The Olympic games of authors

I have always like a challenge and I read on Bookcrossing.com that one of the members had decided to read at least one author from all the countries sending a delegation to the Olympic Games in London 2012, before the games begins. Surrounded by London 2012 preparations, it feels right to take up the challenge. Who’s with me?
My rule to be able to count the author/book is that I have read or re-read it after December 1, 2009 (when I started). Firstly I will look to the country the author was born in then I have to see how strictly I will stick to it (it can be complicated when it comes to ex. Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union). Currently I can tick off Peru (Allende) and Australia (Brooks), I will keep you updated on my quest.

And if I don’t get to the computer again this year, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Josefine

Ps. To further increase my knowledge of the authors I will also compile a short bio of each of them as I finish their book.

My recommendations: The house of the spirits by Isabel Allende

Nobel Prize in litterature 09

Again a woman has been awarded with the Nobel Prize in literature, which is given out in Stockholm tomorrow. This year it was awarded to the German speaking Romanian Herta Müller. I haven’t read any of Müller’s books yet, but that seems to be the case with me. I never discover these writers until have been awarded. I might have to add some of her books to my ever growing “want to read list”.
I am still waiting for Joyce Carol Oates to get the honours or why not another Swede. It has been 35 years since a Swedish person was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, and with a wink to patriotism, I think it is time for another.

Also, my hat off for all the women winning this year, five of them in total. One of the organisers said it would be nice to have less black and white on the podium this year and I can only agree.
Josefine

My recommendations: Watch the TV coverage of the Nobel Prize tomorrow evening, if for no other reason than to see what the queen and princesses are wearing.

Books under the tree this year

I have started to write my Christmas list for the books I wish for this year. It is usually a long list of books I have seen during the year but haven’t had the opportunity to buy yet. So far, my short list looks like this:

The history of love by Nicole Krauss –
This book has been on my list for a while now but I never get ready to buy it, I will hope for Santa instead.
The white queen by Philippa Gregory –
I liked her books about the Tudors and it will be interesting to see what this new series is about.
The camel bookmobile by Masha Hamilton –
Just the name perks my interest.
Thames: Sacred River and London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd –
Now when I live in London, it feels like I should read this two heavy books.
Heaven can wait by Cally Taylor –
I have followed her journey from writing and editing the book to its publishing and now I look forward to getting a copy.

If I don’t get them for Christmas this year, I can always look forward to see some of them at the big book sale in Sweden at the end of February.
Josefine

My recommendations: By someone a book this year for Christmas. Who doesn’t want a hard gift this year?

Chinese novels

Chinese consumer products have flooded the market for several years, if not decades, which have also spurred the general interest for China. More and more Chinese authors are now translated and published in the western world. I have recently read two different authors from China. Empress Orchid by Anchee Min is probably one of my more recent favourites. She takes us into the Forbidden City in the last decades of the last Chinese emperor, where we meet one of his last empresses Orchid.
Moving forward to the 21st century, we find Z lost in London and the words of the English language. A concise Chinese-English dictionary for lovers by Xiaolu Guo is cleverly written as we can follow Z’s road to learning the English language as the sentences becomes more and more complex and she finally masters the different pronoms, verbs and tenses.
Josefine

My recommendations: The death of woman Wang by Jonathan D Spence

Awful Library Books

The blog Awful Library Books is one of the funniest blogs I have seen in a long time. It is terrible to see what they find at their midwestern library. It reminds me a bit about my old school library. Researching for a paper there was no use in going there because most likely you wouldn’t find anything that was relevant anyway.
The two librarians who run the site have of course met resistance to what they do. The reoccurring comments seems to be about the question of keeping old books if the information is relevant and there is no money to buy a newer version. To me it depends from book to book, but in general I would say that there is nothing worse than looking for some good research and all you come up with is a book that was printed in the 60s or 70s. Then I prefer to find nothing at all.
If nothing else this is a funny blog.
Josefine

My recommendations. The mark of an angel by Nancy Huston

Reading time

I’m craving some reading time! NaNoWriMo is taking up a lot of my time.
When things get hectic at work I always appreciate the company of a book more. It forces me to sit down, relax and just enjoy the book. Thoughts keep swirling in the back of my mind and sometimes I have to have a notepad next to me so that I can write down things I need to do. However, at the same time I can feel myself relax with that book, sink in to its magical world far away from all the musts. I feel happier and after I can take on the world again!
Josefine

My recommendations: Any books that will help you relax in a stressful world

Midnight Post

If you are questioning what I am doing up, close to midnight on Saturday night, posting on my blog, I will tell you. It is because I, with about 75 000 others around the world are ready to start our quest to write a 50 000 word novel in one month. Starting exactly at midnight on November first, it is time for another crazy month of mad typing around the world. Who knows how many will make it to the end? However, everybody knows that even less make it to publishing, but it doesn’t matter, it is not the most important goal for many of us. According to the website, there are some who has been published and added on to the world’s every increasing list of books.
Posts may be fewer this month, as I’m busy typing my own novel instead of reading others.
Josefine

My recommendations: Monitor my progress on my page

Update, apperantly we passed the 100 000 mark of NaNoWriMo members a couple of days ago.

Around the world: Venice

Here comes a new section with books that reveals part of the world that you won’t find in ordinary guidebooks.


Heading out first is The City of Fallen Angels, which is about Venice. An ordinary touristy city with its famous picture perfect tourist attractions, but as I found out in the book there is so much more to the city.
The city with its many canals filled with deep intrigues and mysteries. There is something with Venice and when you get to follow John Berendt and his experiences around the city after the great fire on Gran Teatro La Fenice you see some of its splendor. The book shows a different Venice, an ordinary city, except for that shine that always seems to shine over Venice and gives it its mystique.
When I finished the book, I immediately decided to revisit the city again and this time I would make sure to look past the old facades and the somewhat intruding touristy parts. Hopefully I will see some of the true magic of Venice and if I look carefully I might even be able to see the fallen angels. Josefine

My recommendations: Villa Serena, falling in love Italian style by Domenica de Rosa

Tolerant or Picky?

I read on a forum a couple of days ago about a guy claiming that about every third book or author he picked up, he didn’t enjoy. I must disagree with him. There are usually very few authors and books I don’t enjoy. Then I started thinking. Am I just a more tolerant reader who will ready anything for the joy of reading or am I not picky enough with my reading and expect very little from the books I read? I like to see myself as tolerant a more positive spin on the issue. What kind of reader do you consider yourself? Tolerant or Picky?
Josefine

My recommendations: April in Paris by Michael Wallner.

1001 revisited

As some of you might know, my new years resolution this year, was to try to include at least one book from each chapter (century) from my 1001 books you must read before you die (the Swedish version). Well past the six-month mark I have to say that it hasn’t gone as good as I anticipated. So far I have managed to read two books from the 20th century, both by Russian authors (Bulgakov: Master and Margarita and Pasternak: Doctor Zhivago) and that’s it. In the near future I hope to read some of the Russian writers of the 19th century, hopefully before the end of this year. But we’ll see how it goes.
Josefine

My recommendations: A passage to India by EM Forester

The Book People arrived

I just collected my books from my latest The book people order and I am ecstatic. Not only did I score the first Christmas present of the year, a princess collection for a friend’s daughter but I also bought a collection of Roald Dahl books for dirt-cheap and an assortment of 10 novels for £5. Too good to be true, even if they turn out to be rubbish, for 50p each I can afford to finish them and never look at them again.
This company probably has the best deals I have ever encountered when it comes to books and the best part is that they come to my work and all I have to do is fill in my order and they will return the books to me.
Josefine

My recommendations: Go online and see if The Book People will deliver to your work as well

Why do I take the time to read?

Sometimes life spins out of hand and you only have time for the necessities work, eat and sleep, then it is nice to have a hobby where you can disappear for awhile, even if it is just for ten minutes. A good book can stop time and help recharge your batteries.
Josefine

A Place called Here

Did you ever see the movie PS I love you, or maybe you read the book? That is how I found Cecilia Ahren’s book A Place called Here. It is an interesting book about where lost things go when they disappear and about a woman who has to loose herself before she finds her way home to what she already has.
The book is a strange mix of this worlds issues and another dream world somewhere else. It took me some time to get into the book, because I had expectations of it that it didn’t fulfil. It is one of those books you have to pick up without any expectations and be open for anything to happen. I would not recommend this book to the traditional reader who doesn’t want to cross the limit of unnatural things, but otherwise it was a good read.
Josefine

My recommendations: The Horse Whisper by Nicholas Evans

Moving books

It is when you're moving, you realise how many books you actually own. I am in the process of doing just that. Even though I only lived here for a year I have collected numerous books which all now have to go into boxes and be transported to my new apartment. Some of them I have released through bookcrossing.com, but the majority will follow me. This is mostly because I haven’t read them yet and the others I like to save and at one point re-read.
It is nice to always have a vast selection of books to my disposal, just not when I am moving!
Josefine

My recommendations: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

More books released

I have released two more books through Bookcrossing.com. As I am cleaning out my bookshelf, (See why in coming posts) I have released two more books today. One in Swedish (Anyone but Him, Sheila O’Flanagan), which no one might pick up, but I didn’t want to keep it and then Adriana Trigiani’s trilogy about Big Stone Gap. Both were released on the London Underground, hopefully someone will pick them up and enjoy them as much as I do. If you found it give me a note on the website or leave me a comment here what you think in general about these books.
Josefine

My recommendations: Anyone but him, by Sheila O’Flanagan

Ernesto Che Guevara

With the release of the new movies about Ernesto Che Guevara and the new release of his own accounts of what happened Che Guevara is once again popular. I am myself currently reading Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War.
Another good book about the hero (villain?) is the biography Che by the Swedish journalist and writer Björn Kumm. It is a great biography about Che’s life from the beginning to the tragic end. The book has a nice balance of information to keep the book going without the often-common mistake of biographers to try to squeeze in too many things. I haven’t seen it in English yet, but who knows, with the new movies and increasing interest in Che Guevara maybe a translation is on its way.
Josefine

My recommendations: Son of the revolution by Liang Heng & Judith Shapiro

Reading Children’s books

I have taken up re-reading some of my children’s book. It is quite interesting to read them again and compare the experience. Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz and Alice adventures in Wonderland, were all stories I loved as a child and have re-read as an adult. The words are the same, but their meaning is different. I see sub-stories I never thought about when I was young. Quite fascinating.
Now pick your favourite children’s book from when you were a child and re-read it.
Josefine

My recommendations: A little princess by Frances Burnett

Bookcrossing – released book

I have just released my first book with bookcrossing . I left Jane Sigaloff’s book Name and Address Withheld on the westbound District Line train towards Wimbledon yesterday (Saturday). It is the first book I have released into the wild and I am excited to see what is going to happen to it. I will follow its tracks around the world very closely on the website and I hope who ever picks it up will have as much pleasure of it as I had.
Now go catch it!
Josefine

My recommendations: Sweetland stories by E.L. Doctorow

Summer Reading

I just picked up a leaflet at the library with this summer’s Richard and Judy selection. I don’t watch their show (mainly because I don’t have a working TV right now) but I must say that their selection of books is quite interesting. Some of my favourites that I have had my eyes on before are The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee and Guernica by Dave Boling. Stephen Carter’s Palace Council seems quite interesting as well especially since there is currently a black president in the White House. Some of the others The Great Lover, Mystery Man and The Senator’s Wife didn’t appeal to me as much. I guess the charm of this book club, is their wide selection and you can find anything there.
Josefine

My recommendations: The Outcast by Sadie Jones

What if Peter van Pelsen had surrived

I have written before about my love for “what if” stories and I just finished another one. The boy who loved Anne Frank by Ellen Feldman was very well written and seemed so true that I had to stop and think at times.
It is a story about Peter van Pelsen the boy of the other family, hiding in the annex with Anne Frank and her family in Amsterdam during World War II. In the story he survives the concentration camps and makes his way to the US border where he shreds his old life and takes on a new life in the New World as a gentile. However, life catches up with him and he has to stand up to decide if he is going to hide forever or face his past.
It was such a well-written story that I would like to recommend it to anyone if you read Anne Frank’s diary or not.
Josefine

My recommendations: The diary of a young girl by Anne Frank

Nine Parts of Desire

Since I read March by Geraldine Brooks I have been trying to find more books by her, and I found it in her non-fiction book Nine Parts of Desire about the women in the Middle East. It was an interesting book and Brooks have no doubt great knowledge about the countries and women she writes about. However, I can’t help but feel that this is book is somewhat outdated and a newer version should be published. Much has happened since the book was published in 1995, especially the spread of Islamic fundamentalism, which of course gives implications for women (and men as well).

On another point, it would be interesting to read about Muslim women as refugees in western countries. Perhaps any of you have read a similar book, let me know.
Josefine

My recommendations: The broken pictures by Azar Mahloujian

The cellist of Sarajevo

This is a book that takes you to a city under siege during the most recent battle on the Balkan. When the Yugoslav republic was torn apart and neighbors fought neighbors. The book tells us four different stories about four different lives in a city very few can leave and the rest of them has to survive anyway they can.
What capture me the most about the book is the personal relation I have with this war and also Galloway’s writing style that captures my attention from beginning to end.
It is one of those books you can’t put down once you started.
Josefine

My recommendation: Zlata’s diary by Zlata Filipovic

Perfume

I wasn’t really impressed by Patrick Süskind’s book Perfume. I had heard so much about it and that is why I bought it, but after finishing it, I was far from satisfied. This is not a book I will remember in a couple of years.
I thought the story was lacking depth and I never got into it. In the end it became a chore to finish it, rather than a pleasure. But I guess that is how it is with some books, you are just not that in to them!
Josefine

My recommendations: The scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Death again

I keep finding these books about death the last one I read were James Bradely’s The Resurrectionist. It is about a boy in London during the 19th century who studies anatomy under a famous anatomist. He soon becomes tangled up with the people who provide the body for the great doctor. Body snatcher would probably be the term of today, but then they were resurrectionists and making good money out of it.
The ending was a bit tame and could have been made more interesting, but it was a good read anyway. Lots of violence but not disturbingly written.
Josefine

My recommendations: Black water by Joyce Carol Oates

Books and feelings

I like books that have strong feelings and even better if the author manages to convey that feeling to the reader. It is far from many books and writers that have that effect on me. There are many writers who write good books that I enjoy reading, but they will not last in my mind more than a couple of weeks.
I like to laugh out loud when I am reading, look behind my back so no one will squeeze up on me and fall in love with the love interest of the character. These feelings are necessary for me to keep the interest in the book. Some of the writers that almost always succeed in capturing my attention are Stephen King, Dodie Smith and Fannie Flagg.
I will always finish a book I started, if it interests me or not, but there are only a few of them that I will remember vividly a year from now.
Josefine

My recommendations: The girl who loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

New Writers

In my quest to broaden my horizon on writers of Non-English speaking or Swedish backgrounds, I picked up The Chameleon by Jane Aadmund. A Danish writer, writing what I would probably classify as chicklit. It was a good book, nothing spectacular but good enough for me to recommend it here.
It is fun to walk into the library with no other objective than to find a book by someone totally new to you. It always brings an interesting perspective. This time I was lucky and it was a good one.
Now take my challenge and find your closest library and pick up a book that you might not have looked twice at before. It could be fun! Be sure to let me know how it went.
Josefine

My recommendations: Teahouse fire by Ellis Avery

Fried Green Tomatoes….

…just to hear the name perks your interest. What is this about? Who would serve something like that? The name of a book really tells a lot about the book and this one in particular. I know it is not a new book and some of you might have read it already, but I want to mention it here anyway. The title Fried Green Tomatoes, makes you think of something different and almost exotic and Fannie Flagg has managed to give us just that. She has created a story that contains the most love & conflicts, old & new, racism & tolerance and a mystery. A story that takes us back to one time in a recent past and at the same time tells us about life here and now.
Her characters are strong and easy to like, even the minor characters are someone you would want to know more about. They are not only complementing the main characters but also create a story on their own.
If you haven’t yet, read it! Then watch the film, it is good as well.
Josefine

My recommendations: Welcome to the world Baby Girl! By Fannie Flagg

Herland – Feminist literature

Writing in the US at the start of the 20th century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells us about the Utopian society in the Amazon jungle where there exist no men. It is a group of explorer (all men) who finds this remarkable place. Certain that everything will be chaos and mayhem, they are amazed of how well things work and some things even better without men.
The story is short but the message is clear. Women are as good as men, maybe even better. A story worth reading, even today.
Read it love it! (or hate it).
Josefine

My recommendations: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

Three views of Crystal Water

A book can tell you so much about a world you would never have been able to see from the inside. You travel to cultures you never knew existed, you meet people you would never have gotten to know. Katherine Govier’s book Three views of crystal water, takes us to a society in Japan where women rule and foreigners are rarely let into the society. A young Canadian girl is thrown in at the deep end and pushed to her limits by herself and the village to fit in. A magic story that keep you turning the pages.
Josefine

My recommendations: A year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke

Finishing a book

Do you also get the blues whenever you have finished a good book? It feels like you have left a dear friend behind and you want to go back and fetch them. I guess I could always re-read them, but there are so many new books I want to read that I don’t have time to go back to the old.
I have trick to make this transition easier and that is always reading at least two or three books at the same time. Right now though I might have stretched myself a bit too far, considering I have six books on my nightstand. Anyway, it does the trick!
Josefine

My recommendations: White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Boktipset.se

I’m glad to see that Shelfari now got a Swedish friend in Boktipset.se owned by one of the largest publishers in Sweden and a TV network, this is a page very similar to Shelfari that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.
Josefine

My recommendations: Potensgivarna by Karin Brunk Holmqvist

Biographies

I enjoy reading a good biography, may it be someone else’s words or the person himself writing, it is the story that is the most important. I don’t care for the glossy books of famous people but the more obscure biographies of “real” peoples destiny. About the struggles of Zainab Salbi in the Shadow of Saddam or the Anonymous woman writing in Berlin after World War II.
A biography I started years ago but still have trouble finishing is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s the Gulag Archipelago. I read a chapter then I need to stop because the cruelty of one person to another is to great for me to continue.
I think it is the struggle of the ordinary people who overcome unbelievable things that intrigues me the most and make me choose their books. They have overcome so much and then still have the courage to sit down and write about it. It is remarkable.
Josefine

My recommendations: Landing on my feet – a diary of dreams by Kerri Strug

The Dark Side

Lately I have read many books about the dark side of the universe, not non-fiction books about evil people and war stories (even though I read quite a few of them as well). Fiction books about death and the devil and what happens when you decide to pass over to their side. The two latest one is Swedish writer Maria Ernestam’s Caphirinia with Death (my translation) and the modern classic The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
It is fascinating just because in these books we get a glimpse of what would happen if we took a step in the wrong direction, when we choose to accompany Death or the Devil.
Josefine

My recommendations: Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Shelfari

You might have seen my newest addition to the blogg, the Shelfari bookshelf on the left. It is an ingenious website for every booklover. You can track the books you have read, the one you are reading right now and the one you want to read. You can hook up with other people, who have the same interest in book as you or form a new group for the book you just read. Invite your friends and spread the knowledge you have of books, rate them and write a short blurb of what you thought abut it.
I mostly use it to track the books I have read so far, as I search through the thousand and thousands of books on the website, I am reminded of books I read a long time ago and I can add them to my list. Admittedly, it has become quite an addiction for me. But if you have the time, you can look through the books I have read, right here next to the text and maybe even set up your own account. Don’t forget to add me as your friend so I can see what you’ve read!
Josefine

My recommendations: Please Mr. Einstein by Jean Claude Carrière

Sherlock Holmes

Living in the heart of the city of Sherlock Holmes, a few tube stops away from the famous, though fictional, Baker Street 221B (No. 239 houses a Sherlock Holmes museum), I had an urge to re-read my Sherlock Holmes collection. The stories still interest me, and considering it was probably fifteen years since I last read them, it was like returning to an old friend as I turned the pages. But there were also things I saw in a new light. I remembered the ingeniousness of Mr. Holmes himself but now I also discovered his somewhat brusque attitude towards Dr. Watson.
It is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s well-constructed stories and easy reading that brings me back to these stories. My favourite among them is probably Baskerville’s hound, it has enough suspense for cold chills to go down my spine.
Josefine

My recommendations: Last shift by Karin Whalberg

Lemons in Andalusia Part II

The other day, I picked up Chris Stewarts book, The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society from the library. Little did I know that this was his third book in the same series. I had totally missed A Parrot in the Pepper Tree. They both are a continuation on his first book Driving over Lemons, about his life in the Spanish countryside. I hope this book is as funny and well written as the first one and then I will have to go on a hunt for the second book as well.
Josefine

My recommendations: Zohra’s ladder – and other Moroccan tales by Pamela Windo

Collapse – Collapsed

I picked up Jared Diamond’s book Collapse on the recommendation from a friend, however I was not impressed. The book in itself is truly researched and the topic: the collapse of modern and ancient civilisations is important and newsworthy as any report on global warming (think Al Gore). However Diamond soon became dull and kept repeating himself. The 500 plus pages book could easily been cut down to half by tighten up some passages and cutting out others. There were many chapters where he circled around the topic so many times that eventually you lost interest in what you were reading. I respect his diligence and his thorough research and expertise in the subject, but his book would be more successful with a thorough editing.

I did however like the content of the book, I especially liked the chapters, explaining ancient civilisations collapsing because they were overexploiting their resources. A direction I fear we are heading in. The middle part of the book though, explaining the situation in many places around the world today could have been shortened. These are topics that pop up all the time in the news and a simple internet search could lead you to further revelations. Encouraging people to do research for themselves is a great start for understanding the world as it is today, rather than telling them this is how it is. The last part of the book, containing some of the possible solutions to our society’s problem, again could have been shorten for clarity and keeping the reader alert.
Josefine

My recommendations: Discoveries: Easter Island by Catherine Orliac

Chicklit

Just mentioning the word can sometimes be disastrous both in writers and readers circles. There are readers that think it is below their competence of reading a “simple” chicklit and then there are the authors who don’t want their book mixed up with that genre. Fortunately there are both readers and writers who appreciate the genre for what it (mostly) is, strong character driven, well-written books which are written to entertain.
The strong, driven (often single) woman who knows what she wants, or at least thinks she knows is possibly the most characteristic of a chicklit novel. I also appreciate them because they are easy to read, the words fly off the paper and the pages turn almost by themselves.

I think that it is time to change what seems to be the general opinion of the public of chicklit novels. There are many good writers that fall into that category and should be (probably are) proud. The first that pops into my head are Marian Keyes, Sophia Kinsella, Anna Maxted.
Now it is up to you. Your mission is to go to your closest library, pick up a chicklit novel, read it with an open heart and mind and see if you don’t change your mind. If you need some help of which one to pick go over to Trashionista and take some of their advice.
Josefine

My recommendations: Fishbowl by Sarah Mlynowski

A real page-turner

It was a long time since I found a book I couldn’t put down, but this past weekend I found a real page-turner. It was Fannie Flagg’s book Welcome to the world Baby Girl! I was at the library searching for one of her other books (Can’t wait to go to heaven), when I found this.
I started to read it, hoping it would be good. 150 pages later I looked up and realised that it was dark outside and it was late at night. I had to put it down to get some sleep. The next day I couldn’t wait to get off work to come home and keep reading.
It is one of the best books I have read so far this year and the twist at the end was brilliantly set up. I won’t say what it is, you have to find out by yourself, but if you look back through the book you see Flagg carefully placing hidden clues to what to come. Brilliant.
Josefine

My recommendations: Fried Green Tomatoes at Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg

Ps. The writer’s talk last week was a success, but was cut short after an hour even though there were interest to continue.

Writers' talk

I look forward to a writers’ visit by Sarah Dunant and Paul Strathern this coming Tuesday at one of my local bookstores Daunt books. It will be a night with focus on the Italian renaissance. Dunant writes historical novels that take place during the renaissance, while Strathern writes non-fiction books. As you might remember I have a great interest in Italy and books written about Italy, fiction and non-fiction.

I have read two of Dunant's books about the renaissance and I look forward to the third, which will be published in July. I like her style of writing, entertaining but still accurate, she knows the period she writes about. There is a lot of small facts in her books that you know she had to research thoroughly to find.
I have not yet read anything from Strathern but my flat mate is currently reading Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance and I will have first dibs on that when she finishes it.
Josefine

My recommendations: In the company of the courtesan by Sarah Dunant

The book or the movie – Take III

Act I
Q & A vs. Slumdogmillionaire.
Vikas Swarup’s story has more power, more drama and intrigues and less direct action and death, which makes it a nicer read but would be difficult to translate to the big screen, as in the case with many other books turned in to movies. The all too familiar dilemma of how to project some things in written form on to the big screen without being cheesy. Taking the book straight out would be too difficult task, if not impossible. Therefore changes have to be made and sometimes these are difficult to make and need to change.

Act II
Knowledge v. love
Swarup emphasises less on love and romance and more on the entire world around Jamal. The screen play has its central role around love and the pre-decided destiny the main character and his lover. It sells movie tickets, yes, but is it really what the story is about? When I read the book I did not get that message at all. The more important things were how he gained his knowledge, even though he is just a slum dog (not judging a book by its cover, would be a nice cliché to use here).

Act III
Judgment
The book wins hands down. I don’t say that the movie is bad. It is just that you might not want to see it as a compliment to the book, but rather see it for its own movie qualities.
The Bollywood influence in the after text is worth staying in your seats for.
Josefine

My recommendations: Bridget Jones’ diary by Helen Fielding

Roses are red…

Violets are blue…. And so on. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I will dedicate this entry to love.
For the old school readers out there, the classic romances of Jane Austin and Shakespeare might be tempting to pick up on a day like this. One of my favourite love stories is Sebastien Japrisot’s book A very long engagement, about a woman who refuses to believe that her fiancé were killed in the trenches during the Great War.

For a real life love story, I warmly recommend My Sergei-a love story by Ekaterina Gordeva, a love story on skates between a pair of figure skaters, that won it all but were tragically separated by the faith of an undetected disease. Gordeva’s love for Sergei shines through on every page of the book and leaves you with a broken heart.
Josefine

My recommendations: Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

Lemons in Andalusia

Just as Staffan Stolpe’s In the shadow of a small Ouzo is trying to explain Greece, Chris Stewart tries to explain to us in his book Driving over lemons how it is to live as a foreigner in Spain. He writes about buying and maintaining a small farm in Andalusia. Just the process of buying the property would make any northern European cringe. But it doesn't stop there, when the house is bought, there are so many other things to fix to make it inhabitable. There is always something happening that wasn’t supposed to happen.

I like these kind of books, it gives the reader an insight into someone else’s life, that you might not be interested to live, but still wants to hear about. Stewart’s book is both humoristic and well written and it is worth the experience of a small Spanish village.
Josefine

My rekommendations: Sucka mitt hjärta men brist dock ej av Mark Levengood.

Books set in Italy

There is something about books set in Italy that draws me to them. Perhaps it is that romantic villa in Tuscany, the old Roman ruins or the blue waters of the Adriatic that makes my heart shiver. Some of the best books I have read takes place in Italy or have had something to do with the country. EM Forester’s A room with a view, partly takes place in Italy. It is a book I have read more than once. Another that I liked is Galileo’s daughter written by Dava Sobel.
Because of my pleasant experience with earlier books about Italy, I was not disappointed when I read my latest Italian conquest, The birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant. The story takes place in Florence, the great Lorenzo di Medici is dead and his son Piero takes over but is soon expelled from the city and the monk Savonarola takes over set to change the city and its virtues. In the middle of all this is a young woman, Alessandra, a talented artist in search for freedom from her father’s watchful eye. She gets it through marrying a much older man, but realises soon that there are greater things than freedom that rules your life. The intrigues get thicker as they can only get in Italy and Florence at this time.
The end? I won’t tell, you have to read it to find out!
Josefine

My recommendations: The Medici Family, the beautiful people of Florence by Ulla Britta Ramklint

A beginning a middle and an end

Any book will have a beginning, middle and an end, that’s pretty simple right? And there are as many writers as there are versions of how to accomplish this. A winter in China by Douglas Galbraith manages to do this in a very unique way.
The story is set in 1930s China at the outbreak of the invasion of the Japanese. A young English woman gets trapped with other foreigners during the caption of Nanking. If you have knowledge of the atrocities made by the Japanese in the city, the readings of Galbraith makes you shiver.
But it is not only that, which makes the story interesting, it is the way Galbraith tells it that captures you. In one chapter he takes us as far ahead in the story as he takes us back to another event in the story. In between this, he manages to throw in different perspective of what the different characters in the book are doing at the same moment. Does this sound complicated and messy? Maybe a bit, but when you read the book it flows so good that you don’t think about it and you don’t get messed up. My best recommendation is to read the book to get an understanding of the technical part. It is worth every penny you spend on it, or why not see if they have it at your local library.
Josefine

My recommendations: Empress Orchid by Anchee Min

Book addiction?

I found this site online by accident, but it is quite interesting.
Josefine

Places to read

Someone once told me the reason why they didn’t read much was because they could only read, sitting in a special chair in her bedroom, which was also used as a clothes hangar. That meant that every time she wanted to read, she would have to take all the clothes and either put them on her bed, which she didn’t like or put them all away in the closet and that would take too much time and then there would be no time to read.

A bad excuse? I don’t know, but it made me think of the places I like to read, which is almost everywhere, but I do have my favourites. My favourite place to read in the summer is outside, especially in Holland Park in London. There are so many different views of the park that you can find a new place every time. In the winter when I like to stay inside, my bed is my number 1 place other than that I like to go to a café sit down with a cappuccino and drift away in a good book.
Where is you favourite place to read? Outside, inside, anywhere, write and tell me.
Josefine

My Recommendations: Under the Tuscan sun – at home in Italy by Frances Mayes

The remarkable Alexander McCall-Smith

From a detective agency in Africa, to Edinburgh Scotland and some academic Germany in between you can follow Alexander McCall-Smith’s characters. His No. 1 Ladies' detective agency series is a success. I even heard that they are making it into a movie, which I think will please many. But that is not the end, McCall-Smith also ventures in to the philosophy of living in Edinburgh and the life of a German professor who seems to be a bit out of the ordinary and now the latest addition, they story that started as a series in a newspaper about the house on 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh.

McCall-Smith has a humour and a way of writing that fits the most. I haven’t met anyone yet who has not liked him, if you don’t like one of the series, they are different enough for you to try another. I wasn’t too impressed with the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, but I love the Sunday Philosophy Club and the new series 44 Scotland Street.
What I like the most about McCall-Smith is his style of writing, like he is sitting in a pub telling us a story. It seems like the story poured on to the paper. His characters aren’t described in to their smallest details and there are plenty of room for my own imagination. Take the example of Doktor von Igelfeldt. He is just like you would picture a German professor who has spent way too much time in the academic world. His arrogance makes me sometimes laugh and sometimes shake my head in disbelief. His description of Isabel Dalhousie’s life and the life at 44 Scotland Street makes me want to visit Edinburgh right now.
I can only wish for what comes next from the genius McCall-Smith.
Josefine

My recommendations: Portuguese Irregular Verb by Alexander McCall-Smith