5 comments about The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman.

1. This is an extraordinary acheivement. The author follows the character of Gudrid throughout her journeys through in Viking world of the late 900s and early 1000s and, along the way, paints a vivid picture of life at that time. The writing is engaging and apparently effortless, but the research that supports it is massive, as described in 35 pages of footnotes and references at the end of the book. The author's passion is clear throughout, and further evidenced by her having worked as a volunteer archaeologist one summer in Iceland to excavate Gudrid's home. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the Vikings.



2. This book enlightens a period of history not well known to date. It is very interesting reading, especially for anyone with Scandinavian roots. The research the lies behing this work is remarkable. I highly recommend this book.



3. Brown gives us a lot of interesting information about Gudrun's life and times in "The Far Traveller." But what is even more interesting is her description of being on archaeological digs in Iceland, describing what archaeologists have to do to torture more information out of the physical remains of the past. Brown's focus on what archaeology has contributed to our knowledge of the Vikings, as well as archaeology's limitations, make this a more fascinating read than the account of what we think we know about Gudrun could have done.



4. I am just a general reader who happens to enjoy well-written history. I've never read much at all about the Vikings but the NY Times review of THE FAR TRAVELER was enticing and I was not let down by its promise. Nancy Marie Brown has reached back to a place and people obscured by time, doing a decent job of erasing some of the fog and cold desolation that obscure the Dark Ages and Medieval Epoch in Iceland and Greenland. She also succeeds in revealing a lot about contemporary archaeological practice and thought.
   
   Brown turns first to the Sagas, the 10th and 11th century tales of Vikings, for inspiration. Though embroidered, the Sagas, written down some generations later, are regarded as holding historical memories. Brown focuses on one woman who appears in both the Eirik the Red and Greenland Sagas as her guide, Gudrid, who traveled from Iceland to Greenland to Vinland, back to Iceland and remarkably, in later age, on a pilgrimage to Rome. Her son Snorri was very likely the first European child born on North American soil, circa 1005. Her personal story reveals much about religion, economics, gender relations, values, world view and other aspects of her culture. Born late in the 10th century AD, she witnessed the spread of Christianity and the fading of the violent marauding male economy as the domestic textile industry spun by women on the farm began to reposition Iceland in the world trade scene. Brown travels to all of the places Gudrid did, reads scholarship on her topic and participates in archaeological digs and recreation of weaving studios.
   
   The digs at L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland, have been reported on before, but Brown brings a fresh fascination to them in the context of Gudrid's life. She provides strong descriptive passages of the places she visits and there is one map in the front of the book. It would have been nice, however, to have had some illustrations. I would also like to have known a little more about Brown's own context and interest in this subject.



5. I found the book, The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman fascinating. The author has certainly done her home work about the Icelandic Sagas. I have met some of the people in the book when I traveled to Iceland in 2000 and 2005. I had studied the Sagas and leaned about Gudrid and her adventurous life. Thanks Nancy Marie.

5 comments about Arabian Sands (Penguin Classics).

1. I had heard this was the definitive work on the desert country but never had gotten around to reading it. I now have and it is terrific - every thing it's cracked up to be. I had read Michael Asher's biography; I had been in Ethiopia, Oman and Yemen; I traveled in the Hadhramaut -- all of this over fifty years later but still there is the flavor of Thesiger's days. His writing of crossing the Empty Quarter was a precursor of Asher's more recent writings about desert travels. He writes well and keeps the reader completely caught up with his trek. There is a sadness, on Thesiger's part (and mine), that as progress has affected the Bedu life, the stability of the old days is no more. But for a loving report on life as it used to be with the Bedu tribes, I whole heartedly recommend Arabian Sands. (I should not Rory Stewart's introduction was worth the price of the book)



2. While waiting for my inter-library loan of Arabian Sands to show up I pulled THE LAST NOMAD (same author) off my librarys shelf. Turns out they are the same book! Same tho only in text. The Last Nomad is a big 20" x 20" book filled with BIG beautiful black and white photos Some full page and a few even two page spreads. Tho they do suffer from being black and white imho, Wilfred Thesiger is an excellent photographer. The "portraits" of the people are wonderful.
   
   So FORGET ARABIAN SANDS. Arabian Sands is a small 7.8 x 5.1 book with small dark pictures. And not all the pictures to boot.
   
   My favorite part was the Iraq Marshes (1950-'58). The stunning "buildings" the Marsh Arabs made solely from the TWENTY foot tall reeds that grew there. WOW.
   This is the area where the rivers Tigris and Euphrates join, and is thought by some to be the original site of the Garden of Eden.
   
   "The 5,000-year-old way of life of the Marsh Arabs, celebrated by Wilfred Thesiger among others, has long been under threat. Its final disappearance is documented in The Iraqi Marshlands edited by Emma Nicholson and Peter Clark. Saddam Hussein's aggressive drainage programme in the 1990s, in pursute of rebels hiding in the waterways, turned much of the marshland into desert, depopulating the area. Some 200,000 of the inhabitants fled, many of them to refugee camps in Iran. The damage is probably irretrievable."
   
   Dams in Turkey, Syria and Iran have further reduce the amount of water flowing down the Tigris and Euphrates. All the bird and wildlife is lost. Latest satellite images show that less than 7% of the Mesopotamian marshes now remain intact.
   
   What confuses me is the contrast between the various "modern" tribes and the stunningly huge, beautiful and complex brick buildings built thousands of years ago by their ancestors. I can't seem to connect the two. What happened to them? How is it possible to regress so?



3. An excellent travel adventure through the Arabian deserts in the early part of the 20th century. For anyone who wants to understand the Arab mind/viewpoint or who just loves tales of far away places and exotic locales this book will make an excellent read.



4. Agreed, this is a top notch book if you want to know what "the "Bedu" life was like sixty years ago in what is now Saudi Arabia. In that respect, I'm in complete concurrence with the other glowing reviews. But, as another reviewer has brought up, there's something missing here: Thesiger. Having read this book, I feel I know much more about camels, Bedu culture and desert travel. I even feel I know and like Thesiger's Bedu companions very well. But Thesiger himself? A bit of a mystery.
   
   Yes, Thesiger mentions his dislike of machines and modern society. But, I don't really get a "feel" for what he's all about here. I suppose his perspective as presented here could best be denominated Stoic (although another reviewer speculates masochism may play a part). But, even then, Thesiger is no Marcus Aurelius, and any meditations or introspection are scant as the desert brush. -Can any reader imagine Thesiger meditating like M.A. on such questions as, "What is life but a warfare and a stranger's sojourn?" - Reflections, or at least the disclosing of them, are simply not his gulp of brackish well water.
   
   Others are obviously quite content with a narrator about whose inner life they know next to nothing. But I was left after reading this book with a listless, arid feeling, with any sense of "INNER cosmography" (to borrow from Thoreau) remaining unmapped.



5. I give it 3 stars for being interesting, for being exotic enough to draw me in for 100 pages, and for the author's clear descriptive writing. It would get more stars if it had developed any kind of a plot in those 100 pages -- I did not go further.
   
   I did, though, learn how to make a camel lower it's milk. That little lesson alone was worth the time (I won't be doing THAT any time soon... I won't say how this feat is accomplished, but let me say that a Bedu who does this must want that milk badly).
   
   Really, it is like a travelog in that it takes you along with him on desert journeys. Not too much adventure here, though, in the first 100 pp.

1 comments about Blueberry Summers: Growing Up at the Lake.

1. This book is so magically written that it will transport you to a lakeside paradise you will never want to leave. You'll believe Anderson's memories are yours, too -- you'll recall that blue heron by the beaver dam and remember with delight Aunt Clara's Blue Boy Pie (stuffed with raspberries and blackberries, too -- not just blueberries!). What sets this book apart from other fine works of nostalgia is that this guy can write. Imagine a Garrison Keillor tale as told by Truman Capote.
   
   EXAMPLE: "Clara fried small sunfish with their delicate bones so perfectly that the skeleton lifted away like a widow's veil. She dusted northern pike and walleye with seasoned four and allowed them to linger in her vintage wrought-iron skillet with the timing of a Barrymore."
   
   Now add to this recipe the monsters of childhood, the circus antics of family and the terror of a boy suddenly drowning in a lake he once hoped would embrace him forever.
   
   You will not stop flipping these pages.

5 comments about Letters from Africa, 1914-1931.

1. These letters are the life and thoughts of an honest-to-God human female--a real woman, not a trumped-up tricked-out product of society. She is inspiring, honest, real, and as wild and natural as Africa itself was during her time. Every woman who has truly lived, even a little, will see herself in these pages. I reread it every few years as a pep-talk for courageous living, humility, and honesty. I will forever feel sad that she had to leave Africa.



2. I actually had several of Isak Dinesen's works - "Out of Africa," her seven tales, and her book of letters. I hadn't seen the movie and I honestly wasn't even that interested in Africa or Danish people. But I'm fascinated by women's letters, and that is why I bought this book. I have read these letters and nothing else by her, to be quite honest, and these letters have inspired me to read more of her writings (once I stop finding other women's letters in book form to read).
   
   I share all of the other reviewers' observations and feelings toward this book, so I won't repeat them. One thing I will add is that it is truly fascinating to read passages of her letters that have to deal with hunting game ... I don't know much about Africa or its colonizations, but if I recall, the colonizing didn't start until late in the 19th century - when "game" was more than plentiful. Even with this in mind, I couldn't help but be appalled when she recited the numbers of animals that were killed simply for sport. This bias aside, these letters made it easy to see how animals became endangered and extinct.
   
   Obviously, there is more to the letters than hunting - otherwise I never would have read the entire book. Karen Blixen was obviously a very determined, passionate woman and this came through in her letters. Her voice and her descriptions of her life in Africa made these letters worth reading to someone who previously had no interest in the colonization of Africa.



3. "... huge distant blue mountains and the vast grassy plains before them covered with zebra and gazelle, and at night I can hear lions roaring like the thunder of guns in the darkness". Passages such as this one make it worthwhile to read this book. Karen Blixen is a master at poetically describing her foreign surroundings. If you enjoy the movie and the book Out of Africa then you will enjoy reading this book. Although at times the letters are repetitious and the author tends to ramble on, it is still an interesting book as it allows the reader to look through a window into Colonial East Africa from 1914 to 1931. The reader is able to go into Karen Blixen's mind and follow her daily struggles, joys and sorrows during her long stay in Africa and through her many safaris. This book unlike Out of Africa is not written through rose colored lenses. As you read this book, you feel a much harsher Africa. Also in this book she writes about her lover Dennis Finch-Hatton and doesn't hide the fact that she's crazy about him from her family. I highly recommend this book to any fan of Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen.



4. Isak Dineson, or Karen Blixen, was a fascinating woman. Most people know her as the main character from the movie Out of Africa or as the auther of the book of the same name. While the movie and the book are both good, I feel that this collection of her letters gives the best picture of who she was and what was important to her. The struggles of trying to make a go of her farm are heartwrenching, but the joy she expresses in her surroundings is enchanting. She describes the people in her life, especially the Kenyans who worked on her farm, so well that you feel you know them almost as well as you know her. Her description of the Europeans who lived in Kenya for economic or political reasons has enough of compliment and criticism to seem much more fair than many books from the colonial era. By the end of the book, it is easy to think of Karen as a friend.



5. There's no better way of getting to know the real Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen than by reading her Letters. Blixen shares her life with you a letter at a time, and in such rich detail that one feels a bit inclined to purchase a ticket to Kenya and appear on her veranda for tea!

   Blixen's deep love for "her people" finally comes out in its truest sense in that she considered the African natives her soul mates.

   The letters to Ingeborg, Aunt Bess, and brother Tommy, reveal (to me at least) that Blixen felt a greater kinship and sense of mutual acceptance with her "black skinned brother" than she did with her Danish relatives.

   "Letters From Africa" is essential reading for any Dinesen fan.

2 comments about Report From #24.

1. Sonsteby was obviously one of the unsung heroes of the war. His work with the resistance was essential in keeping the Germans looking over their shoulders for the next incident. But, the book seemed to ramble for much of the first half of the story. I found it hard to keep up with the details, and often had to look back in earlier chapters to get myself re-oriented. The later chapters were much easier to follow. It was a quick and interesting read, but there are better books available on this topic.

   I'd highly recommend Blood and Water (by Dan Kurzman) if you are interested in a related story of the resistance in Norway.




2. REPORT FROM # 24 THIS IS A GREAT BOOK TO READ WHEN GOING TO BED .. YOU COULD BE DREAMING ABOUT BEING A MEMBER OF THE MILORG WITH GUNNAR. YOU THINK JAMES BOND IS EXCITING, WELL, YOU HAVEN'T READ GUNNAR'S BOOK. WHY WATCH TV? YOU HAVE THIS BOOK TO READ.

5 comments about The Palace of the Snow Queen: Winter Travels in Lapland.

1. I discovered this book in the new section of the library and immediately was engaged by it. My mother's family was from Norway, so in recent years I've been reading about this part of the world. This particular book was not just about the Ice Hotel but also about the origins of the people in this part of the world and the struggles they have faced. I found the writer's adventures to be quite interesting and her own journey from unhappiness to curiosity, and ultimately to a special fondness for this area inspiring. I told my husband, upon completing the book, that I wanted to visit that area some winter, and he said, "feel free to e-mail me from there." Someday I hope to sleep in the Ice Hotel and experience what she did.



2. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Palace of the Snow Queen. I would read for a while only to realize that I had just finished a series of perfectly crafted sentences.
   
   Most people never venture to Lapland due to the distance and expense. This book takes you on Ms. Sjoholm's journey and gives you the space to draw your own conclusions. Travelers have always been drawn to the beauty and cold of the far north. This book reveals what it is like to be there while retaining a sense of awe and appreciation.
   
   I felt like I too was staying in a room made of ice in the Ice Hotel and watching Macbeth while wearing 15 layers of clothing. I understood why intoxicated guests of the Ice Hotel don't want to walk down the hall to the bathroom in the middle of the night and instead make yellow snow in their room.
   
   I traveled to Lapland in 2007 and upon returning discovered that Ms. Sjoholm had written the book I wish I had taken on my trip. This book is a perfect example of how two people can take very similar trips and have totally different experiences and interpretations. That is one of the joys of travel.
   
   The Palace of the Snow Queen is not your classic adventure survival story about a man alone battling the elements in the far north. It is instead a thoughtful journey of a woman traveling independently and forging relationships with the local people. Reading it makes you want to sit under a furry blanket with a mug of hot tea.
   
   This book is for anyone who loves to travel (armchair or not) with an open heart and mind to new places and people. It is honest and emotional. Travel is not always fun and it is often cold, lonely and uncomfortable. Ms. Sjoholm works through personal loss and holds a mirror to herself throughout her journey. It is also well researched and very informative.
   
   While in northern Finland I visited a dog sledding park with about 400 dogs. I was fascinated to learn about dog sledding, but never heard that dog sledding is disruptive to reindeer or the Sami. Ms. Sjoholm presents a balanced view of why dog sledding is offered to tourists and why there is local opposition to it.
   
   If you enjoy this book you may also enjoy This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland by Greta Ehrlich.



3. Sjoholm's book is an intriguing read - part travelogue, part history, and part social commentary about Lapland and its indigenous people, the Sami. Struggling to cope with the breakup of a long-term relationship and post-9/11 anxiety, she decides to travel to this region encompassing the areas of Norway, Sweden, and Finland above the Arctic Circle in the winter of 2001, and again in 2003 and 2004. At the center of her odyssey is the Icehotel, a 60-room hostelry constructed entirely of snow and ice on the shores of the Torne River in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. The hotel, visited annually by thousands of people from around the world, reminds her of the ice palace in a beloved fairytale from her childhood, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." Over her three trips, Sjoholm explores the building as it is being built, spends the night there as a guest, and watches as it starts to shrink and drip and melt into the river. Through the eyes of the workers and artists involved in the project, she demonstrates the fascination of creating an object of beauty not intended to last. The Icehotel exemplifies the drive to promote winter tourism in the area, an effort, Sjoholm soon discovers, that is often at odds with the needs of the reindeer-herding Sami. Sjoholm gives them voice through her thoughtful, empathetic descriptions of their history, their culture, and their determination to survive as a people amidst the march of progress. In so doing, she effectively sensitizes the reader to the plight of indigenous people everywhere. Her lyrical descriptions of light make a forbidding place seem almost appealing, as when she views the sky one morning from a steamer off the Norwegian coast: "suddenly the light was no longer bone gray, but, in the east - blush pink and turquoise, then hot rose, mango orange, the sunrise churning into sunset, all in two hours, with the sun below the horizon, invisible below the iron-hard water." And she never lets the bitter cold stop her from taking advantage of the area's attractions, from riding a sleigh pulled by reindeer and eating fried reindeer meat in a smoky tent, to watching Macbeth sitting in an icy reproduction of London's Globe Theater. I hate being cold, but as I read the book, I could actually picture myself taking the trip she did. My reaction is testimony to Sjoholm's ability to engage readers from the outset and keep them with her until the last page of this fascinating adventure.



4. If travel books are about making far away, different, and maybe even unbelievable landscapes accessible to those who will never journey to them, then this book has hit the mark. I found it truly engaging and felt every below zero day and snowy landscape that Sjoholm traveled through. The cold and the colors and the people of the north became alive to me in a way that surprised me given my own penchant for reading about and traveling to more equatorial climes. Fascinating! This book has a bit of everything, from the social to the political to the environmental. And why not? It's a complex landscape, as Sjoholm points out, and not at all the "wilderness" that so many have previously deemed it to be. The writing is vivid and lively, but it is also the exhaustive research that went into the storytelling that I am impressed with. The history of Lapland suddenly comes within reach of the present day because of the ways in which Sjoholm chose to tell her story. I would highly recommend the book to anyone who is thinking of traveling to northern Scandinavia, as well as to those who are not. I admire Sjoholm for doing the work and obviously being completely enthralled with the cold and darkness and people and animals; it surely couldn't have been an easy journey but readers will benefit from her efforts.



5. Lil' 50-something Babs from Seattle has written a tale of her time in "Lapland" which reveals both a humorless, hypocritical, condescending person's view on travel, and a weak spirit that comes from a spoiled victim mentality. Then to add to the "fun", Ms. Sjoholm throws in many uninformed details and historical references that are neither accurate nor documented. For example, she goes so far as to describe the working dogs that pull the tourist sleds as being "Shelties" or "Pug-like". In addition, her book has no footnotes to support statistical data she presents, such as a comparison of the destruction of Hiroshima, Japan to that of the Scandinavian city of Rovaniemi.
   
   The author whines a lot in the book. At one point, she complains that she can't hear the information she needs to feel comfortable before starting out on a dog sledding adventure, but she doesn't speak up to ask for help. Later, she quits the trip less than half way through it, which was only three days! She even abandons a friend in doing so; someone who'd traveled a long distance and spent her own money to go with the author.
   
   The negativity of this author is neither interesting nor deep, it's just self-indulgent. She took advantage of many people's time and hospitality to write this story, as she inadvertently reveals in her book, but she certainly did not repay it properly in a meaningful way.
   
   If you want to read books about interesting and intrepid people, try "North to the Night" by Alvah Simon, "Otchum" by Nicholas Vanier, "Back of the Pack" by Don Bowers, or "Yukon Alone" by John Blazar for starters, but don't waste your cash on this one.

2 comments about Alvar Aalto, 1898-1976: Paradise for the Man in the Street (Taschen Basic Architecture).

1. When they call this book "basic," they mean it. There is nothing deep or philosophical contained within these pages. Instead, this is an overview of the main works that Aalto produced during his career. Projects range from his Savoy vases to entire buildings. This is a good starting point for anyone who is interested in learning more about Aalto's work and nice to have as a basic reference. For the price, this little book can't be beat!



2. I love Aalto's work, but this book was just dry.
   I give it 3.5 only because it's meant to be an inexpensive introduction to Aalto's work, and it is inexpensive..but the writing is just dry. You really get nothing from the articles about the buildings..but it is a nice intro to the architect's life and it does showcase a few of his best works...albeit in a dry manner..
   
   If you aren't really interested in his work, this is perfect for you.
   But if you want a decent look into some of his buildings and materials and philosophy, then your going to have to splurge a little
   
   B-

1 comments about The Man Whom Women Loved: The Life of Bror Blixen.

1. Baron Bror Blixen was so noted for the admiration he excited in women, that his hunting clients were only half jokingly advised to write in their contracts that he refrain from seducing their wives. Best known for being the husband of Izaak Dinesen and also for being the inspiration for a Hemingway short story, he's well worth reading about on his own merits. The author is the Baron's godson and has an inside and affectionate perspective on his famous godfather.

2 comments about Splendid Swedish Recipes.

1. I got this cookbook as a Christmas give for my Swedish wife. She loves the dessert recipies, especially the Cocoa Balls and the Coffee Bread. If you combine this book with "Good Food from Sweden" by Inga Norberg, you'll never lack for recipies to remind you of your Swedish roots.



2. Splendid Swedish Recipes, in the popular recipe-card file size Stocking Stuffer format, is chock-full of the best recipes and notes on Swedish cuisine. Compiled by Kerstin Olsson Van Gilder, who came to America from Sweden in 1961, and refers to Swedish foods as "cooking the naturally delicious way." The Swedish diet consists mainly of fish (herring) and potatoes, making the food lighter than traditional American cuisine. This cookbook is inspired by the Swedish love of wholesome, natural foods. The cover shows a little girl in a Swedish folk-style outfit.

   In addition to recipes, Splendid Swedish Recipes contains information on The Smorgasbord (a long table buffet Scandinavian tradition), Foods for Special Holidays and Seasons, Notable Sites and Events as well as historical information on the Swedish-American Experience. The book offers you plenty to choose from to make a Swedish feast for family and friends. Try the Swedish Kale Soup or the Swedish Meatballs. Stuffed Cabbage and Rye Bread will suit almost any table! And desserts are the Swedish specialty! Try the Coffee Bread or the Cocoa Balls to end the perfect meal! This is just a sampling of what is offered!

   This book is excellent for personal collections and as a gift for anyone interested in Swedish cooking and heritage.

1 comments about Dear Danish Recipes.

1. Dear Danish Recipes, in the popular recipe-card file Stocking Stuffer format, is full of the best recipes and notes about Danish foods and culture. Compiled by Michelle Nagle Spencer, a Scandinavian American with a love a gourmet cooking. Dear Danish Recipes contains recipes, facts, and cooking hints from contributors of strong Danish heritage. The cover features calligraphy and traditional red hearts by Esther Feske.

   In addition to wonderful recipes, Dear Danish Recipes also includes information on Danish American culture, Sites to See, such as The Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa, and Danish Table Prayers which gives a reader a true sense of Danish heritage. This book is a must for chefs and tourists alike

   The recipes are wonderful individually or to create a full Danish meal! Included are a variety of soups such as Split Pea and Danish Soup Dumplings. Served with a homemade Rye Bread, this is a hearty meal for those cold days! The Appetizers and Snacks section has wonderful suggestions for your next get-together. Try a Cheese Buffet that serves up to twelve people, or a Salmon Log. For a main entrée, Shrimp au Gratin with Sugar Browned Potatoes and a Spinach Soufflé make for a wonderful meal. Top it off with Danish Tea Cakes for dessert!

   Dear Danish Recipes is excellent for personal collections and as a memento of Danish American culture.