Hi there!
My name is Jenny and I´m Swedish. I´ve just joined this community. As an avid reader of fiction lots of thoughts pop up while reading and you can´t talk about these things all the time at home or at work, although some people might actually be interested. I repeat, some! Most aren´t. You know how it is. I hope. I´m a fanatic when it comes to writing and reading.
I read a lot of British and some American writers. I´ve read most world classics and a lot of the books you´re supposed to have read. So now I just settle on the ones I want to read. Also, I prefer English novels in the original state. The Swedish translations can sometimes miss out on the right spirit. For example, the word quirky! It just belongs on the British Isles, like a little mischievous anglo-fairy. When quirky is translated into Swedish (besynnerlig, spetsfundig) it just sounds so wrong. But Sweden has its literary moments too. The love of nature is deeply rooted.
Characteristics that make me find a book good: quality, humour and originality! That sums it up, actually. Some of my favourites: Kate Atkinson, Tom Robbins, Jean Hegland, Angela Carter, Katherine Mansfield, Jacqueline Wilson, Siobhan Parkinson, Sue Townsend, Hanif Kureishi, Chekhov, Jonathan Coe, Mikhail Bulgakov, Charles Bukowski, Barbro Lindgren... Right, I´ve probably forgotten many many other authors. Oh well,´ll come back to that later.
Looking forward to opinionated book talk!
/Jenny, alias Puffin
Puffin, what a lovely bird! I´m very fond of small birds too. What has that to do with this intro? Nothing, I guess.
My name is Jenny and I´m Swedish. I´ve just joined this community. As an avid reader of fiction lots of thoughts pop up while reading and you can´t talk about these things all the time at home or at work, although some people might actually be interested. I repeat, some! Most aren´t. You know how it is. I hope. I´m a fanatic when it comes to writing and reading.
I read a lot of British and some American writers. I´ve read most world classics and a lot of the books you´re supposed to have read. So now I just settle on the ones I want to read. Also, I prefer English novels in the original state. The Swedish translations can sometimes miss out on the right spirit. For example, the word quirky! It just belongs on the British Isles, like a little mischievous anglo-fairy. When quirky is translated into Swedish (besynnerlig, spetsfundig) it just sounds so wrong. But Sweden has its literary moments too. The love of nature is deeply rooted.
Characteristics that make me find a book good: quality, humour and originality! That sums it up, actually. Some of my favourites: Kate Atkinson, Tom Robbins, Jean Hegland, Angela Carter, Katherine Mansfield, Jacqueline Wilson, Siobhan Parkinson, Sue Townsend, Hanif Kureishi, Chekhov, Jonathan Coe, Mikhail Bulgakov, Charles Bukowski, Barbro Lindgren... Right, I´ve probably forgotten many many other authors. Oh well,´ll come back to that later.
Looking forward to opinionated book talk!
/Jenny, alias Puffin
Puffin, what a lovely bird! I´m very fond of small birds too. What has that to do with this intro? Nothing, I guess.
Actually, I´ve read many Swedish classics (Strindberg, Arthur Lundkvist, Hjalmar Söderberg, Selma Lagerlöf, etc). I would think that these have been translated into English. Söderberg is the best of these. Many Swedish writers lack a sense of humour, I think. It´s all dark dark, while I prefer dark and light. Surely there must be exceptions. But I´m honestly not the right person to give suggestions on contemporary Swedes. Sorry!