Books of August

[oneiriad]

Be warned: apparently, if I read a book involving the Viking era, my current default setting is to associate with Vikings. And I've been reading a few books involving the Viking era. So.

Books

Andre verdener: danske noveller

Thit Jensen: Valdemar Atterdag
Would you laugh at me, I wonder, if I said that I'd sort of wish Thit Jensen had written A Game of Thrones? I mean, this is a very similar book - admittedly, there's a distinct lack of dragons and ice zombies, but the political scheming and civil war is there, and the medieval setting, and it is, in its own way, just as nasty and unpleasant a world as GoT. I mean, you barely get started on chapter two before the handsome young heir to the throne, the hope of a restored Denmark, has fallen into the hands of his enemies and been betrayed, chained, humiliated, gelded and left to starve and literally rot alive in a dungeon. So there's that. But first and foremost, this is just a gorgeously written book - it's slow reading, because Thit has a very distinct voice, but it's gorgeous and full of imagery and I'm very much looking forward to reading the next book.

Bjørn Matsen & Ole Bjørn Petersen: Vikinger: indsigt og udsyn
Alright, so - this book is from 2006, so fairly new, and it's basically an attempt to summarize a bunch of newer findings and theories about the Viking age, so that's pretty cool. It's quite a varied bunch of stuff - some archeological bits about trelleborge and vølve staffs, some theories about how the Vikings maybe not sailed all the way to Constantinopel, but used sleighs on the frozen rivers and then got new ships come spring. Also, a theory about how the attack on Lindisfarne was not just some random raid, but a very deliberate act of terror and flexing of muscles by the Danish king intended to warn off an expansionist Carolingian Empire (which sounds credible to me). Finally, the theory the book dedicates most space to, is the idea that - when the great Catholic missions came to Scandinavia - Christianity was already very much present, just - not Catholic, but a heretical form drawing primarily from the Eastern contacts. Actually, come to think of it, if contact with Miklagård etc. could lead to people bringing home Christianity, surely the trading with Baghdad and occasional contact with Muslim areas must have lead to at least one Muslim Viking?

Lars R. Møller: Kvinder i kamp
You know, the worst part of this book is that you hardly know where to start with finding more about all these kick-ass ladies - and of course, about most of them there will be precious little to be found.

Robert Louis Stevenson: The Body Snatcher

Trälar: ofria i agrarsamhället från vikingatid till medeltid
So, the more I'm reading, the more convinced I am that a) Ragnar's farm was that entire settlement we saw and the people were his slaves, his freedmen and his employees and b) that early on, Ragnar was planning to use Athelstan as a bryti, an unfree manager of his farm, allowing both him and Lagertha (and in a few years Bjorn) to go raiding to their hearts' content. Except then things escalated, the farm burned and plans changed.

Carrie Vaughn: Kitty's Greatest Hits

The Viking Age: A Reader
Don't you just love primary sources? Okay, so a lot of it is extracts from Heimskringla and the major Icelandic Sagas, but there are other bits too, like Muslim sources about Viking raids in Spain. Not that Heimskringla is bad - apparently, a Norwegian king post-Christianity took a Viking fleet south and clashed with Muslims off the coast of Ibiza. Actually, I am now left with a desire to see a proper Viking-style battle at sea in a future season. That would be awesome. (Also, note to self: according to Adam of Bremen (11th century and his source was King Svend Estridssøn) Västergötland, indeed, borders on the Danish territory called Scania, from which it takes seven days to reach Skara, the great city of the Goths (22). So no, I really don't think it took Floki even a month to run that errand - which makes Aslaug's pregnancy very, very convenient. Just saying.

Lynn Zubernis & Katherine Larsen: Fandom At The Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships
*sniffs* Why can't we have something like this instead of this? *sniffs*


Comics

Jason Aaron: Scalped: Trail's End

Brian Azzarello: Wonder Woman: Guts
You know, as long as I forget this is supposedly a superhero comic and just read it as straight-up has-nothing-to-do-with-DC fantasy - it's actually not that bad.

Brian Michael Bendis: All-New X-Men: Yesterday's X-Men

Chris Claremont: X-Men: Days of Future Past

J.M. DeMatteis: Jeg, en vampyr
Which seems to be about half the original run of I, Vampire as best I can tell, though as far as stories go, it feels quite complete.

Paul Dini: Zatanna: the Mistress of Magic

Jean Dufaux: Murena: Les Épines

Matt Fraction: Hawkeye: My Life As A Weapon
It's possibly a little ridiculous how much I enjoyed this. I mean, it's nothing special, but it's just fun.

Emmanuel Guibert: Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope

Jaime Hernandez: Love and Rockets: Perla La Loca

Jonathan Hickman: The Manhattan Projects vol. 1.
Jonathan Hickman: The Manhattan Projects vol. 2.

Thomas Engelbrecht Mikkelsen: Troldmændene fra Vestmannaeyjar

Mark Millar: Kick-Ass 2
This didn't exactly fill me with a desire to see the movie...

Hakase Mizuki: Demon Flowers vol. 1.

Jiro Taniguchi: Sensei no Kaban vol. 1.

Brian K. Vaughan: Saga vol. 1.

Yann: Gringos Locos


Total number of books and comics read this month: 27
Currently reading: Forbrydelsens ansigt by Gitte Bergendorff Høstbo, Peter Wodskou Christensen and Poul Duedahl & Superman: What Price Tomorrow? by George Pérez