Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Christmas gift

This is a Christmas gift idea for a writer or a book lover, or why not a New years gift for your self?

The Swedish designer Jan Lundqvist has really come up with a gem for booklovers when he designed some very funky bookends. It is a collection of Swedish writers made in blackened steel plate and is about 15x15 cm. Another brilliant feature of the bookends is to place it against a wall and light a tea light in front of it and the figure will make a reflection on the wall.

I think this is a great Christmas gift to booklovers all over the world. For a foreigner not accustomed to Swedish writer, these might work as an inspiration to read their books.
Josefine

My recommendations: The wonderful adventures of Nils by Selma Lagerlöf

Monday, December 3, 2007

What if?

A story that intrigues me is the ”What if?” in historical fiction. With a bit of imagination and a “what if?” question, an author can go along way to alter the world we live in.
Such as in the Plot against America by Philip Roth. What if Charles Lindberg becomes the next president instead of F.D. Roosevelt? The possibilities to create a parallel universe are endless made by one simple question “what if?”
I think we need more of those books. Do you have any good “what if?” books or even a “what if?” questions that should have been answered and made into a book? Share your thoughts.
Josefine

My recommendations: Jules Verne, 20 000 leagues under the sea

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The art of reading more then one book at the same time

I have noticed that there are two kinds of bookworms. There is the ones reading one book from cover to cover before starting on a new. Then there are those, like me, who has any various numbers of books started at the same time. For example, I currently read an autobiography, an historical non-fiction, a collection of feminist essays and listen to a fiction CD book and of course the random magazines that I subscribe to.
To me it depends on what kind of mood I am in. It requires a special mood to follow in the sometimes difficult arguments in the essay collection. On the other hand, I need the CD book when I bike to work at six in the morning and want something that does not require full brain activity. There are different times for different books.

I can’t understand those people who only read one book at the time. I t would take me too long to do that. What if I am not in the right mood, then what would I do? Not read? But I have to admit that sometime I admire those people who read only one book at the time, it requires a determination to finish what you started, which can be helpful in other aspects of life as well.
Josefine

My recommendations: Wild swans by Jung Chang

Sunday, November 11, 2007

The book or the movie?

It’s the classical question. Every time a book is made into a movie, the discussion among reviewers in the newspapers and on TV repeats all over again. Does the movie give fair credit to the book? What is missing from the movie that was in the book? The questions are the same but the answers are always different.
Generally I fall on the side of the book. In my reading life, what I can remember, I only once thought the movie was better than the book. That was Umberto Eco’s In the name of the rose. In the book, the vivid and lengthy description of the monastery got me out of touch with the story and left me no desire to continue. The movie however had a quicker pace, which moved the story forward and thus making it easier to follow.

It do happens that I think the movie is equal to the book, it is usually because the movie portraits another angle. One book like that is Stephen King’s the Green mile. In the book version of the Green mile, the focus is more on the guard Mr. Paul Edgecombe. While the movie focuses on the destiny and life of the inmate John Coffey sitting on death row.
Now I pass the question to you, which is best, the book or the movie?
Josefine

My recommendations: The hours by Michael Cunningham.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

A book to pass time

I always carry a book with me where ever I go because you never know when they come in handy, at that really long line at the bank or when you wait for a friend who is running late. There are innumerous ways you can need a book to let time pass.
Even though I find it very convenient to always have a book handy, I am surprised of how many people that don’t use it as a way to distract time. Instead they are standing in line stomping their feet, sighing heavily and looking at their watch as the line to the register moves slowly ahead. Why does not people take the time standing in line to calm down and think about something else then their stressful lives? Perhaps a scientific investigation to find out how much you can reduce your stress levels when you wait in line by bringing a book would help? Anyone up for the challenge?
Josefine

My recommendations when waiting in line: Can you keep a secret by Sophie Kinsella

Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Nobel Prize in literature 2007

Doris Lessing received the Nobel Prize in literature this year. The only book I've ever read from her is the fifth child and I think I remember that it was somewhere around ninth grade, which means it was a very long time ago. I do remember that I did not like it very much, but perhaps it is time to give it another try now, when I am older and hopefully wiser.

The feminist in me thinks it is great that a woman got the honours this year. Lessing is only the eleventh woman to receive the prize (and it has been given out since 1901).
Josefine

My recommendations: Hurry to the library and borrow something from her before everyone else gets the idea.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

My favourite book - I capture the castle by Dodie Smith

Even though you find both the book and author on my Favourites list in my profile, it has taken me a while to write about them. I think it has to do with me having trouble describing what it is with the book that makes it pop into my mind whenever people ask me about my favourite book.

You may have heard of Dodie Smith’s name before. She is the author of the 101 Dalmatians. But the novel I like the most is I capture the castle. It is extraordinary. The way in which she has captured Cassandra’s life and thoughts are brilliant.
The main plot in the book is about Cassandra trying to write. Her father is an author, and in some way she wants to be like him. She has failed many times when writing and now she decides to free write about things that go on around her. She wants to capture the people and their surroundings.
Through Cassandra’s writing you get to know her family and their struggles on a limited income. She describes how it used to be in the past when they we fairly wealthy and tea was cakes in the afternoon now it is bread and margarine for supper.
She vividly tells about bath day, when they pull out a big tub in the kitchen and she prepares for the bath. She picks out a good book to read and she even gets a piece of chocolate from the family friend Stephen, who has a crush on her.

On bath day, is also the first time we get to meet Mr. Cotton’s sons, they are the proprietary of the castle they live in. Mr. Cotton’s sons will after this encounter have much influence on the life in the castle.
This is a basic outline of the book, but to really understand the brilliancy of it, you must read it. There is probably a copy of it at your local library.
Josefine

My recommendations: Town in bloom by Dodie Smith, another of her amazing creations.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Book and Library fair in Gothenburg

This weekend (September 27-30), it is time for the yearly Book and Library fair in Gothenburg. This year’s program will focus on Estonia. There will be several speakers from Estonia as well as Swedish writers and writers from the other Nordic countries. If you are in town, don’t miss this event.
Josefine

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Philippa Gregory webcast II

This past Sunday I watched a live web cast of Philippa Gregory. It was an interesting way to present an author and more writers should try the same. It gives a whole new dimension to the worldwide tour. At the moment I have no statistics of how many actually watched the web cast, but for those who attended, it was certainly a great event.
Gregory gave a short introduction and then she opened up to the floor to questions from the audience in the studio as well as the audience on the web. The questions ranged anywhere from the craft of writing, to the specific of one book to which of her characters she would have been if she lived in Tudor England.

There were many questions about the upcoming films made from two of her books. In February The Other Boleyn Girl will have premiere and next autumn The queens fool will be released.

If you have ever read her books you notice that most of her characters are strong women, during times when women had no rights. You notice the commitment Gregory has for these kinds of characters. When she got the questions of who she would want to be in a past life, she determinedly said that she would not want to be born in any time period before the 1920s when women got the right to vote. If she had to choose one of her characters she would have picked Henry VIII during his best days in The constant Princess when he, young and handsome was at the height of his career.

Gregory is like her books, very sympathetic and I can’t wait for her newest books and the film to be released in Sweden.
Josefine

My recommendations: A respectable trade by Philippa Gregory.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Philippa Gregory web cast

As you might have noticed I have a big interest in history. I read anything I can get my hands on, historical novels and historical non-fiction alike. When I look through my booklist more than half of the books have something to do with history. One of the newest authors, writing historical fiction, I have discovered is Philippa Gregory. She has written a lot about the history of England, and especially the Tudor time (16th and early 17th century). She is a talented writer with an interest for what happens around a monarch in their immediate court. It is difficult to find something I do not like about her books, I read them fast and can hardly wait for her newest books The Boleyn Inheritance and The Other Queen to be released in Swedish.
This Sunday, September 16, at 19:00 GMT, you can watch a live web cast of Philippa Gregory. It is a web cast of Philippa Gregory, talking to an audience in London. If you are interested in Philippa Gregory, historical novels, or writing in general, this is an opportunity you can’t miss.
As a warm up for the big event I am currently reading A respectable Trade, one of her early books, published in 1995.
Josefine

My recommendations: The queens fool by Philippa Gregory

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Swedish Authors: Henning Mankell

You may have heard about the Swedish writer Henning Mankell, his books about the criminal detective Kurt Wallander has been translated into many languages. The Wallander series has what every other crime novels have. A main person, in this case Kurt Wallander, who is a criminal inspector at the police in a small town called Ystad in Sweden. He is divorced and has a daughter. He is not very good with romantic relationships and he seems to be married to work. Have you heard it before? To me it sounds like every other crime novel I have ever read. It is not that the books about Wallander is badly written, they are thrilling and you are not really sure how it will end, but at the same time, it feels like I have read the story before.

I have read many of his books that aren’t part of the Wallander series (some of which I have recommended in this blog). They bring up subjects that are important and touch your soul on a whole other level than a crime novel would do. The most recent Wallander book I read was TeaBag, it brings up the problem of refugees who live underground in Sweden. In Comedia Infantil, Mankell writes about children living in the streets in Brazil. Another book (Vindens son in Swedish, I have yet to find the title in English) tells us the story about a black boy taken to Sweden from Africa during the 19th century and is shown around on different institutions in Sweden like an animal.
All of these books leave an impression in my brain. It was years since I read both Comedia Infantil and Vindens son, but I can still vividly bring up the feeling I had when I read them. There are very few books that move me like that, but when you find them they are going to last forever.
Josefine

My recommendations: Comedia Infantil by Henning Mankell

Monday, September 3, 2007

Historical Prose?

I found a book in the public library that was published in 1962 about the French Indian War. Since history in general is an interest of mine and I haven’t studied much about the French Indian War, I thought I would do some catch up.
To my surprise this was not an ordinary history book. Leading in to the first chapter, I was met with this vivid description: “The tiny palisade settlement of Schenectady, New York, lay still and sleeping under a heavy blanket of snow.”* This was a description of the impending assault on the unknown citizen. Later the description continues with the returning victors of the assault: “They marched towards Montreal, two hundred miles to the north, and the white cold of the northern winter swallowed them up as silently as they had come.”* Later in the book, the attack on Deerfield was equally described, “With the darkness the wind blew stronger, swirling the snow in drifts to the top of the palisades, muffling all other sounds.”*
I have noticed that the author’s descriptions often refer to the landscape. How things looked, smelled, sounded and felt. It makes me giggle as I read it, because it is such a vivid description that you think the author actually was there. He must be a very old man!

The account is wonderfully written and I know, I am a bit anal about using sources and not put your own flavor to an historical event. But really, I have a difficult time believing in the book and the events he describes. I have yet to finish the book but I am sure I will bump into more of these vivid descriptions and I will smile every time I read them, because I am a bit amused by this book and the thought of how some of my history professor would react to it.
Josefine

* Source: Russell, Francis. The French Indian Wars. New York: American Heritage Publishing Company. 1962.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Free books online

A while back I ran into the web site A celebration of Women Writers where you can read free books online. There are a plethora of books to read. I stopped at Queen Liliuokalani’s Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen. But there are plenty, plenty more to read. To my surprise, this is just an extension of the more extensive site of the Online Books Page.
I am not a big fan of reading off the computer screen in long texts, but this extensive source of books are really worth it. This might not be such a surprise for many, but this, to me it was like Christmas came early this year. Now I will spend the next days (perhaps weeks) to further explore these sites for more books to read and enjoy.

Josefine

My recommendations: Hotel Honolulu by Paul Theroux

Friday, August 17, 2007

Homo homini lupus

I recently recommended the book A woman in Berlin by Anonymous. Since I finished it a couple of days ago, I felt the need to tell you about it. It is an incredible book that touched me.
The book is a diary, written by a German woman at the end of World War II when the Russians occupied Berlin. She tells the story of what happened to her and the people around her in the days before the Russians came and during the occupation.

When I read the first chapters of the book, my stomach hurt. The Russians drew closer and closer to Berlin and I knew what was about to come. My history teacher in ninth grade told us how her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had experienced the horrors of revengeful Russians.
Then I had to put the book down for a while, I could not continue. The Russians arrived to the city, and all the rumors there had been around them were true.

When I picked up the book again, the Russians occupied the city and people began to talk about what would happen next. The writer had travelled much before the war and she knew some Russian. This gave her a bit of an advantage. The Russians she bumps into are surprised that a German speaks their mother tongue, but most of the time it doesn’t affect their ravaging.
But it is not only the Russians she writes about, there is also another enemy. An enemy they live with every day - hunger. The writer realizes that a human being becomes awful when she doesn’t get enough to eat. She mentions the phrase, Homo homini lupus – Humans are wolfs towards humans.
She also talks about all the new words they start to use, perhaps to make their experience feel somewhat normal. It is no longer wrong to sell your body to a Russian for some food. How many times did it happen to you? Becomes a question to ask when you meet friends from the past.

The reason I like the book the most is not only the writer’s direct way of describing things, but also the objectivity she keeps. She knows that the German soldiers did the same to the citizens when they were the winners of the war.
When reading this book, the author doesn’t feel like a victim and I don’t think she sees herself as a victim. Perhaps a casualty of war and of Hitler’s government, but not a victim. That is what makes this book very real.
Josefine

My recommendations: Anne Frank’s diary. Another perspective of Hitler’s war.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Back again

Time flies when you are having fun, or in my case, working a lot. It is now several days since I wrote anything here and to be honest I have not had the time to read much this last week. I did finish A woman in Berlin though and when I have the time to sit down and collect my thoughts about that book I will write about it here.

For fun last night, I also started to put together a list of the books I read in the last couple of years. I’ll see how many I can remember, too bad that I am terrible at remembering names.
Josefine

My recommendations: Pick up a book from a writer or a genre you’ve never read before and let it surprise you.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Lazy reading Sundays

My perfect Sunday starts when I make a big pot of coffee and then go back to bed and spend the whole day in bed reading. No matter the weather outside or piles of unanswered emails unwritten stories, dirty laundry and all other obligations, I can spend a full day in bed. Disappearing into the wondrous adventures of a heroine in need of an adventure or a hero struggling to believe in himself. The books at my nightstand are screaming for me to be read. “Stay in bed, read me, read me. I have something important to tell.” I really should stay in bed.
Or at least, the library calls and want their books back. I am such a hoarder of books. I keep them way past their due date and I keep renewing them. I still have to figure out that I can actually borrow one, return it when I am done with it, then borrow a new. Instead I have to have at least three different books at my nightstand. Depending on which mood I am in, I pick the right one. Except on my lazy Sundays when I try to finish them all.

However, these Sundays don’t come very often. Or rather, I don’t let myself enjoy these Sundays very often. There is too much that have to be done before next week starts. Why are there so many obligations? I should really apply for more free time. Where do you do that?

Yesterday was not a Sunday like that. Even though I wish it were so. This week is the first week back from my vacation therefore there was too many things to prepare. There simply was no time for me to lie in bed all day. But soon, when things are getting back to normal at work, I’ll have a lazy reading Sunday. Can’t wait. Make the coffee pot ready and fluff those pillows. Better stack the chocolate hideout as well.
Josefine

My recommendations: Tea Bag by Henning Mankell

Friday, July 27, 2007

Impulse shopping

Like I already told you in an earlier post, paperbacks are a must in summer Sweden. I have tried to resist it all summer but yesterday I fell for the temptation.
I picked up my sister at the train station and suggested to her that we go to do the bookstore before going home. Since she said she needed a book, I fast invited her to split a "take four for three" paperback book deal with me. As we strolled through the shelves I was soon standing with four book of my own, while my sister had picked out her two. This is why I can’t go to the bookstore very often and why there are so many unread books in my room. I always find so many good books that I just MUST have. Well, nothing else for me to do than chose two and leave the other two, (which I still intend to pick up the next time I am there).
Anyway, the books I got were the Plot against America by Philip Roth and the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

I was very lucky too, and got a free sample from Peter James and Dan Hansén & Jens Nordqvist. It was books and authors I have never read anything of before and I let you know if they are any good.
Josefine

My recommendations: The plot against America by Philip Roth. I can never resist a good “what if” book.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

New Technology II – e-books

Last post I talked about CD books, I have now moved on to the next technological advances in the book world. E-books. Lately there seems to have been an increase of interest in e-books. An example is the libraries in Sweden, where you can borrow e-books. Also, there are publishers who only give out their books as e-books, meaning there is no official printed version of the book.

Despite the advantages of technology, I am a bit old school when it comes to books. I like to hold the book in my hand while I read.
There is however, one place where I think e-books can be very useful, at universities. As it is now textbooks are unnecessarily expensive and the book will be used for one semester only. Yes, you can resell it and someone else can use it, but I do think that e-books have better features than your printed textbook. Not only would it cost less, but you can also more easily search within the text to find the passage you need. At the end of the semester, you simply save the chapters you need and delete the rest (of course there are restrictions concerning copyright but as e-books become more common, this will be more clear)

Now to a somewhat different subject.
One of the most printed books in the world has gone online – The Bible. You can find it on voxbiblia.com. Here you can listen to the whole thing or for a fee download verses to your i-pod. It is not really an e-book, in the traditional version but I still think it is worth mention for those who like technology. I wonder if there is anything like that in other religions? Can you get the Koran or the Veda books online?
Josefine

My recommendations: Go to your library and see if they offer e-books, if not persuade them to do so!

Monday, July 16, 2007

New Technology – CD Books

Despite declining user statistics at libraries, there is one product which is increasingly sought after – Books on tape. People have become hooked on CD books, and so have I. Technology has taken us from the old large cassettes to the more compact CDs and MP3 files. They have become so popular that in some cases, they are now released at the same time as the printed version.

I bike and use public transportation a lot, and for those times, instead of listen to music in my old portable CD player I listen to a book. I am sure that there are several commuters who can relate to this. It is so easy and it makes the time pass quickly.
Right now I read/listen to Wilhelm Mobergs classic epic Emigrant. It is a series I have wanted to read for many years, but there never seems to be any opportunity to do it. This is why I was so happy to find it on CD at my local library.
But there are also times when I regret that I borrowed the CD instead of the printed version. One time I borrowed Patricia Cornwells book Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed. It was a book that was difficult to comprehend when only listening, I wish that I could have seen the words to actually get a grip of what she meant and how she came to the conclusions she did.

I believe CD books are just another transition away from printed books, which brings good and bad things. Next thing is the e-book and the P.O.D. (print on demand), which by the way something the Rejecter discusses in her blogg. Please send me you comments, on CD books vs. printed books and where you think this is going. I love to hear from you.
Josefine

My recommendations: Michael Shaara. The Killer Angels. The CD book narrated by George Guidall who does an awesome job.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Bookcrossing

I am now on a three-week vacation from one of my jobs. Wonderful. I hope this I will give me some time to go through the pile of books laying on my nightstand waiting to be read.

I am always interested in finding out what other people read. This is where you often get the best suggestions. I often ask family and friends. Another thing I do is to look at the return shelf at my local library. There are usually a lot of crime novels, which is not really my favourite genre to read, but during the school year there is always a lot of great nonfiction.

Another great concept is bookcrossing, which is a way to find and send out books into the world. The word even has its own entry in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. “the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise," Concise Oxford English Dictionary. At Bookcrossing.com you can even track the books you find or the books you released.
When I backpacked trough Europe last summer, my friend and I did our own bookcrossing. We both started with several books. On the road, we left the ones we had and picked up new at hostels, cafés and at other places. I once picked up a paperback from a trashcan at a train station in Spain. I was desperate for something to read and my friend spotted it. Without thinking twice I reached into the trashcan and grabbed it. People at the station starred at me like I was crazy but I didn’t care much. I was desperate for some new reading material and I thought it was a waste to throw away a perfectly good book. No worries, the trashcan was empty except for the book and an empty pizza box.
Josefine

My recommendations: The return of the dancing master by Henning Mankell.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Summer reading

It’s been a little while since I wrote the last time. It is like this when it’s summer and there is much to do during a short period. Summers in Sweden are not very long and the days of really nice weather are easy to count and there is so much you want to cram into those days. Visits to the beach, picnics, running and most of all read. Reading in the summer for me consists of two occasions, the beach during the day and the garden in the evening. What and where do you read in the summer?

For the book industry, summer is the time when paperbacks are sold the most. In almost every bookstore in Sweden, there is an offer to buy four paperbacks and pay for three. There are definitely advantages to paperbacks, they weigh less than their hardcover sisters and they cost less, much less. Nowadays most books come out in a paperback version as well, sometimes even at the same time as the hard cover editions. Paperbacks are great for those lazy days on the beach when you grab a book just before you head out the door with your bath towel and flip-flops. Some of my favourite beach reads are Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes and Philippa Gregory. They are funny, easy read books that don’t require you to think too much. Another thing I like about them is that you can put them down between swims in the ocean and chats with your friends without getting lost.

During the long light evenings of Sweden I like to sit outside, when the weather allows it, and read in the evening. This is when I take out the more “heavy” books. The ones that are too mind wrecking to read in the heat and sun on the beach. Right now I am reading Winston Churchill’s history of England, which is quiet interesting. There are four volumes and I am only at the first, The Birth of Britain. It is certainly not objective, but it is an interesting read from one man’s perspective of the building of the great British Empire.
Josefine

My recommendations: For the beach: Sushi for beginners by Marian Keyes, for the evening: Eine frau in Berlin (A woman in Berlin) by Anonymous.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

War portrayed in books

For the last week, I have been pleasantly stuck with a book about the First World War in France. This is actually one of few books I saw as a movie first. It came about because the leading star in the movie was Audrey Tautou. Since I saw her in Amelie de Montmartre I fell in love with her. She is such a fantastic actress and her work with the director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is amazing. Therefore I went on a hunt to find more films starring her. This is when I ran into this book/film called A very long engagement by Sébastien Japrisot.
The story is a regular boy meets girl love story, but without the regular clichés you often find in these types of books. The loving couple (Mathilde and Manech) meets years before the Great War even starts but as many other couples, the war is the event, which separates them. When Mathilde in 1917 receives a message that Manech was killed in action, she first refuses to believe it, later she learns to accept it. But, the mysteries around his death she cannot believe, instead she starts her own investigations to find out the truth…
This is how much I will tell you, now it is up to you to find out what happens in the end. Let me know what you think. Then see the movie. It is worth spending a summer night inside to re-live the story all over again with Audrey Tautou.

Another book about a lost soul in the First World War, this one non-fiction, is Living unknown soldier by Jean-Yves Le Naour, which I read earlier this year. It is about an unknown solider coming back from the war disoriented and not able to say who he is and where he is from. This starts a search for his real identity and his family as well as a conflict of its own of desperate wives, mothers and brothers who want their missing soldier back. The truth about this unknown solider is never found and the families never see the end of their missing soldier. A strong emotional book that gives you some insights of the terrors of war, a soldier who survived the war, but at the same time never really left it.

These books are two of many written about the First World War, a war to end all wars. I am sure there are many more out there, on my list is one about the battle of Verdun by Jules Romains if you have any favourites, let me know.
Josefine

My recommendations: The Alphabet house by Jussi Adler-Olsen, a book about two English pilots during World War II.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

The value of historical novels in teaching history

Using historical fiction novels when teaching history was an ongoing discussion in my classes at the university. In one class my professor used historical fiction in his teaching and encouraged us to read it. Another professor asked us to not pick one for our book report, since he was not going to approve it.
For me the topic is a double edge sword. I have a strong belief in people reading historical novels actually can learn something. Most important, it might spark an interest in the reader to actually study more about the period. In introduction classes a historical novel might just help more than it breaks. On the other hand I can also see the faults in historical novels, which like any other book can be badly written and researched, which then leads to blatantly wrong descriptions of the period. If then the reader doesn’t bother to look up the facts, this will create a problem.

When I was younger, I learned much about Swedish history through the novels by the Swedish author Olov Svedelid. This helped me in class because many of topics we learned about there, I was already somewhat familiar with. A situation like this can give a boost to any student in the 5th grade.
Nowadays, I like to read Philippa Gregory’s stories about Tudor England, different stories about World War II and the books by Marek Halter (whom I wrote about in my last post) purely for their entertainment. These are books of fiction and I now that there are some inaccuracies in their books. Mostly about personalities or when they include fictional characters as well as real people and events. That is why it is fiction.
I believe that as long as you have a clear understanding of the differences of fiction and non-fiction, go ahead enjoy some of the many great historical novels there is out there. Enjoy them for their writing and storytelling and then pickup a non-fiction book which is well researched and accurate to study the period.
Josefine

My recommendation: Girl with a pearl earring by Tracy Chevalier. The book NOT the movie.

Monday, June 4, 2007

The book of Abraham

Among my more recent read authors, I have found a really good storyteller in Marek Halter. I read his book about his ancestors The book of Abraham, recently and even though it was a thick book (+900 pages), it kept me captivated until the end. It is a story told through the men in his family living over the centuries in Europe and Northern Africa. The story begins with the writer Abraham who, with his two sons, escapes the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE by the Romans after his wife is killed. They end up settling down in Alexandria, Egypt where his sons grow up and starts families of their own. To remember what they have been through and to record the family history as refugees in a faraway country, Abraham starts writing a family history on a scroll of parchment, something that will continue to follow the family over the centuries until the end of World War II when the author is grown.
Combining fact with fiction, Halter paints a remarkable story that shows you the destiny of the Jewish people in Europe and northern Africa over the centuries. Halter combines the saga with writings of his own, which tells us about the adventures he made trying to retrace the path of his family over the centuries.
This is a well-written book, which capture your mind. He intertwines historical events and persons in his story but without overshadowing the true purpose of the book, telling the life of his family.

With the lasting impression he left on me with his first book, I am thrilled to start his new trilogy, called Canaan trilogy, about the women of the bible. The first one is a free adaptation of the Bible story about Sarah the wife of Abraham. The two books to complete the trilogy are called Lilah and Zipporah, two books I have yet to purchase as I am waiting for them to be translated into Swedish.
This topic has led me in to the discussion about using historical novels in history classes and how it affects what people learn and think about history, but this I will discuss in my next post. Until then, please feel free to give your own comments on the topic or anything else that interest you.
Josefine

My recommendation: The book of Abraham. Marek Halter

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Libraries, what a great concept

A library is such a wonderful place, to who ever came up with this idea I am grateful. Just take a moment and think of the concept.
You can go there and borrow almost how many books, CDs, DVDs, magazines and newspapers that you want. And all this for free. Or, you can sit there all day reading and no one would bother you.

Wherever I live I go to the library for some peace and quiet. In Washington DC I loved the Library of Congress. The tranquility of the large marbled rooms combined with the vast amount of books to borrow there were amazing.
In Honolulu the design of the library was great. It was built like the letter O, with a courtyard in the middle. During the hot balmy days, which are typical for Hawai’i, I sat outside in the cool shadow studying.
When I lived in Waukesha, they remodeled the library and when it was done, it looked sleek, modern and fresh. I loved the fact that you could get books and DVDs from other libraries in the county sent to your local library at your convenience.
The library in my hometown got a real facelift when it moved into the spacious halls of the old firehouse.

I must admit that my bias towards libraries might come from my mother who works at one and so am I at the moment. Every time I come to work I browse the shelves of returned books to find something interesting to read. This leads to my nightstand being overcrowded with books that I am about to read but it also means that I will never run out of books.

Yes, of course you can borrow e-books online and never have to set your foot in the library, but it won’t beat the feeling of going to the library and browse the many bookshelves and pick out just the one that looks great.
So to everyone, go visit a library and enjoy the free access to a wide variety of reading material. It is just a bike ride away.

As always check out my Swedish blog if you want at bokstolen.
Josefine

A recommendation from my current readings: In Cuba I was a German Shepard by Ana Menédez.

Monday, May 21, 2007

The Grande Première


A big Welcome to everyone.

I decided that this blog would be about books, simply because I love to visit the library and its vast amounts of books and I love being captivated by their stories. There is few things that gives me more contentment than follow a protagonist through happiness and sadness the whole emotional circle. I also enjoy recommending great books to others, as well as warning them from failures.
However much I like books, there is one problem. Once I start reading a book, I can’t put it down. No matter how terrible it is and how much I really want to quit and get on with the next, I can’t. I always feel that it will be better as I read along and I don’t want to miss that good ending. However, most of the time it doesn’t. This often means that I have struggled my way through many books that clearly did not deserve my attention. But then again, perhaps I learned something from just that one book that took me forever to read.

On my spare time I like to try my own hand at writing, and the most common advice given to any aspiring writer must be read, read, read. Therefore I go through heaps of books, good and bad and everything in between.

Now to a more serious subject, I want to dedicate these last few words to a Swedish author that passed away recently. Her name was Maria Gripe and she wrote beautiful Young Adult novels, which I read when I was young. If you haven’t read anything from her yet visit your local library and see if they have some of her books, they are translated into English and several other languages as well.

I hope to see you soon again. Here or at bokstolen, this blog’s sister site in Swedish and practice your Swedish.
Josefine