Recent reading
Nov. 21st, 2014 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaIndependent People by Halldór Laxness (originally in Icelandic, read in Swedish)
For my book club at work. For reasons that don't need explaining at this juncture, I read the first bit of this in English and then read the rest in Swedish, and I enjoyed it about ten times more in Swedish. I mean, I love the English language, but it did not at all work for me here. In Swedish, though, it was a joy to read (at least the 2011 translation; there's an older translation from the '50's which is supposed to be not so good). I had kind of a weird response to this book: I enjoyed it very much on the immediate level--like, I savored the language and descriptions, especially all the nature stuff, but also a lot of character interactions. But I didn't form a strong connection to the characters. The main character at one point opines that most women like to be raped, so perhaps you can see why I did not form a strong connection to him. Also, at one point he is relieved to find that something lying dead is not one of his sheep, but only a corpse. I liked the political aspects of the book, which are mostly low-key ironic commentary about debt and how it only benefits the rich (especially ironic given the Icelandic financial crash) but it breaks into an open "yay strike! yay, let's beat up the police!" at the end. Ha, I did not expect that.
Kunskapens frukt [The Fruit of Knowledge] by Liv Strömqvist (only in Swedish)
This is a graphic novel about the history of the female genitals, menstruation, and orgasm. And related subjects. I am sorry for all you people who do not know Swedish and thus cannot read this awesome book!
For my book club at work. For reasons that don't need explaining at this juncture, I read the first bit of this in English and then read the rest in Swedish, and I enjoyed it about ten times more in Swedish. I mean, I love the English language, but it did not at all work for me here. In Swedish, though, it was a joy to read (at least the 2011 translation; there's an older translation from the '50's which is supposed to be not so good). I had kind of a weird response to this book: I enjoyed it very much on the immediate level--like, I savored the language and descriptions, especially all the nature stuff, but also a lot of character interactions. But I didn't form a strong connection to the characters. The main character at one point opines that most women like to be raped, so perhaps you can see why I did not form a strong connection to him. Also, at one point he is relieved to find that something lying dead is not one of his sheep, but only a corpse. I liked the political aspects of the book, which are mostly low-key ironic commentary about debt and how it only benefits the rich (especially ironic given the Icelandic financial crash) but it breaks into an open "yay strike! yay, let's beat up the police!" at the end. Ha, I did not expect that.
Kunskapens frukt [The Fruit of Knowledge] by Liv Strömqvist (only in Swedish)
This is a graphic novel about the history of the female genitals, menstruation, and orgasm. And related subjects. I am sorry for all you people who do not know Swedish and thus cannot read this awesome book!
(no subject)
Date: 2014-11-23 09:32 pm (UTC)