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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Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

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This is the fourth book in the Outlander series. I don't think I have to give more details on this series, since it seems to be one of the most popular for the time being. Even more so after the first 8 episodes of the TV-series from Starz.

I am also a big fan of both the books and the TV-series. I am not really into time travelling, or at least I did not think so. Maybe I have to change my own mind now, especially after having read two other books/series about time travelling and loving it; A Rip in The Veil by Anna Belfrage and The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. In the Outlander series the time travelling takes the story to another level.

I still think the first book is the best. Maybe because there is where it all started, the idea and the story was totally new and it was exciting. Not to say that the other books are not...they are! Some spoilers here for you who have not read the book so stop here. From book three Claire and Jamie leave Europe for the West Indies and in the end of the book they reach America. There the fourth book takes place. We follow Claire and Jamie settling down in the new country, and the stream of people they encounter, new and old. I will not go too much into the story, not to spoil too much.

Diana Gabaldon is a fantastic story teller. There are all these side stories woven into the main story. Sometimes while reading you thing they might not be necessary.  Having said that, you might think that the characters are side characters, that the stories are side stories, but you never know whether they will somehow pop up again in another book. Sometimes the side stories here felt like they slowed down the story. You just wanted to continue to know what would happen, and then you were stuck in what seemed to be a story that had nothing to do with our characters. However, you can't be on full speed all the time.

I have a few other books to read, but I can hardly wait until I can open the first page of The Fiery Cross. Well, to be honest I have already opened it! But sometimes one has to have a little bit of disciplin.

Have you read the books? Seen the TV-series? What do you think?

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