I most confess that I haven‘t been given this much thought, but I love literary references in books

It‘s been too long since I read “Wuthering Heights” and I‘ve only watched the TV series of “Vanity Fair”, so I don‘t know if I agree with the conclusion here.

Decided to put “Swan Song” on hold for now and try this one instead.

My current read. I‘m not feeling this one, and to be honest I‘m not sure I ever would have picked this up if it hadn‘t been longlisted for The Women‘s Prize for Fiction this year. When it wasn‘t on the shortlist my interest fell.

So, what to do?
Bail? I haven‘t bailed on a book in 20 yrs

Does the book get any better? I‘m currently on page 73.

Just finished this and haven‘t made up my mind jet how I feel about this. This novel really demonstrates that this a man‘s world, and women doesn‘t have much value. This is the story of Achilles told though the eyes of Briseis when it‘s not told by Achilles himself. Briseis is Achilles slave.

This is shortlisted for this year‘s Women‘s Prize for Fiction.

Wishing all Norwegians a happy birthday and a great May 17 celebration.

For every none Norwegian, May 17 is our National Day and we celebrate our constitution from 1814.

I‘m so glad you pointed me to this book in Tan‘s backlist @suzisteffen I loved this book. Tan has an amazing eye for details in his drawings and this makes his characters come to life. In this story without words, we follow an immigrant in a new world and since it‘s new to us as well, we feel what he‘s feeling.

Another example of Tan‘s details. Here he captures all the looks of confusion and not understanding. You don‘t need text, with this eye for detail.

I absolutely love Tan‘s eye for details in his drawings.

@Caroline2 thank you so much for making me aware of the other books in this series. They were just as cute as the first picture book I read by Klassen. These two both look at stealing, but from different perspectives.

The third installment in Smith‘s seasonal quartet is just as good as her previous ones. We meet Richard, the filmmaker; Brit (Britannia), the employee at an IRC and Florence (Flo), a young girl who tries to make a difference. A book about immigration and people. But also about film and literature. We hear about Catherine Mansfield and Rilke. A book about changing history and maybe even rewriting it.

On my way to a friend‘s baby shower. The trip includes a train trip that takes over 1,5 hrs.

Since I can‘t read in things that moves, I‘m listening to bookish podcasts.

Now that‘s a way of looking at border crossings

What‘s your first name? Brit said.
F, the girl said.
What‘s it really? she said.
Florence, the girl said.
Well, if you‘re Florence, does that make me the
machine? Brit said.
The girl looked delighted. Brit felt weirdly elated
to have delighted anyone.
Come on. People must make that joke at you all
the time with a name like Florence, Brit said.
They do. But usually they say, where‘s your
machine, Florence, or something like that

The library‘s closed, the woman says
Richard shakes his face, doleful face.
What a time we‘re living through, he says. What
kind of a culture is it that wants its people not to
know? What kind of a culture wants some people
to have less chance to access information and
knowledge than the people who can afford to pay
for it?
[...]
No, Richard says. I mean it‘s the end of the
world. I mean closure of the libraries.

The story goes that Rilke went out into the
rose garden he‘d cultivated round the turret and
picked some roses, […] But a thorn on
one of the stems got him in the hand or the arm.
The little wound it made didn‘t heal. His arm
got infected. His other arm got swollen too. Then
he died.
And he was a man who wrote a great many
poems about roses - there‘s an irony in that,

A book about relationships when they‘re at that crucial point where they either break or continue forever. The two couples in this book have been together for more than 10 yrs and everyday life with kids have taken over.

I never connected with the characters. I finished to know what happened, but I wasn‘t rooting for the couples to star together or split up.

This is on the shortlist for Women‘s Prize for Fiction, and I hope this doesn‘t win.

#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

My next read.

Every once in a while, I like to read children‘s picture books. These were both great.

The tagged book turned out to be a little darker than what I was expecting

After seeing all the mixed reviews, I didn‘t know what the expect, but I LOVED this one. All about a community‘s expectation and how rumors can influence your life. We meet Middle Sister, 18 yrs and an avid reader. Her mother is on her about getting married before it‘s too late, then one day a rumor about Middle Sister and Milkman starts spreading in the community. The story shows the consequences of that.

Now at that time Verroccio was working on a panel picture showing the Baptism of Christ by St John, for which Leonardo painted an angel who was holding some garments; and despite his youth, he executed it in such a manner that his angel was far better than the figures painted by Andrea. This was the reason why Andrea would never touch coulours again, he was so ashamed that a boy understood their use better than he did.

[picture from internet]

The shortlist is here. I haven‘t read enough of the books to have an opinion on this list.

I‘ve read the tagged book and I‘m currently reading Milkman. I picked up both The Silence of the Girls and Ordinary People at the library last Saturday, so these are my next reads.

Then I‘ll see what I‘ll do about the last. I‘ve heard nothing but great things about them.

‘Okay, everyone,‘ she said. ‘You need to look at the sky. You need, right now, to look at the sunset. Magnificent!‘
(...)
This time she proceeded to point through various panes at sections of the sky that were not blue but instead lilac, purple, patches of pink - differing pinks- with one patch of green that had yellow gold extending along it.

The day Somebody McSomebody put a gun to my breast and called me a cat and threatened to shoot me was the same day the milkman died.

(Now that‘s a great first sentence)

Next up.

After seeing all the reviews for this one, going in all directions, I can‘t wait to read it and make up my own.

I guess this will be my reading for #24B4Monday and #25infive

This started yesterday, but not too late to participate #25infive

I‘m not sure who to tag, so if anyone knows please let me know

Starting today #24B4Monday

I will take part as much as possible, but I have some plans over the weekend.

I really liked the concept for this book. Mary Jekyll, the famous Mr. Jekyll‘s daughter, is looking into her past after her parents deaths. Her investigations leads her to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and together they will look into murders and a secret society.

My only issue with the book, is that I needed some time to get used to the way the story is told. It annoyed me in the beginning, but towards the end I‘ve gotten more used to it.

She turned and walked under a gray arch, into the vestry of St. Marylebone to find Reverend Whittaker

[A picture from the inside of St Marylebone Parish Church that I took last August]

Next up.

I raced through this one. Press Director Mikami suddenly finds himself in the middle of a power struggle between two departments at D police station, and this struggle affects the information he‘s given to pass on to the press. So Mikami has to manage the demands of the press of full disclosure and at the same time not having that information. I‘m not familiar with Japanese culture and hierarchy, but after this I feel like I‘ve learned something.

This book has me really conflicted, and I‘m not sure how I feel about it. We meet Ada who has different selves and depending on which self has control this will decide Ada‘s actions.

I‘m not sure I got everything in this novel and I also have some issues with the selves (under spoiler in comments).
If this novel hadn‘t been longlisted for this year‘s Women Prize for Fiction, I‘m not sure I would have picked it up.

Next up.

I know that this has mixed reviews in here, but it was well received by Norwegian press. And the book is just too pretty.

Not the tagged book. This is Lindell‘s latest installment in her series about police detective Marian Dahle. Lindell just won Rivertonprisen (A Norwegian prize for best crime in the last year) for this crime novel and it‘s well deserved. This is Lindell as we know her.

Apparently this is so new, that it‘s not in the database.

This is the second installment in her NightLight series, and this is just as good as the first one. Alvarez continues with the gorgeous illustrations.

Just as good on a second reading as the first time. And the illustrations is just 😍😍😍

#Booked2019 - Night-oriented title

I‘m officially on Easter break, and won‘t return to work until the 23rd.

These are the books I hope to read, as well as finish my current read (tagged).

Oh my god, what a book. I finished this a few days ago, and needed some time to gather my thoughts. This was way darker than what I was expecting. The story alternates between Marianne and Connell, during the time we follow them, they really come alive with their human flaws. For me this is a story about how growing up in a very dysfunctional family form you personality and reactions later in life.

Next up. Not sure I would have borrowed this from the library if it wasn‘t longlisted for the Women‘s Prize for Fiction this year.

Connell couldn‘t think of any reason why these literary events took place, what they contributed to anything, what they meant. They were attended only by people who wanted to be the kind of people who attended them.

One night the library started closing just as he reached the passage in Emma when it seems like Mr Knightley is going to marry Harriet, and he had to close the book and walk home in a state of strange emotional agitation. He‘s amused at himself, getting wrapped up in drama of novels like that. It feels intellectually unserious to concern himself with fictional people marrying one another. But there it is: literature moves him.

I‘m so glad you recommended this one @SiriK This is an amazing read and a book to get lost in.

Brooklyn 1912: We meet the Nolan‘s; Katie and Johnny and their kids Francie and Neeley. The Nolan‘s are poor, and through Francie we see what this means at the start of the century. Just because they‘re poor doesn‘t mean they don‘t have dreams for a better future, and Francie who had promised herself to read a book everyday wants to be an author.

Next up. A book that everyone loves

I‘m happy about my March reading, it‘s not everyday I read 9 books in a month.
My favorites is a tie between the tagged book and Daisy Jones

Challenges so far:
#Booked2019: 9/24
#NonFiction2019: still at 2
#mmdchallenge: 1 so far

#24B4Monday wrap-up

During this time I finished Gingerbread, read Unnskyld and Fever Dream and started on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

I read almost 600 pages.

I never reach 24 hrs so I‘m really happy about this.

Thank you for hosting @TheReadingMermaid and @Andrew65

My third book finished for #24B4Monday.

I‘ve no idea how to rate this book. That probably has something to do with that I‘ve no idea what I just read. Amanda is telling David a story, and David is interested in hearing about the worms (?)

Not in the database

In this story the female MC is looking back on how she met her boyfriend and how their relationship evolved. In the process you end up asking questions such as: How well can you ever know another person? Can you ever except to know everything? What is important to know about the other?

Second book finished for #24B4Monday

I can‘t believe I finished all the prompts for Winter #Booked2019. When I signed up I said I might finish two or three. I‘ve even started on the next seasons. Here goes my Winter reads:

1. The Wicked Cometh
2. Gingerbread
3. Harry Potter: A Pop-up Guide to Hogwarts
4. Ghost Wall
5. A Ladder to the Sky
6. Where the Crawdads Sing

This so-so is closer to a pan. I didn‘t connect with the book and sometimes that‘s just how it is, I didn‘t care about any of the characters and there was probably too many of them too. This was a huge disappointment after “Boy, Snow, Bird”.

The only positive thing about this book is the cover.

This was my fairy tale retelling for #Booked2019
This is my first book finished for #24B4Monday

This weekend. It seems like forever since I participated in a readathon so I‘m ready for #24B4Monday this weekend.

And the winter sport season on the TV is over, so I‘ll have more time for reading.

I don‘t have my stack ready jet, but I‘ve borrowed several books from the library.