The Content Reader

For Full House Reading Challenge hosted by Kathryn at Book Date , I had to read a book by an Australian/New Zealand author. Having just read a blog post from Brona's Books   about Top Ten Tuesday Aussie writers I found a reference to Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay. This is a typical story that attracts me. A mystery never solved. Although, in a perfect world, there wold be an answer in the end. The backdrop story is a group of young, female pupils, that made an excursion on Valentine's day in 1900 to Hanging Rock. Four of them and a teacher ventured up the rock. One of them did not follow the others and came screaming back without remembering very much. The others three and the teacher went missing. A week later one of the girls is found. She neither remembers anything of  what had happened to her. From this tale Joan Lindsay has written an account of what might have happened. Were they snatched by aliens? Did they fall into a time zone? Was it a case of femal...

Careless People  tells the true story behind what inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald to write The Great Gatsby. Churchwell has written a fantastic story of the Jazz Age and the people who were the forerunners. In the middle of the circle is Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, their lives, friends and work. Parallell to Fitzgerald's lives, Churchwell has read newspapers and books of the time and highlights what was going on in America in the 20s. One big thing is the Hall-Mills murder mystery which was never solved. We follow the development of New York, people moving out to Long Island, constructions, inventions, dramas, prohibition and much more. It is a lively, charming tale of a time when people seemed not to have any bigger troubles. But, there is always a snake in paradise. Churchwell shows us how many things that was happening in America at the time, in their lives and with their friends, entered into The Great Gatsby. There are numerous references to similarities in the book and happe...

Rose City Reader , is hosting Book beginnings on Friday. She says: Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name. Freda’s voice is hosting Friday 56 and the rules are: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) *Post it. *Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. *It's that simple. My book this week is "Careless People" by Sarah Churchwell Bookbeginning "At 10 a.m. on 3 May 1924, armed with seventeen pieces of luggage and a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica, F. Scott Fitzgerald, his wife Zelda and their two-year-old daughter Scottie departed from Pier 58 on the No...

If  you have had a look at my reading recently, you might notice that there are some plays that have entered into the general reading of novels. I have started a correspondence  university course in literature on-line, with a university in Sweden. I really felt that it was time for me to know more about literature, how to analyse and review. And how fantastic is it not, to be able to study something which you are really interested in. Just for your own sake. The very first task was to read A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen and King Oedipus by Sofokles. That is, to see how a tragedy and drama are built up. As the saying goes; "It goes back to the Greeks", Aristotle in this case. His Poetics set the scene what a play should contain and how it should be performed.

This is the second book by Philip Kerr that I read, and the second book about chief inspector Bernie Gunther. Checking through his books it seems Kerr does not write in a chronological order.  The Quiet Flame , which I read several years ago, obviously before I started blogging in 2012, since I cannot find it among my reads. Remember liking it a lot though. The series of books is quite different, following a detective working during the Nazi time. The Quiet Flame  is set in 1950 when he emigrates to Argentina. Prague Fatale takes place in 1941-42 in Berlin and Prague. While trying to solve a crime in Berlin, where it seems, not everyone is interested in a thorough investigation, Gunther is called to Prague to work as a body guard to his old boss, Reinhard Heydrich. Unwillingly, he ventures on this mission with his mistress Arianne, which he met during his latest investigation in Berlin.

Rose City Reader , is hosting Book beginnings on Friday . She says: Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name. Freda’s voice is hosting Friday 56 and the rules are:  *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) *Post it. *Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. *It's that simple. My book this week is "Prague Fatale" by Philip Kerr Book beginnings on Friday "September 1941 The thought of suicide is a real comfort to me: sometimes it's the only way I can get through a sleepless night." Friday 56 "A science graduate from the University in The Hagu...

Another month and another chain. I am joining Books Are My Favourite And Best for another six degrees. This month the chain starts with Wild Swans by Jung Chang. I read it many years ago, and loved it. It is a family saga that spans three female generations in China. I love family sagas so I go from here to The Empress of South America by Nigel Cawthorne. It is the story of a middle class Irish girl who went to Paris and ended up the wife of the emperor of Paraguay. It is a true story of how two, evil people made a whole country their private family business. Quite intriguing and chocking. From royalty to royalty I go to Mrs Jordan's Profession , by Claire Tomalin. It is a biography about the Anglo-Irish actress, courtesan and mistress of the future King William IV of UK. They had ten illegitimate children together. Fascinating story about a fascinating woman far ahead of her time.

Cathy at Cathy 746 Books  hosted her annual challenge of 20 Books of Summer. It was up to participants to choose 10, 15 or 20 books from our TBR shelves to read between 1 June and 3 September 2017. A great challenge to lower the number of books on your shelves. I did not write a list but just choose what I was feeling like at the time. When I make a list I tend to read everything except the titles on the list! Yes, that's me. I opted for 10 books since I also tend to over estimate my capacity, it was summer and this year a lot of holidays for me. I am therefor rather pleased that I managed to read 13 books from my shelves. The books cover different genres and are rather easy reads, which is totally suitable for the warmer months of the year. Here is the list and links when there is a review. Chopra, Deepak - Self Power - Spiritual Solutions to Life's Greatest Challenges I ndridason, Arnaldur - Den som glömmer  (Kamp Knox) The Spy - Paulo Coelho Bryson, Bill - Note...