The Diary
October 24, 2026
Her cap started the conversation. She walked into the shop with her family wearing a cap from Kelly Seed & Hardware Company, a favorite downtown store, just around the corner and down the street from the Reading Room. I complimented her on the cap. She told me she wanted a souvenir from Peoria, where she grew up, before she returned home. I asked her where home was. “Iceland,” she responded.
Iceland! This promised an interesting conversation. I have always been intrigued by this small island nation. Despite the fact that I do not speak or understand a word of Icelandic, I often play the national broadcaster RUV in the store. I wondered what my guest would have thought, had she walked into the Reading Room and heard Icelandic coming out of the radio speaker.
Years ago, her husband had been accepted into a master’s program at an Icelandic university. They headed there and now, both employed and with two children born there and fully bilingual, it had become home and where they would remain. I asked the girls how to say “hello” and “thank you” in Icelandic. Clearly irked by being put on the spot, they mumbled something. I tried to repeat it and then promptly forgot what they had said.
I spent two weeks in Finland years ago and was struck by the number of newspapers and bookstores and the emphasis on reading. I asked if her corner of the Nordics had a similar literary bent. She explained the Icelandic “Yule Book Flood”. I had to do some research (thanks, Wikipedia) to flesh out what she told me. Every year before Christmas, the “Journal of Books”, a catalog of all newly published books in Iceland, is distributed free to all households in Iceland. People purchase the books and give them as gifts on Christmas Eve. As a result, books are the most popular Christmas gift in Iceland.
The “Yule Book Flood” called to mind another tradition I had read about. In Catalonia, Spain, April 23rd is celebrated as St. George’s Day. It is also known as the “Day of the Book and Rose”. Traditionally, men give women roses and women give men books on this day. Today, these gender rules are less rigid, and the day has assumed the significance of Valentine’s Day. According to Wikipedia, 8% of annual book sales in Catalonia take place on that one day.
These traditions appeal to me as a bookseller. If adopted here, they would likely bolster my bottom line. But there is more to it than self-interest. There is something so refreshing about finding gifts under the tree that do not require batteries or an app and that will not break in short order. On Valentine’s Day, nothing can demonstrate more clearly that you know and love someone than picking out a book that speaks to your lover’s heart, takes them on a journey they’ve always wanted to undertake, or unpicks an issue that has captivated or troubled them. Cheers for Iceland and Catalonia.