The Reading Chair

A myth revisited

2012-01-27T21:43:00.001Z

Binu and the Great Wall by Su Tong is part of the Myth Series. Previously I have read Alexander McCall-Smith's take on Scottish myth of Dream Angus. It's an interesting concept taking old myths and re-energise them, taking traditional storytelling taking to a new level.

In short, Binu and the Great Wall is the story of Binu travelling across China to the Great Wall to give her husband a winter coat where he was conscripted by the King to work on the wall. However, the story behind the story is about sadness and greed that Binu meets on her travels, at the heart she is a traditionalists believing in the good of people but her heart is shattered again and again by the people she meet on the way.
Josefine

Title: Binu and the Great Wall Author: Su Tong ISBN: 978-1-84195-904-7

Amateur orchestra saves the world

2012-01-22T18:46:00.001Z

La's orchestra saves the world is a different book coming from Alexander McCall-Smith, in so many ways it is more serious than his previous books I have read. It's set during the Second World War in England in Southern England countryside in a small village next door to a RAF airbase. La (or Lavender which is her full name) has moved there from London after her husband first abandoned her and then suddenly passed away. She is doing her lot for the war, working on a farm, taking care of the hens, befriending a military man, when the idea for an orchestra is born.
Despite the title, as often is with McCall-Smith's books, the orchestra is not the dominating feature in the book, rather it is a book about the war and the effect it had on people in all walks of life, even a sleepy village in the back country of England.
Well written as many other of McCall-Smith's books are, I am hoping for a second book.
Josefine

Title: La's orchestra saves the world Author: Alexander McCall-Smith ISBN: 978-0-349-12205-2

The smell of sunshine, sandy beaches and frangipani blossom

2012-01-17T19:05:00.003Z

Just like I imagine Tahiti to be warm and sunny, so is Célestine Hitiura Vaites book Frangipani which takes place in Tahiti. It's a story about relationships between mothers and daughters, but also about taking chances when they are given to you. It is sad, serious, sweet and funny all bundled into one fast paced, flowing novel.

Read this book for a taste of the flavours of Tahiti and family life in general.
Josefine

Title: Frangipani Author: Célestine Hitiura Vaite ISBN: 978-0-0917-9715-2

And, it's over

2012-01-11T20:55:00.002Z

I have now finished all three books in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I must say I like the first book (Girl with the dragon tattoo) best, even though the language left more to be desired.
What I liked with The Girl who played with fire was that you could read it without having read the first book. It shows great talent from an author to write a second book in a series without tying it to the first book.
However, in The girl who kicked the hornet's nest, the same talent was not used, you had to read the second book to understand the plot already from the first page. The book also felt slow, it is difficult to keep up the pace with one of the main characters in a hospital bed. It wasn't until the last pages that I realised what it was the last book lacked and it was the interaction between the characters. There was so much technical writing that the relationship between the different characters disappeared and with that my desire to care about the characters disappeared as well. It's a pity I think.

The three books in the series were good overall and they bring up a serious problem in society about men who does not only hate women but also see people in general as something you can buy and sell as any product and that is frightening.
Josefine

Title: Millennium trilogy: The girl with the dragon tattoo, The girl who played with fire, The girl who kicked the hornest's nest Author: Stieg Larsson

The year is off to a good start

2012-01-05T19:40:00.001Z

Happy New Year!

It is always nice to start off the new year with a really good book. The Confession by John Grisham has kept me on my toes these first couple of days of the new year. The book has an intriguing, thought-provoking plot and is well written.
Donté Drumm was convicted for a murder on a fellow school mate in East Texas in 1999. Nine years later with all avenues for appeal exhausted, an execution date is set. This is when, several hundred miles away in Kansas, a man walks in to a church office and admits his guilt of the murder to the minister. Reverend Schroeder sees the faintest glimmer of hope, it seems as if Drumm can be saved. If only it was that simple.

It was my first Grisham and with his reputation, I was expecting the best and of course he delivered. It is the kind of book that makes you think not only about the death penalty in the U.S. but crime and punishment around the world as well. It also thought me much about the legal system in the U.S. And the culture of guns in a state where most people own one and see it as their right to use it if they feel threatened. It is a scary thought.
Josefine

Title: The Confession Author: John Grisham ISBN: 978-1-8460-5715-1

The second novel

2011-12-28T12:20:00.000Z

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

Merry Christmas and a Hapy New Year

2011-12-21T12:31:00.001Z

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

Istanbulite Women

2011-12-16T12:09:00.001Z

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

Don't cry for me Argentina

2011-12-12T12:06:00.001Z

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

Sari and Society

2011-12-08T11:37:00.002Z

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

Fairytale Début

2011-11-21T08:33:00.001Z

I know it has been a lot Miranda Dickinson lately, but that is since I found out I would attend her book launch I have been quite giddy about the whole thing and promptly got to the library to borrow her previous books.
I finished Fairytale of New York, her first novel and I must say it was a nice début. It had some flaws that I think will be ironed out in her next books. I am impressed by her extensive knowledge of flowers and how she made the arrangements and bouquets come to life on the pages, you could really see those flowers as the recipients saw them.
However, my favourite part of the book was probably when Rosie Duncan spends Christmas alone, Dickinson managed to get the feeling just right. It wasn't the Bridget Jones “all by myself” alone feeling or a defiant “Î will spend Christmas alone because I am an independant woman and I can.” It was just a simple thing of a person spending a day alone, not lonely. Something very important for someone who often feels the same way. You can be alone without being lonely.

I am looking forward to read her other two books as well and of course looking forward to watch the progress of her fourth book, out in the autumn next year.
Josefine

Title: Fairytale of New York Author: Miranda Dickinson ISBN: 978-1-94756-165-7

In real life

2011-11-18T11:00:00.002Z

Sometimes when you read a book, you recognise things from it that has happened in real life. When I started to read The case of the missing books by Ian Samson I felt as if it is was right here, right now. The first page of the book, met me with the words Library Closed, ironic it is that is what met me a couple of weeks ago, when the council won in court and closed down six of the communites twelve libraries. Fortunately for Israel Armstrong in the book, there was an alternative for him, he became the librarian for the book mobile, all he had to do first was finding the 15 000 missing books. A much more happy ending then what we are experiencing right now.

The case of the missing books has its bright sides and is even funny at times, but I have a difficult time seeing it as a series but apparently the second book is already out. Perhpas the sequel is for some one who appreciated the character of Israel Amrstrong more than I did.
Josefine

Title: The case of the missing books Author: Ian Samson ISBN: 978-0-00-720699-2

SAVE KENSAL RISE LIBRARY

Book launch

2011-11-11T11:12:00.002Z

I have now met the lovely Miranda Dickinson and is the proud owner of a signed copy of It started with a kiss. It was at her book-launch at the swanky Grange Hotel at St Paul's that we all received a signed copy of the book, courtesy of Avon. I started the first chapter on the tube home, but wanted to wait with the next as I am still reading her first book Fairytale of New York and don't want to mix the two. But I am really looking forward to this one and as it is a chrismassy book it would be nice to read it in the weeks going up to Christmas.

Also Cally Taylor's new book Home for Christmas is out now another book that goes on my christmas wish list.

Josefine

Title: It started with a kiss Author: Miranda Dickinson ISBN: 978-1-84756-167-1

It Started with a Kiss

2011-11-06T22:31:00.004Z

On Thursday I am invited to a book launch (ok I entered a competition and was choosen to attend but I still see it as an inviation). It is the launch of Miranda Dickinson's new book It started with a kiss, relased by Avon on November 10.
I am currently reading her first book Fairytale of New York and hope I will finish it before Thursday so that I at least can say I read one of her books.
Josefine

Title: It Started with a Kiss Author: Miranda Dickinson ISBN: 978-1-847561671

The girl in the red coat

2011-10-15T10:08:00.002+01:00

The first thing that strikes me is the authenticity of the book as we get the story told to us through the eyes of a very small girl (Roma Ligocka), who don't always understand the significance of what is going on in the world around her. Even though the material is horrific and what we find out about the cruelty of people, it is remarkable easy to read and I find myself captured by the story and it is not long before I have read several chapters in one sitting. Then I stopped myself and went through the rest of the book slowly, to not miss anything in this remarkable story.
Josefine

Title: The girl in the red coat Author: Roma Ligocka ISBN: 978-0-340-81907-3

A book with only a middle

2011-10-12T16:20:00.002+01:00

Sometimes it is interesting to read something new and different, one of those books are Dreams of Water by Nada Awar Jarrar. I use to call these kinds of books for a book without a beginning or end only a middle. Not in a negative way, but just because you start in the middle of the book and follow the characters for a little while, before you are dropped off at the bus stop with no ticket to go further. There is still something in the story that keeps you entertained for that period of time, even though you know you will never make it to the end of the story.
I wonder if the author has this in mind as they set out to write the book, or if it just happens that way.
Josefine

Title. Dreams of water Author: Nada Awar Jarrar ISBN: 978-0-00-722196-7

Author events

2011-10-08T11:43:00.002+01:00

The coming week I feel like a litterary jet setter, on thursday there is an author event at my local library where British author and journalist Louise Levene is talking about her latest book Ghastly Business. Then on Friday at my university a young undergratuate writer from Nigeria Chibundu Onuzo hailed as one of the freshest, newest voices coming out of Africa, will hold a reading of her book The spider king's daughter, followed by a drinks reception.

I am also enjoying the opening chapters of Fairytale of New York by Miranda Dickinson who I found through Chiclit Review.
A great week for books.
Josefine

Tiger Bay – A Place to Hide

2011-10-05T09:01:00.000+01:00

A book with beautiful language throughout is rare in a début novel, but Trezza Azzopardi has succeeded in her book The Hiding Place.

”At one month old, a baby's hand is the tiniest, most perfect thing. It makes a fist, it spreads wide, and when it burns, that soft skin is petrol, those bones are tinder, so small, so easily eaten in a flame.”

With a sentence like that painting the picture of an awful night you cannot help but to read on. Piece by piece the story of the Gauci family unfolds through the eyes of the main character and youngest daughter Dolores (Dol) and her sisters. It's a jigsaw puzzle slowly coming together. Read and explore!
Josefine

Title: The Hiding Place Author: Trezza Azzopardi ISBN: 978-0-330-48041-3

Romance is not dead

2011-09-29T22:29:00.005+01:00

Attended an author event the other night. Heidi Rice who writes romance novels for Mills & Boon came to my local library to talk about creating heroes and heroines in a romance novel in preparation for the competition Mills & Boon currently holds. New Voices is a chance for unknown romance writers to write their first chapter of their novel and publish it at Mills & Boon's website for comment and feedback from other readers as well as the chance to get their novel published by Mills & Boon.

I am not a big fan of romance myself and must say that before Monday evening I had not read anything from that genre. However, I do think it is educational to attend lectures of all sorts, after all it is one way of learning the craft of writing and it also gave me some inspiration to challenge myself and put together a first chapter of my own, if nothing else to see if I can do it. I am quite excited about my story actually. It is not ready to be uploaded to the site yet, but I know I have to hurry before the deadline at 5.00 pm on October 10.

And if you do like reading romance or just want to have a go on the genre, there is a free e-book to be downloaded or you can get a paper version sent home for you.

Josefine

A book of contrasts

2011-09-21T20:41:00.001+01:00

Less than twenty pages into Goodnight Mr. Tom I am in love. The book is masterly built and you are thrown between strong feelings. The contrast between the kindness of Mr. Tom Oakely and the cruelty Willie had to endure at home, it breaks my heart to read it. Another contrast is the setting, the country is at war and you can always feel it in the background, at the same time though it is such a warm and fuzzy story. Lastly, as the relationship develops between Will and Mr. Tom comes the contrast of throwing the mother in to the picture again.
It was one of the best books I have read this year.
Josefine

Title: Goodnight Mr. Tom Author: Michelle Magorian ISBN: 978-0-141-96452-2

Chick lit recomendations

2011-09-17T13:45:00.002+01:00

According to Amazon's and friends recommendation's I should really like Jill Mansell's books and after reading an interview with her on Miranda Dickson's blog, I was happy to find Mansell book Two's Company on the "newly returned" shelf at my local library.

It is a well written book in the sense of seeing the characters and their surroundings. However at 11CD's long for a chicklit novel, it was too long. Too many plots, too much drama (I felt like I was listening to one of those long running soap operas).

Without telling too much, I must also say that the ending did not convince me or maybe I am just to cynical and stubborn to believe in it.

I haven't totally given up on Mansell I will probbaly try another of her books that seems really promising (To the moon and back).

Josefine

Title: Two's Company Author: Jill Mansell ISBN: 978-0-7531-4649-1

Master Georgie

2011-09-14T12:05:00.001+01:00

Vision six photogrpahs in front of you, from a certain time, say Enlgand in the mid 19th century. Vision a story woven arund these photographs and you have Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge. It is a lovely story, one of the best I have read in a long time. It weaves its way slowly from England, across the sea to Galipoli, Scutari and ends outside Sebastopol in the midst of the Crimean War.

The book is short and can be easily finished in a day or two, so if you don't have the time to start that thick heavy book, pick up Master Georgie instead. Enjoy!

Josefine

Title: Master Georgie Author: Beryl Bainbridge ISBN: 978-0-7156-2831-3

How many times can you capsize a boat?

2011-09-07T11:09:00.000+01:00

I have enjoyed reading Chris Stewart's adventures on a farm in Spain (Driving over Lemons and A parrot in the pepper tree), so was quite exciting to hear that he had also written about his adventures at sea. Three ways to capzise a boat – an optimist afloat describes his adventures in the Mediterranean as a skipper, learning to sail at first. Then moving on to a trip in the North Atlantic, destination New Foundland. He is filled with adventures and spirits and hearing it straight from the man himself on the audio book, gives it the extra zest.
Josefine

Title: Three ways to capsize a boat – an optimist afloat Author: Chris Stewart ISBN: 978-1-4084-4316-3

Confession of a late shopper

2011-09-02T23:18:00.003+01:00

I read parts of Checkout – a life at the tills by Anna Sam with a smile on my face, having some experience in customer service, I recognised many of the events.

Then I came to the Late Shopper Customer and I have to confess, in my younger years, my sister and I made a point of every Sunday, pay a visit to the store at ten to nine (it closed at nine), dash in, head for the sweets, then dash back out and home to the nine o'clock start of the regular TV movie of the week. They must have set the clocks after us. To our defence, we never lounged around in the aisles, we always knew what we wanted, but it must have been so annoying seeing us every week doing the same thing. Sorry Checkout girls, we were young and didn't know better.
Josefine

Title: Checkout - life at the tills Author: Anna Sam ISBN: 978-1-906040-93-2

Back again

2011-08-27T14:25:00.002+01:00

It has been a long break but now I feel I have the time again to write something meaningful about the books I read. I will mostly concentrate on the English language books, so it is easier for you to find them as well. As always, get them at your local library. Use it! It needs your support.

First out is a love story straight from the Tower of London.

Who knew there could be so much unrequisted love at the Tower of London. An albatross that mate for life, the keeper of the meangeree who thought he mated for life, The Rev. Septimus Drew, the Ravenmaster, Valerie Jennings at the Tube's Office of Lost Property and Julia Stuart weave the stories together skillfully.
The subplot at the Lost Property Office at the Tube might contest for her second book, as the stories are as engaging and funny as the mainstory. It wouldn't surprise me if half the things Stuart writes about actually got lost on the Tube for real.
Josefine

The scene of the book, seen across the Thames.

Photo source: Niclas Ejebjörk

Name: Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo. Author: Julia Stuart. ISBN: 978-0-00-734523-6

Taking a break

2010-06-21T22:35:00.000+01:00

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.

Pompeii

2010-05-27T23:09:00.001+01:00

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

Miss Smilla

2010-05-17T22:31:00.000+01:00

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

2012 Book race

2010-05-09T18:16:00.001+01:00

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)

There is no pot of gold...

2010-05-04T22:39:00.000+01:00

...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

Harry Potter II

2010-05-01T10:33:00.001+01:00

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

A mind in prison

2010-04-05T12:49:00.001+01:00

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

Fallen Angels

2010-03-27T15:47:00.002Z

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

Fundamentalists

2010-03-19T21:27:00.000Z

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

Nostalgia

2010-03-09T22:38:00.001Z

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

I caved in

2010-03-03T23:05:00.001Z

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

Amsterdam in one afternoon

2010-02-24T23:06:00.000Z

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.

The book or the movie

2010-02-21T11:38:00.001Z

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

100e posts

2010-02-13T16:46:00.002Z

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

Around the world: Argentina

2010-02-07T15:20:00.001Z

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

Russian literature

2010-01-21T10:47:00.000Z

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

Chasing Harry Winston

2010-01-16T15:34:00.001Z

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

Book of the year 2009

2010-01-06T21:59:00.001Z

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)

The Olympic games of authors

2009-12-20T13:52:00.002Z

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

2009-12-09T22:09:00.002Z

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

2009-12-06T10:30:00.002Z

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 Nicolas 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

2009-12-02T21:21:00.002Z

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

2009-11-21T22:24:00.001Z

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

2009-11-08T21:19:00.002Z

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

2009-10-31T23:53:00.003Z

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

2009-10-28T21:42:00.001Z

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?

2009-10-24T18:28:00.001+01:00

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

2009-10-15T22:18:00.000+01:00

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

2009-10-01T22:32:00.001+01:00

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?

2009-09-26T21:41:00.001+01:00

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

2009-09-05T11:47:00.001+01:00

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

2009-08-23T22:45:00.004+01:00

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

2009-08-17T21:51:00.003+01:00

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

2009-08-16T13:40:00.002+01:00

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

2009-08-08T21:46:00.002+01:00

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

2009-07-26T14:34:00.002+01:00

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

2009-07-21T23:16:00.002+01:00

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

2009-07-15T20:53:00.001+01:00

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

2009-07-11T17:20:00.001+01:00

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

2009-07-05T11:05:00.002+01:00

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

2009-06-28T10:30:00.000+01:00

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

2009-06-21T21:52:00.000+01:00

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

2009-06-11T23:00:00.001+01:00

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

2009-05-31T20:42:00.001+01:00

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….

2009-05-20T22:38:00.000+01:00

…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

2009-05-17T22:43:00.002+01:00

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

2009-05-09T17:44:00.000+01:00

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

2009-05-03T23:44:00.002+01:00

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

2009-04-27T13:20:00.001+01:00

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

2009-04-22T11:19:00.002+01:00

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

2009-04-14T23:25:00.001+01:00

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

2009-04-03T22:25:00.002+01:00

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

2009-03-28T21:16:00.002Z

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

2009-03-23T11:58:00.001Z

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

2009-03-15T11:37:00.001Z

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

2009-03-05T23:39:00.002Z

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

2009-03-01T18:40:00.003Z

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

2009-02-22T19:05:00.004Z

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

2009-02-17T21:32:00.001Z

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…

2009-02-14T19:24:00.003Z

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

2009-02-06T22:29:00.003Z

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

2009-01-29T22:45:00.002Z

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

2009-01-25T23:22:00.001Z

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?

2009-01-20T22:27:00.003Z

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

Places to read

2009-01-11T17:15:00.002Z

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

2009-01-07T16:00:00.003Z

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

Book of the year 2008

2008-12-31T10:44:00.004Z

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

My Christmas present

2008-12-17T12:29:00.003Z

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

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

2008-12-10T13:12:00.001Z

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.

Europe’s largest bookstore

2008-12-06T19:51:00.000Z

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

Negativity destroys book

2008-11-05T13:23:00.001Z

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.

Fanfiction

2008-10-19T15:15:00.001+01:00

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.

Europe's smallest library

2008-10-01T12:19:00.001+01:00

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

Sorting out books

2008-09-17T13:49:00.002+01:00

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.

New Years resolutions reviewed

2008-09-14T19:24:00.005+01:00

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