Dear friend, I hope you had a peaceful Christmas holiday and that you got exactly the books you wanted as gifts. Just before the bells ring in the new year, I finished the longest reading assignment I’ve ever had. You asked me to read “The Lord of the Rings” in 2023 and now it’s done. I also look back on the book year and give you a great poem to read on New Year’s Eve! In April of this year, I decided the time had come to test my prejudices against the fantasy genre. But where should I start? I left the choice to you and the comment field set a record for the number of suggestions and guides. You taught me the difference between high and low fantasy, where I can find humor and satire, and which series are great but incomplete because the writers can’t seem to finish them. The winning book was JRR Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” from 1954. A NEW WORLD My first encounter with Outland, the shop that is Mecca for fantasy readers Photo: Siss Vik / news I happened to already have it at home, a complete magnificent edition with illustrations by Allan Lee, bought at a sale sometime in the 90s. Unfortunately, it was in shabby condition. The roommate had used the book to hold open a defective bathroom window, and it had internal and external moisture damage. The gorgeous cover was long lost. All pages are completely dented from moisture. Photo: Siss Vik / news Tolkien himself believed that “The Lord of the Rings” should be read as one work, although it was divided into three books due to its length. Then I thought it was okay to deal with the complete edition, even though it is 1,069 pages in total (without the appendices of another 102 pages) and weighs 2.1 kilos. The book must be propped up with pillows to be read. Photo: Siss Vik / news And as people say, it has been quite a journey – in every way. The novel is after all about a journey to the heart of evil and darkness and back home. It’s been a journey in the literal sense for my battered copy of Lord of the Rings. During the summer and autumn holidays, it has visited eight of Norway’s counties (according to the old division), and seen mountains and fjords, plains and farmland. Here at Hvaler, the book could look over to Sweden. Photo: Siss Vik / news In the end it has been an inner journey for me, where I have experienced both success and adversity in reading. Was it worth reading the book when I had already seen the movies? Absolutely. Here are some points that pull up, and some that pull down: Battle scenes are incredibly boring I have to admit that I struggled with the last volume, “The Return of the King”, because battle scenes turned out to be quite boring in text. In the film they were magnificent, but in the book there were far too many names and just chaos. I will steer clear of fantasy where war and battles are central. Photo: Promo The monsters are scarier in the book I have felt fear many times, even if I was reading under a safe and warm duvet. The evil beings are scarier in the book than in the film. Tolkien hints at evil eyes watching you from a hiding place, about freezing screams and flapping wings in the dark, or he depicts a sickening stench that heralds the presence of a bloodthirsty being. The imagination rushes to fill in the rest in the worst possible way. Our cat Oskar has been a comfort when I encountered giant spiders, Nazgüler and Uruk-Hai. Photo: Siss Vik / news Middle-Earth is a Man’s world I miss more women, and more important roles for them. I’m not asking for fifty-fifty gender distribution, but it couldn’t be too difficult to give Arwen and Éowyn a little more space. When even the female trees, the Entwives, have run away, I think old Tolkien almost made an effort to empty his universe of womenfolk. This is in truth THE LORD OF THE RINGS and not THE LADY OF THE RINGS. Sisters not allowed in the Fellowship of the Ring Photo: wikipedia The landscapes and weather descriptions were highlights. I, who normally skim landscape descriptions, lost myself in the descriptions of Middle-Earth’s magnificent forests and mountains. As an Englishman, Tolkien is just as concerned with weather as we Norwegians are, and I felt the despondency of Frodo and Sam as they struggled through endless rain and soaking bogs. When the sun finally came out after Sauron was defeated, it felt like the first day of spring. In the landscape descriptions, Tolkien shows his poetic side, without it becoming bloated. IDYLL: Tolkien depicts some incredibly beautiful landscapes that are lovely to be in Photo: Xin Li / news Although the book ends well, it is darker than the films. I was taken to bed when the hobbits finally got home and discovered that Saruman had gotten ahead of them and laid super cozy Hobsyssel in ruins. It was really dark and reminded me of real war scenes. To the very end, Tolkien shows us that great feats come at a cost. Frodo, who must bear the burden of the ring, is so marked by darkness that there is no happy life for him, even after the enemy is defeated. While Aragorn ends up rightfully king, Frodo is scarred for life. Photo: SF Norge / Photographer: Pierre Vinet Best for young readers? My brother thought I should have read The Lord of the Rings when I was younger, and I feel a little sad about that. I don’t have the same ability to disappear into a fictional universe that I had in my teenage years. At the same time, it was nice that my 80-year-old father threw himself into the project with me. A lovely summer memory was when we sat on the terrace in the west country and cleaned crabs together and talked about Gandalf, Sam and Frodo. Now I too can call myself part of the Brotherhood of the Ring, meaning the many thousands around the globe who have read this clockwork in fantasy Bitte lille New Year’s Eve, I could close the book. Photo: Rebekka Flink Arneberg / news So we’ll see if there will be more fantasy for me in the future. I have saved all the good fantasy tips from you. What do you think of my Lord of the Rings observations? Discuss with me in the comments section. Literary feast and hangover It’s time to summarize the book year 2023 and look ahead. For my part, the autumn was characterized by two rich biographies of great men, Robert Oppenheimer and Elon Musk. Although the former is the father of the atomic bomb, he is the one I have gained deep respect and affection for, not so much the other guy. I’m not really a big reader of biographies, but the TV series “Makta” made me also seek out political biographies from the 1980s. I can’t wait to continue that deck when season two begins next week. There is a lot of gold here! New technology has certainly characterized the past year, also in the book world. 2023 will be remembered as the year ChatGPT entered our lives, to our delight and horror. In March, I visited literary guru Jan Kjærstad, who has always embraced developments in computer languages, and he thought there was no reason to fear the fiction section. But only in the course of that spring did the development happen at lightning speed. Experts began to raise the alarm and ChatGPT was being used for cheating. Already in July, I applied to the world’s first sci-fi novel, “Frankenstein” for perspectives on technological development. I wasn’t too reassured by all the similarities I saw from the 1818 horror novel to today’s reality. Artificial intelligence was also a topic among contemporary voices. Debutant Julia Martincic is one of those who puts technology at the center of her stories. Photo: Tiden forlag In her collection of short stories “Hjertet er en alien” I met a household robot that takes measures to look after a human child. It has good intentions, but it has fatal consequences. That short story is still in. According to the publishers’ spring lists, we will get more books about artificial intelligence in the coming weeks. I will definitely follow this field going forward in the Bokbrevet. Otherwise, I’m missing the huge surplus towards new releases. It is of course because 2023 brought us the biggest literature festival in many years. Crazy with joy Photo: Robert Rønning / Robert Rønning / news On the fifth of October at 11 o’clock we exploded in a frenzy of joy when Jon Fosse was announced as this year’s Nobel Prize winner in literature, and the party has only just died down. My husband worked for Christmas in our local bookshop and can confirm that many people have received a Fosse book under the tree this year. news broadcast 40 hours of readings of Fosse’s plays, and Nobel reporter Knut Hoem’s “bear cunt” made headlines in Dagbladet. At the same time that one of our most renowned authors was recognized after a lifetime’s work, we received a new and fresh voice. Already in August, when I heard Oliver Lovrenski read aloud from a small note at the debutante launch, he stood out as a completely new voice. Photo: Siss Vik / news That such a young author can storm in and win the Bokhandler prize and be nominated for the Lytternes novel prize is historic. Suddenly 64-year-old Jon Fosse and 19-year-old Oliver Lovrenski were on the bestseller list at the same time. It made my book heart swell with pride and optimism on behalf of Norwegian literature. With such a unique Norwegian book year behind us, I must admit that it is difficult to look ahead. I’m simply suffering from a literary party hangover. But, tomorrow New Year’s Eve will put a final stop to the year. We can start the diet, the exercise program and all the other New Year’s resolutions. Apart from the new books, I have been thinking that I must read Lars Mytting’s great trilogy, now that it is complete. Do you have any reading resolutions for the new year? Tell me about it by email! My diligent colleague Gerd Elin Sandve Stava has made a nice overview of some of the things we are most excited about this spring. Poem of the week Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and I have been looking for a good Norwegian New Year’s poem. Jan Erik Vold has written the Nyttårsdiktet (almost a reprise) and Kolbein Falkeid has his fine poem Year’s Shift. Just this year I was looking for something a little more loud, and that leads us to Sweden. In the 2000s, I had a Swedish girlfriend and got to experience New Year’s Eve in Stockholm. There I got to take part in a lovely tradition, namely the reading of the New Year’s poem “Ring the bell, ring”. Photo: Fredrik Refvem / Stavanger Aftenblad Since 1895, Stockholmers have gathered in the outdoor area Skansen just before midnight, with warm jackets and champagne and glasses. At Tolvdraget, a respected and beloved actor has the honorable task of reciting the New Year’s poem. Then the church bells ring the old year out and the new year in and you toast with friends and strangers. Since 1934, all Swedes could hear the reading on the radio and from 1977 it was also shown on TV, so that poem is truly a national treasure. HONORABLE: Pernilla August and Mikael Persbrandt are two of the actors who have performed Lord Tennyson’s poem on New Year’s Eve. Photo: MARKUS SCHREIBER / AP / Elliott & Fry/ FADEL SENNA / AFP The poem is originally English, written by the Victorian poet Alfred Tennyson. It’s called In Memoriam, but goes by the name “Ring Out, Wild Bells” in the vernacular. I’m a little envious of the Swedes who have such a great New Year’s poem to gather around. Here are three verses you can read aloud tomorrow: New Year’s Clock, first verse Ring, bell, ring in the bitter New Year’s night against the sky’s northern sky and the land’s snow; the old year is dying…Ring sjäaringning över land och vatten!New Year’s Clock, verse 2 Ring in the new and ring out the old year’s first, trembling minute. Ring out the power of the lie from the world’s borders, and ring in the truth to us who grope. forward in strength! Ring out, ring out the thousand years of war, ring in the thousand-year kingdom of peace! Happy New Year, and see you in 2024, dear reader! Warm greetings from Siss Photo: Javier Auris / news Comment I would love to hear your comments about my experience with Tolkien’s masterpiece. And then I wonder: Who do you identify with in “The Lord of the Rings”? I am Merry, fond of good food and drink and boats, and less impulsive than his friend Pippin. Hello! 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Book letter #26 The Lord of the Rings project is complete – Siss Vik’s book letter
