The Little Book of the Icelanders
50 Miniature Essays on the Quirks and Foibles of the Icelandic People
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The Little Book of the Icelanders
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Narrated by:
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Alda Sigmundsdottir
About this listen
After more than 20 years away, Alda Sigmundsdottir returned to her native Iceland as a foreigner. With a native person's insight yet an outsider's perspective, Alda quickly set about dissecting the national psyche of the Icelanders. This second edition, from 2018, contains new and updated chapters from the original edition, reflecting the changes in Icelandic society and among the Icelandic people since the book was first published in 2012.
Among the fascinating subjects broached in The Little Book of the Icelanders are the appalling driving habits of the Icelanders, naming conventions and customs, the Icelanders’ profound fear of commitment, the irreverence of the Icelanders, why Icelandic women are really men, how the Icelanders manage to make social interactions really complicated, the importance of the family in Icelandic society, where to go to meet the real Icelanders (and possibly score some free financial advice), rituals associated with weddings, confirmations, graduations, and deaths, and many, many more!
Praise for the book:
"One chapter leads to the next, creating a continuous chain of storytelling. It feels as if you’re sitting in the author’s kitchen, enjoying a cup of coffee and conversing with her about the quirks of her countrymen, every now and then, bursting out laughing. [I’m] going to heartily recommend The Little Book of the Icelanders, both to fans of Sigmundsdóttir’s blog and those unfamiliar with her work." (Iceland Review Online)
"There aren’t many books I’d recommend reading over morning coffee, but The Little Book of the Iceanders is one of them. [I] laughed at the essays in this book, not because I was laughing at Icelanders but because I recognize much of the behaviour in myself and members of my family. It felt good. It’s not just the sanest, most impressive characteristics that we pass on and share but also some of the zaniest. As I read this book, I frequently thought, yup, I’m definitely part Icelandic." (Lögberg-Heimskringla, Canada)
©2012 Alda Sigmundsdóttir (P)2020 Alda SigmundsdóttirListeners also enjoyed...
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Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than 10 years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely audiobook, he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Obsessed with bad politics
- By Erik on 09-07-20
By: Michael Booth
-
Committed
- A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
- By: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,488
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,722
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,713
At the end of her best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government....
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Perfect timing
- By Nancy on 01-15-10
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A Town Divided by Christmas
- By: Orson Scott Card, Claire Bloom - director
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 77
It began with a quarrel over which newborn should be the baby Jesus in the town's Christmas pageant. Decades later, two scientists arrive to study small-town genetic patterns, only to run up against the invisible walls that split the leading citizens into two congregations that can only be joined by love and forgiveness - and maybe a little deception, because there might be some things people just don't need to know.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Just what I wanted...
- By Lonnie-The GreatNorthernTroll-Moore on 12-25-18
By: Orson Scott Card, and others
-
The Bonjour Effect
- The Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed
- By: Julie Barlow, Jean-Benoit Nadeau
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 110
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow spent a decade traveling back and forth to Paris as well as living there. Yet one important lesson never seemed to sink in: how to communicate comfortably with the French, even when you speak their language. In The Bonjour Effect, Jean-Benoît and Julie chronicle the lessons they learned after they returned to France to live, for a year, with their twin daughters. They offer up all the lessons they learned and explain the most important aspect of all: the French don't communicate, they converse.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible French pronunciation
- By CA on 01-24-19
By: Julie Barlow, and others
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Ask a North Korean
- Defectors Talk About Their Lives Inside the World's Most Secretive Nation
- By: Daniel Tudor, Andrei Lankov - foreword
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan, Greta Jung
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- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
The weekly column Ask a North Korean, published by NK News, invites readers from around the world to pose questions to North Korean defectors. By way of these fascinating interviews, the North Koreans themselves provide authentic firsthand testimonies about what is happening inside the "Hermit Kingdom." This book sheds critical light on all aspects of North Korean politics and society and shows that even in the world's most authoritarian regime, life goes on in ways that are very different from what you may think.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant Narration on the unknown perspective
- By New Jaa Yeong on 09-01-18
By: Daniel Tudor, and others
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The Year of Living Danishly
- Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
- By: Helen Russell
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,348
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,834
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,823
When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long, dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born or made?
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting content. Unfortunate delivery.
- By Jennifer Soudagar on 11-13-15
By: Helen Russell
-
The Unspeakable
- And Other Subjects of Discussion
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Meghan Daum
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 102
It's a report tempered by hard times. In "Matricide", Daum unflinchingly describes a parent's death and the uncomfortable emotions it provokes; and in "Diary of a Coma" she relates her own journey to the twilight of the mind. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the marriage-industrial complex, of the New Age dating market, and of the peculiar habits of the young and digital.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Complaining about her dead mom.
- By Erik Hermansen on 11-23-14
By: Meghan Daum
-
My Time Among the Whites
- Notes from an Unfinished Education
- By: Jennine Capo Crucet
- Narrated by: Jennine Capo Crucet
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
Raised in Miami and the daughter of Cuban refugees, Crucet examines the political and personal contours of American identity and the physical places where those contours find themselves smashed: be it a rodeo town in Nebraska, a university campus in upstate New York, or Disney World in Florida. Crucet illuminates how she came to see her exclusion from aspects of the theoretical American Dream, despite her family's attempts to fit in with white American culture - beginning with their ill-fated plan to name her after the winner of the Miss America pageant.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Empowering
- By elvia on 10-23-19
-
How to Be Black
- By: Baratunde Thurston
- Narrated by: Baratunde Thurston
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,149
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,036
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,035
Beyond memoir, this guidebook offers practical advice on everything from "How to Be the Black Friend" to "How to Be the (Next) Black President" to "How to Celebrate Black History Month". This is a humorous, intelligent, and audacious guide that challenges and satirizes the so-called experts, purists, and racists who purport to speak for all Black people. With honest storytelling and biting wit, Baratunde plots a path not just to blackness, but one open to anyone interested in simply "how to be".
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Funny yet insightful!
- By Theodore on 02-15-12
-
Common Ground: Exclusive Edition
- By: Justin Trudeau
- Narrated by: Justin Trudeau, Colm Feore
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 63
Justin Trudeau has spent his life in the public eye. From the moment he was born, the first son of an iconic prime minister and his young wife, Canadians have witnessed the highs and the lows, sharing in his successes and mourning with him during tragic times. But few beyond Justin's closest circle have heard his side of his unique journey. Now, in Common Ground, Justin Trudeau reveals how the events of his life have influenced him and formed the ideals that drive him today.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Mesmerizing
- By emilia on 05-04-18
By: Justin Trudeau
-
Secrets and Wives
- The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy
- By: Sanjiv Bhattacharya
- Narrated by: Sanjiv Bhattacharya
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 162
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 142
What do we really know about modern practicing polygamists - not fictional ones like the Henrickson family on HBO’s Big Love? We’ve seen the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the news, the underage brides in pioneer dresses on a Texas ranch. But the FLDS is just one of many groups that have broken with mainstream Mormonism to follow those parts of Joseph Smith’s doctrine disavowed by the LDS Church. Gaining unprecedented access to these communities, journalist Sanjiv Bhattacharya reveals a shadow country....
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Great stories (+), religious amateur hour (-)
- By Douglas on 09-26-13
-
Battle of Brothers
- William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult
- By: Robert Lacey
- Narrated by: Tim Frances
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 373
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 323
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 320
From best-selling author and historical consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown, an unparalleled insider account of tumult, secrecy, and schism in the royal family.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Same book, different title
- By Rhonda E Watson on 10-23-20
By: Robert Lacey
-
Nonverts
- The Making of Ex-Christian America
- By: Stephen Bullivant
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
The United States is in the midst of a religious revolution. Or, perhaps it is better to say a non-religious revolution. Around a quarter of US adults now say they have no religion. The great majority of these religious "nones" also say that they used to belong to a religion but no longer do. These are the nonverts: think "converts," but from having religion to having none. There are currently about fifty-nine million of them in the United States.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Deeply Insightful, But …
- By S. J. Young on 12-29-22
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Normal Gets You Nowhere
- By: Kelly Cutrone
- Narrated by: Kelly Cutrone
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 194
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 167
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 169
With Normal Gets You Nowhere, Kelly Cutrone invites us to get our freak on. History is full of successful, world-changing people who did not fit in. Think Nelson Mandela, Joan of Arc, Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, John Lennon, and Rosa Parks. Instead of changing themselves to accommodate the status quo or what others thought they should be, these people hung a light on their differences - and changed humanity in the process. “I know you don’t feel normal, so why are you trying to act it and prove to everyone you are?” Cutrone says.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
For open minds and hearts.
- By Kelly on 01-06-12
By: Kelly Cutrone
-
The Italians
- By: John Hooper
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 141
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 126
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 126
John Hooper's marvelously entertaining and perceptive new book is ideal for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Looking at the facts that lie behind and often belie the stereotypes, his revealing book sheds new light on many aspects of Italian life: football and Freemasonry, sex, symbolism, and the reason Italian has twelve words for a coat hanger yet none for a hangover.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Mi piace molto!
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-30-16
By: John Hooper
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Girl Gurl Grrrl
- On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic
- By: Kenya Hunt
- Narrated by: Kenya Hunt, Ebele Okobi, Jessica Horn, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated. But for every milestone, every magazine cover, every new face elected to public office, the reality of everyday life for black women remains a complex, conflicted, contradiction-laden experience. An American journalist who has been living in London for a decade, Kenya Hunt has made a career of distilling moments, movements, and cultural moods into words. Her work takes the difficult and the indefinable and makes it accessible; it is razor sharp cultural observation threaded through evocative and relatable stories.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Inspired
- By Amazon Customer on 01-29-21
By: Kenya Hunt
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Surviving Ireland
- By: Colm Tobin
- Narrated by: Colm Tobin
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
It's exhausting being Irish. The constant self-flagellation is enough to put anybody off their breakfast. Why are we so hard on ourselves? Is it the postcolonial overhang following centuries of oppression at the hands of a litany of foreign invaders? Or is it collective guilt for sending Westlife out into the wider world? In Surviving Ireland, acclaimed comedy writer Colm Tobin takes the listener by the hand for a satirical romp through modern Irish life.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
very fun
- By Rick on 06-12-19
By: Colm Tobin
-
Rick Mercer Final Report
- By: Rick Mercer
- Narrated by: Rick Mercer
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Rick Mercer can always be relied on to provoke a strong reaction - but what he said one fall day in 2017 truly shocked Canada. In a rant posted on social media, the great Canadian satirist announced loud and clear that the 15th season of the Rick Mercer Report - the nation's best-watched and best-loved comedy show - would be the last. This volume brings together never-before-published rants from the last five seasons of the show, plus a selection of the very best rants from earlier years.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Mercer Hits It Out Of The Ballpark
- By Wade Lancaster on 11-11-19
By: Rick Mercer
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What listeners say about The Little Book of the Icelanders
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Laura
- 06-21-24
Succinct and interesting
This little book tells it like it is of the Icelandic people. Pretty unique perspective
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Tigerlily
- 09-15-24
OK
The stories are not very entertaining. I was excited about visiting Iceland, the home of Saga literature and history and exciting landscapes and wonderful horses, but now I'll have to rethink this if Icelanders are really such a bunch of self-absorbed, dour alcoholics.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Wayne T.
- 08-09-23
disappointed
The author seems so bratty, obnoxious and full of herself, insufferable. On a positive note, two stars for a few, pithy and precious phrases of Icelandic.
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