My ambition is to possess a self-earning crust, so that I can spend more time
The cats are called Cinnamon and Pepper, I have three maples so far, and the house in the country is probably going to have to hold off until retirement.
What's in a name?
My family name is Höst (pronounced "Hurst") . Yet the name my immediate family goes by is Hösth (also pronounced "Hurst" but generally pronounced by strangers as "Host-thffff...umm?" and other valiant variations). I only recently learned the explanation for this complication.My great-grandfather in Sweden was a knekt (Jack or Knave) in the military. Like many other people in Sweden, his name was based on the old naming custom for sons to inherit their father's first name and make it into a surname, eg. Andersson, Svensson, Pettersson, Johansson, Gustafsson, Nilsson, etc.
This naturally caused some complications when joining the military as so many people had the same names, so to distinguish between the knektarna, the conscripts would get "knave names". And those were usually picked from nature, like Autumn (Höst), Birch (Björk), or combinations like Autumnbirch. Many of them would then keep their "knave names" when returning home.
However, my grandmother felt that Höst didn't look dignified enough on paper, so she added an "h". Hösth. Adding the "h" made it a tad more foreign, and foreign or otherwise fancified spellings of names were a sign of nobility. So the simple name of a season became the slightly uncommon Hösth which could be viewed as a knight's name. In the old church records it still says "Höst" though.
I use the "Hösth" spelling still in everyday life, but to save readers attempting the tongue-twister it appears to present, I drop the second 'h' for my publishing name.
Of course, many people may now pronounce "Höst" as "host", but at least won't look so puzzled while doing so.
And Höst's meaning is also the explanation for this blog's name.
Wonderfully convoluted, Andrea and fascinating!
ReplyDeleteHi Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI am an avid reader of everything (being a middle-aged working mother, I consider my Kindle my drug of choice) and I happily download 'free' books in the hope of discovering something worthwhile. Ordinarily, the experience is at best mediocre, at worst, down right awful but Stray was one of those books that immediately struck a cord with me.
It took me a couple of days to read Book 1, I even avoided a netball match because I couldn't put it down, and didn't waste anytime downloading Lab Rat One as soon as I had finished it. I am always a little bit wary of second books in a trilogy (geez, I am coming across a little too thoughtful here, I apologise in advance :-)) but again, you produced something incredible. My thirty-something year old heart was completely invested in the relationship and the odd tear was spilled over the final scene.
My only complaint is, had I realised the Caszandra was only out on the 25th I would have tried to pace myself a little better because I now have to fill 2 weeks before I can feed my habit again!
I hope that the e-book will follow not to long after the paper version but even so, this trilogy will not only languish within my Kindle but will also be taking up bookcase space because it really is that good.
Well done you :-)
Amy
(United Kingdom)
I found the touchstone series a great read. I think it would make a great movie or TV series. Can't wait for Caszandra to be released.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry the series will come to an end.