2014/11/14
2014/06/23
Ilmub madruseid ja tuleb ligemärgi meremehi*
Alati on naljakas lugeda vanu raamatuid, sest kes siis ei teaks, et vanad raamatud on vahvad. Kui nad muidu naljakad ei olegi, siis on nad naljakad oma jutu poolest. Ja et enne suveks väljamaale pagemist sai mõni ühepäevaraamat loetud, teiste seas (need olid "Taputilgake" ja "Ruslan ja Ludmilla") Shakespeare'i-härra (kuulus laulu poolest "Oll-lal-laa või mitte oll-lal-laa") näitemäng "Torm" aastast 1935, Ants Orase tõlkes. Mille kohta eelpoolmainitud härrasmehel on sellised sõnad varuks:
"Meie maal lavastuste läbi või eriraamatutena ilmunud tõlgete kaudu parimini tuntud Shakespeare'i näidendid "Suveöö unenägu", "Veneetsia kaupmees", "Hamlet," "Macbeth", "Othello", "Kuningas Lear", kuuluvad kõik kas autori esimesse hoovõtu ja ilutsemise aega või tollesse nähtavasti õnnetuste ja raskete hingeliste ja ilmavaateliste vapustuste tumestatud loomisjärku, mil luuletaja vaim eriti kirgliku aktiivsusega uuri inimhinge salalaboratooriumi peidetud nurki ning mil ta lõi oma kibedaimad lahingud elu vastuoksuste mõistmiseks. Tumedaile, problemaatilisile tragöödiaile järgneb vaiksem, selgem ajastu, kus emotsioonid talutvad, kuid kus seda värvikamalt hakkab vikerkaaretama fantaasia ja seda leebemalt kuldab loomeid küpsuse sereniteet, sooja hilissuveilma läbipaistev ja pehme valgus, milles kõik saab meelidava ja õrna tooni."
Ja et see väärt raamat muud tutvustust ei vaja, väljun paremale õhuvaim Arieli sõnadega:
"Palun andeks, meister, ma kuulan sind ja tontlen kuulekalt."
* Ka need märkused on pärit samast teosest.
"Meie maal lavastuste läbi või eriraamatutena ilmunud tõlgete kaudu parimini tuntud Shakespeare'i näidendid "Suveöö unenägu", "Veneetsia kaupmees", "Hamlet," "Macbeth", "Othello", "Kuningas Lear", kuuluvad kõik kas autori esimesse hoovõtu ja ilutsemise aega või tollesse nähtavasti õnnetuste ja raskete hingeliste ja ilmavaateliste vapustuste tumestatud loomisjärku, mil luuletaja vaim eriti kirgliku aktiivsusega uuri inimhinge salalaboratooriumi peidetud nurki ning mil ta lõi oma kibedaimad lahingud elu vastuoksuste mõistmiseks. Tumedaile, problemaatilisile tragöödiaile järgneb vaiksem, selgem ajastu, kus emotsioonid talutvad, kuid kus seda värvikamalt hakkab vikerkaaretama fantaasia ja seda leebemalt kuldab loomeid küpsuse sereniteet, sooja hilissuveilma läbipaistev ja pehme valgus, milles kõik saab meelidava ja õrna tooni."
Ja et see väärt raamat muud tutvustust ei vaja, väljun paremale õhuvaim Arieli sõnadega:
"Palun andeks, meister, ma kuulan sind ja tontlen kuulekalt."
* Ka need märkused on pärit samast teosest.
2014/03/14
Mu ema naeraks mu üle
Minu kevadise tellimuse uus saak, mis sobivad kõik omavahel kokku nagu linnud ja taevas. Ootan lugemist.
2014/03/01
Katse Londonist raamatuid osta/ A test of buying books from London
See on arvustus, mis jäi siia istuma, kui ma alustasin sellest blogist mõtlemist ja ma halastan sellele ning lasen tal päevavalgust näha peaaesjalikult selle pärast, et blogi formaati katsetada.
This is mostly a test to see how the layout looks. The review was written last February but we didn't start the blog yet and it just waited. So I added a wee bit and gave it the mercy of seeing light of day.
Last February I went to London, where I spent, as usual, an hour or so every day in a (different, I might add) bookshop. It is remarkably difficult to choose a book in a foreign bookshop. There are some names I know from books translated to Estonian and some classics and sort of universal authors for me. The ones I trust. But finding something new based only on the covers and some fast leafing is difficult. I like to try, but more than once have ended up with something mediocre or for some reason or other not what I expected from the covers. Sometimes there are good surprises too, of course, but there is always a risk of disappointment.
This time I was really content with all five books I found. They look lovely together (when choosing among too many books I know too little about, I often choose based somewhat on the looks or similarities, it's just something that helps a person like me, who hesitates a long time when choosing something). But more than that, they somehow worked together and even if not all of them were in my opinion excellent, none were a disappointment. They had all of them something good in them.
The first book I bought was "Dark matter" by Michelle Paver. It is something I had decided to buy before going and it fulfilled my expectations. My mother said it was a young adult book but I don't remember it as such. Most of the book takes place in the Arctic and as all people of the expedition must for one reason and another leave one after another the protagonist is left alone in the Arctic night with either an ever more serious case of cabin fever or a ghost. I read it in pretty much one take and it gave me just as creepy and desolate image of being alone in the long night as I expected and a small heartbreak. I count all books good that do that. In my memory it was lovely.
From the same bookstore I also bought Magnus Mills' "A cruel bird came to the nest and looked in", mostly because of its title. It caught my attention on a shelf where someone had looked at it, put it in the wrong place, and since I wanted to buy two books and some others I had debated on seemed to be too contemplative a reading for the trip - I needed something to read while dining each day - it seemed like a quick enough and light enough reading to take it. The next day I went to yet another bookstore and the next day to another and I didn't buy anything, only read those two and marveled at all the books I couldn't have.
Then on the last day after looking through all the lists I had previously made of books that seemed interesting and run around a lot at Foyles, my favorite bookpalace in London, I decided on the last three books I was going to buy. They were "The vanishing act" by Mette Jakobsen, of which I had heard nothing but that had a charming introduction on its cover and stayed on my mind for some reason, "The islanders" by Christopher Priest, a book that had caught my eye already in summer, and "Light traveller" by Tove Jansson, one of my many favorite authors and whose collected works I would like to see on my shelf one day.
I liked them all. Though other than "Travelling light" all lacked just a little something for me.
I really enjoyed "A cruel bird came to the nest and looked in", I love the name and the cover (I felt as if I'd done right when the book came to sell at our bookstore here in Estonia) but I felt as if the action was a symbol or allegory of something and I didn't catch what. I haven't done any research so I don't know if I'm right.
"The Islanders" was as different a fantasy book as I expected. A guidebook to a fantastical archipelago with some longer episodes about people who sort of drift through the book. But I somehow felt that more could have been done (or what's more likely, I would have done something else) with the concept.
And "the Vanishing act" was sweet but nothing very special. At least in my memory (it was almost exactly a year ago, so I don't expect myself to remember much). I like the author's name. And I do feel it gave me something, something that keeps coming back. An image of I don't quite remember what.
And I love "Travelling light" just as much as all other books of Tove Jansson I've read. Which is a lot.
I should have some quotes somewhere I don't know where. Maybe I'll add some later.
This is mostly a test to see how the layout looks. The review was written last February but we didn't start the blog yet and it just waited. So I added a wee bit and gave it the mercy of seeing light of day.
Last February I went to London, where I spent, as usual, an hour or so every day in a (different, I might add) bookshop. It is remarkably difficult to choose a book in a foreign bookshop. There are some names I know from books translated to Estonian and some classics and sort of universal authors for me. The ones I trust. But finding something new based only on the covers and some fast leafing is difficult. I like to try, but more than once have ended up with something mediocre or for some reason or other not what I expected from the covers. Sometimes there are good surprises too, of course, but there is always a risk of disappointment.
This time I was really content with all five books I found. They look lovely together (when choosing among too many books I know too little about, I often choose based somewhat on the looks or similarities, it's just something that helps a person like me, who hesitates a long time when choosing something). But more than that, they somehow worked together and even if not all of them were in my opinion excellent, none were a disappointment. They had all of them something good in them.
The first book I bought was "Dark matter" by Michelle Paver. It is something I had decided to buy before going and it fulfilled my expectations. My mother said it was a young adult book but I don't remember it as such. Most of the book takes place in the Arctic and as all people of the expedition must for one reason and another leave one after another the protagonist is left alone in the Arctic night with either an ever more serious case of cabin fever or a ghost. I read it in pretty much one take and it gave me just as creepy and desolate image of being alone in the long night as I expected and a small heartbreak. I count all books good that do that. In my memory it was lovely.
From the same bookstore I also bought Magnus Mills' "A cruel bird came to the nest and looked in", mostly because of its title. It caught my attention on a shelf where someone had looked at it, put it in the wrong place, and since I wanted to buy two books and some others I had debated on seemed to be too contemplative a reading for the trip - I needed something to read while dining each day - it seemed like a quick enough and light enough reading to take it. The next day I went to yet another bookstore and the next day to another and I didn't buy anything, only read those two and marveled at all the books I couldn't have.
Then on the last day after looking through all the lists I had previously made of books that seemed interesting and run around a lot at Foyles, my favorite bookpalace in London, I decided on the last three books I was going to buy. They were "The vanishing act" by Mette Jakobsen, of which I had heard nothing but that had a charming introduction on its cover and stayed on my mind for some reason, "The islanders" by Christopher Priest, a book that had caught my eye already in summer, and "Light traveller" by Tove Jansson, one of my many favorite authors and whose collected works I would like to see on my shelf one day.
I liked them all. Though other than "Travelling light" all lacked just a little something for me.
I really enjoyed "A cruel bird came to the nest and looked in", I love the name and the cover (I felt as if I'd done right when the book came to sell at our bookstore here in Estonia) but I felt as if the action was a symbol or allegory of something and I didn't catch what. I haven't done any research so I don't know if I'm right.
"The Islanders" was as different a fantasy book as I expected. A guidebook to a fantastical archipelago with some longer episodes about people who sort of drift through the book. But I somehow felt that more could have been done (or what's more likely, I would have done something else) with the concept.
And "the Vanishing act" was sweet but nothing very special. At least in my memory (it was almost exactly a year ago, so I don't expect myself to remember much). I like the author's name. And I do feel it gave me something, something that keeps coming back. An image of I don't quite remember what.
And I love "Travelling light" just as much as all other books of Tove Jansson I've read. Which is a lot.
I should have some quotes somewhere I don't know where. Maybe I'll add some later.
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