Book Tour: Where the f*** is Blönduós? by Emma Strandberg

 

Often those days, people travel - the world, or just a specific destination - to heal a broken heart. Or to enjoy life at its fullest. Or to cope with the loss of someone they love. After surviving aterrifying burglary, Scotland-born Sweden-based author and traveler Emma Strandberg took the decision of going to a place her mother went 50 years ago: a remote part of Northern Iceland, definitely out of the usual travel beaten path for this country.

One may definitely ask Where the f*** is Blönduós? Before reading this collection of short stanzas, featuring her experience of 21 weeks in the wilderness I may answer that this place may be f***** awesome. Iceland, a ´holy place´ of her childhood, reveals to her not only through nature, but also as a challenging place where she can conquer and overcome her fears. It´s the place to learn some new skills, discover people, maybe knitting too. 

The big problem with many travel books nowadays is that their authors rarely do have time to go beyond the usual narrative of the touristic recommendations. There is nothing wrong with it and I also enjoy reading about places to go, eat and any other kinds of to-do-lists. But somehow, one can do more than that, and this book may help you to see travel from a completely different perspective, less as a way to accumulate predictable experiences within a short amount of time, and more as a way to experience a lifestyle and understand places and its inhabitants. How else one can learn about funny traditions as Réttir, for instance?

Emma Strandberg during her travels

As I am very much passionate about Iceland and Nordic countries, literarily and linguistically, I enjoyed this slice of Iceland, and would definitely keep this book in mind when thinking about planning a trip there - some good insights about planning are also included, especially if you may be tempted spending some time in a ´self-supporting tent´ as well. Definitely, would check some more writing by Strandberg too. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own