Nordic FINDS – Jan 2022

FINDS – stands for Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden, the five Nordic countries. For me, reading Nordic literature really began in the 1990s, when a few modern novels began to appear in translation in English and became bestsellers. In the first #NordicFINDS I spent one week per country, revisiting those gateway books that led me into Nordic lit, and as many others from each country as I had time for (concentrating on Nordic Noir and contemporary lit).

The list below contains all the books I and other contributors read during the five weeks of #NordicFINDS, plus all the Nordic books I’ve previously reviewed on my blog, as a resource for inspiration.

#NordicFINDS will return in 2023 – but just for a fortnight this time in January!

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#NordicFINDS – The Reading List

Unless specified, reviews by Annabel/AnnaBookBel

DENMARK

• Havoc by Tom Kristensen – Thoughts on Papyrus
• Island by Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen – Lizzy’s Literary Life
• Minna Needs Rehearsal Space by Dorthe Nors
• Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow – by Peter Høeg
• Mirror Shoulder Signal by Dorthe Nors
• The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tuve Ditlevsen – You Might as Well Read
  • Childhood (#1) – Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
• The Employees by Olga Ravn
• The Last Good Man by AJ Kazinski – The Content Reader
• The Murder of Halland by Pia Juul

FINLAND

• Dark as My Heart by Antti Tuomainen – You May As Well Read
• Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson – Calmgrove
• Notes from an Island by Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietila – Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
• The Healer by Antti Tuomainen
• The Iron Age by Arja Kajermo – Lizzy’s LIterary Life
• The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen
• The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen – Lizzy’s LIterary Life, AnnaBookBel
• The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
• Mr Darwin’s Gardener by Kristina Carlson

ICELAND

• Butterflies in November by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
• Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason
• Land of Love and Ruins by Oddný Ur – You Might as Well Read
• Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón – Calmgrove
• On the Cold Coasts by Vilborg Davidsdottir
• Red Milk by Sjón – Lizzy’s Literary LIfe
• The Blue Fox by Sjón (a lost blog post from 2009)
• The Book of Reykjavik by various authors – Lizzy’s Literary Life, Liz Dexter
• The Heaven and Hell Trilogy by Jón Kalman Stefánsson – Liz Dexter
• The Museum of Whales You Will Never See by A Kendra Greene (NF) – Liz Dexter
• The Pets by Bragi Olafsson
• The Promise of Iceland by Kari Gislason (NF) – Liz Dexter
• Under the Glacier by Haldor Laxness
• Winterkill (Dark Iceland 6) by Ragnar Jónasson

NORWAY

• 1222 by Anne Holt
• A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter (NF) – Liz Dexter
• Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? by Johan Harstad
• Girls Against God by Jenny Hval
• The Ice Palace by Targei Vesaas – AnnaBookBel, Winston’s Dad
• Lazy Days by Erlend Loe
• Love by Hanna Ørestavik – Reading and Watching the World
• Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad – You MIght as Well Read
• One Last Time by Helga Flatland
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
• Professor Andersen’s Night by Dag Solstad – Madame Bibi Ophile Recommends, AnnaBookBel
• Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder – The Content Reader, AnnaBookBel, Bookish Beck
• The Assistant by Kjell Ola Dahl
• The Birds by Targei Vesaas – Lizzy’s Literary Life
• The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am by Kjersti A Skomsvold – Cathy at 746 Books
• The Gradual Disappearance of Jane Ashland by Nicolai Houm
• The Human Flies by Hans Olav Lahlum
• The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
• The World According to Anna by Jostein Gaarder – Calmgrove

SWEDEN

• A moth to a flame by Stig Dagerman – Imogen at Reading and Watching the World
• An Elderly Lady is Up to Nno Good & An Elderly Lady Must not be Pressed by Helene Tursten – You Might as Well Read
• Benny and Shrimp by Katerina Mazetti
• Döstädning: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson – Bookish Beck
• Harbour by John Ajvide Lindqvist – Cathy at 746 Books
• Lagom by Lola A. Åkerström
• Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, plus Films vs Book
• Ronning & Stilton by Cilla & Rolf Börjlind
  • Spring Tide (#1)
  • Third Voice (#2)
• Some Kind of Company by Nan Östman
• The Carrier by Mattias Berg
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (a lost blog post from 2009)
• The Helios Disaster by Linda Boström Knausgård
• The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
• The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catharine Ingelman-Sundberg
• The Martin Beck books by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö –
  • Roseanna (#1)Cathy at 746 Books, AnnaBookBel
  • The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (#2) – Lizzy’s Literary LIfe
  • The Man on the Balcony (#3) – Lizzy’s LIterary Life
• The Mind’s Eye by Håkan Nesser
• The Room by Jonas Karlsson
• The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson by Selma Lagerlöf
• Wallander series by Henning Mankell
  • Faceless Killers(#1) (Pre-blog)
  • The Dogs of Riga (#2)
• When the Snow Fell by Henning Mankell (YA)

MULTIPLE COUNTRIES

• Magnetic North by Sara Wheeler (NF) – LIz Dexter
• River Kings: The Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads by Kat Jarman – Liz Dexter