А sweet little picture

Just an eye-candy, for it is so cold and rainy and grey here. Autumn came too early this year :-(

By the way, the artist is Karl Larsson, his art reminds me somewhat of Astrid Lindgren's books. I should make a special post on him some time later.

Pippi is priceless!

Inspired by Astrid Lindgren's 100th birthday I decided to reread Pippi Longstocking after many years. This girl is priceless! And the book is absolutely timeless, it will make a wonderful reading when I am already 70, that is for sure. Reading the 3d part yesterday I just sat on the carpet with a cup of cofffee, bisquits and sandwiches behind. Mum, looking at me, said it was awfully bad manners, but I think it was just attempting to join the fun of the book, the dream of childhood freedom, like when Pippi, Tommy and Annika were eating muffins on the desert island with their hands when they did not have forks or had coffee on the old oak-tree in the garden. Not that I often or ever have snacks sitting on the floor, but yesterday was such a day thanks to Pippi.

When a child I wanted to be like her, sometimes I even put my feet on the pillow hiding my head under the blanket. And when I was 16 I used bottle post when we were camping a 1000km from home. With astonishing results! - I got a reply half a year later (sometimes I will tell the story in detail here!).

Pippy is wonderful. She's so artless, so good-natured, her logics is absolutely disarming. I remembered this for ages, ever since I read the book for the first time being 6: "Why should I give up watering my flowers this rainy October morning if I've been dreaming about it all night? Should I give it up because of some silly rain?". I love her being a sailor's daughter and having travelled a lot (being a sailor's daughter myself, though of course I am romanticising my dad a bit here). And she has a wonderfully kind heart, not conscious about it at all. She's a wonderful friend and there's never a boring moment with her. She's every hild's dream of being free from any restrictions come true!

On the other side, this book is wonderful for bringing kids up. Reading about Pippi's bad manners or her not ever wanting to go to school a child wouldn't think it exemplarly behaviour, and would never do this way.

It was a lovely rereading, the translation is a real masterpiece and the phrases I reread after many years just resonated in my head and I kept remembering what I thought and how I felt reading it when a 6- or 7-year old. The book is quite worn out, the pages are stained with chocolate and something else because I loved nibbling at something when reading, things seemed tastier with a book then! I relived the childhood joys and fears again and felt wonderfully comforted.

Pippi is a masterpiece. She's absolutely timeless. I'm looking forward to the times when I am reading it to my own kids :)

I think I have not mentioned it here yet (or have I?), but Astrid Lindgren loved "those wonderful books for girls" and said that Anne of Green gables was one of absolutely unforgettable favourites for her. I am wondering if a bit of spirit was inherited from anne together with a fiery hair done it two funny plaits.

Picture: this is how my book cover looks (it has stories about Karsson, Pippi and Emil under one cover). It was published to mark astrid lindgren's 80th birthday, so it is 20 years old now.

Astrid Lindgren's 100th Birthday!

I can't miss this day, even if Google misses. Yandex (one of Russain most popular search engines) has Pippy Longsttocking featured on the main page however!

I don't think I have anything absolutely special to say but I love her books and I think that's the most important. I lost count as how many times I read the novels about Karlsson, Pippi and Emil, the book is quite worn out! When I was 6 I finished Pippy for the first time and I remember crying because I did not want the story to end. Pippi came to be a real friend and I just did not want to say goodbye to her.

Then, last autumn, I bought several books by Astrid Lindgren that I never read before and I assure you it's not less lovelier to read her books when you are over 20 than when you are 6 or 7! She brings about your own childhood memories in such a simple and charming manner!

Astrid used to say she wrote mostly to entertain the "inner child" in herself and I think it's really wonderful she never properly "grew up". Later on her son remembered she could not sit still when her children were playing but always joined them in the game.

There was a very good documentary on her yesterday evening on the "Culture" channel. I saw bit and pieces from Junnibacken (sp-?), the museum dedicated to her books where she saw to it herself that children felt comfortable there, i.e. that they could play directly in the museum.

Astrid visited Russia several times, and - amazing - she never mentioned the fact she never earned anything from translations of her works published in Russia!!! That was very tactful of her and I think the visits here really meant to her as Russia was always a country where children's literature was treated seriously as really important.

They say Karlsson is the most popular of Lindgren's chracters here in Russia, maybe, due to the good cartoon every child knows here (there were loads of Karlsson toys in toyshops when I was small too) while Swedish kids prefer Pippy. I think that must be true, but I personally prefer Pippi too. Karsson is fun, but sometimes he struck me as awfully selfish (and that he is!) and I used to fly into passion with him when he would eat up all the sweets and not share anything with his friend. But I wanted a friend like Pippi who would always invent something or tell a story from her travels and make you a cup of coffee and a nice surprise hidden in a tree-hole or somewhere else in the old garden.

I also found out Astrid Lindgren loved "Anne of Green Gables" and read it a hundred of times as a child and had very warm and loving memories of the book later on. Maybe, Pippi inherited a bit of fiery temper and her fiery hair done in two plaits from Anne? I think it's a possible theory.

I'm toying with the idea of putting up a Russian Astrid Lindgren fan-site because we don't have any... That is, if I ever have time!

Happy Birthday to Astrid! I think she deserves every praise because her books are real treasures!

I put a lesser known of Astrids photos here, her and her son Lars. She had Lars when she was only 19 and unmarried (a scandal in 1920s), and she had to leave him with childcare while she was trying to earn at least something for a living (actually trying to make the ends meet)and it was only weekends that she could see her baby. Later on when she married her boss several years after she was able to give him a home but people also think that her own son's story is the reason why boys in her books are so vulnerable and lonely (Like in Karlsson or Mio, my Son). In yesterday's documentary it was said that the two major influences on her writing were her own idyllic childhood memories and the poignant story with Lars.

I think I wanted to say something else but I forget now!

Astrid Lindgren's Birthday

She was a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant writer! She always said that she had a happy childhood and it was evidently reflected in her books filled with heart-warming scenes of childhood. This woman never forgot that she used to be a child and she created a great many endearing characters who truly become the reader's friends! I always find it hard finishing her books because I always become really attached to her characters.

I am discovering and rediscovering her books now an I am truly enjoying it. And I plan to collect all her novels - that is ten volumes, so it's quite a big project!