Lagerlöf, Selma "Sancta Lucia. Christmas Stories"

Lagerlöf, Selma "Sancta Lucia. Weihnachtliche Geschichten" (Swedish: Kristuslegender) [Christmas Stories] - 1893-1917

I had never read a story by Selma Lagerlöf, the first woman ever to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature. And since she wrote some Christmas stories, I thought it was about time.

Of course, I had seen the animated series "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson" which was made after her book but other than that, I didn't know much about Selma Lagerlöf. Well, that has changed and I will certainly read a novel written by her, maybe "Gösta Berling".

As with other selections of stories, there are certainly collections of Selma Lagerlöf's Christmas stories available in English but probably none of them have exactly the same contents as this German collection I found. These are the stories in this particular one:

The Holy Night (Swedish: Den heliga natten, 1904)

The Lucia Day Legend (Swedish: Luciadagens legend, 1917)

in "Julklappsboken"

The Legend of the Christmas Rose (Swedish: Legenden om julrosorna, 1908)

God's Peace (Swedish: Gudsfreden, 1898)

A Christmas Guest (Swedish: En julgäst, 1893)

You can even download some of them for free!

In any case, the stories were nice to read, especially around Christmas. They tell us a lot about the life in Sweden about a century ago and that is always worth looking at. Some of the stories are more like a fairy tale whereas others talk about the everyday folk and their lives.

From the back cover:

"When I was five years old I had such a great sorrow! I hardly know if I have had a greater since then. It was then that my grandmother died. Up to that time, she used to sit every day on the corner sofa in her room, and tell stories. I remember grandmother told story after story from morning till night, and we children sat beside her, quite still, and listened. It was a glorious life! No other children had such happy times as we did. It isn't much that I recollect about my grandmother. I remember that she had very beautiful snow-white hair, and stooped when she walked, and that she always sat and knitted a stocking. And I even remember that when she had finished a story, she used to lay her hand on my head and say: - All this is as true, as true as that I see you and you see me. - I also remember that she could sing songs, but this she did not do every day. One of the songs was about a knight and a sea-troll, and had this refrain: - It blows cold, cold weather at sea . ."

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings".

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

Tolstoy, Leo "Collected Works. The Stories"

Tolstoy, Leo "Gesammelte Werke. Die Erzählungen" (Russian) [Collected Works. The Stories] - 1853-1904

Most collected works are not published in the same way in different countries. Therefore, I give you a list of the stories to be found in this collection. I am sure you can find all the stories elsewhere in English, maybe not in one book, though.

A Landlord's Morning - 1856
The Raid/Набег - 1853
The Wood-Felling/Рубка леса - 1855
Two Hussars/Два гусара - 1856
The Snowstorm/Метель - 1856
Kholstomer/Холстомер - 1875
What Men Live By/Чем люди живы - 1881
Two Old Men - 1885
How Much Land Does a Man Need?/Много ли человеку земли нужно - 1886
The Three Hermits/Три Старца - 1886
The Death of Ivan Ilyich/Смерть Ивана Ильича - 1886
The Kreutzer Sonata/Крейцерова соната - 1889
Master and Man/Хозяин и работник - 1895
Hadji Murat/Хаджи-Мурат - 1904

I have read "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy and - same as most of the other Russian authors I have read so far - enjoyed those books very much. I am not the biggest fan of short stories but when I found this book of short stories on almost 1,000 pages in a second hand bookshop, I couldn't resist.

If you read any of those short stories, you can easily see where the author found his ideas for his "big books", a lot about the serfs working the land the nobility and the officials, the soldiers, the Russian Orthodox church, the Muslims in the country. His stories are both political - e.g. in one of them he describes the struggle of the Chechens (that still persist today) - philosophical and sociological. A masterpiece.

I would love to read Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth next, autobiographical novels or maybe Sevastopol Sketches about the Crimean War or The Cossacks in which he describes the relation between the Cossacks and the Russians. We'll see.

In any case, Tolstoy is always worth reading.

Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World"

Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World" - 2016

This is certainly one of the favourite books I read this year. I haven't come across many books about Alaska and this one is about the first years after the US bought it from the Russians when they still sent out explorers to find out just about anything about the land.

One of these explorers was the fictional Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester who kept writing back and forth to his wife. They both kept diaries, as well, so we get to know a lot about life in the new state. I found the tales about the native inhabitants and their beliefs especially exciting. Those people led a hard yet highly interesting life.

The writing is very beautiful, the story captivating, the characters come alive, everything seems so real. Great story!

Since I enjoyed this book so much, so I probably should read "Snow Child" by Eowyn Ivey, as well.

From the back cover:

"Set in the Alaskan landscape that she brought to stunningly vivid life in THE SNOW CHILD (a Sunday Times bestseller, Richard and Judy pick and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Eowyn Ivey's TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD is a breathtaking story of discovery set at the end of the nineteenth century, sure to appeal to fans of A PLACE CALLED WINTER.

*NOMINATED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2017*

Winter 1885. Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester accepts the mission of a lifetime, to navigate Alaska's Wolverine River. It is a journey that promises to open up a land shrouded in mystery, but there's no telling what awaits Allen and his small band of men.
Allen leaves behind his young wife, Sophie, newly pregnant with the child he had never expected to have. Sophie would have loved nothing more than to carve a path through the wilderness alongside Allen - what she does not anticipate is that their year apart will demand every ounce of courage of her that it does of her husband."

Other books about Alaska, suggested by the author:
Wallis, Velma "Two Old Women. An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival" - 1993
Hensley, William "Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People" - 2008
Hayes, Ernestine "Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir" - 2006
Huntington, Sidney "Shadows on the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native's Life Along the River" - 1993

Book Quotes of the Week

"It is better to read a little and ponder a lot than to read a lot and ponder a little." Denis Parsons Burkitt

"Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge." Stephen Hawking

"Children fall in love with books because of the memories created when they snuggle up and read with someone they love." Raising Readers

"If a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, there are good men in jail." Daniel Patrick Moynihan

"What I like best is staying home and reading. Being rich is not about how many homes you own. It’s the freedom to pick up any book you want without looking at the price and wondering whether you can afford it." John Waters

Find more book quotes here.

Austen, Jane "Selected Letters. 1796-1817"

Austen, Jane "Selected Letters. 1796-1817" 

Jane Austen certainly belongs to my favourite authors. Unfortunately, due to her early death, there are only six finished books (and two unfinished ones) written by her which I have read several times. However, there are still other writings, as these "Selected Letters".

This book might not have been meant for publishing, they are just letters Jane Austen wrote to friends and family, mainly to her sister Cassandra. However, they give a great idea of life at the time and also how the author found a lot of her stories.

I really enjoyed hearing about Jane's life!

From the back cover:

"'Little Matters they are to be sure, but highly important.'

Letter-writing was something of an addiction for young women of Jane Austen's time and social position, and Austen's letters have a freedom and familiarity that only intimate writing can convey. Wiser than her critics, who were disappointed that her correspondence dwelt on gossip and the minutiae of everyday living, Austen understood the importance of 'Little Matters', of the emotional and material details of individual lives shared with friends and family through the medium of the letter. Ironic, acerbic, always entertaining, Jane Austen's letters are a fascinating record not only of her own day-to-day existence, but of the pleasures and frustrations experienced by women of her social class which are so central to her novels.

Vivien Jones's selection includes very nearly two-thirds of Austen's surviving correspondence, and her lively introduction and notes set the novelist's most private writings in their wider cultural context."

Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London"

Taylor, Andrew "The Ashes of London" - 2016

This is a highly exciting book. I am seldom tempted to check out what happens at the end of the book but I really was this time. Didn't do it, of course, because that would spoil the surprise.

This is a combination of historical novel and crime story, I can see them turning it into a very successful movie one day. Although, they probably are going to change something. As they always do.

We have all read something about the Great Fire of London, well, if we read historical novels we have read one or two about it, if not, we have heard that it happened, that it was in 1666 and that it started in a bakery in Pudding Lane. But how did the people live at the time?

A while ago I read Daniel Defoe's "A Journal of the Plague Year" and that happened just ten years before the fire. Whilst the plague killed many people and brought the city to ruin, the fire brought work and helped to bring it back to its former glory.

If historical novels are your thing, this is a MUST.

From the back cover:

"A CITY IN FLAMES London, 1666. As the Great Fire consumes everything in its path, the body of a man is found in the ruins of St Paul's Cathedral - stabbed in the neck, thumbs tied behind his back. A WOMAN ON THE RUN The son of a traitor, James Marwood is forced to hunt the killer through the city's devastated streets. There he encounters a determined young woman who will stop at nothing to secure her freedom.

A KILLER SEEKING REVENGE When a second murder victim is discovered in the Fleet Ditch, Marwood is drawn into the political and religious intrigue of Westminster - and across the path of a killer with nothing to lose..."

Atwood, Margaret "The Handmaid's Tale"

Atwood, Margaret "The Handmaid's Tale" - 1985

I read this book a couple of years ago, it is one of my favourites. (Find my review from back then here.) Since it has been made into a TV series last year, it seems to be everywhere and my book club chose it as our next read. Also, Margaret Atwood just received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis), as well.

I probably enjoyed this book even more the last time than this time, I think a lot of the fears Margaret Atwood portrayed in her book thirty years ago are more true now than then. Aren't we surrounded by people who believe that only "true" Christians who follow the Bible "by the book" deserve to have a good life? At least most of the news I hear nowadays of the United States seem to suggest that. The trouble is, the louder they shout, the less Christian they are.

Unfortunately, I had to miss the book club talk but I know everyone enjoyed it.

We discussed this in our international book club in January 2018.

From the back cover:

"The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.

Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first-century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception."

Margaret Atwood was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for "The Handmaid's Tale" in 1986.

Margaret Atwood received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2017.