October Wrap-up

A little bit late, but here is my October Wrap-up. It was a rather slow month in number of books I read. Adding three novellas improved the numbers to eight. On top of that, I reach my number 100 book this year, which was Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Here are the books I read.

A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzano (NF) -

"Tiziano Terzani (14 September 1938 – 28 July 2004) was an Italian journalist and writer, best known for his extensive knowledge of 20th century East Asia and for being one of the very few western reporters to witness both the fall of Saigon to the hands of the Viet Cong and the fall of Phnom Penh at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in the mid-1970s." (from Wikipedia).

He was a foreign correspondence for Der Spiegel, among others. This book was published in 2002.

A fortune teller told him that he should not fly for a year, because something bad could happen. This made Terzano move around with other means of transportation, and it is discoveries during these travels that he reflects over in the book. It is an interesting subject, another way of living and experiencing the world around you. A slow pace of traveling gives you the opportunity to discover much more of what is going on around you. He has a great knowledge of SE Asia, and although the stories and politics are twenty years old, it is an interesting read.

Atalanta by Jennifer Saint - another book in my Greek reading. I loved Saint's book Ariadne, but am not so excited by either Atalanta and Elektra. Although Saint writes beautifully, and tells the ancient myths in her own, well researched, I think, style. Definitely worth a read if you are interested in the Greek myths. Atalanta is part of Jason's search for the Golden Fleece, and it is a story I want to know more about.

Better off Dead by Lee and Andrew Child The Murders at Fleet House by Lucinda Riley.

I found these two books in a camping in Croatia. Both very easy to read. I have never read anything by Lee Child, but must admit this is not my cup of tea. Too violent for no reason at all. The story, I guess it works, but not more. Jack Reacher, I did not really like him.

Lucinda Riley's book though was very good. This is one of her very first books, which was not published until after her death. For some reason it was not accepted by publishers at the time. I wonder why, since this was such a thrilling book, I could not put it down, until I had finished. I forced myself to put it down to eat something, so you might understand how much I liked it.

Hat vid första ögonkastet, Passion eller Paria and En natt att glömma by Lovisa Wistrand. Three Swedish novellas about Regency England and high society. Very predictable and nothing worth remembering. I read them since I needed something totally relaxing, nothing to analyse, or to consider. Maybe it was an antidote to the next book.

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino - I have heard so much about Calvino from my blogger friends and was curious to read something by him. I must admit, I did not like him. At least this book. There was one chapter, eleven I think, with thoughts about books, which I could relate to. The rest was really a total enigma to me. It is probably on a higher level than I can relate to. I will try something else by him in a while, but I am afraid he is not for me.