Books 2014: The Blazing world

Hustvedt is a true favourite of mine. I love her clear, cerebral way of writing. This novel is written as an artist biography, and it is so realistic that I several times found myself thinking that I must find out more about the artist, Harriet Burden.

We get excerpts from the artist's diaries, interviews with journalists and other artists and art critics. And it's all fiction. At the bottom of the story is Harriet Burden's attempt to prove to the art world that women artist matter less than their male counterparts. So she "constructs" three young, male artists who all exhibit her work, while the art world hails the new young males. Her theory is that if she had exhibited under her own name, no one would have cared. Everyhting doesn't go quite as planned, however, and we get a heartfelt and often sad story about the aging Burden.

A very surprising book, and I really can't forget the way I was "fooled" to believe it was fact, not fiction I was reading. Again - truly recommendable.

Hustvedt, Siri (2014): The Blazing World. London: Sceptre. Kindle edition.

Books 2014: The Betrothed

Sometimes, when I have nothing else to read, I read some Walter Scott. Not because his novels are better than anyhting else, but because I once bought all of them for my Kindle.

This summer, I read The Bethroded. The previous novel I read was The Antiquary, which I must admit was a bit of a struggle, because I found the story little rewarding. The Bethroded is a much more straight forward story with medieval knights and crusaders and kidnapping and wars and love in the 12th century somewhere along the Welsh/British border region.

The 16-year old heroine, Eveline, is to be married to Sir Hugo, but he goes away on a crusade and asks his young nephew, Damian, to look after Eveline. You don't need too much of an imaginative mind to see where this leads. After various trouble and hindrances and deceit, it all ends happily for the heroine. As it should. 

Scott, Walter(1825): The Bethroded. Kindle edition

Books 2014: Cat out of Hell

There are cats. There are librarians. What's not to like? (Yes, I'm a cat-loving librarian!) Well, at least one of the cats is not very nice, so be warned. This book will probably never end up as one of the classics, but if you're into a bit of crime/supernatural/cat-fiction, this is for you.

I chose this, mainly because of its wonderfully cool title! At times, a hear a slight echo from Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, but please don't misunderstand - it's nothing like it at all. It just the thing about the cat ...

A bit of a strange story, this. It actually took some pages before I got properly into the story. Having not spent much time reading about it first, I was quite surprised at the slighly macabre story it ended up as. But funny and enjoyable, still. But if you don't like cats. Or talking animals. Well -this is not for you then.

Truss, Lynne (2014): Cat out of Hell. London: Arrow Books. Kindle edition.

Books 2014: The Silkworm

The Silkworm is Galbraith's (Rowling's) second crime novel, and holds the same high standard as the first. This time, Cormoran Strike investigates the disappearance of a not-too-famous writer. Authors and publishers are central to the story, and it's easy to imagine that Rowling must have met her fair share of people like those portrayed in the book, though hopefully not the more extreme parts of this story.

As usual everything is well balanced and well written, without any boring bits. The only thing I hope will be toned down in future books is Robin's relationship issues with her fiancee. I find them a bit too fake. (Not that one should expect realism in crime fiction ...)

Read this on a beach in Italy and enjoyed is very much. Looking forward to the next book. (And I wouldn't be surprised if there's a TV-series to be made!)

Galbraith, Robert (2014): The Silkworm. Sphere Books. Kindle edition.

Books 2014: The Cuckoo's Calling

As I've said before, I don't often read crime novels. Mainly because I don't care much for gory violence and other horrible stuff. I like quiet books. But when crime novels are well written, I enjoy them as much as any other book. My type of crime novel is the ones that appeal as much to my brain as to my adrenaline.

J.K Rowling (= Robert Galbraith) is simply an excellent writer. Her Harry Potter-novels are of course splendid. Her stories about private investigator Cormoran Strike is exactly how I like crime novels. He is a failure in many aspects of life, but has a brilliant mind for solving crime. In this first book, he investigates the apparent suicide of a supermodel, Lula Landry. By his side, he has a young assistant/secretary, Robin Ellacott. Together, they make a great team. I won't reveal too much if I say that Landry's death was of course murder, not suicude, and that the case gets solved satisfactorily. Who did it? You must find out yourself. It's a great read!

Galbraith, Robert (2013): The Cuckoo's Calling. London: Sphere. Kindle edition.