Iceland's love affair with literature

Interesting article on the BBC News website about Iceland's current book boom. Apparently, 1 in 10 Icelanders will publish a book, and more importantly, sales of books are on the increase too.

Of course, it is a country with a very strong literary tradition. During the few days I spent there earlier this year, our guide twice urged me to read various 20th century Icelandic books, while the medieval sagas were a constant presence wherever we went. Quite whether that has any implications for Britain I've no idea, but there did seem to be less of a tendency to separate literature into different genres, or to talk in terms of high and low culture.

The chase is on

This is a terrible photo, my excuse being that it was at long range and I was sitting on a rocking boat when I took it, in the bay off Husavik, Iceland, a couple of weeks ago.

It shows an unfortunate Kittiwake (of which there were huge numbers) being pursued by a pair of Arctic Skuas, with a Great Skua waiting to rob them as soon as it gets the chance. The skuas usually force their victims to disgorge the contents of their crops, which they catch and eat in mid-air, although the Great Skua, or Bonxie, also regularly predates eggs and nestlings, or takes carrion.

We didn't see that many of either skua species, so it was exciting to see both together like this.