Welcome to Litsy!

In the early 1900s, Bjartur lived in a sod house he called Summerhouses, and he owed no debt after 19 years raising sheep and paying off the land. Bjartur valued nothing more than being debt-free (& therefore being an independent man) and his sheep. He begrudged anyone and anything threatening either one, at the expense of his enduring family. His stubbornness cost him family members‘ lives and it seemed the losses didn‘t affect him, until ⬇️

“Literature cannot bear dirty hands.”

#Iceland #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

#Iceland #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

My next audiobook. For #Iceland #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I now understand why a nearly 500 page book about sheep and coffee is such a classic. One definitely needs to be in the right headspace to focus on this type of novel, but once you give over to it, it‘s rewarding. It has many themes but the one that resonated with me most was resilience in hard times. Because wow, the times were so often hard in this kind of life. Bjartur is one of the most infuriating and memorable protagonists I‘ve come across.

1. A mountain and a hot spring! There are some very pretty ones in Iceland ❤️
2. All my Litsy friends! Obviously ☺️

Thanks @Yuki_Onna for the tag 🥰

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
#holidays #travel #holidayreading

Thanks for the tag @Eggs
1 - I‘ve been trying to get back to Iceland for almost twenty years, maybe someday I will.
2 - my guidebook, a fluffy romance read that I can leave in a hotel and replace with a book souvenir. And maybe someday I‘ll read the tagged, which I bought in preparation for my trip all those years ago and never read.
#two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

#FirstLineFridays

I really enjoyed the parts of this book about farm life and raising sheep in Iceland in the early 1900s. I wished sometimes that things I considered fairly major events had been described in a bit more detail, and I did not enjoy the more political aspects. Yet overall, this was a wonderful choice for experiencing #Iceland for #ReadingEurope2020.

#ReadtheWorld #ReadingtheWorld #translated #1001books #audiobook #Hoopla

I‘ve been listening to this #audiobook off and on the last few days as I do other things. With all the talk of sheep and life in the wide open spaces of #Iceland it‘s a good listen for a walk. Listening to stories of hard times with starvation looming is not so enjoyable while baking. I also caught up on flagging all the #1001books I‘ve read as I listened as well, and I‘ve decided this is the best way to feel you‘re making progress on the list.

#BookReport
📚 Finished 3 books to end 2019

#CurrentlyReading
🎧 #ATreeGrowsInBrooklynBuddyRead (through chapter 14)
🎧 Independent People #ReadingEurope2020
📖 The English Patient #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown
📖 The Fellowship of the Ring #FellowshipofTolkien

#WeeklyForecast
I hope to stay on track with group reads, finish current independent reads, and move on to an upcoming as I finish one of similar format.

My #jolabokaflod package was mailed today! Should be there Monday or Tuesday!!!

#covercrush #7Days7Covers Day 4 ⛰💨🌬🌦🌫🗻

Fled Louisiana on an early flight yesterday to escape the tropical storm. We left a day early for our vacation, so now we have an unexpected day trip in Toronto! 🇨🇦 Good thing we left as our original flight was cancelled this morning.
Prepping for Iceland with this classic!
Off to find some poutine . . .

Thinking of this book today! 🇮🇸

Thinking of this book today.

Woke up to a wonderful surprise, hubby used reward points and booked a one week getaway to Iceland for the 2 of us while Maya is at sleepaway camp! This was part of our original summer plan (combined with Norway & Copenhagen) before surgery delayed that planning. I‘m so excited we will do part of the trip!

Now I need some Icelandic author recommendations! I‘ve read the tagged book, what else would you suggest?

Some books are a delight, some edifying. Some show an alien world, while others comfort in their familiarity. Some are challenges to be puzzled out. And some are compelling but don‘t move you, you are maybe ambivalent, and then you reach the end and there is one line and you are weeping, because now you understand that everything has led to this moment and it is more beautiful for all that came before. That last kind is Independent People for me.

Those were good days. They were serene days and quite undemonstrative, like the best days in one‘s life; the boy never forgot them. Nothing happens; one simply lives and breathes and wishes for nothing more, and nothing more.

Surprised and v grateful for my bookish Christmas gifts. Moomin cushions and a trip through the history of Icelandic literature in English. As you do! 💕

Icelandic lit bookhaul from Iceland! A bit pricey? Yes, but I couldn‘t help myself. I love how their bookstores promote Icelandic literature in English.

My tbr is a mountain. I have All the Birds, Singing for my F2F bookclub. The Enormous Room for #Reading1001travelingbook Libra for #reading1001TBRtakedown. I‘m reading Independent People by Laxness for #SummerBackpackEurope. And that is just a partial list. #TBRAugust.

#backpackEurope travelogue @JenP @BookwormM *fictional*

Country 4: I was set to move on from Iceland when my ferry got delayed due to rough seas! I won't be able to move on for another week😣. I have enjoyed touring Reykjavik in the summer (I hate the cold, so it's a *bit warmer* now. And I took time with my delay to see the Northern Lights!
This book was not my fave. It was about farming but not comforting/pastoral. My first Icelandic author!

And saying goodbye to Bjartur and Asta Sollilja. #Iceland #1001books #backpackEurope

Saying goodbye to Iceland‘s water and ice...
#backpackEurope

Saying goodbye to Iceland‘s puffins...
#backpackEurope

I visited Iceland with the USAF in 1983 and 1984. It is the cleanest place I have ever been and incredibly beautiful! So glad to have a literary visit with #backpackEurope! This story isn‘t epic and I hope it will give me a chance to immerse myself in the place. #Iceland #1001books #audiobook

Magnificent. By focusing on one funny, frustrating, & bewildering character - Bjartur of Summerhouses - & his family, Laxness launches a social & political critique of the forces keeping the Icelandic (& global) rural poor down. Written with acerbic wit & empathy, it also critiques the ideology of "independence" without responsibility to others, i.e. "each man for himself", showing the heavy cost of patriarchal patriotism on women & children. 5 ⭐

"People's most essential requirements were then doled out to them, in quantities varying with their means and circumstances so that they could go on slaving for the interest they had to pay."

#readaroundtheworld #litsyclassics

Laxness' social and political critique is 🔥 (and so subtle or ironic at times, that I miss it...)

#readaroundtheworld #litsyclassics

The eldest & the youngest have been conversing, arguing with each other, each calling the other a fool. Then their middle brother enters the conversation & they unite against him because the middle brother doesn't understand the soul & only knows how to keep busy.

Laxness has so many passages like this, in this sprawling book; passages that remind me of Dostoevsky, the similar expansive capacity for depicting the nuances of humanity.

I found the juxtaposition of the titles of my current reads interesting...

Last books of 2017, first books of 2018. The 2nd book in the Southern Reach trilogy doesn't have the same poetic atmosphere but the mind-numbing dread of bureaucracy on top of an event no one can get a handle on feels more horrifying. Independent People is contemplative & melancholic but compared to the real-seeming horrors of Authority, it's practically utopian (so far).

Discussion among farmers about maggots in sheep leads to musings on sheep fodder. Thorir of Gilteig comes out of nowhere and takes the conversation up a notch. "It's impossible to say where the worm begins - either in the animal kingdom or in human society." Indeed! I don't know why I find this so funny ? #wherethewormbegins

Getting a head start on 2018 for #readaroundtheworld Iceland & my "I" entry for #litsyclassics.

#Iceland #readingtheworld #readtheworld Supposed to be a good one!

"When one is unmarried, one must tell people to shut up in roundabout fashion."