The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett
Trash Bazooka, en helt blir til – Frank Miguel Wedding/Jon Ewo (illustrert av Frode Øverli)
Ina og Ingolf – Annik Saxegaard (denne har jeg fra før, men jeg kjøper av prinsipp alle Ina-bøker jeg kommer over)
The Queen of Subtleties – Suzannah Dunn
The Queen of Subtleties by Suzannah Dunn was found in a big basket of paperbacks in English in a charity shop in June. It happened to be on the top of a precarious pile on our office chair when I was in need of a new book to start reading, and so it got read.
I find I’ve been almost topical, what with the new Boleyn sisters film coming out in theatres over here just at this time. I’m not all that fascinated with the Boleyns as such, but I found this book intriguing mostly because of the other main protagonist, Lucy Cornwallis, the king’s confectioneer. Her story fascinated me, however, in that respect the novel is rather more disappointing than not, since there is less substance than I could have wished. I am asking too much, I suppose, as Dunn herself says nothing is known of Lucy Cornwallis except she is the only woman in an otherwise male-dominated household, and so any further details there might have been about how she ended up in such a position (which is mostly what intrigues me) would be pure speculation on Dunn’s part anyway, and I might as well speculate on my own. Still, quite a charming little book and it certainly left me wanting to read more about this period (just not another Anne Boleyn biography, not just yet, anyway). One of Dunn’s sources, Simon Thurley’s Henry Viii’s Kitchens at Hampton Court, goes straight onto my Mt TBR.
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
I found Never Let Me Go in a basket full of paperbacks at Fretex in Ullevålsveien and thought «Surely that’s one of the 1001 books? Well, even if not it’s probably worth 10 kroner.» It was. Both.
Having seen the film Remains of the Day with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins, based on Ishiguro’s novel by the same name, I guess I was expecting a similar sort of plot. You know, English realism or whatever one should call it. That is hardly how you’d describe Never Let Me Go, though. It’s another kettle of fish entirely. Very English, yes, and set in an England of sorts, but in a parallell universe (thanks be). It is going to be hard to say much about it, as if you are going to read it – and you really should – you should be allowed to unfold the premises of the setting with no spoilers from me (or anyone else). In fact, go read it now, then come back and read the rest of this post. I will try not to give too much away, but I cannot promise to succeed if I am to say anything at all meaningful.
Beautifully written, Never Let Me Go captured my attention in a way no contemporary novel has done for oh such a long time. Very, very hard to put down.
For me, Ishiguro’s greatest triumph is making Kathy, the narrator, so very loveable and human while also, somehow, subtly «other». Whether nature or nurture is the cause, one can only guess. Very sneaky (Ishiguro’s achievement, that is) in a good way.
As it is, the novel is a chilling argument, one might almost say body of evidence, in the (still) current debate.
Still reading this post? Go read the novel. I will say no more.
The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy – Fiona Neill
The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill turned out to be rather different from what I expected (though I’d be hard put to pinpoint what I expected, so don’t ask), but very engaging, quite charming in it’s way and a bit of a pageturner, really. Not really laugh-out-loud funny, it has its moments, the style is approprately light without being too fluffy, it’s free from cringe-inducing lingustical fudging and I was even quite happy with the plotline and most importantly: How the story ended. A pretty good read, all in all.
Den lille stygge sjokoladeboka – Simen Sætre
Jeg var litt tvilende til om jeg turte lese denne boka, faktisk. Ignorance is bliss og så videre. Vel, det viste seg at den forsåvidt ikke inneholdt så mye nytt. Jeg følte faktisk at de negative sidene ved sjokoladeproduksjon kunne vært utdypet og illustrert enda bedre. Flere sitater og historier fra kakaoplantasjearbeiderne – både de som er de facto slaver og de som har valgt jobben «frivillig». Fokus på sukkerproduksjon og all utbyttingen og utnyttingen som foregår der kunne kanskje også vært nevnt – det meste av sjokolade som selges i Norge inneholder tross alt en ganske stor andel sukker.
Allikevel, har du ikke lest side opp og side ned om slavearbeid og grunnene til at du bør handle Fair Trade om du kan bør du nok lese denne boka. Har du allerede lest side opp og side ned kan du godt lese boka allikevel, for den er såpass kort at det ikke er allverdens investering av tid, og noe nytt lærer du nok (det gjorde jeg, tross alt). Og den var vel med på å dytte meg over i et standpunkt jeg allikevel var i ferd med å ta, at sjokoladeinnkjøpene heretter bør være Fair Trade i enda større grad de også (kaffe, sukker, ris og bananer er nesten utelukkende det allerede, og vi jobber med andre produkter). Men jeg kommer nok til å kjøpe Freia melkesjokolade også i fremtiden, bare kanskje ikke så ofte. Problemet er nemlig at der Fair Trade kaffen, for eksempel, smaker like bra eller bedre enn alternativene er det ingen annen sjokolade som smaker som Freia melkesjokolade og dermed er det lite poeng i å proppe i seg lassevis med Fair Trade sjokolade i et forsøk på å tilfredstille behovet når det melder seg.
Hvis noen har funnet Fair Trade melkesjokolade som faktisk smaker godt tar jeg gjerne mot tips (når det gjelder mørk sjokolade er vi nemlig også nesten utelukkende på Fair Trade, men jeg sliter med melkesjokoladen).
Fretex, Møllenberg
Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Tahir Shah
One Room in a Castle – Karen Connelly
Lord of the Barnyard – Tristan Egolf
Library sale
Monrad tenker – Anne-Cath. Vestly (BC-candidate)
Folk flest trur ikkje på fuglar – Red. Bringsværd, Fosse og Hovland, ill. Thore Hansen
Nettopp Jensen og Tometer’n – Kjersti Wold
Nettopp Jensen og nummeret før døden – Kjersti Wold
Nettopp Jensen og de røde djevlene – Kjersti Wold
Den solbrente mammaen som blei bytta mot ti kamelar – Bjørn Sortland
Den solbrente mammaen som kledde seg naken for å bli kunst – Bjørn Sortland
Inherited from BCer
Foundation and Earth – Isaac Asimov
Forward the Foundation – Isaac Asimov
Ut å stjæle hester – Per Petterson
Blogging med tilbakevirkende kraft, april 2010.
Jeg fikk Ut å stjæle hester i en bokring på Bookcrossing og leste den sommeren 2008, på bokens bookcrossingside hadde jeg følgende å si:
Jeg ble nok en gang minnet om hvorfor jeg leser så lite norsk samtidslitteratur. Synes slett ikke dette var dårlig, men det var liksom ikke helt den store opplevelsen heller.
April, May and much of June
I swear I meant to write proper posts on some of these. However:
Police at the Funeral – Margery Allingham
Showed up in my mailbox as a sort of birthday present – bookcrossing style. A quirky and charming read and definitely an author to look out for later. I still haven’t quite decided who next to «inflict» this on, I think it takes a certain kind of reader… Hm.
Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth
A little dreary, but good in its way – I think its supposed to be a little dreary, to be honest. Recognisable and not so recognisable themes of guilt and shame, religion and upbringing.
The Chronicles of Prydain – Lloyd Alexander
A reread occasioned by finding the first three books in Norwegian second-hand by chance.
Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami
Also a bookcrossing copy, my suspicions that I’d like Murakami in novel-form was confirmed. A perfectly beautiful – though quite sinister – book, and very hard to put down once you’ve started.
Under the Duvet, Angels and The Other Side of the Story – Marian Keyes
A three for one sale on Marian Keyes paperbacks, and these are the ones I came away with. Under the Duvet was entertaining, but possibly a little too light-hearted for my taste (even the pieces dealing with serious issues such as alchoholism somehow felt light-hearted, something Rachel’s Holiday – the novel dealing with the same issue – doesn’t). I realised, shortly after having started it, that I’ve read Angels before. Nevermind, I didn’t remember how it would all end and it was worth a reread (even if I still don’t really like the ending. Bah). The Other Side of the Story was, uhm, not quite up to Keys’ usual standard, I don’t think. I think partly it was the narrative form I didn’t like, it was slightly too disjointed to suit the overall style of the novel (or me, possibly).
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Maggie O’Farrell
Received from Tonbel, who grabbed the chance to get rid of some books while I was there. Most of them ended up bookcrossed, but this one she suggested I read, and I’m glad she did. The main problem with this book was that it was at least 400 pages too short. I wanted to know more, much more, and it left me (internally, I was on the bus) shouting «But what happened next?» Not that the story is unfinished as such, just that the characters were compelling enough to make me want to read more. I think I will have to put the books O’Farrell mentions as helpful when researching on my tbr list.
I’ve probably forgotten something here, oh well.
Lions’ sale at doctor’s office
Mother’s Helper – Maureen Freely