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Childhood
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
8 posts | 4 read | 12 to read
The first volume in The Copenhagen Trilogy, the searing portrait of a woman's journey through love, friendship, ambition and addiction, from one of Denmark's most celebrated twentieth-century writers Tove knows she is a misfit, whose childhood is made for a completely different girl. In her working-class neighbourhood in Copenhagen, she is enthralled by her wild, red-headed friend Ruth, who initiates her into adult secrets. But Tove cannot reveal her true self to her or to anyone else. For 'long, mysterious words begin to crawl across my soul', and she comes to realize that she has a vocation, something unknowable within her - and that she must one day, painfully but inevitably, leave the narrow street of her childhood behind. Childhood, the first volume in The Copenhagen Trilogy, is a visceral portrait of girlhood and female friendship, told with lyricism and vivid intensity.
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blurb
charl08
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
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Finished another one from my stack of my own books for June. Both under 100 pages but very different from each other.

Childhood - looks at a poverty stricken childhood in Copenhagen in the 30s (memoir).
La Bastarda is a novel in translation from Equatorial Guinea exploring the coming of age of a young gay woman.

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charl08
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
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.... how such monstrous sentences can find their way into a book that gets into the library where a clever and attractive woman like Miss Mollerup actually recommends it to defenseless children to read. For now, however I can't express these thoughts, so I have to be content with saying that the books are boring ...

Only when I stubbornly insist on having access to the shelves with the adult books does she give in...

Reggie Lol 3y
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TheBee
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
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So my mother was alone, even though I was there, and if I was absolutely still and didn‘t say a word, the remote calm in her inscrutable heart would last until the morning had grown old and she had to go out to do the shopping in Istegade like ordinary housewives.

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merelybookish
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
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"Childhood is long and narrow like a coffin, and you can't get out of it on your own." ?
Unflinching is the word that comes to mind so far for this book.

vivastory Oof 3y
LeahBergen I‘m looking forward to this one. 3y
batsy What a quote. 3y
See All 7 Comments
Cathythoughts Yes @batsy what a quote ! 3y
merelybookish @batsy @Cathythoughts Yes! And there's a lot more just like it. 3y
merelybookish @LeahBergen It's really good! 3y
merelybookish @vivastory Very stark! 3y
63 likes1 stack add7 comments
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merelybookish
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
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Book buying ban still in effect but some books I pre-ordered in December have arrived. After reading Lucy Scholes's review of this trilogy (I'm still waiting on Book 3), I couldn't resist. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/12/09/re-covered-a-danish-genius-of-mad...

ephemeralwaltz So excited to read these!!! There‘s a lot of hype on Instagram. 3y
batsy Oooh! Nice. I can't wait to read this series. (But first, maybe I need to catch up on all the previous ones I couldn't wait to read, as well. Like Ferrante and Cusk 🙈) 3y
merelybookish @ephemeralwaltz I'm excited too! Need to finish my current read and then diving in. 3y
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merelybookish @batsy Haha. Well these are quite short so maybe less daunting! 3y
mklong Ooh, I have the first one and keep promising myself I will read it “this month.” Can‘t wait to see what you make of them! After all, I‘m planning to read the first one this month 😉 3y
Centique This sounds really interesting! 3y
Leftcoastzen Sounds like just the kind of reading I enjoy ?!😀 3y
merelybookish @Leftcoastzen I think you would like it. The writing is pretty amazing! 3y
Leftcoastzen I had a mini buying ban I just broke because of this post!😄 3y
merelybookish @Leftcoastzen They are pretty irresistible! 😁 3y
67 likes1 stack add10 comments
blurb
LeahBergen
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
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In honour of my final day doing the #20Series20Books challenge, I thought I‘d share this series that I just bought (and have yet to read).

The Copenhagen Trilogy is Danish author Tove Ditlevsen‘s memoir and begins with the volume Childhood, about growing up in working-class 1920s Copenhagen. I probably had a bit of “cover love” going on here when I bought them; these slim pink editions are so pretty. 😆

@Andrew65

CarolynM Very pretty, but they sound interesting too🙂 4y
merelybookish Oooh I stacked these a while ago!! 4y
Ruthiella I get the cover appeal! 😀 4y
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BarbaraBB Gorgeous covers! I hope she has led an interesting life - in Africa probably! 4y
batsy I have this on my TBR as well! 4y
erzascarletbookgasm I‘ve seen these, very pretty covers! I want to read them too. 4y
Andrew65 Thanks for posting this. 4y
Cathythoughts They look lovely ! Looking forward to your thoughts in the future 💕💕💕 4y
72 likes3 stack adds8 comments
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Rhondareads
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
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First volume in the Copenhagen Trilogy a trilogy a memoir of the authors life.A gift from a sweet friend.

LeahBergen Ahhh, yes! I have this (and the other two volumes of the trilogy) waiting in an online cart. 😆 It sounds great! 4y
Rhondareads My friend read all three in two days they sound perfect for me,hope you enjoy, 4y
12 likes2 comments
review
squirrelbrain
Childhood | Tove Ditlevsen
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Pickpick

The first in a trilogy of memoirs, this short book is beautifully written - the author was a poet. She suffered with addiction and depression in later life and you can start to feel this in her difficult childhood.

And Minette, you must have known I like to match my bookmarks to my books - your lovely pink note arrived just in time to bookmark this book! 😘 @gradcat

#booked2020 #finishinaday
#readingeurope2020 #denmark

BarbaraBB It all looks beautiful. I hope you are feeling a bit better. 🤍 (edited) 4y
Crazeedi That's just perfect! ❤❤ 4y
Librarybelle That is so perfect that they match! 4y
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batsy I'm interested in reading this trilogy! Sounds good 🙂 4y
gradcat @squirrelbrain I didn‘t know, but I‘m only too happy to be of service! 😂 Thank you very much for letting me know that you received it...the mail around here has been a bit hinky, to say the least...so I‘m relieved to know that it found it‘s way to your door. 😉 4y
squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB thank you for asking - we‘re all a bit up and down but coping OK. ❤️ 4y
squirrelbrain @batsy - I definitely recommend it, based on the first one. They have the others in my library so I‘ll give those a go too. 4y
youneverarrived This sounds really good. Aren‘t these editions lovely? Hope you‘re doing ok ❤️ 4y
alisiakae Excellent review, and that envelope is a perfect match! 4y
Cinfhen Such a good match 💗💗💗 4y
75 likes10 comments