Hatsepshut gives 50 another go

After giving up this goal a few years ago, I’m giving it another try. Maybe I won’t reach 50, but I’ll enjoy myself along the way.

PS: Let me apologize in advance for any stupid spelling mistakes etc - English isn’t my native language.

Currently reading Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor This will be my #1

Happy reading!

I heard amazing things about Strange the Dreamer.
I'd be glad to hear what you think about it after having finished it.

Good luck!

😊

Welcome back!

Hi!
I think parts of it were well imagined and original, yet others were predictable. I did enjoy the book and maybe I will pick up the sequel. But it’s not one of those times where I would run to the store to get it without delay. If you decide to read it, I would really like to hear what you think.

I am a huge fan of Sir Terry, so Monstrous regiment by Terry Pratchett became my #2. The audio version. It has its moments (as all his books do), but I don’t think this is one of his best.

Also finished another audio book: Dissolution by C.J. Sansom. I read it years ago (on paper) - and have kept reading all the books about 16th century detective and lawyer Matthew Shardlake as they are published. A great way to learn about England under the reign og Henry VIII.
So that’s #3

So that brings us up to speed:
Finished #4 today: I remember you by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - a crime - thriller - ghost story from Iceland. This book has scared parts of my family from reading after dark, so I had high expectations. And the book was hard to put down. Still thought there were a few loose ends, some strange behaviour and questions left unanswered.
However - good enough for me to give this auhor another try later.

Tonight I am starting #5: «Søsterklokkene» - that is The bell in the lake by Lars Mytting. It is a huge success here in Norway, and I am looking forward to IT.

Wow, you're reading at an amazing speed! :)

'I remember you' by Yrsa Sigurdardottir has been sitting on my bookshelf unread for about three years now.
After your comment I'm really interested in reading it soon.

'The bell in the lake' sounds promising, too!

I just finished The bell in the lake, and really enjoyed it. Set in a then remote and very poor part of Norway in 1879, the story explores myth, love and harsh reality, as well as questions of identity and the modern vs tradition. To a non-Norwgian reader it might be sort of ‘exotic’ ;)

It is said to be the first book in a trilogy, and I will definitely get the next one as well. So that whas my #6

My #7 is a graphic novel. Brilliant graphic novelist Steffen Kverneland's biography of the painter Edvard Munch. In Munch he basically lets Munch and his contemporaries do must of the talking, as the text is mostly quotations from their diaries and publications. Kverneland makes Munch's famous works part of the painter's life - as they are in many cases autobiographical.
Kverneland received "Brageprisen" (a Norwegian literary award) for this in 2013

Another novel by an old favourite - Guy Gavriel Kay - became #8. However, River of Stars set in "ancient China" failed to grip me. The problem might be the narrator, though. It was an audiobook, and not to long ago, the same happened when I revisited the Fionavar Tapestry which I used to love. Suddenly I didn't like it as much. That was also audio. So maybe I just don't like the way Simon Vance narrates - or I have fallen out of love with Guy Gavriel Kay...

For #9 i tried a - for me - new fantasy author: Jay Kristoff. In Nevernight, the young girl Mia Corvere has her life destroyed when her father is executed for treason and his family - that is Mia's mother and little brother - thrown in the dungeons. Mia herself manages to escape. She desides to become an assassin with one purpose: revenge.

The first book takes place at "assassin school", and was quite good. So now I have started the second part of the trilogy: Godsgrave. That will be my #10 :)

I haven't logged the books for a while, but been at it.
I finished the third part of the Jay Kristoff trilogy, Darkdawn. I think the series is quite good, but with more violence than anything else, really - a bit too much for my taste - especially the second volume. Anyhow, that was my #11.

To have a shot at reaching my 50 books in a year, I decided to count audio books as well. And I listen to quite a lot with my morning coffee or while walking.
After Kristoff, I continued with a young adult series, The Guild Codex: Spellbound by Anette Marie, where a young "ordinary" woman discovers a world of mages, whiches, vampires etc existing right here in our own. She becomes the bartender in one of their guilds, hence the titles. The books are very "young" - but it was also quite catching easy listening, and I didn't stop until I ran out of audio books... so that makes Three mages and a Margarita, Dark Arts and a Daiquiri, Two Whitches and a Whiskey, Demon Magic and a Martini and The Alchemist and an Amaretto my #12 - #16.

Some crime fiction was next - still on audio: Robert Galbraith - the london detective Cormoran Strike struggeling to get his own company going. I don't think they are great, but I do like the characters, so I kept going through both The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, and Career of Evil. Those are my #17, #18 and #19.

In case I haven't mentioned it: I love Neil Gaiman. His books are always a treat, and when I come across an audio book where he himself is the narrator, I am truly happy. So I recently listen to Coraline - a thriller for kids - where a young girl who thinks her parents are to busy to pay attention to her finds another set of parents living right next door - through a secret passage from a room in their house. The other parents play with her and make her favourite dishes - and they look just like her regular parents. Except that they have buttons where their eyes should be. And Coraline might stay with them forever - if only she lets her other mother exchange her eyes for buttons as well. It is very, very good, and my #20.

I had read Coraline before, but found another of Gaiman's books on audio The Graveyard book - the tale of a young boy growing up with the ghosts in the graveyard. I really enjoyed it, and that is my # 21. For #22 there was Gaiman's rather different take on the fairytale about Snow White, Snow, Glass, Apples. It is a graphic novel beautifully illustrated by Colleen Doran. Snow White will never be the same.

My Gaiman spree for now concluded with Fortunately the milk, a lovely story of a man trying to explain to his children why it took so long to get the milk for their breakfast. So that is #23.

I needed a timeout from fantasy, and found the Patrick Melrose books by Edward St Aubyn. An edition containing Never mind, Bad News and Some Hope. It isn't often that one truly dislikes almost every character in a book, but these are populated by some really unpleasant ones. Fortunately, it is possible to retain some sympathy for Patrick himself - it is rather a wonder that he hasn't turned out worse growing up amongst this lot in a upper class world portrayed as quite terrible, cruel and useless. He is, however, a hopeless drug addict, eventually trying to claw his way out of the bad habits of his life.
The books were made into a mini-series for TV starring Benedict Cumberbatch, brilliant in the role of Patrick, and the series was what put me on to the books. They are tragic - and sometimes hillarious. They are my #24-#26.

My #27 was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. The story of a rather different teacher and her small circle of pupils. The story of miss Brodie is told by others, by her pupils talking about her, citing her. I find her wonderful, and a little horrible, and sad, and somehow vulnerable as she constantly maintain to be "in her prime". There are many sides to this story - and a final betrayal.

It never is very long between my visits to all time favourite - fantasy or otherwise - Terry Pratchett. Some of his books are old friends, re-read or listened to (many times) before, and sometimes I find new ones. Those are usually his children's books because I have read the others... So now I have listened to the books about Tiffany Aching - a young Diskworld Whitch. I enjoy them - as I do all things Pratchett - but find they are not as effortlessly fun and wise as much of his other work. They are The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight. They are my #28-#31.
Currently I am listening to Thud - the books featuring Commander Vimes are among my Pratchett favourites. That will be my #32.

Now I have started reading a book by an Islandic favourite - Jón Kalman Stefánsson. He totally blew me away when I first found him. The book was called Heaven and Hell - so absolultely beautiful and so terrible. The beauty of his words is quite breathtaking. I haven't read him in English - I hope the translation is good.
This new book (well, it's from 2017) is called The Story of Ásta, and is probably also very sad... But Stefánsson himself has stated that sad books can make you happy. And he is quite right. So Ásta will be my #33.
(I tried to tag the titles here, but the system came up with the wrong books)