something to keep in mind...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8385795.stm

Music vs. Writing

Pluggandet står högst på listan av saker som måste göras denna soliga, lediga morgon. Medan datorn startar och teét brygger så känns det tomt i lägenheten. Man sätter på radion för lite sällskap och distraktion från tystnaden i byggnaden. Mellan tjattret av djarna och snacket av reklam så spelas lite poppig repeterande musik. Man blir frustrerad av den dåliga musiken och känner att man kan göra bättre själv. Man vänder sig till den godtrogna Spotify. Listan är oändlig, timmarna flyter snabbt iväg och teét har hunnit bli kallt medan man lyssnar igenom gamla barndoms minnen, nya låtar och listorna av favoriter som både man själv och andra har skapat.
Jag har aldrig varit en stor musik entusiast och om jag var tvungen så skulle jag välja penna och papper över musiken, men jag har också märkt hur beroende av musik jag har blivit sedan skrivandet blev passionen i livet. Det är svårt att avgöra vad som har störst betydelse: orden eller rytmen. För att få in den rätta känslan i texten och för att få orden att flyta på så är det väldigt beroende på vilken musik man spelar. En mening i sång texten kan inspirerar en att skriva flera sidor om orättvisorna i världen eller en studsig rolig sång med glada minnen kan få en att orka med alla grymheter som studentlivet drar med sig. Ibland kan det helt enkelt vara rytmen och melodin som får en att krama om ens liv och vilja ge sig ut på lång promenad med ens närmaste.
Musiken har samma inflytande på mig som en god bok. Den behövs för att man ska orka med livet. Ett sätt att komma ifrån verkligheten och ibland se saker från ett annat perspektive. En att dela sin sorg, glädje och roliga tider med. En som vet precis hur man känner sig vid just den tidpunkten. Men en boken man läser, lika så musiken man spelar, kan inte väljas bara hur som helst, den måste fokuseras på, man måste vara på ett visst humör och den måste få en att må på ett stätt som inget annat i världen får en att känna.

Sam Savage 'Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife'

A story about a perverted and pretentious rat. Bohemian my ass! Trying too hard to be sophisticated. Really liked the idea of the book, obviously otherwise wouldn't have bought it, but really didn't feel that it was pulled off well. Didn't like Firmin at all, no connection and didn't feel especially sorry for him. At times wanted it to be typically rat like, but then didn't follow it through. Where was the book and literature passion I thought I would be getting?

Aravind Adiga 'The WhiteTiger-A Novel'

Brilliant book. Funny and memorising. Defiantly teaches you more about India than a touristy trip there would do. I'm guessing. Personally never been there myself. Language and the true accent of the people comes through very strongly. Exciting and brave.

Markus Zusak 'The Book Thief'

If you consider the fact that the book was intentionally written for adults it's a bit too descriptive and plain language. But you can really understand that young adults would really like this book. I would have liked more from death since sometimes he spoke from first person narrative and you had to stop and think who 'I' was since it couldn't be the main character.
I would have liked a quicker beginning and a slower ending. I think it went too fast once you had finally started to like the characters. I also found it difficult to realise that Liesel and Rudy were growing up. For me it felt like they stayed the same age throughout the whole book. Although that might have been something to do with the time it was set and also because of the war.
The metaphor and symbols were too obvious and at times Markus Zusak felt the need to explain them which might be good for young adults but not if the book was intended for grown ups. At times it felt slightly forced. It ruined the feeling which was building up to then have someone spell it out to you. It was as if it was just using up pages and space. The book could have been a lot shorter for just this reason. But it was funny at times, the relationship between Liesel and Rudy was done very well and it felt although very foreign to me very realistic.
I loved the fact that for once a different aspect of WWII was being given. From a German population point of view. Different, and gave the German population sympathy as well which of course isn't common. One wonders how much research has been put into writing the book. I also found it interesting that although it was from a German persons point of view the aspect of criticise the Allies never happened. There was a feeling of sympathy for the British and Americans and hatred towards Hitler and the Nazis which somehow I don't believe. Surely the amount of propaganda the Germans were receiving would have made them think that everything was the Allies fault. I would have liked some comments about the opinions about the Allies. And of course it has been written by and Aussie so he won't be to quick in criticising the Allies, since Australians were helping out to fight. But I wasn't alive then so I don't know.

Overall I thought it was a good book but slightly too sad towards the end, but still realistic, unfortunately.

Books about sex and Nudity

Due to today’s liberal printing freedom in Sweden censorship here is less than in other countries. Literature is not scrutinised by a government-run authority. The book publishers or the editor in chief is in charge of the written content. Censorship of sex and nudity in today’s literature most of the time involves unwanted pornography. Especially pornography where children are victims or violence is glorified. Discussions are also often held in relation to if pornography is insulting and objectifies women.

The Life and Adventures of Fanny Hill by John Cleland, written 1748, is often seen as the first modern erotic novel in English and was banned for a long time for containing descriptions of sex scenes of men with men. The complaints over D.H. Lawrence’s book Lady Chatterley’s Lover, published and forbidden in 1928, were however aimed mainly towards the inappropriate usage of the English language when giving detailed descriptions of the sex scenes. It was also seen as a disgrace in Britain to discuss the sexual activities of the middle class which was the backgrounds of the main characters in the book.

In Sweden Hjalmar Söderberg published Den Allvarsamma Leken in 1748. The female lover in the novel was based on Maria von Platen who was Söderberg’s real life lover. Söderberg wrote openly about men and especially women’s strong sexual desires as well as openly discussed the commonness of adultery. This was received with great upheaval during these times.

In Great Britain the debate has been great revolving around the book: Belle de Jour- The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, which started as a blog with the same name. The call girl Belle, can be seen as a modern Moll Flanders, the book about a British prostitute in the 18^th century, written by Daniel Defoe. The discussions were not as much about the intimate sex descriptions contained in the book, but the accounts of her clients who were real life high achievers. She also writes idealising about a job which is seen as controversial in ‘we don’t talk about sex’ England.

In Sweden several handbooks have been published about how to get a better sex life, both together with someone and on your own. Katerina Janouch’s The Orgasm Book which was published 2006, is consider an informative book about orgasms and tips on how to climax. The Great Sex Book for Girls- who have sex with other girls by Helene Delilah and Malinda Flodman came out 2007. This was the first book published in the Nordic countries which was aimed specifically towards girls who have sex with girls.

When sex and nudity is shown, described and discussed more in our society and is mixed with our culture it becomes less alienating and taboo. Our fantasies often run away with us and through uncensored material we are free to challenge this more freely. We learn to explore new areas, get to know ourselves better and in many cases feel a lot better as well. Our world is developing and it is our responsibility to lead this change no matter if it is in a political ideology or sexual.