[Smakebit på søndag – The Wind Through the Keyhole]

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«A gook is a deep well,» Roland said. «Common law says any traveler may drink from it without let or penalty.»

«Welcome to Gook,» Eddie said, tossing the signboard into the bushes at the side of the road. «I like it. In fact, I want a bumper sticker that says I Waited Out the Starkblast in Gook.»

Susannah laughed. Jake didn’t. He only pointed at Oy, who had begun turning in tight, rapid circles, as if chasing his own tail.

«We might want to hurry a little,» the boy said.


Jeg klarte det. Jeg begynte denne reisen med Roland (og noen tusen andre lesere på Instagram) i januar, og for ikke så lenge siden ble jeg ferdig med The Dark Tower-serien. Denne runden viste seg å bli enda bedre enn forrige gang jeg leste disse bøkene, for denne gangen leste jeg dem sammenhengende og på originalspråket. «The Wind Through the Keyhole» tar egentlig plass mellom bok 4 og 5, men det var ganske fint å lese den som bok nummer 8 etter å ha grått ut øynene flere ganger i bok 7. Et lite tilbakeblikk til dette ka-tet halvveis på den lange reisen, så å si.

Til sai King; vi sier takki.


I did it. I started this journey with Roland (and a few thousand other readers on Instagram) in January, and not long ago, I finished The Dark Tower series. This bout turned out to be even better than the previous time I read these books, because this time I read them continuously, and in the original language. «The Wind Through the Keyhole» takes place between book 4 and 5, but it was kind of pleasant reading it as book 8 after crying out my eyes several times during book 7. A small look back to this ka-tet halfway through the long journey, so to say.

To sai King; we say thankee.

[Smakebit på søndag – The Dark Tower]

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The gunslinger turned to Jake. «Do you call me dinh?»

«Yes,» Jake said. There was no question about his pallor; even his lips were ashy. «Ka-shume means death, doesn’t it? Which one of us will it be?»

«I know not,» Roland said, «and the shadow may yet lift from us, for the wheel’s still in spin. Did you not feel ka-shume when you and Callahan went into the place of the vampires?»

«Yes.»

«Ka-shume for both?»

«Yes.»

«Yet here you are. Our ka-tet is strong, and has survived many dangers. It may survive this one, too.»

[Smakebit på søndag – Song of Susannah]

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«May I not take the sköldpadda

«No, you may not. Go on, now.»

He startet away, then paused and looked back at her. Although his cheeks were wet, his expression was pixie-ish, a trifle sly. «Perhaps I should take it,» he said. «Perhaps it is mine by right.»

Like to see you try, honky, was Detta’s thought, but Susannah – who felt more and more in charge of this wacky triad, at least for the time being – shushed her. «Why would you say that, my friend? Tell, I beg.»

[Smakebit på søndag – Wolves of the Calla]

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«What else, then?» Bucky Javier asked.

Callahan thought they would want the thing that lay beneath the floorboards of his church. And that was good, because that thing had awakened. The Old Fella, who had one run from a town called Jerusalem’s Lot in another world, wanted to be rid of it. If he wasn’t rid of it soon, it would kill him.

Ka had come to Calla Bryn Sturgis. Ka like a wind.

«In time, Mr. Javier,» Callahan said. «All in good time, sai

Meantime, a whisper had begun in the Gathering Hall. It slipped along the benches from mouth to mouth, a breeze of hope and fear.

Gunslingers.

Gunslingers to the west, come out of Mid-World.

And it was true, God help them. Arthur Eld’s last deadly children, moving toward Calla Bryn Sturgis along the Path of the Beam. Ka like a wind.


En av de utallige tingene jeg liker med Stephen Kings bøker, er at mange av dem henger sammen med hverandre. Pater Callahan er en gammel kjenning fra «Nattens hus» (eng: «Salem’s Lot»), der han kjempet mot vampyrer i Jerusalem’s Lot. På et eller annet vis endte han opp i Rolands verden, og denne gangen er fienden ikke vampyrer, men Ulvene.


One of the numerous things I like about Stephen King’s books is that many of them are related. Father Callahan is an old acquaintance from «Salem’s Lot», in where he fought vampires. Somehow he wound up in Roland’s world, and this time the enemy isn’t vampires, but the Wolves.

[Smakebit på søndag – The Art of Racing in the Rain]

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I had always wanted to love Eve as Denny loved her, but I never had because I was afraid. She was my rain. She was my unpredictable element. She was my fear. But a racer should not be afraid of rain; a racer should embrace the rain. I, alone, could manifest a change in that which was around me. By changing my mood, my energy, I allowed Eve to regard me differently. And while I cannot say that I am a master of my own destiny, I can say that I have experienced a glimpse of mastery, and I know what I have to work toward.


Jeg poster dette fra mobilen, så jeg holder det kort i dag. Boken handler om en hund og hans forhold til eieren, som er racerbilfører.


I’m posting this from my phone, so I’m keeping it brief today. The book is about a dog and his relationship to his owner, who is a race driver.

[Smakebit på søndag – Wizard and Glass]

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«Yeah,» he said, sighing. «Silence, a thing I know little about. Thankee-sai, Blaine, you speak truth.»

«I HOPE YOU HAVE DISCOVERED SOMETHING WHICH WILL HELP YOU,» Blaine said, and Eddie thought: You fucking mechanical liar. The complacent tone had returned to Blaine’s voice, and Eddie found it of some passing interest that a machine could express such a range of emotion. Had the Great Old Ones built them in, or had Blaine created an emotional rainbow for himself at some point? A little dipolar pretty with which to pass the long decades and centuries? «DO YOU WISH ME TO GO AWAY AGAIN SO YOU MAY CONSULT?»

«Yes,» Roland said.


Click here for the English version.

Blaine er en plage, og det er sannheten. Se for deg et sadistisk, rosa tog med suicidale tendenser som elsker gåter og som kan suse av gårde raskere enn lydens hastighet? Der har du Blaine.

Etter de nervepirrende prøvelsene på slutten av forrige bok er Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake og Oy på vei videre til neste etappe av reisen til det mørke tårnet. I denne boken får vi også vite litt mer om Rolands fortid.


*

Blaine is a pain, and that is the truth. Imagine a sadistic, pink train with suicidal tendencies that loves riddles and can whiz off faster than the speed of sound? That’s Blaine.

After the nerve-racking events at the end of the previous book, Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy are heading towards the next leg of the journey to the dark tower. In this book, we also learn a bit more about Roland’s past.

[Smakebit på søndag – The Waste Lands]

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Eddie and Susannah exchanged a single frightened glance and then Eddie leaped to Roland’s side. «What is it? Roland, what’s wrong?»

«There was a boy,» the gunslinger said in a distant, muttering voice. And then, in the very next breath, «There wasn’t a boy.»

«Roland?» Susannah asked. She came to him, slipped an arm around his shoulders, felt him trembling. «Roland, what is it?»

«The boy,» Roland said, looking at her with floating, dazed eyes. «It’s the boy. Always the boy.»

«What boy?» Eddie yelled franctically. «What boy?»

«Go then,» Roland said, «there are other worlds than these.» And fainted.


Click here for the English version.

Smakebiten ovenfor valgte jeg fordi:

  • Jeg ville vekke deres nysgjerrighet. Hvilken gutt snakker de om?
  • Uttrykket «det finnes andre verdener enn disse» er et av mine mange favorittuttrykk fra denne serien. Et par andre uttrykk er «lange dager og behagelige netter», som er en høfligetsfrase når man møter noen, og noe med å «møtes igjen i lysningen ved enden av stien» når noen har nådd slutten av livet. Det samme gjelder for revolvermannens katekismen:

«Jeg sikter ikke med hånden. Den som sikter med hånden, har glemt sin fars ansikt. Jeg sikter med øyet.

Jeg skyter ikke med hånden. Den som skyter med hånden, har glemt sin fars ansikt. Jeg skyter med hodet.

Jeg dreper ikke med revolveren. Den som dreper med revolveren, har glemt sin fars ansikt. Jeg dreper med hjertet.»


*

I picked the sample above because:

  • I wanted to pique your curiosity. Which boy are they talking about?
  • The expression «There are other worlds than these» is one of my many favourites from the series. A couple other expressions are «long days and pleasant nights», which is a formal greeting, and something about meeting again in «the clearing at the end of the path» when somebody has reached the end of their life. And also the gunslinger’s catechism:

«I do not aim with my hand; she who aims with her hand has forgotten the face of her father. I aim with my eye.

I do not shoot with my hand; she who shoots with her hand has forgotten the face of her father. I shoot with my mind.

I do not kill with my gun; she who kills with her gun has forgotten the face of her father. I kill with my heart.»

[Smakebit på søndag – The Drawing of the Three]

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Three. This is the number of your fate.

Three?

Yes, three is mystic. Three stands at the heart of the mantra.

Which three?

The first is dark-haired. He stands on the brink of robbery and murder. A demon has infested him. The name of the demon is HEROIN.

Which demon is that? I know it not, even from nursery stories.


Click here for the English version.

Den følelsen når det går opp for deg at du har glemt hvordan Roland finner sine følgesvenner, og du bare: «Whoa, heftig!»

I den første boken vandret Roland alene gjennom en tilsynelatende uendelig ørken. Nå har han kommet til en annen del av sin verden, og hans ka-tet er i ferd med å samles.


*

That feeling when you realise you have forgotten how Roland finds his companions, and you go «Whoa, wicked!»

In the first book, Roland wandered alone through a seemingly endless desert. Now he has reached a different part of his world, and his ka-tet is starting to come together.

[Smakebit på søndag – The Gunslinger]

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The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

Click here for the English version.

Min plan for Stephen King-prosjektet var at jeg skulle lese alle SK-bøkene før jeg begynte med «The Dark Tower»-serien. Men planer er sjeldent hugget inn i stein, og da Johann (@jobis89), en boknerd og King-fan jeg følger på Instagram, foreslo en «read-along» for denne serien (#allthingsservethebeamin2019), måtte jeg bare slenge meg med på reisen. Jeg er så klar for min ka.


*

My plan for Project Stephen King was to read all King books before starting with «The Dark Tower» series. But plans are seldom carved in stone, and when Johann (@jobis89), a book nerd and King fan whom I follow on Instagram, suggested a read-along for this series (with the hashtag #allthingsservethebeamin2019), I just had to tag along. I am so ready for my ka.

[Smakebit på søndag – Funny Boy]

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I watched for a few more minutes as the two men took the almariah through the door into Jegan’s room. Then I turned and went back towards the house, feeling a tightness rise into my throat. Jegan had left without even saying goodbye. I could hardly believe he had done that. Before I went up the verandah steps, I looked down at the driveway again at the gardener and his assistant taking furniture up into the room that had belonged to Jegan.
I did not know it at the time, but we would never see Jegan again.

Click here for the English version.

Det var meningen at jeg skulle poste litterære smakebiter på søndager når jeg leser engelskspråklige bøker. Jeg slukte den ene boken etter den andre gjennom hele sommeren (20 bøker i juli, hvis noen lurte), men klarte ikke bli enig med meg selv om jeg skulle poste smakebit selv om jeg egentlig er ferdig med en bok eller om det skulle være smakebit fra en «leser nå»-bok. Men nå har jeg bestemt meg: Romanen som smakebiten over er hentet fra, ble jeg ferdig med for en ukes tid siden.

Romanen handler om en ung tamilergutt i Sri Lanka på 70-tallet. Det kommer tidlig frem at han er homofil. Samtidig som han vokser opp med familien sin og faren vil at han skal bli et skikkelig mannfolk istedenfor en «funny boy», er det politiske uroligheter mellom de to etniske folkeslagene i landet hans; tamiler og singalesere.

Jeg visste ikke mye om Sri Lanka og konflikten mellom de to gruppene, så det var lærerikt og spennende å lese denne boken. Naturligvis vet jeg fortsatt ikke så mye, men nå er jeg i det minste litt mer bevisst på Sri Lankas voldelige historie.


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I intended to post literary samples on Sundays when I read English books. I devoured one book after the other all summer (20 books, if anyone’s wondering), but couldn’t agree with myself about whether I should post samples even though I have finished a book or if the sample should be from a current read. Now I have made up my mind: The novel which the sample above is from, I finished one week ago.

The novel is about a young Tamil boy in Sri Lanka in the 70s. Early in the book, we understand that he is gay. As he is growing up with his family and his father wants him to turn into a real man instead of a «funny boy», there are political disturbances between the two ethnic groups in Sri Lanka; the Tamils and the Sinhalese.

I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about Sri Lanka and the conflict between the two groups, so reading this book was educational as well as exciting. Of course, I still don’t know a lot, but at least now I am a little more aware of the violent history of Sri Lanka.