Recent reading

[luzula]

1793 by Niklas Natt och Dag (2017)
Listened to as an audiobook in Swedish; this book is also available translated into English as The Wolf and the Watchman. This is historical fiction set in late 18th century Stockholm, where I enjoyed the writing style, characters, historical setting, and audiobook reader--but unfortunately it is also the sort of murder mystery that has grisly details of horrible crimes, which is not my thing. DNF at 25%. (Yes, the author's last name is actually "Night and Day".)

As for DNF, I also started on Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future, but did not get past the first chapter with what really could be labeled as climate horror. I wish I hadn't read that at bedtime.

Herrarna satte oss hit by Elin Anna Labba (2020) [The Lords Put Us Here]
Finally something I wanted to read! It's written by a descendant of one of the Sami families who were deported along with their reindeer in the 1920's, and has stories (lightly fictionalized, but based on interviews) from people who experienced that. When Norway separated from Sweden in the early 20th century, they developed a nationalism where they wanted the Sami to assimilate or just go away, and especially what they hated was the seasonal Sami migration across the border in the north, a form of transhumance where, unusually, the summer grazing was down by the sea and the winter lands were higher up on the Swedish side. The Norwegian state felt the reindeer were grazing lands that "ought" to be developed for agriculture or grazed by cows or sheep. So the border was closed. Sweden undertook to remove those people, who were then deported south, which created problems of its own, because there were other Sami already keeping their reindeer there. Sweden did not necessarily want the Sami to assimilate or go away, but they paternalistically believed that the state knew better how these people should order their lives and keep their reindeer.

Moving the reindeer south was difficult, because they are used to their ordinary migrations and would often escape to the north, trying to get back. It's a moving book with a lot of personal stories of dislocation, and lots of photos. One thing I thought was interesting was that there seems to have been not much conflict at the local level between Sami, Swedes, Norwegians, and Finns, or at least that was not the main problem (the main problem being the states). A Sami family usually had a "host" family among the sedentary people, a relationship which went generations back, with whom they would trade, stay with when they came to market, etc. There's a story of a Sami woman giving birth to twins and knowing she couldn't care for both infants on the move, so she left one of them to be fostered by the host family for a few years and came back for it later.

Konsten att beskära träd och buskar by Eva Robild, Georg Grundsten, and Eva Lie (2021)
This is about how to prune trees and bushes, especially fruit trees. I will take over some already-established fruit trees and hopefully plant more, so this is something I need to learn! Having read it, I still do not feel fully confident in how to do this, but at least I know more. Probably this is the sort of thing where you need practical demonstration.

Comments

[snickfic]

I got excited about your Sami book for a moment and then was like, oh right, I can't read Swedish. 😂 I read a novel last year in translation about a modern Sami girl in northern Sweden and was really fascinated. I should go looking for more books on the topic in English.

[luzula]

Awww, sorry you can't read it. Sadly I have no overview at all of which books on the Sami exist in English!

[chestnut_pod]

I always enjoy hearing about your reading in Swedish -- sounds like many good things were on the docket this time around!

[osprey_archer]

That book about the Sami sounds fascinating, particularly the part about the Sami usually having a "host" family among the sedentary people, and that relationship lasting generations. Is there any information in the book about how those relationships usually started? I know that question is really beyond the scope of the book, but maybe there was a short explanation.

[sanguinity]

Thank you for telling us about Herrarna satte oss hit! Especially for us monolingual people.

[desireearmfeldt]

I'm told the rest of Ministry for the Future is somewhat less horrifying than the first chapter.

[nnozomi]

A Sami family usually had a "host" family among the sedentary people, a relationship which went generations back, with whom they would trade, stay with when they came to market, etc. There's a story of a Sami woman giving birth to twins and knowing she couldn't care for both infants on the move, so she left one of them to be fostered by the host family for a few years and came back for it later.
Oh, this is fascinating! I feel like there ought to be several novels focused on this family relationship, it seems ripe for complex interpersonal relations of all kinds.

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks for teaching me about transhumance, a concept completely novel to me.

[luzula]

Sometimes I feel a vague shame about not reading more in Swedish and my reading interests being taken over by the culturally dominant English language instead. But I'm glad to hear you like hearing about my Swedish reading, anyway!

[luzula]

I did find it fascinating, too! But no, there was no more information about that, sorry. The whole book was based on interviews, and I guess that wasn't something they asked...

[luzula]

Glad to share it! I figured it was an episode in history that most people wouldn't know about. Though hardly a surprising one, sadly.

[luzula]

Yes, I figured it probably was...I'll see if I'm in the mood to pick it up again, or not.

[luzula]

You're right! And for all I know, there might be...if I come across one, I'll certainly read it.

[luzula]

It's a word I didn't learn until late in life, too! I think I knew of the concept but not the word, before. It seems to come from "across the soil" or something like that, with "hum" as in "humus".

[sanguinity]

Yes, there's not much discussion of the Sami in my corner of the world, beyond the fellow feeling for another indigenous people struggling under colonialism. I'm always happy to learn a little more.

[riverlight]

I'm interested to hear you DNF'd Ministry for the Future! That was one of my top books of last year. I do understand, though—"climate horror" is a good way to put it. He ends up in a weirdly hopeful place, for what it's worth, if you do pick it up again.

(Also, how much do I love Night and Day as a last name? I have a list of wonderful names I've kept... we had a bus driver in elementary school whose last name was Ridingsword, which I always found delightful.)

How is the new house treating you? Did you get a garden in this summer?

[luzula]

I've read most of KSR's other books, so I may pick this one up again. It's just that that first chapter was, well, a little too much for me. I tend to like his earlier books better than his later ones, though--the Mars trilogy is my favorite.

Re: new house, see other comment reply! : )