v This is clearly an attempt at giving the old fashioned collection of ghost stories a new twist. It has the requisite spooky artwork; grasping hands looming out of focus, shadowy figures and atmospheric landscapes. Oh, and a cappuccino with a skull imprinted in its froth. No, really. I was really looking forward to this […]
Dr. Gunni (real name: Gunnar Lárus Hjálmarsson) is our guide through popular music in Iceland. It’s some sort of journey, with twists, turns and some dead-ends. It’s a good job that Dr. Gunni is a worthy guide, with enough knowledge, images and personality to forge a path through this weighty tome. The title Blue Eyed Popis […]
Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir has been a professional writer since the age of 22, but this is her first novel to be translated into English. The Creator is a unique story with traces of dark humor. Set in modern day Iceland, it focuses on the lives of two Icelanders. The first is Sveinn, a natural loner, with the […]
I’ve been a fan of Arnaldur Indriðason’s crime writing ever since falling for the cleverly woven plot in Silence of the Grave (2001) over a decade ago, and I still consider it the best book in his Detective Erlendur series. However, through the years, with each new book in the series also being an independent novel, Erlendur’s […]
In 1960, the body of a Danish cryptographer is found on an uninhabited island in Breiðafjörður Bay in West Iceland and Kjartan, a lawyer working at the District Commissioner’s office in Patreksfjörður, is sent to Flatey island to solve the mystery of his death. So begins the plot in The Flatey Enigma (Flateyjargáta) by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson. […]
Eldað undir bláhimni – Skagafjörður’s Colourful Cooking edited by Heiðdís Lilja Magnúsdóttir with photos by Pétur Ingi Björnsson and Óli Arnar Brynjarsson introduces the reader to the cuisine of the region of Skagfjörður in Northwest Iceland. The book is divided into four main sections covering each of the four seasons and the produce and dishes associated […]
Fact number one: Iceland is a peculiar place with funny place names and people who claim to believe in elves and huldafólk (‘hidden people’). All those who know me, either share my passion for travels or are blatantly aware of that passion. They know, either pretending or actually comprehending, my need to travel unbound by routine and […]
A writer begins an extraordinary journey with their very first novel. The first one is the learning curve and marks the very first steps into a world of organized creativity and storytelling to the masses. Alda Sigmundsdóttir’s first novel, Unraveled, is a damn good start. Unraveled is the story of Frida Lowe, previously Fríða Jóhannsdóttir, a woman […]
Writer Snæfríður Ingadóttir and photographer Þorvaldur Örn Kristmundsson have put together three innovative guidebooks in recent years; 50 crazy romantic things to do in Iceland, 50 crazy things to do in Iceland and 50 crazy things to taste in Iceland. In the first book, you learn to fight with ghosts and steal a kiss behind a waterfall. In the […]
October 25, 2010, marked the 35th anniversary of the first Women’s Day Off in Iceland, when women took to the streets to protest the gender wage gap and fight for women’s rights. This was still the focus of the 2010 demonstration but also to raise awareness of and end violence against women. Along with 50,000 other women, […]
