Sunday, April 29, 2012

Book Review: Odinn’s Child

Odinn’s Child
by
Why no real cover?

In Odinn’s Child by Tim Severin, the old norseman Thorgils tells the long tale of his life. The story begins with Thorgils birth, and follows him to many strange places, including the famed Vinland.

It was difficult for me to enjoy this book at first. The story seemed to move very slowly, without any apparent central plot. This changed when I realized that the book does not really tell a single tale, but many of them, with only the thin connection of the storyteller. And in these episodes of the life of Thorgils, Tim Severin artfully includes a lot of historical information about the time and cultures.

If you are looking for a strong adventure or action novel, Odinn’s Child will leave you disappointed. But if you enjoy a historical novel in a very verbatim sense of the word, written in the tradition of norse sagas, you have found your book and series.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Upheaval in German Politics

Watching the political landscape in Germany right now makes me shake my head in disbelief. With open mouth. What is happening is an upheaval with no precedence in the last decades, and every single party in the country is an exhibition in incompetence.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Sexism and Freedom of Speech

For some reason, I have recently been confronted a lot with sexism and other discriminating language. It’s quite disillusioning to notice how many people use such language without any thought on the matter—and worse, how many of them actively defend their behavior when confronted.

After finishing yet another round of discussions regarding the topic, I figured I could just write down the recurring arguments.