2015: The Year of Reading Women discussion

I just got my copy of The Löwensköld Ring in the mail. Is anyone interested in discussing this? It's very short, so I intend to tackle it soon.

I'd like to read something by each of the female Nobel and Neustadt laureates, so I'd be glad to try to join you, Chinook. My library system has two copies presently available, so suggest a start time and I'll try to obtain. (However, to purchase a copy appears somewhat prohibitive to the level of my interest, at least without knowing more. I.e., I'll read with you if I can get my hands on a library copy.)

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_La...

I bought a $.01 copy off amazon used, so it was $4 with shipping.

Why don't you let me know once your coup from the library arrives? It's very short - I think I could read the whole thing in one of the baby's naps.

I'll put in a request, Chinook.

(You must have spotted a different edition on Amazon than I did.)

Ah, yes. I got this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1870041...

But it appears I got the only cheap copy.

I'm hoping to read The Saga of Gösta Berling this year.

Sorry not to get back to you sooner, Chinook. I realize now that I apparently ended up with a very different book than you. Mine seems to have three "books" under one cover: The Ring of the Löwenskölds, Charlotte Löwensköld, and Anna Svärd.

I am now in the first third of Anna Svärd. I may need to go back and review the first one, but it is short, so although I need to get the book back to the library by the end of the month, hopefully I can still do that. If you post things about The Ring, Chinook, I'll try to respond.

I have thoroughly enjoyed these books. For me they have been somewhat like reading John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga -- another Nobel winner (1932). But I grew up in the Midwest, with a maternal family that immigrated from Denmark and amidst many Scandinavians in the surrounding community. It is such an eery feeling when I read something from an author from those countries -- so often there is some essence that I cannot pull out and name, but still somehow feels familiar. This has been true for me with as diverse a group of authors as Stieg Larsson, Per Petterson, Anders Roslund, and Mikael Niemi. (Haven't been back to Hans Christian Andersen for a long time -- probably would include him, too.) I'll try to say more about this as we discuss The Ring, including some insights that came to me later in life from Monica McGoldrick's Ethnicity and Family Therapy.

I've got The Löwensköld Ring ready to read... is anyone interested in buddying up some time this year?

Zanna wrote: "I've got The Löwensköld Ring ready to read... is anyone interested in buddying up some time this year?"

What stories are within your copy, Zanna? As indicated @7, I ended up with three in one tome, all related. (I did count them as three for the year! It has been a year for slowing down the volume of reading, even while working on a few big ones I haven't counted -- Proust, W&P.) It has been a few months since I read Lagerlof, but I would certainly try to check in on any postings.

It wasn't easy finding her books in our library system. I didn't recheck, but I don't think I found the one Kris suggested @6.

Just the one piece in my copy Lily, the whole book is about 115 pages with intro and translator's afterword

Zanna wrote: "Just the one piece in my copy Lily, the whole book is about 115 pages with intro and translator's afterword"

Okay. I hope you will end up wanting to find the others, Zanna. I'm glad they were included in the copy I had, at least partly because I'm not certain I would have found them. But the first one should serve to make the reader curious, rather like Snow White ending when the elves first found her.

For me, reading Lagerlof was like a trip into a grown-up fairy tale, with its ogre and its virtuous ones. Look forward to your comments.

(Maybe we should send a post to Chinook (msg 1) and see if she has had a chance to read this and could join a conversation.)

I sent a message to Chinook = )
I'll just read on my own if necessary

I'm going to start reading The Lowenskold Ring today

Zanna wrote: "I'm going to start reading The Lowenskold Ring today"

I loved it! What a great book
Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Zanna wrote: "...The Lowenskold Ring...I loved it! What a great book
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Enjoyed your review so very much, Zanna.

Mine, more notes than a review, is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Interesting that we each saw the culture and place come through so clearly -- your words of "a voice clear as an icy mountain spring and yet somehow cozy and comfortable..." capture so much.

Helpful review, especially good to have it here so folks can learn more