Erik Fosnes Hansen: Et hummerliv

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Hvem lever et hummerliv og hva kan det innebære?  Vi møter Sedd, 14 år, som bor sammen med besteforeldrene sine på Fåvnesheim Høyfjellshotell på 80-tallet.  Hotellet er stort med svømmebasseng og minigolf,  med glansdagene er  forbi. Gjestene er mistet til den infernalske syden, som bestefaren sier.  Så nå er det mer spesielle gjester som kommer, de selger bryllupspakker og andre pakkeopplegg.

Sedd heter egentlig Sedgewick, moren hans er blitt  borte, hun ble tatt av Tiden, så Sedd husker bare en lukt av henne. Faren hans var indisk og distriktslege et sted på Vestlandet. Han hadde overnattet på hotellet på hjemveien, men han er dessverre død.  Bestemoren er født og oppvokst i Wien, liker Wenche Myhre og misliker alle andre land i nærheten av Østerrike, spesielt Tyskland. Bestefaren er ganske allvitende, i allefall om hotelldrift og har full kontroll på det store hotellet og alt som skjer og skal skje der.  Sedd er en intelligent ung mann, nysjerrig og vitebegjærlig.  Han er filatelist og lærer en del om andre land via frimerkene.  Etter at han prøvde å redde livet til banksjefen i bygda som falt om under en middag på hotellet,  arvet han fotoutstyret hans og ble en ivrig amatørfotograf.

Historien ruller fremover i myke bevegelser som er drar leseren inn i Sedd sitt liv.  Setningene er lange med innholdsrike  bisetninger,  en setning kan strekke seg over et helt avsnitt. De er alvorlige og satiriske, men vi  beveger oss ikke så langt på innholdsplanet.  Sedd og bestefaren var i Oslo, en tradisjonell tur, hvor de bor på Continental. Men plutselig er det ikke plass lenger der for dem og de må ta inn på det mindre fasjonable Grand Hotell. Vi aner en tragedie som utvikler seg.

Erik Fosnes Hansen skriver mangefasettert og godt og vi ler og er alvolige på samme tid.  Hummerlivet på bunnen av et akvarium på hotellet er dramatisk. Hummernes klo er bundet, for at de ikke skal drepe hverandre, men de blir jo kokt og spist til slutt. Gjesten velger selv sin hummer.

Er det noen paralleller her i Sedd sitt liv ? Hva foregår under overflaten?

God lesning.

 

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Asle Skredderberget: Vengeance is mine

A group inspired by Norse mythology is hunting down and executing part of the financial and political elite, claiming the judicial system has failed. The murders trigger fear within the establishment and applause in social media. When one of Norway’s richest men is found executed in a closed down nursing home, Milo Cavalli joins the team of investigators. However, the origin of his family fortune in Italy also makes him a target for the group of Norse revengers. He must find them before they find him.

The main character in Asle Skredderberget’s crime novels is Milo Cavalli. Half Norwegian and half Italian he is not your typical Nordic noir investigator. In fact, he’s quite the opposite. Milo is successful, attractive, wealthy and also a catholic who regularly goes to confession. He taps into his family fortune whenever he needs to, in order to crack the case he’s working on.

Nominated for the 2020 Riverton Prize

‘If you need a real page turner this summer, I recommend Asle Skredderberget’s third book about Milo Cavalli. I certainly had trouble putting it aside. A thrilling plot from the first to the very last page and an original protagonist : catholic, wealthy and tough like a Mickey Spillane-character’

Gunnar Staalesen, author of the Varg Veum series

‘I’m in awe after reading this’

Geir Tangen, author of Maestro and Hertbreaker
Read More:https://booksfromnorway.com/books/1937-vengeance-is-mine

Asle Skredderberget (b. 1972) holds a Masters degree in Business and Finance from the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen and the prestigious Universitá Bocconi in Milan. He has worked as a business journalist, before pursuing a career as a corporate executive. Skredderberget draws on both his journalistic and corporate experience in his writing.

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Helene Uri: My Catalogue of Men

 

A novel about a woman with a strong will and a weak heart.

We live our lives surrounded by others. We may believe we know who we are, but will never find out how others see us and what role we play in their lives. The following facts are true about Margrete Ecker: She is 52 and still beautiful. She has a son. She has inherited an apartment and been wise enough with her money that she’s now financially independent. She has a strong will, but a weak heart: she’s going to need a new one.

But who is Margrete Ecker? My Catalogue of Men is her story told by some of the men who – with joy, sorrow, or bitterness, voluntarily or otherwise, consciously or unwittingly – have been a part of her life. What have they understood about her, and what has Margrete understood about herself and the life she lives? They have all known Margrete Ecker, but none see the same woman.

Read more: https://norla.no/en/books/1203-my-catalogue-of-men

 

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A little like us: A pig’s tale

Kristoffer Hatteland Endresen

A little like us: A pig’s tale
Litt som oss. En fortelling om grisen

Spartacus 2020
283 Pages
ISBN: 9788243012905

Winston Churchill said: ‘Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us. Give me a pig! He looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal.’ But the relationship between pig and human is complicated.

The pig is a living metaphor for all that is filthy, ugly, shameful and sinful. The pig is cast out – or more accurately, penned in, carefully concealed from the human gaze. Industrially farmed pigs never have the experience of lumbering out into the fresh spring air after being shut in for half a year like cows, and few people seem to care. At the same time, the pig is an invaluable medical model for the human body. And it is the animal we have eaten most of in the past fifty years.

To get to the bottom of its essence and its mysteries, Kristoffer Hatteland Endresen cared for a litter of pigs from birth to slaughter in Jæren’s intensive pork industry. The result is a fascinating tale of appetite and aversion, meat and morals. And of a question that has haunted us across the ages: where, in fact, is the dividing line between humans and animals?

 

 

 

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NORLA

Bjørn Vassnes: Brain Traps: A guide for those who do not like getting fooled

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Vassnes tankens fallgruver 9788202677343 final

 

 

We have never had access to more information – but does this mean we have become wiser? Quite the opposite, many would say, as we have never been exposed to so many lies and misleading information. But this isn’t all down to fake news – channels and social media like Twitter and Facebook: according to science journalist Bjørn Vassnes, the most important reason for why we are tricked can be found within ourselves. With a brain which is basically how it was in the Stone Age, with an array of instinctive shortcuts which therefore often leads us astray, and with an array of “thought helpers” – thought technologies which we don’t have a good enough grasp of (languages, numbers, logic, etc.) and therefore often use incorrectly, we lead ourselves time and time again into the pitfalls of the mind.

Read more: https://norla.no/en/books/1214-brain-traps-a-guide-for-those-who-do-not-like-getting-fooled

 

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Erik Martiniussen: The War against Bacteria: A health disaster and how to fight it.

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Martiniussen krigen mot bakteriene

 

 

700,000 people die from antibiotic-resistant bacteria across the world every year. In the United States, resistant bacteria require three times as many human lives as HIV/AIDS.
The World Health Organization warns: Without antibiotics, medical science is going to be set back 100 years in time. Not only will we be powerless against treating infections, without antibiotics, even simple surgery becomes impossible. By year 2050, 10 million people will be at risk every year. The biggest health disaster the world has seen is right at your doorstep. Still, it is almost not talked about.

The War against Bacteria tells the story Directors of the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals and meat industry don’t want you to hear. It is a shocking tale of how the pursuit of profits has driven Big pharma to dispense antibiotics as if it were vitamins, and of how the meat industry systematically has undermined information.

Read more:  https://norla.no/en/books/1195-the-war-against-bacteria-a-health-disaster-and-how-to-fight-it

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Photo by Hege Langrusten.

NORLA with Books from Norway- more Norwegian titles this autumn

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Norla, Norwegian Literature Abroad is annoucing new Norwegians books this autumn.

Here are two amongst them.
You will find the others on this address:  https://norla.no/en/focus_titles/78, Just click on the books for more informations.

2 fictions: Is mother dead, by Vigdis Hjorth and The One Needful Thing, by Olaug Nilssen.  Both are famous fiction writers.

    

Enjoy the good stories

 

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NORLA’s autumn selected titles are ready!

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News from NORLA

24 great books divided into fiction and non-fiction, for both adults, and children and young adults

 

NATURE AND POPULAR SCIENCE

Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

On the Shoulders of Nature: How Ten Million Species Save your Life
På naturens skuldre. Hvordan ti millioner arter redder livet ditt

Kagge Forlag 2020
220 Pages
ISBN: 9788248926405 English synopsis and sample translation available

Fascinating tales of our interactions with nature, from the author of popular science bestseller, Extraordinary Insects. You and I are much more deeply interwoven into the intricate fabric of nature than we might think. Millions of species give us food, medicine and a habitable environment – and nature is also a source of knowledge and joy.

In characteristically engaging prose, Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson regales readers with exciting and thought-provoking stories about nature. She takes us out into the rainforests, where orchid bees make perfume and pollinate the nuts you crack at Christmas; beneath the cool shade of great trees on city streets that reduce the need for air-cooling systems; down into the trenches, where soldiers used fungi as light sources on moonless nights.

We read about trees in ancient woodland that provide us with cancer medicines and the kingfisher that inspired the design of bullet trains. But we also discover how our behaviour can place all this in jeopardy, because our capacity to exploit nature also risks undermining the basis for our very existence.

What we are seeing today is a natural crisis in which species are threatened and habitats vanishing – a situation just as acute and serious as the climate crisis. If we are to secure our own future, we must change the way we live and learn to join forces with the natural world that helps us in so many ways.

Sverdrup thygeson på naturens skuldre

‘Oh, oh, oh! Brilliant about nature and culture. Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson describes processes in nature that are so wild that one would think that she had invented everything herself. (…) Aided by a wealth of astonishing and jaw-dropping examples, Sverdrup-Thygeson demonstrates that we stand on the shoulders of nature and that, in many cases, it can be important to let nature repair herself. (…) If you are only going to read one book on species diversity this year, this is definitely the one!’

NRK

Sverdrup thygeson, anne photo sturlason

                                                                                       Photo: Sturlason

Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson is a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in Ås, Norway, as well as a scientific advisor for The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research NINA. She has a Doctorate degree in conservation biology and lectures on nature management and forest biodiversity. Her research focuses on insect ecology. In addition she has studied history and is interested in outreach activities, runs a science blog and is a regular guest on the popular science radio programme EKKO – Abel’s Tower on NRK P2.

Foreign rights

Sweden (Volante), UK + BCW (Harper Collins)

Previous titles

The Sloth and the Sloth Moth, 2020
Beetles, bugs and butterflies, 2019
Terra Insecta. The little ones that make the world go ‘round, 2018

Rights

Stilton Literary Agency
Hans Petter Bakketeig
Fougners vei 14B
0571 Oslo
Norway
+47 47 674759
hanspetter@stilton.no
www.stilton.no

Here you can find more;  New titles from NORLA

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Photo: Anna Julia Granberg

NORLAs boktips – Nøkkelen til kreativiteten. Hjernevitenskapen bak ideene og hvorfor dagdrømmerne skal redde verden

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Hilde Østby

The Key to Creativity Why Daydreaming Will Save the World

Cappelen Damm 2020
304 Pages
ISBN: 9788202635510

What is creativity, really? What drives creativity, and how can we all learn how to be more creative?
The Key to Creativity is a book that combines brand new brain research on creativity, the cultural history of creativity and an analysis on society, as well as the experience of a number of creative people. It is a narrative exploration of creativity, as well as a criticism of society. It is a counterpart to a society that wants to measure everything, where everyone feels the pressure to perform and become a celebrity.

With this book the author tries to make messing about, boredom and trying and failure the new gold standard: Because when AI and the climate crisis arrives, we will have to be very creative! And creativity lives in a very strange place, what the researchers call DMN, also known as daydreaming.
Through the six chapters the author explores where ideas come from and how they feel, what a good idea really is and if you can die from them? For one chapter she battles her inner critic through meditation, impro theatre, electricity through the brain as well as very tight deadlines as she tries to find out what it takes to finish a creative project through talking to some of the very best and most creative people.

There are more than enough books that would like to give you the instructions on how to be creative. This is not that type of book.

Østby nøkkelen til kreativiteten 9788202635510

Hilde Østby (b. 1975) is a historian of ideas, author, journalist and former publishing editor. She made her debut as an author in 2013 with the critically acclaimed novel Encyclopedia of Longing. After that she went on to write the international non-fiction bestseller Adventures in Memory (2016) with her sister Ylva Østby.

Foreign rights

Poland (Marginesy Publishing), World English rights (Greystone Books – Canada)

Rights

Cappelen Damm Agency
NO-0055 Oslo
+47 21 61 65 00
foreignrights@cappelendamm.no
www.cappelendammagency.no

Books from Norway provides you with information in English about Norwegian literature in all genres. The information is provided by rightsholders and NORLA.

www.booksfromnorway.com

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NORLAs sommerboktips 2020

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Mette Børja anbefaler:
Eit praktisk menneske av Kjersti Rorgemoen

Jeg har virkelig kost meg med Kjersti Rorgemoens nyeste roman på beskjedne 87 sider. Eit praktisk menneske er full av språklig overskudd og treffende observasjoner om det moderne menneskets lengten etter å ha noe praktisk å henge fingrene – “kontorrottehendene” – sine i. Drømmen om “et enkelt liv med enkle midler” – og gjerne et lite småbruk – lever i beste velgående, det er jo ikke tilfeldig at TV-programmer som “Farmen” og “Der ingen skulle tru at nokon kunne bu” har rullet over skjermene våre i årevis.

Jeg kjenner stadig på beundringen for folk som gyver løs på ting de ikke kan, og som jobber med hendene og får konkrete resultater. Kanskje det var derfor jeg i sin tid ble så glad og inspirert karakteren alt-mulig-oteren Olli i Ingvar Ambjørnsens fantastiske barnebokserie om Samson og Roberto? Et aldri så lite barnebok-bonustips der, altså.

Og det beste med gode bøker som ikke er så omfangsrike, er at man rekker å lese flere! I sommer skal jeg derfor unne meg også de to tidligere romanene til Kjersti Rorgemoen; Purkene snudde seg og Håpet og festen.

God, praktisk sommer!

20150318 norla 059 bw
Mette Børja
Informasjonsrådgiver, NORLA

Les mer | Foreign rights | I Norsk Litteraturfestival rett hjem kan du se forfatteren snakke mer om boka (“6. Praktisk arbeid” – med forfatter Siri Helle fra 01:18:44, Rorgemoen fra 01:24:00)

Barnebok-bonus tips: Mer om Samson og Roberto her | Foreign rights

 

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