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Kalle Kniivilä

kallekn@kirja.casa

Joined 2 years, 1 month ago

Journalist på Sydsvenskan. Finns mest på Mastodon: mastodonsweden.se/@kallekn Ruotsinsuomalainen toimittaja. Lueskelen kaikenlaista monella kielellä, ja kirjoitankin. www.kniivila.net

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Kalle Kniivilä's books

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Eric Gustaf Ehrström: Moskva brinner (Swedish language, 1984, Legenda) 4 stars

Med inledning av Alf Åberg. Erik Gustaf Ehrström (1791-1835) kom till Moskva för att studera …

En bortglömd juvel

4 stars

Konstigt nog (eller kanske inte) kände jag inte till denna boks existens förrän förra veckan, trots att jag läst en hel del om Ryssland under flera årtionden, och trots att författaren precis som jag var en finländare som åkte till Ryssland med ett statligt stipendium för att studera ryska.

Boken kom ut 1984, då Ehrströms dagböcker hade legat glömda i 150 år, och är en oerhört intressant tidsskildring. De dramatiska händelserna kring Napoleons krig 1812 får en hel del utrymme men är mest i bakgrunden, eftersom Ehrström lyckas lämna Moskva med annat universitetsfolk dagen innan Napoleons trupper anländer.

Det är fascinerande att se 1810-talets Ryssland genom en intresserad och språkkunnig utlännings ögon och exempelvis upptäcka att man på den här tiden på Moskvauniversitetet fortfarande föreläste även på latin, och att lärda män (men knappast kvinnor) även kunde förväntas vara kapabla att föra samtal på latin.

Det som sänker betyget med …

Lavanya Lakshminarayan: Ten-Percent Thief (2023, Black Library, The, Solaris) 4 stars

A revolution

4 stars

In a way, this is a book about the world we already live in, even though it is also a book about a world that could be the result of the climate collapse we are headed for. It is also a book about a revolution, but it doesn't tell what happens after the revolution. Well, you probably never know that. The best part of the book are the different perspectives it offers, from the top one percent to the analog bottom of the society, including the old man who is skeptical to the resistance and insists everything will be as it always has been.

Kim Stanley Robinson: The Ministry for the Future (2020) 4 stars

Nice idea

4 stars

A climate crisis novel with a positive twist is nice for a change. And there is a plot. However, the story is too often interrupted not only by technical explanations, which could have been presented in a more integrated manner, but also by quasi-philosophical passages which generally do not contribute anything of value. Would have been 3 stars, but one extra for the good idea.

Serhii Plokhy: Українська Кліо (Hardcover) 4 stars

Нова книжка знаного українського й американського історика Сергія Плохія уміщує нариси про Україну від ранньомодерних …

Цікаво й корисно

4 stars

Дуже цікаве та корисне зібрання статей про українських істориків і про те, як у різні епохи писали історію України. Не всі статті однаково актуальні сьогодні, але особливо те, що Плохій пише про використання історії в політиці та про викладання історії в школах дуже злободенно.

Robert Penn Warren: All the King's Men (Hardcover, 1946, Harcourt Brace & Company) 5 stars

The story is about Willie Stark, a slick politician of humble birth, who was based …

Of life, universe and politics

5 stars

I picked up the book because a respected Russian political scientist, now living in the West, mentioned that it made a lasting impression on him during his childhood and taught him much about politics. The book was published in Russian in the Soviet Union in 1968 and was adapted into a Soviet film three years later, though the movie omits much of the original content.

I didn't know what to expect, but the book turned out to be about much more than just politics and politicians. It was clear that the author was not only familiar with the circumstances in the US South during the 1930s, but also with the work of a news reporter from that era. I even suspected he might have been a reporter himself, which he never was.

It's evident that populist politics in the US South and Fascist Italy served as inspiration for the author. …

Åsa Avdic: Isola (Natur & Kultur) 2 stars

Året är 2037 och Sverige har i ett par generationer ingått i Vänskapsunionen efter att …

Bra början men

2 stars

Världsbygget är intressant och välpresenterat, man får tänka ut ganska mycket själv. Men själva berättelsen känns tunn och föga trovärdig.

Arkady Martine: Rose/House (EBook, Subterranean Press) 4 stars

Basit Deniau’s houses were haunted to begin with.

A house embedded with an artificial intelligence …

But why did it end?

5 stars

This is a book I wanted to read immediately when I found out it existed, because I very much liked Arkady Martines two earlier, totally different novels. Then I found the book actually didn't exist, or only kind of. It was printed but is out of print and the e-book is not available either, as the rights according to the publisher now have reverted to the author. There seems to be a new edition coming at the end of the year, but right now the only way to access the book legally seems to be to listen to the audio version through a streaming service which I'm not going to subscribe to, even if I was into audio books, or to learn French, which might prove even more time-consuming than waiting for the new edition. In the end I did find a way to access the book anyway, and I …