Finland
Capital:
Helsinki
Continent:
Europe
Maps:
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| European continent. Finland outlined in dark ink. |
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| A close-up of Finland & its neighbors. |
Neighbors:
Norway, Sweden, Russia
Water Borders:
Gulf of Bothnia, Gulf of Finland
Total Area:
130,596 square miles
Five Largest Cities:
Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä
Famous Geographical Point:
Lake Saimaa
Famous Person:
Eric Tigerstedt, inventor (pioneer of sound-on-film technology), the “Thomas Edison of Finland”
Book Set In/About:
The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna
After nearly killing a hare with his car, frustrated-with-his-life Kaarlo nurses the animal back to health, drops out of his life, and sets off on various adventures around Finland with his newfound furry pal. I know a tiny bit about Finnish culture, and I have to say that this was the most Finnish thing I ever experienced in my life (it was one of my book club books last year).
Movie Set In/About:
“Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier)” (1955), directed by Edvin Laine
Tells the story of Finland’s war against the Soviet Union to reclaim stolen land, waged at the same time as WWII, from the viewpoint of the soldiers who fought it.
Headline of the Day:
“Finland’s Next Government Forecast to Face Slowing Labor Market” on bloomberg.com.
2 comments:
Did you like the book?
I'd like to visit Finland one day. It seems like an interesting place to visit, especially in the summer.
The book kind of left all of us scratching our heads. It's a comedy and I spent the whole time reading it thinking, "I know I'm supposed to find this funny but mostly I just feel perplexed." One of our members loved it but the rest of us were more like, "It was okay." This also describes how I felt about the one Finnish film I've seen. Their sense of humor is very different from American humor.
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