A book turned into a movie

Astrid Lindgren: Ronja Ryövärintytär

Pages: 240

I was actually thinking about reading this as my book from childhood, but the truth is I can't remember if I've ever read this as a kid. Now I have and I'm even more convinced this book didn't play a big role in me growing up. If it had, I think I would not have been the child I was.

Anyway, Ronja Ryövärintytär (or Ronia the Robber's daughter in English) is apparently some kind of classic. It's written by Astrid Lindgren, a Swedish children's author. Like I said, I don't remember this book playing a big role in my childhood (I do, however, remember owning a board game based on it), but I remember my mom reading me some of her other works at bedtime. I haven't touched them since (especially not Emil of Lönneberga, that book scarred me for life), but I can still remember Pippi Longstocking's full name. So in a way it was nostagic to read this.

In a way this was a bad book turned into a movie. I do have the movie on DVD, but I've ever watched it. I started it once in Swedish, but it just didn't work out with my attention span. I am willing to try again, but this time with Finnish subtitles.

A book you can finish in a day

Miika Nousiainen: Vadelmavenepakolainen

Pages: 269

I wasn't sure if this should be my book I finished in a day or a book turned in to a movie, but I chose the first one for reasons I'm still not sure of. It's also a book I never thought I'd read.

Vadelmavenepakolainen (Raspberry-boat refugee) is the story of a Finnish man who thinks he should have been born Swedish (raspberry boats are a type of Swedish candy. They look like this and taste like plastic). The book has recently been turned into a movie and I think I would have enjoyed the movie more. The book wasn't bad, I don't read bad books, but it just wasn't my thing. I do understand why some people like it, though.

A book of short stories

Johanna Sinisalo: Kädettömät kuninkaat ja muita häiritseviä tarinoita

Pages: 482

Where do I start? Sinisalo has been one of my favourite authors since I first read Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi (eng. Troll - a love story OR Not before sunset) in 2007 (or something). I just love the way she writes and Kädettömät kuninkaat has given me the creeps every time, no matter how many times I've read it. And now I have to admit I've actually never read this book in full, there have been two short stories I've always skipped, but last night I finally read them. I liked them, but they still couldn't beat my favourites.

Now that I mentioned my favourites... My favourite short stories are the ones that scared me the most, Etiäinen and Me vakuutamme sinut.

In the Finnish folklore Etiäinen is actually a phenomenom of knowing ahead if a guest or a family member is arriving soon and the story tells of a woman whose husband has a really strong spirit that triggers a strong etiäinen. I don't even know why I find this so scary, but it's most likely the thought of seeing shapes in the windows. An etiäinen can be a sound or something visual, and creepy things in windows are one of my fears. Ironically, whenever I read the story, I feel like I can sense those things for a few days afterwards. I swear I heard my gf's keys in the lock this morning a moment before she actually arrived.

Me vakuutamme sinut brings the Cthulhu mythos back to life. I don't know if I find this scary just because when I was first reading it, my CD player started to play the weird "moo"-sound that's in the end if Sonata Arctica's Unia or because it really was frightening, but I was still scared shitless and the memory stuck. I love books that are set in our time, but there's just something that's really wrong, so no wonder this story is just for me.