January swished by and it’s time to follow up on the progress of new year’s resolutions.
Books ✔. I have accidentally read four. The lovely app I am using for streaming audiobooks is so good at serving me just right things, making me curious and getting me hooked.
Exercise. I managed to achieve 1.75 per week on average and that wasn’t easy.
Blogging. I have only written three this month (one internal and two external). I have plenty of ideas and not enough time discipline to put them on paper. You know these activities without deadline. Can someone force me please?
Teach Paul Junior to ski and to swim ✔. Planned.
Wear heels. Improvement area.
Spend more time with my parents ✔. I have trips to Saint Petersburg planned in March, May and June and July ❤
How can i improve? Read or write while exercising on high heels?
1. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (by Olga Tokarczuk) Elena’s rating: 4 of 5 stars. From “what am I reading” to completely hooked in a second. If I did not know that Olga won a Nobel Prize in literature I would have given up on the book before reaching it’s midpoint. But i was decisive to get through it and take it like a pill since good books are good for you – you don’t need to like them. This one was almost like a fancy dinner that you long after while being very hungry, while the cooks take their time! It’s a painful wait, but in the end you get your reward. I got my reward after approximately 70%. The language is exquisite throughout the book. And it plays with an interesting philosophical question: what do you do if you disagree with the law?
2. Mammas svek: den sanna historien om ett fruktansvärt brott (by Anne-Britt Harsem) Elena’s rating: 4 of 5 stars. I started reading this one accidentally, being curious about the title. And then I could not stop reading until the end. It’s a hurtful read so don’t do it unless you are in a very happy and stable state and have good margins to handle the pain of this book. It’s based on a true story – so called “Alvdalsfallet” in Norway 2011. About the role and the power given to us as a parent, and a terrible case of misusing this power. The most scary part of the book is that the kids had a skewed concept of right or wrong, and also had a Stockholm syndrome – a sympathy to their worst enemy, their own mother.
3. Det är något som inte stämmer (by Martina Haag) Elena’s rating: 3 of 5 stars. You know sometimes you get this urge of reading something light. With that thought I decided to read a Martina Haag-book since they are always so fun and light. And at the same time, maybe it was an unconscious decision after I laughed so hard at the scene with Strömstedts in Rapport från 2050 (the scene starts at 41:53), without realising the connection. I must say that I love all three of them: Martina Haag, Erik Haag (her ex) and Lotta Lundgren (her ex’s new girlfriend). And the book was anything but light. I can imagine that for a Martina it was a therapy to write it. She is screaming out her feelings. I cried several times while reading and could not sleep afterwards.
4. Your best life (by Margaux Dietz) Elena’s rating: no rating. I am not in the target group so it would be unfair to set any rating. I was curious about Margaux-phenomenon which triggered me to reading it. One thing I liked is the importance of friends around you and the importance of making an effort and meeting them in person from time to time and giving them a hug. Another thing to pick from the book is the importance of having good timing (cannot be controlled), and having a plan and being prepared (Margaux has planned to film and stream the brith of her child well in advance which was a bold and unique move and made her very popular).
Elena Fersman 