I move on to another book series.
Last week, the last Percy Jackson book came out. About a year ago the fourth one came out, and a week before that I read the three first books in the series for the first time because a bunch of my friends were hyping up the book. I ended up not reading the fourth book intil July, and since I don't remember a lot of the plot from the previous books I've decided to reread the books before I read the last one.
I only have the first one, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and the fourth one, Percy Jackson and the Battle Of The Labyrinth, so I borrowed Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters from one of my nerd friends, and now I'm all set until I want to read the third book. Maybe I'll read that in Swedish. I borrowed it from my library last year, and the translations aren't that bad with these books.
If you know the basic plot of the Percy Jackson series, you know why I want to read these books when we talk about Greek mythology in my Swedish class. I really loved the portrayal of the Greek gods when I first read the books, and I'm loving it again.
As for the hitchhiker, I finished Mostly Harmless the day before yesterday. Towel Day is a week away. Is anyone else gonna have a towel with them?
Thursday, May 14th.
Yesterday, on May 14th, I read that. It was Thursday.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
So when I found a set with all the five books for a resonable price in February, I decided to buy it, with a goal of rereading all the books before Towel Day (May 25th).
At the moment I'm on book four, So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish, and I'm almost finished. It doesn't, like The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe and Life, The Universe And Everything, have the same appeal as The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but I think I like this one more than book two and three just because of all the references to rain. I'm a real rain lover, so the fact that the first chapters are all about rain makes me really happy.
Last week, I got a strong urge to go to the library. I will do so as soon as I finish the Hitchhiker's series. I'm not sure of what to borrow, but I think it would be wise to read some Swedish books now, since I'm going to Canada in August, and it probably won't be easy to find books in Swedish there.
Also, I'm gonna participate in "214 dagar med Harry", where we reread the Harry Potter series, one book each month, starting from June through December. I will read the books in Swedish, since I haven't done so in a while, and even though I hate the translations with all my being, I feel like I should read them in Swedish. Plus, I can complain about the horrible translations here. Hah.
This Is Why I Don't Like Translations:
A few days ago I saw that my dad was reading a Jules Verne book in English. I asked him why he didn't read it in Swedish, becuase the original language is French and then you might as well read it in Swedish when you don't know French well enough to read it in it's original language. He told me he didn't trust books translated to Swedish from French, because most of his Jules Verne books in Swedish had been shortened, even the one I read a few weeks ago.
I took a look at the book (Jorden Runt På 80 Dagar), and it says it's "översatt och bearbetad av Henrik Wranér", which means "translated and worked on by Henrik Wranér".
Of course it's been worked on, the language has been changed from French to Swedish! The thing that disturbs me is that they really don't warn me. The book looks like this:
Nothing whatsoever about any shortening.
This is what I see when I open it:
See, I think the word bearbeta doesn't really say shorten. Maybe that's just me. But I really think if you shorten a book it should be announced with big bold letters on the cover. It's just not cool to hide it.
In other news, I've been sick, which means I've read a lot, so I finished Eragon a couple of hours ago and I'm working on the review. Started Washington D.C. (or All American Girl) just because I love the way Meg Cabot writes. I don't know if I'm remembering wrongly, but I feel like the Swedish translations of The Princess Diaries were better...I'm not sure, I read them a while ago.
Also, I'm thinking of ordering a big stack of books soon. But my first priority is Hank Green's So Jokes.
That's it, I'm going back to reading (and coughing xO). DFTBA!
Monday!
Today I got home an hour earlier than I usually do on Mondays, since my French teacher didn't show up to the lesson. When I got home I noticed that the library was still open, so I went down there. I live in a pretty small place, a little village, if you may. We don't have a book store or a record store, and the only reason I can bare to live here is the Culture School. It's where I spend most of my afternoons, playing bass/guitar or singing, taking music theory, rehearsing with my muggle band. It's awesome indeed.
Since my village is very small and decepticon-y and generally notsome, the library here isn't that big. A few years ago I was pretty bad at returning books on time, so I was kind of afraid to go there. But I'm over that fear now.
I remember when I was about six, and I was really excited because I was getting my own library card (yeah, I was very excited. Nerd from the start). I thought about that when I was checking out the books I was borrowing today, because I saw my name on the back of the card. I had insisted on writing it myself. I didn't turn out very pretty, since my hand writing was kind of shaky, the way it is when you've just learned to write and you're writing on a slippery plastic card. It looks kind of horrible, but it makes me smile when I see it, because I love books and I always have.
What books did I borrow? Ondskan by Jan Guillou, The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus and Washington D.C. by Meg Cabot.
I really like Meg Cabot and The Princess Diaries, so I'm looking forward to read her book. It's english title is All American Girl if you're wondering. Yeah, I'm hoping the weird translation of the title will make sense in the end.
Jan Guillou is a famous author and journalist in Sweden. He's an interesting person, but I've never read anything by him before. I've seen half of the movie that's based on Ondskan, and apparently it's a pretty good book. I'm going to read this first, because I decided to read it for Swedish class.
The Nanny Diaries...I just borrowed that because I wanted to read something in English, and the cover looked interesting.
I was originally planning on borrowing The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (both in Swedish though), but I found neither. When I looked the latter up on adlibris (the biggest nordic online book shop), I found this:
Nothing in Swedish, that is (some of my scandinavian friends will be happy though). But my library was supposed to have it, so I guess someone else have it at the moment.
That was all book talk for the day. I'll see you in the near future.
DFTBA!
Ron
(EDIT: By the way, I'm still on Eragon, and then I have to read Tomorrow When The War Began for English. I'm afraid I'm going to have to read several books at the same time. Gah. Ah, well)
Yes, we are active.
Paper Towns
Paper Towns - John Green
Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman were childhood friends. They found a dead guy together when they were two little adorable nine year-olds. Now they're about to graduate high school. Margo is popular and kind of a legend at the school, and Quentin is somewhat of a nerd. Quentin has spent several years loving Margo from afar when she asks him to help her with a mission filled with revenge - in the middle of the night. After the night, Margo disappears, and Quentin tries to find her while getting to know the Margo he never really knew. Margo has left little clues and Quentin decides to follow them along with his two best friends - Radar and Ben.
Quentin is an ordinary guy who lives a pretty boring life and still enjoys it. He's got perfect attendance and parents who are therapists. He's "pretty god damned well adjusted", as it says in the book. Radar is obsessed with Omnictionary, the equivalent of Wikipedia, and spends all his time editing the pages there and trying to stop people from erasing accurate information about a French president, only to replace it with "...is a gay." Ben has trouble with getting a girl - any girl - to go on prom with him after a vicious rumor that was spread abut him. The fact that he refers to girls as "honeybunnies" may also be a problem.
At first, you might think that this is a regular high school-story, like something you can see on a crappy TV show at noon when you're home sick. It still feels very American, spirit-wise, but it's so much more exciting than just some high school drama with Oh-my-god-it's-prom-night and "Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?". Sure, there is a prom night involved, but it's not like that at all. Quentin is generally opposed to prom. The book shows that people are more than the typically American; you don't necessarily have to know everything about a person even though she's popular and you know all her stories. For example, Margo is very complex. As mentioned before, she's a legend. She got into a concert by posing as the bassist's girlfriend, got taught guitar by an old guy living in an old shitty house, broke into several amusement parks. But nobody really knows her. Even her closest friends doesn't. For some reason, she never lets anyone in. Quentin wants to know why she's such a mystery, and most importantly, who she really is.
From the end of chapter eight to the end of chapter ten (The Grass), John writes in present tense. The first time I read PT didn't notice the change of verb tense until I had read a part of it. I usually don't like things that are written in present tense, but this change is very beautifully made when you think something terrible is going to happen.
The book is sold with two different covers: a blue one and a yellow one, Sad Margo and Happy Margo. The book really is about Margo; even though the story is told by Quentin, the book is very Margo-centered. It's all about finding out the mystery of Margo; who she is, where she is.
"The basic idea of the cover design is that each cover represents a misimagining of the person involved. And since both covers are fundamentally wrong, neither can be superior." - John Green in the video "Paper Towns and Question Tuesday":
I really like the way John writes. It's simple, funny and somewhat sarcastic. He writes the way I want to write. The characters are interesting, the plot is exciting and you never know what's going to happen. I think this is a book for everyone. The book is written as young adult fiction, but I know a lot of non-teenagers have enjoyed it, so that it's a book fitting for a large number of people.
I really like the idea of Paper Towns becoming a movie. I haven't read Looking For Alaska in a while, but it still feels like Paper Towns is more fitting to become a movie. I really hope it's going to happen, and that it will come to Sweden.
Anyway, I really really like this book, so if you haven't read it, I think you should. And if you're not a nerdfighter...http://youtube.com/vlogbrothers.
Jorden Runt På 80 Dagar
Jorden Runt På 80 Dagar - Jules Verne
Original title: Le Tour du Monde en quatre-vingts Jours
For those who understand neither French nor Swedish: Around the World in 80 Days
Phileas Fogg is a wealthy man living in London. The only thing you know about him is that he's a member of the Reform Club and that he just hired a new valet, Passepartout. In the beginning of the books, Fogg gets into an argument with some members of the Reform Club about whether it's possible to actually travel around the world in 80 days. He bets that he can go around the world and be back at the Club that exact time in 80 days. If not, the others will get 20000 pounds from him.
I really like this book. It's fast (you can't move slowly if you want to get around the world in 240 pages...). You barely get introduced to the characters before Fogg and his valet are sitting on the train to Paris. But it doesn't really feel like anything is left out.
The weird thing about this book is that Fogg really isn't the main character. You don't know anything about him in the beginning, and you don't know anything about him in the end. You get to know Passepartout pretty well, and I really like his character, but I really don't get Fogg. I guess that's kind of the point. It's interesting.
The only thing I don't like is that there's a really bad shipping. Real bad (for Harry Potter-fans: I feel like it's kind of a Harry/Hermione kind of situation). But other than that, I really liked the book. So go read it!
So...
January 1st - Welcome to 2009!
Let me introduce myself.
I am Ch/Ron/applynewnicknamehere. I am 15 years old and I live outside of Stockholm, which is the capital of Sweden. I've always loved reading, and that's mostly the reason why I want to do this. I have no idea of how many books I usually read in a year, but I want to find out if it's going to be difficult or not to read 50 books in 2009, and I want to share that experience in this blog.
I will be starting with The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas), in Swedish. It's original language is French (and I haven't quite mastered bookreading level French), so I might as well read it in Swedish. I usually like to read books in English, since I hate translations (because of the horrible translations of the Harry Potter books), but I should probably read some books in Swedish once in a while...
Anywho, I found the Swedish translation of Les Trois Mousquetaires in my parents bookshelves. Or my dad took it out for me. I'm going to find a lot of good books in those shelves this year. I'm excited.
So, I hope everyone has a good start to this January and this year. Hugs on you all! <3
The Books I've Read During 2009.
Started
Finished
Reviewed
January
De Tre Musketörerna (Alexandre Dumas)
Paper Towns (John Green)
Jorden Runt På 80 Dagar (Jules Verne)
Eragon (Christopher Paolini)
February
Washington D.C. (Meg Cabot)
The Nanny Diaries (Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
March
Ondskan (Jan Guillou)
Tomorrow When The War Began (John Marsden)
Nu Eller Aldrig (Meg Cabot)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
Systrar av Guld (Maureen Johnson)
En liten chock (Johanna Lindbäck)
The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe (Douglas Adams)
April
Life, The Universe And Everything (Douglas Adams)
Prinsessa I Rosa (Meg Cabot)
May
So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish (Douglas Adams)
Mostly Harmless (Douglas Adams)
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (Rick Riordan)
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (Rick Riordan)
June
Harry Potter und die Stein der Weisen (Joanne K. Rowling)
Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse (Rick Riordan)
Ful - Scott Westerfeld
Percy Jackson and the Battle Of The Labyrinth (Rick Riordan)
The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
July
Slam (Nick Hornby)
Över Näktergalens Golv (Lian Hearn)
Nick & Norah's Oändliga Låtlista (Rachel Cohn & David Levithan)
Pojken i randig pyjamas (John Boyne)
August
The truth about forever (Sarah Dessen)
Boktjuven (Markus Zusak)
Gömstället (Mårten Sandén)
Arvtagaren (Mårten Sandén)
Juveltjuven (Mårten Sandén)
Gengångaren (Mårten Sandén)
Spökskeppet (Mårten Sandén)
Skatan (Mårten Sandén)
Tvillingarna (Mårten Sandén)
Kalle Blomkvist Lever Farligt (Astrid Lingdren)
September
An Abundance Of Katherines (John Green)
Eldest (Christopher Paolini)
October
13 Little Blue Envelopes (Maureen Johnson)
Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
November
Wicked (Gregory Maguire)
December
Let It Snow (John Green, Marueen Johnson, Lauren Myracle)
The Phoenix Unchained (Mercedes Lackey, and James Mallory)
Sloppy Firsts (Megan McCafferty)
Second Helpings (Megan McCafferty)
Devilish (Maureen Johnson)
The Bermudez Triangle (Maureen Johnson)
Soldier X (Don Wulffson)
Looking For Alaska (John Green)
About the Project.
Since a lot of people decided to read 50 books in 2008 (among many Kristina Horner from the fiveawesomegirls channel), I want to read 50 books in 2009, and blog about it. I've posted a list of the books I want to read during the year, and I'm very open to suggestions, so bring 'em on.
The Books I Want To Read.
These are a list of books I want to read during the year. I will probably not read all of them, and I will probably read books that aren't on the list as well. Feel free to come with suggestions!
In Swedish
De tre musketörerna - Alexandre Dumas
Sagan om Ringen - J. R. R. Tolkien
Sagan om de två Tornen - J. R. R. Tolkien
Sagan om Konungens Återkomst - J. R. R. Tolkien
Vi På Saltkråkan - Astrid Lindgren
Ronja Rövardotter - Astrid Lindgren
Bröderna Lejonhjärta - Astrid Lindgren
Sången om Odysseus - Homeros
Alice i Underlandet - Lewis Carroll
Min morbror trollkarlen - C.S. Lewis
Häxan och Lejonet - C.S. Lewis
Hästen och hans pojke - C.S. Lewis
Caspian, Prins av Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Kung Caspian och skeppet Gryningen - C.S. Lewis
Silvertronen - C.S. Lewis
Den sista striden - C.S. Lewis
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
Momo, eller kampen om tiden - Michael Ende
Guldkompassen - Philip Pullman
In English
The Bermudez Triangle - Maureen Johnson
The Key To The Golden Firebird - Maureen Johnson
Devilish - Maureen Johnson
Girl at Sea - Maureen Johnson
Animal Days - Desmond Morris
Watership Down - Richard Adams
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K.Le Guin
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Have Space Suit-Will Travel - Robert A. Heinlein
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
Equinox - Michael White
The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman
1984 - George Orwell
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams
Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams
Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams
(These may be read in Swedish if I find the book)
Eragon - Christopher Paolini
