The Content Reader

This is a book I bought at a museum shop. I found it interesting to see which plants have made an impact on history and man. It is not a book to read from beginning to end so I take a plant at the time. I will make this a series which will be posted on Mondays. Don't worry, I will not mention all the plants, but some that are common and interesting. The first one is about the onion,  Allium copa.  Origin: Uncertain, probably Southwest Asia Type: bulbous plant Height: 30 cm or more Edible: Yes Medical: Yes Merchandise: Yes Technical: No When you cut an onion, usually the tears start coming. It is due to a sulfur-containing substance which is released. It has the same   effects as pepper spray.  Research has been done to establish whether onion tears are the same as the tears you apply to grief? Charles Darwin determined that tears of grief did not differ from those caused by onions.  However, it turned out that Darwin was wrong. The American biochemist William Fr...

I have to share some thoughts about this book, mainly because I absolutely love the cover. Coelho is one of my favourite authors. He brings us the essential questions in life, with or without an answer. It is up to ourselves to reflect. The Valkyries  is a somewhat different book. I am not able to say if it is a true story or not, although he indicates it is. Maybe, this is his intention? The couple in the book are called Paulo and Chris, man and wife, who travel to the Mojave desert to try to find their guardian angels. It is a search inside oneself, as well as a search for nature, life and all its mysteries.  In the desert they encounter the Valkyries, a group of women traversing the desert on motorcycles, spreading the word of angels. They help the couple to open their eyes to what they do not hear and see.  As usual with Coelho it is a magic, mythical story, taking us through imagination and letting us be inspired by his thoughts. What is the real world? What is not? ...

  Since I am back at home, for the time being, it is nice to have time to read again. Here are a few short reviews of books I have read lately.  The Draining Lage by Arnaldur Indridason "Following an earthquake, the water level of an Icelandic lake suddenly falls, revealing a skeleton. Inspector Erlendur's investigation takes him back to the Cold War era, when bright, left-wing students in Iceland were sent to study in the "heavenly state" of Communist East Germany. Teeming with spies and informants, though, their "heavenly state" becomes a nightmare of betrayal and murder. Brilliantly weaving international espionage and a chilling cold case investigation, The Draining Lake is Arnaldur Indridason at his best."   Another fascinating murder mystery for Inspector Erlendur. This time he has to deal with a story going back fifty years. Ever since his brother disappeared in the snow when they were kids, Erlendur has been fascinated by disappearance. Will the...

On the way back from our trip to the north of Sweden, Finland and Norway, we passed by my parents again. The common book shelves are standing outside the guest flat so I took the opportunity to go through it one more time. I found seven books in June as I told you about in the post Just checking in... . They have already been read and I was quite pleased with my choose and enjoyed the books. Another look generated another five books, and they are: Rose Tremain - Restoration - It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989, as well as being the Sunday Express  Book of the Year. In 1995 it was made into a film with Robert Downey Jr., Sam Neill, David Thewlis, Polly Walker and Meg Ryan. " Robert Merivel, son of a glove maker and an aspiring physician, finds his fortunes transformed when he is given a position at the court of King Charles II. Merivel slips easily into a life of luxury and idleness, enthusiastically enjoying the women and wine of the vibrant Restoration age. But ...

It was quite a while ago since I posted a new bookmark. Finally, I got hold of a beautiful one when we visited the Gripsholm Castle in Sweden in the beginning of June. The castle is situated in Mariefred, about 60 km west of Stockholm. It was built by Gustav Vasa (the first king of the Vasa dynasty) between 1537 and 1545 and was to be served as one of the main residences of the royal house. The times were worried and it was used both as a safe retreat for the royal children, during the Dacke revolt and as a prison. The oldest son of Gustav Vasa, Erik XIV imprisoned his brother John and his wife Catherine Jagiellon in the castle. Thus happened that their son Sigismund, later to be the King of Poland and Sweden, was born there in 1566. When John deposed of his brother Erik XIV, Gripsholm was one of the castles where he was kept prisoner from 1571 until 1573. The brothers, half brothers, were not the best of friends. During the coming centuries the castle was used by the royal family at v...

It was quite some time since I wrote a post about book beginnings and pages 56. These two memes are hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice . I have recently been to Norway and visited Tromsö. There you will find the very interesting Polar Museum which highlights the impressive polar adventurers history of Norway. Two of the most famous ones are Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen. I couldn't help myself buying a book about them - The Lives of Nansen and Amundsen by Hans Olav Thyvold. There are more in-depth books about their achievements but this is a shorter one highlighting the most important things in their life. A very interesting book and a review will come soon. BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS From Preface by Hans Olav Thyvold "Polar heroes are not like other heroes. Not in Norway, in any case. In a country where skiing is treated with almost religious enthusiasm, skiers are national icons. With all due respect to the femmil , the dreaded fifty-kilometre cross-count...

As I mentioned in my post Just checking in ...   I grabbed a few books for free. One of them was Haruki Murakami's Killing Commendatore.  I started reading and was totally absorbed by this book. Being on the road it was difficult to find time to read, but when I could I picked it up. I saw, but tried to ignore, that is said "The First Book" on the cover (I read it in Swedish). However, just when things were getting even more interesting the book ended, and I realised that there indeed was a book two. It seems that in Swedish the rather long book has been divided into two.  Reading by Inari Lake in NE Finland Quite desperate to continue reading I tried to download an e-book from the library. They did not have it as an e-book. I looked into other options to buy an e-book, but they were rather expensive, and since I had already read the first half I did not want to spend the money on just half a book. Reading at a Inari café, enjoying  coffee and waffles with whipped cr...