Book Challenge Month Four

I may be way behind in my book challenge, you know Japan happened and I had to return the books to the library and things like that so thing took time, but here I am with another set of books.

June was Autism month for me, it is usually in march I think but that doesn't matter. 

So here are my best books written by people with autism or about people with autism.

Kjære Gabriel by Halfdan W. Freihow

a book written from a fathers perspective about a boy with autism and ADHD in letter form, about their daily life and how he tries to understand his son. I love the book, even if it is sad and I sometimes get a bit angry about the father who does not seem to understand his son even if he tries ( and he thinks he does understand him, but I can see he doesn't always). I recommend it.

Another book I really like is the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime by Mark Haddon. Another book about a boy with Aspergers Syndrome, something happens to the neighbourhood dog and the main person wants to know what happened, all the adults try to dissuade him from investigating... And then his whole life turns upside down.

I like this book, the portrayal of someone with Aspergers I think is spot on although I have never been a boy so I wouldn't know how boys with Aspergers react. But since all people are different even those with a syndrome I am sure there may have existed someone like that.

My one grievance about this book is that this too as so many Autism books is about how one thinks a person with Aspergers is like and it turns a little into a stereotype, I wish there could be written a book about more normal people with Aspergers, you know someone without "special powers"? Someone who is not good with numbers and not a train fanatic.

A book written by a group of girls in a school in Britain who have autism. I have seen the documentary a couple of times and really liked it, here we have a more natural portrayal of autistic girls, and I am happy this book is about girls for a change. I highly recommend it even if it is short.

Temple Grandin is an autistic woman who has a Ph.D and is very good at designing things for animals and thinking like an animal. I did miss a Rabbit section since I am all about rabbits, but I did learn a lot about cows, hens, cats and dogs and how you can fulfil their needs. I do think some of the things in this book can be used for rabbits too, I do know that I do think about the rabbits needs, like having two exits in their hideaways so that they feel more at ease when hiding and giving them things to chew on and explore and rugs on the floor so that they can run about and things like that...

Deja Dead, by Kathy Reichs, this series of books is what the series Bones is based on. I have only read the first, and I quite like it.... If you like detective books you will like this book, it does not have anything special about it and the language is fine, I had a bit of trouble with the French since I don't speak French, but Mister M does and he translated. I love Bones, I did not love this book, but it is the first in its series so things might get better.

Why do I jump, by Higashida Naoki, written by a young boy with autism who tells his story. I really like this book, it is in my opinion one of the best written books in its genre. And the fact that this boy is still a child makes the book een better... 

I don't jump much, but when I am very exited I do. Sometimes when I have something to say that is bursting out of me I may flap my hands and my interest in rabbits may be as big as the train boy in the other book...

So, by June I have read 23 books, and again sorry for being late, and I have read almost all the July for Japan books and August books, but not quite so I will add those posts when I have read them.

Book Challenge Month Three

This month I decided my theme would be Nordic Humour and I went to the local library and asked the friendly librarian what she recommended and I went home with three authors and six books.

For the Norwegian author I went with Knut Nærum, I think he is hilarious, he is the author I read some Easter Crime books of here.
This book is called PEER, and is a sort of child friendly, shorter and more updated version of Peer Gynt by Ibsen with songs since the author thought the original lacked that.
Unfortunately I only knew a couple of the songs in this book, but the opening made the whole book worth reading. The opening is from Beauty and the Beast, the song the villagers sing about Belle only here they are singing about Peer. I won't lie I started singing out loud in this sequence and it was well written and flowed nicely like a song should, not at all like badly written songs by relatives for a special party. The book in it self was short and written like the play but I did enjoy it. I read it on a Sunday while Mister M struggled to stay awake reading whatever he was reading and eventually I was reading accompanied by Mister M's snoring. A quite enjoyable day.

Speaking of Mister M, he likes this Finnish author and he has read most of his books although in Finnish so I can't borrow them from him so I thought I could borrow the ones from the local library, and (not the one about the hare because Mister M can't remember if the hare fares badly and I don't want to read about a dead hare), somehow I managed to borrow two books Mister M has never read.
Arto Paasilinna, who I for some reason call Pasinen.... Or Pasonen.

Adam og Eva was a good book, I liked this one more than the other. Adam is divorced with a load of kids and is struggling with his battery business, he owns a lot of back taxes and in the middle of this he is inventing a new kind of battery. He meets the drunken lawyer Eva who helps him financially while he finishes his battery, but not everyone wants him to succeed. The oil-business is not too happy and sends an assassin to kill him.

The pace of this book was fast and the twists was fun and the characters unusual, I loved the book until it's final chapter, then I hated it, but I do think it ended how it should have.

Herre min hatt, was not quite so enjoyable in my opinion, it felt a bit half finished, like it should have another 50 pages or so. 

This book is about God, he is tired and wants a vacation, so he asks Gabriel and St.Peter to find a replacement for a year or so and Birger Ryynänen is chosen. He is a crane driver and often prays in his little crane high above the city, if he is not reading something.

There are a lot of fun twists here too even if I am not quite happy with how heaven is pictured or how heaven is managed. But I do like the idea of heaven being situated in Finland in an old big wood church in Kerimäki. 

Then I read two books (I have not yet read the third) from Jonas Jonasson, a Swede.
And these books were rather fun! I am not sure I have a favourite out of the two, they are both good, but in Analfabeten som kunne regne one of the main characters is female, the other females in the other books were not main characters I think. This book starts in South Africa and ends in Sweden with a girl who can read and can write and count and a man who does not exist and his brother who does and his angry girlfriend and a nuclear bomb which also does not exist but also does....
Well I can't explain it, just read it...

Morder-Anders og hans venner (samt en og annen uvenn)

I think this book is the book I might have snorted out loud when reading, I like reading about shady characters and some cartoon violence and twisting and turning and unlikely events.

Morder-Anders is as his name implies a murderer but he is not a murderer by trade, he is a torpedo and hits people in their knee if he gets paid for it, but things are not going so well because he can't differentiate between right and left... And then he meets a receptionist and a priest who does not believe in God and together they join forces....

I wish I found an Icelandic book, but the librarian could not find one from the top of her curly head and I did have plenty of books so I thought I could not finish all of them in time, which I didn't, I still have one book left, Hundreåringen som klatret ut gjennom vinduet og forsvant.

I have now read 16 17 of 52 books.

I hurriedly read the last of the humour books and I just finished in time to take it back to the library.

I liked it, and funnily enough Paasilinna was mentioned in this book, that the events were almost taken from one of his books which I found rather amusing. Other than that I can say that I probably would have liked this better if I had read it before the other two. I have a tendency of getting "sick" of a writer's style after a while and even if it was funny and good written I think I would have liked it more if I had read it before the others. But I still think it is better than the "analfabet" one.

This book is about a hundred year old man  who gets up and leaves through the window of his own birthday party and disappears. Then he meets people and things happen. Here we also get two timelines and hear about the man's life and it is rather entertaining. I haven't seen the movie, but I might. I would recommend all of these books to read if you want a funny fast reading unbelievable novel.

Book Challenge Month two

My books for this month.

52 books in 52 weeks. 11 out of 52

By a coincidence all the authors this month have been female... I like that, maybe next month will be male month? Oh, and happy May 1st.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I used to love the film when I was younger and quite saw myself in Mary Lennox, I was never a smiling child and looked quite contrary both in appearance and behaviour I think. The book made a very vivid image of a growing garden and I quite enjoyed it. At times it was hard to read the dialect but it soon was no trouble at all.
A little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
This was the second book I read and I knew nothing about it before I started. I liked this book too, but it was bit sad, more so than the other book. I will not spoil anything but I will still recommend both these books.
Next on the list is Little Lord Fauntleroy which I have never read either.
Night Time is My time by Mary Higgins Clark
I bought this book really cheep at a thrift store and I will return it when I go back, I like libraries but sometimes not having a deadline on a book makes it more enjoyable so I try to buy cheap books and borrow from friends instead. Anyway, my mother has almost all of Mary Higgins Clark's books and I have read them all, she did not have this one. It is a good book within it's genre, I had no idea who the killer was. In fact when i read it I had to re-read the first chapter because I had a hard time remembering exactly who the killer was. The book starts with a high school reunion (which I never attended) and someone is killed, later we learn that all the girls who sat at that lunch table have died, all but two and we try to find the killer within the group at the reunion...
A good book, but not one I would re-read or pay full price for, our shelving space are limited so this book is going back.
Vi er ikke alene by Margit Sandemo
This book might be cheating a bit, it is quite short and consists of letters from a woman's magazine who have written to the author to talk about their experience with invisible helpers or guardian angels and then the author tries to explain the experiences and talk about her own life with her helpers and how to get into contact with your own. Which she assures us we all have. I am on the fence about this. But it would be nice to think someone is watching out for every single person (and animal, she thinks her dog has a dog helper) I have read all of Margit's books and I really like them. She talks about ghosts and the paranormal and blends it with life up here in the North from a couple of hundred years ago. The books are easy to read but exiting and she is good at hitting her target audience, but after 100 books it does start to get repetitive, but I think that way about all authors after I have read some of their books in a row.
Call the midwife by Jennifer Worth
I saw the BBC series when it was on and I loved it. The book is the first in a trilogy and even though I have heard the stories before I have no idea how things will end because the book and series have gone down different roads and things the author just heard about later in the books is something she saw and experienced in the series, but I guess that is how series go, what works in a book might not work in a movie or series. But the good thing about having watched the series first is that I have all of the characters faces fresh in my mind and I don't confuse them with each other. All the characters are just as in the series, lively, lovable even in their grumpiness and crazy and hard working. In the book she talks a lot about the smells that were not talked about in the series and where waste went and so on and I must say I am quite pleased I do not have to give birth in England after the war (or here for that matter) It is hard to think about all those people still living with giving birth and living in general without water and medicine and nurses, I am so happy I am born here at this day and age. Even if I do like to read about how things were hundreds of years ago.

A bunny picture in honour of bunday

I think Call the Midwife is the book I can most recommend this month that you read if you can stomach it, it can be quite graphic and I don't think you should read it while pregnant. Luckily my family are all nurses and I have been hardened by nurse-talk all my life so the graphicness never bothered me.
If you can't stomach midwifery I will recommend the Frances Hodgson Burnett books, even if they were originally childrens-books I think adults will like them just as much.

A-Z challenge Z

Z is for Zen

There have been numerous studies on knitting (and one can assume crochet or cross stitch might get the same results) and the health benefits of that. Mindfulness and Zen is all the rage at the moment in our busy life and crafting seems to be an outlet to lower ones shoulders and relax.

Although I think it might not be so beneficial if you have a deadline or get too frustrated with your project.  

If you would like to read some of the articles I found on the matter I will provide you with some links. 

The Washington Post
British Journal of Occupational Therapy
The New York Times
Lifehack 6 benefits of knitting

And remember, tomorrow is bunday, my giveaway and also I will talk about this months books so please check back, I hope you have enjoyed my A-Z challenge, I have, even if I did write most posts the same day and probably not got health benefits with me stressing about.

I think the meditation-like mode I fall into is very good for me because I am super good at stressing, but I also think one of the reasons I craft is the sense of accomplishment I get when I finishing something and it looks good and I mastered a new technique. And it gives me a creative outlet.  The finished project isn't bad to have either.

Why do you craft? And do you think it helps you to stress down? 

What is your favourite thing about your craft?

Hope to see you tomorrow, now I am off to another z, the zzz kind, good night.

A- Z challenge O

O is for ornament

On this blog I make a lot of ornaments and I have something called Ornament Onsdag meaning Ornament Wednesday on Wednesdays where I show off my finished ornament. I make ornaments mostly for Christmas and mostly cross stitch and flat, but I have made some in crochet with filings too.

 I think making ornaments are a lot more fun than just plain cross stitch pictures, almost as fun as coasters.

Crochet ornaments I made for last Christmas

Cross stitched ornaments with hangers.

Felt cat made from a kit.

And the one I am most proud of, that was a bit hard, a Star Trek ornament/amigurumi for Mister M.