reading
Yesterday, while at lord_kjar's parent's house I read three kids books in Swedish. This brought the total number of books read so far this year to 13. While that number still looks pitifully small to me, since, back when I was young and had more free time, I used to read paperback novels in 1 to 4 days, it still makes me smile, and is clear evidence that my reading speed in Swedish has picked up, since I read only 13 books total last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. Yes, that is correct, since moving to Sweden, when I set the rule "no fiction in English" (other than when reading out loud to a friend), I have only been managing to read 13 books a year. This is in marked contrast with the 60 books a year I read during the first half of my PhD (and I have no records of how much I read before that, but I know it was more, because I had more free time and fewer hobbies in those days). Given that this year isn't yet half over, I am optimistic that I will double the number of books read (and don't intend to make very many of them books which are short enough I can read them in an afternoon and still be social with the people I am visiting).
The full list of books read so far this year:
*Marion Zimmer Bradley: Stormens Drottning (Swedish translation of Stormqueen, which I have read a number of times in English) took me 187 days to read, but that is because I kept putting it aside to read other things, since it had been years since I had read the English version and I didn't remember the story so well, so when I first picked it up it was difficult reading, but by the time I read the last few chapters it was much easier to follow)
*Anne McCaffery: Drakjakten (Swedish translation of Dragon Quest, which I have read many times in English) took me 39 days to read
*Lena Einhorn: Ninas resa (a "lätt lass" (easy read) book in Swedish that we read for my Swedish for immigrants class). I read this one twice. Once in just over an hour on my own, and again in class over the course of three weeks (one meeting a week) where we students took turns reading out loud and the teacher would pause us after ever few sentances to make certain that everyone understood and to make us discuss the story, in Swedish.
*Selma Lagerlöf: Gösta Berlings saga (a classic Swedish novel written by the first woman to win the Nobel prize in literature) My teacher suggested it when I commented to her that if we were going to read books so slowly in class with so much discussion as we go, we may as well read real literature. This one was the first I opted to listen to the audio book as I read, and it took me 36 days to make my way through the audio book.
*Tal Zohar & Kim Spänberg: Kärlek mellan två strander (another "lätt lass" (easy read) book in Swedish that we read for my Swedish for immigrants class) This one they didn't have enough copies of to check them out, so we could only read them during the class sessions, and, again, it took three weeks to get through it. I suspect that it would have been another hour or two book if read silently on my own.
*Louise Ramnefalk: Skönhet, odjur, haxor, prinsar (a collection of fairy tails in Swedish) took me 8 days to get through, mostly only reading while eating breakfast, since I was reading/listening to Gösta Berlings saga at the same time period.
*Astrid Lindgren: Sagorna (a large collection of short stories written in Swedish for children, many of which are really delightful) took me 41 days to get through. Again this was one I read during breakfast or other odd breaks in the day while also reading/listening to something else.
*Maggie Furey: Aurian (the first book in the Swedish translation of a fantasy novel I had never read in English). This was the second book I listened to while reading the text, and it took 19 days.
*Maggie Furey: Aurians flykt (the second book in that series) took me 24 days to read while listening to the audio book.
*Sven Nordqvist: Pettson får julbesök (a delightfully fun children's book in Swedish) took less than an hour to read.
*Elsa Beskow: Petters och Lottas Jula (another delightfully fun children's book in Swedish) took less than an hour to read.
Astrid Lindgren Jul i Bullerbyn (another delightfully fun children's book in Swedish) took less than an hour to read.
Looking over the list I see that I actually haven't finished anything in English this year. I am still reading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni Checkmate out loud to lord_kjar, but we started it in June of last year, so clearly we don't make much time for reading out loud. Ok, to be fair, I did also read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality to he and linda_linsefors during 180 days of this period, so there was more reading aloud last year than just this one).
The full list of books read so far this year:
*Marion Zimmer Bradley: Stormens Drottning (Swedish translation of Stormqueen, which I have read a number of times in English) took me 187 days to read, but that is because I kept putting it aside to read other things, since it had been years since I had read the English version and I didn't remember the story so well, so when I first picked it up it was difficult reading, but by the time I read the last few chapters it was much easier to follow)
*Anne McCaffery: Drakjakten (Swedish translation of Dragon Quest, which I have read many times in English) took me 39 days to read
*Lena Einhorn: Ninas resa (a "lätt lass" (easy read) book in Swedish that we read for my Swedish for immigrants class). I read this one twice. Once in just over an hour on my own, and again in class over the course of three weeks (one meeting a week) where we students took turns reading out loud and the teacher would pause us after ever few sentances to make certain that everyone understood and to make us discuss the story, in Swedish.
*Selma Lagerlöf: Gösta Berlings saga (a classic Swedish novel written by the first woman to win the Nobel prize in literature) My teacher suggested it when I commented to her that if we were going to read books so slowly in class with so much discussion as we go, we may as well read real literature. This one was the first I opted to listen to the audio book as I read, and it took me 36 days to make my way through the audio book.
*Tal Zohar & Kim Spänberg: Kärlek mellan två strander (another "lätt lass" (easy read) book in Swedish that we read for my Swedish for immigrants class) This one they didn't have enough copies of to check them out, so we could only read them during the class sessions, and, again, it took three weeks to get through it. I suspect that it would have been another hour or two book if read silently on my own.
*Louise Ramnefalk: Skönhet, odjur, haxor, prinsar (a collection of fairy tails in Swedish) took me 8 days to get through, mostly only reading while eating breakfast, since I was reading/listening to Gösta Berlings saga at the same time period.
*Astrid Lindgren: Sagorna (a large collection of short stories written in Swedish for children, many of which are really delightful) took me 41 days to get through. Again this was one I read during breakfast or other odd breaks in the day while also reading/listening to something else.
*Maggie Furey: Aurian (the first book in the Swedish translation of a fantasy novel I had never read in English). This was the second book I listened to while reading the text, and it took 19 days.
*Maggie Furey: Aurians flykt (the second book in that series) took me 24 days to read while listening to the audio book.
*Sven Nordqvist: Pettson får julbesök (a delightfully fun children's book in Swedish) took less than an hour to read.
*Elsa Beskow: Petters och Lottas Jula (another delightfully fun children's book in Swedish) took less than an hour to read.
Astrid Lindgren Jul i Bullerbyn (another delightfully fun children's book in Swedish) took less than an hour to read.
Looking over the list I see that I actually haven't finished anything in English this year. I am still reading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni Checkmate out loud to lord_kjar, but we started it in June of last year, so clearly we don't make much time for reading out loud. Ok, to be fair, I did also read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality to he and linda_linsefors during 180 days of this period, so there was more reading aloud last year than just this one).