Tag Archive Iceland

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How to get to Eistnaflug

Eistnaflug WristbandEistnaflug is a remote and mysterious ritual, underground even among the denizens of its home country and virtually unheard of outside of Iceland. More famous festivals like Wacken or Maryland Deathfest make it on to metalhead’s bucket lists. Eistnaflug is more like a Holy Grail, a mythical goal that few expect to find.

But I am here to tell you it is not impossible.

Mere mortals who are not even particularly metal can and have drunk from the Eistnaflug chalice (Icelandic speakers may have just thrown up a little in their mouths at that term). Read on, and I will tell you how. Read More

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Book Report: Names for the Sea

Names for the Sea book cover

I took a picture of my copy. I like the American cover best, partly because I know where to stand to get this shot of Tjornin.

People read travel stories about places they have never been in order to vicariously experience a trip they could never take themselves. Or they read as a form of research for trips to places they might someday go. I’m not sure if it is as common to read travel books about places you have already been, but I like to do it. It’s a weird combination of vicarious adventure, excitement over shared experience, and the alternate schadenfreude over the author’s mistakes and embarrassment at the reader’s own. Read More

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Wanderlust

View from Perlan, near the hotel where I will be staying.

View from Perlan, near the hotel where I will be staying.

Tomorrow I leave for Iceland! While I’m there, I plan to focus on the Iceland Writers Retreat workshops, but I have posts – mostly book reviews – scheduled while I’m gone. Bonus: all of the books are by authors who are involved in the retreat, and whom I will very likely meet this week. Read More

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Icelandic Bands to Watch Meta-List

Asgeir Trausti at Neumos

Asgeir: The main reason people visit this site.

Right now everyone is caught up in year-end listmania, but a while back, there was a spate of “Ten Icelandic Bands to Watch.” They caught my eye because of my fascination with Iceland, but they stayed on my mind because there was so little overlap between them. It all started with a Pigeons and Planes feature “Icelandic Bands That You Need to Hear.”

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Laxness is Dependably Frustrating in Independent People

independent-people-halldor-laxness-paperback-cover-art

After hating The Great Weaver of Kashmir without being able to dismiss its quality, I read Independent People and didn’t know what to think. My relationship with Laxness will always be volatile; he inspires fervor and frustration in equal measure.

This is the real thing: a head-over-heels incredulity that there exists in the universe so perfect an imperfection.

(from the intro by Brad Leithauser)

Independent People is often cited as his masterpiece, and it proves that Laxness’ Nobel Prize is well-earned. It holds up in comparison to The Grapes of Wrath; in both stories, dirt-poor farmers epitomizing the national spirit fight for survival and dignity against economic forces they don’t understand. In the case of Independent People, the farmer is Bjartur, who sacrifices everything of value in his life to pursue his ideal of independence. Read More