Books I have read…

since I moved to Puerto Rico in November 2007:

1) Ajvide Lindqvist, John – Låt den rätte komma in / Let the right one in

2) Akass, Kim & McCabe, Janet – Reading Sex and the City

An academic take on my favourite tv-show. Interesting but some of the articles are a bit heavy and too academic / analytical. However, for the die-hard fans of the tv-series I can definitely recommend it!

3) Alvtegen, Karin – Skam / Shame

4) Amiry, Suad – Sharon and my mother-in-law. Ramallah diaries

A funny and sad Palestinian perspective on the Israeli occupation.

5) Auster, Paul – The Brooklyn Follies

6) Axelsson, Majgull – Slumpvandring

7) Brunner, Ernst – Vallmobadet

8 ) Can, Mustafa – Tätt intill dagarna

9) Child, Julia – My life in France

10) Clinton Rodham, Hillary – Living History

11) Curtis, Wayne – and a Bottle of Rum. A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails

12) Dallaire, Roméo – Shake hands with the devil
Read my blog post about the book.

13) de los Santos, Marisa – Love walked in

14) Didion, Joan – The year of magical thinking

The author experienced a trying year when her husband died and her daughter was hospitalised with a serious condition. She tried to deal with the situation by seeking information, and reminiscing about the family’s life together.

15) Drougge, Unni – Boven i mitt drama kallas kärlek

16) Dyson, Cindy – and she was

17) Ebadi, Shirin – Iran Awakening

18) Esquivel, Laura – Como agua para chocolate / Like water for chocolate

19) Fowler, Karen Joy – The Jane Austen Book Club

20) Fox, Paula – La légende d’une servante / A servant’s tale

A gift from French C who wanted to find me a novel about the Caribbean… The main character grows up in Belize (the island of San Pedro) and moves to New York with her parents where she becomes a maid just like her mother. It is another perspective on the transition from a poor Caribbean childhood to a life in the bustling city of NY, compared to the book “When I was Puerto Rican”. Good but for some reason it took me some time to appreciate the story.

21) Franzen, Jonathan – The Corrections

22) Frimansson, Inger – Mörkerspår

23) Gardell, Jonas – Jenny

Ännu en sorglig bok av Jonas Gardell, den tredje i En komikers uppväxt-triologin. Inte lika bra som de två första men Jonas Gardell visar igen hur elaka och hemska barn kan vara och att grundskolan kan vara en otroligt plågsam tid.

24) George, Elizabeth – Careless in red

25) George, Elizabeth – What came before he shot her

26) Grant, Stephanie – Map of Ireland

27) Griffin, Emily – Baby Proof

28) Gruen, Sara – Water for elephants

29) Heberlein, Ann – Jag vill inte dö, jag vill bara inte leva

30) Henschen, Helena – hon älskade

31) Holst, Hanne-Vibeke – Min mosters migrän, eller hur jag blev kvinna

32) Jensen, Carsten – Vi, de drunknade (We, the drowned)

33) Jungersen, Christian – Undantaget / The Exception

Just like the book “Jenny” (only available in Swedish) above, this book tells the story of a woman who is harassed by people, in this case by her colleagues, and how the collective can create a hysterical situation where everything goes out of control. Very good!!

34) Jungstedt, Mari – I denna ljuva sommartid

35) Lantz, Annika – 9½ månad

36) Larsson, Stieg – Män som hatar kvinnor / The girl with the dragon tattoo

37) Larsson, Stieg – Flickan som lekte med elden / The girl who played with fire

38) LeBlanc, Adrian Nicole – Random family

A recommendation by Annika in Virigina, and I am so happy that I read it. It is a non-fiction book about some Nuyorican* women and their boyfriends growing up in the Bronx. It is a miserable and hard life but they have a strong sense of family and their story is fascinating… (* Nuyorican refers to persons of Puerto Rican descent living in New York – famous ones are Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony)

39) Lewycka, Marina – Short history of tractors in Ukrainian

A quirky and funny story about 1^st and 2^nd generation Ukrainians in the UK vs recent immigrants from Ukraine.

40) Linderborg, Åsa – Mig äger ingen

41) Lindqvist, Ulla-Carin – Ro utan åror

En mycket sorglig dagbok av Ulla-Carin Lindqvist som dog av ALS precis som min farmor.

42) Lindström Fredrik & Pihl, Lasse – Vem är Björn och vem är Benny och andra intressanta mysterier

Ett verkligt bottennapp av Fredrik Lindström som brukar skriva roligt och informerat. Detta är en av de få böckerna som  jag börjat läsa men inte avslutat. Så himla dålig. Inte ens rolig eftersom den är helt byggd på strunt. Titeln hade potential tyckte jag som aldrig kan komma ihåg vem som är Björn respektive Benny i ABBA… Läs den INTE!

43) Läckberg, Camilla – Isprinsessan

44) Läckberg, Camilla – Predikanten

45) Malmsten, Bodil – Sista boken från Finistère

46) Mankell, Henning – Den femte kvinnan (The fifth woman)

47) Mankell, Henning – Mannen som log (The man who smiled)

48) Mankell, Henning – Sidospår (Sidetracked)

49) Mankell, Henning – Steget efter (One step behind)

50) Mattsson, Eva – Ostende, en släkthistoria

Lite långsam men intressant bok om en familj som lever i Ostende på belgiska kusten. Kanske inget för någon som inte har bott i Belgien…

51) McEwan, Ian – Atonement

I haven’t seen the film yet, but I really enjoyed the book. The story starts in England just before the 2nd world war, and is about the love between an upper-class girl and a working-class boy, and the consequences of what the girl’s 13-year old sister thinks that she has seen… I was very curious about this book / film as Lotta K wrote a post about her boyfriend’s strong reaction to the film.

52) McNamee, Eoin – The Blue Tango

One of the weirdest books I have read. I didn’t like the style of the book at all and struggled to finish it. Based on a true (?) murder story in Ireland, but too strange for me.

53) Miller, Rebecca – The private lives of Pippa Lee

54) Moaveni, Azadeh – Lipstick Jihad

55) Montero, Mayra – El capitán de los dormidos

56) Nadeau, Jean-Benoît & Barlow, Julie – Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French

57) Nadeau, Jean-Benoît & Barlow, Julie – The Story of French

58) Nadel, Barbara – Belsassars dotter

59) Nilsson Piraten, Fritiof – Bock i örtagård

Min första Piraten-bok och trots att jag vet att han är en klassisk skånsk författare så var jag inte särskilt imponerad. Det var tur att boken inte var så lång för annars är jag inte säker på att jag hade läst ut den (hm, jag är inte ens säker på att jag har läst ut den – jag måste nog kolla igenom boken igen!!)! Det är en sk burlesk historia om en godsägare i Skåne i slutet på 1800-talet som trots att han är mer eller mindre alfabet försöker han med alla medel att bli kyrkvärd. Den kända (?) beskrivningen av det dignande smörgåsbordet i början var väl egentligen den enda passagen som verkligen fångade mitt intresse.

60) Nilsson, Johanna – De i Utkanten Älskande

61) Nilsson, Johanna – Hon går genom tavlan, ut ur bilden

62) Nilsson, Johanna – Jag är leopardpojkens dotter

En väldigt intressant och fascinerande bok om svenska missionärer i belgiska Kongo under 1930-talet och framåt. Läs den!!

63) O’Farrell, Maggie – After you’d gone

64) Oates, Joyce Carol – The gravedigger’s daughter

65) Obama, Barack – The audacity of hope

A political book by maybe the next president of the US {obviously read this before Barack Obama actually became president!} ! It has a very American perspective but it is still interesting for an European reader interested in understanding American politics to read – the chapters are divided into subjects such as Democrats & Republicans, Faith, Values, Race and The world beyond our borders.

66) Obama, Barack – Dreams from my father

67) Olsson, Belinda – Reporter erkänner gravidchock

68) Östlin, Lillemor – Hinsehäxan. En sann historia

En självbiografi av en svensk, kvinnlig kåkfarare. Ett intressant perspektiv från den “andra sidan” av lagen. Jag tycker att det är extra kul att läsa om Fias erfarenheter från kriminalvården efter att ha läst den här boken.

69) Pearson, Harry – A tall man in a low land

This is one of the books that is always on display on the shelf for books about Belgium in Waterstones in Brussels – I had looked at it many times before I bought it just before leaving Brussels. Quite a disappointment, I expected it to be more funny!? It had a lot of potential but I was disappointed..

70) Powell, Julie – Julie & Julia 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen

A great book, which is now also a great film… Read more about the book here and the film here.

71) Ragde, Anne B – Berlinerpopplarna (Berlin poplars)

72) Ragde, Anne B – Eremitkräftorna (Hermit Crabs)

73) Ragde, Anne B – Vila på gröna ängar

74) Reid, T.R – The United States of Europe. The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy

I found this book in Borders in San Juan for $3.99 and thought, “why not – it could be interesting to read an American perspective on the EU”. It is a fascinating read for anybody interested in European vs American politics (a typical “us and them”-perspective)! It is not heavy or too academic, so a great read! However, I wouldn’t agree with everything T.R Reid writes and I found a few errors… but over all I can recommend it!!

75) Roslund & Hellström – Flickan under gatan

76) Santiago, Esmeralda – When I was Puerto Rican

This book is always displayed on the Puerto Rican shelf in Borders, San Juan – both in Spanish and in English. I hope to re-read it soon in Spanish! It is a great auto-biography, telling the story of a the author’s childhood in a poor family in Puerto Rico and her move as a 13-year old to New York in the 1950’s. It is a popular book in Puerto Rico and I have heard from my neighour that it is a good portrayal of this part of the island’s history. It is interesting to compare this book with the “Random family”-book which tells a more recent true story of Puerto Ricans in NYC.

77) Schenkel, Andrea Maria – Mordbyn

78) Sebold, Alice – Lucky

The true story of how the author to the book Lovely bones (which I can recommend by the way) was raped as a young college student. She tells her story in a very unsentimental way, and it was fascinating to read how she managed to find and help capture the rapist, as well as to deal with her experiences. A recommended read!

79) Sebold, Alice – The almost moon

80 ) Shaffer, Mary Ann & Barrows, Annie – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

81) Sittenfeld, Curtis – Prep

A story set in a boarding school for upper-class teenagers in New England, where the main character is a shy, middle-class girl who does everything to fit in and to get a few friends… I loved the book, which I read very quickly. It reminded me a little of how hard it is to be teenager – so happy I don’t have to go through that period again!

82) Smith, Ali – The accidental

83) Stefánsson, Jón Kalman – Sommarljus, och sen kommer natten (not translated to English, but German though!)

The first Icelandic book I have read, and it was a little strange. The narrator is “We” as the people of a small village in Iceland, a place full of quirky and weird characters. The way the book was written didn’t really appeal to me.

84) Strömstedt, Margareta – Natten innan de hängde Ruth Ellis

85) Sveland, Maria – Bitterfittan

86) Sykes, Plum – Bergdorf Blondes

87) Theorin, Johan – Skumtimmen

88) Theorin, Johan – Nattfåk

89) Thorvall, Kerstin – När man skjuter arbetare

90) Tomalin, Claire – Jane Austen: A life

Only for die-hard fans of Jane Austen as it is a heavy read! It is a very academic book, fit for literature studies, built on research done on letters, diaries and plenty of references to Jane Austen’s own books. I have read almost all of Jane’s books but it was quite a few years ago which made the read heavier as I didn’t remember all the details of the stories. I am still very fascinated over how Jane Austen managed to write such liberal and fresh books such a long time ago, especially as she, herself didn’t lead a very exciting or free life – read one of her books instead of this biography!

91) Torekull, Bertil – Historien om IKEA. Ingvar Kamprad berättar för…

92) Tremlett, Giles – Ghosts of Spain. Travels Through a Country’s Hidden Past

A British journalist who lives in Spain has written a fascinating book about the country’s modern history – covering lots of interesting topics ranging from Franco to flamenco. O has been meaning to read it for 2 years now… I am sure that he would learn some new things about his country! A must read for anyone who is planning to live in Spain (me!) or interested in understanding Spain’s recent past… I will probably re-read it once we settle in Spain!

93) Trotzig, Astrid – Främmande i detta land

Astrid Trotzig har en väldigt speciell stil som jag gillade i hennes första bok Blod är tjockare än vatten, om hennes resa till Korea för att hitta sina rötter (hon är adopterad därifrån). Däremot är jag inte säker på att jag gillade hennes stil att skriva på i denna boken, jag hade gärna haft lite mer “kött på benen” och utförligare text. Som boken är skriven nu är den väldigt snabbläst men det känns som jag inte kom riktigt in i berättelsen som handlar om en sk svartskalle och hans tankar om sitt ursprung (mamma är från Sydamerika, pappan från Sverige) och hur invandrare behandlas i Sverige.

94) Tyler, Anne – Digging to America

A story of two girls who are adopted from Korea, one by an all-white American family and the other one by an Iranian family living in the US. Very good and interesting take on identity, culture and belonging.

95) Undset, Sigrid – Kristin Lavransdotter

96) Uri, Helene – De beste blant oss

97) Viera Rigler, Laurie – Confessions of a Jane Austen addict

98) Wennstam, Katarina – Smuts

99) Woodall, Trinny & Constance, Susannah – What you wear can change your life

I loved Trinny’s and Susannah’s (who by the way reminds me of Dr Lewis in ER) BBC series on What not to wear (I haven’t seen the US version, but I can guess that it is not as direct and boob-grabbing, ha ha!) so when I found this book at Borders I had to have it (as it was on sale!). It is a good guide to everything from what kind of underwear to wear to how to pose for holiday snaps! I wouldn’t study the rules too hard but it’s fun to read.

100) Woolf, Virginia – To the lighthouse