!Year New Happy

This blog is a complete mess, isn't it?
I find I'm always surprised when people leave comments for I can't really see how anything I put here is of any use or entertainment for anyone but myself.

According to tradition I am to list the books I completed last year and review the ones I liked.
But I can't seem to find any motivation for it. I don't know why, but my head is constantly in a turmoil these days. And Christmas and New Years just flashed by. I managed to cling onto some branches and follow the flow, and I had a good time, but I can't say I was that aware of the things happening as it went...

Christmas is/was weird this time (I guess it had to be with a key-person missing).

I could list the books though. And add a sentence about each. If anyone wants to know more about one, they can ask me.

I didn't really read that many books this year anyways. It was a silly year. It had of course it's beautiful moments, but overall I didn't care that much for 2012. Glad it's over. On to better times! (with less sugar, more exercise, proper sleep, yadda yadda yadda).

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
        A fun read, though not as fun as I had hoped.

The Gallows Curse - Karen Maitland
        Same as above really. I love Karen Maitland's style, but this one didn't quite measure up to i.e. Company of Liars.

Perfume - Patrick Süskind
       Loved it.

En dåre fri - Beate Grimsrud
        It's just brilliantly written.

Her Fearful Symetry - Audrey Niffenegger
        Niffenegger is great at portraiting people's relationships and I couldn't put the book away for a second, but I strongly disliked the ending and that sorta ruined the whole thing for me.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
        I really enjoyed this.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
        This may be my favorite of all the books I read this year. It isn't necessarily any better (you know, when it comes to quality, whatever that implies) than the others, but it contains all my favorite elements (magic, love, mysteries, historic settings, and so on). It was a joy from start to finish.

Ett öga rött - Jonas Hassen Khemiri
        This one is so deliberately and well executed, I enjoyed it very much.

I spent my life, becoming invisible

Finding Twilight (by Stephenie Meyer) on my reading list for this year's literature class, I suddenly regret having watched the movie and read the comic. I know everything that happens in this story, but I still insist on reading it 'cause I know there are differences, and in case we're gonna discuss language and phrasing in class. I need to know how Meyer wrote the thing not how Catherine Hardwicke directed it or Young Kim drew it.

But reading it takes forever. I'm bored and constantly (and somewhat happily) letting myself get distracted. After trying to read the printed version, I have settled for the audio book. Being able to do crafts while listening stops my mind from trailing off too often...

It came as a surprise too. This American book is not what you expect to must read when you're taking "Modern Scandinavian Literature"... But this includes popular Scandinavian books, and Twilight is a popular book in Scandinavia, just as in the rest of the first world, so...

Oh well, I'll manage. It's a good opportunity to finish my cross stich table runner.

Speaking of worldwide bestsellers...
Here's another song from the Hunger Games Soundtrack, I kept having this on repeat all last week:

The Games of Death

Which is what you get if you take the title of the Norwegian version of The Hunger Games and translate it back to English.

I haven't read the books, I haven't watched the movie. Maybe I'll watch the movie someday just to know what everyone is screaming about, but I don't think I'll ever read the books. I'm sure they are great, but I sincerely think I'm not in the target group.

HOWEVER.

Some Norwegian paper (was it Aftenposten?) spoke kindly of the movie's soundtrack. And as I was raised to have/born with an open and curious mind towards music; I had to check it out (I mean; the soundtrack to Sucker Punch is absolutely fantastic, so why not?).

It's great. the soundtrack is great.

So to all you other people out there thinking like me ("I'll never get this Hunger Games-hysteria, but I'm glad people are having fun"), or to all you people convinced that this phenomenon doesn't interest you the slightest, I urge you to give the soundtrack album a chance.

i.e this song. One Engine by The Decemberists.

The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond at Spotify

In the Norwegian version of Itsy-Bitsy Spider the spider is climbing up "my hat", not some random water spout...

Muwahahaha.

I've been sulking around trying to find something good to blog about (life's pretty dull these days, nothing interesting to report) and now I have found something I want to rant about. So yes! I'm letting it out on the poor soul who for some reason is reading this.

I like to know what I'm getting into before I might, in example, spend money or at least time on something. So, I love how reviewing stuff is sort of an internet trend. Whatever you're considering; someone out there is reviewing it for you. Great.

BUT
(And this does of course not include everyone, I know of people and got close friends who are excellent reviewers. But they aren't that well represented at amazon, goodread etc.)

When I'm reading a bookreview, I DO NOT want to know what's happening in the book. I do not want to know how it ends. I'll actually read the book itself for that.

I want to know whether or not it's worth my time. Is the writer a good storyteller? Is the text well formulated? Are the characters well developed? Did you like the end (not what happened, just did it surprise you? was it fitting? or was it too abrupt or poorly done?)? How would you compare this book to other works by the same author? Is the voilence/sex/tragedy/jokes/relationships elegantly described? Would you recommend this book to what sort of reader? And do YOU consider it a good book?

Now. Is that so hard?
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btw. Amanda Palmer has recorded a new album (yay, hurray, woohoo!!) and I can't wait for it to come! September is usually one of my least favorite months, but now it can't come fast enough.
Since we're talking about one of my biggest idols (perhaps the biggest), I'm sharing the link to her kickstarter here: http://kck.st/GrandTheftKS in hope that some more people out there will support her and her new band. So there.
________________________________________

I should do this more often, right? Just blog what's on top of my mind without judging it. I'm gonna share more of my dragons though, but I thought I should spread it in between other posts. Like spice. or something, rather than going on and on about dragon after dragon.

Yes. ... Merry May, everyone.

mokrbkao

I made myself a bookmark!
I'm creative and productive, yay.

I got thousands of bookmarks already (alright, not thousands, but a whole lot) and I'm using them all.
Yes, I'm that kind of crooked person who reads several books at the same time. (Which is why the book list on this blogg is called "Books I finished in 20xx", and not "Books I read...")
And the other day I was one bookmark short. (using postcards, receipts or napkins as bookmarks is too boring ;P)

So I found some of the lovely printed paper I got for my birthday (Thank you, E2) and I stole (I said please) some Aida from a friend (thank you, Vilje) and I made myself a bookmark.
And I feel mighty proud 'cause it's been a while since I made something on a whim like this.



For those curious: the book in the picture is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

Books I finished in 2011

Well, here we are again old love, here's to me and thee...

I did this in 2010 and enjoyed doing it so I’m doing it again. Here’s a list of all the books I finished reading during last year and I’ve written a tiny review of the books I think deserves special attention. Since this blog is mainly in English (If people are wondering why I can explain that later) I’ve used the English titles in my list and whenever I couldn’t find a title in English I used the original title. One exception would be Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I’ve read it before and this time I deliberately read the Norwegian version so I added the Norwegian title to my list.
16 books. That's just like last year...

The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle
To me, this book is THE book. I read it for the first time when I was around twelve and it was the very first book that kept me reading the whole night despite my mother’s bedtime rules. I’ve been up reading books the whole night many times since, but no book or allnighter really succeeds that one first time. Besides holding this memory the book itself is awesome. I’ve read it several times and its magic hasn’t bleached one bit. It is everything a good fantasy ought to be. Twelve years later I’m still somewhat in love with the clumsy Schmendrick. I still adore the Unicorn. And I can still relate to Molly (maybe even more now, when I think about it). Oh and the cat! I love this book. Lovelovelove.

- Little Lord Fauntleroy - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Coraline & Other Stories - Neil Gaiman
Coraline was the first story by Gaiman I ever read and it’s still my favorite. It’s a great story about courage and gratitude. This book also included some of his short stories and in my opinion they’re all good. I especially liked “How to Talk to Girls at Parties”. They’re all marvelously strange. Need I say more? It’s Neil Gaiman after all…

Another Way to be Young - Per Nilsson
I remember reading another book by Per Nilsson when I was around 14 or so (Yes, Let him smile … huh?). There’s something about the way he captures the casual everyday life of youth and combines it with the weird thoughts and ideas of teens. This book is both thrilling in some ways and comfortably philosophical in other ways. Like many books for teens it rotates around finding your identity and role in life, but it’s not cliché at all.

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
It’s a story about the real vampires. Not the glittering ones. Not the raving predator ones. The real ones. The whole book builds on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and weaves a story about the actual Vlad Tepes (aka The Impaler, aka Vlad III, aka Wladislaus Dragwlya, aka count Dracula) and his librarian minions (heehee XD). I have two minor issues; It is too detailed to make sense (how can a grown woman remember that when she was young her father told her that when he was young his teacher told him that when HE was young, on this specific day he was wearing this specific sweater and eating this specific dish at this specific time?) and it stops being scary too soon (The whole book is entertaining and fascinating but only the first part is really scary, I missed that as I read the actual climax of it). Otherwise it’s a good book and I really enjoyed it. It’s one of those books where you learn tons of funfacts about subjects you didn’t know you were interested in. I loved that.

- Deathvariations - Jon Fosse

- Alice i eventyrland (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, translated to Norwegian by Zinken Hopp) - Lewis Carrol

- Teori og praksis - Nikolaj Frobenius

- The Boy in the Suitcase - Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis

- Bli hvis du kan. Reis hvis du må. - Helga Flatland

Kafka on the Beach - Haruki Murakami
Oh, what a bizarre book! I’ve heard so much praise for Murakami, but I never heard or read anything about his specific books. Ergo; I knew nothing about this book when I started. I work in a library and I usually pay attention to the authors and titles people “have to read”. Once in a while I read some of the titles myself and most often there are good reasons why people recommend them to each other; they’re mostly good. But most of them seem to follow the same patterns and genres so when I started reading Kafka on the Beach I expected some kind of bland book. Probably very good, but bland. I was surprised. Even to me, who loves nonsense and weird stuff, at first this book felt just too weird. And I was like “why is he naked all the time?”. But it hypnotized me and kept me reading and I wished the book would just continue forever. It’s really enjoyable. And there are several philosophical moments where I just felt like “this book gets me” or it made me think. It was fun.

- Downfall: a love story - Per Olov Enquist

- Kjærlighet - Hanne Ørstavik

The Book of Dead Days - Marcus Sedgwick
Do you understand what I mean when I say sewer-fantasy? Or maybe graveyard is a better word than sewer. This book is dark and wet and you’ll definitely get dirt under your nails. Still I’d say it fits children of, I dunno, ten years and up. It’s got magic and illusions and orphans and gravedigging and mad science. All wrapped up in an alternative Victorian atmosphere. It’s kind of like a fantasy-version of Oliver Twist, except it’s not like that at all. I liked it.

- Morning and Evening - Jon Fosse

Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror - Chris Priestley
If I were twelve, this book would be the perfect kind of wicked. The kind that would scare me just right, without being too grotesque. Seeing as it’s been twelve years since I was twelve (How did that happen?!) it didn’t really scare me at all, but I still enjoyed it very much.

Books I finished in 2010

This list started out as an experiment of some sort. A teacher asked us, just for fun, how many books we approximately read during a year. I guessed 12, one book per month. Then I went home and wondered how true that was. So I made a list to find out. This year I‘ve read 16 books. And I decided to make a post about it for later personal reference. And by adding tiny reviews to the books I think deserve special attention, it might be somewhat interesting for others as well?

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is truly a great book. I’m not particularly fond of war-literature. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important that that sort of literature exists; I just personally don’t like reading it. This book however, tells the story of World War 2 with a very different perspective from what I’m used to. I loved it.

- Heart-shaped Box by Joe Hill

- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

- Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

- Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

- Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan

- The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland. This is the second book I’ve read from this author and it’s enough for me to put her on my list of favorite writers. There’s something about the way she describes this dark and dirty yet civilized age, the medieval times. Accurate depicturing of human life at that time mixed with supernatural happenings based on superstitions from old lore. (I can’t wait for her next book due out in spring 2011! I’ll be patient and wait for the right paperback-version to match my other two books though.)

- The Sound of Butterflies by Rachel King

- Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire by Derek Landy

- A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a magical book about believing in the power of imagination and positive thinking, as well as an adorable story of a little girl making it through unfair challenges. It’s a great read!

- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is the coolest adventure I’ve experienced in a long time. And yes, it’s the sort of book you don’t read, but experience. The world and the characters are described so well that you really feel like you’re running through the streets of Camorr right by the side of The Gentlemen Bastards, your old comrades. The whole thing is put together in a fantastic way with so much detail it’s hard to remember that it’s fiction and not an actual tale from another existing world. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. You’ll get mad and you’ll get relieved. I had so much fun from start to end. And thank God; it continues! It’s said to become seven books in total.

- The Witch’s Trinity by Erika Mailman

- Dissolution by C. J. Sansom

- Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw. It’s a comedy and it’s actually really funny. It’s funny in the relaxed and sort of natural way. No one’s jumping up and down trying desperately to make you laugh, it just is funny. And it gets MMORPGs (or MOGs) so well, it was all so familiar and oh so parodical in a comfortable reserved way. I couldn’t help feeling sympathy for the protagonist and the characters were all so loveable in their own bizarre way. Even Thaddeus who I think went on my nerves just as much as he did to the subject, James.

I think I will begin pretending I am a princess

I think I understand now why I love Frances Hodgson Burnett so.
I think I like how her books agrees with my own beliefs about magic.

I believe that magic exists. In our world, in this so called reality.
Only that it's so ordinary that we don't really see it.
Magic isn't shiny sparks turning people into frogs, making pigs fly or any other nature-defying tricks. Magic is your own personal accomplishments. Magic is all the changes. Magic is all the little coincidences. Magic is the strength to turn yourself around. Magic is the way you make someone else feel better.

You know what it's like to stand outside a winter morning freezing your toes off waiting for the next train. How thinking of something warm or fun will make you feel better? It's really hard, but a clever mind can do it.
And that is magic.

Both "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess" really are the most adorable books.
I wish for "Little Lord Fauntleroy" for Christmas...

["'I've often thought,' said Sara, in her reflecting voice, 'that I should like to be a princess; I wonder what it feels like. I believe I will begin pretending I am one.'" - A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett]