The Annual Book Sale

The weather is still in fickle mood here, and I'm getting tired of keeping up with it. (It think it was on Sunday I was out in a wintry snow shower for a while - wet snow, so it didn't last - while yesterday was dry but with chilly strong winds blowing.)

Today, however, was sunny - even if still a bit windy - and I went for a nice walk into town. Every year towards the end of February we have a nation-wide book sale in Sweden. It's been an annual event all my life, and I think the tradition goes back even further. My parents used to take advantage of it back in my childhood to buy books for me and my brother (and probably some for themselves as well). And most years of my adult life I've probably visited a book shop myself during this week. This year's sale started today, so I made the book shop in the city centre the goal of my walk. Had it been too crowded I might have turned around, as I wasn't looking for anything special, and my bookshelves are over-full since before. (Not to mention all the books waiting on my Kindle!) But the shop was not all that crowded, so I did go in... and once in, of course I didn't manage to get back out empty-handed...

The book on the right is a book of short stories by Tove Jansson - probably best known world-wide for her Moomin books and comic strips (later also turned into popular TV cartoons for children). But she also wrote other novels and short stories and was also a painter. (It's a self-portrait of hers on the book cover.) 

The two on the left are history books - both by the same author, a popular Swedish historian. One about World War II; the other about a 14th century nun, St Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), canonized as saint in 1391. There were several more in the series on sale, but I managed to restrain myself to "just" buying these two. (For now...)

I also couldn't resist to pick up some really cheap notebooks with nice photo covers, on display just by the cash register.

Tomorrow is laundry day for me, plus also looks like we may expect "stay-in-and-read" kind of weather again. So perhaps I'll get started on one of my purchases between my turns to the laundry room... 

Bookish Challenge 2022

Last year  (or rather, back in January this year) I posted my answers to a 'bookish challenge', answering a number of questions using the titles of books I'd read over the past year. I decided to try that again, using this year's list of books I read/listened to. Some new to me, others re-reads.  

The links attached to some titles go to reviews of those books here on my blog. (I normally only write reviews of books that I read for the first time. I'm not really consistent in writing a review of every new book either, though.) 

As usual, quite a few books I 'read' this year have been audio recordings of favourites from the past. Some of those don't even get added to the list I keep on my computer. Depends a bit on how long it's been since I last read them - and also how much I kept falling asleep while listening! (I tend to listen old favourites as 'bedtime stories'...)

From my answers below, readers may be able to deduct that some 'old favourites' repeated this year have been: a collection of novels and short stories by P.G. Wodehouse (read by Stephen Fry); Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy; Mary Stewart's 'Arthurian' series about the wizard Merlin (four books, starting with The Crystal Cave); and also (for the umpteenth time) the Harry Potter series (also read by Stephen Fry - one of my favourite audio narrators).

DESCRIBE YOURSELF
The Last Correspondent (Soraya M Lane)

HOW ARE YOU?
"in my prime" (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark)

DESCRIBE THE PLACE YOU LIVE IN
The Locked Room (Elly Griffiths - Ruth Galloway 14)

IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?
Blandings Castle  (P.G. Wodehouse)

YOUR FAVOURITE MEANS OF TRANSPORT
Once Upon A Wardrobe  (Patti Callahan)

YOUR BEST FRIENDS
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J.K. Rowling)
The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)

WHAT IS THE WEATHER LIKE?
Heavy Weather (P.G. Wodehouse)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOMENT OF THE DAY?
* Joy in the Morning (P.G. Wodehouse)

WHAT IS LIFE FOR YOU?
Those who leave and those who stay (Elena Ferrante)

YOUR FEAR?
Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)

WHAT IS A PIECE OF ADVICE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN?
As you sow [you will reap] (Michael Hjorth & Hans Rosenfeldt)
(Swedish: "Som man sår" - Swedish detective novel, part of a series)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY?
This Time Next Year We'll be Laughing (A 'Memoir' by Jacqueline Winspear; author of the Maise Dobbs series that I've been following over many years.)

HOW YOU WOULD WISH TO DIE?
The Last Enchantment  (Mary Stewart, #3 in her "Merlin" series)

THE CURRENT STATE OF YOUR SOUL?
Surprised by Joy (C.S. Lewis, autobiography - reread)

YOUR DREAM?
The Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)

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* N.b. None of the answers above is to be regarded as
"the whole truth and nothing but the truth"... ;-)

Postcards for the Weekend – Books, Reading

Postcrossing card from the Czech Replublic, April 2017
CZ-1158648 / “Book in an ancient library”

Postcrossing card from Germany, July 2017
DE-6346680
”Woman lying on a bench reading” (1913)
Painting by Swedish artist Carl Larsson (1853-1919)

From Jarina in the NL, January 2017
Ill. by Fiep Westendorp (1916-2004)

From GB, December 2016
Gladstone’s Library, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales

▲Not postcards , but bookish stamps… from England, 2017 ▼

Postcards for the Weekend 62: Books / Reading / Authors

Memorable Reads from 2015

By Deb on December 31, 2015
What were your favorite books of 2015?
How many books did you read this year?
Are you happy with the amount of reading you got done?
Wish you’d had more time? (I know I always do!)

Going through my list, it seems that I read/listened to 52 titles last year. There may have been a few more that I forgot to add – but an average of one per week sounds about right. (Some long, some short!)

Some were old favourites reread, others new to me.

Childhood favourites reread least year were Mary Poppins and Pippi Longstocking (in Swedish), Louisa Alcott’s Little Women, and towards the end of the year, The Scotch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins.

In the summer, I listened to audio versions of all the major Jane Austen novels: Mansfield Park, Emma, Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. I have read all of them before, more than once! (+ film and TV adaptations)

In October I got started on the Barsetshire novels by Anthony Trollope, British classics I’ve known about but never got round to reading until now. Before the end of the year I had finished four out of six in that series: The Warden, Barchester Towers, Doctor Thorne and Framley Parsonage. Seems to me that some of these should be excellent material for TV series as well; so was glad when I read on Terra’s blog just recently that indeed a series based on Doctor Thorne seems to be planned already!

Back in the spring I made an enjoyable new acquaintance in the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths, and read all seven books so far published pretty much in one swoop. Looking forward to No. 8 in the series to be published in April this year!

I also liked Peter May’s Runaway, and am looking forward to a  new book by him even sooner (Coffin Road, January 14), in which he’ll be returning to the Outer Hebrides as setting.