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!
For the _REAL_ meaning of Hogwatchnight, er.. Christmas, Pratchett has the answer, surprisingly enough: Hogfather.
ReplyDeleteAnd 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?
ReplyDeleteHmmm... 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).
ReplyDeleteI 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!