Laura’s Comments (group member since Jul 26, 2018)

Laura’s comments from the Nordic Book Club group.

Dear fellow readers,

With the coronavirus crisis continuing to impact NYC, Scandinavia House is remaining closed. Therefore, all book talks and book groups will be postponed until further notice. If this gives you a chance to spend more time with your favorite Nordic literature, here is our end of March list of suggested reading from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. A recommended list of top Icelandic books is on the way. Stay tuned and as always please share your thoughts and reading suggestions or even a reading challenge!

1. “No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference” by Greta Thunberg

A New York Times bestseller by Time‘s 2019 Person of the Year — a collection of the Swedish climate activist’s speeches that ignited a global movement.

2. “The Way Through the Woods” by Litt Woon Long

This debut memoir artfully combines grief and the wonders of hunting mushrooms in the Norwegian woods through a tender and often anthropological lens.

3. “It” by Inger Christensen

Considered a classic of Scandinavian poetry by one of Denmark’s most revered writers, It is a collection of poems ruminating on the perceptions of nature and reality from sea urchins to mental institutions.

4. “The Maid Silja/ Nuorena nukkunut ” by Frans Eemil Sillanpää

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1939), Frans Eemil Sillanpää is known for capturing the essence of Finnish history, as he does in this epic cross-generational tale and bildungsroman of a family’s last descendent, Silja.

5. “Naïve. Super” by Erlend Loe

The coming of age tale that inspired previous U.S. presidential candidate and Mayor Pete Buttigieg to learn Norwegian, just to read more of the author’s yet to be translated works.

Wonderful input Lori! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the book. I wondered as well if Anton asked for Jacob to return to the farm as a way of searching for atonement and why he waited so long to ask. During our SH book club, we also discussed why certain characters decided to never report what they knew about Lise’s death and afterwards what her brother Sten was trying to accomplish by targeting Anders, in part because he was a more vulnerable character. Does anyone have any other thoughts on how toxic behavior, aggressive silence and eventually hope for atonement and truth prevailed throughout this book?

On another note, we would love to keep this GoodReads group as a space open to those excited about Nordic Literature, while Scandinavia House remains closed during this time. If you are a regular at our in-house Nordic Book Club, we are excited to hear from you here and keep the reading group going in some form. If you are new or an ongoing member of our online group, we also can’t wait to hear what you thought of previous books in our library and any suggestions you might have!

Check back later this week for a list of Nordic literature to keep you company and please share your own recommendations for Scandinavian literature and other sources of inspiration here and on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ASFscanhouse/.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Thank you to everyone who joined in for last night’s discussion on "The Summer of Ellen” by Agnete Friis at Scandinavia House! As always, we would love to continue the discussion online. Here are some of the questions that interested us -- please feel free to add your own and share your thoughts!

Characters: Jacob, Ellen, Sten & his father, Anders & Anton (brothers), Jacob’s father and mother, Laurel, Lise (Toad), Karsten (Ellen’s commune boyfriend), Jacob’s wife Kirsten and Janne

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book?

2) What did you think of Friis’ writing style? Which characters and sections stood out to you? What other books and films have tackled this kind of plot?

3) How did Friis handle writing about toxic masculinity and trauma?

4) “..work of psychological suspense weaves together two periods in one man’s life to explore obsession, toxic masculinity, and the tricks we play on our own memory..” Would you categorize this book as a thriller or a suspense novel? Do you think there is a difference?

5) “Alfred Hitchcock once said that a thriller is a whodunit, an intellectual process, but suspense is an emotional one.” –NPR Review
In what ways does Friis create suspense? Were you surprised by anything in the novel?

6) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism and themes did you find? What parts resonated with you? Ex: The way farm animals were talked about, alcoholism, landscapes, architecture, the vivid physical descriptions, and the nicknames.

7) What did you think about the main character Jacob? As a young boy and as an older man? What differences did you find if any? Did you sympathize with him?

8) What did you think of Sten at the beginning of the book and at the end?

9) What did you think of Ellen? How did you view the commune?

10) Why was Anders always wandering and being suspected of watching girls? Where do you think he went in the end? Was it to find Ellen?

11) Why did certain people in the village not report or tell the whole truth about the violence that occurred during the summer of 1978? Ex: Laurel and Anton

12) What was the real or complete reason Anton wanted Jacob to come back to the Jutland farm after 40 years?

13) What did you think of the ending of the book? What was Ellen’s real relationship to the brothers? Were there any conclusions or resolutions for the characters?

Thank you to everyone who joined us last night at Scandinavia House! Below are some of the questions and themes we tried to tackle from the book, that won the EU Prize for Literature (2015), “Things That Fall From The Sky” by the Finnish author Selja Ahava. It was a great discussion, where at the end of the night we each pulled out our favorite quotes from the book and tried to recombine them into a new text of our own.

For those of you joining next month’s Nordic Book Club it would be great if each person brought their favorite quote from “The Summer of Ellen” to try our Florilegium practice again. To all of our online readers, please feel free to leave your own questions or favorite quotes below. We always look forward to them!

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book?

2) What did you think of Ahava’s writing style? Which characters stood out to you? What other books and films have tackled this kind of plot? What style of writing in most conducive to writing about pain and trauma?

3) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism did you find? What parts resonated with you? Ex: The sheep, scissors, sawdust and growing pains.

4) How do you think Ahava chose the order of who gets to narrate? Why does Pekka never get to narrate what happened to him and his family?

5) What did you think about Aunt Annu and Hamish MacKay’s letters? Were they able to help each other and in what way? Can a positive attributed event isolate someone?

6) What did the sheep mean to Saara and Annu? Why does Ahava spend so much time bringing them up throughout the book?

7) Why do you think Hamish MacKay never left his home and kept going back out to sea? What was he most scared of?

8) Why does Krista often refer to Saara as “the girl” when she is thinking or narrating?

9) Why did the police officer come back to visit Pekka at the manor? Do stories help people heal?

10) What role does fairy tales play in the book?

11) What are the main THEMES you would use to talk about this book? Ex: coincidence/ chance, loss, cutting, fear, fairy tales, survivor’s guilt, structures, ghosts and obsession.

12) Why do you think Aristotle’s The Poetics is the beginning of the book?

13) “And that’s the end of that.” What do you think of the ending of the book? Were there any conclusions or resolutions for the characters?

Thank you Christina for joining the group and for your kind words! I hope to see you at the next one in January.

Happy Holidays!
Laura

Thank you to everyone who joined our discussion on "Hotel Silence" by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir last night at Scandinavia House! We had a great time discussing the questions below and would love to hear from our online community here.

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book?

2) What did you think of Ólafsdóttir’s writing style?

3) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism did you find? What parts resonated with you?

4) What did you think of the main character Jónas at the beginning of the book and then at the end?

5) What did you think of the supporting characters in this book?

6) What did the revelation of Waterlilly not being his blood related daughter mean to Jónas? Why did he get the tattoo?

7) Why does Jónas choose to stay at Hotel Silence longer than planned? Why does he return to Iceland at all? Do you think he will return?

8) What is the importance and use of dates in the book? Ex: Fifth of May

9) What did the choir represent?

10) What are your theories on why Jónas gets attacked and who was it meant for?

11) What are the main THEMES you would use to talk about this book? Ex: death, silence, women, war, blood, scars and flesh.

12) What was the importance of the mosaic and paintings in Hotel Silence?

13) How did you feel about the ending of the book? Did it feel complete?

Thank you to everyone who joined us at Scandinavian House for are Nordic Book Club that delved into Helene Uri's book "Clearing Out" tonight! We had a wonderful discussion about the importance and complexities around memorabilia and language death related to the text. We hope to keep the discussion going online -- so please leave any comments and moments that stood out to you here.

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book?
2) What did you think of Uri’s writing style?
3) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism did you find? What parts resonated with you?
4) What did you think of the main Helene and her character Ellinor?
5) What was the special relationship between Helene and her character Ellinor? How did it evolve?
6) What did you think about the different relationships between the other characters? How did they change and why? Ex: Ellinor and Anna Guttormsen.
7) How does learning they are part Sami change Helene and Ellinor?
8) What was surprising to learn about Norway and the Sami of Norway -- in terms of land, culture, modern identity and language?
9) What THEMES would you use to talk about this book? Ex: death, pregnancy, and memorabilia.
10) What importance does ‘language death’ play in the book and on a more personal and international level?
11) What do you think of the generational impacts implied in this book?
12) What do you think of the title of the book “Clearing Out” in English and “Rydde ut” in Norwegian?
13) How did you feel about the ending of the book? Did it feel complete?

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the discussion on Sofia Lundberg's "The Red Address Book" last night at Scandinavia House! Let's continue the discussion online. Here are some of the questions that interested us -- please feel free to add your own and share your thoughts!

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book?

2) What did you think of Lundberg’s writing style?

3) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism did you find? What parts resonated with you?

4) What did you think of the main characters Doris, Jenny, Gösta, and Allan? What other characters stood out?

5) What did you think about the different relationships between the characters? How did they change and why?

6) How does each new space and city shape Doris?

7) What themes would you use to talk about this book? How do they resonate with your own life? Example: Aging

8) What do you think of how each generation impacts the next?

9) What character would you want to learn more about or sympathize with?

10) How did you feel about the ending of the book? Did it feel complete?

Thank you to those who joined us for discussion of "A Change of Time" by Ida Jessen last night at Scandinavia House! We'd love to hear more about what everyone thought of the book. Here are some questions that interested us:

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book?
2) What did you think of Jensen’s writing style? Could you follow the timeline of Lilly’s diary?
3) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism did you find? What parts resonated with you?
4) What did you think of the main characters Lilly, Vigand, Peter Carlsen, and Erland? What other characters stood out?
5) What did you think about the different relationships between the characters? How did they change and why? Ex: Lilly and her husband.
6) Do you sympathize with the main character? Do you sympathize with Vigand?
7) What do you think of the title of the book “A Change of Time”?
8) How does Jensen write about desire and gender? Is the book a portrait of a small town?
9) What did you think of Lilly as a young girl and then an older woman? Do you get the sense that she changed a lot? Why do you think she agreed to marry him at the time?
10) How did you feel about the ending of the book? Did it feel complete?

Here at Scandinavia House, we just finished reading Crossing by Pajtim Statovci! Here are some of the questions that interested us -- please feel free to add your own and share your thoughts.

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book? What parts did you enjoy/not enjoy?
2) What did you think of Statovci’s writing style?
3) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism did you find? What parts resonated with you?
4) What did you think of the characters, especially Bujar?
5) What did you think about the different relationships between the characters? How did they change and why? Ex: Bujar and Agim or his father or Tanja
6) Do you sympathize with the main character?
7) What do you think of the title of the book “Crossing”?
8) What role do fables and nationality play in the book? What parts stood out to you?
9) How does Patjim write about sexuality, desire, and gender?
10) How do you think Patjim reasons with creating identity?
11) What did you think of Patjim as a boy and then as a man?
12) How did you feel about the ending of the book?

Thank you to everyone who joined in for last night’s discussion on "Last Night In Nuuk" by Niviaq Korneliussen at Scandinavia House! We’d love to continue the discussion online. Here are some of the questions that interested us -- please feel free to add your own and share your thoughts!

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book? What parts did you enjoy/not enjoy?

2) What do you think of Korneilussen’s writing style? Is it different? Is there a climax in the plot?

3) What do you think of the characters?(Fia, Inuk, Arnaq, Ivik, and Sara)

4) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism did you find? What parts resonated with you?

5) What do you think of the characters separated by different viewpoints to define the chapters?

6) How important were the meaning of their names?

7) What do you think of Naviaq’s descriptions of Greenland? (Growing up/ becoming of age in Greenland.)

8) What role does understanding one’s sexuality play in the book?

9) How does each character talk about gender importance in Greenland? (Pg.156 Sara’s niece and Inuk and politics)

10) What role does forgiveness play? How does each character deal with forgiveness?

11) Let’s discuss the language that is repeated of “dirty versus pure” in each chapter. What other repetitive language do we see?

12) Is there a resolution for Arnaq or Inuk?

13) What do you think of the introduction to Inuk? Is the prison he describes on pg. 35 real?

14) What did you think of the dedication on the first page?

Thank you to those who joined us for the discussion of What We Owe by Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde! We were lucky to have the author present the book at Scandinavia House last October, based loosely on her own experiences with processing the death of her parents. We'd love to hear more about what everyone thought of the book here. As always, feel free to answer any of these questions, ask your own, or share any thoughts about the book in general.

Main Characters: Nahid, Aram, Masood, Nahid’s sisters Maryam (oldest) & Noora (youngest)

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book? What parts did you enjoy/not enjoy?

2) What did you think of Bonde’s writing style?

3) What did you think of the characters, especially Nahid?

4) What did you take away from the book? What symbolism did you find?

5) What parts resonated with you? (Ex: Nahid saying Aram will “always be a refugee… a child of war”)

6) What did you think about the different relationships between the characters? How did they change and why? Ex: Aram and Nahid or Nahid and Christina the doctor

7) What changed in Nahid’s relationship with her family before she left Iran and after in Sweden? Is she selfish?

8) What is the importance of roots? (Ex: “child of roots, not sand” – pg.135 or 137)

9) What does the title of “What We Owe” mean in this book? How much do we owe the people we came from? Are the roles of mother and child often reversed, especially when you try to protect the ones you love? (Ex: pg. 138)

10) How important is the past?

11) How did you feel about the ending of the book?

Patricia wrote: "Hello! I follow your book club from afar. I enjoy seeing which books you pick and the questions you share. I really enjoyed Gunnhild Øyehaug's Knots: Stories. I'm intrigued by Wait, Blink.

I host ..."

Sounds great. Thanks for sharing this with us Patricia!

Thank you to everyone who joined in for last night’s discussion on "Wait, Blink" by Gunnhild Øyehaug at Scandinavia House! We’d love to continue the discussion online. Here are some of the questions that interested us -- please feel free to add your own and share your thoughts!

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book? What parts did you enjoy/not enjoy?

2) What did you think of Linnea, Sigrid and Trine?

3) What differences and similarities did you think were important about the characters?

4) What did you think of the author’s writing style and the use of an omniscient narrator?

5) What did you think of the secondary or supporting characters? Kåre, Robert, Viggo, Göran, Magnus, Elida and Wanda?

6) Did you connect with one character the most?

7) What did you think about the way Øyehaug talks about motherhood through Trine and other characters?

8) What did you think about the way each character discusses and thinks about art or films? Ex: Kill Bill, Vol. 2 or sunflower paintings.

9) What did you think about the books references to "Lost In Translation" and Dante’s "Divine Comedy" among others? What other references caught your attention?

10) How did you feel about the ending of the book?

Thank you to everyone who came out for the last Nordic Noir of the year at Scandinavia House! We want to continue the discussion on "Below the Surface," by Leena Lehtolainen here with you our online readers. Let us know what you thought of the book. Here are some questions we talked about this December.

1) How did you like the characters?

2) Was the plot believable?

3) Did “Carcass” kill himself?

4) What do you think the meaning of the books was? What do you think it wanted to point out about infidelity, love and people’s right to privacy?

5) What will happen with Ursula and Kallio? Who do you think was telling the truth?

Randi wrote: "is there another Nordic book club hosted by the Scandinavian House? This month they're reading The Girl In The Woods by Camilla Läckberg, but I can't seem to find the information here."

Hi Randi,

Here is the online discussion for this month's book: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

A big thank you to everyone who came out for our Nordic Noir Book Club at Scandinavia House last night. We discussed "The Girl In The Woods" by Camilla Läckberg. We’d love to continue the discussion online. Here are some of the questions that interested us -- please feel free to add your own and share your thoughts!

1. How did you experience the book?
2. What do you think the meaning/aim of the book is?
3. What did you think about the structure of the book is?
4. How did you feel about the relationships between the characters, especially between parents and children?
5. How do you think the story about Elsa is connected to the rest of the story? Considering that the original Swedish title would directly translate to English as “the Witch.”
6. Was the plot believable?
7. What exactly was the climax of the story? How and why was that the climax?
8. How did you think about the ending?

Lily wrote: "Thanks for leading an interesting discussion of Mirror Should Signal! I would recommend The Invention of Ana by Mikkel Rosengaard as a future book club selection. He gave a book talk at Scandinavia..."

Hi Lily, Thanks for joining the book talk the other night and for the suggestion. It looks like a great book!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the discussion of “Mirror, Shoulder, Signal” by Dorthe Nors at Scandinavia House! We'd love to continue the discussion and hear more about what people thought of the book. Here are some of the questions that interested us -- please feel free to add your own!

1) How was your reading experience? Did you enjoy reading the book? What parts did you enjoy/not enjoy?

2)What did you think of the style of writing? Did the book have a climax?

3)How did you feel about her comparisons between the rural landscape of Jutland and the city of Copenhagen?

4)Were there things that kept appearing throughout the book? If so, what were they? How did Nors talk about the idea of “home” through Sonja’s character?

5)Did/ could you identify with Sonja? What did you think about the supporting characters? E.g. Ellen, Molly, Kate, Frank, Paul, Jytte, Martha and Folke? Sonja’s mom and dad? What did they represent to Sonja?

7)Why do you think Nors decided to make Sonja a translator?

8)What did learning how to drive mean to Sonja? What did Sonja’s Othlithic Vertigo (BPPV) symbolize in the book?

9)Why did Sonja keep talking about the fortune teller?

10)What was she afraid of? What did you think about the ending of the book?

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal

Thank you to everyone who joined in for last night’s discussion on "Eventide," by Therese Bohman at Scandinavia House! We’d love to continue the discussion online. Here are some of the questions that interested us -- please feel free to add your own and share your thoughts!

1) What was your experience of the book? Did you connect or understand the main character? What parts did you enjoy or struggle with?

2) What did you think of Karolina? How did she view the men and women around her? How did she interact with them? Did she grow as a character?

3) What cultural differences did Karolina point out in how Germany and Sweden chose to repair buildings? How was this significant to Karolina’s own life?

4) What did you think of Anton? Was his character developed enough?

5) What themes did you see being repeated within the book? E.g. the changing seasons, architecture, mannerism, age, beauty, natural or chemical disasters, or loneliness.

6) What did you think the author Therese Bohman was trying to comment on about women and men in contemporary society? What did you take away from how Bohman described Stockholm’s art world and different parts of Sweden?

7) What did you think of Karolina’s references to the old and new world? Of the Soviet scientist Ilya Ivanov’s ape experiments? What art references interested you the most and why?

8) What did you think of the ending? Did it surprise you? Did Karolina do the right thing?