SaraPepparkaka

It's a good story, and it has one of my favourite things, the complicated relationships. In places it was very sad, and in places it was funny. Clearly readable. I cared very much for the characters, all of them, even the ones I guess I wasn't supposed to care so much about.

Two books read. One unfortunately not available in English. One of the better Finnish authors, Maria Turtschaninoff, has written another book (YA fantasy). This one is called "Underfors", and it's about a city under Helsinki, and a girl with ties to this city. The girl does not remember who she is, or what her ties are to that city, but very soon she will have to remember. And then the story dances away around Finland, and in the end the girl is back in Helsinki, but a lot more wiser. If you can read books in Swedish, this is a book to keep in mind. Maria Turtschaninoff has also written another book in the same genre, "Arra", and that book is a bit better than this one. Still a good read. And then I've read "The help" by Kathryn Stockett. I haven't fully digested the book yet, but it's a well written story, and an insight into a very alien world for me. I just wonder what it is that I'm not seeing about myself, that someboy else sees as clearly as the "helps" see the families they work with.

More fluff read. "Bet me" by Jennifer Crusie. An upbeat romance with some hilarious scenes. Can be read as a general cheer-me-up book if you are a friend of romance. If you aren't, this book isn't the one to change your mind.

THAT is an excellent excuse.. eehm.. reason.

I did order "Pretties" yesterday, the next in the series after "Uglies". I'm not expecting it to arrive just yet, in the end of next week perhaps.

Ok, so it finally happened. The romance novel with an unfaithful hero I just couldn't bring myself to dislike. That is, or possibly was, one of the things that makes me throw away books with great force. Only, not this time. AND he wasn't unfaithful to the heroine, but he was her best friends fiancé. Be that as it may with this book, I can't see me liking unfaithfulness in the future much either. Also, the author was a little too generous with the sex scenes, I could have lived without some, if not all, of them. In between the bedroom scenes there was a credible relationship building, though. (Note, I said credible, not realistic) The book? "Breakfast in bed" by Sandra Brown. What in this book brought me to bend my principles? No matter how good something is for you, if you're not happy or comfortable with it, it's not going to work.

This was the only book by LGW persson I have read. And as I said, it really didn't inspire me to read anymore. But the dear husband was encouraged by my reaction to him bringing me a book from his work trip, so he tried it again.. This time with more luck as to the choice of book, too. Still in Norwegian, Jo Nesbö's Panserhjerte. Now, I haven't read that many books by him, but what I've read I have liked. He wasn't as selfless buying this book though, since I know Jo Nesbö's books are just about the only books my husband has ever really enjoyed. And that is good praise indeed, because he hardly ever reads anything. So I guess he's looking forward to reading this book as much as I am, and I do think he will miss hearing Norwegian, since this was probably his last work related trip to Norway for a very very long time (He starts a new job on Tuesday), so maybe if he READS a little Norwegian it will make him feel good. I just hope he doesn't feel like going to a lot of holidays to Norway, though. At least not on a fishing trip, sleeping in a tent. I did NOT like that. For one thing, I didn't see a bookstore on the whole trip.

Finished Q&A by Vikas Swarup, will also be added to my reading challenge. I'm quite pleased that I seem to have found a balance in life that includes both reading AND work. The next challenge for that will be in March, when I will start working full time. Should I say something about the book? Well, it all ended a little too neatly. Not that I wasn't glad for the characters, but still. And it will make a splendid addition to my UN challenge for India.

Book added for India! Q&A by Vikas Swarup

Not only was the Anna Gavalda book nice enough to move me to summer for a little while, it also fits in my challenge!

Why it seems I have had more time for reading just lately. January won't be such a bad month for reading after all. This morning I finished a short book by Anna Gavalda, "En dag till skänks" in Swedish, original title "L'Échappée belle". Two sisters and a brother run away from a wedding and go visit their youngest brother instead. A sweet tale about freedom in all its simplicity. I had been wanting to read something by Anna Gavalda for some time, and then I found this one in the library and decided to give it a go. It was lovely to read about a summer day when it's freezing outside. And this book has all those complicated relationships that I so enjoy. Amazing how much reading pleasure in such a small book. I will probably not actively seek books by Anna Gavalda, but I will read more by her I'm sure, if another one of her books jumps at me in the library and wants to go home with me for example.

I'm still indulging myself with my reading, and have read "M is for Magic" by Neil Gaiman. Most of the stories I had read before, but some were new. Good reading. I'm sure I will be forgiven in the end for the unslept hours at night, though I really can't afford them. One thought struck me when I had read "The paid companion"- I would really like to know how my own story ends. It would be nice to know the point where everything that follows it is just "happily ever after". Clearly, it is not when you get married as some stories would have us believe. Do we get a grade when we die? "3/5, nothing special about this life, although she didn't make any crucial mistakes." And, since I don't believe we get a grade for our lives when we die, why do I insist on living as if I get a grade? Minus points for when I forget to make sure my kids have their skis in school when they are skiing in gym class, bonus points when I volunteer to go with the school class on a class trip to help out. Minus points if I have too few flower beds in my garden and/or they are full of weeds, bonus points if the leaves are raked before snow falls. Anyway. I hope Neil Gaiman writes a book as good as "Neverwhere" some time soon.

I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner! I love Anne Bishop, but I'll be the first one to admit that these books aren't for everyone. What kind of books do you normally read? The books have a well-described world and interesting characters. If you can live with a certain amount of sex and violence in your books, then you should definately read these.

Finished another book, really fast reading for this year. "The paid companion" by Amanda Quick. No surprises there if you have read a book by the same author, fun reading just th same. Mind you, I don't think I would like to read several after one another, but one now and then is really lovely.

Any kind of salad is a quite fast and quite healthy meal. Lettuce, cucumber, sweet pepper, shrimps and sunflower seeds. Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion and feta cheese. Or just anything that you like really.

I have a slight tendency to do things other people don't. Also I never do those things in the correct order. It makes for an interesting, if sometimes a bit lonely, life. I have finally finished another book. "Unseen Academicals" by Terry Pratchett. It was fine, but I'm really longing to read something Discworldian with Death in it. I must say that my work really has cut down on my reading time. Why can't I be paid to read books?

I'm about halfway through "Unseen Academicals" by Terry Pratchett

No. it's not that amazing really. Norwegian is just Swedish with a little funny words thrown in occasionally, and creative spelling. I suppose Swedish is the same to a Norwegian speaker.

"Between summer's longing and winter's end" by Leif GW Persson. This book I read in Norwegian, despite it being written in Swedish originally. My dear husband thought I needed a book, and was in Norway at the time. He chose precisely this book because "it was next to some book I have seen in your shelf, so I thought it's probably one you can read". Bless the dear man, despite the fact that I found this book .. well, boring. I also hope that the police in Sweden do not drink as much alcohol in real life as they do in this book. It's Leif GW Persson's theory on who killed the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme (the great unsolved crime in Sweden) but it starts somewhere else entirely, and the story jumps back and forth in time and the narrator changes frequently. All in all it was a bit confusing. What I liked best about this book was that it was written in Norwegian, I learned a lot of new words, and I'm not all that familiar with Norwegian.

Kylie, it says in this book that he has written some adult books as well. That's all I know about it so far.. And I could clearly see how this book could have been if Tally had been perfect, in fact I have probably read one or two books like that, when the Heroine does All The Right Things, and can serve as an example for us readers that no matter what we should Always Do The Right Thing.

Good to hear that you are reading! And don't worry- even on my best days I'm only vaguely domestic .

Oh, and Scott Westerfeld has apparently written some adult books too. If anyone has read them, I would like to know what you thought of them. Also, has anyone read any more of this series?

Well into the new year, and here comes my first book finished for 2011. "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld. This is apparently a YA book, and it's also scifi. I bought it in a lovely bookstore in Stockholm this Saturday, and then read it on my way home on Sunday. This is what it says on the back cover: Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In just a few weeks she'll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she'll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun. But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world - and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally's choice will change her world forever. My thoughts: This book is somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, and the writer makes it hard to stop the series at just one book, so I will probably continue with this series at some point. Bonus points for allowing the main character NOT to be perfect. This book would be a lot less interesting if that wasn't the case.

I'm sending off two Bookmooch books today. One to Sweden, one to Switzerland.