Book Club for October 2026
by Sharron Arksey
The Icelandic Roots Book Club begins a fresh season on October 1 with a new book by a familiar writer.
Doreen McFarlane’s most recent book was released earlier this year. Leirárskotta: Memoirs of an Icelandic Immigrant Ghost profiles the family ghost that has both tormented and protected Doreen’s family for eight generations, first in Iceland and later in North America.
Doreen admits that she does not know whether she herself believes in Leirárskotta, but she has plenty of documentation from over the years to back up the family claims. The memoir is a mixture of memoir and academic scholarship, with a touch of humor thrown in for entertainment’s sake.
Born in Winnipeg, Doreen‘s first career was as an opera singer in Canada and the United States. In time, she turned her attention to theology, earning first a Master of Divinity and then a doctoral degree. She has served in both the United States and Canada. She and her husband Eigill currently live in St. Catharines, ON where she leads services in several churches with the E.L.C.I.C.
She has written eleven books, most of them theological in nature.
Some of you may have seen her at the August the Deuce celebration in Mountain and the Islendingadagurinn event in Gimli this summer. If so, you will know that she is a dynamic presenter.
The October 1 book club event will be co-hosted by Heather Lytwyn and Sharron Arksey. It will begin at 7 p.m. CDT and a ZOOM link will be provided via Samkoma newsletter on September 30th.
You may wish to review other articles of interest regarding Doreen McFarlane or Leirárskotta: Memoirs of an Icelandic Immigrant Ghost:
Leirarskotta October 2025
One Icelandic Immigrant You Don’t Know -A New Book July 2026
Icelandic Festival Events - Summer 2026 August 2026
