Reading Playlist

Inside the magnificent Opera House in Oslo

I have always loved music, and it has a special place in my heart. But I can’t read while listening to songs with lyrics, then I just mix up the words with the book and I get easily distracted, so I can read for pages without actually reading anything. But that isn’t the case with instrumental music. Especially film music, or movie soundtracks as you may call it. Because it’s made to fit the different atmospheres in movies, it often plays perfectly to books as well. So therefore I decided to share with you some of my favourite tracks to listen to as I read!

• The soundtracks to all the Harry Potter movies mainly by John Williams (nr. 1, 3, 4 and 7 are the best!)
• The Imitation Game by Alexandre Desplat
• Time by Hans Zimmer
• Theme From Schindler’s List by John Williams (my heart breakes every time!)
• The Council of Elrond by Howard Shore
• Victoria – The Suite by Martin Phipps (I love these tv-series! Anyone else?)
• O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen
• Rey’s Theme by John Williams (purely amazing)
• Across the Stars by John Williams
• Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Marricone (childhood memories)
• I’m Forrest… Forrest Gump by Alan Silvestri
• Dawn – From “Pride & Prejudice” Soundtrack by Dario Marianelli (makes my heart warm)
• Your Hands Are Cold by Dario Marianelli (the most romantic scene in history!)
• The Planets Op. 32: I. Mars the Bringer of War by Gustav Holst (I really recommend this if you are a fan of Star Wars!)
• Bifröst by Gaute Storaas and Helene Bøksle (some viking music)
• Midwayer by Joep Beving (peaceful, emotional piano)
• Våren/Last Spring by Edvard Grieg (the version by Grex Vocalis is beautiful! A Norwegian masterpiece)

Okay, so basically everything by John Williams is great. I mean, he’s a legend for a reason, and all his work is magically a masterpiece! What I have written in these (…) are my personal thoughts on the pieces, nothing more! I know there is a lot, but then you also have more to choose from! Always look on the positive side 🙂 What are your favourites? I’m thinking of maybe making a playlist with just Norwegian music as well in the future. Alright, well, I hope you enjoy!

Book Review: The Spook’s Secret

 

The Norwegian edition

Author: Joseph Delaney

Original Title: Night of the Soul Stealer

Series: Nr 3 in The Last Apprentice

Pages: 372

Genres: Fantasy, YA, Horror

First Published: 2007

Goodreads

“It’s going to be a long, hard, cruel winter, and there couldn’t be a worse place to spend it.”

When Morgan, one of the Spook’s former apprentices that didn’t fulfill the training, shows up in the Spook’s garden, he suddenly decides to pack up and og to his house in Anglezarke for the winter, and his current 13 year old apprentice and our hero, Tom, isn’t happy. Anglezarke is a cold, bleak, forbidding place where evil spirits roam on the nearby moors. And the Spook’s winter house holds a dark secret, Tom discovers, that must stay from the villagers at all costs. The ancient winter god, Golgoth, is moving and the Spook is getting concerned. A sudden family tragedy and the freezing weather makes this winter the worst Tom has ever experienced, and the fact that Alice can’t stay with him and the Spook makes it even gloomier.

This is my least favourite book in The Last Apprentice so far. The plot dragged a bit too long for my taste, and when it finally came to the point, it didn’t last long before it was over. Plus Tom was often unrealisticly Lucky in my opinion. This book is set in a freezing, depressing winter, and without the joyous Christmas spirit it got a bit too gray to me. Hovewer, I always enjoy the wonderful spooky, yet kind of cozy, atmosphere Delaney creates in his books, and I always find them very fitting for a cold, rainy autumn day curled up with a cup of tea. You may have noticed that I am very fond of tea. I still can’t decide if Alice is good or bad, but I like her smart, badass attitude, and my favourite character might be the Spook himself as he reminds me of Gandalf and Dumbledore who I adore. It takes up themes such as death, family, friendship and the realationship between a master and student.

The Last Apprentice series is surprisingly scary for a middle grade fantasy! Take the warning that stands on the back of the book: “Do not read after dark!”. I mean it. I recommend this series to everyone who isn’t easily scared, enjoys ghosts and magic and just want an easy halloween read!

3/5 stars

Wonderful illustrations at the beginning of each chapter

 

Apple Cakes and Magical Gardens

As the trees are starting to get more colourful, it’s more rainy days and the gardens are filled with an abundance of apples, eating a piece of apple cake and drink a good cup of tea while reading a book would probably make anyone’s day perfect. At least mine! So today I have decided to share with you my mother’s delicious apple cake recipe! I first made this cake when I was four years old for my birthday (with a little help from my mother of course), so it’s fairly easy to make. I have used apples from my own garden, and we used the extra apples we had left to make jam, which tastes wonderful with butter on a piece of bread. Velbekomme!

Ingredients:

• 125 g butter
• 2 dl (200 g) sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 dl milk
• 5 dl (ca 275 g) flour
• 2 tea spoons baking soda
• 3-4 apples (the red ones are best)
• Sugar and cinnamon for topping

How to do it:

1. Slice the apples and take them to the side for later.
2. Set the oven to 200° C
3. Blend sugar and butter to it gets white.
4. Whisk the egg and put it in the dough.
5. Blend flour and baking soda.
6. Blend it partly in the dough with the milk. Add a bit of flour, then a bit of milk and so on.
7. Put the dough in a greased cake form. Fill the form with thin sliced Apples, put them down in the dough like you can see in the picture, and cover the cake with cinnamon and sugar.
8. Bake the cake in the oven for about 30 minutes, and check that it’s not «fluid» in the middle. Then it’s done! You can enjoy it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but the cake is also delicious by itself.

 

As this is my first time translating a recipe from Norwegian to English, don’t hesitate to ask me if it’s something that is unclear! 

If you didn’t already know, roses and apples are related! And both bloom beautifully.

I hope you enjoy the beautiful autumn days ahead, and that you got inspired to try and make a delicious apple cake yourself! My garden looks like a fairytale at the moment, what about yours? I am going to post a book review soon too, if you were wondering.

-M

A Trip to Oslo

Karl Johan, the main street

I love Oslo, it’s one of my favourite cities in the world, and I was born there. Although I don’t live there anymore, I still visit the city at least ten times a year (I live 30 minutes away by train), and I will probably move back there when I’m older. So I feel pretty confident in giving you my best tips for an amazing trip to Oslo!

The capital city of Norway has a population of over 600,000 people, and it is a small city in comparison to other European capitals. But there are lots of advantages by being small! The first reason is that it’s easy and quick to get around, either by walking or using the public transport. Secondly, you get to see a much larger part of the city in less time! So it’s absolutely perfect for a weekend or even just a day trip!

Akershus Festning is a medieval fortress with a lovely park!

What to See & Where to Go

The magnificent Opera House in Bjørvika is a must see for all! Across the street from the train station, and just a short distance from the city centre, it is located by the water amongst other modern architectual wonders. The Opera House itself is meant to recemble an iceberg, and is mainly made of white marble and glass. You can walk up on the rooftop to enjoy a marvelous view over Oslo! http://operaen.no/en/

The Opera House seen from Sørenga, where parts of SKAM was played

Inside the magnificent Opera House

If you long for a delicious outside restaurant meal by the water, some fashionable shopping or just a nice stroll, Aker Brygge is the right place for you! Although this isn’t exactly budget-friendly, the views and architecture makes it worthwhile even if you don’t plan on spending a lot of money here. You can just sit by the water, eat some ice cream and watch the boats and Akershus Festning in the distance! Or you can visit the modern art museum, the  Astrup Fearnley Museum for about 120 kr for each adult, but check the website on beforehand to be certian! It’s closed on Mondays. If you are up for something sweet I highly reccomend to eat a “porke” at Bergshaven bakery, which is a delicious bun with vanilla cream, raisins and coconut icing sugar. It’s a very modern, Scandinavian and “koselig” cafe, with huge windows and lots of natural light. However, if you want to have some dinner, I highly reccomend Beach Club where they make amazing, American hamburgers, or Eataly where they serve almost perfect Italian pizzas!

Aker Bygge

Tjuvholmen by Aker Brygge, with the king’s ship in the background

The Astrup Fearnley Museum

Bergshaven bakery

The delicious “porke”!

Strolling down Aker Brygge

Karl Johan is the main street in Oslo, and goes down from the Royal Palace, past the National Theatre, the University of Oslo, Hard Rock Cafe and the Storting (Parliament). And Grand Hotel, where countless of celebrities and royals have stayed during their visits to Oslo. It’s one of the most exclusive places in Norway, which doesn’t really say a lot, because Norway is a newly rich country so we don’t have lots of extravagant buildings. However, a meal at the Grand Cafe is affordable for an average person, and the food is totally worth the money. so if you want to feel history in the walls and eat where Ibsen, Munch, Obstfelder, Aasen and Krogh went to eat lunch especially in the later parts of the 1800s, I really reccomend this place! It’s also interesting to study the famous wall painting in the back of the cafe and see if you can spot some famous Norwegians!

Grand Hotel and Cafe seen from Karl Johan

The famous painting of Grand Cafe by Per Krogh.

Karl Johan also has two of the best and biggest bookshops in Norway: Nordli and Tanum! They sell both Norwegian and English books of nearly all genres. But my personal favourite is Ark at Grünerløkka, where they sell famous classics in beautiful editions that you don’t get many places elswhere in Norway. And it’s always nice to sit down with a good book and a large cup of tea or melted chocolate with whipped cream at a nearby cafe! Grünerløkka has lots of small coffeshops and unique shops, and it’s where all the hipsters are. But in general I reccomend Espresso House, Kaffebrenneriet and Baker Hansen that you can find all over the city.

Stortinget (The Parliament)

That was all for this time! Everything I have written about is within walking distance of each other, but the public transport is great, and there are several sight-seeing tour options as well. I hope you found some useful tips or information, or simply found inspiration to come visit Norway and Oslo sometime! This post have focused more on the modern part of the city, but I will probably write more about Oslo in the future too, about activities and museums, and I’ll probably do a winter edition as well.

If you have any reccomendations, questions or requests, I would love to hear them! Have you ever been to Oslo or Norway? What did you think? It’s always interesting to hear what foreginers think of my country!

 

Autumn Reads

We are now finally approaching autumn, my favourite time of the year! The air is getting crisp, the leaves are getting more colourful and the days are getting shorter. You can sit inside reading with a blanket, drinking hot beverages without feeling guilty of not being out in the sun. You can wear big, cozy jumpers, knit and enjoy the sound of rain against the windows. You can go hiking in the woods or stroll down the streets wearing a coat and scarf, heading towards a coffeshop. It’s the most beautiful and wonderful season of the year!

Autumn TBR: 

This autumn I have some books I want to read that I think fits the season quite well.

• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• The Alchymist by Paulo Coelho
• War of the Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
• The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss 
• The Spook’s Secret by Joseph Delaney
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? I would love to hear your thoughts! 

 

Book Review: History Is All You Left Me

Book: History is all you left me

Author: Adam Silvera

Pages: 294

Genre: YA, LGBT+

First Published: USA, 2017

Goodreads

“History is nothing. It can be recycled or thrown away completely. It isn’t this sacred treasure chest I mistook it to be. We were something, but history isn’t enough to keep something alive forever.” –Adam Silvera

This book follows Griffin, a teenage boy from New York that recently lost his best friend and ex-boyfriend, Theo, in a drowning accident. Suffering from grief and worsening OCD, Griffin unexpectedly turns to Theo’s New boyfriend, Jackson, for help. Jackson is the only person that Griffin feels really understands him. As they put aside their hard feelings towards each other, their realationship evolves and new, dangerous thruths begin to surface.

The story has two timelines: Today and History. Today is what happens after the accident, all the grief, sorrow and heartache, while History is before it happened and you get a glimpse of Theo and Griffin’s realationship and their friendship with Wade when everything was easier. Adam Silvera did a really great job with weaving the two timelines together, everything has a nice, even flow. I didn’t get confused by what was when because he described everything, the setting and mood, so well that I understood it right away.

The chapters were nice and short, and it made it easier to read a bit now and then, whenever I had time between school, meals and sleep. With some books I feel like I have to set off time to read, because the chapters are so long and I can’t force myself to stop right in the middle of one. With this book that wasn’t a problem. I could almost always read “just one more chapter”.

This book really makes you think, which can be good for you once in a while. And it also makes you laugh, which feels even better, but doesn’t necessarily make you any wiser. The book was sad. No doubting that. Dealing with loss and grief, first love and heartache, Silvera did a really good job in making the reader feel the emotions of the characters. I almost never cry while reading, but this time it was close! I could really feel Griffin’s pain in my chest, especially when he sacrificed himself so the person he loved could be with someone else. It was also interesting to see how Griffin’s obsession with even numbers and always walking to the left side of People was treated by his friends and how he tackled it himself. I haven’t had many experience with mental illness myself yet, but it is an important subject, and I know that a lot of people struggle with it.

History Is All You Left Me also has a lot of references to pop-culture, such as Harry Potter and Star Wars, and you can probably make a whole playlist just by using all the songs mentioned in this book! It made it much more relatable, especially for other teenagers I think. A Harry Potter fan always feels some sort of connection with another HP fan, because you have at least one thing you both love in common!

I can’t say that I always agreed with Griffin’s decisions and actions. Especially not regarding his realationship with Wade. I loved Wade, he was such a cute and wonderful character, but their realationship at the end almost seemed kind of forced? I don’t know, but it felt unnatural to me. And (SPOILER ALERT!) what’s the odds for all four boys to turn out gay? That felt a bit too unrealistic, although I know the chances might be there in real life too. Apart from that I really enjoyed the story!

I also really enjoyed reading about New York because it brought back good memories from when I was there the summer of 2015. I especially enjoyed the High Line and Central Park, and I really wished we had more time to explore Brooklyn too! I really have to go back sometime, and it’s totally understandable why Frank Sinatra sang about the City that Never Sleeps, because New York really is amazing!

I reccomend this book if you liked “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, and “Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli, if you long for New York and California, or if you really just want to feel something.

4/5 Stars

New York 2015

The High Line 2015

My Book Story

Hello there!

As my first post, I thought it would be a nice idea to share my reading story with you. With that I mean that I will write about how much books has meant to me and what part reading has played in my life until now.

I have always loved to read, or at least for as long as I can remember, and it all started with some Donald Duck cartoons before I discovered the best book series of all time: Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling. I was hooked from the first page, and fell instantly in love with the wizarding world! You could say my life changed, because Harry Potter has become a big part of my childhood and who I am today. Harry, Ron and (especially) Hermione were some of my greatest friends and supporters through some pretty lonely years.

Harry Potter also introduced me to some other great books: Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, and eventually Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. The amazing soundtrack in the HP movies also introduced me to film music, and I started to play the saxophone in a marching band where I met some really cool people. Those who say that there are lots of nerds in marching bands are completely and utterly right. And nerds are awesome! They are some of the funniest, kindest and smartest people on earth!

My favourite genres are fantasy, historical fiction and YA, although I love a good old mystery or classic too. I read almost all genres, though I tend to steer away from thrillers and cheesy, cheap romances often found in kiosks and grocery stores.

Books in general have made me really interested in history, politics and I am much more aware of my surroundings after I have read about how terrible some societies can be. In the future I have a dream of working in publishing and to become an author. Well, that was some of my book story!

You can follow me on Goodreads too if you want to keep up with my reading process, and please comment here if you have any reccomondations, requests, questions or tips!

-Maud

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, Ravenclaw, 20 years edition. This beautiful book was given to me by a wonderful friend.