Arm Chair Traveler: Island

It’s time for another mini-vacation, and this month we’re exploring Iceland. Iceland is nicknamed the Land of Fire and Ice, because it contains both volcanoes and glaciers. Home to over 100 volcanoes, Iceland also contains the largest glacier in Europe. An island in the North Atlantic Ocean, its nearest neighbor is Scotland, 500 miles away, and it is roughly the size of Kentucky. Prior to human settlement, the only land mammal living in Iceland was the Arctic fox. 

Two events in recent history have contributed to an upswing in tourism: a major volcanic eruption in 2010, followed in 2011 by the filming of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Iceland. Winter is coming. 

The library has travel books about Iceland from Rick Steves, Lonely Planet, and Fodor’s, among others. For more nonfiction about Iceland, try one of these:

Innsaei

Iceland's Ring Road

Looking for the Hidden Folk

How Iceland Changed the World

The Museum of Whales You Will Never See

The Secret Lives of Glaciers

The Nordic Baking Book

Quick Icelandic Knits

Nordic Knitting Traditions

Volcano

About Icelandic people:

Woman, Captain, Rebel

The Far Traveler

Icelandic author Halldór Laxness won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955 for “Independent People”. Another of Laxness’ books and books by other Icelandic authors are listed here:

Under the Glacier

The Quiet Mother

The Shadow District

Moonstone

Miss Iceland

Miss Iceland

Icelandic mythology and sagas:

Egil's Saga

The Prose Edda

-Blog post by Senior Collection Development Librarian Beth Wood. This article was originally published as part of her weekly column, Check It Out, in The Columbian.

New at the Library

This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District collection. Visit the district’s 15 locations, our website at www.fvrl.org, or call (360) 906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings. 

FICTION

“The Tavern at the End of History” by Morris Collins

“The Midnight Carousel” by Fiza Saeed McLynn

“When I Kill You” by B. A. Paris

NONFICTION

“Bonded by Evolution: The New Science of Love and Connection” by Paul W. Eastwick

“Frog: And Other Essays” by Anne Fadiman

“Cocina Puerto Rico: Recipes from My Abuela’s Kitchen to Yours” by Mia Castro

CHILDREN

“What a Small Cat Needs” by Natalia Shaloshvili

“Dog Origami” by Zoey Schrader

“Some of Us Are Brave” by Saadia Faruqi