Miss Smilla

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

My recommendations: Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell

Harry Potter II

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

I am convinced of her geniuses.

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

My recommendations: Faceless killers by Henning Mankell

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

Lazy reading Sundays

My perfect Sunday starts when I make a big pot of coffee and then go back to bed and spend the whole day in bed reading. No matter the weather outside or piles of unanswered emails unwritten stories, dirty laundry and all other obligations, I can spend a full day in bed. Disappearing into the wondrous adventures of a heroine in need of an adventure or a hero struggling to believe in himself. The books at my nightstand are screaming for me to be read. “Stay in bed, read me, read me. I have something important to tell.” I really should stay in bed.
Or at least, the library calls and want their books back. I am such a hoarder of books. I keep them way past their due date and I keep renewing them. I still have to figure out that I can actually borrow one, return it when I am done with it, then borrow a new. Instead I have to have at least three different books at my nightstand. Depending on which mood I am in, I pick the right one. Except on my lazy Sundays when I try to finish them all.

However, these Sundays don’t come very often. Or rather, I don’t let myself enjoy these Sundays very often. There is too much that have to be done before next week starts. Why are there so many obligations? I should really apply for more free time. Where do you do that?

Yesterday was not a Sunday like that. Even though I wish it were so. This week is the first week back from my vacation therefore there was too many things to prepare. There simply was no time for me to lie in bed all day. But soon, when things are getting back to normal at work, I’ll have a lazy reading Sunday. Can’t wait. Make the coffee pot ready and fluff those pillows. Better stack the chocolate hideout as well.
Josefine

My recommendations: Tea Bag by Henning Mankell

Bookcrossing

I am now on a three-week vacation from one of my jobs. Wonderful. I hope this I will give me some time to go through the pile of books laying on my nightstand waiting to be read.

I am always interested in finding out what other people read. This is where you often get the best suggestions. I often ask family and friends. Another thing I do is to look at the return shelf at my local library. There are usually a lot of crime novels, which is not really my favourite genre to read, but during the school year there is always a lot of great nonfiction.

Another great concept is bookcrossing, which is a way to find and send out books into the world. The word even has its own entry in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. “the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise," Concise Oxford English Dictionary. At Bookcrossing.com you can even track the books you find or the books you released.
When I backpacked trough Europe last summer, my friend and I did our own bookcrossing. We both started with several books. On the road, we left the ones we had and picked up new at hostels, cafés and at other places. I once picked up a paperback from a trashcan at a train station in Spain. I was desperate for something to read and my friend spotted it. Without thinking twice I reached into the trashcan and grabbed it. People at the station starred at me like I was crazy but I didn’t care much. I was desperate for some new reading material and I thought it was a waste to throw away a perfectly good book. No worries, the trashcan was empty except for the book and an empty pizza box.
Josefine

My recommendations: The return of the dancing master by Henning Mankell.