Berengaria’s review of Out of the Blue: New Short Fiction from Iceland > Likes and Comments
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I've only read one previous book by one of these authors, but happily it was one that I liked and even better it was one whose story you 4 starred 😊! It was Kristín Eiríksdóttir's A Fist or a Heart, a first novel I think.
There's a few of those that sound intriguing, particularly "150 sq metres", and also the last one on the list. Nice review Berengaria!
Certainly seems like a mixed bag, but it seems like a good way to get a taste for many new authors. Will have to add this one to my list!
Great review, Berengaria 💛 Glad you found some stories here to enjoy.
Alan (the Lone Librarian) wrote: "I've only read one previous book by one of these authors, but happily it was one that I liked and even better it was one whose story you 4 starred 😊! It was Kristín Eiríksdóttir's [book:A Fist or a..."
It was yes! It has low ratings here on GR, but I was considering grabbing that one, too.
Ian wrote: "There's a few of those that sound intriguing, particularly "150 sq metres", and also the last one on the list. Nice review Berengaria!"
The last one is also pretty good. 😀
Thorough review, Berengaria. It looks like there are just a few good ones in a lot of very bad ones. I might try and find 'A pen changes hands' somewhere.
I love all your recaps! Each story sounds so good! Great review B!
A wrote: "Certainly seems like a mixed bag, but it seems like a good way to get a taste for many new authors. Will have to add this one to my list!"
It's interesting, that's for sure. Esp since this anthology is the first place a number of these domestically very popular authors have been available in English, it makes it culturally interesting as well. (Oh, and the GR page says it hasn't been published yet, but it has. It came out in '17)
Margo wrote: "Great review, Berengaria 💛 Glad you found some stories here to enjoy."
Thanks, Margo!
Paul wrote: "I might try and find 'A pen changes hands' somewhere."
Here it is!
A Pen Changes Hands
by óskar Árni óskarsson
Four or five years ago, I attended a poetry festival in Akureyri, along with six other poets. The reading took place in Gilið, to great acclaim from the attending locals. I had forgotten my pen up at the hotel but needed to jot something down before my turn came at the podium. A colleague sitting next to me loaned me his pen, a cheap type of Biro.
As sometimes happens, I inadvertently put the pen in my pocket after having used it. It wasn’t until I arrived back in Reykjavík that I found I still had the poet’s pen in my jacket pocket. However, since the pen wasn’t an especially remarkable pen, I didn’t feel it was necessary to contact the owner. Besides, I didn’t really want to have anything to do with that particular poet, so I decided to adopt the pen as my own.
Soon I discovered that anything I wrote with the pen showed distinct characteristics of my colleague’s style, a poet I did not really admire, so I got rid of it. I seem to remember leaving it on a bench at a bus stop.
Strange as it may seem, the poet in question has not published a single poem since. Stranger still, in recent years poems by a young
poet have been appearing in journals, poems that show a definite
stylistic resemblance to the poems by the original pen’s owner. And that’s not all. Last month the literary journal Stína published three poems in the same style, but by yet another author.
Tina wrote: "I love all your recaps! Each story sounds so good! Great review B!"
Thanks, Tina! It's deffo an interesting anthology.
Berengaria wrote: "Paul wrote: "I might try and find 'A pen changes hands' somewhere."
Here it is!
A Pen Changes Hands
by óskar Árni óskarsson
Four or five years ago, I attended a poetry festival in Akureyri, al..."
Thanks a lot.
It was fun reading your recaps - this one was my 5-star "People stare at blank walls and act weirdly in this house."
Excellent review, Berengaria! I always appreciate a breakdown of the individual stories in a collection. Despite it being a mixed bag, it sounds like there were some gems in there.
VM wrote: "It was fun reading your recaps - this one was my 5-star "People stare at blank walls and act weirdly in this house.""
That was a good one! That blank wall staring was creepy.
Nancy (Busy feeding 6 rescued baby bunnies) wrote: "Excellent review, Berengaria! I always appreciate a breakdown of the individual stories in a collection. Despite it being a mixed bag, it sounds like there were some gems in there."
There were, yes! I hope to read more anthologies this year, so more are coming. 😀
I enjoyed your summaries for each story, Berengaria, and your comment that each "weak" story will be different for every reader, lol.
You know that I don't go out of my way to read a lot of short stories, but most of the ones you've rated 4 sound like something I'd enjoy. I'm going to add this to my TBR, though who knows when I might get to it.
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Feb 09, 2026 04:40AM
I've only read one previous book by one of these authors, but happily it was one that I liked and even better it was one whose story you 4 starred 😊! It was Kristín Eiríksdóttir's A Fist or a Heart, a first novel I think.
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There's a few of those that sound intriguing, particularly "150 sq metres", and also the last one on the list. Nice review Berengaria!
Certainly seems like a mixed bag, but it seems like a good way to get a taste for many new authors. Will have to add this one to my list!
Great review, Berengaria 💛 Glad you found some stories here to enjoy.
Alan (the Lone Librarian) wrote: "I've only read one previous book by one of these authors, but happily it was one that I liked and even better it was one whose story you 4 starred 😊! It was Kristín Eiríksdóttir's [book:A Fist or a..."It was yes! It has low ratings here on GR, but I was considering grabbing that one, too.
Ian wrote: "There's a few of those that sound intriguing, particularly "150 sq metres", and also the last one on the list. Nice review Berengaria!"The last one is also pretty good. 😀
Thorough review, Berengaria. It looks like there are just a few good ones in a lot of very bad ones. I might try and find 'A pen changes hands' somewhere.
I love all your recaps! Each story sounds so good! Great review B!
A wrote: "Certainly seems like a mixed bag, but it seems like a good way to get a taste for many new authors. Will have to add this one to my list!"It's interesting, that's for sure. Esp since this anthology is the first place a number of these domestically very popular authors have been available in English, it makes it culturally interesting as well. (Oh, and the GR page says it hasn't been published yet, but it has. It came out in '17)
Margo wrote: "Great review, Berengaria 💛 Glad you found some stories here to enjoy."Thanks, Margo!
Paul wrote: "I might try and find 'A pen changes hands' somewhere."Here it is!
A Pen Changes Hands
by óskar Árni óskarsson
Four or five years ago, I attended a poetry festival in Akureyri, along with six other poets. The reading took place in Gilið, to great acclaim from the attending locals. I had forgotten my pen up at the hotel but needed to jot something down before my turn came at the podium. A colleague sitting next to me loaned me his pen, a cheap type of Biro.
As sometimes happens, I inadvertently put the pen in my pocket after having used it. It wasn’t until I arrived back in Reykjavík that I found I still had the poet’s pen in my jacket pocket. However, since the pen wasn’t an especially remarkable pen, I didn’t feel it was necessary to contact the owner. Besides, I didn’t really want to have anything to do with that particular poet, so I decided to adopt the pen as my own.
Soon I discovered that anything I wrote with the pen showed distinct characteristics of my colleague’s style, a poet I did not really admire, so I got rid of it. I seem to remember leaving it on a bench at a bus stop.
Strange as it may seem, the poet in question has not published a single poem since. Stranger still, in recent years poems by a young
poet have been appearing in journals, poems that show a definite
stylistic resemblance to the poems by the original pen’s owner. And that’s not all. Last month the literary journal Stína published three poems in the same style, but by yet another author.
Tina wrote: "I love all your recaps! Each story sounds so good! Great review B!"Thanks, Tina! It's deffo an interesting anthology.
Berengaria wrote: "Paul wrote: "I might try and find 'A pen changes hands' somewhere."Here it is!
A Pen Changes Hands
by óskar Árni óskarsson
Four or five years ago, I attended a poetry festival in Akureyri, al..."
Thanks a lot.
It was fun reading your recaps - this one was my 5-star "People stare at blank walls and act weirdly in this house."
Excellent review, Berengaria! I always appreciate a breakdown of the individual stories in a collection. Despite it being a mixed bag, it sounds like there were some gems in there.
VM wrote: "It was fun reading your recaps - this one was my 5-star "People stare at blank walls and act weirdly in this house.""That was a good one! That blank wall staring was creepy.
Nancy (Busy feeding 6 rescued baby bunnies) wrote: "Excellent review, Berengaria! I always appreciate a breakdown of the individual stories in a collection. Despite it being a mixed bag, it sounds like there were some gems in there."There were, yes! I hope to read more anthologies this year, so more are coming. 😀
I enjoyed your summaries for each story, Berengaria, and your comment that each "weak" story will be different for every reader, lol.
You know that I don't go out of my way to read a lot of short stories, but most of the ones you've rated 4 sound like something I'd enjoy. I'm going to add this to my TBR, though who knows when I might get to it.
