Bogormen

Title: Thornyhold
Author: Mary Stewart
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 207
Date read: March, 2021

Thornyhold is a house deep in a wild wood like somewhere out of a fairy tale. To Gilly, it is an enchantment. Her very own enchantment, left to her by the cousin whose occasional magical visits had brightened her childhood. And as she explores, she discovers more about the woman who had come to seem like a fairy godmother for her: her herbalists's skills, her still room, her abilities to foresee and to heal. She discovers also that the local people believe that Gilly has inherited not just the house but the magical spell-weaving powers that live on in the house and garden. Slowly, quietly, she comes to realise that they are right.


Slow to start, but once Gilly made it to Thornyhold I was thoroughly hooked. It such a charming story, replicating the style of a much older type of novel.

Genre-wise it was a bit all over the place - fantasy, suspense, historical fiction, romance - but while I never quite figured out what it intended to be (thus my generic categorization here of just 'fiction'), it just worked for me. The end came somewhat more suddenly than I had expected, and there were some points I would have liked expanded upon (although mostly just because I wanted the book to last longer!), but I've loved descriptions of "setting up house" ever since I first read "Famous Five Run Away Together" as a child, and this was an extremely satisfactory read in that regard :-D

Title: Løvehjerte
Author: Ståle Solbakken
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 192
Date read: January 2018

Ståle Solbakken has been head coach in FC Copenhagen two times. Both times he has managed to create what many observers call "the best Danish club team of all time".

In this book, he for the first time ever invites the reader in behind the scenes, explains the tactics, negotiates the contracts and strives for the small improvements that can make FC Copenhagen a competitive player in the European football society as a whole.


I hadn't quite expected my first book of the year to be a book about football (=soccer)!! My husband is very proud ;-) But I've long been intrigued by FCK's trainer, Ståle Solbakken, so when my husband came home with this book a few days ago, I immediately picked it up. As it turned out, I'm glad I did, as it turned out to be a really interesting read - even for a non-football enthusiast like myself. It was interesting to read how Ståle came to FCK in the first place... and how he came back again, after a few years elsewhere. He's always come across as a no-nonsense person to me, and that also seemed the case in this book, where he took a down-to-earth and informal attitude to most things.

There is of course a lot of name-dropping in this book (there'd have to be, under the circumstances!), but I'd picked up enough through my years of being married to an FCK-fan to be able to follow along just fine, and at the end of the day, I'm glad to have read it.

Title: If Your Dream Doesn't Scare You It Isn't Big Enough
Author: Kristine K. Stevens
Genre: Travel
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 302
Date read: April, 2017

In honor of her 40th birthday, Kristine K. Stevens sold her house, quit her job and traveled solo around the world.

Carrying a backpack and the naïve belief that the trip was nothing more than a six-month-long vacation, she hit the road. As her journey moved on and off the beaten tourist path, she braved a monsoon in Zanzibar, a safari in Kenya, trekking in Nepal, kayaking in Thailand, caves in Laos, red plaid fish and lava in Hawaii, and grizzly bears in Alaska.

Little did Kristine know that she was completing a pilgrimage that would change her life forever. She gained self-confidence with every mile and relearned how to trust her instincts.


One of the best travelogues I've read in quite awhile. Kristine's way of writing really appealed to me, and I was fascinated by her adventures all over Africa, Asia, Hawaii and Alaska. Some of the places she visited (e.g. Alaska) have been on my bucket list for ages, and she just reaffirmed my desire to go there.

There's no doubt that Kristine was a very privileged traveler, in that she could stay with friends many places, and didn't really have to worry about money until the very end, so few people would be able to follow in her footsteps, but personally I loved living vicariously through her and can't remember when I've last been this immersed in a book.

I really appreciated that the book didn't just end with her returning home, but also included her struggles with going back to "every day life" again, and how she handled those challenges.

Title: Take It As a Compliment
Author: Maria Stoian
Genre: graphic memoir
Rating:
# pages: 100
Date read: February 2016

Bringing together the voices of males and females of all ages, the stories in this collective graphic memoir reflect real life experiences of sexual abuse, violence and harassment.

Covering acts such as sexual violence, public sexual harassment, domestic abuse and child abuse, this is a reminder for survivors that they are not alone and a call for all of us to take action. The stories clearly show that assault of any type is not an honour bestowed on anyone. It is not a compliment.


I don't know how to rate this book. It seems completely inappropriate to set a star rating on it. It is an absolutely brilliant and powerful book. It is an incredibly heartbreaking and loosing-faith-in-humanity book.

But beyond all that, it is an important book. All the stories are so raw - so real. My jaw kept dropping at the horribleness of it all.

A trigger warning is in order. I'm fortunate enough that I've never experienced unwanted sexual attention or harrassment, but I know too many people who have, and am afraid that those women will find this book only too relatable.

But hopefully it will also vindicate them. Rape culture is a thing. Victim-shaming is a thing. We need to stand up and talk about it - let the victims know that we believe them, and that we will not stand for it.

"Take It As A Compliment" is a quick read, but not an easy one. I applaud all the people who let their voices be heard in this collection of graphic short stories. It can't have been easy, but it was necessary. So to all of you - thank you.

Title: The King's Legacy
Author: Jim Stovall
Genre: Inspirational
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 140
Date read: December 2015

As a king nears the end of his storied reign, he invites citizens from all over the world to share with him the best of their life lessons. Little does he know that the most profound answer will come from an unexpected place.


Very twee, but I was obviously in the right mood, so I actually didn't mind and enjoyed the quick read. Others have it listed as Christian fiction, but I'm not entirely sure I understand why... the author might be Christian (I wouldn't know either way), but there was nothing extremely overtly Christian about the book.

An enjoyable read, and while I did think the "Wisdom of the Ages" was perhaps a bit too convenient, it's undoubtedly true, and I enjoyed some of the more specific pieces of wisdom we were offered along the way. Nothing one couldn't have thought up one self, but nice to have put into words.

Title: Time After Time (Time Between Us #2)
Author: Tamara Ireland Stone
Genre: YA
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 353
Date read: April, 2015

Calling Anna and Bennett's romance long distance is an understatement: she's from 1995 Chicago and he's a time traveler from 2012 San Francisco. The two of them never should have met, but they did. They fell in love, even though they knew they shouldn't. And they found a way to stay together, against all odds.

It's not a perfect arrangement, though, with Bennett unable to stay in the past for more than brief visits, skipping out on big chunks of his present in order to be with Anna in hers. They each are confident that they'll find a way to make things work... until Bennett witnesses a single event he never should have seen (and certainly never expected to). Will the decisions he makes from that point on cement a future he doesn't want?


"Time After Time" picks up immediately where "Time Between Us" leaves off, and the two books should really be read as one, as they'd have worked just as well as one long book, rather than two middle-length ones. Because of this, I have a hard time thinking of them as two individual books (it also probably didn't help that I read the last half of the first one, and the entirety of this one in one day!), and I can therefore think of very little new to say about "Time After Time" that I didn't already say about "Time Between Us". I liked that Bennett was the narrator of this book, so we got to see things from his side, and got to meet his family.

I don't envy Anna and Bennett their circumstances, and almost hope there'll be a third book, to show us how things turn out down the line. This book seemed very final though, so I doubt there'll be more.

The ending confused me a lot - at first I thought there was a major plot-hole, and couldn't understand how Tamara Ireland Stone (or her editors) hadn't discovered that, but thinking about it, I'm starting to think that it wasn't a major plot-hole, but just a really brilliant twist... although possibly still with a tiny plot-hole in order to make it possible. But tiny plot-holes I can accept :)

And my initial opinion still stands - I'd love to read more from Tamara Ireland Stone's hand.

Title: Every Last Word
Author: Tamara Ireland Stone
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 368
Date read: April 2015, October 2020

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd... until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.


Beautifully written, poignant and real. I'm finding it very difficult to talk about this book without squeeing all over the place, but I don't want to hype it too much, so I will try to restrain myself.

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley, and pretty much had no idea what to expect - I just liked the cover - but I quickly realized that this was right up my aisle. I loved the writing style, and the plot is YA when it's best. I really liked Sam and the rest of the Poet's Corner, and found a lot of the poetry really brilliant. Especially nearer the end - it was clear that people improved.

I also appreciated reading a book about OCD where the focus was more on the obsessive part than the compulsion part - i.e. more a brain that cannot be turned off, than specifically having to do certain things.

Mostly I loved the ending, and as I finished the last page, I had tears (good tears) running down my cheeks. Definitely a book I'll want to reread.