Vonarstræti

I just got off the phone with my mom, who is reading the Icelandic book I gave her for Christmas, Vonarstræti by Ármann Jakobsson. I think it has been a while since she has read a novel in Icelandic, so she was surprised that after 2 days of doing little else than reading that, she is only a bit more than half way done. Usually she finishes a book in a day, but then she is usually reading paperback fluff. It is a nice break for her, after all she has been through, to lay back on her couch in Southern California and read Icelandic. 

Anyhow, she has found that the book speaks to her on lots of levels, since she, like the main character and many Icelanders of her generation, lived in Copenhagen for a short time, while finishing school. The connection between Denmark and Iceland indeed continues to be very strong, despite the call for independence highlighted in the book. 

But the thing she said she liked best so far was the detail about the main character putting Icelandic lava rocks on the window sill when she first arrived. She said she wasn't sure if that was an old folk tradition or not, but it rung very true for her, that Icelanders would want to have that sort of physical reminder of their homeland with them where ever they went.