Pining for the fjords
Mar. 20th, 2023 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodygranuaileSeveral years ago my little brother went to visit his best friend in Iceland and brought me back a little pamphlet-sized book with the large pamphlet-esque title Humorous Tales from the Daily Life in the West Fjords of Iceland in the 20th Century, which, while it has an ISBN, is apparently so obscure that it doesn’t exist on Goodreads, meaning I will have to go request a page be created for it.
These are little one-page anecdotes poking gentle fun at a variety of colorful local characters–mostly politicians, priests, and fishermen–with a folksy good humor the basic spirit of which could easily transfer to several other groups of picturesquely rural salt-of-the-earth types. There is some specifically Icelandic flavor to it–all the grocery stores are co-ops, and there’s an interesting story about a hotel that hosted American fishermen from Gloucester back in the 19th century–but a lot of it could have taken place anywhere there are doctors, fishers, and people who talk to much at meetings. The stories were certainly not as epic as the Icelandic family sagas, but they were wholesome and amusing.
These are little one-page anecdotes poking gentle fun at a variety of colorful local characters–mostly politicians, priests, and fishermen–with a folksy good humor the basic spirit of which could easily transfer to several other groups of picturesquely rural salt-of-the-earth types. There is some specifically Icelandic flavor to it–all the grocery stores are co-ops, and there’s an interesting story about a hotel that hosted American fishermen from Gloucester back in the 19th century–but a lot of it could have taken place anywhere there are doctors, fishers, and people who talk to much at meetings. The stories were certainly not as epic as the Icelandic family sagas, but they were wholesome and amusing.