Helmet 2026

 It's been a year, and now it's another. Let's see how far I can go, literally speaking. Helsinki library has released its yearly reading challenge, and I will partake. Besides being home with Baby, I will read and enjoy the luxury of the Nordic welfare state and my rights as a 21th century woman and mother, since parental leave can be up to one year. How perfect then, that I won't be returning to work anytime soon, so I can do what I love: 1. Mothering 2. Read. 

Dear imaginary reader, my life is not perfect. Don't be jealous, my friend. I know you won't. 

Because I now own over two thousand books, most of which are Western classics, orthodox literature, such as the Filokalia series and Synaksarion, together with a plethora of wonderful second-hand finds in both fact and fiction, my need to visit the local library has significantly decreased, year by year. It's not that I don't enjoy the library, quite the contrary, I love it. It's one of my favorite places since girlhood; it's just that I'm trying to read what I have, those books that I own.  

I'm trying to complete the 50-book challenge this year, posed by Helsinki library. Find the challenge Here

And I've been thinking of some books I'd like to read, on the top of my head, I come to think of the following: 

Kafka, The Trial

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor D. 

Lord of the Flies, W. Golding

White Noise and The Ceremony both in beautiful Penguin Orange library pocket editions

Stories about and from the Colonial Congo, at least for the 25th point in the Helmet challenge Blood River by Tim (something...I forget, a journalist from Britain)

The first point in the challenge will definitely go to either Graham Greene, Our man in Havana OR I, Claudius by Robert Graves.

Yes, I always bite off more than I can chew and that my friend is called ambition, without it you won't dare to leap, without it fear of failure will always hold you back. So set the bar high, and try to reach it, as you reach you'll see that reading is not a task, it's a privilege and a time for rest. I know no better way of travelling than in my mind by the pages of a book. 

I wish you a happy year of reading 2026! 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kerstin Thorvall - Det mest förbjudna

A book about The Mother Wound and how it takes shape in the author who calls herself Anna throughout this semi autobiography, it's about her life, her failed marriages and her insatiable lust for sex. Ultimately it's about a neurotic and loveless mom and how it inflicts a seemingly incurable wound in the daughters self. The book is insightful and well paced, Thorvall was a good writer. The book is a Swedish classic and it caused it's uproar in late 60's because it broke taboos by allowing a well known female author to show the brutal, truer side of herself. She was known for writing children's books and shorter stories for youth and she worked predominantly as a  journalist alongside being an author.  Personally I had many take-aways from the story, many helpful insights and I'm grateful that she shared her story in the format that she did. In the 80's she'd already written the words that she wanted on her tomb stone, but I googled and I saw that her son...
Read more

It's a wrap!

Image
Goodreads says that I'm ten books behind the schedule. I was supposed to read 53 books and I read 43 this year, but I'm satisfied. Let's call it a wrap people! And what did I do with my time the past months. I wrote, and wrote, and edited (with the help of my best friend) and wrote again.  Yes, I wrote a book.  So, I think the past three months have been well spent. Since Hang Kang, I've managed just to read a collection of poems by Morgan Parker, titled There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce and I liked it a great deal. For example, from the poem  Hottentot  Venus and All they want is my money my pussy and my blood was brilliant. I like her style.  I'm quite convinced that I won't be able to finish a novel before the year ends but who knows, in any case I want to nominate the book of the year for all my imaginary blog readers. The winner for 2024 will be: Karolina Ramqvist, with More Fire  I re-listened to a clip where she talks about The White City ...
Read more

The Vegetarian - Han Kang

Image
Women in South-Korea live on a mental territory the size of a stamp that they dare not lick it. That's my rude conclusion after reading both The Vegetarian by Nobel prize winner Han Kang and Kim Jiyoung born 1982. Why oh why, does things have to get nasty, even grotesque for us to be able to talk about women and their natural born rights as (hu)man. There's really nothing much more to say about that book, I question modern day literature, it's not that great, yet, I myself write.  That is what I've been doing for the past month, write, write, write... and now I translate, translate, translate into English, a language I still find more my own.  In any case... I think I might not make the 53 books in 2024 mark, but I have been pondering about my personal finalists. It's very possible that the prize goes to the Caribbeans but I'm also considering At Night All Blood is Black, by Diop. I found it at the flea market in an English translation for one euro. The Swedish ...
Read more