Puss Reboots: Blog: December 2007: Letters from Iceland

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Among the Impostors by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Berenstain Bears Accept No Substitutes by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Better Than Running at Night by Hillary Frank
Bleach 5 by Tite Kubo
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Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Happy Halloween Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
How Big is Your God? by Paul Coutinho
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Jingo by Terry Pratchett
Letters from Iceland by W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice
Miss Bianca in the Orient by Margery Sharp
N is for Noose by Sue Grafton
O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer
Osama Phone Home by David Marusek
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Return of the Indian by Lynn Reid Banks
Sleep No More by Greg Iles
Stray by Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert
Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr
The Turret by Margery Sharp
The Twilight Year by Sean McMullen
Two Weeks After by M. Ramsey Chapman
Unpossible by Daryl Gregory
Urdumheim by Michael Swanwick
Who Brought Tulips to the Moon? by S.L. Gilbow

Miscellaneous:
Betrayed by Elmo
BTC Database Complete
The Last Few Days
Neighbor Cats

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Letters from Iceland: 12/27/07

I am rather split brained about Letters From Iceland by W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice. There were pieces of it that had me roaring with laughter and other pieces where I just had to skip out of boredom or disinterest.

Letters From Iceland is a collection of writings inspire by a trip to Iceland. It was published in 1937 and has been reprinted a number of times. W. H. Auden provided about two-thirds of the pieces including a lengthy (and rather dull) epic poem called a "Letter to Lord Byron." Louis MacNeice provided the remaining third of the text.

My favorite parts of the book were the notes for tourists which includes practical advice on what to pack an who to dress, warnings about the food an transportation. The descriptions of the Icelandic traditions taken from a British point of view made for a humorous comparison with the dwarves in Pratchett's discworld novels; I was constantly reminded of Carrot.

My all time favorite piece of the book was a satiric letter "Hetty to Nancy" by MacNeice. It is an account of a disastrous group camping trip. Hetty recounts the problems of sleeping facing down hill, with sleeping on rocks and with tents in the rain when the tents haven't been properly pitched.