I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the name Kaleb Nation, probably most famous for his successful YouTube account.
He is also, however, a published writer, and quite an accomplished one at that! In 2009 he published his first book, Bran Hambric and the Farfield Curse, and in 2010 we got the sequel; Bran Hambric and the Specter Key
Now, for the past years we’ve been getting hints at this super secret book Mr. Nation has been working on. Honestly, saying that we got hints is bit..generous. We got “Don’t Trust Anyone”. That’s about it.
A few hours ago, we finally got some questions answered. The name of the book is Harken. You can find a short synopsis over at http://readharken.com
If the book lives up to what it promises, I will probably like it, even though it’s going to scare me, just like most things creepy and non-human do. I’m very excited about this! The book is out on January 13th 2013.
Are you going to read Harken? Do you want to find others to chat with about it? Visit Harken’s Goodread page to find out more!!
Edit: Go here and skip to 1:05:21 to hear the author read the first chapter of the book.
Monthly Archives: November 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sadly Sweden doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but ever since I got to spend some time in the US over the holidays a few years ago, I’ve found it to be a pretty nice one. I’m usually not much for celebrating but who can deny a holiday when people are happy and thankful and loving towards each other? I can’t!
Anyway, I’ll honour this by appreciating everything I’ve got, just a little bit more today.
I have a home, a job and a school to go to, a school that is free. I have all the things I need to live a comfortable life, I have access to all the knowledge I could ever wish for. I have food to eat, water to drink, and medication when I’m ill. I have someone to love, who loves me back. I have a family and I have tons of great memories. Also I have a cat.
Really, there are so many reasons for me to be thankful, not only today, but every day :)
Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? How?
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
For the past few weeks, I’ve been reading a book called The Help (although my edition was in Swedish and thus called Niceville). It took me this long to read only because I’m reading two pretty heavy pieces in addition to The Help, it was in no way a difficult read.
Synopsis
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
(Source: KathrynStockett.com)
I’m going to be honest. Before I started it, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it. Not because the subject didn’t seem interesting to me, but because stories like these often try to preach and they try way too hard. The Help however, did nothing of the sorts. Instead it managed to capture the stories of three women and their lives. It tells a story about a life that most of us can’t even imagine, and it does so with just the right amount of detail into daily life.
You’d think, considering it covers racism, hate and abuse, that it would be a depressing book. Au contraire, mon ami. It’s actually pretty uplifting, and it makes you believe that change is possible, no matter how impossible it looks. Maybe you can’t change the world, but sometimes changing a person or a few, can be enough.
Having finished this, I instantly gave it 5 stars and put it on my favourites shelf on Goodreads. It takes a lot for me to do so (I now have 6 books on that shelf, so yeah, I’m pretty picky). I’d recommend this book to anyone.
My opinion on e-readers
Lately I’ve found myself in several discussions about e-readers, mostly on Goodreads of course, and I wanted to clear some things up. I don’t hate them, I just prefer paper books, and this is why;
Firstly, convenience. I know that a lot of people find it to be sooo much easier to carry yet another tablet around, but in my opinion, the less things that can break if your purse falls, the better. Of course pocket books aren’t as durable, but you can make covers for them if you carry them with you a lot, and most of my paperbacks are thrifted anyway, so I could just as easy get a new one if mine gets ruined. I genuinely rather bring a book with me than a Kindle or such.
The feeling. This is probably what most book lovers mention first when asked about this matter, because reading from a tablet just does not feel like reading a real book. I love the paper, I love the smell of books. The way they feel in my hand when I turn the pages. That can never be fabricated for digital books.
The value. I know that a lot of the attraction with e-readers lies in being able to get free books constantly, because apparently that’s a thing. They give away books. And I agree, that’s awesome. But I love books and I love reading, and I actually don’t mind paying for the product. Which is funny since I listen to all music on Spotify or Youtube nowadays, thus neither stealing nor paying for the music I listen to. Books however, I can spend a fortune on. I probably spend more money in a year on books than on clothes, and that says a lot, seeing as I’m a woman who likes pretty clothes.
So no, I don’t hate digital books, nor do I hate e-readers. Will I get one? No, probably not any time soon. Maybe in the future, maybe not, we’ll see. Until then, I’m very content with my book shelf, my Waterstones bonus card and my paper books. Because that’s the way I love them.
Thrifting Queen
I went to a thrift store the other day. Came home with two books; The Once and Future King and Jane Eyre, a key holder, a pot, some things I’m apparently too forgetful to remember, and the star you see above. It’s so pretty.
I autumn cleaned my blog;
Pretty happy with the result, looks a lot cleaner than before, and with some nice autumn colours. What do you guys think?
It’s November 11th you say..
..to which I say “Who cares?”
Colin Morgan and his films
A while ago I started watching a new TV-series. Well it’s not new, it’s actually currently on season 5, but it’s new to me. The title role, Merlin, is played by one Colin Morgan. I like ‘em Irish, I say, and so I started looking into what more he’s done.
Island is filmed in Scotland in 2011. The main role of Nikki is played by Natalie Press, who portrays the broken, lost girl very well, even if I sometimes doubted her. I think that’s down to the script more than her acting though, and considering the plot I think she did a good job. Basically Nikki was abandoned by her mother, left in foster homes and thus grew up unable to connect to, and understand, human emotion. She goes to see her mother in order to confront her and possibly murder her. Her mother, living on a remote island, turns out to have a son only a few years younger than Nikki herself; Calum. Although Calum is distant and not too used to human interaction, the two connect. Colin in the role as Calum was pretty brilliant, he portrays the crazy pretty well and it’s the first time I got to see him act in a bigger role outside of Merlin. I was impressed.
The film is pretty, I have to say. The landscape is used beautifully and it sets the mood, it’s actually creepy enough for me to pause a few minutes in to check IMDB if it’s a horror movie. I did enjoy watching it though (feeling safe in the knowledge that it was not a horror movie..)
Next up, Parked. Fred lives in his car in Dublin, on a parking lot near the sea in Dublin. One day, another car parks there, and that’s how Fred meets the druggie Cathal. They become friends and they teach each other things about life and living, they help each other through the bad times and walk side by side through the good.
I’d heard a lot about this film being sad, that’s really all I knew. I don’t shed a tear when watching Titanic so I usually don’t heed those warnings anyway, so I went in unprepared.
Fred is a character who fights for his right to live a life the way he wants to, the way that he always has, even though circumstances aren’t always on his side. He doesn’t give up on what he believes to be right even though it would be easy to, and that gives hope. And Cathal is so loveable and broken, and you can’t help but feel for him, and he deserves so much more. And in the end you get your heart broken no matter what you do, although heartbreak comes with a side of hope.
Both Colm Meaney (Fred) and Colin Morgan (Cathal) are really good in this, I’d watch this film again, easily.
And yeah, I cried, which is a thumbs up for a film as emotional as Parked.
Turns out that Colin Morgan isn’t just a great Merlin, but a great actor in general. I’m very excited to see what’s ahead of him, I imagine he could take on pretty much any role he wanted. I know this man will go far, I just hope he stays in the UK doing it :)