Sinijärv recommends three books from Viking Estonia to rum-soaked fiction

National Library cultural adviser Karl Martin Sinijärv has recommended three books in a selection published by ERR: Marika Mägi’s “Viking Age Estonia: Land, Things and People in the Crosswinds of the Era,” Sinclair Lewis’s “It Can’t Happen Here” and Hunter S. Thompson’s “The Rum Diary.”

Mägi’s book has reached its third edition in nine years, a revision Sinijärv says is justified as new knowledge about the period continues to emerge. He says the book is accessible to both general readers and specialists, and praises its literary quality. He also highlights its preface and afterword, quoting the latter’s observation that most Viking Age sites and finds in Estonia were discovered by ordinary people, not archaeologists.

Sinijärv says Lewis’s novel, written nearly a century ago, feels strikingly prescient today. He compares Lewis favourably with George Orwell as a writer of imagined futures, calling Lewis more literary and perceptive when viewed from the present. Sinijärv says Lewis’s books offer insight into America and remain rewarding regardless of a reader’s age or background.

For readers looking for a very different portrait of America, Sinijärv recommends Thompson. “The Rum Diary” is set in Puerto Rico, which he describes as closely connected to the United States culturally and politically. He calls the book a lively bohemian drinking novel in the “Bibliotheca potatoris” series, and describes it as a colourful, noisy, disorienting and charmingly kaleidoscopic ride.