false 100485 13 Everyone has their rough nights, but things have clearly taken a turn for the surreal when Angel, a young photographer, finds a group of drunken teenagers in the courtyard of his apartment building, taunting a young troll. Trolls are known in Scandinavian mythology as wild beasts like the werewolf, but this troll is just a small, wounded creature. Angel decides to offer it a safe haven for the night. In the morning Angel thinks he dreamed it all. But he finds the troll alive, well, and drinking from his toilet. What does one do with a troll in the city? Angel begins researching frantically. Angel searches the Internet, folklore, nature journals, and newspaper clippings, but his research doesn't tell him that trolls exude pheromones that have a profound aphrodisiac effect on all those around him. As Angel's life changes beyond recognition, it becomes clear that the troll is familiar with the man's most forbidden feelings, and that it may take him across lines he never thought he'd cross. A novel of sparkling originality, Troll is a wry, peculiar, and beguiling story of nature and man's relationship to wild things, and of the dark power of the wildness in ourselves. Translated by Herbert Lomas 2995200 book 2000 Troll: A Love Story total:266|5:55|4:92|3:78|2:28|1:13| 266 946 447 72 1 3 true true Wed Dec 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Sep 22 21:41:45 -0700 2008 Wed Dec 10 20:00:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jun 04 18:43:31 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 04 18:43:45 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 20 09:53:18 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 20 10:08:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 21:51:38 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 23:50:21 -0700 2007 Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy (which I have yet to read). But if Troll is representative of her writing, I have high, high hopes for more of her...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 20:51:09 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 21:20:45 -0700 2009 Troll: A Love Story, by Johanna Sinisalo (translated from Finnish), calls out for some classical literary interpretation: the woods, and the creatures that inhabit them, represent our darker, wilder, and altogether more sinful selves.

And so, Ms. Sinisalo, you have it. The young troll,...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu May 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 06:37:45 -0700 2009 Thu May 07 07:19:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:25:24 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:25:24 -0800 2009 Troll won the Finlandia Prize for the best novel published in Finland, and has garnered worldwide attention. Sinisalo draws upon Finnish folklore to create a sharp modern novel that explores the wild beast that lurks in each of us. The Washington Post reminds us, "[T]he runty dark creatures of ...

more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Aug 01 06:49:30 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 06:51:13 -0700 2007
It's unusual for me to find something that feels so fresh and new. And incredibly weird.

I knew virtually nothing going in (a book sa...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 06:33:38 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 06:38:25 -0700 2009
Several points of view are used to tell this story, and one of the most interesting voices is the woman who...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 13:55:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 14:05:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 11:36:53 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 11:51:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 01 21:05:06 -0700 2008 Thu May 01 23:35:51 -0700 2008 Troll is deep read and challenges you to rethink preconceptions. Sinisalo's style is a bit different from what I've been reading recently. Each chapter is narrated by one of the characters; surprisingly, none of the chapters are narrated by the troll. In between the chapters of narration are article...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 14 15:37:49 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 28 14:16:19 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 true false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 13 18:20:26 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 23 12:27:37 -0700 2007
I'm glad I read this -- it was certainly worth the couple of hours I devoted to it -- but it wasn't really excellent.

My chief problem was...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jun 07 23:11:27 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 07 23:12:19 -0700 2007 Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi is a Finish urban fantasy retelling of the fairy and the troll, where the "fairy" in this case is a gay photographer specializing in advertising. His current gig is to help create an advertising campaign for "Stalker" Jeans and he chooses the perfect m...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 07 17:52:09 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 13:06:50 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 10:44:43 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 02 19:12:37 -0700 2009
is this novel about homosexuality? pedophilia? bestiality? the way in which religious and cultural moralities color how we view our own actions? the primal nature that sits crouching in the corner of the human mind?

Taken at fac...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Mar 23 22:23:28 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 23 22:35:29 -0700 2009
Hey, with a plot like that how could this book miss?

The GLBT politics can get a little heavy at times, but otherwise the book is ...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 20 09:51:56 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 22 11:37:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Dec 22 17:39:28 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 17:42:01 -0800 2008