The Summer Book | 
so-soThis book was odd, as many from Scandinavia seem to be. The humor was there, though dry and hard to miss but the real gem of this book was the relationship of the grandmother and the granddaughter and the juxtaposition of their experiences and priorities at opposite ends of each other. Short, and a bit boring for being so short but it was alright.
#pop19 #popsugar2019 #popsugarreadingchallenge
A book set in Scandinavia
It's funny about me, Sophia said. "I always feel like such a nice girl whenever there's a storm."
"You do?" Grandmother said. "Well, maybe ..."
Nice, she thought. No. I'm certainly not nice. The best you could say of me is that I'm interested. She extracted a perch and bashed its head against a rock.
Huge congratulations @Megabooks ! 💕🙌🙌👍
I loved this appropriately named book.... ☀️🌊😎
#25etsy giveaway, such a lovely idea..... 😍📚
Congratulations on your fantastic Litsy milestone @Megabooks and thank you for doing this generous #25ETSY #giveaway !❤️
My favourite read this summer, coincidentally, is the tagged book! 😄 It was a wonderful read and I recommend it.
After reading this chapter, I was like, “Well clearly Tove Jansson loved cats.” A google search later turned up her and her black cat, Psipsina. There are days when I realize I know little about the literary world. 😹 #BlackCatAppreciationDay
Happy #BlackCatAppreciationDay! Here‘s to all the kitties - the black ones, the ginger ones, the torties, siamese, tabbies and every other floofy-floof we worship.
Speaking of hero worship - I‘m reading this because Lauren Groff named it as one of her favorite books - so of course, I‘m going to read it! ❤️
pickThis is such a gentle and quiet book. Reading it is like leisurely walking on a beach itself, unhurried, and you‘ll lose sense of time. The stories seems random as they‘re snippets over the long summer Sophia spent with her grandmother and father on an island. I love the relationship and interaction between Sophia and her grandmother; the adventures they shared; the quarrels; the tantrums that Sophia throws. 👇
pickSuch a sweet and delightful read. A grandmother's favorite companion on a lonely island is her 6 year old granddaughter. They invented games, stories, arguments. It seems that death was a major theme because the grandmother is nearing her time and the girl's mother had passed away. What a great book to read during summer vacation.
Not a funny moment in the book, but the dramatic six-year-old Sophia made me laugh. What avid reader hasn‘t heard some rendition of this utter despair from their family and friends??
#LilithJuly
This lovely #SmallBlueThing was a charming and poignant read....
Based on the real-life bond between her aging mother, her little niece Sophie and the island her family owned, this is a gentle story of a girl and her feisty Gran, sharing a summer of small adventures on a remote Finnish island. Loved it 💙☀️💙☀️💙☀️
pickThis has been a really nice read. The book captures the feeling and atmosphere of being on holidays at the grandparents. The pace and the mood is slow - a fantastic holiday read. #1001books #reading1001
so-soI first read this 5 years ago, but it was selected as my book club‘s choice this month, and as I couldn‘t really remember much about it, I though I‘d reread it. I recall being a bit ambivalent about it, but hoped a second read would swing me one way or the other.
It‘s quite a quick read, Jansson writes good prose and there are some sweet and/or amusing moments, but overall I‘m still ambivalent.
I am so proud of my fellow #SmallSteppers in week one of #BFCr2! You guys have done great! The quote above is my positivity quote I needed to remember this week. I was out of town half of the week, and I only got 60 of my 120 minutes of cardio and 30 of my 60 minutes of stretching in. But it all adds up, right?? I also started The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, and it‘s gorgeous so far!
Let‘s keep it up in Week 2!!
#BookFitnessChallenge #BFC
I see her dancing in the streets
Sipping champagne on the beach
So expensive when she eats
'Cause she's so fancy🎶
My eldest grandchild in motion 💗
#thissummer #songsofsummer @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620
pickJust lovely!
Jansson of ‘The Moomins‘ fame, wrote this beautiful, gentle meditation on aging and nature, of a summer spent on a remote Finnish island. Cantankerous and feisty Grandma and her inquisitive 6yr old granddaughter Sophia, have adventures and share life lessons in their wild surroundings. Inspired by her mother and niece and the island home she built with her brother, these are characters to truly fall in love with. A warm hug of a book.
Just arrived at our weekend destination, and finishing up this lovely, charming book poolside...
#AndRelax ..... #SelfCareWeekend
pickA book about summer vacation and spending time with family. We meet Sophia and her grandmother, and are told about the cat and the storm and other things happening when you spend the summer on an island. This book is super cute and made me nostalgic about my own childhood summers.
Next up.
I fell for this edition of the book with the pink cover and grey pages.
1. Some warm weather, hopefully, although being in England, it‘s not guaranteed!
2. I‘ve not heard of anything that‘s made me go “I absolutely must get that immediately” yet.
3. Strawberries
4. 35°C apparently
5. Shout-out to new followers @Alp142 @hilded @hermyknee
#ThursdaySurvey @laurenslibrary
pickMore from my Facebook project: Tove Jansson's The Summer Book might reasonably be called a book in which nothing much happens, but what does is everything. Six year old Sophia and her grandmother spend their summer ambling around an island in the Gulf of Finland, talking about life, the universe, and everything. It's a warm, peaceful, affectionate book about love and life, and I'm so grateful to the friend who gave me a copy many years ago.
#YouNeverCanTell how many books I‘ll end up buying when attending library events.
Last Friday I went to a talk about the German TV series Babylon Berlin. Off course I bought the first to books in the series and the last book in Cusk‘s trilogy.
Today, I went To hear about a new photography book. I didn‘t buy that, but the top to books.
#MayMovieMagic
pick#MayMadness. #mayscavengerhunt
This was a book started last week and I finally finished today. It‘s short, loosely intertwined short stories of summer on a isolated Finnish Island. The book explores the relationship between a wonderful grandmother and her six year old granddaughter. It explores a more carefree time with lovely language. Not what I expected, but still a lovely little book.
Thanks for the tag @Tex2Flo 😘
Greek Islands, my favorite place on earth
Feta, cucumber, watermelon salad
Bike rides at the ocean, morning swims
Frose!
Waterproof sun screen
My patio, lake view, with the fans on full blast....
If you want to play, consider yourself tagged!
pick5⭐️ I was not close to my Grandma, so it‘s very heartwarming to get the feel of Sophia‘s interaction with her grandmother. The story is compact; but it covers everything about nature, life, death, and human emotions.
“There were little animals everywhere. They could turn up between the covers of a book, flattened and dead, for the fact is that creeping animals, tattered animals, and dead animals are with us all our lives, from beginning to end.”
Next read ☀️
Is it too ambitious to bring all of these beauties with me to Bali for the Easter weekend? 😆🙈 I have a serious problem!
so-soA wisp of a book, "The Summer Book" is brief with no real plot but it's well written. For me these snippets of life in the summer on a Scandinavian island were enjoyable but nothing I'll be raving about - it's 3 stars from me.
My full review is up on my blog now ?
I can open my present from the cozy little opcit bookstore in Taos, NM tomorrow. This will be my first book by Tove Jansson
Happy Holidays and Happy Reading everyone!
I initially thought I only had one 5⭐️ read this year, but thankfully I was wrong! 😅😅
Well this was just beautiful! I was going to read it and pass it along, but it‘s very definitely staying on my shelves for a while.
Following the loss of her mother, a young girl spends her time on an island in the gulf of Finland, with her father and grandmother. Grandmother is wise, funny, acerbic and their relationship is a joy. Gorgeous!
#Booked2018 #MCOver70
@RachelO reminded me of this sweet book in one of her post earlier today, and it is absolutely worthy of being today‘s choice for #adventrecommends. But maybe save it for a lazy summer day ☀️
#1001books
#Adventrecommends Day 12
#Favourites
PRIVATE PROPERTY - NO TRESPASSING
“We‘ll go ashore,” Grandmother said. She was very angry. Sophia looked frightened. “There‘s a big difference,” her grandmother explained. “No well-bred person goes ashore on someone else‘s island when there‘s no one home. But if they put up a sign then you do it anyway, because it‘s a slap in the face”
“Naturally,” Sophia said, increasing her knowledge of life considerably. They tied up to the sign.
💕💪
I‘ve been on a real used book buying bender. And because Michigan is staring down 5 months of cold winter I couldn‘t resist a summer book. I‘ve also heard great things about this one, Jansson is beloved for her Moomin books and I can‘t wait to get a chance to crack this one.
pick#JuneItsElectrifying Day 12: Tove Jansson‘s thin novel is perfect for #SummerLovin. As Iphigene, one of the GatheringBooks ladies noted in her review:
Tove Jansson‘s The Summer Book is a product of her granddaughter‘s own loss, of her own relationship with her mother, and of her life in an island in the Swedish speaking part of Finland. The language is succinct and direct. It is unsentimental, but warm and loving. Link to full review below ⬇️
pickTitle says it all - a perfect, slow, summer book. I loved the structure of the separate stories. The narrator seemed so distant and wise, and everything was so sparse and rich in meaning. Perfect book to read slowly on a long summer night.
“It‘s funny about love,” Sophia said. “The more you love someone, the less he likes you back.”
“That‘s very true,” grandmother observed. “And so what do you do?”
“You go on loving,” said Sophia threateningly. “You love harder and harder. “
Her grandmother sighed and said nothing.
Thank you @Tove_Reads for my #keychainswap package! I was also going to send a book with an author of my name too! But i didn't know if it would be a book you would read.
So i am interested in my experience with this book. The keychains are a great addition to my keychain collection.
I am familiar with that character, on everything. And the bookmark is so fun!!
I didn't realize how similar my state and your country can be XD
Thank you ever so much @Tove_Reads I loved everything in your package! Can‘t wait to start the book and the keychain are adorable as is everything else ❤️ #keychainswap @JenlovesJT47
