It’s Monday! What are you reading? #1

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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

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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.

Tematrio

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tematrioI think it’s the first time I manage to get in an answer to Lyrans tematrio (thematic trio). Today the challenge is: «berätta om tre av dina favoritklassiker!» («tell us about three of your favourite classics»), and a challenge it is, too. How to chose?

1. I’m sorry, I can’t get past Jane Austen, and today I’m going to go for Persuasion (though I might as well chose Emma. Or Pride & Prejudice. Or Sense & Sensiblility. Or even Mansfield Park). There is something about Anne and her naval hero, her sense of duty and her competing instinct towards rebellion. And there is something about Captain Wentworth, too. How he so wants to ignore the woman who spurned him all those years ago, but how can he? It was obviously meant to be. The dreaming teenager in me loves the love story, but the adult realist in me loves it, too. I also love the intimate and realistic portrait of Anne’s dysfunctional family and the priceless descriptions of the more minor characters that Jane Austen is justly famous for. And since I’m in the middle of my favourite maritime story, whose author, by the way, was a great fan of dear Jane, there is something very appealing about the naval side of the novel. I adore the image of Anne, married, on board ship with her Captain that the film from 1995 provides. To me it’s the perfect happy ending. (Oh, and who could forget the immortal line, uttered by Anne’s useless father in the same film? «You want to marry Anne? Whatever for?»)

2. Hundre års ensomhet (or Cien años de soledad) by Gabriel García Márques is going to be my second choice, partly because it’s one of the books I have an increasing urge to reread. As it is I don’t actually remember too much about it except thinking it exceptionally good. I mostly remember the staggering realisation on reaching the end of the book that… But, hush, that would be a spoiler.

3. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston must be a classic, yes? It’s on the 1001 books list, anyway, and old enough by now to have proven it will stand the test of time. A gem of a book, where Janie Crawford tells the story of her life, and what a life! Another one on my «needs to be reread» list.

Adding to Mount TBR

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Well, that’s the danger, but also the purpose, of reading bookblogs. Anyway, here are a few books I’ve put on my «to look for» list:

blackoutBlackout by Sam Mills was reviewed by Bookwitch this morning, and it sounds like a must-read. Banned books, rewritten classics and a government who knows best, protecting people from themselves? Give it to me!

The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning seems like something I need to check out. Silje shared a taster from Faefever in this week’s Smakebit på en søndag, and reading about Bloodfever on her blog intrigues me. Definitely something to look for (preferably second hand) in Scotland in a few weeks.

Papirpiken

Another taster, this one from Elida, pointed me towards Papirpiken – or Le Fille de Papier, which is its original French title. So, nt something to look for in Scotland, but I might try to get the Norwegian translation from the library, because it sounds very nice.

On the whole, these tasters (organised by Mari) are going to be dangerous. Too many books, so little time!

And as if new-to-me books and authors are not sufficient, Labben reviews Ishiguro’s A Pale View of Hills and Lyran finishes Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, reminding me of authors whose unread books are already in my possession, I just need to find time to read them.

Sigh.

Catch of the day

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Yesterday, at Sverresborg skole (a very small, badly signposted jumble sale):

  • Oda! by Kjetil Bjørnstad – paperback, thought we ought to have it as it’s the lass’ first name

Today at Steindal skole (the largest jumble sale in Trondheim, as far as I’m aware, but with a site that hasn’t grown with the goods and the visitor numbers, meaning it’s really not possible to browse comfortably ANYWHERE on the first day, and only barely on the second):

  • Toy Story 2 picture book – much joy at this since it’s the lass’ favourite, Jessie being relatively prominent.
  • Ina er den ivrigste by Annik Saxegaard – a duplicate, I have all the Ina books but I still buy them whenever I come across a copy at jumble sales.
  • Mennesker og bøker by Knut Coucheron Jarl, Oslo 1942 – no idea what this is like, but anything printed in Oslo during the war has a certain degree of interest. Needs research.
  • Mitt liv som læge by Anna Walter Fearn – I ought to get hold of the original, called My Days of Strength, but in the meantime, this, printed in 1940, is sure to be interesting. A female doctor? The cover design suggests the far east, too. Also needs research.
  • Hvor gammelt er Norge? by Arnulf Øverland, Oslo 1964 – a collection of essays by one of our finest poets, apparently a first edition. Though it’s stained on the front by coffee or similar, it’s still quite likely worth more than I paid for the whole pile if it’s a first and in any case I’d like to read it.
  • Den vesle filledokka by Michael Ende, illustrations by Roswitha Quadflieg – for the lass, obviously, but I’m going to read it for myself first, Michael Ende is usually interesting. Original title: Das kleine Lumpenkasperle.

And two other newish Disney books for the lass. All for the princely sum of 40 NOK.

Smakebit på en søndag: The Thirteen-Gun Salute

Mirthful 4 Comments

Since it’s time for another Smakebit – a «taster» – (though I skipped a week) here’s another Jack quote:

‘Why, Stephen, some people are in a hurry: men-of-war, for instance. It is no good carrying your pig to market and finding…’ He paused, frowning.

‘It will not drink?’

‘No, it ain’t that neither.’

‘That there are no pokes to be had?’

‘Oh well, be damned to literary airs and graces’

Page 114 in The Thirteen-Gun Salute by Patrick O’Brian.

thirteen-gun_salute

Jack Aubrey quotes

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I never manage to say anything very sensible about the Aubrey/Maturin books except that I love them to bits. One of the very many reasons I love them is Jack Aubrey’s way with words. Or lack of way with words, more accurately. He can turn any perfectly well known idiom or proverb into something quite delightfully ridiculous.

For example:

It will not do to meddle with him. He is the kind of lamb that lies down with the lion, in wolf’s clothing.

From The Letter of Marque, page 134. And from HMS Surprise, page 157:

‘It is not what you would call handsome,’ said Jack laughing, ‘but a bird in the hand is worth any amount of beating about the bush, don’t you agree?’

And this exchange between Jack and Stephen in The Far Side of the World (Jack being the first speaker), page 106:

‘It was the strangest experience: there he was, telling me things to my face as though he were invisible, while I could see him as plain as…’
‘The ace of spades?’
‘No. Not quite that. As plain as… God damn it. As plain as the palm of my hand? A turnpike?’
‘As Salisbury Sphere? As a red herring?’
‘Perhaps so.’

And later in the same novel, at page 293:

‘That would be locking the horse after the stable door is gone, a very foolish thing to do.’

Indeed. Again at page 306:

‘Only this morning I was thinking how right they were to say it was better to be a dead horse than a live lion.’ He gazed out of the scuttle, obviously going over the words in his mind. ‘No. I mean better to flog a dead horse than a live lion.’
‘I quite agree.’ [Stephen]
‘Yet even that’s not quite right, neither. I know there is a dead horse in it somewhere; but I am afraid I’m brought by the lee this time, though I rather pride myself on proverbs, bringing them in aptly, you know, and to the point.’
‘Never distress yourself, brother; there is no mistake I am sure. It is a valuable saying, and one that admonishes us never to underestimate our enemy, for whereas flogging a dead horse is child’s play, doing the same to a lion is potentially dangerous, even though one may take a long spoon.’

Stephen is quite as bad as Jack when he tries to use nautical expressions, otherwise he spends a bit of time confusing his friend further unless he is in a particularly amiable mood (as he is in that last exchange). Though how you’d bring a long spoon to flogging a live lion, I’m not so sure…

Dagens dikt

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Eller utdrag av en sangtekst, da:

Satt ei lita jente nedpå trappa og gråt
trappa og gråt, trappa og gråt.
Satt ei lita jente nedpå trappa og gråt
trappa og gråt så sårt.

Kom ei gammal kjerring bort og spurte hva det var
spurte hva det var, spurte hva det var.
Kom ei gammal kjerring bort og spurte hva det var
spurte hva det var, var, var.

«Jeg få’kke lov av mamma å gå på kinomotograf.» – «Hvorfor ikke det?»
«Jeg få’kke sitte i fred,
for guttene de kiler meg og da må jeg le.
Huff de dumme guttene!»

«Nå får jeg lov av mamma å gå på kinomotograf.» – «Hvorfor får du det?»
«Nå får jeg sitte i fred,
for jeg har lært karate og nå slår jeg dem ned
hvis de ikke lar meg være i fred.»

Oppbyggelig barnesang fra Lillebjørn Nilsen (plata Haba Haba som går på repeat i heimen).

Jorden rundt

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I fell off the journey spectacularly last year, partly due to accidentally packing the relevant books away in preparation of moving, but I think I might just jump on again now. Lyran’s challenge 2011 edition has reached South America and all of the chosen books look interesting. Just now, incidentally, Jack and Stephen are on their way to Sweden, but once they’ve been there and resolved a few things, they’re heading for South America. Which doesn’t count towards the challenge, but seems apt anyway. I have to finish with Jack and Stephen before tackling any of these three, but I should be able to make it in September.

I should in fact have a copy of Manguel somewhere, if I can’t find it I guess I might go for Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, as it seems to be the only one of the three available for the Kindle. Though come to think of it, my father has read some Llosa, I might be able to borrow it off him. We’ll see.