Rainy Day Reads

I have actually read a couple of classics this year in my “Reading the Classics” project, but for some reason I never ticked them off my Bingo Chart. So I figured it was time with this one.   “The Scarlet Letter” is about a woman, Hester Prynne, who is caught cheating on her absent husband, when she falls pregnant. Unluckily for her, she lives in the Puritan colonies of the America’s in the 18th century. She is sentenced to wear a scarlet letter on her dress, so everyone will recognize her and judge her. She refuses to give up her accomplice, and when her husband unexpectedly returns, she refuses to even tell him. He decides to hide who he really is in order to avoid being connected with her and sets about finding out who his wife’s lover is.  I rather quickly figured out who the lover is, and so it seems does the husband. He sets out to take his revenge, but I can’t really figure out how. He pretends to befriend the lover and acts as his doctor, but I can’t tell if he u

This book spans a number of years and the story is narrated by a number of people. Essentially we follow one family. This family lives in Afghanistan and as the story begins in 1952 it is about to be split apart. We follow the different members of the family, how they are scattered across the world and how they slowly find their way back again, either to their homeland or to each other. I can’t really say too much more without spoiling things, so I won’t.   This is definitely a slow burning book about family and the ties we create and break with other people. And that sort of story is usually not for me, which is probably why I didn't enjoy this book too much. It was well written, but the jumping in time and perspective would usually throw me for loop every time, and I just find that annoying. Each narrator would usually have a good chunk of text, so whenever it changed it would take a little time to adjust and figure out who was telling the story now.  As I said

I have been on a book buying ban, for what feels like ages. And there is no end in sight! But fortunately I was lucky enough to receive a gift certificate for an online bookshop, and I made full use of it recently, so I figured I would share my purchases here.  I ordered these books a very long while ago but for some reason they took months to get to me. But they are finally here and I am so happy about them all, and can’t wait to get started on them.  The first book I bought is “The Raven King” by Maggie Stiefvater. This is the long-awaited conclusion to “The Raven Cycle” about the Raven boys and Blue and their hunt for a mythical king that can grant wished to the one who wakes him from his enchanted sleep. I feel like everyone has already read this book, as it has been out for a while, but I have been avoiding reviews, so I don’t know how it holds up to the rest of the books. But I’m excited to see.  The next book is the first in a duology. It’s “Wolf by Wolf

I was a little bit wary going into this book, as I thought I had heard mixed reviews about it, but at the same time I have really enjoyed Tiernan’s writing in the past, especially her Sweep series, which I was quite obsessed with for a while. This is also a series, but I haven’t really heard too much about it. This book is about Nastasya, an immortal, dissipated woman who is living her life hunting for her next thrill. One night she witnesses something that makes her question her life choices and she goes in the pursuit of a more meaningful life, almost in spite of herself. She ends up in a sort of commune where the work to turn her life around means confronting old memories and feelings she has had hidden away for hundreds of years. Slowly she starts learning things about herself and her power that she was unaware of and what the consequences of these discoveries might be.  As a character I really enjoyed Nastasya. She was sarcastic and resentful, but deep down kind

Holy moly, I absolutely loved this book! It has been a while since I have sped through a book in this way, completely engrossed in the story and not once felling bored or impatient for the plot to pick up.   But let’s start at the beginning. This book is a fantasy set in London in multiple universes. There’s Grey London, where magic doesn’t really exist, Red London where magic thrives, White London where magic is power and black London which succumbed to magic and is now closed off. These Londons used to be connected by doors, but they have now been sealed off and only very few people can travel between the worlds. Kell is one such person and he is the main protagonist of this book. He works for the King and Queen of Red London delivering messages to the rulers of the other two living Londons. He has a bad habit of collecting trinkets, which is strictly forbidden, and one day he accidentally brings something very dangerous from one world to another, and now he must figure

Essaouira is an idyllic little town on the west coast of Morocco. It is conveniently  located just a few hours drive from Marrakech, and a lot of Moroccans use it as a weekend getaway.  I went there in 2015 on my Morocco roundtrip and you can read a more detailed “review” here ! As I said above Essaouira is a lovely little city, famous for its laid back vibe and hippie feel. We spent the days just relaxing and enjoying the fresh breeze after having been roasted in the desert and baked in the hot cities of Morocco.  The history of the city can be traced back to prehistoric times. The bay is sheltered which means the harbour is protected against the strong winds from the Atlantic. Essaouira, consequently, has always been a busy trading port with visits from the Carthaginians, the Romans and the Portuguese among others. In the 16th century European powers repeatedly tried to seize the city, but in vain.  The city we see today was built in the 18th cen

I came across this book at my local library and I thought why not give it a go. I did have an inkling that I had heard some negative reviews about it, but I figured I would give it a try anyway.   This book is about a dystopian future not too far off, where all girls and boys grow up to die at the ages of 20 and 25 respectively. This is apparently caused by some sort of virus, that seemingly originates in the fact that the elder generation was genetically manipulated to be superhealthy. I don’t really see how that works but anyhow. This world is now populated by the old and the very young. Some old and/or rich men pay people to kidnap young girls so that they can marry and procreate.  Our protagonist, Rhine, is one of these young girls. She is kidnapped along with a bunch of others and married off to a young man, who lives in a mansion cut off from everyday life, with his father and his other brides. We follow Rhine’s stay in this mansion and her quest to escape while luring e

I stumbled across this book at my local library, and since I had seen the movie a few months before and really enjoyed it, I decided to read the book too. I used to be a firm believer in the fact that the book is always better, but recently I have changed my opinion somewhat. Saying that, you will probably have figured out by now that I liked the movie more.   This book is about a man, Alfred Jones, who works as a fishing expert in some sort of consultant firm in England. The firm is contacted by a client who wants to introduce salmon and salmon fishing in Yemen and wants help setting this up. Alfred becomes involved, initially against his will, but through his work with the charismatic sheik and the beautiful Harriet, who is the sheik’s British consultant, he soon becomes invested in the project and it fundamentally changes his life.  The story is told through various documents, personal and official. There are extracts from diaries and letters, reports, transcripts fro

I picked this particular challenge, because I’ve heard so many good things about Guillou and his writing, and especially this series. This was all over the place a few (many!) years ago, there was even a movie, so I figured I should get stuck into it and what better place to start than with this book.  The story is about a young boy, Arn, who is born and raised on an affluent farm/manor in Medieval Sweden. Various circumstances lead his parents to send him to be raised in a convent and here he learns practically everything (and then some) worth knowing in Medieval Sweden. When he is a young man the monks send him back to his father’s house to learn about the “ways of the world” outside the convent. This leads to a number of misunderstandings and other events and end up with Arn getting on the road to Jerusalem.  To be honest I don’t really know what I expected from this book. Probably a little more Knight Templar action, but what it was, was basically Arn coming of a