Genre: Travel
Memoir/LGBTQ
Description:
“A simple question at Iceland's international airport-What are your
happiest memories of Iceland?-sets off an unforgettable journey across the Land
of Fire and Ice. Abandoning guidebooks and itineraries, a young woman on the
precipice of turning thirty, newly unemployed and stuck in a faltering
relationship, spends five weeks backpacking and hitchhiking to find the
locations where Icelandic strangers' happiest memories took place. From
childhood sports fields and family farms to hidden waterfalls and the remote
Highlands, this intimate travel memoir explores Iceland far beyond what can be
seen from a sightseeing bus tour. Part adventure, part meditation on what it
takes to be happy in a volatile world, Happy Iceland is a reminder that some of
the best journeys begin when we shut up and listen.”
Author:
Anne Marie Wells is an award-winning poet, playright, and author of a
few books in addition to working as an editor and writing coach.
For more visit her website.
Appraisal:
I don’t remember the last time I read a book that felt so much like it
was written for me specifically. Yeah, I’m an old white straight guy and Anne
Marie Wells, the author of this book, is opposite of that in every way.
However, we also connect on many levels.
One of those is that I’m an avid traveler. Although my travels have primarily
been in the US I’ve done a little international travel. One of the things I
enjoy about travel is in seeing how people, places, and the life led by the
people in those places compare to what I experience where I live now as well as
where I’ve lived in the past. This book, while focused on Iceland and what the
author experienced there, also gives an idea of the author’s background, where
she’s lived, and how they differed from each other as well as how they compared
to what she was experiencing in Iceland. Many of the places in the US she
mentioned were places I’ve lived or been to, so she got us on the same
wavelength pretty quickly. (Her being a fan of Tim Hortons, the Canadian-based
fast-food outlet, sucked me in even more.) I think our senses of humor are
compatible as well.
But most of all, I loved her concept of exploring Iceland without an
itinerary. I’ll admit, I was nervous that she was basically getting around by
hitchhiking. In most countries I wouldn’t expect her to survive with that
approach. That combined with her technique for picking her next destination by
questioning the first person she interacts with after getting to one
destination about where their happiest memory in Iceland took place meant she
immersed herself in life in Iceland, not only meeting and interacting with a
large range of people there, but seeing what the country was like from the
standpoint of the people who are native to the area. Most travel memoirs focus
a lot more on the travel and less on the memories created by the travel than
this one does and ultimately that difference is what makes it standout so much
for me. An incredible read.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Adult language and some mostly mild adult content.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words
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