Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Book of the year 2008

The book of the year was difficult to choose from since I this year I have read much and broad (if you remember my last years resolution). Finally I set my mind on March by Geraldine Brooks. I have mentioned it here before, but a brief recap of the book tells us that it is about the whereabouts of Little Women’s (Louisa May Alcott) father during the American Civil War.
I have decided on March because of its story, which captures every reader who read Little Women and now we finally find out some more about their mysterious father! The second reason is Brook’s talent in putting words on a paper that makes sense and won’t disappoint you. It makes the book easy to read without loosing its appeal to a good story.

Every year I give a new years resolution, however this year I was undecided o what it was going to be, until my siblings made the decision, when they gave me the Swedish version of 1001 books you must read before you die.
Looking through it, there were some I had already read, but there were still plenty to go. I therefore decided that my new years resolution would be to read at least one book from each chapter (there are five: before 18th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century and 21st century).
What is your new years resolution this year or don’t you give any resolutions?
Josefine

My recommendations March by Geraldine Brooks

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

My Christmas present

I decided to give myself an early Christmas present this year. It is the ultimate gift to myself or any other booklover. It is a CD box of Penguin Classics, including my personal favourites of: Anne of Green gables, Little Women, Peter Pan and many more. It is the perfect gift, because I can listen to some well-known stories as I do other things as well. And then of course it only helps that I got it at a great discounted deal through The BookPeople.
Josefine

My recommendations: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Why aren’t there any good Christmas books for adults?

I ask you the question because when I look back at the books I read about Christmas when I was young; I can vividly remember plenty of them. Many of them written by Astrid Lindgren, but there were also others. They gave a wonderful feeling of Christmas that are forever etched in my memory. I think about them and feel the smell of Christmas and get that warm and fuzzy feeling that only good memories from childhood can give you. But as an adult I have troubled finding any stories about Christmas that can provoke the same feeling. Is there any of you who have any good tips you’d like to share?
Or why not share with us your favourite Christmas book as a child?
Josefine

My recommendations: Most of the children’s books by Astrid Lindgren that had something to do with Christmas.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Europe’s largest bookstore

From the smallest library in town, there is a short subway ride to what they claim to be the largest bookstore in Europe (Waterstone’s on Piccadilly). Six floors with shelf after shelf of books of all kinds: fiction, non-fiction of every subject available, school literature, children’s books, poetry, and magazines, everything you can imagine. If you get tired at any point there is a café in the basement and a trendy restaurant on the top floor.

I spent a whole afternoon there the first time I was there and came out with a whole bunch of books, ready to buy their complete inventory, but stopped myself.
I like this bookstore, not so much for their exclusiveness in books; they have what most other stores have. But it is just the share amount of books that intrigues me. It feels like they have collected every publishable book in Europe and put it in one place.
Did I need to mention that it was not my first time and only time there?
Josefine

My recommendations: Maya by Jostein Gaarder

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Negativity destroys book

There is something about the book I just finished (Joanne Harris, Coastliners). I just can’t get rid of the feeling that it is all too sad and negative. Even during the positive and more uplifting scenes, there is a negative cloud lurching in the background, shadowing every prospect it ever had of being an interesting read. And it bothers me so much, because it had such a great future.

Set in France the plot begins with a young woman (Mado), who returns to her native island to save it from slowly being washed away by the sea. Her father entering the plot being old and grumpy, the villagers the same, but even as the tide turns and the village eventually prosper, the feeling of negativity stays with me and I can’t cast it off. All the way to the end the negativity prevailed and the book left me empty with no hopes for the future.

Pity on such a good writer (Harris is the author of the book Chocolat, turned in to a movie by director Lasse Hallström)
Josefine

My recommendations: Marian Keyes, An unexpected holiday. A much more enlightened reading.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Fanfiction

One of the first books I read in English (my mother tongue being Swedish) was Little Women by Lousia May Alcott and I loved it. So you can imagine my feeling when I picked up Geraldine Brooks book March from the library. March tells the story of the Little Women’s father. In Alcott’s book you only know that their father is away at the American Civil War, but you never find out what happened to him there, this is the story Brooks tells us.

Fan fiction is a genre that interests me because you can do so much with the minor characters in a book that the writer never develops. Who isn’t curious to know what happened to Friday before he met Robinson Crusoe or how Frau Remarque dealt with her son being sent to war. There may be people disagreeing with me, but in my opinion, the writer of fan fiction ventures into those unknown paths that the writer merely didn’t have time to cover in their book.
Josefine

My recommendations: Good evening Mr. Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Europe's smallest library

I live next door to Europe's smallest library, or at least London’s. The library is located in one, octagon shaped room that holds three walls of fiction and fiction crime, a few shelves of non-fiction and a small section with children and young adult books.

But the size of the library is compensated by their nice staff and their customer loyalty card, which gives you one free rental movie after five takeouts and you will be entered for the grand price where you can win a month of free rental movies! Little things make me happy.
Josefine

My recommendations: Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sorting out books

The Swedish writer Staffan Stolpe writes in his book In the shadow of a small ouzo (my translation) that he uses a system to sort out his old books. For every one new book he brings into his library, he sorts out three old books.
Sure, it sounds like a good system. Your taste in books and writers certainly changes over the years, I would for example not re-read my old Danielle Steel books, but at the same time I wouldn’t give them up either. They are a part of my life and part of who I was a few years ago. To throw them out would be like to throw out my old pictures. That might explain why I have a big box of photos and other memorabilia stacked away at home…But anyway, the books are a part of my life.
What do you do with your books? Sort them out as they don’t interest you more or collect them for sometime in the future?
Josefine


My recommendations: In the shadow of a small ouzo by Staffan Stolpe.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

New Years resolutions reviewed

It has been more than six months since I decided on my “book” New Years resolution. This is what I wrote then:

My New Year resolution is to read at least six writers that are new to me. It wouldn’t be too difficult to read a new writer every other month.

So how did it go? The new writers I have read so far this year are:

1. Susanna Alakosi
2. Marjaneh Bakhtiari
3. Geraldine Brooks
4. Joanne Harris
5. Ove Lagerkvist
6. Alice Sebold
7. Karen Blixen
8. Marita Jonson
9. Björn Kumm
10. Staffan Stolpe
11. Tina Thunander

Almost double! Looking back, I probably should have set a higher goal. But knowing me, I tend to stick to the same writers year in and year out. Perhaps my New Years resolution helped me along the way and see some new openings.
How did your New Years resolutions hold up? Did they last longer than January 2?
Josefine

My recommendations: The lovely bones by Alice Sebold

New city, new books

I'm back after a long absence I am back in the game again.

Even though a move causes many extra things to do, move out of the old apartment, move into a new. Pack, unpack. Load truck, unload truck etc…I think you get my point. This is the time when I read the most. I can read several books a week when I move. It makes me calm and it fills up all this extra times when there is nothing else I can do but wait for another person or government official to act.
The good news is that I now have plenty of stuff to fill my blog with the coming weeks.

The second thing for me to do, is walk around to all the bookstores in my neighborhood to see what they have to offer, not to mention the libraries. But that’s for another time. Now I will finish a new book.
Josefine

My recommendations: The kings comedienne by Agneta Pleijel

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The best book ever

I found this on Karen Clark’s blog Get on with it. I have to read that book when it hits the bookstands!



Josefine

Because I am moving and will have limited Internet access, it might take a while until my next post. But hang in there, I’ll be back.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Children's books

Did you have a favourite book as a child? There are so many to choose from for me, but if I have to choose. I can point to some books written by a Swedish author Jan Lööf, which I can still remember very vividly. His stories were different and funny, the pictures in the books were awesome and fit perfectly to the quirky stories. The book is still at my parents’ house where I sometimes find myself looking through them.
When I got older I read a lot of Maria Gripe’s Young Adult books. They were mysteries and thinking books all at the same time. I think I read everyone of her books that had come out when I was in that age.

Tell me about some of your favourites!
Josefine

My recommendations: Around the world in eighty days by Jules Vernes

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Hooked on ONE author

I often get hooked on one writer. I read one of their books, love it and I just HAVE to read everything else they’ve ever written. So, off I go to the library, check out the book and sit down in my favourite chair to be entertained. However, entertained isn’t always the case. Often when I read an author’s different books to close to each other, I get disappointed. It is probably not the book in itself; it is just me being tired of their way of writing. My solution: a system, where I write down all the books and authors I want to read, and save them for later. The list is long of writers and books I want to read, some of them are Alexander McCall-Smith, Stephen King, Philippa Gregory, Antony Beevor and the list goes on….
The Swedish author Kajsa Ingemarsson is one of the many writers I have on my list. After reading one of her books, I wanted to throw myself into all her other books, But I stopped myself and waited. It took me a couple of months before I picked up her next book and it was as good as the first one. Now I have to wait another couple of weeks (at least) before I pick up her third book.

To read one writer or one genre is good in a way, you feel safe and know what you get. But there is also the feeling of reading the same book over and over again. I think it is important to every now and then, take a chance and throw yourself into the unknown. Pick up an author or genre you haven’t read before. (I know I have used those same words, not long ago, but I really believe it) Explore the unknown, or simply do like my sister, join a book club and see what new books they will send you each month.
Josefine

My recommendations: Small yellow lemons by Kajsa Ingemarsson

Saturday, June 21, 2008

nobelprize.org

I was recommended a true treasure from a friend, the website of the Nobelprize. Here you can listen to some of the literature winners’ interviews, biographies, acceptance speeches etc. It is very fascinating to hear what they have to say about their books and their writings. I really liked Portrait of Doris Lessing.
Josefine

My recommendations:
the fifth child by Doris Lessing

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Summer reading II

It is this time of the year again. It is time for those lazy summer days spending the days in the hammock reading. Those lazy days when you have all the time in the world to enjoy a book and catching up on all the books you have neglected during the year.

My recommendation for this summer is to use your library. During the summer months at my local library, the expiration date for the books are longer, which makes it possible to go on long vacations without being stuck with late fees on my books.
Use your library to revisit old books you read in another period of your life and see what’s changed in them, or perhaps in you. If that isn’t interesting enough, take a leap into the unknown and find a new author or genre. If you can, unlike I, don’t make yourself go through a book if it is boring, put it down and find a new. This is a time for leisurely reading, not heavy plowing.
Josefine

My recommendations: The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Thursday, May 29, 2008

CD books II - voices

Lately, I have listened to more CD books, especially when I bike to and from work. I now realize how much the voice of the reader affects the story. One of my favourite books to listen to was Rikard Wolff and Hamadi Khemiri reading Montecore a unique tiger by Jonas Hassen Khemiri. This book was probably more entertaining to listen to than to read on its own (I never read the hardcopy).

Right now I listen to Zadie Smith’s book On Beauty. In Swedish it is recorded by Johan Rabeus, he also recorded the Swedish version of The ultimate hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by Dougals Adams. When I listen to On Beauty, I hear Arthur Dent and the other characters in Adams' story, but now they are in new costumes and live in Smith’s world. A voice, no matter what it actually says, can really create a picture before me and now I have to alter that picture, it is a strange feeling.
Josefine

My recommendations: Call it whatever you want by Marjaneh Bakhtiari (another good CD book from my latest collection)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Hawaiian soul

I just finished a really good book, Hawaii by James A. Michener. It reminded me of the time when I lived in Hawai’i. He talked about many of the places I recognized, walking up Nu’uanu Street or down in China Town. Those places used to be in my backyard.
It is a novel, which means it’s fictional but it still have its benefits. It is a great start for someone who wants to ease into the history of this former kingdom.
Josefine

My recommendations: Pompeii by Maja Lundgren

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Sequels - The Orange Girl

I just borrowed a book from my sister, the sequel to Lena Kallenberg’s book The Orange girl. (if you remember, I recommended it here a couple of entries ago). I didn’t even know that there was a second book; it came as a good surprise.
I hope it is as good as the first was, sometimes that’s not always true. Most of you have probably seen several movies with both a second and a third follow-up and for every movie it has become a bit worse. I will do my best to not judge the book before I have read it. At the same time I will try not to have too high expectations of it.
By the way the name loosely translated would be Love in Stockholm. Perhaps I start to read it tonight.
Josefine

My recommendations: Alexander McCall Smith’s books about Isabel Dalhousie and the Sunday Philosophy club.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

All quiet on the bookfront

There has been very little for me to write about lately. Other things have been on my mind and the book I currently read is leading nowhere. As usual, I can’t put it away and start a new but I am almost at the end. I am looking forward to a new start, a novel about Queen Kristina of Sweden.
Did anyone celebrate or even recognized the World book day last week?
Josefine

My recommendations: Tulip fever by Deborah Moggach

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Female portrait in historical novels

How do you describe a woman who lived during the middle ages, the renaissance or almost any time period before the 20th century? Often there are no descriptions of their life, their way of living, what they looked like and definitely no written words from them, most of them time not even a signature. The exception would be monarchs and noble women, but they do not belong to the majority.

This is what gets interesting when authors of historical novels try to describe these women. Can they make it real enough for us to believe them? Or do they simply just take the easy way out and exclude them from their stories. The Swedish writer Agneta Pleijel has made one approach to the subject. In her book, The queen’s surgeon, she simply says I don’t know, but perhaps it was like this. She does it so well and make it fit into the story so well that you agree with her.

There are other approaches to this problem, some writers simply leave out the women and let them be merely background props. This however, I believe is to cheat the reader of half the story. But then again, it is called fiction for a reason.
Josefine

My recommendations: The Orange Girl by Lena Kallenberg

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The book or the movie 2

I have discussed this topic before and I am sure I will get back to it again and again. What is best the book or the movie? And could a movie ever be as good as the book?

This past December a big Swedish film production had premiere. The script was based on The Crusade Trilogy written by Swedish author Jan Guillou. The film is divided into two movies (think Lord of the Rings) with the next part coming out in December of this year.
I recently saw the movie and I was impressed by it. I have read the books and loved them and I had kind of made up my mind about the movie already, thinking a movie could never top the books, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a really good movie and I am really looking forward to the next part.

Josefine

My recommendations: The Crusades Triology by Jan Guillou

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The book of the year

One of my great discoveries last year was the American writer Joyce Carol Oates. I happened upon her by mistake, browsing the library for something to read and she has really become one of my favourite authors. Therefore I will declare her novel Black Girl, White Girl my favourite book of the year. It was through this book I first met her wonderful way of writing. It is different, like you think. She jumps between time and space and different scenes. At the same time she does it in a way that makes you understand exactly what is going on.
After finishing Black Girl, White Girl I have also read Black Water and currently I am reading The Falls.

My hopes and expectations for this new year is that I will have time to read as much and varied as possible (one of the perks of not having to read for school anymore). My New Year's resolution is to read at least six writers, which are new to me. It wouldn’t be too difficult to read a new writer every other month.
Josefine

My recommendations: Black girl White girl by Joyce Carol Oates.