meraki

I wish I could get English books at the supermarket. If I want to go out to shop for English Books, I need to go to the bigger cities here in Sweden where they have a bookstore that is aimed for fantasy/sci fi books. And with covid I had no way to get to the store this year, so mostly I have bought books online.


What the boxes tells us, with Illumicrate the theme is Rebelious Royals and they call the book space opera so I think it is sci fi. And Owlcrate theme are Olympus with Love and says the book is urban fantasy.

I was going to skip Owlcrate for the month, but I forgot to do that.

Ankatje

Oh that sounds like fun! So the books you are receiving are a surprise?

meraki

They are. And the books is always new for the month. But alot of people can figure out what the book will be and tell the ones who wants to know over on Facebook. There is a page just for that. (I'm a member there, but I always forget what the book will be before it even arrives)

Ankatje

That's really cool. You'll have to let us know what you get

meraki

I will. It will be at the end of the month though.

LilMouse

Probably a stupid question but are sci-fi/fantasy books better with the English translation than they are in Swedish?


They both sound like they can be interesting..


Is it more fun to be surprised with the books or do you like going to the Facebook page?

meraki

I haven't read any books from Swedish authors books turning them into English, so I can't really answer that. But I usually only read from authors who writes in English because I find myself concentrate better when I read in English than in Swedish.


It is more fun to not know, but I also look up what the book will be incase it is a book that doesn't sound like it would be for me (I can skip a month if I want). But we also get some bookish items in the boxes and they are also a surprise so that is always fun.

LilMouse

Interesting. So even if you have a series that was originally written in English but then translated to Swedish, it's hard to concentrate? Like Harry Potter for example?



I would prefer a surprise, also.
Do they do books that are newly released too so you don't have the problem of already owning the book?

meraki

Yeah, I rather read all books in English for sure.

The book is always a new one for the month.

Ankatje

That's so funny, I have the same thing with Dutch I live in Belgium and speak Dutch. There are a lot of Dutch translations available here, but I read a lot of books written originally in English and I prefer reading them in English as well as opposed to a translation. And extra plusside, the books in English are often less expensive than in Dutch. Although that might change with Brexit, I don't know

meraki

Yeah, it always the best when you read the book in the original language.

You are lucky. In Sweden, they are pretty much the same price and I hope it stays that way now after Brexit.

Ankatje

^ I couldn't agree more!

Well I hope you have a good library nearby with some English books. Mine has a pretty decent collection, which helps me keep my budget in check

LilMouse

I wish I knew another language. I would also want to read books in the original language. Plus with translations possibly being bad, by reading in the original language you always get the original intent

meraki

^Yes! That is the reasons I love to read in English.

We have one near me, but there isn't alot of English books there.

Ankatje

I've bought three books this week with some book vouchers I got for Christmas:
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer

I'm not really in a rush to read any of them, but they have been on my TBR for quite some times and they seem like books I really want to own, not just borrow from the library.