Before I started reading my first book on this bookish world travel, I decided to do some research on the country. This would give me more context and would help me understand the story and the people in it better. In this blog, I will tell you all about it.
Photo by Anastasiia Chepinska on Unsplash
Geological facts
Name: Iceland
Capital: Reykjavík
Government: Unitary parliamentary republic
Language: Icelandic
Area: 103.000 km2 (39,682 sq mi)
Population: 364.134
The capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains, and glaciers, and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, and most of its islands have a polar climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, bringing with them thralls (i.e., slaves or serfs) of Gaelic origin.
(Source Wikipedia)
Fun facts
During the Cod Wars (disputes with the United Kingdom over Iceland's extension of its fishing limits), only one person died: he was on board an Icelandic coastguard vessel.
Bolludagur used to be the Monday before fasting and is now celebrated by eating (a lot) of cream puffs with coffee. Sounds like my kind of holiday!
Icelanders are avid readers and the annual number of books published per capita is greater than anywhere else in the world. Jólabókaflóð (Christmas Book Flood) is the flood of books that comes out in the run-up to Christmas. It is tradition to give each other a book on Christmas Eve. Again, sounds like my kind of holiday ;-)
The Book I read
Independent People by Halldór Laxness
Translated to Dutch by Marcel Otten
Synopsis: Set in the early twentieth century, Independent People recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. If Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic.
About the Author
Halldór Kiljan Laxness, born Halldór Guðjónsson (23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was an Icelandic writer and winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote novels, poetry, newspaper articles, essays, plays, travelogues and short stories. Major influences included August Strindberg, Sigmund Freud, Knut Hamsun, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Bertolt Brecht and Ernest Hemingway.
Other book recommendations for Iceland
Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Souvenir
I thought about different ways to document my journey around the world. One thing I did not mention in my blog about it, was buying little souvenirs. This is what we try to do when traveling in real life: buying a small item that reminds us of the country. For Iceland, and specifically this book, a little sheep would be so nice! Don't you think it's cute?
I would love to visit Iceland in real life soon too. The landscape must be amazing (Northern Lights, just saying) and the people very friendly. Also, they are very consious about the environment, I think we could learn a thing or two from them!
Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash
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