The Content Reader

Robert Harris' excellent historical fiction on the Dreyfus affair was on the program for the second gathering at the library for "Read the book, watch the movie". We had a good discussion on both the book and the film. The film J'accuse  is French and directed by Roman Polanski. The French title is, as you all know, referring to the newspaper article that Emile Zola wrote in defence of Alfred Dreyfus and how he had been treated. It is a dreadful story and " has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francophone world, and it remains one of the most notable examples of a complex miscarriage of justice and antisemitism." (Wikipedia). It was at times difficult to read about the judicial and military systems, and how they  produced false evidence, although they knew that Dreyfus was innocent. The antisemitism was shocking,  both to read about and watch in the movie.  "Paris in 1895. Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish officer, has just been convicted of treas...

Already March and time flies. Here in Sweden, we have reached the end of the annual book sale, and for an offer of 'buy 4 books and pay for 3', I popped over to the book shop and managed, without much problems I have to admit, buy another four books. I was mainly looking for nonfiction, found only three, so added a fiction book I am eager to read.  New purchases Ödesmark (The Last Snow) by Stina Jackson - this is her second book about life and mystery in the north of Sweden. I loved her first book, Silvervägen (The Silver Road). She comes from the north of Sweden but lives in Denver, Colorado today. Excellent writing about life in a harsh environment, spiced with a mystery. Highly recommended if you have not yet read anything by her. The three nonfiction books are about Swedish history. From diligent historian, Dick Harrison, I choose Mordet på Gustav III,  about king Gustav III who was shot at an opera ball on 16 March, 1792, and died from his wounds a few days later. A fam...

February has reached its end. Time for a wrap up of what I read this month.  FINDS The last week of by AnnaBookBel's Nordic FINDS challenge. Outstanding country was Iceland. I wanted to read an old classic, Salka Valka by Halldór Laxness, but could not get hold of it. Instead I found two books from my local library by Arnaldur Indridason that I had not yet read,  The Shadow District  and  Petsamo .  The challenge is finalised for this year, but Annabel is hinting that there might be another one next year. Looking forward to it, and hope to be more organised then. My own challenge a nonfiction from my TBR shelves chosen by a random generator -  Stalingrad  by Anthony Beevor -   I had no time to even start this book, so it will go with me into March.  a fiction from my TBR shelves chosen by a random generator -  The History of the Siege of Lisbon  (História do cerco de Lisboa) by José Saramago - I have started reading. I started...

Since many years there is an annual book sale in Sweden in the end of February. This year I ordered the books online, and they were delivered to me yesterday. 16 new books in the genres fiction and  nonfiction.  Very pleased with the books new books.    Food and Household Care Texmex från grunden (Basic texmex) by Jonas Cramby Portionen under tian (The Portion Under 10 crowns (about 1€) by Hanna Olvenmark Vegan på 5 ingredienser (Vegan on 5 ingredients) by Siri Barje Städa hållbart med ekotipset (Sustainable Cleaning with Ecological tips) by Ellinor Sirén Nonfiction - History and Biography Bellman by Carina Burman (Carl Michael Bellman is one of our most famous songwriter, composer, musician, poet and entertainer. He lived at the end of the 18th century). This biography is by Carina Burman, one of my favourite authors in this genre.  Sveriges Medeltid (Medieval Times in Sweden) by Dick Harrison. One of my favourite historian. Kalmarunionen (The Kalmar Union) by ...

My local library has announced four meetings on the theme "Read the book - Watch the Film". I signed up for all of them, and yesterday was the first meeting discussing the book Perfume - The Story of a Murderer  by Patrick Süskind. The book was first published in 1985. I did read it around that time, but could not remember too much, so re-read it for this event.  "An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder. In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he bec...

February is almost at an end. I must admit that I have been in another world this month, or two different worlds might be more correct. The theme for my own February challenges is  Antiquity, Greek Gods and Other Tales.  I find the Greek gods quite a fascinating subject, and I have been totally absorbed by three books; Homer's The Iliad  (still reading), Ariadne by Jennifer Saint and The Song of Achilles  by Madeline Miller. On top of that I got hooked on a TV-series based on the All Soul Trilogy  by Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches. I watched the three seasons, and 25 episodes in about 10 days. There we enter into a world of vampyres, witches, demons and other creatures. A great story. Now I am back to real life, which seems to be only grey clouds, rain and wind. Luckily, we can disappear into other worlds and stories when we need to.  Ariadne Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening...

Maggie O'Farrell is a favourite author of mine. I recently read two of her books; Hamnet and My Lover's Lover .  The latter book is one rather typical for O'Farrell. Her psychological insight into our minds, our actions and our feelings. Her much appraised novel Hamnet has got very good reviews and it has been on my shelves for some months. I read it for a book club and we had a very interesting discussion. " On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London.  Neither parent know that Hamnet will not survive the week. Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of a famous playwright: a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written." The good revie...