I'm not even sure how this book found its way to my bookshelf. It seems like it appeared from nowhere.
Blackbringer is a very classic fantasy novel filI'm not even sure how this book found its way to my bookshelf. It seems like it appeared from nowhere.
Blackbringer is a very classic fantasy novel filled with dark quests, fairies and an unlikely hero. It's fun and well-written � but a far cry from the lyrical prose that Laini Taylor is known and loved for. ...more
�Books don't just furnish a room. A personal library is a reflection of who you are and who you want to be, of what you value and what you desire, of �Books don't just furnish a room. A personal library is a reflection of who you are and who you want to be, of what you value and what you desire, of how much you know and how much more you'd like to know.�
Michael Dirda is a self-proclaimed "bookman". A book critic, a writer, a journalist, a literature teacher but first and foremost a reader. This book is a collection of the essays he wrote weekly for the American Scholar website in 2012. And they revolve about his life and his love of books. Of course.
Though Dirda's words flow nicely, this isn't really a book you should read in one sitting. It's the sort of book, you need to dip in and out of; reading a single chapter every now and then. The essays are charming when spread over a long time, but can be quite repetitive, always ending up with Dirda buying used books or praising various Victorian authors you've never heard of.
Reading this, did however feel like talking to a friend. Every bibliophile while recognize a bit of themself in Dirda's ravings about Sherlock Holmes conventions, used bookstores, bookshelves that has run out of space and the feeling of disappearing completely into a book.
Lovely.
�None of us, of course, will ever read all the books we'd like, but we can still make a stab at it. Why deny yourself all that pleasure?�...more
Måske var denne bog endnu bedre end dens forgænger. Jeg slugte den i hvert fald hurtigere, og kunne slet ikke tænke på andet, imens jeg læste.
PettersMåske var denne bog endnu bedre end dens forgænger. Jeg slugte den i hvert fald hurtigere, og kunne slet ikke tænke på andet, imens jeg læste.
Petterson vender hele sit univers på hovedet i denne bog. Det, man troede på viser sig at være en løgn. De onde er de gode, mennesker bærer ikke på råddenskab, og de blinde er slet ikke blinde overhovedet. Tankevækkende, nervepirrende, action packed fra start til slut.
Behøver jeg sige, at treeren allerede ligger åben ved siden af mig?...more
At the Water's Edge is a weirdly dramatic story about a married couple who fall from grace and need to rWell. This was not at all what I had expected.
At the Water's Edge is a weirdly dramatic story about a married couple who fall from grace and need to redeem themself by ... chasing the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. In wartime.
Beautiful descriptions of the Scottish landscape and a man slowly descending into madness, willing to sacrifice his own wife for the sake of his reputation.
And then, an unlikely romance, a tragic backstory, a lord in disguise and an ambivalent ending, never clearly revealing whether the myths are true or not.
I loved the descriptions of Scotland, but I hated the plot. And I especially hated the romance and the overdramatic ending. So many cliches. And so many bad decisions made by the main character.
A beautiful biography that covers the entirety of Jansson's artistic career; her fiction, her paintings, her comic strips and � of course, the MoominsA beautiful biography that covers the entirety of Jansson's artistic career; her fiction, her paintings, her comic strips and � of course, the Moomins.
I'm left in awe of the charismatic and talented artist Jansson was....more
�A thousand desperate wishes have been spoken on these shores, and in the end they were all the same: Make me someone new.�
Dark spirits, hiding in th�A thousand desperate wishes have been spoken on these shores, and in the end they were all the same: Make me someone new.�
Dark spirits, hiding in the woods � or hiding in your very own house. Dark secrets and longings whispered in the night; always balancing between the danger of wanting something too much and the need of wanting anything in order to exist. Witches, wood spirits, tasks and trials. A talking river and a ugly sibling. Cunning women and spiteful men. Step into Leigh's tales of wonder and prepare yourself to consumed by her worlds.
You don't need to love the cold and hard Grisha world in order to love these tales. You don't even need to read them. The Language of Thorns exists in its own right and can be enjoyed by any lover of fairy tales and otherworldly words. While I've loved the the Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology, I consider this to be Leigh at her best. These tales recall writers as Neil Gaiman, Laini Taylor, Catherynne M. Valente � even Angela Carter. These tales are sensual, dark and luring, atmospheric on the verge of poetry.
�This is the problem with making a thing forbidden. It does nothing but build an ache in the heart.�
It's clear Leigh has been inspired by well-known tales and stories. In her tales you'll find traces of Hansel and Gretel, The Little Mermaid and The Nutcracker, but they will always be warped and somehow distorted into something different, something darker. This book is born from a sort of dissatisfaction with the traditional fairy tales: a need to find more probable villains, a sense of truth where the villains not always is punished, and a deeper reasoning in the young maidens who not only dream of princes and princes and kings who's not always using their power for the good.
The plots are cleverly spun, impossible to predict and always leaves you with hunger at the last sentence. But it's the writing I'm in awe of. Leigh writes with an intriguing sense of foreboding, drops hints and makes sure the reader is on edge. Nothing is as it seems, and you know that from the beginning. You just don't know how. Or why. The ambience is so strong, so well crafted and alluring. The prose is not exactly flowery but yet poetic in its own right. It has its own rhythm, its own melody, its own rules and sense, which you can't help but to notice even if you read it all inside your head, even if you don't read a single word aloud. It's so graceful, so fluid.
�You see, some people are born with a piece of night inside, and that hollow place can never be filled - not with all the good food or sunshine in the world. That emptiness cannot be banished, and so some days we wake with the feeling of the wind blowing through, and we must simply endure it as the boy did.�
And the illustrations only adds to the experience! Slowly building in keeping with the stories, new hints on every page, always new details to notice. An artwork just like the stories themselves.
I adored this. And if you like fairy tales, you will too....more
A beautiful book filled with pictures as meaningful as its words. Or perhaps, pictures weighs more than words in this particular case.
The Worm and theA beautiful book filled with pictures as meaningful as its words. Or perhaps, pictures weighs more than words in this particular case.
The Worm and the Bird is a delight for the eye and the mind. It's about a worm, lived in cramped spaces beneath the earth, always working, never resting, always crawling on towards something else. Something different and something more.
And it's a book about a bird, sitting excruciatingly still and waiting for a worm to stick its head up through the ground.
But, most of all: this is a story of life, of hoping and of the brief beauty that can occur in the nature's brutality....more
Have you ever dreamt of owning a bookshop? Then this book is for you.
This is something as rare as a book that actually lives up to its title. This is Have you ever dreamt of owning a bookshop? Then this book is for you.
This is something as rare as a book that actually lives up to its title. This is nothing more, nothing less, than the diary of a bookseller.
Shaun Bythell owns Scotland's largest second hand bookshop located in Wigtown. And this book is his diary of his business life. In here you'll find hilarious anecdotes about the costumers he's met, notes about how much he has sold and earned each day, musings about the book business in general and the rise of Amazon, notes about which books he has bought for his store and how � mixed with a few passing notes of Bythell's everyday life.
It is quite simple, actually. But also endlessly charming and hilarious. I read it quickly and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Bythell has so many fun anecdotes to tell � and yet, he also offers some very brutal facts about the book industry today and the harsh reality of bookselling in general.
�... a whistling customer with a ponytail and what I can only assume was a hat he’d borrowed from a clown bought a copy of Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist, I suspect deliberately to undermine my faith in humanity and dampen my spirits further.�...more
A classic ghost story inspired by the Gothic classics. The main character tells her story from two perspectives: her present whichThis was terrifying.
A classic ghost story inspired by the Gothic classics. The main character tells her story from two perspectives: her present which has her imprisoned in a mental hospital and through memories of her past, where she lived in a deserted and rotten mansion, surrounded by servants and lingering spirits.
I thought I had this story all figured out. After all, it does contain some of the most traditional elements of the genre: a memory loss and a mental hospital, a mysterious fire, wooden dolls with eyes that seem to move, family secrets hidden in an old diary � and even a garrett door that must remain locked at all times. A familiar setting. And yet the book was so unfamiliar. So gripping and eerie and deeply disturbing.
This would be perfect for readers of Susan Hill, Diane Setterfield and perhaps even Carlos Ruiz Zafón....more
I was fortunate enough to visit the Harry Potter exhibition at British Library in its opening week in October. It was such a wonderful experience; I sI was fortunate enough to visit the Harry Potter exhibition at British Library in its opening week in October. It was such a wonderful experience; I stood in awe and looked at Rowling's manuscripts, drawings and schedules; I gazed longingly at Jim Kay's detailed drawings and paintings; and I gasped when I saw the mutated body of a supposed merman (?) and a rumored witch's cauldron from the 16th century.
I cannot recommend the exhibition highly enough. If you're in the area and if you love Harry Potter � or even just nurse an interest in the traditions of fantasy writing � you should go. It is an absolute treasure.
The exhibition not only manages to tell the story of Rowling's writing process and research; it also manages to underline the myths, the folk lore and the actual history that is the very foundation of fantasy writing as we know it today. It not only places the Harry Potter series in a tradition of mermaids and wizards, but also tell the stories of why and how our perception of magic was built.
It is absolutely wonderful.
This book is actually the exhibition catalogue; it presents the pieces in the exhibition in pictures and text � and most of all, I bought and read for a chance to peruse Rowling's own manuscripts a bit more carefully. After all, there is a lot to be discovered here ......more
This was beautiful. And thought-provoking. And yet, not at all what I had expected.
The synopsis (and even the title) makes it sound like this book focThis was beautiful. And thought-provoking. And yet, not at all what I had expected.
The synopsis (and even the title) makes it sound like this book focuses on the complicated relationship between Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh; between fact and fiction. I thought I was about to read an in-depth description of the Pooh books in Christopher Milne's life; of the placement of an actual child in a fictional world and the inevitable repercussions it would make.
But no.
This book is actually an excerpt from an earlier A. A. Milne-biography. A good biography, at that. But still, its main focus is A. A. Milne and his way to success; his struggle with his fame, and his own aversion towards the Pooh-books. Christopher Robin's afterlife is only briefly described in the last 20-30 pages.
I didn't get what I had hoped. But Ann Thwaite is a good writer, and if you want to know how the Pooh-books came into existence, this book is a well written and historically correct candidate....more
First of all: This is such a beautiful edition. I wasn't even planning to buy it, but when I came across it at a book fair and had a chance to look atFirst of all: This is such a beautiful edition. I wasn't even planning to buy it, but when I came across it at a book fair and had a chance to look at the illustrations, I knew I had to have it. The illustrations are, surprisingly enough, not by Jim Kay who I've come to associate with Harry Potter-illustrations.
Olivia Lomenech Gill does a wonderful job illustrating, and I love how dark and sinister she paints some of the creatures � as they indeed are. Rowling connects her magical creatures to the creatures of folklore and fairy tales, and it's not always child friendly.
I love the fact that this book exists. That Rowling expands her universe to include textbooks that could be used at Hogwarts (while this clearly isn't as academic as a text book would be. But still). In the end, the existence of this book says more about the fandom than about the book herself: we're always craving more, wanting more that connects us to the magic at Hogwarts. And Rowling is happily providing us with what we need. Sometimes too happily, perhaps. But that's another tale entirely....more
This made me feel as if I was 12 again, reading His Dark Materials for the first time, with my heart in my throat.
It's such a rare treat to have a neThis made me feel as if I was 12 again, reading His Dark Materials for the first time, with my heart in my throat.
It's such a rare treat to have a new book by Philip Pullman. It's been a long wait. And while this wasn't perfect, it definitely was worth it. I cannot wait to see where the golden alethiometer leads us to next time....more
Jeg blev nødt til at genlæse den her bog, før jeg overhovedet havde færdiglæst den.
For jeg havde hele tiden en fornemmelse af, noget smuttede fra mig.Jeg blev nødt til at genlæse den her bog, før jeg overhovedet havde færdiglæst den.
For jeg havde hele tiden en fornemmelse af, noget smuttede fra mig. At jeg overså noget. At jeg ikke fik begyndt ordentligt. Og at jeg skulle tilbage til start for at rette op på det. Så det gjorde jeg. Jeg læste de første 50 sider to gange, og først derefter kunne jeg læse videre i bogen.
Det er ikke fordi, bogen er tung at læse. Ikke rigtigt. Det er nok mere et spørgsmål om at se et helt univers udfolde sig og at træde korrekt ind i det fra start. Siri Pettersen har bygget sådan et mytisk, velkendt og alligevel helt fremmed, univers. Det er nordisk, magisk og barskt. Og fuldstændig fortryllende.
På en eller anden måde, minder Odinsbarn mig om Philip Pullmans His Dark Materials. Ikke fordi plottet er tilnærmelsesvist ens, men der er noget i konceptet: en spejling af vores verden med mærkelige forvrængninger, huller og porte mellem verdener hvor ting kan slippe ud og ind, menneskelignende væsener der beror på en form for magi (favning eller daimons) for at have en hel sjæl � og mennesker, der som en kontrast fremstår hule. Forkerte. Eller rådne.
Bogen er fantastisk velskrevet. Den mindede mig om at være 14 igen og være helt opslugt af en fantasyroman. Den er uforudsigelig, fantasifuld og jeg elsker dens dybe rødder i den nordiske mytologi.
Jeg har allerede fundet næste bind i serien frem. Og jeg glæder mig til at læse videre....more
�I move toward a love you have dreamed for me�
This was beautiful. Certainly not perfect, but beautiful. Cohen isn't necessarily the greatest lyrical wr�I move toward a love you have dreamed for me�
This was beautiful. Certainly not perfect, but beautiful. Cohen isn't necessarily the greatest lyrical writer, but he puts feeling into every word, and his poetry is a pleasure to read....more
�You remember your first love because they show you, prove to you, that you can love and be loved, that nothing in this world is deserved except for l�You remember your first love because they show you, prove to you, that you can love and be loved, that nothing in this world is deserved except for love, that love is both how and you become a person and why.�
It's easy to forget how wonderful a writer, John Green is. It's easy to dismiss him as overhyped, and it's too easy to reduce his entire authorship to 'The Fault in Our Stars' and its movie adaption. It's easy to criticize him; to categorize his writing as 'overly philosophical YA' and talk about his usual patterns, repeated plots and recycled characters.
It's too easy to forget the poetry, the beauty he puts into his sentences. I almost forgot it myself, until I picked up this book and found myself wanting to quote, remember and cherish every single word.
�Anybody can look at you. It's quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.�
While this novel definitely fits into John Green's usual pattern, it feels different. While there is a quest, an introverted main character, a quirky and overly energetic best friend, a certain adolescent melancholia, witty remarks and quotes and fun facts tucked into everything, the structure feels different.
The plot isn't based on the quest or the falling in love; the plot is almost non-existing. The novel is based on the main character's thoughts and her continuing struggle with them.
And it's almost painful to read. John Green is relentless in his descriptions of Aza's mental illness. Contrary to The Fault in Our Stars, he doesn't invent a miracle cure. He doesn't spin an epic love story. Instead, he does something much braver: He allows you to see and feel how it feels to suffer from obtrusive thoughts. It's so well described and therefore extremely hard to read.
�You're a we. You're a you. You're a she, an it, a they. My kingdom for an I.�
And then there's the writing. Some of it could almost be considered poetry; clear and precise, sometimes even detached, and yet deeply atmospheric and haunting. Sometimes it feels like John Green almost deliberately writes in quotes; creating sentences that are so telling, even taken out of context. His own constant quoting of other authors only underlines this.
The ending of this novel had me in tears. It felt so intimate; so true and heartfelt. Not because of the plot itself, but because of the writing style. The nerve. The pace, the shift between past, present and even future tense. Sheer beauty.
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