Love With the Lapps in the High Mountains? Readers share 100 books like With the Lapps in the High Mountains...

By Emilie Demant Hatt, Barbara Sjoholm (translator),

Here are 100 books that With the Lapps in the High Mountains fans have personally recommended if you like With the Lapps in the High Mountains. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of An Account of the Sámi

Barbara Sjoholm Author Of By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends

From my list on the Sami and Sápmi.

Why am I passionate about this?

Although I’d been to Scandinavia many times as a translator and travel writer, it wasn’t until about twenty years ago that I spent significant time above the Arctic Circle, writing my travel book, The Palace of the Snow Queen. Over the course of three different winters spent in Lapland, I discovered a world of Sami history, politics, culture, and literature. I was particularly interested in the friendship between Emilie Demant Hatt and Johan Turi. It’s been inspiring over the past years to see a new generation of artists and activists shaping and sharing their culture and resisting continued efforts to exploit natural resources in territories long used by the Sami for herding and fishing. 

Barbara's book list on the Sami and Sápmi

Barbara Sjoholm Why did Barbara love this book?

Johan Turi was a herder and hunter when he first met Emilie Demant Hatt on a train in Northern Sweden in 1904. He confided that he wanted to tell the story of the indigenous Sami, and she encouraged him to write what became the landmark text, Muitalus Sámiid birra, the first secular book in the Sami language. She translated it into Danish and it was published in a bilingual edition with his drawings in 1910. Combining history, folktales, explanations, and poetry, it’s a humorous, sometimes poignant, and remarkable compendium of Sami life a hundred years ago. I’ve enjoyed this book since I first read it in an earlier translation. This version, translated with care by noted scholar Thomas A. DuBois, has an excellent introduction to Turi’s life and work. 

By Johan Turi, Thomas A. DuBois (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Account of the Sámi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Liberating Sápmi: Indigenous Resistance in Europe's Far North

Barbara Sjoholm Author Of By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends

From my list on the Sami and Sápmi.

Why am I passionate about this?

Although I’d been to Scandinavia many times as a translator and travel writer, it wasn’t until about twenty years ago that I spent significant time above the Arctic Circle, writing my travel book, The Palace of the Snow Queen. Over the course of three different winters spent in Lapland, I discovered a world of Sami history, politics, culture, and literature. I was particularly interested in the friendship between Emilie Demant Hatt and Johan Turi. It’s been inspiring over the past years to see a new generation of artists and activists shaping and sharing their culture and resisting continued efforts to exploit natural resources in territories long used by the Sami for herding and fishing. 

Barbara's book list on the Sami and Sápmi

Barbara Sjoholm Why did Barbara love this book?

A lot of books about the Sami people ignore the fact that the discrimination and territorial colonization they faced in the past is still ongoing, though it takes shape in new ways. This succinct book of interviews with twelve engaging and thoughtful activists from Sápmi is proceeded by a “short political history of Sápmi” by Gabriel Kuhn. In addition to history, we get personal observations from, among others, the artist/poet Synnøve Persson, the filmmaker Suvi West, the politician/ fisherman Aslak Holmberg and the rapper Maxida Märak. I find this book a superb source for Sami voices and perspectives, as well as for the images and English-language resources at the end. 

By Gabriel Kuhn,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Liberating Sápmi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Sámi, who have inhabited Europe’s far north for thousands of years, are often referred to as the continent’s “forgotten people.” With Sápmi, their traditional homeland, divided between four nation-states—Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia—the Sámi have experienced the profound oppression and discrimination that characterize the fate of indigenous people worldwide: their lands have been confiscated, their beliefs and values attacked, their communities and families torn apart. Yet the Sámi have shown incredible resilience, defending their identity and their territories and retaining an important social and ecological voice—even if many, progressives and leftists included, refuse to listen.

Liberating Sápmi is a…


Book cover of The Ládjogahpir – The Foremothers` Hat of Pride

Barbara Sjoholm Author Of By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends

From my list on the Sami and Sápmi.

Why am I passionate about this?

Although I’d been to Scandinavia many times as a translator and travel writer, it wasn’t until about twenty years ago that I spent significant time above the Arctic Circle, writing my travel book, The Palace of the Snow Queen. Over the course of three different winters spent in Lapland, I discovered a world of Sami history, politics, culture, and literature. I was particularly interested in the friendship between Emilie Demant Hatt and Johan Turi. It’s been inspiring over the past years to see a new generation of artists and activists shaping and sharing their culture and resisting continued efforts to exploit natural resources in territories long used by the Sami for herding and fishing. 

Barbara's book list on the Sami and Sápmi

Barbara Sjoholm Why did Barbara love this book?

This stunningly designed new book, available from the Sami publishers in Norway, has a fascinating historical text (in English and North Sami), put together by Sami artist Outi Pieski and Finnish curator Eeva-Kristiina Harlin. Together, they collaborated on a project centered around the ládjogahpir, the horn hat once widely worn by Sami women across the high North. They inventoried the remaining examples in museums and they began to hold workshops to teach contemporary Sami women how to make the hats. Along the way, they tell stories of how the hats disappeared or were collected, and discuss the idea of “rematriation” as part of new initiatives in the Nordic countries to return Sami craft and culture.

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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Book cover of Sámi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North

Barbara Sjoholm Author Of By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends

From my list on the Sami and Sápmi.

Why am I passionate about this?

Although I’d been to Scandinavia many times as a translator and travel writer, it wasn’t until about twenty years ago that I spent significant time above the Arctic Circle, writing my travel book, The Palace of the Snow Queen. Over the course of three different winters spent in Lapland, I discovered a world of Sami history, politics, culture, and literature. I was particularly interested in the friendship between Emilie Demant Hatt and Johan Turi. It’s been inspiring over the past years to see a new generation of artists and activists shaping and sharing their culture and resisting continued efforts to exploit natural resources in territories long used by the Sami for herding and fishing. 

Barbara's book list on the Sami and Sápmi

Barbara Sjoholm Why did Barbara love this book?

Another new book by two scholars who work with Sami linguistics and folklore, this volume is a must-read account of how, beginning in the 1970s, the Sami began to employ Sami-language media, from recordings, books, and periodicals to films, tweets, and YouTube recordings, to maintain and create social and political awareness and art. I loved reading about the work of filmmakers and musicians in a way that respects their innovative work in the context of Sápmi’s long-standing indigenous culture. I only wish that more Sámi films and art exhibits were available for viewing in North America. Luckily we have YouTube and music streaming services to accompany our reading!

By Coppélie Cocq, Thomas A. DuBois,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sámi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Digital media-GIFs, films, TED Talks, tweets, and more-have become integral to daily life and, unsurprisingly, to Indigenous people's strategies for addressing the historical and ongoing effects of colonization. In Sami Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North, Thomas DuBois and Coppelie Cocq examine how Sami people of Norway, Finland, and Sweden use media to advance a social, cultural, and political agenda anchored in notions of cultural continuity and self-determination. Beginning in the 1970s, Sami have used Sami-language media-including commercially produced musical recordings, feature and documentary films, books of literature and poetry, and magazines-to communicate a sense of identity both…


Book cover of Stolen

Laura Galloway Author Of Dalvi: Six Years in the Arctic Tundra

From my list on life changing books on life in the Arctic (and other cold climates!).

Why am I passionate about this?

Why I chose to write about cold climates: I spent nearly seven years living in the North of Norway in the Sámi reindeer herding village called Guovdageaidnu, or Kautokeino in Norwegian. I cherish my time in that part of the world. 

Laura's book list on life changing books on life in the Arctic (and other cold climates!)

Laura Galloway Why did Laura love this book?

This novel had to go to the top of my list because it’s brilliant and delivered through an indigenous perspective.

Authored by the Swedish Sámi journalist Ann-Helén Laestadius, the book tells a story–based on real eventsinvolving reindeer, an essential part of culture and identity for many Sámi. It takes place in a part of the world where I spent many years, Sápmi, which is the Sámi region that contains parts of, and predates, the modern borders of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.

Laestadius brings a compelling voice to the still prevalent issue of prejudice against this cultural minority. A film adaptation of the book will air on Netflix in April 2024, and I’m excited to see it because so many friends from that part of the world worked on it.  

By Ann-Helén Laestadius, Rachel Willson-Broyles (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Stolen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

**SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM** **THE INTERNATIONAL NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER** 'Written with heart and great appeal' FINANCIAL TIMES 'A coming-of-age-story to be loved everywhere in the world' FREDRIK BACKMAN, author of A MAN CALLED OVE 'Has struck a chord worldwide' NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ___________________________________________ The international sensation: the story of a young Sami girl's coming-of-age, and a powerful fable about family, identity and justice Nine-year-old Elsa lives just north of the Arctic Circle. She and her family are Sami - Scandinavia's indigenous people - and make their living herding reindeer. One morning when Elsa goes skiing alone, she witnesses…


Book cover of Yule Island

H.R. Kemp Author Of Lethal Legacy

From my list on complex and thought-provoking thrillers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Australian writer. I came to creative writing late in life but have been an avid reader since my early school years. My fascination with mystery thrillers started with Enid Blyton and included Raymond Chandler books—not usually recommended for an 11-year-old. I have always had an inquisitive mind, asking difficult questions and seeking understanding. My first degree was a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Chemistry. My diverse working life spanned a variety of roles, building a rich tapestry of experience. I relish layered, complex, and thought-provoking stories both as a writer and a reader. I hope you enjoy my recommended books as much as I have.

H.R.'s book list on complex and thought-provoking thrillers

H.R. Kemp Why did H.R. love this book?

I was enthralled by this dark, terrifying historical thriller, and its being based on a true story made it more unsettling. The gothic horror vibe of Scandinavian dark winters and the island setting heightened my dread as I read. The rising tension had me on the edge of my seat.

Gustawsson has created an atmospheric mystery story that connects past and present murders—9 years apart. I didn’t know who to believe or trust, and I didn’t figure out the motive until the end. Multiple viewpoints and numerous twists and turns kept me guessing. Just when I thought I knew what was happening, another piece of information took me in a different direction, only to be thwarted yet again. I couldn’t have predicted the ending. It’s masterful storytelling.

There are great, believable, but also sinister characters, making it a complex read. The plot is rooted in Viking rites and sinister secrets…

By Johana Gustawsson, David Warriner (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Yule Island as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An art expert joins a detective to investigate a horrific murder on a Swedish island, leading them to a mystery rooted in Viking rites and Scandinavia's deepest, darkest winter. The Queen of French Noir returns with a chilling, utterly captivating gothic thriller, based on a true story. FIRST in a new series.

'A dark, dark slice of Scandi Noir' Heat magazine *Book of the Month*

'Gustawsson's writing is so vivid, it's electrifying' Peter James

'Remember her name. Johana Gustawsson has become a leading figure in French crime fiction [and] Yule Island is impossible to put down' Le Monde

***Winner of…


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Book cover of Radical Friend: Amy Kirby Post and Her Activist Worlds

Radical Friend by Nancy A. Hewitt,

Radical Friend highlights the remarkable life of Amy Kirby Post, a nineteenth-century abolitionist and women's rights activist who created deep friendships across the color line to promote social justice. Her relationships with Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Sojourner Truth, William C. Nell, and other Black activists from the 1840s to the…

Book cover of How the Wise Master Life: 51 Essential Truths Clarified

Luis de Miranda Author Of Philosophical Health: A Practical Introduction

From my list on improving your philosophical health.

Why am I passionate about this?

Choosing philosophy at 18 raised a few eyebrows: friends and family thought I was a bit mad and a little lost. Later, when I decided to write philosophical stories and essays, I heard the same refrain: “Most people are afraid of philosophy.” But those voices never swayed me. Deep down, I knew that thinking is a powerful tool for healing, a way to mend what’s broken within us and in the world. Ideas, I believe, can spark change and make the world a better place.

Luis' book list on improving your philosophical health

Luis de Miranda Why did Luis love this book?

Truth doesn’t have to be flashy to captivate. I was instantly drawn to the mystique of this book’s manuscript and the secretive author who sent it to me. In it, I discovered that beauty is a feeling, and anxiety is a prelude to exhilaration.

Normally, I'm not one for self-help, but the poetic wisdom in this book resonated on a personal level, a comforting reminder that healing isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey.

By Miranda Healer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How the Wise Master Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Don't Wait Another Day to Live the Life You Deserve

Imagine unlocking the secrets to a life filled with purpose, unwavering resilience, and deep inner peace. In How the Wise Master Life: 51 Essential Truths Clarified, spiritual guide and wisdom teacher Miranda Healer offers a blueprint for achieving this extraordinary way of living. This isn't just a book – it's a catalyst for profound transformation.

Healer's deep, clear and compassionate voice guides you through timeless yet timely truths that have empowered the world's wisest and most powerful individuals. With each insightful chapter, you'll gain a deeper understanding of yourself, your…


Book cover of The Dogs of Riga

Elizabeth Flynn Author Of Game, Set and Murder

From my list on unravelling knotty murder mysteries.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always enjoyed murder mysteries, with spy novels coming a very close second. I like the puzzle aspect of the story and the unravelling thereof. From early in my childhood I have written and it has never occurred to me to write in any other genre than Crime Fiction. I do like, however, both in my own output and that which I read, to gain an insight into other people’s lives and histories. I like to learn about the surroundings in which the stories are set. Also, for me a must, the characters have to be rounded and three dimensional.

Elizabeth's book list on unravelling knotty murder mysteries

Elizabeth Flynn Why did Elizabeth love this book?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s set in Sweden and takes the reader to Latvia during the disintegration of the Soviet Union, so it touches on another genre that I like to dip into—spy novels. The hero is Kurt Wallander, a sympathetic character, who’s just trying to do his job which, in this case, means dealing with the bodies of two torture victims that have been discovered on the Swedish Coast. Now read on …

By Henning Mankell, Laurie Thompson (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Dogs of Riga as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sweden, winter, 1991. Inspector Kurt Wallander and his team receive an anonymous tip-off. A few days later a life raft is washed up on a beach. In it are two men, dressed in expensive suits, shot dead.

The dead men were criminals, victims of what seems to have been a gangland hit. But what appears to be an open-and-shut case soon takes on a far more sinister aspect. Wallander travels across the Baltic Sea, to Riga in Latvia, where he is plunged into a frozen, alien world of police surveillance, scarcely veiled threats, and lies.

Doomed always to be one…


Book cover of I Am Zlatan: My Story On and Off the Field

Johana Gustawsson Author Of Yule Island

From my list on surviving the Scandinavian freezing winter.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a French writer, originally from Provence, who found herself catapulted into Scandinavian culture almost twenty years ago when I married a Swede. When I wrote Block 46, my first book back in 2015, I set the plot in Falkenberg, a town on the west coast of Sweden, bringing my southern European culture face to face with the Scandinavian one, a kind of alliance between fire and ice. What I'm sharing with you today is the essence of my “empirical research” as a Swedish wife, an expatriate in Sweden, and a mother of three mini-Vikings, giving you the keys and the secrets of this northern culture that fascinates so much.

Johana's book list on surviving the Scandinavian freezing winter

Johana Gustawsson Why did Johana love this book?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been one of the most successful football players in Sweden.

His biography is one of the most read books in the country, and not just because Zlatan is a national hero, but also because the writer who penned that book is a brilliant one: David Lagercrantz, the former journalist, became a few years back the voice of Stieg Larsson, continuing his brilliant Millennium trilogy.

This book is a tale of an exceptional destiny told by one of the most talented voices in the Swedish literary scene.

By David Lagercrantz, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ruth Urbom (translator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Am Zlatan as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Daring, flashy, innovative, volatile—no matter what they call him, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of soccer’s brightest stars. A top-scoring striker and captain of the Swedish national team, he has dominated the world’s most storied teams, including Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain. But his life wasn’t always so charmed.
 
Born to Balkan immigrants who divorced when he was a toddler, Zlatan learned self-reliance from his rough-and-tumble neighborhood. While his father, a Bosnian Muslim, drank to forget the war back home, his mother’s household was engulfed in chaos. Soccer was Zlatan’s release. Mixing in street moves and…


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Book cover of Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption

Who Is a Worthy Mother? by Rebecca Wellington,

I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…

Book cover of Sidetracked

Stephen B. King Author Of Forever Night

From my list on catching a serial killer and how they became monsters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Like most people I know, I have always been fascinated with serial killers, and more importantly why they do what they do. What makes one man murder multiple victims while another with a similar upbringing sells white goods and wouldn’t attract a traffic ticket. In my books, I am as interested in showing my readers why a killer kills, as I am in the hunt to catch him. My goal is to not so much get the reader to ‘like’ the antagonist but to understand, and dare I say even feel sorry for him. We are all products of our environment and upbringing, yet some of us murder others for fun.

Stephen's book list on catching a serial killer and how they became monsters

Stephen B. King Why did Stephen love this book?

Henning Mankell (RIP) was the master of the ‘troubled detective’ Kurt Wallander, who is trying to find a murderer while his own life is in tatters. This hunt for a serial killer who scalps his victims, is a rich tapestry of character development, police procedure, and a deeply disturbed killer. This is one of the finest stories of the dark Scandinavian crime thriller genre, and spawned a major TV series starring Kenneth Branagh.

By Henning Mankell, Steven T. Murray (translator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Sidetracked as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Midsummer approaches, and Inspector Kurt Wallander prepares for a holiday with the new woman in his life, hopeful that his wayward daughter and his ageing father will cope without him.

But his restful summer plans are thrown into disarray when a teenage girl commits suicide before his eyes, and a former minister of justice is butchered in the first of a series of apparently motiveless murders. Wallander's desperate hunt for the girl's identity and his furious pursuit of a killer who scalps his victims will throw him and those he loves most into mortal danger.

WINNER OF THE CRIME WRITERS'…


Book cover of An Account of the Sámi
Book cover of Liberating Sápmi: Indigenous Resistance in Europe's Far North
Book cover of The Ládjogahpir – The Foremothers` Hat of Pride

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5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Sweden, the Sámi people, and reindeer?

Sweden 83 books
Reindeer 20 books