The Content Reader

Six Degrees of Separation is hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best . This month it starts with a classic teen novel, The Outsiders  by S.E. Hinton. I have not read the book, or for that matter, heard about it. When checking the net, I find it is about troubled teenagers. Reading the summary, I immediately thought about East of Eden  by John Steinbeck. I have not read it, but seen the movie. So much connected to James Dean, I think you sometimes forget that it was written by one of the great American writers. That leads me to another James Dean movie and American writer with Giant , written by Edna Ferber. From Study.com I find the following introduction to the book. " Edna Ferber is the author of Giant, the book that caused one of the greatest scandals in Texan history. You may be familiar with the book's movie adaptation because it was James Dean's last role. Regardless of the narrative's presentation, the content inside of Ferber's novel crea...

A book from my TBR shelves came in handy for the literary course I am taking. The history of literature, starts, like so many other things, with the Greeks and the Romans.  The Poems of Catullus  has been on my shelves for several years, and finally, I read it. It is not entirely easy to interpret the poems, even with the very good introduction by the translator, Peter Whigham. Here a few lines from the introduction. "We know very little about Catullus's life: even the dates of his birth and death are uncertain. The likeliest figures are: born 84, died 54 B.C. His full name was Giaus Valerius Catullus. … He appears as one of the lovers of the notorious Clodia Metelli, and a leading figure - perhaps the leading figure - in the new movement in poetry. … In short, the tradition that he died of what our grandmothers called 'a broken heart' finds no support in the poems. It is based solely on the assumption that his love for Clodia was of the conventional type of romant...

Is it not wonderful to have an ending from time to time? When you read books you normally have an ending. But what happens when you read a series? Is there an ending in sight? It depends on if you know that there are three, four, five or whatever number of books in the series. But if it only goes on and on? It is ok, when each book in a series is also a finished story. To be frank it is not so common within the literary world, I am thinking more of the world of TV-series. There seems to be a never ending number of series that just go on and on an on! Yes, I know, it does depend on how many people watch it, if there will be a continuation or not. Even worse if you ask me. I also love to follow series with several seasons. However, unless you base your series on books, they write them as they come. I find that when you come to season 3 or 4, or around there, the stories tend to thin out. It sometimes becomes more and more crazy and the wonderful storyline you had from the beginning i...

Rose City Reader hosts a A Once-In-A-While Blog Event  called " What is Storyline Serendipity ? It is finding happenstance in the books you read. Serendipity seems to be a rather difficult word to translate into other languages, so let's take a look on where the word Serendipity comes from. According to Wikipedia "Serendipity means a "fortunate happenstance" or "pleasant surprise". It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of". The notion of serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of scientific innovation such as Alexander Fleming's accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928, the invention of the microwave oven by Percy Spencer ...

Last week I heard about a company named  Cotopaxi  and they had a challenge that tickled my curiosity. So, here I am, inspired to participate in a Cotopaxi project, to write a post about my favourite adventure book. Apart from Mount Sinai, this might be the highest climb I ever did! From Mallorca, Spain Since I was not familiar with Cotopaxi, I did a little bit of research on the web. The first thing I learn is that Cotopaxi is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, looks fabulous  in the pictures, and yes, I would like to visit! Scrolling further down I found the relevant Cotopaxi who is making outdoor clothing and accessories. They presents themselves as ”an outdoor gear company with a social mission”. That sounds like something I can agree too. Furthermore, and here is where she wanted my contribution; they have a section of their blog called " 5 road trips inspired by adventure books ". The books already there are: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer The...

SPOILER ALERT! If you have not read until book 7, An Echo in the Bone , don't read this. Apart from all the very thick books in the Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon has also written shorter novels, which give us the opportunity to further follow some of the characters that inhabit her books. Most of them follow Lord John Grey. However, in this one it is Joan MacKimmie, Marsali's younger sister, that we follow on her way to become a nun in France. Michael Murray, young Ian's elder brother, accompany her there. He is working in the family wine business, and is in a mourning mood since both his wife and father died recently. Having arrived in Paris, Comte St. Germain has returned from somewhere in history. His aim this time is to find the source for youth. He is looking for the apothecary Raymond, but when he finally meets him, Raymond is not what he used to be. Does he not look younger? How come he can come and disappear in a cloud of dust? Has he found the source? We m...

It seems that the new trend in book writing is to write a series rather than a single book. There are different kind of series; those where the story continues over a number of books, or, those where the story is finished in each book, but the main character reappears in several books. The last option has been a trend for a long time, especially within the detective story genre. Some of the most famous sleuths belong to this category; Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Sam Spade and others. I think this is a favoured category among readers.

I received these two books as a birthday present from my husband a year ago. I was not over enthusiastic at the time, but they have grown on me. It might not be something you read from cover to back, but they make an excellent reading on eating healthy and use food instead of medicines. That does not mean that we can stop taking our medicines, but we can definitely increase our awareness of eating healthy food. Healthy food is a big issue these days. I suppose we are all more or less affected by it. In the Food Pharmacy, Jean Carper tells us how food can fight disease. Here some examples; Onions for the heart, Barley, Oats, and the Vegetarian Secret, Chili Peppers' Yin-Yang Therapy, The Cabbage - Cancer Connection and how nuts and seeds may help, the cranberry's strange antibiotic, wine, tea, and marvellous phenols, yogurt tales and much more. There is also a list with a lot of fruit, vegetables and other products and their beneficiary uses. This part you can use as an ency...

This is the fourth book in the Outlander series. I don't think I have to give more details on this series, since it seems to be one of the most popular for the time being. Even more so after the first 8 episodes of the TV-series from Starz. I am also a big fan of both the books and the TV-series. I am not really into time travelling, or at least I did not think so. Maybe I have to change my own mind now, especially after having read two other books/series about time travelling and loving it; A Rip in The Veil by Anna Belfrage and The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. In the Outlander  series the time travelling takes the story to another level. I still think the first book is the best. Maybe because there is where it all started, the idea and the story was totally new and it was exciting. Not to say that the other books are not...they are! Some spoilers here for you who have not read the book so stop here. From book three Claire and Jamie leave Europe for the ...

I found this book since I saw a trailer for an upcoming TV-series. It looked really good. Another good idea, I think, is to read the book before watching the movie of series. Downloaded, not only Outlander but the other six books in the series! And it seems an eight is now out. It is of course a little bit of a risk, since if I don't like it, I am not likely to read the other books. Nevertheless, now having finished the first book, I am relieved and can say that I love it! It was written already in the beginning of the 90s, and I don't know how I could miss it. Diana Gabaldon says in interviews that she wrote it as a practice thing. She wanted to write a book, but didn't know if she could. So, she started this one and as we all know now, it turned out really well. You can say that it is about time travel, it is, but most of the story takes place in the 18th century Scotland.

Outlander I just read about a new TV-series which will be aired on 8 August, called Outlander . And saw the trailer. It looks very good and something I would like to see. Reading more thoroughly I realise that it is based on a series of very popular books by Diana Gabaldon. Reading further, I am a little bit shocked that I have never heard of it, as the first book came already in 1991. There seems to be 7 books so far. I don't know how I could have missed this, because it seems to be a story that I love. It starts with a time travel (of this I am not overfond, but so far it is ok in this book) and Claire, the heroine, is transferred from 1945 Scotland to 18th century Scotland. The second world war had just finished, but now she is transferred into even more violent times. Being a fan of historical fiction, I find it fascinating. I was brave to download all the books! The price was good. Yes, I know, it is a little bit of a game, not knowing if I would like it or not. Not all of t...