By the time this post goes live, I’ll be sitting on a train to? from? Boden, en route to Kiruna for an eleven-day break from the grind. My plan is to visit the big hole in the ground, maybe take in a couple museums, and catch up on my reading backlog. To that end, my list!
Resan till Armenien, Osip Mandelstam
This was a recommendation from a book friend. I started it back in February but quickly realized I would want the time to really focus on it, in part due to lots of new vocabulary. That time has come.
Livet måste ha mening, Victor Frankl
A democratically chosen book for the philosophy reading group I’m in. Unfortunately I find that as the group grows larger, the suggestions devolve into academically dubious pseudo-intellectual New Age claptrap. But I’ll still read this to see for myself! And to remind the group members who suggested this that Frankl was out there trepanning suicidal Jewish people from 1940 to 1942.
Le ravissement de Lol V. Stein, Marguerite Duras
I am far, far behind on my French reading goal for the year. Duras to the rescue! I’ll also be reading the Swedish translation.
Bastarden från Istanbul, Elif Shafak
The July pick for my international WhatsApp book club. It’s the longest book on this list, so we’ll see if I finish it or even get around to it.
