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review 2014-04-29 15:44
Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and Sagas
The Myths Of The Norsemen - Helene Guerber

I found this book on Project Gutenberg and decided to read it before reading some Icelandic sagas so that I wouldn't be completely lost. For someone who had little knowledge of Norse mythology this was a good book to get an overview of Norse gods and mythology. I have seen some reviews that have stated some facts in this book are not correct but since I am far from an expert on this subject I cannot comment on that. I was pleasantly surprised to get to read about Aslaug and Ragnar Lothbrok as I was not expecting them to be in this book (even the teeny bit that they were). I really enjoyed that the author sprinkled quotes from the sagas throughout this book. One thing that I felt might be interesting to some but was completely unnecessary to me was the comparison of Norse mythology to Greek mythology at the end. Quite frankly it just felt like filler and was boring. I think I would have liked it more if the author would have used the Greek names for the Greek gods instead of the Roman names. Now that I have more knowledge of Norse mythology I am looking forward to reading some Icelandic sagas.

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text 2014-04-23 15:48
Status Updates: Currently Reading

Usually I try not to read more than two books at a time but I want to try to get these three finished by the end of the month. I am really enjoying all three books right now, none more than the others. So here are my reading updates for the books:

 

 

 

The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor: Page 52 out of 359

This book follows Maggie as she travels from Ireland to the United States on the Titanic. She doesn't really want to go but is forced to when her aunt becomes her guardian. This also follows Grace, her great-granddaughter, as she deals with her father's death in 1982. As is usual for me so far I've enjoyed reading about Maggie and the other characters from the past more than I've enjoyed reading about Grace. When the characters from 1912 talk about how safe the Titanic is you can't help but cringe. I am really looking forward to reading more of this.

 

 

 

Night Film by Marisha Pessl: 7% completed

I was hooked in immediately from the start of the prologue. I love that this book has news articles, police reports, etc. it really enhances the story for me and provides a uniqueness to it. My favorite part of this so far was the prologue. It was written so well and clearly that I could see the events in my mind. I'm not really sure how I feel about Scott yet but I feel like I'll end up not liking him throughout this. I just can't wait to dive back into this.

 

 

 

Myths of the Norsemen by H.A. Guerber: 8% completed

I wanted to read this before I dived into some of the Icelandic sagas to get a basic overview of Norse mythology. So far I have read about the creation of Earth and am now reading about Odin. I like the use of quotes from the sagas and other sources and am enjoying the pictures as well.

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text 2014-04-02 15:37
April Reading List
The Falling Woman - Pat Murphy
Critical Vulnerability: (A Sasha McCandless Companion Novel) - Melissa F. Miller
Night Film - Marisha Pessl
The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
The Myths Of The Norsemen - Helene Guerber

Well I am a little late with this but hey last month I didn't even make a list so now we have a little progress. I have so many books in my tbr pile that it is a little hard for me to pick which books I'd like to read next but that is always a good problem to have. So here is my (incomplete because we all know that I'll end up requesting a ton of books from NetGalley and getting some from the library) list of books I plan on reading in April:

 

The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy:

This is a book that I requested from NetGalley. It won the Nebula Award back for 1987. I immediately was captivated by the cover and it reminded me of a piece of artwork that I wrote a paper on in my Intro to Non-Western Art History class. The book description really intrigued me and as I am starting to read more books about archeology (at least fiction books) I decided to request it. Here is some of the book description:

 

When night falls over the Yucatan, the archaeologists lay down their tools. But while her colleagues relax, Elizabeth Butler searches for shadows. A famous scientist with a reputation for eccentricity, she carries a strange secret. Where others see nothing but dirt and bones and fragments of pottery, Elizabeth sees shades of the men and women who walked this ground thousands of years before. She can speak to the past—and the past is beginning to speak back.

 

Critical Vulnerability by Melissa F. Miller:

This is the first book in a new series by one of my favorite authors. The main character in this series, Aroostine Higgins, made appearances in Miller's other series so I am really looking forward to reading more about Aroostine. Here is the book description:

 

Governments, hospitals, and industry use computerized industrial control systems to remotely monitor and control elevators, electricity, alarms, surveillance systems, and more. It's convenient and efficient. And potentially deadly. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aroostine Higgins put her personal life on hold to join the Department of Justice's elite Criminal Division. Now she's prosecuting two men accused of attempting to bribe a foreign government official. But everything's going wrong. Her pretrial motion vanishes from the federal court's electronic docketing system. Her apartment catches fire. Routine dental surgery turns into a near-death experience. When Aroostine's past comes crashing into her present, her most critical vulnerability is exploited and she finally admits she isn't simply suffering a string of bad luck. An unseen enemy is determined to destroy her--and the only man she's ever loved--unless she finds him first.
 
Night Film by Marisha Pessi:
I had seen a lot of praise for this book but didn't decide to read it until I saw it available in ebook to borrow from my library. I read the description once I saw it and was immediately interested in it. I did try to look at some reviews and it seemed like either people loved it or they hated it.
 
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien:
I read The Fellowship of the Ring a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it, so I am looking forward to reading the next volume.
 
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr:
This is another book I requested from NetGalley. I cannot tell you how excited I am to read this. So instead of me rambling on, here is the book description:
 
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie- Laure’s converge.
 
Myths of the Norsemen by H.A. Guerber:
So recently I've become interested in Vikings, the Viking Age, and Norse mythology. I came across this book on Project Gutenberg and thought it looked like a great tool to learn more about Norse mythology.
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review 2011-01-01 00:00
Myths of the Norsemen (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) - Helene Guerber,Kirsten Wolf The upside to this collection can be seen in the in depth discussion on each subject, but the downside is the tiptoeing around the grittier parts of the Norse myths. However, I would highly recommend this book for follow up reading.
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