Bojnberry.ca has been down a bit too often lately so we’re looking for a new service provider. This one has been great, if for no other reason than that it was free, but it seems like its time has passed.

I’ve been reading a lot lately, partially while feeding Trevor, partially while watching him. Trev is at the stage now when he prefers to play with toys and ignores us, so I usually have an hour or so of quiet time per day.

I’ve finished “Pri?aj mi o njoj” (Tell me about her) by Renato Bareti? after months of reading it. I started reading it in the last weeks of pregnancy and it was my default book to take to the non stress test appointments. Then I’ve misplaced it and read some other books in the mean time.

Overall, I really enjoyed it though it is not as good as Bareti?’s previous novel “Osmi povjerenik” (The eight commissioner). The topic is somewhat more serious as it deals with the aftermath of war. There is plenty of humour in it and it is well written. Bareti? loves playing with dialects, which adds a nice touch to his work. In “Osmi povjerenik” he went as far as making up an entire language. The problem in “Pri?aj mi o njoj” is that he went too far, or at least that’s how it seemed to me. One of the leading characters talks in Split dialect with slang which is fine, but she cuts her verbs which seems unlikely given her education. I just can’t picture a successful journalist saying “Let’s go swimmin’ � without intentionally, rather than casually, cutting off the g. Similar thing happens with the main character’s daughter. She is a ten year old straight A student who grew up with her lawyer and radio announcer parents in Slavonia (opposite side of the country from Dalmacia) and yet, in a year that she has lived in Split she has picked up the most ridiculous illiterate maritime drawl. I remember being her age and dissing ? and ?, but I could and did conjugate (and I wasn�t a straight A student either). Then again, it has been a while since I spent serious time in Croatia. Maybe people really do talk like that. In any case, Bareti? is a very promising author and I hope he keeps publishing novels at par or better than the first two.

I�ve also just finished Atonement by Ian McEwan. I was a bit reluctant to pick it up having a strange prejudice against books from the first three display piles at Chapters. However, since I read Pamuk�s �My Name is Red�, I�ve softened this view a bit. I really liked Atonement. The writing style was quite intriguing and the little twists and turns kept me interested. My sincere apologies must be extended to the first three display piles.