hitler, jesus and grandad

One of the more difficult things about learning a new language for me is finding reading material that is inspiring and fun yet not so hard as to make the whole thing a chore. The gossip rag Se og Hør used to do the trick for me (Mr Snow’s gran saves them up for me ever since I told her that’s how I learn, so every time we visit I get a massive bag of past issues!).

Even more fun though, and easy with the Comic Book Library just around the corner, is to read comic books or graphic novels. The pictures help a lot, obviously, and the storylines are entertaining and far from juvenile. My favourite so far has been this one by local illustrator Lene Ask. The book is about her time in Germany at art school, and trying to trace her family history: her grandad of the title was a German soldier stationed in Norway, and her grandmother was amongst those persecuted for having a child with him.

It’s not all sad and serious though as her book also simply and charmingly illustrates growing up in the 70’s and life and love today. And I read the whole thing from cover to cover in just a couple of days!