Dagens innkjøp

Det er sol, det er sommer, og det er (nesten) ferie. I den anledning har jeg brukt en fridag til å tusle rundt i byn, gå på café med en venninne, spist middag med min samboer og gått på kino og sett Paul. Også har jeg vært en tur innom to bokbutikker. I den ene fant jeg fire interessante fagbøker, som jeg skal lese som del av mitt søk etter et tema for masteroppgaven min. I den andre fant jeg skjønnlitteratur som jeg kan kose meg med på terrassen:

Captain Correlli's Mandolin: "In the early days of the Second World War, before Benito Mussolini invaded Greece, Dr. Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, accompanied by his daughter, Pelagia, to whom he imparts much of his healing art. Even when the Italians do invade, life isn't so bad--at first anyway. The officer in command of the Italian garrison is the cultured Captain Antonio Corelli, who responds to a Nazi greeting of "Heil Hitler" with his own "Heil Puccini," and whose most precious possession is his mandolin. It isn't long before Corelli and Pelagia are involved in a heated affair--despite her engagement to a young fisherman, Mandras, who has gone off to join Greek partisans. Love is complicated enough in wartime, even when the lovers are on the same side. And for Corelli and Pelagia, it becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate the minefield of allegiances, both personal and political, as all around them atrocities mount, former friends become enemies, and the ugliness of war infects everyone it touches."

The Painted Veil: "Shallow, poorly educated Kitty marries the passionate and intellectual Walter Fane and has an affair with a career politician, Charles Townsend, assistant colonial secretary of Hong Kong. When Walter discovers the relationship, he compels Kitty to accompany him to a cholera-infested region of mainland China, where she finds limited happiness working with children at a convent. But when Walter dies, she is forced to leave China and return to England. Generally abandoned, she grasps desperately for the affection of her one remaining relative, her long-ignored father."


Property: "Set in Louisiana in 1828, Martin's latest novel depicts the psychologically charged relationship between a wealthy white woman and the slave she detests. Manon Gaudet is bored and dissatisfied with her stifling marriage to a man she loathes. She takes much of her resentment out on her slave, Sarah, who is her husband's unwilling mistress and the mother of his only two children. Manon hates the children, especially the eldest, Walter, who is allowed to run wild on their estate. Her husband (who is never given a name) tries to reach out to Manon, but she rejects his attempts with disdain and condescension. The claustrophobic estate only makes Manon resent her life more, and she is grateful when she is unable to conceive a child. When a group of runaway slaves descends upon Manon's home, their attack brings the simmering tensions between Manon and Sarah to a head, resulting in a dramatic confrontation that only serves to heighten Manon's obsession with subjugating Sarah."


A Pale View of Hills: "The story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. In a story where past and present confuse, she relives scenes of Japan's devastation in the wake of World War II."


Things Fall Apart: "In direct, almost fable-like prose, it depicts the rise and fall of Okonkwo, a Nigerian whose sense of manliness is more akin to that of his warrior ancestors than to that of his fellow clansmen who have converted to Christianity and are appeasing the British administrators who infiltrate their village. The tough, proud, hardworking Okonkwo is at once a quintessential old-order Nigerian and a universal character in whom sons of all races have identified the figure of their father. Achebe creates a many-sided picture of village life and a sympathetic hero."

Alle beskrivelsene er hentet fra Amazon.com. Captain Correlli's Mandolin har jeg en annen utgave av i bokhyllen. En billig, tykk og liten utgave det er vanskelig å lese i. Den går til Fretex (den er splitter ny, men jeg likte utgaven som er avbildet her mye bedre). Kazuo Ishiguro er en stor favoritt. "A Pale View of Hills" er hans første roman, og dermed selvsagt et 'must' å lese. De andre tre vet jeg lite om, men jeg gleder meg like fullt til å lese dem. God sommer!