Henrik Madsen ROOTs like he has never ROOTed before

Well the title might be a bit off. I intend to root pretty much like I did last year and the year before - only I hope to achieve more ROOTs this year and reach my goal again.

My goal in 2025 will once again be 50 ROOTs. As I have done in previous years I will count everything owned as ROOTs. The really tough ones (acquired before 2014) will be labelled DROOTs (Deep roots).

Happy ROOTing everyone!



ROOTs
1. Ursula K. Le Guin: Atuans grave
2. Niccolo Machiavelli: Fyrsten
3. Isaac Asimov: Second Foundation
4. Mark Millar og John Romita Jr.: Kick-Ass
5. Anne Green Munk og Gabriel Awuah Mainoo: Hvor end havet skyller dig op
6. Joseph Roth: Hotel Savoy
7. Ursula K. Le Guin: Den yderste kyst
8. Jens Smærup Sørensen: Klinten
9. Jokal: Klovnens hævn
10. Niviaq Korneliussen: Blomsterdalen
11. Lise Justesen og Nanna Mik-Meyer: Kvalitative metoder i organisations- og ledelsesstudier
12. Stine Askov: Varme hænder
13. Karl E. Weick: Sensemaking in Organizations
14. Alex Schulman: Brænd alle mine breve
15. Audur Ava Olafsdottir: Miss Island
16. Magnus Ranstorp: Hamas. Terror indefra
17. Frank Miller: Daredevil bind 1
18. Giuliano da Empoli: Troldmanden fra Kreml
19. Ulrikka Gernes: En pige forlod værelset
20. Pierre Christin og Enki Bilal: Byen der ikke eksisterede
21. William Shakespeare: Henry IV, part 1
22. William Shakespeare: Henry IV, part 2
23. Maria Giacobbe: Folk fra Pòju Luádu
24. Vance og Stoquart: Bastarden
25. Paul Strathern: The Medici. Godfathers of the Renaissance
26. Umberto Eco: Foucaults pendul
27. Dario Fo: Der er en skør konge i Danmark
28. Charlier og Giraud: Blueberry - De samlede eventyr 5
29. Tove Ditlevsen: Gift
30. Rakel Haslund-Gjerrild: Adam i paradis
31. Henrik Stangerup: Det er svært at dø i Dieppe
32. Todd McFarlane: Spider-Man bog 2
33. William Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing
34. Niels Brunse: Derfor Shakespeare
35. Luc og Francois Schuiten: Den hule klode
36. Hanya Yanagiharra: Et lille liv
37. Jeff Lemire: Sweet Tooth vol 1
38. Eduard von Keyserling: Lumre dage
39. Søren Ulrik Thomsen: Store Kongensgade 23
40. William Shakespeare: Henry V
41. Hans Kirchhoff: Et venskab mellem fjender
42. Helen MacInnes: Drama i Salzburg
43. Tom King og Bilquis Evely: Supergirl - Woman of Tomorrow
44. Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
45. Natsuko Imamura: Kvinden i den lilla nederdel
46. Niklas Asker: Med nye øjne
47. Ivan Malinowski: Fuga
48. Sayaka Murata: Døgnkioskmennesket

DROOTs
1. Inger Christensen: Det malede værelse
2. Stefanie Zweig: Irgendwo in Deutschland

Non-ROOTs
André Brink: Djævelens dal
Le Tendre og Loisel: De glemtes tempel
Katrine Marie Guldager: En uskyldig familie
Anders Lindemann: Kelvins krig
Glenn Bech: Jeg anerkender ikke længere jeres autoritet
Le Tendre og Loisel: Rigaen
Eyvind Johnson: Hans nådes tid
Le Tendre og Loisel: Redens vogter
Maria Stepanova: Til minde om erindringen

My main goal this year is of course 50 ROOTs but I also have a secondary goal. Not reading the books I buy myself is one thing, but not having read the ones people have given me as gifts is embarrassing.

Last year I managed to read sixof those - which was also the number I got, so at least I managed to hold my own in this department.

So, this year I will continue focusing on finally getting through all those nice gifts:

Pre-2014
Michel de Montaigne: Essays
Henning Grelle: Thorvald Stauning
Karl Popper: Det åbne samfund og dets fjender
Søren Mørch: Store forandringer
Pia Friis Laneth: Lillys Danmarkshistorie

2018
Gunnar Svendsen mfl.: Vækst og vilkår på landet
Niels Boje Groth: Stationsbyer i dag
Søren Marquardt Frederiksen: Pestlægen
Bo Tao Michaelis og Bente Scavenius: Danmarksbilleder

2019
Tove Ditlevsen: Små hverdagsproblemer
Andrea Wulff: Opfindelsen af naturen
Thomas Mann: Et upolitisk menneskes betragtninger

2020
William Shakespeare: Samlede skuespil i ny oversættelse bind III

2021
Morten Pape: Guds bedste børn
Anne-Lise Marstrand Jørgensen: Margrethe I
Colson Whitehead: Drengene fra Nickel
Jesper Clemmensen: Skibet fra helvede

2022
J.D. Salinger: Griberen i rugen
Jeanette Varberg: Vikinger
Thorkild Bjørnvig: Pagten
Mark Millar: Kick-Ass
Aline og Robert Crumb: Tegn på kærlighed

2023
Charles Dickes: A Tale of Two Cities
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
William Shakespeare: Samlede skuespil i ny oversættelse bind 4
Niels Brunse: Hvorfor Shakespeare?
Alex Shulman: Brænd alle mine breve

2024
Giuliano da Empoli: Troldmanden fra Kreml
Anne-Marie Mai: Litteraturland - en GPS
Frank Miller: Daredevil bind 1
Lilian Munk Rösing: Friedrichs farver

2025
Stine Askov: Varme hænder
Stephen King: Om at skrive
Colette: Chéri
Helle Juhl: Kvinder & Krig
William Shakespeare: Samlede skuespil i ny oversættelse bind 5
William Shakespeare: Samlede skuespil i ny oversættelse bind 6
Lotte Garbers: Frøken Sannoms vinger
Charlotte Gneuss: Gittersee
Anette og James Price: Det røgede lig
Sophus Helle: Beowulf
Jeff Lemire: Sweet Tooth vol 2

Test

Hi Henrik, Good to see you here again. Happy New Year and happy ROOTing and getting to the gifted books.

Nice to see you again, Henrik!
I know what you mean about books as gifts, especially when you get asked how you liked it! Or worse, books that are lent and expected back... A terrible problem to have :D

Glad you are back with us!

Welcome back, Henrik. I should probably also make more room for the books I received as gifts in my ROOTing...good luck with that project.

1. Ursula K. le Guin: Atuans grave

Acquired: This is tecnically not my book. It's my wife's book - but it's in the house and it's been read, so it counts.

This is the second volume in the Earthsea cycle. The main character this time is the young girl Tenar who is chosen as the new priestess of the No-named when she is a little girl. After being raised as a revered but also secluded person she is put in charge of the holy place called The Tombs of Atuan. The holiest place is beneath the earth in a huge chamber where no light is allowed. It is a dark and scary place closed to a labyrinth, also underground. One day she discovers a wizard down there - so what is she going to do? And how is she to handle the older women who should obey her but have their own agendas?

It was an enjoyable story, which added to the established Earthsea world in a meaningful way. The story was a bit simpler than the first book, but I'm still looking forward to the next one.

3½ stars

Good luck with both your ROOTing goals!

Thanks all - I'm glad to be back!

2. Niccolo Machiavelli: Fyrsten

Acquired: My wife and I went on a short break to Møn, a nearby island with our bikes in 2020. There I visitid the local book shop (of course I did!) and saw this classic. I didn't know it had been republished in Danish so I swooped in and bought it.

Machiavelli's reputation is not the best. Most consider him a cynic with a limited understanding of politics, but his works are founding stones of political science. For two reasons, I think. First, he studies the world of politics as it is, and not as it should be. This realistic approach opened up a whole new area of study. Second, his understanding of power is still central for understanding politics and the sovereignity of states.

The Prince is not a hard book to read. Machiavelli is admirably blunt about his observations, and whether you agree with his views or not, he is more interesting and nuanced when you actually read him. This edition is rather luxurious with good notes and an introduction to the life and times of the author.

4 stars

>11 Henrik_Madsen: Thank you for your review. I'd never considered reading what I thought was a difficult work. You've changed my mind!

>12 Cecilturtle: >11 Henrik_Madsen: My thoughts exactly. Thanks, Henrik.

>8 Henrik_Madsen: I've had this series on our shelf for about thirty years. Your review gives me encouragement to move it closer to the top of the list.
>11 Henrik_Madsen:
Ditto on The Prince!

Glad to you could use my reviews :-)

3. Isaac Asimov: Second Foundation

Acquired: I bought the whole trilogy in Cophenhagen a couple of years ago. Now it was time to wrap it up.

We are still in the aftermath of the great galactic empire. The master of psycho-history has crafted a plan to restore order in just 1000 years, and it is so precisely calculated and laid out, that revoulutions can be predicted years in advance. However, the logic is challenged by the Mule who has managed to conquer the first foundation. In this book, however the second foundation emerges as the true guardians of the plan, and the duel between the champions of liberty in the first foundation and the telepathic priests of the second foundation is quite entertaining.

I thought the series gained more and more in unpredictability and interest as it developed, but I still found the idea of mathematically projekting human actions unconvincing, and inventing special mental powers seemed like a too convenient trick. And of course everybody sounds like middle-class Americans of the 1950s. But entertaining.

4 stars

4. Mark Millar og John Romita Jr.: Kick-Ass

Acquired: A Christmas present from my daughter two years ago - time to read it!

Superheroes are always unrealistic. There are no caped crusaders patroling the streets, but the idea of "realistic" superheroes are as old as the genre itself. In 2008-20 Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. created their version of how i would play out - and it is extremely violent. Kick-Ass is the story of the teenager Dave, who orders a costumy online, gets beaten to within an inch of his life, and STILL persists in his mission. And then thing get really crazy as he gets involved with Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, who take fighting crime even more seriously, and are considered a real threat by the mob.

I liked the story, which vary a bit from the film, and the art work is great. In most comics violence is fun and without consequence, but John Romita has developed a style where it's bloody, full of broken bones and really hurts. That description of the artwork is both a recommendation and a warning, because it's really bloody.

4 stars

5. Anne Green Munk og Gabriel Awuah Mainoo: Hvor end havet skyller dig op

Acquired: Two weeks ago I visited a literature festival in Odense, where Munk talked about the book. It was interesting so I bought a copy (and had it signed)

Denmark was a colonizing nation like many other European states. The colonies were smaller, but that doesn't really explain why they are so little known in current Danish culture. In fact, many Danes would deny that Denmark has ever taken part in colonization at all. This is starting to change. Like other countries Denmark has enslaved Africans, transported them to colonies America and profited from their labour. Somehow we will have to come to terms with the past if we are to collaborate with those nations in the future.

Anne Green Munk and the young Ghanese poet Gabriel Awuah Mainoo explore the common history and what it means today. It is mostly a book of poetry where they discuss the traces and meaning of slavery today. The idea is not so much to agree on what has happened. It is much more an effort to understand one another, to understand the interdependency and to bring buried emotions and images to the surface.

The book is interesting, but some of the poems - especially by Mainoo - are so full of symbols and images, that they are difficult to read. At least for me, an African reader might find the texts by Munk more difficult to access. I'm still glad I read the book, and I hope others will give it a chance as well. (The English version should be out this year)

3 stars

6. Josef Roth: Hotel Savoy

Acquired: I bought this book in Stuttgart last year. We were on holiday there, I obviously had to go to a book store and I really liked what I had read by him previously.

The scene is set after the first world war. Gabriel Dan returns to the eastern part of Germany after years as a prisoner of war in Russia. He settles in the large hotel in the unnamed city, visits his family - they are wealthy but not particularly keen on helping him - makes new friends, does some manual labor and becomes som kind of secretary for the wealthy Bloomfield who visits from America.

The hotel represents an era that's already dead and a society being torn apart by social conflicts. Roth is a great writer but I wasn't really touched by the fate of Gabriel at first, but I really enjoyed the last third. The hope of salvation by the wealthy American is strong, and as his secretary he sees a lot.

3 stars

>19 Henrik_Madsen: Oh, I haven’t heard of this one before. Sounds very interesting!

>20 MissWatson: It is - honestly I think, I missed a lot of points. I read it in German and I have a lot on my mind these days, and the writing demands attention to details and time to reflect on the symbolic layers. Maybe a re-read later?

>21 Henrik_Madsen: Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind, that it needs attention.

7. Ursula K. Le Guin: Den yderste kyst

Acquired: My wife started reading the series last autumn, and we couldn't find this volume on the book-fair in Copenhagen, so I ordered it from the publisher.

Guess has become an old man and a respected sorcerer in Earth Sea. He leads the council at Roke and everything seems good until a young man called Arren shows up. Apparantly magic is disapperaring from the world and to prevent this from happening Guess and Arren go on quest to the farthest parts of their world.

The story is engaging and surprising, and you cannot help cheering for the salvation of the world of magic - even though it is quite clear, that the modern world threatening to take over is much more like our world. The book is better than The Graves of Atuan and a worthy end to the original Earth Sea trilogy.

4 stars

8. Jens Smærup Sørensen: Klinten

Acquired: Making good deals is part of the joy of going to a book fair. I got this one last year with a nice discount because it's a couple of years old.

Jeppe is a middle-aged man who is staying at his parents' house. They are in Spain for the winter, he is working on a translating project for computers. He is very interested when one of the neighbours visits him and asks him to participate in a townhall where they can discuss securing the neighbourhood from the rising sea water. He is interested in her, at least, and offers help going to the other houses. This gives the author a chance to introduce the people who know, like and despise eachother in all kinds of ways. Can they put their differences aside for a common good?

It is not a bad book, but I didn't really feel engaged in Jeppe, and too many of the others were not written much out. But the writing is good and I could definetely recognize many types and situations.

3½ stars

9. Jokal: Klovnens hævn

Acquired: During corona some of my favorite stores were on the brink of going bankrupt due to lockdowns and lack of business. To help a comic book store out, I bought a number of albums including this one.

Felix is a middle aged detective from Amsterdam, who drinks too much and is having love issues. He is accused of a murder he witnesses, and as it turns out, he is personally involved in the case. He met the artist Sicco and his model Samiera in Cairo earlier, and the didn't part on the best of terms. When Sicco is shot, Felix has to figure out what happened before the police gets to him.

It is classic crime noir set in Holland. The art work is ok - I liked the coloring - but nothing spectacular. It is like watching en episode of a mystery series on television. Nothing special, but ok entertainment.

3 stars

10. Niviaq Korneliussen: Blomsterdalen

Acquired: I bought this in 2022. It was on sale, and buying it was a no-brainer. It had won the Nordic Council's Literary Prize, and it was the first Greenlandic book to do so.

The narrator is a young woman living in Nuuk, Greenland. She is a lesbian, and she has felt estranged her whole life. Like so many other young people in Greenland she has also had to deal with some of her friends comitting suicide. Still, life seems good with her girlfriend Mallina, who has way more confidence in her than she does herself.

The main character goes to Denmark to study, and it goes poorly. She feels outside and alone, not understanding the social codes, so she can't focus on her studies. When Maliina's cousin commits suicide, she rushes back, but the intimacy is gone, and from there it only goes downhill.

It is a good novel. It depicts modern life in Greenland, which is both vey familiar with school, so-me and pop-music and still set in a different and very distinct culture. Most of all it is an emotional and gripping story about becoming an adult without being able to find you own place in the world and at the same time being in an environment where suicide is common.

4 stars

11. Lise Justesen og Nanna Mik-Meyer: Kvalitative metoder i organisations- og ledelsesstudier

Acquired: I bought this earlier this year for my masters-study

The book is an introduction to writing papers on a university level. It shows that various theoretical and methodological approaches are possible, when the student understands what the consequenses are of e.g. a constructivist theoretical framework.

The book is very well written and a great introduction with good discussions of different approaches and useful examples of the proposed methods.

4 stars

12. Stine Askov: Varme hænder

Acquired: I heard the author last year at a book fair - and put it on the wishing list for my birthday.

Camilla has already suffered from stress in her previous job in a kindergarden, and when she starts as a personal helper for a young woman with a handicap things soon go from bad to worse. Mathilde, as the woman is called, is a terrible boss, degrades her helpers and plays on Camilla's sense of responsibility to make her take more shifts. Her family worries about her, but even though she understands, that the relationship is toxic, she cannot quit.

Having a handicap doesn't make you a good person or a good boss - a fact the Askov eksplores in this novel about the emotional strain put on people in caring jobs.

4 stars

13. Karl E. Weick: Sensemaking in Organizations

Acquired: I bought this book five years ago because I was interested in exploring the theory of sensemaking further. I have read parts of the book over the last years, but I haven´t managed to finish it until now.

Weick is an original thinker behind poignant phrases such as "how can I know, what I think until I hear what I say" but he is also a serious theorist with a very dense writing style. In this book he collects his thoughts on sensemaking as a practice, as a field of study and - less explicitly - as a guide to leaders and managers in various organizations. The main thesis is simple enough: We have can only act, if the world around us makes sense, and the act of sensemaking is so fundamental, that it will take place whether we want to or not. If you look closer, things get more complicated. What are the characteristics of the sensemakning we do? What stimuli from the surroundings do we react to? What are the occasions where sensemaking typically take place? What does it mean for organizations and in what sense can the process be controlled?

The book is very interesting, but I understand why many students make do with secondary litterature and a couple of articles, because this book is not an easy read. One explanation is the double focus on establishing af field of study and on studying sensemaking in practice. Another is Weicks convuluted writing style and his insistence on ambiguity and unwillingness to simplify complex processes.

4½ stars

14. Alex Schulman: Brænd alle mine breve

Acquired: This was a Christmas gift from 1½ years ago, and picking it up now was obvious. I needed a short read and this year I have an ambition to reduce the number of unread gifts on my shelves.

The novel is an autobiographical study of Schulman's family relations and what they have meant for his own life and personality. He is filled with anger, and when his kids starting acting scared around him, it is time to finally get to the root of things. It soon turns out, that much of the bad mood originans with his maternal grandfather Sven Stolpe who was a prominent Swedish author and intellectuel for decades. He was also an angry and tyrannical man, who held his family and his surroundings in a devastating grip. Schulman discovers that he his writings were obessessed with adultery. Why? Partly because his wife Karin had a short affair with Olof Lagerkrantz, another famous Swedish author and intellectual who was only 21 at the time, i the summer of 1932.

The novel changes between the present, where the investigation takes place, visits to his grandparents' house in 1988, and a fictionalized account of what took place in 1932. The book is easily read and Schulman is really good at building up suspense even though you know the answers from the beginning. That can come across as a bit too clever and manipulative, but I enoyed it.

4 stars

>29 Henrik_Madsen: Haha yes I have read one of Weick's papers, and if I recall correctly it was a bit of a challenge. Still, this book does sound interesting, so thanks for putting it on my radar :)

>31 rabbitprincess: You are more than welcome! And yes, I believe you remember correctly.

15. Audur Ava Olafsdottir: Miss Island

Acquired: A book from my bookclub. I got it back in 2020, and now felt like a good time to read it.

The year i 1963. Hekla is a young woman that is moving from the countryside to pursue a career as a writer in Reykjavik. There she joins her friend Isey, who is now a mother and a married woman, and her dearest friend Jon John who is struggling to find his way as a homosexual in a not quite modern world. Soon she is working as a waiter in a hotel, where men takes their chances on her - or suggests she should join the Miss Island pageant. Still, she writes every time she gets the chance and tries to find a publisher.

It is a good novel bringing Iceland of the early 1960s to life. The characters around Hekla are interesting but I couldn't really feel Hekla herself. She kind of slides through every difficulty, which made it hard to identify with her. Still, a good quick read.

3½ stars

16. Magnus Ranstorp: Hamas. Terror indefra

Acquired: I read review last year and ordered a copy.

Publishing af book on Hamas must seem like an obvious thing to do after the attack in October 2023, but Ranstorp has researched the organization for years and interviewed most of its leaders - including those who have been killed since the beginning of the war. The book is the story of the organization since the beginning in 1987 as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It was an ideological organization from the beginning with two main goals: Making the Palestinian society Islamic and destroying the state of Israel. It was organized with secret cells from the beginning.

It was a good book on an organization that's everewhere in the news these days. Ranstorp's deep knowledge enables him to describe a diverse and professional organization.

3½ stars

17. Frank Miller: Daredevil bind 1

Acquired: A Christmas gift from last year. I'm making progress with my list of unread gift-books.

Daredevil was Frank Miller's first series as a regular illustrator and later as a writer as well. It was what made his name in American comics, even if the huge breakthrough with The Dark Knight Returns only happened a couple of years later. The early Daredevil stories are collected in this and two more volumes, which have recently been published in Danish. The first volume focous on the bitter fight with Bullseye and the ominous return og Kingpin to New York.

The stories are good, and they are stories about superheroes and villains who are very human. They bleed, they hurt and when Daredevil is hit by the Hulk he doesn't just get back up. He is admitted to the hospital. The drawing style is vibrant but still a bit rough. Still, I enjoyed the collection a lot and look forward to the next volumes.

4 stars

18. Giuliano da Empoli: Troldmanden fra Kreml

Acquired: Another gift - my son gave me this one for my birthday last year.

The wizard in the title is Vadim Baranov. He was a young man on the fringes of the pulsating enviroment of oligarchs and artists in Moscow of the 1990s, then he becomes propagandist and adviser to the new zar of Russia: Putin. The novel is an inside story of the power struggles in Russia, and it tries to give an insight in to the thinking behind Kremlin's actions in the 21st century.

It is a fastpaced and interesting book. I was not that impressed with its literary qualities, but the story is fascinating.

4 stars

19. Ulrikka S. Gernes: En pige forlod værelset

Acquired: I bought this book after reading articles about it and attending a talk with her at the Copenhagen Book Fair last year.

The narrator is a grown woman who looks back on a relationship with a middle-aged author, who initiated it, when she was just 14 years old. The relationship is clearly unbalanced and the grown up woman is still haunted by the experience many years later. It was not stopped, however, by her parents or the many other grown-ups around them who first suspected things and then knew. They all seemed to buy his story about rebelling against bourgeois norms, or they were charmed by his wits, or they were just not bothered enough to intervene. Whatever the reason it developed over several years until she was finally able to break free and create a life for herself. The novel switches between chapters telling the story of their time together and chapters focusing on her later reflections.

Gernes is an experienced poet and even though this is her first novel, the writing is flawless. It is also disturbing because his logic and the desires of the young girl, which are absolutely genuine, seems so reasonable even though you know that the relationship is wrong and that the older woman will spend decades in therapy trying to cope with the experience.

4½ stars

Hi Henrik, doing my utmost to visit every thread I've been neglecting in the last few months.

How are you doing? Book wise it's going great for you I see

>38 connie53: Hi Connie
Thanks for stopping by. I’m doing fine now, but spring has been intense at work and I also - finally - finished my masters degree. The last month or so, I have just been counting down to summer vacation.
But now it’s here and things are looking up! We are in Northern Italy right now and enjoying good weather, good food, and lots of great art and architecture. And reading some books, of course.

Hope everything is well with you as well.

> Hi Henrik, congrats on your master! Great job done.
Your vacation is really deserved.
My kids are both in Italy too. Somewhere near Trente.

Happy Holidays and happy reading.

>39 Henrik_Madsen: Congrats on the degree! Enjoy Italy.

>39 Henrik_Madsen: Woo hoo, congratulations on finishing your master's degree! Enjoy reading for fun again! ;)

(I'm deep in the data collection for my master's thesis at the moment. My 2026 self's reading-for-fun pile is getting taller by the day.)

>40 connie53: >41 MissWatson: Thanks! I'm so pleased and, frankly, relieved to put the master behind me. Now it's just my job, my family and my hobbies.

>42 rabbitprincess: Thanks - and good luck on the final leg of the master proces. I found working with my thesis both rewarding and stressful, because it did give me a deeper understanding of the things I'm working with everyday.

21. and 212. William Shakespeare Henry IV part 1-2

Acquired: I got this volume for Christmas in 2020 - so reading it now is part of my attempt to finally read the books people have generously given me.

I found thes two dramas a bit odd. Nominally they are about king Henry IV and continues the storyline from Richard II, but Shakespeare doesn't seem very interested in the king, and he doesn't seem to care all that much about the uprising against the king which drives the narrative forward. He seems much more interested in the crown prince Henry - the later king Henry V. He is an irresponsible young man who likes to prank around with dubious company, but as the rebellion takes form he finally sees the error of his ways and takes on the responsibilities of royalty.

Having the prince fool around gives Shakespeare amble room for al kinds of follies and strange adventures in brothels and pubs, mostly centered around the brilliant, speedtalking, immoral and still very relatable character of John Falstaff.

Reading Shakespeare is never bad, and I really enjoyed all the slapstick humor surrounding the prince and his friends, but Henry IV is not one of his great plays. It is as if all the interesting things happen in the subplots, because neither the writer not the reader is particularly interested in the king, who is just a king, or the political intrigues.

3 stars

23. Maria Giacobbe: Folk fra Pòju Luàdu

Acquired: I bought this book in a secondhand shop shortly before our trip to Italy. I usually try to read some literature from the country I go to, and I didn't have much waiting on the shelves.

The book was published in 2005. It is both the story of the old man Ciro's life during the tumultous 20th Century, and a more contemporary story about growing old in a world that is changing rapidly. He has chosen to return to the place of his birth, but he is much alone because his family lives elsewhere. The novel looks back on his childhood and slowly learning his father's secret as he grows up. Afterwards he leaves Italy during fascism to fight for justice and social change whereever he can. Now he is an old man who adopts a beat-up dog. The novel also tells the story of his two nieces and his granddaughter Gala, their lives and their very different connection to him.

Giacobbe is a skilled writer, and I enjoyed the story about Ciro as an old man bustling about his non-finished house. But some of the other characters felt a bit clichée and several storylines never came to a conclusion. Not a bad book, but not one I would recommend either.

2½ stars

24. William Vance og Jacques Stoquart: Bastarden

Acquired: I bought this volume in a large badge from one of my favorite stores in 2022. Covid was winding down, and they were in trouble, so I decided to support them. This was one of the unknown items on sale, that I decided to include.

This is the first volume in a series about the young man Ramiro. He lives in Spain in the 12th century where he fights vehemently for Castille in the reconquista and against the rival kingdom of Leon. In this volume he takes part in a battle against the moors, is captured and taken to Cordoba, and finally handed over to Leon as a hostage. It is a book full of action, as Ramiro throws himself at any adventurous task without a second thought and gets away with most of it. He is, however, not just a farmers son but also an illegitimate child of the king.

The artwork is beautiful and dynamic but also felt a bit dated, and I could nvere really relate to Ramiro and his carefree approach to the world around him. It is not bad, and I can see why I might have liked all the action as a teenager, but now it was a bit too superficial. I don't think I will continue the series.

An anecdote: Only the first volume has been published in Danish - ironically by a small publisher which was founded to publish the final volumes of series other publishers had discontinued!

2½ stars

25. Paul Strathern: The Medici

Acquired: We went to Florence this summer, so of course I had to buy a book about the Medici and their influence on politics and culture

There are three themes in this synthesis: It is the story of a city, Florence, which for a century was the center of banking, finance, and arts, but finally lost it's status as a republican city state. It is the story of a remarkably family which grew rich because they were solid bankers, decided to use their fortune to advance learning and art as well as themselves, and finally outgrew their city of origin to have enormous influence on the Papal states and France. And it is the story of the rennaissance in learning, architecture, art, and science - the movement which first led to the re-discovery of ancient learning and then to foundation of modern science.

Strathern handles the many characters, intrigues, and developments well. There are lots of details but I never felt lost, and the short introductions to the artist are both vivid and interesting. It is hard to avoid some repetition when so many rulers are presented, at the book could use a thesis to tie it all together, but those are minor objections. More and better illustrations would have been wonderful but you can't have everything in a cheap paperback.

4 stars

26. Umberto Eco: Foucaults pendul

Acquired: I bought the book three years ago at a flea market in a nearby town. I read The Name of the Rose years ago, and I thought it was great, so why not buy his next acclaimed novel?

Casaubon is a student of history with a special interest in the Templar Order. He wants to tear all the myths about the order down to write the true story about their considerable impact on European history. This makes him an able consultant for Belbo and Diovatelli, who work at a small publishing house, where they occasionally receive manuscripts from authors about obscure subjects. One day an old colonel presents them with a theory about a huge conspiracy founded by the templars. It's just a story, but when the colonel disappears and maybe/maybe not is murdere, they start think. Might there still be some truth in his story? During the next ten years, the three friends dive deep into the pool of superstitution and deep beliefs in alternative truths. At first, they keep an ironic distance to their theories, but slowly they are sucked into the void. Are they playing with powers beyound their control?

I liked the novel, but the middle part where all kinds of theories and myths are presented and discussed is just too long. Essentially there are four hundred pages of speculation between dramatic start and the dramatic ending. I would have liked the book much better if an editor had cut out two hundred of those. When Eco is on, he is brilliant, but there is just too much clutter here.

3 stars

27. Inger Christensen: Det malede værelse

Acquired: I'm not entirely sure, but I think I bought this on a sale in the local bookstore 15 years ago. I had started reading her poetry and thought this was a good opportunity to take a look at her prose. Which it was.

In the last half of the 15th Century, Andrea Mantagna painted a famous room in the castle in Mantua. The novel consists of three narratives of what might have happened as the paintings were done - including a love triangle involving the painter and the civil servant who has written about in a "diary" - and stories about the people portraied in the paintings.

The stories are interesting and well-written but the novel is also an interesting study in what fuels art and what it inspires in the people watching it. I enjoyed the book which is a short and fast read.

4 stars

28. Dario Fo: Der er en skør konge i Danmark

Acquired: This one I bought at a book fair in Copenhagen in 2019. It was cheap, and Fo was an author I would like give a try.

The scene is set in Copenhagen in the last half of the 18th Century. The crown prince Christian is married to the English prinsess Caroline Mathilde, they fall in love a life seems good. He is interested in enlightenment ideas and wants to reform the backward country, but unfortunately he is undermined by insanity. At first the refom agenda is pushed by his doctor Struensee - who also has an affair with the queen - but the trues hero turns out to be his son who takes over as a benevolent ruler when he comes of age. The novel consists of fictious diaries from the king and others, but Fo is also present as the teller of the story.

The novel is based on real events but adds lots of details of its own. That was fine, but I didn't really buy into the story, especially in the second half that sort of fades out.

3 stars

29: Charlier og Giraud: Blueberry - De samlede eventyr 5

Acquired: We went to Copenhagen three years ago, where I bought the volume at Fantask.

This is recognized as one of best parts of a series that is generally considered one of the best ever, so expectations were high. I was not disappointed. Blueberry is dismissed from the army to go on a secret mission for the government. During the last days of the civil war the fortune of the South was apparently removed and hidden in Mexico to finance a renewed fight later. Obviously Blueberry is not the only one interested in the gold, and soon he is caught between Mexican forces, bounty hunters, and renegade veterans of the confederate army. He also meets the beautiful and enigmatic Chihuahua Pearl, who doesn't let any man push her around - not even a charming lieutenant.

The story was wildly entertaining. Charlier manages the many groups perfectly and the story progresses through the three original albums. They can be read separately, but they are obviously bedst read at one go. The art is just beautiful and orignal, especially in the use of shadows and the wild colouring.

5 stars

30: Tove Ditlevsen: Gift

Acquired: I bought this one in a local second-hand store a few years ago, when everyone talked about the renaissance of Ditlevsen.

This is the third volume of Ditlevsen's memoirs. It covers the years from 1940 to the 1950s and, more importantly, the four marriages in her life. Each man is fascinated by the brilliant young woman, and for her they all represent a chance to get something and move forward in life. That doesn't sound very nice, and it isn't because this book spares noone, least of all Ditlevsen herself. The most famous part of the book depicts her relationship to her third husband Carl Ryberg, who was a young doctor when she met him. He turned her into a drug addict, and she effectively ended his career by forcing him to administer ever more drugs to her. Truely a toxic relationship.

The first half of the book is great, but the last half focusing on drug addiction, the destructive dynamic between Ryberg and Ditlevsen, and finally the never finished battle to escape addiction is brilliant. I loved the book, which is written in a easily read but not at all simple prose. It does in less than 150 pages what many modern novels would prolong forever.

5 stars

31: Rakel Haslund-Gjerrild: Adam i Paradis

Acquired: This was a gift three years ago, and this was a re-read for my book-club.

I will skip the review, since I mentioned it before. It is still a very interesting piece of exo-fiction about the artist Kristian Zahrtmann and the disgusting treatment of homoseksuals in the early 20th Century.

32: Henrik Stangerup: Det er svært at dø i Dieppe

Acquired: Another buy from a local second-hand store two years ago. I had read another novel by Stangerup and jumped at the opportunity to add this one to the collection.

The subject of the novel is Peter Ludvig Møller, an Danish intellectual and literary critic from the 19th Century. He was soon recognized for his brilliance and after highschool he moved from Aalborg to Copenhagen and later to France, where he lived in Paris and later in Dieppe where he died in 1865. Møller is very much a tragic figure. He constantly quarrelled with everybody and made few friends with his polemic writings. He was drawn to the lower levels of society, went to cheap taverns, and hung out with prostitutes. That his death was caused by syphilis, drugs and unhealthy living is hardly a surprise after reading the book.

Stangerup was himself a rebel who lived most of his life abroad, because Denmark seemed to provincial to him. He can relate to Møller, and he can certainly write him. I enjoyed looking at a certain part of Danish history through his eyes, but I'm just not certain I really cared to get to know the man himself. At least I thought the novel got a bit repetitive as Møller again and again proves his own worst enemy.

3½ stars

33: Todd McFarlane: Spider-Man bog 2

Acquired: I bought a LOT of stuff at Copenhagen Comics - including this one. I already read the first volume, so I wanted to finish McFarlane's run on Spider-Man

This volume collects two storylines and a cross-over with X-Force. The first one, called Perceptions, is by far the best. Spider-Man goes to Vancouver where a monster is apparantly killing young boys. Wolverine shows up, and together they reveal, that the monster may be far more human, than others belive. The story about Moebius lacks focus, and the cross-over with Rob Liefeld's X-Force is a dumpster fire displaying all that went wrong with Marvel in the 1990s.

I'm glad, that I have finally read McFarlane's Spider-Man series. I have never been a huge fan of him, but when he is best, there is a new, raw energy to his artwork.

3 stars

34: William Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing

Acquired: This was a Christmas gift from five years ago. I am slowly making my way through all Shakespeare's plays but have taken a long break in the middle of this volume. Now only Henry V left.

Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies. It is understandably because the quarelling between Benedikt and Beatrice is full of word-play and repressed attraction. Luckily their friends set them up, so they can finally admit their love for eachother. Even more problematic is the relationship between Hero and Claudio. He is tricked into believing she is cheating on him, then convinced that she has died from shame and schock.

Love wins in the end, but the many serious and potentially tragic elements in the story gives the romantic comedy flavour and depth.

4 stars

35: Niels Brunse: Derfor Shakespeare

Acquired: Yet another Christmas gift, this one from 2023. I'm starting to get somewere with some of those wonderful gifts.

Niels Brunse has translated every Shakespeare play into readable and poetic Danish. This should tell you two things about him: He is a huge Shakespeare fan and he knows a thing og two about the bard and his work. Both are very visible in this relatively short and easily read introduction to the Shakespeare. The biography is short, all the conspiracy theories are mercifully short, because attention is on the actual plays. Brunse has interesting thins to say about all the genres, but most of the book is interesting reads of specific plays.

The book was entertaining and knowledgeable, and his writing on each play is a good introduction to them. Read in succession you do want a bit more depth, but I god inspired to handle more plays, so it fulfilled is mission.

4 stars

>57 Henrik_Madsen: The name of the author looked familiar, so I checked and found that I have read one of his novels which I enjoyed very much: Die erstaunlichen Gerätschaften des Herrn Orffyreus. This reminds me that I wanted to read more from him...

>58 MissWatson: Even though Brunse is a somewhat known Danish author, I have never read any of his original work, but I love his translations of Shakespeare. I should get around to reading his own stuff as well.

36: Stefanie Zweig: Irgendwo in Deutschland

Acquired: I bought this in 2000 when I lived in Berlin. It has taken a lot of time to get to it.

In the first novel in this series a small Jewish family escapes nazi Germany. They emigrate to Kenya, where they endure meny hardships until Germany is defeated. The father, who is an attorney, is offered a position as a judge in Frankfurt, and he is so connected to his country and especially his home region of Slesia, that he insists on returning. That story is told in this second novel. They arrive in an impoverished Germany, where few things are in abundance, and they have to face people who have supported nazisme and their own persecution. They slowly manage to establish themselves and make a home for themselves. Regiona once again has to start over in school, but she is intelligent and manages to get her high school degree and a job as a journalist.

The first novel centered on the experiences of the young girl caught in a foreign land. The second one has a broader scope and wants to tell the story of the whole family and especially the father. The work is autobiographical and it is obvious that Zweig wants to celebrate the life of a father, that dies too young. That is understandable but not really good for the story.

3 stars

37. Luc og Francois Schuiten: Den hule klode

Acquired: At the comics convention in June i found this in a stall selling second-hand books.

The Hollow Grounds are just that: A hollow planet where a society of women have established themselved between the outer and the inner shell, where they harvest crops from the other side as they constantly move in opposite directions. When a woman arrives from the outside and tells them about men, they decide to get their hands on some of them, but they don't have to go that far, because a group of adventures in medieval costumes are on their way, attracted by the possibility to ravage a society of defenseless women. Confrontation is unavoidable, and for one of the groups it doesn't end well.

I enjoyed the world-building, the story and the meticulous artwork by Francois Schuiten - his brother Luc has done most of the writing.

3½ stars

38. Hanya Yanagihara: Et lille liv

Acquired: I spend ten years as member of a book club where I received a new book every month. This one arrived in 2016. It has been standing on my shelves looking thick ever since.

Four friends meet at college and we follow their lives for thirty years as they grow up and become succesful as they keep revolving around eachother. The real main character is Jude, who is extremely intelligent but also very fragile after a life of abuse culminating when he was run over by a car. He keeps his balance through discipline and cutting, but his friends love him very much and for many years they anchor him in life.

The book is well written, but I grew tired of the story, Jude and his friends with the angellike patience with him. I know most people love the book, but 800 pages were just way too long.

3 stars

39. Jeff Lemire: Sweet Tooth Book One

Acquired: I bought this book at the Copenhagen book fair last year, where Lemire was supposed to be a guest. He had to cancel, but I bought it anyway and read it before going to a talk with him this year.

Gus is a boy living with his father in the middle of the woods. They are trying to stay isolated in a world where everything has fallen apart. Gus is a kid, but he is also different: Born with animal traits - specifically a deer. Soon his father dies, and Gus learns that all kids born after the epidemic have animal traits. Gus is forced to leave the forest, and he joins forces with the mysterious and violent Jepperd. Together they travel towards a mystic sanctuary - only to be disappointed when they get there.

There are lots of post-apocalyptic stories. I enjoyed this one. It reminded me of The Stand by Stephen King, but Lemire manages to build an interesting world that is also his own. I'm looking forward to the last two books in the series.

4 stars

40. Eduard von Keyserling: Lumre dage

Acquired: Last weekend I spend two days at the book fair in Copenhagen, where I bought this from the publisher's stand

The young nobleman Bill has just failed his exams, and his father is bringing him from their house in the city to their manor in rural Latvia. The seen is set before the Great War, where the land is still dominated by old noble families, even though cracks are starting to appear. In a nearby manor Bill's two cousins live. The older one, Ellita, is about to get married, and this creates tensions. He suddenly sees the tight relationship between Ellita and his father, and as the distanced father and son drifts about outside in the hot summer nights, a feeling of everything coming to an end engulfs Bill.

von Keyserling gives an interesting but not very flattering account of the environment he himself came from. The book is short (around 80 pages) and the writing is clear an easily read. Lots of things going on beneath the surface of course. I enjoyed the book. It is well-written and I enjoyed the fact that the story is told tight and short.

4 stars

41. Søren Ulrik Thomsen: Store Kongensgade 23

Acquired: After considering this several times, I finally bought it at the book fair in Copenhagen earlier this month.

The book consists of a long essay focusing on the formative year of the author's life. In 1972 he moved with his family with his family from provincial Seeland to the bustling Copenhagen. The move launched him to a new life of culture, studying and writing. It was also an important year, because his mother suffered from depression which was so severe that she wandered in and out of hospitals and institutions for years. All attempts to cure her with medicine failed, but when she met an understanding psychiatrist, she managed to get well through therapy. Thomsen is an ardent believer in psychoanalysis, and in his opinion medication is not nearly as proven and useful as most people believe

The writing is very vibrant and interesting, and I thought the discussion about therapy and medication was both personal and informing. The coming-of-age parts was less interesting.

3½ stars

42. William Shakespeare: Henry V

Acquired: Part of volume three of Shakespeare's collected plays in Danish. It was a gift 2020, and now I finally finished it.

Henry V is still a popular play, mostly for the patriotic monologues leading up to the fateful battle at Agincourt. They are indeed fantastic, but overall I didn't enjoy this play very much. I thought it lacked a dramatic core and true development of the characters. To me the boasting French wasn't enough - and Henry's courship of Catherine at the end wasn't very interesting either.

3½ stars

43. Hans Kirchhoff: Et venskab mellem fjender

Acquired: I found this volume at the Copenhagen Book Fair in 2023. I knew the author and had heard about the theme - and it was cheap.

Kirchhoff is a well-known Danish historian, who has written extensively about the second world war and the German occupation of Denmark. That is also the theme of this book which tells the story through the intense relaitonship between the German diplomat Georg Duckwitz and the leading Danish politician Hans Hedtoft who would later go on to become prime minister. Kirchhoff believes that friendships are important to understand political dynamics, and even though the theoretical groundwork is thin, it is shown through this example. The two men had a lot in common, and the sympathy they felt for eachother led to a deeper and more open channel of communication between enemies than would otherwise be possible. This turned out to be important for the rescue of the Danish jews in october 1943.

The book is small, and it feels like leftovers from larger and more important studies. Still, it is a fast read and it is interesting to see well-known events through the prism of this friendship which lasted until Hedtoft's early death in 1955..

3 stars

44. Helen MacInnes: Drama i Salzburg

Acquired: My mother just moved to a smaller house. She had to downsize and decided to let go of almost all the books I had known - at least as covers - all my life. I couldn't just throw them out, so now they are in MY house. Some will be read, some will just be passed on. This one was read.

MacInnes was quite a famous writer of spy novels when they were in vogue. This one is from 1968 and it features agents of pretty much every relevant power in the cold war, and just to keep the story interesting there is also a group of nazi veterans trying to guard their secerets. The prize is a box of important documents sunk into the Austrian Finstersee at the end of the war. Now it has been retrieved and everybody wants to get their hands on it.

Except perhaps for the main character. Mathison is an American attourney who is in Salzburg to sort out some misunderstandings about a book contract when he is suddenly sucked into the intricacies. He is not just the main character but also the moral anchor of the story. He actually cares about the people around him an d not just about the secrets. The book is well written and kept my attention throughout. Maybe not high literature but a well written thriller that has the marks of the cold war spy novel all over.

4 stars

Hi Henrik, Happy Days for you and your family.

>69 connie53: Hi Connie. Thanks! I hope you have enjoyed the holidays as well

45. Tom King og Bilquis Evely: Supergirl. Woman of Tomorrow

Acquired: I bought this at the comic fare in Copenhagen this spring. And again at the book fare this fall, because I had forgotten I had it already...

This mini series from 2021-22 is the main inspiration for the Supergirl movie next year. I can see why: It's a great story, set apart from the DC Universe on Earth and filled with comedy and depth. The young girl Ruthyi, the daughter of a rock farmer on a distant planet, sees her father murdered by Klem, a king's agent, and she wants revenge. After unsuccessfully trying to hire an assasin she teams up with Supergirl, and they travel the universe trying to find the killer. On the way they encounter danger and tragedy as they follow in the footsteps of Klem and the space pirates he has joined.

I enjoyed Tom King's story a great deal. He appreciates and develops the characters, and the plot is both interesting and entertaining. The storytelling is supported by really beautiful and interesting artwork by Bilquis Evely.

4 stars

>70 Henrik_Madsen: I did, Henrik.

46. Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

Acquired: This was part of a birthday gift, I got for my 50th birthday two years ago.

The story is well known: In the early years of the Massachusetts colony a young woman, Heste Prynne, is convicted for adultery. She has to wear the letter A on her clothes all the time, and she is forced to live alone on the outskirts of town. Even as a pariah she manages to survived thanks to her sewing ability. As her daughter grows up, her past comes back to haunt her. After years of secrecy the score finally has to be settled with her former husband Roger Chilingsworth and mr Dimmesdaley, the pastor who secretly fathered her child and left her.

I'm not quite sure what to think of the novel. It is nice to finally read a book, that I seemed to know beforehand, and some of the scenes are written as great drama. Still, the writing is very meticulous which made the reading a bit slow.

4 stars

47. Natsuko Imamura: Kvinden i den lilla nederdel

Acquired: I bought this one at the Copenhagen Book Fair in 2024. Large and small publishers are represented, and I always enjoy going through the books by the small ones to be inspired by something I didn't know before.

Gondo is a young Japanese woman on the fringes of society. She is just about to lose her apartment, and she is most of all lonely. Maybe that's why she is obesessed with another woman from the neighbourhood whom she calls The Woman in the Purple Skirt. She wants to befriend her, and therefore she tries to manipulate her into applying for work at the hotel where she is herself a maid. When she succeeds it is a mixed blessing. Gondo still can't approach her, and it turns out the woman is a smooth operator in the hierarchical system, where everything has to seem according to the rules, but where lots of things happen behind the scenes.

I enjoyed the book. Good characters, an interesting portrait of af work place where most of the workers are women, and an uncanny feeling that something is not quite as the narrator lets on. And it is short: Just 140 pages which leaves a lot to think about after reading.

3½ stars

48. Niklas Asker: Med nye øjne

Acquired: I bought this one cheap at Copenhagen Comics in May. They were probably trying to get rid of old stock, and I took the bait.

This is Asker's first graphic novel from 2010. The main characters are Jess, a writer, and John, a photographer who meet in Stanstead Airport. They are both inspired by it, and as the story of the two characters are revealed, their lives are intertwined. They are both young, big city dwellers struggling with relationships and trying to carve out a career for themselves.

The artwork is black and white with thick lines. It is not bad, neither is the story, but I just had a feeling I had seen it all before. Well, it was short.

2½ stars

49. Ivan Malinowski: Fuga

Acquired: When my daughter finished high school, we had a day to spend in Roskilde. After seeing the cathedral, we came upon a shop selling used books. Could I resist? Of course not.

The book is a poetry collection. It is aptly illustrataed by Dea Trier Mørch, and the whole project feels like art as well as literature. The poems sees the world through the eyes of wind. This is a pretty could trick to look at the world in a global perspective, to focus on change and movement, and to make the interconnectedness of the human world a centerpiece of the book. This is both fascinating and a bit frustrating, because such general ideas tend to become abstract and a bit aloof. Still the writing is good, and I'm glad I have read it.

3 stars

50. Sayaka Murata: Døgnkioskmennesket

Acquired: A nice little find at the Copenhagen Bookfair in November. I had read about the book before, and decided to get my hands on a copy

Keiko is 36 years old, has no man - in fact she has never had a boyfriend - and she works in a convenience store. She is a curiosity among her few friends and an embaressment to her family. At the same time Keiko is finding fulfillment and identity in the structured surroundings. She even gets an interesting way of talking by listening to the other employees. Still, can such an odd situaiton go on? When the troublemaker Shiraha starts in the store she is forced to think again about her life choices.

I really enjoyed this little novel. It is fun and Murata clearly cares about the weird people she writes about. Nad the narrative touched me because even though Keiko is an extreme example, it is not at all uncommon in modern working life to find identity and emotional fullfilment at the workplace.

4 stars