Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness’ book Independent People, recommended by Reykjavik, tells the story of a sheep farmer’s heroic determination to eke out an independent living in the harsh landscape of rural Iceland. The brunt of his obsessive quest is felt most by his family as his own daughter becomes equally determined to become independent from her father. Laxness tells this battle of wills with humor in a book writer Annie Proulx calls “sardonic, clever and brilliant.”