1. A mountain and a hot spring! There are some very pretty ones in Iceland โค๏ธ
2. All my Litsy friends! Obviously โบ๏ธ
Thanks @Yuki_Onna for the tag ๐ฅฐ
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
#holidays #travel #holidayreading
1. A mountain and a hot spring! There are some very pretty ones in Iceland โค๏ธ
2. All my Litsy friends! Obviously โบ๏ธ
Thanks @Yuki_Onna for the tag ๐ฅฐ
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
#holidays #travel #holidayreading
Thanks for the tag @Eggs
1 - I‘ve been trying to get back to Iceland for almost twenty years, maybe someday I will.
2 - my guidebook, a fluffy romance read that I can leave in a hotel and replace with a book souvenir. And maybe someday I‘ll read the tagged, which I bought in preparation for my trip all those years ago and never read.
#two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
I really enjoyed the parts of this book about farm life and raising sheep in Iceland in the early 1900s. I wished sometimes that things I considered fairly major events had been described in a bit more detail, and I did not enjoy the more political aspects. Yet overall, this was a wonderful choice for experiencing #Iceland for #ReadingEurope2020.
#ReadtheWorld #ReadingtheWorld #translated #1001books #audiobook #Hoopla
I‘ve been listening to this #audiobook off and on the last few days as I do other things. With all the talk of sheep and life in the wide open spaces of #Iceland it‘s a good listen for a walk. Listening to stories of hard times with starvation looming is not so enjoyable while baking. I also caught up on flagging all the #1001books I‘ve read as I listened as well, and I‘ve decided this is the best way to feel you‘re making progress on the list.
#BookReport
๐ Finished 3 books to end 2019
#CurrentlyReading
๐ง #ATreeGrowsInBrooklynBuddyRead (through chapter 14)
๐ง Independent People #ReadingEurope2020
๐ The English Patient #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown
๐ The Fellowship of the Ring #FellowshipofTolkien
#WeeklyForecast
I hope to stay on track with group reads, finish current independent reads, and move on to an upcoming as I finish one of similar format.
My #jolabokaflod package was mailed today! Should be there Monday or Tuesday!!!
#covercrush #7Days7Covers Day 4 โฐ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ป
Fled Louisiana on an early flight yesterday to escape the tropical storm. We left a day early for our vacation, so now we have an unexpected day trip in Toronto! ๐จ๐ฆ Good thing we left as our original flight was cancelled this morning.
Prepping for Iceland with this classic!
Off to find some poutine . . .
Woke up to a wonderful surprise, hubby used reward points and booked a one week getaway to Iceland for the 2 of us while Maya is at sleepaway camp! This was part of our original summer plan (combined with Norway & Copenhagen) before surgery delayed that planning. I‘m so excited we will do part of the trip!
Now I need some Icelandic author recommendations! I‘ve read the tagged book, what else would you suggest?
Some books are a delight, some edifying. Some show an alien world, while others comfort in their familiarity. Some are challenges to be puzzled out. And some are compelling but don‘t move you, you are maybe ambivalent, and then you reach the end and there is one line and you are weeping, because now you understand that everything has led to this moment and it is more beautiful for all that came before. That last kind is Independent People for me.
Those were good days. They were serene days and quite undemonstrative, like the best days in one‘s life; the boy never forgot them. Nothing happens; one simply lives and breathes and wishes for nothing more, and nothing more.
Surprised and v grateful for my bookish Christmas gifts. Moomin cushions and a trip through the history of Icelandic literature in English. As you do! ๐
Icelandic lit bookhaul from Iceland! A bit pricey? Yes, but I couldn‘t help myself. I love how their bookstores promote Icelandic literature in English.
My tbr is a mountain. I have All the Birds, Singing for my F2F bookclub. The Enormous Room for #Reading1001travelingbook Libra for #reading1001TBRtakedown. I‘m reading Independent People by Laxness for #SummerBackpackEurope. And that is just a partial list. #TBRAugust.
#backpackEurope travelogue @JenP @BookwormM *fictional*
Country 4: I was set to move on from Iceland when my ferry got delayed due to rough seas! I won't be able to move on for another week๐ฃ. I have enjoyed touring Reykjavik in the summer (I hate the cold, so it's a *bit warmer* now. And I took time with my delay to see the Northern Lights!
This book was not my fave. It was about farming but not comforting/pastoral. My first Icelandic author!
Saying goodbye to Iceland‘s water and ice...
#backpackEurope
I visited Iceland with the USAF in 1983 and 1984. It is the cleanest place I have ever been and incredibly beautiful! So glad to have a literary visit with #backpackEurope! This story isn‘t epic and I hope it will give me a chance to immerse myself in the place. #Iceland #1001books #audiobook
Magnificent. By focusing on one funny, frustrating, & bewildering character - Bjartur of Summerhouses - & his family, Laxness launches a social & political critique of the forces keeping the Icelandic (& global) rural poor down. Written with acerbic wit & empathy, it also critiques the ideology of "independence" without responsibility to others, i.e. "each man for himself", showing the heavy cost of patriarchal patriotism on women & children. 5 โญ
"People's most essential requirements were then doled out to them, in quantities varying with their means and circumstances so that they could go on slaving for the interest they had to pay."
#readaroundtheworld #litsyclassics
Laxness' social and political critique is ๐ฅ (and so subtle or ironic at times, that I miss it...)
#readaroundtheworld #litsyclassics
5 stars
While I didn‘t like Bjartur as a character I loved this saga about life on a sheep Croft in Iceland.
The book is filled with commentary about religion vs superstition, farmers co-operatives vs money lenders & banks & details about how even remote farms in Iceland are affected by world events.
While this is not a cheerful book there are great 1 liners scattered throughout.
This book leaves you lots to ponder.
#readaroundtheworld
#readaroundtheworld #Iceland
What a vile notion expecting a wage that allows the worker to live ๐ฑ
#readaroundtheworld #Iceland
This comment about the banking system is still relevant today
#readaroundtheworld #Iceland
Predicting the European Union? Although of course they are still separate countries ๐คช
#readaroundtheworld #Iceland
WW1 has now broken out but Bjartur still only cares about his sheep and being independent.
Really enjoying this book ๐
#readaroundtheworld #Iceland
Interesting to see how the Bible stories are questioned by the children who have never left the Croft and who have experienced more than 40 days and nights of rain.
#readaroundtheworld #Iceland
Quote for the cat ๐ฑ lovers
#readaroundtheworld #Iceland
A very sensible pragmatic attitude to loss
The eldest & the youngest have been conversing, arguing with each other, each calling the other a fool. Then their middle brother enters the conversation & they unite against him because the middle brother doesn't understand the soul & only knows how to keep busy.
Laxness has so many passages like this, in this sprawling book; passages that remind me of Dostoevsky, the similar expansive capacity for depicting the nuances of humanity.
#readaroundtheworld #Iceland
Love the idea of Christianity in moderation. Well they are living on a Croft in Iceland more superstitious than religious.
I don‘t have this problem as I tend to read fiction ๐คฃ๐คฃ๐คฃ
I found the juxtaposition of the titles of my current reads interesting...
Last books of 2017, first books of 2018. The 2nd book in the Southern Reach trilogy doesn't have the same poetic atmosphere but the mind-numbing dread of bureaucracy on top of an event no one can get a handle on feels more horrifying. Independent People is contemplative & melancholic but compared to the real-seeming horrors of Authority, it's practically utopian (so far).
Discussion among farmers about maggots in sheep leads to musings on sheep fodder. Thorir of Gilteig comes out of nowhere and takes the conversation up a notch. "It's impossible to say where the worm begins - either in the animal kingdom or in human society." Indeed! I don't know why I find this so funny ? #wherethewormbegins
Getting a head start on 2018 for #readaroundtheworld Iceland & my "I" entry for #litsyclassics.
#Iceland #readingtheworld #readtheworld Supposed to be a good one!
"When one is unmarried, one must tell people to shut up in roundabout fashion."
"Presently the smell of coffee begin to fill the room. This was morning's hallowed moment. In such a fragrance the perversity of the world is forgotten and the soul is inspired with faith in the future; when all was said and done, it was probably true that there really were far-off places, even foreign countries." Truth!!!
Splurged on a pedicure and so of course I got some reading in. Still struggling with this one, so slow!
A history of Iceland, and of Bjart, a farmer who clings to his independency, which costs him a lot. A rough country, a rough man, but both with a certain beauty, a bit of poetry and a lot of pride.
#1001books
22 Ambassadors recommend one book. I'm going to explore this list! http://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/22-ambassadors-recommend-the-one-book-to-read-...
Visited Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC today! This is a small, family-owned independent bookstore that has an eclectic mix of books, a ton of book clubs, and friendly staff. Can't ask for much more! #indiebookstores