Globe Corner Blogs

Iceland --photo by Lisa

I am absurdly excited  about the upcoming Viking Invasion of Boston. From March 11-17,  Boston will be hosting A Taste of Iceland. This festival of Icelandic culture and entertainment is bringing Icelandic musicians, DJs, acclaimed chefs, and a film festival to various venues in and around Boston in celebration of all things Icelandic…and Icelandair’s non-stop service to Reykjavik. You can even enter a drawing to win a trip to Reykjavik! The full schedule of events can be found at the “Iceland Naturally” website.

Certain staff members of the Globe Corner have already expressed their love for all things Icelandic: from the delicious and addictive Skyr, Arnaldur Indridason’s Inspector Erlendur Series, and The Blue Lagoon (a geothermal spa) to the always interesting Iceland Airwaves Music Festival. We’re so excited about the festival that we’re taking 15% off all books about and maps of Iceland through March 17th. And as an extra bonus,  Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds will be dropping by the store on Saturday, March 13th at 4:30 p.m. to play a few songs for us!

Voices --by Arnaldur Indridason

“Jesus,” Henry said. “A murder!”
“You have murders in Iceland?” his wife, Cindy [...] asked, glancing over at the Icelandair brochure on the bedside table.
“Rarely,” he said, trying to smile.
(excerpted from Voices)

I didn’t expect to get so wrapped up in a series of murder mysteries. There has to be some secret to this one because I rarely read when I cook, and Arnaldur Indridason’s books made me do just so. The main characters, three detectives from the Reykjavik police, are too different to stick together in the world outside the investigations they lead. The lives of Erlendur, the senior detective, perfectly bred and American-educated Sigurdur Oli, and the amazing cook and housewife Elinborg would have never met if Iceland didn’t have truly mysterious criminal cases popping up now and then. In some strange way those murders remind me of (please, don’t laugh) those wooden matreshka dolls — you open it and there is a new one sitting inside, which contains yet another one, and another one, and so on until you have found the tiniest, the very last little doll. I would say that’s a different plot recipe from a usual missing puzzle piece-type paperback thriller.

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