81 Books Like The Ládjogahpir – The Foremothers` Hat of Pride

If you’re curious about the woman who collected the Sami folktales, you’ll want to read Emilie Demant Hatt’s story of living in a tent with a Sami family in a community in Northern Sweden. You’ll be fascinated by her grueling journey with a group of Sami herders and their hundreds of reindeer over the icy mountains in the spring of 1908 to find summer pastures on the Norwegian coast. I’ve long loved the adventure, humor, and visual feast in this book, first published in 1913, and was eager to translate it and share it with readers curious about the high north of Scandinavia. Demant Hatt was a brilliant observer and an early immersive journalist who didn’t shy away from hard work, rough conditions, and learning the Sami language. 

Johan Turi was a herder and hunter when he first met Emilie Demant Hatt on a train in Northern Sweden in 1904. He confided that he wanted to tell the story of the indigenous Sami, and she encouraged him to write what became the landmark text, Muitalus Sámiid birra, the first secular book in the Sami language. She translated it into Danish and it was published in a bilingual edition with his drawings in 1910. Combining history, folktales, explanations, and poetry, it’s a humorous, sometimes poignant, and remarkable compendium of Sami life a hundred years ago. I’ve enjoyed this book since I first read it in an earlier translation. This version, translated with care by noted scholar Thomas A. DuBois, has an excellent introduction to Turi’s life and work. 

A lot of books about the Sami people ignore the fact that the discrimination and territorial colonization they faced in the past is still ongoing, though it takes shape in new ways. This succinct book of interviews with twelve engaging and thoughtful activists from Sápmi is proceeded by a “short political history of Sápmi” by Gabriel Kuhn. In addition to history, we get personal observations from, among others, the artist/poet Synnøve Persson, the filmmaker Suvi West, the politician/ fisherman Aslak Holmberg and the rapper Maxida Märak. I find this book a superb source for Sami voices and perspectives, as well as for the images and English-language resources at the end. 

Another new book by two scholars who work with Sami linguistics and folklore, this volume is a must-read account of how, beginning in the 1970s, the Sami began to employ Sami-language media, from recordings, books, and periodicals to films, tweets, and YouTube recordings, to maintain and create social and political awareness and art. I loved reading about the work of filmmakers and musicians in a way that respects their innovative work in the context of Sápmi’s long-standing indigenous culture. I only wish that more Sámi films and art exhibits were available for viewing in North America. Luckily we have YouTube and music streaming services to accompany our reading!

Superficially, The Minnesota Trilogy is a murder mystery. When two Norwegian tourists are slaughtered in a national forest, it seems like an open and shut case. All the evidence points in one direction, but park ranger Lance Hansen is not convinced. He suspects his own brother. Hansen’s amateur investigation accidentally uncovers a second mystery involving his ancestor and the death (murder?) of a nineteenth-century Ojibwe medicine man. Sundstøl’s depiction of contemporary rural Minnesota is as full of magic, menace, and intrigue as the best fantasy world-building. The American Midwest becomes a land of prophetic dreams and roaming ghosts. The clash of cultures is less political than mythic, and the stakes are spiritual. History is still happening. Family is deeper than blood. These books open my imagination and tear my heart in half.

When I discovered Kristin Lavransdatter was 1000 pages, I never expected to fininsh it (I'm a slow reader). However, about 50 pages into it, I was hooked and was at a loss when I read the final chapter. Religion is pervasive but delivered indirectly. The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages was an absolute authority with an iron grip on the main character Kristin. Undset was not judgmental in the book, but I was in reading it. 

Ruth Maier was a Jew born in Germany. Kristallnacht, an infamous Nazi pogrom, took place in 1938. Ruth was able to flee to Norway shortly thereafter.

She soon became fluent in Norwegian, finished high school, and began her university studies. However, the Germans occupied Norway in 1940. She, therefore, lived in constant fear of being arrested and kept a very detailed diary of how she lived through these two dangerous years. She was then arrested in 1942 at age 22 and deported to Auschwitz, where she was immediately put to death. 

Knut Hamsun is one the greatest writers of all time, in my opinion.

And yes, I am separating the work from the person and the political views. Hamsun was a strange guy and he wrote mainly about strange guys.

Lieutenant Thomas Glahn is one of them, the protagonist of Pan. Glahn is an ex-soldier, living in a hunting hut near a small harbour town in Norway. Technically, Pan is a love story. But it is not a typical love story. It is so co-dependent and twisted that it literally hurts.

Glahn is at best an idiot, at worst some kind of a sociopath. He thinks he is in love but his “love” is not innocent and pure but ugly and even dirty. It is easy to feel sorry for Glahn, easier to simply hate him.

But the book is so well written and the story so fascinating that the… show more.

Although I knew that this novel was unlikely to have a happy ending because few women emerge intact after being accused of witchcraft, I couldn’t put this book down. I became attached to the characters, reading on well past midnight to find out whether they would escape a terrible fate.

Women who didn’t conform to the strict code of female behavior in seventeenth-century Norway were all possible targets of the witch hunters. I was filled with admiration for those imprisoned women who held out against demands that they incriminate others and even felt sympathy for those who succumbed to torture to become informers or were cleverly manipulated by promises of leniency.

For me, the plot and subplots were fascinating; all the characters were vivid, and some displayed unbelievable heroism.

This gripping historical thriller has World War II intrigue and Norwegian spies, so it can be described as a wartime murder mystery interwoven with a gripping espionage thriller. It’s a layered story that resonates with that era's tensions, conflicts, and mistrust. I felt like I was there; it was so rich in historical details.

The plot captures the real tensions between Nazi-occupied Norway and neutral Sweden. I learned so much and gained insights into the murky motivations of the time. For someone who pays attention to politics, the complex interplay of different interest groups and their political maneuvering had interesting parallels to the present.

The story has it all: layers of family drama, shared history, divided loyalties, and deep-seated hatred, with storylines weaving in political ideology, the true nature of war, and distorted notions of patriotism, ambition, and revenge. There is so much to think about and apply to today's… show more.