Reading Books For Pleasure

[Acktion]

And now for something completely different;

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51jxMX1ot0L._SY346_.jpg

Read it with a straight face all the way through. I double dog dare ya.

 

[seela]

The Saviour of Lasnamäe by Mari Saat is a small book with story that stuck with me.

It's about a single mother with a teenage daughter living in Lasnamäe, a not very well-off, majority Russian-speaking district in Tallinn, Estonia. The daughter needs braces, the mother gets laid off. It's basically a story about money, doing what one must, being an outsider, the gaps but also similarities between generations and so on. Really enjoyed this one, I wonder how I'd do in a situation and environment like that.

 

[base10]

The Saviour of Lasnamäe by Mari Saat is a small book with story that stuck with me.

It's about a single mother with a teenage daughter living in Lasnamäe, a not very well-off, majority Russian-speaking district in Tallinn, Estonia. The daughter needs braces, the mother gets laid off. It's basically a story about money, doing what one must, being an outsider, the gaps but also similarities between generations and so on. Really enjoyed this one, I wonder how I'd do in a situation and environment like that.

Being an outsider in a different place would be the most interesting part to me, especially if somewhere where a large number of immigrants and outsiders isn't common. I'm 3 generations removed from my family being immigrants, but even they moved somewhere where there were plenty of friendly faces.

The story of what you do trying to make it somewhere new is always a fascinating story

 

[seela]

Being an outsider in a different place would be the most interesting part to me, especially if somewhere where a large number of immigrants and outsiders isn't common. I'm 3 generations removed from my family being immigrants, but even they moved somewhere where there were plenty of friendly faces.

The story of what you do trying to make it somewhere new is always a fascinating story

The aftermath of the Soviet collapse is an interesting topic, even if not a very happy one. One aspect of the collapse in Estonia is that there are a lot of people who have lived most of their life there but can't get citizenship and that makes them outsiders to the society in a very specific way. I could also see a lot of similarities between my own experiences and those of the two main characters of the book. I grew up in a place that is not that different from Lasnamäe and during the big 90s recession, so I could easily grasp the sort of lack of prospects or expectations that comes from that type of surroundings and I've also lived in other countries and existed in that peculiar space where you sort of belong but you also don't belong. Those parts of the story really resonated with me.

When I lived elsewhere, I never particularly felt like an outsider in my daily life because I made local friends fast and learned the language. That helped me integrate quite quickly, I think. But I was still an outsider. It hit me the most when walking around the cities and seeing streets named after people I had no clue who they were or watching something on TV and there was clearly a very funny joke that I had no hope understanding because I didn't know what the TV program from the 90s they were referencing was all about etc. Those tiny moments it felt like it would be a monstrous task to really penetrate the culture even if in my daily life I was doing splendidly.

 

[base10]

The culture in the post-Soviet countries is something I find very interesting. For people who grew up in the Soviet system, with all the education and influence about communism that came with it; how they adjusted to a radically different world must have been a tremendous culture shock. Some places have obviously done a lot better than others. Estonia seems to have faired quite well from my outside perspective, but man their size and location leaves them vulnerable to the big bad wolf next door. Even within Estonia (and all counties) there are stark differences from the cosmopolitan cities, and the rural country.

I've never lived in another country and therefore obviously a place where the local language was not my native one. Seeing how people have managed that transition is great to read about it, given that I never have experienced it on my own. I live in a different part of the US vs where I grew up, but even then culturally they are two very similar places (Not even like the difference from say Nebraska to NY).

 

[twister947]

The aftermath of the Soviet collapse is an interesting topic, even if not a very happy one. One aspect of the collapse in Estonia is that there are a lot of people who have lived most of their life there but can't get citizenship and that makes them outsiders to the society in a very specific way. I could also see a lot of similarities between my own experiences and those of the two main characters of the book. I grew up in a place that is not that different from Lasnamäe and during the big 90s recession, so I could easily grasp the sort of lack of prospects or expectations that comes from that type of surroundings and I've also lived in other countries and existed in that peculiar space where you sort of belong but you also don't belong. Those parts of the story really resonated with me.

When I lived elsewhere, I never particularly felt like an outsider in my daily life because I made local friends fast and learned the language. That helped me integrate quite quickly, I think. But I was still an outsider. It hit me the most when walking around the cities and seeing streets named after people I had no clue who they were or watching something on TV and there was clearly a very funny joke that I had no hope understanding because I didn't know what the TV program from the 90s they were referencing was all about etc. Those tiny moments it felt like it would be a monstrous task to really penetrate the culture even if in my daily life I was doing splendidly.

"Deep culture "is almost inaccessible.

 

[IrisAlthea]

But I was still an outsider. It hit me the most when walking around the cities and seeing streets named after people I had no clue who they were or watching something on TV and there was clearly a very funny joke that I had no hope understanding because I didn't know what the TV program from the 90s they were referencing was all about etc. Those tiny moments it felt like it would be a monstrous task to really penetrate the culture even if in my daily life I was doing splendidly.

For me having parents from different countries, there is sometimes a feeling of ”inbetweenship” where I can feel like an outsider in both cultures.
In the country I did not grow up in, I can feel a bit of what you are talking about. I have friends and relatives there, I even went to school there for a while but there are still lots of references I don’t get.
What I do feel in both cultures, that totalt throws me at times, is how deeply my way of thinking, my perception of things can be in some cases.

I live in a different part of the US vs where I grew up, but even then culturally they are two very similar places

Sometimes it can be that way, because we stay in the same type of context too.
I think I could move to a city in several other countries and still feel more at home than if I moved to the northern backwoods in the country I live in.

 

[StockingGirlJ]

The Mother Tongue: English, And How It Got That Way
By Bill Bryson

Fabulous book, informative and fun.

 

[StockingGirlJ]

"Angels' Visits" and "An Ideal Wine" by David Darlington. The first is about the Zinfandel grape. The second is about 40-50 years of Northern California winemaking and the wine business.

I grew up in a Northern California vineyard. Then I left for college in Southern California and didn't look back until a few years ago when we bought a house near my parents. Reading these books are part of coming home.

 

[twister947]

I have a stepson from an ancient marriage with whom I exchange texts from time to time. He is sending me 3 books that he has written; I am dreading this.

 

[twister947]

TODAY
is the first day of Banned Books Week. Tomorrow I shall pay my local public library a visit, and find out what I can't read. It has been a busy year for the American Taliban.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir.

I loved the first two books in this series. In each of those, the first half was very confusing and then the second half brought it back together so all the weirdness made sense.

The series was meant to be three books, but #3 got out of control so she ended up splitting it in two. What this means, I realise now, is that this is a full book of "very confusing" without the "eventually it all makes sense" half. Guess I need to wait for #4 now.

 

[twister947]

Us Against You, by Fredrik Backman

 

[IrisAlthea]

Us Against You, by Fredrik Backman

It’s the follow up to Beartown, isn’t it?

 

[twister947]

It’s the follow up to Beartown, isn’t it?

Yes. I'm liking it.

 

[thejabber27]

Anyone here read The Heretical edge by Cerulean?

For people who haven't, It's HP meets lovecraft with a good cast and LBGTQ+ representation.

 

[bill4672a]

I wanted to make babies with Heinlein damn it!

I LOVED most of his books!

The Door Into Summer
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
and
I Will Fear No Evil

Are my favorites from him, the irascible bastard! I've written so may reports on him and his books! Group sex, incest, sex as both a man and a woman, women in charge of society, men and women both in charge, Lord knows I love that stuff!

Fury

The Door into Summer and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress are my two favorite Heinlein novels. I also liked his juveniles. The first Heinlein novel I read was in 7th grade, The Star Beast.

 

[IrisAlthea]

Yes. I'm liking it.

Did you know that Beartown is based on a case that happened in a little town called Bjästa and on the internet?

https://msmagazine.com/2010/04/05/swedish-town-mobs-supported-rapist/
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/3586625

 

[twister947]

Did you know that Beartown is based on a case that happened in a little town called Bjästa and on the internet?

https://msmagazine.com/2010/04/05/swedish-town-mobs-supported-rapist/
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/3586625

That's awful. I had a mental image of Sweden where everyone was progressive, sophisticated, and drove a new Volvo. Oh, well...

 

[IrisAlthea]

That's awful. I had a mental image of Sweden where everyone was progressive, sophisticated, and drove a new Volvo. Oh, well...

Yes, a bit like what Primalex wrote in another thread, I guess:

This is interesting in itself, because media here always gives the impression that these things are like an unanimous decision of the Swedish population.

There has been a strong consensus about women working outside the home, people being taxed individually rather than as a family unit etc. It’s worth to remember that it started because the industries needed workers though, not because there was a special kind of ”equalitymindedness” in Sweden.
Double standards, cruelty and ”the popular kids” exist here too.
I’m fairly certain loads of people being asshats in the Bjästa case would assure you they are feminists and all. Just not when it comes to the ”trashy” girl vs the smalltown hero.

 

[thejabber27]

Anyone read Gods of Pegana by the 18th Baron of Dunsany? It’s a solid pre-Tolkien fantasy book.

 

[twister947]

Fen, Bog & Swamp
Annie Proulx

 

[IrisAlthea]

I read a book by Niina Mero:
https://www.helsinkiagency.fi/death-of-romance/

It’s basically a funny, gotic romance set in modern times with a goth/punk heroine. Nice way to spend a couple of hours.
I wanted to ask @seela and other Finnish speakers though, if you have read it because the language is a bit strange to me in the Swedish translation.
I’ve seen several reviews praising her language and I wonder if it is the writer’s background as a researcher with the references to English poetry and history and concepts like vanitas and ozymandias that impresses, because I don’t think it flows well and the way some things are expressed just seems off.
Possibly just a bad translation though?

 

[traill]

Fen, Bog & Swamp
Annie Proulx

How is it?

I've only read Barkskins but thought it was a fantastic and unique book, so I'd be curious to hear about her nonfiction as well.

 

[twister947]

How is it?

I've only read Barkskins but thought it was a fantastic and unique book, so I'd be curious to hear about her nonfiction as well.

I started it, then put it down, and haven't gotten back to it. I've read several of her books, and enjoyed them all. In particular, Bird Cloud captured my imagination. I recommend it.