#NordicFINDS – Denmark week

I chose Denmark for the first week of my Nordic reading as I was ultra-keen to revisit Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg, and it is alphabetically the first country – an approach I abandoned when setting the dates for each country (which ended up being random, not even in FINDS order).

Apart from Miss Smilla (my review of my re-read will come tomorrow), I’ve only read two novels by Danish authors since I started my blog, and can’t remember reading any more in between my first read of the Høeg and the two below.

The header pic shows my rather scant pile of Danish novels, those to the right of Miss Smilla are my TBR. I’ve heard really good things about We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen, but don’t think I’ll be able to fit it in this week, chunkster that it is. The other four are novellas or short stories, so let’s see how many I can read and report back on here!

One thing it will be interesting to see is if the Denmark described in these books matches our view of it as the happiest country. Is it all hygge and Lego, or are there darker undercurrents? Definitely some of each, I’d wager. A few years ago, our book group read Helen Russell’s The Year of Living Danishly, and had a super discussion – a recommended book group read.

Can you recommend any other modern novels or NF by Danish authors to me?

10 thoughts on “#NordicFINDS – Denmark week

  1. A Life in Books says:

    Thanks for reminding me about The Year of Reading Danishly which I’ve been meaning to read for some time. I’d recommend This Should be Written in the Present Tense (Helle Helle) and Often I Am Happy (Jens Christian Grøndahl).

  2. lizzysiddal says:

    Thanks for the reminder of We, The Drowned. I’ll put it on the chunksters to be read in 2022.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Thank you Imogen. I am going to have to get a copy of this trilogy (there’s a new Penguin omnibus one recently published) even though I’m trying to read from my TBR piles at the moment.

  3. Kath says:

    I haven’t read it yet but there’s The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup which has been adapted by Netflix or Lars Mytting who wrote Norwegian Wood and The Sixteen Trees of the Somme but has also has the Sister Bells trilogy out, which starts with The Bell in the Lake, I think.

    • Kath says:

      Ignore my recommendation for Lars Mytting who is Norwegian – sorry about that! I’d jotted down potential authors to take part with #NordicFINDS and wrote in what should have been the line space between Norway and Denmark. Doh. But The Chestnut Man recommendation stands. Søren Sveistrup was the screenwriter for The Killing so I’m thinking it should be good!

      • AnnaBookBel says:

        My friend Harriet is a great admirer of Mytting. Sadly I have none of his books in my Norwegian pile (but do have plenty of others). THanks for the recommendation for Sveistrup – I’ll look out for that.

  4. thecontentreader says:

    There has been a lot of writing about the happy Danes. I live just a bridge away from Denmark and visit from time to time. I think the Danes are more relaxed than us Swedes. If that means they are happier, I am not sure. But, maybe it is so. They do have a lot of good authors, and make very good TV-series, often thrillers. Jussi Adler-Olsen is writing good thriller with historic backgrounds. Karen Blixen, Suzanne Brögger and Tore Ditlevsen are some of the most famous, not counting H.C. Andersen of course.
    Thank you for your tips on Danish books.

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