2019 Statistics

Reading

Since many years, I keep a list (database) on my computer of the books I read (or listen to, as I do much of my reading via audio books nowadays). I probably sometimes forget or leave out some (for example when listening again to old favourites in between other books). But usually I seem to end up with an average of about one book per week - and 2019 again seems to have been a pretty average reading year for me: 51 titles listed. (As for which ones also get mentioned here on my blog, that really depends more on my own inspiration to write, rather than on the book!) 

Languages

Every now and then I also try to sum up my language learning progress on Duolingo. This year, in mid December, I got an email from Duo himself (the little green owl, see image) to celebrate my achievements in 2019. Besides confirming that I'd been practicing every day (which I knew), it says that (over 351 days) I spent a total of 156 hours learning, completed 2340 lessons, and learned 8190 words (!)

As for the number of words, I suspect it depends on how you interpret the word "learn". Considering how many different languages I've been juggling, I don't doubt that from their point of view, they did throw 8190 new words at me... However, how many of those were words that I already knew, vs how many truly new ones stuck in my memory, is probably a different story. I also find the number of lessons surprisingly high, compared to the number of hours. But it may have something to do with my having "tested out" of some lessons in some languages (German, French, Danish, Norwegian). But never mind: I think I can still safely say that I've kept making some progress...

The language I'm primarily working on is still Spanish (slowly but steadily...) I've also been trying to better my French, and update my German (after all, society has seen some changes since my school & university days). With lower ambitions, I've also been continuing with Dutch, Welsh, Turkish and Russian. Ranked in Duolingo points (XP), my list currently looks like this:

Spanish - 51987, German - 22455, French - 20690
Dutch - 19670, Welsh - 15545, Turkish - 15090
Russian - 13191, Danish - 8773, Norwegian -7111
Swahili - 1348, Latin - 918, Scottish Gaelic -157

The last three are recent courses that I added out of curiosity... Swahili because it's "different" but still uses our alphabet. Gaelic to see how it compares to Welsh. (Seem to differ more than I thought.) Latin because I took Latin for two years back in secondary school (nearly 50 years ago) - but usually don't talk about this (shh!), as someone might then get misled to believe I actually know it... The Duo take on it seems to be to treat it like any other [modern] language (rather than jumping straight in to old quotes and tons of grammar). I may give it a few more lessons, and see how it goes...

Read in Nov/Dec - Book Reviews

Trying to "catch up" with a number short reviews of what I've been reading and listening to in November and December...

 

The Murder at Redmire Hall by J.R. Ellis
(Kindle + Audible)
No 3 in the Yorkshire Murder Mysteries series


Lord Redmire intends to perform an impossible locked-door illusion on live TV. But the trick goes fatally wrong - and right in front of special guest DCI Jim Oldroyd... As Oldroyd and his DS Stephanie Johnson soon discover, nearly everyone at the event had a reason to resent the eccentric lord. But in this case, it’s not just a question of who did it and why - but how?

It may have been this locked-door mystery that made me look up and re-read another classic in that genre. (Which I've read before, in Swedish, but I always seem to forget the details of mysteries after a while, so usually fall for the same traps when I reread ...) 

The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne (1922)
(Kindle)
 
Yes - by the author of Winnie the Pooh! Milne wrote other things as well, but I think this was his only mystery novel. The book was an immediate success when it was first published, frequently reprinted, and is still regarded as a classic in its genre. The setting is an English country house, where the owner has been entertaining a small house party, when a long-lost brother, the black sheep of the family, arrives - and is shortly afterwards found shot under mysterious circumstances. A friend of one of the guests turns up, and together the two friends take on trying to solve the mysteries in a Sherlock & Watson fashion.
 

Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker (1940)
(Kindle + Audible) 

This is a book I got curious about after reading a review by Terra at the blog *Terra Garden*. I first read it on Kindle, but then decided this was one I'd also probably enjoy listenting to (and perhaps more than once) - so bought the audio as well. (I don't regret that. The audio narration is very good too.) 

The narration style reminded me a bit of one of my favourite classics, Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. However, Miss Hargreaves also has a touch of magic to it - although I don't think the word magic is ever used in the story. (Mary Poppins also came to mind for me - even if I suspect that both Mary and Miss Hargreaves might resent the comparison...)

It is not a children's story, but it involves a great deal of whimsicality or "spur of the moment" ideas - and afterthought. It all starts when the narrator, a young man by name of Norman, and his friend Henry, are away on a holiday and visit a church as tourists. In conversation with the man showing them around in that church, they "happen" to invent a fictive acquaintance - Miss Hargreaves. This spur of the moment impulse comes to cause them a lot more trouble than they could ever have imagined...

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
 (Audio, 18:37, multiple narrators)

Quick summary: Not worth the time!!

I kept hoping that at some point I'd reach an 'aha' moment in this book... But it never came! It's a fantasy story, and like many great stories it starts with a door to a different world. However, to me this book read like a tedious computer game of the kind where ever so often you just come to a dead end, and have to start over; and then it's the same story all over again with very little change; until another dead end, and so on and so on. For a while I thought that perhaps to realize this was meant to be "the point" - but having reached the last page, I still couldn't really see it leading anywhere. So either I missed the point, or else there wasn't one. Only one thing seemed certain, and that was that I wasn't going to try and listen to it again to find out.  So for once, I actually made use of my Audible membership benefit to send back a book one didn't like (and get a credit to use for another instead).

Decided to "play it safe" with the next listen, and catch up with the latest Botswana No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency adventures... Oops, I found there were two I had missed...
 

The Colours of All the Cattle by A McCall Smith
(Audio, 8 h, narrated by Adjoa Andoh) (2018)
No 19 in the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series 

Mma Potokwane suggests to Mma Ramotswe that she run for a seat on the city council - against Mma Makutsi’s old enemy Violet Sephotho...

To the Land of Long Lost Friends by A McCall Smith
(Audio, 7:35 h, narrated by Adjoa Andoh) (2019)
No 20 in the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series 

Mma Ramotswe takes on a case for a childhood acquaintance; and Charlie is dreaming of getting married, but wondering how to be able to afford it.

McCall Smith is one productive writer...!
I actually found both these quite enjoyable, though.

Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
(Audio, 2:07 h) 

Letters written by J. R. R. Tolkien (alias Father Christmas) for his children, between 1920 and 1943. The book was released after his death. I'm guessing it's best read in print with the original illustrations - but the audio presentation was quite nice to listen to as well (with Christmassy music interposed between the letters).
 

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
(Kindle) (2008)

I haven't quite finished this book yet, but hope to do so before the end of the year (or else, at the very beginning of the next one). Sarah Addison Allen writes novels classified as "magical realism" and "chic lit". I think I've read them all now; this was her second out of six. (They're stand-alones so the order doesn't really matter.)  
Typically the magic in her books has to do with food (especially sweets) - like women having inherited a special witchcraft kind of knowledge how to use secret ingredients to create certain effects. In this book, she also sort of gives new dimensions both to hiding things (or people!) "in the closet", and of books turning up just when you need them (even if you're not looking for them), giving you hints to what you ought to do...

Christmas Was Here

I hope you are all having, or had, a good Christmas. I'm writing this towards the end of Boxing Day - which some people will consider the end of Christmas, while perhaps others don't. Personally I've kind of come to regard the whole period from 1st Advent Sunday and until mid January as Christmas. (In Sweden, 13th January used to be the day to throw out the tree and decorations.) I find that a looong Christmas takes the pressure off having to do everything at once! ;) 

My 'actual' Christmas nowadays is usually a quiet affair - but I've come to love that, and at this particular point in life wouldn't really want it any other way. So yes, I had a good one!

Before lunch on Christmas Eve I went to a Nativity church service. Photos taken just before, and after.

During the service, children help setting up the nativity scene. This sometimes results in novel interpretations, so I went up front afterwards for an inspection. The wise men - on the right - seem to be having a private conference before handing over their gifts; while one of the shepherds looks concerned about two collapsing camels...

In Sweden, Christmas Eve is when we open our presents. If children are involved, Father Christmas often comes knocking on the door himself to deliver them. (In my own early childhood I found him rather scary as he was wearing a gruesome face mask!) Nowadays my brother and I have settled for a Santa-free Skype ceremony (i.e. video chat)

Many of my friends are also still quite active on Facebook on Christmas Eve, so a lot of greetings are sent back and forth. 

In the evening, I watched a film recently released on Netflix - The Two Popes, about a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and (then) cardinal Bergoglio - later to be Pope Francis; starring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. I knew next-to-nothing about the film beforehand, but I loved it. Great acting, serious issues, but made with both respect and humour at the same time.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day were "lazy days" for me... Sleeping late, taking things (whatever) at my own pace, going out for a couple of short walks, but mostly just staying in reading and watching TV/DVD - with lots of cups of Christmas-scented tea (cinnamon and ginger etc). The weather has been mild, grey and drizzly - but today a little colder, and hint of white in the morning. (What you see in the foreground of the photo above is the the top of a hedge in the nearby cemetery.)

My Christmas gift from my brother was a DVD box of a classic British TV-series we both remember from our childhood - Catweazle  (1970) (about a wizard from the 11th century getting lost in time and ending up in ours - i.e. as it was 50 years ago)... Quite fun to watch that again after all these years. (I've watched the three first episodes so far.)

In Swedish, we have a useful expression when it starts feeling too late to say Merry Christmas (or Happy New Year) one more time... God fortsättning, which means Happy Continuation!

So - that, until next time! ;)

December 24 - Christmas Eve

~ Merry Christmas, Everyone! ~  

Closeup details from the astronomical clock in Lund Cathedral

 - - -

"It did seem to me there was a quality about time
which had nothing whatever to do with clocks or calendars."

Quote from the novel Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker (1940).

---

This is the last of my prescheduled "Advent Calendar" posts.

December 23 - Monday

Stained glass window and votive ship

Allerum Church (Skåne, Sweden) 

"Every day is a journey through a sea of time.
To live is to travel from yesterday to tomorrow."

(origin unknown)