The Private Patient – P.D. James

I don’t exactly rush to buy any new P.D. James, as I am perfectly able to wait until I find it in paperback. Once I do. however, it tends to move very rapidly up my to-read list. I picked The Private Patient up in Oslo on the last weekend of November, and started it as soon as I finished the book I was in just then.

What to say? Well, it’s just as good as one would expect from James. Dalgliesh is his endearing self, Kate is still taking a lot of attention, which is all good, the characters involved in the actual crime are just the right blend of insufferable and adorable to make them human enough.

At Narvesen på Nordre

Which is still, alarmingly, the best place for new books in English in Trondheim:

Last Chance to See – in the Footsteps of Douglas Adams – Mark Cawardine (foreword by Stephen Fry)

Involving some of my favourite people and being about an interesting subject it’s hard to see how this could go wrong. I’ll report back on it soon.

The Comfort of Saturdays – Alexander McCall Smith

We’re actually getting to the point where we’re wondering if Alexander McCall Smith isn’t just TOO prolific. Here we were thinking we need to get hold of The Lost Art of Gratitude after seeing it in hardback earlier, and then I discover we’ve actually completely missed The Comfort of Saturdays! Really, the speed that man writes at! How are we supposed to keep up?

All is forgiven, though, the moment I start the first paragraph. As always, Smith amazes me with his ability to make me feel like I’m strolling along at a comfortable, sedate and philosophical pace while what I’m really doing is turning the pages as fast as is humanly possible. Or thereabouts.

Isabel Dalhousie is a lovable lady and her tendency to overthink achingly familiar in many ways. And her wry observations make me laugh:

The modern world was a tolerant place: even murderers brazened it out these days: they wrote their memoirs, telling all, and publishers fell upon them with delight. There was no shame there, she thought, unless the memoirs included an apology to the victims, which they usually did not; on the contrary, they sometimes blamed the victims, or the police, or their mothers, or even, in the case of one set of memoirs, the mothers of the police.

What could be better?

I can only see one drawback to this series so far and that is that it makes me devastated for a second every time I emerge from the books and realise I’m not actually in Scotland. But they are worth it.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu – Susanna Clarke

The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke has been on my to-read list for quite some time, basically since I discovered it was out, I suppose. I did rather love Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and was eager for more. From that point of view, The ladies of Grace Adieu was a little disappointing.

My first objection is hardly Clarke’s fault: I really do not like short stories. As usual, just as I was getting really interested in a story, it was over. I like a book I can really get my teeth into and which takes days, even weeks to finish unless you are in the happy position of being able to drop everything else for 10 hours upwards. So though the stories were good, they were too short.

Other than that, well, I guess I’m not so much interested in fairie- lore as just appreciative of «magical» plot devices. Had I been really into fairies and magic in a of its own, I suppose I would have been more interested, but I’m not.

Saying that, the book is still pretty great, just not quite I’d hoped for. Clarke handles language beautifully, changing tone, syntax and spelling to suit the supposed time of the narrative, and held me transfixed for minutes (until I got to the end of the story and had to start again with a different set of characters).

Ok, so I really don’t like short stories. Why do I keep reading them, I wonder?

In Oslo for a weekend

And I got to shop at Tanum (Karl Johan), Ark (Egertorget) and Norli (Univ.gata). Heaven. Except more expensive, I suspect.

The Comfort of Saturdays – Alexander McCall Smith
The Private Patient – P. D. James
Bad Science – Ben Goldacre
Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter – Seth Lerer

And at least one Christmas present, but I’m not revealing that here, just in case. Anyway, I felt quite restrained, all things considered.

Og en norsk versjon

Drømt opp av Geir Isaxen, som riktignok egentlig oppfordrer oss alle til å lage egen liste. Vi får se om ikke jeg kan få somlet meg til det, men i mellomtiden kan jeg jo sammenligne min lesing med hans. Fortsatt det jeg har lest i fet skrift.

1. Sult – Knut Hamsun
2. Mysterier – Knut Hamsun
3. Kristin Lavransdatter – Sigrid Undset
4. Cruise – Odd Eidem
5. En folkefiende – Henrik Ibsen
6. Samlede essays – Henrik Groth
7. Under vulkanen – Malcolm Lowry
8. Portnoys besværlige liv – Philip Roth
9. Slaktehus 5 – Kurt Vonnegut jr.
10. Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for snø – Peter Høeg
11. Kong Alkohol – Jack London
12. Norge, mitt Norge – Jens Bjørneboe
13. De dødes tjern – André Bjerke
14. Under gullregnen – Marie Hamsun
15. August Strindberg – Olof Lagercrantz
16. En dåres forsvarstale – August Strindberg
17. En varig fest – Ernest Hemingway
18. Raskolnikov – Fjodor Dostojevski
19. Hundre års ensomhet – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
20. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
21. Den store Gatsby – Scott Fitzgerald
22. Haikerens guide til galaksen – Douglas Adams
23. Sjosja – Isaac Singer
24. Jeg, Bakunin – Bergljot Hobæk Haff
25. Garps Bok – John Irving
26. Den Perfekte Spion – John le Carré
27. Oda – Ketil Bjørnstad
28. Hvite niggere – Ingvar Ambjørnsen
29. Manhattan – Torgrim Eggen
30. Gå – Tomas Espedal
31. Yogien & kommissæren – Arthur Koestler
32. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
33. Dracula – Bram Stoker
34. Onkel Oswald – Roald Dahl
35. Rosens navn – Umberto Eco
36. Fra Kristiania-bohemen – Hans Jæger
37. Lillelord-trilogien – Johan Borgen
38. Møte ved milepælen – Sigurd Hoel
39. Uår – Knut Faldbakken
40. Den drukner ei som henges skal – Jon Michelet
41. Steppeulven – Hermann Hesse
42. Gamle mestere – Thomas Bernhard
43. Speil – Jan Kjærstad
44. Storsvindleren Krull – Thomas Mann
45. Epleblomster og ruiner – Marianne Ahrne
46. Stenbukkens vendekrets – Henry Miller
47. Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
48. Uro – Finn Skårderud
49. Hvordan Marcel Proust kan forandre ditt liv – Alain de Botton
50. Fakkelen i øret – Elias Canetti
51. Donau – Claudio Magris
52. En historie om lesning – Alberto Manguel
53. Oblomov – Ivan Gontsjarov
54. Menn som hater kvinner – Stieg Larsson
55. Sjakalen – Fredrick Forsyth
56. Nålen – Ken Follett
57. De døde – Jan E Hansen
58. Den gamle mannen og havet – Ernest Hemingway
59. Månen over Porten – Per Petterson
60. Kristianiabohemen – Halvor Fosli
61. Mord på Orientekspressen – Agathe Christie
62. Peer Gynt – Henrik Ibsen
63. Tyven – Gõran Tunstrøm
64. Rosemarys baby – Ira Levin
65. 1984 – George Orwell
66. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
67. Utenfor sirklene – Colin Wilson
68. Ikaros – Axel Jensen
69. Salme ved reisens slutt – Erik Fosnes Hansen
70. Sin egen herre – Tore Rem
71. Prosessen – Franz Kafka
72. Fiskerens sko – Morris West
73. Offisersfabrikken – Hans Helmut Kirst
74. Dagdrivergjengen – John Steinbeck
75. Varulven – Aksel Sandemose
76. Kvalmen – Jean Paul Sartre
77. Den afrikanske farm – Karen Blixen
78. En intellektuell europeers bekjennelser – Jan Myrdal
79. Deg – Annemarta Borgen
80. Ærlighetens komedie – Niels Chr Geelmuyden
81. Veien til Rom – Kjell Arild Pollestad
82. Ragtime – E L Doctorow
83. Postkontoret – Charles Bukowski
84. No country for old men – Cormac McCarthy
85. Vær så snill, vær stille, vær så snill og andre noveller – Raymond Carver
86. Parfymen – Patrick Süskind
87. Firmaets mann – John Grisham
88. Jeeves, den uforlignelige – P G Wodehouse
89. Den talentfulle Mr Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
90. Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
91. De elendige – Victor Hugo
92. Aller nederst – Günter Wallraff
93. Latours katalog – Nikolaj Frobenius
94. Lyden av leselykke – Anne Fadiman
95. Gjøkeredet – Ken Kesey
96. Adjø Las Vegas – John O’Brien
97. Entusiastiske essays – Jan Erik Vold
98. Med kaldt blod – Truman Capote
99. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
100. Om kunsten å lese og skrive – Olof Lagercrantz

Another list

Because I’m a sucker for lists. Apparently, the BBC think most people have read only 6 books from this list. I think I can beat that. Bolding the ones I’ve read, as usual. Two oddities I noticed: You have Complete works of Shakespeare AND Hamlet, and you have The Chronicles of Narnia AND The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Huh? Read one get one free?

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (well, a lot, anyway)
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransom
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows

shafferI could have sworn I had blogged this already, but I must have dreamt it.

This book is a bit of a gem. I’m sure I’m not the first to say so. I picked it up in London this summer, with a title like that I was hardly likely to pass it up.

Epistolary novels are delightful when they work and excessively tiresome when they don’t. Luckily, this is an example of an epistolary novel that works.

I laughed and I cried, both quite literally, it doesn’t get much better. How it’s all going to end becomes obvious quite early on, but that’s part of the charm. This is a feelgood book of the highest order. Better than chicken soup.

Mary Ann Shaffer sadly died in 2008, so no hope for more gems from her, unfortunately.

Summarising again

Really, where does the time go? Recent (well, since may…) reads in no particular order (and probably missing a few):

The series that will no longer be named. All in a row. Lovely. I am still pretty happy with the ending, but noticed a few minor inconsistencies along the way this time.

Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings by Greg Gutfeld. Abysmal. Didn’t finish it. I’ll be writing more about it at some point, because, really! But, you know, take this as a warning to stay WELL away.

Packaging Girlhood. Quite illuminating. Meant to write more on this, too. Ah well.

Consumer Kids. Followed naturally. Very informative on how kids are not only inundated with ads, but used to advertise to friends and provide market research, quite frequently unknowingly. Should probably be read by every parent.

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith. Perfection, as usual.

This Charming Man by Marian Keyes. Keyes back on great form and with a serious theme this time, which she excels at treating.

The Brontes Went to Woolworth by Rachel Ferguson. Reread because I had to take it down to copy out one of my favourite quotes ever:

A woman at one of mother’s parties once said to me, «Do you like reading?» which smote us all to silence, for how could one tell her that books are like having a bath or sleeping, or eating bread – absolute necessities which one never thinks of in terms of appreciation.

Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer. As usual Archer spins a pretty – and gripping – tale. However, knowing how it all ends spoiled it a bit for me. Not that I know all that much about Mount Everest climbs and such, but I do know a little, and the prologue reveals what I didn’t. I suppose part of it is knowing it doesn’t end in «they lived happily ever after», which I’m a sucker for and which Archer frequently delivers with aplomb. Still, exceedingly readable.

And that made me realise I’ve forgotten to note reading A Prisoner of Birth, also by Archer, which was REALLY good, just what the doctor ordered, and Archer – to me – at his best. I happen to love courtroom dramas, too, so this had pretty much everything. No idea when I read it, though, so I popped it in here… Probably shortly after the paperback was issued, but I’m not sure.