The Content Reader

Authors' books I have saved on my shelves which names start with C. Turns out to be only five books, of which four are non-fiction. My reviews under links.  Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell - a funny book with quotes from customers in bookshops. Here is an example which highlights the mix of culture today, and confusion. I would say that anything that makes someone want to buy a book is good. Although this customer, sadly, did not go for the book: "CUSTOMER:  Do you have a copy of Bella Swan's favourite book? You know, from Twilight? (Bookseller sighs and pulls a copy of Wuthering Heights off the shelf) CUSTOMER: Do you have the one with the cover that looks like Twilight? BOOKSELLER: No. This is an antiquarian bookshop, so this is an old edition of the book. CUSTOMER: But it's still the one with that girl Cathy and the dangerous guy, right? BOOKSELLER: Yes, it's still the story by Emily Brontë. CUSTOMER: Right. Do you think they'll make ...

If you have followed this blog, you might have noticed that I am very fond of biographies. Especially, of people, or families, which stand out due to their personalities, and maybe, eccentricities. This book has it all. The Garmans were nine siblings, and this biography is mainly about four of them; Mary, Kathleen, Douglas and Lorna. They turned their world and surroundings upside down with their wild and bohemian life in the beginning of the 20th century. They took lovers, and/or married them, created with their pure energy, the inspiration for many an artist. They were part of the Bloomsbury set between the wars, and knew them all; writer Vita Sackville-West who had a love affair with Mary, although she was married to poet Roy Campbell; sculpture Jacob Epstein, lover of Kathleen for many years until they married when his wife died; the poet Laurie Lee, painter Lucian Freud and many more. They lived their lives as they wanted without thinking about conventions. ”The valued nat...

Summer is normally the time when routines are broken. You go on holiday, enjoy the sun, relax and have time to read more books. For me, this summer is something out of the extraordinary, and not exactly relaxed, even if it has been enjoyable in another way. View from our flat, over the limestone quarry  First of all my son is home from his studies. Always very nice, but it means that my office is gone! Yes, I have made his bedroom my office and now he has taken it back.  I have moved to the dining room table with my laptop, which means running around for things I normally have around my desk, taking all the more time to do simple things. But, I am not complaining, having him around is a bliss. My new desk (with possibility to change the height electronically), here as a temporary eating table Another thing that has broken my routines is that we have bought two flats in Sweden; one for us and one for our son. That generates a lot of administration and travels bac...