The Content Reader

From reading 12 books in March the number has gone done quite a bit. April ended on 5 book, May on 4 and so far in June I have read 4 books. Probably summer and mostly a bit of travelling. The reviews have been even rarer. So here are a few shorter ones on some of the books. Med Örnen mot polen by Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi (Scientific account of the Andrée expedition 1897) An old book that stays open when you put it on the table! Aahh, the pleasure of an old book. I think I got this from a friend who moved. It is printed in 1930, the same year as the Andrée expedition was found. It is put together by the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography. As such I did expect a little bit of dry scientific account. Far from it! There are extracts from the diaries of the expedition members, accounts on the various scientific tasks the expedition had, as well as information on equipment, clothes, food and everything daily life. Also a report from one of the...

I read another historical fiction by Lena Einhorn, some years ago. It was Siri , about Siri von Essen, the first wife of August Strindberg. It was excellent, so when I saw this book, which is about the early years of Greta Garbo, I grabbed it. It does not disappoint. Excellently and engagingly written. Lena Einhorn is a physician, with a PhD in Virology and Tumor Biology, and has also done research ranging from tumor viruses, to the question of "what it is in embryonic life that strongly inhibits the development of cancer in fetuses and newborns". In the 1990s she changed her carrier into making television programs and writing books. She has also made a documentary of Greta Garbo and now using her research into her life, to write this book. Garbo's story is rather well-known, especially her career. Here we get to know so much more about her, and I think Einhorn has managed to transfer the character of Garbo into this book. It is written with great respect for the pers...

This is what you have heard on this blog lately. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden the real world took over most of my attention! In March, my parents came to visit for two weeks. Great fun, since we don't see each other that often. At about the same time we sold our flat in Mallorca, which generated a lot of preparations.  For Easter we went there to finalise the signing and moving out of the flat. It was sad in a way, but we will come back to Mallorca. It is a lovely place! Our plan was to buy another flat in Sweden. I knew already where and had seen the flat in a viewing some years ago. We settled down to wait for the relevant flat to come on the market, expecting to wait even a year or two. You can imagine the surprise when it came on the market this April! We went to Sweden for a day to have a look. I already knew I loved the flat, having seen it before, but the good thing was that my mister also loved it! We gave an offer and got it. So you see I have ...

Just before I left Sweden I bought four more pocket books. There is this offer of 'Buy 4, Pay for 3'. Fair enough. Three of them are Swedish and one is American. Nässlorna blomma by Harry Martinsson A Swedish classic. Martinsson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974. Blekingegatan 32 by Lena Einhorn A book about Greta Garbo. The title is the address where she lived. Lena Einhorn wrote a very good biography about Siri von Essen, one of the wives of August Strindberg. Alkemistens dotter by Carl-Michael Edenborgh A new writer for me. It is about alchemists in the 18th century. Sounds interesting to me. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker Also a new acquaintance to me. A successful New York lawyer, happily married with two children, just leaves without an explanation. Four years later, his wife finds an old love letter that was never posted, addressed to an unknown woman with an address in Burma. His daughter Julia hopes this means h...