Helsinki book fair is coming up again. Go and see Jukka interviewing cool authors and moderating a panel on genre definitions. A Panel. About genre definitions. Hasn't this been done yet? Like few thousand times? I saw one in Finncon, one in Swecon, few at worldcon and few at previous book fairs. Let it go, people!
I have also been thinking about the Helsinki book fair in general. How is it that I, who co-own near 5000 books and keep acquiring more never find anything interesting at the book fair? You'd think that the fair would be a heaven for me, but no. It is like dying of thirst in the middle of an ocean: lots of water, but the wrong kind of water. I have never managed to get into the near rapturous feeding frenzy at a book fair that I easily achieve in Akateeminen, or browzing Amazon. And I tell you why: them books at the fair, they are in Finnish. Which means that they are expensive and, you know, boring. Nobody really translates the books I want to read. Also, I think I might have a problem with Finnish language. Not a fan of it, really. Which is bit of a problem, I admit.
Nevermind, I shall browse the used books section and get myself another book from the "Poikien seikkailukirjasto" -series (I got few dozen of those from my dad back in the day and started sort of collecting them), get some toffee and some fresh liquerice and maybe catch few program items. Any recommendations?
You are not alone in this world to have a problem with the Finnish language. Anyway, I know exactly what you mean. No, a good second-hand bookshop in an English-speaking country - that's what sets me on fire.
And I agree also on the definition discussion. However, I've grudgingly come to accept that it's a very newbie-friendly topic, so it has its merits even though I grew sick of it circa 1987.
Posted by: Johan Anglemark | October 23, 2007 at 14:44