I visited Svalbard (Spitsbergen) this year. While we were standing next to our snow mobiles in the middle of nowhere, trying to spot some polar bears the guide mentioned that back in 1749 four russian sailors were stranded on a nearby island with only a knife, an axe, some flour and a rifle with a handful of bullets. Their ship was destroyed and all their crew mates gone. Somehow they managed to build basic weapons, fixed an old hut and overwintered (the whole of the polar night!). They had to keep the fire going all the time because they had no tinder to light a new one. Constantly they were in danger of being attacked by polar bears. 6 years (!!) an 3 months later another ship passed by and finally they were rescued. I immediately started searching for more information on this story and found this book. The author …
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What a story!
4 stars
I visited Svalbard (Spitsbergen) this year. While we were standing next to our snow mobiles in the middle of nowhere, trying to spot some polar bears the guide mentioned that back in 1749 four russian sailors were stranded on a nearby island with only a knife, an axe, some flour and a rifle with a handful of bullets. Their ship was destroyed and all their crew mates gone. Somehow they managed to build basic weapons, fixed an old hut and overwintered (the whole of the polar night!). They had to keep the fire going all the time because they had no tinder to light a new one. Constantly they were in danger of being attacked by polar bears. 6 years (!!) an 3 months later another ship passed by and finally they were rescued. I immediately started searching for more information on this story and found this book. The author goes on a wild goose chase to find out more about the story and then even sets out to Svalbard to try and find the hut. It's a great book, I enjoyed it very much. Probably because of the story that its about. The author seemed a bit full of himself sometimes, first talking trash about the author of his primary source (Le Roy, who interviewed the sailors at the time), next about the guide they hired and such. Also he keeps sitting in Paris and Moscow cafes appreciating the beautiful women. Eye roll but ok. On the last pages though I finally had enough when he tries to draw a moral conclusion (which he criticised before in other authors) and then writes "Yes, later, in the Neolithic, all over the world men had independently invented the bow and arrow, just as women had learned to make pots and lamps from clay." He was probably there to witness what happened exactly. It's still worth reading though! Anyways, I discovered the original source by Le Roy is on Archive.org (its in german): archive.org/details/bub_gb_-kxCAAAAcAAJ/mode/2up
velvet_shrimp@bookwyrm.social reviewed Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore
Foxhunt
3 stars
Stumbled upon this book when I was looking for a solarpunk novel. It's set in a future where mankind has overcome the environment struggles we are dealing with today and also social injustices, war etc. I have to say I did enjoy reading it but it takes some getting used to. Characters with a variety of pronouns pop up which I had to look up. Also some I found irritating ("xe/xey" specifically, probs my brain doesn know how to pronounce them therefore was unable to compute) and difficult to read past. But it's only that I am not accustomed yo seeing this I think. The story was alright, it didn't resonate with me that much though. The main character is sort of an egoistic ass some times and not the classical hero type, which I liked.
velvet_shrimp@bookwyrm.social reviewed Solaris by Stanisław Lem
Solaris
4 stars
Great book, full of weirdness and creative ideas. Not what I expected at all. -1 star because there is a slightly racist passage in the beginning that threw me off. It's an old book though, I think these comments were quite common at the time. Otherwisee great and in some passages the descriptios are quite trippy.
velvet_shrimp@bookwyrm.social reviewed Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
Belladonna
3 stars
The romance was a little too weird for me in this one. Also some of the plot twists were fairly easy to see coming. Nonetheless I enjoyed reading it and it made me want to have all the pastries mentioned. They sounded delicious. Lovely descriptions and some spooky ghosts as well.
velvet_shrimp@bookwyrm.social reviewed Corpus Delicti by Juli Zeh
corpus delicti
4 stars
Content warning Spoilers
I enjoyed this book very much, it has plenty of clever dialogues and some quote worthy passages. The whole premise of a society that has conquered sickness is quite interesting. One star subtracted because I didn't like the ending at all, it felt like a copy of 1984. Other than that it would have been 5 stars for me. Definitely worth reading.