Musings about life and book fairs

 All our guests have now visited. No more guests from the US are expected, so now we need to remember to do cultural things by ourselves. PW and I have the museum pass, so we want to remember to enjoy all the stuff that's available here in Helsinki. 

Tomorrow we are leaving for a short visit in Rovaniemi. The train ride there isn't short. Rovaniemi is on the Arctic Circle, about 2/3 up the country. Yes, there's still a lot of Finland above Rovaniemi. Finland is tall. We're so cheap that we reserved only sitting places, and on the way home it will be an overnight trip... we shall tell you how it went. 

Soon after that trip, PW leaves for three weeks in Namibia. He will miss most of November in Finland, oh woe! He will be in the heat and sunshine while we are in the dark and rain, with frosty mornings and 5 pm total dark. Probably earlier.  

Last week, before our friends the L family left, the Helsinki Book Fair started. I visited it last year and I was so impressed by the thousands of people who came to buy books and listen to their writers. It felt like a sort of utopia - nobody likes crowds, but if people are crowding together for books, well then there's something right in the world. 

Last year's bookfair

 Last year the Helsinki Book Fair beat all records of attendance and this year it beat last year's record with a whopping 100 000 people visiting over four days, Thu-Sun. In comparison, the Frankfurt Book Fair, largest book fair in the world (earlier this month), has some 250 000 visitors. 

The Book Fair is actually a combination fair - one side of the huge convention center is reserved for the Food and Wine Fair. Most people go to both. Circulate the Book Fair for a while, then go eat at the Food and Wine Fair. Winning combo. 

The presentations were 1/2 h discussions about books or phenomenon explored in books, by authors, translators and other bookish folk. Can I just say how much I appreciate the short time frame? No time to get bored or tired. 

Obviously, the more well-known authors drew the biggest crowds - all living Finnish presidents, current and former, talked about books they had co-authored (or totally written) and of course those presentations were ridiculously crowded. But I was happy to see that the youth Fantasy author Mari Renko, who debuted this year with three books (how did that happen?) had a good turnout for her discussion. Even nicer for her was that her book, "Pihlajapalatsi", was totally sold out from the fair after her discussion. And my friend tried to find it in two other bookstores, where it was also sold out. Good for her! Hers was actually one of my favorite books this fall, so I agree with everyone. 

Book fair program and a book I had to buy

 I listened to a talk about the universe by Esko Valtaoja, which was mind-boggling. Also there was a talk about buckets as the heroic item of everyday life - there's a book, of course. Another talk concerned a book that explored the most risky events in Finland's history - all the times it could have gone horribly wrong but for some reason or another didn't. I now kinda want that book - Läheltä piti by Lasse Lehtinen. The students of Kallio Upper Secondary School (where I went) interviewed a lovely graphic novel author who had made a trilogy about Finnic mythology. A comedian, who just happened to be my former class mate, had published another book and his presentation was basically stand-up comedy. Funny! Fantasy authors discussed the role of fantasy. So many good things.  

Lasse Lehtinen: Vähältä piti (Close Shave or 
What could have happened)

There was also the Antiquarian Book Fair, where used books were sold, the Record Fair with mostly LP-records, big stores by big publishers and several bookstores, and the small booths of small publishers. And then the people giving out candy (licorice) and trying to sell everyone an even cheaper deal for cellphones. 

On Friday afternoon I met up with my online writing group for our second in person meeting. So good! And in the evening, the church youth came to visit the Book Fair. It was a small group, but it included IT who was so happy to be at the event I've now talked about a lot. He got two books, both bought by me, and a crêpe, paid for by the bishop who was feeling super generous. 

And then I got sick over night and had to stay home Saturday and Sunday. A head cold. Grr.