My new favourite page

http://awesomebookquotes.com/

Thanks for that!

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Angry.

I got the book so I could read it before the movie comes out. That never happened. After finishing the book I'm not quite sure if I want to go through the story again.

We Need to Talk about Kevin is a collection of letters, written by Kevin's mum Eva. The letters are addressed to Eva's husband Franklin, who never replies. Eva refers to an event (caused by Kevin) as Thursday. We only find out later what had happened (though if you have seen the movie trailer you already know). Was Eva such a horrible mother to have caused this? Was Kevin born evil? Although I don't think it's a female type book, it does deal with a very female question: Why are we having children? What if we are crappy parents? How do we love our child?

Eva's letters contain the relationship between her and Franklin,the 'joys' of parenthood, she describes how a child can get between partners, how a child can ruin your life by it's mere existence (at least in Eva's case).

Something about Eva made me pick her side in the beginning ... her husband was rather boring, and maybe even a little dumb. Eva herself has travelled through the world, and at least appears a very smart woman who knows what she wants (until love happens to her). I felt for her, and the whole giving up my career bit. This attitude changes over the course of the book ... I got angry with her, annoyed with her accusations, sometimes I even felt drawn to be on Kevin's side. 

The book doesn't answer why would should have kids, it doesn't answer the nature/nurture debate. There is not even a silver-lining in Eva's story (there is, but it is so tiny my head blends it away). Although there is nothing hopeful about We Need to Talk About Kevin it is a good read, that will stay with you for a while.

Also, this is one of the few books I really enjoyed reading the authors note at the end!

Nice little spot

Here is a nice little spot if you ever wondered what your books are up to during the night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SKVcQnyEIT8

I'll soon continue to fill up this blog! Promise!

Ten Days in a Mad House by Nellie Bly

Upsetting.

For Ten Days in a Mad House Nellie Bly faked insanity.
She got into a mental asylum on Blackwell's Island New York.
In 89 pages she reported how she and her fellow patients were treated by doctors and nurses.

It's one of the most upsetting things I have read. Ever. It's 1887 ... and there is no humanity for ill people. If they are ill after all.
I guess/hope/pray that things have changed all over the world. Though ill people, especially mentally ill people, are still very dependent on doctors and nurses. Who would believe them if they reported being treated like s**t? They are crazy ...

There isn't really much more to say about the book. Read it if you have a few hours to read, and a few more to think.

(What's up with her name ... Google suggested Nellie instead of Nelly. She's called Nelly on the book though.)

You can read parts of it here.

Before I go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

Sleepless.

When Christine wakes up in the morning she thinks she is mid 20 years old. When she opens her eyes she doesn't know where she is. She doesn't know who the man next to her is. Looking in the mirror she doesn't who it is she is seeing.
Christine lost the ability retain any memory ... everything is lost as soon as she falls asleep. She's mid 50 (I think) and the man next to her is Ben, her husband.
Before I go to Sleep follows Christine's efforts to get better. Her efforts to form a live. After meeting a doctor, she starts writing a journal, which takes most part of the book - so the reader learns bits and pieces of her past and her live with her. We get to know her Doctor and her husband better than she does. We get to know who's worth trusting and believing.

Progressing through the book, it's not only Christine's memory changing, it's the way she writes too. I found it a bit hard to get into in the beginning ... basically just because every journal entry would start the same way. After a while she starts leaving out the beginnings of the day, so reading goes a bit smoother.

It, hardly any surprise there, makes you appreciate your memory. Everything is based on having a memory of the day before today, the year before or even ten years before. This is what makes your personality. Planning the future is based your memory. You learn from experience, you grow with them. Your character and personality relies on memories. It's not that Christine doesn't have a personality though ... by reading her journal, which really contains her deepest thoughts we get to know her.
And when you think about your childhood, your teens and college years - think about if the memories you have are really representing the experiences you had? False memories? Confabulations? How do you know?
It also makes you think about the people around you. Who do you think you can trust fully and why do you think you can?

The thing that strikes me most about the book is how realistic it is. Cases similar to that really do exist. Clive Wearing has a memory span of half minute if he is lucky. (This makes him the sweetest husband on the planet though; check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDNDRDJy-vo). He doesn't even know what exactly he is eating. Thinks he's never seen a doctor. Has no thoughts. But remembers his wife. I love Clive. Such an awesome case.

Right ... if you're interested in memory and living without it I guess this book is a good read. And it's a lot better than the covers makes you think. I really wish they'd have put a bit more effort in the design of the cover.

The Long Song by Andrea Levy

Interesting.

The life of July (such pretty name) is rather harsh. She is born a slave in Jamaica, and taken away from her mom to entertain the fat white mistress from England with 9 years. However the story takes place in the 1830's the chaos and end of slavery years in Jamaica.
Through July (and her son Thomas) Levy describes how chaotic and weird life was for everyone at that time. How everything changes within minutes, how white people panic (how could they possibly survive?) once a revolution starts.

I don't really know anything (take the really away, I don't know a thing) about slavery, but Levy gives a pretty authentic description of things...and checking the rest of the interwebs it's pretty accurately researched.

So it's well written (sometimes rather hard to read, though that's intended I think), interesting book. And we could all do with a little extra knowledge, right?!

One Day by David Nicholls

Long...ish.

The story follows Dexter and Emma. They get together after their graduation 15th July 1988, with heads full ideas and plans for their future. The reader now gets to read what they do 15th July for the next 20 years. There is a lot of love, a lot of friendship, job success and massive failures on both sides. But somehow they manage to keep in touch, closer and further apart every now and then.

It's pretty cool because you don't just learn about the two of them but general feeling of the 90's, how lifestyle and life itself changed. They grow up (more or less) with all the common problems and joys. However there is a point within the middle ish end, where I wished it was a short story ... or at least would follow them for only 10 years, because there is not a lot left to say after a while. Though even the mini boredom, it picks up with a neat unexpected end (where again you wish it'd be over...there is no need for the last chapter, really there isn't).

Nice for summer I guess.

Oh there is going to movie with Miss Hathaway and lovely Mr Sturgess (the trailer gives a lot of story away though).

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Undecided.

Such highly popular and critically acclaimed novel ... and although I've read it months ago I can't decide if I liked it or not.

The story is relatively simple: Pi loses his family in an accident while travelling on a container ship to Canada. He survives together with a tiger, a hyena and a zebra. On a boat.

Once you got into the story (which took me 3 attempts and a lot of will power) the story makes sense for somewhat reason. And even though they are on a boat in the middle of the ocean it doesn't get boring.

Apparently it's the end that gets everyone (people have cried and laughed and fallen in love with the novel because of the end) but I just don't get it. I mean I do understand the story and the meaning and what he tries to tell ... but I don't get the hype around it. When I finished it I didn't really like it.
BUT
I couldn't stop thinking about it. For days afterwards I thought about the boy on the sea with his tiger. About his weird encounters with different fish and sharks and all that.

It's definitely worth the time for a read and worth all thoughts you may have about ... but I'm not sure if I thought it was that amazing.

Fatherland by Robert Harris

Incredible.

Fatherland is a crime novel taking place in the mid 1960's Berlin. Hitler is still alive and won the war.

The plot follows police detective Xavier March, and his investigation of the death of a high-ranking Nazi.  Soon March realizes that he is in the middle of a political scandal in which senior party leaders kill a certain group of people. He's supposed to be taken off the case.

However, March meets an American journalist, Charlie Maguire, who knows the case from a different angle. 

After both travel to Zurich together to check out the bank account of one of the victims, they uncover the missing details behind the murders.

Now though the plot may sound kind of interesting (which it really is!), it's the whole set up of the novel that gets the reader. Harris creates a Germany, a Berlin and a completely new history without going nuts on the amount of creative possibilities, but with a lot of research and sense. It's even more awesome if know Berlin and which areas of the town he's actually talking about.


The novel really does create an impression of Nazi Germany if Hitler had won the war. It also shows how European countries and in fact the rest of the world deal with it (or not). It shows how people live and fear, and you're never 100% sure if they follow their leader because they want him or because they have to. It also creates a new level to the question of knowing. 


And because the whole novel is so amazing, the end is almost too good to be true.

Love in the Time of Cholera by G. G. Marquez

My World Book Night give away.

Listen to this while you're reading ... but only if you like Shakira.

The story follows Florentino Arizo around for most of his life. Fermina is the woman he loves since he is very young. She decided against him and married a Doctor. So Florentino fills his live with other women (loads of them). He never forgets Fermina, never stops loving her. When her husband dies in a rather comical accident Florentino sees a chance for his dream love to become true. 

The awesome thing about the story, other than being unbelievably sad and romantic, is that it manages to follow him for more than 50 years. It shows his live and how it and the world around changes. The impact he makes on women, the impact he makes on their husbands, his work and his pain. Even though 50 years sound really long for a novel ... it never gets boring. There is just so much happening in his life (and of course you also want to know if they manage to get together in the end) so it's a relatively easy, but also really interesting read.

Let me know if you want a copy ... I have about 45 of them lying around. The copies are of course for the world book night. But living in Aberdeen there will be no major event ... so it won't be the easiest thing to get the books to people.

(Btw. if you have seen the movie and thought it was super dramatic and screamy and girly, don't be scared. I love the movie because of all the above factors, but the book is a lot better.)

The Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser

Scary.

When Janek wakes up he can't remember a thing. His name, his age, what happened last night all taken away by the booze. Then he finds his wife drowned in the bathroom.
Of course everyone thinks it was him. There are no other traces. Off he goes to the mental ward of a hospital. Where he gets killed a little later. Looks like he wasn't wasn't the killer after all. Who was it?

It's scary, because many of us have woken up without a trace of memory from the previous night. It's scary because of the injustice done by the police. Haha, the same could happen to you!

I kind of wish there would be a little more explanation in the end. I love how the story turns against any suspicion the reader has. However it doesn't make 100 % sense because Nesser only spend about 5 pages on explaining who did what and when. Still a great and easy read for the weekend.

Room by Emma Donoghue

Wow.

Room is the story of Jack and his mom. Together they live in a room. This room has a locked door, a skylight, a TV with Jack's friends in it, and other stuff you need for living. Jack knows that TV is not real, and so is everything else, except him and his ma. He is five years old and has never left Room.

Jack is telling us the story starting at his 5th birthday. Everything changes when he turns 5. His Ma 'unlies' that the world outside is not unreal and that they have to try to get outside. They create a plan together so Jack can get outside Room. Into the outside world.

I'd love to write the rest of the story but that would take a lot of awesome reading experience for you away, so I'll just leave the story where it is now.

The way Jack narrates the story we get an insight into the mind of child, that has never met other people, never played on a playground, never went to the shops, has never walked bare food through the grass. The way he writes about his life in Room shows the worth of love he has for his ma. And even though one might think, that this isn't a story for the tearful reader ... it is. It is a story for everyone. It's not over dramatic (although it is very exciting and tense at times) nor is it overly sentimental. It's funny and sad at the same time.

Room is one of those books one can read within a day. It's hard to put down, and it's an easy read as well (once you're used to Jack). If you have to spend a week reading on it (like I did, thanks exam time), it's a book that doesn't shut up. You keep thinking about Jack and his mom. About the changing relationship within those 5 years. About her change when she got Jack after being in Room alone for 2 years. What happens when they get out? He's never seen daylight and she just has to re-adjust. Will she still love him once she is outside?

And the most important question. How much does this novel relate to reality? Emma doesn't say anything about her inspiration for the book, but I am pretty sure it's inspired by the Fritzl case. Did you ever ask yourself what it would be like for those children? They have never seen the world. Room put those imaginations into a book. And did great work.

It's a very inspiring story. It's well written, has lovely characters and is also super interesting. So go, and get reading.

Sharing project

Right, I kind of want this to be a little more interactive than it is now. (I know, with all the zillion readers I have ... ) So here's the plan:

Version A: You email me your address and the wish book (which is one of the book I reviewed here) and I'll send it to you. For free. And you then, in return comment your opinion of the book underneath mine, in the comment section. And then give it to a friend (or if you didn't like it, you 'forget' it at the train station).

Version B: Now this version is a lot bigger and will take a looooot more time to actually work. I'll put my read and reviewed books into Oxfam bookshops. Now first stupid thing is that there is only one in my city. I could also forget them in the bus, planes, train stations ... not sure that would speed it up. Anyway, every book that is put out there will have a little note with the blog address and a 'please tell us what you think and pass the book on' note in it.

I hear you asking: What's the point? The point is to make me rich and famous with my blog and genius idea. Besides that it gives you guys the possibility to form and post an opinion, and help other readers to decide if the book is worth reading because there are more then my valued opinion. Or if not, you could get a free book.

But before this all starts I'd like you to tell me if you like the idea. So if you do, put an x in the comments, re-tweet it or let me know on facebook. If you even want to tell me which of the plans you favor - how awesome are you.

Enough of me now, I better get back to my exam revision.

Bus vs train vs plane

I had this discussion with mum the other day ... where is it best to read?

When I went to school my way there was about 20 minutes by train. Homework? Read a paragraph for class? All done on the train.
After school I used to live about 45 minutes by train away from work. That meant 1 hour and 30 minutes of reading time every day. 5 days a week. I read so many books. Les Miserable took me week (well train and bed reading together), some books were finished within a day. I loved that! Absolutely. (Also wish I'd had this blog already)

Then I moved to a smaller town, where I cycled 30 minutes to work everyday. Well, over the reading. Not so many books anymore. I however still loved reading on the train on the way to the family.

Now I moved countries and also into a much smaller town. I can walk to university within 20 minutes. I also have to take a 3 hour bus journey to the airport (or 2 1/2 with the train). And the almost 2 hour flight home. And do I use those journey hours wisely? Nope. For somewhat reason I can't concentrate when I'm in the bus. Or train. All I do is sit there and stare out of the window even at night time. It is very rare and a massively good book (in fact, the last was 'Disgrace') that I spend all the time reading. But as soon as I get into the airport I start reading. I sit there, next to the boarding door and read. Walk into the plane and continue.

So how did I unlearn reading on the way? What's better about the landscape (I know by heart)? Weird. My mom is still traveling to work by train. About 30 minutes each way. Lots of books read ... and some forgotten on the train.

A Place of Execution by Val McDermit

My favorite crime novel ever! Well ... maybe not ever ever, but certainly my favorite by Val.

A child is missing. Missing in a tiny town with weird tiny town inhabitants who are not very helpful for the investigation. Is it murder? Possibly. Why? What happened? And what is the motive?

The atmosphere created is creepy but wonderful. You have the English countryside with all it's up and down sides, the village with all it's rumors and who doesn't like who because of what, just to see that they all stick together in the end. You have the detective and his team (I didn't really like anyone in particular in the team ... not sure if that was how she had intended it) working their mind off ... and you have a revelation about the history of the characters every now and then.

The case is rather frustrating. Not only for the detective, but as well for you! It took me forever to 'solve the case'. I had everyone in my suspicion, outsiders, insiders, everyone. And whenever I thought I got it, I turned the page ... and changed my mind. (And I'm normally pretty good in solving the cases before the detectives! Honestly! So good, I think I should go to join the police!)

I love Val McDermit novels. So far I've read 4 of them (and there are about a zillion) but this is the best! It's my recommendation when ever somebody asks me for a crime novel.

So. If you like crime novels. Go and get reading. Val McDermit it is.

Merci and Disgrace (?) by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Hurray for the North of the world for the crime novel authors. Here's another brilliant mind!

The series, which contains 3 books so far, plays around Detective Morck in his special operation "force" (haha, it's himself and his lovely assistant) for open cases. The characters are simply wonderful. They have fights, and crisis (massive crisis!) and problems like normal people. No perfection within the police. Far from it.

In Merci Carl and assistant get the case of a missing woman on the table. Everyone thinks she is dead because it's years and years ago. Carl goes after it anyway, in his very own way. The story doesn't only explain what he does why, it also goes into the mind and surrounding of the woman. And that's the creepy part. It's not so much a story of trying to guess who the 'murder' is, it's more of shock-horror thing when you hear what that woman has to go through. Brilliantly written!!!

In his second case (which I translated from the German book as Disgrace) he is trying to get his mind around a solved case. Weird. Starts kind of boring, gets a lot better, once you got to know how everyone is supposed to be and what actually happened. The case is of course not solved, and it's a lot more difficult to get it that way. It kind of reminded me of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo ... but I'm still not exactly sure why. It's not as exciting and grabbing as the first one, but it's still and easy and fast and well worth read!

However, if you're in the UK or the US you'll have to wait to get it. It's supposed to come out in May this year. It's worth waiting for though. Or you can try learning German until then.If you're German or are able to read it (go you!!) you can run out to your favorite bookstore now and grab a copy of both.

Something for protection

Keep safe out there with which book? Witz (which hilariously means joke in German). Check it out, it keeps you safe!

My arty farty disappointment aka. Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer

It was sad! Very very sad.

I have to say I like arty farty things! Honestly, big fan of arty farty movies (if their not too experimentalist and not too much David Lynch), arty farty novels (if they don't try too hard) even arty farty minimalistic music. And the best of it all is the expression itself. Arty farty for the go!

As you maybe know I am adoring Mr. Safran Foer for his writing. And I think I have actually read everything he wrote ... which is why I was so looking forward to his new book.

I also have weird habit of getting the least amount of information about the book possible. Just in case they spill the story ... so I didn't read any interviews or articles about his new book "Tree of Codes".

Well, the day comes. After tracking down every possibility to get the new book, I finally got it (wasn't cheap), ripped open the 2 envelopes with all my excitement, open the book very careful to see...it's an arty farty book. He didn't write anything. Even if he would have, it's almost impossible to read without getting annoyed and/or ripping the pages. So sad. It's 'just' another story cut out. He took Bruno Schultz's "Street of Crocodiles" and left some words/sentences/phrases of it. The rest is an assembly of wholes. Honestly?? Why? He could have as well spend his precious time on writing.

I'm sure the art world will appreciate his work a lot more than I do. For now there is nothing left to do. Except of reading "Street of Crocodiles" as whole. I hope at least that will be worth the read.

World Book Night

Check it out, it's world book night soon. You can apply to give books away, and you can even choose to whom you want to give it (well kind of). I love it. It gives people who are passionate about literature the chance to encourage other people to read. Without annoying your friends who can't listen to you anymore without rolling the eyes.

So go on, check it out and get the world reading :)

www.worldbooknight.org

Jonathan Livingston Seagull — a story by Richard Bach

Hmmmmmmmm ... apparently it's HUGE in the US. Not so huge in Europe but people 'have heard of it' at least. It's a fable and it's philosophical, trying to bring the meaning of live to the reader.

Maybe I just didn't get it, but I thought it's a weird novel.
Jonathan is a seagull, bored with being ordinary. While the rest is only concerned about flying from a to b to get some food, he practices flying everyday. In all possible constellations, really fast, really slow, really high, really low. Of course the others don't like that and say bye bye to the weirdo. He doesn't really care and continues his flying.

He then (I think after he died) comes into a form of personal heaven and learns more and better flying. He also starts to learn a lesson about freedom.

In the last part of the he tries to get this freedom into other seagulls...partly successful.

So even though the other seagulls were mean to him and didn't care about him, he goes back to them (from his heaven) to bring a meaning to their lives.

I'd have rather read the message in a shorter short story (the book I had was 74 pages, 30 of those were pictures of seagulls but it could have been shorter), and I honestly think it would have had more effect on me. But than, maybe I'm just not a big fan of those 'find and love yourself and you'll repair your live' stuff ...
or maybe it was the translation, as I read it in German?!