Mystisk rysare med kultstatus

För många år sedan, antagligen någon gång slutet av 70-talet, visade SVT filmen Picnic at Hanging Rock. Jag såg den och har aldrig glömt den, inte heller har jag glömt mysteriet och ofta undrat vad som egentligen hände.

Länge länge tänkte jag att jag skulle läsa romanen som filmen bygger på men, ni vet hur det är, det kommer ständigt så mycket nytt och annat i vägen.

För ett tag sedan köpte jag i alla fall e-boken och laddade hem den till min Kindle och igår kväll började jag läsa.

Hanging Rock

Romanen skrevs av Joan Lindsey och kom ut 1967. På svenska heter den Utflykt i det okända. För er som inte känner till den kan jag berätta att den handlar om en liten grupp flickor och deras lärare från Appleyard College i Australien som åker på utflykt till Hanging Rock, en mystisk klippformation. Där försvinner oförklarligt tre av flickorna och en lärare.

Det har spekulerats om berättelsen bygger på en verkliga händelser och det är lite kultstatus över den. Det förekommer en del märkliga fenomen kring klippan, i boken beskrivs att klockorna stannar. Så gjorde de även under filminspelningen...

Vill man läsa mer kan man kika in här på Castle of Spirits, The Australian Ghost Hunters Society

Finally, I got round to read this story that has haunted me for many many years. I saw the movie for about 35 years ago and have been thinking of it now and then over the years. I think I was hoping to get some answers but I didn´t get any. That is the secret of this story´s success - that there is no summing up, no solution to the mystery. Interesting characters, strange nature, past times and this very strange mystery makes this the classic novel it is.

The Distant Hours - AWW2012

Jag skulle aldrig ha läst Kate Mortons I det förflutna om det inte vore för min australiensiska utmaning AWW2012.

Bara omslaget på pocketutgåvan skulle ha fått mig att avstå...

Den engelska titeln The Distant Hours och omslaget är mycket intressantare.

Jag måste ändå erkänna att jag läst den ganska ihärdigt och med iver att få reda på vad som hände den där gången för länge sedan. Jag tyckte också om att romanen har en lite litterär touch. En roman spelar huvudrollen och det finns ett stråk av läslusta och böknörderi i den som var tilltalande. MEN egentligen är den superfjantig - nästan pekoralaktig.
Trots det så tycker jag att jag måste ge den B B B om jag ska vara ärlig - och det ska jag ju.

I feel somewhat manipulated. This is not the kind of novel I usually read and I can´t say I´m longing to read one again. BUT I couldn´t stop. I wanted to know what was going on and what had happened. I liked that the novel has a small hint of literacy in it - that is that the main character is a novel. That said, it really isn´t a very good novel. The characters are too stereotype and not very interesting. You never get to know them. The story promises a lot to begin with but doesn´t keep its promise in the end. But, as I said, I couldnt stop...


Jag måste också visa mitt senaste stickprojekt - instickade hörlurar!

Lambs of God by Marele Day

I´ve just read Lambs of God by Marele Day. It´s one of the novels I´ve chosen for the AWW2012 challenge.

I had never heard of Marele Day before hearing of this novel on the knitting community Ravelry. It was mentioned in one discussion of novels with knitting as a theme. Many participants recommended this novel, so I got curious.

I bought a used copy with a lovely cover.

It´s a very weird novel and difficult to describe. Three nuns live peacefully on a remote and deserted island together with their sheep. They breed sheep for food, wool and company. They live in a closed community dependent only of themselves, the sheep and God.

Something happens which changes their way of living and one part of the novel is quite suspenseful.

The story is of course about much more than what is happening in the monastery. It´s about life and and faith and how we deal with both of those things. It´s sometimes very funny and sometimes deeply sad.

I liked her language a lot. Poetic and vivid.

It´s a wonderful and thought provoking novel which will stay in my mind for a long time.

I give it B B B B 

AWW2012 - review Kirsten Tranter; A Common Loss

I got a copy from a very good friend in Sydney and brought it with me back to Sweden to read as a part of the AWW2012 challenge. I didn´t really know what to expect from it since the author was totally unknown to me. I also was a bit reluctant since I rather read australian novels set in Australia.

Well, I picked it up one evening after being bored with a crime novel, and started to read - and became immediately hooked. There was something about her writing and the way she presented the characters and the story to come to the reader. You know something is going to happen, but you don´t know what. I first got the impression that something terrible was about to take place, but as the novel moved on I realized it was more a story of friendship, love and loss than a story of suspense.

I don´t know if you ever experienced the sudden knowledge that a friend very close and dear to you in fact is not as close a friend to you as you thought. This is something of what Elliot is going through. The death of Dylan alters the foundation for their friendship, nothing will ever be the same.

I liked this novel very much- I really wanted to know their secrets.

In a way the novel is a "kammerspiele". Everything circles round the characters and their relationship, the setting doesn´t really matter. The authors choice of Las Vegas just seems to underline how much is false and fake in their friendship.

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B B B B 

Australisk historia

Jag har läst den ganska tunna boken Follow the Rabbit proof fence av Doris Pilkington om hennes mammas långa vandring tillbaka hem tillsammans med sina systrar. Flickorna blev tvångsförflyttade liksom många av den australiska urbefolkningen, aboriginerna, när den vite mannen behövde marken. Det är en sorglig men intressant historia. Tyvärr är boken lite för tråkig för att göra den riktigt fascinerande. Jag förstår att många tycker att filmen är mycket bättre. 

B B B

This is a true and sad story of times past, about a rather shameful era in Australian history. Of course similar stories has been told from all parts over the world were the white man has come to make his demands. This rather short story gives the reader some background, some knowledge of the aboriginal way of living and the story of the three sisters. It was interesting to read it but it never got me hooked. I can understand those writing that they liked the movie better because the book is frankly a bit boring. I felt that the book is nothing more than the retelling of this event, which is a good thing because it needed to be told, but it does´t have the qualities of a good novel.

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Tender Morsels

This is my review of Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan for the AWW 2012 challenge.


Scrolla ner, så kan du läsa på svenska.


I loved her language. I found it poetic and challenging ( in a good way). I was a bit worried that the violence and the sexuality stuffs I read about in various reviews would put me off, but that wasn´t a problem for me. Certainly there are some violent and sexual parts in the story but the author wash´t too explicit about it I think. Much of it is up to the reader to imagine - which of course isn´t
very pleasant, but it has it´s part in the story.

I loved the first half of the novel, but after that I was beginning to feel a bit bored. I lost interest in it and I didn´t got hooked again. I´m not sure though this has to do with the novel. I think it has more to do with me... You know how sometimes a book is read at the wrong time.

Nevertheless I´m impressed by her way of writing.

There´s been a discussion on this being an YA book or not and I think the answer to that more or less reflect your own view of what defines an YA novel.
First, I think that to give this novel the label YA - novel is to diminish it. This is a novel for all lovers of literature, fantasy and fairytales and there is a risk that readers may exclude this from there reading list because of the label and that is a shame. Next, the label YA can (wrongly) for some readers be taken as a guarantee that the novel does not include violent, sexual or other difficult matters. These are issues that many people struggle with not the least young adults so if this is what YA means then this of course is not an YA book. 

Tender Morsels, (ungefär ömtåliga stycken) bygger på den gamla kända sagan om Snövit och Rosenröd. I korthet handlar sagan om två små flickor som lever lyckliga med sin mor i skogen, tills de en vinterdag i snöstorm fick påhälsning av en björn. Flickorna och björnen lekte tills våren kom när han gav sig iväg för att skydda sina egendomar mot elaka dvärgar. När flickorna en dag samlade ris i skogen hjälpte de en pyssling som fastnat med skägget, men fick bara skällsord som tack. Trots det hjälpte  de pysslingen ett flertal gånger med samma otacksamma resultat. En dag överraskades de av björnen som pysslingen tussade på flickorna för att rädda sitt liv. Björnen blev arg och slog ihjäl pysslingen med sin ram. I detsamma fick björnen mänsklig gestalt och blev gift med Rosenröd och Snövit fick hans bror.


Romanen har ett fantastiskt språk och till att börja med blev jag riktigt fängslad av den. Tyvärr tyckte jag den blev något långrandig och jag tappade intresset ungefär halvvägs. Jag tror att den kanske hade tjänat på att vara lite kortare. Det saknades driv i den andra hälften av boken tyckte jag. Men den var ändå intressant och rolig att läsa och får  B B B 

When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett

This is my second review for the AWW2012 challenge.

I do hope she writes a sequel! Claire Corbett has created a world I hope to read more about. I put this novel in my SF-Fantasy shelf even though it´s much much more than that and I definitely don´t want to scare anyone from reading it. The story is set in a future were man has learnt to manipulate nature and shape himself into fliers among a lot of other developments.

In the society, the city,  there is an increasing tension between fliers and non-fliers because the fliers see themselves as a superiour kind. Both fliers and non-fliers live in the city sheltered from the others on the outside and the fliers seem to want to change the city to a place fit for them only.

The novel starts with a death and is in many ways a crime-story. Zeke, a private detective, gets involved more than he ever could have imagined and you really want to read on and on to learn what is happening.

I liked the plot but what really got me hooked was the world the author has created. She describes some of it, of course, but often she gives you a hint or just states a fact and let the reader form a picture of it and what has happened to it. That made me very curious. I want to know more!

The novel also raise many ethical, philosophical and thoughtprovoking questions. What defines a human being? Is it alright to manipulate your body? What happens to us when we change something in our genes? How do we wish to lead our lives? How much are you allowed to use another human being? What are we doing to our world?

This is why I hope the author will continue to write about it. And even though we get some answers in this novel there are many questions left to consider. And I really miss Zeke, Peri, Hugo and all the others.

Nyfiken på...

...Eva Hornungs roman Dog Boy blev jag när jag läste Elizabeth Lhuedes review om den. Elizabeth är min australiensiska svägerska som startat och administrerar utmaningen AWW2012,  Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012, som jag deltar i.

Hon har skrivit en lång och mycket personlig recension och reflexion om boken och den fick mig att bli nyfiken på och sugen på att läsa den - även om den inte lockat mig tidigare.

Den är översatt till svenska och heter (förstås) Hundpojken.

Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012

This is my first review for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012.

After checking my bookshelves I found some books by australian women I still haven´t read.  I also bought a few books when I recently visited Australia so I now have 12 books to read....
I´ll participate in the Franklin-Fantastic level as a dabbler.

I also want to explain that I am swedish and even if I read a lot in english I sometimes get it wrong when I write, so PLEASE excuse me for my mistakes in writing.

A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill 


I must admit that even though my brother has lived in Australia for many many years I know very little of Australian history and politics. Sulari Gentill has based her novel on historical facts and events and she´s written an interesting foreword about how she came to write the novel.

The main character is Rowland Sinclair, a wealthy artist (painter) leading a slightly bohemian life in Sydney during the Great Depression in the 1930s together with his artist- and leftwing friends. His brother and head of the family leads a totally different life, conservative and old-fashioned.

The murder of their uncle and the rather poorly policework, lead Rowland Sinclair to investigate the case. He soon finds himself right in the middle of the conflict between the fascist movement and the left wing people. Can the murder have a political cause ? Is his brother somehow involved?

I really liked the novel. Sulari Gentill has managed to picture the way of life and the atmosphere of the 1930s. There is an interesting conflict between the brothers´ differences and not only Rowland Sinclair but all the characters are well defined and credible. Rowland Sinclair is also a very charming and likeable man whom I very much would like to meet again.

Unfortunately the novel is (not yet) not for sale in Europe. But I will try and get a copy of the sequel "A Decline in Prophets".

NYTT ÅR - nya projekt

Jag är hemma igen efter en fantastisk semester i Australien. Tiden är fortfarande ur led och jag har inte vant mig vid kylan, men annars är det skönt att vara hemma igen.

Jag har bestämt mig för att INTE sätta upp något läsmål i år utan helt enkelt lustläsa vad som faller mig in. Jag ska (försöka) att inte köpa på mig en massa nya böcker, utan läsa det jag har samlat på mig redan.

Den enda utmaningen jag är med i är, som jag redan berättat, Australian Women Writers Challenge. (AWW2012) Jag har i hyllan hela 11 olästa romaner av kvinnliga aussie-författare, så det passar bra.



Jag ska på på Stickkurs! Västerbergs Folkhögskola har en stickkurs på distans som jag har anmält mig till och den börjar på tisdag med ett tvådagarspass. Det ska bli jätteroligt! Kanske lite tradigt med en massa provlappar och annat men jag tror och hoppas att jag ska kunna utveckla mitt stickande. Jag ska berätta hur det går...