#25Alive! Day 3: #Winter - here‘s hoping I finally get to Norwegian Knausgaard this year as GatheringBooks launched its #ReadTheWorld2025 reading theme inspired by how my travels to eight countries in 2024 shaped my reading journeys: https://wp.me/pDlzr-qUy
#DaysDevotedTo Day 8: #CoffeeTea with a Norwegian novel while I was in Bodo Norway early this year. This is part of the free “fika” offered by the hotel between 3-5 pm and- said to be a big part of Scandinavian culture. Reminded me of our merienda - byproduct of Spanish colonization.
pickI have yet to finish his Septology series , my reading brain is finding it hard to finish anything so took in this slim volume. I liked it the first grouping is very much like what stands out in a child‘s memory. A middle section about a dog is fantastical tw below. The 3rd segment about a boy & girl 4 & 3 how they get in trouble, much from the point of view of the 4 year old brother. Powerful descriptions.
pickI absolutely LOVED the first 85% of this book. I was taking notes on the characters because there are so many, and keeping track of the little threads that intertwined between them…and then the last 100 pages. OOF. I almost can‘t forgive him for the lack of an ending. But the first 579 pages were so good! (40)
⭐️: 3.5/5
pickTwo painters, both called Asle, live on the West coast of Norway; one of them is the narrator. They look identical and their lives seem two different versions of the same life.
The novel is written in stream of consciousness but the prose is slow and flows so beautifully. Their story is very intriguing, they interact with each other and it feels like one of them is a sort of an alter ego. It makes the reader wonder if both lives are real.
pickA psychological thriller with many references to folktales and operas. In spite of it starting slow and not liking most of the characters, it was a quick read that kept my attention.
bailedI liked the premise and how the book started. Even the characters seemed interesting. But, the writing style was not for me. I thought I'd get used to it and that made me read like 40% of the book but it was simply annoying after that.
#hailthebail
panthe only reason it's not zero stars is because the ending redeemed itself, but istg the mmc is just the combination of down-bad and daddy issues. (the funniest thing is, post ib exams, i hated this book but i used it for every paper 2 we did)
