Here’s one more picture from Reykjavik’s BMM bookstore that I think the more literary-inclined among you might enjoy: Alice Sebold‘s The Almost Moon. And you know, after reading Arnaldur Indridason‘s excellent Jar City, and starting in on the most recently published sequel, Voices, I can’t help but feel that the Icelanders will “get” what Sebold is after in ways that some American critics didn’t. But that’s just my opinion…
Looking back over last week, I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to visit Iceland—which you’ve no doubt heard is the best place in the world to live, even if the sun didn’t come up until 10 A.M. most mornings—and to do so in the company of Yrsa Sigurdardottir, who no less an authority on mystery novels than Sarah Weinman has described (in the Barnes & Noble Review) as “among the top rank of crime writers.” Like just about everybody else I met while I was there, she’s also very gracious and outgoing and sincere in a way that I found genuinely inspiring.
And, of course, the landscape was gorgeous. It really doesn’t have all that much to do with publishing, but for anybody who cares, I’ve uploaded my photos from the weekend onto my Flickr account. I wish I were a better photographer, but I think you’ll get the general idea. And Publishers Weekly deputy editor Karen Holt has more stories from the trip, too.