Beautiful weather has arrived and Kajsa's learning to ride a bike. Click here for words and pix. 

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I was biking around the neighborhood this morning and listening to a Freakonomics podcast, The Days of Wine and Mouses. First of all, it was a very illuminating podcast. Seems like the most telling factor in how we judge a wine is by its price. Many soi-disant wine experts can't tell the difference between a $10 bottle of wine and a $50 bottle. Sheesh. I knew it.  I'm not much of an oenophile anyway. But a logophile? You betcha.

Then I was biking past the tennis courts at the end of Tennisvägen [pictured] and I noticed a tall, young woman alone on one of the courts. She was half-heartedly hitting tennis balls and I stopped to ask her a question about using the courts. After telling me in halting English about how it works, she asked if I was any good and did I want to hit some with her since doing it "by yourself is boring."

I said I was so-so and that I'd like to hit some. "I'll be back in... seven minutes." So, seven minutes later we were hitting some balls back and forth. I had no idea how good she might have been before entering the court. In the back of my mind I was thinking about how so many Swedes play tennis and how there are so many streets in various towns called "Tennisvägen." But I needn't have worried. It soon became apparent that I was the better player. But then I asked her name, and how long she'd been playing. Madeleine had only been playing for about two years! I was very impressed. She didn't strike me as a beginner. More of an intermediate player. Then she started asking me for pointers.  So for a few minutes I instantly transformed into my mother (who largely taught me) and I told her how to hit topspin and such.

Weather permitting we'll play again on Friday morning. But then this weekend she's traveling to Paris for five weeks. But I said we'd be living here through the end of July and she was keen to play when she got back in mid June. Perhaps I'd play against her and Tina. (I'd told her that my wife was roughly at the same skill level she was).

So that was lucky!

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One Hundred Years Of Solitude ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez [abandoned]
Paperback: 464 pages ISBN-10: 0060929790 ISBN-13: 978-0060929794

I thought I'd tackle this well-loved book but I'm giving up 100 pages in.  Supposedly it's the story of the Buendia family in the fictional town of Macondo. There are about 37 people in this family, most of whom are either named José Arcadio, Aureliano, or Remedios. There's a family tree in the beginning but it's impossible to tell the characters apart (except for Ursula, the matriarch). After a few days of reading, I realized several things: 1) I have no idea what these characters are motivated by, 2) there doesn't seem to be a plot, 3) perhaps I'm missing something, 4) what the hell is with naming, like, seven characters the same name!? and 5) I'm bored. Also, I'm not the only one who feels this way about this book. So: wasn't enjoying it, so I quit. I can do that.
[abandoned in May 2012] [amazon]

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We recently returned from a weekend visit to Legoland. A good time was had by all. Words and pix here. 

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A Little Princess ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett
Paperback 208 pages ISBN 13: 9780340997390 ISBN 10: 0340997397

This would not have been my first choice for read-aloud reading material but A) I don't have a ton of choices readily available (I'm currently in Sweden after all), and B) it's a old favorite of my wife's and she'd bought a copy recently. So, I found myself reading this 100-year-old story to the kids. At first I couldn't help inwardly rolling my eyes at the overwrought nature of the story and it's perfect little heroine. But as the titular Sara Crewe's fortunes take a turn for the worse, it wasn't so bad and both my kids were hooked. (Honestly, lately they've been hooked on whatever I've been reading to them.) Both my 7-year-old girl and my 10-year-old boy got caught up in the story and would blurt out ideas about the characters. As the tale came to a close even my old cynical self felt moved by the charity shown by Sara Crewe to those less fortunate than herself. (So that's two books by this author I've read now! Huh.)
[finished 19 apr 2012] [book depository]

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I've posted a couple new sets of pictures on my site. The first is our weekend in Ystad. The second is Glad Påsk (Happy Easter). 

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Anathem ~ Neal Stephenson [abandoned]
Mass Market Paperback: 1008 pages ISBN-10: 006147410X ISBN-13: 978-0061474101

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Luke (age 10) is currently studying up on the Vikings for a school project. He brought home a children's book on the subject. I was a bit surprised to see one of the illustrations in it. And we ALL got a good laugh over it. (What is that pig looking at?!) As Kajsa (age 7) pointed out: "You can see his wiener!" I kept myself from saying the word I was thinking of. (It begins with B). No need to go there yet -- at least not with my daughter. 

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The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma ~ Trenton Lee Stewart
Paperback: 400 pages ISBN-10: 0316045500 ISBN-13: 978-0316045506

Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance are once again pitted against the evil mastermind Ledroptha Curtain who of course just happens to be the twin brother of the benelovent Mr. Benedict. This tale is not quite as zippy as the preceding books but my two kids ate it up just as rabidly. As ever, Constance Contraire is a chief source of amusement, but the plot is harder to summarize. Basically Mr. Curtain wants to regain the Whisperer for his megalomanical plans. And Constance is developing some mental telepathy. Once again the kids would beg me to read more whenever I'd finish reading for the night. They love the Mysterious Benedict Society.
[finished 25 mar 2012] [amazon]

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Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute ~ Jonathan L. Howard
Paperback: 384 pages ISBN-10: 0755348001 ISBN-13: 978-0755348008 

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We took a day trip to Denmark last Saturday, visiting family. Take a look. (The picture above was taken at a train station in Copenhagen). 

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At Home: A Short History of Private Life ~ Bill Bryson
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0552772556
 
Bill Bryson, a favorite author of mine, looks around his house and wonders where everything came from. The house in question is rectory dating from 1851 in some out-of-the-way spot in England. From the hall, to the kitchen, to the drawing room, bedroom, attic, and more, Bryson expounds on the history behind many different things that we now take for granted. It's wonderfully informative and fascinating stuff. How often can you say you breezed through a 700-page non-fiction book? Well, I did just now. There is a wealth of fascinating -- sometimes amazing -- facts within. For instance:

• Out of the thirty thousand types of edible plant thought to exist on earth, just eleven -- corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, casava, sorghum, millet, beans, barley, rye, and oats -- account for account for 93 per cent of all that humans eat, and every one of them was first cultivated by our Neolithic ancestors.
• Your bed, if it is averagely clean, averagely old, averagely dimensioned... is likely to be home to some two million tiny bed mites, too small to be seen with the naked eye.  It's been calculated that if your pillow is six years old, one-tenth of its weight will be made up of sloughed skin, living and dead mites, and mite dung.
• The cleanest surface in the average house is the toilet seat; the fithiest object is the kitchen wash cloth.
• Today it takes the average citizen of Tanzania almost a year to produce the same volume of carbon emissions as is effortlessly generation every two and a half days by a European, or every twenty-eight hours by an American.

Most of the chapters in the book are named after rooms in the house. In some cases, Bryson barely touches on the significance of the room but instead launches into some compelling story from history about private life. The book is full of curious characters from history, some well-known and others largely forgotten. Many of these passages are taken from the Victorian era and one quickly counts oneself lucky not to have lived in that time. This book was highly enjoyable.
[finished 12 mar 2012] [amazon] [book depository] 

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The kids and I are doing a little reading on the little couch. Luke is reading An Elephant in the Garden; Kajsa is reading Kalle Ankas Pocket 268: Jakten på Storfot; and I'm reading At Home: A Short History of Private Life. 

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The Great Hamster Massacre ~ Katie Davies
Paperback: 128 pages ISBN-10: 1847385958 ISBN-13: 978-1847385956

Needed another read-aloud book for bedtime and this was available at the local library. (Boy, I seem to be plowing through read-aloud books lately.) This is a cute, breezy tale narrated by a young pre-teen girl who has to write a "What I Did Last Summer" essay for school. Instead, she recounts the tale of a disaster with hamsters and her investigation into it. It's a very light tale especially for one that includes death in the story. There's a good sense of humor in it too. As I read it, I became aware that it's set in England. (There are a few Britishisms sprinkled throughout and of course, many of the characters have a fondness for tea.) I enjoyed trying out my accent for the character of Mr. Tucker (a retired Navy man), but when I accidently let my English accent stray into one of the kids speech, my own two kids said I was making a mistake. The narrator (Anna) and her brother were American, they insisted. (I went along with it.) The story ends somewhat abruptly and you get the feeling there could've been a little more to the ending but no matter -- the kids liked it well enough. Now they are very excited at the prospect of my reading the third Mysterious Benedict Society book for the next read-aloud. [amazon]
[finished 27 feb 2012]

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A Fire Upon The Deep ~ Vernor Vinge [abandoned]
Mass Market Paperback 624 pages ISBN-13: 978-0812515282

I was all fired-up to dive into some good old SF but about 200-odd pages in I gave up on this one. On the plus side, the dog-like medieval denizens of Tines World were very interesting. They had group-minds and acted as one in groups of four to six individuals. Definitely some clever stuff there. I was getting interested in the plight of two human children stuck on Tines World. But the other half of the story concerned the galactic "Blight" and focused on a human character named Ravna along with a couple other interesting aliens. But the motives and world-building in this section were too obtuse for me to get a handle on. I think the techno-babble did me in the most. But also Ravna's character wasn't very interesting. Reading this became more of a chore than fun so I made the decision to cut my losses. I'm in the minority with this viewpoint, but not alone. [amazon] [started 18 feb 2012, abandoned 26 feb 2012]

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First Lord's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 6) ~ Jim Butcher
Paperback: 784 pages ISBN-10: 9780441019625 ISBN-13: 978-0441019625

This is a great finish to a wicked fun fantasy series. I started reading this one right after finishing the earlier book because I was so hooked into the story and the many wonderful characters. This book starts strongly and just carries through the entire length with never a dull moment. Our hero, Tavi, is on his way to help what's left of the Aleran people defeat the vord queen and her countless minions. There are fun surprises in store, secrets come out, and confrontations occur. People get revenge and it all ends very well. I highly recommend this series to any fan of epic fantasy.
[started 22 jan 2012, finished 17 feb 2012] [amazon]

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Icy ocean. (I see ocean). Three pix. 

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