Narrative non-fiction

A Whole Person in Half a Body

Anne Grethe Solberg

Anne Grethe Solberg was shot by her ex-husband eight years ago. One shoulder and arm had to be amputated, and her hip was shot to pieces. It was uncertain whether she would survive, and whether she would be able to walk. She was certainly not expected to be able to run a marathon. In this book she tells the dramatic story of the shooting episode. She relates how she saved her life by playing dead. Not least, she describes what happened after the shooting; how she escaped from the scene of the shooting and how she was saved. She has a strong survival instinct. She wants to look after her children, work and pay the bills herself. She develops strategies for self-mastery, and as she herself is a coach, she coaches herself in the recovery period after the shooting. After an impressive amount of practice, Anne Grethe teaches herself to walk. However, it becomes apparent that it is easier to run. She decides to run a marathon and she writes grippingly about her progress to the New York Marathon. Finally, she shares her ten strategies for self-mastery which we can all make use of. A story of self-mastery, strong will, hard work and a strong wish to survive in order to be able to make a difference.

Europeans

Simen Ekern

The struggle for the future of Europe is intense, alarming and dramatic. In this book we meet the main actors.When Simen Ekern went to live in Brussels as an exchange student in the late 1990’s, the mood was optimistic. The ‘Erasmus Generation’ would nurture a new Europe, where national differences were less important than the idea of future harmony. When he returned to the EU capital as a journalist ten years later, people were talking instead about a ‘Lost Generation.’Europeans is about the crisis which has hit Europe. The difficult economic situation has presented opportunities for political entrepreneurs with widely different ideological projects. Ekern introduces the reader to Italian populists, Scottish separatists and Hungarian extremists. He talks with Brussels bureaucrats, French patriots and a Greek crime-writer who has his own distinctive views about who are the villains in the story. ‘... great insight and even more knowledge combined with observational skills and an eye for detail.’NRK‘Journalistically prepared, linguistically confident, technically solid. ... Ekern’s book is divided into ten chapters. Most of them are based on interviews that either facilitate access to topics such as the German austerity policy or are used as a basis for portraits of selected problem countries such as Greece, Italy and Hungary. …But the strength of the book is equally in how Ekern interweaves these interviews with history lessons, anecdotes, well-placed quoted, short travelogues and a suitable dose of first-person journalism. A lot of hard work goes into a tapestry like this.’AFTENPOSTEN ‘In this book he applies his great knowledge of the topic, combined with his astute observational skills, to portray the lives of ordinary people and relate them to the major themes in contemporary Europe.’FÆDRELANDSVENNEN ‘An insightful and well-informed description of Europe. … Ekern’s account of the struggle for the future of Europe is both intense and alarming.’TRØNDERAVISA ‘Very relevant to a deeper understanding of the current political fluctuations in Europe. … This book combines accounts of meeting important and less important people, with wholly personal experiences and discussion of the major trends.’FINANSAVISEN ‘In Europeans, Simen Ekern has written a sound and very topical book about the EU and the challenges facing Europe.’HAMAR ARBEIDERBLAD ‘Simen Ekern’s new book shows us the enormous gulfs which have grown up between the nationalists who want the whole EU to go to Hell and the pro-Europeans who see an even greater diminution of the sovereignty of the nation states as the solution. … an up-to-date discussion of hot topics.’UNIVERSITAS

The Eastern Front Sisters

Vegard Sæther

In 2015 the President of the Norwegian Red Cross, Sven Mollekleiv, protested about the treatment of about 450 “Eastern Front Sisters” who had been sentenced as traitors after the Second World War. These were trained nurses and volunteers who worked with the German Red Cross on the Eastern Front. Nobody should be punished for giving medical help on either side of the front line in time of war. To the injured soldiers needing care in various field hospitals, the Eastern Front Sisters seemed like angels. However, because the Norwegian legal system regarded their service as assisting the enemy in time of war, they were tried and sentenced. They were deprived of their civil rights for ten years and had to pay back what they had earned in the service. In addition to this, they suffered lifelong scorn. In this book, Vegard Sæther tries to cast light on the Sisters of the Eastern Front – where they came from, how old they were when they signed up for this service, what motivated them to serve as nurses at the front, where and how did they serve, and what awaited them when the war was over? This is an unusual story about the role of women in the Second World war. By drawing attention to the consequences of the war-time stories, and especially relating what was taboo, it can stimulate debate about a theme with which many people can identify.

THE JOY OF BIRDS

Anne Havåg Holter-Hovind

How to get your gardens and balconies twittering This book teaches you everything you need to know to ensure a happy life for the birds in your garden or on your balcony. You’ll get tips about the right plants, the best bird boxes and much more besides. The book is illustrated throughout with masses of beautiful photographs of birds in Norwegian settings. Anne’s garden is teeming with songbirds that eat, drink, play, bathe, flirt and sleep. Her twittering garden guests are a source of great life and joy, and complete the garden with their colours, movements, sounds and personalities. They also combat pests and contribute to biological diversity. Anne Havåg Holter-Hovind isn’t just a gardening enthusiast and bird lover. She is also an architect and the brains behind Norway’s biggest garden blog, Moseplassen. In this richly illustrated brook, she takes you right up close to the different birds and their idiosyncrasies, telling you in an inspiring way about the best ways to create a bird-friendly outdoor space. Her charming, instructive and beautiful book is this year’s perfect gift for bird lovers.

Harvest Outdoor Handbook

This book is about enjoying the outdoors with children and all the enjoyable, exciting and educational activities you can find there. It comes to us from the editors who publish the magazine Harvest on the internet: Torbjørn Ekelund, Simen Tveitereid, Kjetil Østli and Anders Aakre. Like many others, they have learned by experience that it is often better to be outdoors than in. All age-groups find that crossing the threshold is the longest mile, but once the bags are packed and the troops assembled and the whole family is trotting into the woods, along the shore or up into the mountains, a type of calm settles. Everybody suddenly feels content to be there, and it seems that the children have long forgotten that just a short time ago they were insisting on staying indoors. The aim of this book is to inspire families with small children to go out more – or at least give it a try.

Help

Øyvind Kvalnes

Helping others is one of the best things we can do on this Earth. That's when we are at our very best as human beings. It's also good for the heart, and reduces stress and depression. More help is needed, both locally and globally. How can we help in the best way possible? A tiny extra input can be all that is needed to transform a situation for somebody else. Help can be anything from feeding the cat for friends while they are on holiday, to running into a burning house to rescue somebody. It can be taking a neighbour's washing in from the clothes-line when rain approaches. It can also be going into war zones to provide medical and humanitarian help at the risk of one's own life. Tweeter and philosopher Øyvind Kvalnes is engaged with aid not only professionally but also more personally as a father, grandfather and local citizen. Helpfulness is one of the most important things we can teach our children, provided we find the golden middle way and don't push them too hard. In this book he takes examples from his own life, from philosophy and from psychology.

Kim's Game

Sun Heidi Sæbø

At Easter 1979 a bag was found on a 169 bus after it had reached its terminus at Sørkedalen outside Oslo. When the driver opened it he found a string vest, a camera, a written and stamped postcard and a passport belonging to a South Korean called Koh Sang-Moon. The driver handed the bag in to the lost property office at Oslo police station, and the case remained unsolved until Sang-Moon inexplicably reappeared several months later on North Korean television propaganda as a defector. After the end of the Korean War, the kidnapping of South Koreans abroad became one of North Korea's most important propaganda weapons against the West. In Kim's Games, journalist Sun Heidi Sæbø follows up the story of the student who brought the major political game between North and South Korea to the little land of Norway. She tracks down Sang-moon's daughter at her home in Seoul and discovers that she has still not given up hope of getting her father back. Sæbø interviews surviving participants in the affair and delves into embassy archives. Last but not least, she speaks with a South Korean who took what to us seems an incomprehensible decision, choosing to leave South Korea for the North. Was it really unthinkable that Koh Sang-Moon moved voluntarily? PRESSCUTTINGS:‘A brilliant introduction to the history and utterly unique psychology of the hermit state. The book is obligatory reading for both novices and experts with an interest in the almost absurd existence of the totalitarian monarchy created by the Kim dynasty, with a hybrid ideology quite unlike anything we have seen before.’MINERVA‘… An enthralling real-life thriller crammed full of amazing events and shocking stories about North Korea, its diplomats and its autocratic leaders, and about the communist beacon’s attraction for young left-wing radicals. … Kim’s Game is the very best kind of high political page-turner. … a well-documented and exciting thriller drawn from the bizarre reality of the Cold War.’DAGBLADET‘Easy to read, instructive, exciting.’DAGSAVISEN

Log Off!

Lars Bratsberg / Thomas Moen

Right now you just have to post a few tweets while your Facebook profile is being updated with the afternoon running trip and the picture of today's dinner which you made yourself, and at the same time you see that a text message has come in which you must reply to at once. The rest of the family are sitting around the dinner table, while you are deeply immersed in your digital world and don't even hear the little one talking about his nursery outing by train. You are a competent multitasker, and you feel that you are there where the action is happening. The authors of Logg av! had themselves fallen into the multitasking pit, but they made some important changes in their busy digital world. In this book they explain why it is important to log off when you have free time, what happens when we only communicate digitally and the stress the brain is exposed to all day and night when you are logged in all the time. An important book which will help you to rediscover the balance in your life, to engage with others both socially and at work, and to sleep well at night.

Magnus Carlsen

Arne Danielsen

New, revised and updated edition of Arne Danielsen's book about Magnus Carlsen. Magnus Carlsen has achieved two of the most important sporting successes of any Norwegian in the 21st century. On 1st January 2010 he became the youngest person in history to reach the top of the world ranking in chess. And last year he became world champion in a competition which all Norway followed for two weeks. The book describes Carlsen's way to the top in a game which is surrounded by myths. It explains the phenomenon and enables the reader to understand the drama played out on the chessboard in important matches. This will help the general public to understand the significance of Magnus Carlsen's fantastic achievements in the world of chess. This edition has been extensively rewritten and 5 new chapters added, including new interviews with Carlsen, and an update from the World Chess Championships at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in November 2014 and 30 pictures. ’Danielsen is an excellent communicator, who tells Carlsen’s story in a humorous and agreeable style. What is most impressive is his ability to recreate the excitement of the chessboard without using chess notation. Fine subtleties of the game are like a thrilling film when Danielsen is the narrator. This book is highly recommended.’NORSK SJAKKBLAD

Man

Dag Furuholmen / Ted Usatynski

Today's man stands at a crossroads. In the past, man has been an unchallenged patriarch in our civilisation, secure of his role and confident of his masculinity. Many people think that today's man is more unsure of himself than ever. In the media he is often portrayed as immature and self-centred. The demands and expectations from all around him have changed. It is time for man to rediscover his strength, his identity and who he wants to be. What characterises the modern man? How has the culture we live in affected man's role? The authors present new research from psychology, sociology and neurobiology, together with explanations from evolutionary biology. The various chapters follow man from childhood, though adult life and right on to old age, researching the different phases of life and the roles man passes through. They describe different routes to manhood through themes such as friendship, responsibility, sexuality, fatherhood and maturity. This book is helpful to today's man in finding his masculinity and being able to assess what is specific about being a man. The text also includes questions which will help the reader to explore the various themes as they relate to his own life. This book is written for men, by men, but it will also be useful to women who want to gain a better understanding of their father, partner or son. Join us on a journey of discovery through your masculinity!

Shades of Black

Harald Fossberg

In the mid 1990's, the general public associated Norwegian black metal music with murder and setting fire to churches. However, the origins of this genre in which Norwegian bands are world leaders, are ten years older. Nowadays, Norwegian black metal bands tour all over the world and sell hundreds of thousands of discs. Norwegian black metal has been house-trained, the greatest bands have topped the Norwegian album chart, and black metal bands have also taken part in the annual Norwegian version of the Eurovision Song Contest. Music journalist Harald Fossberg goes behind the headlines, into the history of the development of the genre. Several of the most important participants tell the story in their own words. They begin at the beginning, when boys in their early teens became pen pals and swapped cassettes with each other prior to forming bands, and go on to describe how the music scene developed. ’What makes this book really exciting are the accounts given by the many different people involved … Shades of Black is also a fascinating account of the coming into being of an underground milieu which had to face both catastrophes and severe criticism in its formative first years.’DAGSAVISEN’a unique close-up of the birth of the genre.’AFTENPOSTEN’A solid book about the course of Black Metal’s development and spread from village to town … The book succeeds very well in humanising the genre and the milieu, with good pirate-stories and pitch-black humour of the best Spinal Tap variety.’BERGENS TIDENDE’… a superb introduction to the roots of the genre, from Black Sabbath to Motorhead to Venom to Bathory to Mayhem, and a brilliant insight into a culture far beyond the norm’ DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV’Fossberg takes the musicians seriously, and tells the story of Black Metal in their terms.UNIVERSITAS