The most recommended books about Scandinavia

Growing up in a snowy winter playground, my kids lost a lot of mittens and The Mitten, by Jan Brett, illustrated in her detailed Scandinavian style, sparked their imaginations as to what fate may have befallen them.

Nikki, unwittingly drops his white mitten, lovingly knitted by his grandmother into the snow. It is soon discovered by a mole. Then, one beautifully illustrated forest animal after another, increasingly larger, cozy into the ever-expanding mitten; including a huge bear and, finally, a little mouse, with whiskers that tickle the bear’s nose!

The decorative borders surrounding the main dialogue hint at the story to come, allowing kids to guess what’s next. This gem of a board book provides so much visual detail to be discovered by curious little readers, that it will become a winter staple, never the same twice.

Eric does a fantastic job of connecting Nordic and Scandinavian cultures with the Minnesotan and American cultures within my state. Living in Minnesota, I’m always interested in books that discuss cultural or societal norms like the ones I interact with on a daily basis.

I truly enjoyed broadening my knowledge on this search!

The author is one of the most renowned scholars of the ancient Northern world. This book is here because I find it a gold mine of artifacts and all are accompanied by the most extensive illustrations possible on every page. There are burial ships for journeying to Valhalla, pictures of ax men on the rampage in England, a solar disc on wheels being pulled by a bronze horse, elaborately carved prows of Viking ships, Christ crucified carved as being held prisoner entangled in the tree Yggdrasil. If you can’t make the journey, but are intrigued by the artifacts of the pagan-Christian world, this is the book to settle down with by the fireplace on a cold winter’s eve.

Judith Jesch is Professor of Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham and whilst she is primarily a specialist in early medieval literature she has a rare inter-disciplinary command of historical and archaeological sources. In this sweeping review of the Viking World she provides an authoritative overview of the Scandinavians at home and their migrations overseas, with a particular focus on gender and the family, and cults, beliefs and myths. By using the concept of diaspora, she focuses on the ways in which migrants maintained their sense of cultural identity with the Scandinavian homelands and other areas of Scandinavian migration. The interconnectedness of the Viking world is at the heart of this book, and language is seen as key to the maintenance of the Viking diaspora, reinforced by texts and material culture.

This is a shining example of how our stories begin before we are born. Cerotti’s fascination with her grandmother’s unusual wartime story became her sort of full-time job, and I loved getting to come along for the ride. Through these pages, I got to learn about a part of the Holocaust that’s not talked about much: what happened to Jews in Scandinavia.

Like all excellent 3G (grandchildren of Holocaust survivors) memoirs, Cerotti doesn’t just tell the story of her family’s past; the reader sees how that past is not really past at all. Cerotti meets characters in her grandmother’s story and changes her present in the process.

Tony Williams is a writer living in the United Kingdom and his novel, Nutcase, is the most recent one on my list. Nutcase is a faithful retelling of The Saga of Grettir the Strong, only set in a slum in modern-day northern England. The transposition of a story originating in medieval Iceland to this present-day context makes it one of the most bizarre and unique novels I’ve ever read (in a good way). The story stays true to the saga’s plot and characters while bringing them to their new context in a very believable manner. The book is a wild ride and full of all sorts of English slang and colloquialisms which I enjoyed immensely in their own right. 

Blair approaches the history of these centuries by dividing mainland Britain into environmental and cultural zones. In doing so, he highlights the role of geography, geology, infrastructure, trade and even rainfall in determining trends of settlement, social cohesion, and material culture. Blair examines how landscapes were created – the evolution of villages, towns, and religious complexes – while exploring the relationship between centres of power and the satellite hubs around them. The book is richly served by colour images, artists’ reconstructions, maps, and diagrams. Comparisons to Scandinavia (where early timber structures survive) help bring the houses and surroundings of the Anglo-Saxons vividly to life.

I wish I could write like Jo Nesbø. His detective, Harry Hole, faces the worst of the worst sadistic criminals and somehow succeeds, but not always without cost, both to himself and those near to him. In this first Hole story, the Oslo police detective is dispatched to Australia to investigate the murder of a Norwegian citizen. The case is complex, he falls in love, falls off the wagon, and finds suspects who later become victims. Nesbø has a way of keeping you guessing, with plenty of red herrings, a slew of suspects and many grisly deaths along the way. The prose is precise, inventive, compelling. In short, a master at the craft, even in his first story.

I cried a lot, when I read this book at first. Later on I have returned to it now and then and find relief in its clear way to describe how important it is not to try to repress your grief. Face it and work through it, and you’ll afterward feel better and stronger than ever before.

Throughout life we have many opportunities to practice mourning. The better you become at going through grief, the greater becomes your courage to go into new loving relationships, and the better you become at loving.

Reykjavik Police Inspector Erlendur and his associate, Sigurdur Oli, are sent to investigate the murder of an old man bashed with an ashtray. They soon uncover his sordid past, in which he was accused of rape. Traipsing from clue to clue, interviewing tangential witnesses, they learn more about why he was killed and eventually discover the perpetrator, whose life was tragically altered by the actions of the murdered man. Erlendur and Oli are like the Odd Couple but complement each other in their work. The title refers to the practice of keeping organs in jars for medical research, which figures into the investigation. The journey to the solution of the case is very satisfying.