May Wrap-up and June prospects

May has come to an end and it is time to take a look at what happened on my blog and with my reading. Let's start with the blog.

I posted five posts this month, of which three belong to the DDM Reading Week. I was excited to join heavenali for an intensive read of du Maurier's books. I choose three which were already on my shelves, read many, many moons ago. I will continue to read her books during the year, and hope to join for next year's reading week. I enjoyed reading your reviews on her novels and short stories.

The King's General

The Parasites

The Glass Blowers

The two other posts were:

April Wrap-up

Visiting a second hand shop and coming back with 17 books (these things happen, but rarely)

Reading

I read ten books in May.

• Larsmo, Ola - Tio lektioner i svensk historia (NF)

• Illies, Florian - Kärlek i hatets tid (Liebe in Zeiten des Hasses/Love in a Time of Hate) (NF)

• Hägg, Göran - Sanningen är alltid oförskämd, Biography of August Strindberg (NF)

• Christie, Agatha - The Seven Dials Mystery

• du Maurier, Daphne - The King's General

• du Maurier, Daphne - The Parasites

• du Maurier, Daphne - The Glass Blowers

• Murphy, Bernadette - Van Gogh's Ear (NF)

• Aktander Navab, Jenny - Den svenske legionären

• Attainder Navab, Jenny - Riket, makten och härligheten

Most of the books this month were very good. Four of them nonfiction, four classics (DDM and AC) and two international thrillers from a new Swedish author.

Ola Larsmo's book about ten lessons in Swedish history is an eye opener. How social media today, with a few posts, can twist a story in a false way, and it becomes 'facts'. Unfortunately, the history knowledge in Sweden is on an appalling level, evan among people you expect to know history. Ola Larsmo puts us right in this clever book.

Florian Illies' Love in the Time of Hate is one of my best reads ever. Through love stories of the intelligentsia, authors and artists in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, he paints a dire picture of the dark times and how it affected people. A must read for anyone interesting in the times. Separate review will come.

Göran Hägg, a Swedish literary critic and author takes on one of our great authors ever, August Strindberg. It is a great book, showing the author through his works and life decisions. There was a lot here I did not know about AS and how much he actually put into the books about himself.

Van Gogh's Ear by Bernadette Murphy is an amazing book about Van Gogh's life. She, living in the south of France, became interested in the question how much of his ear Van Gogh actually cut off. Her research led her into the story of his life, the sad circumstances, and an amazing revelation of the facts, of which many is mere myths. She highlights her new findings and we find another man behind the facade. His life is a sad story, and Murphy treats it with respect. Every other chapter is on her research and every other chapter about his life. An excellent book and a must read for anyone interesting in the artist and his time.

Not so much to say about AS and DDM. Another mystery by AS from the pile of books I bought at the second hand shop.

I saw a news reel on the second book in a trilogy by Jenny Aktander Navab that just came out. I got interested and started with her first book. The books are international thrillers with three protagonists. Caroline Svedin Gyllensvärd, a Swedish Interpol agent, Daniel Granat, former legionnaire turned wine farmer in Italy, and Massimo Latanza, former legionnaire and Italian deputy Justice minister. The trio are caught up in international crime schemes. Aktander Navab has cleverly incorporated real world events into her thrillers and it makes for exciting reading. I had difficulties putting the books down. Now I am waiting for the third one, but it will probably take at least another year.

What's up for June

That is a good questions. For once I don't really have a real plan for June, so it seems to be a good idea to go back to my own challenge. Time to take out the random generator for:

• a nonfiction from my TBR shelves chosen by a random generator - Englund, Peter - Ofredsår

• a fiction from my TBR shelves chosen by a random generator - Signatures in Stone by Linda Lappin

• a translated novel outside English- and Swedish speaking countries - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame/Notre-Dame du Paris by Victor Hugo

• a classic tale - The Man of Property by John Galsworthy

• a book from my Wish list - The Blacksmith's Daughter by Selim Özdogan

Two historical books, two classics and one new to me author. Sounds like an interesting reading month.