Recent reading

[luzula]

Southern Mail by Antoine Saint-Exupéry (original in French, read in Swedish)
For my book club at work. Meh, I did not enjoy this. It contains sentences such as: And her heart that beats steadily, a source different from his and inside her body. Riiiiight, men's hearts are not inside their bodies. And: O, woman, after love, bereft of the mantle and crown of male desire. WTF. *slowly backs away from the book*

Skugga-Baldur by Sjón (original in Icelandic, read in Swedish, in English as The Blue Fox)
A short novel which got about 100% better at the ending. Not that the beginning and middle are bad, just that there is a carefully set-up payoff at the end, when you realize how it all hangs together. It's set in 19th century Iceland with some folk-tale elements and lovely descriptions. If you're going to read this book, do not read the plot summary on Wikipedia first.

Comments

[oneiriad]

Should I read Skugga-Baldur?

[luzula]

Yes, why not? It's a short book, anyway, more like a novella. Also, don't expect puppies and fluff, but you probably realized that when I said there were Icelandic folk-tale elements.

[blnchflr]

Yes, read it, it's very short/very quickly read (I got and read it today - read almost half of it at work while my pc rebooted and installed shit and I was trying not to scream at it in frustration).

I didn't get it, and I'm so tired of male authors/screenwriters/etc. seemingly ALWAYS needing to rape women in fiction, but it was intriguingly written, and I'm slightly more happy than not to have read it.

[oneiriad]

Did you fall victim to the "remember to turn off your computer or else" threat they've been making at work?

[blnchflr]

No, I always turn off my computer, but it's getting on in years, and was extra slow today, so I hoped a reboot might help. Cue updates.

[oneiriad]

Any giant man-eating cats?

[luzula]

Nope! Not sure if you will be relieved or disappointed at this, but there are no giant man-eating cats.