Welcome to Litsy!

This was my December Double #BookSpin, but I‘m going to have to pick this one up another time. I don‘t want to mark it as DNF. I don‘t wanna ruin its stats. It‘s definitely me, not the book. Happy New Year, everyone! Happy Reading in 2024! Thank you for hosting again, Sarah!

“Do you read fiction?”
I shake my head.
“That‘s too bad. The writers see where we‘re headed before the scientists do.”

This was disappointing. The setting and the Inuit/European elements were fascinating, but the book was just all over the place. I don‘t mind slow-moving narratives (which this was) or even prickly, sort-of-unlikable narrators (honestly, I kind of liked Smilla), and the initial mystery was intriguing. But the unraveling of it all dragged on so long and got so sidetracked that I didn‘t even really care by the time I got to the unsatisfying ending.

“I‘m thinking that the sun is both menacing and full of laughter, like a clown‘s face when he paints himself with blood and ashes, bites down on a stick, and—alien, gruesome, and joyous—approaches us children.”

😳 When a clown does WHAT?!

I‘m thinking that clowns in Greenland or Denmark are markedly different than in the US. Also, no wonder people are afraid of clowns.

First big snow here in Tennessee, an uncommon event. This is my Little Free Library. It appears that the door may need some insulation work 😬

1. I do love snow! We don‘t get much in the Rio Grande valley where i live but it does snow a bunch up in the mountains.
2. I‘m a snow-watcher more than anything else. I like to watch it fall from the sky. It‘s so peaceful!

Thanks for the game @TheSpineView
Thanks for the tag @j.rye

@Avanders @CoffeeCatsBooks

#sundayfunday @ozma.of.oz

1) lots of snow. Have to admit, I liked the film more than the book.
2) Yep. As long as I don't have to travel anywhere.
3) added Fifty Words For Snow by Nancy Campbell

Good gravy, this book has a lot going on, a lot of which I enjoyed: the descriptions of snow and of cooking and food, the interesting characterizations, the tidbits about Greenland. But the plot is all over the place. Some frankly unbelievable things happen. I got confused by the ever-increasing cast of characters---who was that again? why are they here? When it was good, I was enthralled. Wish it had been more focused.

Smilla‘s Sense of Snow was a sometimes long and challenging read, but it‘s another one that I still think of months later. The sense of place was incredibly strong.

#12BooksOf2020

Absolutely love this book. Highly highly recommend. I love strong female characters and Smilla Jaspersen is one of the best 👍

I enjoyed this book, but sometimes it was a very slow read. Things would be intriguing and then become convoluted and slow. The setting and characters kept my interest, although the ending was a bit abrupt. Yet, it was fascinating. I appreciated the combination of mystery (although ultimately not about murder), culture, and science. All the details of Smilla‘s life and Greenland itself were incredibly interesting to me.

A Danish-Greenlander questions the death of a young friend. Part murder mystery, part Danish/Greenland relations, part violent pot boiler. The ending did try to touch on important philosophical questions but only in the last few pages. Overall it felt imbalanced. Too much suspense too little depth of thought. Hard to know for whom I‘d recommend.

I‘m just over halfway through this book and I‘m not sure what to think. I‘m intrigued but also sometimes confused and sometimes wish it would move faster. I truly appreciate some of the description, and I feel it gives a great sense of place. Curious to see where it goes . . .

#ReadingEurope2020 #Denmark #1001books

Taking a break from work to start part 3. Im oddly both entranced to continue reading but also repulsed by what I‘m reading. My friend named his dog after Smilla so I have to keep reading.

Lovely with a dash of wow. Part mystery, part spy-thriller, all inner journey in the head of Smilla Jaspersen, herself part Inuit, part Danish, never belonging anywhere, only within herself.
#adventrecommends

This is my for real TBR. Each of these has a date associated with it to be read by (a book club, travel..) I must read them in this order to hit the dates. I must not get unduly distracted by other wonderful books, but must also complete my Christmas projects that will be gifts.

1. The tagged book is amazing, it‘s so beautifully written, even in translation it just flows.
2. I don‘t get out much anymore, the last one was The Dark Tower At the drive-in(what a disappointment😠)
3. Ice cream! And watermelon.
4. 25. I think.
5. @Cinfhen @sisilia @JazzFeathers share some love ladies!♥️♥️♥️

#FriYayIntro

I keep changing my mind on this book.

Plus - one gutsy woman - the tenacity to find out the why a little boy had to die. I really liked her love interest - seemed humble with a stutter

Wish - That gutsy woman could be downright violent - I guess she had to be. Some description went over my head (boat, scientific jargon, roundabout clues) The love interest turned out to work for the bad guy, the real reason Isaiah died -discovery of species WHAT?

Reminds me of Thoreau's Civil Disobedience.

@Emilymdxn I'm halfway. Keeps getting better and better. It's funny, I don't like Smilla as much as I should other than appreciating her stubbornness, but I love the mechanic.

I'm enjoying this read set in Copenhagen. The MC is a scientist who studies snow and ice in Greenland. In order to shut her up, the law has threatened to lock her up if she continues to investigate the death of her young friend.

It deals with one of my main interests - equity of language and culture among indigenous cultures. If I was to get my doctorate, it would be in this area.

Finished on plane to Vienna. I loved the writing, the characters and the social commentary of this, I was less engaged by the thriller aspects but that‘s just me not being a big thriller fan, I think it‘s a great crime novel if you like crime! The way Smilla speaks about Greenland and it‘s differences from Denmark is what will stick with me for a really long time, this is a view of colonialism I never considered before

Hello all! I‘m in another nightmare busy week so my fitness has been more of a ‘holistically give it a go‘ than tracking anything much. I‘m working til 9pm tonight and have a flight at 8am tomorrow so between work and packing there is not a minute to check my step count 😢 continuing to do my best tho!

This book continues to be amazing tho! #bfcr2 #goteam

That‘s why Thule will never become a museum. The ethnographers have cast a dream of innocence over North Greenland. A dream that the Inuit will continue to be the bowlegged, drum-dancing, legend-telling, widely smiling exhibition images that the first explorers thought they were meeting south of Qaanaaq at the turn of the century. My mother gave them a dead bird.

“There is one way to understand another culture. Living it. Move into it, ask to be tolerated as a guest, learn the language. At some point understanding may come. It will always be wordless. The moment you grasp what is foreign, you will lose the urge to explain it. To explain a phenomenon is to distance yourself from it.”

#30JuneBooks
Christmas-themed #prettybooks

Only read two of the titles. 😄

#50wordsforsnow This book set in Denmark and Greenland is full of snow. It starts so well with a good character, a gripping mystery and some fascinating stuff about Danish-Greenlandic relations but the plot is unbelievably silly by the end @TrishB @Cinfhen #winterwonderland

If anyone knows #50wordsforsnow it‘s Smilla Qaavigaaq Jaspersen! #WinterWonderland @TrishB @Cinfhen

#winterwonderland #50wordsforsnow

Smilla knows all about snow, she probably even knows 50 words for it! Certainly her snowy expertise can help her discover whether a death was accidental or a homicide.

I remember enjoying this book many years ago - but I suspect it is a little slower and quieter than your average thriller despite the claim on the cover “The Original Scandinavian Thriller”. ❄️❄️❄️

Smilla is an idiosyncratic #IcePrincess in this cool, chilly thriller that evokes a great sense of place. I've held on to this unremarkable movie tie-in paperback since I first read it sometime in the late 90s. #NoFemmeber

@Billypar @Cinfhen

I bought this book from a secondhand store today and this picture was folded up inside. It‘s beautiful and intriguing. It made me think about who owned this book before, what they are like, what their life is like. It‘s a shame we don‘t have the ability to know these things about past owners of books.
I‘ve always said if I could have a super power it would be to read people‘s minds. I find myself wondering often about strangers lives.

School pick up line reading and it is starting to sprinkle. I have 200 pages left of this book and book club is tomorrow.

The kids are at school, the house is clean and quiet. I get to spend 3 hours alone in my library reading my book club book with a sleepy dog by the fire. I have always wanted this day to come and I can't stop thinking about and missing my babies!

The salty old queen of the sea, Copenhagen, was where we were today.#backpackEurope @JenP @BookwormM

You know it is hot when you burn your feet on the cement at night. We are night swimming after my summer book club on ice. A local bookstore is hosting 3 book club meetings to discuss books set in snow. Tonight we discussed Ethan Frome, this is the next book.

What a wonderful stay in Denmark with this book 💙I really enjoyed the company of the quircky Smilla. A fascinating read, especially when we got to learn more about Greenland life and culture. The writing flows beautifully, and pulls you right in. I can understand that this is not for everyone though, especially if you're expecting a fast paced crime novel. This was, in my opinion, so much more than that. ❄️

Solid 4⭐️

#BackpackEurope
#1001books

#bookhaul
There was a charity shop on the way to the cinema 😁 today‘s purchases! Couldn‘t resist the Peter Hoeg one after @Lizpixie said everyone should read 😘

Hr30 Challenge for the #24in48 #readathon is “Flying Under The Radar” My favourite book that never gets the recognition it deserves is this gem of a book from Denmark. I wish I could put copies of this in everyone‘s hands & make them see how beautifully written it is.How the writer just sweeps you away with his lyrical prose & makes you live inside the book, feel the snow on your face, hear it crunching under your feet, hurt along with Smilla.11⭐️

Enjoying my literary stay in #Denmark very much in the company of the quircky Smilla :) Today we had time for swimming, icecream and we're also going to a concert tonight -yay! :) Makes me almost not want to travel on further, so I might just hang here for a couple of more days 🇩🇰

#BackpackEurope
#1001books
#Reading1001

@JenP & @BookwormM

#beatthebacklist2018 prompt for 3 May--a book set in another country: Smila's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg. This book hits a lot of my reading challenges task. It's one that I've been meaning to read for years and it fulfills the Nordic Noir task for one of the various clubs I belong to. In honor of Star Wars Day tomorrow, I present the novel on my Star Wars body pillow.

May the Fourth Be With You!

Snow day is perfect for nordic noir

I hate to do this, but having a week off from this book for vacation has only cemented the fact that I really have no desire to get back to it. Such a disappointment. And now I have to find a new book for #nordicnoir #pop18. #smillassenseoffebruary Sorry for letting down my fellow read-a-longers. @2BR02B @Kristy_K @sprainedbrain @BrainyHeroine Also, clearly Gertrude is as bored of it as I am! 😂😂

This month has been so crazy I haven‘t had anytime to start my buddy reads! I‘m in the middle of a cross country move and found out my grandma has stage 4 brain cancer. This is my first time on Litsy in over a week and I hate to do it but I need to bail on my buddy reads this month. I‘m loving going back through conversations about this book, Wonder Woman, and I feel there was one more but I can‘t remember.

Wait... I struggled through this book for 8+ hours for THAT ending? 🤪

⭐️⭐️1/2

#1001books

I finished The City... so I‘ve got the reading done for the first half of #SmillasSenseOfFebruary

I think I actually know what‘s happening, and I may just continue and finish this book this weekend. It seems like reading it in larger chunks is easier for me than splitting it out. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I‘m 10 chapters in and I‘m not really sure what‘s happening. 😂 That‘s never a good sign, right? I‘m curious to see what my fellow buddy readers think. Sometimes I think I‘m starting to get it and then I‘m like oh wait, nope. I‘m trying to just go with it and assume that the mystery aspect will explain itself. #smillassenseoffebruary #bathandbook

1. Here's Feli and Fran, fallen asleep while hugging. #LetsMakeTricksySmile
2. Always Android, though I think my current phone will be my last Samsung.
3. All of the nuts.
4. Reading the tagged for a buddy read (#smillassenseoffebruary). It's about an irascible woman who decides to get involved when a neighbor child's death, which she suspects to be murder, is ruled accidental. I'm 50 pages in, so I can't yet say whether I'd recommend it. 👇