Score

Strangely enough I know a lot of these books :-) Maybe my European background but I love Scandinavian writers.

I wonder which Scandinavian country will get the top spot... of course my vote is always with Iceland and Laxness and the sagas.

I put up Jane Smiley's Greenlanders, not knowing if it qualifies.

I put up Jane Smiley's Greenlanders, not knowing if it qualifies.

Searched for but did not find a combined edition of Master of Hestvikken

Thom: No, a book by Jane Smiley does not qualify, because it is not Scandinavian literature.

Yeah, Jane Smiley is American.

I've just been through the list and deleted a load of books for being one or more of these things:

A book about Scandinavia by a non-Scandinavian (travel writing, etc)
A book about Scandinavian literature
A biography of a Scandinavian writer
A book about Americans of Scandinavian descent
A book set in Scandinavia, but not by a Scandinavian
A book by an Australian about his experiences in S. Africa (seriously, what?)

If people could try and keep these off the list, that would be nice. It should not be on this list if:

It was originally written in English, or another non-Scandinavian language (of course there are a few exceptions - Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen was Danish but sometimes wrote in English);

The author is not Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Finnish, Norwegian or Faroese (Americans who think they are Norwegian because their great-grandparents were do not count);

It is non-fiction or academic writing, and not literature. (Some non-fiction is literature, I know, but not something like a 'Key to the Kalevala'. Just use your judgement).

Scandinavia is more strictly defined as comprising Denmark, Norway and Sweden only. The list of countries given above is more correctly defined as the Nordic Countries and how they themselves refer to the grouping. So perhaps a better title for this list would be Best Nordic Literature.

That's a good point, but I think more people will find the list under 'Scandinavian' than 'Nordic Countries' and I don't want to cut any of the countries out. Scandinavia is often used as synonymous with Nordic Countries anyway, even if not strictly correct I don't think it can be considered wrong.

Abi wrote: "That's a good point, but I think more people will find the list under 'Scandinavian' than 'Nordic Countries' and I don't want to cut any of the countries out. Scandinavia is often used as synonymou..."

Maybe the description could explain this? I understand why you want to keep the name as it is, but as a Finnish person I'm often irritated when Finland is called Scandinavian country. Also this could be a good opportunity to let people know about the proper names.

Also, even if you change the name you can find the list when searching with Scandinavia/Scandinavian literature as long as that is mentioned in the description. (That's how I found the list - by searching Finnish in Listopia.) But as said I understand why you want to keep the name as it is. :)

Thanks for keeping the list in good shape!

OK, you've convinced me. I don't want any Finns to feel slighted, so yeah, I'll change it. I'll change it now to 'Scandinavian and Nordic', perhaps? What do you reckon about that?

That would work fine with me. :)

Just a quick note, Abi and all the contributors, to say thank you very much for this list. I have in recent years been reading some Scandinavian novels, and I am keen to explore more -- there is something about that part of the world which really draws me. So, as soon as I have more time, I intend to work systematically through this list and do some book orders! Thanks again.

Heh interesting the popular taste of Nordic lit is apparently modern crime books, Astrid Lindgren,HC Andersen.

Im not big fan of Strindberg but he shouldnt be dissed in this kind of list.

Stieg Larsson on this list? Are you serious? His books insults our human intelligence with terrible writing and and superficial characters. Come on people. Scandinavian litterature is better than that.

some lists need more than 100 votes

Bettie wrote: "some lists need more than 100 votes"

So true, so true.

Mohammed wrote: "Heh interesting the popular taste of Nordic lit is apparently modern crime books, Astrid Lindgren,HC Andersen."

It might be because they have been translated to English and most of the voters are probably non-Nordic. There are not enough Nordic voters for other books to compete with them because our tastes vary a lot, too.

"Nordic noir" is very flavor of the month in US mystery reading, yep.

Finnish readers tend to like literary and historical fiction, though of course many read crime novels, too. I just don't think many of them would vote those as "the best".

Tytti wrote: "Finnish readers tend to like literary and historical fiction, though of course many read crime novels, too. I just don't think many of them would vote those as "the best"."

I wouldn't either, but it is all just a matter of opinion and different tastes, of course :-)

Booklovinglady wrote: "I wouldn't either, but it is all just a matter of opinion and different tastes"

Yes but they just don't get translated that much, which means that they will "lose" to the books that are.