A Book Fair

 

This old wooden building in our city centre is used for various activities and study circles etc organized by local associations. A few times they've also held book fairs, with focus on books and authors with local connection. I think the last time I attended one of these was back in 2019. (Link to a post of mine from back then.) After that the pandemic probably put a stop to this kind of event for a few years...

I wasn't aware that there was going to be one this year either; until last week I came across an ad announcing a combined Books and Crafts Fair, taking place today. They were also featuring an author, Maria Bouroncle, whose recently published new book I had intended to buy anyway. (Actually I bought her first one at that 2019 book fair.)

Maria was also going to speak about her books today at noon; so I decided to go and listen. I arrived a little bit early and had a look around some book stalls first (everything was indoors as it's still rather chilly here, and raining on and off). I found Maria's table, and there was no other customer there just then, so I got to chat a bit with her, bought her book, and also got it signed. I'm looking forward to reading it as it is about (or is at least inspired by) a relative of hers (back then a young woman) who emigrated to Chicago in 1921. My own grandmother had a sister who emigrated to Chicago in 1902; so I'm curious to see what Maria has made of her relative's story. (My own great-aunt I've blogged about now and then on my family history blog 'Greetings from the Past', while sorting out inherited photos and postcards.) 

I also talked to (or rather, listened to) a couple of more authors selling their books, but I did not buy any more - excusing myself by saying I wanted to have a look around before deciding. The main reason, though, is that I find reading small print is increasingly tiring for my eyes. (There are still a few books that I feel worth buying, like if they're part of a series and I may want to be able to go back to them later and check things etc. But I try to avoid piling up too many new ones that may never get read at all...)

I then went across (a courtyard) to the café building, where I had a cup of tea and a piece of pie while listening to Maria (on the right in the photo) interviewed by a local representative about her books, on a small stage at one end of the café. I could only find a seat at the other end near the counter, though, where it was a bit noisy. But I heard most of it ok. 

I also had a look at some "crafts" tables (Easter decorations and whatnot), but did not buy anything, as I didn't see anything that I felt immediately drawn to. (The best items had probably already been sold - most of those tables were rather empty by the time I got there.)

I felt quite pleased with my little outing though, as I haven't really been "anywhere special" this side of New Year. And before I went back home, I also made a detour to my favourite tea shop at the main square to stock up on a couple of favourite tea blends.

These are my three books by Maria Bouroncle, in Swedish. (Link to the author's website.) I learned today that the first book, on the left, which I bought back in 2019, has since been translated into English, Dutch and Finnish, and is currently used on a Scandinavian Crime Literature course at the University of California in Los Angeles. It's available for Kindle on Amazon, entitled: It Came to me on a Whim - The Story of Ingeborg Andersson, Child Murderess.

The second book is about to be published in Finnish as well - that one is about a little girl from Finland who came to stay in Sweden during WW2. 

Hopefully the third book will also later be translated into English. (Chicago Dreams)

Visiting the Book Fair

A local book fair at the end of March seems to be on the way of becoming a tradition in Borås. This was the third year in a row. I blogged about the first back in 2017. I bought two books on that occasion. Last year it seems I did not blog about it, but I did pop in at the book fair then too, and bought one book. This year, I came home with three! 

One of them was given away for free - an offer hard to resist...  (That's the one with "Sarajevo" in the title.) 

One is about a tragedy that the author discovered in her own family history, and decided to research and write about. (I have not read it yet but the cover says it's the story of a woman who murdered her children - back in 1929.) I was intrigued by it because it reminded me of things I've been meaning to perhaps try to continue looking into myself, related to my own family history. Nothing as drastic as murder; and not likely to result in a book. But, as I said to the author while chatting briefly to her about hers, while buying it: Sometimes one does comes across bits and pieces here and there that makes one wish that someone had written the full story. 

The third one is the first in a 'cozy crime' series that escaped my attention until now. One of the rather many such series set in an otherwise rather idyllic small Swedish Town. In this series, the scene is Hjo, such a small town on the west coast of Lake Vättern, in the province of Västergötland (the same province where I live). And as it happens, Hjo is one of the towns that my brother and I visited on our tour around Lake Vättern two summers ago. I resisted the temptation to buy the whole series (five books so far) but I did buy the first one, and am enjoying reading it now. If nothing else, it's fun to read a book where one can call to mind quite a few flashbacks from one's own memories of what the place looks like. Here's a shortcut to one of my blog posts from Hjo from 2017. (To find even more, look up September 2017 in the Archive in the sidebar of my blog.)

I also attended a lecture by a well-known Swedish-Finnish author, Susanna Alakoski (link to Wiki article in English). One of the very many who moved to Sweden from Finland back in the 1960s, in her early childhood; the parents to work and the children just having to "jump right into it", going to Swedish school and learning Swedish etc without much special introduction for immigrants back in those days. I had several classmates from Finland throughout my school years. Children pick up language and dialects very quickly. Harder for their parents! With Susanna Alakoski (having come here in early childhood) you'd never guess now except for her Finnish surname that she is of Finnish origin. But in her lecture she talked a bit about these things - language, immigration, integration, identity etc; comparing the situation back then (1960s, with immigrants coming here from Finland + eastern and southern Europe, to work), and today (with immigrants coming from "all over the world", lots of different backgrounds, and many as refugees). Some interesting observations and thoughts, well worth considering. I'm also looking forward to reading her next book which she said will be published in the autumn and will be the first in a series that involves the Swedish textile industry. So just now she was in Borås to do some research. (As some of you know, if you've been following my blog for a while, Borås is an old textile industry town, and we also have a Textile Museum and a Textile College.)

Book Review–The Devil’s Sanctuary

Marie Hermanson (born 1956) is a Swedish writer and journalist who has written several intriguing novels with a surrealistic touch. Her earlier novels have not been translated into English, but this one, which I just recently listened to in Swedish, has. So I thought I’d mention it here. The Swedish title is Himmelsdalen – ‘Paradise Valley’ – but in English it has been named The Devil’s Sanctuary. This in itself I think reflects the duality at the very core of this psychological thriller: The difficulty (sometimes) of deciding what is what, what is good or bad, truth or lie – and even perhaps who is who…

Daniel and Max are identical twins, with a complex relationship ever since childhood. The story starts out with Daniel going to visit his brother while he is staying in a recovery clinic near a small village in a secluded valley in the Alps.

On the surface it seems more like a peaceful holiday resort than anything else, but when Daniel is asked to take his brother’s place for a few days, his perspective begins to change… 

Be prepared for some twists and turns (or ups and downs) before you get to the end of this novel!

ABC Wednesday – K for Keys

▲ Above: Huge symbolical key on the wall in the reception
area of our hospital, which was added in 2004.

▼ Below: Old church keys.

Historians are unsure where the first lock was invented, but evidence suggests that locks initially developed independently in the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations. Wooden locks and keys were in use as early as 4,000 years ago in Assyria.

St. Peter is called the guardian of the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven, and the key is his attribute. He has been depicted bearing one or two keys in a wide range of Christian contexts since the 5th century throughout Europe - paintings, reliefs, baptismal fonts, sculptures etc.

Over a door on a church at Forshem, Kinnekulle, Sweden, originally from the 12 th century, there is a stone relief depicting Christ handing the Key to St Peter, and the Scriptures to St Paul.

Postcard photo of the stone relief at Forshem

The Latin inscription reads: “Ista ecclesia sit in honore Domini nostri Jesu Christi et Sancti Sepulchri” i.e. “This church is consecrated in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Grave” [in Jerusalem]. This seems to indicate a connection with the medeival crusades; or at least so it is assumed by Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou in The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy), a series of books about the fictional character of Arn Magnusson.

My own photo from the church at Forshem, 2002

Read more about old keys and locks at www.historicallocks.com

ABC Wednesday – K