Skjønnlitteratur

Siden Hamsun har ingen ungdom stått frem i norsk litteratur med større vilje og større rett til å være annerledes. Her står vi overfor årets mest oppsiktsvekkende diktverk overdådig rikt, lysende begavet, fascinerende. Slik skrev Kjølv Egeland om romanen Ikaros i Vinduet i 1957.

Den ytre handling er en ung manns reise gjennom Sahara, og romanen skildrer en higen etter det fantastiske, det overnaturlige, men fremfor alt en ung manns sterke engasjement og søken etter opplevelse og orientering i verden.

"Da jeg kom til Alger var himmelen mot syd ørkengul og himmelen mot nord klar og lyseblå. Det var en dag i desember og likevel virket det som en sommerdag. Den milde luftstrømmen fra åsene ved Mitidja sang som sjøvann i sypressene og løftet skjørtekanter i rue Michelet - løftet på dem, men ikke helt." Slik begynner Ikaros som utkom første gang i 1957, og Axel Jensen vakte den gang oppsikt med sin nyskapende og friske skrivemåte.

• Forfatter: Axel Jensen
• Publisert: 2004
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Norsk
• ISBN: 9788202235345

Read the haunting love story that turned Murakami into a literary superstar. When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.

• Forfatter: Haruki Murakami
• Publisert: 2001
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Antall sider: 388
• ISBN: 9780099448822

It had never been done before. Not in 4000 years of Japanese recorded history had anyone followed the Cherry Blossom Front from one end of the country to the other. Nor had anyone hitchhiked the length of Japan.

But, heady on sakura and sake, Will Ferguson bet he could do both. The resulting travelogue is one of the funniest and most illuminating books ever written about Japan. And, as Ferguson learns, it illustrates that to travel is better than to arrive.

• Forfattere: Will Ferguson
• Publisert: 2003
• Antall sider: 352
• Språk: Engelsk
• ISBN: 9781841952888

THE NO 1 IRISH BESTSELLER and hilarious follow-up to the smash-hit romantic comedy Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling. 'Should come with a health warning. Ten pages in my face hurts from grinning' Sunday Independent 'Hilarious and life-affirming, this is just the book to banish the winter blues' - Red (Best books of 2018) __________You can take the small-town girl out of the big city - but can you take the big city out of the girl? Job.

Flat. Boyfriend. Tick.

Tick. Tick. Aisling (seems) to be winning at life.

But life has other ideas. Fired. Homeless.

Dumped. Tick. Tick.

Tick. When everything comes crashing down around her, moving back in with her mam seems like a disaster. But might returning to her roots provide the answers Aisling's looking for? ___________WINNER OF POPULAR FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 - IRISH BOOK AWARDS'With its ability to have you laughing out loud one minute and crying the next, this is a joyful, emotional, heartfelt, hilarious romp of a novel' Heat 'My neck hurts from nodding along in recognition at the universal wisdoms.

There's a smile in every page, some genuinely hilarious moments, and so much heart' Sunday Independent'Fans will be thrilled to be reunited with country girl Aisling as she navigates yet more life changes. It's stuffed with laughs, but made me cry' Daily Mail Praise for Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling' Comparisons with Bridget Jones are spot on' Independent-The year's funniest book' Hello-There aren't enough words for how much I love it' Marian Keyes

• Publisert: Nov. 2018
• Antall sider: 384
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• ISBN: 9780241361757

Hundre års ensomhet er historien om sju generasjoner Buendía, om drømmer, utfordringer og ulykker i den lille colombianske byen Macondo. I Macondo har alt et annet innhold og en annen rytme enn i resten av verden. Så vel landsbyen som familien gjennomlever nybyggertid, borgerkriger, økonomisk vekst, industrialisering, ulykker og naturkatastrofer, forfall og glemsel. Det er en fantastisk verden, overdådig og makaber, skildret med grotesk humor og svart desperasjon. Hundre års ensomhet står som et av de mest betydelige verkene innen den latinamerikanske magiske realismen, og er blitt oversatt til mer enn 30 språk.

• Forfatter: Gabriel García Márquez
• Publisert: 2021
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Norsk bokmål
• ISBN: 9788205530768

En ytterst aktuell og innsiktsgivende roman av den iranskfødte forfatteren Kader Abdolah. I åtte hundre år har Aqa Djans familie hatt en sentral posisjon i den iranske byen Senedjan. Den enorme familien bor i huset ved moskeen, et hus med 35 rom, en bikube full av bestemødre, barn, kjøpmenn og halvguder. Og historiene flommer inn og ut av huset. Familieeposet rommer Irans dramatiske historie, historien om den islamske tradisjonen og om det moderne Iran, om fundamentalisme og oppbrudd fra fundamentalismen. 

• Forfatter: Kader Abdolah
• Publisert: 2008
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Norsk bokmål
• ISBN: 9788205386594

Following the natural cycle of the year, The Land of Maybe captures the essence of 'slow life' on the 18 remote, mysterious islands which make up the Faroes in the North Atlantic.

Closer to the UK than Denmark, this fast disappearing world is home to a close-knit society where just 50,000 people share Viking roots and a language that is unlike any other in Scandinavia. We follow the arrival of the migratory birds, the over-wintering of the sheep and the way food is gathered and eaten in tune with the seasons. Buffeted by the weather and the demands of a volatile natural environment, people still hunt seabirds and herd pilot whales for a significant portion of their basic food needs.

This is not a travelogue, but a deeper exploration of how 'to be' in a tough landscape; a study of a people and a way of life that represents continuity and a deep connection to the past. The Land of Maybe offers not just a refuge from the freneticism of modern life, but lessons about where we come from and how we may find a balance in our lives.

• Forfatter: Tim Ecott
• Publisert: September 2021
  
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• Antall sider: 283
• ISBN: 9781780725185

The mighty British government has been toppled, and in the lull between the fighting and the new world, colonized and colonizer alike reflect on what they have gained and lost. In the village of Thabai, the men and women who live there have been transformed irrevocably by the uprising. Kihika, legendary rebel leader, was fatally betrayed to the whiteman. Gikonyos marriage to beautiful Mumbi was destroyed when he was imprisoned, while her life has been shattered in other ways. And Mugo. brave survivor of the camps and now the village hero, harbours a terrible secret. As we learn of their tangled histories, a mastery story of myth, rebellion, love, friendship and betrayal unfolds, comfirming Ngũgĩs status as a giant african writing. 

• Forfatter: Ngugi wa Thiong'o
• Publisert: 2002
  
• Antall sider: 242
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• ISBN: 9780141186993

Vinner av Brageprisen 2016 for Sakprosa.

Historien om to ungjenter fra Bærum som reiser til Syria og en desperat far som forsøker å finne dem. En oktoberdag i 2013 kommer ikke de to tenåringsjentene, Ayan og Leila, hjem til vanlig tid. Senere på kvelden kommer sjokkmeldingen: De er på vei til Syria. På jakt etter døtrene tar faren seg inn i det borgerkrigsherjede landet, en reise som skal føre ham inn i områder kontrollert av Den islamske staten (IS). Dette er bare starten. I "To søstre" går Åsne Seierstad, den bestselgende og kritikerroste forfatteren av "Bokhandleren i Kabul" og "En av oss", løs på et av de viktigste og mest kompliserte spørsmål i vår tid. Hvorfor radikaliseres muslimsk ungdom oppvokst i Vesten? Hva førte de to søstrene fra Kolsås til Kalifatet? Hvem er Ayan og Leila? Som få andre makter Åsne Seierstad å komme tett på personene hun skriver om. "To søstre" er både historien om jentene som dro, et land i krig og om en familie som splintres. Det er også en fortelling om oss, i Norge i dag.

ISBN: 9788248916826

Forfattere: Åsne Seierstad
Publisert år: 2016
Sider nr: 490

Kunsten å høre hjerteslag er en usedvanlig vakker kjærlighetshistorie fra Burma, og første bok i en triologi.

Tin Win er en vellykket advokat i New York. Han er opprinnelig fra Burma, men hans amerikanske familie, kone og to barn, vet nesten ingenting om hans oppvekst og bakgrunn.

En dag like etter datteren Julia fått sin juridiske embetseksamen, forsvinner han uten et ord. Familien tvinges til å akseptere at det siste sporet slutter i Bangkok. Fire år senere finner Julia en førti år gammel kjærlighetsbrev som faren skrev til en ukjent kvinne i en landsby i Burma.

Hos Julia tennes håpet igjen og hun bestemmer seg for å oppsøke kvinnen i brevet. Når Julia ankommer den lille landsbyen i fjellene, ender hun opp i en fremmed verden.

• Forfattere: Jan-Philipp Sendker
• Publisert: 2014
  
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Norsk bokmål
• ISBN: 9788202424961

Port and Kit Moresbury, a sophisticated American couple, are finding it more than a little difficult to live with each other. Endeavouring to escape this predicament, they set off for North Africa intending to travel through Algeria - uncertain of exactly where they are heading, but determined to leave the modern world behind.

The results of this casually taken decision are both tragic and compelling.

• Forfatter: Paul Bowles
• Publisert: Desember 2009
  
• Antall sider: 342
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• ISBN: 9780141187778

Bestselling author of Lessons. Into the intrigue and violence of 1950s Saigon comes CIA agent Alden Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious 'Third Force'. As Pyle's naive optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, finds it hard to stand aside and watch. But even as Fowler intervenes he wonders why: for the greater good, or something altogether more complicated?

• Forfatter: Graham Greene
• Publisert: 2004
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• ISBN: 9780099478393

Discover Graham Greene’s blackly comic and timely espionage thriller, set amid the vice and squalor of pre-revolutionary Havana. 

Wormold is a vacuum cleaner salesman in a city of power cuts. His adolescent daughter spends his money with a skill that amazes him, so when a mysterious Englishman offers him an extra income he's tempted. In return all he has to do is carry out a little espionage and file a few reports. But when his fake reports start coming true, things suddenly get more complicated and Havana becomes a threatening place. 

• Forfatter: Graham Greene
• Publisert: 2001
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• ISBN: 9780099286080

The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux’s account of his epic journey by rail through Asia. Filled with evocative names of legendary train routes – the Direct-Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Delhi Mail from Jaipur, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Hikari Super Express to Kyoto and the Trans-Siberian Express – it describes the many places, cultures, sights and sounds he experienced and the fascinating people he met. Here he overhears snippets of chat and occasional monologues, and is drawn into conversation with fellow passengers, from Molesworth, a British theatrical agent, and Sadik, a shabby Turkish tycoon, while avoiding the forceful approaches of pimps and drug dealers.

This wonderfully entertaining travelogue pays loving tribute to the romantic joys of railways and train travel.

• Forfatter: Paul Theroux
• Publisert: 2008
  
• Antall sider: 400
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• ISBN: 9780141189147

Rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific, the Amur River forms the tense border between Russia and China.

This is the most densely fortified frontier on Earth. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, Thubron makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores. By the time he reaches the river's desolate end, a whole, pivotal world has come alive.

In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic and often treacherous journey from the Amur's secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles. 

Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award 2022,

• Forfatter: Colin Thubron
• Publisert: 2022
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Antall sider: 290
• ISBN: 9781529110890
  
  

A blend of travel writing, memoir, history and current affairs that tells the story of Sri Lanka. A perfect read for first-time visitors, Sri Lankans abroad or at home, or anyone looking to deepen their understanding of one of the world’s most fascinating and paradoxical countries. Razeen Sally was born to a Sri Lankan Muslim father and a Welsh mother.

Just before his teens, a political conflict tore his family apart and he left Sri Lanka, barely going back for thirty years. When he finally returned ‘home’, he spent much of the next decade crisscrossing the island, trying to understand this paradoxical place. Blessed with nature’s bounty and an easy, pleasure-loving people, it was nevertheless scarred by ethnic conflict and the violence of civil war.

As a native and a tourist, Sally makes an ideal guide to Sri Lanka’s past and present. He won’t tell you which restaurant has the best reviews or the price of a hotel room. Instead, he will accompany you like a learned friend, sharing his journeys, pointing out the unmissable gems beyond the obvious spots, and unpacking the nation’s culture and history.

Insightful, intimate and moving, Return to Sri Lanka is an indispensable book, whether you're already familiar with this spectacular country, or planning your first visit.

• Publisert: Januar 2025
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• Antall sider: 431
• ISBN: 9781398544291

Dark Star Safari is Paul Theroux's now classic account of a journey from Cairo to Cape Town. Travelling across bush and desert, down rivers and across lakes, and through country after country, Theroux visits some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth, and some of the most dangerous. It is a journey of discovery and of rediscovery -- of the unknown and the unexpected, but also of people and places he knew as a young and optimistic teacher forty years before.

Safari in Swahili simply means "journey", and this is the ultimate safari. It is Theroux in his element -- a trip where chance encounter is everything, where departure and arrival times are an irrelevance, and where contentment can be found balancing on the top of a truck in the middle of nowhere. Praise for Paul Theroux

'Theroux's work remains the standard by which other travel writing must be judged' Observer

'Always a terrific teller of tales and conjurer of exotic locales, he writes lean prose that lopes along at a compelling pace' Sunday Times

Paul Theroux's books include Dark Star Safari, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Elephanta Suite, A Dead Hand, The Tao of Travel and The Lower River. The Mosquito Coast and Dr Slaughter have both been made into successful films.

• Forfattere: Paul Theroux
• Publisert: 2003
• Antall sider: 512

When Mathilde is forced to leave her teaching job in Oslo after her relationship with eighteen-year-old Jacob is exposed, she flees to the countryside for a more authentic life.

Her new home is a quiet cottage on the outskirts of a dairy farm run by Andres and Johs, whose hobbies include playing the fiddle and telling folktales – many of them about female rebellion and disobedience, and seeking justice, whatever it takes.

But beneath the surface of the apparently friendly and peaceful pastoral life of the farm, something darker and less harmonic starts to vibrate, and with Mathilde’s arrival, cracks start appearing … everywhere.

• Forfattere: Helga Flatland
• Publisert: 2024
• Antall sider: 300

«Vi er to menn. Du er knapt førti, jeg litt yngre. Vi sitter i det grønneste av alt grønt. Hør alle lydene. Det er ingen gråt. Jungelen gråt heller ikke da min landsby ble brent og alle mine døde. Jungelen kan ikke gråte. Jungelen føder stadig nytt liv. Milliarder på milliarder av nye liv. Dette må vi passe på, Yenso, du og jeg, kanskje er det derfor vi sitter her nå, nettopp fordi du og jeg skal passe på denne jungelen som det aller viktigste på hele denne kloden.»

Hoverpersonen i Himmelblomsttreet Jens Oder Flirum - alias Yenso - sitter sammen med kameraten Mino i Amazonas-jungelen. Hensynsløs kapitalistisk utnytting har ødelagt jungelen. Dette skal de bekjempe.

Jens Oder Flirum vender tilbake til Europa for å iverksette Den Store Planen.

• Forfatter: Gert Nygårdshaug
• Publisert: 2018
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Norsk Bokmål
  
• Antall sider: 398
• ISBN: 9788202599904

A magical, eye-opening account of a journey into a Europe that rarely makes the news and is in danger of being erased altogether. Another Europe. A Europe few people believe exists and many wish didn't.

Muslim Europe. Winner of a BGTW Members' Excellence Award: Travel Narrative Book of the Year - The Adele Evans Award. Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2021.

Shortlisted in the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2022: Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. Londoner Tharik Hussain sets off with his wife and young daughters around the Western Balkans, home to the largest indigenous Muslim population in Europe, and explores the regions of Eastern Europe where Islam has shaped places and people for more than half a millennium. Encountering blonde-haired, blue-eyed Muslims, visiting mystical Islamic lodges clinging to the side of mountains, and praying in mosques older than the Sistine Chapel, he paints a picture of a hidden Muslim Europe, a vibrant place with a breathtaking history, spellbinding culture and unique identity.

Minarets in The Mountains, the first English travel narrative by a Muslim writer on this subject, also explores the historical roots of European Islamophobia. Tharik and his family learn lessons about themselves and their own identity as Britons, Europeans and Muslims. Following in the footsteps of renowned Ottoman traveller Evliya Celebi, they remind us that Europe is as Muslim as it is Christian, Jewish or pagan.

• Forfattere: Tharik Hussain
  
• Publisert: Juli 2021
• Antall sider: 352
  
• Innbinding: Heftet
• Språk: Engelsk
• ISBN: 9781784778286