Kategori: Aardvark – on books in general, booklinks, bookmemes and such

Bokbloggerprisen 2015 – langlistene

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I dag ble langlistene for Bokbloggerprisen 2015 offentliggjort. Om fjorten dager følger kortlista, men i år er det innført en joker: Vi får en ny stemmerunde mellom 25. og 31. januar der vi kan heie fram en av de som ikke kom på kortlista.

Årets roman:
– Linn Ullmann: De urolige (Forlaget Oktober)
– Synnøve Macody Lund: Personar du kanskje kjenner (Samlaget)
– Bjørn Vatne: Slik skal vi velge våre ofre (Gyldendal)
– Morten Øen: Tellemarck (Forlaget Oktober)
– Maja Lunde: Bienes historie (Aschehoug)
– Helga Flatland: Vingebelastning (Aschehoug)

Åpen klasse:
– Eirin Gundersen: Du er menneske nå (Gyldendal)
– Heidi Sævareid: Slipp hold (Mangschou)
– Agnes Margrethe Bjorvand & Lisa Aisato: Astrid Lindgren (Cappelen Damm)
– Gaute M. Sortland: Fotturar i Norge (Samlaget)
– Morten Strøksnes: Havboka (Forlaget Oktober)
– Siri Pettersen: Evna (Gyldendal)

Ikke overraskene er det lite jeg har lest på listene, faktisk bare Evna (men det er jo ikke bare). Jeg leste ikke en eneste bok i årets roman-klassen før fristen gikk ut, så der har jeg ikke vært med å nominere en gang, men jeg har selvsagt planer om å være med på samlesingen. I åpen klasse nominerte jeg Evna (selvsagt), og dessuten F-ordet, Når livet er kjipt og HB: En destillert norgeshistorie. Jeg er vel ikke voldsomt overrasket over at ikke de andre kom med. Det hadde kanskje hjulpet om jeg hadde bedrevet litt mer misjonsvirksomhet, og i det minste blogget om dem? Jeg skal prøve å skjerpe meg, men lover ingenting.

Nå har jeg reservert de andre på langlista i åpen klass på biblioteket slik at jeg har mulighet til å vurdere dem som joker. Det vil si, de har ikke Eirin Gundersen, så den får jeg vurdere å kjøpe.

Bout of Books day 7 and final report

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Books finished: 1 (HB: Destillert Norgeshistorie)
Number of pages read: 22 HB: Destillert Norgeshistorie + 12 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (aloud) + 106 Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop of Dreams
Total number of pages read: 607
Total number of books finished: 2
Total number of books blogged about: 2
Comments: Almost, but not quite. I got distracted by other things. Still, a pretty good week. The next Bout of Books is in May (9-15), why don’t you join in?

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Bout of Books day 6 progress report

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Books finished: 0
Number of pages read: 35 HB: Destillert Norgeshistorie + 10 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (aloud)
Total number of pages read: 467
Total number of books finished: 1
Total number of books blogged about: 2
Comments: A bit of a sprint read in the evening saved this day from total fiasco. Today is the last day, and if I want to reach my goal of 100 pages on average I will have to get a grip and read 233 pages today. Perfectly doable, as long as I don’t get distracted.

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Bout of Books day 5 progress report

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Books finished: 0
Number of pages read: 33 HB: Destillert Norgeshistorie + 9 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (aloud)
Total number of pages read: 422
Total number of books finished: 1
Total number of books blogged about: 2
Comments: Not a very impressive count for yesterday. Too busy with other stuff. Must refocus. (Actually, I know already that today’s numbers are most likely going to be even worse, but there’s still Sunday.)

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Today’s challenge comes from Once upon a Chapter and entails another view of my reading spot.

Bout of Books day 4 progress report

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Books finished: 0
Number of pages read: 41 HB: Destillert Norgeshistorie + 13 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (aloud)
Total number of pages read: 380
Total number of books finished: 1
Total number of books blogged about: 2
Comments: I’d like to get one or two more books blogged by the end of the week, and if I can stay at 100+ pages on avaerage through the week, I’d consider it a success.

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Scavenger hunt by Kristen at  The Book Monsters:

1. Book Shelves

1. #shelfie #boutofbooks #boutofbookshunt @bookgoil

Et bilde publisert av @lattermild

2. A book you’re planning to read/currently reading for Bout of Books

3. A Book and a Beverage

4. Blue Books

5. Cozy Reading Spot

Bout of Books day 3 progress report

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Books finished: 0
Number of pages read: 39 HB: Destillert Norgeshistorie + 12 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (aloud)
Total number of pages read: 326
Total number of books finished: 1
Total number of books blogged about: 2
Comments: I’d like to get one or two more books blogged by the end of the week, and if I can stay at 100+ pages on avaerage through the week, I’d consider it a success.

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Bout of Books day 2 progress report

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Books finished: 1
Number of pages read: 64 HB: Destillert Norgeshistorie + 10 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (aloud) + 27 Når livet er kjipt + 36 Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop of Dreams
Total number of pages read: 284
Total number of books finished: 1
Total number of books blogged about: 2 (Day 2: Når livet er kjipt av Oda Rygh)
Comments: Still going strong.

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Today’s Rainbow Challenge is brought by Randy Runt of a Reader. I might just do both versions for the h of it, here’s the author challenge:

R – Russo, Richard

O – O’Brian, Patrick

Y – Yeats, William Butler (I’ve never blogged Yeats, but one of his poems is one of those I regularly get as an «earworm», so I’ve included it below. I also love his The Second Coming, though please don’t ask me to analyze it…)

G – Goldstone, Lawrence and Nancy

B – Bjärbo, Lisa

I – Irving, John

V – Valente, Catherynne M.  (I’ve read The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, but not blogged about it.)

An Irish Airman Foresees his Death

I KNOW that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love;

My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;

I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

— W. B. Yeats

Bout of Books: Day 1 progress report

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Books finished: None
Number of pages read: 26 HB: Destillert Norgeshistorie + 11 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (aloud) + 110 Når livet er kjipt
Total number of pages read: 147
Total number of books finished: 0
Total number of books blogged about: 1 (Shakespeare by Bill Bryson)
Comments: I unintentionally started off the Bout of Books week rather well. Let’s see if I can keep it up now that I’ve actually signed up!

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I might as well join in today’s challenge, also:

Would you rather… by Writing My Own Fairytale

Would you rather:
Lend books to someone who dog-ears pages or to someone who reads with cheesy Cheetos fingers?

Dog-ears. I’d make sure to only lend them pockets, though, and certainly keep my most prized books well away. I dog-ear my own pockets, so it wouldn’t matter so much that someone else did it too…

Would you rather:
Be able to meet one character of your choice or meet one author of your choice?

Tricky. Author, I think, though I’m hard pressed to chose one.

Would you rather:
Never be allowed in a book store again or never be allowed in a library again?

What a terrible fate! I’m going to have to go with library, because so many of the books I read and want to read are not available from any of the libraries I have access too. And then… to never be allowed into another second-hand book store to hunt for treasures? No. Unthinkable.

Would you rather:
Have to choose one of your favorite characters to die in their book or have to pick one of your favorite couples to break up in their book?

Bad as it would be I’d have to say break up. I’m too much of a realist to think that that’s the worst that could happen to someone, most people (certainly anyone with the mettle to be one half of one of my favourite couples) tackle it reasonably well.

Would you rather:
Be required to read Twilight once a year for the rest of your life or The Scarlet Letter once a year for the rest of your life?

The Scarlet Letter, without a doubt. For one thing, it’s about half the length of Twilight, for another, after reading it once a year for a few decades I might get an epiphany and finally understand what’s supposedly so great about it. (The same thing might conceivably happen with Twilight, I suppose, but that would be something of a tragedy, frankly.)

Bout of Books 15

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Since I read quite a few pages yesterday, and was planning on covering a few more this week (in a last-minute-scramble to check if my 2015 books are worth nominating for Bokbloggerprisen, amongst other things), I might as well join the bandwagon that is Bout of Books:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

This is my sign-up post. I’ll come back with a status for the first two days and perhaps some goals for the week later this evening.

Takk for det gamle, lykke til med det nye

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Jeg bommet så vidt på Goodreads-målet om å lese 70 bøker i 2015. Det vil si, jeg kunne nok ha inkludert et par barnebøker til og dermed tippet over, men valgte å la være. Jeg logger det jeg leser selv og det jeg leser høyt for eldstemann, men billedbøker logger jeg bare om jeg også blogger om dem (hvilket skjer sjeldnere enn jeg egentlig har målsetning om).

67 bøker logget på Goodreads, det mangler en Lou-bok, så totalen er egentlig 68. Av disse er 16 tegneseriebøker/grafiske romaner og 7 er non-fiction. Kjønnsbalansen i år tippet helt over på kvinnesiden, da 22 1/2 er skrevet av menn og 46 1/2 av damer.

Den geografiske spredningen står det dårligere til med… Adiga og Murakami er hederlige unntak fra euro(amerikansk)sentrering. Skjerpings.

Og bare 16 bøker blogget om, og noen av dem i ekstrem kortversjon i tillegg. A sorry excuse for a book blog, om jeg så må si det selv. Jeg kan jo ha som forsett å bli bedre, selv om jeg ikke skal love noe.

Den ene utfordringen jeg hadde tenkt å følge i fjor ble glemt, tross utskrift av liste. Jeg kunne gått gjennom for å se hvilke punkt jeg kan krysse av, men siden det blir helt tilfeldig tror jeg jeg dropper det. Noe av poenget med utfordringer er jo å dytte seg selv til å lese ting man kanskje ikke ellers ville lest. Kun sporadisk deltagelse i boksirkelen har også gjort sitt til at variasjonen på lista er dårligere enn den ellers kunne vært. Med en mann som endelig har fast skiftplan igjen blir kveldene lettere å planlegge, så jeg håper å få deltatt mer i år, det er en motivator for å lese ting ferdig å faktisk kunne delta på møtene.

2015 kan framstå som de avbrutte bøkers år for min del. Om jeg kunne telle halve og kvarte bøker hadde lista blitt langt lenger. Noen av de avbrutte har jeg forsatt ambisjon om å fullføre, men mange har jeg gitt helt opp. Det er ikke meg, det er dem. Eller omvendt, ikke godt å vite. Faktum er i alle fall at fler bøker enn vanlig forekom meg uinteressante eller tungrodde.

I 2016 har jeg tenkt å prøve meg på Book Riots «Read Harder«-utfordring. Tilfeldigvis er første boka jeg har lest ferdig i år perfekt til ett av punktene, så det må man kalle en flying start. Punktet jeg kanskje får mest problemer med er det første, jeg er ikke en horror-person. Jeg ser at et av forslagene er Mary Shellys Frankenstein, så mulig jeg kan slå to fluer i en smekk og få unna en klassiker i samme slengen.

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