Grattis, Tove! (It's Tove Jansson's 101 year birthday today)

A few days ago I discovered a folder of notes and images I meant to blog about, exactly a year ago. I somehow missed the date last year, but I won't neglect to pay tribute to one of my literary heroes on her birthday - and since it is Tove Jansson (1914-2001), mother and creator of the Moomin Troll, among many other things, perhaps it is not at all odd to celebrate her 101st (instead of her 100th!).

To those of you, who only know vaguely of the Moomins, as quirky, animated characters from children's shows - as I did in my own childhood - she is a wonderful acquaintance to make as an adult, as well. She was an incredible artist, especially graphic artist, but she also painted and drew other things than sweet, melancholy trolls. She was a great writer, for both children and adults, and a kind of philosopher in her own right.

If you want to explore the non-Moomin side of her writing, I warmly recommend 'The Summer Book'.

Not so many years ago, I knew only of her wonderful children's book 'The book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My' (beside, of course, the images of the Moomin trolls, printed everywhere on mugs and t-shirts and the like). That book, from 1952, somehow remained in print in Denmark, while the rest of her work didn't, and I had marvelled at it's strong and unforgettable images, it's fantastic use of color (and cut-outs!) and really powerful graphic detail, many times.

(It is even turned into a wonderful app - and there are other digital activities, read more here!)

Here's an example - an excerpt of one of the pages:

Having enjoyed that book so much, as a work of art and poetry, I decided spontaneously to start reading her work, and get to know her better. I read Swedish, and started collecting her Moomin books in their original language instead (Tove Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finn and wrote in Swedish), and one summer I practically lived in Moomin Valley.

The novels about the life in Moomin Valley are infinitely readable for adults (and for children from, I would say, around 7 years and up). Here is a list of the titles.

I still haven't finished reading every one of of the Moomin novels (which are now on my book shelf, all of them!) but I sometimes read a chapter or two, or an entire novel. I love their strange and beautiful mixture of really weird (but all so human*) creatures, their sweetness, sadness and complete unpredictability.

I think these guys will follow me for the rest of my days. So grattis (= congratulations in Swedish), Tove Jansson. here she is, drawn by herself, surrounded by some of her creations.

 *And yes, they do feel so human, her fanciful characters. And they are, of course. Have you discovered what kind of Moomin character you are? (here is a great wikipedia list, in Swedish)

I have known for years. I am a Filifjonke, or a Fillyjonk, whether I like it or not.
With a touch of Mymlen (Mymble), perhaps?

Pssst, it's World Book and Copyright Day!

Actually I didn't know, and I just discovered. I did know about an event here in Denmark (Danmark Læser, read more here), but not that it was part of an international event!

Read more about World Book and Copyright Day.

Reading is one of my absolute favorite pastimes, and I can safely say that not many days in my life, since I learned how to read, has passed without reading. I did not grow up in a particularly intellectual home, and none of my parents were very enthusiastic readers, so I have no idea what lead me. Only that I have binge read myself through many a rainy day, sleepless night or dreary holiday in my childhood, and I just never stopped. I practically only read fiction, and if I read non fiction it is for work, or maybe the occasional autobiography (I have Barack Obama's 'Dreams From my Father' somewhere, and will definitely read it some day. Also Lena Dunham's 'Not That Kind of Girl' was lots of clever fun, and I plan on reading some more bios on one of my heroes: Astrid Lindgren).

To celebrate the day, here are five of my top reads from the last six months or so, I recommend them all with enthusiasm, read a bit more below the photo...

Click links in the text below, for more info on the books.

From top left: Marge Piercy's Braided Lives, I found on the recycle shelf in our local garbage recycle facility (I often find great things there, and also leave plenty of books for others). It was so good! First book by Marge Piercy I ever read. 

Donna Tartt only seems to write books you get completely swept away by, and The Goldfinch is no exception. Sad, but not as dark and uncomfortable as 'The Secret History', which is my favorite. Very, very entertaining. 

The French autobiographical novel, Delphine de Vigan's Nothing Holds back the Night (a portrait of the writer's emotionally unstable, self destructive, but also charming mother) was very well reviewed everywhere, and that just made me curious. It was moving, but what I really liked was that it was quite unsentimental, and yet so loving. It didn't bring tears to my eyes, until I reached the very last pages, but those pages were unforgettable. 

And then: Hemingway's collected short stories, such a classic. But actually not a writer I had read much of, and I didn't think I cared much for him. But last spring I fell in love with Key West, one of his many home towns, and visited his house and little museum there. I picked up 'The Sun also Rises' in the museum book shop, and that was it! That lead me to a rather extensive Hemingway binge, and this is the top edition of his short stories. This is in a class of it's own, especially as short story writing goes (I love reading short stories, and I love how you keep coming back to your favorites). Give the old sailor, war correspondent and compulsive womanizer a try, if you, as I, haven't before! He is so worth it.

The last one, Emma Donoghue's ROOM, is like nothing I have ever read before. The topic is very shocking and at times the story is almost physically upsetting to read. But - you will be richly rewarded. It is an amazing and beautiful book, one you will never forget.

The Jazz Age - more Coralie Bickford-Smith

These deserve a post of their own. F. Scott Fitzgeralds novels, in a setting that really befits them, with heavy, metallic art deco style dust jackets, again by the amazing Coralie Bickford-Smith.

I should get at least The Great Gatsby, one of my very, very favorite novels since I read it first as a teenager. I have worn out a couple of cheap paperback versions, and probably mislaid at least one, but this is so beautiful. I want them all! I do miss the short stories in this edition though, they are my best F. Scott Fitzgerald read, after The Great G., I never, ever tire of them.

Penquin clothbound classics

I sometimes stumble opon a mention of these beautiful books, and then I just want to own them all. They are just irresistible, and I love the work of British book designer Coralie Bickford-Smith. The idea here is so simple, and it is so well done. The book is bound in one color fabric, the print is in another single, contrasting color, there is one, simple graphic statement, and just one font. That's it. And it looks SO good. See how gorgeous the spines are - and spines are really hard to do.

They make me want to be a literary lady of leisure (and a book designer!), sipping tea in a salon, catching up on my classics. And not - as the case is with me, who is actually a compulsive reader - slouching somewhere with a paperback with unidentified stains and lots of smudgy pencilmarks (Ahem, yep, I make notes in the back of my books) and something called 'donkeys ears' in Danish. You know, when you fold the corner of the page you're at?

These I would wash my hands for, and sit upright to read in.

You can see them all here - and see more work from the brilliant Coralie here.

I hopped on my bike and went to Rungstedlund

Every summer I live a fifteen minute bicycle ride from the home of one of Denmarks more famous authors, Karen Blixen - or Isak Dinesen, as I think she is mainly known as, in the English speaking countries. It is a small country estate, Rungstedlund, that belonged to her family, and was her childhood home - as well as her home when she returned from Kenya, from 1931 until her death in 1962. Her grave is in the park there.

Photo: Erik K. Abrahamsen

I have read a lot of her books, and when I was young I especially enjoyed her stories. Finally wisiting her home the other day, now a museum in her honor, made me feel like rereading her work, but today I think I would read her letters from Africa - I always wanted to read those, but I kind of forgot about her, a bit. 

She was a very unusual and fascinating woman, a feminist in her day, a very rebellious and not very typical aristocrat - but also a haunted woman who suffered some very painful losses in her life. She had the idea, that for those losses, she was given the gift of storytelling, in a pact with the devil. 

She also got to hang out with Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe and Carson McCullers
(in 1959 - and here is a funny description of that lunch party - Photo: Rungdstedlund)

The house is small and exquisite, and her great passion for making strange and wild floral arrangements, is being kept alive by volunteers, who fill the rooms with flowers, greens and basically anything that grows, year round - in her particular and very well documented style. Her friend, the architect Steen Eiler Rasmussen, took photographs of them, and even dedicated a whole book to the subject.

Karen Blixen and an explosion of tulips (Photo: Steen Eiler Rasmussen / Rungstedlund)

A pretty place to visit, if you have read her work, I would say. And you should, it is worth the effort. It is not prose you read in a hurry, or as light entertainment - her style is abundant, exotic, meandering, and you need to be a bit patient, when you embark on her stories. But I have gotten swept away, again and again. I love this collection of stories: Winter's Tales - and of course her most famous: Seven Gothic Tales. Out of Africa is a wonderful read as well.

Here are some of my impressions of the place..... (PS: it also has a nice café, so stop by for coffee!)

Karens avant garde flowers - a bouquet with asparagus berries! / Her work room / I love that little African stool / Karen in the work room, tapping away on her tiny, old Corona
(last photo courtesy of Rungstedlund)

More flowers / the park has some nice wild, rambling bits / Karen Blixen by a sundial in the park  (photo courtesy of Rungstedlund) / The caption on the sundial says: 'No shade without light'