Glögg (word of the day)

 Don't judge me, but I have been watching a Christmas romcom series on Netflix, called Home for Christmas. Not exactly groundbreaking, but while not original it can be genuinely cute at times and reasonably clever. But I watch it because it's set in Norway and it looks perfect for the holidays. Oh, and it's the same team that made A Storm for Christmas, which I really loved. Anyway, I discovered thanks to the third season a sort of mulled wine (or spirit) called glögg. Originally from Sweden, or so the Wikipedia entry says. I love to discover new Yuletide traditions and I hope to try glögg one day. Anyone ever drank it? Leave me a comment. And glögg is the word of the day.

A Thriller on the Swedish Railway

You may remember last year, I got my hands on  The Arctic Railway Assassin. It's part of the Adventures on a Train series, some crime fiction and adventure novel for children. Of course, I thought it would be for Wolfie, but it's really a book to be enjoyed together, father and son. It has a lot of things I love: a crime story, set in a train, during Christmastime and in a wintery landscape. What more can I ask for? We didn't have time to read it last Christmas, but we have started now. And there's another thing I discovered about it that makes me really like it: it's actually set in Sweden. What more can one want for a Christmas thriller?

Complainte pour Ste Catherine (à la suédoise)

C'est la Sainte-Catherine, je partage donc une chanson québécoise (comme je le fais chaque année), chantée ici par des Suédoises.

The Helicopter Heist (#Noirvember read)

I blogged on the 8th about Netflix tv series The Helicopter Heist for #Noirvember. It's a Swedish caper thriller based on a novel by Jonas Bonnier. The novel it itself itself by true events. Since I blogged about it, I found out that The Helicopter Heist has been translated in English. Obviously, the adaptation is giving it a fair deal of exposure. So if I enjoy the series enough (so far I am), I might get my hands on the book. Not for this Noirvember, but maybe next year one. Scandinavian crime fiction is maybe one of the genre trend I have most neglected, so I intend to correct this. But if you have other suggestions, please let me know.

The Helicopter Heist (#Noirvember watch)

As it is #Noirvember, I try to read and watch a lot of crime fiction this month. I recently discovered on Netflix a miniseries called The Helicopter Heist. I am ealy in it, but so far I'm really enjoying it. Not only because it's a heist story with the use of an helicopter, which is in itself super cool(seriously, what a selling point). But because unlike many heist stories, this one is quite dark, with plenty of tension and violence. It is also set in Sweden, so it belongs to the Scandinavian Noir subgenre that I have seldom explored yet. Sweden is a great setting for a Noirvember story as well, come to think of it. The series is based on a novel by Jonas Bonnier, itself based on a true crime, which gives the story a veneer of authenticity. I might buy the novel one day, once I finish watching the series.

Ronja, the Robber's Daughter

The things you find on Netflix sometimes. As I was browsing through it last week, I discovered that they had made a live action series adaptation of Astrid Lindgren's Ronja, The Robber's Daughter. Or Ronia, or Ronya, it depends of the translation and/or adaptations. I haven't read much Swedish literature, but I did read some of Lindgren's works, including Ronja. Not when I was a child, but when I was a teenager, the year a Swedish foreign student (my "Swedish sister" as I call her) lived with us. She had bought us a few classic novels from her country, translated into French, including this one. I enjoyed it enough and it was an easy read, but I had found it a bit kid friendly for my tastes. I had already started reading horror classics, as well as "proper" literature, so the kind of fairy tale medieval fantasy Lindgren had written didn't really connect with me as much as it would have had say, six or seven years earlier. 

And this is what I wanted to get at. I started watching the TV series with Wolfie. I wasn't sure it was proper for him, but he insisted that he wanted to watch it too. I had started watching in original Swedish, with subtitles, but I had to switch to the English dubbing. And then... then I didn't want Wolfie to watch it, because it turned out dark and scary. It has monsters, some level of violence I haven't seen very often in a children story and a very eerie atmosphere. I don't know how faithful the series is, maybe it was the translation I read that had been sanitized, but I know I did not expect it to be like this. Like what I had been wanting to read years ago, ironically enough. We watched until the end of the first episode. I will watch the rest by myself. Thankfully, Wolfie does not want to watch more. Oh, and one day I will revisit the novel, but in a different translation.

The Arctic Railway Assassin

 'Tis the season to be reading... And I got a freebie at the last Christmas fayre we went to. It was organised by Wolfie's school and I should not say it was something I got. Technically, it is Wolfie's. Anyway, they were selling second hand books and, as we helped tidy up and pack things up, we received a few of them asfree as a thank you present. Among them there was The Arctic Railway Assassin. It is book 6 of a series called Adventures on a Train. But yeah, an adventure on a train, during Christmastime (I checked) I had to have it. Errmm, I mean Wolfie had to. We haven't started it yet, as he is finishing reading a book with his mum, but I think it is going to be next on our reading list for this Christmas. If not this one, then next Christmas.

A Warning to the Curious

Okay, here is another post for the countdown to Halloween, just because something struck me: I don't blog about and read enough of M.R. James these days. A few years ago, he was synonymous with Halloween: I had to read at least one of his ghost stories in the weeks leading to Halloween. Sometimes months: I discovered him during a dark and stormy night of May in Liverpool. But I digress. Anyway, if I may suggest some classic terror for you tonight, try A Warning to the Curious. There is no gore, no monster jumping out of the shadow, but a solid, subtle, "corner of the eye" type of ghost story, where tension and fear are slowly and meticulously built. It's absolutely terrifying. There is a BBC adaptation available on YouTube, but the original is still the best. You can read it here, among other places online. I don't want to give anything away, but in a nutshell this is an archeologist's worst nightmare, especially if he happens to be a medievalist.

Orignaux suédois

 Petite nouvelle suédoise animalière et bien sympathique: ils ont une émission de télévision sur ma migration des orignaux. Parce que pourquoi pas? Vous pouvez en voir un extrait dans l'article de la grosse presse. Ce n'est pas de la télé enlevante, mais c'est encore mieux, parce que c'est immersif. J'aime bien regarder des émissions sur la nature et j'aime les trucs relaxants comme ça. Je crois comprendre que ce n'est pas un concept facile à importer, notamment au Québec (question de densité et de proximité avec les orignaux), mais quand même, je crois qu'il faudrait y avoir plus de télévision comme celle-là.

The bear in the train

 Here is a bit of railway amd zoological news that caught my attention recently: a rescued bear travelled from Sweden to Devon via the Eurotunnel. I love bears and trains, I enjoyed my time in Devon a few years back, I love Sweden too on top of all that, so of course it caught my attention. No but, you read this and there are two things that come to my mind: 1)this is such a cute, heartwarming story, like most stories involving rescued animals, especially bears. 2)A bear travelling by train? That is epic, no matter the details. So welcome to your new home, Diego. I hope you like it here.

To see Count Magnus

For today's countdown to Halloween's post, I am going to dwell into a horror story classic by M.R. James. You know how much I love M.R. James and I cannot have my spooky season without at least some of his ghost stories, either by rereading them or by watching some of his many adaptations. One of my favourite of his is Count Magnus, a ghost (or maybe a vampire) story set in Sweden and which is perfect for the weeks leading to Halloween. I plugged it back in 2015. Recently, I found on BBC iplayer an adaptation of the short story done in 2022 for Christmas. I don't know why I skipped my attention then, but in any case, I find James' stories more suitable for Halloween. So I watched it. And I must say I quite enjoyed it. I was worried as it was adapted by Mark Gatiss, who made a massacre and a joke of Dracula. He obviously has more respect for James than Stoker. Okay, so the story was flawed and Gatiss made a few questionable creative decisions, but overall pretty faithful and it had a few genuinely scary moments. If you wish to read the original, you can find it online here. Fair warning: it is a scary read.

Swedish Lucia for Dummies

You may not know, or maybe you do, but today is the Feast of Saint Lucy, and it is an important day in Sweden. Almost 30 years ago, we had a Swedish foreign exchange student who came for a year in our family and she kind of celebrated it a bit with us: she made the safron buns and had some candles on or something. We ate the buns during our game of D&Dr and this was so perfect. Anyway, Christmas is on its way and I thought that Saint Lucy's Day deserved a post. So here is a crash course on how Sweden celebrates it:

La Chandeleur 2020

Vous ne savez sans doute si vous êtes Français (il paraît que c'est encore pas mal fêté là-bas) mais c'est aujourd'hui la Chandeleur, une fête que je n'observe pas vraiment, mais que j'aime quand même souligner sur ce blogue quand j'y pense. On la fête en allumant des chandelles paraît-il (c'est fait) et en mangeant des crêpes (ce ne sera pas cette année). Et pour commémorer sur ce blogue, des chandelles pas allumées, sur un chandelier venu de Suède, que j'ai déjà partagé ici. Sinon, comment est votre Chandeleur 2020?

A medieval tournament

This picture is more than twenty years old and was taken at Visby in Sweden, during their medieval festival. There was, among other special event, a tournament, with knights fighting and various feats. It felt so very authentic, as if we were back in time. I am now a medievalist, I actually study tourneys as part of my thesis, so if I was to go to the festival of Visby again, I would probably watch it with more critical eyes, at least for a moment. Nevertheless, I would really want to see it again. I think I get caught in the game, so to speak, and forget my reservations.

A friendly troll

Back in November, I blogged about a troll I found in a shop in York. I mentioned then that I had seen this brand before, in fact that my family bought one when we went to Sweden, years ago (and I know you can also find them in Norway). You can see on the picture the troll in question, much friendlier than one would expect of a troll: this one is maybe no older than a child (a child troll anyway) and is hugging a... dog? Wolf? Fox? Anyway, I always loved Norse folklore and legends and love stories about trolls, whether they are nice or nasty. So it made sense to buy at least one to decorate our home. This one is very cute in an ugly way. I decided to take a picture during my last time at my parents' home and share it here. I never found a name for him. If you have any suggestions, you make them in the comments. Although a troll might not need a name at all?

A troll in York

I took this picture in a shop in York, you can see here a proper Scandinavian troll. The monster, mind you, not the Internet creature. This one looks very much friendly (not to mention clean, with his reddish cheeks and nose) to be much of a monster. I love trolls and other mythological critters, especially from Norse folklore. I was very tempted to buy it, but he was too big for the flat we had back then, or to bring home. I actually knew that brand of trolls already: my family bought a similar one in Sweden, with the same colours and features. If I remember correctly, it is a Norwegian brand. All the same, I want to start a collection, but we still don't have much space here.

Décapsuleur scandinave

Mon frère PJ a acheté ce décapsuleur lors de son voyage à Bergen. il est fait en bois de renne, rien que ça. Mes parents en ont un aussi, acheté en Suède. J'en veux un aussi, parce ça a vraiment de la gueule popur déboucher une bière. Celui de mes parents est sans doute le meilleur décapsuleur que j'aie jamais utilisé (sans rire), aussi confortable qu'esthétique. Et puis ça un charme exotique, un décapsuleur scandinave. Je ne sais pas si je peux en trouver un ici, mais je vais me mettre à chercher juste au cas.

Lufsig for little Wolfie

I blogged recently that I was looking for a wolf plush toy for my son, in fact, that I was looking for this particular plush wolf, by IKEA, called Lufsig. Well, it didn't take me long in the end: I ordered it that very night and it arrived on Tuesday. So here he is, Lufsig the Big Bad Wolf, holding his snack (a grandma). He is not nearly as impressive in real life and not as big and stuffed as I thought, but he is cool all the same. The Big Bad Wolf for our little Wolfie. As long as Lufsig does not eat our son's grandmothers, he'll be a welcomed addition to his plush toys' menagerie. But even if he does, he can swallow them whole and you can open his tummy (there's even velcro).

Looking for the Big Bad Wolf

As I blogged before in French, I have been looking for a wolf plush toy for the little Wolfie baby who is coming soon. As I call our son little wolf and wolfie, making the wolf his totem animal (until he decides otherwise), it made sense for him to have a wolf plush toy. Well, after a good bit of online research, I found this big bad wolf from IKEA. This is SO perfect. He is the wolf of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale, with the grandmother snack in his arms and everything. I was thinking if I was lucky to find a naturalistic looking wolf, not the Big Bad Wolf from the fairytales, which is truly what one wants for his child. Give it to a Swedish company to give to a new generation of children to discover this great baddie archetype. Apparently he is named Lufsig and parts of the money you spend on him is sent to charities. Now I don't know if Lufsig available in the UK, but now I know what I'm looking for.

God Jul!

I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, the Scandinavian way. For me, Christmas is truly Yuletide. So I accompany my wishes with a Christmas tree ornament from Sweden. One of my favourite ones (okay, I have many favourite ornaments) from the family Christmas tree. There is just something about that smiling wooden figure. I love it anyway. So Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, God Jul everyone!