nordqvist’s books about Pettson and his cat Findus but the book about Minus is equally awesome.

Minus is a young boy who goes out into the world in search of adventure. On each page spread in the book following the initial pages a number is featured, starting with 1 and ending with 10. On each page he gets an item of some kind (a pencil sharpener that looks like a globe and a handkerchief with a heraldry for example). On each of the spreads Nordqvist’s humorous drawings enforce the different numbers. Take as an example the spread for the number 4 here there are four churches on four hills, four rocks on top of each other, three apples and a pear (so four fruits) etc. This allows the parent and child to search each page for the correct number of the different items (educational AND fun ). After the initial ten spreads the following pages feature Minus giving away the items he has acquired as well as the numbers 11-100 in different ways.

This is such a fun book that I wish that it had been translated into more languages so that more people could read this fantastic book.

Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t

2011-06-11T07:21:00.000+02:00

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaardner. This one was easy. It is a book I’ve wanted to read since I was a teenager. I was 11 when it came out in Swedish and I think my desire to read it stems from the hype around it then. Philosophy really interests me, and that interest has grown over the years, yet I still never get around to reading the book. One day I will though.

The idea of presenting the philosophical thoughts to a young girl appeals to my need to get things in story form. I also like that a girl is the main character.

Audiobook Week: Audiobook Resources

2011-06-10T08:34:00.000+02:00

The final topic for Audiobook Week is Resources.

I get most of my audiobooks from Audible.com. I love being able to download the books straight away. And it’s become even easier now, I’ve downloaded the Audible.com app for my iPhone. That way I don’t have to go through my laptop to download to the iPod app. It makes it a bit easier to listen. I make full use of the “listen to sample” and review features at audible to determine if I like a narrator or not, or if there are other annoying features (like sound effects).

If you are considering a specific book or want to check out books in a genre then I highly recommend Audiobook Jukebox. It is a really good place to get a variety of views on different audiobooks.

I’ve also found twitter to be very helpful when choosing audiobooks. It is easy to get an immediate response when you want to know about a certain narrator or book.

Book Review: Water for Elephants [Audiobook]

2011-06-10T08:08:00.000+02:00

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Narrated by David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones

Publisher: HighBridge Audio

Category: Modern Lit

Synopsis: Elderly Jacob Jankowski looks back at the summer he, at the age of 23, spent at The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a circus travelling across America during the great depression. The story starts out with a murder in the menagerie with the story alternating between the elderly Jacob and the young Jacob, telling us how we got to the murder.

My Thoughts: Wow! Just WOW! Definitely one of my favourite books of the year. I laughed, I cried, I gasped. So awesome!

The story about Jacob and Marlena and the summer they met at the circus is magnificently told, but my favourite part is without a shadow of a doubt the interludes with Jacob at 90…or 93. They moved me the most, perhaps because I occasionally work in a nursing home. Those section made me smile (I have a feeling I would have loved the cantankerous Jacob) but they also made me profoundly upset. They way he is treated by some of the staff is beyond appalling. Rosemary was a delight.

I’m not really a fan of the circus, never have been, but this book really captured me because the characters felt sympathetic and real. Jacob seemed like such a nice innocent guy who really just wanted to do the right thing. The other characters are less fleshed out but still interesting and evoke emotion, from disgust at August, to sympathy for Walter and Camel. These characters add to the tapestry that one expects at a circus in depression era America.

By placing the story in this time period Gruen manages to add several different menacing forces: there is the greed of Uncle Al; the madness of August; the circus itself; and the danger of being unemployed at this time in history. At the same time the narrative of Jacob at 90…or 93 adds another danger to the character. All of these different forces then strike in rapid fashion signalling the imminent climax of the story. A climax that is signalled with the murder at the start but is still very satisfactory. It is one of those times when the journey is far more important than the end goal. In addition the story manages to serve up a surprising but very satisfying ending, although if I hadn’t been driving while listening I would probably have been bawling my eyes out.

Audio production: For me the narration was what made the story. David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones manage to really make both young and old Jacob come to life. John Randolph Jones IS the elderly Jacob. He makes you feel the indignation, confusion and anger of the old man. He makes you laugh with him and cry for him. And in the end you root for that determined old man who has told you a fantastically scary, beautiful, wonderful, disturbing and and difficult story.

I am so grateful to my friend Colleen for recommending the audio production of this book, and in turn I will extend the same recommendation to you.

The book is now a movie (a fact I’m sure no one has missed )

Trailer

Day 22 – Favourite book you own

2011-06-10T07:02:00.000+02:00

I am guessing it comes as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I enjoy owning books. I know there are book bloggers who love borrowing books and I am all for supporting local libraries and I do utilise them. But I have to admit I LOVE owning books. I love seeing them on my shelf. Lining them up. Organizing them. Some books are better owned so that you can refer to them often. Or just leaf through at will. I love all my books. They are all special to me in some way. However some books have a special story of how I came to own them and that makes owning that particular book a little bit extra special. For me one such book is Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.

I spent two summers living with my friends the Curls*. During a random conversation it became clear that I had never heard of Shel Silverstein. My friends were appalled . On a shopping trip we ended up in a B&N and when we left my friend handed me Where the Sidewalk Ends and told me that it was my Christmas present because everyone had to read it and I had to share it with my students. I was sceptical, I didn’t think my high school students would like it. My friend insisted they would. She was right. I was wrong. I have since shared this wonderful book with both my high school students and my beginner adult students. They all really enjoyed the whimsy and deep thought. Thank you Amy!

*The Curls is not their real name but rather their internet nickname

Day 21 – Favourite book from your childhood

2011-06-09T07:53:00.000+02:00

I’ve already covered some of my favourite books from my childhood in the posts on Astrid Lindgren and the post about the Anne Girl, that I wanted to feature another book today. A book that I knew by heart when I was about 2: Sagan om den lilla lilla gumman (The Tale of the Little, Little Old Woman)* by Elsa Beskow.

It is a story about a little old lady who has a cat. The cat jumps up on the table and drinks the lady’s milk and knocks it over. She gets angry and shouts at the cat. The cat runs away and never comes back. Super simple story but it has a very very repetitive story, and I ADORED it for some reason. I think it would drive me insane today, but at age two I thought it was the bees and ees.

*I really dislike the translation of the title into English but since there is a translation I will use it.

Audiobook Week: Audiobooks for the Uninitiated

2011-06-09T07:47:00.000+02:00

Today’s Audiobook Week topic is Audiobooks for the Uninitiated.

I love audiobooks but to be honest I am no expert. As I said earlier in the week I didn’t listen to that many audiobooks the last year. In last years Audiobook Week I talked about how I got started listening to audiobooks. I started because I had a long commute (an hour each way) through an area with very little radio reception. I found that late at night when I was returning home I couldn’t listen to music, it made me to sleepy. I needed voices that I had to concentrate on, but at the same time it couldn’t be stories I had to concentrate on because something would happen on the road and I would miss part of the story. So I listened, and re-listened to the Harry Potter books.

Since then I have become used to listening to audiobooks so that I can now do it even if I have to concentrate on something else (like driving) but I can’t concentrate on having to read or listen to anything else at the same time.

For me the biggest tip I can give to a new audiobook listener is to find a time and place that suits you. And start with a book you think sounds really interesting. And if at first you don’t succeed, try another one.

Day 20 – Favourite romance book

2011-06-08T07:23:00.000+02:00

I don’t read a lot of books in the romance genre but quite a few of the books I read have a romantic subplot (does that make sense?) My current favourite book with a romantic subplot is, and I am probably starting to sound like a broken record here, I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming.

This book deals with the fact that although there are times in relationships where one partner might need supporting more than the other it is important to realise that even though both of you are having a hard time you can, and should, still support each other.

Clare and Russ are both such perfectly flawed, real characters in this book, that unlike some romance books I’ve read, you can see yourself in their shoes. Maybe not exactly their shoes (I’m no Episcopal priest ) but in a similar situation, and for me that is more important in a good romance. I know some like to read romance as a way to escape, but I need mine firmly rooted in a reality I recognize as being plausible. Does that make sense?

Day 19 – Favourite book turned into a movie

2011-06-07T07:58:00.000+02:00

I am probably not the only one who is often disappointed by movie adaptations of books. They just rarely seem to capture the magic of the books (do not get me started on the travesty that is some of the Harry Potter adaptations nor how I feel about some of the later Anne movies). I have already featured one of my favourite movie adaptations although somewhat surreptitiously so I figured I wouldn’t feature that author again. Instead I would go with the author who wrote the quote I used for my favourite quote: Terry Pratchett. I ADORE his books and I really enjoy the adaptation of Hogfather.

Hogfather Trailer

Despite all the fanciful characters in these books this movie (in two parts) manages to really capture what I love about the Discworld in general and this novel in particular.

Audiobook Week: Sound Effects in Audiobooks

2011-06-07T07:19:00.000+02:00

Today’s topic for Audibook Week is sound effects in audiobooks.

Personally I have issues with sound effects in my audiobooks. My current listen, Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen has music at the end and then start of each chapter, OVER the narration! It drives me batty, especially if I am listening to it in a slightly noisy place. I had the same problem with The Giver by Lois Lowry. I understand that often this music is there to help signal that there is a chapter break, which can be helpful if you need to pause for some reason, but really it is to annoying for me to give it a pass.

Related to sound effects is accents. I’m a bit more divided on the accent issue. Sometimes accents help to clarify who is speaking, especially if there are few other markers. Sometimes however accents make the characters sound stupid. I found this to be the case with the voice of Officer/Detective Peabody in the In Death series by J.D. Robb. For me bad accents can really ruin an otherwise good book. This is probably especially true if I have previously read the book in hardcopy. I tend to develop an idea about how the character should sound.

Associated with accents is the question of multiple narrators. I have to admit I was sceptical at first. But then I listened to Room by Emma Donoghue and then The Help by Kathryn Stockett and I was completely converted. The different narrators in these books gives the book something extra. It makes it easier to follow and in the case of Room it actually makes the story more believable. Jacks voice feels more genuine and not affected which can be the case when narrators choose to do accents when narrating a story.

So for me, sound effects=bad; accents=sometimes good, sometimes bad; multiple narrators=good (so far)

Day 18 – A book that disappointed you

2011-06-06T17:48:00.000+02:00

I wasn’t going to write about this book. Somehow I feel like my disappointment with it is some kind of failure on my part. But I think I will mention it here anyway. The book that disappointed me was Fladdermusmanen by Jo Nesbo. It is the first book in the series about Harry Hole. I just couldn’t get into it. The characters bored me. I couldn’t feel for the victim or the characters. I just didn’t fall in love…or even feel engaged. Not for me.

And I feel really disappointed because it is in a genre I love and I have heard such great things about Nesbo. I just don’t know why I don’t “get” it.

Book Review: Unaccustomed Earth [Audiobook]

2011-06-06T06:26:00.000+02:00

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Narrated by Sarita Choudhury and Ajay Naidu

Publisher: Random House Audio

Challenges: SAAC

Synopsis: In this book Lahiri continues to explore the themes of generational and cultural conflict that immigrants from India feel in America. Through a series of short stories she portrays various stories that both show the immigrant experience whilst still being universal.

My Thoughts: I just couldn’t bring myself to love this book as much as I loved Interpreter of Maladies which I read pre-blogging. I don’t know if it was where I am right now (in somewhat of a reading slump) or if it was hearing the stories or…I just found pretty much all the stories to be depressing. There were married couples who no longer loved each other. There were children and parents who simply couldn’t seem to talk to each other. There was infidelity and broken hearts. And none of them seemed to have a happy ending. Yes I know life shouldn’t always have a happy ending and perhaps listening to this book on the way home from work in the car might not have been the right place to digest these stories, but they just left me sad.

This said at no point did I consider not finishing the book. The stories were interesting and the different characters compelling. As depressed as they made me, their stories also moved me. I wanted to know what happened to them in the end. This was especially true for Hema and Kaushik who are the two main characters (and narrators) in the second part of the book. The telling of the story alternates between Hema and Kaushik and at times what seems to be a omniscient narrator. To see the story from different perspectives allowed the story to be somehow more complete. Although they don’t narrate parallel stories, rather they narrate different time periods, we still get glimpses of the same events. I also felt that this story portrayed the rootlessness that being an immigrant or a child of immigrants can give you. This is one of the aspects of Lahiri’s stories that I have always been able to relate to.

I really do wonder if I would have like the book better if I had a) read it not listened to it and/or b) read it at a different time in my life.

Narration: Generally I liked the narration, until I got to the end of the last story. The accent that the narrator uses for the Swedish tourist that Kaushik meets just annoyed the living daylights out of me! It was more German than Swedish but not quite German either. It was just BAD and really really took away from my enjoyment of the last story, a story that I quite enjoyed up until that point.

Audiobook Week: 2010-2011, Your Audiobook Year

2011-06-06T06:06:00.000+02:00

Todays topic for Audiobook week is a general introduction to our audiobook listening. A lot of questions around my audiobook listening can be found in my answers to last years Audibook Week Meme so I thought I would spend some time today talking about the books I have listened to this year.

I have only listened to 9 audiobooks since last years Audiobook Week (and one in progress). There are many different reasons for this and none of them are particularly good. I wish I had listened to more. I have a tonne of books downloaded I just haven’t really had the time. The books I HAVE listened to have mostly been really good.

First out are two Harry Potter books: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Stephen Fry. I adore these books and I adore Fry’s narration. For me they are just perfection. The Harry Potter books, narrated by Stephen Fry, were some of my first ever audiobooks as an adult, and they continue to be books I can go to when I am in need of comfort.

Next we have The Graveyard Book written and narrated by Neil Gaiman. I loved this book but couldn’t quite put my finger on why. There was something very endearing about the characters and the writing was perfect. Gaiman also reads his own book very well. By utilising inflections and accents the different characters become easily identifiable and the story is easier to follow.

Then we have my only non-fiction audiobook of the last twelve months: True Compass by Edward M. Kennedy, narrated by John Bedford Lloyd. The reason I don’t listen to a lot of non-fiction is because, as I note in this review, I like to make notes on non-fiction books. Despite this I really enjoyed this book. I thought it presented a fascinating picture of American politics. The narration was superb. I actually felt as if Kennedy himself was telling me the story while we sat in his home.

The Odyssey by Homer was a book I chose to listen to because that was what the author originally intended. It was the Robert Fagles translation narrated by Sir Ian McKellen. Both the translation and the narration was really well done. I will admit that it took me a while to remember that all the repetitions I heard were there to make it easier for me as a listener to follow the story. Once I realised this I was better able to follow the story. I really quite enjoyed this story.

Room by Emma Donoghue, narrated by Michal Friedman , Ellen Archer , Suzanne Toren , Robert Petkoff was one of my favourite books of the past 12 months. And I am incredibly glad I listened to it. The narrators did such a wonderful job of making the story come to life, I especially enjoyed the voice of Jack. I was a bit sceptical about the child voice but the narrator won me over very quickly (more about this tomorrow).

The Help by Kathryn Stockett, narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer and Cassandra Campbell, was another multiple narrator hit for me. The story was a bit slow getting started but once I got into it I couldn’t stop listening. The multiple narrators here really helped me keep the different stories straight. The story told was a great way of showing history through fiction. I have a feeling that this book will fall in the modern classic category.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, narrated by Sarita Choudhury and Ajay Naidu, was my one disappointing audiobook this year. Although I have some appreciation of some of the themes in this book, in general I found it to be VERY depressing. The quality of the narration was generally high, until I got to the last story where the narrator for some reason decided to give the Swedish character a German accent. It was BAD and really annoyed me, and as a consequence really took away from my enjoyment of the story.

Overall this year I have mostly listened to my audiobooks when travelling (True Compass), walking or lately, on my iPhone in the car while driving to and from work. The only reason I don’t do more listening while driving is that there are current event radio shows on that I like for most of my commute. I do hope to be doing more listening in the fall when hopefully I can get some consistency in my exercising when my commute goes from 45-55 minutes each way to 5 minutes each way (fingers crossed). As its been this spring the long hours at work coupled with the long commute has made for little listening.