Mondays in Iceland -#132

Awesome Auðurs

Auður (Modern Icelandic spelling) or Auðr (Old Icelandic spelling) is an Old Norse-Icelandic female personal name. It also has the variant forms Unnr (Old Icelandic) and Unnur (Modern Icelandic). It is sometimes rendered as Aud, Audur, or Unn in English and in other languages. ~ Wikipedia.

This was a name I was completely unaware of prior to my infatuation with all things Icelandic, an obsession which began in 2000.


Roughly translated as “wealth” or “prosperity” it comes from Germanic roots via the Old Norse. The first famous Aud was Aud the Deep-Minded (Auðr djúpúðga Ketilsdóttir), a ninth century settler of Iceland who is featured in several sagas.

In 2004 I discovered a not-quite-so-famous Auður who wrote an influential blog that I’ve referenced here many times. I had the pleasure of attending a play with her in 2006.


Another famous Auður was Auður Sveinsdóttir, who married Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness and was also his close collaborator. She had a big cultural influence in Iceland in the last half of the 20th century, introducing new ideas in homemaking and crafts as well as being host of numerous soirées at Gljúfrasteinn, where she and Laxness lived. In 2012 I was given a tour of her kitchen!

A more recent Auður that I’ve discovered is the author Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir. She is one of the best of the modern Icelandic authors.

Finally, the intriguing Audur Helgadóttir Winnan, author of Wanda Gág, A Catalogue Raisonne of the Prints (1993).

The book she created covered the work and life of another of my obsessions, Wanda Gág. It is a masterpiece of research and writing and brought a wider awareness of Wanda into the twenty-first century.

Icelandic born, she and her husband, R. Gray Winnan, were patrons of the arts in New York City. Audur also worked on other artist’s catalogs, another “deep-minded” Auður.

The only image I uncovered of her was an embriodered name tag in this designer dress from the 60s.

According to the website the dress is an “honest” size 8.

Hygge with Auður

Although the I Heart Reykjavík website is suspended, its author, Auður Ösp, continues in her efforts to promote Iceland and spread its culture. This year she sponsored an on-line “Icelandic Christmas Hygge”, an informal video cast from her home in Reykjavík. She spent over an hour and a half with us (along with her husband Hrarrar) on Google Meet.

In the video Auður describes Icelandic Christmas traditions, the cultural events, foods (including the disgusting ones), and family activities. She really warms up in her presentation, by the end her charm really comes through. Aside from an occasional technical glitch, the whole thing went well and raised the equivalent of over 4300 USD for an Icelandic Aid Society!

Kudos to Auður for this fine gesture, here is a link to site. Although you can’t watch the video without a password, if you scroll down there are links to features on topics she discusses. Email me for the password, it will be up for a couple of weeks.

A Month of Auður

One of the prime inspirations for the FITK blog was a young Icelandic woman, Auður Ösp Ólafsdóttir.

In early 2004, while researching a trip to Iceland, I discovered her English-language blog A Woman Without A Man. It was written journal-style and full of the various minutiæ of her daily life in Reykjavík. What set it apart from the thousands of other newly-minted blogs of the day was her engaging and revelatory writing, the frankness of which got her into a bit of trouble with some of her Icelandic readers, so she killed her blog in September 2004. By that time we had already been in contact so I offered to let her use FITK as an outlet. She used that access to write a baker’s dozen of posts under the nom de plume of Little Miss Loopy. These will be featured here throughout December as part of my “20 Years Ago on FITK” series.

Auður’s internet adventures didn’t end there.

She went on to write several more blogs and in 2011 she started I Heart Reykjavík, a tourist site which was also a portal to her walking tours. Heart was a rousing success but it ended when Covid restrictions were put into place in March of 2020. Her videos are still up, however.

Auður is currently self-employed and has a web site, posting primarily in Icelandic.

This month also marks my phasing out of Icelandic posts, there may be one here and there in following months/years, but that well is just about dry.

As always, you can access over 200 ‘best of’ Icelandic posts in the sidebar under ‘Iceland.’

She Made a Difference

Sometimes it seems as if I'm always saying goodbye.

This is truly a sad day.

Yesterday Auður Ösp, creator and proprietor of I ♥ Reykjavík, announced the closure of her popular Icelandic tourism web site. Another casualty of Covid-19, her business vanished in a single day when restrictions went into effect in March. She had been soldiering on and when the restrictions were partially lifted last month some work began trickling in again. Now that they have been re-tightened she has decided to finally throw in the towel. She is still young enough to pursue a different career with advantage of having run a successful business for many years.

It is also another final chapter of an era in my life. In the sixteen years since I began following her (and other Icelandic bloggers) in 2004 there have been several “revolutions” in the internet. Blogs, once trendy, now seem to be an anachronism from a bygone age (which is also a good description of me)—quaint and naive—replaced by Facebook, Twitter, ruthless commercial web sites and depressing news feeds. One constant throughout these often bewildering changes has been, for me at least, Auður’s openness and integrity in promoting Iceland in both nature and culture. The seeds she has planted with her various on-line and personal efforts have grown into beautiful flowers appreciated by thousands around the world. The discovery of Icelandic culture has been one of the best things to happen to me in my life; many of those discoveries  were triggered by her writing.

I still have a gift card for I ♥ Reykjavík that I won’t be able to use. I told her to donate the money to a worthwhile Icelandic cause; Iceland has given me so much that I can never repay the debt. Given the current realities, it seems that I won’t be returning to Iceland anytime soon and I’m getting to an age where foreign travel is becoming more intimidating.

Good luck Auður, in all you do, you have made my world a better place.



Image: I ♥ Reykjavík

Auður Update

Auður Ösp and her I Heart Reykjavík blog has been featured here numerous times. Recently she has announced a scaling back of her popular walking tours to devote more resources to other aspects of her enterprise.

UPDATE to the UPDATE: It looked as if she was in good company, but maybe no so much. UPDATE: Auður’s blog is no more, a victim of Covid.

Auður Update

It's October, that time of year when the professor's thoughts turn to Iceland. As any regular reader of FITK knows, some of the the prime inspirations for this blog were Iceland and my all time favorite Icelandic blogger Auður Ösp Olafsdóttir. I consider her I Heart Reykjavík website the finest Icelandic travel site anywhere. She has managed to create and maintain an informative and entertaining site while still retaining a personal touch. Her humorous "Learn Icelandic" podcasts allow the listener to get a sense of her low key yet engaging personality.

Recently she has become the focus of international attention, with mentions in the Sunday travel section of The New York Times and this segment from the website Daily Travel Podcast.

Speaking as one who is usually allergic to podcasts, I found this one to to be well worth thirty minutes of my time—especially around the 19 minute mark when Auður opens up about her personal history leading up to her starting I Heart Reykjavík.

UPDATE: Another interview, this time with the Travel Mammal…

Hard Times in Ultima Thule

With favoring winds, o'er sunlit seas,
We sailed for the Hesperides,
The land where golden apples grow;
But that, ah! that was long ago.

How far, since then, the ocean streams
Have swept us from that land of dreams,
That land of fiction and of truth,
The lost Atlantis of our youth!

Whither, ah, whither? Are not these
The tempest-haunted Orcades,
Where sea-gulls scream, and breakers roar,
And wreck and sea-weed line the shore?

Ultima Thule! Utmost Isle!
Here in thy harbors for a while
We lower our sails; a while we rest
From the unending, endless quest.

–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, excerpt from Ultima Thule, 1880

Sixteen years ago, when I was researching Icelandic blogs for an upcoming trip to Iceland, I ‘discovered’ Auður Ösp; I’ve been following her ‘quest’ ever since. Her example was the prime inspiration for the starting of Flippism is the Key. We met in real life in 2006 and this year I had a ticket to return, intending to meet up with her again. You may have heard of something that happened that prevents that scenario from occurring. While my personal story (compared the billions of others in the world) isn’t that important I find hers to be compelling.

For me, Auður’s greatest appeal was always her writing. An effective and personable communicator—her latest post is about how the pandemic is affecting her and is no exception to that rule. Auður (and her partner Hrannar) run the I Heart Reykjavík website, offering tours, links and a wealth of information about all things Icelandic. I have mentioned it many times during last ten years as I watched it grow into the preeminent resource for tourists visiting the island. She has been the face of Iceland to the thousands of people who have taken her tour or otherwise used her services. More than that, she “pays it forward” with contributions to worthy causes, including raising money by holding dinners in her home.

Now, the Covid-19 crisis has caused her business to collapse. Completely. She is stoic about it—Icelanders have faced hardships many times before—but this is a crisis of an entirely different magnitude. If it goes on as long as experts predict it will be a catastrophe, not just for her, but for all of Iceland.

Read the post.


Notice the donation button.

Mondays in Iceland - #50

I heart Reykjavík tour group, Reykjavík, October 9, 2015

Tough Choices

Maria at Iceland Eyes has been posting a series of short essays on the state of Iceland, past and present, dealing with dealing with the Icelandic economy and its relationship to tourism. The underlying question is one which has plagued Iceland for over a thousand years: self governance. The posts aren’t terribly long (although they are much longer than a tweet!) but if you want to read only one to get the gist of them I suggest reading  There's a Fine Line Between Opportunity and Opportunism, Isn't There?

My last couple of visits to Reykjavík have been somewhat bittersweet: seeing myself in the role of an obnoxious camera-toting tourist trying to fit in where I don’t really belong. The continuing property development in the city has been, with a few exceptions, disheartening as well. But whenever I’m there I always have some great moments: moments when the “I” melts into the background and the “not I” is able to experience life in a new way. That said, I may have had enough of life on the rock, it’s getting harder to imagine going back again. I will really miss the theatre and the pool, however, and the people I have met there have been great.

From time to time, on my other blog, Laxness in Translation, I get inquiries about Icelandic literature and culture. Recently, writer Dan Kois (Slate and New York Times) wrote me asking about any connections that Halldór Laxness might have to the Icelandic swimming culture (there weren’t any) so I gave him some suggestions of people to contact. I mentioned I Heart Reykjavík, telling him that Auður would probably be too busy to help him but her blog had a lot about swimming. A few days later, Auður tweeted:

“I get quite a lot of media requests every month. They all want the non-touristy Iceland to send more tourists there... ”

So maybe I really am part of the problem!

UPDATE: The Dan Kois article is up at the New York Times and it is great.

Modern Icelandic Fiction

Codex 1962
A trilogy by Sjón
Translated by Victoria Cribb
MCD, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018

Hotel Silence
A novel by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Translated by Brian FitzGibbon
Pushkin Press, 2018

Music isn’t the only Icelandic cultural import; 2018 is shaping up to be a banner year in translated Icelandic fiction. I reviewed Hallgímur Helgason’s incendiary Woman at 1000 Degrees and have now read two more recent works by Icelandic authors. These are pure literature, not genre works, and both are well worth reading.

Codex 1962 is by Sjón: author, poet, lyricist and unassuming literary giant of Modern Icelandic Fiction. The previous works I’ve read of his have been modest affairs—exquisite novellas—whereas this is a full-sized 500+ page novel that is densely packed with allusions to European and Icelandic culture (including Halldór Laxness); a narrative that covers seventy years and references that span centuries. Full of digressions, unreliable narrators and clever literary experiments; this novel will challenge even the most sophisticated reader.

Auður’s Hotel Silence, on the other hand, is a very tightly spun story told from the point of view of an unnamed narrator who, despairing of his life in Reykjavík, leaves everyting behind (except for his tools) and travels to a run-down hotel in a country that is still struggling with the aftermath of a horrendous civil war. He intends to commit suicide there, to avoid burdening his family, but instead becomes involved with the locals as a fix-it man in the resource-poor society trying to reestablish a sense of normality. The book slowly develops from a simple story about human failure into a great novel of ideas and compassion. Her previous novel, Butterflies in November, was a humorous satire of modern Iceland, this is in another class altogether.

A note on the translated editions: Victoria Cribb and Brian FitzGibbon are on a roll, with Cribb handling serious Icelandic literature and genre work (she also teaches Icelandic at two universities in England) and FitzGibbon a heavyweight as well. Both of these translations have been supported by the government-funded Icelandic Literature Center, an organization that promotes the translation of Icelandic literature into many languages.


NOTE: I’ve been given a temporary reprieve from my secret government mission, enabling me to have the time to write this post (the mission is still a secret.)

Iceland Airwaves 2012

Iceland Airwaves crowd, 2011

Numerous videos and films have covered Iceland Airwaves in the past, most notably the full-length Screaming Masterpiece (2005) which derived most of its footage from the festival. None of them have really given more than just fractured glimpses, and none have really captured the feeling of what is like to be part of the scene. There's a new promo video out, sponsored by Icelandair. It is really just a redone version of last year's but with some new scenes, interviews and a little tighter editing.

AIRWAVES- a Rockumentary by Gudjon and Bowen Staines gives a coherent look at what is essentially an unclassifiable event: over one hundred Icelandic acts, numerous international groups poised on the cusp of greatness, in an incomparable setting. Don't take my word for it. Watch the 40 minute video, in full-screen HD if you can, it really gives a sense of being there.

There are some problems the film only addressed obliquely, however. The festival may becoming a victim of its own success- more shows are being steered toward Harpa, a large complex of auditoria on the waterfront. It was built by somewhat dubious financing. Harpa is almost the antithesis of the festival's homegrown roots. Pushing the date into November may mean that those sunny scenes of frolics in the Blue Lagoon (shown in the video) are already a memory. Still, it is the spirit of the young (and young at heart) people of Iceland which is what The Airwaves Festival is all about.

I'm almost ready to make my reservations.

For those who can't wait until November, Live in the Lobby is a weekly concert series held at the Downtown Hostel. Many thanks to Auður Ösp, from the I Heart Reykjavík web site for the tip. I've seen many clips from shows held there- it is a very intimate and inviting place. Be sure to check out Auður's site- it is full of ideas for fun in Reykjavík and the surrounding area (that's her in the screenshot above- right below the woman showing her teeth in the center of the picture.)

Icelandic Stories

Over the last few months I've been discovering (and rediscovering) some Icelandic sites and blogs; all of them telling stories- each in their own fashion:

Reading in Reykjavík, by "Bibliophile" is a first-rate book blog with a twist- every Friday she posts an Icelandic folk tale and encourages readers to retell it in their own words, helping to keep the oral tradition of these stories alive. Check out her other blogs too- her food blog is wonderful.

Midnight Shoveler is the blog of Nathan Hall, a composer and Fulbright scholar, on a fellowship in Iceland. Great coverage of the classical scene, especially choirs, along with general trips around the rock.

The Dog-Days Queen is Abi Cooper, a young woman from Somerset who is a rabid Halldór Laxness fan and lives and works in Reykjavík. Lots of photos and stories of her adventures.

I've been following Maria Roff's Iceland Eyes for almost 7 years now, she's recently redone her award-winning blog, including a dynamic view option. Years of posts, photos, and links make this one of the most informative blogs about Iceland. A must for someone thinking about a visit.

The Welsh/Irish artist Annie Atkins has been mentioned here many times, the Little Pinch of Salt is one of the few blogs you can read from beginning to end- just like a novel. She's back in Iceland for a little while, the first link is a good example of her elegant, bittersweet writing style, the second displays some of her photographic talent.

Last, but certainly not least, is I Heart Reykjavík, a new web site by Auður Ösp, offering pictures and short stories about the sights and "scenes" in Iceland's biggest city. Auður has a "wealth" of knowledge about the city and expresses herself with a quirky writing style with a perspective you'll seldom find in a guide book. She's worked in the travel industry for years.

Miss Iceland

A Novel by
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Translated by Brian FitzGibbon

Iceland in the 1960s.

Hekla always knew she wanted to be a writer. In a nation of poets, where each household proudly displays leatherbound volumes of the Sagas, and there are more writers per capita than anywhere else in the world, there is only one problem: she is a woman.

After packing her few belongings, including James Joyces’s Ulysess and a Remington typewriter, Hekla heads for Reykjavik with a manuscript buried in her bags. She moves in with her friend Jon, a gay man who longs to work in the theatre, but can only find dangerous, backbreaking work on fishing trawlers. Hekla’s opportunities are equally limited: marriage and babies, or her job as a waitress, in which harassment from customers is part of the daily grind. The two friends feel completely out of place in a small and conservative world.

And yet that world is changing: JFK is shot and hemlines are rising. In Iceland another volcano erupts and Hekla meets a poet who brings to light harsh realities about her art. Hekla realizes she must escape to find freedom abroad, whatever the cost. - from the Amazon review.

The above blurb doesn’t address style. Miss Iceland is tersely written (there seems to be a lot of that going around these days) yet full of dropped names, places and 1960s references. A reader without a background in Icelandic culture and the layout of the City of Reykjavík would quickly find themselves overwhelmed by all the information. I could suss out most of the references and I could appreciate the dramatic arc of the book (Icelandic country girl goes to Reykjavík and discovers herself and a whole new world), which was and is a real-life experience for thousands of young Icelandic women. That part is fine. I found that the relentless references to 60s culture were just a bit too much baggage for a novel this slim to bear. There is also an egregious howler of an anachronism in the middle of the book that shattered my suspension of disbelief.  Previously, I really enjoyed Auður’s Hotel Silence and also liked Butterflies in October but Miss Iceland left me cold.

This just might be the last Icelandic book I’ll read for a while, at least until Sixty Kilos of Sunshine by Hallgrímur Helgason is available in an English translation.

In the broader scope of things, I find that I have pretty well exhausted all my Icelandic cultural pursuits. That fact, coupled with the Covid-19 travel restrictions, makes the prospect of my returning to ‘the rock’ dim. After having said all that, it may well be that  by this time next year things will be completely different.

My experiences with 20+ years of Icelandic culture made for a pretty nice ride, however.

Iceland Airwaves… NO!

If any of you fortunate enough to be attending the 2019 Iceland Airwaves are weary of the music and need a change of pace, Auður of the I Heart Rekjavík website has the answer. Flyover Iceland is a new attraction in the harbour area, I’m sure you can’t miss it. Even if you aren’t in the mood for a fabulous VR trip through the Icelandic countryside, I recommend reading the article anyway. The first half of it is a rumination on the authenticity of the Iceland experience for tourists, Reykjavík in particular. Auður’s site is nominally a travel one but, with her personal touches, she gives her posts a greater depth than is usual in the genre.
UPDATE: This site was a victim of the Covid pandemic, links are broken.

Iceland Airwaves… YES!

Getting back to the Airwaves, here are some videos of JFDR, the most interesting 2019 Airwaves artist I’ve seen on line, first performing and then being interviewed:

Sugar Mountain

Pascal Pinon press conference, Reykjavík, 2009

Oh, to live on sugar mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons
You can’t be twenty on sugar mountain
Though you’re thinking that you're leaving there too soon
You’re leaving there too soon…
                     ~ Neil Young

Childhood’s end is the end of a dream.

In Neil Young’s Canada the end was turning twenty, when ‘kids’ were no longer allowed into a certain amusement park intended for youngsters. I’ve been nurturing my own dream these last fifteen years; a dream abetted by many fine people on both sides of the Atlantic. For me, Iceland’s allure was always more than its considerable natural wonders. Right from that first windy March day when I stepped out of the Keflavík terminal the whole of Iceland—its nature, people, and culture—has held me in its thrall. As I became further immersed in its cultural aspects: literature, cinema, music and theater, I was overwhelmed.

Recently, however, I’ve been losing the spark.

Icelandic pop music, always quirky, is an acquired taste, but a taste that needs to be nourished for it to thrive. If it weren’t for a few reliable sources I’d be starving. My limited impressions of the recent Iceland Airwaves music festival (from what I was able to see on line) wasn’t encouraging: in the span of four years since I last attended it appears to have morphed from a mix of unique, artistic, and very musical acts to a uniform parade of post-punk screamers. Of course, I wasn’t there, and subtlety never goes over very well in video clips. Still, it was a marked change: music made with an emphasis on shock value, more of a unpleasant burlesque than an expression of the human spirit. In other words, a freak show. Looking back, I was spoiled and/or lucky in my Airwaves experiences (2006 and 2009). In 2012 I did attend some good shows in Iceland (not in Airwaves) but some of the acts, although polished, were exercises in cognitive dissonance, i.e., Icelandic bands playing in a faux American style. I won’t despair of Icelandic musicians yet: there seems to be a trend of them becoming astute social commentators and political activists.

Iceland is a literary beacon, and it that area it continues its appeal. The problem here is dilution. The market demands more Icelandic mystery fiction following in the vein of Arnaldur Indriðason’s successful Inspector Erlendur series. What the market demands, the market gets. I’m guilty of it myself. But after reading the third or fourth work of mediocre Icelandic fiction in a row (generally by non-Icelanders) I find the whole genre to be losing its appeal. The more esoteric works still captivate me. I won’t give up on Ice-Lit quite yet.

Icelandic films, when I can see them, are still excellent, but the economic hardships imposed on the industry since the Kreppa has reduced their amount and distribution. Again, the world cinema market in films is over-saturated. I find it hard to choose anything to watch.

Nothing lasts forever. The most poignant example of this is the musical group Pascal Pinon (pictured above, at the age of fifteen) who created a body of work which perfectly expressed the dilemmas inherent in a girl’s coming of age. Of course, now that they have matured, they can’t continue to play ingenues. The idea of adult women performing songs of their adolescence is mortifying. I’m grateful for that which they have accomplished.

The medium of “blogging” (does that mean anything anymore?) has changed as well; it’s hard to keep a fresh approach to something with a limited audience, and sometimes life just gets in the way. That said, I’m still amazed at Alda and Auður’s contributions over the past ten years: establishing world class portals that are the entry points into their wonderful, strange and troubled island. Auður, in particular, is going above and beyond what anyone expects of a blogger. In contrast, I’ve noticed that my Icelandic posts here have dwindled recently and, unfortunately, a return trip to recharge my batteries, seems unlikely. The continuing economic hardships in Iceland haven’t helped diminish my sense of pessimism either.

I’m now twenty three times over, and then some, but Iceland still casts its spell.

And I’m thinking that I’m leaving there too soon.

Screenshots

Today I thought I would share some of the websites I’ve been recently frequenting:



No surprise here, I’ve been following Auður for over eleven years now! Her I Heart Reykjavík site is “By far the best Icelandic website of which I am aware”, even if I do say so myself. She’s turned it into a multipurpose portal with tips on Reykjavík attractions, car rentals, and even offers up the opportunity to personally bask in the glow of her fabulousness on her walking tour of Reykjavík. The tour has been getting rapturous reviews; look it up on TripAdvisor if you need further persuasion.

Another site I've been visiting a lot lately is the Já map site:



Unfortunately it does use the clunky Google Maps style navigation, (the Apple Maps version is much easier to use) but in spite of that drawback I return to it because it is the most detailed Iceland map available; it even includes bike paths. Speaking of bicycles, here's a screenshot of another site I’ve been looking at:



If you need a bike in Reykjavík, Bike Company is the place to get one. The day rates are rather high, but if you email them you can get a pretty good weekly rate in the off season. The last time I was in Reykjavík I used my rental bike every day, finding it to be especially handy when going to the swimming pools:



I’ve been to three of them, although I wouldn't rank them the way the Grapevine did, but  each has its own merits and debits. These mostly outdoor pools are a must-visit, even if you have to shower naked before entering.

If you are starting to detect a trend here this next screen shot will reveal the underlying theme in today's post:



I AM GOING BACK TO ICELAND!

If the third time's a charm, will the sixth time be twice as charming? I intend to absorb as much culture as humanly possible in my seven days there and will definitely make it a point to catch Auður’s walking tour.

Animal Life

A Novel

By Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Translated by Brian FitzGibbon

This is the fifth novel by Auður that I’ve read; she is one of the most-respected modern Icelandic authors. This book consists of vignettes and ruminations of a middle-aged midwife in Reykjavík.

In the days leading up to Christmas a terrible storm races towards Reykjavík. Midwife Dómhildur delivers her 1,922th (typo?) baby. She has inherited an apartment full of memories from her grandaunt, also a midwife, who had a reputation for her unconventional methods. Dómhildur’s paternal side was filled with undertakers causing her to have a deeper perspective on the coming and goings of life. Dómhildur discovers decades worth of letters and manuscripts hidden amongst her grandaunt’s clutter. Her anxious meteorologist sister and her curious new neighbor compound things as Dómhildur digs into her grandaunt’s archive and discovers strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death, and human nature. And, like the previous Icelandic book I just read, there is a playlist!

And, as far as plot is concerned, that’s it, but plot is not the point of this book. I’ll let you discover these subtle truths for yourself, it would be a literary crime to quote them out of context. I will say, however, that the text is firmly grounded in the City of Reykjavík; with a decent map you could exactly follow her on her trips throughout the city. This evoked strong memories in me; something that a casual reader might not share. Aside from the aforementioned typo, FitzGibbon’s translation is fine, even poetic at times.

Qualified recommendation, if you liked her other works, you’ll love this. If you like plot-driven novels you might pass this one by.

Thinking About Iceland

Now it begins.

Again.

The long countdown to my return to Iceland. My infatuation for ‘The Rock’ had faded in recent months, but has recently been rekindled, not in the least part by the efforts of the triumvirate of the ‘three sisters’ of Icelandic Internet Information: Alda, Auður and Maria.

Alda is well on her way to becoming the printed authority on Icelandic Culture. Her ever-expanding series of books, both fact and fiction, is threatening to overwhelm all other Icelanders who write for foreign readers. Although she now usually uses Facebook to communicate, her original blog is still active, with longer posts about once a week.

Maria’s Iceland Eyes is still going as well. More personal than Alda’s blog, it features her ruminations on what it means to live in Iceland. Low-key yet heartfelt, it is the internet equivalent of having coffee with an old friend.
 
Finally, read Auður’s heartfelt post about her relationship with her blog, her family, dealing with tourists and, of course, Iceland. She is a national treasure.

Update: Expatriate Larissa Kyzer has emerged from her immersion in Icelandic linguistic studies to resume posting on the Eth & Thorn blog again. Her current post contains links to PRI podcasts on the Icelandic language. In two parts, they constitute an excellent overview of the the tradition and future of Icelandic.

Godless Sinner

Living a life without god is a conscious choice.

You learn about the religions of the world and if nothing appeals to you, decision is made to do without it. You don't judge those who do believe and you can only ask of them to do the same for you. As you get older and you experience more you start questioning your decisions. Did you get it all wrong? Maybe there is a god and he is punishing you for abandoning him. Do your skeptic thoughts mean that maybe you do believe in more than you want to acknowledge?

You look at those who have faith with envious eyes and you wish you could find it within you to believe as strongly as they do. Their faith gives them answers you so desperately seek and for a brief moment you consider converting.

You then realize you can't make up faith not matter how strongly you want it. It's wrong to disown something when things are going well and come crawling back when things are bad. Either you believe or you don't. Something else needs to fill the emptiness inside and that becomes your quest. Who provides you the answers?

This concludes my ‘December with Auður’ series of reposts from the early years of FITK.

Posted 20 Years Ago on FITK by Little Miss Loopy, re-posted with image

Winter Reading

Preview of coming attraction

   Nothing like curling up with a good blog on a wintry day. Presenting yet another of my periodic surveys of the blogsphere (does anyone even say blogosphere anymore?), things  I've been especially enjoying lately, these sites deserve a wider audience. And, as always, your mileage may vary:

retro vintage modern hi-fi is just what the title says. Mostly old ads and photos about audio equipment from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I may be a nerd, but I find this ephemera fascinating. Warning: the site's weekly feature, Retro HI-FI Girl Friday, is often NSFW. I find those posts to be fascinating as well but definitely in a different, non-nerdy, way.

Kateoplis is one of the few tumblrs I follow. Mostly images and quotes reflecting Kate's unique viewpoint on culture, philosophy, art and life in general. Some incidental NSFW images from time to time, noting gratuitous.

Quigley's Cabinet features various forms of memento mori, sometimes graphic in nature.

I'd Rather Be In Iceland  "Eva Lind's" chronicle of her Icelandic yearnings. A true kindred spirit.

I Could Go On and On  Oh yes, how can she ever! Karen Newton, lifestyle writer from Richmond, Virgina logs her detailed impressions of food, drink, music and culture. Unbelievable daily adventures and it's all true!

The Shelia Variations Professional critic Sheila O'Malley's personal site. Musings on movies, music and culture. Great stuff.

diary of mindless minion number 2703  I've been following "Grandma's Cellar Door" for several years, recently she has been posting installments of a serialized memoir/novel every Monday, complete with surreal illustrations. I'm hooked on them already.

Iceland Eyes  is back after a year's hiatus; Maria's photo-blog has always had a literary element.  Her latest installment really ups the ante. She also has an experimental literary blog which has been an inspiration to me for many years. It is some kind of a free-form novel built about modern relationships.

   For those of you who don't care to read, I offer a few video recommendations:

Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone has finally got an official music video after 48 years. It's mind blowing, but you'll need a petty fast internet connection to watch it seamlessly.

My old blog pal Little Miss Loopy (Auður Ösp) is featured in a great CNN report on Iceland, she appears at about the 3:20 mark and later on in the third segment as well.

Finally, there's this little vid  featuring my favorite Icelandic twins, say no more...


Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

A Day in My Life

I was taken upstairs as it was finally time for my operation.

An hour before I had been given two Parkodin Forte to prevent me from feeling pain and a tranquilizer to prepare me for the anesthesia. The nurse drove me to the surgery ward and left me there next to the supply cabinets as it was a hectic day and the room was not ready yet. I was pushed back and forward as the nurses had to get to their supplies and my bed caused a traffic jam when a young doctor was trying to get some poor woman back to recovery. I can’t say it was a pleasant experience. Finally a smiling young man came to me and introduced himself. I’m Dr Skurgiburg and I will be in charge of your anesthesia today. Moments later another smiling young man who looked like the identical twin of Dr. Skurgiburg in his green overalls introduced himself as a nurse. Lucky me, I thought, being half-naked and exposed in front of these charming twins.

Being petrified of needles I tried not to faint when the male nurse put in my needle. The room was filled with green overalls attending to their pre-op things and I stared at the ceiling trying to imagine that I was somewhere else. Soon I found myself at an exotic location and I could feel the warm breeze from the ocean on my face. This was my first clue that the heavy medication was working. All of a sudden the face of one of the twins popped into my vision and he told me that they were now giving me pain medication through my needle so I wouldn't feel a thing. Then came the anesthesia itself and Dr. Skurgiburg put on my oxygen mask and told me to breath as normal. I felt panic and thought I was suffocating and falling through the table. One deep breath for me now, honey was the last thing I heard and I was out.

I first came around on my way to recovery. The smiling twins were there with me and I asked them if it was over. Yes sweetheart, it's over. Wow, I said, that was quick. I was dreaming in Spanish you know I told them and then mumbled something probably highly inappropriate in Spanish. Then everything went black again.

I woke up in tears and tried to sit up but I couldn’t. I was in a room filled with sleeping beauties and on my finger I had some thing attached to a monitor. Twice did my monitor make a noise and after carefully studying the other monitors around me I decided it was because my heart rate was way too slow. The noise didn’t seem to bother the nurses though and they hardly looked my way. Lying dizzy in recovery after watching one too many ER shows I really would have loved for someone to tell me not to worry but the nurses seemed to have mentally clocked out already and were talking about deserts and confirmation parties. At least I was paying attention to details, that must be a good sign that I was not dying. They finally noticed that I had woken up and one of them brought over a tiny glass of water. Drink this she said and I did as I was ordered. By this time the room was spinning and the nurse who had brought me up there was back and getting ready to take me down again. I wondered about whether I should mention to her that maybe moving me in this state was not a good idea but judging by her face I thought my suggestions would not be welcome. Once back in my room, like a cow to its stall, a much friendlier nurse gave me medication through the damn needle that was still there to help with the nausea. It worked and I was knocked out again.

Header Image: Auður Ösp Ólafsdóttir

Posted 20 Years Ago on FITK by Little Miss Loopy, re-posted