I read a book I would not normally have read and all because of an assignment in the neighbouring town. I have a bunch of books I have gotten at christmases and birthdays and never read. My taste in books tend towards adventure, fantasy and science fiction. I also like reading most books in english and therefore shun swedish books unless they were originally written in swedish that is. Since reading other blogs like kendoka.se I discovered their list of 101 things to do in 1001 days and figured I’d make such a list as well. (The site is in swedish but the mission statement is in english so you’ll get the jest of it.) I have never gotten around to making my list but on that list would be reading all those unread books.
Well, commuting from Linköping to Norrköping by train gives me the chance to do just that. As luck have it the first book I picked up was a criminal novel by Ann Cleeves. The swedish title is “Svart som natten” and it’s original title is Raven Black. It takes place on the Shetland Islands in the winter. It’s a murder story where you get to follow several people that are touched by the murder of a teenage girl in a small rural community. The book never got me fired up in a way that made me want to figure out who the murderer was before it was disclosed at the end but it still had me captured. You get a cosy rural feeling of belonging that makes you want to follow the story to end just to be a part of it and see how the various subplots between the characters play out. I loved that rural part but then I liked Heartbeat as well. That’s “Tillbaka till Aidensfield” for all you swedes out there. There is also an mystery surrounding the girl that was murdered since there is no apparent motive.
The story is great but it’s the depiction of the characters and their interaction that will keep you reading this book. I wouldn’t say it’s a must read but it is definetly worth reading.
Yay, you’re blogging again!
Posted by Caroline on February 23rd, 2007