fredag 20 maj 2011

På spaning i farfars bibliotek.





När jag var hos farmor passade jag på att spana runt lite i farfars gamla bokhyllor. Jag älskar när folk har skrivit namn och årtal i sina böcker, det ska jag också börja göra tror jag. Det bästa var att hitta farfars och farfarsfars namnteckningar och se hur snyggt de skrev vårt efternamn. Och att det är fler än jag som pluggat litteratur!



(When I was at my grandmother's I took the opportunity to scout around a bit in my grandfather's old bookshelves. I love when people have written names and dates in their books, maybe I should start doing that aswell. The best thing was to find the signatures of my grandfather and great grandfather and see how nicely they wrote our last name. And that I'm not the only one that studied literature!)

10 kommentarer:

  1. That's really special. I often write the date and town where I found the book on the inside cover. My mother is a librarian so it's not surprising. x

    SvaraRadera
  2. Sounds like a good idea, such a treasure to find later (of for someone else to find)! and the books may come to represent the visit in the town you buy it in I imagine, nice way to remember. Do you have a favourite? librarian mother, sounds wonderful! :) x

    SvaraRadera
  3. I think so too - it’s a nice way to remember my travels. A favourite book? You’re opening the floodgates there girl! I really love Wilhelm Genazino’s ‘The Shoe Tester of Frankfurt’… plus many, many more :) Do you have a favourite? x

    SvaraRadera
  4. I actually meant if you had a favourite book from the ones you've written place and dates in, like a favourite travel memory? but I was going to ask about The Favourite Book aswell, so let it flood! I've never heard of Genazino, I will definatly look that up! :) what kind of book is it? I've also got so many favourites.. one of them is 'En herrgårdssägen' ("a mansion legend" if you translate, I don't know if its the proper translation of the title) by Selma Lagerlöf. Is Selma Lagerlöf known outside Sweden? Love this conversation by the way! :) x

    SvaraRadera
  5. Aha. Well, there’s a rather large collection that has been sitting in storage for some years now and my memory is rather vague at the best of times, although I do remember picking up some real treasures during some travels through SE Asia. Special memories there.

    I’d describe The Shoe Tester of Frankfurt as a charming philosophical piece in a similar vein to Hamsun’s Hunger and Orwell’s Down and Out In Paris and London.

    I’ve never heard of Lagerlöf I’m afraid. It doesn’t look like En herrgårdssägen has been translated into English either… That’s good motivation to get on with my Swedish studies :) Do you have a recommendation of any of her other works that have been translated?

    A fine conversation indeed. I’ve always wanted to have a book club!

    SvaraRadera
  6. 'The Shoe Tester of Frankfurt' sounds truly interesting! I haven't actually read the others you mentioned, but 'Hunger' is on my list for this summer and I like Orwell's language, so it sounds like a hit! Thanks for the tip! :)

    I made some scouting on translations, and -this was almost incredibly fortunate- I found 'En herrgårdssägen' in English, free and Kindle-friendly!

    http://www.archive.org/details/fromswedishhomes00lageuoft

    It's a book with several stories by Selma Lagerlöf, 'En herrgårdssägen' is the first one, translated to 'The story of a country house'! (I don't understand how herrgård (mansion) became country house though.. Isn't country house like a small cottage?) I think it's really beautiful. Very poetic and a bit mysterious, I love the story. I also think it's very Sweden, beautiful nature descriptions. Still think you should also read it in Swedish later though! :)

    Now I got all exited, hope you like it too if you decide to read it. Ooo, a book club! me too! let's start one!!

    SvaraRadera
  7. Guess what is now freshly loaded onto my Kindle! I’m looking forward to reading it. I’ll let you know my thoughts :)

    Hunger, Down and Out and The Shoe Tester are three really great books – I hope you get a chance to read them.

    A book club would be great although it would have to be in English unless we were reading books for five year olds!

    SvaraRadera
  8. That's wonderful! I'm looking forward to hear what you think! :)

    I found Hunger on a flea market for 2 kronor the other day, very timely! :) I really hope my library has The Shoe Tester, will look for it as soon as school's out!

    Haha, books for five year olds are cool with me! English is fine with me (although I might not understand everything), or (maybe even better) I can read it in Swedish and you in English, what is different because of different linguistic denominations in two languages might also be interesting to discuss! just a thought :)

    SvaraRadera
  9. I’m glad you found Hunger :) What a bargain!

    Funny you mention the linguistic differences between translated works - I began reading the book you recommended and I already feel that so much of the literary style has been lost… I hope the story makes up for all that I am missing out on! I’ll keep you posted. x

    SvaraRadera
  10. Oh no! :( that's sad to hear, but I can really imagine it. It's something about Lagerlöfs style that I really like, maybe that undefined something is hard to keep in translation. Hope the story works anyway, I think both the language and story are so poetic, hope the story works alone too! It will be interesting to hear your verdict. And you can always read it in Swedish in a couple of years for comparison! :) x

    SvaraRadera

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