I mentally flushed all my New Year’s Resolutions down the drain sometime during my daughter three months stunt of not sleeping. She never really got good at sleeping, meaning that I spend my days just trying to get by and use the little energy I have on spending time with my little sweetheart and surviving work. I could tell you all about the effects of little sleep and how it is probably the cause of me being constantly sick for the last three months but I think I will just leave it at telling you that reading and blogging has been down prioritized for the time being. You really don’t feel like reading when you have been woken up every half an hour during the night.

I however wanted to give a little summary of the best books I read in 2011 because despite not reading a lot, I did read few of them. Who would have thought you could place your Kindle on top of the stroller and read few pages while you try to get your baby to nap.

For a page turner I recommend going for The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. It is about Katniss who lives in a post-apocalyptic world where young kids are picked to participate in a televised battle where only one of them can survive. I have already recommended this series to few people and they have all speed through all three book quite quickly .

For something a bit heavier and more heartbreaking read Room by Emma Donoghue. The story is about five year old Jack and his mom are locked up in a small room. Very similar to the Fritzl case but the author stays away from any gory details which makes this a very strong book.

I also though the The Help by Kathryn Stockett was pretty good. Story about African American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi.

Think that is it! No resolutions for next year other than hopefully getting rid of my never-ending cold and teaching my daughter to sleep better! Happy New Year!

New year, new possibilities! Except I am not really sure what possibilities I have when it comes to this blog. It served it purpose when I had a goal but I must admit that it is very dry and boring. If only it was like a dish you could throw some salt and chili at to spice it up. I guess it was inevitable. I have never really come across a book blog that is interesting to read and I don’t think I have the talent to manage the impossible. So I keep asking myself, is it worth keeping as an online journal for the books I read? I guess it is not in anyones way and maybe I can try to experiment with different forms. Big emphasis on maybe here. So for now it is staying and I might throw out short reviews of books I read.

When it comes to new resolutions I am not gonna aim high for this year. With a baby that is on the verge of becoming mobile and having to go back to work next summer I don’t think this will be a big reading year. I am giving myself a little goal though. Try to read 6 books from countries I haven’t read before.

As for a summary of last year. I struggled ranking the best books of 2010. There was no doubt which book was the best and which one was the worst but the in between was worse.

Best book: France (Réunion): Atomised – Michel Houellebecq
Shittiest book: UK: The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy – Fiona Neill

The runner ups could be arranged something like this though I keep changing my mind on the order.
2. Iceland: Tryggðarpantur – Auður Jónsdóttir
3. Australia: Lovesong by Nikki Gemmell
4. Argentina: Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Piñeiro
6. Nigeria: I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
7. Canada: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Then there was a book that was not a part of the challenge but was absolutely fantastic. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick.

I am dancing a victory dance around my apartment right now… well at least mentally. I made it, I have completed my 2010 New Year’s Resolution of reading books from 26 countries. Obviously three times is a charm (this is the third year I tried). Or maybe it is the pressure I gave myself by telling people this time. I really don’t believe in the online articles that state that Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them. Maybe I should tell people all my New Year’s Resolutions and stop having secret onces. I know at least one person that would like that .

Last country out was my home country Iceland. For the first time in years I am speaking Icelandic every day. I want to teach my daughter the language and after I while I felt a pressing urge to read more in Icelandic. To me there is nothing like reading in Icelandic. It is such a complex language and the books automatically get added depth that neither English nor Norwegian have. Or maybe it is just me not grasping the depth of these languages. Not sure to be honest.

The author I read is my favorite Icelandic author. Auður Jónsdóttir which is actually the grand child of the only Nobel prize winner Iceland has had, Halldór Laxness. Her books are delightful to read, written in a beautiful language and with unusual depth. The book I read this time is Tryggðarpantur (meaning Deposit) but has unfortunately only been translated into Danish (Depositum) so far.

The story is about Gísella which one day finds out she has spent all her inheritance she has been living comfortably on all her life. She decides to take tenants into her apartment. She slowly finds out living with others isn’t quite as simple as she thought it would be. The story is a fascinating account of a stubborn, childish woman that thinks her ways are the right ways. I literally felt the need to step into the pages of the book and shout at the woman. The author did a fantastic job of unfolding her flaws and inner working out on the pages and I felt like I was there both experiencing her frustrations and the tenants frustrations over her. Obviously real life flaws that I recognized again in myself and others. Not many authors that can write so realistically and without overdoing it.

4,5 stars out of 5 and I really hope her books will be translated to English one day.

The resolution is finished, now what? Not sure yet but I will at least post a summary of the best reads this year. And maybe I will come up with some other resolution for next year… need to think about it. Right now, I am just gonna spend the rest of the evening patting myself on the back and planning which American and British popular fiction books I am gonna indulge in now .

Why is it that we like so much to watch and read about dysfunctional people? Seriously we love it! Just look at all those reality shows they have on TV. My theory is that it makes us feel better about ourselves. We see how messed up other people are and can mentally give ourselves a little “I am better than this” pat on the back. I think this has become especially important for us people living in the city where we don’t really know our neighbors or what they are up to. You don’t get the same satisfaction comparing yourself to your friends (because you like your friends) as you do with an neighbor that you know but that is not necessarily your friend.

Like anyone else I can get an occasional kick out of watching dysfunctional people on TV. I however always feel slightly “dirty” after watching reality TV so I almost never do that any longer. I actually tend to prefer to read about fictional dysfunctional people. I think it is because I feel sorry for the stupid people that are on reality TV. You almost feel like they should be protected from themselves and not allowed to go on TV. Fiction relieves you of the need to feel bad.

Anyways, as I said I like to read about dysfunctional people. My 25th country this year actually satisfied that urge quite well. Country number 25 was Argentina and I read Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Piñeiro. What was labeled as an Argentinian crime novel wasn’t really a crime novel at all. This is probably a good thing as I tend to find crime novels utterly boring.

This was yet another one of those books without a proper storyline but this time it didn’t matter. Three men are found dead in a swimming pool. The rest of the book is really just short stories telling the individual stories of the families that live in Cascades Heights, an upper class gated community outside Buenos Aires. It tells about the lives and eccentricities of the families living their.

I guess all the little stories and character descriptions were supposed to build up to the climax of the book where we are told how the three dead men in the swimming pool ended up there. I didn’t really feel the book delivered in the end but I didn’t really care. The little stories were enough on their own. A weak four out of five stars due to the lack of storyline but well worth reading.

And now there is only one more country to go! Go me!

It is very sad to rave about a book that could have a disclaimer stating “Millions of people died in the making of this book”. It was however the best non-fiction book that I have ever read and it sheds light on the history of an oppressed population of a country that we do generally not give much thought to. The book I am talking about is Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick.

The fact that we don’t give them much thought might be about to change with North Korea and South Korea exchanging artillery fire today. Lets just hope that they don’t start a war.

This was the latest read in my bookclub (not counting towards my reading goal as the author in American). I must admit that I wasn’t too thrilled when it got picked. I couldn’t quite picture myself reading about what up until now has been the dry, boring North Korea with a cuddly little baby in my arms. When I finally brought the book with me to the park and started to read it in the autumn sun I instantly got dragged in. It was one of those rare gems that you actually put down because you want it to last.

The book tells the story of six different North Koreans that eventually became defectors. It weaves in information about North Korean lives and gives you a overall history of the country in a very accessible manner. It does everything right as a non-fiction book! Never becomes tedious with too much background information and is very well written. It is of course obvious that the author is against the regime there but she lets the story tell itself why it is bad and never preaches. The story of the lovers that only meet in the dark and don’t dare to share their skepticism towards the regime with each other and the story of the woman that is a blind follower are heartbreaking, yet so interesting.

I really had no idea how bad it was there. North Korea has been a bit of a joke when discussed thanks to the clown that currently leads the country Kim Jong-il.

I of course knew people were oppressed but I had no idea how brain washed they were and how hard their life is. How a government can brain wash their people to worship their leader so blindly that they believe everything that is said. That they are willing to spy on and report on family/neighbours or anyone that says anything negative about the government. I guess George Orwell wasn’t that far off with his Nineteen Eighty-Four. That a government/dictator can be so cruel to initiate “Let’s eat two meals a day” campaign to try to make a famine less visible. How a dictator can hold onto a regime and ideology so long and watch so many people die because of it is impossible to comprehend. How you can keep a whole nation in virtual chains with just propaganda?

It is impossible to understand but the book at least gives you an insight into North Korean life. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in North Korea! 5 shining non-fiction stars to it. I only wish it was just fiction!

The German entry for my challenge was a book called Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann. It was recommended to me by one of my readers.

While the book thrilled me at first with its strong, humorous character descriptions I trailed off somewhere half way through and had to struggle my way through the rest. The story is about the 19th century Carl Friedrich Gauss, a mathematical genius and Alexander von Humboldt, a naturalist and explorer. It details their quests for mathematical discoveries and exploring the world.

The author does a big number out of describing their eccentricities which at times is very funny. I think it struck a note with me because I have worked in an environment with some characters that have similar traits. It however got a bit tedious half way through and I felt the book lacked something. I guess it is difficult to do much about a story that is based on real life people but maybe it could have then been a bit shorter? As the writing was excellent I would have loved to read a book written by this guy with an engaging story. That together with a good bratwurst would make my day.

It only get 2.5 stars from me and I would rather recommend Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind as an excellent and quite disturbing German book to read.

And now there are only two more countries to go. Go me!

My latest procrastination effort was to create a map of countries I have read while I should have been doing something else. The nerd in me thought it was kind of cool so I thought I should share.

Countries read this year
Countries read since birth

Still got quite a few countries to explore .

Does it mean that you are jaded or simply just spoiled when you can read a biography of a man that used to be a child soldier in Sierra Leone as it was yet another fictional story. While the book I read moved me, I didn’t feel like it went deep enough and it made me feel guilty.

I somehow imagined being mother would make me react more strongly about the horrible fate of a young child being brought into the cruelty of war. I however couldn’t even begin to ever imagine my little Silja in a war. We are so far removed from war here in the North that we cannot comprehend that there is war elsewhere. It is just something we see on the news and read about in books. We think and say we understand but we really don’t. We think and say we would like to help these people but we don’t. We unburden our conscience by occasionally giving a small sum of money to some charity and then encourage others to do the same. Then we tell ourselves “what else could we do?”. Really, what else could we do? I don’t know and I am too spoiled to spend the effort of thinking about what else I could do. One could say this is the sad reality of life for us living in a safe environment but it really isn’t. It is the sad reality of life for the ones that don’t and that could use our help.

My 23rd nationality was Sierra Leone. I read A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. It is the biography of a man that became a child soldier at the age of 13 in Sierra Leone’s civil war.

The book was rather simply written and off to a very slow start. It drastically improved in the second half and focused more on Beah’s feelings and experience. The first half was the stretched account of the events leading up to Beah becoming a soldier. What I liked best about the book was that it seemed an honest account of what happened. He made no attempt of glorifying himself or making up excuses for his actions. The authors of biographies like these often spend tremendous effort into stating that they really were better then the rest but he never does that. This made me respect him and made the story more believable to me.

Sierra Leone is pretty much an unknown country to me. The only things I connect with it are war and diamonds (need to watch Blood Diamond again). Did you know that the world third largest diamond was found in Sierra Leone in 1972? I didn’t at least.

What the book lacked was a bit more information about the background of the war and maybe a bit more depth. Definitely a worthwhile read though that gives your spoiled or jaded self a little jolt (3.5/4 stars).

It has been a while but I have been a bit busy. I haven’t given up on my New Year’s resolution despite now being a mother of an adorable little girl that takes up most of my time. Many have told me I will never have time to read again but I refuse to believe that. Despite having few book free weeks after her birth I have slowly starting reading again. Nothing beats taking the stroller to the park and reading a little in the sun!

I just finished The Bone People by Keri Hulme. It was quite an undertaking, especially given the circumstances. I read the book while being more than a week overdue waiting for my birth to start, while being induced, and while me being slightly distracted by a tiny little baby. It was quite an heavy read to start with so you can imagine getting through the book was a bit of a challenge.

That being said, it was a good, well written book. It was written in an interesting and slightly cryptic way. Heavy prose, yet beautiful. The characters were strong and in a odd way very likable despite their flaws and eccentricity. The book actually forced you to step outside your comfort zone as there was violence involved which automatically should have forced you to hate at least one of the character. This was not the case, you couldn’t help but sympathizing no matter how hard you tried to tell yourself you shouldn’t.

The story is about a young troubled and mute boy Simon that washed up on the shore one day without a past. He was adopted by Joe a man that loves him but is unable to control his temper. One day Simon comes to the tower of Kerewin which is a eccentric hermit and artist living alone. The book is about he relationship these three develop and their sad story.

The book takes place in New Zealand and is written by an author from there which won the Bookers prize for this book. New Zealand to me is the land of hobbits, onion, and one of my friends . A good mix!

Well earned 3,5 stars out of 5! Wish I had read it under slightly less chaotic circumstance to be able to enjoy its complexity more.

Sensible people might ask themselves why anyone would get the idea to read books from 26 different countries as a New Year’s Resolution. I have stated one of the reason before, that I had realized that almost all books I read were from either the United States or the United Kingdom. There are however few other reasons this has become my obsession. Here is one of them.

My boyfriend’s parents have a holiday house up on an island called Skogsøya in North of Norway that I have visited few times. They kept telling me that one of the most famous Norwegian author, Herbjørg Wassmo, had grown up that island.

I was a bit fascinated and one day decided that it was about time that I read one of her books. It ended up being a bookclub book that I read while on one of those visits to the island. The House with Blind Glass Window is a sad story about Tora, a young girl that grows up on the island. She is the daughter of a German soldier and a Norwegian woman after the WW2, something that was looked down on back in the days. She lives with her mother and abusive stepfather and the story is about her hard life. The book is beautifully written with a haunting nightmarish story that is bound to leave a mark on you.

I read the book while sitting in the living room looking over a small bay at a beautiful white mansion-like house called Breistrand. It stands out on the island and you can’t help but admire it and its location. I was later told by one of the locals that the rumor says that Herbjørg Wassmo is using that particular house as a model for the house with the blind glass window in her book. All of a sudden a location from a book stepped out of its pages and became more real. The roots of the book to this island were obvious. Ever since then I have been trying to read books that fit the location I am visiting. Either that they take place there or that the author is born in that place/country.

I visited Skogsøya again this winter and tried to repeat my success by reading Wassmo’s latest book Hundre år. Unfortunately, that book is the mere shadow of her previous work. It tells her own family history and goes into details about her own childhood and childhood abuse. It however never reached the same depth, felt a bit simplistic and at times written in a hurry. Hence it took me this long to write about it. I only give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. Rather read her The House with Blind Glass Window which is a 5 star book!