Any bookstores I ought to visit that have an excellent English-language section for visitors?You will perhaps have actually heard of Laxness’s finest known novel,”Independent People,” which was originally released in the very early1930s as well as became one of theinitial Icelandic novels to be released in the United States, in 1946.
If you continue down Laugavegur and then make your way approximately Skólavörðustígur, you will definitely be able to find a duplicate of” The Book of Sheep, “as we called it when we were irreverent and young, in the Eymundsson book shop nearby from the old city jail.
The store has a good selection of whatever Icelandic literary works is readily available in English, and also a coffee shop to boot. There you can sit and also search, as well as maybe also read the very first pages about Bjartur’s mission for self-reliance from other men and his little girl’s pursuit for independence from him.
As well as about his sheep.Laxness motivated but he additionally cast a shadow, as well as if you had actually been an aspiring author in Iceland in the ’40s or ’50s, or perhaps the ’60s, you would possibly have actually really felt both. At some point various other shadows joined his– consisting of several from abroad– so that, in time, it was as if there were no shadows whatsoever, only inspiration.
At Eymundsson, you might wish to grab “The Good Shepherd,”Gunnar Gunnarsson’s timeless book– the stealthily straightforward story of Benedikt, a man seeking sheep in the dead of winter season.
Gunnarsson created primarily in Danish as well as was converted into Icelandic by Laxness. Later, he equated a few of his books himself, however Laxness ended up tobe a better Gunnarsson in Icelandic than Gunnarsson himself.
Moving closer to us in time, I recommend you grab Einar Már Guðmundsson’s tender story of chaos “Angels of deep space “; Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir’s”The Greenhouse, “elegant and refined; Sjón’s “The Blue Fox, “a lyrical, fable-like novella; Hallgrímur Helgason’s”The Woman at 1000 Degrees, “which is louder than the previous 3 books(as it need to be– the lead character is living in a garage with her laptop and also an old hand grenade); or Auður Jónsdóttir’s”Quake,” where memory lossand household tricks are intertwined. There is Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s historic novel “The Sorrow ofAngels, “which moves you to the West Fjords, as well as EinarKárason’s “Storm Birds,”which takes you straight out to sea in treacherous weather.
You will certainly additionally find that criminal offense fiction is alive and well in Iceland, ably stood for by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Arnaldur Indriðason and Ragnar Jónasson. I want there were much more Icelandic writers available in English translations: Perhaps now you’ve been motivated to discover Icelandic to assist treat that.