Welcome to Litsy!

Op shop after school pickings from a while back. Love cheap costume jewellery, crochet blankets and vintage linen! Started the tagged book on audio but always prefer a physical book.

An interestingly structured book. An Australian journalist and his friend a half Icelandic half Australian academic visit Iceland primarily to investigate Icelandic history and to record several sagas, Icelandic family tales in the style of Beowulf and Homer. But also a story about family, parental love, secrets and a sense of self and belonging.

Had my last exam for this semester! Yay! I later googled the text and it was part of the Egil's Saga, the teacher just exchanged the names 😆
And now for some relaxation 🍹

I enjoyed this mix of stories. I was not familiar with the sagas and hadn‘t realised their importance. Iceland has a culture of story-telling & poetry (& highest % of published authors in the world). The sagas are dry compared with (for example) the dramatic heroics of Greek myths - but I loved the sense of history & characters of Iceland. It‘s also part-travelogue with interesting digressions & anecdotes. A bit too long, but a fun immersive read.

Uncertain how to read this one because the culture that produced it is so alien to me. Many times characters jump at each other's throats - and I have no idea why. Is Egil meant to be honorable or moral in any way? Not sure.

Fairly difficult to follow due to the large numbers of characters (often with the same name) combined with the necessity of keeping everyone's familial relationships straight. I failed more than I succeeded.

This was at moments entertaining, charming and funny but at other times long winded and even a little dull. I enjoyed the combination of Icelandic sagas and family drama but it felt a bit too long.

Third day of #riotgrams .... #nakedhardcovers

How gorgeous is this cover?

"It's not the edge of the world for the people who live here." As an Aussie I relate to this!