FRANK LANDE

is the name of my favourite author of the moment.

Frank Lande has written 2 books and is working on another that might come next fall. I am not sure if any of his books are available in english, but I hope they will be at some point.

I started out with his most recent book, Intervjuer, a book full of interviews basically. In the beginning I thought they were real-life interviews, but after reading a couple I realized they were probably purely fictional. They were so spot-on, specially the interview with the two girls who discuss the problem of emotional and cuddly men. I was laughing out loud more than once. The last interview is with a girl who is afraid of flying and she talks about how depressed people or people with anxiety are basically just really, really selfish. I wont reveal the ending of that interview which I found particularly clever, but the author seems to be discussing the issue of selfishness in both of his books. How these times we live in make us naturally more and more self-focused and narcissistic.

His first book is called Frank Lande (like himself) and is dealing with such a tragic issue as loosing a family member in an accident. He has written the book backwards sort of, with each chapter going back in time. Even if the book is basically about the loss of someone near/dear, it is excellently funny and sharp. Frank's stay at the mental hospital, and the part where he accidentally hits Bertine Zetlitz are so fun and cleverly written. I also loved the part where he randomly saves Kim Hiorthøys life in Barcelona, and Kim Hiorthøy in return lets him in on his secret of productivity: cloning, so Frank clones himself in order for the clone to hang out with his girlfriend and friends, while he is at home writing and making music.

I also just love the way he phrases himself: At some point he is (loosely translated from my head) "sitting down and looking around, on the chair, on the table he usually put things on so he doesn't have to bend all the way down to the floor each time he needs something," and he is wondering what the hell he is doing. Here he is being apathetic and depressed straight after his brothers tragic death, but the description of the table just made me laugh out loud. It was so random. Perhaps I am easily amused and you wont find it a tad funny.

Well, anyhow, if you understand norwegian and this sounds interesting to you, you should try picking up one of his books. Inteviews can be bought through Flamme Forlag here and the other one, Frank Lande, is probably either in your bookshop, somewhere on the internet or at your local library. You can read one of his interviews here to get a feeling of the tone in the book. Quite refreshing, I'd say.

For the rest of you, lets hope these books will be translated into your language! They are great fun and probably the best and most spot-on reads I have had all year.

RUSSIAN CRIMINAL TATTOO ENCYCLOPEDIA

One of the most amazing books I own.


By Danzig Baldaev

PRINTED MATTER

Introducing my favorite shop in New York that has the most amazing and interesting books.

buy online or visit the shop:
195 Tenth Avenue, New York, 10011

Один день Ивана Денисовича

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenicyn

Just got this brilliant book with the post today. I can't wait to start reading it but thought I would share it with you guys first.

"The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s, and describes a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.
It's publication was an extraordinary event in Soviet literary history—never before had an account of "Stalinist repression" been openly distributed."

read more about it here

READING MATERIAL

So I've been searching for new interesting books for a while now and I've found one that I bought today;
"Veronica decides to die" by Paulo Coelho. And I also just found out that they are currently making a movie based on the book which is going to be released in 2009.

Veronika, who leads a seemingly perfect life, lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She decides to commit a premeditated suicide by ingesting too many sleeping pills. While she waits for her death, she decides to read a magazine.
After seeing an article in the magazine which wittily asks "Where is Slovenia?," she decides to write a letter to the press justifying her suicide, the idea being to make the press believe that she has killed herself because people don't even know where Slovenia is. Her plan fails and she wakes up in Villete, a mental hospital in Slovenia, where she is told she has a week to live.
text from wikipedia.com