mandag 6. august 2018

The Immortalists

I watch Jimmy Fallon. He's funny, talented and he has a lot of interesting guests. This summer he announced a summer read. He had chosen five books and asked the viewers to vote for one of them as this summer's read. I thought I'd  just read them all. The first one I read The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin turned out to be a really good book too. Summer 1969 the four siblings, Klara, Simon, Daniel and Varya sneak out to see a fortune teller. She tells them the excact date they are going to die. How would you live your life if you knew when you were going to die? The book isn't as much about the fortune teller's date of death as it is about the history of each of the four siblings. They have very different lives and the book moves between the sibling's point of view in such a great way. I loved the book and the storyline. I recommend this. It's about death, but also about life, friendship, love and finding yourself. I was surprised at how much I liked this book.


tirsdag 15. mai 2018

Bear Town

Fredrik Backman has written several books, and I think I've read them all now. He has this way of writing to catch you into the story, you think you have it all under control, but then you burst out laughing while you read and the next minute you're crying. He really lets all the characters get under your skin and you just get emotional attached and well, then you cry. Happens to me every time! The two first times were the worst. I guess it had something to do I read his books in public. The end of both books. I cried and cried on the train in the Netherlands. No way to hide it. No way to stop it. The second time was on the beach. I had to jump in the sea to hide it. My daughter thought I was the strangest person ever. I had burst out laughing a minute before I started to cry. That's how his books work. This time was no exception.

Bear Town is about this small town in Sweden where nothing happens. Factories have stopped the production, there's nothing to do except to play hockey. Hockey is the heart of the city. It's the way out of town. But of course the book isn't really about hockey. It's about the passion, the longing for something, maybe a way out, to belong some place with somebody, about friendship, betrayal and loyalty.

Backman takes his time to let you get to know all the characters, their dreams and hopes, their background and their weaknesses before he lets the story unfold. And that is what makes the reader so involved when the story gets complicated. You are involved in all of their lives. The book is about to be a tv-series as well. The makers behind The Bridge is going to produce it. I think it will be interesting. And a sequel is already written too. I'm going to read it, as I do with all his books. And if you're on Instagram, go follow him. His posts are witty and funny.




søndag 25. mars 2018

Call Me By Your Name

I watched the movie earlier this month. I loved it. Normally I don't watch the movie before I've read the book, but this time I just couldn't wait to watch the movie. I loved the mood and the environment in the movie. The beautiful scenery in Italy, the summer, the hope of an empty summer ready to be filled up with memories. The great acting by Timothée Chalamet. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance, and that was well deserved. I bet he's going to have a great career in acting. The chemistry between Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer ... Wow! Made the movie! And the pace in the movie, slow, enjoyable and just to lean back and breathe in. The music by Sufjan Stevens just made it perfect. I had to read the book as well. It brought me back to the movie. The movie doesn't include every scene from the book, naturally, but I think the movie interprets the book in such a beautiful way. But I loved the book too.

Call Me By Your Name is just a beautiful description of a teenager's first summerlove. It just happens to be between two boys, and it happens to about three years age difference between them. As I can recall from my teenage summers, it was normal to fall in love with older people, people you looked up to. Elio and his family always have a student over for summer holidays to help Elio's father and to do some studying. This summer it's Oliver. He's a Jewish American, and with his "later" he both annoys and intrigue Elio. The tension is clear between them from the start. The relationship between Elio and Oliver develops after a lot of thoughts and doubts and insecurity from Elio's side. This is most visible in the book, which has Elio's point of view.

Call Me By Your Name hasn't any bad people ruining the love story. It just ends when summer ends, like all summer flirts do. It doesn't treat love between two boys any different than between a boy and a girl. Ok, a bit different since it still keeps it real, so they don't stroll around the village hand in hand. But it portrays the love in such a wonderful way, you just can't help falling in love.

I most probably will end up watching the movie another time after reading the book, and I will probably read the book another time as well.


søndag 14. januar 2018

Holding

I really didn't know Graham Norton had written a book. But I'm happy he did. I enjoyed it. The characters he creates are these small-town-people, and nothing really seems to happen there until a skeleton is dug up. It turns out something happened a long time ago and now it can't stay hidden anymore. The characters and the environment is well-described and I hope he writes more books. I liked the tone in the book and I liked the characters as well. It is a murder novel, and it has a detective who isn't used to chase murderes. And well, PJ doesn't really chase anyone in this book either, not physically at least, since he is obese. I hope he writes more books. I enjoyed reading it.



mandag 8. januar 2018

Lasaruseffekten

Første bok i 2018 var Lasaruseffekten av Tom Egeland. Dette er nok en bok med Beltø i hovedrollen. Og for en tykk bok, men jeg må si at Tom Egeland skriver såpass spennende at jeg ikke klarte å legge fra meg boka. Jeg leste nesten hele boka i en sitting, kun avbrutt av en treningsøkt før jeg leste resten. I Beltø sitt univers er det myter, koder, glemte og gjemte manuskripter nesten ingen vet om, og jeg har ikke veldig god greie på alt sånt, men når Egeland skriver, sluker jeg det helt og rått. Med over 500 sider skulle jeg tro at dette var en bok å bruke litt tid på, men som sagt, det var en pageturner så en ettermiddag var det som trengtes. Riktignok er boka litt forutsigbar, men det er sjangeren. Krimbøker følger sitt oppsett, og leseren vet at det løses mot slutten av boka. Jeg plages ikke med det, siden jeg vet hva jeg får når jeg velger å lese en krimbok. Jeg liker Beltø, og jeg liker universet med glemte og gjemte myter og koder. En god start på bokåret 2018.

Jeg har forresten også bestemt meg for å prøve meg på Popsugar's reading challenge. Kan jo like godt seg om noen av bøkene jeg leser i år faktisk passer inn i et av punktene på utfordringen.