9 posts tagged “books”
Book: Show us the latest book you bought, borrowed or received.
Not that I get to read that much lately, but these are my latest buys. Have not recieved the two tolkien books yet, but I really look forward to start reading those. Have started reading Sontag's essays, and am reading here and there in the Eros the bittersweet book. Both very interesting btw.
What books did you love as a child?
Submitted by hearts.
I grew up reading a lot. My gran used to put us on her knee and read, sing and tell us stories. She remembered a lot of stories by heart. My mom did too - so a lot of my childhood memories is of them telling stories. My mom would also read to us. My favorite books was by a Norwegian childrens book author called Anne Cath. Vestly. She wrote a series of books about a little boy called "lillebror" (little brother) and his kompanion kalled Knerten (sort of like "Tiny"). Knerten was a wooden stick figure doll and was alive to Lillebror. She also wrote a series about a grandmother her son and his big family of seven children. I loved these books and stories, and the books about the grandmother was also filmed - with the author in the role of the grandmother. She also had a series of books about a girl with the same name as me which was also filmed, and I remember watching on TV.
I also grew up with Astrid Lindgren's books, and loved the books "The brothers Lionheart", "Ronja", "Mio my Mio" and of course the books about Pippi. Mio my Mio was the first book I remember reading by myself that was a proper book - not one of those children's books with mostly pictures. I think I was 8 or 9.
All of these Lindgren books have also been filmed, and I watched them over and over again. And I've read them many many times too.
Another favorite author was Roald Dahl.
My absolute favorite Dahl book was Matilda. I LOVED her! but also BFG, The Witches, George's magical medicine, Charile & the chocolate factory (of course) and the gigant peach was among my favorites. Later I also read and loved his short stories and the story about Uncle Oswald.
Other favorites was "the Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett (?), "Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame, Little women by Loisa M Alcott and I also vividly remember a book called "Skin Deep". Don't remember the Author, and I've tried searcing for it on google, but don't have the patience today to read through all the hits. It was about a boy in South Africa who were a black albino who didn't feel like he fit in anywhere. That was my first meeting with apartheid I think..
some time ago I finished reading Kate Mosse's book "the labyrinth". I actually liked Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code"
and had heard "the Labyrinth" was compared with Brown's book. And After having read it I get the comparison. They are both about the holy grail and secret societies. But that's where the comparison stops.
"The Labyrinth" is about two women separated in time by 800 years. It is a story about two religious directions in the Cathar history - The Roman Catholic church and "bons chretiens" (good faith) which is very interesting. Mosse is a master at building a story, and I was intrigued from the start. Some of the characters in the book is also historic persons, and it is obvious Mosse has done her research well. A good read I'll recommend.
The second book I finished was "The Historian" by Kostova. I am a fan of Vampire stories. Let's start there. And Bram Stoker's "Drakula" was for a long time my favorite book. I think one of the main reasons for this was the fact that the librarian at my local library refused to let me borrow it which of course made me read it even more - and had me end up sitting in the library to read it. "Drakula" made me want to learn more - read more about the historical count Drakula, Vlad Tepes. I think I was about 14 when the interest started. Ofcourse the librarian did not approve of this either, and was NOT very helpful (which in the end thaught me the library system of how to find interesting books on my own). I read historic books and fiction alike. The local libary wasn't big, though - so I couldn't find much really. But once I was 16 she couldn't pretend it was an interest that would go away, so she ordered books for me from other libraries. Later I've also read fiction/fantasy books like Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles (although I lost interest after the third book). I loved the two first books of Anne Rice.
In many ways The historian is a mix between Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. But Kostova's book is written from the view of a historian (which of course I can relate to - since I'm a historian myself), and its base is the historic story about Vlad Tepes. It's not a thriller per se - not in the "cliffhanger"/pageturner kind of way. It is sort of written like a travel log, step by step it reveals the story about Dracula. I really like the build up of the book, and I liked the story although some of the characters in the book are a bit stereotypish. I'm not sure about the ending yet - but all in all an interesting read.
I learned so many things about him I didn't know before, and I like him even more for the things I learned.
The book is a wonderful "non-hollywoodesque" story. No scandals or hateful remarks, only the boyish wonder of how a life turned out. And the wonderful fact that he has been married to his wife for fifty years which is really rare! It's so refreshing reading an autobiography that is actually about the person it should be about rather than the author having a go at everyone around him.
A friend has already asked to borrow it, and I'll give it to her on the condition that she pass it on when she's read it.
I was wrong this time. The BBC series wasn't better than the film. Although I did like the actors - it seemed colorless. Emma Thompson altered a few things in the film - but she did it in such a Janeish way I didn't really notice. She sort of needed to do this as she had a limit of time (a film is shorter than a series!) to tell the story. She needed to add a couple of things to highlight the relationships in the story in a short way. These alterations gave the film color and life. The BBC version have also done a few changes, but these changes I felt were not necessary - at least not taking away Marianne's and Elinor's younger sister, Margaret, from the casting altogether. In Emma Thompson's film Margaret is actively used to give contrast to the other characters which really works. In the BBC version she does not exist. And there's so much more comedy in the Emma Thompson film than in the BBC series. I felt that the BBC version was too serious in a way. I absolutely love Jane Austen's wit and subtle humor in this book - in all her books actually, and Emma Thompson embraces the humor and use it. I love that. It's not supposed to be so serious!
It is a good story, though. And I don't regret seeing it!
Books, movies, music; what's in your top 5 right now?
Books:
1. Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The little prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery
3. Wind up bird chronicles - Haruki Murakami
4. The Tibetan book of living and dying - Sogyal Rinpoche
5. Phillip Pullman's "The Dark Materials" trilogy
Movies:
1. Star Wars IV-VI
2. Any of Tim Burton's films
3. Tristram Shandy - A Cock and Bull Story
4. The Hours
5. Girl with a pearl earring
Music:
1. REM
2. Led Zeppelin
3. Linkin Park
4. Madrugada
5. Frou Frou
Instructions;
1. Grab the nearest book.
- Open the book to page 123.
- Find the fifth sentence.
- Post the text of the next three sentences on your blog along with these instructions
The book is "The Great Seal - Limitless space and joy" By Lama Ole Nydahl
"The Great Seal works without coercion. It builds on a concious, nonjudgemental way of letting impressions pass. The experiencer recognizes itself through effortlessly remaining in what is."
I have two books on my desk at work that I read between customers. This is one of them - the other is a book called "Clinker and sails" and is a collection of articles about boatbuilding and ship archaeology. I didn't do the meme with the archaeology book even if it was the one on top - it's in Norwegian, and I couldn't be bothered to translate. None of these books are available on Amazon... ;)
Am just about to finish "Kafka on the shore" by Haruki Murakami. I just LOVE his books! There's just something about them... Most of the time I don't know why I like them, but I think it's a combination of several things. First - the language.. (in that respect I must say the translator does a great job...). Then the characters - he brings them alive, but yet there's so much hidden. You're not completely sure you know all you should know. You're often surprised by the choices the characters does.
Then there's the metaphors - the layers. "The world is a metaphor, Kafka" the main character is told. I can read his books over and over, and find new layers and meanings every time. And every time I am amazed. Then there's also destiny - the feeling that you should be somewhere else - you pack your bags and go there. Listening to your being, rather than listening to reason. The character's movements in and out of this world - between this world and dreams. What happens as you read the book is unusual and strange. I can never guess what's going to happen next. Except I to some degree know what will happen to the characters - the path is unknown.
Before I have read "Norwegian Wood", "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles", "Sputnik Sweethearts" and "A Wild Sheep Chase". "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles" being my favorite so far..
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