What are you reading the week of Sunday, October 19, 2014?

[scarletwoman]

22. Hmm... Where to start. That's kind of tough one.

My personal Nordic Noir journey started - like so many other readers - with Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy (Sweden). http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/stieg-larsson/ It was all the rage with crime novel afficianados in 2008/2009, and I caught the wave.

Having had my appetite whetted for Scandinavian crime novels, I next hooked onto Jo Nesbø from Norway. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/jo-nesbo/ I've so far read everything he's written, but frankly I began be turned off by his later books which became bloodier and more gruesome and sadistic as time went on. If I were ever to re-read any of them in chronological order, I would probably stop at The Redeemer, although it's hard not to want to know what happens to his protagonist, detective Harry Hole from one book to the next. And the most recent Harry Hole book, Police was good enough to make me almost forgive the excesses of the several books which had come before.

At some point while I was working my through the first few Nesbø books, I came across Arnaldur Indriðason's The Draining Lake in my local library's "New Releases" shelf (Iceland). http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/i/arnaldur-indridason/ I was totally hooked! I immediately ordered all his books so I could read them in order. He remains my favorite Nordic Noir author to this day. I have no hesitation in recommending every book he's written. But I would strongly recommend that they be read in order, so you can follow the development of his protagonist, Erlendur, throughout.

In the meantime, I also started following up on the author recommendations that show up on the Fantastic Fiction site and glommed onto Henning Mankell (Sweden). http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/henning-mankell/ It's a wonderful series that I can recommend wholeheartedly. In fact, it might make the best starting point for someone who hasn't read any Scandinavian crime fiction before.

From there, I went back in time to that early Martin Beck series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (Sweden). http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/per-wahloo/ As I posted above, I'm in the midst of re-reading the entire series because I think they're totally worth it.

While I've been working my way through Scandinavia, I've also made sure to find some women authors - and there are several whose books I think are worthwhile:

Karin Fossum (Norway) http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/karin-fossum/
Anne holt (Norway) http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/anne-holt/
Camilla Läckberg (Sweden) http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/camilla-lackberg/
Åsa Larsson (Sweden) http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/asa-larsson/

At this point, I've been hanging out in Scandinavia for about six years, reading just about every Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic author whose books have been translated into English. There are so many good ones, and only a few that I wouldn't bother with.

Håkan Nesser (Sweden)
Jussi Adler-Olsen (Denmark)
Kjell Eriksson (Sweden)
Åke Edwardson (Sweden)
Leif G W Persson (Sweden) - I've only read his trilogy, Story of a Crime, which revolves around the 1986 assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme. I thought it was a stunning piece of work.

I always pick an author and then proceed to read everything they've written in order. Nearly all of the authors I've mentioned write series with a recurring protagonist or protagonists. I don't imagine other readers are as obsessive as I am, but when I like an author, I want to read all their books, in order.

I don't know if this helps - but I think if you just start with any of these, you'll be able to see if the genre appeals to you or not. If it does... well, you're not likely to run out of reading material for awhile.