The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2006, Síða 37

Vol. 60 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
123
opinionologist” because he doesn’t have a
doctorate on any kind of paper. He notes
that we put labels on children and say they
have some currently fashionable disorder,
but is that just an excuse for personal
responsibility—ours and theirs? “Yup, I
am bold enough to say that if my former
team of Alaskan Malamutes were tied up in
front of a TV or computer for many hours
each day, a couple of things would happen:
they would be putting on extra weight and,
by golly, they would become pretty darn
restless and irritable.”
In spite of the fact that dead animals
are a part of many of his short stories, I
enjoyed the book. He writes in a conver-
sational style: using words like “Anyhow”
and “Yup” to start sentences; and using
“uh” in the middle of sentences, as you
might when trying to think of the next
word you are going to say. There is a lot of
humour in the book. “Onlookers”
becomes “onsmellers” in the skunk story.
In Hey, a Moose! the true meaning of the
word vegetarian is revealed as “a North
American Indian word for lousy hunter.”
There’s a lot of common sense philosophy,
too. And he can write beautiful prose, as
shown in the excerpt from page 140 earlier
in this review.
Ingi has also written: Sane Trapper
Cooped Up in Remote Cabin with Crazed
Wife and Bears and Fine Coffee. This is his
3rd book, published in 2005. All the books
are collections of short stories. He is work-
ing on a new book which should be ready
around December of this year. I’m hoping
it has a shorter and more representative
title than this one. Not only does the title
not reflect the book, it is only marginally
related to the individual story which bears
its name. Whatever the title turns out to be,
I will read it.
If you decide to give his current book
a try, it will make you laugh, it will make
you think, and you’ll enjoy the descriptive
passages and the loving references to his
family, the sled dogs he used to have, and
his north country home.
In a letter enclosed with his last ship-
ment of books to Tergesen’s in Gimli, Ingi
said he’d like to come south for a public
reading of the new book. I would certainly
like to meet this man, and it looks like I
will have that opportunity. Will 1 find out
who he really is? Nope!
Ejodrseknisfelag Islendinga 1 Vesturheimi
PRESIDENT: Garry Oddleifson
Support Icelandic culture and heritage
by joining your local chapter, or contact:
The Icelandic National League
#103-94 First Ave. Gimli, MB ROC 1B1
Tel: (204) 642-5897 • Fax: (204) 642-7151
inl@mts.net