Customary practice of the Symra Literary Society is for the host of each meeting to provide a book review at the following meeting. It is the choice of the host to review a book on any subject. An annotated bibliography of books reviewed with the name of the reviewer and year of the review are listed for the current year here.
Booth, Michael. The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia (2016/2014). 400 pp. Booth leaves his adopted home of Denmark and travels through all five Nordic countries to discover who these people are, the secrets of their success, and what they think of each other. (Reviewed by C. Hasvold, 2024).
Brenden, Sheri. Break Point: Two Minnesota Athletes and the Road to Title IX. (University of Minnesota, 2022). 195pp. The story of two women athletes in Minnesota who pursued the opportunity to participate in interscholastic athletics via a 1973 Federal Court case which they won. (Reviewed by M. Klimesh, 2023).
Desjardins, Lorelou. A Frog in the Fjord: One Year in Norway. (North Press, 2021). 304 pp. A French woman in her mid-20s moves from France to Norway for a job in Oslo and learns about Norwegian culture, language, and traditions. (Reviewed by K. Heine, 2022-2023).
Dregni, Eric. For the Love of Cod: A Father and Son's Search for Norwegian Happiness. (University of Minnesota Press, 2021). 200 pp. Short lighthearted chapters explore Norwegian landscapes and culture learned by the author during a year spent in Trondheim. (Reviewed by D. Judisch, 2022-2023).
Guthrie, Julian. Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took On Silicon Valley's Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime. (Currency, 2019). 270 pp. This is the story of four women who helped build significant companies in a male dominated world of venture capital in Silicon Valley. (Reviewed by D. Barnaal, 2022-2023).
Hessel, Susan. June Kjome: Reflections on Aging (CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2016). 64 pages. At age 95 June Kjome reflects on how to age well after a life of activism on issues related to peace, hunger, medical care, marriage equality and more. (Reviewed by M. Kjome, 2022-2023).
Holland, James. The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History, May-October 1940 (St. Martin's Press, Reprint ed, 2011). 959 pages. Historian Holland tells the story of the confrontation between the Luftwaffe and the RAF from May-October 1940 and the events leading up to it. (Reviewed by C. Johnson, 2022-2023).
Jago, Lucy. The Northern Lights: The True Story of the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of the Aurora Borealis (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001). 320 pp. This is a biography of Kristian Birkeland, the Norwegian scientist and inventor who proved the physics behind the aurora borealis. (Reviewed by L. Gilbertson, 2023).
Joyce, Rachel. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel (Random House, 2012). 338 pp. In this novel, Harold Fry's 600 mile walking journey from his home in southern England to Scotland to visit an old friend in hospice is chronicled along with the incidents he encounters along the way. (Reviewed by M. Griesheimer, 2023).
Laestadius, Ann-Helen. Stolen. Trans. Rachel Willson-Broyles. (Simon & Schuster, 2023). 400 pp. A contemporary story about the Sami of Sweden and how one young Sami girl, while becoming an adult, grappled with her love for Sami life and the dominant Swedish culture which considered them second class citizens. (Reviewed by J. Kemp, 2022-2023).
Minge, Olaf, Kyle Ward, Erik Brun. (eds.) The Viking Battalion: Norwegian-American Ski Troopers in World War II. (Casemate., 2023.) 384 pp. The 99th Infantry Battalion (originally a Norwegian-American battalion) started the First Special Service Force of the OSS and fought throughout Europe in World War II . (Reviewed by M. Slind, 2024)
Nybo, Benny. North Atlantic Reflections: Photographic Narratives of Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Denmark (Benny Nebo/PhotoStory, 2013). 273 pages. Danish photographer Benny Nybo has assembled photos of the places he has visited mentioned in the title and described them in English translation. (Reviewed by J. Iversen, 2022-2023).
Preus, Margi. Shadow on the Mountain: A Novel Inspired by the True Adventures of a Wartime Spy. (Amulet, 2014). 320 pp. A young adult novel based on the real-life adventures of a 14-year-old resistance fighter during World War II when the Nazis invaded Norway. With photos and maps. (Reviewed by B. Johnson, 2024).
Rasmussen, Rasmus. Viking: From Norway to America. (Friends of the Viking Ship, 2023). 186 pp. The Viking, which sailed from Norway to Chicago in 1893, is the journal of one of the twelve crew members who made the journey and continues the story about present day activities to preserve the ship. (Reviewed by D. Barnaal, 2025).
Rosseland, Vigleik. The Uprooting: Cleng Peerson and the Norwegian Immigration of 1825. Trans. Kristbjørg Eide. (1925). Reprinted by Thomas Mannes in both Norwegian and English, is a play about young Norwegians meeting with Cleng Peerson to discuss emigration to America in 1825 on the sloop Restauration. (Reviewed by D. Goodman, 2024-2025).
Tackett, Michael. The Baseball Whisperer: A Small-Town Coach Who Shaped Big League Dreams. (Mariner Books, 2016). 272 pp. Legend Merl Eberly coached the Clarinda (Iowa) A's baseball team for over five decades, turning out major league players as well as providing second chances and discipline for young men. (Reviewed by D. Fure, 2025).
Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (Macmillan, 1899). 300 pages. The affluent or leisure class in American society is marked by their overriding greed which produces conspicuous waste and conspicuous consumption to the detriment of the rest of society. (Reviewed by M. Christopherson, 2024-2025).