Welcome to my commonplace blog

The goal of this blog is to preserve a few ideas and quotes from books I read. In the old days when books were not so readily available, people kept "commonplace books" where they copied choice passages they wanted to be able to remember and perhaps reuse. The idea got picked up by V.F.D. and it's common knowledge that most of that organization's volunteers have kept commonplace books, and so have Laura and I.

I'm sure there are many other Internet sites and blogs dedicated to the same idea. But this one is mine. Feel free to look around and leave comments, but not spam.

10 June 2010

Tove Jansson - Moomin books

Something to read after Lemony Snicket.

From Helen Roche:

The Moomins? Yay, totally! I adored them when I was a kid, and still do. My favourites are Comet in Moominland, Finn Family Moomintroll, Moominsummer Madness, and Moominland Midwinter. 
The quote above from Coraline made me think of them right away, it's a very Tove Janssonesque line. She also wrote for adults - my favourite by far is The Summer Book, about a grandmother and a grand-daughter spending the summer on an island.
You might at first glance think that the Moomin stories are for younger children, but they have quite a lot of depth and complexity that makes them fun at any age, plus a slightly dark undertow to make them interesting, and a nice rebellious spirit.

No comments:

Post a Comment