The Joy of Being Quoted

Iceland Review is a gem of a magazine and when I'm in charge of all media I'm giving them the prize for layout--they do the best layout and graphics of any print publication I've seen. Really. Of course t's all mutual admiration as they quoted me in their most recent issue which you can read here. Here I am waxing poetic about the town of Siglufjörður in the north of the country (which happens to be a great little edge-of-the-world place to escape to):

“This is the kind of town where nobody locks their doors, where everyone knows each other, but where outsiders are as welcome as the sun.”

“A most remarkable trek crosses the eastern mountains at the Hestskard Pass and down into the untouched Hédinsfjördur or “heathen’s fjord”. Free of roads, traffic, people and towns, this may very well be the most pristine fjord in the whole country.”

Field Trip to New York City

Went to Manhattan for my talk and book signing of Iceland. I love New York City, even in small, powerful doses like this most recent one-night stay. Thanks to the Icelandic Consul Magnus Gustavsson and everyone else who helped out! I sold out my books and have a few extra orders to fill.

Even better, I was welcomed into the secret hideout headquarters of Gawker Media down in Soho, where I met my fine editor Chris, and the dedicated associates of Gridskipper, Amanda and Hunter. Best of all, not unlike a Make-A-Wish Foundation dream come true, I got to meet and SHAKE HANDS with the epic Gawker commenter extraordinaire LOLCait. I did hope that some of his glittery wit would pass from his magic fingers into mine, but we shall find out in the coming weeks.

I took this picture as I was walking through Times Square and the sun was shining in my eyes so I had to keep looking down in the street. Walking through Times Square and being forced to look down was weird. Anyway, a week after New Year's and the gutter's still filled with big, easy-to-see-on-TV color confetti.

Despite all my meetings and big city business, I did manage 45 minutes of ME time in which I visited the NY public library and the Jack Kerouac exhibit and set eyes upon the ORIGINAL scroll manuscript of On the Road. My heart is still gathering it all in and stowing it away into meaningful memories, but it was all touching and emotional for me. To read Ti-Jean's little notebooks and feel like he would have been my best friend, if only we had crossed generations. I did notice one of his journal entries, where he writes, in pencil, "I hereby renounce all hipsters." I'll second that.