Some of the books I've read 2008

[oneiriad]

Just taking a little retrospective look on some of the books I've read through the year. Not all of them, not even close - just some that managed to stand out. 

Almqvist, Carl Johan Love: Det går an.
Swedish novel from 1839. Very much an author tract, telling the story of a young sergeant who meets a young woman who surprises him by being what I suppose you might call a feminist - an independent business woman and very anti-marriage. Not a common sight in 19th century Sweden. Not the world's most impressive novel, but interesting.

Apenes, Georg & Dyrhaug, Tore: Tyttebærkrigen - det norske felttog i Sverige 1788.
Okay, so I couldn't resist the simple fact that apparently there is a war which is actually referred to as the Lingonberry War. So sue me.

Baker, Paul & Stanley, Jo: Hello sailor! - the hidden history of gay life at sea
Has left me with a desire to read a From Eroica with love fanfic involving Polari.

Benjamin: Orange  &  Remember
Some absolutely beautiful Chinese comics. Beautiful.

Brantenberg, Gerd: Egalia's døtre.
Egalia's Daughters is very much 70's concrete feminism, but the way it practically dissects the language and turns every single word with any connotation to gender upside down is interesting.

Bredsdorff, Elias: Den store nordiske krig om seksualmoralen.
Again, how could I resist. I mean, while the Victorians were busy being Victorians, Scandinavia had the so-called Great Nordic War about Sexual Morality.

Brooks, Max: World War Z
A very interesting and occasionally creepy book. I kind of like fiction presented as documentaries.

Chang Hsi-kuo: The city trilogy - Five jade disks, Defenders of the dragon city & Tale of a feather
One of the strangest science fiction novels I've ever read.

Crusie, Jennifer & Mayer, Bob: Agnes and the hitman
Not my usual fare, but very funny.

Dall, Ian & Konzack, Lars: Tilfældet H.P. Lovecraft  in: Fra skyggerne - og andre Cthulhu Mythos noveller.
A short story in a small anthology of Danish short stories inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos. A rather clever story, actually - mixing Second Life and furries and gene manipulation with a conspiracy theory which can be summed up as: There was no H.P. Lovecraft. He was a fiction created by a group of pulp writers. Quite fun.

Duncker, Patricia:  Hallucinating Foucault
A lovely little book about the love between reader and author - in this case occasionally literal and carnal. Besides, the fictional crazy French homosexual author is brilliant. I want to read his books :-(

Gaiman, Neil:  The graveyard book
Loved it. And typical me that I had to see someone else mention something as obvious as the tribute to Kipling before noticing it myself :-(

Guldberg, Torben:  Teser om eksistensen af kærlighed
Gorgeous Danish novel - well, collection of short stories held together by a framing story about an immortal man settling in Copenhagen and collection stories about love in an attempt to figure out what it is. Lovely.

Harris, Charlaine: Dead until dark (and the rest of the series)
I really need to see the tv series, don't I?

Huff, Tanya:  Blood price & Blood trail
Vicki Nelson managed to win my heart by not being half as demonstrative about stuff as Anita Blake. Admittedly, that's not hard. I need to read the rest of the books. And watch the tv series. Ah well.

Jürgensen, Jørgen: A shred of autobiography
A very interesting look at a Dane's fate in the years around and after the Napoleonic Wars. Spy, adventurer, convict - briefly self-proclaimed King of Iceland, even.

Langstrup, Steen: Hjælp, jeg vil skrive en bestseller
An interesting look at the Danish book industry. Also, apparently the femikrimi reigns supreme. Ah well...

Larsson, Stieg: Män som hatar kvinnor, Flickan som leckte med elden & Luftslottet som sprängdes
Yeah, I succumbed. Like practically everybody else it seems, I've read the Millennium trilogy - and liked it. Yeah, when you get a bit of time to reflect Lisbeth Salander is mildly put over the top and possibly a bit Mary Sue-ish, but that doesn't stop me from looking forward to the movie. Also, I was reading the third novel around the same time that the whole "Oh, John Ringo, no" was going around, which has left me with a deep desire to see a crossover between those two. Crazy, right?

Lukyanenko, Sergei:  The night watch & The day watch
Oh, these are good. The movies are confusing, but fun - but the books. Oh, the books are good. And I really need to get around to buying The twilight watch, don't I?

Madsen, Svend Åge: Dage med Diam eller Livet om natten
I really need to read more of this guy. He's good - his novels are twisting and fantastic and strange and kind of science fiction centering around alternate realities and such...

Nørregård. Pernille: Crazy Christmas Cabaret - hurrays and boos i 25 år
Well, it's not exactly a secret that I love the CCC...

Olesen, Anne-Marie Vedsø: Tredje Ikaros & Gudernes tusmørke
Finished reading this trilogy. Very obviously inspired by Anne Rice. Still, Seth is a gorgeous character - wild and terrible and beautiful, loving and destroying with equal ease. Unfortunately, the group that the author obviously thinks are the good guys simply don't strike me as good. They are supposed to be a secret group preserving knowledge, but to me they come across as hording and hiding knowledge, which is completely different and morally very questionable. Right, I'll stop that line of thought before it gets off track. But Seth is gorgeous, even if the third book spends to much time suddenly trying to make him a complete villain instead of merely a chaos god.

Schubart, Rikke:  Bid
Danish vampire novels are a sufficiently rare species that each should be treasured, but honestly, this isn't that good.

Yoshinaga, Fumi:  Antique bakery  &  Gerard & Jacques
A lovely couple of short manga series. Especially Antique bakery. G&J has a couple of bits I'm uncomfortable with, alas. Antique bakery, on the other, is sweet as sugar - and probably not the thing to read if you're on a diet...