Writing in Ice: A Crime Writer's Guide to Iceland

  Last week I wrote about some of the non-fiction books I have read over the years to understand Iceland better. This week I’m looking at fiction and poetry. I’m excluding crime novels from this list since I discussed those earlier . Also, I include a book ‘From the Reading Pile’, which I haven’t got to yet but which seem worth a look. Let me know in the comments section what other books should be added to the reading pile. I have been posting at the rate of one blog post every four weeks, but I think these Sources on Iceland posts should come out closer to each other than that, so I have published this second one only one week after the first. Fiction (Non-Crime) in Icelandic Independent People by Halldór Laxness (tr. J. A. Thompson).  The great Icelandic novel. Bjartur is a tough, independent, stubborn-as-hell farmer in Iceland at the beginning of the twentieth century. Under the Glacier by Halldór Laxness (tr. Magnus Magnusson).  An emissary from the Bishop of Iceland arrives

                                   Here is a more detailed list of the various sources I have used to learn about Iceland over the years. This list is far from comprehensive. Its obvious weakness is that it only lists books published in English, thereby omitting all kinds of books only available in Icelandic, as well as books about Iceland in German, French, Spanish and other languages. And I haven’t included every book I have read on the subject. Non-fiction books in this post: future posts will run through poetry, fiction, film and TV, magazines and the Internet. So, here goes: Non-Fiction Books Icelandic Saga by Magnus Magnusson.  A trip around Iceland, beautifully combining its landscape and its history. The Little Book of the Icelanders by Alda Sigmundsdóttir .  A little book about Iceland and its quirks by an Icelandic-Canadian writer with a keen eye. Alda’s other ‘Little Books’ include Iceland in the Old Days , Tourists in Iceland and The Icelandic Lan