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Books
Laurie R. King: Garment of shadows
Rory McTurk: Studies in Ragnars Saga Lodbrokar and its major Scandinavian analogues
Quite interesting, if maybe a bit academic. Apparently, Aslaug is actually a relatively late addition to the Ragnar Lothbrok stories - oh, and Ragnar and Lothbrok started out as two different people and Lothbrok migth well have been a woman. So yeah, Michael Hirst, do tell me about how very historical your show is...
Kim Marthedal: Adam & Evan - historier fra paradis
This was an okay short story collection. None of the stories really wowed me, but mostly I liked them well enough - and one of them, Dagbog fra Gereshk is actually a sequel to Lig og laurbær, which was a pleasant surprise. Anyway, most of the stories seem to be pretty, uhm, boy meets boy, there might be a brief point of challenge to the plot, and then happy ever after. The only story I actively disliked was the first (and thankfully the shortest) Adam & Evan, and that was mostly because it read like something written intentionally to be served to a bunch of kids as part of a school curriculum, and yeah, no. (Also, in of the other stories, the author seems to have watched a somewhat different version of Queer As Folk UK than I did - oh well...)
Henrik Palle: DT: en krønike om Dan Turèll og hans tid
I wonder if Dan Turèll would be half as cool as he is remembered if he hadn't died? If he had aged and settled and been established - I wonder how we'd view him then? As a great poet and writer, sure, but Uncle Danny himself? He was cutting edge - what would have happened when he inevitably failed to keep up one day?
Orhan Pamuk: The White Castle
Poul Skaaning: Vikingestormen: togter mod Vesteuropa 793-937
I found this book quite interesting, mostly because it focused not on the Vikings in England and Ireland (which, let's be honest, a lot of the literature does, no doubt because a lot of the literature is in English), but on the Vikings in the Carolingian Empire during the 9th century. How they used the political climate and were used in their turn. And it's interesting. (Also: how to fight vikings: build bridges! Lots of bridges!). Also I now need fiction about Rorik of Dorestad...
Tage Voss: Besættelsen 1940-45 - som den nødigt berettes
I wonder if the author of this short book actually realizes that he contradicts himself to a degree that makes him look silly. He spends the first half of the book claiming that there was no resistance and no particular issues in the population against the German Occupation - then spends the second half describing the resistance utopia Christianshavn (oh, but how dare you question the fortunes the fisherman charged for smuggling people, that's completely different) as well as his own adventures in people smuggling and how friends and family helped a Jewish family he was friends with. He spends page after page vilifying the police - only to offhandedly mention how Søpolitiet actively took part in the people smuggling. It's just - the whole thing comes across as a pissed-off letter to the editor, really. The author could have added references to the general bits, but no - he just has a line about how it's all there for those who bother to read the sources (no, that's not conspiracy theoristic at all, dear sir), and as for the autobiographical bits - well, since the book doesn't even bother to contain a brief about-the-author, how am I to believe those? Random out-of-context bits written by someone who must be about 90 years old and himself writes how the survivors from that time are all either dead or senile - how am I to credit someone who doesn't even credit his contemporaries?
Comics
Joshua Hale Fialkov: I, Vampire: Rise of the Vampires
I kinda like this. Okay, the story is not that original, but I adore the relationship between Andrew and Mary (and how they do love each other, even when they hate each other and try to kill each other - a lot).
Robert Kirkman: The Walking Dead: What Comes After
Marcel Ruijters: Alle Heiligen
Scott Snyder: American Vampire 2.
Scott Snyder: American Vampire 3.
Brian Wood: DMZ: Free States Rising
Brian Wood: DMZ: The Five Nations of New York
Total number of books and comics read this month: 14
Currently reading: Eldvígslan by Jónas Kristjánsson and Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns.
Laurie R. King: Garment of shadows
Rory McTurk: Studies in Ragnars Saga Lodbrokar and its major Scandinavian analogues
Quite interesting, if maybe a bit academic. Apparently, Aslaug is actually a relatively late addition to the Ragnar Lothbrok stories - oh, and Ragnar and Lothbrok started out as two different people and Lothbrok migth well have been a woman. So yeah, Michael Hirst, do tell me about how very historical your show is...
Kim Marthedal: Adam & Evan - historier fra paradis
This was an okay short story collection. None of the stories really wowed me, but mostly I liked them well enough - and one of them, Dagbog fra Gereshk is actually a sequel to Lig og laurbær, which was a pleasant surprise. Anyway, most of the stories seem to be pretty, uhm, boy meets boy, there might be a brief point of challenge to the plot, and then happy ever after. The only story I actively disliked was the first (and thankfully the shortest) Adam & Evan, and that was mostly because it read like something written intentionally to be served to a bunch of kids as part of a school curriculum, and yeah, no. (Also, in of the other stories, the author seems to have watched a somewhat different version of Queer As Folk UK than I did - oh well...)
Henrik Palle: DT: en krønike om Dan Turèll og hans tid
I wonder if Dan Turèll would be half as cool as he is remembered if he hadn't died? If he had aged and settled and been established - I wonder how we'd view him then? As a great poet and writer, sure, but Uncle Danny himself? He was cutting edge - what would have happened when he inevitably failed to keep up one day?
Orhan Pamuk: The White Castle
Poul Skaaning: Vikingestormen: togter mod Vesteuropa 793-937
I found this book quite interesting, mostly because it focused not on the Vikings in England and Ireland (which, let's be honest, a lot of the literature does, no doubt because a lot of the literature is in English), but on the Vikings in the Carolingian Empire during the 9th century. How they used the political climate and were used in their turn. And it's interesting. (Also: how to fight vikings: build bridges! Lots of bridges!). Also I now need fiction about Rorik of Dorestad...
Tage Voss: Besættelsen 1940-45 - som den nødigt berettes
I wonder if the author of this short book actually realizes that he contradicts himself to a degree that makes him look silly. He spends the first half of the book claiming that there was no resistance and no particular issues in the population against the German Occupation - then spends the second half describing the resistance utopia Christianshavn (oh, but how dare you question the fortunes the fisherman charged for smuggling people, that's completely different) as well as his own adventures in people smuggling and how friends and family helped a Jewish family he was friends with. He spends page after page vilifying the police - only to offhandedly mention how Søpolitiet actively took part in the people smuggling. It's just - the whole thing comes across as a pissed-off letter to the editor, really. The author could have added references to the general bits, but no - he just has a line about how it's all there for those who bother to read the sources (no, that's not conspiracy theoristic at all, dear sir), and as for the autobiographical bits - well, since the book doesn't even bother to contain a brief about-the-author, how am I to believe those? Random out-of-context bits written by someone who must be about 90 years old and himself writes how the survivors from that time are all either dead or senile - how am I to credit someone who doesn't even credit his contemporaries?
Comics
Joshua Hale Fialkov: I, Vampire: Rise of the Vampires
I kinda like this. Okay, the story is not that original, but I adore the relationship between Andrew and Mary (and how they do love each other, even when they hate each other and try to kill each other - a lot).
Robert Kirkman: The Walking Dead: What Comes After
Marcel Ruijters: Alle Heiligen
Scott Snyder: American Vampire 2.
Scott Snyder: American Vampire 3.
Brian Wood: DMZ: Free States Rising
Brian Wood: DMZ: The Five Nations of New York
Total number of books and comics read this month: 14
Currently reading: Eldvígslan by Jónas Kristjánsson and Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns.
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