Reviewing "Stories of Norway" by John A. Yilek

Sometimes, when one reads quite a variety of books and starts to get a “feel” for them, one begins to identify books that don’t quite seem the same as conventional publications from established publishing houses. In short, you start to recognize self-published books when you see them.

First, let me say, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with self-publishing. I know some people who have done it. I’ve read some excellent books that were self-published, or had been originally self-published before a traditional publishing house saw its potential (for making the publishing house money, at least) and reprinted it.

However, it must be admitted that in general, self-published books have a certain “look” to them. Something about the glossy paperback cover, the graphic and font choice, and sometimes an “unedited” feel to the writing itself, all gives a sneaking suspicion of unpolished-verging-on-unprofessional work. Even readers who are not grammar or spelling enthusiasts can see the difference between a book that has been professionally copy-edited and one that skipped that (in my opinion, vital) stage.

Good writing is like a window, and good editing is like window-washing: you only notice it when it hasn’t been done properly.

That brings me to John A. Yilek’s Stories of Norway. As soon as I held it in my hand, the very feel of the cover indicated “self-published.” I opened it with trepidation, having one-too-many-times endured typos sprinkled on every page of some similar publications. I was pleasantly surprised to note that there weren’t many textual errors—from what I understand, Yilek is a professor of some kind, so I was glad to see he’d obviously put work into writing accurately.

However, there was one thing about this book I didn’t like: It didn’t seem to know what sort of book it was. Chapter to chapter varied from Norwegian history, to folklore, to translations of old sagas, to descriptions of Norse culture or practices. It was confusing as to what parts I should take for fact and what parts to take for fiction. It seems like an editor would have noticed this, too, and suggested dividing the book into definite sections for each of these categories, or even adding MORE stories (after all, it’s a rather short book) in order to either create a definitive tome about Norwegian history and culture or perhaps publish the categories separately as a series of books.