Asia, here I come

So, I've been abscent from this blog of mine. Ever since the start of this year, I've felt unmotivated to make updates. Spending the time forming words, unloading pictures from the camera and get them here in posts and everything else that comes with blogging, just didn't feel inspiring anymore.

Add to that, a long winter that wasn't good for pictures, a sore body (from two falls when biking), a university class in Creative Writing and tiredness, and you get more of the picture.

Now, when female bloggers "disappear" and come back after random posting for a couple of months they often come back to announcing that they are either 1) pregnant or 2) working on a book as they've gotten a deal. I'm doing neither of those. (Which being me is 1) just as it's supposed to be and 2) a bummer but I haven't tried getting one...)

I'm still pottering around with my knitting. I'm still by the sewing machine from time to time. I read books and see my bookclub friends every 6th week. I make my assignments for the Creative Writing-class and I'm enjoying it. But it's more time consuming than I though it'd be.

And.

I'm going to Asia for two weeks early this summer. For the first time in my life. I'm combining a couple of days of vacation with days of working. Most of the time will be work. I know I'll be dead tired when I come home after 16 days away, but it really feels like a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity and I couldn't let it pass me by.

Here it is: Anna's anniversary give away

Last week I posted my 300th post and celebrated my 2nd blog anniversary here on Anna's Corner of the World.

I decided to make that a reason for a give away.

Thinking about what I wanted to offer as a prize, I tried to find something that would suit most of my readers. I know some of you are crafters and some aren't. Some are Swedish but most of you aren't. I decided to give you a choice...


First choice:
A $40 order in any Etsy-shop with an owner willing to agree to letting me pay for your order. My favourite Etsy-shops are: weeones (fantastic stitch markers in clay), littleputbooks (pendants and lovely photo blocks) and unaodd (pendants). There are numerous gifted women and men over at Etsy!!! (Note that this prize has its limits as the seller has to agree to me paying for the order. I haven't made arrangements with anyone.)

Second choice:
A mystery package of either yarn, fabric or beads to a value of $40. I will get you something that I think suits you! If this is the winning prize, I expect the winner to tell me a little about themselves so I can pick yarn or fabric that I think is right for them. If you ask for green, I'll try to get you green. But I won't "take orders" as this is a mystery package!

Third choice:
A mystery package of books to a value of $40. I'll get you something I think you'll like! I'll expect to get some ideas from you (used or new books, in Swedish or English, crime or romance, fiction or craft, or what ever) but I won't take orders... You might end up with books from an author you've never heard off. I might get you something you're not expecting. Just for the kick of it.


Boring but important stuff:
This give away is open world wide. I'll ship your prize out to any address you provide.

I need some contact information to be able to reach you if you end up being the (a) winner. If I don't know you in person, please add your email address or post where your blog is so I can find you.

The prize might end up going through my home where two cats live. If you're allergic to cats or if cat hair disgust you, please keep this in mind before entering.


How to enter:
Tell me (in a comment) in what order you would pick the prizes. You can add all three choices or stick to just one. This way, you won't end up with something you don't really want...

I also want you to tell me about something you do to pick yourself up when you're tired, gloomy or sad. Is there a certain book you read? Do you go out for a walk? Grab yarn and needles? Turn on the TV? What do you do to pick yourself up???


If you post about this give away in your blog or on a forum and come back and tell me where I can find the information, you're automatically in for two chances to win.


Entries will be accepted 'til September 13th. Winner (or winners - I haven't decided yet) will be announced here one or two days later.

So, go over to the comments and tell me what prize(s) you'd like to win and what you do to pick yourself up!!!

Report from half time

I started my 101in1001-project in February last year. I have now passed more than halfway when it comes to time. 533 days are behind me and 468 ahead.

In the passed 533 days, I have finished 51 tasks and have 14 in progress. I've failed 4 of my attempts to finish a task and have had or will have to give these tasks another shot.


The tasks I'm most proud of having finished so far are:

001. Take care of my nails and cuticles every night for two weeks
033. No ice cream for a month
039. Visit my gym at least twice a week for twelve weeks straight (24/24)
093. Take out a book from the library and return it on time
098. Wear a skirt to work five days in a row


The ones I've had the most fun finishing are:

006. Read 30 books (33/30)
008. Make out outdoors
010. Try three (to me) new flavours of Ben&Jerry’s
022. Meet someone in real life that I’ve made friends with on the Internet
058. Sew five things for others (5/5)
059. Sew five things for myself (5/5)
064. Knit with others at least ten times (10/10)
082. Meet friends and family in the US and/or Canada


There are some tasks I doubt I'll finish. Some because I can't and some because I won't make them a priority. They are:

029. Buy myself a bathing suit and a bikini - This task is in progress as I've bought the bikini. I doubt I'll ever get a bathing suit.
041. Jog/Run five km at least five times (0/5) - With my back and hip issues as they have been all spring , I don't know if I'll be up for this...
042. Run an organized run with others - See comment to 041.
045. Go on five different roller coasters (0/5) - I just don't see us spending time where I'll find a roller coaster... I'd love to cross this one off though!
052. Go fishing - Takes a lot of planning... Am I up for that?
060. Paint my own painting and hang it up for display somewhere in the house - I don't own any paint or colours. Or brushes. This task might involve too much spending (time and money) to get crossed off.
063. Sell something I’ve made myself - That takes courage. Putting myself out there. And I don't know if I'd do that. To be honest.
070. Organize recipes - Booooring...
072. Choose three things from six rooms in the house and give away (0/6) - Do I really have that many things I want to get rid of?
074. Work through all the chapters in my ”Teach yourself Swahili”-book (0/6) - When? And with what energy?
080. Go to three capitals (2/3) - It might get to be a bit too expensive and time consuming to get to the third capital...
092. Ride a horse - Horses are a bit scary and it takes planning to make this work...
095. Swim in a lake - Lakes are scary to swim in. And cold. And slimey. And filled with nasty fish and monsters.
097. Win when playing TP (or other knowledge game) with boyfriend - He's smart. Or at least knows a lot of things.
101. Post in my “proper” blog every day for a month - Do I really have that much to say? And can I organize myself enough?

Wow! That list turned out to be way longer than I had expected it to... What a bummer. Time for something to make me more inspired?

I would like to...

I would like to:

• get back to writing on a regular basis
• sew myself a dress
• sign up for a race and start jogging
• bake bread every weekend
• design my own shawl pattern
• learn how to take great shots with my boyfriend's camera
• get my Swahili books out from the shelf and get back into studying on a regular basis
• work through 4 old tasks and projects at work that weigh on my conscience
• be better at keeping in touch with my friends
• feel completely comfortable with saying "no"
• own more exciting clothes and know what fits me and what doesn't
• kick some of my colleagues on the shins
• knit my boyfriend the sweater he wants
• read as much as I used to
• make myself Amy Butler's Weekender Travel Bag and Sophia Carry-all
• enjoy vacuuming the house
• make myself a shirt or two
• be able to speak Swahili fluently
• stop worrying about the new work situation I'm in
• get structured and brave enough to deal with the idea I have for a novel
• get back into shape after way too many months of back ache and no regular exercise
• finish some of the knitting projects I have lying around
• go to the cinema more often
• invite friends to a super duper dinner
• be more interested in the practicalities of our house and garden
• travel to Africa again
• start a crafting business
• bring my lunch to work every day
• have great looking nails and cuticles
• moisturize every day
• sew quilt after quilt after quilt

So, why don't I?

Some of my favourite books

The book meme I answered a couple of days ago got me thinking about books I've read and loved. I started to read early and one of the first novels I read on my own was a Winnie The Puh-book. I was 4½ years old then. I have the copy of the book in my book shelf.

Up until I started university I read lots and lots. I even ended up being locked in at the city library when I was fifteen or so, as I was too sucked into the book I was reading to notice that the library closed... Think it took me almost an hour to notice how dark and quiet it was around me.

When starting university I suddenly didn't have the time and energy to read "for fun". Sure, I still read, but not as much as before. A couple of years ago I spent time every day on buses and trains and I read tons again during those commutes. Then I picked up knitting in 2004 and I don't read nearly as much as I used to. Boyfriend reads every evening and night and usually consumes one or two or three books in a week. I'm way behind him...

~~~~~

Thought I'd list some of my all-time-favourites. Most of them have been read more than once. Some of them I love because of the language. Some because of the story. Others because of the characters. And some just because I recognize myself in them - as I was when I read them the first time. (Sorry for the Wikipedia-links... I don't have the energy to find others...)

I've arranged them alphabetically.

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Back Home by Michelle Magorian
Dance on my grave by Aidan Chambers
Doctors by Erich Segal
Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian
I know this much is true by Wally Lamb
Jag saknar dig, jag saknar dig/I Miss You, I Miss You av Peter Pohl
Janne, min vän/Johnny, My Friend av Peter Pohl
Life after God by Douglas Coupland
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
Röde Orm/The Long Ships by Frans G Bengtsson
She's come undone by Wally Lamb
Stjärnor utan svindel/Stars Without Vertigo by Louise Boije af Gennäs
The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann
The Cider House Rules by John Irving
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
The Millenium suite by Stieg Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and "Castles in the Sky")
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
The Wind on the Moon by Eric Linklater
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Wrong Boy by Willy Russell

What would your list look like?

Book Meme

EssJay tagged me with a book meme and I thought I'd make her happy by answering it. :)

The Rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 (or more) pages.
Dance on my grave by Aidan Chambers (Cheated here as the books closest to me were all in Swedish... I let boyfriend pick a random number and counted my English books in the book shelves.)

2. Open the book to page 123 and find the 5th sentence.
He said that in his opinion this was not just the prerogative of priests and doctors, and even social workers, but that it extended to teachers too.

3. Post the next 3 sentences.
I tried to assure Mr O. that anything he told me would remain confidential. He replied that I had missed the point. A confidence did not remain a confidence, he said, just because you told it to someone else who was bound by professional confidentiality.

4. Tag 5 people
Nah, I'll just leave that one open...


If you haven't read Aidan Chamber's Dance on my grave, I think you should do so right now. It's one of my all-time-favourites. Also one of the first books I read in English. I was thirteen and the language was often way over my head (prerogative?) but the story really got to me. And the way the book is structured. It's basically this one guy telling the story behind him dancing on a friend's grave. There's gay love. There are insecurities. Secrets. Friendships.

If you end up reading it, I'd love to know what you think of it. If you love it as much as I do.

Book order

In a couple of days, I'll get some books in the mail that I ordered last week. I had some knitting books and some fiction novels in mind and as I was given a gift certificate a couple of weeks ago (Tack så mycket, crrly!) I decided to go right ahead.

I ordered:

Knitting New Scarves by Lynne Barr
Knitting Over the Edge by Nicky Epstein
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Svinalängorna by Susanna Alakoski
En bok whisky by Örjan Westerlund

I was intrigued when I saw Grumperina's review on Knitting New Scarves and thought it might be a fun book to own. To be honest, most scarves sort of bore me but with interesting techniques, I'm sure they'll be more fun to knit. I already own Knitting On the Edge by Nicky Epstein and I've wanted the whole triology for a while now. The reviews I've seen on the second and third book has had me hesitating though. I'm afraid they might be too out there for me of too frilly or too cute. We'll see.

In my bookshelf at home I have two Neil Gaiman-novels; American Gods and Neverwhere. The first of the two was given to me as a birthday gift some years ago and it stood in my bookshelf collecting dust for a year or two before I read it. Just didn't think it would be a book I really enjoyed. But I was wrong. I did like it. And I got myself Neverwhere, and liked that one too.

Svinalängorna is a novel about growing up in a specific housing project (nicknamed Svinalängorna; closest translation I can think of is "pig stables") in the '60s. This all takes place in Ystad, a town in the south of Sweden. I've heard lots about the book and figured it'd be a good idea to read it. I also think boyfriend would enjoy it.

The last book is not for me. I'm not the family's whisky lover... :)

Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indridason

I had the evening to myself yesterday as boyfriend was out working. I decided to lie down on the cough and finish Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indridason. I started the book three nights ago while taking a bath and figured a quite night at home alone (but with the cats around and on top) would make for a good setting while finding out if the victim was really who I thought it was, if the bushes were planted for the reason I think they were, if Erlendur's daughter would wake up from her coma and how they'd manage finding out what happened all those years ago.

This is the second mystery novel I read from Arnaldur Indridason. The first one was Jar City and that one also featured Erlendur Sveinsson and his two detective colleagues; Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg.

This book starts with the findings of buried bones at a developing site for new houses. The body was put in the ground sometime around World War II. The detectives need to find out who the bones belong to, if this is a murder or not, if anyone is around remembering facts from back then and what used to be on the hill. This is told in chapters in present time but also in chapters about things that happened in the past. Parallel to those stories we follow Erlendur in his private life; dealing with his past and his daughter, who's in a coma.

I liked this novel. The whole thing is set in Iceland and it makes for a welcome change to me as most murder stories I read are from the US, England or Sweden. It doesn't just make the names and locations interesting but there's also something "foreign" about characters and their resoning. Sure, I guessed fairly quickly how it would all end, but I didn't care.

Sometimes the language interrupted my reading flow. I don't know if it is all based on the translation (as I read the Swedish translation called Kvinna i grönt) or if Arnaldur Indridason actually writes "a bit strange". My guess is that it's in the translation as the things I reacted to felt more like mistakes than anything else.

I'd give this novel a 4 out of 5. And I'm determined to read the rest of his books.

Let me sing you gentle songs/Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

This book is written by a Swedish woman, Linda Olsson, who's been living abroad since 1986; Kenya, England and for the most part New Zealand. The novel is originally written in English and I read the Swedish translation (whick is called Nu vill jag sjunga dig milda sånger). It's original title is Let me sing you gentle songs, but some countries have chosen to call it Astrid and Veronika.

It's a book about a friendship between a 31-year-old woman and an elderly loner. The end up living as neighbours for a short period of time and during this time, they both start to live again. The younger woman has returned to Sweden after a tragedy in New Zealand and is trying to write a novel as she tries to come to grips with her life. The older woman has only once left her birth village, had a mean father and lived in a loveless marriage, and she's chosen to withdraw from the world as much as possible. The women tell each other their stories and in doing so, they both accept their past and get to know each other.

The novel tells a sad and beautiful story. Or rather, two stories. The landscape is described very detailed and in words that are big and small at the same time. The timeline is interrupted by hindsights from different decades. Quite a lot of poetry is intertwined in the story.

I liked this novel. I liked the two main characters. I liked the mood of the book. I liked how some things were only hinted about and how I had to read between the lines sometimes to understand what was happening. I liked how the timeline was interrupted, and I never felt confused as to where I was in time or space. But... (There's usually a but, isn't there?) At times I thought the dialouge had a bit too much cliché in it. And the characters felt rather flat, or one-dimensional. Family members are in general very vaguely described. I don't think I was ever really surprised by anything that happened or was said. Most of it was very predictable. I had the ending figured out halfway through the book.

The book made me cry though. I think I'd rate it a 3 out of 5...

Have you read it? What did you think?

Weekend sum up

I didn't do everything on the list I posted Friday. But most of it.

• Finish my Amy Butler's High Street Messenger Bag

It's finished!!! I'll post more about it when I have taken pictures of it... I'm very happy with the way it came out and can already see myself making more of these... (I just need to practise sewing in zippers first!)

• Clean the apartment from a bit of the clutter I have lying around, dust and vacuum

Check! The place looked wonderful when our friends came over Saturday night.

• Come up with a menu for our dinner with guests Saturday night

Boyfriend took care of this. He had all the ideas for the main course and I only decided on the dessert. 'Cause that's my chore. Always. :)

• Prepare and cook dinner for 6 (+1)

Boyfriend did the cooking while I cleaned most of the apartment. He's so much better at cooking than I am.

• Do yoga for an hour

Well, that one didn't happen until this morning. I set my alarm for 5.40am and ten minutes later I was at it. I was sooooo stiff this morning. I don't know how many sun salutations I did before feeling more relaxed in my legs and shoulders. I did the program we did at the ashram I visited this summer. Felt good not having to use my imagination that early in the morning...

JumJum (my morning cat) couldn't keep from watching me doing my asanas. He walked around and around me, sat on a box of books on my left side, sat on the floor on my right side, walked around some more, sat on the mat down by my feet, and ended it all by lying on my stomach while I did my final relaxation... A purring cat on the stomach actually makes for better relaxation. :)

• Buy 5.5mm/US9 DPNs for a new lacy project

I bought the DPNs. I started the project. It's a lacy cardigan knit from the center back and out. From a book I bought last week; Sticka romantiskt, modernt och kvinnligt by Lene Holme Samsoe. It's a Norwegian book translated into Swedish. I don't know if it comes in English. The title means "Romantic, modern and feminine knits". Sort of. Well, anyways, I fell in love with this lacy cardigan and bought yarn for it when being out of town (a white mohair and silk blend from Alessandra). I casted on Friday night. And frogged after three rows. I casted on again. And frogged after five rows. I casted on again. And frogged after three rows again. I casted on a fourth time and knit 15 rows. This all took me 3½ hours...

Yesterday I wasn't happy with the look of the lace. Even though I had shifted stitches on my DPNs I could see clear ladders in my knitting. I decided to try knitting on two circulars for the first time. I casted on and knit three rows before frogging. I casted on again and knit ten rows before having a cat incident in my lap resulting in five dropped stitches and a very frustrated Anna. I put the knitting on the table, got up, picked out a book and returned to the cough... Will give this knitting another couple of attempts before giving up...

I guess it wouldn't be as fiddly and strange to knit if it weren't for the small amount of stitches you start out with (8), the very thin yarn (laceweight) and the, in comparison, big needles...

• Eat chocolate

I did eat chocolate. We live dangerously close to a wonderful chocolaterie. Instead of baking something for Saturday night and our guests, I bought a box of chocolate. A couple of pieces were left over 'til Sunday, but they're not in the box anymore... I love the Raspberry, the Lime, the Passionfruit, and the pure dark chocolate praline.

• Decide about my own birthday and how I want to celebrate it

I've decided what I want to do. Now I just have to see if any of my friends are up for it as well. Interested? Ask, and I'll give you date, time and address. International guests are more than welcome! :)

• Read another one of the books from my parents' storage room

Yesterday, after the knitting frustration, I picked up Bummer Summer by Ann M. Martin. Not as good as I remembered it to be... Guess I've grown up a bit since I was a pre-teen. The whole story actually had me feeling irritated. It's so naive. And it simplifies a tough situation too easily. And then I also reacted on some of the "politics" in it and how non-Swedish the girl's family is portraited. Hmmm... I wonder if I'll react the same to more of the "books from back then"...

• Sleep

I slept well this weekend. As we say in Sweden: I slept like a log. (Do North Americans and British people sleep like logs too?)

-----

There are two things on the list I didn't do; photograph WIPs and get EssJay's gift in the mail... That will happen though. Hopefully soon.

Books from "back then"

Remember that I spent time in my parents' storage room a couple of days ago? One of my friends asked for a list of the books I decided to keep. Here goes (My books are in Swedish but I listed them here after their English title. Swedish title in brackets):

The Lump in the Middle by C.S. Adler (En sommardröm)
The Face on the Milk Cartoon by Caroline B. Cooney (Saknad - Jennie 3 år)
The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann (Djuren i Gamla Skogen)
Some Enchanted Evening by Rumer Godden (Scenens barn)
Maybe I'll Move to the Lost & Found by Susan Haven (Under samma tak)
The Falcon's Malteser by Anthony Horowitz (Den dödes diamanter)
Crisis on Conshelf Ten by Monica Hughes (Havsfolkets dotter)
Angie and Me by Rebecca C. Jones (Min vän Angie)
Bruno & Boots - Beware the Fish by Gordon Korman (Skolans skräck)
Bruno & Boots - This can't be happening at McDonald Hall by Gordon Korman (Trassel till tusen)
Bruno & Boots - Go Jump in the Pool by Gordon Korman (Dollar-dille)
Bruno & Boots - The War with Mr. Wizzle by Gordon Korman (Dubbel-trubbel)
So much to tell you by John Marsden (Så mycket att berätta för dig...)
Bummer Summer by Ann M. Martin (Camillas sommar)
Just a Summer Romance by Ann M. Martin (Bara för en sommar)
The Wickedest Witch in the World by Beverly Nichols (Fröken Smith - Den elakaste häxan i världen)
Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars by Daniel M Pinkwater (Pojken från Mars)
Lizzie Oliver by Catherine Robinson (Det är jag som är Lizzie)
Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner (Sju syskon)
The Family at Misrule by Ethel Turner (Stora syster)
Little Mother Meg by Ethel Turner (Stora syster som gift)

Secret in the Old Well by Carolyn Keene (Mary, Lou och det mystiska X:et)
Nancy Drew - Enemy Match by Carolyn Keene (Kitty och tjuvgömman)
Nancy Drew - The Clue in the Jewelbox by Carolyn Keene (Kitty och det mystiska juvelskrinet)
Nancy Drew - Clue in the Ancient Disguise by Carolyn Keene (Kitty och det gamla porträttet)
Nancy Drew - The Clue of the Lening Chimney by Carolyn Keene (Kitty och skorstenens hemlighet)
Hardy Boys - The Mystery of the Silver Star by F.W. Dixon (Bröderna Hardy - Sabotaget mot Silver Star)
The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Magic Circle by Alfred Hitchcook (Tre Deckare löser Magiska Häxans Gåta)
The Three Investigators in The Secret of Skeleton Island by Alfred Hitchcook (Tre Deckare löser Skelettöns Gåta)
The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Deadly Double by Alfred Hitchcook (Tre Deckare löser Drullige Dubbelgångarens Gåta)
The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs by Alfred Hitchcook (Tre Deckare löser Brinnande Bergens Gåta)
The Three Investigators in The Secret of Terror Castle by Alfred Hitchcook (Tre Deckare löser Skräckslottets Gåta)
The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow by Alfred Hitchcook (Tre Deckare löser Skrattande Skuggans Gåta)
The Three Investigators in The Mystery of Monster Mountain by Alfred Hitchcook (Tre Deckare löser Morrande Monstrets Gåta)

Any books you recognize? Any books you have memories to?

My parents' storage room

I spent some time in my parents' storage room in the basement this past Sunday. My father had implied for quite a long time that he thought it would be appropriate for me to come and go through my stuff down there and decide what I wanted to keep and what not. He's made it sound like it would be something good for me but I know he's just fishing for me to get my stuff out of there so they don't have to keep it anymore... :)

And I'm okey with that. I mean, I haven't lived with my parents in ten years (actually, on Saturday it's exactly ten years since I moved to my own apartment) so why would they still keep my things?

To be honest I didn't think I had that much still left in their storage room and I was right about that. My sister has waaaay more stuff there... I did, however, find some books on a shelf that were mine. Books from a book club I belonged to for years. I had saved some of my favourites and seeing them on Sunday made my heart skip a beat. I remembered all the nights I had spent reading those and crying my eyes out. (I cry easily and always have. Used to loooove books that had me crying.) Decided to bring them home and read through them once again before deciding what to do with them. I might sell them to a second hand book store. Or give them to someone with a young daughter.

Found a lot of school books; both textbooks and notebooks. I flipped through some of them and was appaled to see my awkward hand writing. And my awful drawings. I've never been able to draw things. Found maths books with almost no mistakes in them. Looked through the extra math book I got in first grade and felt impressed with my ability to solve those problems. Some of them made me confused now. At almost thirty...

I can't tell you how many note books I found that were beginnings to little stories, or novels. Detective stories. Science fiction stories. Boy-meets-girl stories. I had forgotten all of those. I do like to write and there was a time when I spent my evenings writing instead of knitting. Had plans on writing a novel. Did my research. Traced out a plot. Got to know some of the characters. Started writing. Investigated different writing courses as I felt committed. But then things happened and my world got turned upside down for a couple of years. Landing on my feet again I couldn't get back to that writing. Not that story. And not anything else with the same committment.

This summer, my urge for writing has awakened again. I've found myself composing texts in my head. Silently. Have found myself looking at the world more through my writing eyes than my normal everyday eyes. The eyes that I've developed during the last couple of years. While working, while knitting, while forming a relationship with another adult, while growing up again. During my vacation I talked to my boyfriend about it. He was sitting on the porch drawing a picture of the view we had from the cottage. Told him how I longed for writing again. Even though it's all very blurry. We talked about starting a schedule of one or two nights a week for writing and drawing.

Standing in my parents' basement seeing those attempts at writing stories had me feeling all fuzzy inside. I got warm. Even though I felt a bit embarrassed at the quality of my attempts... Ten-years-olds can be very ambitious without knowing much.

But I guess that goes for thirty-year-olds too.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

We finished reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides this weekend. Boyfriend read the book out loud for me. It took us a week and a half and some Läkerol to go through the 630 pages.

This book is about a lot of different things. It's a family chronicle over three generations. It's about an incestuous marriage. It's about gender identity and chromosone mutations. It's about growing up. It's about Detroit.

Right away we were both very thrilled about the book. We loved the language (read the Swedish translation), were caught in curiosity and wanted to find out what was going to happen with everyone involved in the story, and laughed quite often at situations or comments. However, we found the book to be toooo long. Our edition had almost 640 pages in it and to be honest, this story could have been told in less pages than that.

We thought we would get to know more about the narrator Cal/Callie but to be honest, most of the book is about the rest of the family; grandparents and parents. Callie isn't even born for real until about 200 pages into the book, even if she pops up here and there through the storytelling and the flashbacks. There's also this thing about the narrator's ability to know what everyone thinks and feels. The story is told with an "I" as the main character but even so, he/she describes thoughts in other people's minds and also their feelings. That kept bugging me all through the book.

Starting out I thought this would be a 5-start-book but the rating went lower as we read on. I was hoping for it to all get tied up in the end and give me an answer to why all this was written, but that didn't happen. I'd rate this a 3-star-book but to be honest, some parts could be a 5 and others 1...

Reading out loud

We're reading a very good book together, my boyfriend and I. Or more to the truth; he reads it for us. Out loud.

Did you have someone reading to you when you were a child? Do you remember how cozy it was? How special it made you feel?

My mother used to read to me and my brother a lot when we were little. I think she stopped reading to me when I was about five and choose to read the books myself. (I taught myself how to read when I was four. Winnie the Puh was the first book I read myself.) When my sister was old enough for books with more words in them than ball, table, kitten, and tree, I did most of the reading for her. The two of us would curl up on the cough or in a bed and I'd read. I'd make up funny voices for the different characters and my sister almost always hated them. She'd force me to change them into something she liked. Thinking about it now I guess she might have had a hard time understanding the different foreign accents I used. Or tried to imitate...

My sister had me read her thick chapter books long after she could read on her own. I remember how my throat always went sore after a while of reading out loud (why is that?) and if my sister wasn't ready to let the book go for the afternoon or evening, she'd pick it up and read out loud to me. An eight-year-old reading to a sixteen-year-old.

Two summers ago, boyfriend was rereading Röde Orm for the umpfth time, and I was soooo tired of him telling me that I should give the book a shot. I told him I didn't feel like reading it but that I wouldn't mind it if he read it out loud to me instead. So he did. Night after night we'd sit on the cough or in front of the fire place and get lost in excited adventures. Together.

He's got the perfect voice and melody for reading out loud. He makes perfect voices to the characters and he easily finds the rythm in words and sentences. I could listen to him reading forever. But it always ends in him having a very sore throat and not being able to continue...