I used to read 35-40 books a year.
Until S. entered the scene.
After that it turned out that these 1-1,5 hours that I had used for reading every evening were needed for phone calls. We couldn't speak less than that. So during the first year of our relationship my book count fell from 40 to, uhmmm, about 2.
But it was a couple of months ago, after I had comfortably settled in Sweden, that I felt like needed books again. The thing is - your own thoughts are just your own thoughts. You need some fresh air, some new input. And that input comes from other people's experiences, thoughts, theories, journeys. And these, in turn, come mostly from conversations and books. Books are like a fresh spring, bringing new water and oxygen to a pond of standing water.
In the end, the quantity of books read in 2022 was small but their quality was great. And I thought I'd mention one book from each of my favourite categories. So, here are my prizes:
- in the categoy of theology, John Mark Comer's book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. A good recommendation for everyone who likes the conceptual world and language of Dallas Willard and John Ortberg. Easy and yet wonderfully deep and properly Biblical.
- in the category of biography, Lea Ypi's book Free: Coming of Age at the End of History. An equally warm and funny memoir from the collapse of communism in Albania. She is some years older than me but I was delighted to be reminded of some funny and strange things even I have exprienced - like the obsession of foreign soda cans and candy wrapping papers.
- in the category of history, Simon Wincester's book Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. It talks about the biggest volcanic eruption in modern history. The volcano near Sumatra was called Krakatoa and it blew itself up in 1883. It's a wonderfully random topic, but the book is written so well that it sucks you in and doesn't let go until the last page. I admit, I did get a little lost in the long chapter about tectonic plates and how volcanoes are formed (S. Winchester has studies geology in Oxford University so that's his playground) but other than that - excellent reading!
We'll see what the new year will bring. Certainly, children's books in Swedish. But hopefully more substantial stuff as well. Here's to the new reading year!
