Recension: Cirkeln | Review: The Circle

Jag läste klart Cirkeln av Mats Strandberg och Sara Bergmark Elfgren förra veckan. Vilken bok! Jag kände en hel massor olika känslor när jag slutade boken och förste kunde jag inte samla tankarna för att skriva en recension. Jag är faktiskt inte helt säker på att jag kan göra det nu, men jag ska försöka.

I finished reading The Circle by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmak Elfgren last week. What a book! I felt a whole heap of different feelings when I finished the book and at first I couldn't gather my thoughts enough to write a review. I am not completely sure that I can do it now, but I'll try.

Jag tyckte om denna bok. Huvudpersonerna var intressanta, och det var även deras magi. Det kan vara svårt att skriva sex olika personer med olika personligheter, men jag tyckte att författarna klarade det ganska bra. Det enda jag skulle säga är att Minoo reagerade konstigt vid några tillfällen. Hennes känslor var svåra att förstå – vilket påpekades av Vanessa och Linnéa. Trots deras uppfattning, som visar att författarna var medvetna om denna aspekt av hennes karaktär, tyckte jag att beteendet var överdrivet och det störde min uppfattning av henne och min upplevelse av boken.

I liked this book. The main characters were interesting, as was their magic. It can be difficult to write six different characters with different personalities, but I thought that the authors managed it fairly well. The only thing I would say on that count is that Minoo reacted strangely on some occasions. Her feelings were difficult to follow - which is pointed out by Vanessa and Linnéa. Despite their realisation, which shows that the authors were aware of this aspect of her character, I thought that it was overemphasised and it disturbed my understanding of her as well as my experience of the book.

Jag tyckte om mysteriet. Jag hade en aning om vem mördaren var men jag var inte missnöjd när det avslöjades. Ledtrådarna fanns, men det fanns en del osäkerhet också.

I liked the mystery. I had an idea who the murderer was but I wasn't disappointed when it was revealed. There were clues, but there was also a whole lot of uncertainty.

Magin i boken var intressant och jag ser fram emot att ta reda på hur den fungerar mer i detalj. Jag vill också gärna se Idas tankar i den andra boken. Jag är övertygad om att det finns en anledning till att hennes perspektiv inte hörs i Cirkeln. Hon är säkert inte en särskilt sympatiskt figur men jag tror att hon komma att visa sig som intressant.

The magic in the book was interesting, and I look forward to finding out how it works in  more detail. I would also really like to see Ida's thoughts in the second book. I am convinced that there is a reason why her perspective isn't seen in The Circle. She is certainly not a particularly sympathetic figure but I think she will prove to be interesting.

Vad gäller språk tyckte jag att denna bok var bra för min nivå. Den var inte lika enkel som Stolthet och fördom eller Mio, min Mio, men den är mycket enklare än Låt den rätte komma in, som jag har försökte läsa under de senaste tre år.

In terms of the language, I thought this book was good for my level. It wasn't as easy as Pride and Prejudice or Mio, my Son, but it is much easier than Let the Right One In, which I have been trying to read for the past three years.

This book counts for Sweden for the European Reading Challenge.

Review: The Cyberiad

I loved this. Never before have I so fervently wished that I could speak Polish - and I've been tempted by Polish many a time before. These stories are incredibly playful, but also incredibly critical of the many pitfalls of human ideologies and mindsets. Michael Kandel did an amazing job translating this - providing a hilarious and engaging translation. I will have to seek out more things that he has done (even just essays or editorials).

However, I felt that this collection of stories did have its pitfalls. Some stories dragged a bit. I'm thinking here, mostly, of 'The Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines of King Genius', but all of the last stories fell a bit flat with me after the sheer wonder of the Sallies. In addition to this, some elements included as givens felt odd in a world of robots - the approach to death being one, the extremely patriarchal society being another. This last is somewhat understandable, given the stories' own explanations of how robot society came about.

All in all, though, this was an incredibly fun read, with three stories that particularly stood out for me being the two first Sallies and the third Sally

This counts as Poland for the European Reading Challenge. It is also included in the Mount TBR challenge (my first book!) and the Books in Translation Challenge.

February Wrap Up: Knitting and Travel

This month has been a month of many books, but little reading. As my last post says, I bought a lot of books in Germany, and continued the trend on my trip to Sweden, from which I returned a couple of days ago. While there, I bought four books and my boyfriend gave me a fifth. The books are: Jane Eyre in Swedish translation, 'The Cape' and 'The Nose' by Gogol (also in Swedish translation), Udda Verklighet, by Nene Ormes and Eld, the second book in the Engelfors trilogy by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren, to follow on from the first book which I bought earlier on in the month.

But, no finishing of books has been done. I've read a fair bit, mostly from Cirkeln, which is the first book of the trilogy, and also a LOT of The Cyberiad which continues to be an absolute joy. I have also torn my way through a few Enid Blyton school stories, but I can't count that in good faith.

My fingers have been otherwise occupied. I wanted to finish the second sock I started knitting, but then decided I would rather finish the scarf I've been making since October. Sadly, it is still not finished, although I very well may finish it today. The scarf was far to big to take with me to Sweden, unless I wore it, and I somehow doubt that airport security would be okay with me wondering around with two massive needles attached to my neck. So, I brought the second sock with me instead... only to run out of yarn just before I finished the toe! I set those socks aside, and started on a pair that I promised my aunt. I had managed to misplace my slightly larger double pointed needles JUST before packing them, and still haven't managed to find them, so there I sat trying to knit aran on 2.5mm needles. This didn't go so well. I got a few inches in before realising the sock would be too small, even for me, and I had to rip it out and start all over again. I've gotten a bit further, but I believe the sock will still be too small, so I've put it on hold until I see my aunt again and can measure it against her. Hopefully it goes well. So, I've done a big circle, back to the everlasting scarf again.

I have no travel plans for this month, having blown my budget last month. It would be nice to make it to visit some friends around the UK, but sadly not likely. That gives me much more time for finishing my current knitting projects and starting at least one more (socks for my sister - I'm addicted!), more time for reading and more time for language study. I managed to read 100 pages of The Cyberiad last month - I realised about two weeks in that hoping to finish it was too ambitious, even for my overly ambitious self. I've got a little over 120 pages more to go, so maybe I'll be able to get through that in those two extra days that March brings. Otherwise, I should finish Cirkeln and start a new Swedish book (probably Reser med lätt bagage by Tove Jansson - the book from my boyfriend). I'll also try Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attendais quelquepart by Anna Gavalda again, although I'm not holding my breath. When I'm done with The Cyberiad, I'll read a bit more of Bone Jack, and maybe start one of the many other English books on my bookshelves, waiting to be read.

Germany & Book Haul!

This title gives the impression that these two things are separate. Really, they are one and the same. I went to Germany to visit a friend, and timed my visit to fall on the first Sunday of the month which is when a used book market is held in a town near her home.

My visit, at four nights in total, felt far too short. Also, it was apparently carnival time in the region. If I had know before hand, I would have definitely bought a fancy dress costume with me. Dressing up and drinking? Count me in!

But, enough of that. Lets talk about books!

My total number of books bought and received on this visit was... well, it was certainly more than I could fit in my ryanair restricted hand luggage! Especially considering I made the mistake of bringing four of my currently reading books with me*.

I managed to bring back seven books, which will be the ones I talk about. The ten or eleven I left behind will have to be the talk of another time.

Having recently lived the surprisingly exciting and empowering experience of reading Pride and Prejudice in Swedish, I bought the German translation, Stolz und Vorurteil. My German is nowhere near as good as my Swedish, but I know the story so well that it's like having a pop-up dictionary in my head. I've decided to make it a tandem read with another friend, and so we'll aim to read two chapters per week. However, she's already on chapter five, so I'll have to catch up with her first.

Next is Frostfeuer (Frost Fire**) by Kai Meyer. This book has been sitting on my 'to read' list for a while now, and as my friend had a copy, she lent it to me. I... am in all honestly, no longer sure what this book is about, which is a little embarrassing, if I'm honest. But, the blurb mentions a magic duel and a snow queen, and the writing generally makes me happy. Also, the cover has a lot of blue on it, which is nice. I probably shouldn't start reading this anytime soon, but that's never stopped me before. After all, I've only got 28 other books to work my way through!

Next on my shelves are the first, third and fourth books from the Pucki series by Magda Trott. These were purchased at the book fair for two euros each. They are in great condition, although they are obviously well aged. They remind me of my childhood favourites: the Little Women series and the What Katy Dids. The series is quite long running, and there were three other books at the market, but I wasn't much interesting in Pucki the happy bride, or Pucki the housewife or even Pucki and her three young boys - although I'm thinking I may regret my decision if that last is anything like Jo's Boys. I intend to make my way through these at some point, but they're quite old so I'm a bit wary of the difficulty.

The sixth and seventh books are also book market purchases. The sixth is a gorgeously bound book of poems. I'll be honest: I bought this books based on the cover, the fact that it is printed in that wonderful old German typeface and the fact that it contains a poem called 'Fieberträume' which, if I'm not mistaken, translates to 'Fever dreams'. For the interested, it is called Dreizenlinden by F. W. Weber. The title seems to mean 'Thirteen Lindens', and I would chance a guess and say that the poems are at least loosely religious. From my flick through, it doesn't seem to be completely opaque, which is always a plus. It was also only four euros. How could I pass it by?

The seventh and final book for this post is Die schönsten Märchen aus aller Welt, a collection of folk tales from all over the world. The majority of the tales are unlabled, and so can be assumed to be European. However, there are also tales from the Americas (one apiece), quite a few from Asia, and some from Africa. There is also one Inuit tale. I'll make my way through this fairly slowly, as I am to be taking part in a challenge to read one short story or tale per week, and I am woefully behind as I decided neither the stories from Sommarboken or The Cyberiad count. This'll do me until I buy Låt den gamla drömmarna dö by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

This has been a rather long post, but before I sign off I'd like to share the fact that while in Germany, I started knitting a sock, which I finished yesterday (Thursday) morning. Go me!

I've never knitted a sock before, or anything in the round, so I'm pretty proud of myself. This was definitely a learning process. Of course, it's only one sock. As soon as my fingers have recovered enough from five days of almost straight knitting on teeny tiny needles, I'll start the second one :D

Happy blogging, all
Little Newman

*For the interested, those four books are: Bone Jack by Sarah Crowe, The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem, Die unendliche Geschichte by Michael Ende and Tintenherz by Cornelia Funke. Bone Jack is the only one I see myself finishing this month, contrary to previous expectation, which also included The Cyberiad in that projection.

**The return of the extremely liberal translations... consider yourself warned!

January Wrap Up: Reading and Languages

As the title suggest, this January has been a mix of two things, and two things only. I have read much, and I have done a lot of language study... which most of the time has meant reading more and watching a cookery video or a quiz show every now and again. Who says learning languages isn't fun?

The two books that I reviewed are the only two that I finished this month: Sommarboken by Tove Jansson and Mio, min Mio by Astrid Lindgren. They were fantastic books, and I am pretty sure that they are widely translated, so I really recommend them.

Otherwise I have been slowly reading my way through Bone Jack by Sarah Crowe and The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem in English. These are both very great, very different books. Bone Jack feels like it straddles the border of middle grade and young adult fiction, a very dark coming of age story. I've been wanting to read it for a very long time, and it is not disappointing me thus far. The only problem is that I feel as though I have to draw it out. It would be so easy to gobble it up all in one sitting, but then I'd be finished and I don't think I'd be doing the book justice. The Cyberiad is wonderful - very silly, and very entertaining. A goodreads reviewer said that they wished they spoke Polish to enjoy all that word play in the original and I thought: 'Well, Polish has been on my hitlist for a while, now...'   But don't worry. I'm holding myself back.*

My foreign language 'currently reading' includes Pride and Prejudice, which I am racing through in Swedish translation, Tintenherz, which I am reading with the German Bookclub on A Language Learners Forum and Die unendliche Geschichte, which I am supposedly tandem reading with a friend. We are not so good at keeping on schedule. I am also intensively rereading through Kaninhjärta on ReadLang. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to read it on ReadLang before, but it has now, at the very least.

I guess that here is as good a place as any to put reading goals for February, so...

I hope that, by the end of February, I have finished reading both Bone Jack and The Cyberiad. I am still not sure what should be my next book. If I work through my bookshelf, the next thing should be Darkmans, which remains unfinished despite all of my good intentions. Otherwise, there are thousands** of books clamouring for my attention.

For the foreign language reads, I have no particularly ambitious goals, beyond finishing Stolthet och fördom, which will probably happen this week, and catching up with myself in my read-through of Kaninhjärta. I would also like to get back up to speed with Die unendliche Geschichte, and keep up to speed with Tintenherz. As I am going to both Sweden and Germany this month, I would like to buy at least one new book in both languages. But more on that later.

Happy Reading!
Little Newman

*For now.
**Exaggeration.

Recension: Sommarboken | Review: The Summer Book

Jag har läst färdigt Sommarboken av Tove Jansson under veckan och jag tyckte att den var fantastiskt. Hennes sätt att skriva är magiskt: boken och orden förvandlade världen omkring mig till den lilla ö där Sophia, farmorn och pappan tillbringar somrarna. Jag kunde höra allt de hörde, jag kunde se vad de såg och luften i mitt rum började nästan lukta salt och hav.

I finished reading The Summer Book by Tove Jansson during the week, and I thought it was fantastic. Her writing style is magical: the book and the words transformed the world around me into the little island where Sophia and Grandmother and Father spend their summers. I could hear everything they heard, I could see what they saw and the air in my room began to almost smell like salt and the sea.


Boken innehåller flera berättelser. De flesta av dem handlar om Sophia och hennes farmor, vad de gjorde och deras samtal. Men naturen tar också stor plats. Så här börjar den första berättelsen:

The book contains several stories. The majority of them are about Sophia and her grandmother, what they did and their conversations. But nature has a big role also. This is how the first story begins:

’Det var en tidig mycket varm morgon i juli och det hade regnat på natten. Det nakna berget ångade men mossan och skrevorna var dränkta av fukt och alla färger hade fördjupats.’

'It was a very warm early morning in July and it had rained over the night. The naked mountain steamed, but the moss and the and the crevices were drenched in moisture and all colours had deepened.'

Området är viktigt. Sophia, farmorn och pappan interagerar lika mycket med området som med varandra – pappan faktiskt verkar interagera med området mer än med sin familj. De interagerar också genom området. De tar promenader eller åker båt tillsammans, de arbetar i trädgården tillsammans, om det verkligen kan kallas för trädgård. Ön känns som en karaktär i sig, tyst men inte så tyst som pappan.

The area is important. Sophia and Grandmother and Father interact as much with each other as with the area - in fact, Father seems to interact more with the area than with his family. They also interact through the area. They take walks, or travel by boat together, they work in the garden together, if it can really be called a garden. The island feels like a character in and of itself, quiet, but not as quiet as Father.

Jag önskar att jag kunde berömma den här boken ännu mer, men mina enkla ord och lovord räcker inte. Så måste jag säger åt er som inte har läst boken än: gör det nu!

I wish that I could sing this book's praises more, but my simple words and commendations aren't enough. So instead I'll say to all who haven't read the book: do it now!

A note: This book is set on an island in the Gulf of Finland, and is written by Fenno-swedish author Tove Jansson. Therefore, for the European reading challenge it counts for Finland, although I read and reviewed it in Swedish.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

Yes, this will be yet another reading challenge sign up. The Mount TBR Reading Challenge is hosted on My Readers Block, and the goal is to read books from your TBR Pile. Does what it says on the tin.

I'm going to be aiming for the lowest possible 'peak', Pike's Peak. After all, from there the only way is up. This means that I'll be aiming to read at least 12 books from my TBR this year. Wish me luck!

The reviews for my challenge can be found here.

Recension: Mio, min Mio | Review: Mio, my Mio

Mio, min Mio av Astrid Lindgren är en fantastiskt vacker bok. Det är den första bok jag har läst av Astrid Lindgren som inte handlar om Pippi Långstrump, så var jag ganska förvånad. Den var mycket mer lyrisk och ledsen, det som var mycket oväntad. Historien handlar om Bo Vilhelm Olsson, en 9-årige föräldralöst pojke. Han hittar sin far, konungen av Landet i Fjärran, och fick namnet Mio från honom. Som konungens barn måste Mio kampa emot den riddar Kato, en ond varelse som har rövat bort många av Landet i Fjärrans barn.

Mio, my Mio by Astrid Lindgren is an amazingly beautiful book. It is the first non-Pippi Longstocking book I have read by her, and I was quite surprised. This book is much more lyrical and sadder than the Pippi books, which I didn't expect. It's about Bo Vilhelm Olsson, a 9 year old Orphan who becomes Mio when he finds his father, the King of The Faraway Land*. As the child of the King, Mio must fight against the knight Kato, an evil being that has abducted many of the children of The Faraway Land.

Jag hade en känsla av sorg och vemod hela tiden när jag läste denna bok. Till och med när Mio lekte i Landet i Fjärran och berättade om hur trevligt han hade det där kände jag hans sorg. Skrivningen var väldigt enkelt och lätt att förstå, men det bara gjorde sorgen ännu mer klar. Astrid Lindgren var inte alls rädd för att visa mörkret i den här boken, trots att den är en barnbok. Det är ingen förvåning att så många vuxna kunna njuta av den har boken och jag ser verkligen fram emot att läsa Astrid Lindgrens andra böcker, om de är såhär.

I felt a strain of sadness and melanchol throughout this book. I could feel Mio's sadness even when he played in the Faraway Land and recounted what fun he had there. The writing was very simple and easy to understand, but that only made the sadness clearer. Astrid Lindgren wasn't at all afraid of showing darkness in this book, even though it is a children's book. It's no surprise that so many aduts can enjoy this book, and I am really looking forward to reading her other books, if they are like this one.

*My own translation.

Books in translation challenge

So here is the second of the two reading challenges I wanted to join. The books in translation is literally just that - reading books in translated. And, as I love translated literature, and languages,  figure this is a great challenge for me. I'm not really sure how many translated books I currently have to be read, but I figure that for now, I'll aim for 'Bilingual', that is 7-9 books.

The challenge is hosted on The Introverted Reader, where you will find full details.

The reviews for my challenge can be found here.

European Reading Challenge

I've just found out about the world of reading challenges (beyond the Goodreads challenge) and so shall be signing up for at least two. The first of these will be the European reading challenge hosted on Rose City Reader invites participants to read their way through Europe. Rules and sign up can be found in the post above. I'd like to pledge a book for all of the countries, in an ideal world, but I know that won't happen. Instead, I'll aim to read at least the four following books:

• Bone Jack by Sarah Crowe for the UK
• Mio, min Mio by Astrid Lindgren for Sweden
• Tintenherz by Cornelia Funke or Die unendliche Geschichte by Michael Ende for Germany
• Chagrin d'école by Daniel Pennac (or something else) for France

If possible, I would like to add a book from Finland (either The Rabbit Back Literature Society or It Came from the North, an anthology of Finnish speculative fiction), and Odinsbarn from Norway. Beyond that... who knows? Maybe some Milan Kundera for Czech, or something Russian, or Spanish, or Italian might even creep in! [Almost] anything is possible, and I'm excited!

The reviews for my challenge can be found here.