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Frankie reads 2017


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1. Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg

 

 

I hear this Swedish horror book has been translated into English and it will either be published some time in the future or it has already been published. I found the English synopsis here

 

"Welcome on board the Baltic Charisma.

 

The cruise ship has gone back and forth along the same route between Sweden and Finland, day after day, year after year. There are more than 1200 passengers on tonight’s cruise. The staff is ready to open up the bars and restaurants as soon as the ship has left Stockholm. The vibrations from the engines makes the bottles clink softly against each other on the shelves of the tax free shop. The large buffet tables are being filled with foods from all corners of the world. Four security guards are preparing for night fall, tasked with maintaining order in the utter chaos that can be wreaked by drunk passengers crammed into a space they can’t leave.

 

Everything is routine. But on this particular cruise, there are two passengers unlike any the Baltic Charisma has ever seen. There is something evil on board. Something that could change the world forever, once the ship arrives in Finland.

 

In the middle of the night, all communications with the outside world are suddenly cut off. [...]

 

There is nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. And there is no way of knowing who you can trust. Because when this sort of evil starts spreading, it’s impossible to stop."

 

 

Thoughts: I've been on these Fin-Swe-Fin cruises for I don't know how many times... Maybe 10-15. It's always very exciting! :smile2: I loved the idea of reading a horror book that actually takes place somewhere where I've been. It's a whole different thing to read about somewhere familiar, than to read a horror book that takes place in a whole different continent, in far off places. 

 

I loved how the narrative was split between various different people. Sometimes that makes for difficult reading, this time it didn't. The characters were easily identifiable and interesting. I became invested in how things would go for them. As for the storyline, it was good to a certain extent. I was hoping for something a bit more unique, though, something original. It turned out to be a rather typical book in a certain genre, and the only interesting thing that separates it from other books in the genre is that it's happening on a cruise. 

 

Having said that, the book was entertaining enough. I didn't like certain aspects at the end of the story, so that would've led to 2.5. As I don't do halves, I'll settle for 3. 

 

3/5

Edited by frankie
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My favorite Finnish comedian, Stan Saanila, recently published a book on how to pronounce all things Finnish. Initially I thought this might make a fun present to foreign frieds who might be interested in visiting Finland, and me, some day, but when I had a chance to check the book out at a bookstore, I realized there was too much stuff that would not interest a foreigner. A long list of how to pronounce Finnish city and town names, for example. Those are mostly places you wouldn't visit if you come to Helsinki! 

 

Instead, I reserved a copy from the library and I thought I'd read the book on my own and maybe share a few examples. But now I see Staanila either doesn't know much about the English pronunciation or he's taken things a lot more lightly and tongue-in-cheek than I thought he would... For example, Espoo, the city where I lived for a while, would be pronounced S-poo (and the poo is not pronounced as poo, the turd). Here in Staanila's book, he claims it's pronounced Ass poo. Which is not true! :D

 

Juankoski, a small town, is 'You want co-ski?' and actually that sound about right :D Especially if you're from the States and leave out the t in 'want'. There are also illustations in the book... For co-ski there's a rather naughty illustration about two people skiing downhill, not side by side but one after the other... 

 

My own home town Nurmes is listed as well: Norm S

 

Here's a funny one :DPihtipudas is Pee tea? Poo does. :D Sounds very accurate! 

 

Enought with the town, and in with other stuff... Oh we have presidents!

 

Tarja Halonen - Ta! Ya hella nun!

Sauli Niinistö - Souly knee and Esther 

 

007 (as in Bond the agent) - Know Len Owl? A seat semen   :D (This was actually pretty genious)

 

Do you want to learn the Finnish numbers? 

 

1 -  (yksi) XE

2 -  (kaksi) Cack sea

3 - ( kolme) Call me

4 -  (neljä) Nellie, ya

5 -  (viisi) Wheezy

6 - (kuusi) Cozy

7 - (seitsemän) Seat semen

8 - (kahdeksan) Codex-Anne

9 - (yhdeksän) E-decks, Anne

10 - (kymmenen) Kim an' Anne

11 - (yksitoista) XE toy store

12 - (kaksitoista) Cack sea toy store

 

And karjalanpiirakka, the Karelian (salty) pie, which is a favorite of mine: Carey-Allan, pee rocker :smile2:

 

I think that's enough for the day :D

Edited by frankie
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Lord!! Is that the right pronunciation for the pie? :lol: Not how I was saying it at all  :blush2: 

Does the book cover the months of the year? .. be interesting to see how they are spelled and of course pronounced. I have learnt something today already :D Think I might need to lie down now and take it easy for the rest of the day :lol: Brain is at capacity!

Hope you are feeling better lovely  :hug:

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Lord!! Is that the right pronunciation for the pie? :lol: Not how I was saying it at all  :blush2: 

 

:lol: Well, pee is absolutely right, rocker is right if you pronounce rocker a certain way. Like, rock ah! 

 

I'd love to know how you've been pronouncing pie :D 

Does the book cover the months of the year? .. be interesting to see how they are spelled and of course pronounced. I have learnt something today already :D Think I might need to lie down now and take it easy for the rest of the day :lol: Brain is at capacity!

 

Sadly the book doesn't seem to be covering the months of the year. (I will edit the earlier post and write down the numbers as they are spelled in Finnish.) 

 

I've just found the Finnish national Anthem :D

 

Oi maamme, Suomi, synnyinmaa,   literal translation, line for line: (Oh our country, Finland, native land)

soi, sana kultainen!                                                                         (plays, the word golden)

Ei laaksoa, ei kukkulaa,                                                                    (no valley, no hill)

ei vettä rantaa rakkaampaa,                                                             (no water [or] shore that is dearer)

kuin kotimaa tää pohjoinen,                                                              (than homeland this northern)

maa kallis isien!                                                                                 (country precious our fathers)

 

Same in English:

 

Oi, mummy swarmin', sinnin' Ma

Suzanna call Thai-nun

Ale-axe o' awe, hey cool cool awe

A wet around a rockin' Pa

Queen caught 'im at the pool join in

McAllis easy Inn 

 

:D Sound pretty accurate, once again :D

 

Hope you are feeling better lovely  :hug:

 

Better than yesterday :yes: But not my normal self! How are you today?  :empathy:

Edited by frankie
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Ack! There are a few more things I can't help but write down:

 

Alppiharju is the part of Helsinki where I live, and in the book it's 'I'll pee hard, you'. :D Alppiharju, how ever, is a very specific area and I don't use that, I use the name of the broader area and that's Alppila. Alppila is not listed in the book, but going by my own figurings, that would be 'I'll pee, lah!' :D

 

I'll do the times of days, too:

 

morning - aamu - A moo (I'd say it was more like ah, moo)

evening - ilta - Ill, ta!

midday - keskipäivä - Guest-key pie war

breakfast - aamupala - A moo, Paula

lunch - lounas - Loan us  [so far this is the translation and pronunciation that is the most accurate and so close to the actual Finnish word. Should I get any foreign friends visiting... I think we'd be ordering lunch all the time :D]

dinner - illallinen - Ill Ally-nun

snack - välipala - Valley polo

a nap - päiväunet - Bye, wow-net

a nightmare - painajainen - Pie? No! Yay, none! 

 

 

Edit: Similary, a meat pie, lihapiirakka, would be Lee, her pee rocker :D 

Edited by frankie
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Okay, one more and that's it! (I find these too funny!)

 

These are all words/titles related to religion, so if you are offended by religion + fun, do not read further :) 

 

 

God - Jumala - You mauler

bishop - piispa - Pee spa

Pope - paavi - Pow, E!

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 Do you want to learn the Finnish numbers? 

 

1 -  (yksi) XE

2 -  (kaksi) Cack sea

3 - ( kolme) Call me

4 -  (neljä) Nellie, ya

5 -  (viisi) Wheezy

6 - (kuusi) Cozy

7 - (seitsemän) Seat semen

8 - (kahdeksan) Codex-Anne

9 - (yhdeksän) E-decks, Anne

10 - (kymmenen) Kim an' Anne

11 - (yksitoista) XE toy store

12 - (kaksitoista) Cack sea toy store

YES!   :exc:  I'm going to print this out at work tomorrow and try to learn them!

 

Finnish looks so difficult to learn.  :blush:  I struggle with the little French I can remember!

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:lol: Well, pee is absolutely right, rocker is right if you pronounce rocker a certain way. Like, rock ah!

I'd love to know how you've been pronouncing pie :D

Something like car-jalan-peer-arka (is that actually saying ANYTHING in Finnish? Please say it's saying something rude :lol:)

Sadly the book doesn't seem to be covering the months of the year. (I will edit the earlier post and write down the numbers as they are spelled in Finnish.) 

 

I've just found the Finnish national Anthem :D

 

Oi maamme, Suomi, synnyinmaa,   literal translation, line for line: (Oh our country, Finland, native land)

soi, sana kultainen!                                                                         (plays, the word golden)

Ei laaksoa, ei kukkulaa,                                                                    (no valley, no hill)

ei vettä rantaa rakkaampaa,                                                             (no water [or] shore that is dearer)

kuin kotimaa tää pohjoinen,                                                              (than homeland this northern)

maa kallis isien!                                                                                 (country precious our fathers)

 

Same in English:

 

Oi, mummy swarmin', sinnin' Ma

Suzanna call Thai-nun

Ale-axe o' awe, hey cool cool awe

A wet around a rockin' Pa

Queen caught 'im at the pool join in

McAllis easy Inn 

 

:D Sound pretty accurate, once again :D

I'm totally going to have a go at this the next time Finland win a Gold medal!  :yahoo:  :23_sing:  :D

Better than yesterday :yes: But not my normal self! How are you today?  :empathy:

Glad you're feeling a bit better but hope you'll feel a lot better soon  :hug: I'm doing okay thanks .. bit sore throatish but nothing a gin and ginger ale can't fix :D 

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Culling emoticons!
 

I like the Hey Cool Cool Awe of your National Anthem. 

 
I like it, too, it sounds very approriate for a national anthem :D 
 
(Although... When you quickly sing 'hey cool cool awe', in the rhythm to the song, the l's aren't that pronounced and so it sounds okay, but when speaking the words out loud, it wouldn't be correct. This would be much more suitable: 'ey cuckoo law' :yes: Saanila is a comedian and has made a wonderful book but I'm a linguist at heart :blush:
 

YES!     I'm going to print this out at work tomorrow and try to learn them!


Cool beans! :D You'll be the coolest chick at the office!!
 

Finnish looks so difficult to learn.    I struggle with the little French I can remember!


Finnish is one of the trickiest languages to learn, for a non-native. We have so many inflections and stuff. :/
 

Something like car-jalan-peer-arka (is that actually saying ANYTHING in Finnish? Please say it's saying something rude)

 
Yours is actually very very close, wow!! :smile2: If you just leave the 'r' from 'arka', you've got it just about right! :yes: And you've actually managed to incorporate two actually Finnish words in there :D 'Jalan' is literally 'by foot' and 'arka' is 'timid'. You the natural Finglist! :D 
 

I'm totally going to have a go at this the next time Finland win a Gold medal! 

 
Wohoo! :D I wish Mika Häkkinen was still racing... :unsure: 
 

Glad you're feeling a bit better but hope you'll feel a lot better soon   I'm doing okay thanks .. bit sore throatish but nothing a gin and ginger ale can't fix 

 
:lol: One needs one's medicine! I'm glad you're otherwise doing better!  :empathy:
 

Wishing you a wonderful year of reading, frankie.  

 

You, too, Chrissy! :smile2: 

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Just sticking my nose in after a long time to say that it is a pleasure to hear a semblance of the native language that my mother spoke long ago.

I'm now sorry I never responded well to her determined efforts to teach it to me.  It sounded so funny to my 6r old American ears that I refused to repeat anything in Finnish after her.  Now I am trying to self-learn it from the printed page (no audio available).

But I think I can still say correctly (and bravely), even if I can't spell it very correctly:

 

Ona liista yta vuataa!

 

Happy New Year to everyone here.

 

Paul

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Hi Frankie, just a quick one on your review of Blood Cruise... I know it didn't blow you away but it actually sounds very interesting and up my street. Sadly, I think it's not published over here until 2018 (by Quercus). Sigh... might need reminding nearer the time. :lol:

Edited by Ben
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Just sticking my nose in after a long time to say that it is a pleasure to hear a semblance of the native language that my mother spoke long ago.

I'm now sorry I never responded well to her determined efforts to teach it to me.  It sounded so funny to my 6r old American ears that I refused to repeat anything in Finnish after her.  Now I am trying to self-learn it from the printed page (no audio available).

But I think I can still say correctly (and bravely), even if I can't spell it very correctly:

 

Ona liista yta vuataa!

 

Happy New Year to everyone here.

 

Paul

 

A very Happy New Year to you, too, Paul! That was very well said, kiitos!  :smile2: I'm happy to have brought a little random Finnish into your life :smile2: I'm glad you have decided to self-learn Finnish now, as it's never too late! There are bits and pieces in spoken Finnish on youtube and you can google some specific words to hear how they are pronounced in Finnish. For example forvo.com seems to be offering spoken Finnish words if you're interested :) 

 

Hi Frankie, just a quick one on your review of Blood Cruise... I know it didn't blow you away but it actually sounds very interesting and up my street. Sadly, I think it's not published over here until 2018 (by Quercus). Sigh... might need reminding nearer the time. :lol:

 

Oh, I didn't know it would take so long to be published in English... :D Well, luckily you have a great big TBR on your hands to keep you busy for the time being :D 

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I went to a bookstore yesterday, to buy a few brush pens for my Bullet Journal project, and there was a sale... It's the same sale but now it's -60%. There was a book I wanted to buy, The Sense of an Elephant by Marco Missiroli, but in the end I put it back down. Well done, if I say so myself :drama::D

 

 

Oh, I almost forgot! When I was checking out the Leuchtturm 1917s at the bookstore, I came upon this: 

 

 

post-4458-0-92438000-1484393587_thumb.jpg

 

 

:thud::lol: She was waving her hand, very majestically! :D 

Edited by frankie
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Oh, I almost forgot! When I was checking out the Leuchtturm 1917s at the bookstore, I came upon this: 

 

 

attachicon.gif20170113_154102 (1).jpg

 

 

:thud::lol: She was waving her hand, very majestically! :D

We visited Windsor Castle a couple of years ago, and one of the private buildings has a row of those in the window! :lol:

 

For%20frankie_zpssotmgfic.jpg

Edited by Janet
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2. The Twenty-Three by Linwood Barclay

 

 

 (Promise Falls Trilogy Book #3)

 

 

AmazonThe day begins like any other Saturday - a shower, coffee, breakfast. But suddenly, all hell breaks loose in the town of Promise Falls. People are dying in the street - the hospital and emergency services are overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Is it mass food poisoning, a virus, or something more sinister? [...]

 

Detective Barry Duckworth is already investigating two murders and an explosion at the town's drive-in. He starts to wonder if these crimes and the new attacks are connected to the mysterious incidents in Promise Falls involving the number twenty-three.

But who is sending these deadly messages, and how can they be stopped?

 

 

 

Thoughts: The finishing novel in the trilogy! I'm so going to miss reading about the people and getting shocked about how everything's always going wrong where they live :D 

 

Once again, Barclay did what he does so well and kept my mojo going. Compared to the last two months in 2016, I was flying through the pages of this one! Barclay writes very solid and suspenseful thrillers, and I like his characters. 

 

The book did bring everything nicely together, and I was shocked by one of the big reveals, but to my bigger shock, I'd sussed out the last one. And I never usually do! 

 

I've enjoyed the trilogy, but I'm also looking forward to another Barclay stand-alone. I'll have to go and see if I've missed one of the previous ones, or whether I'll have to wait for him to publish a whole new one. 

 

 

4/5

 

 

On another note: my second read book of the year! I've already read double the number of books I read in I December! :D:exc: 

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That's a tricky question... I like my stand-alones, but then if the book is fabulous, why would I not love to read more on the subject and the characters in the next installment :smile2: I think I like stand-alones and series equally, but with series it's always a question of whether I'm able to remember all the things that have happened in the previous novels in the series. Like with the Sookie Stackhouse series. I'd read first first ten or so books, and then maybe a year later I got the next book in the series and started to read it, but I was struggling remembering some of the minor characters... I knew I had to re-read the series before I could really get to the book. So that's frustrating. 

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I was discussing a book I got from chaliepud, in her reading log and I thought it might be a good idea to set up a priority reading list for 2017. Now, my mojo's not been very reliable in the past year or two, so I'm not going to swear by the priority reading list, but I thought having one might inspire me to go for the titles I need to get to sooner rather than later. 

 

I've been rather good so far this year: I haven't bought any books (I'm not counting the Hand Lettering book I bought, because that doesn't count towards the TBR pile and it's not an actual 'book book', and I've not reserved any new books from the library, and I've taken the books I've started but not liked back there. I'm slowly but surely getting rid of all the library loans at my place, which means that soon enough I'll be able to start with my TBR :smile2: 

 

The book that's first going on the priority reading list is Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks. (Again, this is no promise, but who knows!)

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