Magnus Uggla på SVT Godmorgon

"När man bloggar måste man ju skriva en sex-sju inlägg dagligen"

What? I must have missed the memo.

Ugglas blogg finns på hans hemsida.

News

My father died the Friday before last. We weren't close for various reasons, so it's mixed emotions. I will however be busy for a while, so the lack of updates will be for a good reason. For a change. Directly after this I'll post an entry I'd saved to work on though, but after that things'll probably be a bit quiet...

3 for the read of 1

Another little trip to Hågaby a while ago (for a haircut) yielded some more second-hand loot. Although I don't think all of these three came to me then, some are older...

P.D. James: The Lighthouse

I'm fondest of the early P.D. James, with the retro feel and the angsty Adam Dalgliesh. In these later ones we spend a lot of time with his underlings, in particular Kate Miskin, and I'm not sure I like that. Not that Kate Miskin is bad or anything. I think the problem is that I think it's going to be a Dalgliesh novel, and it isn't really. At least not solely. I've read another one a good few years ago and I remember being very disappointed. It felt as though James was desperately trying to bring herself into the new century without really being connected anymore. That isn't a completely fair sentiment, but it's not without merit either.

This novel I rather enjoyed though. A famous author is found dead on an isolated Cornish island that for many years has been a hideout for VIPs who wish to have complete privacy and solitude. Dalgliesh is flown in in an attempt to solve the matter more discreetly and possibly save the island as a getaway. It's enjoyable on the whole, but our villain turns out to be a character who in all honesty doesn't fit into this day and age. James realises this herself though, and he is descriped as an anachronism.

Faye Kellerman: Milk and Honey

A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus mystery, set in the time before the couple marry, while Decker is still adapting to Judaism and Rina is torn between loyalties to her dead husband's family and new love of Decker. I quite like these books, and am a bit surprised that they're not more known. They certainly give a lot of other stuff on the market a run for their paper-back money.

In this one Decker finds a toddler in the streets late at night, soaked with blood but unharmed. When they find the baby's family they discover a tragedy, but it takes some time to find the guilty party. IMO Kellerman succeeds quite well in portraying the baby's redneck Californian family in a believable way (not being Californian I'm not really qualified to comment of course). I also like that Decker and others are allowed to be complex characters and not merely stereotypes.

Michael Crichton: Timeline

One of the worst Crichtons I've read. The trouble with this is that it's obvious that Crichton's done some reading and found out that them there mediaeval peeps weren't all that backwards after all, and actually they could fight, did you know? and on this he bases the whole book (with some almost-all-there science of course). Being scientifically ignorant I can buy the science part just fine. He keeps it difficult enough to fool me. (Unlike Dan Brown.)

This group of archaeologists get to go back in time, because time is just an alternate universe, and then they it's all a computer game in which they run run run from death until they can go back. Not unlike Jurassic Park actually, but it really doesn't work when people are the villains. Even 13th century ones.

I added a counter.

Inspired by HB. I suspect it will look very pathetic, but on the other hand this one is just on trial until end of August. One week of statistics is not enough to depress, surely? ;)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

So, we were on holiday, then we came back, and I haven't had a proper chance to sit down and gather my thoughts. But I'd better try to collect myself or I'll have such a HUGE backlog...

The last Harry Potter - the end of an era. I've read them all, but I was never a hardcore fan. I got into them quite late, mostly to see what the fuss was about - possibly to read the book before I saw the film (I'm that kind of nerd). I've often been obnoxiously aggressive in company and claimed that they are highly overrated, and I will maintain that they are seriously flawed in many ways until my dying day... but over the years I've mellowed and can appreciate the good bits - these being Rowling's at times quite witty imagination. The names of characters are a particular favourite of mine, especially the Herbology teacher (a stand-in) with the double-barrelled name and the "don't you know"-s. I'd check her name but Mugglenet is too slow.

I compare all fantasy to Tolkien, and not much can compare. LOTR is of course special as it was written as one book and therefore is much more cohesive. It's quite obvious to me that HP is made up as she goes along, and that makes the secondary universe much less believable.

However, I can tell that I will shortly be interrupted, so I'll start summing up. The final of the series delivers, but also disappoints. As adults we might have appreciated something a bit darker, but it is, essentially, a children's series so I suppose it's good that things weren't too dire for the wizards and witches we know and love. It was rather a trudging read, with some "deus ex machina" solutions that felt contrived. Yes, I cried. Once. I quite enjoyed it though, the mr was annoyed with it but I was mellow and accepting for once. Of course, it MUST be read.

MIsslyckad promenad men ändå inte

I torsdags tog jag en spontan långpromenad med Minimus i bärsjalen. Vi knallade iväg till Tant Grön, som enligt hemsidan skulle ha öppet, men inte hade det. Så jag hittade lite böcker istället i Hågasalens second-handhyllor... En Michael Crichton, en Laurie King, en Fay Kellerman och en Woody Allen till maken (som har En Fas).

Så dessa ska jag läsa nu när vi reser bort (till Båstad en vecka). Har redan börjat läsa om Grave Talent. Är nöjd (men hade varit nöjdare om jag kunnat köpa mina Green & Black's chokladkakor). Desutom har maken tydligen förhandsbeställt Harry Potter. Inte illa. Man måste ju...

Från dagens UNT

Alla som forskar om deckare bör, i sanning, premieras. Grattis professor Bo!

Intervju med Stieg Larsson

Satt och läste på stieglarsson.se och ser i en intervju med honom själv att han gillar speciellt Sara Paretsky och Val McDermid (varpå mannen stiger i min aktning något otroligt) samt Elizabeth George och Minette Walters (och så sjönk vi igen). :P

Det är synd att han är död. :(

NU har jag läst Stieg Larssons två första

(Varning, länken går till otroligt jobbig Flash-sida. Människor som tror att Flash-intron är coola borde dömas till straffarbete i ett stenbrott.)

Jag kan inte skylla på makens långsamma läsning alls. Han läste ut dem och tjatade sedan på mig att jag skulle sätta igång, för han ville diskutera vissa grejer med mig. Men jag droooog på det - det är faktiskt svårt att läsa med ett spädbarn. Eller rättare sagt: jag blir så uppslukad av böcker att jag blir irriterad när den lille söte pojken som just fått en tand ligger och gnisslar mot mig och vill ha uppmärksamhet, och det är det inte värt. *skäms grundligt*

Löste det genom att läsa nattetid.

Män som hatar kvinnor
Mikael Blomkvist jobbar på, är delägare i och ansvarig utgivare för en uppkäftig tidsskrift som specialiserar sig på granskande journalistik. I sin iver att sätta dit en industrigangster har han åkt på en blåsning och nu blivit dömd för förtal. Eftersom han ändå behöver en time-out tar han ett uppdrag från en av Sveriges gammaldags industrimagnater, Henrik Vanger. Han ska skriva en bok om familjens historia, och samtidigt luska reda på vad som hände med Vangers brors sondotter, som spårlöst försvann på 60-talet. Under arbetet stöter Blomkvist på Lisbeth Salander, en 26-åring med ett våldsamt förflutet och en sociopatisk inställning till omvärlden, men med grymma hackerskillz, OMG. Tillsammans luskar de reda på sanningen, som är blodig och dyster, men har aspekter som kan hjälpa Blomkvist rädda sin tidning.

Bra saker med boken: helt okej deckare/thriller. Väl ihopsnickrad story, inga iögonenfallande lösa trådar eller deus ex machina-grepp (nåja, skulle väl vara hur de blir av med skurken då - och å andra sidan är jag rätt usel på att upptäcka sånt för jag läser för snabbt). Kort och gott - inte usel. Inte heller dålig. Skulle nog ge den en stark trea på en skala 1-5.

Mindre bra/dåligt: Larsson hade tydligen ingen tilltro till att man kan förstå relationer genom dialogen mellan parterna i den, utan förklarar allt för oss genom inre monologer. Vilket är trist, helt enkelt.

Han är för förtjust i de fria bisexuella no strings-förhållanden han fantiserat ihop. I don't care, Larsson. Du kan skriva att de har förhållandet, du måste inte gotta dig i det. Jag är inte så pryd - men du har precis bevisat att du egentligen är det. (OT: svårt att välja tempus när mannen är död. Som författare lever han ju, på sätt och vis. Hav överseende.)

Produkt-jävla-placering. På en erbarmlig nivå rent litterärt. T.ex.:

[..]de hade kommit överens om att ge dottern en iPod, en mp3-spelare inte nämnvärt större än en tändsticksask men som kunde rymma hela Pernillas skivsamling. Vilken var ganska omfattande.

Ursäkta? Vad sysslade redaktören med? - för detta är bara ett exempel av många. Jag och min man har skrattat gott åt det här. Riktigt uselt.

Vissa lite larviga faktafel, eller vad man ska kalla det. T.e.x refereras till flickans försvinnande som ett "låsta rummet-mysterium", varpå det kontras med "det är ingen roman av Dorothy Sayers". Nu är ju inte hon den som är mest känd för sådana mysterier, utan det är John Dickson Carr, och om man inte vet det så ligger det väl närmare till hands att dra till med Agatha Christie. Känns onaturligt och konstlat.

Och superirriterande när folk ska tituleras helt plötsligt, i 2000-talets Sverige. Som jag skrivit förr - en av mina favoritsaker med deckare är att de anses som litterära bagateller, men kan ge läsaren ögonblicksbilder av tiden då de skrevs. Läser folk den här om femtio år kan de förledas tro att det var normalt att kalla unga kvinnor fröken. *suck*

Kort sagt så stannar boken vid en deckare, men når aldrig den litterära kvalitet som gör en deckare klassisk.


Flickan som lekte med elden
Tidskriften Millennium har ett nytt scoop på gång, ett temanummer om trafficking. Många män med inflytande kommer att namnges och avslöjas som utnyttjare av flickor och kvinnor. Men paret som står bakom all research mördas, och på vapnet finns Lisbeth Salanders fingeravtryck. Blomkvist är en av de mycket få som inte tror att hon är skyldig, utan börjar misstänka att svaret finns i Lisbeths förflutna.

Bra saker: Mycket tajtare som roman betraktat. Riktigt spännande, och Larsson lyckas få till en trovärdig historia trots spionanknytning.

Dåliga saker: En hel del av problemen från ovan finns kvar. I mängd. Och PAOLO ROBERTO? Som gör korstecken framför sin Madonnabild? :S

Kan tillägga att min man störde sig på beskrivningen av hackers och vad de gör, men jag köpte det, eftersom jag är mer okunnig än han.

Jag kommer helt klart att läsa trean, Luftslottet som sprängdes, men jag kan inte sälla mig helt okritiskt till Larssons hyllningskör. Böckerna är helt klart mer samhällsdebatt och -kritik än minnesvärd litteratur.

Min man har handlat deckare

Han har köpt Stieg Larssons två första romaner, för "alla snackar om dem". Bra tycker jag, som har tänkt läsa dem länge men glömmer att titta efter dem på biblioteket, och när jag kommer ihåg så är de utlånade. Problemet är att han började läsa den första, och jag vill OCKSÅ läsa dem i rätt ordning, bara för att. Alltså får jag vänta - och till saken hör att jag konstant mobbar stackaren för att han tycker att så många böcker är så bra att han måste läsa allt samtidigt och därför aldrig avslutar något. Dock, fördelen med deckare är ju den linjära handlingen som gör att man dras med, vänder blad och sålunda blir klar. Jag hyser hopp. Tills vidare läser jag sömnadsbeskrivningar, för jag vill jättegärna sy en klänning jag kan amma i.

Igår hade SvD en stor artikel om just bokbloggar, vilket var lite kul. Kontentan var att de inte kan ersätta proffsiga recensenter - no shit Sherlock, min kan definitivt inte det. Jag är så professionell och klar i skallen innan jag sätter mig att skriva så det kan ingen tro, men när jag väl har fingrarna på tangenterna blir det inte mer än "Öööhhh, den var bra. Bra språk och spännande.". Om jag låtsas att jag är 12 kan jag kanske få skriva bokrecensionerna på KP.

Måste kolla upp några av de bloggar Svenskan skrev om i alla fall. Vem vet, man kanske hittar en favorit.

Mary Wortley Montagu: Life on the Golden Horn

Mr Bani picked this up in Pareeeee no less. Lucky fella. It's a slim little volume containing a selection of the letters she wrote to friends and family from Constantinople (also from the journey there and thence). Her husband had been stationed there as ambassador - a post that lasted only a year, but Lady Mary made full use of her time there. She learnt Turkish, often went about the town in Turkish dress (in other words a full veil, a very useful disguise), and seems to have taken pleasure in being able to refute the more fanciful ideas of the country that had been spread by more inventive travel writers.

Your whole letter is full of mistakes from one end to the other. I see you have taken your ideas of Turkey from that worthy author Dumont, who has writ with equal ignorance and confidence. 'Tis a particular pleasure to me here to read the voyages to the Levant [...] so full of absurdities I am very well diverted with them. They never fail to give you an account of the women, which 'tis certain they never saw, and talking very wisely of the genius of men, into whose company they are never admitted, and very often describe mosques which they dare not peep into.

I looked Lady Mary up on Wikipedia, and she seems to have been a very colourful personality. This certainly is apparent in her letters anyway. They are in turns descriptive, intelligent, scathing and pensive. She writes of fashion to her sister:

I saw the other day a gala for Count Althann, the Emperor's favourite, and never in my life saw so many fine clothes ill-fancied [...] provided they can make their clothes expensive enough that is all the taste they show in them.

and to Alexander Pope of the horrors of war.

[...]the field being strewed with the skulls and carcases of unburied men, horses and camels. I could not look without horror on such numbers of mangled human bodies, and reflect on the injustice of was that makes murder not only necessary but meritorious. Nothing seems to me a plainer proof of the irrationality of mankind, whatever fine claims we pretend to reason [...]

I'm really pleased to have read this little book. It was entertaining and informative - who can argue with that? While reading I mused upon the lost art of letter-writing - how I wish we could end our letters with stuff like

Upon this occasion admire the heroism in the heart of your friend etc.

instead of the dull "Your's truly".

The book is part of a Penguin series called Great Journeys, 20 books by different travel writers from Herodotos to Kapuściński. It would be great fun to read them all - to own them all! - but I shouldn't encourage my book-hoarding side.

In other news I've caught a nasty virus. My throat is sore as hell, and I am about to gargle with an infusion of sage, garlic and ginger. Let's hope I don't vomit. Again.

Sickness strikes.

Had a restless night, and finally got up at five to vomit. Vomiting is vile, I cannot understand how some people do it on purpose. Mr Bani on the other hand caught the rear end of the virus, so to speak, so we've been feeling very sorry for ourselves here today.

This has nothing to do with books, it's just a pity post.

Jaqueline Winspear: Messenger of Truth

This is the latest in the Maisie Dobbs series - I know I said I wasn't too keen on them, but sure what the hey, they're not terrible or anything.

In this one Maisie is hired by a young female journalist to find out if her artist twin brother's death was really accidental or if there's more to it. Winspear doesn't play too heavily on Maisie's almost supernatural abilities thankfully, and has the added courage of letting tragedy strike near Maisie, instead of having her save the day at the very last moment. So I liked that.

In other news, haven't had the chance to even look for Bookcrossing books. Dammit.

Marian Keyes: Further Under the Duvet

As is obvious from the title, this book is a follow-up to one called Under the Duvet, which I have not read. I picked this one up at random at the library (am I able for a Marian Keyes? Is it not too silly? Oh look, collection of journalism it says, now that's more interesting. Why not?).

I must say I love what she's written as a journalist. She's funny, witty (not necessarily the same thing!), personal without being de trop, and also writes with much feeling. The articles range from ones about visiting fashion shows (and getting goodie bags!) to visiting Ethiopia and Russia for charity. And an absolutely hilarious account of going to the Irish Embassy for an emergency passport many years ago ("Have you prayed to Saint Anthony?"). Also included are some early short stories, and exerpts from Mammy Walsh's advice column. A great travel book I should say, since you can read short bits at a time.

Nope, I'm not Bookcrossing Bani.

She seems rather fun though, and lives in NY. Maybe I'll e-mail her some day.

I just joined Bookcrossing...

...as Banivani (Bani was TAKEN! The shower of bastards! :O). Been meaning to for ages - come to think of it, maybe I did. Maybe I'm Bani. Must go check. Anyway, some lovely person has been releasing a lot of books downtown in honour of the Linnaeus tercentenary, which officially starts today. I was tipped off by a friend, and thus inspired to join. And remember that I have joined.

Now, off to see if I'm going senile or not.

Laurie King's website is being majorly dolled up.

Check it out. And if you're interested, don't miss the Virtual Book Club.

A few moments of peace...

Mr Bani has actually gone off to Paris with his work, so I'm on my lonesome with the kids. This means I get to use the laptop. Somehow it's easier to use the laptop - probably because it's soooo quiet. Lovely. Now, if only the FUCKER UPSTAIRS WOULD STOP RIVERDANCING aaaahhhh I think I heard a SHHHH from the parents - this place it sometimes ludicrously un-sound-proofed (English lacks a word there I feel).

The first book from Elaine Viets Mystery Shopper series is called Dying in Style. I liked it better than the second, but I don't like this series as much as the Dead-End Job one. The shopping tips at the end of the book are fun though, if somewhat US-specific ( but hey, I'm not dissing, that's where she lives). She is apparently recovering from her stroke - good for her!

Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced was first published in 1950, and is full of references to war, rationing, black market and the like. I don't know what I'm trying to say by mentioning that, but somehow it makes for a better book, possibly because it feels very genuine and thus makes the whole book seem genuine. After all Dame Agatha, like all other Brits, must have experienced it all first-hand, whereas she probably never got too close to actual murder scenes.

This is a Miss Marple book. In a rural community a murder is announced in the local paper's personal ads. A group of people gather at the house in question, assuming a murder game is in the offering (murder games do turn up frequently in crime fic of this era I've noticed). However, a real murder takes place, and Miss Marple turns up to solve it. Definitely one of the better Christies I've read - not saying much.

Laurie R. King: The Art of Detection - aaahhhh I waited for this one. I loved it. While reading it I wanted to blab about lots of different things in it, but of course I took no notes (was in breast-feeding agony) so poo to me.

A Sherlock Holmes aficionado and collector is found murdered in an almost inaccessible spot. Turns out that the very same spot is where the corpse is found in a purported lost Holmes story he had unearthed, and was hoping to make a fortune from, not to mention create a stir with. Kate Martinelli is back on cop duty here. I was so pleased to see that herself and Lee are doing so well and have a lovely daughter. (I'm sad, i know. They're not real people *repeat to fade*)

The Holmes story is, to those of us familiar with the Russell series, obviously "true". However, to Kate, living in our reality, Sherlock Holmes was an entirely fictional figure. We the readers recognize the tone and style from the Russell books and "know" that this is not at all fiction, and here everything becomes charmingly meta-something and post-modern (possibly). I was smitten by it. It's like being in a special club. I wonder how much non-initiates could appreciate of the book though, since the cross-over bits are what made the novel great IMO.

Thank you Laurie!

Now, a bit of a find: Gladys Mitchell: Late, late in the evening (the link there is for a tribute page, nothing official). Apparently Gladys is a Big Deal. I'd never heard of her. The shame, the shame.In my defence the library seem to have only two of her novels. Two. She has written (I now know) 86 (unless I miscounted). And short stories. More to the point, she's good. Sure, the cover has the usual blurbs "as good as Dorothy Sayers" one says, but I can now say with certainty that it's true (well, perhaps not AS good as Sayers, not much is).

Her heroine is Miss Bradley, who later on becomes Dame. Being lazy today, allow me to link you to synopsis (-es?) of the book here and here. I was very taken by this too. I loved the way we got the story from different points of view - we start off with the children telling it, but as adults, so we are hearing about something that happened in Miss Bradley's past, but one can assume that the devoted reader has lots of background info about what happens to Margaret and Kenneth and Miss Bradley later, and this is charming in itself. Then Miss Bradley sometimes takes over the narrative - but in letters to a friend. And other letter-writers pitch in too. It could be just confusing, as though the author hadn't made up her mind, but it works. Oh, and Miss Bradley is a psychologist - which is pretty awesome for a character created in 1929 or whatever.

My only mark-down might be for a slightly undramatic ending, but it does fit with the narrative style, and also possibly that the children's dialogue is slightly precocious.

Now, how am I going to get hold of more of her novels?

Elaine Viets is not well.

Says Laurie R King. That's a shame - I know I'm after dissing her books a tad, but I think Elaine herself seems like a really fun person to know. Let's hope she recovers quickly and fully!

Asså, kul att ha baby MEN...

... man kan inte blogga. För det är jobbigt att skriva med en hand.

Och när man väl får tid att sätta sig så glömmer man vad man ville säga... jo, jag tänkte beklaga mig över att jag inte var smart nog att skapa en alltmöjligt-blogg istället för en specifik bokblogg. För det är lättare att jamsa och tramsa än vara strukturerad när man har en Minimus som pockar på uppmärksamhet. Och så kan man delge en otroligt intresserad Blogg-omvärld sin sons utveckling och så. Eller tala om att man lagat gnocchi efter en recept från Aglio e olio, en blogg man hittat via Fridas - sånt är ju kul. Fast gnocchin blev sådär, borde kokat längre tror jag, alternativt varit mindre.

Min älskade make köpte Laurie King's The Art of Detection till mig som BB-present, för han kom ihåg att jag pratat om den och suktat. Så den vill jag skriva om, fast ordentligt. Kanske imorgon. Sen har jag läst klart den andra Viets-boken, och en Agatha Christie... imorgon kanske. Fast Laurie förtjänar ett helt eget inlägg.

Just idag fyller Minimus 4 veckor. Heh. Det blir inte mycket läst ska jag säga. Men en och annan sudoku, och tv...