Bogormen

Title: Diget (The Dike)
Author: Teddy Vork
Genre: Horror, childrens
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 190
Date read: August, 2010

Every seventh year, according to an old tradition, a young boy had to be sacrificed to the dike by the Western coast of Denmark.

Trapped in the darkness of the dike, Knud has to fight against hunger, thirst, cold and fear - because he quickly discovers that he's not alone. Something is waiting for him in the darkness.

I'll admit it. I only read "Diget" ("The Dike") because I had to. It's not the type of book I'll usually pick up, but my publisher sent it to me for review, so pick it up I did. That said, it actually wasn't half bad. "Diget" was a mixture of Knud's experiences inside the dike, old legends and his experiences with the people of his village which worked surprisingly well. Until now I've only known Teddy Vork to write short stories, and "Diget" also mostly read like a collection of short stories, tied together by the red thread of Knud's imprisonment and attempts to get out. Generally it worked well, but there was a time or two where the connection was a bit too forced.

The end was very different from what I had expected, but actually worked a lot better than the ending I had envisioned.

Still, I think Teddy Vork is a better short story author than a novel author, and while good, "Diget" didn't quite live up to the expectations his short stories had caused me to have.

Title: Born at Midnight
Author: C.C. Hunter
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 343
Date read: August, 2010

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn't put out. Her grandmother died and now Kylie's acquired a stalker. Unfortunately, she's the only one who seems to be able to see the stalker. And that gets her sent to a psychologist's sofa.

The kooky psychologist gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it's a camp for troubled teens.

They thought wrong.

It's a camp of supernaturals: vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shape shifters. And if she believes the camp leader, Kylie is one of them, too.

Just because she's seeing ghosts, just because she was born at midnight, does that really mean she's not human? And if so, what is she? Not even the other supernaturals can tell her.

Lately paranormal novels have come in fast and furious on the heels of the Twilight success. Are there really room for more? Well, I do think the market is getting a bit saturated, but when I come across a book as well written and captivating as Born at Midnight, I'd still have to say yes. It's set apart from most other paranormal novels by NOT being a Twilight-clone (other than the incessant love-triangle. Please, authors, it's getting old! It's not as bad in this one as in many others though, so I can mostly ignore it), but carving out a spot for itself.

I especially love the idea of a supernatural camp, and found it fascinating to see how the different 'species' (for want of better word) interact.

Really great book that I HOPE is the first in a series, because I'd love to read more about Kylie and her quest to figure out who and what she is.

Title: Man jager et bæst og fanger et menneske (You Hunt a Beast and Catch a Human)
Author: Bent Isager-Nielsen
Genre: Memoir, non-fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 267
Date read: August, 2010

"A murder investigation consists of thousands of tiny pieces that are brought to light by many dedicated policemen through detailed work. Only in TV a police officer solves the crime singlehandedly. Reality is different, but no less interesting. As head of the investigation in a number of spectacular murders and other criminal cases, I've been the one who put the puzzle together. Working closely together with the best specialists in Denmark, I've "read" scenes of crime, made profiles of killers and found their signature. I've travelled all over the country and followed all leads, Interrogated hundreds of suspects. And solved the worst of all crimes - murder."

A good friend of mine has worked together with Bent Isager-Nielsen for several years, so when she recommended this memoir of his, I was very keen on reading it. It's a fascinating account of how the police actually works in order to solve a serious crime, and a reminder that usually the killer is not that different from me or you - he's just less well equipped to handle setbacks.

Bent Isager-Nielsen makes a strong case for gun control as well as a national resident registry. He credits these two things for the fact that Denmark has a resolution percentage of more than 95% for murder cases (in 2007 39 out of 40 murders were solved) and no known serial killers.

"You Hunt a Beast..." is almost impossible to put down, and I was intrigued by this look behind the scenes and insight in the techniques and technologies involved in police work. Definitely a book well worth reading!

Title: The Way We Fall
Author: Megan Crewe
Genre: Dystopian
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 100
Date read: August, 2010

It starts with an itch you just can't shake.  Then comes the flush of a fever and a tickle in your throat.  In four to five days, you'll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.  

And then you're dead.

Sixteen-year-old Kaelyn knows it's time to start facing her fears and tackling her insecurities when she lets the boy who was once her best friend leave for school abroad without even saying good-bye.  But as an unfamiliar virus sweeps through their small island community, suddenly she's got a lot of good reasons to be scared.  The doctors have no effective treatment, and patients are starting to die.  

Then the government quarantines the island in an attempt to contain the epidemic, and Kaelyn and her family are trapped.  With the fatalities rising and contact with the mainland failing, the islanders have no one to depend on but themselves--and not everyone has the same interests at heart. As she fights to keep her loved ones safe and her community from falling apart, Kaelyn finds herself challenging not just her fears, but her ideas of whether any person's life is more valuable than another's, and what makes that life worth living.

I'm finding it really hard to figure out how to review The Way We Fall. Viewed from my current vantage point - having read what I have - I wasn't terribly impressed. The plot was fascinating, but the characters only 2-dimensional and the ending somewhat disappointing. However, thinking back, books like these (diary, slighly disturbing) were among my favourites back when I was 13-15, so had I read it at that age, I would probably have LOVED it and rated it 5/5.

Title: Garlic and Sapphires
Author: Ruth Reichl
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 333
Date read: August, 2010

In Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise Reichl focuses on her life as a food critic, dishing up a feast of fabulous meals enjoyed during her tenure at The New York Times. As a critic, Reichl was determined to review the "true" nature of each restaurant she visited, so she often dined incognito--each chapter of her book highlights a new disguise, a different restaurant (including the original reviews from the Times), and a fresh culinary adventure.

One of the best foodie books I've read in a long time - even if I did get ridiculously hungry for good food while reading it. I do NOT recommend reading a couple of chapters and then going out to heat up left-overs :-/

The stories of a restaurant critic were fascinating to read, and the way she went about creating new characters as not to be recognized had me in stitches. I really enjoyed Ruth Reichl's writing style, and also liked the way she portrayed herself in this memoir - not arrogantly, but aware of her own mistakes and shortcomings.

Really brilliant book, even if it is perhaps a tad too old to be used as an accurate restaurant guide for NYC - more's the pity, as I'd have loved to try some of the restaurants she visited!

Title: Dewey: The Small-town Library-cat Who Touched the World
Author: Vicki Myron
Genre: non-fiction, memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 304
Date read: August, 2010

Dewey's story starts in the worst possible way. Only a few weeks old, on the coldest night of the year, he was stuffed into the returned book slot at the Spencer Public Library. He was found the next morning by library director, Vicki Myron, a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare, and an alcoholic husband. Dewey won her heart, and the hearts of the staff, by pulling himself up and hobbling on frostbitten feet to nudge each of them in a gesture of thanks and love. For the next nineteen years, he never stopped charming the people of Spencer with his enthusiasm, warmth, humility, (for a cat) and, above all, his sixth sense about who needed him most.

I think it's a bit of false advertising to say this is a book about Dewey, the library cat. It's more a book about Vicki Myron's life as it intersected with that of Dewey's. That didn't stop me from loving the book, and I laughed out loud several times, but the descriptions of Dewey's antics were definitely the best parts of the books, and I felt the rest was mostly filler stuff to make the book long enough.

It was very, very charming though, and the perfect read for a cozy afternoon. I think I would have adored Dewey if I'd ever had the chance to meet him.

Title: The Year of Living Biblically
Author: A.J. Jacobs
Genre: Non-fiction, memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 332
Date read: August, 2010

Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.

The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes

As a Christian who believes in a mostly* literal interpretation of the Bible, I found this memoir absolutely fascinating! First of all, it was interesting to see the Bible through a non-religious Jew POV. And secondly it was fascinating to see anybody attempt to follow all the laws of both the Old and the New Testament.

I really enjoyed A.J. Jacobs' writing style, and was releaved to see how respectful his approach was. He actually ended up teaching me a thing or two about how to follow the Bible as well.

I've wanted to read this book for ages and was very gratified to see that it completely lived up to my expectations.


* There are some passages that are obviously meant to be taken figuratively - when Jesus calls the disciples "salt of the earth", He didn't actually mean they were made of NaCl ;)

Title: The Professor and the Madman
Author: Simon Winchester
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 230
Date read: August, 2010

"The Professor and the Madman" is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- and literary history. The compilation of the OED began in 1857, it was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.

This is one of those weird books where the subject matter is extremely interesting, but the writing only so-so. I'm glad I stuck it out though, because the descriptions of what it takes to complete a reference book as complicated as th Oxford English Dictionary was absolutely fascinating! It must have been an insanely daunting task, and I'm impressed that they didn't give up from shear overwhelmedness (yes, that's a word ;) ).

The story of the madman himself actually didn't interest me all that much, although it did make me wonder how much of a difference there is between the treatment of the criminally insane now and back then.

Title: Wicked Lovely
Author: Melissa Marr
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~10hrs
Date read: August, 2010

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty-especially if they learn of her Sight-and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Keenan is the Summer King, who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. His is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost-regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; everything.

Another book in the long list of paranormal fantasy that has sprung up during the last years. I had no expectations at all about this one, but decided to give it a shot as I'd seen it around in book stores and then found it as an audiobook.

Actually, it's not half bad. I quite enjoyed it and was very gratified to see that the by now apparently compulsory love triangle didn't turn out Twilight'esque, but actually had a very agreeable resolution for once. It was a fun read, and I liked all the details about faeries.