Reading the World (6): Norway

Toby: William Wenton and the Luridium Thief, by Bobbie Peers

William Wenton and the Luridium Thief by Bobbie Peers is a brilliant book which can be read by children at any age. The story is about a boy who is hunted. He is a code-breaking genius, but doesn’t know that yet. One day, he gets attacked, because he succeeds in breaking the unbreakable code. He then gets chased and taken to an institute which helps people who are really good at code breaking carry on their lives in a good way. He is also on a search for his grandfather.

I like this book because it has loads of tech-stuff in it, and you can follow the storyline really well. My favourite character is Iscia, but I can’t tell you why, you’ll have to read the book! This book was originally called “Luridiumstyven” in Norwegian, and the translator Tara Chace did a brilliant job! I would say this would be good for age 8-15 years old. It is a really proper good storyline, and I just couldn’t put it down! I can’t wait to read Bobbie Peers’ next book!

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Sabine: ​Naïve. Super by Erlend Loe

This book came out originally in the mid-1990s, and there is some reference to technology that makes that obvious, however, it doesn't prevent this book from being a gem. It doesn't take long to read at all, and the plot is deceptively simple. A 25-year-old protagonist suddenly questions what he is doing with his life. He decides to drop out of university, cancel the lease on his flat, reduce his belongings to the contents of a manageable backpack - and a bike - and thinks. A lot. About time. About what it means to be a person. About what is important to him. He thinks carefully about each item he adds to his life, once, he decides that he needs an item which:
- Is small enough to carry easily
- Costs no more than 100 kroner
- Can be used many many times
- Can be used indoors as well as outdoors
- Can be used alone or with someone else
- Gets [him] active
- Makes [him] forget about time (p.12)

Thus equipped with his list, he goes in search of the perfect item, and decides that a cheap plastic ball meets all his requirements. While his brother is out in the world, making money, he flat-sits for him, throwing his ball, and thinking about life. And time. And when his brother invites him to spend time together in New York, it is a big step from throwing a ball in a flat to the top of the Empire State Building (where time passes slightly faster at the top, than at the bottom of the building).

In a way, this book reminds me of a modern version of Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" - a search to live life simply, to remember the joy in life, to take time to think a thought all the way through to the end. In my favourite section of the book, the protagonist stands in the bustle of Manhattan, realising that he is not so different from anybody else: "I feel I am starting to care about all these people. I understand them. Of course they have to walk in the street, they have to get somewhere. Things have to work everywhere. I am thinking, we're in this together. Keep it up. It's going to be just fine" (p. 122).

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