Norwegian Wood by Lars Mytting

Review

Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way I got this book for Christmas from my younger sister who knows that I have a bit of an obsession with splitting wood. My partner Rick and I live in a small stone cottage in the country which is primarily heated by a log stove so we very much depend on wood! I take great pride in the choosing of the correct trees, the splitting into perfectly shaped logs and the stacking into neat piles in order for the logs to dry out in time for the winter. And before you ask, yes I can do all this myself. I am a girl that's qualified to use a chainsaw and is competent with an axe!

What I love about this book is that it's not just a "how to" of preparing wood for the winter. It would be a lot smaller if it was! Lars Mytting spent a long time researching this book, travelling to different regions of Scandinavia in order to speak to people who have turned wood-stacking into an art form. There are big old round stacks, stacks in the shape of fish, long stacks, tall stacks...basically all kinds of stacks that you could possibly think of. Mytting has filled this book with personal experiences that anyone who has ever wielded an axe can relate to. The different points of view that are relayed in this book has given me lots of new ideas to try out with my own wood splitting and stacking.

The book was originally written in Norwegian and has been translated into English. This is great. However there are one or two pictures that are depictions of advertisements that have not been translated and are still in Norwegian. This being said, these are not essential to the writing and in no way inhibit your understanding of the stories.

There are so many great pictures of previously mentioned elaborate wood stacks throughout the book and on more than one occasion I turned a page to exclaim "Wow! Look at this!" and forced Rick to stop what he was doing to look at the picture.

My favourite part of the whole book I'd have to say is towards the end and is a bit of a tear-jerker. I must admit I was not expecting so much emotion to go into a book on wood splitting!  I won't risk any spoilers though, all I will say is make sure you read the whole book.

This book would make a great gift for the person in your life who takes wood-chopping very seriously. I have several friends and relatives that I know I am going to buy this for.

Have you read this book? Or have you bought it for someone that just couldn't put it down? I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment!

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