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Showing posts from August, 2020

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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Favourite historical fiction by J.G. Harlond

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In 2014 I read  The Chosen Man  by J.G. Harlond. I really loved the book and was looking forward to a continuation. Time passes and it was just when I read Deborah Swift's blogpost  about a new book by Harlond, that I checked if there was a follow up to The Chosen Man.  To my delight, I found that the one book had developed into a   trilogy, with A Turning Wind and By Force of Circumstance.  The 17th century is a very interesting century in many ways. The powers of Europe fighting for religion, new worlds, money, silks, spices, and more. Seafaring is big business, luxury commodities from the east are imported to Europe to please the upper classes. Not to talk about diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones. In the center of activity stands Italian businessman and adventurer Ludovico da Portovenere, " one-time corsair, sometime merchant, secret agent of monarchs, servant of none ".   With Portovenere, J.G. Harlond has created an ex...
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Paris in July 2020 - coming to an end

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All things come to an end, and Paris in July 2020 has finished. Host Tamara at Thyme for Tea ,  lets us linger a little bit more though. Time to wrap up. I have enjoyed all the various posts about Paris and France. Learnt a lot, been inspired, got hungry, extended my to-read list, and even managed to put up a few posts myself. As usual, my plans went 'out the window' (as we say in Swedish), meaning that very few of my intended posts were written. Other inspiration came in their place. I read books by my two favourite thriller writers; The Poison Will Remain by Fred Vargas and  Time is a Killer by Michel Bussi. A few favourite French movies went into the pot, as well as some unfinished posts from last year(!) about magical rooms; Gertrude Stein and Natalie Clifford Barney and  Adrienne Monnier and Sylvia Beach . At the very end of July, I received a book from author and blogger Paulita Kincher for a review, Falling for Provence . That was a wonderful novel for wrapping ...
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