In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream
by Eric Dregni Dregni
from Univ Of Minnesota Press
Arabian Sands (Penguin Classics)
by Wilfred Thesiger
from Penguin Classics
Arabian Sands is Wilfred Thesiger’s record of his extraordinary journey through the parched “Empty Quarter” of Arabia. Educated at Eton and Oxford, Thesiger was repulsed by the softness and rigidity of Western life—“the machines, the calling cards, the meticulously aligned streets.” In the spirit of T. E. Lawrence, he set out to explore the deserts of Arabia, traveling among peoples who had never seen a European and considered it their duty to kill Christian infidels. His now-classic account is invaluable to understanding the modern Middle East.
The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman
by Nancy Marie Brown
from Harvest Books
Letters from Africa, 1914-1931
by Isak Dinesen
from University Of Chicago Press
"Letters from Africa is literary gold, 24 karat."—Alden Whitman, Boston Globe
Blueberry Summers: Growing Up at the Lake
by Curtiss Anderson
from Borealis Books
"I would begin thinking about summer on our lake as early as Easter. Yes, it was our lake, not just the lake."
In this classic story of a midwestern boyhood, Curtiss Anderson takes readers into the colorful lives of his robust Norwegian family and their wonderfully familiar summerscape in northern Minnesota: the lake place. Sweet childhood reminiscences comprise this coming-of-age memoir set in the poignant summers of the 1930s and '40s. Conversations on the porch with Dear Old Aunt Ingabord, a heavily accented relative from the Old Country. A budding romance and heartbreak with young Sarah, who lived across the lake. Wild blueberry picking behind Turnaround Island. Joyful tales devoted to cherished dogs he had outlived–old Shep and Mickey, Nebby, and feisty Bunny. And fond memories of Clara and Leigh, the loving couple who treated the budding writer as if he was their own child.
Anderson revisits the notes and letters he scripted as a boy, originally recorded on his hand-me-down Underwood typewriter–his first foray into what would become a distinguished publishing career–to offer Blueberry Summers. Here, the nationally recognized magazine editor offers a funny and warm story of experiences that inspire the imagination.
Curtiss Anderson
is a writer and editorial consultant. He has enjoyed an illustrious career with Hearst Magazines and Better Homes and Gardens and as editor in chief of Ladies Home Journal. He lives in Tiburon, California, with his wife, Anne. From the Wall Street Journal, Coming of Age at Lakeside, By ALLAN CARLSON June 7, 2008 My summers have almost always meant a trip to Minnesota lakes: for my first 15 years, to Leech Lake; for the 40-plus since, to Lake of the Woods or the Boundary Waters canoe country. The landscape is on the edge of the Canadian Shield, defined by rough granite outcrops, birch and pine trees, bogs, and lakes carved deep by the glaciers. Most of the lakes are connected by streams or old Indian portages. The year-long residents of this area are mostly the descendants of Swedes and Norwegians, with an occasional Dane or Finn providing diversity. The churches are mostly Lutheran. Remnants of the old languages survive in town festivals ("Uff Da Burgers"), cuisine (the formidable lutefisk) and backwoods bars where "Skl!" remains the favored salute. Returning each summer has been, for me, more than a homecoming. As my own son, standing on our favorite island in Lake of the Woods, put it at age 12: "Here is the place where I come alive." In "Blueberry Summers," a memoir, Curtiss Anderson also describes "the transformation that occurred when I arrived at the lake." In satisfying detail, he narrates life in and about an old farmhouse on a northeastern Minnesota chain lake during the 1930s and early 1940s. Mr. Anderson, a former magazine editor and writer, has a novelist's flair for framing characters. There is Leigh Johnson, his father's best friend, who became more than a second father to the permanently towheaded boy. Leigh was a meticulous man who knew the lake country as well as any Indian guide. A skilled fisherman, he remarked that "God doesn't count the hours fishing." There is Clara, Leigh's wife, mistress of the kitchen, whose love of life took form in her potato salad, exquisite doughnuts and Blue Boy Pie (combining wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries). Though young Curtiss never saw his own parents touch each other, Clara and Leigh "were quite sexy in a cozy sort of way." There is Uncle Skoal, blond, handsome and scampish, who sported a wooden leg from a chain-saw accident. Commenting on Skoal's favorite pastimes, Aunt Dora concluded that "women would finish in a dead heat with gin." There is Great Aunt Ingeborg, an ancient Norwegian who became young Curtiss's "constant, endearing, and bewitching companion" as he recuperated from an accident. She talked of her wayfaring husband, Nels, who had been an iron miner and a pilot on Lake Superior ore boats. And there are the Schumachers, a refugee family with 12 children that had fled the Nazis, settled in a ramshackle farm across the lake and protected a secret. This family "grew, sewed, farmed, fished, trapped, or shot practically everything they ate or owned." Curtiss is drawn to Sarah, the eldest daughter, a horse-loving girl with exotic eyes and "velvety black hair." This little book is full of diverting tales. During a canoe trip, Curtiss catches a 10-pound walleye, puts it on a stringer in the water and then loses this great prize to ravenous turtles. (My own 9-pound, 6-ounce walleye, hooked at Leech Lake when I was 5, suffered an equally tragic fate.) Curtiss's and Skoal's illegal "catch" of a near-record 60- pound carp leads to white lies and notoriety. "Blueberry Summers" has a dark side. Mr. Anderson explores his troubled relationship with his parents -- saying the word "Dad," he confesses, "doesn't come easy for me" -- and he relates a disturbing incident on a "dead" lake that nearly took his life. The book ends with a tragedy. "All the harmony and beauty -- and security -- I had always associated with the lake," he writes, "was destroyed forever." And yet those qualities are also recovered in "Blueberry Summer," an ably crafted, true-life coming-of-age tale. The book will delight anyone who has ever known the lake country of the Upper Midwest. More broadly, it will reward and please readers who have ever had in their childhoods a special summer place.Report From #24
by Gunnar Sonsteby
from Barricade Books
Sonsteby tells his courageous story of espionage and sabotage against the Naziz and of eluding capture through daring, intuition, and a constant slew of changing identities.
Alvar Aalto, 1898-1976: Paradise for the Man in the Street (Taschen Basic Architecture)
by Louna Lahti
from Taschen
Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (18981976) was not only influenced by the landscape of his native country, but by the political struggle over Finland's place within European culture. Aalto turned to ideas based on Functionalism, subsequently moving toward more organic structures, with brick and wood replacing plaster and steel. He also designed buildings, furniture, lamps, and glass objects. Contains approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans Introductory essays explore the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects The body presents the most important works in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes, construction problems and resolutions The appendix includes a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings
Splendid Swedish Recipes
by Kerstin O. Van Guilder
from Penfield Press
This inexpensive, index card size spiral-bound recipe book features over 100 Swedish recipes. Makes a great gift or "stocking stuffer" for friends and relatives. The author came to America from Sweden in 1961.
Scandinavian Modern Furnishing, 1930-1970: Designed for Life (Schiffer Book for Designers and Collectors)
by Michael Ellison
from Schiffer Publishing
In the middle of the twentieth century, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, four countries with a total population no larger than New York City, impacted the world of design to a degree never before seen and unlikely to be repeated. Scandinavian Modern design already had a solid domestic audience, and the Post-World War II American consumer was ready for the distinctive style and the fine quality it offered. With a focus on more than 60 designers, this extensively researched book presents the furniture and household objects especially those of wood and metal. of the Scandinavian Modern style, beginning in the 1930s and culminating in the 1970s. Hundreds of photographs and a comprehensive introduction, historical timeline, and appendices of furniture makers and designers, distributors, and sources are included. Detailed captions with current prices, a large bibliography, and an index make this book a valuable reference and a must for all collectors, dealers, and researchers of Scandinavian design.
Racundra's First Cruise
by Arthur Ransome
from Wiley
This new edition of Racundra’s First Cruise includes the original maps, text and photos from the 1923 first edition, of which only 1500 copies were printed.
The book also contains a detailed introduction detailing Ransome’s Baltic sailing in Slug and Kittiwake and includes unpublished articles and essays together with many original Ransome pictures and present day photographs of the area.
The manuscript has been researched, edited and introduced by Brian Hammett, who received critical acclaim for his work on Racundra’s Third Cruise. Details of Racundra’s life after Ransome are also included. It has the full support of Ransome’s literary executors who are delighted to see it republished.
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