Those (poor souls) who know me, know that I have a somewhat strained relationship with Christmas and all things related to said holiday. I'm no Christian and I don't share a smidgeon of the ideological basis for the celebrations. And I have nothing but scorn and contempt for the contemporary hoopla surrounding it.
Still, I'm a great believer in pampering myself (don't - for the sake of your own mental health and that of your children please don't - take the expression literally, much less attempt to envision it!), so I went browsing in a bookstore in Oslo today. And lo & behold, what did I find but new books by three of my favorite writers! My grubby, little hands are currently clutching copies of the following: "Fragile Things", a collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman, "Wintersmith", a new Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett and "Blue Shoes and Happiness", the latest installment in the thoroughly enjoyable "No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith. As if that wasn't enough I also got an illustrated Pratchett book called "The Art of Discworld". Throw in a very cool looking book called "Historical Atlas of the United States", and you can imagine my mental state at this moment. In addition, I simply forgot to buy a new semi-autobiographical book by Bill Bryson that I saw in the shop, so that's also waiting for me down the line. Life is goooood!
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For the _REAL_ meaning of Hogwatchnight, er.. Christmas, Pratchett has the answer, surprisingly enough: Hogfather.
And while your are there, bring Thud, Small Gods and Darwins Watch as well. Your well developed nonbelief will be furthered. The Turtle Moves !
Noticing that you are in Norway, I'm wondering if you have any ideas of books that might be good to read for a challenge where I'm reading 52 books from different countries. Right now I have Knut Hamsun: any other suggestions?
Hmmm... I don't read much Norwegian literature, but I might have a few suggestions. I've always liked Hamsun's "Growth of the soil" ("Markens grøde" in Norwegian).
I don't know if the following have been translated into English, but Lars Saabye Christensen's "Beatles" (1984) is one of the best books ever written, regardless of language. I also like much of the work of Tor Åge Bringsværd, who is considered the "father" of Norwegian science fiction. He has a very good series called Gobi (as in the Gobi desert). It was written in the late 80/early 90s, five books in all I think.
Sadly, I guess that's about it. There's always the various plays by Ibsen of course. I should think most of them have been translated.
Happy reading!
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