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Books
100 subkulturer - en rejse gennem forskellighed
Very pretty coffeetable book - though why the writers want the big fan fiction fandom to have been Star Wars and not Star Trek puzzles me.
Alan K. Baker: The Gods of Atlantis
Harris Birkeland: Nordens historie i middelalderen etter arabiske kilder
So, this book is basically what the title says: a collection of references to the Norse (the al-rus or the al-majus, mostly) in arab sources from the middle ages. There are the of course ones - Ibn Fadlan's description of a funeral, the Hedeby snippet, the story of Al-Ghazal's embassy to the viking king and his courtly flirt with the viking queen. As for the rest - there are a lot of repetitions and quoting each other in especially the geographic and historical works, but there's also some bits of interest: a fellow named an-Nadim has a tiny bit of what appears to be transcribed runes, al-Idrisi has a fairly decent geographic description of Scandinavia, though seeing as he lived at the court of the Sicilian Norman king, he probably had good sources. A couple of references to women actually wanting to be burned with the dead viking warriors because that was the only way they could get to Valhalla (well, paradise) - though whether those are independent sources or just embroidering on Ibn Fadlan? Oh, and a few references to the amazing quality of the swords of the al-rus, how you could bend them and they didn't break and they resumed their previous shape - I suppose that must have been Ulfberht swords?
Charlaine Harris: Dead Ever After
Kvindestudier 2.
It's rather odd, reading feminist writing from the 70s - for one thing, while I get where they're coming from, these women sometimes manage to come across as subscribing to just as strong a gender binary as any patriarchal society. Which makes sense, considering they were working on defining woman as something other than man, but - well, I don't really ascribe to absolute gender binaries and their version of woman probably wouldn't have had much room for a childfree, aromantic asexual...
Sergei Lukyanenko: The New Watch
I wish more urban fantasy was like this series and less was, well. Nevermind.
Kim Newman: Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the d'Urbervilles
Marcus Sedgwick: Midwinterblood
Jo Walton: Among Others
This is a glorious, wondrous novel. It's fantasy (actually, in some ways a reverse Harry Potter), but actually, I think I'd love it even if it wasn't, because more importantly, it's a book about growing up fangirl, about loving fantasy and science fiction and just books and libraries and - and it's glorious. Read it. If you haven't read it, read it.
Also, it's possible the main character magiced fandom into being...
Theis Ørntoft: Digte 2014
Comics
Warren Ellis: Global Frequency
I want more...
Mike Mignola: Hellboy: Masks and Monsters
Why don't I ever remember to stay away from official crossover comics. They always feel off...
Total number of books and comics read this month: 12
Currently reading: 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
100 subkulturer - en rejse gennem forskellighed
Very pretty coffeetable book - though why the writers want the big fan fiction fandom to have been Star Wars and not Star Trek puzzles me.
Alan K. Baker: The Gods of Atlantis
Harris Birkeland: Nordens historie i middelalderen etter arabiske kilder
So, this book is basically what the title says: a collection of references to the Norse (the al-rus or the al-majus, mostly) in arab sources from the middle ages. There are the of course ones - Ibn Fadlan's description of a funeral, the Hedeby snippet, the story of Al-Ghazal's embassy to the viking king and his courtly flirt with the viking queen. As for the rest - there are a lot of repetitions and quoting each other in especially the geographic and historical works, but there's also some bits of interest: a fellow named an-Nadim has a tiny bit of what appears to be transcribed runes, al-Idrisi has a fairly decent geographic description of Scandinavia, though seeing as he lived at the court of the Sicilian Norman king, he probably had good sources. A couple of references to women actually wanting to be burned with the dead viking warriors because that was the only way they could get to Valhalla (well, paradise) - though whether those are independent sources or just embroidering on Ibn Fadlan? Oh, and a few references to the amazing quality of the swords of the al-rus, how you could bend them and they didn't break and they resumed their previous shape - I suppose that must have been Ulfberht swords?
Charlaine Harris: Dead Ever After
Kvindestudier 2.
It's rather odd, reading feminist writing from the 70s - for one thing, while I get where they're coming from, these women sometimes manage to come across as subscribing to just as strong a gender binary as any patriarchal society. Which makes sense, considering they were working on defining woman as something other than man, but - well, I don't really ascribe to absolute gender binaries and their version of woman probably wouldn't have had much room for a childfree, aromantic asexual...
Sergei Lukyanenko: The New Watch
I wish more urban fantasy was like this series and less was, well. Nevermind.
Kim Newman: Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the d'Urbervilles
Marcus Sedgwick: Midwinterblood
Jo Walton: Among Others
This is a glorious, wondrous novel. It's fantasy (actually, in some ways a reverse Harry Potter), but actually, I think I'd love it even if it wasn't, because more importantly, it's a book about growing up fangirl, about loving fantasy and science fiction and just books and libraries and - and it's glorious. Read it. If you haven't read it, read it.
Also, it's possible the main character magiced fandom into being...
Theis Ørntoft: Digte 2014
Comics
Warren Ellis: Global Frequency
I want more...
Mike Mignola: Hellboy: Masks and Monsters
Why don't I ever remember to stay away from official crossover comics. They always feel off...
Total number of books and comics read this month: 12
Currently reading: 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
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