Monday, June 21, 2010

Taking a break

Summer is now in full bloom here in London, at least most of the times and even if I usually read more in the summer, at the moment I don’t have the time to sit down and write anything. I have therefore decided to hold up for a couple of months.
Josefine

My recommendations: Enjoy the summer, take a book, go and sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Pompeii

It was a long time since I listened to a CD book. But last weekend when I had a big spring clean weekend I borrowed Pompeii by Robert Harris. I mainly choose this book for its length, which might not be the best measuring tool, but I was lucky. It not only kept me occupied the whole day, but the story is intriguing with lots of subplots and roman history all set with the rumbling Mount Vesuvius in the background.
Josefine

My recommendations: The Bridge over the River by Johannes Gramich

Monday, May 17, 2010

Miss Smilla

A young boy is dead. He jumped to his death from a rooftop. The traces in the snow shows only one set of footprints, but Miss Smilla knows better. She can read the signs of the steps in the snow and they are not made by someone who willingly jumped, especially not someone who is afraid of heights. The question is who was it that got him up on the roof and scared him so much that he would jump?
This is a wonderful book, Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg, is well written, engaging and impossible to put down. When I came to the last chapter I let the book rest for three days just to able to savour it a little longer.
There is a movie version of the book, I haven’t seen it, but I doubt it is better than the book.
Josefine

My recommendations: Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell

Sunday, May 9, 2010

2012 Book race

I have now finished nine countries (4,39 per cent) in my effort to read a book from every country that will participate in the 2012 summer Olympics. I think I have to step it up a bit to be able to make it. My next conquest is George-Marc Benamou’s book The Ghost of Munich (France).
Josefine

My recommendations: Miss Smilla’s feeling for snow by Peter Höeg (Denmark)

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

There is no pot of gold...

...at the end of this book

I have about 60 pages left of A Black Englishman by Carolyn Slaughter and I am struggling with it. Already from the first couple of pages I was not impressed with her way of writing, but I continued anyway. Now I am so close to the end that I can’t put it down (I have always felt that I have to finish every book I start). Disappointed I have realised that I will not feel the satisfying experience I usually do, when I read the last lines of a book.
Oh well, I guess I just have to pick up the next book and hope for a better result.
Josefine

My recommendations: East of the sun by Julia Gregson

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Harry Potter II

A nasty throat infection has kept me away from anything but laying in my bed sipping hot tea and gurgle with salt. But here I am back again with my latest epiphany.

I am convinced of her geniuses.

I have now finished the first book in the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone) and I must say that I am hooked. Yes, it is a children’s story and most of it you have to take for what it is, but it is so well written and the story captures you that I understand what it is the has hooked a whole world. However I do think that this is a series that should be read with a couple of months in between, so I will take some time off before I pick up the second book.
Josefine

My recommendations: Faceless killers by Henning Mankell

Monday, April 5, 2010

A mind in prison

Bruno Manz makes an honest attempt to write his story A mind in prison about how he as a young German and soldier during the Second World War could stand on the same side as Hitler and close his eyes for the atrocities that were made by the regime. The books content is interesting and he talks openly about who he was and where he got his inspiration. It is difficult for me as someone who hasn’t lived through what he did to ask questions about his ignorance. However, towards the end though, I feel he repeats his own mistakes when he talks about his life in the US. He moves from blindly believing one regime to another. And perhaps that answers my previous question.
Also the book is not very well written, there must be other books on the subject that are better.
Josefine

My recommendations: Forgotten Voices of the Second World War by Max Arthur

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Fallen Angels

I love a story that surprises you, a story that is not only well written but also written in an unconventional way. This was the case with Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier. Each chapter is written from the point of view of a different character and we get to follow their thoughts and actions. It is such a melancholy story and I can’t help but think it must have been such a pain living during this time (the end of Victorian England) with all the restrictions society put on you.
Chevalier has found a nice balance between social commentary and pleasure reading in Falling Angels. It is one of the most well-written books I have read in a long time.
Josefine

My recommendations: The Pirate’s daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson

Friday, March 19, 2010

Fundamentalists

In a world where fear is constant and religious fundamentalists are the greatest enemies, it is refreshing to read a book (The reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid) that treats the subject light but seriously.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is written completely from the perspective of a man sitting in a café in Afghanistan and reconstructs his life story to a man unknown to us. The end is predictable, but at the same time it takes you by surprise when it finally comes.
Josefine

My recommendations: Only half of me, being Muslim in Britain by Rageh Omaar

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Nostalgia

A selection of Roald Dahl books are piled up on my nightstand waiting to be read. They are part of a new fresh edition paperbacks, all in the same format, packaged in a smart little box. Charlie and the chocolate factory, BFG, The witches, etc. and my absolute favourite Giraffe, Peli and I (my old picture book still exist somewhere in the bookshelves at my parents house).
I am waiting for a free afternoon to sit down for a nostalgia trip with Roald Dahl.
Josefine

My recommendations: Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I caved in

As the frenzy has settled I have finally got around to reading Harry Potter. I borrowed the first book from the library (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone). I have long avoided reading them as I thought the madness around J.K. Rowling and her books was too much. It is difficult for me to read and enjoy a book that everyone wants you to have an opinion about. Now I have decided to give it a shot, and yes, I will tell you all what I thought about it.
Josefine

My recommendations: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Amsterdam in one afternoon

It doesn’t happen often, mostly a few times per year, last weekend was the first time this year I finished a book in one afternoon. I started Ian McEwan’s book Amsterdam in the morning with my first cup of coffee. Some hours later and as many cups of coffee I had finished the whole thing.
It was a shorter novel, but the history drew me in and I couldn’t put down the book the whole day. It is quit a dark novel that most of his books are but the intrigues drew me in and I had to keep reading. It had twists and turns on every page without making it in to a soap opera. All in all a well spent afternoon.

I love the combination of a good book and the time to finish it in one long sitting and I look forward to next time it happens
Josefine

My recommendations: The prosperous thief by Andrea Goldsmith.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The book or the movie

The set up is perfect, Robert Downing Jr. and Jude Law as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson I was excited to see the result.
I spent December re-reading some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, to be ready for the big release on New Years Day (we are a bit late in Sweden). I had read the reviews and was therefore not as surprised as other people seemed to be of the characters Guy Ritchie had recreated. I thought he had done a brilliant job portraying the two and put some action into the stories.
I liked the movie a lot and would see a sequel when it comes out. What did you think?
Josefine

My recommendations: The Best of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Saturday, February 13, 2010

100e posts

I’ve reached the one hundred mark. I have read more books, but those are for later posts. It has given me much to think about books, how I approach a book and what books and authors I read. Through writing about books I have gotten much inspiration and insight into what I read. I hope i can continue this for one hundred more posts and I hope that I have had some impact on you, my readers. Let me know what you think. Is there something you’re missing?
I'll see you in a future book.
Josefine

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Around the world: Argentina

A contribution to my Around the World posts

In my quest to expand my reading from Swedish and English speaking authors I found The Tango Singer by Tomás Eloy Martinez. It is a novel that takes you to a hot, dancing, loving South America and Argentina. The American college student Bruno, goes to Buenos Aires and becomes captivated by an elusive tango singer who has never been recorded or released a record but still holds the whole City’s tango lovers in his grip. He shows up without notice, without a stage and sings before he disappears again. It is the feeling in his voice that makes everyone stop whatever they are doing and just enjoy his voice.
It is a well-written book that makes me want to pack my bags and go to Argentina and sit in a bar, listen to tango and watch them dance. Martinez has managed to weave together the story about a city with the destiny of a man who has lost his belief in humans a long time ago.
Josefine

My recommendations: the Cellist of Sarajevo by Stephen Galloway

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Russian literature

I have read a few books by Russian authors lately, the Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and Doctor Zjivago by Boris Pasternak. It is far from many, but I must say that I have found an interest in their complicated histories filled with characters with different names.
It took me quite sometime to get in to Doctor Zjivago, mostly because I expected the book to act in one way and got lost when it didn’t. I decided to re-start the whole thing and leave my mind blank from the first page and the results followed!
Now maybe I will be brave enough to try one of the larger book as well as Crime and Punishment and War and Peace
Josefine

My recommendations: Doctor Zjivago by Boris Pasternak

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Chasing Harry Winston

I must admit, when I started to read Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger, I thought I was in for one of those entertaining but fairly predictable chicklit books. They are enjoyable to read on holidays when you don’t want to consider anything else. However, I found myself chuckle several times during the read and indulge myself so much in the book, that I missed not one but two stops on the Metro. It’s witty, funny and nothing like Weisberger's other book The Devil wears Prada.
A must read for any lover of well-written chicklit.
Josefine

My recommendations: Burning the map by Laura Caldewell

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Book of the year 2009

To not have a TV has its advantages, I have had so much extra time this year to just enjoy books. It has therefore been more difficult to choose my favourite book for 2009. However, after much deliberation I choose The Outcast by Sadie Jones. It was one of the few books I read this year that I just couldn’t put down and wished it never ended. Jones’ writing is easy to read and her characters were well written. The outcast is also one of the books I have recommended to most people this year. I look forward to read her latest book Small wars, which was published this past autumn.
Josefine

My recommendations: The reluctant fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (a close second for book of the year)