Hung but not Dead (yet)!

Apologies if I've just shocked you with this "graffiti' but I think this represents the current situation in my adoptive country after yesterday's shamble election. I've never understood the British electoral system and now I'm even more confused than before. But as I wasn't allowed to vote anyway I suppose I don't need to understand. I just need to know how to pay my taxes...

Anyway, while we are waiting to know who our next PM will be, something good came out of all that ramble: Caroline Lucas was elected in Brighton as the first British Green MP!

And of course now I hope the meaning of 'hung parliament'...very useful indeed!

GO CAROLINE!

Electoral Quiz

Nothing brainy or heavy today, don't worry. I suppose there will be enough to worry about once they've counted the votes! Anyway, to celebrate Election Day in Britain I've decided to host a rather trivial quiz.

Which party has our lovely Mr Darcy, aka Colin Firth, been (openly) supporting during this electoral campaign?

Here is what he says about his choice:

"As a once committed XXXX voter I, like so many, have been appalled by the abandonment of the values they advocated. For me, their conduct on asylum alone is reason enough never to be able to contemplate voting for them again."Those who, like me, have despaired of political alternatives, should take a second look. I believe they could open a space for real dialogue, where values of compassion and tolerance take centre ground."

A mystery prize for the winner will be drawn on Saturday. So sorry to disappoint, but it won't be a candle-lit dinner with the new PM...

The End of the Millennium

Almost two thousand pages later and my Millennium is finished.

Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson wrote novels, for fun, in his spare time. He died suddenly in November 2004, leaving three unpublished books, that are known as the Millennium Trilogy: The Girls With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

It follows the lives of the unlikely heroine Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist. In this trilogy, Salander fights for her civil freedom and takes revenge on certain people who have harmed her in the past. Armed with phenomenal hacking skills and tenacity to live, Salander might fight the system and everyone who wants her to stay down. Mikael Blomvist enlists her help to uncover government conspiracies and together they fight the dominating power.

These three books are among some of the most interesting ones I have read this year. Translated from Swedish, the three books open my eyes to a new setting; I was bored with crime novels set in North America or in the UK and this series provided a refreshing change from that. Also, I have always been fascinated by the Scandinavian countries and especially by Sweden and this trilogy offers a good overview of life in the modern Swedish society (and politics)

Larsson has created a very intriguing heroine. She is a victim but not victimised; she is vengeful but not cold-blooded; she is small but not weak; she deserves empathy but not sympathy. Lisbeth resides in a critical balance between these dialectics. This is what makes her an unlikely heroine. She is nothing cliché. At some points she overshadows Blomkvist, but the two main characters both have their own charms in the trilogy. Blomkvist is not a perfect hero, which only serves to make him more convincing as a human being. The books are a bit slow in some points and over-descriptive in others due to that fact – think - that Larsson was a journalist and not a novelist. Some parts could have needed an abundant editing and some repetitions would have surely not been there if Larsson would be still alive now.

That said, I think this series is worth reading, especially the first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It’s a very dark and strong story, very shocking and engrossing at the same time. But never boring. I’m very sad to have to say farewell to Lisbeth Salander who kept me company for many interesting nights. I will devote myself to their cinematographic versions, the Swedish films of course, before Hollywood get hold of the film rights and make of George Clooney and Scarlet Johansson the unlikely versions of Lisbeth and Kalle!

Antisocial?

That’s it. I’m definitely an antisocial. But is it really so bad to want to be on your own, absolutely on your own for a while? Is it really so horrible to put the answering machine on because you need to meet a work deadline and you don’t have the time to talk to your ladies of leisure friends who don’t have anything to do in their life apart phoning you (so sad)? After over a month of my parents being here and the kids (and husband) being at home for the (very long) Easter break, I really need a bit of peace and quiet, I need to be ALONE! Is this being antisocial? If so, then I’m. But I’m a working mother - even worse I am a self-emplyed working mother! - and I’ve got deadlines. So if you’re thinking of phoning me today, please don’t. I won’t answer anyway! Sorry.

Teaser Tuesday

"The secret we both protected during my administration is now the subject of some very serious questions. The person referred to in the matter is now deceased and can no longer come to harm."

(Page 397, The Girls Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson)

I'm down to the last instalment of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy and I will be very sad to close the last chapter. It's a real pity Larsson passed away and we will not be recipients of any more of his very interesting and engrossing work. Next step, watch the movies...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Cloud

(picture from La Repubblica)

What BA didn’t manage, an almost forgotten volcano in Iceland did: to stop the flights all over the UK and most of Northern Europe.

The Planet will have a slight reprieve with no flights leaving the UK and less pollution and Co2 being pumped into the air. It is very impressive how Mother Nature can ground polluting flights.

I’m not an expert in the field, but I cannot help thinking that all those underground nuclear tests probably have destabilized the Earth crusts so much that earthquakes will be the norm in the near future. Hopefully I’m wrong.

Where is Spring?

If this is spring, why am I so cold? The few Easter days were wet, windy and cold and all the expected sunshine was out for just a handful of minutes just to make us yearn for spring and warmth even more. I know that talking about the weather (especially the bad weather!) is not only a British habit, but I cannot remember to have dwelled so much on the weather forecast before moving to Britain. Anyway, to console myself (and you as well, I hope), I’d like to post a wonderful picture of my favourite flower, the mimosa (which is actually a shrub and its official name is ‘acacia dealbata’).

I’m also posting my favourite Spring poem, one of the first poems I learnt in the English language.

Lines Written in Early Spring, William Wordsworth

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:--

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

And if in the meanwhile you encounter Spring, please send her up to Yorkshire!!!