Comments | kattahj: For the wannabe weeper

kattahj

For the wannabe weeper

Dec 09, 2003 21:16

I thought I'd do a couple of recs, but instead of fic recs I'll do actual book recs. And the theme is "books that make me cry". Please note that this is a selective list and doesn't include every book that ever made me cry. (The Stand did. The Outsiders used to, but doesn't anymore.)

My Nightingale is Singing by Astrid Lindgren ( Read more... )

colin thiele, vilhelm moberg, ethel turner, book talk, selma lagerlöf, astrid lindgren

Comments 4

viggorlijah December 9 2003, 17:41:14 UTC

Ok, I *think* this book is swedish and I've been looking for it, and I have some vague idea it was written by Astrid L? - I know at some point I tracked it down and then didn't.

19th century, early 20th. Two orphaned brothers, one very ill, there's a fire and the older brother dies saving the ill brother, but promises they'll meet again. The ill brother eventually dies and then - wakes up in a new world where his brother is - reincarnation of a sort. And they were The Brothers Lionheart or something. They fought a dragon, I think. I read that book over and over as a kid in our school library, and I'd love to get a new copy.

Can you help? Cue plaintive begging!

kattahj December 10 2003, 00:33:45 UTC

It's called The Brothers Lionheart, it is indeed by Astrid Lindgren, and incidentally I was so upset by it that I only read it once. (In part because it was scary and in part because I felt the ending was a total cop-out.) I've often thought that I ought to re-read it and see if I like it now that I've grown up.

Anyway. A new translation is on its way and can be ordered through Amazon, though not bought, I'm afraid. They seem to have pulled the old edition now that the new is coming.

nangijala December 10 2003, 09:34:22 UTC

Funny, I myself consider the ending of TBL to be the most satisfactory of any book I've ever read. :) But yes, I it is a bit of a cop out. (or quite a large one actually.) But it still gives me the warm fuzzies like nothing else. I guess I'm just abit strange. ;)

kattahj December 10 2003, 12:42:11 UTC

No, I've come to realize that pretty much everyone else has good memories from that book. Which is why I think perhaps I should re-read it. After all, when I re-read the Emil books as an adult I quite liked them, while as a child I found them awful. (Everyone was so unfair to poor Emil!)