Reflection on Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

               This is a cool book that I picked up sort of randomly. The fantasy writer Neil Gaiman decided to do an interpretation of Norse mythology and called it Norse Mythology. It does the creation story, a few tales, and the story of Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods. It’s pretty short and not bad at all.

               I learned mostly just weird things about Norse myths. Like for example, the biggest mythological boat is Naglfar, the Death Ship, “made from the untrimmed fingernails of the dead.” Okay. Also, in one very convoluted adventure where Loki turned into a salmon, Thor caught him in his hand and squeezed hard, but more at the tail than the head, which is why salmon get narrower at the tail. Also, earthquakes are caused by Loki, who is currently tied up with a poisonous snake dripping venom on him. His wife catches the venom in a bowl, but sometimes has to turn to empty the bowl, letting a drop fall on Loki. He shudders, causing an earthquake. There’s plenty more little details like that and I thought they made for good reading.

The best part of the book is the writing style, which is pretty funny for the subject matter, which could have been treated in a very serious way. Instead, you find lines like this: “Thor looked interested. He had already broken a great many weapons over the years, normally by hitting things with them.” There’s a lot of sarcastic and funny lines like that. Overall, pretty good book.