Book Review: Let the Northern Lights Erase your Name

If your ideal day includes curling up with a good book, either an e-book or a traditional book, than you likely live in the Pacific Northwest, or more specifically Seattle. According to Amazon, Seattle is the most well-read city in the nation in 2015 and again in 2016. Personally speaking, I read a lot. Mostly non-fiction, but occasionally fiction. The last book I read was 'Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name' as an ebook from my local library.

Having read it in one day, I consider it to be a quick read. The book was published in 2007 by Ecco and has 687 reviews on GoodReads.com. The setting is in Finland, but beyond that I'll let you experience for yourself.

Good Reads: Description

"Far, far north, sitting above the Arctic Circle, Lapland is a world made of ice; a place both foreign and perilous that unexpectedly lures New Yorker Clarissa Iverton from what had finally become a comfortable life. At 14, her mother disappeared. Now 28, and just days after the death of her father, Clarissa discovers that he wasn't her father after all, and the only clues to her true heritage are a world away. Abandoning her fiancé, she flies to Helsinki, seeking to uncover the secrets her mother kept for so long. While piecing together the fragments of her mother's mysterious past, Clarissa is led to the Sami, Lapland's native "reindeer people," who dwell in a stark and frozen landscape, under the northern lights. It is there that she must summon the courage to confront an unbearable truth, and the violent act that ties her to this ancient people."

About the Author: Vendela Vida

Her writing has been described as spare, elegant and haunting.

Born on September 6, 1971 in San Francisco, CA, the daughter of Paul & Inger Vida. Her father Paul descends from a Hungarian family, and her mother Inger is Swedish born. Vendela is an American novelist, journalist, and editor; married to writer Dave Eggers, she lives in the Bay Area. She is the author of five books, and a writing teacher. Here are some more links about this author. 

• An Interview with the author: Identity Theory
• SFGATE:  Vendela Vida wraps trilogy on women in crisis

Norway • Digizitation

The National Library of Norway is digitizing its ENTIRE collection.

Yes, you read that sentence accurately!

In a article published by the Atlantic, on December 3, 2013 journalist Alexis C. Madrigal penned the sub-title "Between this and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norsk people are set for the future." The article was published in the 'Technology" section of the periodical, so this may have gone unnoticed by Norwegian-American family historians. You can read the article for yourself on the Atlantic's website.

The news-story stated that "By law, 'all published content, in all media, [must] be deposited with the National Library of Norway,' so when the library is finished scanning, the entire record of a people's language and literature will be machine-readable and sitting in whatever we call the cloud in 15 years." This is simply amazing. The Norwegians are a people that are preparing for the deep future. "Suddenly, the Norwegians become to 27th-century humans what the Greeks were to the Renaissance."

"If you happen to be in Norway, as measured by your IP address, you will be able to access all 20th century works, even those still under copyright."

What does this mean for us here...in the United States?
Not all is lost. As I sit here in my studio in Seattle, some 4551 miles from Oslo -- a journey of 11 hours and 10 minutes by air-- I have some access to this amazing digitization initiative. It does take some patience and tenacity. Take your time, be patient, and don't give up. It's kind of like mining for gold. Yes, much of the site is written in Norwegian (obviously), but some is in English and trusting that you can pick out some words is encouraging.

Here are some suggestions to get started. 

1. This is a link to the section of the library that has been digitized: https://www.nb.no/nbsok/search.

2. On the left side of the page you will see these options: Category • Period • Sorting • Language. You can limit your search using these fields. However I suggest that you begin more simply and search on a general subject, like Sami. When you do this you'll see that you get the following hits (as of 1.5.2018)

• Newspapers (17,802)
• Books (679)
• Radio (2476)
• Program reports (3711)
• Journal (587)

You can click on any of the categories and it will help limit your search. I've found it useful to limit the search by 'Period', such as 1800-1899. You'll see that some are written in Norwegian, some in Sami and some in English.  Note: You will even see other languages, like Swedish, Norwegian Bokmål, Danish, German, Norwegian (Old Norse), etc.

3. When you click on the link, wait.  It may be slow, but it will then provide you with a digitized version of the book. You can then use the toolbar to view the image. AMAZING. To help you get started, here are links to some of the 'gold nuggets' that I found:

• The History of Lapland: where are shed the original, manners, habits, marriages, conjurations, and c. of that people.  written by Johannes Schefferus in 1674 and translated into English.

• Norwegian-American: Viking Saga and Pioneer History, Statistics and Biographical Information on North Americans in America written by a Seattle Norwegian-American, Martin Ulvestad.

• Norwegian Pictures: Drawn with Pen and Pencil by Richard Lovett in 1885. It has stunning images of remarkable scenes.

• Minnesota: A Brief History of the Settlements of the North Men of the State, Their Business, Associations, and Living Conditions: with a section on the history of the Norwegian Church: in attendance of Minnesota's participation in the Norwegian Anniversary Exhibition of 1914. 

4. You will notice that all of the titles listed above are in English, but the actual book is in Norwegian. My search engine, Google Chrome, automatically translates (if I say yes to the prompt) SOME information into English. NOT the digitized item, but what will get me to the item. Also, some books were published in Norway, but others were published in America and have been deposited in the National Library. 

5. Search for something!  Explore the search options. Be patient. Some books will be accessible by your US IP address, and some won't. If you find a book that is limited to a Norwegian IP address, then go to Worldcat.org and see if that book is available in a library closer to home. 

I would be very interested to hear about what you discover. Please share your finds in the comment section of this blog.

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