Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

-
Image
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...
5 comments

Poldark series by Winston Graham

-
Many years ago I read the first books in this series and really loved it. I don't know why I did not continue to read the following books, but alas did not. However, waiting for the first season of the new BBC Poldark tv-series, I read the first four Poldark books in a row. Difficult to stop!


Whatever BBC does, it does very well. The Poldark series are no exception. Absolutely fantastic! Wonderful actors, wonderful scenery and a wonderful script that follows the books very well. The absolute highlight is of course Aidan Turner as Poldark. You can just not think of anyone else who would do the part so well. The other actors are also perfectly cast and it makes it the top adaption it is.

I am now watching the second season (I think they do two books per season) and it gets better and better. To prepare myself for the third season which seems to be on the way, I have bought the next three books in the series; The Black Moon, The Four Swans and The Angry Tide. I am more than half through The Black Moon and it does not disappoint. I am curious to see if Winston Graham can keep up the saga, since it was written over quite a long time period. There are 12 books in the series and the first one, Poldark was published in 1945, and the last one Bella Poldark in 2002. The saga covers the period from 1783 - 1820. I just love a well written family saga. Don't you?

Winston Graham with the books
in the Poldark family saga

Comments

  1. Jeanie19 October 2016 at 16:38

    I remember the first BBC Poldark series with Robin Ellis, who remains my favorite Poldark, although there is nothing wrong with Aidan Turner! I, too, have read some of the books and think it is time to reacquaint myself with them. Glad to hear there is a third series. We are a few episodes into series two here in the states.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisbeth 21 October 2016 at 11:05

      I Jeanie, it seems the Robin Ellis version was very popular. Of course now when you see it, it looks old fashioned, picture quality an all. Much have changed. I would like to see this version as well, but for now this new version is the leading one.
      I am watching on BBC and also a few episodes into the second one. Getting tense. Enjoy!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Magical Room, Saloons in 1920s Paris by Ingrid Svensson

-
Image
Better late than never as they say. This post was supposed to go up last year. At a museum in Sweden I found a book about 1920s saloons in Paris. Very interesting and it generated the post:  Paris in July - French Saloons.    As promised then, here is the first of two posts about four of the main hostesses.  Still picking from the "Magical Rom" and events from Paris in the 1920s. There were four main characters who put their mark on the literary scene of the time; Gertrude Stein, Natalie Clifford Barney, Adrienne Monnier, and Sylvia Beach. For most of you, they are already well known. These ladies had one thing in common, as well as many of the women holding salons, in that they were all lesbians. This was maybe one reason why they ended up in Paris, being more liberal (although you had to be discreet) than many other countries, and the US specifically. They were very creative and talented and did a lot for the cultural scene in Paris, introducing new talents and hel...
Read more

The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson

-
Image
This is one of those popular help yourself books that seems to overflow these days. However, it defies all the good advices we have been given during the last years, that is; stay positive. Manson says: "Let's be honest; sometimes things are fucked up and we have to live with it."  Right! That is life after all. "One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful." Sigmund Freud  With this quote in mind Manson argues that values such as "pleasure, material success, always being right, staying positive", are poor guidelines for a persons life. After all, some of the greatest moments in our lives are " not  pleasant, not successful, not known, and not positive". Which leads him to the belief, and I am bound to agree with him, that it is the individual who is responsible for everything in his/her life. We just have to act due to external circumstances. We are not always in control of all aspects of our...
Read more

Die Manns (The Mann Family) by Tilmann Lahme

-
Image
One of my favourite books is Buddenbrooks  by Thomas Mann. It was Thomas Mann's first novel and it was published in 1901. It gave him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. Tilmann Lahme's biography of the Mann family is an interesting account of a family where the author rose above everyone else. Thomas Mann was born in 1875, but the biography starts in 1922 when he was already an established writer with part of his production behind him. It covers the years in Germany, the exile years during World War II (France, Switzerland, and the USA), the peace years, and the final years in Switzerland.  The Manns was a troubled family. The mother Katia, took care of the family and the business that was Thomas Mann. They had six children; Klaus, Erika, Golo, Monika, Elisabeth och Michael. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reviewed the book and this extract says it all. " Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, says Tolstoy. One should read this book to  understand the ...
Read more