Sunday Salon December 7.

I haven't really been finishing any books for a while now. I am reading a lot of non-fiction which has to do with my thesis, but I already blogged about some of those books in an earlier Sunday Salon. I am still not done with the thriller I mentioned in this Sunday Salon, and while I quite like it, I just can't seem to get into it. Now it is just a matter of finishing it. Last weekend I visited my parents. They live way out in the country-side and my sister and I went there for some pre-Christmas joy and to relax a bit. I was supposed to study while there, but as both my parents are avid readers and because I could not get into the real study-mood, I found one of my mother's old paperbacks, Life Support by Tess Gerritsen. I have read several of Tess Gerritsen's books, and some I liked, some were not very good. This one is an okay read, but just like the other book I am reading, I have a hard time really getting into it. I only have a few pages left, so I think I will be done reading it tonight. To conclude it all, I do not think I have had the most interesting reading-week this past week ;o)

Sunday Salon November 23, 2008

During the past week I have finished Phantom Prey by John Sandford, which was an okay read. Not as good as some of the previous Prey-novels I've read. But not so bad that I was very disappointed. Not at all. I have also begun reading Aldrig Mere Fri by Sara Blaedel. Sara Blaedel is a Danish crime-writer and her books are huge bestsellers in Denmark. The book I am currently reading is # 4 in her series about police-woman Louise Rick, who works homicide in Copenhagen. They are not translated into English, so I cannot provide any English links to her works. This particular book called Aldrig Mere Fri is taking place in my own immediate neighborhood here in Copenhagen, and that makes it even more enjoyable. I live in what used to be the city's largest red light / porn district. Nowadays the street-girls and the porn stores are becoming less and less and the hood has been taken over by students, young families, artists, fashion designers and trendy cafes. But we still have the odd porn shop and there are still prostitutes working the streets. While a lot of those girls live some horrible lives and while I hate the way some of them are in the hands of merciless human merchants, I have to say that the porn stores, the old booze-bars where you can still smoke cigs and get a cheap beer mixed with trendy cafes and fashionistas and families with strollers give my neighborhood a ver distinct flavor that I would not miss for the world. I think author Sara Blaedel manages to paint a fair image of my neighborhood in that book, Aldrig Mere Fri. The title is somewhat not really translateable, but it means something along the lines of: Freedom - Never Again. I think I'll finish that read during the week and then hopefully manage to continue with my serious reading for my thesis and also be able to read another mystery/crime that I have waiting on my shelf.

The image is of the street Istedgade, which is the main drag in my immediate neighborhood. The image is from my own photostream at flickr.

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.)

2. Mumienporträts. Chronologie und kultureller Kontext by Barbara Borg

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.