Reading books in Swedish

Hmm, so reading a children's book in Swedish is harder than I thought. I've occasionally been reading items off Swedish news sites, but modern language from news items is actually much easier - most of the words are from English or Latin, and they're almost the same in any language. But the language in "Ronia, the Robbers Daughter" is more basic, and the words are more quintessential Swedish, and therefore not necessarily the same - even in Danish, a language that's historically quite connected to Swedish.

So I gave up and went to my local book store and bought Ronia in Danish. It was World Book Day today, and all titles were 20% off. So now I'm parallel-reading the book in two languages, which makes it much easier. Hopefully I'll be able to reread it in Swedish later and understand it.

Anyway, the book truly is a classic. It reads like a primal mythic tale about growing up and discovering the world. It also has a timeless 'Romeo and Juliet with kids' storyline. Truly a must read.

I ordered the British edition of "Moominvalley in November", so I'll be able to parallel-read that book too.