Finally, Some More Books

There have been a lot of photos in this blog as lately. And the books I've finished reading have been piling up in little-review-heaps - so far there are eight of them and more to come... So I think it's about, once again, time to do a bit of book reviewing my way.

As some might have noticed I rarely write a resume or tell details about the storyline, since I think that can possibly spoil the read. For resumes I suggest a read of the book's back cover, an online bookstore or possibly the author's website.

I'm more interested in conveying my impressions of the quality of writing - best ever, brilliant, decent, good enough, average, bad, boring, lousy, crap, oh yes I like my adjectives -, the ingenuity of the plot, the mood it put me in, how easy or non easy a read it was, was it worth my time and energy or not - if it wasn't I most probably didn't even finish the book - and most of all, do I recommend it, wholeheartedly or semi-heartedly or definitely not at all - since there are some heartbreakingly overrated and bad written pieces of letters put into words, into sentences, into chapters and hey presto published as books out there...

The content of this book post will be mainly about three pieces, two fictional and one travel book. All very different in both plots and writing style. The starter will be the award winning Swedish novella. Novella it might be, an easy read not. But still worth it, in a somewhat mood lowering, slightly depressing way it does give food for thought and mind.

The name of the book is Stundande natten /Imminent Night by Carl-Henning Wijkmark and it's a story about and ageing actor in hospice care thinking about past life and his own imminent death. It was beautifully, somewhat tensely written, with a placid sense of humour. But also, not surprisingly, anxiety-ridden - thus not something I recommend as a light read before sleeping. I also think there were some loose ends that would have been better to completely omit from the book or tie together.

I had never heard of this writer before I learnt about him winning this Swedish literature prize called August priset (The August Prize) and I can honestly say that it's far from always I find the winning books to be good reads or well written, but some of them have been truly amazing reads and quite a few are some of my all time favourite books, like

Carl-Johan Vallgren; Den vidunderliga kärlekens historia (yes I know I keep repeating the name of this book as a mantra, but it really, really is that incredibly good...) - translated into the somewhat incredible title The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-reading Monster Hercules Barefoot - His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred
Kerstin Ekman; Händelser vid vatten - translated as Blackwater
Majgull Axelsson; Aprilhäxan - April Witch

Book two is initially also about a man who gets deadly news from his doctor, but from then on everything is handled in a irritatingly silly and lighthearted way, written in a somewhat simpleton style just begging to be made into a movie. It might have been a lousy translation into Swedish, perhaps it's a piece of fine literature in English, myself I just found it quite annoying and not at all as endearing and sweet as many (including my mother) seem to think. I liked the little red bird part of the book, other than that the so called humour felt stale with ingredients from a manual. The ending was thrown together and way too neatly wrapped. Which is a pity since the plot itself could have been made into something quite wonderful.

IMHO, from this book one gets a quick, easy and far from satisfactory read, A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg. I did like the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, seems like her stories is fit for the screen but certainly no literary masterpieces.

Third book was a really lovely read with in parts, for me, a very high rate of cognition. From an author I hadn't heard of either before she was mentioned in a TV-show, Jenny Diski. The book is "On trying to keep still" about her misadventures as a reluctant author of travelogues.

This snazzy writer is funny, poignantly apt, the book is full of both self-pitying as well as a self-distancing irony and thought provoking observations. From New Zealand, to the English countryside to the very north of Sweden, the cold, dark, snowy Lapland. I'm so looking forward to begin reading another book of her, already in my-to-read-heap. But it has to wait its turn yet some time...