Tagged: bibliophilia

30
Dec
2022

RETROSPECTIVE

urprisingly, 2022 did not totally suck like the two years before it. Even though COVID finally visited us twice, no one was very ill, and Martin missed it completely. We had a couple of big milestone birthdays, with Anders turning 60 and Martin turning 25, and 2 big, very fun trips, to Rome, and to Bornholm. Mostly, life continues with the usual bumps and ups and downs. I’ve taken 2 weeks of vacation, here at the end of the year, and today is the last day if you don’t count the New Year’s weekend. I start back to work on...

17
May
2022

BOOKISHNESS

I’ve had this list for a while, before we went to Rome, in fact, but I was waiting until I had finished writing about our vacation after our return. We had a bumper crop of recommendations for next year’s book group books: FORTY-SIX books to choose from. GAH. I actually hope that the organizer will cut the max to 3 per person in the future, because having to wade through a list that long is hard! And, of course, it narrows the chances of any of MY recommendations being chosen…which is what happened this year. Five excellent recommendations from me,...

05
Feb
2022

IS IT IN MY HEAD?

I find it hard to reconcile the images of characters I have in my head when reading books with the actor’s portrayal of them onscreen. I tend to keep them separate in some ways, thinking of my own imagined view of them as “MY” characters, and the movie or TV version of them as “OURS”…since that version belongs to everyone who watches the film or the show. The character in my head that I see when I read a book is mine alone. Sometimes they are both “right”, but more often, it’s jarring to see a character I’ve brought to...

31
Dec
2021

RETROSPECTIVE

t’s been another crazy pandemic year and it’s still ongoing so I don’t expect a lot from 2022 at this point. We are all managing to stay healthy, even though as I write this Anders is coughing. Both he and Karin came down with colds over Christmas week, but have tested negative multiple times and he’s at the very tail end of his. I am back at work as of Monday but it’s another short week, only 3 days, so a nice soft start to the year. Martin and I just finished the super hard jigsaw puzzle of a map...

01
Mar
2021

RABBIT RABBIT RABBIT (NOT REALLY, IT’S BOOKS)

Did you know about the tradition of saying “rabbit rabbit rabbit” on March 1st to ensure good luck throughout the rest of the year? Did we collectively forget to do it last March? Rabbit rabbit rabbit has its own Wikipedia page, even. And some people say it on the first of every month…just for extra luck! We say “rabbits rabbits rabbits” to make the smoke of bonfire go in a different direction, away from our eyes, too. To be honest, I can’t remember when that started or when I first heard about the March 1st thing. Anyway, I actually have...

27
Feb
2021

PANDEMICLY

All week long, I’m thinking: “write a post, write a post, write a post” and then it’s the weekend again and the posts were only written in my head. I don’t want to sit down in front of the computer in the evenings to write a post when I’m sitting in front of the computer all day long for work. It’s a conundrum. My brother called this morning and we talked for longer than usual, due to the fact that his family left to go for a walk without him at the beginning of the phone call. He’s longing for...

17
Dec
2020

BOOKS IN THE TIME OF CORONA

Barack Obama released his favorite books of 2020 list today and I confess to feeling a little thrill to see that the book I’m currently in the middle of was on it. And that two other books in my queue are also on it. Reflected good taste! To be honest, the book I am reading, that was on his list, is probably not going to end up on my list of best books I’ve read this year, unless it takes off or takes a rather drastic turn. It’s good, but it’s really heavy and because it’s about the consequences of...

18
Oct
2019

BIBLIOMANIA

We had book group last night and we were a small gathering, only 5 of the usual suspects, but it was cozy and made for a really nice discussion…easy to follow and jump in, without it breaking down into smaller groups, which sometimes happens. The book we discussed was interesting, though I wouldn’t have read it on my own initiative: Beautiful Exiles by Meg Waite Clayton. It’s about Hemingway’s third wife Martha Gellhorn, and while I pretty much dislike HIM, even if his books are (mostly) good, SHE was fascinating, and I found myself wondering as I often do, why...

25
Aug
2019

TRIALS OF A BIBLIOPHILE

Megsie tagged me a book meme on Facebook, which is kinda the only meme that I can’t resist. It’s posting 7 books you love for seven days. When you read as much as I do, it’s REALLY hard to only pick 7 books. Do you pick your FAVORITES? (Impossible to stick to 7, in that case). Do you stick to one genre? Do you play to your audience? Do you choose only newer books or only older ones? What if you like really quirky books or complicated books or Harlequin romances or you feel children’s literature is underrated and not...

13
Mar
2019

BOOKS I’LL NEVER READ

Have you heard of The Future Library? It’s an art project of sorts, started by a Scottish artist near Oslo, Norway. She is growing a forest that, in 100 years, will be used to print 100 books which are being donated by authors from around the world and kept, unread, in safekeeping until then. The first author to provide a manuscript was Margaret Atwood. There are 4 books so far. None of them can be read until 2114, when the 1000 trees planted in Nordmarka (assuming they are still around after 100 years of climate change and global warming) will...