Reviews and Comments

I got about a third of the way through this. It's a great concept but doesn't work for me in this format.

It's a collection of (highly) abridged speeches with an (admitted, but still present) US and anglosphere bias. It was an impulse pick-up from the library's rainbow shelf – the cover is very nice. But it didn't hold my attention (each speech being edited down to one page) and wasn't sufficiently interesting to revisit regularly enough before the library demanded it back...

I did really enjoy reading this, and will almost certainly go on to read the other Earthsea books.

I came to Earthsea after reading several of Le Guin's Hainish cycle books and short stories, including some of the earliest ones like Rocannon's World. I can see similarities with the earliest Hainish cycle works, from around the same time - an emphasis on male characters, for example - which I am sure would have been handled differently by the same author had she written them later on. But there are still a lot of great ideas here, and it is far more open-minded than most fantasy literature of its era.

My first time reading the Earthsea books, after enjoying lots of Ursula K. Le Guin's Hainish works, and other short stories.

Going to try to finish this time!

Not an easy read at all, but I'm glad I read it. Another book that I wish I had known about and read a long time ago.

First novel I have read in a while, mostly because I borrowed this on my e-reader to read next to a sleeping kid.

I wish it was easier to borrow good ebooks or buy DRM-free copies. I’d do this much more often.

Also a bit melancholy that I only discovered Ursula K Le Guin’s works in my thirties; I like to think they’d have meant a lot to me if I had read them as a teenager.

I got this from the library (after a long wait) and managed to read Part 1 before returning it today. Definitely a thought provoking read, I hope to borrow it again to read Part 2.

Finally finished with this book in time to return it to the library before going on summer vacation. I found it moving, and some of the stories were sad or difficult to read - but also, it's a book full of reasons for optimism. It was telling to see common themes emerge in people's stories; I learned a lot about the different intersecting cultures, traditions and power structures one finds amongst Sámi peoples, and also in Sápmi (definitely not always the same thing). Taken as a whole, many of the people interviewed really are queering Sápmi - questioning existing structures and norms. It would be interesting to know how much has changed or improved since this book came out over a decade ago.

Bought this on impulse yesterday; it's going to be one of my summer vacation books. Only a few more days to go!

This has to go back to the library before I leave for summer vacation this weekend, so time need to hurry up! But at the same time, there are so many moving stories, I want to read them all carefully and think about them.

Took a while to finish because in the mean time I became a parent and time for reading became quite limited...

Spotted it randomly while showing my dad around Oodi (Helsinki central library) yesterday. Borrowed it on impulse.

Lainasin tämän kirjastosta, ja reseptit ovat todella houkuttelevia. En kuitenkaan ehtinyt lukemaan sitä, ennen kuin joudun palauttaamaan kirjan. Pitää lainata uudestan. Haluaisin kokeilla vaikkapa liinajuuston valmistamista tai löytää uusia tapoja nauttia naurista.

I discovered my copy of this book again a few months ago and decided to finish reading it after maybe 13 years. It was not particularly easy going for me, even though the descriptions of nature and how humans interact with their surroundings are laden with lovely imagery. I can see why I stopped reading it many years ago, but I am also glad to have finished it.

Somehow the writing reminds me a bit of Nan Shepherd's The Weatherhouse in how it is both meaningful and beautiful, and yet hard to get into.

Now that I can read Norwegian, if I had the time I would like to try reading it in the original language to see how it works. I'd also be interested in reading more works by Tarjei Vesaas.