Reborn (Early Diaries 1947-1964) by Susan Sontag, Ed. by David Rieff

I simply cannot talk about it at this point. 

Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors by Susan Sontag

It's been so long since I first fell in love with the first sentences of Illness as Metaphor that I almost can't believe that I actually managed to finish this masterpiece today. 

I suppose more strange things have happened. After all, my word for 2009 was base (makes a little more sense in SWE). And I did finish some other long lasting projects in the past year (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) so, if I can just hurry up and wrap my head around Duras' Moderato Cantabile, Barnes' Nightwood and Martinson's Aniara before December, 31... Yeah, well - then what?

I'll be better equipped for the next decade? Sort of like wearing David Shrigley's Battle Dress? I don't dare to even start hoping for something that great.

The Old Child by Jenny Erpenbeck

A girl who appears to be hewn from a single block of wood is found in the middle of the street one day, holding a bucket. Nobody knows who she is or where she's going - neither does she. The Police take her to the city's orphanage where she does all she can not to be noticed, to become the lowest ranked child of all.

Seldomly have I had the opportunity to read a novel that describes the hopelessness of being human so well, philosophically. The only stories I can think of at the moment that appeal to me personally, would be Woolf's Orlando and Kafka's Metamorphosis. The Old Child is, with the dry tone and that wonderful precocious style sort of Kafkaesque, however feminist. That is: not bad at all. 

Read the beginning here. 

L'Ingratitude by Ying Chen

The spirit of a young Chinese woman tells the story of her life and death in relation to her strict mother. 

Ying Chen's third novel was the first translated into Swedish, only followed by Immobile.

I have a feeling it could have been translated differently. After all, I am a great fan of the "simple" writing style - and having read a rather good portion of Duras' late work in Swedish I know it can translate quite successfully from the French. In this case it lacks flow and precision.  

However, there is something beautiful going on between the lines, in the non-specific way Ying describes the characters and their surroundings. I'll go for Immobile next. 

Kent - Texter om Sveriges största rockband - Edited by Håkan Steen

A collection of interviews, album/concert reviews and other articles from 1991-2006, all on the subject of Swedish band Kent. 


There was a time when I used to say I was all about hip hop - and Kent. Some thirteen years later, I'm sad to admit I've grown out of keeping up with the rap game. Kent, however, strangely remain as close as before. 


Perhaps it has to do with the fact that one has to fight so hard to love this country during these snowless winters. Especially in November, which happens to be a typical release month for new Kent albums. 


Or maybe it's just that even I have a lonesome middle-aged white male inside of me, a man who sits in a dark room with a bottle, longing for some understanding (and 80's pop)?


It's a good collection.

Hundra procent fett by Liv Strömquist

Liv Strömquist is a genius. 


In fact, I'd say she's the funniest Swedish comic book artist of all time. Or, let me rephrase that, even: Strömquist's the funniest comic book artist of all time period. 


And Hundra procent fett is just the beginning. 

Letters to the Known

The other day I gave Jeanette Winterson a letter. 

Zelda by Lina Neidestam

I looooove Zelda. 


And am really looking forward to Lina Neidestam's next project, feminist sex comic Maran. 

One Big Happy Family, edited by Rebecca Walker

 

After sharing my love for Rebecca Walker's work with a few internet friends - and the desperate need to get a hold of the One Big Happy Family anthology, the great Jen Disgrasian quickly came to my rescue. Within a week, this beautiful book (plus a note written on enviable personalized stationery) had reached my mailbox. For that, I am eternally grateful to this fabulous woman. 

The anthology contains 18 well-written essays about different family constellations, among them mixed marriages, polyamory, single parenthood, open adoption, househusbandry, sperm donation... Marc and Amy Vachon's story Half the Work, All the Fun on equally shared parenting and Sasha Hom's beautiful account of a home birth in Unassisted especially got to me. As did Neal Pollack's Home Alone Together: 

"Why don't you do the fucking dishes?"

"Why don't you do the fucking dishes?"

"Because I don't fucking want to, that's why. So can you tell me why the kitchen floor is such a mess?"

"I don't know. Why don't you fucking clean it?"

It's sometimes hilarious, too. 

 ***

Read Rebecca Walker's foreword here and Unassisted by Sasha Hom here. 

Based on a Choreopoem?

The poetic work of my youth, ntozake shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, will be made into a movie. That's about the craziest thing I've ever heard. I mean, it's a choreopoem. Or, no: it's the choreopoem. And talks of casting Halle Berry, Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey? Please.

The play was filmed in 1982 (released on dvd in 2002), with shange in it. I for one will never need any other adaptation.

Shooting is said to start in November. 

Erykah Badu used the characters from for colored girls in her Bag Lady video (which shange didn't approve of).

News via The Root.

Allt är allrajt by Emma Rendel

I was amazed by Emma Rendel's Motherkiller work in Swedish comics mag Hjälp, wanted to take every page and frame it. Most stories in Allt är allrajt are also genius, the only thing I have a slight problem with is the font used inside and the cover design that seems a little cheap and out of place (for such great content).

Fulheten by Nanna Johansson

Oh, Nanna Johansson.