Haven't posted anything for more than a week now. Have been absorbed deeply in some reading and will probably be like this for the coming weeks too, at least before 13 Feb when we will be leaving for Yogyakarta. (Well, I can still read over there..) We have more or less decided to drop climbing Merapi, maybe some hiking at most, because husband is not confident that he will come out of it with his spine intact. (A slipped disc is always tricky.)
Anyway all this while, I have been reading Henning Mankell, another Swedish writer. His Fifth Woman and Firewall books are good and I have 12 more to go. Most of his novels have Kurt Wallander, a police inspector, as the protagonist. The novels are as much his vehicle for presenting well-developed fictional crime stories as social commentaries about the darker and colder (according to the author anyway) side of Swedish society. His writing (translated) while better than Stieg Larsson's, depresses me. I think it's because of the detail and attention he gives to painting Wallander's personality and life: A 50+ year old crime buster with a heightened sense of intuition and sensitivity but struggling with issues and is disillusioned with his life, who ends up having Alzheimer's towards the end of his career.
Anyway all this while, I have been reading Henning Mankell, another Swedish writer. His Fifth Woman and Firewall books are good and I have 12 more to go. Most of his novels have Kurt Wallander, a police inspector, as the protagonist. The novels are as much his vehicle for presenting well-developed fictional crime stories as social commentaries about the darker and colder (according to the author anyway) side of Swedish society. His writing (translated) while better than Stieg Larsson's, depresses me. I think it's because of the detail and attention he gives to painting Wallander's personality and life: A 50+ year old crime buster with a heightened sense of intuition and sensitivity but struggling with issues and is disillusioned with his life, who ends up having Alzheimer's towards the end of his career.
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