Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

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A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...
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Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig

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I just don't understand how I could have missed this book which came out already in 2007! Me being a fan of Gone With the Wind and all. Unlike the sequel Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley this is not a sequel but takes place at the same time as the story in Gone With the Wind but seen from another angle; that is Rhett Butler and his people. It is an absolutely fantastic book and a MUST for fans of Gone With the Wind.
Reading about the American south,
in the south of Europe, with a glas
of rose overlooking the Mediterranian
Hmmm, not bad

The book follows Rhett Butler and his family from his young years. His parents, brother and his sister who plays the biggest part. There are his childhood friends and the life in Charleston at the time. As the story evolves we also get to meet Scarlett, Melanie and Ashley Wilkes, Miss Pittypat, Mammy, Belle Watling and other old friends. He weaves a fantastic story but wholly credible around these people. The most impressive part is in the way he has taken on the characters. It can not be easy to write on characters created by another author but he does it as if they were his own. Very impressive.

Although, at the time, I read the sequel Scarlett through rather quickly I did not really like how the book saw the future of Scarlett and Rhett. However, as the story is told in this book it makes a perfect match for me. The author is new to me but he has also written Jacob's Ladder which is, according to The Virginia Quarterly "the best civil war novel ever written". I can't wait to put my teeth into that one!

Comments

  1. Marianne 19 June 2022 at 11:55

    Sounds really good. Thanks, Lisbeth, for your link. As you know, I am not a big fan of sequels of (or anything linked to) a book written by another person. But this does seem interesting.

    ReplyDelete

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