Mariann sin blogg

I mentioned before my opinion on the 'For Dummies' books. It seems their main audience is children. And perhaps it is. But I do have a couple of them at home. And this one about British history was actually quite fun to read. Having studied English at University when I was young, I really ought to know more about British history than I do. But I tend to forget too much, and can never remember the correct order of all the Henrys and Richards etc. So this summer I actually started reading this book. My idea is that if I just read enough history books, I will learn something eventually. And hopefully remember it. Anyway. The book takes us from the Stone Age to modern times in less than 400 pages. That is quite an achievement. And I truly understand the need to cut away all the details. What is left is the interesting and entertaining bits. Next time, I'll read a proper history book.  Possibly. Maybe. Lang, Sean (2004): British History for Dummies . 3.ed. Chichester: Joh...

Patrick Modiano is a French author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2014, which is the reason I picked up one of his books. Suspended Sentences is a collection of three separate novellas/long short stories (originally written in the late 80s/early 90s), though sometimes they seem connected. The titles are: Afterimage (Chien de printemps) (1993) Suspended sentences (Remise de peine)(1988) Flowers of ruin (Fleurs de ruine) (1991) The books is translated by Mark Polizzotti, and since I have no chance of comparing it to the original, I don't know if this is a good translation or not. Personally, I didn't like it much. I found both the style of writing and the stories themselves slightly boring, and was happy when I reached the last page. But then, I've had that feeling before with Nobel Prize winners.(So it might just be me ...) But again - perhaps the translation didn't manage to express the true greatness of Modiano's writing?   Modiano, Patrick (...

This is actually my first Murakami book. His books have always been praised in my circles, but somehow I've never set out to read one of them until now. I'm quite sure it won't be my last. As I don't understand Japanese, I've read the English translation, so my view of the book is based on this version. Written in a cool and distanced language I'm amazed on how strongly I was drawn into the story. The story itself centres around Tsukuru, who having enjoyed a happy life with his friends, suddenly is cut off from them, being told they want nothing to do with him. This has an enormous effect on his life, but he struggles through it and life goes by, without him trying to find out what happened back then. Then, one day, he meets a girl, who asks him to confront his past, and he does. And this is why I could hardly put the book down. As a reader you want to find out, perhaps even more than Tsukuru himself, what really had happened that made his friends reject him.A f...

Another infotainment book from Stephen Clarke, this time about British francophile royalty, King Edward VII, apparently also known as Dirty Bertie.  Prince Edward became a great fan of the French jet set lifestyle and was called the playboy prince. This is a book about his life, from a young boy and the eldest son of Queen Vicotira (who really didn't believe in him) until he died in 1910, a popular and respected King. An enjoyable biography of the lighter sort. Clarke, Stephen (2014). Dirty Bertie; An English King made in France . London: Century. Kindle edition.

Another book by Julian Barnes! Originally from 1984 and one of his earlier books, it isn't one of my favourites. It took a while to engage in the story, and I wasn't as charmed by it as I've been by most of his other novels. We follow a retired Flaubert scholar, trying to track down which of two stuffed parrots belonged to Flaubert. Woven into this are stories about Flaubert's life and and about the scholar himself. Still, a good read, and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 1984. Barnes, Julian (2009). Flaubert's Parrot . London: Vintage.

The full title of this book by Stephen Clarke is Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French , and if you've ever read anything by Clarke you then know this is a book making fun of the French (and the English ...) I think most of Clarke's books are witty and entertaining, and if you know the English and/or the French, I guarantee you'll laugh too:) This is a very funny guide to understanding the French - or perhaps I should say understanding the French stereotype. Examples of chapters are: Thou shalt not work - Why long weekends are good for the French economy, Thou shalt not sing in tune, Thou shalt not be served. Etc. Truly entertaining for us Anglophiles. Not sure about the Francophiles, though ... :)   Clarke, Stephen (2007). Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French . London: Black Swan. Kindle edition.

One of my favourite reads of 2014 and of course written by Julian Barnes, first published in 2005. I started reading it because it was by Barnes, and I didn't really check what is was all about. It therefore took quite a few pages until I realised that Arthur in the novel is in fact Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. George is a half-Indian solicitor who is wrongfully accused of a crime. He seeks the help of Arthur and Arthur spends considerable time and effort in not just clearing George's name, but also solving the crime. The novel is to some extent based on the true story of this case. The characters and their lives are wonderfully portrayed, and with them a glimpse of turn-of-the-century Britain. Barnes, Julian (2012): Arthur & George . London: Vintage. Kindle edition.

The last book of 2014 (actually finished early January) was Tara Brabazon's Digital Dieting: From information Obesity to Intellectual Fitness . I've written about this book in my library blog . Brabazon, Tara (2013): Digital Dieting: From Information Obesity to Intellectual Fitness . Farnham: Ashgate.

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...

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

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.

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.

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 ...

No, not that Northanger Abbey, which I of course enjoy immensly. This one is written by Val McDermid, and is a modernised version of the Austen classic. We meet the same people, but this time set in modern Britain, most of the time in Edinburgh. There's Catherine Morland, the (stupid) heroine who gets invited to the Edinburgh Book Festival by some friends of the family to keep the wife company (how likely is that!!!). She falls in love with Henry Tilney who lives at Northanger Abbey (of course). And then there is the even more stupid (and also bad) Bella Thorpe who creates a bit of drama wherever she goes. Now, it's been a while since I read the original, but I simply can't remember any of the characters being as stupid as these. The modernisation of the story simply doesn't work. The characters and their actions all seem very unlikely and more like cartoon figures. The book doesn't even work as an Austen parody, like some of the zombie-books, which are equally ba...

I have completely fallen behind on my reading updates, so I thought I'd try to catch up a bit. My most recently read book was read on the journey to Italy, where we are spending a couple of weeks this summer. I know a few words in Italian, but far from enough to talk or understand much of the language. Italian is not really difficult to learn, but as an adult I struggle because the vocabulary doesn't seem to stick as easily as it did when I was young. And of course I don't get to practice it very often. But in an effort to catch up with the few phrases I knew, I bought this book to read on the plane. I must admit I'm not really a fan of the 'for dummies'-books. I recently started British History for Dummies , and I get a bit irritated because I don't feel 'dum' enouogh. It's style is more suitable for children, I feel. But not this Italian book, though. It tries to cover an enormous area in very few pages and is thus doomed to fail. It lists so...

Earlier this year I was so lucky as to be invited to a library event in Moscow. I got invited on a very short notice, and there was quite a few practical arrangements that needed to be taken care of, most importantly the visa. But there is more to life than practical matters, so before I left, I decided to prepare myself for Russia, by reading a Russian novel. A colleague of mine suggested I read something more modern than the usual classics, so I downloaded a novel by Andrey Kurkov to my beloved Kindle. It turned out Kurkov is apparently a Ukranian author who writes in Russian! In the light of political events over there these days, some will probably claim I made a deadly mistake there! That's not really important in this connection, however. The book turned out to be well written (translated) and very entertaining. I finished the book before my 3 day stay in Moscow was over, in spite of a full programme of library and touristy events. It is the kind of book that makes you feel...

Tenkte jeg skulle lese noen lokale forfattere og under årets hyllerydding på UB kom jeg over romanen til en av mine tidligere forelesere, Even Arntzen. Man kan vel trygt si at dette ikke er en A4-roman. Snarere en litteraturviters våte drøm. Eller kanskje en parodi på en litteraturviters våte drøm. Boka er nemlig stappfull av allusjoner til andre litterære verk. Jeg føler et usselt grunnfag i litteraturvitenskap ikke strekker til når man skal beskrive boka. Kort fortalt følger vi hovedpersonen, Veen Trannez (et anagram over forfatterens eget navn), i en noe diffus jakt på den fabelaktige og enda mer diffuse, Brett Ashley (en karakter fra Hemingways Og solen går sin gang ). Jeg fikk ikke helt med meg hvorfor helten jakter på Brett. Det er kanskje mer selve jakten som er hensikten med fortellingen. Det kryr av folk i boka. Såpass mange at jeg mister litt oversikten over hvem som er hvem. Boka kunne nok ha nytt godt av en redaktørs kyndige hånd. (En redaktør ville forhåpentligvis fortal...

Documenting all the books I read in 2013 turned out to be more difficult than I thought. Suddenly time flew and I was to busy to write about the books. And some were forgotten for other, mystical reasons. Better luck in 2014, is all I can say. When going through my Kindle titles the other day, I realized that I've completely forgotten to include Julian Barnes' Levels of Life in my 2013 reading list. Julian Barnes is one of my favourite contemporary authors. There is something light and refershing about his writing. I can't quite explain it, but I find him a joy to read. This is in a way not a typical Barnes book. It has three stories, one about photography 19th century photographer Nadar), one about ballooning, love and Sarah Berhardt and one about Barnes' own grief after losing his wife. It's been a few months now since I read it, so the detailes of the stories are lost to me. What I do remember is that I liked reading it. As always, when it comes to Barnes. ...

The last book of the year was this essay collection by Siri Hustvedt, an author I like very much. Halfway through the book I was ready to pronounce this my favourite book of the year, but I changed my mind during the last part, not because it wasn't any good, but because it turned out to be more demanding than I wanted. The first part, Living, is, as the title says, about life in general. It is Hustvedts thoughts on different aspects of life. She writes in such a clear and illuminating manner, that I frequently find myself thinking 'Yes, i agree! She writes what I'm thinking too!' The second part is Thinking, and here we moves heavily into the area of neuroscience and psychology. I can follow her writings to a certain degree, but must admit that some of it was a bit boring for someone who has absolutely no background in this field. The last part, Looking, is more or less about art, about artists, paintings and our perception of art. Interesting to read, especially if ...

The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2013 was Alice Munroe. This is an author who has been on my reading lists for a decade or two, but who has somehow never made it to my bedside table. Or my Kindle. Until now. Luckily for me, I've made a promise to myself to read all the Nobel prize authors. Sometimes I don't quite agree with the Nobel judges, but this year, I found the author an absolutely worthy winner. Munro is mostly known for her short story collections, and my choice fell upon Something I've been meaning to tell you , originally from 1974. The book contains 13 different stories. The strange thing is that after reading them all, I felt like I'd read a novel. Somehow it felt like all the main characters really was one person, no matter how different they all were. I think this says something about Munros strong voice as a storyteller. This particular collection has a strong sense of quietness, of longing and of melancholy, but is never sentimental. Tha...