Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Antiques & Collectibles    3. Antiques / Collectibles    4. Antiques/Collectibles    5. Biography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Furniture    8. Furniture design    9. Furniture designers    10. History    11. Scandinavia    12. Furniture & cabinetmaking   

Reviews (1)

Excellent!
This is one of the best royal biographies of the year! The authors stick to the facts and do not reley on untrue rumors; at the same time they fully describe the personialty of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1968-    2. 1972-    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Crown Prince of Denmark,    7. Crown Princess of Denmark,    8. Europe - Scandinavia    9. Frederick,    10. Mary,    11. Monarchy And Aristocracy    12. Royalty    13. Scandinavia - History    14. Women    15. Biography: general    16. History / Scandinavia    17. Northern Europe, Scandinavia   

Reviews (3)

Fantastic
If you're a travel buff or fantasize about travel, you'll find this tale of Watkins' journey through the mountainous terrain of central Norway a page turner. His descriptions of ladscapes are vivid. Additionally, he aquaints the reader with the people, customs, and foods of the area. In fact, he does a phenomenal job such that if you really get into the book, you'll feel as if you've traveled to central Norway yourself. He carries books by those before him who have already made the journey. He uses previous tales of Norwegian travels to guide his tour. These are his ghosts, i.e. the ones before him. He constantly refers to these previous works, giving the reader a synopsis of previous travels by others in addition to the vivid description of his own account. If you're a sightseer and enjoy the outdoors, you will likely enjoy Watkins' tale. If, on the other hand, you prefer to spend you time indoors and in the city, you might find his tale quite dull. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but I love the outdoors, state and national parks etc.

An Inward Journey
Paul Watkins' "The Fellowship of Ghosts" is equal parts highly readable travelogue and introspective musings as the author hikes and travels through the mountains of Central Norway.The ghosts of the title are earlier, mostly English, authors who wrote about their travels in the mountains of Norway: Watkins travels much of the same ground and notes what has and has not changed.As an American graduate of an English boarding school, the author is in a position to critique his precessors.
A trekk through a Nordic Wilderness
I just finished this travel memoir, THE FELLOWSHIP OF GHOSTS by Paul Watkins about his solitary hiking trip through the lesser traveled area of Norway that lies just below Trondheim.I gave it 3 stars in relative to a general audience, but for those who have a genuine interest in this type of trip, it is a definite 5 star find.
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Subjects:  1. 1964-    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Description and travel    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Europe - Scandinavia    6. General    7. History    8. History: World    9. Mountaineering    10. Norway    11. Travel    12. Watkins, Paul,    13. Biography & Autobiography / General    14. Travel writing   

Reviews (3)

Better than Out of Africa
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.

Like reading a personal diary
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! A woman of the future
This is a very powerfull book, which gives good insight into the mind and soul of Karen Blixen. Compared to her own book "out of africa" you here have the "unprocessed" facts - she writes about her every day life on the farm, happy things as well as sad things in the formof letters to her loved ones. Very different from the intrepetation of thesame facts in her book "Out of Africa". Read it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1885-1962    2. 20th century    3. Authors, Danish    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Blixen, Karen,    8. Correspondence    9. Danish Literature    10. Dinesen, Isak,    11. European - Scandinavian    12. Historical - General    13. Literary    14. Africa    15. Biography: general    16. Danish    17. Literary Criticism & Collections / Scandinavian   

Subjects:  1. Beowulf    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. Dragons in literature    5. Epic poetry, English (Old)    6. History and criticism    7. Juvenile Nonfiction    8. Juvenile literature    9. Literary Criticism & Collections    10. Monsters in literature    11. Scandinavia    12. Study Aids - General    13. Juvenile Nonfiction / General    14. Language, Literature And Biography   

Reviews (1)

A light hearted read
This book, though not an authorised biography and contains only 'researched' information, is a great read. Especially for the fellow Australian who can understand some of the references made - like the stories told in the Little Golden Books etc. This provided a few laughs, though not sure if they'll be understood by the non-antipodean! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography / Royalty    2. Biography & Autobiography / Women    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. General    5. History / Scandinavia    6. Crown Prince of Denmark,    7. Crown Princess of Denmark,    8. Denmark    9. Frederick    10. Mary    11. Princesses   

Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. Artists, Architects, Photographers    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Brundtland, Gro Harlem    8. Europe - Scandinavia    9. Norway    10. Politics and government    11. Presidents & Heads of State    12. Prime ministers    13. Women    14. Biography & Autobiography / Women    15. Biography: political    16. Political leaders & leadership   

Subjects:  1. 1832-1918    2. Biography    3. Decorah    4. Decorah (Iowa)    5. Diaries    6. Iowa    7. Koren, Elisabeth,    8. Norwegian Americans    9. Koren, Elisabeth   

Reviews (3)

Disappointingly Skewed
While Buckley has admirably and extensively researched and detailed her portrait of Europe in the 1600's, her characterizations of Christina of Sweden are irritatingly judgemental and peevish. If you are looking for a curmudgeonly psuedoanalysis of the extraordinary Queen, you will be happy. If you are looking for an impartial biography or an exciting story, you won't find it here. Buckley cobbles the flow of her own narrative by nitpicking Christina's motivations at every turn. YAWN!

An excellent examination of a life.
Buckley has done a wonderful job with her first book and I am hoping that others will follow. This is a well-researched and well-documented biography of Christina. The queen is placed within her time period and Buckley wisely refrains from enforcing a modern view on the queen's lifestyle and decisions. Instead the author leaves the reader to make up their own mind.
I love a good eccentric!
Unfortunately, there was a lot of Swedish history to slog through at first.When I finally got to Christina's misadventures, things picked up.But this was not a really compelling biography--I kept counting how many pages I had left til the end.If you want a biography you can't put down, go read "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1626-1689    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Christina,    7. Europe - Scandinavia    8. Kings and rulers    9. Modern - 17th Century    10. Monarchy And Aristocracy    11. Queen of Sweden,    12. Royalty    13. Scandinavia - History    14. Sweden    15. Biography & Autobiography / Royalty   

Reviews (8)

Another Swede speaks out
Gunnar's (a typical Swede) review criticized this book for being narrow-minded, critical and clich� about Swedes and for encouraging stereotypes about "bipolar herring-munchers who live deep inside the forest in little red houses without indoor plumbing."
Waiting for the Sequel...
Jennifer Olsson's Fly Fishing the River of Second Chances is not so much a book about fly fishing as it is a travel memoir of the secrets of Sweden as seen through an American's eyes.
Reinforcing the stereotype
In case you didn't know: Swedes are bipolar herring-munchers who live deep inside the forest in little red houses without indoor plumbing. The Swedish men always prefer to live with their mom until she dies - sometimes longer... In some cases though, in their mid-forties when they hit a mid-life crisis, they go to Thailand to buy a bride and bring home to the mosquito infested village. Swedes rarely say anything at all, if they do it is something shallow about the weather or expressing the urge to get stupid-drunk on moonshine. Swedes also hunt or collect everything they eat i.e. moose and lingonberries. Swedes are indeed primitive, but really harmless and fun to watch. This is the portrait Jennifer Olsson paints of Sweden. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Europe - Scandinavia    3. Personal Memoirs    4. Travel    5. Women    6. Travel / Europe / Scandinavia   

Subjects:  1. America    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography - Historical    4. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Biography    5. Children: Grades 4-6    6. Explorers    7. History - Exploration & Discovery    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile literature    10. Leiv Eiriksson,    11. Scandinavia    12. Vikings    13. d. ca. 1020    14. Ericson, Leif    15. Leiv Eiriksson   

Reviews (2)

Desserts Galore
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.

�Cooking the naturally delicious way�
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. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Cooking / Scandinavian    3. Cooking / Wine    4. General    5. Regional & Ethnic - Scandinavian    6. Cookbook    7. Cookery    8. Cookery, Swedish    9. Cooking    10. Recipes   

Reviews (1)

Absorbing perspectives on American civilization
Written by Knut Hamsun (1920 Nobel Prize winner for his novel "The Growth of the Soil", and who later became infamous for betraying his country of Norway to support the Nazis even as Vidkun Quisling did), Knut Hamsun Remembers America: Essays And Stories 1885-1949 is inherently interesting presentation of thirteen essays and stories based on Hamsun's experiences during the four years he spent in the United States when he was a young man. Translated into English and edited for a contemporary readership by Richard Nelson Current, these individual pieces reflect the negative side of "Yankeeland" all too well, though they are not unilaterally anti-American, and some even recall fond images. Knut Hamsun Remembers America is recommended for its gripping and absorbing perspectives on American civilization, while reflecting Hamsun's anti-Americanism in his perceptions and writings. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1859-1952    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Civilization    6. European - Scandinavian    7. Hamsun, Knut,    8. Literary    9. Norwegian (Language) Contemporary Fiction    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Translations into English    12. Travel    13. Travelers    14. United States    15. United States - General    16. Collections & anthologies of various literary forms    17. Northern Europe, Scandinavia    18. Norwegian    19. Other prose: 19th century   

Reviews (2)

what a great diary
Well it isn't really a diary. It's more like reading his philosophy, but more intimate.Even though I like his philosophy, I preferred this the most.In this, he doesn't make subtle hints about his father and Regine.He completely bares his relationship with themand it's rather heartbreaking.Also A Smattering of SK's Voluminous Journal Entries
This highly condnsed anthology of some of SK's journey entries provides a good overview of many of the key events which shaped his life, as well as his own reflections about these events. Worth reading in conjunction with other works. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Essays    4. European - Scandinavian    5. Historical - General    6. Literary Collections    7. Philosophers    8. Biography & Autobiography / Historical    9. Biography & Autobiography-Philosophers    10. Kierkegaard, Søren    11. Literary Collections / Essays    12. Literature: Texts    13. Northern Europe, Scandinavia   

Subjects:  1. Scandinavia    2. Description and travel    3. Wollstonecraft, Mary,    4. Romanticism    5. Literature: Classics    6. Feminists    7. Biography & Autobiography / General    8. Biography: general    9. Classic travel writing    10. Journeys    11. Marriage    12. Northern Europe, Scandinavia    13. Other prose: 16th to 18th centuries    14. Wollstonecraft, Mary    15. Travel    16. 1759-1797    17. Great Britain    18. 18th century    19. Authors, English    20. Biography   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (3)

A sad book unintentionally almost funny
You won't find much here about Iceland, but if you're looking for a case study on the American male midlife-crisis, this may be your baby. Taken that way it's unintentionally, although darkly, funny (There's no intentional humor at all. None.) And despite the jacket blurb, don't look for wisdom. A Pennsylvania guy in his 40's with house, wife, toddler and dog is drawn to spending a summer in rural Iceland. His mother worries about how her toddler grandson will handle it, and the author can't come up with any reason to go there, but then his mom is brutally murdered. This provides a good reason. Now the son needs Iceland to cure his grief and rage and also maybe to get in some kayaking on the side. He's no longer able to have sex with his wife, but finds he's generally able to sleep after pulling his pud. So in December he heads to Iceland by himself -- probably not the best time to fix up an abandoned shack near the Arctic Circle, but then he leans heavily on goodhearted Icelanders to pull him through. ("Friends" in the book are horribly used.) The wife and kid arrive in June. Nothing much is going on at the ends of the earth, and this would be a good chance for contemplation and to bring a deep truth or two out of the wilderness. Instead, the reader gets an almost day-by-day action account of what must be one of the most tedious, dreary summers ever. If anything worth mentioning happens, I missed it. The toddler apparently had to be rescued from a manure heap, but the author skirts that. And he finds dead things everywhere: a seal washed up on the beach doesn't smell or look great; baby wagtails fall out of the nest and are eaten. After a month of this everybody gets to go home to PA for a couple of weeks (for a funeral) and then returns to finish out August in Iceland. The guy never tries to learn Icelandic and argues it can't be learned, although his wife learns enough to get by. An Icelander sends love poetry to the wife, but the author breaks that up. He'd like to stay longer, but hears PA calling. You close the book hoping the wife and kid will run away with the poet.

Nice balance of nature, travel, and journal writing.
My kind of book is a non-fiction book entitled "A Year in (blank)" or any calendar subset of that (e.g., Sue Hubbell's A Country Year).So when I encountered Summer at Little Lava, I was interested.Iknew that it wasn't the journal of the author's life for a year in thecountry.But a summer in a remote cottage on the coast of Iceland wasclose enough for me.I was not disappointed.I tended to skim over thedetail of natural history and bird behavior, but slowed down considerablywhen Fergus described crossing the lava fields, ocean kayaking, or havingcoffee with their distant Icelandic neighbors.The mix of natural history,animal and plant description, and story telling was well balanced.Therewas enough "journal-like" story telling to keep me reading to theend.The chapter "Poison Cold" was so good it was worthre-reading, but be warned -- be close to a woodstove when you read itbecause it will make you cold.An added human dimension to the book is theoccasional memories and thoughts of the author as he wrestles with thedeaths of both his mother and his niece.A particularly touching passagerecounts the telling to his son of the tragic death of his niece. Irecommend this book for all travel and nature readers.And for readerslooking for a book without a hidden agenda and unnecessary symbolism.Theauthor simply writes about what he sees and feels . . . and sometimes whathe deeply feels.

Of great interest becouse of my lineage
I am third generation Icelandic, all of my grandparents immegrated to america in the late 19th century. They were all: "west coast Icelanders" Reading Fergus's book was of especial interest because mymaternal grandmother [Holmfrethur Hansdottir] was born on Oct 20, 1860 at:Litliahrauni, Iceland, the exact site of Little Lava in this book. I have ajournal writen by her husband in 1930 that spells out this history. I wouldlike to send a copy of this journal to Mr. Fergus if I can get his address.Thank you. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th Century Description And Travel    2. American authors    3. Biography    4. Description and travel    5. Essays    6. Essays & Travelogues    7. Europe - Scandinavia    8. Iceland    9. Natural history    10. Nature    11. Nature/Ecology    12. Travel - Foreign    13. Fergus, Charles   

Reviews (1)

A well written reminder of home
I'm originally from Iowa, and of Norwegian ancestry to boot, so I took a chance and ordered this book.I'm very glad I did.The book seems to start out slow ...it goes through a pedigree of the Tjernagel family.But when I got to the dog stories, I was glad for the background.The book is thoroughly charming and it put me in mind of stories my grandfather used to tell.Peder Gustav's fine character and humor shine through the narrative and when the book is finished, you wish you lived next door to his ancestors.I believe that even the Danes and Swedes would like this book.O' jah, you betcha ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Europe - Scandinavia    4. Historical - General    5. History - U.S.    6. United States - State & Local - General    7. Biography: general    8. History / United States / State & Local    9. Iowa    10. Rural communities   

Reviews (1)

An exciting saga of the Lief Eriksson expedition
Before Columbus is an exciting saga of the Lief Eriksson expedition five hundred years before Columbus provides kids in grades 3-5 with an excellent saga which reads like fiction but includes all known facts about his incredible journey. New audiences will appreciate this vivid retelling of what Lief might have experienced on his Viking expedition. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adventure & Adventurers    2. America    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography - Historical    5. Children's 9-12 - Biography / Autobiography    6. Children: Grades 3-4    7. Explorers    8. History - Exploration & Discovery    9. Juvenile Nonfiction    10. Juvenile literature    11. Leiv Eiriksson,    12. Scandinavia    13. Vikings    14. d. ca. 1020    15. Ericson, Leif    16. Juvenile Nonfiction / Adventure & Adventurers    17. Leiv Eiriksson   

Reviews (1)

Sample Wonderful Danish Recipes
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.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Cooking / Wine    3. General    4. Regional & Ethnic - Scandinavian   

Subjects:  1. Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen    2. Bremen Region (Germany)    3. Catholic Church    4. Catholic Church.    5. Christianity - History - Catholic    6. Church history    7. General    8. Hamburg Region (Germany)    9. History    10. History: World    11. Medieval    12. Religion - Classic Works    13. To 1500    14. Biography: historical    15. European history: c 500 to c 1500    16. History / Medieval    17. Northern Europe, Scandinavia    18. Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church    19. c 1000 CE to c 1500    20. c 500 CE to c 1000 CE