Iceland Books

Janoda's retelling of a classic saga is unlikely to become a bestseller given its esoteric subject matter, but that is truly a great shame as evolved readers of any stripe will surely delight in the author's wonderful skills.

Saga is about a very small community in Iceland around 965 CE, and for an historical novel, comparatively little happens--there are no grand battles, epic journeys, allusions to well-known historical events, or famous personages. The cast is limited to a dozen or so main characters and the pace of events might fairly be considered glacial. Yet for all that, the story is oddly, almost paradoxically compelling. Somehow the sparseness of the material, the humble (even dreary) circumstances within which the story unfolds, and Janoda's supremely economical--even frugal--use of language are all superbly suited to the tale and imbue it with a veracity and vigor that mere research can never match.

Like one of his humble farmer characters, Janoda painstakingly tends the unpromising soil and climate of his setting and scratches out of it a miraculous harvest of which which we lucky readers are the beneficiaries--a quirky masterpiece that transcends the seeming limitations of its subject to yield a tale that is by turns suspenseful, moving, shocking, and utterly convincing.

Great way to bring life to this saga. Read this book more than a year ago (twice) and it still sticks. Great great stuff. Let's have more!

This is an awsome story and a very good read. It bounces around a bit but still worth every penny!

This is one of those books that you get so into while you're reading that you don't want it to end. Janoda has fleshed out a portion of the Eyrbyggja Saga, giving depth and dimension to the Snorri Gothi, Arnkel Gothi, and Thorbrand factions feuding, scheming, betraying and killing for possession of two farmsteads and a precious birch forest on a peninsula in 10th century western Iceland. The saga has everything a Norse and medieval history buff would want, including some really "creepy" stuff with a vengeful ghost and dark elves who live in the shadows and feed off the evil the Norse perpetrate.

Janoda's prose is fluid and effortless, and he writes as a master storyteller. I HOPE HE WRITES ANOTHER BOOK LIKE THIS ONE ON ANOTHER OF THE SAGAS!

Highest Recommendation

I bought this, based on the reviews here as I was looking for a good Midgard-themed book to read.

It's a great first novel and I hope the author dips into this setting again for the next one.

A fine tale of the harsh Icelandic life and of betrayal and passion. Any fans of this genre should indeed give this one a try.

Couldn't fault any of it. Good stuff.

Fascinating!!

I only wish more photos, diagrams and website links and/or information (on those specific archeological discoveries and digs) would have been provided, so that we could have researched it a bit more, and tracked any furhter progress.

The listings of the incredible array of artifacts found in these archeoligical digs would have also benefited by some drawings and photos.

That being said, this is a wonderful book that brings the action to life -- I can almost see the ship rise and fall with the waves. The natives (skraalings) and the landscape of the new world is rendered in vivid word pictures. The descriptions of the Viking farms in Greenland and the hazardous trips sometimes needed to be made to reach those farms, gives me a sense of the tremendous resiliency and resourcefulness of those heroic people way back then.

Exceptional -- but would definitely benefit from photos, diagrams, links, -- even a rendering of what Gudrid may have looked like.

This is an extraordinary acheivement. The author follows the character of Gudrid throughout her journeys through in Viking world of the late 900s and early 1000s and, along the way, paints a vivid picture of life at that time. The writing is engaging and apparently effortless, but the research that supports it is massive, as described in 35 pages of footnotes and references at the end of the book. The author's passion is clear throughout, and further evidenced by her having worked as a volunteer archaeologist one summer in Iceland to excavate Gudrid's home. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the Vikings.

This book enlightens a period of history not well known to date. It is very interesting reading, especially for anyone with Scandinavian roots. The research the lies behing this work is remarkable. I highly recommend this book.

Brown gives us a lot of interesting information about Gudrun's life and times in "The Far Traveller." But what is even more interesting is her description of being on archaeological digs in Iceland, describing what archaeologists have to do to torture more information out of the physical remains of the past. Brown's focus on what archaeology has contributed to our knowledge of the Vikings, as well as archaeology's limitations, make this a more fascinating read than the account of what we think we know about Gudrun could have done.

I am just a general reader who happens to enjoy well-written history. I've never read much at all about the Vikings but the NY Times review of THE FAR TRAVELER was enticing and I was not let down by its promise. Nancy Marie Brown has reached back to a place and people obscured by time, doing a decent job of erasing some of the fog and cold desolation that obscure the Dark Ages and Medieval Epoch in Iceland and Greenland. She also succeeds in revealing a lot about contemporary archaeological practice and thought.

Brown turns first to the Sagas, the 10th and 11th century tales of Vikings, for inspiration. Though embroidered, the Sagas, written down some generations later, are regarded as holding historical memories. Brown focuses on one woman who appears in both the Eirik the Red and Greenland Sagas as her guide, Gudrid, who traveled from Iceland to Greenland to Vinland, back to Iceland and remarkably, in later age, on a pilgrimage to Rome. Her son Snorri was very likely the first European child born on North American soil, circa 1005. Her personal story reveals much about religion, economics, gender relations, values, world view and other aspects of her culture. Born late in the 10th century AD, she witnessed the spread of Christianity and the fading of the violent marauding male economy as the domestic textile industry spun by women on the farm began to reposition Iceland in the world trade scene. Brown travels to all of the places Gudrid did, reads scholarship on her topic and participates in archaeological digs and recreation of weaving studios.

The digs at L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland, have been reported on before, but Brown brings a fresh fascination to them in the context of Gudrid's life. She provides strong descriptive passages of the places she visits and there is one map in the front of the book. It would have been nice, however, to have had some illustrations. I would also like to have known a little more about Brown's own context and interest in this subject.

This novella should fit comfortably beside the plays of Sophocles or Aeschylus or the tragedies of Shakespeare. Don't let that intimidate you: it's more accessible than all of them, and a perfect book for a book club. It's the story of a man who commits a despicable act of violence in his immaturity, against a woman who must live with the consequences all her life - as must he. Questions of justice, repentance, mercy, and forgiveness are raised - and left to readers to answer as best we can. Undset's portrayals of the characters maximize the difficulties of these questions and the discussions which readers will be craving after finishing this fine book. I picked it up to see if I like Undset enough to commit to 1000 pages of Kristen Lavransdatter. I have since picked up that meganovel - and find it, so far, less engaging by far than Gunnar's Daughter, which deserves one of the highest places in the canon of Western literature.

Undset, Lagerlof, Bjornson, Hamsun, Gustafsson; five stars aren't enough to reflect the masterpieces that they all wrote, and, in the case of Gustafsson, are still writing. Read all their books and grow a lifetime in a couple of years.

I suppose that anything that sells books makes it to the top of the page, although I appreciate that the first review I read about this book was straightforward, unbiased and sans agenda. I have been reading the great writers of the world since I learned to read. I began to explore the works of Undset, Lagerlof, Bjornson, Hamsun, Gustafsson, etc., thirty years ago and it irks me no end that the works of a Scandinavian writer like Undset, who lived in a time when women had all the rights in the world, should be referenced by your commentator from Brattleboro, VT as womens fiction. If she has read "The Master of Hestviken" or "Kristen Lavransdatter", then she must have missed all the suffering endured by the men and women. Great works of creativity do not address personal agendas. They are wrought from the soul. Lagerlofs' "Saga of Gosta Berling", another masterpiece, explores the same moral questions with a male protagonist. I say to you, dear lady from Vermont, that feminism is dead; we are all feminine and masculine regardless of our plumbing, and the last GREAT female poet, Sylvia Plath, lived the pain of that polarity until it killed her. Shame on you Amazon.com for using divisiveness and the promulgation of hatred, fear, and misunderstanding to make a buck. Publish this!!

Sigrid Undset's Gunnar's Daughter weaves Scandinavian folklore, mythology and violence to ensnare the reader into the period of the Saga Age. In this book, we meet Vigdis Gunnarsdatter -- a survivor in many different levels who is raped and delivers an illegitimate child. As it is said that time heals old wounds, that is not the case with Vigdis. Even with her eventual redemption, peace of mind still eludes her until she takes her very last breath. The scope of history and folklore in Gunnar's Daughter makes this an interesting and quick read. However, it is highly recommended that the reader marks the introduction and notes by Sherrill Harbison -- as they provide much information that makes the book more insightful and pleasurable to read.

In this case of medieval date rape and the grim consequences which follow hard upon it, Sigrid Undset created a wonderfully literate experience using the saga "voice". Although I detected slippages in tone, here and there, and felt the ending too contrived and overwrought to be pure saga, I was still swept along by this book, finishing it in a single sitting. It is short, yes, but also a very compelling narrative as it details the tribulations of two would-be lovers who are yet too proud and self-willed for their own good or for the society in which they find themselves. As with the typical viking hero, Viga-Ljot is overly confident of his own charms and impatient of results. And Vigdis, the maid he has set his heart on, is no less aloof and overbearing in her own way than that historical figure, Sigrid the Haughty, who so angered King Olaf Tryggvesson that he slapped her in the midst of their courtship and thereby sealed his doom. Viga-Ljot does much worse in this tale and his fate is thus forever bound up with a woman who cannot forget or forgive him. Like Gudrun Osvif's daughter in Laxdaela Saga, Vigdis bides her time and nurses her pain but, in the end, that pain is not assuaged by the actions she takes, for it is ultimately destructive to everyone it touches.

A good example of the saga form in modern literature indeed, and yet, despite the finely tuned prose of this novel, capturing the nuances and understatement of the saga voice with masterly strokes, there is an underlying stridency here, an almost emotional overreaching which is not, itself, true to the saga form. In some ways this book is too modern and its author's sensibility, at this juncture in her career, almost too young and unseasoned. Undset seems to be reaching for the tragic denouement of the Greek classics to end her tautly told tale rather than content herself with the flatly understated and finely nuanced wrap-up more appropriate to the saga form. But this Greek-like ending left me much colder than the drily tossed-off afterthought of a true saga might have done. And yet, for all that, Undset has here given us one of the better modern novels done in saga form. My hat is off to her.

By the way, for another really fine novel based on the old sagas, one, in fact, that I think outdoes even this one, try SAGA: A NOVEL OF MEDIEVAL ICELAND by contemporary Canadian author Jeff Janoda. Many have tried to evoke the sagas in modern prose but few have done it as well as he has. Janoda has written a contemporary novel that does genuine justice to its original source, Eyrbyggja Saga, while not succumbing to the overwrought sensibility which mars GUNNAR'S DAUGHTER at the end. If you like fiction grounded in the old Norse saga literature, then Janoda's book should be your very next stop.

SWM
author of The King of Vinland's Saga

In writing Gunnar's Daughter, Sigrid Undset had two aims: to show that the struggles of the human person against himself, others, and nature have no history; and to reveal a pagan past as it actually was--cruel and bloody in contrast to the growing Christian faith it encountered. In both cases, she succeeded brilliantly.

Take the first case. You often hear yammering from certain quarters that it is possible for human beings to progress as a society beyond their passions. Myopic nonsense! The characters of Gunnar's Daughter hurt themselves and others, and love as much as they hate, with exactly the same capacity as anyone today. An honest reader will realize that we are no better at heart than the men (and woman) whose stories are told here--but also that we are no worse. What we have hated and loved and yearned for, men and women have always hated and loved and yearned for. In reading this you realize for the first time that you can actually appreciate your ancestors as living men and women, and not as faceless DNA donors.

In the second case, in Undset's time--the early 20th century--there was then as now the movement to glorify the pre-Christian past, the sort of naivety only possible from the safety of the Christianized world. Undset was rightly disturbed by this movement, and in Gunnar's Daughter she draws the picture of bloody, violent, might-makes-right world--and better yet, shows the redeeming effect of Christianity as it makes its way into Scandinavia. Contrast Vigdis' exposure of her healthy but unwanted infant--an unremarkable event in her time, even if, as Undset shows, one not done without lingering sorrow--with the later refusal of Viga-Lyot to expose his deformed and sickly baby expressly because, as he states, he is a Christian, and will not hear of it. This is of even more interest in our day, when the growing nonChristian influence on our society has led us full circle to a time when once again the unwanted baby is done away with--Undset's picture was more prescient than she knew.

All in all, a haunting and true book.

I like this book because it was talking about pufflings and they are good pufflings

My family loved this book! Last September, we visited the Westmann Islands and experienced the thrill of releasing the baby pufflings to the sea. It was such fun to read this book later and see the very beach where we'd released our pufflings. Bruce McMillan's book and photos capture the magic of this annual event in a delightful way.

My daughter gave a presentation on Puffins for her 3rd grade class. This was an inspirational book for her. She was able to connect with the puffings and feel strongly about their plight. That enabled her to really get excited about her report. The pictures are beautiful and moving. It has some facts, although she used other sources for the bulk of her information. This book brings the real world to a child's level of understanding.

We have loved this book for years now, and I wish it was easier to get. I wanted to get a copy for each of my children as we just experienced the Night of the Pufflings ourselves, but it must be out of print. Bruce McMillan has managed to capture the event so realistically that we in fact used his book as a "how to" manual of sorts. He describes everything from how the children capture the pufflings to how and where they are released. It gives children - anywhere in the world - a wonderful look into how other children live! We also like, how he incorporated Icelandic words (and their pronounciations) into the book. A wonderfully written and illustrated book!

This is one of the loveliest children's books I've ever read -- not only because the photographs are so stunning -- gorgeously reproduced, and in turns beautiful, humorous, charming, or downright cute -- but also because it shows children working together to take care of the natural world. Really, really wonderful -- don't miss it.

Gorgeous photographs! He catches cats doing fairly ordinary cat things against a breath-takingly beautiful backdrop of Greek scenery.

If you love cats, you got to love the photos in this book.

You don't have to be a feline fancier to enjoy the 28 gorgeous photos by Ron Nelson. The cats are, of course, irresistible - a jet black adventurer leaping from a white wall, a covey of the gentle creatures gathered around a blue fence or a black and white watchman perched high atop a pillar looking out to sea.

While the cats are irresistible so are the settings - Santorini and Antiparos. For me, Santorini is one of the most beautiful islands in the world. The result of an enormous volcanic explosion thousands of years ago Santorini is now blessed with astounding natural beauty. Three huge cliffs define the island as it slopes down to the gorgeous Mediterranean, and in the island's center is a magnificent lagoon. Needless to say the view from Santorini is spectacular.

I've not had the pleasure of visiting Antiparos however, if Ron Nelson's photos are any indication, it would be an estimable destination. It boasts a picture postcard harbor, wide sandy beaches, and clear sparkling water.

Cats of the Greek Islands is a delight for armchair travelers, animal lovers, and those who enjoy beautiful scenes.

- Gail Cooke

Ron Nelson's camera captures the soft details of some amazing cats living in the Greek Isles. Their fur seems to be especially healthy and their bright eyes seem to speak of happy days laying out in the sun, a life lived outdoors in the fresh air and a content spirit.

Each picture is framed on a white page to bring out the contrast of the white stone walls and sapphire waters glistening in the distance. Some kittens are found sleeping on windowsills outside windows with lace curtains while others find their home in a café or wandering along sun-drenched stone walls with foliage set against a background of mountains and cooling blue waters.

The photography in this book goes beyond capturing moments and has additional elements of artistic excellence.

My husband has always wanted a pure black cat and the one in this book really captured his interest in a variety of pictures including the one where the cat jumps off the wall and where it looks like it is meditating or observing the view. The tiny black-and-white cat will make you laugh as it seems to have found itself atop a large white stone pillar and is quite happy to sleep the day away far from the crowd.

All of the cats look especially well groomed, very pampered and happy to be living in Greece. Blue Cats is one of the most beautiful books on cats I've ever seen due to the additional artistic flair of the photography and the beyond gorgeous settings.

~The Rebecca Review

"Blue Cats" is a new offering from renowned photographer Ron Nelson. Nelson specializes in both human and animal imagery, mostly in Europe, and is one of the best photographers working today. Cats are both photogenic but notoriously difficult to photograph due to their individuality and unpredictability, but here Nelson makes it look easy.

Greece has some of the most stunning architecture, landscapes, and waterscapes in the world, and is also known for a large and gregarious cat population. In this book Nelson captures the natural beauty of Greece and the graceful four-footed inhabitants of the coastal areas. The composition of these photographs is delicate and artistic, yet playful and relaxing. I am especially fond of the photographs depicting cats in motion, especially the two photos (numbers 26 and 27) "Jump Across" and "Shadow of a Jump" taken in Oia, Santorini which are exquisitely composed: the study of lighting and shadow is excellent throughout the book, but peaks with "Shadow of a Jump" in my opinion.

This book is excellent for anyone who loves excellent photography, cats, or travel (especially with pristine water backdrops); it is beautifully conceived and printed, and would look great on any coffee table or in any library. I highly recommend this book, and hope to see more from Ron Nelson in the future.

This book is somewhat obscure in the USA (look for it fetching a premium on Amazon.) It was originally published in Iceland in two parts (Þú vínviður hreini and Fuglinnn í fjörunni) in the early thirties. This is one of Laxness's earlier works, written before Independent People and covering some of the same territory, but focusing on life in a fishing village rather than on a sheep-farm.

The scene is set on the first page:

"When one goes by boat along these coasts on these freezing mid-winter nights, one can't help thinking that there can hardly be anything in the whole wide world so tiny and insignificant as a little town like that, glued to the foot of such immense mountains. God knows how people live in such a place! And God knows how they die! What can they say to each other of a morning when they wake? How do they look at one another of a Sunday? And how does the parson feel when he gets into the pulpit at Christmas and Easter? I don't mean what does he say, but, honestly, what can he think? Must he not see that nothing here matters a bit? And what does the merchant's daughter think about when she goes to bed of an evening? Indeed, what kind of joys and what kind of sorrows can there be around those dim little oil lamps?"



This is a novel about fish. And love. And, surprisingly, gender and feminism. Salka is an unlikely heroine, homely, coarse and ignorant- but not stupid- she is possessed of a vitality which cannot be defeated. Salka's struggle to find her place in a hostile world- a fickle mother, faithless lovers and lack of any real friends- is the common thread woven throughout the work. The book has a complicated mix of sub-themes: illegitimacy, class, domestic abuse, infant mortality, hypocrisy, poverty, Socialism, Capitalism, and Christianity. As a novel of Social Realism, it can be ranked with the finest of Dickens, or even Zola's Germinal. Sprinkled throughout is Icelandic folk wisdom, dark humor, fatalism and a strong sense of the absurd. A tremendous book- certainly worthy of a new translation- but considering that Laxness's great Iceland's Bell (Íslandsklukkan) wasn't translated into English at all until 2003, English readers may have to wait a while for the proper return of Salka Valka, or else trouble themselves to learn Icelandic!

I read this book as a part of a school project when i was in college. I didn't quite like the idea as i thought of Mr. Laxness to be quite.. "boring". Then when i started reading the book i found out how wrong i was. This book clearly showes how life used to be in Iceland during those rough years and you also get the feeling as if Mr. Laxness had once been to the future when he wrote this book because so much in it resembles our life in Iceland today. Salka Valka is a remarkable book and the main character, Salka, is so complex and interesting. I've read this book numerous times and i never get tired of it. To me it's a masterpiece

This book was one of several that earned the author the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. My father got it as a gift from some Swedes that he knows and I pulled it off his bookshelf. Gripping, enthralling story of life in the cod fishing villages of Iceland pre modern age. One of the most interesting and strong female heroines I've read about. The language is very descriptive and worthy of a Nobel Prize winner. I felt I was an Icelandic after reading this book. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this book it really makes you feel as one of these poor people living in the middle of nowere. How does it really feel not even to have propper clothes and live basicly by the artitic circle. I've been there and today people are very modern, but just before the WW2 it was like any other 3td world country except it is very cold! And the houses these poor people lived in, mud huts! Ok in Africa but over there where it basicly does not go over 0 in winter and 10 in summer. You have to read it its just so fullfilling, I read it in one night. How is seems as because the climate is so cold, peoples feelings mirror it.

The title of Bergman's film, "Through a Glass Darkly" comes to mind, not only because it, like this novel, is Scandinavian, but because I felt that I was reading SALKA VALKA through an encrusted window. My edition, first published in England before WW II, was translated from the Danish which in turn had been translated from the original Icelandic. The book certainly impressed me, but I wonder how much more vibrant and immediate it could have been if it were a) translated directly and b) not couched in prewar, middle class British idiom, which, whether you like it or not, is somewhat remote from Massachusetts some 65 years later. I was not enamoured of mistakes like the use of `commissary' for `commissar' either...perhaps Soviet terminology was exotic for English translators in those days (or perhaps it's another example of dialect differences.)

SALKA VALKA is much more than a character study of the woman whose nickname is the title of the novel. It is an attempt by Laxness to write a love story in the context of social revolution. That change, which rocked Iceland as deeply as any of the revolutions that took place elsewhere with more blood and drama, overthrew the centuries of grinding poverty that had oppressed the farmers and fishermen of that bleak but beautiful northern land. The end of the monopolistic merchants---who bought and exported all the fish, owned the only store, and paid no wages, only allowing workers to withdraw goods against accounts---ushered in modern Iceland, one of the healthiest, best educated, and well-housed nations of our times. Perhaps such books have been written with more outward drama---one thinks of Zola's "Germinal", Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", and Sholokhov's "And Quiet Flows the Don"---some with greater ideological content than others. This is a political novel as well as being a kind of documentation of `how the steel was tempered' in the Icelandic context. I may deliver myself of the comment that if Laxness had written in a Communist society, he never would have been allowed the shades of character, the wry humor, the outright political incorrectness (from a Marxist point of view) that we find in SALKA VALKA. Since he did not live in such a society, the characters are well drawn, (all are real human beings with frailties, contradictions, and abrupt turns of behavior; not at all like the cardboard heroes of the Social Realism novels) the harsh natural environment vivid, and the love story sensitive. Indeed, the last chapter is one of the most touching I have read in a long time. I recommend this novel whole-heartedly---it is down to earth and avoids maudlin scenes at all costs--- but I advise readers to see if they can get a better translation. Laxness won the Nobel Prize in 1955. Now I know why.

Excellent book!

I found the author's elegant yet down-to-earth style to make for very comfortable reading. The stories (there are several) are well-told.

I do have a small complaint, however. I think the author would do well to add more detail and then split this book into several books. Take the first chapter, for example. Definitely fascinating but I found myself saying, "Oh. That's all there is." when I reached Chapter 2.

Complaints about story length aside, I still highly recommend this book. If you're a fan of Tim Cahill, you'll definitely see some similarities.

This book was pure fun! Peter Stark who has written on winter sports for Outside magazine, has penned some interesting and informative essays on his lifelong fascination with snow, the Arctic and winter sports. The author packed up a 1974 Volkswagon minibus and set out to drive to Greenland. Full of fun escapades and musings on that wonderful fluffy, white stuff-snow.

The publisher's blurb refers to Peter Stark's "infatuation with snow." Obsession may be a better choice! Stark has written on winter sports and winter adventures for Outside Magazine and other periodicals. This is an exceedingly fine description of his recent journey from Montana through Canada to the icy reaches of Greenland. A "must read" for anyone interested in modern arctic and northern travel.

Peter Stark speaks warmly of the `carnivorous' North in his introductory essay, "A Life Built on Snow." The `life' he refers to is his own. His grandfather was a skater and iceboater, he and his mother and father were (and are) skiers. His whole family belonged to the winter. All the way through this book, wintery thrills overtake fear--the thrill flying four hundred feet down a ski jump; the thrill of stomping a ski into the snow at the top of a slope, then watching the resulting avalanche take out the whole hill; the thrill of hunting narwhal off Greenland's icy shore.

The author drives to Greenland in the sense that he arrives in a two-engine Cessna Skymaster after puddle-jumping across the bleak terrain of Baffin Island, dodging through flocks of lesser auks along the way.

First though, his essays take us ski jumping in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, sliding for glory down Lake Placid's Olympic luge course, through a run down Aspen's World Cub downhill course, and down Mount Hood. There's a sense that the author only really comes alive during these icy adventures, when all his senses are focused on the moment.

Luckily for us, he is able to share that aliveness with his readers. He puts us in touch with something beyond our immediate selves--I'll call it the spirit of the North for lack of a better term.

Between adventures, there are long, interesting riffs on different types of ice and snow, a short history of Iceland, and a discussion on building the perfect sea kayak (among other Northerly subjects).

Peter Stark is a contributor to "Outside," "Smithsonian," and "New Yorker" magazines. His latest book is "Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance." He is also the editor of an anthology of writing about the Arctic, "Ring of Ice." He typifies a rugged new breed of 'hands-on' journalists, and "Driving to Greenland" should appeal to both armchair adventurers and to those few among us who actually long to live in the heart of winter.

Finally travellers to Reykjavik get to buy a book that doesn't cover the whole of Iceland. As a result, it's much more compact (pocket-sized) and relevant to people who are going to stay in the capital most of the time.

This will apply to most first-time visitors to Iceland. The book does mention some of the more obvious trips you might make from the capital, but concentrates on the city itself.

It's a bit like a mini Rough Guide. Not stuffy, seems to know about the 'in' places to eat and be seen, the cool places to go, and yet has all the basic, sensible stuff you'll want to know about a city before you go there.

I'd say it's just about on the money.

This is a great little book, and really tells you what you need to know before a stay in Reykjavik. It is a small book, and fits into most any pocket. It is divided into useful sections like 'Sleeping' (hotels, guesthouses, etc.), 'Festivals and Events' (from Independence Day to the Icelandic Jazz Festival), and many other handy sections.

It focuses on things that are fun, historical, and/or quirky. For instance, there is an interesting and helpful commentary on Pingvellir National Park, home of the world's first elected parliament and general assembly (930 AD), and the huge geysers ("Geysir" and "Strokkur", which are, in fact, very impressive.) If you are into art there are numerous small and large art galleries and museums around Reykjavik, and this book details all the ones you might want to see (my favorite is the ASI Art Museum (www.asi.is, if you are interested), and the much stranger (and vastly creepier, yet less funny than expected) Iceland Phallogical Museum which is stuck away on Laugavegur, a key street in the main city shopping and arts district. It is just too weird to believe, but while you're there, you really owe it to yourself to visit, preferably not immediately after eating a large Mexican lunch, like I did (trust me on this one.) If you are into nightclubs, there are reviews of all of the happening places in Reykjavik, such as Club NASA. All types of transportation and lodging options (from the beautiful grand 'Hotel Borg', where I most recently stayed, to the Salvation Army Hostel accommodations for sleeping bags) are presented, and will definitely assist you in finding a place to stay that is in your budget and to your tastes.

The point of all this is simple: if you are going to visit Reykjavik, especially for the first time, you need this book. It has information that will be useful to absolutely anyone, as well as commonly called numbers, and several small but useful maps. As an aside, order it when it is in stock, it sometimes is unavailable for long periods, so grab it while you can. Don't go to Reykjavik without it.

This book is a great reference of iceland. It not only talks about the trekking outside of the city and gives sources to look more closely into that, but the account of Reykjavik is exceptional. I found that this was the book I read the most while I was actually in Iceland. I brought it with me and used it the entire time I was there, and I plan to bring it with me again when i go back.
There are seperate sections labelled such things as "eat, sleep, music, theatre..." so that you can flip through the book and find exactly what you are looking for. There is useful information including all the places phone numbers, how to call the U.S., the hot place to listen to music on saturday.
It has everything you need to explore the city of Reykjavik.

I looked at this and the Rough Guide to Iceland, and if you're making a visit to Reykjavík this is the only guide you need. The style is chatty and down to earth, with masses of useful information for the visitor--especially good sections on eating in the city, and on galleries, music venues, and museums. Some of the small details (like descriptions of menus) could be updated, as could info on public internet access (v.cheap at the City Library), info on phoning abroad, and contact info for Hotel Loftleiðer. Dixon's grasp of Reykjavik life, though, is excellent--insightful, hip, yet generous and inviting. A great guide.

My 12 year old son, ...loved reading this book. I planned to assign him to read 1 chapter a day and expected the usual struggle to make him read it, but he loved it so much that he finished it in short time and kept telling me what a great book he thought it was. He just didn't like when a dead character came back alive to fight Rolf, or the witchcraft parts, but otherwise wanted to read more books by this author...

Allen French has translated some of the old Icelandic sagas, including GRETTIR THE STRONG, but this is a novel, using some of the locations and settings and even some of the characters of the sagas. I first encountered this book at about the age of twelve, read it many times, and always wanted a copy. The story has plenty of adventure, some interesting twists, and is a good read, but it also deals with how to face adversity and the danger of pride. It's an excellent book for teenagers and adults will probably also enjoy this story.

The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow is one of the best recrafted narratives I have ever read. Allen French brought to life this story that he originally found as one of the Kolbieters. (The Kolbieters, founded by JRR Tolkien, was a group of friends that read ancient verse in their original languages.) I would recommend it to any history buff, Tolkien fan, fantasy reader, or just any one looking for a well written story.

This book was an amazing story. You will read this book again and again until you've memorized it. What happens is that Rolf a young viking boy is the best archer in the land. He lives a happy life until someone kills his father. He leaves his land to find someone who can out do him with the bow by three yards. I'm not telling you anymore about this story. Read this book and find out what happens. I'm sure you will have a blast reading Rolf and the Viking bow.

This is part of a collection that I am ordering, a few at a time. I hope to have the whole set displayed in my dining room available for my grand-children and I to share.

What makes this particular volume of Lang's collection remarkable is its collection of quite unknown stories. While we all love "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Cinderella", there is nothing wrong with venturing for more complex stories, and that is what this volume provides.

I have not researched these, but I am under the impression that many of these stories were actually "written". I'm not sure how everyone will take that threat to oral folklore, but good fantasy is good fantasy, and I enjoy reading a fairy tale-esque story with extra complexity that still holds the same aura.

The illustrations are gorgeous, as usual, and display intricacies that fit the stories superbly.

Perhaps a more wild collection, but for that I love it all the more.

With tales such as The Blue Mountains, The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership, The Dragon and His Grandmother, Fairer-than-a-Fairy, The Flower Queen's Daughter, The Glass Axe, How To Tell a True Princess, and many others how can anyone not find this book fun to read? Once again, Lang edits a book full of fairy tales from many lands that will entertain children and adults. The black and white illustrations are also superb.

When I was younger my Mom used to read me a book until I fell asleep. As I grew older, I began to read myself to sleep. As things changed only one thing stayed constant, my favorite books are still Andrew Lang's Fairy books. The Yellow Fairy book is a collection of 48 fairy tales written the way they were supposed to be written. Each tale ranges in length anywhere from a couple of pages up to about 20. The tales are fairly easy reads, but they don't lose any of their appeal. The book also contains several wonderful illustrations.
Some of the stories include: The Six Swans, Story of the Emperor's New Clothes, The Crow, The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership, The Three Brothers, The Magic Ring, How to Tell a True Princes, Thumbelina, and more.

I would suggest reading this book, I love it!