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Fiction: J.M. Coetzee: Elizabeth Costello (Secker & Warburg, 2003) I actually started to read this book to get a break from the endless procession of books about Antarctica. I was surprised, and somewhat dismayed, when it turns out that I can’t get out so easily; Antarctica is featured in this Continue Reading

Non-fiction: Tom Avery: Pole Dance (Orion, 2004) First off, Avery’s book has a great name, a name that makes it stand above the rest in the cluttered field of Antarctic memoirs. It belongs to the genre of modern-day accounts of private expenditions to the South Pole, and describes how Avery Continue Reading

Non-fiction: John C. Behrendt: Innocents on the Ice (University Press of Colorado, 1998) Finally a proper Antarctica book! The last two have been a bit peripheral on the subject, but this one tackles it straight on. It is the story of the Finn Ronne expedition of 1957, seen through the Continue Reading

Non-fiction: Jenny Diski: Skating to Antarctica (Granta Books, 1997) There’s two distinct trends in the titles of books about Antarctica. One is featured in the title of Diski’s book, the X to Antarctica. Another example of this is a swimming biography called Swimming to Antarctica. The other big trend is Continue Reading

Fiction: Maarit Verronen: Kylmien saarten soturi (Tammi, 2001) I’m attempting to write a novel set on Antarctica. Whenever I do anything creative, the first thing I do is to read every book, see every movie, go through everything I can find on the subject. I do it to get ideas Continue Reading