February, March, April, May and June 2016 In Books

Time flies - still reading books - that will never change. One re-read before seeing a movie adaption, one re-read doing my duties as a Red Cross book friend and one re-read when joining a read-along. Some read on a e-reader, since they were only published as e-books. Discovering two Danish and one Swedish crime writer and started reading all their books - still a few in the to-be-read pile. To-be-read book pile has grown as has acquired 26 new books the past 1½ months - some have been passed on from friends. Attending talks by authors and a crime book festival. Then there was the book about the sailing adventure, that I took part in - making me put all other books aside to read it: I was even quoted in the book, and there is a photo of me :o)

Books are a refuge to me - good therapy when going through roller coaster times with good and bad things happening non-stop.

The Girl in the Spiders Web by David Lagercrantz
(Original Title: Det som inte dödar oss)
Sweden
Library Book

A Christmas in Disguise by Katie Fforde
England
e-Book

Halloween Scare by Maggie Sefton
USA
e-Book

Dogdays* by Einar Mar Gudmundsson
(Original title: Hundadaga)
Iceland
February BookFriend Book
Library Book

Rest in Peace* by Sofie Saranbrant
(Original title: Vila i frid)
Sweden
Library Book

Second Breath* by Sofie Saranbrant
(Original title: Andre andningen)
Sweden
Library Book

Killer Deal by Sofie Saranbrant
(Original title: Visning pågår))
Sweden
Library Book

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

England

Lovebooks Read-Along

The White Elf* by Mette Tine Bruun

(Original title: Den hvide alf)

Denmark

A New Time* by Ida Jessen

(Original title: En ny tid)

Denmark

March  BookFriend Book 

Redemption by Jussi Adler-Olsen

(Orginal title: Flaskepost fra P) 

Denmark

Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg

USA

Library Book 

Darling Jim by Christian Mørk

Denmark

Library Book

Journey of Change: Women Pushing Boundaries by Corinna Halloran

Sweden

Eyewitnesses* by Maria Helleberg  

(Original title:: Øjenvidnerne)

Denmark

The Art of Dying* by Anna Grue

(Original title: Kunsten at dø)

Denmark

Austenland by Shannon Hale

USA

The Bomber by Liza Marklund

(Original title: Sprängaren)

Sweden

A Place Nobody Sees* by Marianne Gade

(Original title: Et sted som ingen ser)

Denmark

May BookFriend Book
Library Book

The Accidental Book Club by Jennifer Scott
USA

See You Tomorrow* by Eva Jørgensen
(Original title: Vi ses i morgen)
Denmark

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
USA
June BookFriend Book

Honeymoon in Paris by Jojo Moyes
United Kingdom

Oceans of Hope: Around the World and Back to Life* by Mikkel Anthonisen
Denmark

The Blind Spot* by Julie Hastrup
(Original title: Det blinde punkt)
Denmark

Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All by Jonas Jonasson
(Original title: Mördar-Anders och hans vänner)
Sweden
Library Book

The Further You Fall* by Anna Grue
(Original title: Dybt at Falde)
Denmark

*Literal title: the book has not been published in English version, so title is not an official title of the book

The Danger of Holidays

Until just an hour ago - this book pile was some of my holiday purchases - now another book has been added: a Sherloch Holmes coloring book. I'm certain that if I had spotted a similar Jane Austen or Alice in Wonderland, they would have been added too.... I did stay long enough to check as I have to argue with my book shelves when I come home on the subject of lacking space

One excuse though: books are a lot cheaper in the US and Canada compared to Denmark and I have already read one of them and started a second one on my travel back home.

Book Challenge: 26 Books to Read in 2015 - Part 2

Source: Pinterest

Back in April I chose to pursue a challenge: 26 books to read in 2015.

From the beginning I knew, that it would be impossible to do nr. 19 on the list: "A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t" - I loved books, so I always read the books we were told to read and we did not have a list of suggested reading (most schools here do not make such a list - even though I like the idea) - but I have completed the remaining 26 requirements :o)

1.    A book you own but haven’t read: From a Buick 8 – Stephen King

2.    A book that was made into a movie: The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemmingway

3.    A book you pick solely because of the cover: Murder of a Needled Knitter – Denise Swanson

4.    A book your friend loves: The Rose Labyrinth – Titania Hardie

5.    A book published this year: A Vintage Wedding – Katie Fforde

6.    A book by an author you’ve never read before: Becoming Dickens - Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

7.    A book by an author you love: Peter Pan Must Die – John Verdon

8.    A book at the bottom at your “to be read” pile: The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

9.    A book with a color in the title: Hvidsten Gruppen - Axel Holm – hvid is white in Danish

10.  A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit: The Perfect Match – Katie Fforde - Cotswold, UK

11.  A book you started but never finished: Always Looking Up – Michael J Fox - started February 2013

12.  A book a lion, a witch or a wardrobe: Brobyggerne – Jan Guillou - lion

13.  A book with a female heroine: The Fire – Katherine Neville 

14.  A book set in the summer: Purl Up and Die - Maggie Sefton

15.  A book of poems: Stik - Stine Dige & Marie Ladefoged

16.  A book you learned about because of this challenge: The Boston Girl - Anita Diamant

17.  A book that will make you smarter: Vælg Fra - Birgitte Sally

18.  A book with a blue cover: Always Looking Up – Michael J Fox

19.  A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t: **DOES NOT EXIST**

20.  A book “everyone” but you have read: All the Light we Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

21.  A book with a great first line: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife"

22.  A book with pictures :11 meter frihed – Christian Liebergreen

23.  A book from the library: Library of Souls - Random Riggs

24.  A book you loved…read it again: Le Petit Price – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

25.  A book that is more than 10 years old: Hallo'ween - Agatha Christie

26.  A book based on a true story: Team Tvilling – Peder & Steen Mondrup

I could have mentioned several books next to some of the 25 requirements completed, but having read 102 books throughout the entire year I have chosen only to list one book

Pride and Prejudice - Read-Along

Danish and English version of Pride and Prejudice.

My old English teacher did not exactly inspire to read the classic – in fact I was reluctant to speak much English until the age of 26 despite having English lessons since the age of 10 – reading Stephen King and Dean R Koontz  in original language began in 1992 (age of 19)

Much have changed – English is the official language at work (actually at all my previous jobs since 1995) and I read English just as fast as Danish – fluent in the spoken language too. 

This is actually a first reading the classic in Danish - I did finish the read-along in time, but have not blogged about it until now.

Stamp issued at the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's first publication

The current translation was done by Vibeke Houstrup in 2006 and is one  of the best translations of a book, that I have ever read. The essence is true to Jane Austen's writing which made this a happy read. The first translation to Danish was done in 1929 and believe it could be fun to track down a copy of that translation to see just how different that is compared to the one I just read - guessing that it is my inner book nerd speaking out loud know.

Now matter how many times you read it, one still hopes that Elisabeth will find her true love despite some looking down on her family's misfortune: no male heir means that her father's property will be inherited by a cousin and her mother's appearance:

She was a woman of mean understanding, mean information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented she fancied herself nervous.

A nice hot cup of tea and one of these in the DVD player: bliss!!

August 2015 In Books

11 books - the good old paper book along with some e-books and an audio book - and yes, still prefer the good old paper book, but when running out reading material, the others are taken temporarily into consideration. A big variety of  themes and styles, BookFriend choice, read-along and one suggested due to challenges caused by the MS. Ahhhh reading is good!!

Joyland by Stephen King
US
Library Book

Gut, The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ by Guilia Enders
(Original title: Darm mit Charme)
Germany
Library Book

Before I Go to Sleep by S J Watson
UK
Library Book

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catherina Ingelman-Sundberg
(Original title: Kaffe med rån)
Sweden
E-book / Library Book

Operation Dacapo by Hanne Bech Hansen
Denmark
Audiobook

Wild by Cheryl Strayed
USA
E-book / Library book

Duma Key by Stephen King
USA
Library book

Vælg Fra by Birgitte Sally
(Translated title: Select) *
Denmark
Library book

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
England
LoveBooks Read-Along

Cantata*(translated title) by  Kristin Maria Baldursdottir
(Original title: Kantata )
Iceland
Library book
BookFriend book September 2015

The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
(Original title: Sinuhe Ägyptiläinen)
Finland


*Translated title: the book has not been published in English version, so title is not an official title of the book.

Pride and Prejudice Read-Along

Confession. I have read Pride and Prejudice two hundred times. I get lost in the language, words like 'Thither, Mischance, Felicity'. I'm always in agony over whether Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are going to get together. Ah! Read it. I know you'll love it.   

                                                                                   

OK, so I am not reading Jane Austen’s book for the 200^th time like Kathleen Kelly in the movie "You've Got Mail" but there is just something about the story, which continuously lures me to re-read this classic novel. The persuader this time is LoveBooks’ Pride and Prejudice Read-Along that starts tomorrow and for the next 10 days I will read the suggested chapters of the book.

June 2015 in Books

Posting this a bit late, but one day takes another at the moment.

Just learned, that an old book shop Atheneum in Copenhagen is about to close business. They opened the doors in 1874 (141 years ago) and have always been ready with advise and suggestion, if you were a bit stuck with the choices available or needed inspiration - but the internet business and the end of bookstores having lost the monopoly on selling books here in Denmark, so the supermarket chains can sell books at incredible low prices have proven to be too much competition. Makes me think of the movie "You've Got Mail" where Meg Ryan's children's book store has to close - just proves that some of the points in that movie are still valid. *sigh*

Here is the list of books, that I read in June:

Rejsen til frihed by Linh Nguyen
(Translated title: Journey to Fredom)*
Denmark

Den sønderjyske farm by Erling Jepsen
(Translated title: The South Jutland Farm))*
Denmark
E-book

Stik by Stine Dige and Marie Ladefoged

(Translated title: Sting)*
Denmark

Miss Perigrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
USA
Library Book

Aase Seidler Gernes
Denmark

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D.James
UK
Library Book

The Peacock Emporium by Jojo Moyes
UK
Library Book



*Translated title: the book has not been published in English version, so title is not an official title of the book.

CPH Reads: Jane Austen

Source

CPH Reads - a literature festival of 10 days filled with book events all-over Copenhagen earlier this month, and this year's theme was: love.

CPH Reads: Jane Austen-salon at Perch's Tearoom

I had invited an old friend to an event at a local tearoom that in co-operation with the bloggers at LoveBooks had arranged a lecture about the classic novel Emma by Jane Austen while drinking lovely tea and eating scones. She is a big Jane Austen fan and happily received the ticket as a pre-birthday present and had not heard of the event until I asked her to reserve some hours.

Lise Lotte Frederiksen shared her passion for Jane Austen in an openhearted and humorous way that made two hours fly away in was seemed merely a few minutes and captured the smiles of the audience, young to elderly. She was laughing a bit, as most think of the Jane Austen time of drinking afternoon tea, but her time was actually before the introduction afternoon tea, as the English were still regarding tea as medicine - but then again, she thought the venue were perfect for a Jane Austen talk.

I learned a lot from her lecture about details, that I would never have given a second thought, but were small "indicators" in Jane Austen's time about people's manners, wealth, education etc. so now on the lookout of an annotated edition of Emma so I can re-read the novel with attention to all the small details throughout the book. Never read Emma in Danish so purchased the newest translation at the event and have a hard time resisting just starting reading - but other books have priority at the moment.

Some photos from the event here: LoveBooks and Windblown Pages

CPH Reads: Embroidery Workshop: embroider your favorite Jane Austen quote

Could not resist that - have not done any embroidering in a couple of years and want to make some to use in connection with some yarn graffiti later this year. I am not fast at embroidery and we only had a couple of hours at the workshop, so did not finish mine at the event but that is OK as I got some great creative inspiration from the other ladies attending.

Maybe you have already noticed, but saw it fitting that the cover of Emma use in top of this post is an embroidered version - think that would make an awesome collector's item for Jane Austen fans if they were published with covers like that.

My chosen Jane Austen quote was:

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid

Commemorating Jane Austen

The Royal Mail UK is commemorating the 200th year of the publishing of Jane Austen's beloved novel Pride and Prejudice with these stamps - and I was lucky that a friend remembered my love for Jane Austen's books so having a set above my computer :o) Each of her novels got a stamp and it does not get any more English than that - always thought that it is nice to use national icons on stamps when sending the old fashioned mail.

Well those things are normal - but wondering what the Belgians were thinking, when launching stamps with chocolate taste?? Maybe that could have been useful here a couple of years ago, but now all stamps are self-adhesive.

Book Lover's Club: Bookmarks - Part 1

Are your bookmarks always hiding, when you need one? So you grab what is available/suitable and use that item as a bookmark? Weather you answered yes or no, I think you will enjoy reading Michael Popek's book "Forgotten bookmarks".... and while reading it myself I realised that I used a ticket stub (flight) as my bookmark :o) I have several bookmarks but they all seem to be hiding in books - Some came with an O Magazine with quotes about books, a souvenir bookmark from London, a red ribbon, bookmark from a fellow crafter etc.

 

Sent my swap partner Diana the book as a teaser until she received my bookmarks.

Here are my 3 bookmarks - first one is with tea cups, as I always drinks loads of tea while reading - Thinking that Diana might be drinking a lot of tea or coffe while reading. Christmas, hoping that Diana gets to read more than to-do-lists or wish-lists during a busy month of December. Finally a reading girl, with a fitting sentiment on pages from Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" (a worn down copy - have purchased a new one to replace it).

This card was also sent with the bookmarks, and now I just hope that Diana will not run out of bookmarks anytime soon.

The Jane Austen Marriage Manual

How do you find your very own Mr. Darcy? Especially when you are getting close to the big 4-0?

Love books inspired by Jane Austen (this year is the 200th aniversary of the publishing of "Pride and Prejudice") and it seems to be a everlasting ressource of inspiration to romantic books, dreams etc. The most eerie thing about this book is, when I stumbled across it on my vacation, I was as close to my 40-mark, as Kate in the book - but did not realise that until I had almost finished reading the book.

"If lives throw you a lemon, make lemonade" (Joan Collins), an that exactly what Kate tries to persue when she gets fired from her journalist job. Despite warnings from her best friends, that reminds her, that she is not Jane Austen, when she tries to follow Jane's advice for company to see if they still work in or time in a freelance assigment. If you know your Jane Austen, you will recignize a lot of updated things, and if you have never been bitten by the Jane Austen bug, then this will still be an entertaining chic-lit.

Well Kim Izzo must be a bit of a Jane Austen addict herself as every chapter starts with a quote from one of Austen's book - and the name of some of the characters on recognizes from the Austen novels: Emma, Brandon, Marianne