Since I’m sick* and way behind on reviews, I’ve realised the only way to catch up is to make them speed reviews and post a whole batch at once.
The Age of Napoleon; Alistair Horne, eng, 235
Interesting, but a little choppily written, and also the author assumes you know certain things and never explains them, [...]

Posted on July 7th, 2008 by Love
Filed under: A-Z Reading Challenge, B, Book Blowout, C, Classics, D, English, GLBT interest, Historical, History, Lifestyle, Mystery, Religion, Romance, Science Fiction, Sex, sexuality & gender, Speed reviews, Swedish, To Be Read, Young Adult | 1 Comment »

Hundår
by Markus Zusak
Original title: The Underdog

For the A-Z reading challenge.
Swedish
128 pages
Richters
ISBN: 91-7130-027-9
First line: Det var medan vi tittade på teve som vi bestämde oss för att råna tandläkaren.
Back cover blurb:
Cameron Wolfe är en ensamvarg och underdog som slår i underläge. Alltid i underläge!
I Hundår berättar han om några månader i sitt liv. Inte för [...]

Posted on July 4th, 2008 by Love
Filed under: A-Z Reading Challenge, Book Blowout, D, Fiction, Swedish, Young Adult | No Comments »

Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride
by Helen Halstead

For the Back to History reading challenge.
English
310 pages
Ulysses Press
ISBN: 978-1-56975-588-4
First line: What a joy it is to have a worthy topic of conversation, to hold the power to amaze!
Back cover blurb:
In Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen brought together one of the most beloved literary couples of all time—Elizabeth [...]

Posted on May 27th, 2008 by Love
Filed under: Back to History, D, English, Historical, Romance | 3 Comments »

Lugn för dej, Gelika
by Olga Wikström

For the A-Z reading challenge.
Swedish
204 pages
Bokförlaget Settern
ISBN: 91-7586-051-1
First line: Hon levde i en värld där allt fanns ovanför henne.
Back cover blurb:
Hon heter Gelika. Hon är en vallonflicka, mörk, ful tycker hon själv. Gelika bor på en stor gård i Värmland. Fadern, den älskade, har övergett möbelkonsten för lantbruket, därför [...]

Posted on May 17th, 2008 by Love
Filed under: A-Z Reading Challenge, D, Historical, Swedish | 1 Comment »

Drakvinter
by Elvira Birgitta Holm
Title translated to English: Dragon Winter

Swedish
186 pages
Bonnier Carlsen
ISBN: 91-638-3847-8
First line: Hjälp!
Back cover blurb:
Plötsligt slog Madeleine armarna om Bim, drog in henne i famnen så att hennes ansikte pressades mot Madeleines hals, hon kunde känna Madeleines bröst mot sina nyckelben, doften av mandel från Madeleines hud.
Bim ville slita sig loss, hon ville [...]

Posted on May 13th, 2008 by Love
Filed under: D, Fiction, GLBT interest, Swedish, Young Adult | 1 Comment »

Standish
by Erastes

For the Back to History reading challenge.
English
215 pages
P.D. Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 1-933720-09-3
First line: The candle guttered, and Ambrose looked up at it with a frown, the long blond hair falling away from the sides of his face.
Back cover blurb:
A great house. A family dispossessed. A sensitive young man. A powerful landowner. An epic love [...]

Posted on February 24th, 2008 by Love
Filed under: Back to History, D, English, GLBT interest, Historical, Romance | 2 Comments »

The World According to Clarkson: And Another Thing…
by Jeremy Clarkson

English
340 pages
Penguin Books
ISBN: 978-0-141-02860-6
First line: I suppose all of us were out and about before Christmas, pummelling our credit cards to within an inch of their lives.
Back cover blurb:
Jeremy Clarkson finds the world such a perplexing place that he wrote a bestselling book about it. [...]

Posted on February 23rd, 2008 by Love
Filed under: D, English, Humour, Non-fiction | 1 Comment »

Den hemlösa sexualiteten: en antologi
by a number of different authors
&
For the A-Z and To Be Read reading challenges.
Swedish
286 pages
Bokförlaget Libris
ISBN: 91-7195-402-3
First line: n/a
Back cover blurb:
Homosexualitet är en av de mest brännande frågorna i kyrkorna i dag. Ämnet väcker starka känslor. Många tycker att det är svårt att ta till orda, andra [...]

Posted on February 23rd, 2008 by Love
Filed under: A-Z Reading Challenge, D, GLBT interest, Religion, Swedish, To Be Read | No Comments »

By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
by Elizabeth Smart

For the Decades ‘08 reading challenge (first published 1945).
English
112 pages
Flamingo
ISBN: 0-586-09039-8
First line: I am standing on a corner in Monterey, waiting for the bus to come in, and all of the muscles of my will are holding my terror to face the moment I [...]

Posted on February 17th, 2008 by Love
Filed under: D, Decades '08, English, Fiction, Poetry | No Comments »

Mamma sa att jag var sjuk
by Julie Gregory
Original title: Sickened

For the A-Z reading challenge.
Swedish
259 pages
Bra Böcker
ISBN: 978-91-7002-361-6
First line: Det värsta var att bli rakad.
Back cover blurb:
An unusual memoir describes growing up as the victim of Munchausen by proxy, a dangerous form of child abuse in which her mother invented or caused a series of [...]

Posted on February 3rd, 2008 by Love
Filed under: A-Z Reading Challenge, Biographies, D, Diseases and disorders, Swedish | 1 Comment »