Well, I have to admit that it indeed *is* work, but it's quite pleasurable at the same time. I am reading the novel written by Arthur C. Clarke at the moment and I am about to draw parallells between it and the movie directed by Stanley Kubrick. The story is, in itself, an interesting discussion about the relationship between humans and the technology they rely on and have become used to.

Image: The actor Keir Dullea playing Bowman, found at the Teegarden/Nash collection.

Two new books have reached the stores and one of them, Kunzelmann & Kunzelmann, is written by one of my favourite authors, Carl-Johan Vallgren. The second one is an art book, Mellan husen, featuring paintings from Norwegian Lofoten made by one of Sweden's most interesting contemporary painters, Lars Lerin, who lived there for twelve years.

Images from Adlibris.

If I had had the time I would have read this now: Hjem til jul (Home for Christmas) by Lise Septimus Krogh was released in December last year and I didn't even know about it before I received it as a Christmas gift from my partner's grandmother. It's one of these wonderful "feel-good" books and I really enjoy sitting with a blanket over me in a comfortable chair and some lit candles beside me. Still caught up in the hustle and bustle of moving, I just wish I had a fireplace in my new apartment. It's one of those things I really miss, and this book certainly reminds me of that. Thank you so much, Ruth, for giving it to me!

Images from Adlibris.dk and Amazon.de. As you can see the book is available both in Danish and German.

After finishing Rabih Alameddine's The Hakawati (which I loved), I was looking for something else to read and decided to bring Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown with me on my journey. I began to read it on the flight home on Thursday and, while trying to rest myself well from a persistent cold, I finished it today. As always when it comes to Rushdie, there is a myriad of characters, innumerable events that trigger chains woven together as by fate, various places from all over the world and very strong emotions.

The starcrossed Kashmiri lovers, the hindu dancer Boonyi and the muslim tightrope artist Shalimar the clown, are in the forefront against the backdrop of the raw Kashmir conflict where neighbours are turned against neighbours. The situation is complicated further when Boonyi decides find means to escape the remote village and her marriage to Shalimar the clown. She seizes the opportunity when the American ambassador is spellbound by her beauty and her dance. Ambassador Max Ophuls, a man with his own stories of courage, resistance, betrayal and loss, wants the best for his newfound love and helps her to dance lessons and schooling, but he also involves himself politically in her native Kashmir. Nevertheless, he is ultimately forced to realise that the two of them simply have been using each other. In the very public wake of their secret liason Boonyi is forced to go back in shame to her village, whereas the fruit of their union, their daughter India/Kashmira, grows up not knowing anything about her past and she does not learn the true story until both her parents are dead and she, herself, is in mortal danger.

What will stay with me is Rushdie's portrait of the Kashmiri conflict, the depiction of the fertile soil for terrorism and the training camps for terrorist, as well as characters affected by it all. I really liked it.

Background image from Jesscail.com.

This novel is amazing! Alameddine is truly a hakawati himself, painting both contemporary Beirut and ancient places (as sprung out of Arabian nights, the Bible or the Quran) in vibrant colours. Ancient stories or myths are woven together with the tales of a family gathering around the dying patriarch, the grandfather, who has amazing stories of his own. I have a feeling that I don't want this book to end...

Images in the collage from John Douglas, Hand of Fatima, and Global Voices Online.

It was a bit colder than I thought today, and after more than two hours outside I was happy to get back inside. Nevertheless, it was sunny and nice then, but now it has begun to rain and it's very windy, which enhances the feeling of wellbeing when I spend the evening curled up in the corner of my sofa. I am enjoying the warmth of a cup of tea, a wool blanket and lit candles while looking through some favourite books of mine (especially at this time of year): Vinterns goda ting ("The good things of winter," my translation from Swedish) by Anna and Fanny Bergenström and Levende lys ("Living lights/candles," my translation from the Norwegian) by Nina Dreyer Hensley, Jim Hensley and Paul Løwe. Everything feels pretty okay.

This is the only magazine I currently subscribe to, having gotten rid of a number of design, food and "ladies" magazines. There are several reasons why I keep it: the content is always interesting, the articles are very well written, and the layout is simply beautiful. The fact that it's a quarterly and not a monthly publication is actually an advantage, since I seldom actually had the time to read each monthly issue of other magazines.

Intelligent Life is one of the publications in the Economist group. There is even more to be had digitally: More Intelligent Life

At a time when many people turn to novels by the French Nobel Prize-winning author, Jean-Marie Gustave LeClézio, this is the book I will turn to next: Rabih Alameddine's The Hakawati. It has received very good reviews (Borzoi Reader and Herald Tribune) and I hope it's as good as they say. I'll keep you posted.