Fall Reading Book Swap III

I received it, a package from Kari! :) I was so excited when I picked it from the post office and later when I opened it. I loved the cookie cutters which were included in the package and of course, I immediatelly backed the cookies. I couldn't help myself. ;)

I also liked the bookmark very much, with my initial on it. I have to admit that I keep looking at it all the time as it feels so personal.

Finally, the book. As I had just been reading The food of love by Anthony Capella, which is, btw. a great book with a happy ending (about the Italian food and love), I started to read yesterday in the afternoon The virgin blue by Tracy Chevalier sent to me by Kari. Do you think that I could put it down for a moment? NO. The story just sucks you in and you feel like you are there, right in the middle of it all. Perhaps I feel like this even more as I had been several times in France. :)

Recently I read The labyrinth by Kate Mosse which has a very similar story. I read it in English and soon after this it was translated into Slovenian. It is impossible to get it in a library right now unless you make a reservation. Like The Perfume, the book I wrote about in my previous post. I can't wait to sit in my chair today again and continue reading. Thank you Kari for a wonderful package!

Fall Reading Book Swap II

Today I received an e-mail from my swap partner Kari in which she told me that she received the package I had sent her. I can't wait to pick mine at the post office today!

I sent her a book by Arto Paasilinna, The Howling Miller. I don't like the front cover of an English version and I noticed that it had been translated from a French version of the book. Slovenian version was translated directly from Finnish by a woman who has a Finnish husband and I have to say that the translation is excellent!

So, here is a story why I like this book so much and why I chose to include it in my swap package:
Many years ago I was living in a nice apartment in the city centre of Ljubljana with a beautiful young man who eventually became my husband. I didn't have to wake up early in the morning as my office was very near my home and therefore I had time to read the morning newspaper. I was always reading it from the last to the front page and somewhere in between there was a feuilleton, which I sometimes read and sometimes not. Depending on the story. One day a new story was beginning to be published, by a Finnish author Arto Paasilinna that I had never heard of before. The story was somehow weird but I was attracted to it. I asked my man if he wanted to hear it too. He said yes. So, each morning I read a new piece of The Howling Miller aloud to both of us. Later we discussed the happening in the story and each day we wondered what would have followed. We both liked it very much! I cut out those feuilletons and I still keep them somewhere in my boxes. Those were ones of the most precious moments in my life!

The book was a great hit in Slovenia when it was published later in that year, as is almost every book written by the same author. He writes strange stories but sometimes, after reading them, you find courage and strength to do the things in life you have never imagined. I hope that Kari will find some inspiration in those plain sentences of a magnificent story.

Fall Reading Book Swap

I took part in a Fall Reading Book Swap on Karen Beth's blog. I like reading very much. I never make plans what to read, I just pick the books in a local library and read the book if I like it. If not, I return it, as simple as that.
As you probably noticed I have been reading the latest book (Summer light) for ages. This doesn't happen very often but I am very busy at the moment and the book is also in my opinion not so good that I would read it late at night.
So, my partner for the swap is Kari and I am happy to say that I managed to post the package for her yesterday in the afternoon. When she receives it I will share with you all why I had chosen the book I sent her and give you the names of some other books that were on my list. I am amazed at how many good books I read in my life!
To make you a bit curious I am posting a little part of the package I sent to Kari. :)