The 100 pages "as though it were nothing" Mastercard experience

As part of the Swedish course, we are asked to read a Swedish book. Recommended were the so-called "lättläst" books. I suppose the English equivalent are the easy reader books, the incomplete and abridged version of the original masterpiece. Anne Karenina or Crime and Punishment in less than a hundred pages.... I have no idea if that would even work! I am, to put it mildly, not a fan. Neither in English nor in any other language. When asked to read a lättläst book, I flatly refused. I think the teacher was a little bit taken aback and somewhat amused by my reaction, which in hindsight was probably a bit ...erm... shall we say, abrupt? I was game for reading a book, just not a lättläst one. It was then suggested to me that I read a book for youth instead. That sounded like a good idea so I marched myself down to the bookshop at the next opportunity (being the sort of person who for some inexplicable reason likes to own what she reads) and browsed through the youth section.

Never judge a book by its cover, they say. But let´s be honest, everyone does. I saw a documentary about the penguin books immediately after the second world war. In England, the penguin books had a simple, austere, uniform appearance. This was thought to appeal to those recovering in the aftermath of war, and to create a sense of accessibility in a world of scarcity and equality amongst not just the people, but also the writers. In the United States, on the other hand, the covers of the penguin books were designed to attract attention and more often than not, adorned with a burly male with his shirt-sleeves rolled up to his bulging biceps and of course, the very latest tight denim jeans, promoting perhaps a sense of adventure and heroism. And let´s not forget the blond on his arm, but I digress.

In the spirit of not judging a book by its cover however, I choose to judge a book by its title. Not that I do this deliberately, mind you... so perhaps the use of the word "choose" is misleading. Nevertheless, I do believe that there is much to be said for a good title. For me, it is the difference between reaching only for books which have received good reviews, or books by authors I know and like, and picking up an inconspicuous book by an hitherto unknown author. In this instance, I picked up one called "Som om ingenting" by Katarina von Bredlow. I have not been able to find a reference to the English version of that book anywhere online, and can only assume that books for youth are not translated from Swedish to English as a matter of course. I therefore have to resort to a translation of my own. At this juncture, I am compelled to record a caveat: having taken Swedish lessons for all of eleven -incidentally, the same sequence of these letters in Swedish means "the student" - now, where was I? oh yes, Swedish lessons for all of eleven weeks. This makes me decidedly unsuitable to attempt translations of titles of books, which as aforementioned is in fact crucial to the success of the book attracting browsing customers in a bookstore. So I am happy to state upfront, that anyone with more Swedish knowledge, or perhaps with knowledge that the book does in fact exist in English, and the actual title of the same, is at liberty to correct me on this point. That said, here goes my attempt at re-branding the book. A literal translation makes the book "Like Nothing" in English. I would have definitely not picked up that book in English. Taking inspiration from the German title (it has, by the by, been translated to German) I would call the book "As though it were nothing".

*

I am currently at page 113 of the book, which is slightly past the halfway point. Significant, only as it exceeds the length of the Crime and Punishment option I had, I think. I have nothing against easy readers... says she as she is about to proceed to list out reasons why they are to be avoided.... They serve a purpose, to be sure. I suppose it makes books and reading a lot more accessible to those who are new to a language, or new to reading. What I fail to understand is, why butcher the classics? Firstly, which one of us is really in the position to decide which parts of Anne Karenina are important enough to make it into the easy reader at the cost of all the other parts. The masterpiece of a masterpiece lies not in the narrative which can be condensed and abridged, but in the details. In the choice of a single word at the right place. And how many people, having read the butchered version ever go on to read the original (albeit translated into a language they can understand) version? Why not just read books that are written with a less linguistically developed reader in mind, such as a book for youth? Or children´s books, if you must?

I am all the more convinced that that is the way to go because I am thoroughly enjoying reading my book for youth. Of course the story is one that appeals to me personally, though that is another story altogether. About the language of the book itself, I would go as far as to say that it is perhaps of the ideal difficulty for me. Simple enough that I can understand and appreciate the flow of the narrative without having to reach for the dictionary at every fifth word. Yet sufficiently advanced that I am learning innumerable new words and phrases. My strategy when I first began reading the book, was to begin by just reading through it and taking from it as much as I could. I had decided that I did not want to interrupt the reading to look up unknown words, unless the not-understanding of a particular word or words meant that the passage was lost to me. Instead, I underlined the words I wanted to look up, which I would do at leisure at a later time. These were mostly words I did not understand, but also words which I could guess the meaning of, but wanted to enlighten myself as to the different forms of the word and uses. This was a good strategy until I go into the story, upon which I found it more and more difficult to bring myself to stop to look up any words. Now, I am just powering through with the book, although there is another reason why I no longer stop to look up words. I fully intend to get back to the tedious aspect of this exercise. That is after all, the point of it.

I was true to my strategy until page 33 of the book. I had bought myself a little exercise book which I dedicated solely to notes on the words I looked up. I stopped at page 33 because the fact of the matter is, that as at page 33, my notes on words from the book (which, depending on the word, include definitions (in Swedish), translations, forms / inflections / derivations, synonyms, uses, examples of sentences and idioms) have filled all 48 pages of my little exercise book. And until I acquire a new, identical - because I am anal that way- exercise book (and I might as well get a few more while I am at it, because I have a strange feeling I am going to need them), I am going to enjoy the rest of the story.

Looking at the cold hard statistics, it seems like hard work reading this book. It is not. It reminds me in fact of Mastercard.

No. of pages of notes on words not understood in book: 48.

No. of corresponding pages in the book: 33

Satisfaction from reading a book in a new language, or more than that, of enjoying reading a book in a new language: Priceless

*photo of cover taken from adlibris.com