22 April 2021 - 12:45 By Margaret von Klemperer The Museum of Whales You Will Never See is an elegantly written and beyond quirky read. Image: Supplied
The Museum of Whales You Will Never See
A. Kendra Greene
Caught by the title and the subtitle, which is
Travels Among the Collectors of Iceland, I picked this book out of a pile to be reviewed. It sounded either unutterably twee or quirkily fascinating. But I was hopeful: travel writing has long ceased to be a straightforward catalogue of journeys and chance encounters and has moved into more philosophical realms.
The author travelled in Iceland, that most remote, sparsely populated and very different country, which boasts about 265 museums and collections, some very small. The country doesn’t have a long history of collecting – most of these museums are comparatively recent, usually started by someone who is often still involved.