Bye Bye New Facebook

I was going to publish a post titled Bye Bye Facebook in a few days as I'd be leaving FB because of the new layout there. But then Steve of FBPurity saved me.
  He has made an add on for most Browsers called Revert site. It simply makes Facebook think you are using an older browser, so that it will show you the old Facebook design.

  I give him and these two extensions (or add ons, I'm not sure about the right term here) credit for having saved my sanity and six stars out of five!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐+⭐

Back to the Classics -- Three Hearts and Three Lions

Well, I did roll a 1 - telling me to read a 19. century classic. But looking for such a book on the shelves I stumbled across Three Hearts and Three Lions written in 1961 by Poul Anderson. Well it is strictly speaking a science fiction book, but written in the 20 century.That category was taken by Sound of Music. Well then as crucial parts of the book takes place in Helsingør (Elsinore) where I lived for many years this could count as

11: Classic From a Place You've Lived. 


Link to the Back to the Classics Challenge.

The theme of the book is the eternal fight between Law and Chaos. Holger, a common dude from Elsinore is fighting in the resistance during the Nazi occupation of Denmark. One night, on the beach near Kronborg (Yes Hamlet's castle) he is with a group trying to secure the passage to Sweden for a boat with a supercargo refugee. Fighting for this end, Holger is hit by enemy bullets, and suddenly he's somewhere else. Transported through space and time, not knowing who or where he is, but with a great warhorse and equipment suitable for a knight of noble ilk, he tries to find his way back. His coat of arms Three Hearts and Three Lions, and his name, Holger, gives off to all but him, that he is Ogier le Danois, the Defender, the Holy knight sleeping in the dungeons of Kronborg to appear in times of peril.
He fights his way through realms fair and foul with unlikely allies and grim foes. In the end he discovers who and what he is in a rather unexpected way.
Wikipedia told me that "The novel influenced the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, especially the original alignment system, which grouped all characters and creatures into "Law" and "Chaos". The game drew on the novel's depiction of the troll, which regenerated when wounded, the swanmay, and the nixie. The novel also inspired the paladin character class."
As I played Dungeons & Dragons for many year, always yearning to be a Paladin, and always twarted by my chaotic co-players, this spoke to me.
It is excellently written with many jokes and puns, and I think it is even funnier for me, because Poul Anderson knew Danish, had lived in Denmark for some years, and in this book he accurately describes a Dane seen from an American point of view. Also his use of Danish pronunciation and words makes this even better.

-- 📚 -- updated list -- 📚 --

 1. 19th Century Classic:  Alice in Wonderland

 2. 20th Century Classic: READ - Trapp Family Singers.

 3. Classic by a Female Author: ?

 4. Classic in Translation: ?

 5. Classic Comedy: Don Quijote

 6. Classic Tragedy. The Odyssey or The Iliad.

  7. Very Long Classic: ?

  8. Classic Novella: ?

  9. Classic From the Americas: Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer.

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia):  READ - 7 Years in Tibet

11. Classic From a Place You've Lived: THIS ONE

12. Classic Play: Jedermann.

Back to the Classics -- 7 Jahre in Tibet.

Seven Years in Tibet

Well, I did roll a 7 - marking me for a very long classic, but looking for this book in the shelves I stumbled across Seven Years in Tibet written in 1953 by Heinrich Harrer. Translated into Danish by Lars Rosenkvist. That is a book I have wanted to read for many years, but I just never got to reading it before now.
I tentatively put this book in category
10: A Classic form Africa, Asia or Oceania. 


Link to the Back to the Classics Challenge.

I think what happens in the book is not new for very many people, but it was to me.

It is an autobiography written by the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, it covers the years from 1939, the beginning of WWII to 1961, Harrer is not a writer, but he has a story to tell, and he knows how to write after all.
He begins by being on a mountaineering expedition then being interned in India. He tries to get away more times, but only succeeds on his 3rd try together with 2 other  prisoners. Those three walks all the way from India to Tibet by foot, an exhausting and cold journey in the wintertime. Tibet is not welcoming strangers of any kind, and all the time they're told to return to India or go on to Nepal. But they stubbornly continues further into Tibet. One of his followers are not as physically fit as Heinrich and Aufschnaiter, and goes to Nepal, where he's welcome.
Heinrich and Aufschnaiter now tries their luck. They want to visit Lhasa, the forbidden city and capital of Tibet. That journey, in the winterlocked mountainous land, is a trial of strength unlike anything I've ever read before. They finally succeed and stay in Lhasa, first as unwelcome strangers, then as tolerated mysteries, then as trusted workers and teachers. In the end Heinrich meets the young Dalai Lama and makes friend with him. The story ends with them fleeing Tibet as the Chinese red army takes over the country.

It is a truly amazing book and a totally immersing read. Read the book, don't bother watching the movie.
With this said what strikes me - apart from the wonder of it all - is the disarming naivete with which it is written, Heinrich stayed for over 7 years in Tibet, learned to speak the language almost to perfection, and got a feeling for and understanding of Tibetan culture and life that is totally amazing. Yet his sentimentality, or what you may call it, is amazing. It is not the "white man's burden"-stuff, he's too wise for this. It is a reluctance to accept that Christmas is not celebrated in Tibet, and that the monks do not go somewhere private to relieve themselves. A funny lack to accept foreignnes, just as a small child, believing that deep inside everybody thinks in his (or her) own language. Also his political musings and thoughts on the roles of women and men in society are so bound to his own time and culture to be unwillingly comical. Luckily the edition, I read, had removed many of these passages.
And somewhere towards the ending he says that Dalai Lama number 14 was prophesied to be the last. In my ignorance I wondered how the next one had been chosen - until the truth dawned on me. He is the same one! His young Dalai Lama is the same as "my" old one.

-- 📚 -- updated list -- 📚 --

 1. 19th Century Classic:  Alice in Wonderland

 2. 20th Century Classic: READ - Trapp Family Singers.

 3. Classic by a Female Author: ?

 4. Classic in Translation: ?

 5. Classic Comedy: Don Quijote

 6. Classic Tragedy. The Odyssey or The Iliad.

  7. Very Long Classic: ?

  8. Classic Novella: ?

  9. Classic From the Americas: Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer.

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia):  THIS ONE

11. Classic From a Place You've Lived: Maybe Hamlet or Glasperlenspiel by Hermann Hesse. (I lived a year in Germany)

12. Classic Play: Jedermann.

Back to the Classics -- Familien Trapp

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers

Yes it's an old library book.
I always look at library clearing
sales for books, I want to own.
I have many!

2: A 20th Century Classic. 
     Any classic book originally published between 1900 and 1969

Original title: Die Trapp-Familie. published 1949 and written by Maria Augusta von Trapp.

This is the book behind The Sound of Music, but it is so much more tha the musical. It's a book in two parts, the first part is corresponds roughly to the musical, the second part tells the story of "what happened next". We follow the von Trapp family in America, how they struugle to become Americans during the war even, and how they managed to carve out an existence in a place so very different to their homeland. And through and under the book runs the story of love and faith. Love of the family, love in the family, love of God and faith in His providence. It is a beautiful an heart touching story of making the best out of everything, and how it's what you do that is important, not who you are.

-- 📚 -- updated list -- 📚 --

 1. 19th Century Classic:  Alice in Wonderland

 2. 20th Century Classic: THIS ONE.

 3. Classic by a Female Author: ?

 4. Classic in Translation: ?

 5. Classic Comedy: Don Quijote

 6. Classic Tragedy. The Odyssey or The Iliad.

  7. Very Long Classic: ?

  8. Classic Novella: ?

  9. Classic From the Americas: Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer.

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia):  Author: Arthur Upfield. actual title to be decided.

11. Classic From a Place You've Lived: Maybe Hamlet or Glasperlenspiel by Hermann Hesse. (I lived a year in Germany)

12. Classic Play: Jedermann.

Back to the Classics - Den brændende busk

A Classic written by a female author,

The Burning Bush by Sigrid Undset and published in 1930 fits the category, even if the protagonist of this book is a man.
 
The Burning Bush  is the second part of Gymnadenia. And in this book the mysteries and puzzles of Gymnadenia come to their solutions.
These solutions are like real life, not what you expected, but something bigger and better. The persons, we met in Gymnadeina grow and develop, maybe they even mature. The historical times -- we go from the roaring twenties into the bleak beginning of the thirties -- are a realistic backdrop to the story about Paul Selmer and the journey of his life.

I warmly recommentd this book  and its prequel to all who is remotely interested in human and spiritual development.


And this is the 6th and final of my Back to the Classics 2018 series.

Back to the Classics - The Battling Prophet

A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction.

The Battling Propthet by Arthur W. Upfield was one in a bag of old Penguin books, I purchased during a clearance sale in a second hand bookstore. Lots of Upfield's book were in that bag. Some of them has since been lost when moving, some I have read several times, some only once. Among those this one, which was one of the first I read from that bag in the beginning of the 1980ies. Now I re-read it, and it was way better, than my memory of it.  


Centering on a murder mystery -  who killed the so called Prophet, an uncannily accurate meteorologist - this book is so much more. It is a study in meteorology and science, drinking habits and abstinence, bull whipping, friendship and loyalty, real men and real women, heroes and villains, spies and cold war conspiracies. All the time with an eye for the Australian landscape, the bush and the people living in and off the land. 

I own and have read and re-read many of the Inspector Bonaparte books, not for the mysteries, but for the immersion in a landscape and a time that is no more, but that fostered heroes on a daily base. This is not the best of the "Bony" books in my opinion, but it may easily be the second best. 

Back to the Classics - Bjergenes datter

A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction

 Bjergenes datter, in English Daughter of the Mountains, is written by Louise Rankin in 1948.

It tells the tale of a Tibetan girl, Momo, who dearly wants a golden Lhasa apso dog. When she finally gets one, it is stolen from her, and she sets out to get Pempa, as the dog is called.

The first time I read this story, I was very young, 7 or 8. But the story was still good, I still felt the magical transformation of the countryside from Momo's beloved harsh mountains to the verdant lowlands, from the serenity of Tibetan mountain life to the bustle of Indian Calcutta. Also the different, and to Momo as well as to me exotic dishes are described so well you could almost taste them. And the grown up me still shivered at the thought of butter tea.

The contrast between mountains and cities are mirrored in the contrast between Momo and the people, she meet. She's steadfast, trusting,  and sure that she will eventually find her Pemba, even as almost everybody she meets are callous scoundrels or dishonourable and all of them try to make her turn back and forget about Pemba.

I love happy endings. I love this book still.

Back to the Classics - Gymnadenia

A Classic with a one word title. 

 Gymnadenia is both the name of a humble, greenish orchid, and a book by Sigrid Undset published in 1929. I read it in Danish. It was translated by Peder Hesselaa and published in 1956 by Jespersen and Pio

This book tells the story of Paul Selmer, a young Norwegian man during his formative years, which coincide with a colourful time in Norway's history, from roughly 1890 till 1916, where the war begins.

The orchid in the title is a disappointment for poor Paul, who expects a fantastic flower when hearing the name. This feeling of being cheated out of something big and beautiful runs through his life in this book. His first girlfriend and soulmate is not what she seemed, or maybe more ... you're left dangling, as this is the first book of two. His studies, his family, his friends ...

It is a really well written book, the persons are believable, even loveable with their faults and human weaknesses. The times in the book are different from now, but the eternal themes in this book - love, value of life, sin and guilt, virtue, being a human being in short - makes it a fine read today as well. The setting gives colour and a slower pace to the book, which is good. The only thing, I find a bit hard to swallow is the longish soliloquies about Christianity.

I won't tell too much about what happens in the book. I would like you all to read this book, as it is maybe even better than Kristin Lavransdatter.   

Back to the Classics - A Wrinkle in Time

A classic by an author that's new to you

A Wrinkle in time begins as a traditional "black and stormy night in a quirky family"-story; consolidating this with our main person, Meg (daughter in the family) meeting both the mysterious Mrs. Whatsit and the almost too normal Calvin O'Keefe.

But from there the story takes off into a supernatural fligth of fancy through hinted-at wonders and blatantly described virtues. It's basically a figth between good and evil book, but I did not like it. It was ... esoteric ... is the best word, I can find even if it does not fit the bill.

The persons were at the same time larger than life and one-dimensional. You just knew all along that they would do the rigth thing, like the blandest of Alcotts little ladies.

The role of the tesseract was for me not adequately explained, the children were paper thin, the Mrss. W's were too all-powerful, too mysterious and yet too set apart and self assured to become real to me. It was at places toe-curling in its description of virtues and good deeds.

I felt like a spectator all the way, never as a part of the book. 

Back to the Classics - Revised list and Wrap Up - 2018

Wrapping up the Back to the Classics 2018 Challenge. I found that I have actually read more than half the books. This will give me one entry in the prize drawing. That is if I finish in time.

The question is now, can I write a review of the missing books in time? The wrap up deadline is midnight December 31st. (PST = 9 o'clock next morning here).

UPDATE: I did it! And I've learned the lesson. In 2019 I'm going to write about the books as I read them! Promise!

Here is my revised list of books. Red means not read, green is read. Blue = in progress.

1. A 19th century classic - (published 1800 - 1899).
- Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

2. A 20th century classic (1900 - 1968).
- Glasperlenspiel by Hermann Hesse.

3. A classic by a woman author.
- Den brændende busk  (The burning Bush) by Sigrid Undset, just to tease.
A well turned book by a woman author ... featuring a male hero.

4. A classic in translation.
- Ivanhoe,

5. A children's classic.
-  Alle vi børn i Bulderby by Astrid Lindgren.

6. A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction.
-The Battling Prophet by Arthur Upfield

7. A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction.
- Daugther of the Mountains by Louise Rankin

8. A classic with a single-word title.
- Gymnadenia by Sigrid Undset.

>9. A classic with a colour in the title.
- Valley of the Green Shadows by Poul Nørgaard

10. A classic by an author that's new to you.
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.

11. A classic that scares you.

- Dr. Zhivago! by Boris Pasternak. Which I'm still reading - slowly because it still scares me!

12. Re-read a favourite classic
- The Lord of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

World of Warcraft - Madlavning

     Uglemor kan godt lide at lave mad. Bare ikke hver dag - og helst hvis folk (læs Ugleungerne) gider spise maden. Så er Uglemor også lidt træt af at lave pasta men tilbehør, pizza og tortillas - som altså er blandt Ugleungernes favoritretter.
Så fik Uglemor en kogebog i gave. Det er ikke fordi hun ikke har kogebøger i forvejen, ja hun har faktisk sin helt egen kogebog. Men denne kogebog er lidt særlig. Det er nemlig en World of Warcraft-kogebog

Westfall Stew. Ingredienser, Goretusk Snout, Stringy Vulture Meat, Murloc Eye. 

    Vi startede med at lave Westfall Stew den sidste dag man kunne spille Classic Demo - og det var en succes! Siden har Uglemor lavet retter med sære navne og umulige ingredienser: Steaming Goat Noodles, Braised Riverbeast, Whitercrest Gumbo.
     Det er morsomt at få Ugleungerne til at spise kål, underlige kødretter og sære grøntsager, bare man laver Westfall Stew, eller en af de mange andre sære retter fra World of Warcraft. Og hvis der ikke er opskrifter nok i bogen, er der over tusind madvarer mere i spillet. Så der er nok til adskillige års legende madlavning.

Classic Challenge - De grønne skyggers dal

A classic with a colour in the title

As a part of the Back to the Classics-challenge, I saved my Christmas gift De grønne skyggers dal (The Valley of Green Shadows - Entering the Challenge in the "Colour in the Title-category") by Poul Nørgaard until January 1st. But writing about it almost took longer than reading the book.

It is written in 1946, by a Danish farmer and writer born in 1899. He is mostly known for a series of books for girls (which I've never read).
     De grønne skyggers dal tells the story of 3 friends, Peter, Philip and "The Professor" who after Peter's finding an old document travels to Tibet to find a far avay monastery where the monks seem to have found the fountain of youth.
     It is a book sritten for children, but the characters are three dimensional, and loveable. The story is fascinating, involving intruigues, drama and excitement. The ending is refreshingly untraditional. Some tecnicalities on flying may be obsolete; to me they were plain boring, but quickly done with. It is a book, I'd let my children read any day.

Back to the classics -- January edition

Link

  Here is my revised list of books:

1. A 19th century classic - (published 1800 - 1899).
- Mansfield Park, Jane Austen

2. A 20th century classic (1900 - 1968).
- Glasperlenspiel by Hermann Hesse.

3. A classic by a woman author.
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
- Den brændende busk  (The burning Bush) by Sigrid Undset, just to tease. A well turned book by a woman author ... featuring a male hero.

4. A classic in translation.
- Ivanhoe,
- War and Peace
- Gone with the Wind
- The Odyssey
-

5. A children's classic.
-  Alle vi børn i Bulderby by Astrid Lindgren.
- Winnie the Pooh by Milne (in English).
-

6. A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction.
- The Battling Prophet by:
- Cover Her Face or
- A Mind to Murder or
- Unnatural Causes or
- XXX by P.D. James
- XXX by Ellery Queen
-

7. A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction.
- Seven Years in Tibet
- Daugther of the mountains
- Lost Horizons by James Hilton compare it to De grønne skyggers dal (Valley of the Green Shadows) by Poul Nørgaard. (for 9).
-

8. A classic with a single-word title.
- Odysseen (Οδύσσεια) by Homer. Time for a re-read. In Danish, not Greek.
- Gymnadenia by Sigrid Undset. Everybody knows Kristin Lavransdatter, but this one is maybe even better.
-  

9. A classic with a colour in the title.
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knigth
- The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Valley of the Green Shadows by Poul Nørgaard.  (see 7)

10. A classic by an author that's new to you.
- I'll stumble across one eventually.
-

11. A classic that scares you.
- Dr. Zhivago! by Boris Pasternak 


12. Re-read a favourite classic
- The Lord of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

And the die was thrown. I got an 11. I'm now off in search of my old copy of Doctor Zhivago

Helgen-malebog -- Liturgical Calendar Coloring Book

     Igennem længere tid har jeg fulgt Mary MacArthurs blog, Scetches and Subcreations, og nydt hendes charmerende billeder og vittige betragtninget over stort og småt og ure.
     Hun bortgav en måned af sin "Det ,liturgiske års helgener - en malebog" for et link på bloggen og min ærlige mening. Først et link: Malebogen kan købes online her. 
     Så min ærlige mening. Hendes evne til at fange det karakteristiske ved enhver helgen er fantastisk. Og det har ført til nogle gode samtaler med de fire Ugleunger. De er ikke så glade for at male, men deres dom var absolut positiv, hvis de skulle sige noget negativt var det en let mangel på detaljer. Vi har smugkigget på resten af maj måneds helgener og vores favorit er absolut landmanden Isidore.
     Og så holder hun faktisk mere end hun lover. Ud over helgener er der også påske, pinse, jul osv. med.

- o O o -

For a longish time I have followed Mary MacArthurs blog Scetches and Subcreations. I have thoroughly enjoyed her charming drawings and quirky thougths on life, the Universe and clocks.

Now I have received a month's worth of her Liturgical Calendar Colouring book in exchange for my honest opinion and a link on my blog. The link is here:colouring book.
My honest opinion is that Mary MacArthur has an uncanny knack of catching the caracteristic dimension of each Saint. It has made for some very good and giving conversations with my four boys. They all said the drawings were fine to colour, and they coloured some real good ones along the way. The only negative comment, I heard, was a lack of small details to colour.

 We've had a sneak peek on all the saints of May. Our favourite was St. Isidore the Farmer.