$14.99 with 35 percent savings
List Price: $22.95

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Saturday, May 25 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Thursday, May 23. Order within 22 hrs 37 mins
In Stock
$$14.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$14.99
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day easy returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Kurt Caswell
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Iceland Summer: Travels along the Ring Road Paperback – October 24, 2023

by Kurt Caswell (Author), Julia Oldham (Illustrator)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 6 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$14.99","priceAmount":14.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"oKWsRDWA9PdVIeI5XkP%2BCaXcDAjqnnZy7MCJU2QT3NhSnHJw48rpLo9dOXaU2Wtw8MLYvPQwfP0zgKS41muMztpJNe2e%2Bulb2LzHDkPLm06My1GVmMKIk4SJVpfLlUaW%2BXkgKlPLDOighWJHBUjBoA%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

An island is a world out of time and place, separated by literal and figurative oceans, where the confines of reality are tenuous and magic may be possible. Iceland—with its relative isolation, enchanting mythologies, creative people, and the otherworldly wild beauty of its glaciers, geysers, volcanos, and fjords—encompases this special magic in the minds of many, including writer Kurt Caswell.

Vividly illustrated by Julia Oldham, Iceland Summer recounts Caswell’s journey traversing the country by foot and bus accompanied by his lifelong friend Scott. The pair set out from Reykjavík and travel clockwise along the Ring Road, stopping along the way for backcountry walking trips. Caswell immerses himself in the natural beauty and charming eccentricities of the tiny island nation. With his drinking and hiking buddy by his side, and fueled by a steady diet of Brennivín (fermented grain mash) and pylsur (Icelandic hot dogs), he explores the Hornstrandir peninsula, walks to the famed Dettifoss waterfall, waits for a glimpse of the lake monster Lagarfljótsormurinn at Egilsstaðir, visits the world’s only penis museum, and pays homage to centuries of Icelandic literary tradition at the Árni Magnússon Institute.

Writing in the tradition of other pairs who have traveled in Iceland, like W. G. Collingwood and Jón Stefánsson, and W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, Caswell meditates on the value of wild places in the modern world, travel as both pastime and occupation, the nature of friendship, and walking, food, and literature. Scott is the Sancho Panza to Caswell’s Don Quixote, offering a ribald humor that grounds Caswell’s flights into the romantic. The two travel well together and together arrive at the understanding that what anchors them both is their lifelong friendship.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    190 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Trinity University Press
  4. Publication date
    October 24, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.5 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1595342699
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1595342690
  8. See all details
Next page
Books with Buzz
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this highly entertaining travel diary of sorts, Caswell provides both history and humor, accompanied by vivid illustrations from Julia Oldham... Readers will find it a rewarding journey." — Booklist

“Caswell seamlessly weaves the sublime with the ribald. Iceland Summer is fun and gorgeous and wise.” — Derek Sheffield, coeditor of Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry

“Fact melds artfully with the fantastical and humor warms cold history in this North Sea journey that is alternately slog, stroll, saunter, and fascinating human encounter through occasionally impossible to pronounce, faraway beautiful places that most of us will never see but can envision herein . . . Look and linger. Iceland moves way up on the bucket list after Iceland Summer.” — J. Drew Lanham, author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature

“Wayfarer, writer, philosopher, friend. In this magical travelogue, Kurt Caswell embodies all of these archetypes as he guides readers through two journeys at once. In the outward journey we roam Iceland: rock, waters, mythology, sunlight, vodka, complex secrets that only the most intrepid and sensitive of travelers can gather. The inward journey is not bound by geography: senses, wonder, mingling of heart and land and pen, love for one another and the wild earth.” —Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit

“By turns humorous and profound, Iceland Summer walks beyond the tourist gloss to bring us an island full of the magnificent and unexpected. Caswell’s encounters delight—and show us why we journey and what we learn when we do.” — Bathsheba Demuth, author of Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait

“What a pleasure being with these two knuckleheads on this glorious romp.” — Craig Childs, author of The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert

“I disavow everything Caswell reports about me—except for the parts that are absolutely true, which is everything. Caswell has so masterfully chronicled our travels along Iceland’s Ring Road that I hope my mother doesn’t read it due to my inglorious use of profanity.” — Scott Dewing, the other guy in this book

About the Author

Kurt Caswell is a writer and professor of creative writing and literature in the Honors College at Texas Tech University, where he teaches intensive field courses on writing and leadership. His books include Iceland Summer, Laika’s Window: The Legacy of a Soviet Space Dog, Getting to Grey Owl: Journeys on Four Continents, In the Sun’s House: My Year Teaching on the Navajo Reservation, and An Inside Passage, which won the 2008 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. His essays have appeared in ISLE, Isotope, Matter, Ninth Letter, Orion, River Teeth, and the American Literary Review. He lives in Lubbock, Texas.

Julia Oldham uses a range of media, from animation to graphic storytelling, to explore the complex relationships between nature and technology, humans and animals, and science and creativity. Her work has appeared in the book Iceland Summer and at the San Diego Art Institute, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Hirshhorn Museum, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City and Eugene, Oregon.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Trinity University Press (October 24, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 190 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595342699
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595342690
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.5 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Kurt Caswell

Kurt Caswell

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Kurt Caswell was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and grew up in the Cascade Range in Oregon. He has worked as a teacher in Hokkaido, Japan; on the Navajo Reservation; and at schools in Arizona, California, and Wyoming.

He holds an MA in English from the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College, and an MFA in literature and creative writing from Bennington College, where he was recipient of the Lucy Grealy Memorial Scholarship. He was a 2001 fellow at Fishtrap writers’ conference, and a 2007 fellow at the MacDowell Colony. He has been nominated for numerous Pushcart Prizes.

Caswell’s newest book of nonfiction is LAIKA'S WINDOW: THE LEGACY OF A SOVIET SPACE DOG. He is also the author of GETTING TO GREY OWL: JOURNEYS ON FOUR CONTINENTS, IN THE SUN'S HOUSE: MY YEAR TEACHING ON THE NAVAJO RESERVATION, and AN INSIDE PASSAGE, which won the 2008 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize.

He has taught in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is professor of creative writing and literature in the Honors College at Texas Tech University. He lives in Lubbock, Texas.

Customer reviews

5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
6 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Rebecca
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
Great book with well written essays. Love the illustrations, they help to bring the adventure to life. 😀
Helpful
 Report
Scott Dewing
5.0 out of 5 stars A review from "the other guy" in this book
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2024
I am “the other guy” in this book who traveled with Caswell and gifted him some of his best material. Mostly I want you to buy this book so that Caswell can earn some beer money to begin paying me back for my services. But you should read this book not only to laugh at me for some of the stupid cr*p I said while we were trekking around Iceland’s Ring Road, but to also discover and learn about this mythical and enchanting island country—its rich history, its treacherous terrain, its wonderful people. Caswell weaves a tight, engaging, and unique travel narrative about Iceland, sprinkled with his traveling companion’s often ribald commentary for your entertainment along with Caswell’s philosophical musings about travel and our journey here as humans on Earth. Plus, you get to see all the beautiful illustrations created by Julia Oldham that accompany the text perfectly and bring the journey to life in full color. A treasure.
Helpful
 Report
Floki
5.0 out of 5 stars Humorous, intelligent travel literature
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2024
Kurt Caswell is a sterling guide in circumnavigating Iceland with his buddy Scott Dewing. The pair are made for this kind of adventurous, humorous travel. I liked this book enough to write a lengthy review of it for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Helpful
 Report
Jan Aizpitarte
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Informative
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2024
Loved the journey Kurt took me on with humor and historical stories. His journey gave a firsthand look at the people of Iceland. If I travel there I would have no problem finding those people and places he wrote about with his vivid descriptions of his travels. He made Iceland a must see!
Helpful
 Report
Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2024
Such a wonderful collection of essays with a blend of stellar storytelling and research—I’ve already recommended this to many people!
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report