Thursday, November 20, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 20: Read Your Own Books Challenge

I've just signed up for the Read Your Own Books-challenge which is hosted by MizB. I think this is a great challenge as I have about a gazillion books waiting on my shelves and I am embarrassed to say that some of them has been there for years. But sometimes I just go overboard at the library and then I have to read those books before getting started on my own and at other times I buy a lot of books and then I want to read the new ones and suddenly the TBR-shelves are bulging. I have comitted to reading at least 10 of my own books for this challenge and as of now, I am not really happy about comitting to a list, but I guess I can change along the way. The good thing is that this challenge can be combined with the other two challenges that I am participating in next year: A Classics Challenge and a Read and Review Challenge. So far I think my list of 10 of my own books for the RYOB-challenge will look like this:

1. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
2. The Way the Crow Flies by AnnMarie MacDonald
3. Jesus out to Sea by James Lee Burke
4. The Wiles of Men by Salwa Bakr
5. Oracle Night by Paul Auster
6. Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster
7. A Confederay of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
8. Falling Man by Don DeLillo
10. Engleby by Sebastian Faulks

This is my post # 20 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 19: Silent Prey by John Sandford


Doctor Death is back. The serial killer Michael Bekker aka Doctor Death is back in this number 4 in John Sandford's Prey-series. After being arrested and beaten up by Lucas Davenport in a previous novel, Bekker escapes prison and sets himself up in New York. Bodies start turning up, and Davenport's ex-lover New York cop Lily Rothenburg calls to Davenport for help. He is not working with the Minneapolis Police anymore, but spends his time developing computer games. He welcomes the chance to work with Lily, and goes to New York. He soon finds out that Lily and her chief of Police O'Dell has a hidden agenda. Davenport is not called to New York only to solve the Bekker case: there is a "Robin Hood" on the loose in New York, killing "bad guys" and everything points to someone inside the police department. Davenport is asked to figure this mystery out, while he officially works solving the Bekker case. The story is great and the plot smart. Although you know who the killer is from page one, you keep guessing almost to the end, how does he do it, how does he manage to keep hiding? And who is the Robin Hood? Is it Lily herself, killing off bad guys from the streets of New York? There are many layers in this story, but it never becomes boring, and the characters are likeable or realistic. A good read in the Lucas Davenport series.

This is my post # 19 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 18: The Empress File by John Sandford

I love John Sandford's Prey-series, and thought I would also check out the Kidd-series. The Empress File is the second in this series, but the first one I've read.
The computer-expert/artist/con-man Kidd receives a call late at night from his online friend Bobby, asking him to go to the town of Longstreet, where a black kid has been shot by the cops. The town is covering up this shooting, as it was the wrong boy who got shot.
The town's underground hard-core black politicians are mad: about the killing of the black boy which is just the latest thing in a row of injustices, redneck racism and corruption in this small Southern town. Kidd is asked to help developing a scheme, making the current city council fall. His on and off lover, the burglar LuEllen, is brought in as his sidekick, and the story takes off.There were some intrigues in this story concerning political stuff and computer technicalities that I couldn't quite figure out, but the story moves quickly along, and it is overall a fast and easy read. Some of the rednecks and their methods stand out as particular bad, and the freaky new-age mayor is also a good character. Though I am not rating this story a 5 star read, I am sure I will read the other Kidd-novels by John Sandford.
This is my post # 18 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Monday, November 17, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 17: Daily Life 3000 years ago

One of my favorite reference-books in my work with Ancient Egypt is A.G. McDowell's Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs.

A.G Mc Dowell has written a book about the workers who build the tombs of the kings and queens of Egypt's New Kingdom (circa 1550 - 1075 BCE). Those workers, whose daily lives we follow through a wealth of original written sources, lived in a village; today the ruins are called Deir el-Medina, back then the village was simply called "The Village". The workers lived with their families in small houses in Deir el-Medina, and while their main concern was building the tomb of the Pharaoh, they also had all the problems and sorrows and joys as modern people have. We can read about their problems with superiors at work, their love life, marriage, kids, sickness and about their interest in suing each other for minor crimes! While this book use the original sources, Mc Dowell explains each little text in a modern and easily understood language, and this book is for everyone who wants to know how the Ancient Egyptians lived more than 3000 years ago.
The ruins of the village on the West Bank of Luxor, old Thebes.


This is post # 17 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Weekly Geeks # 25

Yet another fun assignment from Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf. And with the holidays coming up (which is a surprise for me every darn year) we can all use some gift-ideas for those in our lives who loves to read - or whom we want to get into reading perhaps?

Heres what this week's Weekly Geeks is about:
1. Think about the books that you and people in your life love. It’s best to use more obscure books, because we’ve all heard plenty about the more popular ones.
2. Come up with categories, based on relationship, personality, or whatever else you like. I think this is easier to do once you have your books in mind; you can then just assign categories to those books.
3. Post your own gift giving guide! Add short blurbs about the books, just enough so that your readers can determine if it’d be a good gift for people on their list
.

Here is my take on a little gift giving guide:

For the serious crime/thriller/mystery-lover I strongly recommend the Swedish mega-bestseller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. The unlikely pair in this mega-monstrous-super-fantastic thriller is the 40-something journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the 2o-something hacker-girl Lisbet Salander. Both of them with many interesting sides to their personalities. Add to that a gallery of other exciting characters and a plot that will spin you around and you have this the first book in the Millenium-series by now deceased Stieg Larsson, who managed to write three books about Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbet Salander. All huge bestsellers in Scandinavia. TRY THIS ONE!


For the chick-lit reader, I recommend "Girls of Riyadh" by Rajaa al-Sanea. It is not high browed literature and I am not even sure that I will call it that well-written. But it definitely offers a rare glimpse into the life of a group of young, upper-middleclass Saudi girls and what problems they face in life, love, sex, fashion, education and so on. The book has been hot stuff in the Middle Eastern world for some years now and it is said that specially the Saudi boys were curious to read it. Definitely recommended for a light read.

For the picky reader in the family with a more refined taste and the want for someting with a little more meat, I recommend Midaq Alley by Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz. This novel was written in the 1940's and revolves around the people in an alley in Cairo. Life is harsh, possibilities are rare and gossip abounds. It is not a happy read, but it is masterly written and deals with things that are still going strong in Egypt today. Highly recommendable, but this book is not for all.

I hope this will inspire you to some interesting gifts. I guarantee it is interesting reads :o)

National Blog Posting Month # 16: So many books and so many people

I went to the Copenhagen Book Convention yesterday. Thousands of people were there, all checking out books, book talks and book offers. Chatting with authors, listening to authors, getting their books signed by authors and much more. I took a few pics there, which is what I will blog today for the NaBloPoMo-challenge.This is my post # 16 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.
Kerrie from Mysteries in Paradise also went to a book convention recently. In Singapore though and I guess it was a liiiiitle bigger than the one I went to in Copenhagen ;o)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 15: Book Convention

Today I am off to the Copenhagen Book Convention. I have no special events that I am going to see or hear. I am just going to shop around with my sister, looking for cheap deals on books and maybe find some comicbooks on sale as well. Maybe we will meet some friends to hang out with for a while. A lot of Scandinavian crime-writers are represented on this year's Copenhagen Book Convention - something which has sparked a lot of discussion in the large, national papers. But, like I said, I am not going to anything special and am just looking forward to hang out. Apart from the masses of people who usually go there, I think it is going to be good fun. I'll bring my camera and will hopefully be able to blog some photos tomorrow.
NB. The image with the books covered in whipped cream was used last year on the poster for the Book Convention. This year they use another image, I just liked this one better.

This is post # 15 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Friday, November 14, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 14: Bookworm Award

Beth from Beth Fish Reads has tagged me in this Bookworm Award. That is so great and I really want to thank you. It is a fun little thing to do and also, I really needed something to blog about today for the NaBloPoMo-challenge. Great!

Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following there.
Okay. The book nearest me is Egypt after the Pharaohs by Alan K. Bowman. It is a book I use for my MA thesis, but it is not too intellectual!
The fifth sentence reads (and I only write out the fifth sentence because it is so long):

The administration was staffed by a host of officials and bureaucrats, recording and regulating the activities and obligations of the king's subjects, down to the last detail of the requisitioned labour and surveillance of irrigation works, cultivation and transport which was drafted in order to ensure maximum efficiency of production and profit.

The persons I tag next are:
Rebecca at Rebecca Reads.
Softdrink at Fizzy Thoughts.
Callista at SMS Book Reviews.
Nille at Nilles Litteratur (a Danish book blog).
Birthe at Newyorkerbyheart (a Danish food blog, where the blogger also talks about her books).

This is my post # 14 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 13: Sunstorm by Asa Larsson

Actually, I first read # 3 in the Swedish series by Asa Larsson about counselor Rebecka Martinsson. And after having read that, # 3 which is called The Black Path, I wasn't so sure that I would read the two previous ones. I did like The Black Path, but I also found it a bit too dark, and at that point I had had it with Swedish female authors and needed a break. But now I have also finished Sunstorm, which is book # 1, and it wasn't too bad. Not at all. Asa Larsson is a very good writer, the plot is tight and the characters descriptions are excellent. You feel sympathy with the good guys and the complete opposite for the bad guys.
In Sunstorm, Rebecka, who works as a top counselor in Stockholm, is called to Kiruna, her childhood town. Rebecka has some very dark memories from her youth, so she is not too thrilled by the thought of going back to Kiruna. The charismatic priest in one of the popular churches in Kiruna has been killed and his sister, who used to be one of Rebecka's friends, calls Rebecka and asks for help. The sister is under suspicion for having killed her brother and she has to go hiding. She hides out in Rebecka's house - a house Rebecka inherited from her grandmother. The house where Rebecka herself grew up.
The Kiruna police, led by sympathetic and pregnant Anna-Maria Mella, are looking into the case and in the beginning, everything seems to lead directly to the sister, Rebecka's old friend.
Reluctant, Rebecka starts investigating and finds herself also taking care of her friend's two daughters and dog, while she is also haunted by memories from her youth. Memories about how the popular church meant everything to her. But it is definitely not just sweet memories and while the winter darkness descends over Kiruna and the case of the killed priest become more and more complicated, Rebecka's own soul turns darker and darker.
Yep. I was slightly annoyed with the dark atmosphere. But it was nevertheless a pretty good read, and I am looking forward to see the movie based on this book.
This is post # 13 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 12: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

I am lucky that I have a "back catalogue" of books I haven't reviewed here as I do not have any ideas for today's NaBloPoMo-post. I hope I am feeling more inspired tomorrow. So today I am going to write a little about Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. I read it years ago.
Angela's Ashes is young Frank McCourt's childhood memories. Frank grows up in Ireland: a poor, cold, damp, ugly, depressed Ireland. The Irish blames a lot on the English, Frank's family is dysfunctional to say it the least and life is not just tough - it is very tough. The lives of Frank and his family seems doomed from the beginning And still, Frank McCourt manages to write an inspiring, heartwarming, funny and touching story. But also a story that will make you very sad, a story which, at some points, seem utterly hopeless. Between the lines you are able to read the humor, the humor that must have kept Frank McCourt (and his family) alive, even during the worst of times. All in all, you get the feeling that Frank and his family really want life, as ugly and meaningless as it sometimes seem. I liked this book a lot, and look forward to read other books by Frank McCourt.


This is my 12th post in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

National Blog Posting Month # 11: Five good ones

I am broadening my blog-horizon every day. I mainly read book blogs or blogs related in one way or the other to books, but the blog can be of anything really if I find it interesting. I would like to be able to read all the blogs on my blogroll every day, several times a day, but I don't have the time....
With this post I want to highlight 5 good blogs that I try to check every day, even if there are no new posts. Some of those blogs has large archives and I so enjoy clicking around seeing if we have read the same books, have the same tastes and so on.
The blog are (in totally random order)

Literary Escapism - Jackie writes a blog with tons of interesting stuff about books, mainly fantasy. A fabulous blog with so much well written info. I enjoy that blog every day.

Sophisticated Dorkiness - where journalism student Kim blogs about journalism, books and other things. So well written.

The Hidden Side of a Leaf - Dewey blogs about books, hosts Weekly Geeks (which I love by now although I have only done three of them) and have a lot of other activities going on.

Life at the Roger's House - Tiffany blogs about life with husband Bradley and daughter Ava and spends a lot of time photographing as well, so the blog is filled with beautiful images. I have known Tiffy from an online book club since 2002.

Mysteries in Paradise - Kerrie from Australia has a great blog with many reviews of books in one of my favorite genres, mysteries.


This is my 11th post in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Blood Spilt by Aasa Larsson

I finally finished number two book, The Blood Spilt, in the series by Aasa Larsson about counsellor Rebecka Martinsson. It feels like I have been reading it forever. And it shouldn't have been so because it is both well written and entertaining. But it was just like it didn't really grab me from the beginning. But now I am done!

Rebecka is still licking her wounds from the things that happened in book one, Sunstorm. She is not really working yet, but sometimes she is helping out with a case or two.

When she and a colleague has to go to Kiruna, her childhood city where Sunstorm also took place, because of a case, Rebecka ends up staying for a while, even though her feelings are very mixed about Kiruna.

Policewoman Anna-Maria Mella and the other cops from the police station in Kiruna are working on the beastly murder of the female priest Mildred, and much to her annoyance, Rebecka is drawn into the case.

Because nothing is as it seems, up there to the utmost north, close to the Polar Circle. Beneath the surface it is boiling with evil, craziness, hidden desires and repressed memories.

The reader is introduced to a lot of characters, and the character building is eminent. Both the descriptions of the good and the bad guys. And in between chapters about the case, a lone female wolf acts as a main character. What the wolf precisely is about I don't know. I have some thoughts about it, but revealing those thoughts here will mean revealing too much of the plot.

Which is well written and exciting.

But I am still glad I do not have more Aasa Larsson books on the TBR-pile right now.

National Blog Posting Month # 10: A Caress of Twilight by Laurell K. Hamilton


Well, I am an Anita Blake fan, and enjoy that series (also written by Laurell K. Hamilton) a lot. I liked A Kiss Of Shadows, the previous novel in this series about faerie princess Meredith NicEssus, aka Merry Gentry, and I also liked this one, A Caress of Twilight. No doubt the Anita Blake series is the best one though. In this one, Princess Merry finds herself back from faerie-land, in her apartment in Los Angeles, where she is working as a private eye. But Merry has other things on her mind, and her detective skills are put somewhat on hold in this one. Her more or less evil aunt, the Queen of the Unseelie Court, has named Merry heir to the faerie throne IF she produces as child before the queen's own son, Prince Cel, does. The Queen has given Merry a handful of men from her royal guard, and they take turns trying to impregnate Merry. Her goblin-pet Kitto also turns out to be something else in this book, and even though there is a little mystery, it is other things this story revolves around. I still haven't found out if Sidhe, Fey, Slouagh, Seelie, Unseelie etc are real words in the English language (I cannot find Danish translations for them), but the book is entertaining and easily read. There are some (toned down) sexual scenes in the book, but it is not as 'weird' as in the previous novel. I did not love this book, but I am nevertheless looking forward to read the next one.
This is my 10th post in the NaBloPoMo-challenge. See my page here.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Sunday Salon November 9, 2008: Trying to Study

This week I have mostly been reading books for the MA thesis I am trying to finish as soon as possible. I am trying to obtain my MA in Egyptology and the thesis is about "The Mysterious Fayum Portraits. I use a long list of publications, both scholarly and not so scholarly like museum catalogues and popular books, which often have better images.
The portraits in question are (mainly) from the place in Egypt called Fayum, which is an oasis (well, actually it is not a true oasis, as it gets water from the Bahr Yusuf canal, which is one of the side-arms of the Nile) southwest of Cairo. The portraits are from the Roman Period in the history of Ancient Egypt (circa 30 BCE - 400 AD), and I am captivated by the artistry and the look of some of those people portrayed. I have borrowed some images from Lenka, whom I know from flickr:


Some of the books I have used/read in this week are:
1. Egypt from Alexander to the Copts by Roger S. Bagnall and Dominic W. Rathbone (eds.)
3. The Mysterious Fayum Portraits by Euphrosyne Doxiadis
4. Ancient Faces by Susan Walker (ed.)


The front-covers of two of the books I've been reading this week.
I am still reading The Blood Spilt by Swedish author Asa Larsson. It has taken me forever and I still have about 100 pages left. It is not because it is a bad book, because it certainly isn't. Its good and it was awarded Sweden's best crime novel in 2004. But honestly it cannot grab me for real and I only manage about 5-10 pages each night before I go to sleep. But I have other books waiting to be read, so I will finish it asap. Check out my other post about the author Asa Larsson and her series about counselor Rebecka Martinsson.

Weekly Geek # 24

The Weekly Geek assignment is a lot of fun to do. This week Dewey has the participants doing this:
1. Choose a writer you like.
2. Using resources such as Wikipedia, the author’s website, whatever you can find, make a list of interesting facts about the author.
3. Post your fun facts list in your blog, maybe with a photo of the writer, a collage of his or her books, whatever you want.
Being Danish, I want to write about Astrid Lindgren, although she was Swedish and not Danish. Her fairytales and stories has been translated to almost all the languages in the world and are still being read over and over and over again. My favorite Astrid Lindgren-stories are:

1. Brothers Lionheart. This is the story about two brothers who both die young and what happens after they are dead and meet each other in the land of Nangijala.
2. Pippi Longstocking. I just love Pippi. She is the original girlpower-girl. And imagine living in your own villa and owing your own white horse with black spots.
3. Emil's Pranks. About naughty boy Emil, who cannot help himself and always end up making pranks, even when he is trying to do something good.
4. The Children of Noisy Village. Oh how I wanted to be a part of the children in Noisy Village and all the fun they had.



Astrid was named the world's best known Swede and she said: You have given this award to a person who is ancient, half-deaf, half-blind and completely nuts. We better hope no one finds out :o)

I do have some facts about Astrid Lindgren as well. Actually, I have more than I think I will write here, because there is a lot about her on the net.

November 14. would have been Astrid Lindgren's 100th birthday. She died in 2002 and was buried, as per her own request, on March 8., the International Women's Day. Astrid got pregnant when she was 18 years old and had to leave her son, Lasse, with a foster family in Copenhagen. A few years later, she was able to take him back home to Stockholm. Astrid Lindgren used to lie down in her bed with a pad of papers and write from early morning, 5-6 AM and until midday. Evenings were spent thinking about what to write next morning. It was her daughter Karin, who turned 10 in 1944, who invented the name Pippi Longstocking. For Karin's 10 year birthday, Astrid Lindgren wrote the first Pippi-story. And when she met Sonja, Karin's classmate, who had red hair and freckles, she decided, that that was what Pippi was going to look like. Later on, child actress Inger Nilsson played Pippi in a much loved series.


Top is Pippi with her monkey Mr. Nilsson and bottom is actress Inger Nilsson who played Pippi and what she looks like today.



The images from left to right: Astrid Lindgren and son Lasse, her funeral in 2002, Astrid Lindgren writing in bed and last image is the front cover of the first Pippi-story. All four images are from the book 'Astrid Lindgren's life in pictures' by Jacob Forsell, Johan Erséus and Margareta Strömstedt (I know it is available in Swedish and Danish, but not if it can be found in English)
I recommend all Astrid Lindgren-stories for both kids and adults. The are wonderful.
This is also my post # 9 in the NaBloPoMo-challenge.