Beautiful reader

Considering the fact that I haven’t written many posts and have been terrible at updating lately I was surprised, touched and incredibly honoured to find out that one of my dear friends on Plurk had given me an award. Thank you Cowboy for the award, your wonderful writing but most of all for your friendship.

As a part of my acceptance post I was supposed to include a list of seven unknown things about myself. Since I had some difficulty figuring out what to put in this list, I begged my Plurk friends to help me out and ask things they would like to know. Here’s the final result in Q&A format.

1
Q - When will you finally finish your book? (Angst)
A - I will finish my book when it’s done, and not a day before that. I’ve only been writing it for 5 months, so I think I’m allowed to take my time, even more so since it’s the first full-length novel I’ve ever written.

2
Q - If I gave you a ticket to anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? (Tamsie)
A - Right now I’d go to the Maldives and see a friend of mine, relax and help him set up his recording studio.

3
Q - Do you regret any choices you've made? (Dooneybird)
A - I try not to regret any choices I’ve made in my life. I try (try!) to spend that energy on making the best out of a crappy situation instead.

4
Q - About what subject are you a snob? Music? Yarn? Furniture? Other? (Tamsie)
A - I’m a terrible lip-balm snob. I only use one brand that is developed by the Swedish National Defence. I have one at my desk, one in my bag and one next to the bed at all times - always ready and never without it. Apart from that I think I’m very flexible in my likings.

5
Q - Who influenced you to go into music as a profession? (Bronsont)
A - I’m not sure I can say that someone specific has influenced me in that decision. I remember when I was eleven (or was it twelve?) and I found my brother’s leaflet about career choices he had gotten from his school. In it I read that you could actually study music more than just take lessons in different instruments. The thought of being a “real” musician had never really dawned on me before that and I made up my mind on the spot.

6
Q - What's your favorite type of food? (Angst)
A - My favorite food is usually something I don’t have to cook myself since I like getting spoiled. (But taste wise it’s the other way around.) My favorite thing to do if I have a lot of time is Swedish meatballs. Not the type you get at ikea, but the ones I make myself.

7
Q - Do you eat Jelly babies head first or feet first? (Cowboy)
A - I always eat jelly babies head first. I think it’s the only humane thing to do.



I'm bad at following blogs but I try my best to stay updated with the following people:

Emma - Wonderful RL friend for many years, writes in Swedish about this and that in her everyday life.

Astrid - Writer and my brightest ray of sunshine.

Cowboy - Poetic ponderings, smiles and always an enjoyable read.

Cat a.k.a Catswire - My favorite jewelry designer with a wonderful sense of humor.

BubbleBoo - The lovely and strong. Don't forget to check out her wonderful writing at the Writer's Bubble too.

Lifecruiser - Warning: You may feel like traveling after reading!

Linda - Dive in and enjoy her diving adventures and other ramblings.

Northernlight - I just started following her and I think you should too.

David - The ministry of cats is full of goodies I have not been a follower for very long but I am looking forward to more.

Pam - Fantastic writer, I wish she wrote more but I know that sometimes life is keeping us too busy to type.

I apologize for the lack of in-depth descriptions of the blogs but they are all written by wonderful people and I highly recommend them. All above are written in English unless otherwise noted.

Thanks for making it to the end of the post. More fun will come soon.

What these 15 books have done for me

Following is a list of 15 of the most important books in my life. They are in no special order, numbered only so that I could hold track of the fact that it should only be 15 books on the list. I hope you'll like it!

Before we start, thanks to Astrid and Cat that got me inspired to write this list!

1
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
The first time I tried to read it I only got a few pages into it and absolutely hated it. I couldn’t understand how anyone could think that *that* drivel was one of the best books in the world. Then, a few years ago on a sunny spring afternoon, I was in Belfast visiting a friend and was trying to get some alone time to pass quickly. I walked into a second hand shop and saw a bookshelf where this tattered and frayed old pocketbook lay and I bought it thinking that I’d give it another chance, in it’s original language. I forgot about it for a few months and one rainy summer day I picked it up and started reading. I read slowly, savouring every word on every page, afraid that if I read it too quickly it would also end. A love was ignited and it still burns, living alongside a deep respect for its author, who is today one of my greatest inspirations as a linguist, writer and foremost as a reader.

2
The Belgariad - David & Leigh Eddings
This is the book series that I’ve read more than anything else. I’m up in over 15 times of rereading it and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. They’re not written in a particularly beautiful way, the story is, in lack of other words, predictable and filled of all the fantasy stereotypes that if it had been written today, all critics would have sighed and threw it in a corner after just a few chapters. But I just can’t help loving it.

3
God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
I’ll just give a quote from the book on this one
"It didn't matter that the story had begun, because Kathakali discovered long ago that the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don't deceive you with thrills and trick endings."

4
House of the Spirits - Isabelle Allende
Just because it’s a beautiful story.

5
Sold - Zana Muhsen
The first biography I ever read, it sparked an interest in me about the lives of others. I wanted to know and feel the things they had been through and I could learn without going through all those horrors and struggles myself. All these people who had helped change the world, if they were famous or not didn’t matter to me, as long as it was ‘for real’.

6
Live Girls - Beth Nugent
For I have not before or after, read any other book where I’ve met: a young woman who sells tickets in a porn theater, her boss who is a wife-murderer, his oafy nephew, and an anorexic drag queen, all existing in unwavering misery - and ended up loving the book.

7
Let the Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist
It has vampires, but not like the sparkly ones like in the films. It has violence, but more shattering and heart wrenching. It has the Swedish 70’s but without the hippies and collectives of peace lovers. It has a cold beating heart and unimaginable terror and disgust.

8
Human Harbour (Människohamn) - John Ajvinde Lindqvist
Another excellent book by Lindqvist. Expected release, in English, 2010 or 2011.

9
The Brothers Lionheart (Bröderna Lejonhjärta)- Astrid Lindgren
My all time favorite story. The love between two brothers that extends even death. Hope, loyalty and pacifism mixed together with disease, death, tyranny, betrayal and rebellion. It contains a magic that can only take place in “the campfires and storytelling days”

10
The Darkest Room (Nattfåk) - Johan Theorin
An great crime novel. I don't usually like reading crime, so that makes this book extra special.

11
Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
I’m not going to say much about these, everyone has heard of Harry Potter. Think whatever you want of me, but I like them and I’m proud of it. I like the symbolism, the references to mythology, WW2 and everyday life. I don’t care very much for the films since my favorite characters get way too little screen time and the storyline has been treated like something mashed into a paper shredder. If you haven’t read the books yet, why not give them a try?

12
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Adams has a way of playing with words and sentences in a way that just makes me purr like a kitten, happily playing with the tassels at the end of a big fluffy scarf. It is nothing but sheer enjoyment to jump into a world that in the most illogical way makes absolutely no sense at all, but still is perfectly evident that there is no other way things could work out. At least not when you look at it through the eyes of Adams.

13
Nordstedts Franska Ordbok (French/Swedish Dictionary)
I have never used a dictionary so meticulously and frequently as this one. And it has still never failed to help me out of the ditches of a language barrier.

14
Lingonben (Lingonberry legs), collected lyrics by Povel Ramel
One of my dearest possessions. Nonsensical, funny and beautiful. In this book I can find my most precious childhood memories, singing with my mother.

15
Whitenose meets Browneye (my very literal translation of the title) - Marie Louise Rudolfsson
I had just turned five years old and someone had given me a few books for my birthday. Real grown-up books, without pictures, just a bunch of text. To me they seemed to be the thickest books in the world but I would guess they were not many pages at all. The actual story about the little pony Whitenose who meets the deer Browneye is long since forgotten. But I will never forget the joy I felt after had finished my first non-illustrated book.