This past Sunday I watched a live web cast of Philippa Gregory. It was an interesting way to present an author and more writers should try the same. It gives a whole new dimension to the worldwide tour. At the moment I have no statistics of how many actually watched the web cast, but for those who attended, it was certainly a great event.
Gregory gave a short introduction and then she opened up to the floor to questions from the audience in the studio as well as the audience on the web. The questions ranged anywhere from the craft of writing, to the specific of one book to which of her characters she would have been if she lived in Tudor England.
There were many questions about the upcoming films made from two of her books. In February The Other Boleyn Girl will have premiere and next autumn The queens fool will be released.
If you have ever read her books you notice that most of her characters are strong women, during times when women had no rights. You notice the commitment Gregory has for these kinds of characters. When she got the questions of who she would want to be in a past life, she determinedly said that she would not want to be born in any time period before the 1920s when women got the right to vote. If she had to choose one of her characters she would have picked Henry VIII during his best days in The constant Princess when he, young and handsome was at the height of his career.
Gregory is like her books, very sympathetic and I can’t wait for her newest books and the film to be released in Sweden.
Josefine
My recommendations: A respectable trade by Philippa Gregory.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Philippa Gregory web cast
As you might have noticed I have a big interest in history. I read anything I can get my hands on, historical novels and historical non-fiction alike. When I look through my booklist more than half of the books have something to do with history. One of the newest authors, writing historical fiction, I have discovered is Philippa Gregory. She has written a lot about the history of England, and especially the Tudor time (16th and early 17th century). She is a talented writer with an interest for what happens around a monarch in their immediate court. It is difficult to find something I do not like about her books, I read them fast and can hardly wait for her newest books The Boleyn Inheritance and The Other Queen to be released in Swedish.
This Sunday, September 16, at 19:00 GMT, you can watch a live web cast of Philippa Gregory. It is a web cast of Philippa Gregory, talking to an audience in London. If you are interested in Philippa Gregory, historical novels, or writing in general, this is an opportunity you can’t miss.
As a warm up for the big event I am currently reading A respectable Trade, one of her early books, published in 1995.
Josefine
My recommendations: The queens fool by Philippa Gregory
This Sunday, September 16, at 19:00 GMT, you can watch a live web cast of Philippa Gregory. It is a web cast of Philippa Gregory, talking to an audience in London. If you are interested in Philippa Gregory, historical novels, or writing in general, this is an opportunity you can’t miss.
As a warm up for the big event I am currently reading A respectable Trade, one of her early books, published in 1995.
Josefine
My recommendations: The queens fool by Philippa Gregory
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Swedish Authors: Henning Mankell
You may have heard about the Swedish writer Henning Mankell, his books about the criminal detective Kurt Wallander has been translated into many languages. The Wallander series has what every other crime novels have. A main person, in this case Kurt Wallander, who is a criminal inspector at the police in a small town called Ystad in Sweden. He is divorced and has a daughter. He is not very good with romantic relationships and he seems to be married to work. Have you heard it before? To me it sounds like every other crime novel I have ever read. It is not that the books about Wallander is badly written, they are thrilling and you are not really sure how it will end, but at the same time, it feels like I have read the story before.
I have read many of his books that aren’t part of the Wallander series (some of which I have recommended in this blog). They bring up subjects that are important and touch your soul on a whole other level than a crime novel would do. The most recent Wallander book I read was TeaBag, it brings up the problem of refugees who live underground in Sweden. In Comedia Infantil, Mankell writes about children living in the streets in Brazil. Another book (Vindens son in Swedish, I have yet to find the title in English) tells us the story about a black boy taken to Sweden from Africa during the 19th century and is shown around on different institutions in Sweden like an animal.
All of these books leave an impression in my brain. It was years since I read both Comedia Infantil and Vindens son, but I can still vividly bring up the feeling I had when I read them. There are very few books that move me like that, but when you find them they are going to last forever.
Josefine
My recommendations: Comedia Infantil by Henning Mankell
I have read many of his books that aren’t part of the Wallander series (some of which I have recommended in this blog). They bring up subjects that are important and touch your soul on a whole other level than a crime novel would do. The most recent Wallander book I read was TeaBag, it brings up the problem of refugees who live underground in Sweden. In Comedia Infantil, Mankell writes about children living in the streets in Brazil. Another book (Vindens son in Swedish, I have yet to find the title in English) tells us the story about a black boy taken to Sweden from Africa during the 19th century and is shown around on different institutions in Sweden like an animal.
All of these books leave an impression in my brain. It was years since I read both Comedia Infantil and Vindens son, but I can still vividly bring up the feeling I had when I read them. There are very few books that move me like that, but when you find them they are going to last forever.
Josefine
My recommendations: Comedia Infantil by Henning Mankell
Monday, September 3, 2007
Historical Prose?
I found a book in the public library that was published in 1962 about the French Indian War. Since history in general is an interest of mine and I haven’t studied much about the French Indian War, I thought I would do some catch up.
To my surprise this was not an ordinary history book. Leading in to the first chapter, I was met with this vivid description: “The tiny palisade settlement of Schenectady, New York, lay still and sleeping under a heavy blanket of snow.”* This was a description of the impending assault on the unknown citizen. Later the description continues with the returning victors of the assault: “They marched towards Montreal, two hundred miles to the north, and the white cold of the northern winter swallowed them up as silently as they had come.”* Later in the book, the attack on Deerfield was equally described, “With the darkness the wind blew stronger, swirling the snow in drifts to the top of the palisades, muffling all other sounds.”*
I have noticed that the author’s descriptions often refer to the landscape. How things looked, smelled, sounded and felt. It makes me giggle as I read it, because it is such a vivid description that you think the author actually was there. He must be a very old man!
The account is wonderfully written and I know, I am a bit anal about using sources and not put your own flavor to an historical event. But really, I have a difficult time believing in the book and the events he describes. I have yet to finish the book but I am sure I will bump into more of these vivid descriptions and I will smile every time I read them, because I am a bit amused by this book and the thought of how some of my history professor would react to it.
Josefine
* Source: Russell, Francis. The French Indian Wars. New York: American Heritage Publishing Company. 1962.
To my surprise this was not an ordinary history book. Leading in to the first chapter, I was met with this vivid description: “The tiny palisade settlement of Schenectady, New York, lay still and sleeping under a heavy blanket of snow.”* This was a description of the impending assault on the unknown citizen. Later the description continues with the returning victors of the assault: “They marched towards Montreal, two hundred miles to the north, and the white cold of the northern winter swallowed them up as silently as they had come.”* Later in the book, the attack on Deerfield was equally described, “With the darkness the wind blew stronger, swirling the snow in drifts to the top of the palisades, muffling all other sounds.”*
I have noticed that the author’s descriptions often refer to the landscape. How things looked, smelled, sounded and felt. It makes me giggle as I read it, because it is such a vivid description that you think the author actually was there. He must be a very old man!
The account is wonderfully written and I know, I am a bit anal about using sources and not put your own flavor to an historical event. But really, I have a difficult time believing in the book and the events he describes. I have yet to finish the book but I am sure I will bump into more of these vivid descriptions and I will smile every time I read them, because I am a bit amused by this book and the thought of how some of my history professor would react to it.
Josefine
* Source: Russell, Francis. The French Indian Wars. New York: American Heritage Publishing Company. 1962.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Free books online
A while back I ran into the web site A celebration of Women Writers where you can read free books online. There are a plethora of books to read. I stopped at Queen Liliuokalani’s Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen. But there are plenty, plenty more to read. To my surprise, this is just an extension of the more extensive site of the Online Books Page.
I am not a big fan of reading off the computer screen in long texts, but this extensive source of books are really worth it. This might not be such a surprise for many, but this, to me it was like Christmas came early this year. Now I will spend the next days (perhaps weeks) to further explore these sites for more books to read and enjoy.
Josefine
My recommendations: Hotel Honolulu by Paul Theroux
I am not a big fan of reading off the computer screen in long texts, but this extensive source of books are really worth it. This might not be such a surprise for many, but this, to me it was like Christmas came early this year. Now I will spend the next days (perhaps weeks) to further explore these sites for more books to read and enjoy.
Josefine
My recommendations: Hotel Honolulu by Paul Theroux
Friday, August 17, 2007
Homo homini lupus
I recently recommended the book A woman in Berlin by Anonymous. Since I finished it a couple of days ago, I felt the need to tell you about it. It is an incredible book that touched me.
The book is a diary, written by a German woman at the end of World War II when the Russians occupied Berlin. She tells the story of what happened to her and the people around her in the days before the Russians came and during the occupation.
When I read the first chapters of the book, my stomach hurt. The Russians drew closer and closer to Berlin and I knew what was about to come. My history teacher in ninth grade told us how her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had experienced the horrors of revengeful Russians.
Then I had to put the book down for a while, I could not continue. The Russians arrived to the city, and all the rumors there had been around them were true.
When I picked up the book again, the Russians occupied the city and people began to talk about what would happen next. The writer had travelled much before the war and she knew some Russian. This gave her a bit of an advantage. The Russians she bumps into are surprised that a German speaks their mother tongue, but most of the time it doesn’t affect their ravaging.
But it is not only the Russians she writes about, there is also another enemy. An enemy they live with every day - hunger. The writer realizes that a human being becomes awful when she doesn’t get enough to eat. She mentions the phrase, Homo homini lupus – Humans are wolfs towards humans.
She also talks about all the new words they start to use, perhaps to make their experience feel somewhat normal. It is no longer wrong to sell your body to a Russian for some food. How many times did it happen to you? Becomes a question to ask when you meet friends from the past.
The reason I like the book the most is not only the writer’s direct way of describing things, but also the objectivity she keeps. She knows that the German soldiers did the same to the citizens when they were the winners of the war.
When reading this book, the author doesn’t feel like a victim and I don’t think she sees herself as a victim. Perhaps a casualty of war and of Hitler’s government, but not a victim. That is what makes this book very real.
Josefine
My recommendations: Anne Frank’s diary. Another perspective of Hitler’s war.
The book is a diary, written by a German woman at the end of World War II when the Russians occupied Berlin. She tells the story of what happened to her and the people around her in the days before the Russians came and during the occupation.
When I read the first chapters of the book, my stomach hurt. The Russians drew closer and closer to Berlin and I knew what was about to come. My history teacher in ninth grade told us how her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had experienced the horrors of revengeful Russians.
Then I had to put the book down for a while, I could not continue. The Russians arrived to the city, and all the rumors there had been around them were true.
When I picked up the book again, the Russians occupied the city and people began to talk about what would happen next. The writer had travelled much before the war and she knew some Russian. This gave her a bit of an advantage. The Russians she bumps into are surprised that a German speaks their mother tongue, but most of the time it doesn’t affect their ravaging.
But it is not only the Russians she writes about, there is also another enemy. An enemy they live with every day - hunger. The writer realizes that a human being becomes awful when she doesn’t get enough to eat. She mentions the phrase, Homo homini lupus – Humans are wolfs towards humans.
She also talks about all the new words they start to use, perhaps to make their experience feel somewhat normal. It is no longer wrong to sell your body to a Russian for some food. How many times did it happen to you? Becomes a question to ask when you meet friends from the past.
The reason I like the book the most is not only the writer’s direct way of describing things, but also the objectivity she keeps. She knows that the German soldiers did the same to the citizens when they were the winners of the war.
When reading this book, the author doesn’t feel like a victim and I don’t think she sees herself as a victim. Perhaps a casualty of war and of Hitler’s government, but not a victim. That is what makes this book very real.
Josefine
My recommendations: Anne Frank’s diary. Another perspective of Hitler’s war.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Back again
Time flies when you are having fun, or in my case, working a lot. It is now several days since I wrote anything here and to be honest I have not had the time to read much this last week. I did finish A woman in Berlin though and when I have the time to sit down and collect my thoughts about that book I will write about it here.
For fun last night, I also started to put together a list of the books I read in the last couple of years. I’ll see how many I can remember, too bad that I am terrible at remembering names.
Josefine
My recommendations: Pick up a book from a writer or a genre you’ve never read before and let it surprise you.
For fun last night, I also started to put together a list of the books I read in the last couple of years. I’ll see how many I can remember, too bad that I am terrible at remembering names.
Josefine
My recommendations: Pick up a book from a writer or a genre you’ve never read before and let it surprise you.
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