And I'm back!

Having left this poor blog on its own for 22 months (!), it is quite strange to be back. A lot has (not  unsurprisingly) happened in that time - I finally got a (relevant) job. Moved back to Sweden - in with my parents (now, that alone is worth a medal). Moved twice more to flats that I sub-let. At the same time I somehow still had my life in London. T stayed behind in our old flat, fighting his own battle. Admittedly, I has been a very tough time for both of us, for different personal reasons. But we are out on the other side, stronger and with a new member on the team. In May I gave birth to T junior, more commonly know as baby H.

So, for now we are all back in London. We have moved again - I refused to have a baby in that old flat (see old post on a certain rat...). We are further out from the centre (the fact that our street address has the word 'village' in it should be a clue), but it is green and leafy and baby friendly (though I feel far from one of the many yummy-mummies that populate the neighbourhood). I'll be home from work for the next year, looking after baby H. (I had some vague idea of finishing off some articles during this time, but considering how little time I have to myself at the moment that seems like pretty unlikely. I'm still impressed by people who claim that having a baby has made them much more time efficient. Hell no! It has just taking me from being lazy to making me completely inefficient.) Sunny days are spent in the park, rainy ones (which so far has been most of them) in front of the tellie, watching old seasons of Glee. Occasionally H allows me to pick up my Kindle (love, love, love!) for a few minutes, where I for the last six months have been trying to get through Karl Ove Knausgård's "Min Kamp 1" (in Norwegian, of course). A story, which so far (two thirds in) is a good, but not captivating read (therefore the long time). Hopefully, I will from now on be able to fill some of these baby free gaps with new blog posts. Fingers crossed!

A good read

Borrowed a book from R the other day: "The boy in the striped pyjamas" (or "The boy in the striped pajamas" if you are American), by John Boyne, an Irish writer. A very moving story about a German boy and his life during the second world war, and the friendship he develops with a boy who lives on the other side of a barbed wire fence. Apparently the book has been criticized for not being historically correct (e.g. an eight-year-old boy would not have been allowed to live in Auschwitz), but I actually don't think that matters in this case. The story is incredibly well written (and I especially liked some clever play with words - for instance the young boy calls Hitler 'the Fury', and Auschwitz 'Out with', and I wish I knew how translators have solved it in the different versions), and very, very emotional. I also liked the fact that there is no violence, or any other horrors outspoken in the book. Everything you read into it, you do because you already know what happened and what it is that the writer refers to. Very clever. If you haven't read it - do!


PS. I have since discovered that the movie (which came out in 2008) can be seen online, on google video. I have watched bits of it, but it is not very good. All the subtle things get lost, and there's no room for your own interpretations and the story from the little boy's perspective is also lost. Read the book - it only took me 2,5 hours.

Traveling and reading

Finally went back to London today. Since mum and dad left for a holiday in 'the Swedish alps' (i.e. Sälen) yesterday, I had to get to the airport (Arlanda) myself. It turned out to be easier than I thought, and it only took me 1 hour and 10 minutes, from door to door with public transport. Flying with SAS, I had to go from the newly built Terminal 5. The building itself is very nice, and I'm sure it will be great when everything is up and running, but at the moment: no! Just loads of empty space as well as construction work going on. I also managed to buy the most overpriced and non well-tasting pasta salad ever in the only cafe I could find, only to afterward discover that there was a lovely Wayne's Coffee tucked away further in. Blah!

Spent the entire trip reading one of the books I bought on the book sale yesterday: 'En sorts kärlek' (English title: 'Love Life', original Dutch title: 'Komt een vrouw bij de dokter') by Ray Kluun (the other one I bought was last year's Nobel prize winner Le Clézio's 'Vandrande stjärna' ('Étoile errante') - very pretentious!). Finished the book on the plane, but really had to bite my lip and put the book down a few times in order for me not to cry. It was a very sad story (google it if you want to know the plot) and very emotional. Obviously, not many people agrees with the actions of the narrator, and I have since understood that there are lots of people who really hate the author (the book is largely autobiographical). But I chose to see it as a love story, and if you ignore the somewhat poor language (might be the translator?) and the too many pop cultural references, it was really good (in a sort of unsettling way). But maybe I am a very simple (or very forgiving) person? At least, I don't think I have the right to set the norms for how other people should be living their lives.

Anyway, it is nice to be back!

For Swedes...

...who like books: a very good blog entry.

Sorry, I do not normally link to other people (I assume that you are all good individuals who reads whatever you like/interests you, but this was rather 'spot on'. Basically, it disapproves of the development of the book stores in recent years: removing anything 'obscure' (e.g. reference works, poetry, history, etc.) and basically only doing product placing of 'popular literature' - and no, there's nothing wrong with pop culture (I'm a big fan!), but there must also be room for more 'narrow literature' as well! (And no, being able to buy it online is not an equal alternative.) So, no more buying from big chains!

And if you happen to live in/visit Stockholm, then I recommend the antiquarian book stores: Rönnell's and Mats Rehnström's (only open on Thursdays), or, in Uppsala: Röda rummet or Redins. They have everything! (But yes, I guess I contradict myself a bit, since all of them also have gone online.)

My husband, the famous author

Ok, it has actually been out for some time, but today Tim got his first few copies. His book is here!

So, don't just sit there: run and buy (alternatively, get it online). I promise, £95 is a bargain; there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears behind that book! (I'm sorry to inform you though, that we have no free copies to spare. But if you are really nice, you can probably get the unrevised version as a pdf - Tim will not get any royalties anyway. In fact, the pictures in book has costed him more than the publisher has paid him. Oh, the cruelty of the academic world!)