Forfatter: Mirthful

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Want to Reread

Mirthful 4 Comments

For the first time since I discovered Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish (it’s only a couple of weeks ago, actually), there is a theme that is close to my heart: Books I want to reread. I am a rereader. It’s one of the main reasons why I prefer buying books to borrowing them, if I like it I will want to reread it, at least once, probably several times. Of the 50-odd books I manage to get through every year nowadays (it used to be more, before kids and work), I’m guessing at least 20 or so are rereads. Which makes it even more frustrating that I can’t read MORE because there are so many books in Mnt TBR and so many I could include on the following list and life is simply not long enough. Well, on to the point:

Top Ten Books I want to Reread

1. Persuasion by Jane Austen: I’ve actually got it lined up on the Kindle, I’m just going to finish Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter first.

2. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende: Writing about it in the Tematrio made me realise I need to reread it. I think it’s one of those books I have actually only read once, which is monstrous.

3. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: Another Tematrio threw this one up, and made me ache to reread.

4. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: Joanna mentioned this in the same Teamtrio, and I realised it’s been 20 years and that I really don’t remember much except thinking it was brilliantly horrible. About time I picked it up again, don’t you think?

5. The Chronicles of Robin Hood by Rosemary Sutcliff: It’s just one of those books I HAVE to reread every other year or so.

6. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson: Dear Bill, please, please, please go back to Britain and write a sequel taking in more of Scotland. And Wales, if you can manage. We need you! Sincerely, me.

7. The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy in, uhm, five parts) by Douglas Adams: It’s been a while. And I need to reread the Dirk Gently books, too (if possible: Even more brilliant than H2G2).

8. As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer: Or one of the others, maybe. In any case, the next time I need some comfort reading – if this cold develops it might be quite soon – I’m going to reread one or more of Jeffrey Archer’s ripping good yarns.

9. Used and Rare by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone: Which I will probably follow with Slightly Chipped and Warmly Inscribed.

10. Seierherrene by Roy Jacobsen: I found a good, clean copy of this at a jumble sale recently, which suited me very well, as it’s a book I’ve been meaning to reread for a while.

It’s Monday! What are you reading? #2

Mirthful Leave a comment

reading-on-monday
Books I read last week:

  • The Yellow Admiral
  • The Hundred Days
  • Blue at the Mizzen
  • The Last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde

Books I reviewed last week:

  • Uhm. None.

Books I’m reading now:

  • A. A. Milne – Thomas Burnett Swann
  • The Inheritance – Robin Hobb (Kindle)

Books I’m planning on reading this week:

  • Bluestockings – Jane Robinson (I’ve started this)
  • The Whisky River – Robin Laing
  • Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter – Mario Vargas Llosa

En smakebit på søndag: The Last Dragonslayer

Mirthful 3 Comments

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

I finished with Jack and Stephen Friday evening and started The Last Dragonslayer immediately, even though it was really time for bed already. I read one chapter and realised I really didn’t want to put it down. Ten years ago I would probably have finished it that night, but then I didn’t have someone who’d wake me demanding breakfast in the morning (and since the husband was working Saturday, it would be me she’d demand breakfast from).

Anyway, here’s a quote:

Tiger was staring thoughtfully at Prince Nasil, the carpet and the Yummy-Flakes box. Mystical Arts was a strange industry to work in and was much like a string of bizarre occurences occasionally interspersed with moments of great triumph and numbing terror. There was boredom, too. Watching wizards build up to a spell is like watching paint dry. It can take some getting used to.

En smakebit på søndag – a taster on Sunday – is an initiative from Mari at Flukten fra virkeligheten.

Posesalg

Mirthful Leave a comment

As we went for a spur of the moment trip to Hitra this weekend, we were not able to attend any of the large jumble sales in town. However, we discovered there was one in Fillan, where we could conveniently stop on our way back to town on Sunday. This resulted in the perfect reading lamp for the living room, which was very satisfactory. It also resulted in a bag of books, as it was a case of «fill a bag for 30 kroner» and the pile I picked happened to juuust fit in one bag. A rather good haul for the price, I’d say:

  • Det magiske hjertet by Salvador de Madariaga, 1946 – no idea what this is, but it looked interesting
  • Ina inviterer and Ina på isen by Annik Saxegaard
  • Lyset fra heksas hus by Thore Hansen
  • Den ensomme Arthur and Buffalo Arthur by Alan Coren – it strikes me I ought to find these in English, these two I may bookcross as they’re duplicates
  • River Cafe Cook Book Two by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers – they had One as well, but I already have it
  • Elvis! Elvis! by Maria Gripe
  • Kva tåler så lite at det knuser om du seier namnet på det? by Bjørn Sortland
  • Ikaros igjen by Philip Newth
  • Klar ferdig gå! by Paul Maar
  • Julias reise by Bente Lohne
  • Syvsoverskens dystre frokost by Tor Åge Bringsværd
  • Barnas romskip by Alpers and Hahn
  • Thank you, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
  • Bombadillas sirkus by Thore Hansen
  • Robot i rommet by Philip Newth
  • Det står i stjernene by Evi Bøgenes – 1st edition
  • Kjenn mitt land: Med Pentti i Finland
  • Randi bor i Lofoten by Anna Riwkin-Brick and Astrid Lindgren
  • Maria bor i en kibbutz by Anna Riwkin-Brick and Cordelia Edvardson
  • Noy bor i Thailand by Anna Riwkin-Brick and Astrid Lindgren
  • Salima bor i Kashmir by Anna Riwkin-Brick and Vera Forsberg
  • Ping fra Hong Kong by Søren Koustrup
  • Frost og varme by Thore Hansen

A large number of the books on offer were ex-library, probably school library, and most of my haul are children’s and YA books. Some I was very happy to find (and would have paid A LOT more for), like Julias reise. The «N bor i M» (N lives in M) series are picture books in a series called All the world’s children and I remember Maria bor i en kibbutz (Maria lives in a kibbutz) from when I was a kid. Probably very edifying, must test them on the lass.

More for Mount TRB

Mirthful 2 Comments

Joanna at och dagarna går… has read a novel by Elif Shafak called Bastarden från Istanbul in Swedish. It sounds like just the thing. A quick search shows it as being originally written in English (The Bastard of Istanbul), though Shafak writes in Turkish as well, so I guess I’ll have a look for it (or her other books) in Scotland.

Bookwitch mentions an author I’ve never come across, called Lisa Tetzner, who apparently wrote a series of children’s books about siblings who emigrated to the States in the run-up to WW2. Sounds like something I’d want to look into, so here’s a note to self: Look into it.

Finally, for now, Lena of Les mye has read Honningtunger by Helene Uri, and now I want to read it too. Perhaps I ought to start with De beste blant oss, as I already have that, and have been meaning to read it for a couple of years…

Edit: I have to add Gå sönder, gå hel bySofia Nordin after what enligt O writes about it, though I guess I’d have to time the reading of it if it’s as disturbing as she says.

Bokbloggsjerka

Mirthful 5 Comments

Jeg har begynt å følge med på Annikas blogg, der det hver helg stilles et bokrelatert spørsmål under headingen Bokbloggsjerka. I dag stilles spørsmålet:

Du står och väljer mellan två böcker: den ena har ett fult omslag men ett till synes intressant innehåll, den andra har ett vansinnigt snyggt omslag men boken i sig intresserad dig inte nämnvärt. Vilken bok väljer du?

Her er det ingen tvil: Jeg elsker god design og liker å ha pene bøker på hyllen, men bøker er tross alt først og fremst til for å LESES, så det vil aldri være aktuellt å velge bort en bok som høres interessant ut til fordel for en som bare ser pen ut. Har jeg penger (og plass i koffert når det er relevant) er det overhengende fare for at begge blir med hjem, men bare dersom innholdet i den flotte boken også kan tenkes å være lesbart. Jeg kjøper IKKE bøker bare for å ha til pynt.

Tematrio – Tre länder, ett språk

Mirthful 3 Comments

tematrioToday’s Tematrio is daunting, too, but in quite a different way from last week, because with the question being: «Berätta om tre tyskspråkiga romaner, novellsamlingar, grafiska romaner, barnböcker, lyriksamlingar etc du läst (eller har lust att läsa)!» (Tell us about three German language novels, short-story collections, graphic novels, children’s books, poetry collections etc you’ve read – or want to read) I might struggle to think of as many as three. I am frightfully apt to read only books where I can manage the original rather than a translation, which means I mostly stick to English, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. I have read books originally written in German, of course, especially at Uni, but how much do I remember?

And then I thought: But, hang on! Michael Ende wrote in German, didn’t he? So I’ll start with Die unendliche Geschichte: Von A bis Z which Wikipedia tells me is the original title of The Neverending Story. A fascinating book, where a neglected and lonely boy called Bastian starts reading a book called The Neverending Story and ends up inside it, where the land of Fantastica is being destroyed by Nothing, because people do not read stories anymore. The 1984 film is quite nice, but deviates quite a bit from the novel, and also deals with just the first part. I’d heartily recommend reading the book (in fact, writing about it has made me put it on the «need to reread» list. Sigh).

In fact, I’ll stick to Ende for another favourite: Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer or Jim Knapp og Lukas Lokmotivfører as I know it, and the second book Jim Knopf und die Wilde. As children’s tales of the to-be-read-aloud type these are really quite hard to beat. The main characters are perfectly charming and Jim balances on that fine line of self-sufficiency that a heroic protagonist needs and the dependency on being parented that befits a small boy (he is six, as far as I remember). Other than that the books have it all: Scary villains, a dragon and a princess as well as perfectly quirky details (one of my favourite images in books ever is the false giant who is in fact quite small but who looks larger the further away from him you get, who turns out to be the perfect lighthouse-substitute for the very small island Jim and Lukas hail from). In fact, I guess it’s about time I unearth my copies and test them on the lass.

I could go for Ende’s Momo as my last book, but I feel I need to prove that I’m aware there are other authors in the German language… Which means that perhaps it’s not exactly a good idea to go for Goethe’s Faust as it’s a bit like saying «Yeah, I’ve heard of this English author called Shakespeare», but whatever. Faust I read as part of literature studies at Uni, so a while ago, but it’s a fascinating play and one I think it worthwhile to look into if you’re interested in the literary and philosophical development in Europe – though it raises as many questions as it attempts to answer. I remember being particularly interested in the moral dilemma regarding God and the Devil making a bet (which ties into the book of Job nicely).

It’s Monday! What are you reading? #1

Mirthful Leave a comment

Show me a bandwagon and I’ll hop on it. No, but really, this seems to be a good way of reminding myself to keep track.

reading-on-monday

If anyone knows the originator of this meme, please let me know.

Books I read last week:

  • The Thirteen-Gun Salute
  • The Nutmeg of Consolation
  • Clarissa Oakes

Books I reviewed last week:

  • Uhm. None.

Books I’m reading now:

  • The Wine-Dark Sea
  • The Inheritance – Robin Hobb

Books I’m planning on reading this week:

  • The Commodore
  • The Yellow Admiral
  • The Hundred Days
  • Blue at the Mizzen

And, since that’s hardly very edifying – Books I’m planning to read once I’ve finished with Jack and Stephen:

  • The Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde
  • A.A. Milne – Thomas Burnett Swann
  • Bluestockings – Jane Robinson (I’ve started this)

Sale

Mirthful Leave a comment

One of the bookshops in town has been sold out of one chain and is reopening in another, but first they’re having a clearing out sale. Yesterday they were at 80% off everything, and we shopped…

  • Pablo går på jakt – Giffard & Tutt
  • Espens hemmelige dagbok: Øglenes konge – Einar Lunde
  • Tallenes verden – Eirik Newth
  • Vida Vagabond blir haimat – Marit Liabø
  • Dette er: Hanne Krank – Marte Thingstad
  • Piray: For en gjeng – Karine Haaland
  • The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce – Paul Torday
  • Watching Trees Grow – Peter F. Hamilton
  • I am the Messenger – Markus Zusak
  • The Camel Bookmobile – Masha Hamilton
  • Rex Rudi: Go Cat Go!
  • Taxi: En fotografisk reise – Sigbjørn Sigbjørnsen
  • Swallowing Grandma – Kate Long
  • New Orleans – Vidar Kvalshaug
  • Dubrovnik – Vigdis Hjort
  • Dublin – Frode Grytten
  • Herr Leonard Leonard – Kjell Askildsen
  • Necrophenia – Robert Rankin
  • Before They Are Hanged – Joe Abercrombie

Tjugo snabba

Mirthful 1 Comment

Linda på enligt O vil vite litt om sine lesere. Jeg skal ikke forsøke meg på å svare på svensk, men har lagt fet skrift på mitt valg og kommentert på norsk 🙂

Morgonpigg eller nattuggla? En gang var jeg nattugle, men jeg har såpass sterk innebygd døgnrytme at etter at jeg begynte å måtte opp tidlig for å gå på jobb våkner jeg også rimelig tidlig de dagene jeg kunne sovet lenge. Det medfører selvsagt at jeg også blir trøtt om kvelden, men av og til sitter jeg fortsatt alt for lenge oppe, særlig om det er en bok jeg ikke klarer å legge fra meg…

Bibliotek eller bokhandel? Jeg liker biblioteker i prinsippet, men er dårlig til å bruke dem, det er så mye enklere å kjøpe bøkene selv.

Adlibris eller Bokus? Den har en norsk søsterside ved navn Capris som jeg bruker mye.

Ljudbok eller e-bok? Særlig nå som jeg har en Kindle. Jeg liker lydbøker, men har sjelden anledning til å høre på dem nå til dags.

Inbunden eller pocket? De tar så mye mindre plass.

Vampyrer eller zombies? Ingen av dem.

Camilla Läckberg eller Jan Guillou? Har ikke lest noen av dem (men burde sikkert…)

En i taget eller slalomläsning? Jeg leser som regel en hovedbok, men har alltid en fem-seks jeg egentlig holder på med.

Bokmärke eller hundöra? Helst.

Chips eller choklad? Alltid.

Biografier eller memoarer? Særlig barndomsbeskrivelser.

Skräck eller chicklit? Jeg får mareritt av skrekk, så det leser jeg aldri, men jeg leser ikke mye chicklit, heller (men har lest en del).

Boken eller filmen? Med visse hederlige unntak.

Twitter eller Facebook? Men Facebook er bra for å holde kontakten med folk.

Strindberg eller Heidenstam? Men så har jeg heller ikke lest Heidenstam.

Kokbok eller Bakbok? Men: Ja takk, begge deler.

Te eller kaffe? Det kommer an på tid på døgnet, men kaffe MÅ jeg ha.

Rött eller vitt? Champagne! Eller igjen: Ja, takk, begge deler, men jeg får vel oftest lyst på rødt.

Boklördag eller ViLäser? Kjenner ingen av dem.

Man Booker Prize eller Augustpriset? Har jeg i hvertfall lest vinnere av.