Recent reading
May. 7th, 2023 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaEn saga om en saga och andra sagor by Selma Lagerlöf (1908) [A Story of a Story and Other Stories]
A short story collection, read in order to recommend toregshoe what she should read next in Swedish. : ) The first (A Story of a Story) is an autobiographical story of the first novel Lagerlöf published, with the story wanting to be told but her not managing it until she found the right way to tell it. The rest are mostly historical stories, often with a supernatural touch, and I enjoyed them! regshoe, I think you might like Legenden om julrosorna? It is set in medieval times and has magic which reminded me a little bit of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell--strictly speaking it's a Christian miracle and not fairy magic, but it has that nature connection and numinous feeling. You can download a free epub here; the story is on page 133-157. Er, and you should know that the verb forms are a little different from modern Swedish--most importantly, the plural verb form sticks an 'o' at the end ('äro' and not 'är'). Of course, this is just a rec--you don't have to read it if you're not feeling up for it. : )
Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant (1865)
Available on Gutenberg and as an excellent recording on Librivox (which I listened to). My second Oliphant, and it's nice to see the range she has! But I can still see the commonalities between this and Kirsteen: the female main character, the focus on relationships between women, the lack of focus on romance. Miss Lucilla Marjoribanks (pronounced 'Marchbanks', wtf British last names), is sort of like Emma Woodhouse, if Emma had actually had the social adroitness and talent at matchmaking which she fancies herself to have. Whereas Kirsteen is much more serious, this is a funny book, but not at Lucilla's expense. She comes back to the little town of Carlingford after school and after traveling, with the aim ofbeing a comfort to her dear papa conquering Carlingford and becoming its social ruler. And she does, with plenty of martial metaphors about generals of great genius; if she had been a man, she would probably be prime minister one day. I loved the beginning of the book, thought it sagged a little in the middle, but then it definitely picked up towards the end again. It's hilarious how the narrative thrusts participation in love triangles at her, but she just manages them right out of existence.
A short story collection, read in order to recommend to
regshoe what she should read next in Swedish. : ) The first (A Story of a Story) is an autobiographical story of the first novel Lagerlöf published, with the story wanting to be told but her not managing it until she found the right way to tell it. The rest are mostly historical stories, often with a supernatural touch, and I enjoyed them! regshoe, I think you might like Legenden om julrosorna? It is set in medieval times and has magic which reminded me a little bit of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell--strictly speaking it's a Christian miracle and not fairy magic, but it has that nature connection and numinous feeling. You can download a free epub here; the story is on page 133-157. Er, and you should know that the verb forms are a little different from modern Swedish--most importantly, the plural verb form sticks an 'o' at the end ('äro' and not 'är'). Of course, this is just a rec--you don't have to read it if you're not feeling up for it. : )Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant (1865)
Available on Gutenberg and as an excellent recording on Librivox (which I listened to). My second Oliphant, and it's nice to see the range she has! But I can still see the commonalities between this and Kirsteen: the female main character, the focus on relationships between women, the lack of focus on romance. Miss Lucilla Marjoribanks (pronounced 'Marchbanks', wtf British last names), is sort of like Emma Woodhouse, if Emma had actually had the social adroitness and talent at matchmaking which she fancies herself to have. Whereas Kirsteen is much more serious, this is a funny book, but not at Lucilla's expense. She comes back to the little town of Carlingford after school and after traveling, with the aim of
