Rein Alexander in Leselyst – He had to make do

What are you reading now?

– I’m reading Lars Mytting’s “Swim With Those Who Are Drowning”. Activate the flashlight function on your mobile and hold it against your chin as a reading light. We have two little ones, and I don’t have the heart to keep the Tax Card awake (my dear Marie). Having found profound pleasure in reading in “Søsterklokkene” and “Hekneveven”, I had to have more language and style than Mytting. In a chapter of “Søsterklokkene” I stopped someone on the street and told them how good he was at writing. Stories are one thing, but the way, the way is the great pleasure.

Which book left an indelible impression on you?

– The feelings and images in everything I read are with me in everyday life. Also, I’m very inspired. When I read “The Harvest of the Field”, I bought a disused farm from which my family came. After “The Alchemist”, I finished the Royal Academy in London, listened to the universe and modeled on a boat and worked in the Barents Sea, before flying with the wind and ending up studying in Italy. Maybe it’s good that I don’t read anymore. I first read, of my own free will, when I was 26, so I was a late starter by the way. Hmm, yes, and then I read very slowly, or rather – sentences and preferably whole paragraphs – again and again, to absorb what I am reading.

Which author should write the book about you?

– Thomas Enger, who wrote the books on Henning Juul, and now collaborates with Jørn Lier Horst. Enger is both a journalist, mystery writer, musician and composer. And it’s so nice to talk to him when we play golf, even if he beats me.

What book did you smuggle into?

– You won’t know.

Which self-help book did you last read?

– I’ve read a lot about Dale Carnegie and should have absorbed more of his wisdom. Kahlil Gibran’s prophet is good. I listen to HeadSpace a lot and somehow meditate, and I have great faith in meditation and that we can take hold and become better versions of ourselves.

Which character in the novel can’t stand?

– I’ve read Nesbø a lot, but now I’m done. Sorry Harry!

… and which character in the novel would you sleep with?

– So, I really like books. I probably loved Victoria as much as Hamsun himself, but when I realized that Moonbeam on Silver Arrow was never going to be mine, I had to come to terms with myself and stop falling in love with fictional characters. But as Reiss-Anderssen almost wrote: “Never forget her that you have never met, (…) because she alone is what you love in the one you love”.