The Content Reader

My travel companions! On Monday I am heading to Sweden with my son. Time for university studies for him. Time passes so quickly, I don't know where the 17 years disappeared! We are bringing his things with us, so we are taking the car. We are heading for south of Sweden so in principal you can make it in a day...long day! We are driving to Malmö to stay with friends overnight before continuing to Växjö, in the middle of the deep forests of Sweden. Normally, when I travel these days, I bring my iPad mini for reading. Books are heavy to carry if you have to check in luggage and carry it around. The car brings some flexibility to bring a few more books. However, there are very good libraries in Sweden so you can always pop in and see what you find. These are the books and the iPad I am bringing with me: I have three books for book clubs: Beloved by Toni Morrison, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, New Grub Street by George Gissing (iPad). All for Septe...

After finishing The Maze Runner I took a walk in our forest. There it is like a labyrinth/maze. You can really loose yourself if you don't know the place. Taking this opportunity to try out and to learn how our camera works, in order to place some better pictures on my blog. It is really great fun. Even the small cameras, we have a Canon S100, can do a lot of amazing things when you leave the AUTO mode, which I have used so far. On Monday Hannes, my son, and I are heading for Sweden to install him for the start of the university studies. That means that I will post when feasible, and hopefully, with some nice photos on the way. To go from Belgium by car, we cross the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. From Germany to Denmark there is a ferry and from Denmark to Sweden we have the new, longest bridge in Europe at least. It is a wonderful, mighty bridge. The full connection is 15.9 km and consists of roads, bridge and a tunnel. There is also a railway tunnel for trains between M...

Read on my iPad mini  I wanted to read this book before the film comes in September. I saw the trailer and thought this would be an exiting book and film. It also comes with good recommendations from other bloggers. This is a dystopian book, set in a depressing future. Thomas wakes up in an elevator without a past memory and not knowing where the elevator will stop. It finally stops and when the doors open he looks into a valley (sort of) and a lot of boys curiously looking at him. He has arrived to the Glade, habited by young boys only, who have organised a life out of the given conditions. On his first day he is taken around the area and the leader explains what it all means. They are all sort of prisoners in the valley. The valley is surrounding by very high rock walls. Here and there are openings into the walls, leading into a maze. Every evening the doors are closing and every morning they are opened. The small population of boys are given different tasks. One of it is...

I know I should not do it, but I can't help myself. I have a lot of books around but I still buy new ones. What is my excuse? It could be one of several reasons; it got splendid reviews; it would be suitable for a challenge of mine; I would like to read it before seeing the movie. I am sure I could come up with a lot of other reasons as well. But...here are my newest purchases from Kobo books for my iPad mini. Historical Fiction Challenge hosted by Historical Tapestry Since I just skipped one book (Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant) which I didn't like, and I have to read 10 books from the Renaissance this year I added a book from my to read list: A Divided Inheritance by Deborah Swift and here a short summary from Goodreads: A family divided by fortune. A country divided by faith. London 1609... Elspet Leviston’s greatest ambition is to continue the success of her father Nathaniel’s lace business. But her dreams are thrown into turmoil with the arrival of her mysterious ...

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause.  The mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." Wilhelm Stekel This is one of the books you just must read, being a classic. I have had it in my book shelves for many, many years. Now, finally, trying to decrease by TBR shelves I chose this one. I don't really know what I expected, but certainly not this one. I really had no idea what it was about, just that it was supposed to be something out of the extraordinary for the times. I have to admit that, apart from the last 50 pages or so, I did not like this book. The book, that made Salinger's reputation, is about a generation of high school and college students, here epitomised by Caulfield.  He is 17 going on 18 and lost in this world. He has just been relegated from his school, and we get to know that this is not the first school he has been asked to leave. He skips the last days of school and goes on a voyage, ...

Could not help it but starting the second book of the Outlander series. Not as good as the first one, and it seems to drag out a little bit. However, I am really hooked on the characters, their adventures and the 18th century history. This time Claire and Jamie spend some time in France and Paris. Much suitable having just finished Paris in July . It is an easy read, flowing text, something happening all the time. It seemed though, that there were a lot of happenings that were not exactly necessary for the story, so it felt a little bit long here and there. However, coming close to the end...as usual it ends with a cliffhanger and you just go into the third one! I am lucky that I am reading them now and don't have to wait one year for the continuation. By the time I have finished the present eight ones, the ninth might be out!

Time for my first classical spin (see below). The number 17 came up. I am rather relieved since I intended to read this book within short anyway. So before October 6, I will read La Nausée by Jean-Paul Satre, that is Nausea in English but I will read it in my Swedish version, Äcklet . The translation of the title in Swedish, is not a true translation of the words, and the title they use is not so nice. Hopefully the book will bring something nevertheless. I am curious about it since I recently read a book by Simone Beauvoir, his life long companion. Let's be surprised!

I have seen a lot of references to this club, but thought I will wait a while to join. There are so many challenges and sometimes I feel I just read challenge books (which is good of course), but sometimes it is just nice to grab a book you feel like reading for the moment. I am a little bit of a mood reader and tend to go for certain books at certain moments. Now, however, I read in Brona's Books  about the Classic Club spin no. 7 . Sounds interesting and a good way to read a classic book. For more info on the Classic Club go here . The idea is to make a list of 20 classics that you want to read. On Monday 11 August, there will be a chosen number and the book on this number you should read. Fait accompli! No way back. Choosing from what classics I have in my TBR shelves, and not having the same author twice, here is my list of classics: 1. Emma by Jane Austen 2. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins 3. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 4. The Angelic Avengers by Isa...

It has been silent here for a couple of days. Doesn't mean that I have been idle. There is only one problem. When I have been reading good books, which I hardly can put down, I panic slightly to choose another one. Why, because I want to be as good, inspiring and exciting as the books I have just finished. That's why I have started on four(!) books at the same time. Starting, putting down and going for another. Well, be as it is, at least now I have ventured into three of them a little bit more. The fourth one, which I just read a few pages on has to wait until these three are finished; the book is Äcklet/ La Nausée  by Jean-Paul Sartre. Some books you just don't read from cover to end, you have to read a chapter or two at a time and then read something else. This is such a book. Another book, which I find I can not read in one go is The Catcher in the Rye  by J.D. Salinger. I started this book and it is quite different from what I thought it would be. More easy-going a...

I think I have to review my mind about not liking time travelling books. Now I have read three recently (A Rip in The Veil by Anna Belfrage and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon) and now this one. I like them all. The other two have more of a one time moving in time, but Niffenegger's time traveller goes back and forth all the time. It is a little bit confusing though, and myself, I just have to take it, not trying to find any logic in it. In short this is a story about Claire and Henry. Claire gets to know Henry when she is six years old. He comes to visit her through the years from time to time. She is always waiting for him and she knows that there will never be anyone else in her life. Henry gets to know Claire when she is twenty, when they meet in real time. It is a rather long book, but it is very well written, easy to read, and the story goes forward with every time travel. You get little by little the story of their lives, how it was, how it is and how it will be. Once the...

Enjoying the book with a nice cup of coffee! To continue the French theme from Paris in July I have read Hemingway's account on his early years in Paris. This is a continuation from The Paris Wife by Paula McLain and Hemingway, The Paris Years by Michael Reynolds. The will be others to follow in my quest to know more about Hemingway. If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris, as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast. Ernest Hemingway to a friend, 1950 The book was not published during Hemingway's lifetime. His fourth wife and widow, Mary Hemingway, edited it from his manuscripts and notes. It was published posthumously in 1964, three year's after his death. 

I found this book since I saw a trailer for an upcoming TV-series. It looked really good. Another good idea, I think, is to read the book before watching the movie of series. Downloaded, not only Outlander but the other six books in the series! And it seems an eight is now out. It is of course a little bit of a risk, since if I don't like it, I am not likely to read the other books. Nevertheless, now having finished the first book, I am relieved and can say that I love it! It was written already in the beginning of the 90s, and I don't know how I could miss it. Diana Gabaldon says in interviews that she wrote it as a practice thing. She wanted to write a book, but didn't know if she could. So, she started this one and as we all know now, it turned out really well. You can say that it is about time travel, it is, but most of the story takes place in the 18th century Scotland.

I would love my July reading place to look like this! Alas...! But one can always dream. July is gone, and it went very fast. It was a very active month, partly, or mostly, because of the wonderful Paris in July activity. Many interesting posts, a lot of new information on Paris, with its markets, narrow streets, tourist sites, castles, old houses, food, restaurants and ice-cream, as well as a lot of reviews of books with a French touch. On top of that, I feel, that I have got a lot of new blogger friends. Thank you all of you who arranged it and all of you who participated. It was one of the best activities. I read 11 books in July, and I am still reading 2-3 that I started in July. Here they are: Hemingway, The Paris Years by Michael Reynolds The Forbidden Queen by Anne O'Brien The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory Simon och ekarna (Simon and the Oakes) by Marianne Fredriksson Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway Ensam drottning Sofia Magdalena (Lonley ...