Month: August 2015

Hidden gems unexpected books

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thanks you for not reading

I will return tomorrow to reviewing but I just had talk about one of those reads we all get from time to time that blow you away as a reader .I brought Thank you for not reading for two reasons Dubravka Ugresic is a writer I wanted to read at some point and til now hadn’t got too .The other reason was it was half price in a sale recently .I expected this book to be quite academic , not sure why expected something quite clinical in her observation .But thankfully it isn’t no this is one of those books that make you want to go and buy everything the writer has written . It had me smiling nodding my head and go exactly all the way through . More about the book in a review shortly to come . But lets just say Her thoughts mirror thoughts from writers I have spoken to in person from the Balkans So how often have you read a book and had that same feeling of wanting to get everything by the writer after you’ve read their books for the first time ?

Weekend reading Papua New Guinea

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A short post as I have been busy today put before work today and then at work til ten tonight .I am off this weekend and as I have every second weekend off I like to choose a couple books to try and read this weekend I’m trying a collection of essays and fiction by the great Croat writer Dubravka Ugresic looking forward to this as the lovely Celia Hawksworth has translated it as one of my favourite translators .Then I am off to Asia and a travel memoir from Trish Nicholson about her time teaching in the remote West Speke province as 8 not read a book from Papua New Guinea it is chance to discover this country .
What are your weekend reads ?

Female Nobel winners diversity and the Nobel

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NOBEL WINNERS

I was  thinking  of a discussion about the winners of Nobel .After seeing a tweet from Peirene press about how many female winners of the Nobel Literature prize their have been .There have been thirteen in all –

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013

Alice Munro

“master of the contemporary short story”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2009

Herta Müller

“who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007

Doris Lessing

“that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2004

Elfriede Jelinek

“for her musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that with extraordinary linguistic zeal reveal the absurdity of society’s clichés and their subjugating power”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1996

Wislawa Szymborska

“for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1993

Toni Morrison

“who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1991

Nadine Gordimer

“who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1966

Nelly Sachs

“for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel’s destiny with touching strength”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1945

Gabriela Mistral

“for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1938

Pearl Buck

“for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1928

Sigrid Undset

“principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1926

Grazia Deledda

“for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general”

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1909

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf

“in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings”

Thanks to Nobel for the list of winners , it seems they are addressing the lack of Female winners in a way with 4 female winners in the last decade . I have mentioned the possible winners in my last few Nobel prediction posts but there isn’t many women on this list .Svetlana Alexievich , Joyce Carol Oates , Lydia Davies , Dacia Maraini are among the names mentioned to win in recent years I would add Dasa Drndic and Marie D’Naiye myself from female writers in translation I have read .So I feel as Peirene pointed out there is a need for more female winners and maybe more diversity in General a few more African winners .I feel the fact the Nobel have lists of female winners and have said they are getting advice on world lit these day means we may have something to look forward too .

Where to start with Svetlana Alexievich any one ?#

Any suggestions for a female winner of the Nobel Lit Prize ?

 

The passion according to G.H by Clarice Lispector

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The passion according to G.H by Clarice Lispector

Brazilian fiction

Original title – A Paixão segundo G.H.

Translator – Idra Novey

Source – personnel copy

When you ate,
I saw your eyelashes.
Saw them shake like
wind on rushes.

In the cornfield,
when she called me

Moths surround me.
Thought they’d drown me.

And I miss your precious heart.

Dried rose petals —
redbrown circles —
framed your eyes and
stained your knuckles.

I choose this lyric from Joanna Newsom for those first two-lines anyone that read this book will know what I mean ,also  Joanna Newsom new album out soon

A couple of years ago Amanda brought me two Lispector Near to the wild heart and hour of the star , I read Near to the wild heart straight away loved it that much , I went out a few days later and brought this the another of the four Lispector books penguin had brought out at the time .So with the chance to read her collected short stories that are coming out soon .Lispector was a brazilian writer , she was born in Ukraine her family came to Brazil and then when she married she travelled the world with her husband whom was a diplomat ,before returning to Brazil and began writing , this book was midway in her career .

That was when  the cockroach began to emerge .

First the heralding quiver of its antennae .

Then , behind those dry stands , the reluctant body started to emerge until nearly all of it reached the opening of the wardrobe door .

It was brown , it hesitant as if of enormus wieght .It was now almost entirely visible

The roach appears to G.H

Well where does one start with this book ? it’s a monologue told by a women , this woman is the same one as the G.H of the title . G.H has entered her maid’s room , clean clinical white room , in which she sees this black cockroach after finding it in the wardrobe .She then decides to kill the roach , setting of a shocking reaction with in G.H herself as she watches the insect die cause a strange nightmare like state in her as she questions  what she did . All this happened the day before and G.h is reflecting on what happened .

Because inside myself I saw what hell is like .

Hell is the mouth that bites and eats the living flesh with its blood , and the one being eaten howls with delight in his eye: hell is pain as delight of the matter , and with the laughter of delight , the tears run in pain .And the tear comes from the laughter of pain is the opposite of redemption .I was seeing the inexorability of the roach with its ritual mask .

G.H later in the book seems to drift into a spirit world of her own .

Now a brief description for this is one from the heart of modernism like a distant cousin to the world of Virginia Woolf , it is easy to see why the two are often mentioned in the same breath .Like Mrs Dalloway Woolf’s book , this takes place of the course of a day . Woolf also touched in other books like this does on mental health issues , you feel G.H is a woman who has more to her than we are told and certain of her actions within this book lead you to think , she may have been in the middle of a breakdown the day she is describing .This book shows why we maybe need more woman in translation to find the effect of woman writing in english has had on female writers around the world we often miss the influence of english writers but I feel in Lispector it is clear to see how drawn she must have been as a writer to the Modernist movement , she was writing in the 60’s so would be able to have read the great voices of modernism .It is easy to see G.H as a character as a woman trying to break maybe the female bonds as the act she does cause her to think why she does it ? A book that will leave you reeling for a good while after you put it down . I can’t wait to read her short stories now , the complete collection will include all eight collections she wrote in her lifetime .

Have you read Lispector ?

Woman in translation Five from the Archive

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One of the beauty of blogging for six plus years is I have a good selection of reviews to look back on so today as others have I ‘ve decide to look back on five books from the archives

The rest is silence by Carla Gulfenbein

The rest is silence

 

A young boy discovers there is more to his mother dying , when he discovers a mp3 file of her talking .She manage to capture a good child narrator in this book .A great way of how we view the world when young and what happpens when that falls apart .

The last brother by Nathacha Appanah

the last brother

Now off to Africa and a small piece of history told in this book ,Raj and David meet after David arrives with his family of to try and get to Palenstine after the second world war . One first from Maclehose press worth looking back on .

The belly of the Atlantic by Fatou Diome

belly of the atlantic by fatou diome

Now A real early review on the blog is this tale of dreams and migration , seems more fitting now than it did six years ago . One boy follows his football dream but it goes wrong .With recent scenes in France this is a must read african novel .

The tongues blood does not run dry by Assia Djebar

the tongues blood does not run dry

Off to North africa and the late Assia Djebar , a collection of stories that are about the modern role of women in Algeria and North Africa and after the recent arab springs is an interesting look at the past for woman and what could change in the future .

Accabadora by Michela Murgia

accabadora

The story of a woman that sees to the dying a sort of reverse midwife for the dying .As she face up to her job and rural life in general .

 

 

Now also worth noting my good friend Susan from Istros books has a sale on via Impress books of a number of the Female writers they have published in the last few years such as Exile a wonderful short story collection from this year

Innocence or murder on steep street by Heda Margolius Kovály

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Innocence or murder on steep street by HedaMargolius  Kovály

Czech fiction

Original title –Nevina

Translator – Alex Zucker

Source – review copy

Tonight, tonight, I say goodbye
To everyone who loves me
Stick it to my enemies tonight
Then I disappear

Bathe my path in shining light
Set the dials to thrill me
Every secret has its price
This one’s set to kill

Too loose, too tight
Too dark, too bright
A lie, the truth
Which one should I use?
If the lie succeeds
Then you’ll know what I mean
When I tell you I have secrets to attend

Crime scene no1 by the afghan whigs is perfect match dark and brooding music like this book

 

Well today sees me in Eastern europe for Woman in translation month and a writer best known for her Memoir under a cruel star a memoir of her time in Auschwitz during the war . Well she wrote this novel in the years after the war when The Czech republic fell under soviet control , at the time she wrote the book it wasn’t allowed to be published and luckily a copy of the book managed to be saved to finally see the light of day in the 1980’s in Germany .Heda worked for many years translating book from English into Czech on of the writers she translated a lot of was the crime writer Raymond Chandler which is a obvious influence on this book .

“Believe me , I know .You can’t keep a secret at the Horizon .Anyway , if she did find somebody new  everyone’d badmouth her for runnin’ around on her man in the clink ,Meanwhile if the shoe was on the other foot and she was the one locked up her husband would find another girl in a week and people’d say

Helena and Karel he worked for the government and she had a better job before she went to the Horizon cinema .

The book revolves around a murder a young boy is found dead in a cinema and the staff of this cinema the Horizon  , the first section of the book is told from the perspective of on of the usherettes Helena .this first section tells what happened and then see some of the characters that crop up in the book like  people working in the cinema , the husband of Helena , Karel whom is in trouble with the authorities . the last two-thirds of the book are told by a nameless observer that watches why the boy was killed , who works for the government in the cinema , what really is happening ? which usher did it or was it them ? As we see the inspector trying to get to the bottom of it all .

The fat man hunched over in his chair and thought a moment

“Steep street is practically made for a knife ” he said .His voice was slow with sleepiness and husky , perhaps with the memory of the darkness on steep street .He laid a palm on his eyes and rubbed them as if trying to erase the sight from his mind .

I loved piece like this as they could have jumped of a hard-boiled american novel ,she caught that style of writing so well and Alex Zucker has retained in his translation .

 

This is an homage to two things firstly to Czech lit there is tones of Kafka here it is hard to avoid the feeling of Helena falling into one of those  Kafka like rabbit holes here as things started to fall into place.As every one isn’t what they first seems  and it is very easy to get caught up in the government web that is being woven  . The other is homage to Chandler and that style of crime novel , lots nods to american crime novels .The female character are like Chandlers but to me are maybe more rounded in the writing . There is feeling red herring and such here . The ushers whom fall suspect of the death of the young boy each have a connection and could be the killer . This is a book for lovers of both hard-boiled crime or Kafkaesque fiction . We are lucky it managed to avoid being destroyed by the censors .

Have you a favourite book in translation influenced by american fiction , but still keeping it identity ?

 

Song for sunday WITMONTH edition 1

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Well as it is women in translation month , I’m twisting the rules slightly and going for three songs this week by Bands lead by female singers and then next female singers . I have mostly picked male voices over the time I have brought songs and music as a sideline on this blog as ever my choice look back .

The Sundays were for a brief moment the hottest English indie band the smiths with a female singer , but sadly the pressure probably was to much but their debut album was a real gem and this song is a track from it .I hope they return one day been a long time but that voice is amazing .

A band from the shoegazing era that weren’t really a  shoegazing band  but very hip mix of elctro and lyrics pre carbage (often thought they were before there time ) and  for a while and darlings of the press .As any uk based folks my taste tends be bands the NME liked in those years when that magazine still meant something .

A band that thankfully split then reformed a few years ago , the fragile voice of the lead singer of Mazzy star Hope Sandoval voice is haunting .

What are your favourite bands with female singers

The exchange of princesses by Chantal Thomas

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The exchange of princesses by Chantal Thomas

French fiction

Original title – L’exchange des princesses

Translator – John Cullen

Source – review copy

 

“Trophy Wife”

No nobody wants to be
No no one’s lover
No matter what they say
Lovers know they are the ones
Who one day have to go

Trophy wives
I know they wander
And find a young  young man
Trophy wives
I know they wander

One time you were a good rabbit
To all the girls
And all their lovely mothers
You tried a piece of everything
Now nothing turns you on

Trophy wives
I know they wander
And find a young young man
Trophy wives
I know they wander

I choose the National song Lyric Trophy wives although a modern term were the princesses trophy wives ?

Another challenge I tried for this woman in translation month was this book a french translation and a historic novel .I like 20th and late 19th century in fiction so I am not adverse to historic fiction but haven’t always connected to fiction from times earlier than that . But I was offered this kindly by Other press and I just liked the cover and with woman in translation month in the distant future I decided to give this one a whirl . Chantal Thomas is a noted writer philosopher and historian .Her best known book is Farewell my queen , which was about the last days of Marie Antoinette .This is her latest of  twenty books in various area she has published in the last thirty year .This book is also being made into a film .

Mile de montpensier is frowning ,She mutters that her corset’s too tight , that is beastly cold in the coach .Her father remains calm , but underneath the kind facade his impatience is perceptible .He wants to have done with this Farewell farce .

Sad really father seeing his daughter off for what might be the last time .

The exchange of princesses is novel of a true event in history when Philippe the second the leader of france , but by 1721 his life had taken its toll and with time running short he and the king of Spain worked out a plan that saw Phillippe son his chosen heir Louis Vx so he has chosen a wife for his daughter the four year old daughter of the King of Spain .As part of this deal their own twelve year old daughter is to marry another Spanish prince ,The book follows the two young princesses as they take the then actually quite long journey from each royal court , which sees how each princess fairs as they trade princesses to try to end years of conflict between the two countries .As one is to become heir to the throne through her husband and the other to marry a prince of Asturias but no heir .

Mile de montpensier ‘s people are returning to Paris ,Her cortege will form up again , just as before , except now the Infanta will occupy her place .Mile de montpensier her self sets out at the head of what was the infanta’s cortege .The french princess is surround exclusively by spanish courtiers , men at arms and servants ,

Imagine being left with a group of people from another country at just twelve years old so scary I think .

 

There is a saying truth is stranger than fiction , well this book is a perfect example of this . Now we know here in the uk how important royal marriages are and how much they mean to the country .But go back a couple of centuries and these royal marriages were more political than now as the royal families still had powers in their countries . So under this way of thinking marrying an eleven year old heir to the french throne to a four-year old princesses with the loss of your own daughter as part of the bargain is considered ok . I found this idea now such a scary concept for the girls and Chantal does get this across well to be pulled from your own world to another place and culture was so difficult .I felt the time with out feel overwhelmed by being in the time Chantal Thomas has a subtle story telling style that feels modern  but drags you into the past .

Have you a favourite historic novel in tranlsation ?

WIT month My lack of #Ferrantefever

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Well I decide today to go back and reread the first and second of what is now a quartet of books by the mysterious Italian writer Elena Ferrante , yes reread as I read the first book in the set around the time it came out as I was sent the proof , but for me it was ok , I frankly didn’t get the hype from others (although always weary of hype ).Now was it fact that I maybe read it at the wrong time ? well now I a deep in a month of mainly female writers it  may help as I do mainly read male writers , so maybe the book may conect more as I have read more female voices this last three weeks than in the last five years  .Another thought is maybe she just  isn’t the writer for me we can’t like every writer cane we  ? well a second crack of the whip may help me decide .I remember thinking that she had set the scene well but at time of the first reading I maybe did race through it as it was one I had maybe thought I would like , did I set my level to high in that case .Anyway for me as a reader and fan of translated fiction I hate to not be getting  one of the big stars of translated fiction at the moment , so lets hope it is second time round for me .As this evening I dive into My brilliant friend

What did you like about Ferrante , maybe if I see what others like it may help me get in to it ?

 

When the doves disappeared by Sofi Oksanen

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When the doves disappeared by Sofi Oksanen

Finnish fiction

Original title –  Kun kyyhkyset katosivat

Translator – Lola M Rogers

source – review copy

Dig if you will a picture
Of you and I engaged in a kiss
The sweat of your body covers me
Can you my darling
Can you picture this?
Dream if you can a courtyard
An ocean of violets in bloom
Animals strike curious poses
They feel the heat
The heat between me and you

How can you just leave me standing?
Alone in a world that’s so cold (So cold)
Maybe I’m just too demanding
Maybe I’m just like my father too bold
Maybe you’re just like my mother
She’s never satisfied (She’s never satisfied)
Why do we scream at each other?
This is what it sounds like
When doves cry

I choose this as when I read the book I kept calling it when doves cry not when the doves disappeared .I although you can read more into the prince lyrics like you can read more into this book .

Sofi first book in English was one of those rare books in translation that breaks out of the circle of translated readers and gets to a wider audience ,so how to follow-up that success ,well When the doves disappeared was for a me good choice it is based in a similar era to the first book Purge  and also is a story of two people like the first book .But that is where the similarity end . Sofi Oksanen is fast become a huge star of Nordic fiction ,winning the finlandia , nordic prize and the first finnish women to win the Swedish Nordic prize , she has also been women of the year in \Estonia which is part of her shared heritage finnish Estonian .So my fourth women in translation month read sees us going to Finland .

I knew that once Estonia was free again , people of good conscience would want to examine these years , and that would have to be evidence that we acted according to the law , But such thorough record keeping was a risk we couldn’t afford ,The acts of the bolsheviks had already proved that pur country and our homes where under the control of barbarians .

they look at 1941 at what they are doing now how it will be looked at in years to come .

The book is set in the Baltic state of Estonia and is the tale of two cousins Roland a freedom fighter and man of principal and his cousin Edgar a slippery man who when the German comes joins them and leaves both his cousin and his wife Juudit .The story is told in two eras  1941 just as Estonia is about to fall to the russians  and 1963 as the country is no under the stranglehold of the Soviet regime .The first era follows the fall then the Germans taking control of Estonia and Edgar rise as he sees a new Estonia under the Germans , but this is the frontline and this brief time of German rule is about to be wiped out by Stalin . The second era in the book shows how twenty years of Stalin and post Stalin rule has had on the country and the three main character in this book .

Comrade Part’s instinct was correct .In the list from 1944 he found a familiar name .Just a name , no date of death or indication of transfer to another camp or evacuation to germany ,A name he wished had been someone else’s .Anyone else’s .He had been searching for any name he recognized , but this was the very name he didn’t want to find , a name that felt like if he pronounced it out loud his tongue would be covered in blisters ,A name that shouldn’t even be on the list .Roland Simson.

Who is Part’s ? and is Roland really dead ?

I actually enjoyed this more than Purge , for me Edgar and Roland reflect two human characters the brave man and the coward . It shows how easy it is to get on if you try to be something you’re not when Edgar does when he joins the Nazis . But it also shows the cost of being brave and sticking to your guns . But most of all it shows how hopeless both sides are under the soviet regime years ago .The book is told at a fast pace jumping between the forties and sixties as we see the story of the three characters and the greater story of Estonia .This book is a worthy follow-up to purge from a rising star of Nordic fiction .

Have you read this or Purge ?

Carol Brown Janeway RIP

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mrs sartoris

I was sad to read of the Passing of this well known German translator , I have reviewed a number of books by her over the years even this year her translation of F by Daniel Kehlman made the IFFP list .I share two of my favourite translations she did the first is Mrs Sartoris a lost gem  and also a little gem from Thomas Bernhard My prizes a translation of the speeches he gave to the prizes he won .The bookseller has a piece and a comment from Daniel Hahn about her .

A little life anniversary gift 8 years and counting

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Yesterday saw Amanda and I eighth wedding  anniversary , so as I am very hard to buy for (other than books that is even then I want to know ),I choose a book for my gift from my beloved wife  . I do sometimes get tempt by a bit of book hype and this book for me has been in my twitter feed most of the year and a few of the people saying they like it like Katya Taylor  who’s opinion matters to me .A little life is the second novel by Hanya Yanagihara her first people in the tree was one I saw mentioned ,a lot a couple of years ago when it came out , as it had taken her twenty years to write .But in the 18 months after that she managed to write this 760 page epic , it’s almost like once the floodgate had open she couldn’t stop .A little life is a story of four friends growing up all with arty jobs after college , it follows the end of the college lives and the decades that follow  one of the four friends Jude has a dark secret in his past it seems . The book has already made the booker longlist .Not sure when I will get to it if it makes booker shortlist I think I will get to it soon ,as I hear it is a real page turner once you get into it .

Have you read it yet ?

Bar Balto by Faïza Guène,

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Bar Balto by Faïza Guène,

French fiction

Original title – Les Gens du Balto

Translator – Sarah Ardizzone

Review – personnel copy

 

I am tall and I am thin
Of an enviable hight
And I’ve been known to be quite handsome
In a certain angle and in certain light

Well I entered into O’Malley’s
Said, “O’Malley I have a thirst”
O’Malley merely smiled at me
Said “You wouldn’t be the first”

I knocked on the bar and pointed
To a bottle on the shelf
And as O’Malley poured me out a drink
I sniffed and crossed myself

Another death in a bar happens in Nick Cave’s O’malleys bar

I did a post when the new forty under 40 granta list came out a few years ago of writers in translation that were stars in the making and under 40 , one of whom was Faiza Guene the French Algerian writer .She published her first book when she was just 19 .She has also made a number of audio visual piece having studied this when younger . This was her third novel ,she is currently working on film scripts .So my third book for women in translation month is a rising star of French fiction .

I’m not Turkish .

They don’t get the difference .They’re always calling me “Turkey boy” .But I’m not Turkish .I’m Armenian .Well on my mum’s side .

My name is Taniel .My old lady calls me “Lazy bugger ” and “shit head ” most of the time .For school it’s daniel and for my mates it’s just “Turkey boy ”

I often hear people call people this and that without even knowing the person or where they are from .

This is a story of a bar told in Voices from the Owner whom is lying dead on the Floor Joel “The rink ” to Tani , the slut , the twins , the spaz . What we get is the story of the bar and the people who came to this Bar . We see how Joe treated certain people differently due to their race .Each person story is like a little statement we are left to wonder if each had something to do with his death .This is a quiet village at the end of the rail line and this is the most exciting thing to happen there for a long time .This is a place where the people dream of leaving .As Joe and the bars world unfolds in front of us .As a mother goes to this bar as an escape a young girl really wants to be paris hilton and that is just the women then there is the men Joel in particular .

It’s Joel Morvier to you , and I’ve decided to tell this story in my own words .Thirty years I’ve been surrounded by newspapers , so there’s no pulling the wool over my eyes .I can see how they can twist the facts rather than trust my own mouth ,

I ‘d turned sixty-two in april , twelfth of the month ,I’m telling you that as a point of fact ,I’ve never celebrated a birthday in my life .

They say I’m not an easy man to like .I’d say I didn’t get as much love and sympathy as I deserved ,As for slurs .I’m not racist , I’ve just got values, and clearly that bothers some people

Joel will have his story told .The rink says he is no racist but you will see others views .

This is a book that is full of undercurrents of what has happened in france since maybe the undercurrent of racism there between Joe and his customers .Faiza also captures the dreams and humour of being in a small out-of-the-way village I felt there is humour . A point I felt is that maybe the style of voices haven’t quite made it through in translation .I always feel slang must be the hardest thing to translate so some what a layer of what must have been in the original french book maybe was lost .But that said it is no reason to not read this book from what the french feel is a great writer in waiting .For me I feel Faiza is just 30 and given recent events both in France and north africa is bound to be one of the voices of this era .

Have you read any great writers in waiting .

Wilful Disregard by Lena Andersson

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Wilful disregard a novel about love  by Lena Andersson

Swedish fiction

Original title – Egenmäktigt förfarande – en roman om kärlek

Translator – Sarah Death

Source – Review copy

You spurn my natural emotions
You make me feel I’m dirt
And I’m hurt
And if I start a commotion
I run the risk of losing you
And that’s worse

Ever fallen in love with someone?
Ever fallen in love?
In love with someone
Ever fallen in love? (Love…)
In love with someone
You shouldn’t’ve fallen in love with

I can’t see much of a future
Unless we find out what’s to blame
What a shame
And we won’t be together much longer
Unless we realize that we are the same

I thought of Buzzcocks Ever fallen in love with just for the line Ever fallen in love with some one you shouldn’t fall in love with , just perfect for this book .

Well I move to Sweden for the second book for this women in translation month .A prize-winning novel from Lena  Andersson .A well-known Journalist and radio presenter, she has hosted a show called summer over a number of years  .She also writers a columnist for the Dagens Nyheter  .She has so far published seven books this is her fifth novel and won the August prizeone of the biggest book prizes in Sweden .This is her first book in English .

Two weeks had passed by the time she went to him , one carefully chosen evening .In the course of those weeks she had thought of nothing else .The fact he had asked her to drop round to the studio for copies of his early works meant she had the right to seek him out ,So as not to seem too eager , she waited for as long as she could bear to

I was reminded of a scene in the film swingers where they talk about how long before you should contact some one . Has Ester waited to long .

Wilful disregard is as it says a novel about love and being in love and maybe not being in Love  .The say love comes in all shapes , sizes and they say you never know when it is going to hit you .This is the love story of Ester Nilsson , she is a sensible girl in a steady relationship .When she gives a talk about an artist she loves Hugo Rask .She doesn’t know the man himself is there .He introduces himself and ask her to come to his studio , but is this just an innocent invite . They talk and then start meeting this becomes a pursuit for Ester ,as Hugo isn’t maybe quite what he seems to her and maybe what she sees he doesn’t .His disinterest is hard for her to get over .As one woman risks losing it all .

When you love and someone receives that love , the body feels light .When the opposite happens , one kilo weights three .Love that is just beginning is like dancing on a finely honed edge .It can happen that kilo never regains its proper weight , which generates a degree of apprehension in the fearful , the experienced and far-sighted .And in those who do not have esters extraordinary capacity for hope .

Haven’t we all felt this before when in love that light then heavy feeling as we start on the road of love

This is a book about love and how it makes us each act .I was sent this pleased I wouldn’t pick this to read my self and even though I read it early in the year . I knew it would be perfect for woman in translation month .The book is about what we view in others Ester has put as we used to say on a pedestal , so no matter what he does she sees no wrong .In reading swedish interviews with the writer and about the book , the events in the book thou not directly about her , events in her life had an effect on the writing of the book  and some of what Ester went through she has gone through herself .I have maybe been painting a black picture , but no this has humour in it as well a sort of comedy of modern loving in some ways .Lena takes love and breaks apart what makes one woman rick in Ester , how we maybe don’t always take the easiest path in life

Have you a favourite book about love ?