Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Those of us who participated in the 2018 challenge are all very familiar with the Nordic Noir genre. If you aren't into that genre, any book by Fredrik Backman is a great option. Personally I plan to read Us Against You.

From my read list:

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
The Snowman by Jo Nesbø
The Ice Child by Camilla Läckberg

I’m currently reading through the Jo Nesbø series (just crossed off Nordic Noir and Heist with two of his books for 2018!) so I will be saving one of his books for this prompt.

i will continue my read of the erlendur series by Arnaldur Indriðason with the nr. 9 Frevelopfer - german version of Outrage

I absolutely refuse to read another Nordic noir book... so it looks like it's A Man Called Ove for me.

It just has to be set in Scandinavia, not written by a Scandinavian author. Nor does that mean only Nordic Noir or Backman.

Just some suggestions to broaden our thinking:

The Marvelous Misadventures of Ingrid Winter
Winter in Wonderland
The Woman in Cabin 10
The Body in the Fjord
Kristin Lavransdotter
Until I Find You
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of PilgrimageThe Year of Living Danishly: My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
House of Orphans
The Palace of the Snow Queen: Winter Travels in Lapland
The Library of Shadows

There's also this: Quest for a Maid Children's historical fiction set partly in Scotland, partly in Norway, and partly at sea.

I'll probably read A Man Called Ove, or possibly one of my 'not too horrifying' Nordic Noir options that I'd considered for this year.

Yay! Now I'm 3 books into the Steig Larsson Millenium series. I need to find somewhere to put the last one.

Just a short comment to clear up a common misunderstanding with the term Scandinavia. Scandinavia only consists of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Whilst if you want to include Finland and Iceland it’s called The Nordic Countries.

I understand that it is common in the US to use all five Nordic countries while speaking of Scandinavia, so just wanted to give a heads up. (Don’t always trust the US wiki;)

Theresa; great suggestions on your list :)

If anyone has had their eye on Let the Right One In now is your time.

And I gotta shout out Henning Mankell, since he shares his name with my son.

If I can manage I'll try and finish the Nina Borg series here and read The Considerate Killer. I've read the first 2 , and have the 3rd on this years plan ( Nordic Noir), so then I will have completed the series. My favorite so far was definitely The Boy in the Suitcase. It was really good.

@Hilde
Thanks for the info about scandinavia.

I changed my choice to The Warlord's Wife by Sandra Lake. Its set in 12th century Sweden ...

Sara wrote: "Those of us who participated in the 2018 challenge are all very familiar with the Nordic Noir genre. If you aren't into that genre, any book by Fredrik Backman is a great option. P..."

Sweet! I've been meaning to read his books!

Tove Jansson and Astrid Lindgren are good options for short reads/childrens' books.

Cendaquenta wrote: "Tove Jansson and Astrid Lindgren are good options for short reads/childrens' books."

Tove Jansson's books are not set in Scandinavia.

Tytti wrote: "Tove Jansson's books are not set in Scandinavia."

Really? I'm checking the book pages for her contemporary-fiction novels - The True Deceiver is filed under "Scandinavian Literature" and reviews mention that it's set in a Swedish village.

VanesGirl wrote: "@Hilde
Thanks for the info about scandinavia.

I changed my choice to The Warlord's Wife by Sandra Lake. Its set in 12th century Sweden ..."

Hope you’ll enjoy it:)

Cendaquenta wrote: "Really? I'm checking the book pages for her contemporary-fiction novels - The True Deceiver is filed under "Scandinavian Literature" and reviews mention that it's set in a Swedish village."

The synopsis doesn't seem to specify where it is set and there is no reason to believe it's set in Sweden. And I can't help it that it's filed under Scandinavian lit, GR even miscategorizes Nordic Noir/Literature under Scandinavian, it should be the other way around.

technically Hamlet would work for this as he's the Prince of Denmark.

Yep, Hamlet is set in Helsingør/ Elsinore north of Copenhagen, Denmark. And Astrid Lindgren is a good option, not all her books state where they are set, but they all have a distinct feel of Sweden. Even her fantasy works begin in Sweden (Stockholm as far as I recall).

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck I am glad I bought it recently on a really good sale.

I was going to read Us Against You before this year ended, but now I think I might wait until the new year.

After a bit more checking, the blurb of one of the editions of The True Deceiver does indeed specify "a Swedish hamlet" as the setting, so I think I'll go with that.

Cendaquenta wrote: "After a bit more checking, the blurb of one of the editions of The True Deceiver does indeed specify "a Swedish hamlet" as the setting, so I think I'll go with that."

I will totally support that logic 😊

Two books from my TBR:

The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler - part of a detective series set in Sweden. Book no.6 was released earlier this year

The Owl Always Hunts At Night by Samuel Bjørk - the 2nd book in the Norwegian detective series. I read the 1st book, I'm Traveling Alone for the Nordic Noir PS prompt this year

Rachel wrote: "Two books from my TBR:

The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler - part of a detective series set in Sweden. Book no.6 was released earlier this year

[book:The Owl Always Hunts..."


I really liked The Hypnotist and I loved I‘m Traveling Alone! The Owl Always Hunts at Night is still on my TBR so I‘m probably going to read it for this prompt. Although I have lots of nordic noir books on my TBR so I have a lot to choose from for this prompt...

After reading Dark Pines for Nordic Noir this year, I am surprising myself by wanting to read the next book Red Snow! I really hope they use the same audiobook narrator.

Cendaquenta wrote: "After a bit more checking, the blurb of one of the editions of The True Deceiver does indeed specify "a Swedish hamlet" as the setting, so I think I'll go with that."

Well, it seems that the book is somewhat autobiographical and Jansson lived her adult life in Finland, only spent more time in Sweden as a child on holidays and during the civil war, so still, it doesn't sound probable that it would be set in Sweden. There are also tiny hamlets in Finland that are Swedish speaking where few people speak Finnish. Also Katri is a Finnish name, not Swedish.

My initial pick was going to be Us Against You, but I might not be able to wait for the New Year to start it. My Grandma reads quite a bit of Scandinavian literature so maybe I'll ask her for a recommendation. She loaned me The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared a while back, maybe I'll use that.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry is on my TBR!

Kenya wrote: "I absolutely refuse to read another Nordic noir book... so it looks like it's A Man Called Ove for me."

It's a great book

Books set in Sweden https://www.goodreads.com/places/48-s...

Denmark https://www.goodreads.com/places/72-d...

Norway https://www.goodreads.com/places/19-n...

The Orange Girl

This is a very tough prompt to find a book for that meets my usual genres. I went through so many lists and settled on some of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales. But great suggestions in all of the comments above. I'll see if I can get Hamlet too.

VanesGirl wrote: "@Hilde
Thanks for the info about scandinavia.

I changed my choice to The Warlord's Wife by Sandra Lake. Its set in 12th century Sweden ..."

I put that on my list also. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thrillers by Anna Jansson are set in Sweden.

Where is Henrik Ibsen's Rosmersholm set?

Nadine - Norway.

@Tanvi, what do you usually like to read? There are many books set in Scandinavia. I am from Denmark so it's hard to suggest, mainly because of the work of checking what's translated. But I will gladly try.

poshpenny wrote: "The Orange Girl"

I am reading that one right now and really like it.

I read Erlend Loe's Doppler this year and found it very funny. It is a part of a three book series, so I want to read the other two as well.

Well this is my chance to visit one of my favourite topics VIKINGS!!! We, the Drowned is calling to me! Do 19th century Danish pirates count as vikings? I don't know but I want to read about them.

Other viking recommendations are:
The Long Ships
God of Vengeance

I loved Per Petterson Out Stealing Horses, set in Norway. Higly recommend it. Per Pettersen would also work for prompt number 35 first and last name starting with P.

AnneElisabeth wrote: "I loved Per Petterson Out Stealing Horses, set in Norway. Higly recommend it. Per Pettersen would also work for prompt number 35 first and last name starting with P."

I read Per Petterson´s I Refuse: A Novel a couple of yeras ago, and I also recommend his books. I have heard great things about Out Stealing Horses from others as well.

Rachel wrote: "Two books from my TBR:

The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler - part of a detective series set in Sweden. Book no.6 was released earlier this year

[book:The Owl Always Hunts..."

I've just finished the Samuel Bjork books in about 4 days, absolutely love them

I found this link really helpful: http://taleaway.com/books-set-in-scan...

It breaks down books set in Scandinavia by country, so if you're looking for a specific country or author, it's a great site.

I'm going for Burial Rites, set in Iceland.

Chrissi wrote: "I'm going for Burial Rites, set in Iceland."

Check message number 10 above by Hilde who says that "Scandinavia" only refers to Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Hmm, I really wanted to read something set in Finland for this since it is the one country in that area I haven't read from. So I could go for the broader English usage of Scandanavia
and then read House of Orphans. Another possibility is to play strictly by the rules and use Fredrik Backman's The Deal of a Lifetime as my Christmas read. Unless of course the last book in the Beartown trilogy comes out. In which case I'll definitely be reading that.

VanesGirl wrote: "i will continue my read of the erlendur series by Arnaldur Indriðason with the nr. 9 Frevelopfer - german version of Outrage"

Those books are not set in scandinavia.
Island is not part of scandinavia, only sweden (where I live), norway and denmark.

Tytti wrote: "Cendaquenta wrote: "Really? I'm checking the book pages for her contemporary-fiction novels - The True Deceiver is filed under "Scandinavian Literature" and reviews mention that it's set in a Swedi..."

As far as I know, Tove Jansson has never wrote a book set in Scandinavia. Only Finland. Her most famous books about The Moomins are from Finland, where you can actually meet them in real life :)