A-Z Reading Challenge archive at Stray Talk
an archive of my forays into fact and fiction

Archive: A-Z Reading Challenge


7th July, 2008
Speed reviews: part I
— Love @ 08:43 Comments (1)
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

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 British
Interesting, but a little choppily written, and also the author assumes you know certain things and never explains them, while others he explains over and over again.
C

Cold Comfort Farm; Stella Gibbons, eng, 253 British
Funny, though I accidentally didn’t read the preface, so I wasn’t 100 % how much of it was intentional (all of it, as it turns out, and as I suspected). Flora Poste is kind of annoying, but all right all the same.
For the TBR reading challenge and as part of the BBC Big Read.
B

Rebecca; Daphne du Maurier, eng, 410 British
A re-read, not as good as I remembered it, but still lovely. Maxim is both wonderful and creepy.
C

Med uppenbar känsla för stil; Stephan Mendel-Enk, swe, 128 Swedish
Interestingly written about men and what’s considered masculine. References Morrissey at some points, mostly in connection with a man who went berserk and killed people. Lovely… not!
C

Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East; Brian Whitaker, swe, 230 British
Interesting, scary and occasionally a little bit hopeful.
C

Ingen behöver veta; Christina Wahldén, swe, 139 Swedish
About male rape and how it does exist, but people find it hard to believe. Kind of a non-ending, but then I suppose that’s sadly the case in most instances of actual male rape also.
C

Ingen grekisk gud, precis; Katarian Kieri, swe, 217 Swedish
Kind of brilliant tale of a young girl who falls for a teacher. Kind of brilliant mostly because the main character is into Morrissey, but for other reasons also. I was a bit worried where it was going to end, but it’s kind of perfect, really.
B

Sandman: The Kindly Ones; Neil Gaiman et al., eng, 335 British
I wouldn’t say Sandman is Gaiman at his best, but I do like the stories and so also in this volume. Not my favourite, though.
For the TBR reading challenge.
C

Doctor Who: The Nightmare of Black Island; Mike Tucker, eng, 255 British
Scary monsters and kiddies with nightmares. I liked it, but not as much as other DW books.
C

Doctor Who: The Art of Destruction; Stephen Cole, eng, 256 British
Farming in Africa, golden statues and creepy aliens. Good, but not great. Doctor’s always nice, though.
C

Doctor Who: The Price of Paradise; Colin Brake, eng, 255 British
References Franz Ferdinand and other pop culture a time or two. Not the best of the DW books I’ve read—I don’t much care for Colin Brake’s style of writing it, though I can’t put my finger on the exact reason.
C

Tro, hopp och burnout; Johan Unenge, swe, 228 Swedish
YA story about a guy who’s really into cars and death metal, who ends up going on a confirmation camp. It’s a decent story, and I was happy to see it didn’t end up quite where I expected it would, but the writing style is very, very choppy and not at all my cup of tea.
For the A-Z reading challenge.
C

Vadå feminist; Lisa Gålmark, swe, 188 Swedish
Basic guide to feminism. I wasn’t too keen on the writing and didn’t like the book all that much. Mostly it made me a little annoyed with the author, though it did contain sections worth thinking about. It bothers me that there is no question mark in the title.
For the A-Z reading challenge.
D

Homofamiljer; Sara Stenholm & Cecilia Strömberg, swe, 312 Swedish
About rainbow families and different ways to get one. Interesting, especially the personal stories, but not fab.
C

*Just a cold, but a bad one. I hate colds. And I’ve run out of Kleenex, which means my nose is very, very sore from regular paper towels. Woe.


4th July, 2008
Hundår; Markus Zusak
— Love @ 06:14 Comments (0)
Filed under: A-Z Reading Challenge, Book Blowout, D, Fiction, Swedish, Young Adult

The Underdog; Markus Zusak Hundår
by Markus Zusak
Original title: The Underdog
Australian

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 att det hände något särskilt. Bara hans försök att hitta sin väg genom livet. Och några boxningsmatcher på bakgården.

Thoughts: I don’t know if it was because of the translation, my mood at the time, or because Zusak is just not my cup of tea, but I didn’t like this book. I’ve been hearing a lot of good stuff about him, so I think I’ll probably try The Book Thief anyway, though not by buying it. If I’ll read it, I’ll borrow it from the library.

A D grade. It just wasn’t interesting to me.


17th May, 2008
Trollkarlens hatt; Tove Jansson
— Love @ 18:16 Comments (1)
Filed under: A, A-Z Reading Challenge, Adventure, Children's lit, Fantasy, Swedish

Trollkarlens hatt; Tove Jansson Trollkarlens hatt
by Tove Jansson
Title in English: Finn Family Moomintroll
Finnish

For the A-Z reading challenge.

Swedish
158 pages
Alfabeta
ISBN: 91-501-0479-9

First line: En grå morgon föll den första snön över Mumindalen.

Back cover blurb:
Den här berättelsen börjar med trolldom en tidig vÃ¥rmorgon och slutar en varm augustinatt som aldrig kommer att glömmas i Mumindalen. Däremellan ligger Mumintrollets lÃ¥nga sommar, full av solsken och Ã¥skväder. Den kunde ha varit som en vanlig sommar med upptäckter av nya öar, med lÃ¥ngrevsfiske i duggregn och lyckliga bad i bränningarna och hemlighetsfulla nattvandringar—men sÃ¥ hittade muminfamiljen Trollkarlens hatt. Och efter det var ingenting som vanligt längre.
Farlighet och spänning hade kommit in i dalen och tassade hotfullt kring deras hus. Varje dag händr otroliga och upprörande saker—de hade med andra ord aldrig haft sÃ¥ roligt förr!
Det här är historien om små och stora kryp och om glada händelser och hemska händelser som alltid måste vara hopblandade för att ens sommar ska bli riktig och underbar.

Very short synopsis in English: After the Moomins find a peculiar hat, their summer turns into a strange one.

Thoughts: MOOMINS! =D Coherence has gone right out the window, sorry.

This is basically amazing and possibly my favourite Moomin book. Read it! (Banquo says it better.)

An A rating, yes.


17th May, 2008
Lugn för dej, Gelika; Olga Wikström
— Love @ 18:10 Comments (1)
Filed under: A-Z Reading Challenge, D, Historical, Swedish

No cover image available Lugn för dej, Gelika
by Olga Wikström
Swedish

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 att hustrun vill det. Någon riktigt bra bonde blir han inte. Han lever upp då han arbetar i trä. Han är och förblir en konstnärsnatur.
“Ska vi dansa, Singoalla?” frÃ¥gar studenten. Han och Gelika dansar bort i vägen, som en gÃ¥ng Frödings ungdomar. “Vem är Singoalla?” undrar Gelika. En dag vet hon det, men dÃ¥ har mycket hänt och Gelika känner att vingarna bär. Hon är en skönhet och hon är pÃ¥ väg ut.

Very short synopsis in English: Gelika is a farmer’s daughter and, in her own mind, quite ugly. This is the story of her growing up, of the tragedies that strike, and the realisation that she’s not so bad-looking after all.

Thoughts: I was quite disappointed in this. The back cover blurb made it sound like it would be about something else than it was. Well, actually, what was on the back cover blurb did happen in the book, but made up maybe one fifth of the entire novel, whilst the blurb made it seem like it would be the majority.

I don’t like being disappointed, and besides it wasn’t very good anyway, so a D grade.


12th May, 2008
Kometen kommer; Tove Jansson
— Love @ 17:38 Comments (1)
Filed under: A-Z Reading Challenge, Adventure, B, Children's lit, Fantasy, Swedish

No cover image available Kometen kommer
by Tove Jansson
Title in English: Comet in Moominland
Finnish

For the A-Z reading challenge.

Swedish
150 pages
AWE/Gebers
ISBN: 91-20-07546-4

First line: Samma morgon som mumintrollets pappa fick bron över floden färdig gjorde det lilla djuret Sniff en upptäckt.

Back cover blurb:
Sommaren är som den brukar i Mumintrollets dal, varm och full av hemliga möjligheter.
Det lilla djuret Sniff har hittat en egen grotta, en mycket stor händelse.
Men sent pÃ¥ natten kommer stormen…
Om man är mycket liten är det svÃ¥rt att fatta att världsrymden är kolsvart och aldrig slutar och att jorden är en försvinnande liten gnista av liv. Plötsligt—lÃ¥ngt ute i mörkret—lyser ett rött öga, det blir större dag för dag.
Det är kometen som kommer närmare och närmare Mumindalen! Himlen är röd och havet kryper längst ner i sina hålor, vartenda knytt packar ihop sina saker och flyr. Men Snusmumriken tog sin munharmonika och spelade visan om äventyr som inte är lagom stora utan alldeles kolossala, och så gav de sig rakt ut i farligheten.
Följ med!

Very short synopsis in English: It’s the middle of summer and a comet is heading for Moomin Valley. Moomintroll and Sniff decide to journey to the observatory to ask the Professor about the comet. On their way, they make new friends.

Thoughts: It’s been ages since I last read the Moomin books (actually, I don’t think I’ve actually read them myself before, but have always had them read to me), but they still hold up now. My favourite character is Snufkin, who is the rebel who doesn’t like owning things and sometimes just needs to be alone with his thoughts and his pipe.

Kometen kommer receives a B grade.