The Colour Blue (FMTSO)

Peacock at our Zoo, from my visit back in August 2014.

Read in 2014

I was far from consistent in writing book reviews last year, but I did actually read quite a lot – if you include listening to audio/talking books, which is what I do most these days. I do find it hard to write reviews of books I’ve only listened to, though; as then I can’t go back to check details and find quotes etc.

I keep a list of all the titles I read though (using Works spreadsheet on my computer). And summing up my statistics for 2014, I find that I listed 64 titles, of which

42 were audio + 19 Kindle + 3 printed on paper;
21 in English + 21 written in Swedish + 22 translated

Those numbers do not include certain old favourites that I return to too often to bother about the statistics (like Harry Potter or Narnia). But they do include a few rereads of books I hadn’t read in a long time – like Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert and Camille (La Dame aux Camilias) by Alexandre Dumas (fils) (the reason being that on some occasion I found myself confusing the two); and more recently Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers (after watching the film musical from 1964 on DVD, and thinking that surely Mary in the books was a lot more “contrary” than the Julie Andrews version? – an opinion I still stick to after rereading!)

I also read quite a few detective novels. Among those may be worth mentioning one writer who was new to me: Ann Cleeves (and I think it may have been Adrian of the blog Adrian’s Images who first suggested her books to me). Back in the spring I listened (in Swedish translation) to her series set on the Shetland Islands – and what-do-you-know, now Swedish television is showing a Scottish BBC drama series based on those (saw the first episode a few days ago).

On Kindle I read (among others) two novels written by Frances Garrood: Dead Earnest and Basic Theology for Fallen Women (I also read The Birds, the Bees and Other Secrets in 2013). Frances is also a blogger, and I’d been following her blog for some time before I got round to reading her books; something which I found made it a bit tricky to “objectively” review the novels. (Or at least to know whether I could or not. I mean, I do think I’d have found her books worth reading anyway, but how exactly can I know that?)

I also read – or finished reading – in 2014  The Mystery of Lewis Carroll written by Jenny Woolf, whose blog *An English Travel Writer* is also on my bloglist (and was before I read her book). This is not a novel but a biography. I never got round to writing a proper review of this book, partly because of the fact that I read the first half of it in 2012, but then it got put aside for over a year; not because of the book as such, but because of my eye problems making it difficult to read printed books at all.

It is not exactly a chronological biography, but more of a thorough examination of various aspects and myths and rumours about the “elusive” author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. I enjoyed it, and it seems to me that Jenny has done a good job of putting facts and speculations into context, by also taking a good look at the differences between our own time and the English Victorian age when the book was written.

Other English titles that stand out for me from my 2014 list are

Entry Island by Peter May

The Physic Garden by Catherine Czerkawska

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

(of these I did write reviews and that’s where the links go)

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Currently I’m reading the second Cormoran Strike detective novel by Robert Galbraith (= pseudonym for J.K. Rowling) – The Silkworm; and up next (or at least soon) probably Peter May’s new novel Runaway, which will be published on January 15.

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Linking this post to

Musing Mondays

More Stormy Weather

Another winter storm came blowing in over Sweden from the west this weekend. We called it Egon. It caused a bit more trouble around here than the last one (Svea). Where I live it started with snow Saturday morning but turned to rain later as the wind increased.

To keep it personal, while Svea only ripped the tarpaulin off the bench on my balcony, Egon tried to take the whole bench. He did not manage it, as I noticed the attempt and took the bench inside for the night… I’ve put it back out now (after the storm passed on) with an extra safety strap attached to the rail… I might have to try and come up with something better, though. Should perhaps give up and just put it in winter storage in the basement. But the thing is, I’m used to hibernating last year’s strawberry plants under there… (And often succeed, if not too cold!)

I also did my best (or so I thought) already back in autumn to "secure" the trellis with my clematis plants against the winter storms (middle picture). It seems I did a fairly good job with the trellis as such… But, failing to rip that off the wall, Egon managed instead to mischeiveiously turn over one of the three pots (the one closest to the door). It's back in place now, but whether the plant survived or got broken I’ll have to wait until spring to find out!

I also realised this morning that clothes pins are not much use in a storm, so have now also added extra staples to keep the fabric together. And a couple of extra extra extra wires on top of the whole construction. (It will be really interesting to see if anything survives to bloom in the spring…)

I should perhaps add that Egon caused more havoc around the neighbourhood (and indeed the whole south of Sweden) than just playing around on my balcony though. Trees falling over roads and railroads, power outages, flooded quays and cellars on the coast (it reached hurricane force in some places), even roofs blown off a few buildings etc. However, precautions were also taken by cancelling trains and ferries, and closing a couple of big bridges etc, and I don’t think there have been a lot of bodily injuries to people. What’s been reported on the news has been mostly about damage to nature and property.

Meanwhile, at least I have some cheerful budding going on indoors:

*Amaryllis with three stems (bought before New Year).
*White rose I was given by my New Year Eve guests.
*Purple orchid that has been resting for a while but then decided New Year was a good time to spring some new flowers.

And the Lucky Winners Are…

My New Year Giveaway lottery draw has now been duly performed (by putting folded pieces of paper with the names in the tin above and giving it a good shake, and then closing my eyes while drawing the tickets).

It turned out I actually had four calendars left (three was what I promised); and as the year is ticking on, and as (in spite of postcrossing) I still haven’t run out of inherited stamps, I decided to draw four winners.

And they are:

Scriptor Senex of Rambles from my Chair
Wanda of Got a Minute or Two?
Rae of Sun-Dried Tomato(e)
GB of Eagleton Notes

Well-deserved winners, all four. (But so would any of the others be who commented on that post! That’s why I had to draw lots…) Rae was among the very first followers of the forerunner of this blog back in 2009 (then called The Island of the Voices). Scriptor and GB were not far behind; and have become so much like “extended family” to me that it actually seems odd now to think that there was ever a time when I did not know them (in spite of the fact that I still haven’t actually met them). Wanda officially signed up as follower more recently, but we’ve been visiting each other’s blogs for a good while too.

Congratulations to the winners (and Rae and Wanda, don’t forget to send me your mailing addresses).

And to those who did not win this time – better luck next time! (when and whatever that might be)

And to All of Us, a Happy New Blogging Year!

 

Golden Monday

Sunny, frosty, still and dry this morning; so I went for a walk into town and along the river (following the new path that was inaugurated back in December). The low sun this time of year gives a very golden light - and is totally blinding when looking straight towards it! But with the digital camera one can be bold….

(The artsy pictures in the middle were created by using the “heatmap” filter in Picasa. I had in mind to link to ‘Mandarin Monday’… But it turned out they’re on a holiday break. Never mind!)