Bibliophile

A bibliophile, that's what I am. A book lover. I love new books, that no one has read yet and that still smell completely new. I love old books, with browned pages and crooked spines, that have been read and read again. I read books because of their cover. I'm particularly fond of pocket books from the forties and fifties. Actually I read anything and everything, but I do love nineteenth century Russian literature above all.

Once I discovered how to read there was no stopping me. I probably read eighty percent of the books in the children's department in the library. Every week I took home the maximum amount of books that was allowed and devoured one book after another. With a book in my favourite chair, that was me. From that chair I traveled through time and space, and experienced countless adventures.

When I was about sixteen I read something nineteenth century Russian for the first time. Probably Gogol. I loved it. But we got a television, reading became mandatory at school and suddenly I had different interests. Nonetheless I went on to study Russian at university, so that I could read in Russian. Nowadays, admittedly, I really can't anymore.

People who read my blog regularly will have noticed that I have three major favourites: Tolstoy, Turgenev and Pushkin. But I love the others too. Luckily nineteenth century Russian literature is an excellent source of inspiration and I'm sure there's lots to discover and write about yet!

From October 22nd until October 25th I will be at the Helsinki Book Fair 2015. One of the themes this year is Russian literature. Some 33 modern Russian writers will attend, including Lyudmila Ulitskaya and my modern favourite Mikhail Shishkin (whose Letter Book made me cry!). It's going to be really interesting, and besides, I'm hoping to find a couple of nice books…

For more information please click on the link below.

http://www.messukeskus.com/Sites3/Kirjamessut/en/Kavijat/program/Pages/default.aspx

 

To be continued…

 

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