Quiz: What kind of book are you?
Before posting this, I debated with myself – should I post this or not? I told myself I was too grown up for this kind of thing. Then I thought wtf? I can be as young as I want. So here it is:
You Are Fantasy / Sci Fi |
 You have an amazing imagination, and in your mind, all things are possible. You are open minded, and you find the future exciting. You crave novelty and progress. Compared to most people, you are quirky and even a bit eccentric. You have some wacky ideas. And while you may be a bit off the wall, there’s no denying how insightful and creative you are. |
Perhaps I should add that while I agree with the conclusion (that I’m a fantasy book) I don’t agree with all the details. I’m not sure I crave novelty and progress, though come to think of it, maybe this quiz knows more about me than – I do?
Another favorite mystery writer
Leena Lehtolainen is a Finnish mystery writer, who writes about female cop Maria Kallio. Maria is married and has a little daughter (and a cat), but sometimes glances at other men… I really like the books about Maria Kallio and I’m patiently awaiting the next one. In the last book I read, a while ago, we learned that Maria was pregnant with her second child. Fortunately, these books have been translated into Swedish. I don’t know much Finnish… Actually that’s an understatement. I know less than a dozen words, all told, but that’s another story. Finland is in many ways like Sweden, but in other ways different and it’s those differences that fascinate me.
Release party
Tonight I went to the ‘release party’ for our book – the book we, the participants of the writing course – have published. It was quite fun, and I think the guests enjoyed it. The only problem was that we had practically no books to sell. Somehow they’ve been lost in transit – somewhere between Uppsala and Stockholm and Göteborg…
Eccentric Circles by Rebecca Lickiss
The fantasy book Eccentric Circles is one I can really recommend. The author – Rebecca Lickiss – is relatively new. I only know of one other book by her. It’s called Never After. They’re both fun, interesting and well written, but I think Eccentric Circles is a little better.
That might be because it’s about a girl who has a bit in common with me. Not the funny, but totally weird hippie family, but her situation in general. She’s a single girl, who is also an unpublished writer. Unfortunately, that’s where the likeness ends. Or maybe I shouldn’t saying unfortunately. All kinds of things happen to her that I wouldn’t want happening in my life.
At the beginning of the book, her great-grandmother (I think it’s the greatgreandmother, but when I reread the book, I got the impression it was her grandmother, but I think she’s three generations older, she was over a hundred years old). Piper (that’s the name of the main character) inherits her relative’s house, because she’s so good at books…
Her job will be to clean out the house and categorize all the books her older relative has collected. While doing that, her wacky family, who is driving her crazy – personally I don’t get why, they seem like a lot of fun – get her a job in a bookstore. Lucky girl!
While she’s getting the house in order, she finds out a few odd things about it. For one, there’s far more space behind the house than there should be, more specifically the world of Faerie. She also meets an incredibly gorgeous elf – who’s a bard or something – he calls himself a wordsmith. There’s also a genuine dwarf, who has his own cave where he mines jems and a grumpy old wizard, who lives in a tower, and several really irritating pixies who fly around playing tricks on people, sometimes quite nasty ones.
Soon Piper learns that her grandmother (or greatgrandmother) was murdered and she has to find out who did it. But the plot is a bit more complex than that. Besides the murder, it’s about how our literature affects and changes Faerie.
One example is that an elf used to be considered a little goblin, who could be found squatting on a toadstool. After Tolkien monumental work, the elves are now considered to be tall, beautiful and poetic.
This is quite a unique concept in fantasy literature.
In any case, Piper falls in love with Aelveron (the sexy elf) but isn’t sure if she can trust him. After a while, she uncovers clues that seem to indicate he seduced and murdered her greatgrandmother. To make things even more confusing, Piper also finds clues that point to other Faerie creatures. On top of that, the pixies keept terrorizing her and as always, her family irritates her enormously.
For instance, it seems that while I (and most readers, I assume) find it amusing, it drives her crazy that her family accepts Aelveron without any surprise. When Piper protests a family member points out that at least he has more reason than most to believe himself to be an elf – he looks like one. Piper’s younger brother hisses that she has to keep that hot guy far away from his girlfriend.
In the end, Piper solves the murder, saves Faerie and her own world and manages to exorcise her grandmother’s ghost. Not bad for an unemployed writer! And after all that, she still has access to Faerie through her own backyard, and her job in the bookstore.
Read the book, you’ll like it. It’s funny, exciting, interesting and romantic.
Kids’ Culture – in Books and Elsewhere
Strangely enough, books for kids seem to be a little better att equality than books for grownups (at least here, in my country). Maybe that’s because the writer or the publishers are actively working on writing – or publishing – politically correct books. You very rarely find a book advocating a relationship where the female hero is submissive. Fortunately. That would be hard to take. Unfortunately, there are a multitude of vile books about princesses and fairies. Little girls are encouraged to identify with pink, sweet little ladies, if they’re not playing with the dreadful Bratz dolls.
If I had a daughter, and I sincerely wish I did, she’d never get to read a magazine about princesses or a book about a similar theme. That’s horrid and disgusting. They say the children of the 1970’s felt inhibited by the unisex fashion prevalent when they were growing up. That’s odd. I can’t understand that. When I’m able to find clothes I like, I always manage to find something that feels like female clothing, but with none of the lace, frills and blouses that you tie. I abhor all that.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a little girl. If I did, I’d have had to go looking for clothes for her, among pink, low cut, ultra short rags. It would drive me crazy. On the other hand, lucky me, I have a mom and a sister who can sew. My kids, if I have any, won’t have to wear any of that crap.
An old craft
First there was Gutenberg, in 15th century Germany. His invention wasn’t popular with everyone in the establishment. This evolved. Later on, there was even mass production of books.
You might be wondering, why I find this so interesting. It’s very simple. I make my own books. Of course, I also write books and naturally I read other books too, my own, and those that have already been published.
But I’m also learning how to bind books. When my teacher/instructor, who is also my mother, has taught me this fantastic art, I’ll be able to create books from a pile of paper, bind paperbacks or other ‘simpler’ types of books, and repair torn books.
Even if I hadn’t been a writer (of course I’m a writer, even if I haven’t been published – yet) I would have wanted to know how to do this. In case that hasn’t been made clear to you yet, I love books.
But binding books has a more direct connection to my own family. I happen to belong to the third generation of bookbinders in this family.. Some of the tools and other things you need to bind books, have been handed down to my mother from her father, my grandfather.
My mother and I are using the same tools my grandfather did, fifty years ago and more, and we are practicing the same craft.
We even have an old black and white photo of him sewing a book, as it is called in bookbinding. The sewing frame is still here too, and we use it. That’s continuity.
People have been able to make books for close to six hundred years, and here we are, at our house, doing the same thing, more or less. Of course, we’re amateurs, and I’m only starting to learn, but still. My mother and I, and all the other amateur bookbinders are carrying on this old craft.
That’s pretty fantastic. Cool, quite simply. The 15th century meets the 21.
French Books
I want to practice my French. Anyone who’s read my blog for a while, already knows that. One of my methods is to read books, in French, preferably originally written in French.
That’s the problem. I’m having trouble finding any books I like, in French. I can find some of my favorites translated from English, but that’s not really what I want. Translations aren’t quite the same.
When I go to the website of Amazon.fr, I have to dig around for ages, until I find some original French mysteries. Unfortunately, they all seem to be historic mysteries. Yes, I do love historic stories, but I’ve already found my favorite series of historic mysteries in French. What I’m looking for now is something set in the present. Something that isn’t sexist.
So, where does that leave me? Do I need to resort to translations? I’d be really disappointed if I have to. Where are the original, modern French mysteries? Where the fantasy stories are? Nowhere?
Maybe I can find some children’s books I might like. Maybe my wish to become fluent in French is doomed anyway. Only time will tell.
