What I’m Reading: My Nonfiction Odyssey
I’m currently reading The Norns in Old Norse Mythology (2011) by Karen Bek-Pederson.
While I’m also a fan of comics, sci-fi, and fantasy, I’m currently on a nonfiction streak. My favorites are books about religion and mythology, history, folklore, and anything a bit strange, but you’ll often find me prowling the stacks, searching for something new.
After noticing that a lot of the more obscure nonfiction books don’t have any good reviews on sites like Goodreads, I’ve started writing my own. Here on my blog, each book review is accompanied with a public domain or Creative Commons image that I felt complemented the book.
The Norns in Old Norse Mythology
In The Norns in Old Norse Mythology (2011), Karen Bek-Pederson explores the Norns, or nornir to use the Old Norse plural, who are fascinating but widely misunderstood female supernatural figures. Bek-Pederson reveals that the typical conception of the Norns as the Old Norse equivalent of the Graeco-Roman Fates, three sisters who spin and weave the threads of fate, has no real basis in Old Norse primary sources. By closely examining Old Norse texts, which she notes are “gloriously inconsistent,” Bek-Pederson reveals the reality of the Norns in all their murky complexity (199)…