Books

I was clearing off the bedside table and found Jennie by Sigrid Undset. This isn't really a book review, but I will say that this book, the one that got Undset's career moving, is as different from Kristin Lavransdatter than night and day.

To quote the back cover of the book:

When Jenny was published in 1911, Undset found herself called immoral — “this is a side of the free, artistic life that the vast majority of citizens would rather not know.” The novel tells the story of Jenny Winge, a talented Norwegian painter who goes to Rome to seek artistic inspiration but ultimately betrays her own ambitions and ideals. After falling into an affair with the married father of a would-be suitor, Jenny has a baby out-of-wedlock and decides to raise the child on her own. Undset’s portrayal of a woman struggling toward independence and fulfillment is written with an unflinching, clear-eyed honesty that renders her story as compelling today as it was nearly a century ago.

This new translation by Tiina Nunnally captures the fresh, vivid style of Undset’s writing and restores passages omitted from the only previous edition to appear in English, which was published in 1921. Most famous for her later, historical fiction set in Catholic, medieval Scandinavia, Undset stands revealed with Jenny, her first major novel, as an unsparing, compassionate, magnificent realist, the creator of works that are at once thoroughly modern and of enduring interest.

The funny thing is I was engrossed in this book and read it over just a couple days earlier this week, and yet, until I picked it up I didn't give it another thought. I know it had an effect on my way of thinking about things, some books really make you think. It's weird how I can be reading a book and feel immersed in it, and then that feeling is gone when the book ends.

I'm not quite getting my point across, but it's interesting to think of all the books I've read in my life, and how few I remember.

Little Sky Socks

I made the first project in Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters.


It's called "Little Sky Sock" and is for babies. Fortunately we have a new baby in the family.

I'm exited to learn more of the "architectures". The basic idea of the book is that gusset increases don't have to be even placed in the traditional spot right after you turn the heel (if working toe up). Instead they can be put on the instep, on the sole, in a combination of the two. And they don't necessarily have to be evenly spaced. This allows for placement of textures and designs.

Plus it is just fun to not be tied to just one way to make socks.

Crewel World

I enjoy both a good mystery and needlework, so it's fun to find books with both. I discovered the Crewel World series by Monica Ferris in our Daughters of Norway library. They are set in Minnesota, that's the Scandinavian connection. The heroine, Betsy Devonshire, comes to town to visit her sister. Through a series of events she ends up running a needlework store and solving a murder.

There are at least eleven books in the series featuring Betsy and other reappearing characters. I've read Crewel World, Sins & Needles, Framed in Lace, Hanging by a Thread, A Murderous Yarn, and Unraveled Sleeve. These are short, quick reads, perfect when I need a break from something more serious or am stumped on a knitting project. It's been fun to watch Betsy learn about different types of needlework. I also enjoy the Scandinavian-American references. They must be popular, I see "Thai Die" is scheduled to come out in December.

Book Review - O Pioneers!

Here's another book about the Nebraska praries and people trying to tame them: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. A big difference between it and "Giants in the Earth" is that Alexandra loves the land.

Usually I advocate reading the introduction to books first, but I wish I hadn't in this case. The Penguin edition has a very scholarly introduction by Blanche E. Gelfant that reminds me of papers I had to write in college comparing Gabriel Garcia Marquez to William Faulkner to Alice Walker. I don't so much mind that the plot was given away as that I wish I could have made my own impressions about things like Alexandra and Carl's relationship on my own instead of them being shaded by Gelfant's talk of what "friends" means. This is the kind of book that warrants being read over again and dissected, so now I will read the introduction again.

Alexandra has to take over the farm when her father dies, because her father knows that she is better suited than her two brothers. She has great vision and leads the family through hard times, and is like a mother to her third, youngest brother. There is drama and, in my opinion melodrama. The book is so full of imagery about the land. Cather manages to tell a story, paint vivid pictures of the land, and let us inside the characters heads (some more than others). I especially enjoyed the comparisons of the Swedish immigrants to the French and Bohemian.

I will not say more because you can read much better reviews at Amazon. I look forward to reading more by Will Cather.

(This is in our Anna K. library)

Book - Giants in the Earth

I've been reading an awful lot of books that take place in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Iowa lately. Some of them are pioneer tales, others modern mysteries. I am really curious about the land. I already have the Black Hills of South Dakota on the list of places I want to visit, because my mother was born there. Now I want to see the prairies, too. I know they won't be like the books, they are probably huge corporate farms now, and the little towns won't have dirt roads and aren't little anymore.

Most recently I read "Giants in the Earth" by O.E. Rolvaag. I've been having trouble figuring out what to say about it. Yes, I liked it, could barely put it down, but...I can't express it. I think this part of the introduction explains it. "Rolvaag is primarily interested in psychology, in the unfolding of character; the native American writer is primarily interested in plot and incident. Rolvaag is preoccupied with the human cost of empire building, rather than with its glamour and romance."

I realize that the book is about the people, but I guess I need to see the land more to understand what they were thinking. I need to feel the place. The book is about America but was originally written in Norwegian by Rolvaag, a Norwegian immigrant. The forward and introduction discuss this fact extensively. I wish I knew Norwegian so I could read the original, I think it would make a difference.

I've been struggling for days to write this and I'm not sure why. It's not because the story and ending are quite harsh, it's because of the characters. Beret is ill-suited to the hardships of pioneer life, and deals with it with religious fervor. Her husband knows of her depression, doesn't understand it, and that's it. I guess I can't relate to that kind of marriage or situation. And the concept of empire building and taming the earth. I just have a different point of view about that.

The Greenlanders - Mini Book Review

I realize that I'm not doing book reviews, they are barely even mini-book reviews, but I want to share books of possible interest.

I finished "The Greenlanders" last week, and highly recommend it to people interested in Scandinavian history, and to those who just want a good read. It's tale of one family's fate in 14th century Greenland, and really Greenland's fate, too. It is bleak, but it really sucked me in. I had to force myself to go to put it down, not just because I was staying up too late reading, but I wanted to savor the story.

It was especially neat to read this after "Kristin Lavransdatter". They are both sagas in a 14th century Scandinavian setting, but so different. If life seemed rough in Kristin's world, it is downright brutal for the Greenlanders.

From the back cover:

Set in the fourteenth century in Europe's most far-flung outpost, a land of glittering fjords, blasting winds, sun-warmed meadows, and high, dark mountains, The Greenlanders is the story of one family - proud landowner Asgeir Gunnarsson; his daughter Margret, whose willful independence leads her into passisonate adultery and exile; and his son Gunnar, whose quest for knowledge is at the center of this unforgettable book. Jane Smiley takes us into this world of farmers, priests, and lawspeakers, of hunts and feasts and long-standing feuds, and by an act of literary magic, makes a remote time, place, and people not only real but dear to us.

My knowledge of Greenland was pretty sketchy, I didn't even know that Iceland was inhabited first. I bought "A History of the Vikings" by Gwyn Jones to learn more. This is a classic that has been updated several times over the years. Turns out most Icelanders where from Norway. I knew they were Scandinavian, but I didn't realize primarily Norwegian. On my shelf I already had "Vikings - The North Atlantic Saga" which answered my questions about who is in Greenland today. Don't let the bargain price at Amazon influence you. It is great book with a lot of photographs and history. The question of what happened to the last Greenlanders of European descent is still debatable.

I highly recommend "The Greelanders" and the two Viking books I mentioned.

Now I'm reading "Moo" also by Jane Smiley. A great departure from "The Greelanders".

(Anna K. Sisters - we have both Smiley books in our library)

Kristin Lavransdatter III - The Cross

Just a quick follow-up about Kristin Lavransdatter - I finished reading "The Cross", which covers the final part of Kristin's life.

I've been thinking a lot about this fictitious woman and her life. I remember the historic buildings I saw at the Folk Museum in Oslo and can almost picture her in the storehouse, or at the fire. There is photo of the cathedral in Nidaros in the latest Norway.com magazine and I wonder what it looked like when she was there. Then I remember she wasn't a real person. The books describe Kristin and her surroundings in such detail that it's hard to remember she wasn't real.

I have a lot more to say about the saga, it made quite an impression on me. I just can't get a quiet moment to write my thoughts down. What I like the most is that it makes me wonder what it would have been like live then. And the realization that people not only lived differently than we do, they thought differently, too. Their world was so different.

Fanatrøyer

I just got "Fanatrøyer" in the mail from Norway and it is even more wonderful than I expected. There are so many images - old photos of people in their sweaters, close-ups of old sweaters, photos of modern re-creations. It is full of inspiration.

It is in Norwegian, but I had no idea there are about six pages in the back in English that summarize the history of knitting in Norway and Fana sweaters. But the best thing is there are instructions in English! It shows how to finish the cut edges with fabric backing and woven trim, which I was very unclear about.

Here a few things I learned in my first pass through of the book:

Contrary to what I had learned, there appears to be a bunad that uses a sweater. A Fana bunad is shown with a close fitting solid color Fana sweater underneath the bodice.

About the white Fana sweater. Very lovely with purled textured patterning.

The striped sweater was worn throughout the West coast, but has been carried on in Fana. Part of my family is from the coast, so perhaps someone way back wore a striped sweater.

I can't wait to read more, and put the finishing touches on my sweater plan. Next I'm going to look at the buttons and make a decision about those.

Book Review - Håndplagg til Bunader og Folkedrakter

I cannot express how beautiful Håndplagg til Bunader og Folkedrakter is. I bought this book a couple years ago and pull it out from time to time. I was just checking to see if there are Fana gloves.

The book is full of patterns for bunad and folk costume handcoverings. It is a great resource for making mittens, gloves, pulse warmers, etc., but also stands alone with wonderful photographs of bunads and costumes.

It is entirely in Norwegian. Most of the patterns are knit, but there is also nålbinding. Some are embroidered and others beaded. The book starts with an introduction about supplies and techniques and then is divided into geographic regions. Each project shows a historical photo and instructions. Then there is a photo of the reconstructed item, sometimes modeled with costumes, sometimes with modern clothes, which shows how timeless the designs are.

Here is a small sampling of the projects: embroidered gloves from Setsedal and Telemark; stranded gloves and pulsewarmers from Flesberg; Selbu mittens; solid color patterned mittens from several places; several stranded Sami mittens; and much, much more.

If you are on Ravelry, do a pattern search and you will find several people have made projects from the book. A Google search will yield similar results.

Kristin Lavransdatter

I first learned about "Kristin Lavransdatter" through the movie, directed by Liv Ullmann. It is in Norwegian with English subtitles. We watched it at a Daughters of Norway meeting, and I enjoyed it so much I rented it and watched it again a few months later.

I recently read the first two books in the trilogy by the Norwegian author and Nobel Laureate, Sigrid Unsdet, "The Wreath" and "The Wife" and plan to read "The Cross". The story is set in fourteenth century Norway and was inspired by Icelandic Sagas.

Like any book made into a movie, there are big differences between the two. First, the movie leaves off at the end of "The Wreath", while the books continue to tell the story of Kristin's whole life. The film is a beautiful, dramatic romance. The books have a different feeling, the background of Norway's history and every-day life have just as much presence as Kristin's life.

The trilogy is so detailed and gives a view into medieval Norwegian life, how people lived and thought. The movie is so rich and beautiful. I highly recommend both.