Atlantica - 01.12.2004, Qupperneq 62

What’s the most popular book in Iceland right now, and why?
Da Vinci Code. Because it is a popular book!
What are you currently reading?
I’m just starting to read a Dutch book called The Dining Club.
It’s a bestseller in the Netherlands.
Can you explain Iceland’s obsession with book buying
over the holidays?
Tradition is the only explanation.
With the development of technology, where do you see the future of
books? For example, will there come a time when we read entire
books on our laptops, rather than bound in paper or hardback?
Novels will never be enjoyed in other forms than on paper. Dictionaries
and manuals will on the other hand be in digital form.
Wonderful books often turn into horrible films. What’s one of your
favourite adaptations of a book into a film?
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.
What three Icelandic books give the greatest insight into
the Icelandic character?
Independent People by Halldór Laxness
bonusljód (bonus poetry) Andri Snaer Magnason
Godir Islendingar (Good Icelanders)
by Huldar Breidfjord
What troubles you most about
Icelandic society?
I have no troubles with the Icelandic society.
What’s the biggest issue Icelanders will be
facing over the next 20 years?
The great tourist-inflation-problem!
It’s a Saturday night, where are you headed?
The nearest swimming pool.
Compiled by Edward Weinman
60 AT L A N T I C A
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Q&A
The publishing house Bjartur is
one of the biggest in Iceland.
Atlant ica magaz ine caught
u p w i t h o w n e r S n æ b j ö r n
Arngrímsson as he readies him-
self for the run up to Christmas,
the publishing industry’s big-
gest season.
The Atlantica
INQUISIT ION
043I-Site Atl604.indd 60 23.10.2004 16:53:29