Norwegianne.net

Author: Anne

  • Review: The Royal We

    The Royal We
    The Royal We

    This was quite possibly the most unexpected, and entertaining read I have had in a very long time. I picked it up on a sale – and had very low expectations, despite all the good reviews. As a royal watcher, I don’t know anything I dislike more than when people write royal fiction a) get things wrong and/or b) set it in an existing country. In short, I was super skeptical.

    This is the story that went beyond that for me. It is built on the story of Will and Kate, but with a whole different origin premise in who inherited the throne after Victoria I – and it keeps wobbling back and forth on the backstory of the royal line. What if the heir to the throne falls in love and marries an American?

    I laughed, and I cried (several times) during the reading of this. It is so well-written that the pages just fly by, and even though I had planned on going to bed early, I just had to finish it.

    In several ways the story was as implausible, but it was sweet and interesting. The book worked for me in a major way, and I can’t wait to reread it.

  • Advent calendar: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

    Catherine the Great: Portrait of a WomanOne of the royal biographies I read this year was Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie.

    If you are into history, women in history or royalty, I heartily recommend it. It took me some time to get through after the initial first pages, but that was more due to personal lack of time than the book itself.

    I actually think the first parts of the book is the best – when Catherine leaves her home and family to travel to Russia to marry a young man she hasn’t seen. Adopting a country that she has never been to, a religion that is foreign to her and also a language that is far beyond what she is used to.

    Catherine, and the ups and downs of her life at court, have been, in my opinion, well portrayed by Massie. If you haven’t read it yet, do.

  • Review: Kongens hus : Alle kongeparets hjem

    Kongens hus : Alle kongeparets hjem by Queen Sonja

    I picked this up at the library, after I saw it exhibited at the Open Palace tour in Oslo. It is a beautiful book filled with photographs and interesting text about all the residences that the King and Queen inhabit.

    The book is worth looking through for the photographs alone. How the interior is decorated, and not just the public rooms. The pictures of the private apartments are filled with the Queen’s art and the King’s sailing trophies. The pictures of Queen Sonja’s art on the walls remind me of the pictures of the art in the renovated palace in Copenhagen.

    Also, pictures of the holiday residences are shared. Some of the places are rarely seen inside by the public.

    In addition, if you read Norwegian – the snippets the Queen shares for each residence makes the book worth reading. There is not much new information, but it is well written and makes the book.

    Her perfectionism is shown through the story of her sleeping in every bedroom in the palace prior to the renovation so she would know exactly what needed to be done. The only negative is the lack of comments on the uproar on the cost of the renovation.

    Her stories are supplemented by facts from the architect Thomas Thiis-Evensen and art historian Ole Rikard Høisæther.

    Well worth the read.

     

  • Review: Madeleine : Prinsessan privat

    Madeleine : Prinsessan privat by Johan T Lindwall
    I’m not sure I will ever get used to the Swedish royal reporters’ way of writing biographies. First of all – there is too much inference of what the persons in this book were thinking about specific events. Another reviewer said that a problem with it is that with Johan T. Lindwall you never quite know what are the facts, what are the rumours and what is pure speculation, and I thought *that’s it*: that is my basic problem with the book. There are no citations or footnotes at the end, so you can tell when he is working from the facts from interviews, or other books. Obviously, he also has to protect his sources, and when the sources are the main persons themselves, he is diligent about reporting who said what.  It does however, resort in a slight muddle when you hear about “Queen Silvia thought…” and the people in the room with Queen Silvia at the time were just family… and none of whom are being quoted as the person talking to Lindwall.
    (more…)

  • Review: A Year of Living Danishly: My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country

    A Year of Living Danishly: My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
    For some reason, I really seem to enjoy books where people move to another country and give their reflections on living there. In this case, British journalist from London moving to Jutland, Denmark. (Something a lot of Copenhageners I know would have had a serious problem with.)

    She covers topics, month for month, as she gets used to living in Denmark and the oddities of Danes seen from a British perspective. Sometimes some of the chapters seemed overly long, but as there was a red thread binding the story together, it felt like a complete project.

    In some things I could definitely recognise the first period when I moved to Denmark myself – and my first meeting with the Danish tax returns… By virtue of speaking Norwegian you’d think it would be easier, and it was, somewhat, but bureaucratic Danish language is in a linguistic family of its own, with little recognisability to Norwegians.

    The stories are funny at times, and interesting at others. (Sometimes both funny and interesting.) Well worth a read.

    The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell (Amazon.co.uk link)

  • Review: On Duty with the Queen: My Time as a Buckingham Palace Press Officer

    On Duty with the Queen: My Time as a Buckingham Palace Press Officer
    On Duty with the Queen: My Time as a Buckingham Palace Press Officer by Dickie Arbiter

    The book details the time of Dickie Arbiter’s work in the press office at Buckingham Palace. First working for the Prince and Princess of Wales, then later for the royal collections (and also seemingly chipping in whenever needed, as with the funeral of the Princess of Wales).

    He also interjects his personal history into the book, and at times that felt more interesting than the royal “scandal” of the week that he had to defuse.

    There are personal observations about the royals in the book. However, he is also very careful about not saying much that would (probably) violate a non-disclosure contract. It can therefore get a bit bland at times.

    I found the chapter on the planning and arranging of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales fascinating. Especially the bit about extending the route of the funeral cortege to spread the crowds out.

    All in all, a decent read.

     

  • Review: Still Reigning: Thoughts of a Queen

    Still Reigning: Thoughts of a Queen
    Still Reigning: Thoughts of a Queen by The Queen [of Twitter]

    I loved and chuckled often at The Queen_UK on Twitter in the beginning. I have the first book, and laughed several times while reading it. In most of her tweets and analysis, I thought she was spot on. Witty.

    However, with this one… I don’t find it nearly as funny. Maybe because there is so much repetition between each chapter, and sometimes “she” contradicts herself from chapter to chapter.

    Plus, I get that it is a gimmick, but after hearing in chapter after chapter (not to mention in several tweets over the past couple of years) how much the Queen of Spain loves Phillip Schofield, I got a bit tired of the whole concept. There is a decided lack of imagination, beyond some jokes that gets repeated ad nauseam.

    It is a fun idea when you evolve as you go along, but to me the fun of it has outlived itself.

    If you haven’t read the first book, or followed the persona on Twitter, then it is worth the read. If you have… probably not. (And I feel supremely grumpy for saying that, because I really wanted to be entertained.)

     

  • Review: Mrs. Queen Takes the Train

    Mrs. Queen Takes the Train
    Mrs Queen Takes the Train
    by William Kuhn

    This book in the same genre as  The Uncommon Reader is, and enjoyable for many of the same reasons. It is fictional, but with enough facts mixed in to make it fun to read. (Not a book if you’re taking everything deadly serious.)

    The Queen becomes a character with traits that you think you recognize from the newspapers, and some invented, and the rest of the cast of characters are fictional. The storyline is fictional – the Queen is suffering from depression, and wants to go to visit Britannia where she remembers being happy, and takes to the train to Edinburgh. The courtiers scramble to follow her and find her before the news that she has disappeared becomes public.

    It’s not the perfect book, but it is a fun summer read.

  • Review: 10% Happier

    10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True StoryI can’t remember where I first saw the review for this, and when I picked it up, though I know it is recent, and I might have seen it on one of the many book blogs I skim through Feedly. (Amazon tells me I bought it 9 days ago.)

    I’d like to say I picked it up because of the catchy first part of the title, but I think it might be the “reducing stress” part of the title that caught my eye first. Though I certainly wouldn’t mind being 10% happier either.

    The book is 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story by Dan Harris

    (more…)