English Translations of Scandinavian/Nordic Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

I know I might be stepping on toes but I added a slew of books to read. I have read most of them. I have a great grandpa from Sweden, so this is my interest. Even though I'm French Canadian. Hey, I like sauna's and stuff like that.

Add away! My great grandparents were from Sweden, but I'm now a transplanted Buffalonian living in the South. Not too many Swedes here. Also, reading these books increases my coffee consumption dramatically, as well as my desire to eat cheese and liverwurst sandwiches.

Molly wrote: "Also, reading these books increases my coffee consumption dramatically..."

When reading Scandi & Nordic fiction, I have the overwhelming urge to drink coffee Non Stop!

I hate to say it but the coffee consumption increases around here too!

I've put all the authors that I have read on to the reading list. And they're right there for any answers (the books that is). Henning Mankell has several others that are for younger readers that I haven't put on the list. Any new authors will be welcomed for reading pleasure.

Kenneth wrote: "I've put all the authors that I have read on to the reading list. And they're right there for any answers (the books that is). Henning Mankell has several others that are for younger readers that..."

Excellent! Thank you so much!

Definitely recommend the Åsa Larsson books!

These are good to read, I like Asa Larsson. She has a attorney Rebecka Martinsson solve crimes. 3 books so far: Sun Storm, The Blood Spilt, and The Black Path. Sun Storm was the winner of Sweden's Best First Crime Novel. Don't want to give the plot away but it is good. You'll want the other books.

I'm at a big library conference in New Orleans right now and I tried to score some free Scandi crime galleys. No dice, but I did get to have a look at a new Danish book that will be out in translation in November, "The Boy in the Suit Case" by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis.

I hope you at least got some tote bags, Molly.

Marie wrote: "I hope you at least got some tote bags, Molly."

Hah! Only the ALA-sanctioned totebag. I did pick up a pretty sweet ALCTS luggage tag, though.

I ran into some other books I haven't read yet, take a look.

I was just dithering around Amazon, trying to decide if I should get a Nook or a Kindle, and I saw that a new Arnaldur Indridason book is coming out in translation in September.

http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Napol...

(I'm leaning toward a Kindle, because there's more Scandi-crime available, even if I can't check out library books on it yet)

But the Nook is in color? I've wondered the same thing.

Love Love Love my Kindle! So there's my vote!

Kenneth wrote: "But the Nook is in color? I've wondered the same thing."

The Nook color seems kind of pricey, but it seems like it would be awesome for magazines.

Yay! I can't wait to get my Kindle. I think I've decided on that. Amusingly, I have a nice gift certificate from Best Buy (weirdly, from donating blood), so I will probably get it from there soon. I'm stupidly excited.

In addition, I've found a site that has a vast volume of Scandinavian crime for download. Much of which has not yet been available in the states. Example: I already have Jo Nesbo's "The Leopard" and Indridason's "Operation Napoleon" in my Kindle library. I buy most things through Amazon, but it's nice to have the option for books that have been available in England for quite sometime that won't be released here for several more months.

Oh my goodness. What is this magical website!?!

Oooh la la! You know, if HarperCollins are going to be d-bags with their eBook library policy (16 checkouts per year - same has a hardcover book), I'm with you. Also, I think it's Simon and Schuster (don't quote me) won't even put their eBooks in libraries. Booo. Y'all suck.

Bad people. How am I to survive. Nah, I sell used books. Just for my grandson's future. It's been a hard road since the Nook and Kindle. But things are looking up. I try to carry any crime and murder mystery book the library sell's. I have around 2000 books which my wife hates.
This doesn't include my own favorites, another 300, and my master's books, another 300.

Oh! I catalog rare books for work. I love books as physical items, but I realize I have so many in my house, that maybe digital format isn't so bad for my sanity's sake. There's a lot less to dust. I also have a stupid amount of vinyl, so my space is at a premium. I contemplated buying a 1st edition Mankell book (pristine!) when I was in New Orleans, but it was $50. Ouf!

Molly wrote: "Kenneth wrote: "But the Nook is in color? I've wondered the same thing."

The Nook color seems kind of pricey, but it seems like it would be awesome for magazines.

Yay! I can't wait to get my Kin..."

I can't speak to the Nook as I have no personal experience with them but I will tell you that I absolutely love my Kindle and that Amazon's customer service is tops. A friend of mine at work accidently sat on and broke his wife's Kindle screen, called CS and they sent her a new one next day air, no questions asked.
Aside from that it holds about 3000-3500 books and battery life is awesome. I charge mine about once every 2 weeks and that's with me reading an average of 30 or so hours a week. (which may speak volumes about my social life, but that's another story...HA)

I really can't recommend it enough...

I am a little worried that once I buy a kindle, I'm going to go absolutely batshit and buy everything in sight. Must. Budget. Accordingly.

I had that problem at first which is what lead me to trying finding alternatives like the website I mentioned earlier. For instance... the Sjowall - Wahloo books are $9.99 each (and they're only like 250 pgs each) It would have cost me $100 to read that series. I. Don't. Thinkso!

How's your public library? We have an okay selection of Scandi crime ebooks, but that point is moot until the Kindle gets the Overdrive platform. I do have a big crush on my public library because they have a mind-blowing amount of Scandi-crime hardcovers. And they deliver to your local branch. Be still my heart!

Poor, poor people. If you don't mind second hand books, some go for $.01 but the mail is $3.99. That's $4.00 a book, a savings of $5.99 with many of the books pristine condition.

They're saying library lending for kindle should be available by the end of the year. I imagine that involves a software update so that Kindle can read ePub format as well as the current mobi/azw.

As for the local library, I haven't checked out the ebook selection for the above reasons but my local branch is pretty good and the main downtown Dallas library is also nice if you don't mind manuevering through the homeless masses.

But, but... Kenneth, you can get the books in 60 seconds! No longer a slave to the US postal system! Just kidding. I'm still torn, you know? I'll probably end up having both in the end.

Yeah, I was doing some anal retentive research on eBook readers and checked out selections from B&N vs. Amazon, and who is compatible with public libraries.

Luckily, we don't get too many homeless folks at our library, save the dude who was sitting outside my office without a shirt counting his pills (bless his heart, he later put on a Cosby sweater; it was around 95 degrees that day) or the woman I saw shaving her face in the ladies' bathroom. Libraries, yeah!

I've been pretty lucky with getting books. Any author who has run his course I can get for $.01. A current author like Jo Nesbo you have to wait for the price to go down. You can get eBooks for zip at our library, haven't looked at the Scandinavian books but I've read a lot of them already. A little kid with the now I need it. Simmer down and cool it. Author's only come out once or twice a year. But I give it to you anyway.

Scottish rather than scandi but I'm curious about Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus books, anyone read them?

I have loved Ian Rankin for years. The Scotish atmosphere is great. They are bleak and gritty without being too noir for me. When the TV series came out it was so not my mental image of Rebus at first which i found offputting but i've come around to it.
His first one after the final Rebus is set in Edinburgh art scene and i thought was ok. His latest, The Complaints, i really enjoyed and hope becomes a long running series. I am waiting for the sequel, The Impossible Dead, due soon

Thanks Marie! I picked up The Complaints and the first couple in the Rebus series, now all I need is to figure out where they're going on my ever growing TBR list

Hey Molly, we have one of the largest libraries. Why don't we do a book a month. Like the bigger guys do??? I read one to two books a week. I can do that. We can have a group pick an author.

I love it! Let's do it! Any suggestions for the first book?

Just throwing it out there but how about a Sjowall & Wahloo book. As they are sort of the founding fathers of modern scandinavian crime and I don't believe any of us have read them all. I'm open to whatever though.

I like it! I've read the first two, but am happy to re-read, or whatever!

They go pretty fast, so let's open it up to everybody.

I didn't realize they were only like 250 pages each. Pretty short for those of us who read alot, but maybe less daunting for those who don't. I'm open to whatever, I suppose someone should start a new thread and get input from everyone who wants to be involved.

Dave wrote: "I didn't realize they were only like 250 pages each. Pretty short for those of us who read alot, but maybe less daunting for those who don't. I'm open to whatever, I suppose someone should start a..."

I made a poll, which is at the bottom of the group page. It's kind of hidden, which is a drag. I'll start a new thread, I think.

I added the new author Jens Christian Grondahl which some of you may not want. She's more of a marriage person. She writes about failed marriages and what people do to save them. Thought I'd read her any way. Let me know if you want her off the list.

I've checked all the books in, more books, you can check for duplicates, but I have found that it isn't fool proof. If you've taken a book out it shows that its still in the system, It would be good to have the authors put in alphabetical order. Don't know what a problem that would be. Well it can be done, so I did it, take a look. You should check, more books, and the arrow next to authors should be up, press on authors. Found this out in the Monitor Support Group. Wouldn't have known this. Check the group out.

Dave wrote: "Scottish rather than scandi but I'm curious about Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus books, anyone read them?"

The Rebus books are generally all of a very high standard and the TV series (when they had Ken Stott playing Rebus) is also very good. Talking about TV - I would always recommend watching the original Scandi versions with sub titles of Wallander (also Danish TV's The Killing) which are far superior to the US/UK English language versions

Dave wanted to know about Rebus.

Thanks Ian! I have the first couple of Rebus books and "The Complaints" on my kindle, just haven't had a chance to get to them yet. I wasn't aware there was a Rebus TV series, I'll have to look for that as well.

Thanks Ellen. I see its one of you favorites.

Jo Nesbo's Headhunters is coming out soon, I've pre-ordered it with Amazon already. :)

Cateline wrote: "Jo Nesbo's Headhunters is coming out soon, I've pre-ordered it with Amazon already. :)"

September 6th, I'm counting the days!

I put in another author Tarjei Vesaas, a Norwegian. He is deceased but his book is noir.

Can anybody find more books?

Ian Rankin is Tartan Noir not Nordic Noir. I live just round the corner from him, Alexander McCall Smith and Lin Anderson. All writing about Edinburgh. It's nice running into them in the deli and walking down the streets they describe.