Ice Land

Ice Land by Betsy Tobin was supposed to see me through the rest of my vacation, instead it only lasted a measly 48 hours, but I wasn’t disappointed by it.  Set in (big surprise!) Iceland around the year 1100, Ice Land is a very realistic fantasy.  I say realistic fantasy because while a number of characters belong to the Nordic pantheon of gods, they live in a very human way.  Freya, the goddess of love, is a key character and except for her ability to fly with a special cloak is pretty much human in every other way.  It was this humanity and normalcy given to the gods that I found very intriguing.

The story centers around two women and two romances.  Freya the goddess is on a quest for a necklace that she is convinced will help save the gods from impending doom.  She makes a bargin with four dwarves for the necklace, but nothing is a simple as it seems.  Obtaining the necklace is much more complicated than she first thought.

Fulla is the other main character.  She is a young girl who has the unhappy fortune of falling in love with a boy from a rival clan.  It’s a very Romeo and Juliet situation.  She also has to deal with her grandfather who insists on marrying her off to a worthy suitor, which just causes her misery.  At first the two stories of Freya and Fulla seem seperate but they join with a twist at the end, but I won’t spoil it for you.

Ice Land has peaked my interest in all things Viking (it’s always been there, since my grandfather hailed from Norway) and I’m hoping to include more of it in my reading soon.

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Vacation Reads

I love vacations.  Beyond the usual fun and relaxation aspect, they allow me a wonderful opportunity to catch up on my reading.  I’m currently enjoying south-west Colorado and several books have been keeping me company.

First up, Read for Your Life by Pat Williams.  This one I started before vacation, but finished on the road trip out.  I got a lot of teasing for this one, because apparently you can’t read books about books.  But I love books about books.  They remind me why I love reading, and why it’s so important to read.  Read for Your Life did that for me, and thus I enjoyed it.  I really liked some of the practical pointers given, such as committing to read an hour a day for the rest of your life.  You may think that’s impossible with your busy schedule, but really how many hours a day do you find for TV viewing and surfing the web?  Could you just sacrifice one of those hours for the enriching mental workout of reading?  Also his quick “speed-reading” course was very nice.  I’ve had such a mixed relationship with speed reading.  I  would love to read faster, but I find those courses just distract me from the book itself and I end up completely missing the plot.  But Williams give just a few pointers, the most valuable I found was just to use your finger or a pen as a pointer as you read and not to regress needlessly.  Using that tip I’ve found my reading speed has probably doubled, but I’m still enjoying the book I’m reading as much as I did before.

Second, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I was surprisingly drawn into this story of a woman’s emotional recovery.  I was a little leery after all the mixed reviews on amazon, but I found it fascinating.  I really enjoyed watching Elizabeth go from a shattered person to a healthy happy human being by the end of her year’s travels.  Her writing style is entertaining and engaging, even when she muses on topics like what makes our relationships work or fail, and discovering our spirituality.  And who doesn’t love reading about Italy?

Third, A Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley.  Robin McKinley was one of my all time favorite authors growing up.  Although her books are classified as young adult, she doesn’t write for that group in particular.  Her retellings of fairy tales appeal to adults as well.  A Door in the Hedge is compilation of four short stories, which include the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses and the Princess and the Frog.  As I was discussing the book with my husband (who also enjoys her work), I realized one of the reasons I love her work so much is that her characters are real.  They may be surrounded by fantastic happenings but they themselves are real people with real emotions and reactions.

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