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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First of advent and book launch

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Yesterday was first of advent. We don't have a candle stick with four candles this year, which is customary in Sweden. In stead we settled for a 'christmas tree' candle that we received from Sally.

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In the afternoon we ignored the grey weather and headed down town to Waterstone to attend my friend Helen's book launch. Helen MacEwan is the founder of the Brussels Brontë Group and has written two earlier books about the Brontës; Down the Belliard Steps - Discovering the Brontës in Brussels, a book about how the group came together. Her second book is The Brontës in Brussels, a complete guide to Charlotte's and Emily's stay in Brussels and the places they visited.

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Her third book was inspired by her earlier books. While researching them she came upon the first biographer of the Brontës after Elizabeth Gaskell, Winifred Gérin. She is actually the only one who has written one book for each of the siblings, four altogether. Helen discovered that, not only was she a Brontë fan, but she had an amazingly exciting and varied life.

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Helen MacEwan
Helen gave us a short summary of Gérin's life, as well as all the detective work that was put in to find information about her, especially from her younger days. It took Helen two years to finalise the book, which included a lot of travel and visiting people who once met Gérin or have the papers she left behind. Can't wait to read this book. I got a signed copy of course!

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Helen signing books

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