Popular Music from Vittula

For Christmas I received one of those Page-A-Day calendars and with it came the opportunity to sign up for a free e-mail subscription to one of their calendars. Since they offered one for Booklovers, I naturally chose that one and what a treasure it has been.

The February 12th issue mentioned a book that I had never heard of before and sounded intriguing, Popular Music from Vittula by Mikael Niemi (Seven Stories Press, 2004). What a treasure! I have raved about this book to everyone I know and always start off by saying "I know this book is about life in a small Swedish village which is above the arctic circle and really is more Finnish than Swedish, but you have to read it". Here is a delightful coming-of-age tale about two boys set in the 1960's an it includes a visiting African priest, a mysterious girl in a Vovlo, rock and roll music, and the brutal yet beautiful life in such a remote locale.

A movie version , directed by Reza Bagher was released in 2004 and it apparently made some of the film festivals in the US - haven't located a DVD yet

Intrigued? Read a sample here: http://www.ralphmag.org/CL/vittula1.html