Finding you already have the book – Priceless

(For some reason my grammar check would like that to read – Finding you already has the book – Priceless. Why? Why would it want that?)

But that is not the purpose of this post. For the last few weeks the (reading) fates have been pointing me in the direction of all things Norse and mythological. There was the not quite for me experiment with ‘The Hurricane Party’ which is based on the Edda (ancient Icelandic telling of the myths), and then there’s A.S. Byatt’s contribution to the myth series coming out later this year ‘Ragnarok: the End of the Gods’, it’s apparently highly autobiographical and set against the backdrop of the Second World War. I’m a Byatt fan anyway add in the myth cycle that captured my imagination more than any other as a child and – well I’m mildly enthusiastic about this book, although I’ll probably wait until the paperback comes out because if I got it in hardback the soft cover would inevitably be in the shops before I actually picked it up.

This does mean that I’ve got extra time to read up on the whole cycle from the bit with Audumla the cow licking the father of the gods out of the ice to the binding of Loki and Ragnarok. I’m also off to Shetland next week where all things Viking are generally smiled upon so it may be that this will make perfect and appropriate holiday reading. It was with this in mind that I was happily browsing amazon when common sense prompted me to check my own bookshelf before where I found far more than I remembered – including an ‘Edda’, and possibly more readable, ‘The Penguin Book of Norse Myths’. I think these are probably books bought on previous Shetland trips and are the whole reason I love my little library; something will sit forgotten in a corner for years and then all of a sudden be exactly what I want all ready and waiting for me.



Thor - he was in home and away you know



And in the interests of full disclosure I have to admit going to see Thor this afternoon. It wasn’t exactly great, but it was mildly entertaining - though I’m not sure what Anthony Hopkins and Kenneth Branagh were thinking but I imagine it involved money. It was however the final push that prompted me to read the real thing.