Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The second novel

In a quite quick succession, I read both the first and second book by Miranda Dickinson, Fairytale of New York (her first) and Welcome to my world (her second).
Even though it had its bright points, Welcome to my world, didn't quite live up to Fairytale. Some of it has to do with, after having read the back of the book, I had envisioned another story. To me, the characters didn't seem quite real and I never felt for them as I did for Rosie Duncan and the others in Fairytale. A nice twist though was that Rosie Duncan (from the first book) and Harriet Langton (from the second) are actually cousins.
I am still looking forward to read my signed copy of It started with a kiss and follow along Miranda Dickinson
v-log for her fourth book, but It started with a kiss, will have to wait for a little while, at least a bit in to the new year.
Josefine


Title. Welcome to my world Author: Miranda Dickinson ISBN: 978-1-84756-166-4

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Merry Christmas and a Hapy New Year

I am off to Sweden for a couple of weeks, suitcase full of books I hope to have time to read.
Josefine

Friday, December 16, 2011

Istanbulite Women

After a slow start, introducing the characters of the story with great precision, The Bastard of Istanbul turns out to be quite unexpected from what I first thought.
It is a family saga of women, where we travel in time as well as in space. We get to read about the modern city of Istanbul of today, Turkey in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, the desert of Arizona and the moist San Francisco Bay.
It is a great story in learning about the conflict between Turkey and Armenia, but also about race and nationality in general. They share a common past, but at the same time their memories of that past is as different as different stories.
The author, Elif Shafak is a brave woman, writing about things that is still quite taboo in Turkey. She was put on trial for “denigrating Turkishness” as she put it herself in the acknowledgements at the back of her book. However, the charges were eventually dropped.
I am really looking forward to read her other books.
Josefine


Title: The Bastard of Istanbul Author: Elif Shafak ISBN: 978-0-670-91720-4

Monday, December 12, 2011

Don't cry for me Argentina

Tomás Eloy Martínez book about Santa Evita is a far cry from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical on the same subject. Martínez book is focusing on the time after Evita's death and the controversy surrounding the embalment of her body, the many copies made of the body and the burial sites.
He is also trying to find the fleeting image of a person that doesn't seem to exist or at least doesn't want to show herself to be written about.
I usually like Martinez books because there is a bit of magic in them, they are works of fiction but also real in a sense. However, even if Santa Evita is an interesting story, it fails to capture me as much as for example The Tango Singer did.
Josefine

Title: Santa Evita Author: Tomás Eloy Martínez ISBN: 978-1-86230-002-x

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Sari and Society

The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa starts slow and descriptive. You can really feel you're in the market in Armitsar walking into the Sari Shop, seeing the beautiful fabrics in neat piles and bundles, watching the men as they work laying out the colourful and intricate cloths to the female customers.
Then as winter moves into a hot and sticky summer, so does the temperature rise in the story as well and we get more and more involved with the main character Ramachand.
As the monsoon draws closer, so does the end of the story, but it is done in a way that keeps the reader just out of reach of the ending.
When it finally happens, with a crash and boom, just like the monsoon, I can't decide if I am satisfied with the ending or not.
Josefine


Title: The Sari Shop Author: Rupa Bajwa ISBN: 978-0-670-91472-x