The making of an active reader
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The problem with any Scandinavian saga for a modern (non-academic) reader is that the culture no longer exists in which it is both a duty and a source of honour to recognise and glory in one's ancestors. Reading a saga becomes, therefore, either a study of medieval Icelandic culture or an engrossing tale of chivarly, blood-feuds and romance hiding beneath a thick layer of geneology.
This particular collection of Icelandic sagas deals enirely with mortal men, which may put off some of those looking primeraly for Odin and the like. What Eirik the Red provides is a detailed and insightful cross-section of Icelandic society after the invasion of the Norwegians fleeing their new-formed kingdom. Particularly interesting is the discovery of America by the Greenlanders, several centuries before Columbus. I would heartily recommend this collection for anyone with more than a passing interest in medieval Scandinavian culture, but would add that the plethora of names and places mentioned requires the reader to be fully awake!
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