(Source: Joddler.se)

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I’m currently rereading The Legend of The Ice People, a 47 book series by the Norwegian author Margit Sandemo. The story follows a cursed family line from the 16^th century when the black death and the plague ravished through Norway. The first book brings you to meet Silje, a 16 year old girl walking through the streets of Trondheim, surviving on moldy stale bread thrown from the windows of the few still charitable.

The story then continues with Silje stumbling upon a dark, beastly man in the woods by the fire of burning corpses outside the city walls. And there starts the story of Silje and Tengel.

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I remember when I was in my lower teens. My father girlfriend at the time had shelves and shelves of books. I envied her collection, and it was her passion for books that got me to spend my entire allowance running through second-hand bookshops all over Gothenburg (I suppose my father was happy in a way that I spent it on books rather than other things). She was a passionate collector of Stephen King, and it was Stephen Kings’ The Talisman (Link to Amazon) that was the first “adult” fiction book I read. I loved it. I followed that experience up by reading other books by King, and thus I had entered the realm of horror reading. We worked well together, she and I. We clicked on a level that I can only compare to as real friendship. And to complement the books, we also watched a number of Stephen King adapted films, some better than others.

***

I don’t remember me contemplating it very much at the time (and today I can’t see a reason to), but some might find it strange that a fan of horror fiction also love the field of historical/romantic novels. At the time, Margit Sandemos’ books for The Legend of The Ice People was only available through book club membership. Two books a month, 47 books total.

They sat there on the shelf with their bright blue jackets, and prints of paintings on the front depicting the theme of each book. I remember I felt discouraged by the thought of reading the whole series at the time. I’ve never been one of those quick readers, I love to take my time and try to understand what I’m reading, nonetheless remember what I’ve read. Still, after reading a book I’m not the person to remember details either. I suppose I live in the moment. I often find myself reacting to sentences and passages as I read them if they stand out.

***

One of the reasons I love Margit Sandemos’ writing is probably because it is so light. It’s easy to understand, and it just flows over the pages. I rarely have to stop, but simply enjoy every moment. What the series is about, is really about the family, relationships and struggles of the curse that is put on one from each generation in the line. The story is highly integrated to the historical events happening in Norway and Scandinavia during these years – which is quite an overwhelming time, the 16^th century. Norway is under the governing of Denmark, and war is raging in Germany in the first 10 books of the series. Every book centers on one (or two) person(s) of the family and what they go through in finding peace and loving relations. Margit Sandemo captivates with her descriptions of characters and settings in a way I rarely find. I don’t know why but I imagine Jane Austens’ work to be similar in style, perhaps I will find out through reading some of her works that are currently on my Classics list.

***

This post was supposed to focus around Silje and Tengel, and the great love between them that sets the standard for the rest of the series. But so happens I trailed off, I will have to get back to them another time.

2011 has been an advanterous year.

• I presented my thesis on ”Improvement of Commutation Failure Prediction in HVDC Classic Links” and graduated with honors from University West.
• I got my first long-term job, hired by ABB HVDC in Ludvika three days after my thesis presentation.
• I was the first in my class to receive my Bachelor Diploma in May.
• I received an award for best thesis at the institution of engineering.
• We accepted to rent a house 30 minutes from my work and moved in the last of January.
• During spring I went on my first assigments abroad to Papenburg, Germany.
• In the summer worked three weeks on Sardinia, Italy – and my fiance flew down with me.
• I spent an entire morning on the beach, first time in my life.
• We have spent approximately 30 000 SEK on decorating our new home.
• I started sketching, and painting more frequently.
• I tested new drawing techniques: stompf, dot painting, line art, abstract.
• I started painting with acrylics on canvas and finished my first series for the kitchen in the summer.
• I found the best of friends in our new neighbours.
• Together with our new neighbours I enjoyed a great dinner and an evening on Ladies Night in Örebro.
• Spent joyous time at a number of partylite gatherings in the fall.
• I tasted the ”Tr3 apor” white wine, and it tastes like pear lemonade.
• My fiance got employment.
• I started on a course for a Hunting License.
• We bought a brand new car- 1 month out of the factory! – a Mini Cooper D, red with stripes and everything.
• We’ve spent many hours watching tv-series included, but not limited to: Charmed, Big Bang Theory, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Gilmore Girls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bones.
• I started this blog with its own domain.
• I got nail extensions for the first time in my life in November – an interesting experience.
• I read 56 books during 2011 – and going for more this year!
• I’m drinking more coffee since I graduated – it’s a contagious habbit at the office!
• We finally bought a christmas tree (plastic) this year, since we actually have the space for one.
• Found out that we save approximately 30 % on each filled grocery bag while shopping after we moved north.

Now I can finally announce the addition of Google Translate onto this blog. You find it on the right at the very top of the columns. Everything to make your reading easier.

Enjoy.

I love the autumn. It is my favourite time of year. I love it how it brings colours; yellow, orange, red, and brown. I enjoy the fresh morning air that hints towards Winter. But perhaps what I like most of all, is the cosy atmosphere one can create at home by lighting candles. The light of a candle brings me calm – whenever I feel stressed it always helps to light a little around the room.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading off on business. It is a small upgrade project and I will be away from home for two weeks. But that is alright, because this time of year, I got a lot to look forward to. However, I wonder if they’d let me lit candles in the hotel room…?

Igår landade vi åter på svensk mark efter att ha befunnit oss på Sardinien i närmare tre veckor. ABB:s projekt SAPEI, som jag tidigare skrivit om, är nu i sitt slutskede – en länk med total nominell effekt på 1000 MW.

När vi steg av flyget och satte oss i bilen på väg hemåt regnade det ner så häftigt att det var som ett vattenfall snarare än regn. Men vi fann det skönt att komma hem till huset, varmt, gästingivande och hemma. Flygresan upp (och ner) var tärande, flyg var försenade, connections nästan missade och allt som allt väldigt stressande. En fråga som jag ställer mig själv är hur flygbolag/resebolag beräknar den tid som behövs mellan byten. Vi hade två byten på vår resa, vardera knappt en timma lång, med försenade flyg och tiden det tar att bara ta sig ut ur flygplanet lämnar inte mycket över för en lunch. Jag förstår att snabbmatsrestaurangerna längs Arlanda-vägen går med vinst.

Det som gjorde mig mest besviken i Italien var bristen på engelsk litteratur. Jag finner det väldigt rogivande att gå in i en bokaffär fylld med böcker och hitta något riktigt spännande. På hemresan kom jag dock över en artikel som berättade om dåtidens flygresor i början av förra seklet närmare bestämt 1930-talet. Den öppnar så här:

”Back in the 1930s, air travel was slow, but the trip was a real adventure, a flight over the world’s landscapes, from the rice fields of Tonkin to the Dodecanese. A fortunate few experienced this unique trip.”

Art Aviation, Air France, 1939 (Källa)

Den fortsätter sedan med att berätta om hur en Guy Desjardins (16) flyger från Hanoi till Marseille 1938; en flygresa som tar sex dagar. Sex dagar i luften (?), kanske du tänker. Men nej, det är inte mindre än 16 stopp på vägen där dem får njuta av middagar och kultur som sträcker sig längs halva jordklotet. 1938 var flygresor fortfarande något för ”överklassen” och dem välbärgade, Guys enkelresa gick på € 8 200.

Kanske borde man visa mer tacksamhet över att flyg inte tar så lång tid i dagsläget (?), men de hade i alla fall lyxen att njuta av en riktig måltid. Jag avslutar detta inlägg med ett citat från John Fowles ”The French Lieutenant’s Woman” publicerat hos bokbloggen 101 Books som jag läser mer eller mindre dagligen; en bok jag definitvt lägger högt upp på min ”To Read”-lista (!).

The supposed great misery of our century is the lack of time; our sense that, not a disinterested love of science, and certainly not wisdom, is why we devote such a huge proportion of the ingenuity and income of our societies to finding faster ways of doing things–as if the final aim of mankind was to grow closer not to a perfect humanity, but to a perfect lightning flash.

Excerpt from The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles